Well, I guess I was a bit off the mark when I said that 300 was going to be a "fucking dud." I had assumed that, despite the posters' promise of wanton violence and yelling, ultimately, the shirtless, ruddy men in thongs might be a turn-off for the ever important jock market.
I was completely wrong, and the flick took in around $70 million:
300 was anything but spartan, reaping an estimated $70 million on around 4,800 screens at 3,103 theaters in its opening weekend. That eclipses all previous ancient battle pictures by a wide margin, including Troy and Gladiator, and ranks fifth among comic book adaptations.
This article also notes that 300 had the third-highest opening weekend gross for an R-rated movie. Doy!
Did anyone see this throbbing wall of muscle and blood? How is it?
PS Why was Nikki Sixx at the premiere? The fact that Nikki's still alive is proof that neither God nor the Devil like him, otherwise one of them would have made his OD count and he would be "rocking out" heaven or hell.
The Los Angeles Times website is presenting a feature called "Casting for Killers," in which they've done some mock castings for American history's most notorious murderers.
Most are chillingly spot on, like the Dahmer/Seacrest connection that's going to make me wince at that joker's mug even more now. The Gallo/Manson one is also fairly obvious.
They aren't all uncanny, though, and the most uninspired mock-up is Jim Belushi as Berkowitz. Clearly the editors were just grasping at straws with that one; knowing that they had to include Son of Sam, while also faced with the fact that people who look like David Berkowitz don't become movie stars.
Instead of Belushi it should have been that Cobrasnake clown.
See it? Fuck. Actually, someone better check that guy's cell at Attica.
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The city of Santa Monica has chosen to remove ads for Top Model 8 after a wave of citizen complaints.
“It’s a matter of public taste. We try to be sensitive to the community,” the city’s director of transit services, Stephanie Negriff, told Variety. The city received complaints not necessarily because of the photograph itself, but because, as Variety explains, “protests came from people concerned that the city was somehow endorsing a show that may objectify women.”
Negriff said the city took down the ads and refunded The CW’s money because “We wouldn’t want to do anything that would disrespect women.”
I'm glad that the bureaucrats could take care of this mess. Now the people of Santa Monica won't be subjected to women in bikinis unless they're awake and not blind.
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Mary Kate Olsen recently wrote a very informative piece for the New York Times about her favorite purse. It's really striking work. Be sure to check out "I don't have a stylist…" thrown all willy-nilly in there at the end, as well as the definitive endorsement, "…I wouldn't change a thing about this bag."
This reads like Consumer Reports but without the practicality and responsible financial outlook:
Timeless Brand Loyalty
By MARY-KATE OLSEN
I have a large, red quilted Chanel bag that I borrowed from my sister Ashley. I wore it to an event and never gave it back. Luckily, she's moved on to another bag, so I'm safe for now. I'm not quite sure how many bags I have, but let's just say I have a few. When I find a bag I like, I tend to wear it to death until I become obsessed with another one. This probably happens three to five times a year. But I always come back to the Chanel. The size isn't overwhelming, and it has enough subtle detail to keep it interesting. I also have the smaller version in blue and in white, but the red is definitely my favorite. I don't have a stylist — I'd rather just do my own thing and put together my own outfits. The chain-handle bag is the perfect accent to almost any combination I come up with. I look at everything with a designer's eye, but I wouldn't change a thing about this bag. I think that's why it's a true classic.
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With a straight face, a new article in Newsweek asks this question in the sub-header: "…are we raising a generation of 'prosti-tots'?" Doy! Inauspicious beginnings, and it goes downhill from there.
…when my daughter spotted a photo of Lindsay in the New York Post at the breakfast table not long ago, she was psyched. "That's Lindsay Lohan," she said proudly. "What's she doing?"
I couldn't tell her, of course. I didn't want to explain that Lindsay, who, like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, sometimes parties pantyless, was taking pole-dancing lessons to prepare for a movie role. Or that her two hours of research left her bruised "everywhere." Then again, Lindsay's professional trials are easy to explain compared with Nicole Richie's recent decision to stop her car in the car-pool lane of an L.A. freeway. Or Britney Spears's "collapse" during a New Year's Eve party in Las Vegas. Or the more recent report that Lindsay had checked into rehab after passing out in a hotel hallway…
Over six pages, the piece goes on to bemoan the oversexed, underdressed starlets in the spotlight, as well as the anxiety their antics stir up in the bellies of parents nationwide. Y'know what? If you say things like "I didn't want to explain that Lindsay, who, like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, sometimes parties pantyless, was taking pole-dancing lessons to prepare for a movie role," you sound like a bad parent, and Britney Spears should be the least of your concerns.
"I didn't want to explain…," means that you are willing to sacrifice your child's enlightenment for the sake of your comfort and moral sensibilities, and it's bogus parenting. Full disclosure: I'm childless. But, the parent that I hope to be will not be a question ducking crybaby. Puritanical views on what famous women should and shouldn't do in public aside, if you are unwilling to explain to your young daughter that there are people out there—famous people that she likes—who do drugs and go to rehab, you're setting them up for a whole lot of disappointment and ignorance. Instead of dodging her questions about why Lohan's passing out in hallways, why not use the kid's natural inquisitive nature to your advantage, explaining to her what rehab is and how to avoid it?
The real world is fucking hard and it's getting harder. Kids need to be prepared for it. You can try to protect children from harsh realities all you want, but the key word in the phrase is "realities." Would you not tell a soldier about the existence of land mines because you didn't want to scare him? Don't do it to your kids.
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Today's Moving Picture isn't celebrity related, but it's hilarious so watch it anyway. It's your classic news anchor slip, but slightly better because its completely out of nowhere. Where did she even get that? It was nothing even close to the word she was trying to say. Perhaps her mind was elsewhere, like on her husband, or her co-anchor.
Editor
