Weekend Wrap Up

Hello again everyone!! I know, I know..no new postings since late Wed, early Thursday. Sorry about that. Things got kinda crazy and I wasnt able to go online and post. It wont become a regular thing though. Lets begin...

-Free elections were held in Iraq this weekend for the first time since before Saddam Hussien came to power. Its a victory for democracy and for our brave soldiers over there who fought hard and sacrificed to make this thing happen. It will be weeks before the actual results of the election are known. (Why should their election be any different than ours?? hehehe) But lets hope the outcome is clear and there is no controversy.

-The day was not without bloodshed though. At least 28 Iraqi's were killed by insurgents as they made their way to the polls in various attacks throughout the country. Despite the threats and fear the Iraqi people still turned out in large numbers to cast their ballots. Kudos to them for not being intimidated and not allowing a group of terrorists thugs decide what they should and should not do.

-Micheal Jackson released a video tape Sunday defending himself from Child Molestation charges brought against him. In the tape Jackson talks about all the news leaks surronding the trial and reaffirming his innocence. Jury selection for the trial begins this week and Jackson talked about how much he loved the community and how he has faith in that the judicial system will find him innocent of all charges. In talking about the news leaks, he wants people to keep an open mind and not to rush to judgement. Its hard not to judge him when this isnt the first time he has been accused of improper behavior towards children. There are a lot of doubts on the side of the accuser's story however, and the prosecution apparenlty  does not have a strong  case against him.(Thats according to court room insiders and legal experts. Not my personal opionion) Whether or not that is enough to find him innocent only time will tell. Get ready for the media circus though. Its going to be the OJ trail all over again.

-Weekend Box Office: This weekends #1 movie was "Hide and Seek" starring Dakota Fanning and Robert DeNiro. Last weekends number one film "Are We There Yet?" dropped to #2 followed by "Million Dollar Baby". That film's Oscar buzz helped propell it into the top 3  for the first time. Films usually get a nice bump in ticket sales when they are nominated for Oscars which is why you will see commercials hyping up the "nominated for x amount of awards" angle up until Oscar night. Then the "nominated" turns into "Winner of". Gotta love marketing folks!

-By this time next week we will know the winner of Super Bowl XXXIX. I'm still not going to make any predictions. All I'm going to say is that the Patriots are 7 point favorites going into the big game. Terrel Owens has still not decided whether or not he is going to play. If he is healthy he can change the outcome of the game. If he is not 100% however, he would just be a distraction and should sit. We'll know more as it gets closer to game time. I'll make my pick later this week as well.

Well, that will do it for this positng. The first month of 2005 is almost in the books. Hope you all have survived this year good so far! Have a great week and come back again for more postings during the week. Til we see each other again...

 

DQ

A Tragic Day....

Greetings everyone. Today's posting is going to be a bit of a somber one. There was just so much tragic stuff going on, that I felt I had to report on it. So without further ado...

-Early Wed morning a suicidal driver attempted to take his own life by parking his SUV in the path of a oncoming train in Glendale. At last minute, the man decides he'd rather live and attempts to move his car off the track. His car however, was stuck and instead the man got out of his vehicle and watched as the most horrific train wreck in LA County history unfolded before him. A train wreck, that when all was said and done, involved THREE trains, killed 11 (so far) and injured at least 200. Seeing the mass carnage and devastation, its a miracle there weren't more killed in this accident.  The driver of the SUV is now being held and  charged with 11 counts of murder. He is also on suicide watch, as he (Before the train accident) had already tried to commit suicide twice. Once by cutting his wrists and once by stabbing himself. I hope you join me in sending your thoughts and prayers to everyone who was involved in this tragic accident.

-This event just shows you how fragile life can be. And how we really dont control our fates as much as we think we do. Think about it. Two trains full of commuters on their way to work, just like any other day. Then a depressed, suicidal driver (Who is in no way, shape or form connected to the passengers of the train) enters their lives and changes it forever. This guy wanted to take his own life, but instead he ended up taking the lives of innocent people. For the mistake of one person, countless others have paid the price.

-I hate to be so depressing, but I did start this blog as a way of reporting my views on current events. So I have to talk about another tragic event. This one in Iraq where it seems tragedy strikes everyday. A helicopter carrying 31 U.S. Marines crashed killing all passengers on board. Its by far the deadliest accident, thus far in this war. The initial report is that the helicopter went down in a sandstorm and not because of enemy fire. The crash is still under investigation. I would like to once again ask you to join me in sending your condolonces to the families of those soldiers and to all our brave men and women fighting in Iraq.

I will end this posting here, because I dont want to take any attention away from these two events. Stay tuned for more postings the remainder of the week. Signing off....

DQ

Tech Trouble Tuesday: Prt 2

Hello again everybody!! Geeze..Computer problems for someone who works with computers...thats like a doctor getting sick...or a mechanic who cant come to work because his car broke down. It's just not supposed to happen!! hehehe..OK, enough ranting, here we go!

-Earlier today, (and I mean EARLY!! Pre-dawn) Oscar nominations were announced. Why they do it so friggn early, I'll never know! I guess it has something to do with the foreign press or something like that. "The Aviator" leads all films with 11 nominations including "Best Picture". The Oscars are wide open now that there is no "Lord of the Rings" movie snatching up all the awards! It should be an intersting Oscar campaign.

-Jaime Foxx (As expected) was nomiminated in the "Best Actor" category and the early buzz is that he will walk away with the award. The other actors nominated: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator), Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby), Don Cheadle (Hotel Rowanda) and Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland). A good group of actors and I dont think it will be a slam dunk like everyone is saying. But in all honesty I would be SHOCKED if Foxx doesnt win.

-Last night on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" they honored Johnny Carson with an hour long episode dedicated to him. The episode included some of his best moments and stories. Jay was especially emotional during his opening monologue. He talked about the impact Carson had on his life and how he always worked hard to impress him. A very classy and touching tribute. The first of, what I am sure will be many, tributes to the Late Night King.

-So Prez Bush is asking for MORE money for the conflicts in Iraq and Afgahnistan. This is what happens when you try do things cheaply. IT ENDS UP COSTING MORE!!!!!! And who suffers??? The soldiers..us here back at home...the people they are fighting to liberate...sigh...4 more years....4 more years.....aargh

OK, if I'm talking about politics, then that means its time to go!! In case I dont see you! good afernoon...good evening...and goodnite!

DQ

 

Tech Trouble Tuesday

Hello all. I had some computer troubles last nite and was unable to post. Dont think I am out of material! That wont happen for at least another couple of weeks! I'll have a posting later tonite!

 

DQ

Weekend Wrap UP

Welcome back to the drill! Hope everyone out there had great weekends!!! Now its back to the daily 9-5 grind. How many days til the weekend again???

-Early Sunday morning Talk Show King Johnny Carson passed away at his home in Malibu,CA. He was 79. Carson hosted the Tonight Show for 30 years before retiring in 1992. In that time he interviewed the top stars in all fields and introduced America to many up and coming comics of the time. Even if he wasnt interviewing some top movie,music or TV star Carson would still treat his guests with respect and make them feel as comfortable as possible. Whether it was Burt Reynolds, Bill Clinton or the lady who had potato chips that resembled things, everyone got treated the same. I cant say I watched his show that much, because at the time I was too young to stay up that late. But the few times I did catch his show, I do remember the funny skits and monologues he would perform. After his retirement Carson stayed out of the public life. He felt that he had his share of attention all those years and prefered to stay home or just go out with family. More recently he had been sending in jokes to Late Show host David Letterman for use in his monologues. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Carson family. A spokesperson has said that their will be no memorial service. But I am sure there will be some sort of tribute to a man who brought laughter and happiness to so many people for so many years.

-Switching gears, the NFL Playoffs continued and the last two teams standing are the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots. I know, I know I was TOTALLY WRONG on my predictions. I said I would admit defeat and here I am! Both games were blowouts and basically just showed what two teams came to play and which two teams still need more work before they are ready for the big dance. So who's going to win the Super Bowl?? I'm not sure I am ready to make a prediction just yet. I am going to wait til I know for sure that Terrel Owens is going to play for the Eagles. If he's in the mix, then I give the edge to Philly. But, can anyone stop Tom Brady and the Patriots?? They are just on a absolute ROLL!! I've got two weeks to ponder it.

-I dont like the Patriots, but I do like the fact that they are in the Super Bowl. They are the defending champs and its always cool to see the champ in the final round. This way there is no controversy and no "what if's". Oftentimes when a defending champion is knocked out in a early round  and a new team wins it all, people always go "Well, they didnt beat the champions to become the champions, blah, blah". This way, its gets settled once and for all. I just hope the Super Bowl doesnt turn into some 30 point romp for either team.

-Of course if the game does get out of hand, there's still the commercials to look forward to!

-BOX OFFICE REPORT: We have a new number one movie this week. The family comedy "Are We There Yet?" starring Ice Cube, took the top spot this weekend. It was followed by last weeks number 1 "Coach Carter" in second place. In third it was "Meet The Fockers," followed by "In Good Company" and "Racing Stripes". "Meet the Fockers" has been doing strong business since its opening almost a month ago. Its really the only  comedy with mainstream appeal, that is out right now. With no real competition on the horizon, this movie should be in the top five for a while longer.

Well, thats my time. I hope you all enjoyed reading. I'l have more postings for you all as the week progresses. As I post more, my older postings get pushed to another page. If you are ever looking for some of my older stuff, just use the view older entries button and search by date. Its only been a month, so you wont have to search long! Til the next time...

 

DQ

TGIF (And Some Harry Potter Pics)

-Welcome back to another edition of the Two Minute Drill. The weekend is almost here! One more day and its Saturday!! But for now, there's still work to be done. So without further ado..

-As you can tell I posted some pics of the new Harry Potter movie "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire". The film seems to be moving along and we may get to see a teaser trailer pretty soon. The first photo is of Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermoine (Emma Watson)and Rita Skeeter (Miranda Richardson). The second picture is of Harry and Ron (Rupert Grint) by the looks of it at the Yule Ball. If you havent read the books, you will have no idea what I am talking about! But for those of you that have, I'm sure these pictures have you excited. I will try to post new ones whenever I come across them.

-My ultimate goal is to have a snazzy looking journal instead of a bunch of text and no graphics. As the days go on I will be trying new designs and layouts. So dont be alarmed if you come to the site and it looks a bit different.

-So President Bush begins his second term, officialy now that he has been sworn in. As of this writing his approval rating stands at 50%. This is the lowest approval rating for an incumbent president since Richard Nixon took office back in the early 70's. The thing that i find funny, (In a "Only in America" kind of way) is that half the country doesnt approve of him, yet he was re-elected!!! Um, its kinda too late to say you dont like the job he is doing, now that you cant do anything about it! We'll see how "W:2" goes these next 4 years..

-If you havent already check out www.jibjab.com. They have a new politcal cartoon about Bush's second term. Still not as good as their first one, but better than the last one they did!

-Just some quick Disneyland notes: A new Toy Story themed area has been approved for construction in the area behind Big Thunder Mountain in Frontierland. Its not expected to open until 2007 though. Meanwhile, over in California Adventure they will be adding a thrill ride based on "The Incredibles" This one might be put on the fast track to completion just because that park REALLY REALLY needs the rides! While we are on the subject of fast track, a new 24-7 work schedule has been approved for the construction going on at Space Mountain and it is now expected this ride will re-open in late July instead of the original late 2005 completion date. It is their hope that Space Mountain will be up and running by the time the "official" 50th anniversary of the park (July 17)..

-The Simpsons will be celebrating its 350th episode later this year. I am a huge fan of this show and its really the only show I still watch regularly without missing an episode. It is, in my humble and unbiased opinion, the funniest show on TV. So many other shows stop being funny after a few seasons. The Simpsons is on its 16th season with no signs of slowing down. I see them going MAYBE 2 or 3 more seasons before they call it quits though. The producers have stated that as soon as the show wraps its final episode, they will begin work on The Simpsons Movie. Already they have assigned a team of writers to work on the script. However, when asked when we would expect to see the movie hit theatre's Executive Producer James Brooks simply said: "Put us down for Summer..2020!"

Well one thing you wont have to wait til 2020 to see is the end of this posting. Cuz, its here now! Enjoy your weekends and unless I am inspired to write something, dont expect a posting til late Sunday nite. And dont forget to deposit any comments (positive or negative!) in the comment boxes. Links are provided at the end of each column! Til the next time we meet..

 

DQ

Late Nite Rant

Hello and welcome back! Wish I had something snappy and full of wit to write for my intro, but I'll be honest: I got nothing! So lets just dive in shall we?

 

-American Idol continued  with a pretty good episode singing wise. Not as many HORRIBLE performers as Episode 1 but it still had its share of "Cant these people hear themselves??" moments. I think the shot of the night was seeing Paula Abdul almost spit out her water when that one guy said that he thinks he sounds like Brian McKnight. I'm sure most of these people know they cant sing, but they want to come out on TV and get their 15 min of fame. Heck, if William Hung got a record contract out his crappy performance, then maybe there's hope for them still. Oh and that Mary girl from episode 1 already has a nickname: "Scary" Mary. Look for her debut CD to drop soon. I'm only joking, but you never know...

-Whats with all these scary movies coming out in the next few weeks?? Usually horror movies are saved for the late summer/fall seasons as it gets closer to Halloween. I guess since "The Ring 2" comes out in the Spring, the studios felt they should get a jump on them and not have their movies compared to it. The Ring 2 had originally been slated to open last November right after Halloween, but the movie had to be re-shot and the story tightened up a bit before it could be released. Hopefully the delay leads to a better product.

-One movie that was affected by the delay of Ring 2 was "Scary Movie 4" The producers of that film had hoped to get more material from it to continue on their project. With all these horror movies coming out though, I suspect they will have a TON of material to work with. For now though, "Scary Movie 4" has been shelved in favor of a superhero movie spoof simply titled "Superhero". The same team that worked on Scary Movie 3 is working on this movie. Basically spoofing all the recent hero movies like Spiderman, Hulk (Yeah, like that movie needs any help being made fun of!), Daredevil, etc..No word on casting, but it sounds like a fun idea. We'll see what develops.

-Someone asked me what another example of a movie that underperformed in the theatre that was repackaged completely for its DVD release. I could write a whole column worth of these (and I may one of these days) but one recent example was the marketing for "The Girl Next Door". Try to stay with me here, cuz this is one movie with a identity crisis! When the first commercial for this movie came out it was promoted as a typical American Pie style teen sex movie. Then it was promoted as a romantic comedy with teen sex. Then it went back to being about teen sex. Then a love story about a guy who has met the girl of his dreams, but she has a secret. Then a inspirational movie about going after your dreams and that special girl. Then finally as a teen sex movie complete with Unrated Version. Now I'm not trying to say studios shouldnt try to re-market movies to try to make a profit, but this is out of hand. Dont believe me? Check out the new commercial for the DVD release of "Catwoman". They make it seem like some dark, gothy movie. Which of course it isnt it. I remember the first trailer for this movie was HORRIBLE. I'll never forget sitting in the theatre, watching this trailer and then as soon as it was over, the ENTIRE (NO JOKE) theatre was LAUGHING!! Thats how bad it was. It made the movie look like a joke, which it turned out to be.

-Notable Quote: "If these two got tired of having sex with each other, what hope is there for the rest of us??"-Tina Fey on SNL commenting on the breakup of Jennifer and Brad.

And we'll end it on that! See you next time!

 

DQ