and I walked, I walked so far away...
Weekly Update:
Yum yum dim sum! Did my new tradition of going to get dim sum in September in memory of my mom's birthday. It was solo (again) but had a lot of leftovers to enjoy for later. I had to get an order of shrimp har gow to eat there and another order to take home, that is definitely one of my favorites. I was debating on the sticky rice but decided against it. Got some other usual stuff like the egg custards and red bean balls, those are good for savory or dessert really. Beef balls... not a traditional meatball but same concept of rolled ground beef. Other favorites are the fried shrimp balls, those are actually pretty huge and they have that piece of bamboo in them so it's like a popsicle (the way you can eat it). But, it was all delicious and I have more meals for the next day or two which will be nice.
At the movies:
New at #1 is The Conjuring: Last Rites with a hefty post-Summer 83 million to open. Horror films seemed to do well at this time of year in general over October actually when we get closer to Halloween. New at #2 is the live recording of Hamilton with 10 mil and also on less than 2,000 screens so not a bad number. Drop down to #3 is Weapons with 5.4 mil as it slowly winds down after an incredible run. Holding on to #4 is Freakier Friday with 3.8 mil and does appear it will be short of that 100 mil mark. Hanging to #5 is Caught Stealing with 3.2 mil and likely be out by next week.
New move that did not make the top 5:
Just one this week at #9, Light of the World on over 2,000 screens and earning 2.4 mil which has an average of $1,157 so this one will be losing some shelf space fast.
Quote of the week:
"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves." - William Shakespeare
Facts & Tips:
Sudan has more pyramids than any country in the world.
"An Affair to Remember. Did you ever see it? Oh, God! Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. It it Cur or Car??" - Rita Wilson as Suzy in Sleepless in Seattle.
The simple onion ring
Labor Day Edition
This edition of Monday takes place on another Labor Day. Labor is always on a Monday, the first Monday in September so it matches and is consistent. This year around here it was super HOT, in the mid 90's after we were enjoying an cool high 70's up till recently. I hope this trend is very short and we dip back down into coolness but who knows. What we really need is rain though because we are so dry here. Our rainfall this past year was extremely bad and all our reservoirs are bone dry. We need rain please!! Global warming is so real and we are heading in the wrong direction as storms are getting more violent and temperatures continue to rise globally. Yet... no one seems to care because it is the now and not the then.
Weekly Update:
I've probably talked about this before but it warrants a repeat... onion rings. Yes, onion rings! I love a good onion ring, dipped in ranch or maybe like an aioli dip but the breading is so important with the onion ring. You have your low end rings from like Burger King and Jack in the Box which relay heavily on their breading. You can feel and taste the oil just absorbed in it. Then you have places like Farmer Boys where the breading is borderline heavy but not too heavy plus they seem to use a sweeter onion. They are also very big so you typically only get 4 to an order but they equal more than the other chains. In the semi-fast food chain is Wahoo's and they use a tempura-style batter and it's very light along with sweet Maui onions and these are one of the best around. You also have restaurant chain onion rings but I haven't had many to compare. I have had Red Robin which are fine, they range below Farmer Boys but above Jack in the Box. I should try more onion rings and come up with a chart or something.
At the box office:
For a fourth week-in-a-row, Weapons holds #1 again for an extra 10.2 million as it chugs along into the 100's but at the drop rate it won't reach 200. New at #2 is the re-release of Jaws 50th Anniversary with 8.1 mil and not bad for a 50-year old movie. New at #3 is Caught Stealing with 7.8 mil and this is more caught and release it looks like. Drop down to #4 is Freakier Friday with 6.5 mil as it continues to crawl to 100 mil but might reach it when all said and done. Rounding off the top 5 and also new is The Roses with 6.4 mil and this one is nipped in the bud.
Quote of the week:
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke
Facts & Tips:
There were active volcanoes on the moon when dinosaurs were alive.
"You are not a person. You're a program that misread its objective. You are not alive, and for all your processing power, you can never understand what that means." Allison Williams as Gemma in M3gan 2.0.
some like it hot hot HOT!
Weekly Update:
I had a big experience this past weekend hanging out with some folks from Florida who were at the parks pin trading. Wow how things have come a long way since I used to pin trade in the early 2000's! But there was a bunch of people in the Frontierland area off to the side with all their pin books and doing trades with other traders... and knowing the values and series and where they came from. I just got pins on if I liked them or not and didn't really get collections or things of that nature. I used to look for "Hidden Mickey's" but that doesn't really seem to be a big deal anymore but still are there. It was just amazing how many pins I saw but also, none of the ones I have or had, seemed like a lot of newer stuff from the last couple of years? Are mine even valuable or wanted anymore? But I primarily collected to keep ones I wanted so I suppose it doesn't matter. But what an interesting Disney sub-culture that was to experience.
At the movies:
For a third week in a row, Weapons holds #1 for a decent 15.6 million as it passes the 100 mil mark! End of the Summer has been good for this film and doing very well. Holding at #2 is Freakier Friday with 9.2 mil as it gets closer to 100 mil but will struggle and may not reach it. Back up to #3 is The Fantastic Four: First Steps with 5.9 mil as it continues to wind-down. Drop down to #4 is Nobody 2 with 5.1 mil and soon to bow out. Holding on to #5 and rounding off the weekend is The Bad Guys 2 with 3.7 mil and will also bow out soon.
New movies that did not make the top 5:
A couple this week... at #7 is Honey Don't with 3 mil to open on a semi-wide release. Not a strong number but maybe they just needed to unload it. At #10 is Relay with only 1.9 mil and also semi-wide with a poor opening performance.
Quote of the week:
"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." - Galileo Galilei
Facts & Tips:
No number before 1,000 contains the letter A.
"But the thing is this, after a while, you just want to be with the one that makes you laugh. Know what I mean? Okay, see ya." - Chris Noth as Mr. Big in the TV series Sex and the City.
Pika-CHU!
Weekly Update:
Toward the end of this week we started to warm up a bit but what was interesting is we saw several days of overcast. Not sure where that came from but I'll take it as it kept our general temperatures low (like high 70's) and the nights still remained in the 60's. Now this is a Summer I can get behind but, the forecast for next week looks like it will start to warm up (in the 80's) and possibly hit 90 a day. The nights still look good though and should remain in the 60's but honestly, as long as we continue to get some breezes, it is all good. Some people may mistake the overcast with smog, honestly some could be mixed in but for the most part it was just overcast. If it was smog the air would feel kind of "heavy" and have an sort of industrial odor like smokiness. But it wasn't there so that is good but I'm sure there was some smog to a certain degree or however you measure that kind of thing.
At the movies:
Holding at #1 for a 2nd week is Weapons with another 25 million and now just a short distance of hitting 100 mil cume. Likely well get that with one more weekend but after that will drop down fast. Also holding at #2 is Freakier Friday with an extra 14.5 mil and looks like it will definitely come up short of 100 mil. New at #3 is Nobody 2 with 9.3 mil, not a great number for this film. Drop down to #4 is The Fantastic Four: First Steps with 8.8 mil as it quickly wraps up the Summer and being short of 300 mil. Also dropping down a notch to #5 is The Bad Guys 2 with 7.5 mil and will wrap up there pretty much.
Quote of the week:
"It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter." - Marlene Dietrich
Facts & Tips:
Maine is the U.S. state closest to Africa.
"We got this job on 65th and Third. This big freakin'
ballbreaker of a job, right, and we got the area roped off so that some schmuck
don't walk through there and take a wrecking ball between the eyes. All of a
sudden this woman, you know with the big dark glasses and the Bloomingdale
bags, she starts walking right through the ropes and I yell down at her,
"Hey! You can't go there ya stupid bitch." And suddenly, this big
steam fittin' bursts and this enormous God damn crane crashes right down on her
legs. And she's screaming, "My Legs! My Legs!" And I say, "No
shit, your legs, you got a two-thousand-pound goddamn crane on 'em." Now ,
do you know how in an emergency you can get like superhuman strength? I reach
down and I lift up this crane and Ernesto was able to slide her out from under,
and the doctors were able to save her legs. So the moral is: don't walk where
you're not supposed to walk because there may not be someone with superhuman
strength to save your little ass. And don't do drugs. That's it!" - Robert Costanzo as Sal Morelli in City Slickers.
A night at the bowl
Saturday night I was invited to see the first Jurassic Park at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic doing the music! It was a pretty awesome experience and the night was perfect weather. We were seated third row from the front so we couldn't see the big screen, just various small monitors but being that up close for the music, the movie didn't really matter! Also, the food was amazing and just the whole experience was pretty awesome, now I want to see all my movies with live music. But for the food, I started with a radicchio salad that had figs and some cheese that looked like a slice of brie but it just melted in your mouth. For the main course it was a roasted chicken and the crispy skin was mouth-watering. Ended with a cornmeal strawberry shortcake and then later with a combo of cheese and light caramel popcorn. The whole experience was fantastic and definitely something I wouldn't mind doing again. Also, I haven't been to the bowl in at least 10-years and last time I was really far up compared to this time. What a night!
Weekly Update:
So the nights still remain nice but the days have definitely warmed up this past week. The forecast for next week does look cooler but by only a few degrees however I will take it! What is more interesting (in a weird sense) is how humid it has gotten which is not normal for us. Despite having cooler temps, it felt warmer due to the humidity which is something I am not accustomed to. Like getting out of the shower and already starting to feel a bit of sweat and stickiness? What is up with that? We are not made or built for that kind of weather and I hope it was just a fluke or a limited time thing or something. We should have hit our peak Summer heat but we have been fortunate (so far) that it hasn't been that bad (yet). I can only hope this was the worse of it but I have a feeling, nope, it will not be. I guess time will tell!
At the movies:
New at #1 this week is Weapons with a solid 42.5 million. As we come to the end of Summer, horror tends to do well during this time. 2nd weekend will be a big tell on how this movie will hold up and do. New at #2 is Freakier Friday with 29 mil and not a bad number but not great. A little below expectations but they weren't that high to begin with. Drop down to #3 is The Fantastic Four: First Steps with 15.5 mil more and this will stay in the 300 mil range. Also dropping down to #4 is The Bad Guys 2 with 10.4 mil extra and this is unlikely to hit the 100 mil mark. Rounding off top 5 and also dropping is The Naked Gun with 8.4 mil and also not going to hit 100 mil despite it's promotions and mostly positive reviews.
New movies that did not make the top 5:
Just one this week coming in dead last (barely) at #10 is Sketch with 2.5 mil on a wide-release pattern. Per screen average is very low and will be losing those screens fast.
Quote of the week:
"No legacy is so rich as honestly." - William Shakespeare
Facts & Tips:
"I am" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
"I'm sorry but first class is overbooked, but there is plenty of room to stretch out in coach which is only half-full. For the convenience we would like to offer you this travel voucher which is good on any date for any South Pacific Airlines flight." - Julianna Margulies as Claire Miller on Snakes on a Plane.
