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Monthly Archives: January 2010
HuffPost Weekend Box Office Review: Avatar Crosses $2 Billion Worldwide
Avatar won the box office derby for the seventh straight weekend, taking the record for the biggest seventh weekend gross ($30 million) from Titanic ($25 million). Dropping just 14%, the unstoppable monster has now grossed $594 million, meaning it will cross Titanic‘s $600 million gross in the next 2-3 days, perhaps on the very day (Tuesday the 2nd) that the Oscar nominations are announced. Early last week, it surpassed Titanic‘s worldwide box office gross to become the world’s highest-grossing movie. This weekend it crossed the seemingly unfathomable $2 billion mark worldwide. You can babble all you want about inflation, 3D and IMAX ticket prices, and what have you to your hearts’ content, but check out this little statistic: When Avatar reaches $2.239 billion, which it will in the next two or three weeks, it will have doubled the worldwide take of every other movie ever made except Titanic. It will also soon have an over $1 billion lead over any movie not directed by James Cameron. There’s not much more to say at this point than ‘wow’ and don’t make a sequel, so let’s move on…
Second place went to the Mel Gibson comeback vehicle Edge of Darkness. The Martin Campbell suspense thriller (remade from the director’s own 1985 BBC miniseries) pulled in $17 million. All eyes were focused on this one, as it was Gibson’s first starring role since 2002′s Signs. The opening isn’t terrific but it’s not terrible either. The film was advertised as a variation on Taken, but anyone paying attention to the preview could tell that it was more of a procedural investigation drama than a slam-bang thriller. The opening is right in line with Martin Campbell’s non-blockbuster debuts, just above the $16.3 million opening for 2005′s The Legend of Zorro and the $15.5 million debut of 2000′s Vertical Limit. Considering this picture cost $80 million (or about what the other two Campbell films cost), I’m sure Warner is hoping for something closer to Vertical Limit‘s $69 million finish as opposed to The Legend of Zorro‘s $46 million end total. Pardon the pun, but this was neither his brightest day nor his blackest night.
Posted in News, Original Content
Tagged Avatar, bbc miniseries, box, Campbell, day, edge of darkness, hearts content, James Cameron, legend of zorro, Martin Campbell, Mel Gibson, movie, Office, opening, Oscar, suspense thriller, thriller, Titanic, Warner, weekend, weekend gross, worldwide, worldwide box office
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Peaceful Revolution: Rhodes Scholar Mothers Face Inequality Too
A great deal of our popular discourse on “successful women” is centered around the alleged question of “work-life balance.” Can a professional woman, at the top of her career, really, ever, “Have it all?”
For many, the words “Rhodes Scholar” represent Success with a capital ”S.” As a woman — and one of the first among us to be a Rhodes Scholar — I’ve always been interested in what, precisely, defines “Success” for our generation, and what will define it for generations to come. It is interesting and I must admit, disappointing, that at Rhodes Scholar reunions, women are still shepherded to panels on “work life balance.” And that we are told — by our Rhodes women peers — that we are “redefining success.” Why can’t we succeed on the same plane as the men?
Posted in News, Original Content
Tagged balance, career, Deal, discourse, generations, peers, professional woman, question, reunions, Rhodes, rhodes scholar, scholar, success, successful women, top, woman, work life balance
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When the French Spiced Up Film: Rohmer, Truffaut, Godard and Cahiers Du Cinema
I happened to meet recently with a film student from Paris who wondered why so few Americans attended a certain French film festival held recently in New York City. My somewhat involved response came with some brief historical perspective, which follows.
Just as Hollywood began losing its way in the fifties (much like today, except then their feeble response was Cinemascope, not CGE), France was becoming known for something new and different: a whole new take on how films should be made and assessed.
Posted in News, Original Content
Tagged CGE, Cinemascope, feeble response, Festival, fifties, film, film student, Films, France, french film festival, historical perspective, Hollywood, New York City, Paris, perspective, response, Something, student, today, way
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Credit Card Legislation Means Consumers Under 21 Need a Way to Navigate the ‘Plastic Gap’
In the past several decades, the way we pay for things has made plastic, not cash, king. The rise of plastic began with credit cards which for years have attracted consumers despite high interest rates and constantly changing fine print. The new Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, which takes full effect on February 22, promises to give consumers much-needed relief by keeping more of the hard-earned money in the pockets of the people who earned it.
This sweeping legislation cracks down on rate increases, eliminates certain tricky practices, improves transparency and protects arguably the most vulnerable among us – young consumers. Anxious to make their way in the world and not always aware of the long-term financial consequences of their actions, anyone under the age of 21 will be much more protected from the dangers of credit cards. However, there are consequences they may not like.
Posted in News, Original Content
Tagged accountability, card, cracks, credit, credit cards, disclosure act, february 22, financial consequences, fine, full effect, hard earned money, high interest rates, interest, King, plastic, pockets, print, rate increases, rise, way
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Praise the Lord and Pass the Football
Next Sunday, we rededicate ourselves to the proposition that football is America. The commercial enterprise, humbly termed by Pete Rozelle as “The Super Bowl,” features orchestrated violence, women in short skirts and creative advertising designed to make us all eager consumers. Many prayers will be said between now and then in the hope and anticipation that divine intervention will steer the fates towards our favored team. This combination — all scheduled for the Lord’s Day — is our contribution to modern culture.
The Super Bowl this year features two extraordinary quarterbacks and 52 other players on each squad prepared to do battle. Both teams count on God’s support, and the victory will be His. That is somewhat confusing, however. I did not know God took sides in a football game.
Posted in News, Original Content
Tagged advertising, America, anticipation, Bowl, commercial enterprise, creative advertising, divine intervention, enterprise, fates, Football, football game, God, modern culture, Next, Pete Rozelle, proposition, rededicate, Sunday, Super, super bowl, violence, women in short skirts
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Is Apathy Socially Redeeming?
Many an activist and other members of the liberal left (sorry, conservatives, there’s nothing derogatory about that term you use for us) has torn out his or her hair over apathy on the part of the general public. Why do so few Americans care about inhumanity and injustice? Worse, why do they often vote against their own interests?
What compounds our frustration and bewilderment over our fellow Americans’ negligible participation in the political process is the overarching irony. We’re citizens of the nation that put participatory democracy on the map for God’s sake. How did we arrive at this sad state of affairs, which I call the enduring enigma of the American public?
Posted in News, Original Content
Tagged activist, apathy, bewilderment, care, conservatives, fellow americans, God, hair, inhumanity, injustice, irony, Liberal, nothing, part, public, sad state of affairs, state of affairs, term
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Inside the Midnight Grammy Brunch Hosted by Ne-Yo
With The Golden Globes, SAG awards and Grammys all being at the end of January, there is something exciting and frustrating about living in Los Angeles during awards season. It is exciting being so close to such massive events, but frustrating sometimes being outside looking in. Luckily for me this year, it’s more the former, as I’ve scored a spot on the press line to the exclusive 3rd Annual Midnight Grammy Brunch from OK! Magazine and Compound Entertainment.
Held annually on the eve of the Grammy Awards, music’s hottest stars joined host Ne-Yo at the new W Hollywood Hotel & Residences for a late night party featuring DJ Miss Saigon and a special performance by Melanie Fiona. Among the 300 attendees were Ashanti, Natalie Cole, Lil Mama, Michelle Williams from Destiny’s Child, Tristan Wilds, Quinton Aaron, Gabourey Sidibe, Briana Evigan, JoJo, Tamara Mowry and more.
Posted in News, Original Content
Tagged being, Briana Evigan, Destiny, destiny s child, end, Globes, Golden, golden globes, Grammy, January, lil mama, Los Angeles, Luckily, Mama, massive events, Melanie Fiona, Michelle Williams, Miss Saigon, Natalie Cole, ok magazine, Quinton Aaron, SAG, season, Something, Tamara Mowry, Tristan Wilds
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Sweden, Again
Last time I wrote about Sweden, it was in regard to a one-two punch.
First, it was Aftonbladet, Sweden’s largest-circulation newspaper, devoting two full pages to accusing the Israeli military of killing Palestinians to harvest their human organs. Then came the refusal of Sweden’s foreign minister, Carl Bildt, to condemn this modern-day blood libel.
Posted in News, Original Content
Tagged Aftonbladet, blood, blood libel, Carl Bildt, circulation, foreign minister, harvest, human organs, israeli military, last time, military, Minister, newspaper, palestinians, punch, refusal, regard, Sweden, time
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