- A low-budget horror movie bested a slew of Oscar
contenders for the weekend as “Mama” claimed the top spot with a $28.2 million
opening weekend. Second place belonged to “Zero Dark Thirty,” which dropped
one spot with $17.6 million and has banked $55.9 in cumulative domestic
earnings through five weeks. That 1-2 duo also means Jessica Chastain has a
role in both of the top-earning films for the frame. “Silver Linings Playbook”
was the weekend’s big winner, rising seven spots to third and making $11.4 million
thanks to some serious Oscar momentum to raise its overall earnings to $55.4
million and counting. “Gangster Squad” slid down one spot in its second
weekend, notching $9.1 million to make its two-week haul $32.2 million. The
most successful new film for the weekend was the Russell Crowe/Mark Wahlberg
drama “Broken City,” which slotted fifth on the strength of a $9 million first
frame. “A Haunted House” was the second scary flick in the top 10, finishing
sixth with $8.3 million for a two-week domestic total of $29.9 million. Seventh
place went to “Django Unchained” and its $8.2 million weekend. That figure ups
the film’s four-week earnings to $138.3 million. “Les Miserables” was close
behind in eighth place, banking $7.9 million and increasing its domestic
earnings to $130.3 million through four weeks. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey” fell three spots to ninth with $6.4 million and has earned $287.4
million in six weeks of release. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the goat of the
weekend as his new action flick “The Last Stand” bombed out in its debut and
could do no better than the last spot in the top 10, earning $6.3 million. “Lincoln”
(No. 11), “Parental Guidance,” (No. 12) and “Texas Chainsaw (3D)” (No. 17) all
dropped out from last weekend’s top 10………
- Russia has been a violent place over the past week. First,
a 75-year-old organized crime figure was assassinated on a busy street by a
sniper and now, even the world of ballet has experienced a taste of that
over-the-top aggression. Sergei Filin, a former leading dancer at the Bolshoi who has been the
artistic director of Russia's prestigious Bolshoi Ballet for the past two
years, had acid thrown in his face outside his apartment Thursday night,
leaving him in danger of losing his sight. According to police, the attack was
the culmination of a two-week campaign of intimidation. Filin was attacked
outside his Moscow apartment building as he returned home. He had previously
reported having his car tires slashed and his emails hacked in recent week and
had received repeated nuisance calls from someone who stayed silent when he
answered. His colleagues believe the motive could have been envy, rivalry or
even competition for roles. After the attack, Filin was relieved to have
survived and said he was worried he might be killed. "I was scared. I
thought he was going to shoot me, honestly ... and I turned to run but he
chased me down," Filin said. "He turned and his face was completely
covered, either a scarf or some bandage like a mask, only eyes (to be
seen)." Filin was returning home after a night out at another theater with
Bolshoi spokeswoman Katerina Novikova and the two had parted ways just before
the attack. "We just never thought that the war for roles - not for real
estate, not for oil - could reach such a criminal level," she said.
Friends, family members and dancers rushed to the hospital to support Filin,
who suffered third-degree burns and will reportedly need at least six months to
recover. Police have not made any arrests, but Filin believes he was followed
home and that his attacker called his name before throwing acid on his face.
With burns on his face and to his corneas, losing his sight remains an obvious
concern, although doctors said they were hopeful that would not be the case.
Filin was flown to Brussels for further treatment on Friday………
- He may be gone from Philadelphia and working at a new job,
but former
Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid doesn’t seem to harbor any bitterness
toward the team that fired him at the end of this season. Reid, the winningest
coach in franchise history, was fired after a disappointing 4-12 season to end
a 14-year run in the tumultuous sports atmosphere in Philadelphia. He has been
replaced by former University of Oregon head coach Chip Kelly and it was
actually Reid who helped push Kelly toward taking the job after initially
spurning the Eagles to stay at Oregon. Kelly told the story at his introductory
news conference and explained the role his predecessor played in his coming to
the City of Brotherly Love. "One
person I want to thank, in terms of advice in this whole thing, is Andy
Reid," Kelly said. "And the fact that Andy reached out to me and told
me about his experience here
just told me what this organization is all about. When Andy texted me (Wednesday) when I accepted the job, I
told him I had really, really, really big shoes to fill. And in typical Andy fashion he said, 'Just be yourself and
you'll be fine.' So I publicly just want to thank Andy, because that really spoke to me about what this
organization is all about." Owner Jeffrey Lurie also praised Reid and
cited the rapport he and other team officials have with their former coach.
Lurie previously admitted that potential coaching candidates wanted to speak
with Reid to get a feel on how the Eagles' organization operates. Given that
the Eagles interviewed 11 candidates for the job, that’s a lot of calls to the
former coach. Hearing Lurie say that “I have a close enough relationship with
Andy where I can probably eliminate some candidates if Andy felt that they
weren't good enough” was odd, especially with Reid now at work as the head
coach of the Kansas City Chiefs……….
- Don’t go to any ProMedica
campus in northwest Ohio or southeast Michigan looking to find a bottle of
Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper or your favorite brand of root beer any time after Feb.
1, because your search will be in vain. Deciding to make their campuses a small
slice of healthy consumption nirvana, hospital officials have decided to ban
sugar-sweetened beverages at any of their facilities, including eleven
hospitals in the greater Toledo area. Their concept essentially takes the idea
of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who banned such drinks in excess of
16 oz., and supersizes it. According to an official announcement, the
hospital’s goal with the ban is to improve the health and well-being of all
employees, patients and those in their communities by eliminating beverages
that have little to no nutritional value. Specifically, the ban means the
facilities affected will no longer serve or sell drinks with high fructose corn
syrup (sucrose) added. The new policy places a ban on all regular soft drinks,
non-100 percent fruit juices, sports drinks, tea, coffee and energy drinks. The
evidence is becoming overwhelming that sugar-sweetened beverages are hazardous
to our health, contributing not only to obesity and diabetes, but to an
increased risk for heart disease as well,” said ProMedica Wellness Medical
Director Dr. Matt Roth. What will be on the menu with these popular options
gone? ProMedica will continue to serve and sell water, low or non-fat milk,
unsweetened tea and coffee drinks, 100-percent vegetable or fruit juices and
diet soft drinks. The policy was developed with input from the hospital’s
medical staff and will apply to all hospital cafeterias, café and gift shops,
vending machines, patient and family food menus and even to catering at all
ProMedica sites. Employees and visitors can still bring in any sugary beverage
they want from the outside, possibly creating a black market for sugary
beverages at ProMedica sites……..
- Google’s quest for world domination is a long and winding
one, but no great quest can succeed merely on the strength of the logical and ordinary.
Google realizes this and that is why the tech giant is thinking big, maybe even
drawing inspiration from a certain ring-wearing superhero for an idea currently
in development. A common problem for users of Google accounts across the
company’s platforms is forgetting a password and to combat this problem, Google
is working on a very unusual idea. Rather than password resets or security
questions, the company wants to make logging into online services more
secure across devices and remove password problems from the equation using a
tiny microchip embedded in a USB-inserted "Yubico key" or even in a
near-field-activated ring worn on a finger. Yes, a special ring just like the
Green Lantern wears. Rather than the secure apps sometimes used to reveal login
information when a person forgets it, Google wants to eliminate the password
from the mix using hardware. "We’d like your smartphone or
smartcard-embedded finger ring to authorize a new computer via a tap on the
computer, even in situations in which your phone might be without cellular
connectivity," said Google Vice President of Security Eric Grosse. On some
level, Grosse’s project makes sense because few things are more frustrating
than waiting on someone who has forgotten their password to try and track it
down on some sticky note they’ve jammed into a desk drawer somewhere, but
expecting a user to carry around, keep secure and not lose a small USB plug-in
or ring doesn’t seem much better. In fact, such a device could be lost
just as easily, if not more so, to lose than a password………
No comments:
Post a Comment