- No one was
equal to Denzel Washington in the final weekend of September. Washington’s new
action flick “The Equalizer” scored the fourth-highest September debut ever,
earning $35 million to lap the field at the box office. Last week’s champ, “The
Maze Runner,” slid to second place with $17.5 million and holds a two-week domestic
total of $58 million. Animated, family-friendly feature “The Boxtrolls” claimed
third place with $17.3 million in its own debut, which didn’t exactly set any
records and doesn’t portend well for a dominant long-term run. Ditto the future
of “This is Where I Leave You,” which slid one spot to fourth place in its
second weekend, banking $7 million for a two-week domestic tally of $22.5
million. The resident of fifth place for the second weekend in a row was “Dolphin
Tale 2” thanks to $4.8 million in third-weekend earnings that upped the cheesy
family film’s overall bank roll to a so-so $33.6 million so far. “No Good Deed”
dipped two spots to sixth place with $4.6 million and with a scant $13.2
million budget, the thriller built around Idris Elba has turned a handsome
profit with $46.6 million in total earnings. “A Walk Among the Tombstones”
strolled into seventh place as its earnings plummeted 67 percent in its second
weekend, down to a mere $4.2 million. In two underwhelming weeks, the Liam
Neeson ass-kicker has brought in $20.8 million. “Guardians of the Galaxy” was
next in eighth place with $3.8 million and continues to cruise along with
$319.1 million in total domestic money. Ninth place was the domain of “Let’s Be
Cops,” recipient of $1.5 million in its seventh weekend and owner of $79.6
million in total domestic income. The last spot in the top 10 went to “Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles,” still hanging around after eight weeks of release with
$1.4 million and a grand total of $187.1 million and counting. “The Drop” (No.
12) and “If I Stay” (No. 13) both lost their top 10 spots from last weekend………
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Sh*t got really and really awesome
Sunday in Hong Kong, where bold protestors took it to The Man and The Man
responded with tear gas and threats of more excessive force. The battle pitted Hong
Kong police and their tear gas against thousands of pro-democracy protesters
gathered at government headquarters in a challenge to Beijing over its decision
to restrict democratic reforms for the semiautonomous city. China took control
of Hong Kong from Britain in 1997, agreeing to a policy of "one country,
two systems" that allowed the city to maintain a high degree of
self-governance, but hasn’t exactly honored the spirit of that promise in the
past 17 years. That’s why protestors have been camped out since late Friday on
the streets outside the government complex, located just a few blocks from Hong
Kong's downtown financial district, piggybacking off the inspiring efforts of
the students who started the uprising. More people were looking to join the
gathering when police refused, lobbing canisters of tear gas into the crowd on
Sunday evening. The fumes pushed demonstrators down the road for a few minutes,
but they returned to stand up for genuine democratic reforms in the former
British colony. A sit-in might not be the most glamorous or exciting form of
protest, but the Occupy Central civil disobedience movement and their student
friends are still making an impact and their willingness to clash with officers
wielding pepper spray deserves props. Police antagonized the crowd further by
issuing a statement urging the protesters to "leave peacefully and orderly”
and warning of “a higher level of force in order to restore public order and
safeguard public safety” if the crowd did not disperse. Beijing denounced the
demonstrations as illegal, which should only inspire the crowd to stand its
ground and seize the change for which it is taking a stand – or a sit, in this
case……..
- Don’t eff with the strength and conditioning coach. It’s a
valuable life lesson, mostly because screwing with a dude who goes 6-foot-3,
260 pounds and can bench press every weight on the rack all at once while
gulping a protein shake with the other hand is a terrible way to stay healthy
and out of the hospital. That lesson played out in vivid form Saturday in
Columbus, Ohio, where a drunken idiot attending Ohio State’s non-conference
football game against in-state rival Cincinnati did what drunken idiots do: He
came out of the stands and onto the field during the game, eliciting the usual
attention from the crowd and the knee-jerk reaction from the network
broadcasting the game to turn all cameras away from the scene of the crime so
as to not glorify an ass hat in the midst of his stupidity. But not everyone
turned a blind eye to the moron sprinting around like he was on the bath salts.
Former Ohio
State linebacker and current assistant strength coach Anthony Schlegel stepped
up and went full-on WWE superstar on the invader, hooking him around the neck
and delivering a body slam that would make Triple H in his prime extremely proud.
The crowd erupted in cheers as Schlegel completed the takedown and stadium
security arrived on the scene to take the fan into custody, with former Ohio
State coach Earle Bruce watching in the press box and noting that Schlegel was
"the best tackler we've ever had." Forget tackling, though. Schlegel
needs to be teaching weekly seminars on the proper takedown technique so that any
player, coach or official who spots a clown with a .12 BAC charging out of
Section 104 and looking to insert himself or herself into the action. Maybe if
fans knew a rock bottom was awaiting them on the field, court or pitch, they
would reconsider their inebriated plans to bum rush the action……..
- Duuuude, this is a totally righteous and hella-awesome
result. In the battle of Silicon
Valley tech billionaire versus bro-dacious surfers, the surfers have won. A San
Mateo County judge delivered a preliminary victory for the surfing community in
its fight against Vinod Khosla, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems. Superior
Court Judge Barbara Mallach riled that Khosla had wrongly denied public access
to Martin's Beach, which for decades was visited by thousands of locals who
picnicked, surfed and fished in its protective cove. Until 2008, the owners of
the beach allowed public access by a small dirt road and charged a nominal fee
for parking. In 2010, two years after Khosla acquired the property, his manager
locked the gate, painted over a sign inviting visitors from California Highway
1 and posted security guards to keep out the great unwashed. He took those
steps despite warnings from county planning officials, the Coastal Commission
and a different San Mateo County Superior Court in 2009 that he needed to seek
a coastal development permit if any of his actions were to change the
"intensity of use" of the water or access to it. The legal battle has
raged on since then and Mallach tossed the surfers a bone by ruling that by
padlocking the gate, hiring security guards and altering signs without state permission,
Khosla had wrongly denied public access to the beach, violating the California
Coastal Act. The case is part of a larger concern among beachgoers that tech
billionaires were buying up coastal properties with the intention of keeping
others out. Joe Cotchett, an attorney for the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation,
which brought the suit, labeled the decision "a huge victory for all of
the people of California." "This is a battle of David versus
Goliath," Cotchett said, "between the people who want to use the beaches
and the wealthy who want it for their own private purposes." Mallach
declined to impose about $20 million in fines that the nonprofit Surfrider
Foundation had been seeking, but can one really put a price on access to a
bitchin’ wave on a warm summer day? No, they cannot………
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