Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Comunicado sobre la situación política de Puerto Rico


Me hago eco de lo declarado aquí.

LA EXPLOSIVA SITUACIÓN POLÍTICA DE PUERTO RICO

Son las 5:00 de la tarde del día 30 de junio de 2010, grupos de estudiantes, profesores y ciudadanos pidieron entrada a la Casa de las Leyes y fueron golpeados y torturados por la Polícia, hay numerosos heridos, mientras se moviliza la Guardia Nacional hacia el Capitolio. Choques violentos se esparcen por toda la zona del Parlamento y las represiones continúan.

Un golpe de estado constitucional acaba de consolidarse en Puerto Rico.
Tras un año de que el actual gobierno del Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP, partido que busca la anexión de Puerto Rico a los Estados Unidos), intentara y lograra exitosamente la toma de varias instituciones que sostienen el gobierno democrático de Puerto Rico, un ambiente de hostilidad seguido por temerarias acciones retadoras de la paz pública, han desembocado en acciones violentas y agresivas del actual gobierno, tanto contra los partidos de oposición, como del movimiento estudiantil organizado, los sindicatos, la prensa, así como de todos los sectores de la sociedad civil puertorriqueña.
Esta toma del control constitucional procede de la Rama Legislativa bajo la autoridad del Senador Lcdo. Thomas Rivera Schatz, apoyada por el gobierno central bajo el mando del Secretario de la Gobernación, el Lcdo. Marcos Rodríguez Ema, con el obvio propósito de tener a su disposición y sin disputa, el control de todos los organismos rectores judiciales, universitarios, económicos y civiles. Ante este panorama, el actual Gobernador, Lcdo. Luis Fortuño, funciona sin voluntad, sin opinión y sin presencia ni responsabilidad pública.
Con el control del Tribunal Supremo de Puerto Rico, la Junta de Síndicos de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, el pretendido control de los medios de comunicación, entre muchos otros, se atenta contra la genuina participación del pueblo puertorriqueño en todos los procesos democráticos protegidos por su Carta de Derechos.
Los incidentes comenzaron con el despido de más 20,000 empleados públicos con el pretexto de aliviar el gigantismo gubernamental y resolver el gravísimo déficit fiscal del país. Esta decisión ha provocado el caos económico, ha empeorado la prestación de servicios públicos y ha provocado la desesperanza en todas las familias puertorriqueñas. De la misma forma se instauró una grave persecución contra los institutos artísticos del país, estrangulando sus presupuestos y de esta manera evitar la propagación del arte como disidencia. Mientras el Gobierno favorecía con contratos de cantidades obscenas, a cientos de asesores, contratistas, y cabilderos asociados a su partido.
Continuaron los ataques con el nombramiento al Tribunal Supremo de cuatro Jueces afiliados y militantes al partido del poder logrando con ello la mayoría a favor del gobierno de todas las decisiones que por votación individual se hicieran en ese foro. Luego continuó con la eliminación y represión de la participación estudiantil en los procesos universitarios, la supresión de derechos de exención de matricula de atletas, artistas, entre otros, mientras obligó a los estudiantes de los 11 recintos universitarios del estado a declarar una Huelga que duró 60 días. Los estudiantes en Huelga lograron negociar a través de un tribunal de primera instancia, sin embargo, los referidos compromisos fueron invalidados por el Secretario de la Gobernación quien dijo que los acuerdos “no valen el papel en que están escritos”.
Este hecho precedió a la acción del gobierno central y del Senado de proponer un proyecto de Ley, aprobado en cuestión de horas, para aumentar cuatro miembros más a la Junta de Síndicos. Dichos miembros son incondicionales del partido en el poder. Los estudiantes universitarios de la universidad del estado, cuya vasta mayoría dependen de la beca de estudios federal, se enfrentan a una cuota anual recurrente de $800 dólares. Cuota que no pueden pagar y que se negarán a pagar obligados nuevamente a la consecuente Huelga. De esta manera, la administración central de la UPR arriesga la acreditación de la Universidad y podrá privatizar sus activos. En esta misma dirección, el Gobierno de Puerto Rico venderá los terrenos donde se ubica la zona del llamado “Karso” del Noroeste, que recoge un tercio de los abastos de agua de todo el país, para entregarlo a manos privadas que construirán un expreso de peaje sobre la referida zona, rica ecológicamente.
Pasando por alto muchos otros acontecimientos, el Presupuesto del país fue aprobado, junto con innumerables leyes que favorecen la privatización, la descolegiación profesional, así como la repartición de fondos públicos a manos privadas sin tomar en cuenta las necesarias y obligadas vistas públicas de participación ciudadana, y apagando los micrófonos de las bancas del Partido de Oposición de manera despótica.
Los incidentes lograron un punto climático cuando esta pasada semana, el FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation de los Estados Unidos) arresta por cargos de soborno, venta de influencias y otros a un senador del PNP, el senador Héctor Martínez, mano derecha del Senador Rivera Schatz. Una pugna pública salta a las noticias entre Rivera Schatz y este cuerpo federal castrense, en defensa de la supuesta inocencia del senador Martínez, quien ha sido asociado al narcotráfico y quien fuera grabado en medio de su acto de soborno. Como último de los muchos incidentes de violencia y temeridad del Presidente Senatorial, se censuró mediante la fuerza la entrada de los periodistas a las sesiones del Senado, privando al pueblo puertorriqueño de la discusión que se realizó sobre el presupuesto del país. Los incidentes llegaron a la violencia verbal y física entre senadores, y han elevado la indignación del país a un punto insostenible de ansiedad y rabia.
El Lcdo. Thomas Rivera Schatz ha tomado virtual control del país con sus actitudes tiránicas y fascistas, y no se descarta que desde sus mismas gradas se inicien esta semana procesos de persecución y violencia contra otros sectores del país, apoyados por el Secretario de la Gobernación de Puerto Rico.
Son las 5:00 de la tarde del día 30 de junio de 2010, grupos de estudiantes, profesores y ciudadanos pidieron entrada a la Casa de las Leyes y fueron golpeados y torturados por la Polícia, hay numerosos heridos, mientras se moviliza la Guardia Nacional hacia el Capitolio. Choques violentos se esparcen por toda la zona del Parlamento y las represiones continúan.
Este control de facto del poder político en la Nación Puertorriqueña viola todos los más elementales principios de la democracia y del gobierno participativo, por lo que enteramos al mundo de la actual situación de violencia contenida que existe en nuestro pueblo y que está a punto de estallar contra estos dos políticos que han tomado por asalto el poder del país. Aún cuando en Puerto Rico no existen las condiciones para un levantamiento armado popular por la obvia desigualdad de las fuerzas en pugna, una revolución de afirmación cultural y estudiantil comienza a tomar las calles y a rescatar los espacios robados por los autores de este golpe.
Exhortamos a todos los medios de comunicación del mundo a que den noticia de la actual situación de la Nación Puertorriqueña y solicitamos por ende su completa solidaridad.

Redactado por Roberto Ramos-Perea, dramaturgo puertorriqueño.
(Con la activa colaboración, comentarios y apoyo de más de un centenar de ciudadanos puertorriqueños.)


IMPORTANT NEWS TO DIVULGE TROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
EXPLOSIVE POLITICAL SITUATION IN PUERTO RICO

It is 5:00 of the evening of June 30, 2010, groups of students, teachers and citizens asked for entry to the House of the Laws and they were struck and tortured by the Police, there are numerous injured people, while the National Guard is mobilized towards the Capitol Hill. Violent shocks scatter for the whole zone of the Parliament and the repressions continue.

A constitutional coup has just been established in Puerto Rico.
After a year in which the present time government under the New Progressive Party (Partido Nuevo Progresista, that attempts to join the Island to the United States trough statehood) tried to and succeeded taking over many institutions that form the base of the democratic government of Puerto Rico, an atmosphere of hostility followed by many reckless actions that threaten public peace had climaxed in violent and aggressive actions of this government against the parties of the opposition, the organized student movement, the labor unions, the press, the environment, as against every area and institution of Puerto Rico’s civil society.

This constitutional coup springs from the Legislative branch of the government under the command of Senator Thomas Rivera Schatz, endorsed by the central government, under the dominance of the Secretary Governor, counselor Marcos Rodríguez Ema, with the obvious intent of having under their grasp and without opposition full control of every agency and organization that rule the judiciary, academic, economic and civil societies. Before this scenario, Governor Luis Fortuño operates without volition, has no opinion, appearance nor public responsibility.

With the complete control of the High Court of Puerto Rico, the University of Puerto Rico Board of trustees, and the alleged control of the news media, among many others, the genuine participation of the People of Puerto Rico in all democratic processes protected by our Constitution is jeopardized.

The events started (trough the rush approval of Law 7 by the Legislature) with more than 20,000 public employee lay-offs, with the allegation that this would alleviate the gigantism of the government and would find the solution of the serious public deficit, that has never been properly evidenced. This decision has caused economical chaos, public services are worse than ever and it has generated despair and gloominess in every Puertorrican family. In this same guise there exists a serious persecution against all artistic institutions of the country, strangling their budgets, trying with this actions to avoid the propagation of art as dissidence. This, while the government favors contracts of obscene sums with hundreds of advisors, contractors and lobbyists associated with their own political party.

The attacks continued in the form of the appointment to the High Court of four Judges with a well known affiliation with, and militancy for the governing political party, achieving a majority of votes in favor of the actual government on all decisions made in this Forum, on individual basis. The government went on repressing and eliminating student participation on the procedures of the State University, suppressing tuition exemption rights for outstanding athletes and artists, among others; forcing the students from all eleven campuses of the University of Puerto Rico to declare a strike that lasted 60 days, generating ample support from the people of Puerto Rico and around the world.

The students on strike were successful on their achieving their demands trough negotiations that involved a First Instance Court and an appointed negotiator; however, these accords were are trying to be invalidated by Secretary of government Rodríguez Ema who said that these accords “are not worth the paper in which they were written”

This event preceded the Central government’s action of proposing a hasty law, that was signed with no revision within hours, adding four additional members to the Board of trustees of the University of Puerto Rico. These additions to the Board are unconditional members of the governing political party The students of the State university, who on a great majority depend in Federal grants, now face an annual recurring fee of $800.00, fee they will not be able to pay and that they will not pay, forcing the students to return to their strike. With this strategy, the Central government risk the accreditation of the State University and as a consequence, the government would be able to privatize it’s assets.

Following this same direction, the government of Puerto Rico will attempt to sell and to divide for speculation a strip of land where stands the Karst formation, on the northwest of the Island. This area collects one third of our water supplies for the entire population; nonetheless, the government intends to put this area into private hands that would build a toll expressway over this zone that is rich ecologically and economically.

Passing up many other events, the budget of Puerto Rico was approved, together with countless laws which favor privatization, the dissolving of professional associations and the distribution of public funds into private hands, without the pertaining and compulsory hearings of public participation, reaching the extreme of turning off the microphones of the opposing political party members, in a despotic fashion.

The events climaxed last week when the FBI in Puerto Rico arrested Senator Héctor Martínez, NPP, on charges of bribe, the selling of influences and other charges. Martinez is Senator’s Rivera Schatz right hand on the Senate. A public squabble reached the news between the Senator and the FBI, with the Seantor fending the alleged innocence of Senator Martínez,, who has been directly associated with drug traffic and who was filmed while committing bribery.

Then, last in his many violent and reckless acts, the president of the Senate, Rivera Schatz, using force and a real padlock, censored the access of the cameras and the news media to the Senate sessions, depriving the People of Puerto Rico of direct information about the discussions and voting sessions that were taking place about this year’s budget and other matter). The events resulted in verbal and physical violence between senators, rising indignation between the people to a point of and almost unsustainable state of outrage and wrath.

Counselor Rivera Schatz has taken virtual control of the country with his tyrannical and fascist ways; and it cannot be discarded that from these same seats, this same week, acts of persecution and acts of violence will be started against other sectors of the People, all approved by the Secretary Governor of Puerto Rico.

It is 5:00 of the evening of June 30, 2010, groups of students, teachers and citizens asked for entry to the House of the Laws and they were struck and tortured by the Police, there are numerous injured people, while the National Guard is mobilized towards the Capitol Hill. Violent shocks scatter for the whole zone of the Parliament and the repressions continue.

This factual deed of control of the political power from within the Puertorrican Nation violates all elementary principles of democracy and of participation of the People in the government, for which we proclaim to the World the actual situation of contained violence that exists in our People and that is about to explode against these two politicians that had taken by assault the power in our Country. Even though in Puerto Rico there are no conditions for an armed struggle of the People because of the obvious disparity of the opposing sides, a revolution of cultural and of student affirmation is starting to take the streets and to retrieve the spaces stolen away by the originators of this coup.

We exhort all communications media of the World to divulge and expose the current situation of the Puertorrican Nation and we ask of you, therefore, your total solidarity.

Composed by Roberto Ramos-Perea, Puertorrican Playwriter
(With the active collaboration, comments and support of more than a hundred Puertorrican citizens.)




Con esto se ha dicho todo.

Mi pregunta...

¿Qué vamos a hacer?

Fotos - Andre Kang / Primera Hora
Video - Noticentro 4

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Un punto y aparte; ¡Con la libertad de Prensa no se juega!


He decidido hacen un punto y aparte de lo usual de este blog, para expresarme sobre un suceso que esta ocurriendo en este país. Desde el Jueves pasado, el presidente del Senado de Puerto Rico, Thomas Rivera Schatz ha prohibido la entrada de foto-periodistas y de miembros de la prensa a las gradas superiores del Capitolio. Esto se desprende desde que la prensa reportara el arresto por agentes federales del Senador Héctor Martinez, acusándolo de corrupción, entre otros cargos.

La critica de la Prensa hacia la injerencia indebida de el presidente del Senado, haciéndose cargo de la defensa del acusado, mientras todavía es presidente de un cuerpo senatorial, parece que ha sido el detonante para que el Sr. Rivera Schatz precipitara la decisión de cerrarle los portones a la prensa de este país y dificultarles su trabajo, especialmente a los foto-periodistas, para no retratar la imagen de un acusado federal.

El Sr. Schatz parece que desconoce la constitución del país al que supuestamente quiere unirse. La constitución de los Estados Unidos de América claramente especifica en su primera enmienda, ratificada el 15 de Diciembre de 1791;

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Mas clara la constitución Norteamericana no puede ser.

La constitución de Puerto Rico, en el articulo 1, sección 4, ratificada el 25 de Julio de 1952 dice así;

"No se aprobará ley alguna que restrinja la libertad de palabra o de prensa o el derecho del pueblo a reunirse en asamblea pacífica y a pedir al gobierno la reparación de agravios."
Claro, verdad.

Todos los trabajos del senado federal y por consiguiente, el senado de Puerto Rico, son públicos. Es decir, el pueblo tiene derecho a ver y por consiguiente cuestionar sus actos, a censurar y a despedir funcionarios, con el voto, si no le sirven al pueblo. Claro esta, por compromisos previos, no podemos esta en toda sesión del Senado y la Cámara de Representantes. Para eso, la Prensa sirve un propósito. Ellos tienen la tarea de informar sobre los trabajos de nuestros representantes electos y analizar si esas leyes son convenientes para el pueblo. Cuartar esto es decir que el pueblo no tiene derecho a saber sobre las decisiones, especialmente en un cuerpo que es pagado con las contribuciones de ese mismo pueblo.

Ese entendimiento entre el poder legislativo y el verdadero poder, el pueblo, ha sido violado por el Sr. Rivera Schatz en una acción sin precedentes en nuestro país.

El Sr. Rivera Schatz se adjudica poderes que no le pertenecen. El mequetrefe este (ya me canse de decirle señor a semejante animal de granja.) cree que gobierna en este país. Se cree cual dictador de república bananera, o peor, una repetición del dictador de ultra derecha Adolfo Hitler, la cual similitud quiere ese mequetrefe, ya que lleva sangre Alemana en sus venas, para gran deshonra de los Alemanes.

Estas acciones, cuan un Chavez cualquiera, destruyen la poca credibilidad que le quedaba al cuerpo del Senado, y hacer quedar en claro quien es el verdadero gobernador de Puerto Rico, ya que el individuo que ocupa La Fortaleza no lo es.

Esta acción dictatorial, no solamente debe ser repudiada por todas las esferas de nuestro país, sino luchada en las cortes y las calles si fuera necesario. Esta funesta acción es la culminación de uno de los gobiernos mas represivos desde la época del Componte y Romero Barcelo. Este gobierno ha castigado sin misericordia al pueblo, quitando derechos básicos y reprimiendo los movimientos de lucha y protesta.

Mi blog se une al llamado a que el gobierno ceda y vuelva a trabajar para el pueblo. Recuerden, ustedes son unos empleados temporeros, que sirven al pueblo, NO a servirse de el. Si siguen en estas actitudes prepotentes, vamos a llegar a la confrontación civil y aunque lejana todavia sea esa posibilidad, a una confrontación totalmente diferente. Nos basta los ejemplos de la revolución Norteamericana y Francesa para ilustrar nuestra idea.

Todavía la Paz esta a un precio módico. Vamos a comprarla ahora antes que ese precio suba.

Recuerden también, que ustedes son administradores de una colonia de un poder foráneo. No hagan que ese gobierno actué de forma fuerte hacia ustedes. No es lo mismo llamar al Diablo, que verlo venir, como decía mi difunta madre.

No jueguen con nuestras libertades. Respeten al Pueblo y el repetirá la acción.

Max Les' Shyerar
Junio 29, 2010

Monday, June 28, 2010

And the box office champion this week is...


LOS ANGELES – The "Toy Story 3" gang and Adam Sandler are finding plenty of playmates at movie theaters. Tom Cruise is not so popular, though.

The Disney-Pixar Animation smash "Toy Story 3" remained the No. 1 film with $59 million in its second weekend, raising its domestic total to $226.6 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Sandler's "Grown Ups" debuted at No. 2 with a healthy $41 million. Released by Sony, the comedy costarring Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider did well despite a thrashing from critics.

Cruise's thriller "Knight and Day" fizzled at No. 3 with $20.5 million. It was the worst result for a Cruise action flick in 20 years and a sign that audiences still have not forgiven him for erratic behavior a few years back, which included his couch-jumping incident on Oprah Winfrey's show.

"He's one of the biggest stars of all time, but no question, this has impacted him," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "It's not like it's irrevocable or unchangeable. Look at all the stars who have been jailed or caught in compromising sexual situations and then came back. Many stars do recover. It just may take a lot of time for him."

Reviews were fair for "Knight and Day," which features Cruise as a charming spy who finds romance with a civilian (Cameron Diaz) on a globe-trotting adventure. Yet distributor 20th Century Fox could not pull in a big audience despite a heavy marketing push that included sneak-peak screenings a week earlier and a Wednesday debut designed to build fan buzz for opening weekend.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Toy Story 3," $59 million.

2. "Grown Ups," $41 million.

3. "Knight and Day," $20.5 million.

4. "The Karate Kid," $15.4 million.

5. "The A-Team," $6 million.

6. "Get Him to the Greek," $3 million.

7. "Shrek Forever After," $2.9 million.

8. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," $2.8 million.

9. "Killers," $2 million.

10. "Jonah Hex," $1.6 million.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Michael Jackson, one year after...


One year ago today, Pop music icon Michael Jackson died of an accidental drug overdose. Whatever your opinion of him, when he was alive, you cannot deny his influence in the music business.

In commemoration of this event, I link you to the BBC news website for an analysis on Jackson, one year later.

Click Here.

Also there's a link to my earlier posts on Jackson.

http://rbeansrblades.blogspot.com/2009/06/michael-jackson-is-dead.html

http://rbeansrblades.blogspot.com/2009/06/michael-jackson-1958-2009.html

Okay, everybody, grab your crotch and say...Ji Jiiiiiiiiiii!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Edith Shain - Nurse in famous WWII VJ Day photo, 1919-2010


The V-J Day picture of the white-clad Edith Shain by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured an epic moment in U.S. history and became an iconic image marking the end of the war after being published in Life magazine.

The identity of the nurse in the photograph was not known until the late 1970s when Shain wrote to the photographer saying that she was the woman in the picture taken on August 14 at a time when she had been working at Doctor's Hospital in New York City.

The identity of the sailor remains disputed and unresolved.

From then on the photograph also made its mark on Shain's life as the fame she garnered led to invites to war related events such a wreath layings, parades and other memorial events.

"My mom was always willing take on new challenges and caring for the World War Two veterans energized her to take another chance to make a difference," her son Justin Decker said in a statement.

Shain, who died at her home in Los Angeles on Sunday, leaves behind three sons, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

May she rest in Peace.

Image - Alfred Eisenstaedt/Getty Images

Jewish dance group stoned in Germany!


Oh no! But this time the culprits might not be who you think!

German police are investigating the stoning of a Jewish dance group trying to perform on the street in the city of Hanover.

Youths reportedly shouted "Juden Raus" (Jews Out) as they attacked the dancers of the Chaverim ("Friends" in Hebrew) dance troupe last weekend.

Police said several Muslim immigrant youths were among the attackers and two youths were being questioned.

A German Jewish leader said she feared growing anti-Israeli sentiment.

The group was trying to perform in Hanover's Sahlkamp district, which has a large immigrant community.

One of the dancers was injured in the leg and the troupe cancelled the performance after the attack.

Police said one German suspect aged 14 and a 19-year-old of North African origin were being questioned.

Alla Volodarska, of the Progressive Jewish community of Hanover, told Associated Press news agency she had spoken to the dancers involved.

"What happened is just so awful. The teenagers started throwing stones the moment our dance group was announced, even before they started dancing."

Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the Die Welt newspaper that anti-Semitic feelings were widespread in both far-right and Muslim communities in the country.

"It particularly saddens me that those anti-Semitic views can already be seen with such vehemence among children and youths," she said



Sunday, June 20, 2010

And the box office champion this week is...




LOS ANGELES – "Toy Story 3" has become the favorite plaything for moviegoers as the animated sequel heads to a $100-million-plus opening weekend.

The latest hit from Disney's Pixar Animation took in $41 million in its first day Friday, according to studio estimates.

That puts "Toy Story 3" on track to join "Shrek 2" and "Shrek the Third" as the only animated films to top $100 million in their debut weekends.

Reuniting voice stars Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, "Toy Story 3" will easily pass Pixar's previous best opening of $70.5 million for "The Incredibles."

The weekend's other new wide release bombed. "Jonah Hex," the Warner Bros. comic book adaptation starring Josh Brolin, took in just under $2 million on opening day.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Heads on a plane! Employee finds human heads on a Southwestern flight, calls police.

These sort of events happen when you don't label things correctly!

A rather bizarre cargo controversy has popped up in Arkansas.

A shipment of human heads bound for Fort Worth, Texas is now stuck in Arkansas after a Southwest airline employee opened the package and called police.

The Fort Worth company where the heads were expected says they are for educational purposes.

But the question is, why were they not properly packaged or labeled.

Strange as it may seem, it’s not unusual for any airline to ship bodies or even body parts for medical research.

In Little Rock, Southwest Airlines says a courier showed up with a package to fly to texas but claimed to not know what was inside.

The Southwest employee looked inside and found 40 to 60 human heads!

The airline called police, who turned the package over to the county coroner, who has plenty of questions.

Garland Camper, the Pulaski County Coroner, said “in our discussion with the health department, we’ve come to the conclusion that there is a black market for body parts out there. We just want to make sure these specimens aren’t part of that underground trade.“

The heads were being shipped to this building on North Beach Street in Fort Worth to Medtronic, a leading medical research and technology company.

The company says it, too, is now asking questions of its supplier, jls consulting.

According to Arkansas records, its business license was revoked in December.

It was founded by Janice Hepler. Here she is, on the website of another company she runs that arranges for anatomical gifts.

So far, we have been unable to reach hepler but in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper, she blamed the problem on a courier.

“Nothing is wrong,“ the newspaper quoted her as saying. “We’re providing the documentation.“

The Pulaski County, Arkansas coroner says he is still waiting for records showing that the human heads were legally obtained and being transported for a lawful purpose. Until he gets the paperwork, the heads will remain at the county morgue.






Via NBC13 / Birmingham

Walter Rodríguez, Actor Puertorriqueño 1945 - 2010


El actor, director y dramaturgo Walter Rodríguez murió esta mañana, según confirmó la productora Vicky Hernández.

Hernández indicó que el artista murió "tranquilo" en el Hospital del Maestro, al no vencer su enfermedad de cáncer en los huesos, que se le regó por todo el cuerpo.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Aquaman Vs. BP!


Aquaman lost!

R.I.P



Via Boing Boing!

A sign of divine intervention? A giant Jesus statue burns down in Ohio.



A statue of "Jeezuss"(I always say, that's the American interpretation of Jesus), burns down because of lighting! Coincidence or stupidity?

Via Jalopnik.com

A six-story-high foam and fiberglass statue of Jesus Christ outside the Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio — nicknamed by locals "Touchdown Jesus" — burned to the ground last night after being struck by lightning.

If you've driven through Ohio along Interstate 75 since 2004, right outside of Cincinnati in Monroe you've looked to the east to see a sixty-two foot high, 16,000 lb Jesus statue and said to yourself "What in the world?" To the uninformed, the all-white statue depicts the likeness of Jesus Christ from about mid-chest up, apparently struggling to escape from a lake with a quicksand bottom.

It sits in a man-made lake which spans the distance between I-75 and the non-denominational Solid Rock mega-church, which has four thousand members and three jumbotrons inside. Those who drive a route along I-75 use it as a very strange but noteworthy landmark and nicknames include Quicksand Jesus, Big Butter Jesus and Touchdown Jesus (the latter being totally ridiculous, everybody knows the real Touchdown Jesus lives near the stadium at Notre Dame). Yesterday the giant statue was struck by lightning during a violent storm and caught fire. Despite the fire department's best efforts, the foam, wood, and fiberglass construction of the statue meant it was a lost cause. By this morning all that remained was the steel support frame beneath.

Church officials have indicated the structure will be rebuilt, though have not indicated a time table so, for everyone who uses the giant statue as a landmark, it will be resurrected.


"Yup! Let's build a giant fiberglass, wood and foam rubber statue, and because it's Jeezuss, it will not burn down!"

Truly, the work of people that doesn't have any knowledge of basic science!



Images-Tiffani West-May

Monday, June 14, 2010

And the Box Office champion this week is...


LOS ANGELES – "The Karate Kid" has not lost his chops.

The remake of the 1984 hit led the weekend with a $55.7 million debut, more than double the $25.7 million opening of another 1980s update, the big-screen take on the TV show "The A-Team."

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. "The Karate Kid," Sony, $55,665,805, 3,663 locations, $15,197 average, $55,665,805, one week.

2. "The A-Team," Fox, $25,669,455, 3,534 locations, $7,264 average, $25,669,455, one week.

3. "Shrek Forever After," Paramount, $15,770,491, 3,868 locations, $4,077 average, $210,022,557, four weeks.

4. "Get Him to the Greek," Universal, $9,942,405, 2,702 locations, $3,680 average, $36,400,720, two weeks.

5. "Killers," Lionsgate, $8,008,007, 2,859 locations, $2,801 average, $30,261,624, two weeks.

6. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," Disney, $6,486,150, 3,108 locations, $2,087 average, $72,228,302, three weeks.

7. "Marmaduke," Fox, $6,006,704, 3,213 locations, $1,870 average, $22,285,540, two weeks.

8. "Sex and the City 2," Warner Bros., $5,438,345, 2,750 locations, $1,978 average, $84,658,826, three weeks.

9. "Iron Man 2," Paramount, $4,521,206, 2,305 locations, $1,961 average, $299,282,390, six weeks.

10. "Splice," Warner Bros., $2,942,492, 2,450 locations, $1,201 average, $13,153,956, two weeks.


BTW, why they call it "The Karate Kid"? He's in China, learns Wushu, shouldn't it be called "The Kung Fu Kid"? Just saying...

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Little Orphan Annie, Comic Strip 1924-2010


Yup, the redhead, no pupils girl is going from the funny pages after today.

CHICAGO – Talk about a hard-knocks life: She has been jailed in North Korea, kidnapped repeatedly, accused of murder, trapped in a cave, roughed up by gangsters. And she's just a kid — more precisely, a red-haired girl named Annie.

Over 86 years, the spunky (and forever young) orphan has endured hundreds of curly hair-raising adventures, not to mention homelessness, poverty and other Dickensian hardships. She's even survived the death of the man whose pen and imagination turned her into a comic-strip heroine.

Annie, the character, may be indomitable. But Annie, the comic strip, is not.

Facing a shifting media landscape — the closing or shrinking of newspapers, a dwindling audience for comic adventures and an explosion of new forms of entertainment — Tribune Media Services has determined there will be no more newspaper tomorrows for Annie.

After Sunday's strip, Annie, her father figure and frequent rescuer, Daddy Warbucks, and her beloved pooch, Sandy, will disappear from the funny pages. They will have a future, but for now, where that will be is unknown.

"Annie is not dying, she's moving into new channels," says Steve Tippie, vice president of licensing and new markets development at Tribune Media, which owns the license to the character. Annie, he says, has "huge awareness" and possibilities include graphic novels, film, TV, games — maybe even a home on a mobile phone.

No matter where she lands, it's clear there's still gold in that red mop of hair and those white, pupil-less orbs. Tribune Media continues to collect revenues from various productions of "Annie," the sunny musical that charmed Broadway more than 30 years ago — and is expected to return to the Great White Way in 2012.

"Annie is one of those iconic characters in American culture," Tippie says. "If you stop 10 people on the street, nine of them will drop down on one knee and start singing 'Tomorrow.'"

It was, in fact, the popularity of the musical that gave the strip a second life. Tribune Media revived the comic after the death of its creator, Harold Gray, who had used Annie as a megaphone for his conservative political views.

From its opposition to the New Deal in the '30s to its hard-line in the war on terror, the comic strip has never shied away from its beliefs.

"I always like to think of Annie as the Fox News Channel of the funny papers," says Jay Maeder, Annie's most recent writer. "It was a very political strip."

But even with timely story lines, public interest in newspaper comic adventures faded decades ago. Fewer than 20 newspapers ran the strip at the end — which, by the way, leaves Annie's fate hanging as she remains in the clutches of a war criminal, the Butcher of the Balkans.

Still, Annie had one amazing run. And one of her creators thinks he knows why.

"The appeal of Annie is simply that she doesn't give up," says Ted Slampyak, the strip's artist for the last six years. "She always ends up in one scrape after another. She doesn't have a lot of resources but she has a lot of spirit, a lot of pluck. She's got a lot of fight in her."

"It always was good to open a newspaper and see a little girl who should be helpless but is out there, tough as nails, out to win the day," he adds. "Everyone finds that inspiring."

Being a girl — and one who'd occasionally deck an enemy with a mean left hook — also gave her a special cachet.

"She's sort of a female Huck Finn," says M. Thomas Inge, author of "Comics as Culture" and professor of humanities at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. "The fact that she was surviving on her own made her attractive."

Annie was created by Gray, a farm boy from Kankakee, Ill., whose love of Dickens novels was reflected in his character's triumphs over greedy bankers and phony reformers with colorful names such as Phineas P. Pinchpenny and Mrs. Bleating Hart.

The comic strip debuted in 1924 when Americans still were watching silent movies, Prohibition was a reality and a home entertainment center meant a radio the size of an end table. Annie expanded to the airwaves during the '30s when families, looking for a respite from the Depression, tuned in to follow the exploits of a feisty girl who took guff from no one.

Annie quickly moved beyond newsprint and radio, blossoming into a multimedia star: Comic books, movies, a doll and board game in her name, celebrity endorser (Ovaltine, anyone?) with her own decoder ring, and later, her own U.S. postage stamp.

But her home base was the funnies.

Annie was one of the first comics to use long-running narratives, unlike the episodic single gags that dominated the funny pages at the time, says Jeet Heer, who has written introductions to five volumes of Annie comic collections and is planning a biography of Gray.

At its peak, Annie appeared in hundreds of newspapers. During the 1945 New York newspaper deliverymen's strike, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia didn't want to disappoint her young followers so he read Annie's adventures over the air (she was on trial for murder at the time).

Annie did undergo a modest makeover over the years:

The "Little Orphan" was dropped in the late '70s. And she finally traded her red dress with the white collar for sneakers and jeans. But Annie remained a plainspoken girl — a favorite expression was "leapin' lizards!" — who preferred the company of working stiffs to those who put on airs.

In Gray's (and Annie's) view, Heer says, the enemies were "officious social workers and government bureaucrats, snooty do-gooders and busybody political reformers ... know-it-all intellectuals and pointy-headed college professors."

One of the comic strip's recurring themes, he says, was the poor don't need the government to better themselves, just occasional help from a benevolent capitalist — such as Daddy Warbucks.

Sound familiar?

"The 'don't expect government to do stuff for you' — all the slogans on the Tea Party placards sound like they came off Little Orphan Annie," says Randy Duncan, professor of communication at Henderson State University and co-author of "The Power of Comics."

Annie's creator, Gray, actually started as a progressive Republican with a populist streak; he was sympathetic to immigrants and minorities, according to Heer. But by the 1930s, he became a fierce opponent of Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal policies.

When FDR was nominated to a fourth term, Gray killed off Daddy Warbucks; the bald magnate suggested that perhaps the climate was making him sick. After Roosevelt's death, Warbucks magically reappeared, puffing a cigar and saying the "climate here has changed."

In the 1940s and into the Cold War a decade later, Warbucks fought the Communist conspiracy, sometimes using his own mercenaries to go beyond what the government was willing to do, Heer says.

Whether it was the politics or the adventure, Annie developed a huge fan base.

It was a diverse group, including a teenage John Updike (he wrote a fan letter) and Henry Ford, who sent a telegram in the 1930s when Sandy, the dog, went missing. It said: "Please do all you can to help Annie find Sandy. STOP. We are all interested. Henry Ford."

Some politicians also took a shine to Annie, including Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms, the former North Carolina senator who came to the comic's defense after a paper in his state pulled the strip, accusing it of being "John Birch Society propaganda."

It was not the only criticism. Decades earlier, one magazine referred to Annie as "fascism in the funnies."

There were parodies, too, most famously the misadventures of Little Annie Fanny, a voluptuous young woman who got in trouble — and often ended up naked. It first appeared in Playboy in the 1960s.

After Harold Gray's death, others continued the strip. Then, for a few years, newspapers ran classics — reruns. When the musical came along, a new generation of fans was born. Interestingly enough, the show did not hew to Gray's ideology.

"That impossibly happy, chirpy little creature that little tweenage girls just loved ... that's certainly not the Annie I was chronicling," says Maeder. "I was writing for adults."

In the last decade, Annie story lines have included problems at the border, illegal immigration, even Guantanamo.

"Annie and Warbucks stand for law and order," Maeder says. "They're not politically correct people."

Warbucks ended up doing undercover CIA work that took him to fictionalized countries named Ratznestistan and Quagmiristan.

Annie, meanwhile, hooked up with a new character named Amelia Santiago, a daring Cuban-American aviatrix and CIA veteran. A few years ago, they were tossed into a North Korea prison.

"Annie got kidnapped more than any child on the planet," Maeder says.

And that, dear readers, is her predicament now.

She's been spirited away to Guatemala by her war-criminal captor. Warbucks is huddling with the FBI and Interpol but there aren't many clues.

Annie's captor says they're stuck with each other. Welcome to your new life, he says.

And there it ends.

Where and when will Annie resurface?

Stay tuned.


Goodbye Annie! Have a good life in Guatemala!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Okay...now this is really bizarre!

Get ready to see one of the most bizarre videos ever shown here.



This is "DENKI GROOVE" 20th Aniversary Album「20」
by Pierre Taki's Taiso 42sai

The video was directed by Pierre Taki

This is a compilation from the technopop group to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Formed by the Shizuoka pair of Takkyu Ishino and Pierre Taki, This follows the release of two albums year of 2008, "J-POP" and "Yellow".



W...T...F!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Ozzy Osbourne wants to donate his body to science when he dies!


Yup! Just like you read.

In a very unusual move, (then again, he's Ozzy Osbourne, this is actually normal!) Ozzy declared that he's a "medical miracle" for having survived alcoholism and multiple drug addictions and for that reason he will give his body to the Museum of Natural History in London, so it can
be displayed!

"I'm a miracle in every sense of the word. It's all right to party for a couple of days, but I partied for 40 years! There was a time that I drank 4 bottles of cognac daily!" said the musician.

He also commented on his drug use in recent years. "While filming The Osbournes, I was hooked to 42 types of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, not to mention, all the stuff I smoked when the cameras were far away or not rolling."

The Museum of Natural History has yet to comment.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

And the box office champion this week is...


LOS ANGELES – Hollywood is in a June swoon as a rush of new movies fails to grab audiences.

DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek Forever After" remained the No. 1 movie for a third-straight weekend with $25.3 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. It raised its three-week domestic total to $183 million.

"It appears that the family audience is dominating the box office right now, and families clearly want to see `Shrek,'" said Anne Globe, head of marketing for DreamWorks Animation.

The overall box office tumbled, coming in at $125 million, down 24 percent compared to the same weekend last year, when "The Hangover" opened with $45 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

The best of the newcomers was Universal's rock 'n' roll comedy "Get Him to the Greek," which debuted at No. 2 with $17.4 million. The movie stars Jonah Hill as a record executive escorting an unruly rocker (Russell Brand) from London to Los Angeles for a concert.

Opening at No. 3 with $16.1 million was Lionsgate's action comedy "Killers," starring Katherine Heigl as a woman who marries her dream man (Ashton Kutcher) only to learn he's an international assassin.

Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, said the studio is happy with the results for "Get Him to the Greek" but that slumping revenues for Hollywood in general are a concern.

"Everybody is talking to me about that, and I don't have an answer," Rocco said.

The weekend after Memorial Day a year ago, the blockbuster "Up" premiered with $68.1 million. That was more than the combined $52.3 million total for "Get Him to the Greek," "Killers" and anemic openings for this weekend's two other new wide releases — 20th Century Fox's family comedy "Marmaduke" at $11.3 million and the Warner Bros. horror tale "Splice" at $7.5 million.

"The films a year ago were generating a ton of excitement, and this year's just kind of falling flat. You had four new wide releases, and a three-week-old movie is still No. 1," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "I don't know if they're bored or if ticket prices are too high or if they just have other things to do."

The quiet weekend follows a sluggish May that ended with the slowest Memorial Day holiday in 17 years in terms of movie attendance. Two big Memorial Day weekend releases, the Warner Bros. sequel "Sex and the City 2" and Disney's "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," failed to light up the box office, and both fell off sharply in their second weekends.

"Prince of Persia" was No. 4 with $13.9 million, down 54 percent from opening weekend and raising its domestic total to $59.5 million. "Sex and the City 2" finished at No. 5 with $12.7 million, down 59 percent and lifting its haul to $73.4 million.

For the year, Hollywood revenues are at $4.47 billion, up 3.7 percent over the record pace last year. But factoring in higher ticket prices, attendance now has slipped 2.7 percent behind last year's, according to Hollywood.com.

The box office can turn on a dime, though, so Hollywood could regain its momentum with just a few big hits.

"I'm still confident when you take a look at some of the films coming up in the summer, that audiences will start coming out in droves," said David Spitz, head of distribution for Lionsgate. "There's a lot of big titles, including next weekend."

This Friday brings a 1980s flashback with a remake of "The Karate Kid" starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith, the son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, and a big-screen adaptation of the TV action series "The A-Team," featuring Liam Neeson, Jessica Biel and "The Hangover" co-star Bradley Cooper.

Still to come are "Toy Story 3," reuniting voice stars Tom Hanks and Tim Allen; Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz's action comedy "Knight and Day"; "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," the third installment in the vampire-romance franchise; and Leonardo DiCaprio's science-fiction thriller "Inception," from "The Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Shrek Forever After," $25.3 million.

2. "Get Him to the Greek," $17.4 million.

3. "Killers," $16.1 million.

4. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," $13.9 million.

5. "Sex and the City 2," $12.7 million.

6. "Marmaduke," $11.3 million.

7. "Iron Man 2," $7.8 million.

8. "Splice," $7.5 million.

9. "Robin Hood," $5.1 million.

10. "Letters to Juliet," $3 million.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Miss Ellie, The World's ugliest dog, 1993-2010


I'm serious, if this keep on, I'm gonna change the name of this blog to "Tombstones and Razor Blades!"

Canine lovers were in mourning Thursday at the news that a bug-eyed Chinese crested hairless pooch, who was officially crowned the "World's Ugliest Dog," has died at age 17, according to news reports.

The lovable Miss Ellie, whose lopsided tongue always stuck out of the side of her mouth, died on Tuesday in her Tennessee home, the local Mountain Press daily newspaper said.

Rescued by owner Dawn Goehring when she was seven years old, Miss Ellie, who drew smiles with the shock of blonde hair above her eyes, had helped raise over 100,000 dollars for the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley, according to AFP.

Despite being blind in her final years, she won Animal Planet's "World's Ugliest Dog" award last year, it added.

She also starred in Animal Planet's "Dog 101" and was featured in numerous commercials and television programs. Miss Ellie had been set to travel to California this month to defend her title.


Damn! She was one ugly bi... What? I'm talking about the dog!

Via The Korean Herald
Images AP

In Memoriam: Rue McClanahan, actress "Golden Girls", 1934-2010 / Willie Miranda Marín, politician, mayor of Caguas, 1940-2010



Here's two great personalities, gone.

Rue McClanahan, was an American actress, known for her roles as Vivian Cavender Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama's Family, and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, a role that won her the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1987. McClanahan was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in Healdton, Oklahoma, the daughter of Dreda Rheua-Nell (née Medaris), a beautician, and William Edwin McClanahan, a building contractor. She began acting on off-Broadway in New York City in 1957, but did not make her Broadway debut until 1969 when she portrayed Sally Weber in the original production of John Sebastian and Murray Schisgal's musical, Jimmy Shine, with Dustin Hoffman in the title role. In The Golden Girls, broadcast from 1985 until 1992 and in The Golden Palace for one year afterwards, McClanahan portrayed man-crazed Southern belle Blanche Devereaux. Devereaux was the owner of a house inhabited by four roommates: herself, Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty). She received an Emmy Award in 1987 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the show. McClanahan died on June 3, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. in NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital after she suffered another stroke and subsequently a brain hemorrhage.


More on her bio here!


Willie Miranda Marín

The mayor of Caguas, Puerto Rico from 1997 until his death in 2010.

The son of José Miranda Gómez, a sugar cane cutter, and Rafaela Marín, a tobacco stripper, Miranda Marin was born in the Tomás de Castro sector of rural Caguas, and graduated from the José Gautier Benítez High School in Caguas in 1957. Four years later, he earned a bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras((Member of Delta Phi Thetha Fraternity)). In 1969 he completed his law degree at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras and was admitted to the bar in 1970.

Miranda Marín held top positions at Empresas Díaz and the San Juan Cement Co. from 1979 to 1990, among them treasurer, executive vice-president, and co-chairman of the board. Before seeking public office for the first time in 1996, he devoted three years to housing and commercial development. Miranda Marin has also served as member and treasurer of the board of the Puerto Rico Health Services Corp., as chairman of the board of the San Juan Children's Choir, and as chairman of the board of the Community Services Institute


More on his bio here!

Why did I put Willie Marin's death here? I knew the man. And a very decent man he was. Both will be missed!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Le arranca el corazon a su amigo, creyendo que estaba poseido por demonios.


¡Las drogas matan! Miren este caso.

La policía de California ha sido testigo de una escena digna de una película de terror. Un luchador estadounidense ha arrancado el corazón de su compañero de entrenamiento cuando aún estaba vivo porque creyó que estaba poseído por el diablo. Según el abogado del presunto asesino, este actuó bajo un brote psicótico causado por la ingesta de setas alucinógenas.

Según informa el diario The Telegraph, Jarrod Wyatt llevó a cabo un brutal asalto a su compañero de entrenamiento. Cuando la policía llegó al lugar de los hechos los agentes encontraron un espectáculo digo de una película de terror. A la víctima le habían arrancado la lengua y le rasgó la cara.

Los agentes encontraron a Wyatt, de 26 años de edad, de pie sobre el cuerpo desnudo de su amigo y con varias partes del mismo, incluidos un ojo, esparcidos por la ensangrentada habitación.

El presunto agresor, según el diario británico, contó a la policía que había tomado una taza de te con setas alucinógenas y se había terminado convenciendo de que su amigo, Taylor Powell, estaba poseído.

Mas de esta historia aqui.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Patrick Stewart knighted by the Queen of England!


Yes! Now it's Sir Patrick Stewart.

Actor Sir Patrick Stewart paid tribute to a former teacher as he was knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

The 69-year-old said he owed "literally everything" to the English teacher who first encouraged him to perform.

"Although many people in my life have had great influence on me, without this man none of it would have happened," he said following Wednesday's investiture.

The classically-trained actor is best known for his roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the X-Men films.

He was recently seen on the London stage appearing alongside fellow actor knight Sir Ian McKellen in Waiting for Godot.

Sir Patrick said his knighthood - announced in the New Year Honours List - had been "an unlooked-for honour".


More on this on the BBC News page.

Ok. Here's my brush with fame and Sir Patrick Stewart.

I was on a job interview in New York City in May 2000. I have a cousin who works as publicity coordinator for the Loew's theaters in Broadway. After my interview, he invites me to dinner at a restaurant called Trattoria Trecolori on 47th St, between 8th Ave. and Broadway. I arrived early and took a table near the center, but not far from the windows. As I was decked in my finest, it didn't occur to me that I looked like a mafioso.

To my surprise, my cousin Ulysses arrives with none other than Patrick Stewart! I was flabbergasted, as I'm a big Star Trek fan. I tried not to be a fan boy (after all, four years before I had met most the cast of ST Voyager), so we proceeded to have a conversation about future projects, Puerto Rico and theater in general. as we were eating a great Rissoto con Pesce (Italian rice and fish, courtesy of Ulysses business expense account!).

Nobody noticed the tour bus that stopped in front and the throngs of Japanese tourists coming into the restaurant. All of the sudden, a guy shouted something that sounded like..."PATRICK STUARTSAN"! As it seemed like hundreds of flashbulbs went array around us. Mr. Stewart looked mortified. I looked at my cousin and said in Spanish; Who are these people? That probably sounded Italian to them as at that moment restaurant security arrived and escorted our Japanese tormentors to the second floor, to eat their dinner. We continued our dinner, laughing at the whole incident.

It was later on that it dawned on me, that probably when these people got their pictures back in Japan, they could proudly say that they saw Capt. Picard dining with two real, honest to goodness New York City Mafiosi! If anybody see these photos on the tubes, gimme a heads up!

All I can say is that I'm happy that Patrick Stewart is now Sir Patrick Stewart, OBE.
Good show, Old Chap!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

And the box office champion this week is...


Despite a heavyweight sequel with Sarah Jessica Parker and the promise of Jake Gyllenhaal’s washboard abs, Shrek Forever After remains on top this holiday weekend. Funny that Memorial day weekend should feature some of the least memorable sequels, isn’t it?

Sex & the City 2 didn’t fare as well as I thought. While I’m disappointed that my predictions were off, after having to watch the movie twice, I’m glad it didn’t too well. As I told Bayer, I went to see it a second time for my one-year anniversary. The things we do for love, right? Check out Allen and I’s he said/He Said for some more thoughts on the less than fabulous sequel.

Prince of Persia didn’t exactly bring in the heat in its opening weekend either. Considering a lot of video game adaptations are straight money-makers, I was a little shocked, but considering the whole Aladdin come to life feel of the trailers, can’t say I’m too surprised.

The third sequel on this weekend’s top five list is Iron Man 2. Like I said, expect this one to hold on even after only so-so reviews. It’s definitely starting to slow down, but not stopping yet.

Finally, Robin Hood brings up the tail end of the top five. Honestly, all that can be said about this movie has already been said. Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott were probably hoping for a hit, but don’t expect it to stick around much longer, especially after next weekend’s line-up.


Rank. Movie Title – Weekend Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Week #

1. Shrek Forever After – $43,345,000 / 4,367 / $133,095,000 / 2

2. Sex & the City 2 – $32,125,000 / 3,445 / $46,333,000 / 1

3. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time – $30,170,000 / 3,646 / $30,170,000 / 1

4. Iron Man 2 – $16,035,000 / 3,804 / $274,612,000 / 4

5. Robin Hood – $10,305,000 / 3,373 / $83,024,000 / 3

Source: www.boxofficemojo.com