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03 Jan 2010 23:38

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Politics: Max Headroom: Brit Hume hates sexually promiscuous Buddhists


  • “Strengthen the system” Obama’s Deputy National Security Adviser, John Brennan, made his round on the Sunday talk shows this morning, backing up Janet Napolitano while saying that everyone would be held accountable for their jobs. David Gregory doesn’t soft-pedal when talking him, and Brennan hits him back at every beat. Properly.
  • Good Point, Bob “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer notes the reason why Napolitano got bit in the rear end last week – simply put, she tried putting a spin on an issue and failed. “It’s not lying,” he says, “but it’s not exactly the whole truth, and certainly not the whole story.” It’s the danger of the echo chamber, friends.

  • Tiger’s faith? WTF, man? On “Fox News Sunday,” Brit Hume beats on the Tiger Woods drum again, this time attacking the fact that Woods is reportedly Buddhist. He says that Woods should convert to Christianity. We say Brit’s a bigot. We also say Bill Kristol is hilarious in following him up by simply saying Tiger will win the Masters.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2010 22:28

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U.S., World: If you fly to the U.S. from these 14 nations, it’s patdown time

  • Afghanistan • Algeria • Cuba • Iran • Iraq • Lebanon • Libya • Nigeria • PakistaN • Saudi Arabia • Somalia • Sudan • Syria • Yemen source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2010 21:44

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World: Yemen says it has a plan to stop terrorism; everyone else not so sure

  • Yemen has its own short-term and long-term schemes to tackle terrorists anywhere in the republic that only call for intelligence and information coordination with other countries.
  • Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr Qirbi • Speaking to a government-run newspaper on his country’s plans for fighting terror. They claim the threat is exaggerated. In other news, exaggeration means something different than it did before, according to the Yemeni government. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2010 20:01

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U.S.: Did he forget security, or worse? Newark airport lockdown in full effect

  • Everybody to the back of the line. After a passenger went through the wrong side of a checkpoint at Newark International Airport’s Terminal C, the entire terminal was shut down, causing a nightmare for passengers at best and terrorist scare at worst. We’ll keep you posted on what happens next. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2010 19:46

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U.S.: Situation at Newark Airport; Twitter’s on edge once again

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2010 19:39

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Culture: Could Avatar make a Titanic-type run? Let’s compare numbers.

  • Avatar is looking good in its third weekend, dipping just 9% from last week. Not bad for a movie that had a relatively modest launch for a blockbuster. The secret to its success? The same as “Titanic” – staying power. But even if James Cameron’s latest can’t keep up, his trump card might be an even bigger deal.
  • Titanic’s track record:
  • $1.8 billion total lifetime run – in 1998 money (holy crap)
  • $200 million budget for what was expected to be a huge bomb
  • $600 million in domestic grosses – in 1998 money! Holy crap!
  • $28.6M Titanic’s first-weekend box office take – decent, not spectacular
  • $35.5M Titanic’s second-weekend take – it went up by an astonishing 23.8%
  • $36M Titanic’s biggest week, which didn’t come until week six, by the way source
  • How Avatar’s catching up:
  • $1 billion worldwide already – in just three weeks!
  • $280 million the most likely budget for “Avatar”; totals have varied as widely as $250 million and $500 million
  • $150 million has been spent on marketing the movie alone, which Fox is taking on the cost of
  • $77M Avatar’s first-weekend box office take; it was hurt by snow
  • $75M Avatar’s second-weekend take – down only 1.8%
  • $352M Avatar’s domestic gross after a $68 million third weekend source
  • The 3D wildcard:
  • $3-5 the markup the 3D adds to ticket prices source
  • Big investment Cameron’s film took years to build because of the fact that the technology had to come first, both for filming and in the theater. Cameron paid to build the technology himself along with a bunch of investors.
  • Residual effect Fortunately for Cameron, he can sell the cameras to other filmmakers. “Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D” has already used it. Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s “The Adventures of Tintin” soon will.
  • Cash for conversions Even better for studios, the technology is relatively easy to build into older films. For $30 million, a popular hit like, say, “Titanic,” can have a brand new life in 3D. It’s like a money machine for Hollywood. source
  • Will it beat “Titanic”?
  • Before inflation, probably. After, it depends. It’s probably not likely that the movie will hold up sixteen straight weeks at No. 1 like Titanic, but it’ll have a good shot of holding on tight thanks to the fact that it’s going to be in IMAX (where it’s made $66 million already) for months. But at the very least, it’s looking like it has more staying power than “The Dark Knight,” the biggest hit of the naughts. Well, before “Avatar.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2010 11:16

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Tech: Life after magazines: Daily Beast editor modestly kicks @$$

Tina Brown, already a vet of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, has built The Daily Beast into a hype-free News 2.0 beast in just over a year. Not bad. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

03 Jan 2010 11:07

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Tech: Google Chrome now a bigger browsing force than Apple Safari

  • 4.63% use Google’s Chrome, the new third-place browser, which was just released for the Mac last month
  • 4.46% use Apple’s Safari, which is now the fourth-place web browser (but still doing well on phones) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2010 11:00

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U.S.: Crazy: Some poor people subside on zero cash income

  • 6 million people get by on food stamps … and nothing else source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2010 10:52

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U.S., World: Iraq isn’t taking the Blackwater court decision lying down

  • win Blackwater won its criminal suit, saying they weren’t liable for a shooting that killed 14 Iraqi citizens and injured many others.
  • lose The Iraqi government, upset over this, plans to help out victims’ families in civil suits and ask for a review of the criminal case. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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