Archive for November, 2009

“New Moon” shines atop box offices for 2nd week

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” rose to the top of movie box office charts for the second straight week on Sunday with a three-day haul of $42.5 million, pushing the film’s total ticket sales to nearly $231 million in North America, according to studio estimates.

Over the five-day U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, the vampire romance starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner took in $66 million in North America, said independent studio Summit Entertainment that backed the movie.

Coming in at No. 2, also for the second straight week, was Sandra Bullock football film, “The Blind Side,” with three-day sales of $40.1 million and a five-day haul of $57.5 million.

Total movie ticket sales for the five-day holiday period in North America reached a record $278 million, beating the old figure of $244 million set back in 2000 when “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Unbreakable” were the two top films, according to sales tracker Hollywood.com Box-Office.

“Blind Side” was produced by privately held Alcon Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Bill Trott)

E-mail and a view: Polanski heads for house arrest

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

GSTAAD, Switzerland - Roman Polanski is expected to trade the confines of a Swiss jail this week for house arrest in a luxury chalet with a view of the Alps, where he will await a Swiss decision whether to extradite him to the United States.

His three-story stucco and wood home on the edge of Gstaad has its own garden. He’ll be allowed to host parties. A local official has said he may move to protect the film director from the press.

The biggest drawback for Polanski will be that he will be unable to leave the 1,800-square-meter (19,000-square-foot) property without losing $4.5 million in bail.

“He will have no prison regime,” said Justice Ministry spokesman Falco Galli. “He is completely free to determine his daily schedule. It’s also up to him to get in food and other supplies.”

Swiss officials say they still think there is a high risk Polanski will try to flee, even though he will be wearing an electronic monitoring device that will detect any attempt to leave the property.

The arrival of the bail money in Switzerland appeared to be the main remaining obstacle to the transfer from prison, which could happen as soon as Monday, according to Galli.

No special police protection will be provided, either to make sure Polanski remains or to keep spectators and others away, Galli said. He said Polanski could call the local police or a security firm if he feels threatened.

Aldo Kropf, president of the Saanen-Gstaad community, told newspapers he didn’t rule out finding a way to remove reporters if neighbors complain. Kropf was quoted by the weekly SonntagsZeitung as saying the local government might stop the public from using the street leading to the Polanski house.

A security firm visited the chalet Saturday and made last-minute preparations for the 76-year-old film director’s arrival. Swiss authorities have said he could be there several weeks before a decision is made on the extradition.

‘Precious’ among Satellite nominees

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

Getting a jump on the coming onslaught of year-end film lists, the International Press Academy announced its nominations for its 14th annual Satellite Awards on Sunday.

The nominees for best drama are “The Hurt Locker,” “Bright Star,” “An Education,” “The Messenger,” “Precious” and “The Stoning of Soroya M.”

Nominees for best comedy or musical are “Julie & Julia,” “The Informant!,” “A Serious Man,” “It’s Complicated,” “Up in the Air” and “Nine.”

The group, which represents more than 100 entertainment journalists, also released a list of its 10 best films of 2009, voted by the IPA board, which included several titles that did not garner either best drama or best comedy/musical noms. Its top 10 are “(500) Days of Summer,” “A Serious Man,” “An Education,” “Bright Star,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Nine,” “Precious,” “The Hurt Lucker,” “The Stoning of Soraya M.” and “Up in the Air.”

Madison slur raises questions

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

There was an extraordinary number of ugg boots sale pounding the pavement of Madison’s State Street this Halloween.
Typically a “Coastie” is a woman from one of the coastal areas in America, usually New York, New Jersey or Los Angeles, Calif. She wears leggings,ugg cardy boots cheap, North Face jackets, Longchamp purses, white v-neck men’s undershirts and big sunglasses.
Both “Sconnies” and “Coasties” agree that there is a divide between the two groups on campus. Sophomore and self-proclaimed “Sconnie” Leah Dipalma said, “It’s kind of like a war — Wisconsinites vs. Coasties.”
First identified in postwar America, the term JAP became widespread in the 1980s, including a slew of incidents on campuses, including anti-JAP graffiti, JAP contests and prohibitions against JAPs in housing ads of ugg classic cardy.
“Jewish women’s self-esteem is being critically damaged by the stereotypes,” she was quoted as saying at an American Jewish Committee Conference on Current Stereotypes of Jewish Women.
To escape these labels, Schneider said, young women especially often try to distance themselves from their Jewish identity.
In the spring of 2007, his students conducted a study in order to determine the origin of the term. Students sent surveys to multiple schools in Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa to see if the term is used regularly there and which definition is ascribed to it — someone from out-of-state or a slur against Jewish women.