- To the surprise of no one, hunky vampires and werewolves
reigned at the box office this weekend. “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2”
hammered every competitor in its debut with a $141.4 million outing, including
James Bond himself. The über-suave British spy was solid once again, but still
no match for the final installment of the “Twilight” franchise. “Skyfall”
dropped to second place in its second weekend, adding $41.5 million to its two-week
total of $161.3 million. The critical darling of the moment, Daniel Day Lewis’ “Lincoln”
leapt to third place as it moved into wider release in its second weekend,
bringing in $21 million for a cumulative domestic total of $22.4 million. “Wreck-It
Ralph” was fourth with $18.4 million and has garnered $121.4 million through
three weeks. Denzel Washington’s “Flight” dropped two spots and was fifth for
the weekend as it made $8.6 million and upped its overall haul to $61.3 million
and counting. “Argo” claimed sixth place with $4 million and after six
uneventful weeks of release, it has ridden mostly positive reviews to $92
million in domestic earnings. “Taken 2” fittingly claimed seventh place in its
seventh week of release and added $2.1 million to its bank roll in the process.
Eighth place belonged to “Pitch Perfect” and its modest $1.3 million weekend to
raise its eight-week earnings total to $62 million. “Here Comes the Boom”
landed in ninth and made $1.2 million, just enough to edge out a three-way
clusterf*ck for tenth place that saw “Cloud Atlas,” “The Sessions” and “Hotel Transylvania”
all notch $900,000. “The Man with the Iron Fists” (No. 11) fell out from last
weekend’s top 10………
- IKEA: Maker of cheap, difficult-to-assemble modern furniture
or evil empire built on slave labor? Before answering that question, take a
step back and listen to the official admission from the Swedish furniture giant that it benefited
from the use of forced prison labor by some of its suppliers in communist East
Germany more than two decades ago. In tandem with a long-overdue apology, IKEA released
an independent report showing that East German prisoners, among them many
political dissidents, were involved in the manufacture of goods that were
supplied to the company 25-30 years ago. According to the report, IKEA managers
were aware of the possibility that prisoners would be used in the manufacture
of its products but failed to take any action. "We deeply regret that this
could happen," said Jeanette Skjelmose, an IKEA manager. "The use of
political prisoners for manufacturing was at no point accepted by IKEA." Skjelmose
did argue that "at the time we didn't have the well-developed control
system that we have today and we clearly did too little to prevent such
production methods,” but no credit for admitting a huge mistake three decades
after the fact. Furthermore, IKEA only commissioned auditors Ernst & Young
to investigate the matter after allegations aired by a Swedish television
documentary in June. Human rights groups first raised the issue in 1982, but
until the story showed up in a documentary, IKEA was content to ignore it and
hope everyone else continued to do the same. Rainer Wagner, chairman of the
victims' group UOKG, believes IKEA was just one of many companies that
benefited from the use of forced prison labor in East Germany from the 1960s to
1980s. "IKEA is only the tip of the iceberg," he said. The tip of an
extremely profitable iceberg indeed………
- No matter what message they hear in the near future from
the U.S.
Forest Service, hunters in Wisconsin need to remember one simple truth: Don’t
be a narc. See, the squares at the USFS are asking hunters and fishermen to keep
their eyes open for marijuana growing operations in Wisconsin's Chequamegon-Nicolet
National Forest and if they see someone’s ganja crop, to rat them out. At the
root of this stoner witch hunt is the rising number – nine and counting – of marijuana
growing operations discovered on public land within the state since 2008. The
most recent discovery was made by a fisherman walking near the Oconto River in
August. “Trees were down, things didn't look right, and he reported that to authorities,
and a surveillance operation was established," said Jane Cliff, a
spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service eastern region. Those who run the
hippie lettuce farms face anywhere from 10 years to life in prison, a maximum
fine of $10 million and five years to life of supervised release. Hunters are
obvious targets for the feds and their limited resources because they are out
in remote places where pot growers are likely to set up shop. Mix in hunters’
general reputation for being honest individuals and, in the minds of the U.S.
Forest Service, the recipe makes good sense. "Chequamegon-Nicolet National
Forest is large, secluded and heavily roaded, so our personnel cannot by
themselves keep an eye on every acre," Cliff said. "That's why we are
relying on forest users to share information with us." Just to be clear, digital
cameras, GPS devices and ground and aerial surveillance are not enough and the
USFS is asking people to narc out marijuana farmers. First and foremost, let’s
lay off stoners and those who supply them. Don’t hassle them and stoners are
not looking to hassle anyone else. Along with the forest service, Wisconsin
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen needs to back off. Sure, there is a chance a
hunter could stumble across a field of pot plants in the middle of the woods
and get shot by an overprotective grower, and yes, maybe another hunter saw the
farm and could have reported it and had it shut down, thereby averting further
trouble. Or everyone involved could look at this as a golden opportunity because
Wisconsin has millions of acres of remote public land and should it choose to
join Colorado and Washington and become the next state to legalize chron, the Badger
State could have a major head start in the effort……….
- Junk food lovers, one of your great quandaries has just
been solved. Satisfying one’s sweet tooth and getting jacked up on caffeine with
an energy drink or Mountain Dew AND wolfing down a candy bar or Cracker Jacks
was a bit burdensome, but no longer. Thanks to the debut of Cracker Jack’D,
a new twist on the popcorn candy coated in caramel and laced with nuts, snack
fiends everywhere can now get their caffeine and their candy all in one. Some worrywarts
who fear that children could get way too amped up on these new treats have
decried the Cracker Jack’D concept, but Frito-Lay spokesperson Chris
Kuechenmeister was having none of the criticism. Kuechenmeister pointed out
that the new Cracker Jack’D Power Bites line have “two flavors that will
contain coffee, a natural source of caffeine.” Frito-Lay expects each 2-ounce
serving to contain about 70 milligrams of caffeine, the FDA limit for a
12-ounce serving of soda. “Cracker Jack’D is a product line specifically
developed for adult consumers and will not be marketed to children,” Kuechenmeister
insisted. “The package design and appearance are wholly different from Cracker
Jack to ensure there is no confusion among consumers.” That sounds fine, but
why not market this product to children? They’re going to eat junk food anyhow
AND they’re likely to drink caffeinated beverages, so why not cut down on the
amount of crap they’re putting into their tiny bodies by combining caffeine and
junk food into one package? Entities like the Center for Science in the Public
Interest, a nonprofit nutrition activist group based in Washington, D.C., need
to pipe down and adjust their perspective instead of firing off angry letters
to Frito-Lay with messages full of verbal bile that include phrases such as “it
is certain that young children will consume Cracker Jack’d…and sometimes
consume it to excess.” Take it down a notch, kooks………
- Ridiculous injuries performing everyday tasks have long
been a part of professional sports. Typically, it’s a Major League Baseball
player who burns himself in a tanning bed, tweaks his elbow tossing a bag of
watermelon rinds to the curb or hurts his neck putting on a new hat that is one
size too small to fit on his head. This time, though, it is All-Star center Andrew Bynum who is adding
to his growing list of injury woes by (allegedly) hurting the one knee that wasn’t
already bothering him by…..wait for it…..bowling. Bynum was already dealing
with issues with his right knee that could keep him sidelined until January
when he apparently decided that the best idea would be going to the über-slick
landscape that is a bowling alley lane and attempt to stay upright while
wearing the filthy, microbe-infested footwear that is the bowling shoe.
Amazingly enough, he may have injured his other knee while pounding beers,
grubbing on nachos and trying to keep a multi-colored sphere down out of the
gutter. His new team, the Philadelphia 76ers, fear Bynum may have done
additional damage to his knees while bowling, something he tacitly confirmed
Friday when he revealed that he also had suffered a "setback" with
his left knee. "I had a little bit of a setback, and we're just working
through some issues with the right knee," Bynum said. "I kind of have
a mirror thing going on with my left knee. I don't know what's going on, but
the doctors are saying pretty much that it's a weakened cartilage state."
Of course, most NBA (and MLB, NFL and NHL) player contracts prohibit certain
activities such as skydiving and riding motorcycles, but bowling is generally
not among them. Bynum has yet to take part in a single practice or game for the
76ers after he was the key acquisition for the team in the blockbuster
four-team trade in August that also sent Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles
Lakers. Since then, Bynum has traveled to Germany to receive Orthokine therapy
injections in both knees and his return to the court has already been postponed
three times. From here on out, maybe he should limit his physical activity to
team-sanctioned rehab and naps………
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