I do enjoy the Fall/Winter daylight savings. Who doesn't want an extra hour to do something or just do nothing! I hate the opposite though of losing an hour in Spring/Summer, I mostly look at it as one less hour to sleep. But I will probably dwell on that another time, like when it actually comes up. For now, enjoy the extra hour of productivity or laziness, your choice!
Weekly Update:Back from a LONG week in Orlando and I am so happy to be home. The trip was sooo tiring, I probably got about 2 to 3 hours of sleep a night. Not sure why I had sleeping problems, usually its only for the first day or two of a trip and not the whole time. So got back from Orlando on Friday and the flight was delayed an hour. It was a non-stop flight to LAX with a stop in Atlanta! Yes, apparently non-stop does NOT mean direct. It means the plane you are on will be the same one you take as you continue. A "direct non-stop" flight means from Orlando to LAX ... so went to Atlanta for a couple of hours so had another hour delay and it was raining hard, so flying in and out wasn't too pleasant. Landed only about 2 1/2 hours later than expected just in time for prime time Friday night rush hour ... nice!The convention itself was ok, very lowkey than in the past. I think in general a lot of folks are tired of Orlando but I like it over Atlantic City anyday! Tuesday night I hung out in the green room and saw Sylvester Stallone, he was looking kind of puffy in the face and tired. I didn't get a pic because he didn't seem too approachable that evening. Thursday night was cool and I got a quick shot with Christopher Guest who I loved in The Princess Bride and This is Spinal Tap. Two great and classic movies!
At the movies:Horror is back in the front seat as Saw III takes the box office lead this weekend with 34.3 million. Holding strong at #2 is "The Departed" with an additional 9.84 mil and a 4 week cume of 91 mil. Also holding firm to #3 is "The Prestige" with an additional 9.63 mil. In its second weekend at #4 is "Flags Of Our Fathers" with 6.4 mil. And rounding off the top 5 with another 6.1 mil is "Open Season".Opening at the #12 spot with a sizeable release print count but not so main stream is Babel with only 2 mil. Normally that would be ok however with a per screen average of only $1,500 to show for it, hopefully word of mouth will carry it otherwise it will fall into the lost art films of 2006.Comment Response:Are you talking about Scarlett Johansson?Other News:A huge fire in southern California started up on Thursday, 4 firefighters were killed and last I heard one was in critical condition. When I was flying in on Friday, I saw a huge layer of brown clouds and intially thought that was smog but it was so big, it must have been from the fire. I did hear this morning its about 85% containted and the weather is finally helping (Friday and Saturday). Cause of this fire is still unknown but this is the second fire in the last two months. The one in the Ojai area lasted a month before it was completely under control. California ... fire season does exist.
Facts & Tips:Galapagos turtles can take up to three weeks to digest a meal."Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?"- Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel in "This is Spinal Tap"
SHOWEAST 2006 EDITION- ORLANDO, FL.So this week is the annual ShowEast convention in Orlando, Florida. Not much to report on yet since it officially starts tonight but I arrived last night and just getting things set-up or settling in. Probably will have a bit to report on next time but otherwise its pretty quiet for the most part.Weekly Update:Got sick some point mid-week with a cold so been battling that as I left for Orlando. Got so conjested which sucks ... sore throat sucks ... coughing sucks ... its all bad.
At the movies:A little shocker as a semi-art/main stream film takes the #1 spot this weeknd with 14.8 million is The Prestige. Still showing a strong showing in its third week is "The Departed" with an additional 13.7 mil and a cume of 77+ well on its way to 100 mil. Charging the #3 spot this week is the World War II epic Flags of Our Fathers with 10.2 mil. Not a lot for a film of this magnitude however it released in less than 2000 screens which is well below the norm. Still hunting for the season in the #4 spot is "Open Season" with an additional 8 mil. And rounding off the top 5 is the horse drama Flicka with 7.7 mil.Comment Response:None at this time.Other News:
The month of October, 2006 is not over yet and it has now been the deadliest month of the year for US soldiers killed in Iraq, as high as 15 in one day. This is even the highest for the past 2 years in fact with a 70+ killed toll mark. This also marks a milestone for the Iraqi's as well as they have a toll of about 12 dead per day this month. A new poll was taken in August/September that 4 out of 5 Iraqi's support or approve of the attacks on US Soldiers if it leads to their removal and 60% of Iraqi's say the violence is to blame on the US presence.This is also interesting, it was discovered that Jeb Bush has direct involvement with a program that helped support president Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program. So what it lead down to was the US was paying or allocating funds to the program that Jeb was involved with and recieved money for it. Sounds like Halliburton all over again.
Facts & Tips:The beaver is the official animal of Canada."uh I am not feeling your butt again, mother! We all know it's wonderful."- Jennifer Love Hewitt as Page Conners in "Heartbreakers".
Where is my rain?? So my car is pretty dirty and I have been meaning to take it 
to the car wash but I hear on the radio every single day, "Tomorrow looks like 20% showers in the morning with the marine layer moving in ... ". I mean after 5 days isn't that like 100% at that point? It was funny, I did clean off all my windows once when I was getting gas and then the very next morning they were all dirty again from the sprinklers and morning dew.Weekly Update:NERD FEST '06 Part III: The Stalker ... so attended another Hollywood Collector's show in Burbank on Saturday and got some nice snaps from various folks:- Jay Thomas- VERY COOL, best know as Eddie LeBec from Cheers.
- Chubby Checker- VERY NICE and friendly.
- Martin Kove- Ok guy, best known as the bad karate instructor of the Cobra Kai in Karate Kid.
- Ned Wertimer- Ok guy, best known as the doorman on The Jeffersons.
- Marla Gibbs- Very sweet, best know as Florence from The Jeffersons.
- Stefanie Powers- VERY NICE and cute dog too, best known from Hart to Hart.
- Melody Anderson- nice and sweet, best known as Dale Arden from the movie Flash Gordon.
- Khrystyne Haje- super sweet and friendly, best known as Simone from the TV show Head of the Class (link info very incomplete).
- Tony O'Dell- nice guy, also know from Head of the Class (link info very incomplete).
- Dawn Wells- Very nice and sweet, best known as Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island.
- Joey D. Vieira- Like a grandpa! Best known as the near-deaf father in The Patriot.
- Danielle Spencer- nice and best known as Dee Thomas from What's Happening.
- Eric Roberts- VERY nice guy.
- Bill Mumy- Cool guy, best known as Will Robinson in the TV series Lost in Space.
- Angela Cartwright- Incredibly nice and helpful!!! Best know for Penny Robinson in the TV seriesLost in Space and as Brigitta von Trapp from The Sound of Music.
- Heather Menzies- very sweet, best known as Louisa von Trapp in The Sound of Music.
- Gary Graham- really nice guy and has done a lot of sci-fi TV.
- Branscombe Richmond- Such a great guy! Been is soooo many different things and is starting a show called "Good Morning Hawaii".
Sunday night I did something completely different! I went to the WWE Showdown at the Staples Center ... talk about a packed house and so many people into wrestling. I basically went for work to escort some contest winners and we got a meet and greet with John Cena who was such a cool guy! What was also cool was I ran into Mindy Sterling at the meet and greet and talked to her for a couple of hours, what an awesome person (she was there with her family and her son is a HUGE wrestling fan), she is best known as Frau Farbissina in the Austin Powers movies.at the Movies:
Sony's The Grudge 2 takes the box office win with a 22 million opening, scary is back in season! Holding tight onto #2 this weekend is "The Departed" with an additional 18.7 mil bringing it well past the 50 mil mark cume. New at #3 is the Universal political laugher Man of the Year with a decent 12.5 mil. Hunting season still open for "Open Season" as it grabs the #4 spot with 11 more mil. Rounding of the top 5 is "Texas Chainsaw: The Beginning" having a BIG drop with an additional 7.8 mil.Other new movies that did not make the top 5 is the low budget action film The Marine booya'ing with only 7 mil at the box office to take the #6 spot. Maybe not a lot but its enough to know that dvd sales will bring in the rest.
Comment Response:I thought it interesting too about the wifi and SF. I hope this does lead a trend to do other high dense city areas. Unfortunately, this is something that doesn't make sense to do in LA because its so spread out from city to city, burb to burb. Manhattan would be a good area to do wifi like SF.
Other News:The world at a glance ... additional nuclear test (weapon) performed by North Korea, clearly developing for WMD style weapons. One year anniversary of the Iraqi imposed government and was celebrated with a day of around 83 civilian and 5 US Soldiers killed. Hawaii gets hit with an earthquake, no reported deaths, just many injuries. So, what else is new?Facts & Tips:If you keep a goldfish in a dark room, it will eventually turn white.
"I pledge allegiance... to the band... of Mr. Schneebly... and will not fight him... for creative control... and will defer to him on all issues related to the musical direction of the band."- Jack Black as Dewey Fine in "The School of Rock"
Well, the LA Dodgers got swept by the NY Mets ending their baseball year last Saturday. Now both local teams for me are out but I think California still has 2 teams in the play-offs. I know the A's are still in or at least last time I checked they were. Baseball ... it sure does go on for a LONG time and I guess that is why its such a money-losing venture in the long run. 90% of the team owners lose money each year and the ones who do make money are the playoff champs. I think with so many games and the season so long (seriously it stretches over 3 seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall ... maybe even Winter?) its no wonder its a money-losing business. Well, before we know it, the first day of baseball will be upon us again and the cycle continues ...Weekly Update:This past weekend was very low key for me which I really need. Its been just one long week after another lately and its not because its busy, actually quiet the opposite but the work stress level has increased ten-fold. Its more senseless stuff than anything else and to me that weighs more than complicated situations that do make sense. Well, to me anyway that is. I know next week will be pretty hectic for me so I better try and get to bed at decent hours.
At the movies:A little bit of a surprise but WB's The Departed takes the #1 spot this weekend with a strong 27 million in a out-of-season time frame for movies. Taking a second place spot with a decent but below expected gross is New Line's Texas Chainsaw: The Beginning with only 19.2 mil. Showing up at #3 with an additional 16 mil is "Open Season" as this Fall animated laugher continues to go strong. New to the scene at #4 is Lionsgate comedy Employee of the Month with an unexpected high of 11.8 mil. Rounding off the top 5 is "The Guardian" with an additional 9.6 mil as it discovers its sea legs.Comment Response:None at this time.Other News:
This is kind of cool, the city of San Francisco is being completely outfitted for wifi. They are going to install radio boxes everywhere on street lights and telephone poles. So basically anywhere in the city, you can use the wifi to check things on the internet with any wireless device. I believe I heard it will be a joint partnership with two companies, one of them being Google. There is no cost being hit to the city (that I know of) and it will be 100% free to access/use. I still hate Google though as a search engine (one of the worst I have used) but that is one way to stay up with technology. San Francisco, a city growing with technology ... they should use that as their city slogan.
Tips & Facts:Googal is a number"Never send an adult to do a kid's job."- Alexa Vega as Carmen Cortez in "Spy Kids"
ITS OCTOBER and this morning driving into work it felt like winter already. We were suppose to have clouds and chance of rain but nothing ... and my car needs a wash. Each day this week there is suppose to be a chance of showers so do I wait ... probably, I don't mind that my car is dirty. Inside needs a good cleaning though, maybe even some shampooing. Has anyone noticed the last three letters of Shampoo is POO?
Weekly Recap:
This week has been so-so, work-wise very busy and some changes which I do not think is the best plan but I guess wait and see what happens. The lot itself is really busy and crowded that they are even sending guests to park way off lot due to the lack of spaces. But that is due to two factors being construction and full production going on. Crazy times ... crazy crazy times.
At the movies:No surprise here that Sony's Open Season takes the box office weekend win at #1 with 23 million. New to the weekend is the Disney over-hyped film The Guardian treading at 17.7 mil, not a bad number but from all the made-up buzz it should have been more (but seriously, this one is clearly going to drop fast). Holding in at #3 is "Jackass: Number Two" with 14 mil already past the 50 mil mark cume. Showing up at #4, A HIT (not a big one though) for MGM finally with School for Scoundrels at 9.1 mil and probably won't last in the top 10 very long. Fighting its hold onto the top 5 is "Jet Li's Fearless" at #5 with 4.7 mil.Comment Response:Yes, back during that time there was no standard spelling however with today's standards it is misspelled and its just a bit of fun trivia. Ideally they are teaching the history of Pennsylvania in general to include that.
Other News:Another school shooting is happening while I type this out today ... in Pennsylvania a gunman ran into an Amish school and tied up female students and has already shot 3 of them dead. So basically they were executed and probably for no reason other than a very deranged madman who authorities have no information on as of yet. The Gunman, however is identified as a milk truck driver. This is the third incident within a week with Baily, CO as the first were one girl was shot in the head while the police rushed in and another in Wiscousin were a 15-year old student killed the Principle. What in the world is going on here?! Something about school security has to be done or this will continue. It also seems really strange that they are all happening around the same time, wonder if one sees what happened on TV or heard on the radio and it sparks something in them to go out and make crazy!! The Wiscousin shooting would be a different approach to security as the other two were from outside "attackers". I do hope this is the last we see of this kind of news for a long time and something is stepped up to insure school safety inside and out. 
Facts & Tips:There are more French restaurants in New York City than in Paris.""Stepps" ain't no square dance."- Sean Patrick Thomas as Derek Reynolds in "Save the Last Dance"
Weekly Update:
Facts & Tips:
