- The weekend box office: Irony lives here. After four
dominant weeks at the top of the earnings race, “The Hunger Games” was finally
defeated by a thoroughly awful film that should never be the top movie on any
weekend. “Think Like a Man,” a comedy of epically bad proportions, snagged the
top spot with $33 million in its debut. On its heels was a movie hailed by many
as the worst Nicholas Sparks-inspired effort yet, the Zac Effron-led “The Lucky
One.” With $22.8 million, “Lucky One” outperformed its talent level for second
place. “Hunger Games” dropped to third with $14.5 million, sandwiched between “Lucky
One” and another newcomer, “Chimpanzee.” Oddly enough, the chimp-themed flick
was the best of the three newcomers and yet earned just $10.2 million. The news
was not good for “The Three Stooges” in its second weekend, with a fall to
fifth and a $9.2 million effort bringing the movie’s two-week total to a paltry
$29.3 million. “The Cabin in the Woods” was sixth with $7.7 million and has
earned $48.3 million through three weeks. The über-mediocre run continued for “American
Reunion,” which slid to seventh and made a meager $5.2 million to boost its
cumulative domestic total to $48.3 million for three weeks of release. The
revived version of the four-hour waste of time that is “Titanic (3-D)” made $5
million for an eighth-place finish and has garnered $52.8 million thus far. “21
Jump Street” landed in ninth place with $4.6 million and has a six-week total of
$42 million. Tenth place was claimed by “Mirror Mirror,” which continued to be
mediocre mediocre, making $4.2 million and has earned just $55.2 million
through four weeks. “Wrath of the Titans” (No. 11), “Lockout” (No. 12) and “Dr.
Seuss' The Lorax” all dropped out from last week’s top 10……….
- Sunday is Earth Day. Unless you are a close friend of a
tree-hugging environmentalist, you may not have known that. But what better way
is there for one of the world’s biggest energy hogs, the United States, to mark
the occasion than with an award-winning light bulb that
lasts for 20 years going on sale? The bulb, made by Dutch electronics giant Philips,
switches filaments for light-emitting diodes to provide illumination. That
increases the light’s life, but it also makes it significantly more expensive.
The first version of the bulb costs a whopping $60, although Philips has
arranged discounts with merchants that will sell the bulb, meaning some could
buy it for $20 and theoretically flip it to consumers for less than the $60
price tag. Its debut comes after a victory in the Bright Tomorrow competition
run by the U.S. Department of Energy, which sought an energy-efficient
alternative to the 60-watt incandescent light bulb. The agency challenged firms to design a bulb that gave out a warm
light similar to that from an incandescent bulb, but with a much higher level
of efficiency. Philips’ victory becomes much less impressive on account of
being the only entrant, but its design still underwent 18 months of testing
before being declared the victor. A cheaper, less efficient version of the LED
bulb is already on the market in both Europe and the U.S. Compact fluorescent
lights already on the market offer another alternative and they are
significantly cheaper than LED bulbs. All energy-efficient bulbs are receiving
a boost by a push from many governments to end production of 100-watt light
bulbs. European manufacturers have already stopped production and U.S.
manufacturers are gradually phasing the bulbs out. Beginning in 2013, incandescent
bulbs of 40 watts or above will be banned in the U.S. Let the good (and dimmer)
times roll…………
- It’s all about perspective. For the unfortunate farmer who
lost one of his or her pegs en route to the market and received a slightly
smaller pay day as a result, a pig tumbling off the back of the truck is a
negative. For the pig, a nasty fall and a broken leg may be painful in the
short term, but in the long term they are the price to be paid for staying
alive. The pig fell from a truck in Urbandale, Ia. and was discovered soon
thereafter by a passerby. The women contacted some local animal shelters and even in
farming-centric Iowa, none of them were willing to do anything with a market
pig. A friend suggested that the woman contact the Des Moines Animal Rescue
League and the organization was willing to help. “They’re just lucky to survive
when they fall off, and usually a broken leg like this on a market pig is
pretty much a death sentence unfortunately,” ARL representative Laura Nicholls
said. The ARL accepted the pig and gave it a name: Olivia. Olivia received
treatment from veterinarian Dr. Anil Regmi, who placed the pig in a
rehabilitation pool to help speed up the recovery process. “I’m actually, I’m
really surprised the way she is doing it for the first time,” Regmi said of the
pig’s progress in the pool. “The way I am seeing, the way she is doing, I don’t
have any doubt.” Olivia’s recovery is expected to take a few weeks, but Regmi
believes she will make a full recovery and go on to live a life that does not
involve being made into sausage or bacon……….
- And we’re one step closer to exactly where we need to be. HBO
is desperate for an NFL team to star in the next season of its reality television series "Hard
Knocks" and there is only one logical option: the New York Jets. The Jets
have done the series once, they have the biggest loudmouth in the league as
their head coach, they have the league’s preeminent procreator in Antonio
Cromartie (10 kids by eight different women with twins on the way) and they
just threw the insanity of Tebow-mania into their locker room by trading for
one Timothy Richard Tebow. Yet head coach Rex Ryan doesn’t want to sign up for
another season of “Hard Knocks” even though owner Woody Johnson likes the idea.
The Jets’ hesitation has led HBO to talk to other teams about appearing on the
show and the denials have been coming in fast and furious, with the Atlanta
Falcons the latest to say no to the offer. According to sources, the Falcons
discussed the offer internally and decided it was best to place their focus for
the 2012 season exclusively on the field and not subject themselves to the
scrutiny of a reality TV show. That leaves the Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars,
who have been offering to appear on the show but are a) terrible and b) have no
compelling storylines to attract viewers. No one wants to see a show that
chronicles a team's journey through training camp and the preseason when all of
that is a prelude to a 5-11 campaign. While league sources have confirmed that the
Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers are also being looked at, the Jets and
Jaguars have the inside track. The Jets were featured on the show in 2010 and
were extremely entertaining. Their entertainment value can only go up with the
Pro-Procreator expecting his 11th and 12th children, the running drama between
embattled starting quarterback Mark Sanchez and Tebow, the drama between
Sanchez and combustible receiver Santonio Holmes and Ryan’s nonstop flow of
profanities. Johnson intimated in early April that there have been informal
talks with HBO, but said "we can't react to anything unless it's a real
invitation." As much as HBO and viewers need the Jets to be the team for
“Hard Knocks,” the Jaguars need to be that team for their own self-sustaining
reasons. They have historically struggled to sell tickets and build a fan base in
the Jacksonville area and an appearance on "Hard Knocks" could be a
much-needed shot in the arm for their public profile. Hiring former Falcons
offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey as coach will do nothing to generate
interest, nor will giving a big-money deal to free-agent receiver Laurent
Robinson or signing veteran quarterback Chad Henne to compete with 2011
first-round pick Blaine Gabbert. New owner Shad Khan tried to trade for Tebow,
but the burly left-hander preferred to play for the Jets. HBO needs to
make the same choice…………
- A riot with sickles, clubs AND violent clashes with
police? Heck yes, Riot Watch! returns. Its comeback takes us to Lijiang, China, where the city government
said late Friday that the violence erupted on Wednesday when villagers with
sickles and clubs protesting against mining activities in the southwest
attacked police, killing one officer and injuring 15 others. The government in
Yunnan province claimed the villagers were gathered at a township government
office to express concern that activities at a coal mine could trigger
geological disasters. In a statement posted on the government’s official provincial
news portal, officials alleged that the villagers had camped out for several
days with luggage and cooking utensils and had threatened officials and damaged
government property. No word on whether they used their cooking utensils to
threaten The Man, but clearly someone was thinking violence if there were
sickles involved. Not enough protests these days involve primitive farming
equipment, so that was nice to see. According to the official government
narrative, police were trying to persuade the villagers to leave when they were
attacked and no villagers were hurt. Protestors likely would tell a different
story, but they don’t really have a forum and they’re busy sharpening their sickles
for their next riot………
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