Monday, December 29, 2008

Talk about inconsistent problems!!! If its not one thing with this blog system, its another. If they fix one problem, another one occurs for a couple of weeks before it is fixed. What is wrong with this problem? Doesn't Google have some involvement with this and aren't they suppose to be "all that" with a side of fries or something? So now the issue(s) that are occurring is after a few saves, I sometimes go to a different page and when I come back, EVERYTHING is one long paragraph instead of my separate sections how I like it. The other issue is that now when I load a picture, it then makes every line double-spaced?? WHAT is going on with this stupid thing? I like the format of this and how the web name has "blogger" in it but I don't want to switch after the few years I have been using this. GET IT TOGETHER you guys (and Google) ... this shouldn't be this difficult!! Once again, GOOGLE SUCKS!

Weekly Update:
The holidays sure seemed to come and go pretty fast. The couple of weeks building up to it seemed so long ago now, yet during that time, felt as if Christmas was coming too fast. Then the eve of the big day felt kind of long which is nice but the day after ... was kind of boring. Granted I slept till noon but all the fun happened the night before and shouldn't it carry over and be a 2-day event?! I think it should but I guess everyone was just tired. It was still a fun time to get away and do nothing, veg out and watch movies. I like playing games but it can also be difficult to find games that everyone can or wants to play at the same time. I hope everyone got what they wanted or things that they liked. I know I did, but I really don't ask for too much ... just a good time.

At the movies:
The pooch takes the holiday box office as Marley & Me barks up 51.68 million for the 4-day weekend. Despite the terrible "Heel the Love" campaign since the word "heel" means to stop ... the romantic comedy centered around a love-able dog was able to charm audiences. New at #2 is the family comedy Bedtime Stories with a holiday opening of 38.6 mil. Critically acclaimed The Curious Case of Benjamin Button opens at #3 with 39 mil for the holidays (it ranks third instead of second due to the 3-day weekend being slightly lower than "Bedtime Stories"). Showing up at #4 is critic battered Valkyrie with 30 mil to open and not sure how long it will last. Rounding off the top 5 is "Yes Man" with an extra 16.5 mil.

New movies that did not make the top 5: Unfortunately just one this week as the comic story of The Spirit only earned 10.4 mil for the holidays which isn't that great as it shows up at the #9 spot.

Quote of the week:
"Holidays have no pity." - Eugenio Montale

Comment Response:
You know I haven't seen "Four Christmases" yet but I hear its entertaining and it is doing well at the box office.

Other News:
Christmas Day the diva of song and dance, Eartha Kitt passed away after a fight with colon cancer. Probably her most recognizable claim-to-fame for the past couple of generations was as the very sexy "Catwoman" from the TV series of "Batman" starring Adam West. She put the silky purrrrrr into the character but her career was much more popular before the series. Having both Emmy and Tony awards to her mantle for various stage performances and TV shows, she was considered one of the first divas out there. Even though she was diagnosed with cancer, she kept her spirits very high and was filled with life and vitality. Her stage presence was always daringly sexy and always flirtatious ... she was 81.

Facts & Tips:
One acre of peanuts will make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches.

"Do you think that I would like America?" - Tamlyn Tomita as Kumiko in "The Karate Kid, Part II."

posted by McDuck @ 00:37 0 comments

Monday, December 22, 2008

COLD!!!! We sure do flip a switch here when it comes to weather. Got hit with some crazy rains, lot of areas got snow ... VEGAS GOT SNOW!!! How crazy is that? I know it has happened before but it sure is rare. Of course with the rain comes a lot of bad traffic and many accidents. Heard a bunch of reports of Black Ice which is also very rare for Southern California. Sure you see and hear it all the time in the Mid-West, Northeast and such but SoCali?! Dang ... sure is some crazy weather we are getting but overall we do need the rain and even though it has rained, we still need a lot more!

Weekly Update:
WHAT a crazy and tiring week it has been ... but I guess it always gets a little like that just before the holidays. I helped out a friend with his movie again and it was pretty cool. Pretty long hours again but its all part of the process and I enjoy it. Nice having a "day job" to fall back on and also that allows me to go out and do this from time to time as long as I got my stuff done. During the last two days of shooting I met a couple of cool folks:

*Tony Todd- Great character actor and a very cool guy.
*Phil LaMarr- Funny and really nice guy.

So, now I want to see the finished product and not just because I am in the background but because it sounds like a fun and funny film.

At the movies:
Big surprise at the #1 and #2 spots this week as Yes Man earns top honors with a low sum of 18.2 million. The big surprise is WB took the #1 spot away from Sony who was thought to be the shoe-in for it with their new Will Smith movie Seven Pounds with only 16 mil to open. I think the problem is that no one had any clue what the movie was about. New at #3 is The Tale of Despereaux with 10.5 mil. Big drop to #4 is "The Day the Earth Stood Still" with only 10.2 mil as it struggles to 100 mil and more than likely will fall very short of that mark. Rounding off the top 5 is "Four Christmases" with an extra 7.7 mil as it now reaches the 100 mil cume mark.

Quote of the week:
"Optimism is the madness of maintaining that everything is right when its wrong." - Voltaire

Other News:
The 66th Annual Golden Globe nominations were announced last week. The top three movie contenders with the most nods came in a dead heat between "Doubt." "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and "Frost/Nixon" who all lead the way with 5 nominations. The Golden Globes are nominated and voted upon by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) and are usually held live in mid to late January. They encompass both film and television industries and some think of them as the pre-show to the Oscars with similar tastes and feel ... but not 100% Last year's Golden Globes were a complete disaster due to the writer's strike and all the support they received from the various other unions, especially the SAG union. With the pending SAG strike still in the air, what will happen this coming Golden Globes?? Hopefully there will not be a strike and they can proceed as normal, otherwise, another waste of time and energy.

Facts & Tips:
The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.

"I try to keep lines simple, and that's something I learned by watching Charles Schulz. My strip is pretty clean looking stylistically." - Jim Davis, cartoonist and creator of "Garfield."

posted by McDuck @ 00:05 1 comments

Monday, December 15, 2008

Wow, what a busy week this turned out to be for me. I had the usual small meetings but then BAM, I got hit with so many other things. Let me see ... I had a charity luncheon on Thursday and then on Friday had a small holiday party with all the west coasters for the company. On Saturday I helped give out toys and other goodies to all the neighborhood kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Boyle Heights (downtown LA area) and finally Sunday I helped at a Variety Children's Charity golf tournament that raised funds for scholarships at the Boys and Girls Club. I am pooped! That is a lot of extra early mornings for me and on top of all that, suppose to be raining all this week and freezing (well, freezing for Southern California at least).
Weekly Update:
Last Monday was the Walt Disney Company holiday party for cast, crew and families down at Disneyland. It was a fun time and it was nice not having to wait hours in lines for the various rides. Lots of discounts on everything which was cool ... and bad at the same time! Finally got on the new Nemo ride which was was old submarine ride which I use to love. The Nemo Adventure was pretty fun, really interesting how they did the image screens for the animation. The event itself was kicked off by Robert Iger who is the current President of the Walt Disney Company (yes, the WHOLE company). I had to go up and try to get a pic with him and ... success!

At the movies:
The day the box office stood still as the #1 spot goes to The Day the Earth Stood Still with only 31 million to open. Considering the magnitude of this film, that is a really bad number to open with as it will struggle to break that 100 mil mark which it will need badly! In at #2 is "Four Christmases" with an extra 13.3 mil and quickly making its way to 100 mil. Hanging in to #3 is "Twilight" with another 8 mil as it finally reaches the 150 mil cume mark. Also hanging in there at #4 is "Bolt" with another 7.5 mil. Rounding off the top 5 is "Australia" with 4.3 mil more and close to being finished.

New movies that did not make the top 5: Showing up at the #7 spot is Nothing Like the Holidays with only 3.5 mil in its debut. A major flop this weekend at #15 is Delgo with only 915k ... not even a mil for a wide release title ... wow, now that is pretty sad. It probably cost over 1 mil to make the film prints alone!

Quote of the week:
"It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours." - Harry Truman

Other News:
On Thursday the famous and even seen as notorious Bettie Page passed away
after suffering a heart attack last week. She was a pin-up legend through the 50's as "She captured the imagination of a generation of men and women with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality." her agent, Mark Roesler said. Her photos then and even today have become classic "Page" photos and continue to capture the hearts and imagination of men and women, boys and girls. I think her images are timeless and have spun into cult classics not just in photography but fashion and hairstyle. She was an icon for that and this generation ... hopefully will continue to be so. She was 85.

In other sad news, legendary actor Van Johnson passed away last Friday in Nyack, New York. The name may elude many but he was from the golden age of films starring in such films as "The Caine Mutiny," "A Guy Named Joe," and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" to name only a few. He was in one of my favorite movies of all the time, "Go For Broke!" where he was the lead actor re-telling the story of the Japanese-American unit the 244th during World War II. To be honest, I thought he had passed a long time ago and now I am sad to hear he just passed. Johnson was 92.

Facts & Tips:
Giraffes have no vocal chords.

"Well, I've been thinkin' about it. We'll just have to be here around sunup so we can catch the fire chief real early. And I'll just say to him, "Mister Jones, Sir, we wanna buy The Phantom and her filly Misty."" - David Ladd as Paul Beebe in "Misty."

posted by McDuck @ 00:04 1 comments

Monday, December 08, 2008

TORA! TORA! TORA!

Yesterday was December 7th and 67 years ago was the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy which brought the United States officially into World War II. Many may not know this but although the US declared war upon Japan, it was Germany who declared war on the US soon after. A lot of theories and speculation on the attack and how the US knew about it yet decided to stand by to give reason to go into war. Many compare it with the the events of 9/11 and how that brought the US into its current state. Lot of reasons that support these theories and some others that can counter it. One thing is definite though ... "Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy ... " - Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Weekly Update:
OH what a week, busy busy busy but I have to say overall it was a fun-busy for most of it! The craziest of the fun was on Friday where I had to be at the Roosevelt Hotel at 6:45 AM!!! I was an extra in this indie film that my friend is involved with. I was done and out by lunch time so in perspective it wasn't a long shoot for me. I have been on little shoots before for a commercial (security guy with gun), short film (guy in sling) and now I can add a full-length feature film to the list (guy in restaurant)!! Since I was right behind the main table where the dialogue was happening, I was able to listen and the film sounds pretty fun and funny. One interesting highlight was who visited the set during that time:

*Joanie Laurer - aka "Chyna" the ex-female wrestler who was incredibly sweet!

One of the main stars, Ethan Philips I have met before and is a very cool guy. The director, Tim Russ who I met not that long ago for the first time have a great comedic chemistry with Ethan. It was such a fun time.

At the movies:
Interesting box office results this week as "Four Christmases" holds on to the #1 spot with an extra 18.2 mil. "Twilight" bumps up to #2 but still a steady drop as it earns 13.2 mil more. At #3 is "Bolt" with an additional 9.7 mil as it tries to paw its way to the holidays. Struggling to stay on the radar is "Australia" with 7 mil and coming close to ending its season. Rounding off the top 5 is "Quantum of Solace" with 6.6 mil and now just breaking the 150 mil cume mark.

New movies that did not make the top 5: Just one major release as the dark and dreary comic-to-movie sequel of Punisher: War Zone takes the #8 spot with only 4 mil to open. The original movie didn't do anything and the re-make wasn't that big, not sure why they keep making this one. At #9 in a limited release (under 1,000 runs) is Cadillac Records with 3.5 mil. Also in limited release (under 1,000 runs) was Nobel Son with 370k and enough to give it the #15 spot.

Quote of the week:
"Always forgive your enemies, but never forget their names." - John F. Kennedy

Comment Response:
Get the (HSM) voices out of my head!! I am not sure if "Milk" is your kind of movie but you never know.

Other News:
The holidays are coming upon us all and regardless of what you observe or celebrate, the spirit of the season is what should bind us all together. This seems to be the season of not only giving but also ... crazy people!! I am sure many of heard of the story of the Wal-Mart employee who was literally trampled to death when the store was open for "Black Friday" last week. No one stopped to see if he was ok or to even help him up. Even while paramedics were working on him, people were still walking by and stepping over the whole ordeal! REALLY?! Have we come to that when it comes to shopping to save that extra $3.00 on something we probably don't need but the discount is too great we have to get it anyway?? Another story was here in California at a Toys-R-Us ... TOYS-R-US!!!! Apparently two couples were shopping and the women starting arguing over something. Then one of the husbands/boyfriends pulls out a gun and then the other man sees this and pulls out HIS gun and they shoot each other!! Who brings a gun into a toy store and second, who ELSE brings a gun into a toy store ... such a sad sad state of things these days. The Wal-Mart employee died and the two men who shot each other didn't ... if you ask me it should have been the other way around.

Facts & Tips:
To take lumps out of a bag of sugar, place it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

"Dog, you just read my mind." - Mayte Garcia as Pep Clemente in "Firehouse Dog."

posted by McDuck @ 00:17 0 comments

Monday, December 01, 2008

POST-TURKEY DAY EDITION

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and wishing you all a GREAT THANKSGIVING!! I know stuffed myself silly but isn't that the modern point of it all? To eat till we can't think anymore and then spend time with friends and family for a bit. I am sure that wasn't the originally intent but parts of the meaning are still there. It is a good way and excuse to gather and share which is one of the principal reasons to begin with.

Weekly Update:
It sure was a nice short work week and a nice long "do-nothing-and-veg-out" week. I look forward to more of those as we approach the winter holiday season as Thanksgiving ends the fall holidays. Then there is the New Year's break and then ... well I guess nothing big for awhile till I head to Vegas which is work and fun in late March/early April next year. But from now till the end of the year, it should really fly by ... gives me more time to do ... nothing.

At the movies:
The holidays chime in at #1 as Four Christmases earns a nice 5-day gross of 46.7 million. Showing up strong at #2 is "Bolt" with an extra 26.6 for just the weekend. Big drop to #3 is "Twilight" with another 26.4 mil and the fade is already starting to happen. Still strong at #4 is "Quantum of Solace" with another 19.5 mil. Rounding off the top 5 (just barely) is Australia with a sad 5-day opening of 20 mil and already on its way out.

New movies that did not make the top 5: Just one really and clearly the wrong time for a film of this nature as Transporter 3 earns a 5-day opening of 18.5 mil and enough to earn the #7 spot. A very limited release earns the #10 spot as Milk earns 1.9 mil with only 36 locations!! This is a GREAT opener for such a great story depicting the life of Harvey Milk in San Francisco. No doubt there will be Oscar-buzz around this film for Sean Penn and also a perfect time for this film to release. I look forward to seeing this film slowly rise up the charts, I know it will!

Quote of the week:
"Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence." - Vince Lombardi

Comment Response:
Its probably called "Black Friday" because from January 1st till now all the other Friday's are in the red for sales and this kicks off the season. It is the one day of the year though that stores are pretty much guaranteed to be in the "black" for a day after costs.

Other News:
Last Wednesday Mumbai, India was hit with several coordinated attacks at hotels, restaurants and other sites totally 10 locations. The suspected Islamic militants were specifically targeting Britons and Americans in the attacks and over 100 people were killed while leaving 250+ injured. Armed with assault rifles, hand grenades and explosives hit many of the locations with guns blazing. Mumbai is India's financial capital as it was riddled with these attacks creating some hostage situations. This attacks adds to several that have hit India over the past 3-years as it tries to bring itself into the more modern and world scene. July of 2006 had a series of bombings that killed 187 people. Due to the style of these highly coordinated attacks, targeting Britons and Americans specifically gives very strong suspicions that this militant group is linked to al-Qaida. The siege of the remaining attackers who killed many hostages ended finally on Friday when Indian police took out the last assailant.

Facts & Tips:
Only male turkeys gobble.

"Please Captain, I just .... " Godfrey as Gaeman in "Soul Plane."

posted by McDuck @ 00:02 1 comments