Duckburg Gazette

Sunday we had a solar eclipse ... and I missed it!  I think I was falling asleep and took a short nap.  Well that is a bummer.  Well the next one is in November which is suppose to be a total solar eclipse but still, I haven't seen one live since I was in elementary school and we had to make these special viewing boxes out of shoe boxes and having put pin holes in them.  I guess you can get the same effect with two pieces of paper but I suppose with a shoe box it made it seem like a science project.  Oh well, there is always November and around this same time next year.

Weekly Update:

What the heck did I do this week ... I can't seem to remember so maybe I did nothing?  I know this week I have some stuff going on not to mention watching the dogs for the weekend solo.  Huh, time sure does fly by either when you do nothing or when you are doing too much.  Or maybe because I was in cyber-land?  OH wait, I remember the big event of the week, I went to the launch event for "Diablo III," the newest game from Blizzard.  It was insane, at least 3000 people there all waiting for the official 12AM launch of the game.  But it was also interesting and fun.  My friend gave me a copy that night and I had several people eyeing and some asking where did I get that from since you had to wait till midnight to pick it up.  You could buy it but not get the physical game till the clock struck 12.  CRA-Z!

At the movies:

No big surprise this weekend, almost everything fell into place as expected for the most part.  Still at the top is "Marvel's The Avengers" with another 55.1 mil to add to its cume of over 450 mil.  By the end of next it should be at, or close to 500 mil domestic box office.  New at #2 is the action film Battleship with 25.4 mil, not a good number considering the cost behind it.  New at #3 is the off-beat comedy of The Dictator with a decent 17.4 mil as this film also opened on Wednesday (this number only reflects the weekend).  Drop down to #4 is "Dark Shadows" with 12.8 mil as it struggles along.  Rounding off the top 5 is the rom-com of What to Expect When Expecting debuts with 10.5 mil.

Quote of the week:

"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another." - James M. Barrie

Other News:

Very sad news this week.  Legendary disco singer Donna Summers passed away Thursday morning after a secret fight with cancer.  The singer tried to hide her illness and in fact was working on another album while it was going on.  Summers was often referred (and crowned) as "the Queen of Disco" and was best known for her hits "Last Dance" and "Bad Girls."  Winner of 5 Grammy Awards, she was the first artist to ever score three back-to-back number 1 double albums and was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 (although not chosen).  Her last album, "Crayons", was released in 2008 and she continued to make singer appearances with no signs of her illness.  Although I am not a fan of disco music nor the era, I did like her iconic song, "Last Dance." Summers was 63.

Also hitting the music news is one of The Bee Gees, Robin Gibb, passed away Sunday after a long and hard fight with cancer.  He had been struggling the past year and a half with it and just recently in the past few months, really hit him hard.  Having been admitted in and out of hospitals, falling in and out of comas, he fought the good fight but was overtaken.  Gibb is part of the disco-era rock band The Bee Gees and was originally formed by three brothers; Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.  The first came on the scene in the late 1960's and were prominent figures of the disco-era much like Donna Summers.  They were probably most famous for the soundtrack to the film "Saturday Night Fever" which gave them many no. 1 singles.  They also starred in their own film in 1978, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" which had an ensemble of cameo star appearances not to mention being a solid rock opera.  Currently, Barry is the last surviving Bee Gee from the original 3 brothers as Maurice had passed back in 2003 at the age of 53.  Barry was 62.

Facts & Tips:

Hybrid cars produce up to 75% less pollution than other vehicles.

"I Googled it. It’s an Internet thing." - Michael Paul Chan as Lieutenant Mike Tao from the TV series "The Closer."