The weekend movie earnings race, an Indian space blunder and Rich-er Fraud-riguez digging a deeper hole at Michigan

- It was a violent weekend at the movies, with "The Final Destination" scaring up $28.3 million to secure the No. 1 slot. With a glut of R-rated flicks all gunning for the same general audience, the latest installment of a movie that is supposedly the capper to the franchise but will surely be resuscitated if the studio thins there’s more money to be made came out on top. That’s $10 million more than the movie’s predecessor, "Final Destination 3,” earned in its opening weekend. A huge reason for that success is the film’s take in 3-D theaters, which accounted for 70 percent of its box office. A little more than half its 3,121 theaters were screening the flick in 3-D, but that extra cash was a huge windfall (because who can’t get with throwing on those ridiculous 3-D glasses for a couple of hours. Even though moviegoers and reviewers generally panned the movie itself, don’t expect that to be enough to signal the end of this not-so-proud movie franchise. Coming in second was last week’s box office champ, Quentin Tarantino’s "Inglourious Basterds." The movie landed that No. 2 spot with $20 million, down just 47 percent from its $73.7 million opening-weekend total. In third place was slasher flick "Halloween II," which debuted with $17.4 million. Probably not the take that rocker/director Rob Zombie was hoping for in his second crack at reviving the 31-year-old slasher franchise centering on the perpetually hard to kill Michael Myers. His first reincarnation of the franchise made $30.6 million over Labor Day weekend, but this installment was made with a $15 million budget and faced plenty of competition. In other words, it should turn a profit and for the studio, that will likely be enough. “District 9,” the sci-fi flick that has been one of the summer’s biggest surprises, held relatively strong and dropped just 41 percent with $10.7 million to finish in fourth place. Rounding out the top five was "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," which racked up $8 million to bring its cumulative domestic total to $132 million. After that, it was “Julie & Julia” (sixth with $7.4 million). One notable disappointment was director Ang Lee’s "Taking Woodstock," which debuted at ninth with just $3.7 million as it opened in 1,393 theaters with a measly $2,691 per theater average. I was sad to see that because I give the movie a thumbs up, even if most of you seem to disagree. It wouldn’t be the first time I was right and everyone else was wrong and it won't be the last………..

- Anything that can bring University of Michigan football coach Rich-er Fraud-riguez to tears is cool with me. If that something is alleged NCAA rules violations that could bring further shame to Fraud-riguez’s UM program, all the better. In case you missed it, six current and former Michigan players told the Detroit Free Press that during the 2008 and 2009 seasons, the players were repeatedly forced to violate the weekly limit of 20 hours and daily limit of four hours that the NCAA places on the amount of time that players can spend on football-related activities. According to these players, whose identities were not revealed because those still with the team (rightly) fear ramiprecussions from the coaching staff, in-season Sundays at the football facility lasted from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. That would obviously violate the four-hour-per-day rule and put the players in definite, almost-unavoidable danger of exceeding the weekly time limits. Former Michigan wide receiver Toney Clemons, not believed to be on e of the players cited in the original story, stepped forward to confirm that all of the allegations reported are accurate. “The allegations are true," Clemons said. "Nothing is fabricated or exaggerated in that story. I was there on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. or 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. depending on if guys needed treatment. You were there daylight to nighttime.” In light of the allegations, the university announced Sunday that it has launched an investigation to determine which, if any, of the claims are true. Athletic director Bill Martin made the announcement and explained the administration’s position on the issue. “We are committed to following both the letter and the intent of the NCAA rules and we take any allegations of violations seriously," Martin said in a written statement. "We believe we have been compliant with NCAA rules, but nonetheless we have launched a full investigation of the allegations in today's newspaper.” Both Fraud-riguez and the university's compliance director, Judy Van Horn, have denied that the football program violated NCAA rules. “We know the practice and offseason rules, and we stay within the guidelines. We follow the rules and have always been completely committed to being compliant with all NCAA rules," Rodriguez lied, er, said in a written statement. And how do I know that the guy is lying? Well, a) it’s because he’s Rich-er Fraud-riguez, who repeatedly lied while at West Virginia and tried to weasel his way out of paying the buyout clause in his WVU contract and b) nearly every major D-I football program exceeds those time limits. Do they do it to the extent that these anonymous UM players and former players are alleging? No, but make no mistake, they do exceed the limits. Among the specific claims made against the Fraud-riguez regime, in addition to those all-day Sundays, is that players spent two to three times the allotted eight hours a week on mandatory workouts during the offseason and that the football team’s quality-control staff often watched seven-on-seven offseason scrimmages that are supposed to be voluntary and that only training staff are allowed to attend. One piece of evidence I’m sure the school will point to as it mounts its defense is that the players readily acknowledge signing forms stating NCAA rules had been followed and had not told the university's compliance department about their concerns. The players contend that athletes would get in trouble if they didn't sign, which doesn’t seem that far-fetched. Coming off of a 3-9 season in which they had their asses kicked yet again by arch rivals Ohio State, these allegations have to be the last thing Fraud-riguez and his staff wanted to see. For that reason, they’re the thing I wanted to see most as this college football season is about to begin. If UM is practicing this hard and still can’t beat Toledo or finish above .500, how are they going to fare if they ever do follow the rules? Thanks for the entertainment, Rich-er Fraud, because your team surely won't be anywhere close to this entertaining once the games start………

- Muse has never shied away from bigger issues and themes in their music, so it should come as no surprise that in their new album, the band features a lead single about a proletarian revolt against the global banking crisis. That same single has received promotional assistance from a teaser campaign involving a worldwide musical treasure hunt. Oh, and the album itself ends with a three-part, fully orchestrated symphony about an alternative theory of the creation of mankind. “I think 'get away with' is the key," singer/guitarist Matt Bellamy says of the band's new album, "The Resistance." The album is slated for release internationally Sept. 14 and a day later in the United States by Warner Bros. Records. "The Resistance" is Muse's fifth album, but it’s the first time the band has taken charge of production. Also, the previous four record have been tracked and recorded in different places, whereas this album brought Bellamy, drummer Dom James and bassist Chris Wolstenholme together to record in one place - a warren of converted cellars. The album’s first single, "Uprising," was released digitally Aug. 4 in the United States. While I ascribe zero importance and/or value to Billboard’s worthless music charts, the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 81 and on Billboard's Rock Songs chart at No. 15. Prior to releasing “Uprising,” Muse also used another of the album’s tracks, "United States of Eurasia," as part of an international treasure hunt in which the band hid USB sticks containing portions of the song in seven cities. On its Web site Muse.mu, fans were given clues to the sticks' locations and once all seven flash drives had been located and their contents uploaded to the site, the song was pasted together and made available for streaming. That was a pretty awesome concept, definitely a unique one and it got the fans involved in something that made them feel like part of the action. “We wanted to make sure that we super-service the fans," says Matthieu Lauriot-Prevost, senior VP of international marketing at Warner Music International. Should you be one of those fools who pre-order albums (what, they’re going to run out of copies, especially digital ones, before you can buy them once the album is actually released?), you will then be signed up to the Join the Resistance club, which entitles you to seven weeks of exclusive free video and audio downloads (OK, so maybe that’s a decent deal). This album was a long time coming, as writing began in early 2008, with recording originally scheduled for that summer. Instead, the band toured South America, South Africa and the Middle East. “I remember listening to music I'd never heard before in Dubai-stuff that certainly had an effect on songs like 'Eurasia,' " Bellamy says. "And going to tango bars in Brazil . . . that gave us musical ideas that wouldn't have happened if we didn't do that tour.” To further drum up interest for the album, Muse is making a Sept. 13 appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards and "warming up" with three weeks supporting U2 in the United States starting Sept. 24. The stage sets at those gigs will feature "Escher-esque towers with lots of stairs" and "elements you'd associate more with either circus or ballet," according to Bellamy. Now it remains to be seen if “The Resistance” can top the band's last studio album, 2006's "Black Holes and Revelations," sold more than 1.4 million copies worldwide. Knowing Muse’s work and being a fan of their previous efforts, I have no doubt that it will be an intricate, layered and interesting album, not exactly a rock-out collection but likely a great listen……..

- Could you be seeing Spider-Man at Disney World next year? Hopefully not, but given the fact that the Walt Disney Co. announced Monday that it has agreed to purchase comic book and action hero company Marvel Entertainment for about $4 billion, you never know. “This is perfect from a strategic perspective," Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger said. "This treasure trove of over 5,000 characters offers Disney the ability to do what we do best.” Funny, because what I always thought Disney did best was charged bloated, absurd prices for admission to its theme parks and hit visitors with ridiculous concessions prices once inside, like $9.50 for a hamburger. But on the serious side, Iger believes the deal will allow Disney to sell Marvel's vast array of characters to be featured across different media platforms and in many more markets. That would appear to be an especially hopeful message for Disney's Pixar animation unit, which could definitely use an infusion of new characters. Because Disney has been looking to appeal more to boys, the deal could prove beneficial in that TV shows and video games featuring Spider-Man and similar characters would target that demographic well. “Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses," said Marvel Chief Executive Ike Perlmutter. "This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney's tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.” Allow me to translate that for you from business-ese: KA-CHING! Yes, Marvel will make a boatload of cash from this deal and in these tough economic times, that’s all that truly matters….to big businesses. Marvel shareholders must approve the deal and if they do so, they would receive $30 per share in cash and 0.745 shares of Disney for each share of Marvel that they hold. The actual value of the deal is set at $50 per Marvel share, more than a 29 percent premium. As part of the deal, Disney will issue about 59 million shares, but it will repurchase as many shares over the course of the 12 months following the deal's closing. And who knows, this deal may creating a freaking entertainment conglomerate to take over the world. After all, Marvel has launched the following action-hero movies over the past decade: "Spider-Man," "X-Men," "The Fantastic Four," “Iron Man” and "The Incredible Hulk." With Disney becoming the sole distributor of Marvel's movies in the future, this could be the start of something big………

- Way to give up, India. You’ll never be a pioneer in outer space if you quit this easily. So what if you were unable to regain contact with Chandrayaan-I, an orbiter which can float in space like a dead satellite for 1,000 more days before crashing on the lunar surface? Just because of that you’re going to throw in the towel on your quest for an unmanned moon mission? According to the Indian Space Research Organization, it currently has no means to locate the orbiter. "We are exploring the possibility of making a request to the United States and Russia to help locate it since they have powerful radars," said S. Satish, a spokesman for the agency. I’m sorry…..you expect US to help you find your lost space thingy? This isn't like having your dog run away and you go around the neighborhood posting fliers on every telephone pole, “Lost Dog: $25 reward,” with a picture of little Fido in black and white smack dab in the middle of the flier. You can’t just knock on a few international doors, asking more competent space-faring nations to help find your space orbiter and assume said strategy will work. In case no one clued you in, India, going to space is a very competitive field and the U.S. and Russia are your competitors, not your pals. So if system failures were to blame for Chandrayaan-I’s abrupt loss of contact Saturday, so be it. Even your man Satish admitted that the original plan for Chandrayaan-I to stay in orbit for two years was a stretch. “That probably was a mistake because such craft do not have this much life,” he said. Be thankful that you were able to squeeze 312 days of work and more than 3,400 orbits around the moon out of this cut-rate, discount space orbiter. I don’t know how successful Chandrayaan-I was in its aim to take high-resolution, three-dimensional images of the lunar surface and search for evidence of water or ice and attempt to identify the chemical composition of certain lunar rocks, but appreciate what you got out of it and move on. Perhaps you can even learn valuable lessons from this experience and apply them to spending the additional funds you’ll have now that the Indian government has increased the federal budget for space research to about $1 billion from $700 million……….