Whilst we're in the middle of a pre-Oscar season movie muddle, why not look back to see how I did on my summer box office predictions, based solely on film trailers?
The Fall (right)
Guy stuck in a hospital concocts a fantastic epic for a young fellow patient that springs to colorful life as fiction and real life intertwine. My box office prediction: "Not the best [chance at box office success], especially since it seems to be an indie. But it's got producers David Fincher and Spike Jonze on its side, and that alone could build some buzz." How it did: Its tally so far has been $2 million, and coming from the director of the equally visually captivating The Cell, the special effects alone probably cost way more than that. Not a hit -- one point for me.
OK, after last week's crazy-ish premiere of Heroes (what happened to Niki/Tracy? Sylar's got a new mom?!), I had tons of gripes because of the implausible story twists, but I thought I'd wait to see what the next episode brought. But after last night's show, I wonder about the direction of this show. This diatribe ain't spoiler-free, folks, so if you haven't seen last night's episode, turn away!
Did anyone even make it through to the end of this snooze-fest?? It was my job to watch, but I wanted to flip to the Cowboys game and leave it there for most of the Emmy telecast (OK, I did sneak some peeks at the game -- suck on that, Green Bay!). Here, lowlights and highlights:
I was chatting with friends about classic '80s and '90s tunes last night when I mentioned the music video-watching benders I sometimes get sucked into on YouTube. A recent spree had me queueing up Jon Secada and Gloria Estefan vids. Ah, remember the days of the Miami sound?
But today I've been thinking about Steve Perry, who holds a special place in the video annals of my heart. My first music video memory is of him singing into the camera in Journey's "Separate Ways." And ever since I downloaded "Oh Sherrie" last week (I know, what took me so long?!), it's been blaring from my iPod nonstop. And that video? Vintage '80s cheese. Bon appetit ...
Carrie Fisher, a.k.a. Princess Leia, was on public radio's Diane Rehm Show this morning, and ... oh ... my ... God. Fisher (pictured with her mother, Debbie Reynolds) is a hilarious train wreck who has no problem making fun of herself and her family. Of course, that's to be expected, since Fisher was on the radio show to promote her autobiographical one-woman stage show, Wishful Drinking.
Some girlfriends and I were fantasizing about which three designers on Project Runway we'd love to see make it to Bryant Park. That was the fun and easy part: Leanne, Korto and Terri seem like the strongest contenders so far in the competish.
But it's also fun to dish about why the rest fall so far from the top of the pack:
Jerrell: Although he's a dishy, gossipy diva with a fabulous personality, he might be too hit-and-miss to make it all the way to Bryant Park. So far, when he hits, he soars, but his misses are abysmally bad (see: the polka-dotted Pollyanna hat for his U.S. Olympic team uniform).
Blayne (above): While I love his quirky inventiveness -- the knickers he made for last week's impress-the-mess-outta-Diane-Von-Furstenburg challenge were divine! -- he's sometimes caused us to question his taste (the shorts for Lipstick Jungle? Hellish). And the tacking on of "-licious" onto every other noun? Over it.
Suede: Somehow his frequent referring to himself in the third person has NOT gotten on my nerves. Still, much like Blayne, his coasting in the middle of the pack or near the bottom has me wondering if he'll go very far. Too bad -- he's super-sweet and looks like a living, breathing South Park character. Farah will totes miss that.
Joe: I hope last week's drubbing of his work, despite his blazing overconfidence about it, served as a serious reality check for him. I haven't liked anything of his since his cute U.S. Olympic team ensemble. Maybe he'll make a late surge.
Kenley: She should be Auf'd just for being annoying. If it's not tears of stress we're getting from her, it's her juvenile guffaw echoing through the work room. And will she ever quit interrupting the judges?! Design-wise, I thought she fell short on the DVF challenge, which was a shame, considering the '30s/40s-era theme seemed to be right up her retro alley. Maybe she'll pull something out of her sleeve in the coming weeks.
But Nike is encouraging everyone to run a 10K on Sunday and donate to or raise money for one of their three charities, even if you can't get to one of the race locations. Locally, the Coppell Run On! is sponsoring a 10K for anyone who wants to run with a group.
As if Amy Winehouse hasn't made a bad enough mockery of herself, upcoming spoof flick Disaster Movie takes a turn jabbing the British beehived mess with its own hot poker of insult. (At least it's not a syringe filled with heroin, right? Allegedly. Allegedly.)
Winehouse is only one of many others made fun of in the flick, but the filmmakers have singled her out on the movie's Web site with a fun little timewaster called "Escape from Rehab." Emphasis on timewaster.
You get to punch and kick Winehouse through a line of bad guys on her noble mission to rescue hubby Blake from prison. Along the way, she says stuff like "Piss off!" "Bugga off!" and "I haven't taken a crap in a fortnight!" which is pretty funny, considering it's probably true.
Eisner winning artist John Cassaday, a Fort Worth native and graduate of Springtown High School, has been named the guest of honor for the Wizard World Texas comic book convention.
I think I've finally found a reality show that I can get interested in.
DMN golf writer Bill Nichols reports that Hank Haney -- you might know him as the coach of the world's best golfer -- will reportedly teach Charles Barkley (left) how to swing a golf club. There's a good chance nobody in history has a worse swing than Barkley. The Golf Channel show will be shot in the Dallas area, with filming beginning in about one week.
That's a lot of people: NBC's Olympic coverage was viewed by more Americans than any event in U.S. television history, according Nielsen Media Research. It supposedly reached 214 million viewers.
Witten's tough love: Cowboys tight end Jason Witten doesn't believe in doing any favors for rookie Martellus Bennett, from Texas A&M. "He says it all the time, 'Jason doesn't like me,' " Witten said. "He's got to figure it out first, and when he does, obviously that's when I come along."
No Adrian Peterson: If you were hoping to see the former Oklahoma standout when the Vikings play the Cowboys at Texas Stadium on Thursday, you're out of luck. The Vikings aren't planning on playing any starters. For more Cowboy love, go here.
You've only got one more day to bid on a "criminal confession" a Belleville, Ill., man has placed for auction on eBay. He's typed it onto a piece of paper and dated, signed and placed it in an envelope.
Want to know what he's done? Bid and win or we'll never know. Current bid is up to $51.
His auction description begins: 'I've done something illegal and I need to get it off my chest. ... Times are hard, and I'm having a difficult time keeping the roof over my family's head. I'm willing to sell my confession to the highest bidder so that my loved ones are taken care of..."
I attempted to rank the best rappers. Sounds like a lot of people in Dallas didn't agree with my list:
Keith Ford wrote:
Like I said that is my opinion. I pay attention to lyrics not who gets the club jumping . I put Biggie in front of Tupac because I feel he was of a hip hop lyricist than Tupac.
dprice74 wrote:
1. Rakim..... The GOD emmecc. The Usain Bolt of rap.
2. KRS 1.... The modern day Marcus Garvey "Knowledge rules the world, and ignorance carries the burden."
nupe23 wrote:
Ever heard of a guy called Chuck D? I'm sure you're probably chuckling right now but I guess that's my NorthEast arrogance shining on what real hip hop is....who the real emcees are.
So what do you all think? Scarface on Ludacris off. Lil Wayne on Big Daddy Kane or Ice Cube?
* The few times I've seen Jim Lampley in NBC's studio, navigating the daily coverage, he couldn't look more bored. Seriously, Jim, quit being such a stiff and try to enjoy yourself.
* Favorite Olympic moment? Anyone have one? I'd have to go with Jason Lezak's amazing swim in the 4x100 freestyle relay, when he started half a body length behind French world champion Alain Bernard and beat him to the wall.
Coldwell Banker has this cool new "housetrology" quiz for you to find out your "house sign." It's supposed to determine how lifestyle characteristics and emotional instincts factor into the kinds of homes we choose. I think I'm more of a Ranchero, but the first time I took it I got Contemporarian, which is definitely not me. A couple more tries made it seem like every time I said I wanted to see a birdbath in a garden instead of nothing but trees outside my house, it made me contemporary instead of western. Go figure.
It's also available on Facebook. The current breakdown of Facebook users looks like this:
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