Duckburg Gazette

4th of July Edition

Wednesday was the 4th of July, kind of odd having it in the middle of the week but its not like you plan it that way.  I went to the neighbors where they bbq'd some hot dogs and hamburgers.  It was really good and just had a really nice meal.  The rest of that particular evening was just relaxing and didn't do much.  Of course you can hear fireworks going off all over town but then again, living here you hear them every night at around 9:30PM (unless it is raining) due to Disneyland.

Weekly Update:

This past weekend I went to a local convention that was focused on TV.  The overall turnout was terrible but it was the first kind of convention of this nature in the area. I think part of the problem was timing being a holiday week where people go out of town and also days before San Diego Comic-Con, the largest convention in the world and a week after an Anime Convention at the same location. But despite the turnout, I managed to meet a few people:

*Vanessa Angel - best know from the TV show "Stargate SG-1" and was nice.

*Musetta Vander - know from the film "Wild Wild West" and very nice.

*Erin Murphy - best know as Tabitha from the original TV series "Bewitched" and very sweet.

*Alisa Reyes - from various Nickelodeon shows and way nice

The rest of the past week was pretty tame except for Tuesday.  I went to this neat motion capture studio and the process that involves is pretty fascinating.  I won't see the end result of that for months to come but it took about 2 hours of prep to do 10 minutes of a scene ... crazy.  But while there I ran into:

*Brianna Brown - been in several TV appearance that include a regular in "General Hospital," very sweet.

At the movies:

No surprise at the box office but at the same time, a bit underwhelming.  In at #1 is the reboot of a so-so franchise to start with, The Amazing Spider-Man with 140 million for its 6-day.  It may sound like a big number but if you compare it against "The Avengers" 200 mil 5-day, not so much.  Holding strong at #2 is "Ted" with another 32.6 mil as it rushes past the 100 mil cume mark.  Slight drop to #3 is "Brave" with another 20.2 mil as it starts its quick decline, struggling to reach 200 mil cume.  New at #4 is the action-drama Savages with 16.2 mil.  Rounding off the top 5 is "Magic Mike" cashing in another 15.6 mil.

New movies that did not make the top 5:

Just one this week as the rock concert film Katy Perry: Part of Me earns the #8 spot with only 7.2 mil for its debut.

Quote of the week:

"Everyone is famous to 1,500 people." - Seth Godin

Other News:

Very sad news this week in the world of TV and movies.  Legendary actor Andy Griffith passed away Tuesday morning at his home in North Carolina.  Griffith was the lovable and versatile actor who embodied the American culture and way of life for decades.  He brought what was right and sensible with his homespun way of life as Americans watched regularly the going ons in the town of Mayberry from "The Andy Griffith Show."  He was know best as the role of the sheriff of that town while living with Aunt Bee and raising his little boy, Opie.  Later in his career he decided to fight crime as a lawyer in the show "Matlock" which ran for nearly 9 years and grew popularity with the senior crowds.  Griffith has had some movie roles, more recently the critically acclaimed dark comedy of "Waitress" but his biggest roles were primarily television, maybe it was because he helped shape it and set a standard of Americana.  He was a true pioneer of a simpler and golden age of TV we will never see again.  Griffith was 86.

Continued sad news as Oscar winning actor Ernest Borgnine passed away Sunday morning surrounded by family at Ceders-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.  Borgnine won his Oscar for "Marty" which he was the title character.  He was also a great TV actor playing the lead character in a spoof of a World War II PT boat in "McHale's Navy" in which he again was the title role of Quinton McHale.  This was one of my favorite TV shows that I enjoyed watching on both reruns and DVD.  Other notable films are "Flight of the Phoenix," "The Dirty Dozen," "The Wild Bunch" and "The Poseidon Adventure" to name a few.  He was 95.

Facts & Tips:

Dolphins sleep with one eye open.