Monday, September 24, 2007

This past week actually got cold!! It rained pretty hard Friday night/Saturday morning which was both cool to see and hear. What was really nice was the crisp clean air right after the rain on Saturday afternoon and it had a very "Fall" season feel to it. The wind blowing into the room from the open windows felt and smelled ... fresh. No smog, no smoke filled air, no bad odors ... just fresh.

Weekly Update:
I pretty much spent the entire week at home, in fact I did spend the entire week not only at home but only in the upstairs part of the house only going downstairs once for no real reason other than to just go. I will probably be upstairs for another week till I have surgery on 10/2 for my neck. I feel like a hermit and all I am missing are a stack of rocks to throw at passing cars ... WHERE ARE MY ROCKS?!?!

At the movies:
Zombies take over the weekend as Resident Evil: Extinction takes the box office weekend with 24 million and word is this is the final one on this trilogy based off a popular video game. In at #2 is the romantic comedy Good Luck Chuck with 14 mil with the very unfunny Dane Cook. Holding at #3 is "The Brave One" with 7.4 mil and should be done overall. Also holding on at #4 is the western "3:10 to Yuma" with another 6.4 mil. Rounding off the top is the drama Eastern Promises with 5.7 mil at the box office.

New movies that did not make the top 5: Just one this week, the youthful comedy Sydney White with only 5.3 mil to its name. This modern day teenage version of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" but this time its seven geeks. This film also continues to support my theory that when they use myspace as their official website, don't look for a hit.

Comment Response:
None at this time.

Other News:
Legendary performer Marcel Marceau passed away Sunday morning, he was 84. For those who may not know the name, you may know the face. He was the iconic white faced, frowned French mime in his classic black and white striped outfit. Definitely a talent of very few words, if any at all, he brought his art form to world acclaim. His silence spoke volumes and now we all join in quiet to remember him, he will be missed.

Facts & Tips:
Dragonflies have six legs but cannot walk.

"Yatta!"- Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura in the TV series "Heroes."

posted by McDuck @ 00:08 0 comments

Monday, September 17, 2007

This new auto save feature they put in the blog system really ... sucks! It auto saves very frequently which is fine but if you close up the blog, it doesn't save a thing unless you hit the save icon. Now, it still sucks because you have to hit the save icon before it auto saves otherwise it doesn't work. THEN, you have to go into the text and hit a space bar or something to get the icon active again to save it before it does. Google, why do you continue to suck so bad??

Weekly Update:
I went to the ER the other night, that was exciting. I had some major numbing in my feet along with very week legs and knees. So I will need neck surgery soon but the folks in the ER were incredibly nice and saw me right away even though there were folks ahead of me. They were very efficient there and highly impressed with St. Jude in Fullerton.

At the movies:
Surprise here as the drama The Brave One takes the box office crown with 14 million. Holding at #2 is "3:10 to Yuma" with another 9.2 mil. New at #3 is the rough comedy Mr. Woodcock with 9.1 mil and school is out on this one. Showing up at #4 is Dragon Wars with 5.4 mil, I didn't know the dragons were fighting! Rounding off the top 5 is "Superbad" with another 5.2 mil and now over 110 mil cume.

Comment Response:
None at this time.

Other News:
The 59th Annual Emmy Awards took place last night and "The Sopranos" closed the evening with the final win. Other winners of the evening included Tina Fey for "30 Rock" and Ricky Gervais for "Extras." Overall the show was entertaining and the stage format was pretty cool as it was a round platform centered in the theatre so the audience was 360 degrees. I liked the format but host Ryan Seacrest was probably the worst choice for any kind of hosting. He does a passable job on "American Idol" so I am not sure why he was chosen for this ... someone must have either lost a bet or he has incriminating photos of some exec. Only explanation I can think of. One of my favorite parts of the show (that I saw) was the sing-off between the "Office's" Rainn Wilson against Kayne "cry baby" West. The category, music of Kayne West. Rainn did a decent job but Kayne singing one of his own songs and seeing as this is what he does ... TERRIBLE!

Facts & Tips:
A male kangaroo is called a Boomer.

"You've made a friend in the Romulan Empire today, captain. Hopefully, the first of many."- Dina Meyer as Commander Donatra in "Star Trek: Nemesis."

posted by McDuck @ 11:45 0 comments

Monday, September 10, 2007

Summer is truly over (not officially) as the weather drops from 120 to the low 70's during the day, that is quiet a drop and well welcomed at that. Hot is hot but 120 is WAY hot!! I always say, I prefer cold over hot because its easier to warm yourself up then cool yourself down ... well for me anyway.

Weekly Update:
This past week was pretty uneventful but also a very short week as last Monday was a holiday and I took the Tuesday off to avoid traffic and just worked from home. So just three days in the office ... it was niiiiiiiice.

At the movies:
Bang bang shoot it up western takes the box office crown this past summer weekend as 3:10 to Yuma earns a nice 14.1 million. Holding in at #2 is the "Halloween" remake with another 10 mil. The raunchy comedy of "Superbad" chimes in at #3 with another 8 mil and now over the 100 mil cume mark. Playing through at #4 is "Balls of Fury" earning an extra 5.7 mil more. Rounding off the top 5 is "The Bourne Ultimatum" with 5.5 mil and breaking the 200 mil cume.

New movies that did not make the top 5: Action was for the summer as Shoot 'em Up earns the #6 spot just missing the top 5 with 5.4 mil. At #22 in semi-wide release are The Brothers Solomon with only 525k to its name.

Comment Response:
None at this time.

Other News:
The stage is quiet as the opera scene loses a renowned tenor. On Thursday morning the robust Luciano Pavarotti passed away after a year long battle with cancer. What made this singer so unique is he brought opera to the masses. It did not matter if you were an opera fan or not, you could still appreciate the energetic bellows of Pavarotti. If you did not know opera or singers, often his name was used to define and describe opera as a whole. He brought the art center stage for the world to appreciate regardless of personal taste. He will be missed and the stage goes quiet in a big way. He was 71 years old.

Facts & Tips:
The official state gem of Washington is petrified wood.

"Would it be indecent to ask the grandparents to stay at a hotel?"- Juliette Lewis as Audrey Griswold in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."

posted by McDuck @ 00:01 0 comments

Monday, September 03, 2007

LABOR DAY SPECIAL
HOT HOT and more HOT! This past weekend saw daily temps at 100 degrees or higher in just about all over the SoCal area. I don't remember it this hot in a long time in both day and night. Evenings probably averaged about 85 to 90 degrees.

Weekly Update:
This was a freak'n HOT but enjoyable Labor Day Weekend. On Sunday spent the day at the California Speedway which at the high point was 130 degrees and the track measured at 150 degrees. But when night came it dropped down to about 100 so wasn't so bad. In the end of the Sharp AQUOS 500, the checkered flag went to #48 Jimmie Johnson which makes this his 2nd win in a row at this course and 5th overall at the Speedway.

At the movies:
Horror wins the week which is no surprise. Even though the numbers are small, its still enough to give Halloween top honors this holiday weekend with just 31 million. MGM takes top honors which is SOOOO rare but they have traditionally won the Labor Day Weekend despite this being a remake. Holding in at the #2 spot is "Superbad" with an extra 15.6 mil. New at #3 is the comedy Balls of Fury with a holiday gross of 13.8 and an opening cume of 16.8 (Wednesday opening). At #4 is "The Bourne Ultimatum" with 13.2 mil and a cume of over the 200 mil mark. Rounding off the top 5 is "Rush Hour 3" with 10.4 mil more.

New movies that did not make the top 5: Only one this week and its no real surprise here as Death Sentence earns a big 5.2 million and DOA.

Comment Response:
None at this time.

Other News:
This is kind of sad, a report came out last week that there are enough (registered) hand guns in the US to arm 9 out of 10 people. On the flip side of that, Nigeria has enough for 1 out of 100 people. So what this boils down to is out of 875 million known firearms, US citizens own 270 million ... 31% for one country. Did you also know after 2 years there are still Hurricane Katrina victims waiting for promised aid and still living in shelters ... progress, its what it is all about!

Facts & Tips:
Strawberries contain more vitamin C than oranges.

"So it's like a pass-it-on thing, then. Wait a minute. You and this lowlife are in this chain of do-gooders, some kind of Mother Theresa conga line? That's a little New-Agey for you, isn't it? Sort of Tibetan? What, are you in a cult?"- Jay Mohr as Chris Chandler in "Pay It Forward."

posted by McDuck @ 12:58 0 comments