Pixar’s Up will be the top grosser this weekend. Newcomer Drag Me to Hell will also be among the Top 5.
Nikki Finke has the figures and analysis.
Updates from May, 2009 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Jehuda
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Jehuda
UPDATE: Related content from Reason‘s Matt Welch: “Political class refuses to explain why the state requires hysterical spending growth.”
It’s not that they refuse to. It’s just impossible to do so. Take it from a California resident: there’s just no way to justify any more government spending.
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Jehuda
John Romano: Race Only Matters When It Favors Democrats.
Related: Byron York: When Democrats Derailed a GOP Latino Nominee.
Indeed, Judge Miguel Estrada has been much on my mind during all this Sotomayor hype.
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Jehuda
Although it might just be up Obama’s alley: Hugo Chavez’s planned present to Obama.
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Jehuda
Weeds Season 5 is debuting in less than 10 days. Perfect timing because I just got caught up on Season 4
a few days ago, thanks to Dr. Fiancee who gets the show on demand.
Speaking of which, Professor Douglas sings the praises of Mary Louise Parker, here.
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Jehuda
WSJ: Taxpayers Footing Lawmakers’ Bills: And the worst part is it’s legal:
A Wall Street Journal review of thousands of pages of…records for 2008 expenses showed most lawmaker spending flowed to areas such as staff salaries, travel, office rent and supplies, and printing and mailing.
But it also turned up spending on an array of products, from…car leases and electronics to a high-end laptop computer and $22 cellphone holder…
The records show that some lawmakers spent heavily in the final months of the year to draw down allowances before the end of December — a time when U.S. households were paring their budgets and lawmakers were criticizing Detroit auto executives for taking private aircraft to Washington to plead their case for taxpayer funding.
How typical. I guess someone has to support the Political Class. Might as well be the People, right? Bastards!
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Jehuda
Wow. Obama is not even radical enough to satisfy Ted Rall? What was Rall counting on? Immediate arrest of all American servicemen and women, perhaps? He must feel let down, indeed.
These sure are interesting times we live in. Imagine the implications for the rest of un-America: Will Olbermann and Garofalo just lose it – like the androids in the old Star Trek’s “I, Mudd” episode - when they feel compelled to lash out at Ted Rall next week?
“I am a progressive. I am progressive and I am opposing Obama now.”
“Does not compute! Explain! Explain!” Hissssss. Zap! Fzzzz.
(H/T: Instapundit)
UPDATE: Ed Driscoll links with more! Thanks!
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Jehuda
I never thought I’d see the day, but 21st Century Morrisey does bear a striking resemblance to Bruce Campbell.
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Jehuda
Craig Mazin: Is Spoof Dead?
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Nile Gardner: White House Press Secretary owes the British press an apology “for his sneering rant“.
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Jehuda
Politico: W.H. Concedes Sotomayor Misspoke. Fine, but how about Judge Sotomayor conceding it herself? That would be far more significant.
more about “White House concedes Sonia Sotomayor …“, posted with vodpodMore, via Instapundit: AP finds Sotomayor’s “compelling” life story is setting off the Spinmeter. Looks like the judge had a more privileged background than we’ve been led to believe.
UPDATE: Obama comes to Sotomayor’s defense:
President Barack Obama on Friday personally sought to deflect criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, who finds herself under intensifying scrutiny for saying in 2001 that a female Hispanic judge would often reach a better decision than a white male judge. “I’m sure she would have restated it,” Obama flatly told NBC News, without indicating how he knew that.
Indeed. How does he know? Let’s hear her refute her comments herself.
MORE: At The Corner, two Hispanic judges speak up for impartiality.
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Jehuda
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Jehuda
Righting the “wrongs” of the “politicized” Gonzalez Department of Justice: “Justice Department political appointees overruled career lawyers and ended a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense of wielding a nightstick and intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place last Election Day”.
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Jehuda
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Jehuda
New Geography: Can California Make a Comeback?
Certainly not as long as California’s political class maintains its current attitudes about spending (via Instapundit).
UPDATE (also H/T Insty): Forbes: The Problem With California.
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Jehuda
Anne Thompson taped an interview (but she hasn’t seen Drag Me to Hell just yet).
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Jehuda
What happened to original ideas? Is it really that expensive, risky, and difficult?
More here.
(via a reader’s tip)
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Jehuda
…so goes California? WSJ: California Cities Face Bankruptcy Curbs. And it looks like the ultimate beneficiary of these proposed limits on bankruptcy are labor unions:
The [bankruptcy curb] bill was sparked by the bankruptcy filing last year of Vallejo, Calif…Vallejo’s city leaders partly blamed work contracts with police and firefighters for pushing the city into bankruptcy, and won permission from a bankruptcy court in March to scrap its contract with the firefighters’ union.
That spurred the California Professional Firefighters to push for statewide legislation to curtail bankruptcy, said Carroll Willis, the group’s communications director. “What we don’t want is for cities to use bankruptcy as a negotiating tactic rather than a legit response to fiscal issues,” he said, adding that he worries cities may work in concert to rid themselves of union contracts by declaring bankruptcy.
Not a perfect parallel to the Chrysler and GM situations, but it seems like the new trend in labor advocacy is to alter long-standing bankruptcy rules so that they benefit a select few.
So much for California’s state government confronting reality. Not that they’re willing to do so at all.
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Jehuda
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Jehuda
A pattern emerging? Doug Ross: Stats demonstrate that Chrysler Dealers likely shuttered on a partisan basis.
UPDATE: Furor grows. Plus, is it justified or is the whole thing a sham? Stay tuned.
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Jehuda
Via BigHollywood:
I think this is Raimi’s first horror flick since Evil Dead II
(which was hilarious and scary at the same time). Not sure Drag Me has anything comedic to it, but it’s been developing good buzz for months now.
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Jehuda
The latest installment of Ed Driscoll’s Silicon Graffiti:
more about “Ed Driscoll“, posted with vodpodPC brainlessness from the advertising industry is one thing. Another one entirely is the government-mandated sort.
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Jehuda
John Nolte: NYT’s knives come out for Mike Judge’s “The Goode Family”.
I expected nothing less from the Times: nonsense. Any time is a good time to make fun of know-nothing liberalism.
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Jehuda
NYT: Texting may be taking a toll on teens: “The phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation.”
Sounds like the toll videogame consoles took on my generation. They’ll be ok…
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Jehuda
Looks like Obama is going to need a lot more horse’s heads to deal with GM: WSJ: Bondholders Reject GM Plan: “Bondholders, including tens of thousands of individuals and institutions, rejected the [debt-for-stock] offer as unfair relative to what the company was offering other stakeholders, including the United Auto Workers union and the U.S. government.”
The accusations of greed should be coming any minute now. But if these dissatisfied creditors covet anything, it’s fairness…
UPDATE: WSJ: GM bondholders are ordinary people. Good luck painting them as greedy hedge fund executives, Mr. President (via Instapundit).
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Jehuda
WSJ’s Brett Stephens: Obama and the South Park Gnomes.
It’s hard to disagree…
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Jehuda
Evidence that when politics are based on emotion and not intellect, consistency goes out the window:
First, Oliver Willis urges calm on North Korea’s nuclear test. Nukes in the hands of Kim Jong Il are nothing to get worked up about, as opposed to Tea Parties, of course.
Then Ezra Klein all of a sudden gets his dander up over exclusive associations; the same Ezra Klein who founded exclusive listserve JournoList.
And finally, Dalia Lithwick decries accusations of mysogyny…after crying “mysogynist!” just a few years ago.
Who will be next? Stay tuned. Given that the same people who told us Bush was a war criminal for his approaches to national security now see their Utopia Bringer perpetuating Bush-era policies, there should be no shortage of Lefties contradicting themselves.
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Jehuda
CBS News: “Sen. Roland Burris was recorded on an FBI wiretap suggesting that he could write a check to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign before the ousted governor appointed Burris to the Senate.”
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Click to enlarge - U.S. Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) reads a statement to reporters about the controversy surrounding his appointment, in Peoria.
CBS
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- Source: Prosecutor Seeking FBI Tapes Of Burris (3/6/2009)
- Sen. Roland Burris Speaks To Supporters (3/2/2009)
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- Burris Under Fire, But Still Silent (2/24/2009)
- Source: Feds Interviewed Burris About Blagojevich (2/22/2009)
Sen. Roland Burris was recorded on an FBI wiretap suggesting that he could write a check to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign before the ousted governor appointed Burris to the Senate.
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Jehuda
From Anne Thompson. Interesting!
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Jehuda
Legal Insurrection has the latest.
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Jehuda
And the media are its loyal Stormtroopers. Matt Welch: The California Scare Campaign (via Instapundit).
The scare campaign was actually started by Arnold, who began talk about bracing for California fire season with a shortage of firefighters if his tax proposals failed at the ballot box, a mere few days before election day and with a wildfire raging around Santa Barbara.
Welch is right. There’s plenty of fat to cut from California state government, but Sacramento needs to protect as many of its public employee patrons from getting fired as possible; so if they have to cut anything they will cut services first, then spin any resulting unpleasantness as the unfortunate result of not raising taxes. And they’re setting the stage with this scare campaign in the media and elsewhere.
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Jehuda
NYT: Leftie favorites missing from Obama’s Supreme Court short list.
UPDATE: Sotomayor is the one. Professor Douglas comments.
MORE: TNR has the case against Sotomayor. Sounds gossipy, but if Obama is indeed nominating someone based on their ability to experience empathy, then one could easily conclude that their analytical skills applied to the law took a back seat during the nomination process. That’s great if you are a know-nothing liberal. Not great if you understand the importance of an objective, intelligent SCOTUS to the smooth running of our government.
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Jehuda
Nukes in Norko? Big deal! Oliver Willis urges the Right to chill out on North Korean nukes. He’s the model of Obama-style cool, ain’t he? (or is it Nero-like aloofness?) But weren’t Willis and the rest of the Sorosphere crapping their collective pants over the horrific, destructive, conspiratorial power of Fox News-fueled Tea Parties just about 6 weeks ago?
So Fox News promoting tea parties, dangerous. Norko with nukes, no big deal, just put some diplomacy on it. Uh-huh. Stick with the PR work at Media Matters, Ollie. You just reminded everyone why the Left shouldn’t be trusted with national security.
Incidentally, if Willis’s blog is “Kryptonite to Stupid”, does that mean it makes Stupid weak? The only thing that can make Stupid weak has to be stronger Stupidity, though. Now, before you think I’m taking cheap shots at Willis, let me state outright that I don’t think Willis is stupid. Not at all. I just don’t think that tagline on his blog makes sense.
But neither do many of his rants, so I guess it’s par for the course.
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Jehuda
Doug Ross: Did Obama shut down Chrysler dealers based on campaign contributions?
Wouldn’t surprise me. That’s why you don’t want government intervening in the private sector. It always ends up making decisions based on politics at the exclusion of economic and business realities.
Terrific analysis and research by Ross, btw!
UPDATE: Related content at Instapundit.
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Jehuda
Why is this woman smiling? Speaking of Leftie reactions, the closest thing you’ll find to an apology for Bolton is the spinning, dissembling, and fact-twisting of Allison Kilkenny today (via Legal Insurrection).
I maybe misreading the strength of her convictions. But it’s never a good sign when you feel compelled to elaborate on your original thesis – all over again – in a comment to your follow-up piece.
But this whole Bolton-told-you-so thing is a bit of a distraction that Lefties will be only to eager to focus on. The bottom line is that whether Bolton was right or wrong – or is discredited or credible – is irrelevant to the real issue here: that the Smart Diplomacy administration is shooting blanks. And that’s if they’re shooting anything at all.
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Jehuda
A round-up from non other than Glen Greenwald.
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Is the NYT Ombudsman aiding and abetting inaccurate reporting? Tom Maguire: Who will Ombud the Ombudsman?
The only positive spin that anyone can possibly give to this story is that the credibility of the Times has hit rock bottom. It can’t possibly sink any lower…or can it?
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Jehuda
A roundup from Don Surber. What’s with all the allusions to emotional needs? If Kim is blasting nukes because “grown-up” countries are not paying attention to him, what would be Ahmadinejad’s putative excuse for pursuing a nuclear program and threaten Israel? A bad case of missile envy?
UPDATE: Related content from Professor Reynolds, who is starting to see the “Jimmy Carter Was Better” scenario I first commented on here. Great minds think alike!
MORE: Legal Insurrection: Will the Left Apologize to Bolton? I think we know to answer to that question. But at least he can enjoy a litttle bit of “I told you so” gloating by proxy.
ANOTHER ONE: Reuters: Iran sends six warships to international waters in a “historically unprecedented” move.
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Jehuda
Or both? John Steele Gordon on today’s NYT editorial about the fiscal crisis at the state level: Getting California Wrong.
It’s almost like excessive government spending and high taxes is just another fact of life for some people.
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Jehuda
