- On the plus
side, “Godzilla” obliterated its competition at the weekend box office. On the
negative side, it made back just over half of its bloated budget and has work
left to do to become a profitable film. With $93.2 million for the frame, the
umpteenth remake of the Godzilla story easily curb-stomped the field and left reigning
champion “Neighbors” in second place with a relatively paltry $25.9 million.
Through two weeks, the Seth Rogen-led comedy has amassed $91.5 million in
domestic earnings. “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” tumbled 52 percent in its third
weekend, finishing third for the frame with $16.8 million for an overall haul
of $172.1 million. The debut was not an overwhelming one for “Million Dollar
Arm,” which was promoted out the wazoo and yet could manage no more than $10.5
million in its debut. “The Other Woman” notched a fifth-place result in its
fourth weekend, adding $6.3 million to its coffers to give it a cumulative
domestic tally of $71.7 million. “Heaven is for Real” claimed sixth place with
a $4.4 million weekend, giving the overachieving underdog a robust $82.2
million in five solid weeks of work. That was just enough to edge out “Rio 2,”
which managed to churn out $3.8 million for the weekend and elevate its total
bank roll to a respectable $118.1 million in six consistent weeks of work. “Captain
America: The Winter Soldier” kept on keeping on with $3.7 million despite being
nearly two months into its run and staked its claim to eighth place, having
made $250.6 million and counting domestically so far. “Legends of Oz: Dorothy's
Return” fell one spot to ninth place as it earned $2 million and has now
brought in $6.6 million in its first two weeks. “Moms’ Night Out” completed the
top 10 with $1.9 million and has secured just $7.4 million in its two-week run.
“Divergent” (No. 11) was the lone film to fall out of the top 10 from last
weekend………
- The big-time TV provider merger madness continues. The
Federal Communications Commission still hasn’t decided to approve or reject the
proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner, but it will soon have another tough
call on its hands. Multiple reports have indicated that AT&T plans to buy DirecTV for $48.5
billion, gaining more than 38 million video subscribers at home and in Latin
America to firm up its position in the fight for control of TV-providing
services for the masses. AT&T will pay $95 for each share of DirecTV, the
companies said in a statement. When factoring in net debt, the deal values the
largest U.S. satellite-TV company at $67.1 billion. With its shiny new
acquisition, AT&T has a national satellite-TV provider to combine with its
U.S. wireless service and phone and high-speed Internet offerings. Going national
with a video offering that matches their wireless reach should be good for
business and after both companies’ boards approved the deal, the two sides
expect to close within 12 months, pending regulatory review and approval from
DirecTV’s shareholders. As part of its efforts to seek regulatory approval in
Latin America, AT&T said it plans to divest its 8 percent stake in America
Movil SAB. DirecTV stands to gain much in this arrangement, as it does not
currently have its own phone service or a competitive Internet offering. That
left it in dire need of a partner to bolster its services as more viewers go
online for video and the pool of traditional pay-TV customers shrinks in the
U.S. Projecting to its new future, AT&T said its mobile network and
high-speed broadband network will cover 70 million customer locations. DirecTV
also brings its strong relationships with content providers and head start in
setting up a package of Internet-delivered channels similar to a pay-TV bundle
to the new conglomerate. For consumers, the deal means options for a provider
are shrinking and will likely continue to do so………
- So much neutrality, eh Switzerland? A country perpetually
neck-deep in epic chocolate, amazing cheese, infinitely ski-able mountains and
world-class scenery had a chance to take a stance on an important economic
issue on Sunday and when it came time to make a decision, Swiss voters
rejected the world’s highest national minimum wage. Not only did voters reject a
proposal for an hourly minimum of 22 francs ($25), they swatted it away with a
resounding rejection the way LeBron James might turn aside a weak layup attempt
by a backup point guard driving the lane. The measure called for a full-time
worker to be paid at least 4,000 francs a month and that was clearly not an
idea voters could get behind as 76.3 percent of them voted it down. Although
theories on the measure’s failure vary, most financial and government observers
believe that the principle of government not becoming too involved in the
private economic matters of the country drove the result. That’s bad news for
anyone who was polishing up their Swiss-German and hoping to hop a train to the
Alps for a better life. The defeat of the measure can also be traced back to
the limited influence of trade unions, who supported what would have been the
world’s highest when adjusted for purchasing power parity, according to 2012
data from the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development. In some sense, the measure could have been
deemed largely unnecessary, as nine out of ten Swiss full-time workers earn
more than $25 an hour. Companies and the government itself largely opposed the
measure, arguing that it would hurt the economy by increasing joblessness and
pushing wages up across the board. They swept aside claims that the pay of
those least-well off needed to reflect the country’s high cost of living and while that cost is sky-high, no help is
forthcoming for the lower tier on the economic ladder. The people helping craft
the world’s best chocolate will have to settle for $20 an hour and try to snag
a few more pieces of dessert from the production line when no one is looking to
help make ends meet……….
- Was it merely a computer-savvy hacker using his or her
gadget know-how to slice into a not-so-secure system and pull a great prank on
the powers that be….or a clever promotional stunt designed to aid the bottom line of the
top-earning movie of the weekend? The verdict is still out and the truth may
never be known, but what is known is that an intrepid prankster hacked an electronic
traffic sign in San Francisco and rather than do something cool or worthwhile
with the chance like ask out a girl he had been trying to impress but hadn't
yet won over, this fool merely elected to post a message that warned of a
supposed attack by the subject of so many terrible sci-fi movies over the
years, Godzilla. The sign was spotted on Van Ness Avenue late in the night,
warning drivers in the area, “Godzilla Attack – Turn Back.” The sign was
actually on site as an advisory to motorists about traffic changes and possible
delays in the area due to Sunday’s Bay to Breakers foot race, but it became the
site of a much more important message thanks to a person who still has not been
identified. So far, traffic officials have not issued any sort of official
statement about who may have been responsible for the lame attack, but if they wait
long enough, this knob will probably brag to the wrong person and have his or
her identity exposed. After the hack was reported, crews worked to rectify the
problem and by the time race morning arrived, the sign was back to normal and
anyone who wanted to know whether or not a ginormous mutant lizard was about to
emerge from the Pacific Oean and begin wreaking havoc on their town had to
either pay $10 at their local multiplex to find out or stay glued to their
mobile device of choice for possible updates on the end of the world………
- NASCAR drivers are still not professional athletes when
they’re behind the wheel of their souped-up whips, mostly because auto racing
is not a sport, but that doesn’t mean they can't be athletes away from the
track. Jimmie Johnson proved as much
over the weekend as the six-time Sprint Cup champion won the 35-39 age group at
the Over The Mountain Triathlon in Kings Mountain on Saturday hours before
heading to Charlotte Motor Speedway to compete in the NASCAR All-Star Race. His
age group finish in the triathlon was actually better than his result on the
track, where he wound up sixth. Johnson finished 11th overall out of 119 male
participants in Kings Mountain, turning in a time of 2 hours, 30 minutes, 7
seconds. "It was awesome," Johnson said. "... I'm so stoked, so
stoked." After powering through the swimming, biking and running portions
of the race and returned home, Johnson said he returned home to find his wife
Chandra ready to hand the couple’s two children over to him for the afternoon
so she could get some rest. In the triathlon, Johnson rocked his familiar No.
48 on his racing bib and it seemed to bring him good fortune. Despite finishing
lower than he would have liked at the All-Star race, the four-time winner of
such events insisted his disappointing result was not the result of fatigue. "I
feel good so far," Johnson said. "I need sleep, but through this
whole process, I've learned so much about nutrition and hydration, and I feel
really good. I'll just need to get my sleep." No, NASCAR fans, this is not
proof that what you follow is a sport. It merely means some of the guys driving
really fast, making only left turns and cutting each other off like it’s rush
hour on the expressway have athletic skills that they are not using when
participating in your non-sport of a sport……….
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