- CGI-heavy, promoted to the hilt and star-studded, “Maleficient”
cashed in on its inherent advantages for a $70 million debut weekend to easily
beat back the competition at the box office. “X-Men: Days of Future Past” fell
to second one week after debuting in first place, adding $32.6 million to its
coffers for a two-week domestic total of $162.1 million. Another new film, Liam
Neeson’s “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” ranked third in its debut thanks
to a modest $17.1 million result in its first frame. “Godzilla” went into a
freefall in its third weekend, declining more than 60 percent and earning just
$12.2 million. Thus far, it has amassed $174.6 million in domestic earnings. “Blended”
continued to be a major bomb, placing fifth and garnering a measly $8.4 million
to up its two-week haul to a non-respectable $29.7 million and change. “Neighbors”
is at the opposite end of the spectrum, having scored $7.7 million for the
weekend to give the Seth Rogen-led comedy $128.6 million through four weeks. “The
Amazing Spider-Man 2” dropped two spots to finish seventh, adding $3.8 million
to its overall haul to raise that number to a solid $192.7 million in five
weeks of work. “Million Dollar Arm” cracked the break-even mark with a $3.7
million effort, giving it $28.1 million in three weeks and surpassing its
modest $25 million budget. “Chef” chugged along in limited release, making $2
million despite showing in only 624 theaters. “The Other Woman” somehow remained
in the top 10 despite sucking exponentially with $1.4 million for a six-week
domestic tally of $81.2 million. “Rio 2” (No. 12) and “Heaven is for Real” (No.
13) both dropped out from last weekend’s top 10…….
- Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) shouldn’t be in Congress for long. If
he’s going to be pulling sh*t like actually helping people who need to be
helped rather than tying up said help with bureaucratic red tape, then this
miscreant has no place on Capitol Hill. Garamendi’s chance to do good came when
Rio Vista resident Shawna Caley reached out to his office for help a day
before her wedding. With her impending nuptials one day away, her dress was
stuck 3,000 miles away at U.S. Customs in New York. That’s right, this
upper-crust dweller has enough disposable cash to throw around that she was
able to have her dress designed by a seamstress in Poland. After spending
months searching for the perfect dress, Caley found the right one in eastern
Europe and all was well, especially because she seemed to have allowed ample
time to get the dress from the land pierogies and Soviet relics to California
for her wedding. “I ordered it four months ahead of time and the seamstress
finished it two weeks before,” Caley said. The dressmaker finished the gown and
shipped it stateside. It landed at New York City’s JFK Airport and that’s where
the story hit a snag. The dress was caught in customs limbo for nine days and
as the clock ticked down toward the ceremony, Caley began to panic. “The
Saturday before the wedding, my mother told me to contact California
representatives and a congressman and see what they could do for me. I thought
that was the stupidest thing that I’d ever heard but I’d go for it anyway,”
Caley added. She penned an email to Garamendi and amazingly enough, his staff
seized on the chance to generate some positive PR with very little effort. A
staff member from Garamendi’s office located the dress, had it shipped
overnight and got it to Caley on time. Anything for a vote next time re-election rolls around……..
- White bread vs. wheat bread is one of the culinary
questions that so often divides people, but maybe a new study presented at the
ongoing European Congress on Obesity can help resolve the dispute. According to
a study in which researchers followed 9,267 Spanish university graduates for a
mean period of five years, people who consume more than two servings of white
bread daily are 40 percent more likely to become obese compared to those who do
not hit the two-serving mark. The purpose of the study was to examine the
relationship between white and whole grain bread. White bread comprises a large
chunk of many Spaniards’ diets and to determine what impact that consumption
has on the populace, researchers used a 136-item food frequency questionnaire.
Participants were monitored for their annual weight gain and the research team assessed
the association between bread consumption and the incidence of obesity using
modeling to adjust for variables that could influence the results. They found
that the total amount of bread consumed on a daily basis did not correspond to
weight gain, but those who ate only white bread and ate it in larger quantities
were indeed at a higher risk of becoming obese. This comes as possibly
jarring news for many Americans, whose avowed affinity for sammitches is so
often coupled with an (un)healthy aversion to the icky, hard-to-swallow taste
of whole wheat loaves…….
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! The kids aren't all right and
they’re not going to calm down in Barcelona, where Spanish officials say police have
arrested six more people after a sixth night of clashes with an angry mob of
hooded youths that rocked the tourist-clogged Mediterranean city after the
partial dismantling of a popular social center that had been run by squatters
for 17 years. Tearing down an encampment that has existed for as long as many
members of that camp have been alive is a reason to go and so it was for the
youths who took to the streets to search and destroy in response to an act of perceived
aggression by The Man. The angry mob truly made its mark, leaving behind a
trail of burning garbage containers, damage to bank cash machines, and
vandalized public property and parked cars. According to a police spokesman,
dozens of people were arrested in the chaos, the violent chaser for a
relatively peaceful march through the city one day earlier in which some 3,500
people (boringly) and calmly assembled to walk through Barcelona and make their
voice heard. As part of the disturbance, police also checked the identity
papers of 225 people. The cause for the riot may not have been Earth-shaking,
but the fact is that any impetus that leads to dumpsters being set on fire and
cars being overturned while rioters clash with police and attempt to tear down
their own city is one worth paying attention to. Spain has been in a state of
unrest for months now due to European Union austerity measures and a growing
financial crisis that includes allegations of financial misconduct by the
country’s royal family, so adding another riot to the mix just makes an
already-spicy Spanish scene that much more entertaining……..
- Lost in all of the pertinent debate and drama over the $2 billion agreement between the Sterling
family trust and former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer for the Los
Angeles Clippers regarding the NBA banning bigoted, soon-to-be-former Clippers
owner Donald Sterling for life following the leak of a tape containing racist
remarks is the fact that once again, Seattle has missed out. While a city that
badly wants an NBA and had its own stolen a few years ago isn't on par with a
racist spending most of his 80 years on the Earth hating and discriminating
against black people, Seattle has struggled to regain an NBA team since the
Sonics moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008. Ballmer made his
fortune in the Pacific Northwest, is Seattle-based and just late month, he and partner
Chris Hansen made a preliminary aggressive bid to buy the Milwaukee Bucks and
move them to Seattle, offering in excess of $650 million. That effort failed
because then-Bucks owner Herb Kohl never pursued the option in favor of a $550
million bid from Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry because Kohl was committed to
keeping the team in Wisconsin. The league also has an option to buy the Bucks
from their new owners in 2017 if the franchise can’t secure a deal for a new
arena, so Hansen has no chance at prying the Bucks away any time soon. He has
tried and failed three times to buy and relocate an existing team to Seattle,
failing in prior bids to purchase the Sacramento Kings and Minnesota
Timberwolves. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said there are no current plans for
expansion to Seattle even though Hansen has a memorandum of understanding with
King County to build an arena in the SoDo district of downtown – should Seattle
ever be awarded an expansion team or find one willing to relocate………
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