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Peter T. Chattaway | 1 May 2006 15:50
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the top ten movies in north america

http://movies.yahoo.com/boxoffice/latest/rank.html

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- Following are ticket sales for the top 10 movies
at the North American box office for the April 28-30 weekend, according to
studio estimates issued Sunday. Final data will be issued Monday.

[***] 1 (+) RV .............................. $16.4 million   16.4 million
[***] 2 (+) United 93 ....................... $11.6 million   11.6 million
      3 (+) Stick It ........................ $11.3 million   11.3 million
      4 (1) Silent Hill ...................... $9.3 million   34.2 million
[***] 5 (2) Scary Movie 4 .................... $7.8 million   78.2 million
[***] 6 (3) The Sentinel ..................... $7.6 million   25.5 million
[***] 7 (4) Ice Age: The Meltdown ............ $7.1 million  177.7 million
[***] 8 (+) Akeelah and the Bee .............. $6.3 million    6.3 million
[***] 9 (5) The Wild ......................... $4.7 million   28.4 million
      10(6) The Benchwarmers ................. $4.4 million   52.8 million

NOTE: Last weekend's position in parenthesis. + indicates a new release.
Figures are rounded.

- - -

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/20060501/114649122000.html

Audiences hit the road with Robin Williams as his family-vacation romp
"RV" opened at No. 1 with $16.4 million, while the acclaimed Sept. 11
drama "United 93" debuted with $11.6 million.

Studio estimates Sunday had Universal Pictures' "United 93" in second
place, just ahead of Disney's sports comedy "Stick It," which premiered
(Continue reading)

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Paul Christian Glenn | 1 May 2006 15:58

silent hill

>       4 (1) Silent Hill ...................... $9.3 million   34.2 
> million

It's a little late in coming, but I've posted my "Silent Hill" review 
at Balcony Fool. Links are at the site, but here's the review:

http://balconyfool.wordpress.com

Silent Hill is the best possible movie that can be wrung from a video 
game. That is both the good and the bad news.

Hollywood has been foisting video game based movies on the world for 
over a decade now, and it’s sort of incredible that anyone still thinks 
it’s a good idea. While a few have been profitable, none are good 
films, and most are the sort of embarrassing dreck that nobody wants on 
the ol’ resume. Still, at the time of this writing, I know of at least 
four more that are either in development or production. I guess we 
mustn’t underestimate the lengths to which Hollywood will go to avoid 
coming up with an original idea. Ah, but I’ve wandered off topic.

I’ve not played the Silent Hill games (there are five), so I can’t 
speak to the faithfulness of the movie adaptation, but I can say that 
the film unfolds just like a video game. That is to say, there’s an 
intriguing setup, an apocalyptic conclusion, and a lot of repetitive 
running around in between. (Come to think of it, it’s remarkable how 
many big Hollywood flicks have become just like that.) The movie looks 
terrific and delivers a few genuinely creepy moments, but the premise 
simply doesn’t hold up for two hours and more.

Nine-year-old Sharon Da Silva (Jodelle Ferland) suffers from memory
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Lance McLain | 1 May 2006 16:32

Re: the top ten movies in north america

> Walt Disney Co.'s "Stick It" handily exceeded expectations, which had been
> in the $6 million-$9 million range. Teen girls turned out en masse for the
> story of a troubled young gymnast.

Did they ever!  I had the (unfortunate) experience of accompanying my 11yo
daughter and her friend to see this on Saturday.  It was in the largest
theater at the multiplex and every seat was full with them standing in the
aisles.  I was one of maybe 5 guys there.  All teeny boppers and loudly
interacting with the film with cheering, crying, laughing etc.

This is a hit with the pre-teen / young teen girls.  Being pretty
experienced with gymnastics via my daughter, I noticed there was also a
lot of "inside" dialog that only gymnasts would know about (ex. "rips" on
top of "rips", etc).

Myself, although I found it a pretty lousy film, there was some pretty
nifty 70's stylish camerawork which I found entertaining.  The film could
have been a whole lot worse.

regards,
-Lance
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Peter T. Chattaway | 1 May 2006 16:42
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Re: the top ten movies in north america

On Mon, 1 May 2006, Lance McLain wrote:

> > Walt Disney Co.'s "Stick It" handily exceeded expectations, which had been
> > in the $6 million-$9 million range. Teen girls turned out en masse for the
> > story of a troubled young gymnast.
> 
> Did they ever!  I had the (unfortunate) experience of accompanying my
> 11yo daughter and her friend to see this on Saturday.  It was in the
> largest theater at the multiplex and every seat was full with them
> standing in the aisles.  I was one of maybe 5 guys there.  All teeny
> boppers and loudly interacting with the film with cheering, crying,
> laughing etc.
> 
> This is a hit with the pre-teen / young teen girls.  Being pretty
> experienced with gymnastics via my daughter, I noticed there was also
> a lot of "inside" dialog that only gymnasts would know about (ex.
> "rips" on top of "rips", etc).
> 
> Myself, although I found it a pretty lousy film, there was some pretty
> nifty 70's stylish camerawork which I found entertaining.  The film
> could have been a whole lot worse.

FWIW, I almost saw it last Thursday, the night before it opened, but that
was Bible-study night, and my wife wanted to go, and since she hadn't been
to the Bible study since at least October (i.e. before she was put on bed
rest), and since I wasn't reviewing this particular film, the study won.

--- Peter T. Chattaway ------------- http://filmchatblog.blogspot.com/ ---
Nothing tells memories from ordinary moments; only afterwards do they
   claim remembrance, on account of their scars. -- Chris Marker, La Jetee
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Peter T. Chattaway | 1 May 2006 18:15
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Amnesty International mulls abortion rights crusade

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6d9726ce-48ef-4510-95e3-9a824264b0ac

Steven Edwards, CanWest News Service
Published: Thursday, April 27, 2006

UNITED NATIONS -- Amnesty International has proposed advancing abortion
rights around the world, marking a new direction for the human rights
advocacy group that built its global reputation on campaigns to free
political prisoners.

In documents sent to AI members for feedback, the organization's chiefs
identify three areas of the abortion debate where they say it should begin
fighting for women's rights.

They call for the global decriminalization of abortion and say there
should be abortion on demand in cases involving sexual assault or risk to
a woman's life.

Finally, they say women who suffer medical complications after an illegal
abortion should have the right to proper medical care.

"Governments have responsibilities to ensure that everyone's sexual and
reproductive rights are protected," says the main paper of AI's Sexual &
Reproductive Rights Consultation Kit.

"No one should be discriminated against when and if they attempt to
exercise their sexual and reproductive rights, or ask that they be
protected."

With abortion illegal in many countries, and politically contested in the
(Continue reading)

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Peter T. Chattaway | 1 May 2006 21:57
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Where's the dissent about source of quote?

http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn30.html

April 30, 2006
BY MARK STEYN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

John Kerry announced this week's John Kerry Iraq Policy of the Week the
other day: "Iraqi politicians should be told that they have until May 15
to deal with these intransigent issues and at last put together an
effective unity government or we will immediately withdraw our military."

With a sulky pout perhaps? With hands on hips and a full flip of the hair?

Did he get that from Churchill? "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall
fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the
streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, at least
until May 15, when I have a windsurfing engagement off Nantucket."

Actually, no. He got it from Thomas Jefferson. "This is not the first time
in American history when patriotism has been distorted to deflect
criticism and mislead the nation," warned Sen. Kerry, placing his courage
in the broader historical context. "No wonder Thomas Jefferson himself
said: 'Dissent is the greatest form of patriotism.' "

Close enough. According to the Jefferson Library: "There are a number of
quotes that we do not find in Thomas Jefferson's correspondence or other
writings; in such cases, Jefferson should not be cited as the source.
Among the most common of these spurious Jefferson quotes are: 'Dissent is
the highest form of patriotism.' "

Did Kerry's speechwriter endeavor to point that out? "Hey, boss, diss
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Peter T. Chattaway | 1 May 2006 22:05
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THE SOMETHING THEY'LL BELIEVE IN

http://www.steynonline.com/index2.cfm?edit_id=22

Two days before Christmas, I was in a store in Vermont buying a
last-minute gift when the owner’s twentysomething daughter walked in.
“Thanks for the sweater, mom,” she said. “Kevin really liked his present,
too.”

“But it’s only the 23rd,” said the bewildered lady.

“Mom,” sighed the kid, wearily. “How many times do I have to tell you? We
always open our presents on the solstice.”

A couple of weeks later, a neighbor of mine in New Hampshire got married.
He’s a biker and a tattooist, and he’s deeply spiritual. So he and his
bride were married in the middle of a field in a service filled with
imprecations to Odin, Thor and sundry other Norse gods. The congregation
of bikers rolled their eyes, which may or may not be a traditional Norse
mark of respect.

G K Chesterton made a famous observation that when men cease to believe in
God they’ll believe in anything. But the anything they’ll believe in is at
least in part environmentally determined. Alice Thomson of The Daily
Telegraph in London was recently granted an interview with the Dalai Lama
at Dharmsala, the old British hill station in northern India where he
lives in exile. En route to his pad, she encountered both a native Tibetan
bearing the brutal marks of Chinese torture and, at one of the luxury
hotels that have sprung up for moneyed pilgrims, a “rotund Austrian
biscuit heiress” who turned to Buddhism after her stomach staple failed to
take.
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Peter T. Chattaway | 1 May 2006 22:07
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steyn's song of the week: 'morning train (nine to five)'

http://www.steynonline.com/index2.cfm?edit_id=64

Steyn's Song Of The Week
3) MORNING TRAIN (NINE TO FIVE)
by Florrie Palmer

I love the Great American Train Song. It’s a genre that has the sweep and
size of the nation:

    And you pull the throttle, whistle blows
    A-huffin’ an’ a-puffin’ and away she goes
    All the way to Californiay
    On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe!

And, if you're a foreigner, you can learn a lot about the lie of the land
from these numbers:

    You leave the Pennsylvania Station ’bout a quarter to four
    Read a magazine and then you’re in Baltimore
    Dinner in the diner
    Nothing could be finer
    Than to have your ham’n’eggs in Carolina…

On the other hand:

    Third boxcar, midnight train
    Destination Bangor, Maine…

It’s a special category of song with its own full supporting cast -
shoeshine boys, engineers and conductors:
(Continue reading)

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Peter T. Chattaway | 2 May 2006 03:17
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request for advice re: flickr

Hey guys, just wondering something.

Is it possible to upload old photos and put them in a set *without* them
being shown on the home page?

I've had the account for about three months, ever since the twins were
born, and I finally got around to creating "sets" today -- so far I'm just
breaking the photos down by month ("Newborns", "Month 2", etc.).

What I would *like* to do now is upload a whole bunch of wedding photos,
just to have an online archive of them -- but I don't want to interrupt
the chronological flow of the home page.

Is this possible?  Any ideas?

--- Peter T. Chattaway ------------- http://filmchatblog.blogspot.com/ ---
Nothing tells memories from ordinary moments; only afterwards do they
   claim remembrance, on account of their scars. -- Chris Marker, La Jetee

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jen cox | 2 May 2006 21:06
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Firefly

Just finished watching the series last night (still have the 'making-of' 
left). So sad Fox pulled the plug on it. What a great show.

Anxious to see 'Serenity' again. I thought it stood on its own well but 
I think I'll enjoy it even more now that I know the back story.

jen
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