- The numbers weren’t nearly as massive and competition was better, but “The Hunger Games” still stomped the box office field in its second weekend of release. “Hunger Games” notched $61.1 million in its second weekend for a two-week domestic total of $251 million. “Wrath of the Titans” debuted in second place with a solid $34.2 million effort, but has a long uphill climb toward profitability with a $150 million budget. “Mirror Mirror” didn’t fare as well in its debut, with $19 million to place third. Fourth place went to “21 Jump Street,” which fell two spots in its third weekend with a respectable $15 million outing for a three-week total of $93.1 million. “Dr. Seuss' The Lorax” was fifth with $8 million, raising its five-week domestic tally to a whopping $189.6 million. The continually disappointing journey of “John Carter” continued with a sixth-place finish and a measly $2 million weekend. The overall numbers for the film are even worse, with $66.2 million in domestic earnings against a budget of more than $250 million. “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” took advantage of a down weekend at the box office to finish seventh despite appearing in just 483 theaters. The unheralded film made $1.3 million in its fourth week of very limited release. “Act of Valor” hung tough for one more weekend in a fashion befitting a movie starring Navy SEALs, ranking eighth with $1 million for a six-week total of $67.7 million. Eddie Murphy’s gawd-awful “A Thousand Words” was ninth with $915,000 and has managed a mere $16.5 million in its first month of release. “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” was tenth on the same weekend its star, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, appears in the main event at WrestleMania. “Journey” added $835,000 to its coffers to inch closer to the $100 million mark in U.S. earnings ($98.4 million through eight weeks). “Project X” (No. 11), “October Baby” (No. 12) and “Safe House” (No. 13) fell out of the top 10 from last weekend…………
- It only took 20-plus years, but Myanmar's opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi just may be able to take a governmental position she was rightfully elected to. Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won 59 percent of the seats in Myanmar’s parliament in 1990, should have been designated as prime minister based on those results. Instead, the country’s military junta had her put under arrest prior to the elections and she remained under house arrest in Burma for most of the past two decades prior to her release on Nov. 13, 2010. She won a seat in parliament in elections this weekend and her supporters erupted in cheers following the announcement as Suu Kyi prepared to take public office for the first time. Once confirmed by official results, the vote will mark a major milestone in the Southeast Asian nation, where the military has ruled with an iron fist for most of the last half-century. Its new reform-minded government is battling sanctions from the West, questions about its legitimacy and plenty of doubt from within and without. Having the 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate who the former junta kept imprisoned in her lakeside home for the better part of two decades participate in the parliament would be a big victory for the government. Suu Kyi’s supporters rallied outside the opposition National League for Democracy's headquarters in Myanmar's main city, Yangon,, where the unofficial results were displayed on a digital signboard. More than 1,000 supporters began cheering wildly when the message appeared. "We won! We won!" supporters chanted while clapping, dancing, waving red party flags and gesturing with thumbs-up and victory hand signs. The NLD claimed earlier Sunday that Suu Kyi was ahead with 65 percent of the vote in 82 of her constituency's 129 polling stations. Her apparent victory came despite allegations by her National League for Democracy party that "rampant irregularities" had taken place on voting day. Ironically, all of the drama was over an election was called to fill just 45 vacant seats in Myanmar's 664-seat national Parliament. Earlier in the day, Suu Kyi was mobbed when she visited a polling station. Despite the hullaballoo over Suu Kyi’s election, she and any other NLD members elected have little chance to affect real change in the new civilian government as they will still be in a very small minority…………
- Just as quickly as it materialized, Linsanity has dissipated. Just 35 games after making his debut with the New York Knicks, vaulting from NBA obscurity to a starting spot and the temporary basketball epicenter of New York City, guard Jeremy Lin’s breakout season is over. Lin will have left knee surgery next week and will miss six weeks after an MRI exam this week revealed a small, chronic meniscus tear. With the regular season ending April 26, Lin’s season is likely over whether the 27-26 Knicks make the playoffs or not. The injury may have actually come at a fortuitous time for Lin, who is averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 assists, but had seen his minutes and production decline in the past couple of weeks since interim coach Mike Woodson took over followign the abrupt resignation of Mike D’Antoni. The addition of J.R. Smith and the return of Baron Davis from injury cut into Lin’s minutes and Davis will assume Lin’s role now that the former undrafted guard from Harvard is done for the year. Regardless of its abrupt end, there is no question that Lin’s tale is remarkable. He went from being released by two teams to languishing in the NBA Developmental League before the Knicks called him up, kept him on their bench and were on the verge of releasing him before he got a chance to play and sparked a small-scale basketball revolution in Manhattan. He scored back-to-back Sports Illustrated covers and popularity around the world, but will watch the rest of the year from the bench. "If this was done very early in the year, obviously ... I don't know where my career would be. I could be, would be definitely without a job and probably fighting for a summer league spot," Lin said. "But having said that, this happening now hurts just as much." If the Knicks do make the playoffs, they will do so in large part thanks to the seven-game winning streak they posted shortly after Lin became a starter. However, they’ll have to seek playoff success without him……….
- Google’s quest for world domination has taken an unusual turn. The tech giant has taken the bizarre step of helping blind people drive cars. The guinea pig was California resident Steve Mahan, who was behind the wheel of a Toyota Prius tooling the small California town of Morgan Hill in late January on a simple trip to pick up the dry cleaning and drop by the Taco Bell drive-in for a snack. Mahan, who is 95 percent blind, “drove” along a specially programmed route thanks to Google’s autonomous driving technology. "This is some of the best driving I've ever done," Mahan said. At another point in the drive, he jokes, “Look, ma! No hands. And no feet!” Mahan is the head of the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center and was a logical fit for the test drive, which was the next step in a process that began when Google announced the self-driving car project in 2010. The car utilizes laser range finders, radar sensors, and video cameras to navigate the road ahead to make driving safer for all, seeing or blind. Google was awarded a patent on the system in December and posted the video of Mahan’s drive last week. In a post on the largely ignored and unused Google+, the company said it has hundreds of thousands of miles of testing with the system and thus felt confident putting Mahan behind the wheel. “There’s much left to design and test, but we’ve now safely completed more than 200,000 miles of computer-led driving, gathering great experiences and an overwhelming number of enthusiastic supporters,” Google wrote in the post. One issue in Mahan’s auto excursion was his obvious lack of a driver’s license, which Google combated by enlisting the help of Sergeant Troy Hoefling with the Morgan Hill Police Department to accompany the drive. The video also shows the potential of Google’s new technology to assist not only the blind, but those with other disabilities as well. Oh, and it also raises the very real threat of Google unleashing an army of sight-impaired drivers on the world to help fuel its rise to global dominance……….
- Wow. Stunning news from the world of infomercials, where TaxMasters, the Houston-based tax consultation firm whose ads have been a staple of daytime television for years, is not only bankrupt but has now been ordered along with its founder to pay $195 million on charges that it defrauded customers nationwide. A jury in Texas' Travis County ruled for the plaintiff in a civil trial Friday, finding that TaxMasters, its predecessor companies and yes, hirsute commercial pitchman/founder Patrick Cox had committed over 110,000 violations of the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Today's decision marks a significant victory for the Texans and TaxMasters customers nationwide who sought help from TaxMasters with their income tax debts and were taken advantage of in the midst of a national economic downturn," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement. Ouch, that stings. Accusing a bearded ginger who had enough integrity to go on TV and promise to help hurting people with their debts of fraud is heavy, man. But according to the state, TaxMasters misled customers about contract terms, failed to disclose its no-refunds policy and falsely claimed that its employees would immediately begin work on a case when they had no intention of doing so, sometimes causing customers to miss IRS deadlines. Not only that, TaxMasters was found guilty of failing to consult with the IRS on its clients' behalf and prevent liens on their property. In short, they took customers’ money and didn’t do sh*t for them. As its penance, the company was ordered to pay $149 million, including penalties and restitution, while Cox was ordered to pay $46 million. Of that total, $113 million has been earmarked for defrauded consumers. Granted, the judgment is fairly meaningless because TaxMasters filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, a move the Texas attorney general's office called "an apparent effort to avoid the state's enforcement action." The financial picture is bleak, as the bankruptcy filing said TaxMasters owes creditors between $1 million and $10 million, and that its assets total just $50,000 or less. While such a statement vastly undervalues the awesomeness of Cox’s epic beard, there is no denying that those owed money from this debacle are unlike to see much, if any of it………..
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