Archive for December, 2006
60 items.
Mom just called. In addition to a severe case of pneumonia, Dad now has E.coli in his blood and something called pleurisy. Mom says pleurisy is when fluid is stuck between the lungs and the tissue lining the lungs. We also have no idea where the E.coli came from. He just had blood work done at the beginning of last week and it was clear so he either got E.coli in the hospital or right before he went last Wednesday.
Miss USA, formerly Miss Kentucky is having some trouble. It seems the pageant winner is under review and Trump may give her the boot.
The organizers of the Miss USA pageant said Thursday they are evaluating the “behavioral and personal issues” of the reigning winner and will decide her future within a week.
“I can’t really talk about it now,” Trump said. “But we have to make a decision. There is no question about that.
Now I meet her last spring when she and the other contestants were in O.C. filming a promo piece for the competition. From what I could tell she was much wilder than most of the other girls and even though she?s only 20 she defiantly had a strong relationship with alcohol. There were also rumors that she was big into coke, but I don?t know for sure if that?s true.
The cover for Flight Volume 4 was released. I just read the third volume in Barnes & Noble last week and was impressed. I had tried to read 1 and 2 but I couldn?t make it through them, but for some reason 3 really kept me interested.
I was scanning the Gazzette for easy jobs when I was surprised to see an article talking about Geppi?s Entertainment Museum. Basically it talks about how the museum is struggling and no one is going to it.
??Other than a game day, we?re in a landlocked position,? said Steve Geppi, a comic book tycoon who owns Geppi?s Entertainment Museum, which features pop culture exhibits and is on the second floor of Camden Station, above Sports Legends.
Seventy-five thousand people visited the museum in its inaugural year, one-third the projected number. One reason is a decline in attendance at Orioles games, Gibbons said. The estimate was based on an average season attendance of 3 million. This year, the Orioles drew about 2.1 million fans.
Hmmm first Gemstone has problems. Now the museum is having problems. Man, wouldn?t it be awesome if Diamond was next?
Remember when I posted about Wii players throwing their controller through TV screens? Well it seems Nintendo must have read my post because they put out a recall for the safety straps on Wii controllers.
From Nintendo?s website:
Nintendo is offering to replace the original version of the wrist straps for the Wii Remote with a newer version. Because Wii consoles shipped starting in early December already utilized the newer version of the strap, you will need to determine which version of the strap you have before ordering a replacement. To view the difference between the original and the new version of the strap, please click here.
If you have an original version of the strap, please complete the form below to get a replacement (also, to ensure you continue to have a fun & safe experience, please read our Safety Information for Playing Wii by clicking here).
Once your replacement wrist strap has shipped, you will receive a confirmation email from Nintendo. We expect to begin shipping replacement straps around December 21st. It will take 5 to 9 days for delivery depending on your location. Please do not contact Nintendo regarding your replacement wrist strap until after that time period has passed.
We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your interest in our products.
Remember that O.J. Simpson book from a month ago where he wrote about how he would have killed his wife if* he had done it? Then remember everyone was pissed off about it and finally FOX canceled a TV special and the publisher canceled the book?
Well it seems Judith Regan was responsible for the book deal and Rupert Murdoch?s Nes Corp. has fired her.
“Judith Regan’s employment with HarperCollins has been terminated effective immediately,” HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman said in a statement. “The Regan publishing program and staff will continue as part of the HarperCollins General Books Group.”
What do you get when you mix a shower, a bidet, and a terrifying, bikini-clad bunny rabbit? The Viteo Outdoor Shower. The shower is upside down, meaning the water comes from below you, and it’s activated when you step on the white surface. This allows it to be set up without needing all sorts of pipes and showerheads and such, but it also means your, er, undercarriage will get cleaner than your hair. Still, it’s a pretty neat design. I’m not really sure what the girl in the bikini with the head of a bunny has to do with anything, but I guess I just don’t understand artsy marketing. Maybe it’s a European thing.
Dark Horizons says it has some spoilers for “Spider-Man 3.” Check them out after the break…
Pay at the Pump is so yesterday. I want buying things to be so easy that I don’t even have to pull out my wallet. Apparently Cingular and MasterCard have been reading my mind (I knew that magnetic stripe had a dual purpose), because they’re launching a trial program for paying via cell phone at stores in New York City.
Say you’re out buying some xmas gifts. If the retailer you’re at is set up for MasterCard’s PayPass (which lets you just tap your card to the machine instead of sliding and signing) and your phone is equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC), all you’d have to do is tap one button on your cell and you’re done.
Making you pull out a phone instead of a credit card isn?t exactly jacking up the convenience factor, but the “Tap n’ Go” method gives you the option of leaving the card at home. Then again, it’s one more reason to panic when you leave your mobile in a cab.
?The Sopranos? sixth season part one hit dvd last week and it seems HBO is finally giving a hint to when the final part of season six are going to air.
At HBO.com its posted that ?The Sopranos? final season starts in April.?
Mind you, that?s not the most solid date ever and doesn?t even list an exact date, but when breaks between new episodes have lasted up to 21 months, fans will see it as a good sign.
HBO also says it will re-air season six of “The Sopranos” beginning in mid-January. Assuming the network will want to air all 12 episodes before the new season begins, the final season of “The Sopranos” likely would premiere in mid-April.
Will Smith is Will Smith and no matter what type of movie or what genre he?s always going to rule the box office. His new film, ?The Pursuit of Happyness? managed to bring in $27 million more than half of its $55 million budget. With Christmas and no other big drams/girly/emo movies coming out, it?s safe to guess that its going to pass the $100 million mark.
The joke of the week has to be either ?Eragon? or ?Charlotte?s Web.? Both are based off children?s books and both cost close to a $100 million, yet together they only made $35 million.
Continue after the break to see the chart…
For the first time in my life I have some Wisconsin Cheese. It all started when I got out of the shower yesterday and Sarah says to me, ?Why did you order cheese?? I told her I hadn?t. She then said ?Yes you did. You ordered cheese from Wisconsin and some guy just delivered it.?
As soon as she said ?Wisconsin? I KNEW it was a gift from Lisa and Craig, owners of Neptune Comics. I get my comic books from them and they sent this as an x-mas gift because my desire to try Wisconsin cheese has been a long term joke between us.
So I got dressed and immediately ripped open the box. In side were six different types of cheese. Some are normal like ?mild cheddar? where as others are weird like ?brick cheese? and ?onion cheese.? It?s going to be tons of fun to try each one.
The only thing I?m worried about is I don?t know what I should do with the cheese. I want to eat it duh! But like, should I eat them by themselves? Should I use them to cook something? I don?t want to ruin the cheese by doing something mundane with it like putting it on a hotdog, but at the same time they seem too special to waste with just cheese and crackers.
Anyway I?m super excited about my xmas gift!
Finished my breakdown, scheduling, and budget for ?Funeral Day? (a 130 page screenplay of mine). I did this stuff for my final project in my producing class and oddly enough it was a lot of fun.
I?m sure most of you have no idea what a producer does nor do you have any idea what kind of bitch-work I?m talking about. You see to get a budget you first must have a screenplay. Then you take the screenplay and break it down. This includes going through every page and marking/keeping lists of every person, prop, location, vehical, extras needed, stunts, special make-up, and well? EVERYTHING.
After you do your breakdowns (which take hours and hours) you make the schedule. A schedule sounds easy but it isn?t. You need to deal with unions and guilds. For example, SAG (screen actors guild) has all these stupid rules. For example, actors can?t work more than 8 hours a day without overtime pay. The must be fed every six hours and must get at least a 12 hour break from the time they wrapped the night before till the start the next day. Then you have to consider how many pages you can film a day. When locations are available. Time of day. And tons of other things.
ONCE you have a schedule, (for ?Funeral Day? I scheduled a 29 day shoot using SAG rules). You then do a budget, which is stressful ?cause your spending money that you know you?ll have to find from somewhere. For the budget you pay your SAG actors by union rules and then cover all the departments, making sure there is the proper equipment and people who can use it. You also need odd things like craft services (food tables) plus meals for the entire cast and crew.
So when all was said and done I was able to budget ?Funeral Day? for a cost of $175,017 bucks. That?s shooting on HD, having SAG actors, and a full professional crew. This of course is a lot of money but in terms of movies it?s nothing for a full feature. The frustrating part for me is that I?m doing a full feature for my thesis in two years and all I an think of is ?Damn, where can I get that much money???? the good news is that ?Funeral Day? is a much more complicated script and long. So my thesis should be right around $100k at most! Ok, still a lot, but it?s manageable.
(reminder: I’ll be on campus all day tomorrow, but its the last time this semester)
Guess who is in the hospital? AGAIN. Yep, Dad. This time with Pneumonia in both lungs, and supposedly one is really bad. My sister is all worried that we’ll spend Christmas in the hospital, but we’ve done it before so if we have to, we have to.
