Monday, May 25, 2009

MEMORIAL DAY EDITION

The extended weekend is not just because, it is a time to remember those who served our country. Memorial is kind of a bad word in the sense it reflects remembering those who have past away but I would rather use for not only that but on top of thanking those who serve our armed forces today. They continue to serve and risk their lives to maintain the freedoms we all take for granted. So this day should be for all of them, past and present. I salute them and we should have an official Remembrance Day like Canada.

Weekly Update:
This past week sure was a lot more calm than the previous one. I had a couple of things going both Thursday and Friday nights ... and Sunday but overall it was MUCH more relaxing and I sure did take advantage of being able to sleep in on the weekend mornings as well as take a long nap on Sunday (since I did not get to sleep in on that particular day). I say this all the time, naps are so under-rated. Aside from that, spent Friday night at Disneyland (again) to celebrate a friend's birthday and just hung out. Saturday was cool, did the mini-golf and some laser tag. Laser tag is a fun game to play but nothing like paintball. If you want something quick and easy, laser tag is great. If you want something more involved and realistic, paintball is the way to go. However both are very fun in their own right.

At the movies:
HUGE upset at the box office this holiday weekend as comedy takes the crown!! At the lead is Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian earning a 4-day opening of 70 million. At a slight distance #2 is the 4th installment of the Terminator series, Terminator: Salvation with only 53.8 from a 5-day total. A VERY below expectations number on all accounts. Holding strong at #3 is "Star Trek" with another 29.4 and a cume now of almost 200 mil. Dropping down to #4 is "Angels & Demons" with 27.7 mil and just shy of 90 mil cume. Rounding off the top 5 is Dance Flick with an expected 13.1 mil and sure to be at your local video store shortly.

Quote of the week:
"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." - George Bernard Shaw

Comment Response:
Fortunately this past week was MUCH more quieter and I finally got a little rest ... aaahh.

Other News:
Last week we had a couple of sizable earthquakes. The first one was on Sunday evening around LAX Airport which hit around the 5.0 area and it was a rolling earthquake. Rolling meaning you could feel the slight tremble and then the top of like a wave in the ocean and then a little tremble right after. The second one is on Monday which measured about a 4.1 and again around the LAX area. This one I did not notice and it hit during the day when I was at work. I think because my office is next to a stair well and people go up and down it all the time and I can hear them, I just figured it was more folks using the stairs. But then later when I heard that another earthquake hit, then it made more sense of that noise I heard being that but I did not feel any motion. I think it is still funny how "experts" say that we will get hit with the "big one" within the next 10 years ... that is a very safe and vague guess if you ask me. Sure, let me make a prediction too and say that we will have rain within the next 12 months ... now I am a weather expert.

Facts & Tips:
Babies start dreaming even before they're born.

"The mouth of the south." - Jimmy Hart as Jimmy Hart from WWE Wrestling.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Have you ever had to attend a funeral service and then a baptism ... in the same day? I did that on Saturday and it was quiet the tiring day. I had to be in Los Angeles by 10am to attend memorial services of an former co-worker from my MGM days who died from breast cancer. Very sad and she was only in her 40's. It was good seeing the old crew but not under those circumstances. From there, I then had to get back to Orange County for a friend's daughter's baptism. On top of all that, it was a very hot day and I just wanted to change out of that black shirt, slacks and jacket! I hope I don't have another day like that in a very long time, just very strange how it all happened like that. I guess the day was a little symbolic of death and re-birth.

Weekly Update:
I am so tired ... every night this past week I have had either some meeting, event or "thing" to do and it continues through the weekend. I need a nap and stat!!! Well, Thursday I went to a little party and met some cool folks:

*Christian Bale- Kind of low key but nice guy.
*Moon Bloodgood- VERY nice person and currently starring in "Terminator: Salvation."
*Ben McKenzie- I actually got him confused with someone else but he was cool about it and said his name was "Dave." Best known from the show "The O.C."
*Adam Brody- Nice guy and best known from the show "The O.C."
*Amanda Righetti- Very nice and also from the show "The O.C."
*Eric Dane- So-so nice guy and currently on "Grey's Anatomy."
*Anil Kapoor- Ok guy and best known as the TV host from the film "Slumdog Millionaire."
*Elya Baskin- Cool guy and has been in numerous movies to even list!
*Oliver Stone- The famous director of course and he was a very cool guy!

THEN, on Saturday I paid a visit to a little party for the upcoming Pixar film UP where I got to meet a couple of folks:

*Pete Docter- Co-Director of the film and a cool guy.
*Bob Peterson- Co-Director of the film and a very cool guy.

Thanks Claudia!

At the movies:
No surprise here as Angels & Demons takes top honors this week earning 48 million. Good hold onto #2 is "Star Trek" with an extra 43 mil and a cume of over 145 mil ... at this rate, it should surpass "Wolverine" this week. Hanging in at #3 is "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" with another 14.8 mil with a cume barely over 150 mil. In at #4 is "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" with an additional 6.9 mil. Rounding off the top 5 is "Obsessed" with 4.6 mil.

Quote of the week:
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - Franklin Roosevelt

Other News:
Here is another interesting list for you ... America's most dangerous cities! At least the top 5 anyway. Let's go backwards and start with #5: Stockton, CA - about a population of 684k and the violent crime per 100k (VCP as I will call it) is 885. In at #4 is Las Vegas, NV - population at 1.8 million and the VCP is 887, barely beating out Stockton and actually considering the population difference between the two, it's really not that bad. At #3 is Miami, Fl - population at 2.4 mil and a VCP of 988. Again, not too extreme considering how many people are there in comparison. At #2 is Memphis, TN - population of 1.3 mil and VCP of 1,218. Now this is bad considering the lower population but higher VCP. And the #1 most unsafe city in America is ... Detroit, MI!! This doesn't surprise me at all with a population of 1.9 mil and a VCP of 1,220. I guess you could say Memphis is worse but the population growth of Detroit is shrinking and I wonder if the VCP will as well.

Facts & Tips:
Young children can entirely regrow lost fingertips above the top joint, including the bone, skin and nail.

"We're not really violent people. This is our first gun." - Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswald in "National Lampoon's Vacation."

Monday, May 11, 2009

MOTHER'S DAY EDITION

Sunday was Mother's Day and is it officially summer time now or what? If one looks at the movie box office, you would say that the summer season is upon us. But, if you look at the weather we are having in Southern California, the summer is melting its way in!! Despite the Summer Solstice still being about 6 more weeks away, the heat tells us a different story as temperatures hit the high 80's and in some areas in the 90's. Most were saved thanks to many winds which help cool things down but I did hear one day during the week that Santa Barbara hit 100 degrees on top of the fires going on there! Are we due for another drastically over-heated summer again? If so, this will make it ... what, 3 years in a row of excessive heat? I hope not. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the moms out there!!

Weekly Update:
This past week was pretty so-so for me ... nothing too exciting happened to be honest. I do want to say that I have had a lot of issues with Mozilla Firefox lately and it continues to annoy me. I am glad this is NOT my primary browser because if it was, then I would have lost it a long time ago (lost what you say, nothing if you think about it). This crappy browser has constant errors, numerous updates which slow my entire system down and fails to do simple things like "remember password" after every time I say "YES, remember the farkin password you piece-o-crap browser." If I close and open a window 5 times in one sitting where it requires a password, I will tell it to remember the password ... yep, 5 times! So many things annoy me with this program especially when I try to put together my blog. I use windows for most of the stuff now except for one thing, spell checker. For whatever reason it doesn't work properly with Windows Explorer but that is the only flaw so far with this. Mozilla ... suckzilla you mean.

At the movies:
No surprise here as Star Trek earns top honors at the box office with 75.5 million. Kind of low for my expectations for this re-launching of the franchise plus all the positive buzz around it. Hanging onto #2 is "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" with a size-able drop earning another 27 mil. I think as the weeks go it will claw its way to 200 mil but word-of-mouth is so-so on this film. Strong at #3 is "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" with another 10.5 mil and being the only "chick-flick" out there, it should do well. Slight drop to #4 is "Obsessed" with 6.6 mil extra. Rounding off the top 5 is "17 Again" with another 4.4 mil and sure to be its last appearance in the top 5.

New movies that did not make the top 5: Just one this week as the urban comedy Next Day Air earns only 4 mil which is enough to give it the #6 spot as it makes it way to the video shelf. I'm not sure if this was suppose to be counter-programing to "Star Trek" ... it was a very bad idea.

Quote of the week:
"I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity." - Tom Stoppard

Other News:
Yet ANOTHER sad week as another legend leaves us. Film, TV and Comedy legend Dom DeLuise passed away Monday night in his sleep after a long illness. Dom is known for so many things that range from a film career, to TV appearances and becoming a chef. His strength and love was his comedic approach to life and making us laugh for several generations. DeLuise found himself in several films by Mel Brooks including; "The Twelve Chairs", "Blazing Saddles", "Silent Movie", "History of the World Part I", "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" and "Spaceballs." He also starred in other classics such as "The Cannonball Run" and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." His career can be listed for a very long time just in the movie genre alone. He also stretched into Broadway a bit and some TV credits include "The Munsters" and "Diagnosis Murder." Dom had three sons who all work in the entertainment industry either behind and/or in front of the camera. Our laughs are a little quieter now but shouldn't be silent in his remembrance ... Dom was 75.

Facts & Tips:
According to the U.S. FDA standards, 1 cup of orange juice is allowed to contain 10 fruit fly eggs, but only 2 maggots.

"You know how I know *you're* gay? You just told me you're not sleeping with women any more." - Seth Rogen as Cal in "The 40 Year Old Virgin."

Monday, May 04, 2009

I WANT SOME RAIN! So the second time in a row within a month's time ... several weather sources say medium to heavy rains were suppose to hit us Friday night through Saturday. What did we end up getting ... nothing. Usually you don't hear folks asking for rain but we seriously need it and I sort of planned my weekend accordingly but pretty much bone dry. It did get cloudy and I thought I felt some drops one evening but it could have been my imagination. But most of the days were sunny (yet very cool to cold) with just some overcast. Can they not get this weather thing right or is our climate become so incredibly unpredictable now due to some of the global warming effects? I don't know but I would rather have percentages of showers rather than saying it will rain.

Weekly Update:
What an exhausting week it has been for me. Going to bed late and getting up early ... why do I do that?? Wednesday was the worse because I had jury duty!! Now, I don't mind serving but what I do mind is 1) Change of location and 2) 7:45AM! We are on the system where we call each evening to see if we have to report the following day. You do that for a week and if you do not have to go in, then your time is served for the year. I called on Tuesday and I get the notice I will have to report. No big deal right? Nope! The court I was originally suppose to go to was in Newport Beach which is some 20 miles away and I had that changed because of a wrong address they had on file for my residence. So my new location is Fullerton, the city I live in. The court house is probably 1 to 2 miles away at most ... but then this happens, "due to an emergency need for jurors, please report to the Santa Ana Court House ..." WHAT? Now granted Santa Ana isn't as far as Newport (maybe 12 miles) but then the next line, "Jurors are to report by 7:45 AM" WHAT?!? Well, in the end I was on the panel for jury selection but didn't get picked and was out of there by 3pm ... time served for the year.

At the movies:
No surprise here as the summer box office officially kicks off this past weekend with X-Men Origins: Wolverine earning the #1 spot with 87 million. Not a great number compared to last year's "Iron Man" opener but still very strong. Unfortunately I can safely say that this film probably won't be in the top 5 of summer blockbusters (barely top 10 even) as word of mouth is very mediocre at best on the film and it is yet another heavy summer ahead! In at #2 with its counter-programming is the lack lustre Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with 15.3 mil. The numbers are OK but I think some were expecting a bit more. Hanging in at #3 is "Obsessed" with another 12.2 mil. Holding on at #4 is "17 Again" with an additional 6.4 mil and slowly dropping off the charts. Rounding off the top 5 and probably the last appearance in this bracket is "Monsters Vs. Aliens" with an extra 5.8 mil and well over the 180 mil cume!

New movies that did not make the top 5: One this week and kind of sad too. Not only did this film open to bad reviews and numbers, it didn't even show up on the top 10. In at #12 is the computer animated sci-fi action film Battle For Terra with only 1.1 mil and pretty much done before it even started.

Quote of the week:
"Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again." - Franklin P. Jones

Other News:
Wow, another passing this week and this is kind of a shocker. On Friday morning, famous Las Vegas headliner Danny Gans died from having problems breathing. His wife called emergency and by the time they reached him, they pronounced him dead at his bed. Danny was famous for his impersonations of various celebrities and he did his show at the new Encore Hotel by Wynn on the Las Vegas Strip. Going to and from Vegas from California, you could see literally dozens and dozens of billboards of DANNY GANS LIVE! When you hit Vegas itself, taxi cab signs, street signs, and more billboards filled the strip with is face and name. Folks who have seen the show tell me it was amazing and he could sound and sing like so may different celebrities current and past. Gans grew up in Torrance, California and later became a minor league baseball player. He eventually made his way to Las Vegas as one of the top headliners for nearly a decade. Medical examiners are still determining cause of death but Gans had no history of drugs or smoking. He was in great physical shape and Las Vegas has not only lost a stunning performer ... but a strong voice. Gans was 52.

Facts & Tips:
Butterflies taste with their feet.

"Red, we have company." - Doug Jones as Abe Sapien in "Hellboy II: The Golden Army."