And the Box Office Champion this week is...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Moviegoers shook off economic gloom and gave Hollywood a gift over the U.S. holiday weekend, sending comedy "Four Christmases" to the top of box office charts and boosting ticket sales nearly 4 percent from last year, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
"Four Christmases," in which Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn play a couple who learn about love during unexpected Christmas visits to their divorced parents, earned an estimated $46.7 million in five days and $31.7 million for three days ending on Sunday, according to its distributor Warner Bros.
"In tough times, people are looking for comic relief and that's what we gave them," said Dan Fellman, head of domestic distribution for Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros.
Teen vampire romance "Twilight," last weekend's No. 1 movie, and animated family film "Bolt" battled for the second position depending on whether box office watchers looked at five-day or three-day totals.
"Twilight" landed at No. 2 with $39.5 million starting on Wednesday and encompassing a five-day Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, which is one of the busiest moviegoing periods of the year. "Bolt" was just behind at $36 million.
But in a typical three-day weekend starting Friday, "Bolt" surged into the No. 2 spot with $26.6 million in ticket sales, slightly ahead of "Twilight" with $26.4 million.
Final figures will be issued on Monday. "Twilight" was released by privately-held Summit Entertainment LLC and "Bolt" by the movie studio division of The Walt Disney Co..
Ticket sales for all films over the five-day weekend rose 3.7 percent to $236 million from $227.6 million over the same holiday last year, said box office tracker Media By Numbers.

Epic romance "Australia," starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, made its debut in the No. 5 spot with a five-day total of $20 million and a three-day figure of $14.8 million, said distributor Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp
Chris Aronson, Fox's senior vice president of domestic distribution, called the U.S. opening "fantastic" and said sales exceeded studio forecasts by about 20 percent.
Among other new entries, Lionsgate's action-packed "Transporter 3" landed at No. 7 with a five-day tally of $18.5 million and a three-day total of $12.3 million.
James Bond film "Quantum of Solace," was No. 4 with overall holiday sales of $28.1 million, boosting its cumulative total to $142 million for distributor Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. The movie was co-produced by Columbia and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
Another holdover, animated "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," was No. 6 with five-day sales of $19.6 million lifting its gross domestic box office to $159.5 million. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. and distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.
Finally, Oscar hopeful "Milk," about slain gay activist Harvey Milk, saw a strong start in only 36 theaters with an average of about $52,000 per theater for five days and a total of $1.87 million. By contrast, No. 1 "Four Christmases" posted a theater average of about $14,000 in more than 3,300 venues.
"Milk" was released by Focus Features, a unit of the NBC Universal media division of General Electric

Hour to Hour account of the Mumbai Horror

Here is an hour to hour account of the madness in Mumbai

An excerpt...

MUMBAI, India – 9:21 p.m. Wednesday, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus __ Two young men walk casually through Mumbai's main railway station, a worn Victorian hulk bustling with late commuters heading home, scurrying past small food stands and juice bars and vendors selling newspapers. They enter near the taxi stand, where long lines of battered black and yellow cabs wait for fares. One wears khaki cargo pants and a blue T-shirt. A pair of small knapsacks are slung over a shoulder. He looks like a college kid.
They are, says a photographer who follows them on part of their grim journey, "backpackers with assault rifles."
The two — and other death squads working in pairs — are to wreak carnage in landmark after landmark across Mumbai over the next three days, creating panic in this normally unflappable city and killing more than 195 people.

More here.

Nothing else to say.

In case you missed it while eating the turkey, the moment everybody was talking about from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Get ready!




Yup! Loved it!

Tales from Black Friday

Strangeness continues even on Black Friday! Two stories for your consideration.

Wal-Mart worker dies after shoppers knock him down

NEW YORK (AP) — A worker was killed in the crush Friday after a throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains burst through the doors at a suburban Wal-Mart, authorities said.
At least four other people were injured, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island was closed.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store.
"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," co-worker Jimmy Overby, 43, told the Daily News. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too. ... I literally had to fight people off my back."

More on this story here!

The second snip...

2 dead after shots fired in SoCal Toys 'R' Us

PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) — Two people were shot to death in a crowded toy store on Black Friday in a confrontation apparently involving rival groups, city officials said.
Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson said police told him two men with handguns shot and killed each other. Ferguson said he asked police whether the incident was a dispute over a toy or whether it was gang-related. He said police told him they were not going to release further details until the victims' relatives were notified.
"I think the obvious question everyone has is who takes loaded weapons into a Toys "R" Us?" he said. "I doubt it was the casual holiday shopper."

More on this...here!

And the silly season has just started!!!!

160 dead. Last terrorists flushed out from Taj Majal Hotel

Gunfire was still being heard in the Taj Majal Hotel in Mumbai. The last holdouts from the group Deccan Mujahideen fired their last shots and were killed by Indian security forces.

48 hours after the first shots were fired, 160 are confirmed dead, 10 of them are Americans, 12 are British. 350 are hurt.

After all this tragedy...my question is...

Can you feel the power of religion?

Mumbai Attacks - 125 dead. City under siege.

The Taj Majal and the Oberoi hotel are still under siege. According to SKY News, BBC and CNN, new fires and shooting has broken out in the aforementioned hotels, the Victoria Train Station and the Leopold Cafe, where is believed that dozens of terrorists are still holed up with hostages.

125 people are confirmed dead, including 6 foreigners, 13 policemen and the chief of the anti- terrorist unit in Mumbai. 9 terrorists are confirmed killed, 12 are detained. More than 300 persons have been injured and taken to nearby hospitals. It is unknown how many terrorists participated in the attacks that targeted 10 places in the city that are popular with tourists and foreigners, including movie theaters, hospitals and cafes.

The group Deccan Mujahideen have claimed responsibity for the attacks. A very little known group, it's believed that they have ties to Al Quaeda.

Pakistan president has condemned the attacks calling them barbaric.

Both president Bush and president-elect Barack Obama have strongly condemned the attacks.

Still 24 hours after this started, it shows no signs of abating!

UPDATE- A new gun battle has been reported on the Oberoi hotel. And Indian police say they have found a cel phone property of one of the terrorists that has info on other terrorists and video of the attacks.

This situation is still evolving!!!

101 killed - most hostages are freed.

CNN is reporting that most of the hostages in the Taj Majal hotel in Mumbai were freed but they are still terrorists and hostages inside.

Now it's known that the terrorists were asking for Americans or British citizens to take hostage or to kill. The group claiming responsibility are called the Deccan Mujehaidin. They are relatively unknown in intelligence circles, but probably with ties to Al Qaeda.

They also attacked a train station, a hospital and the Jewish Orthodox Offices.

More as it arrives.