Avatar heads record-setting weekend movie box-office

The amazing technical achievement that is James Cameron's Avatar heads a list of must-see movies that made up a record-setting 278 million dollars in weekend box office gross revenue.

Avatar, which stars Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver, gained 75.6 million last weekend, and really lost no steam from its 77.4 million dollar opening weekend.

Here's the trailer for Avatar:



I've got to admit, I didn't think Avatar would outlast the economy in this way. It proves that even in a recession people will spend to see a good movie. Here's the overall weekend tally of the top five films for December 25-27, 2009, courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo, which Avatar certainly has:

Avatar $75,617,183
Sherlock Holmes $62,390,000
Alvin and the Chipmunks $48,875,415
It's Complicated $22,100,820
The Blind Side $11,470,000

Oakland Parking Enforcement Reform Initiative - a 2010 proposal

The Oakland Parking Enforcement Reform Initiative is gaining steam.  I've been asked to now make public our efforts, so this blog post is to get things rolling.

Which is a weird consideration because they've been rolling along already!

A group of concerned Oakland citizens have been meeting and communicating to fashion a comprehensive Oakland Parking Enforcement Reform Initiative for presentation to Oakland voters in 2010.

The diverse team consists of both Oakland business owners and residents and I'm really, frankly, surprised at how smooth and easy our meetings and communications have been. Oaklanders are used to disparate groups not being able to see eye-to-eye on even the smallest issues; not so here. Yes, there are disagreements, but they tend to come to a rapid end. It's really cool to be a part of.

Everyone involved has been energized to act - if even to just be kept 'in the loop' and provide informal feedback – because in some way large or small they've been harmed by the City of Oakland's aggressive parking enforcement process and outrageously high parking fees.

There are stories of cars booted and towed that were owned by working women with kids, while those persons were present.  But even more troubling is the rate of ticketing; many Oaklanders are being ticketed even between 2 AM and 5 AM!   If a person's car is just one-half-inch into the red zone at 4 AM, it gains a ticket.

Th result is a lot of Oaklanders that have more than five tickets, making them "tow" candidates.  The City of Oakland has spawned a level of political anger I've never seen before.

The general concern is the City of Oakland's balancing its budget on the backs of Oakland's poor in the middle of a bad economy with over 17 percent unemployed in Oakland. The group, to a person, has been determined to eliminate Oakland's ability to harm its poorest people in this way.

This is the structure of the initiative as it has been discussed to date. I stress that this is not singularly any one person's idea, and anyone who makes claims to the contrary is not informed of the truth. Moreover, the initiative is a work-in-progress, although we're rapidly approaching consensus. The objective has been to keep it simple.

Here it is as of this writing:

1.All parking meters will be taken out of service; time limits will be enforced by chalking tires.
2.Tickets for time violations will be capped at $20 and all late fees and penalties at $50.
3.The city will not tow vehicles for city parking enforcement rules other than in case of an emergency or blocking of access for emergency vehicles, or vehicle abandonment.
4.No vehicle will be ticketed or towed for blocking a driveway without the consent of the owner of the driveway.
5.Cars towed for DMV holds must have a city employee present to authorize the impoundments, and a good faith effort is required to have the owner of the vehicle present to get their personal property; personal property can't be removed by anyone other than the car's owner.
6.Towing and impoundment fees are capped at $300 per vehicle.
7.Proceeds from impounded vehicles that are sold at auction pay the DMV and City of Oakland fees first, the impound fees second, and remaining funds are kept by the owner of the vehicle.
8.After a vehicle has been impounded forfeited and sold, the original owner of the car has no more parking fine obligations to the City of Oakland.
9.The original owner of the car must be given the first option to buy back their car at the accepted minimum public auction price before the auction is held.
10.If any single provision of this initiative is found by the courts to be invalid for any reason, all other provisions are to remain in effect.

The next meeting of the Oakland Parking Initiative Group will be in January at a date to be determined. If you want to get involved drop me an email or Facebook or Twitter message (as this is also on Facebook and Twitter) and I'll put you on our mailing list.

JibJab on Tiger Woods, Jon and Kate, Obama - Never a Year Like '09

Venice, California based JibJab has carved-out a reputation for funny, catchy, memorable political animation videos on YouTube and their pace continues as we approach the end of 2009. In Never a Year Like '09, JibJab covers every subject and personality from David Letterman to Tiger Woods, Jon and Kate, President Bush, President Obama, Governor Mark Sanford, Carrie Prejean, and even Bill Clinton "getting chicks".

And more. Wow. Here's the video from JibJab:

The JibJab Decade

JibJab has been going strong in producing memorable digital entertainment since 2004. Evan and Gregg Spiridellis are the founders of this 35-person organization that also produces e-cards.

The firm started in 2000, always with the idea of using the computer to produce entertainment. But JibJab didn't hit its stride until 2004 when it made the now-famous "This Land" video featuring the Presidential Election between George Bush and John Kerry. That started a long string of politically-oriented humor videos that continues today.

It's fair to say that this has been the decade of JibJab. Check out the website at JibJab.com Rock on!

2009 Oscar Nomination Ballots mailed to 5,777 academy voters

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) reports that 5,777 Academy voting members received their 2009 Oscar Nomination Ballots. Academy voters have until Saturday, January 23, 2010 at 5 PM to return their completed ballots.

According to AMPAS, the ballots will be tabulated by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which also collects the ballots as they're returned. The ballots are numbered with respect to Academy voter. The accounting firm will check to ensure that there are no duplicate ballots and that the count is fair and accurate.

Jon Farveau is watching Academy screeners, are you?

Academy members like Iron Man 2 Director Jon Farveau have already started watching movies to determine who they're going to vote for. Jon Favreau tweeted:

Spending Xmas with family watching Academy screeners. Where the heck is Moon? Is Sony nuts? I want to see Rockwell vs Rockwell.
2:15 PM Dec 25th from Echofon

Meanwhile, the legendary Nikke Finke at Deadline.com/Hollywood reports her voicemail and email inbox's filling with negative Oscar campaign messages and that the race is turning "nasty, nasty, nasty."

Then what Finke writes is down right funny. Like the report that at a party thrown for Brothers' star Tobey Maguire by Leonardo DiCaprio, some female member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association asked Shirley MacLaine if her legs "were still in good shape", to which MacLaine reportedly pulled down her pants for her to see! Best to visit Nikke's site for the rest; it's a doozy!

Stay tuned!

Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren: from Rachel Uchitel and IMG to now

I guess my second Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren video was right, after all..

UPDATE: Someone who could not resist being immature and calling names, said that I got it wrong and blogger Geoff Shackelford said it was a hoax. So I checked Geoff's blog, and discovered that Geoff did not write that at all!! I put this out for evaluation and wrote that I believed it, not that it was the actual truth. And here's the first version of the email, posted by Furman Bisher at his blog.

When the subject is an athletic star like The World's Greatest Golfer, Tiger Woods, who's just gone through the most amazing public display of personal problems, it's hard to keep any news from reaching the public eye.

Today, I received a copy of an email about what really happened between Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren and Rachel Uchitel that was sent to me via a friend, who in turn got It from another friend.

Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren trying to work it out

When I received it - which was about an hour ago, plus from now - at first I thought less of it, then I read it. There's a lot here that really appears to make sense. I decided to run with it but essentially made it readable, and added "breaks" to give you a "who's who" explanation where necessary.

I saw that the Atlanta Journal Constitution and AOL FanHouse ran versions of this before me. But I did not see a real study of its contents in either case. Here's the email, cleaned up somewhat by me, with paragraph breaks so that it's readable. The bold words and sentences are my additional notes as are the photos.

Also, I have no idea who "Franklyn Dickson" is, but I found someone in the entertainment industry listed at Linkedin and have contacted that person. I was not asked to hide Mr. Dickson's identity, so I elected not to do so, thus establishing a public back trail to that possible source.

From: Franklyn Dickson
Subject: inside story on Tiger

I actually believe this:

I have a Member who lives 10 houses down from Tiger in Isleworth.  As we know Tiger's agent is Mark Steinberg. My Member plays golf and is real good friends with another IMG Agent, who is very good friends with Steinberg and they share the same office.

This information came from the other IMG Agent to my Member, and then to me today, and according to them is up to date as yesterday when my Member left Orlando.
On Thanksgiving Day, after he and Elin and the family had Turkey Dinner, he spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch watching football and texting Rachel (Uchitel, who's alleged to have been Woods' mistress).

Rachel Uchitel 

After each received and sent text message he would clear his message box to rid himself of the evidence.  Sometime in between there, one of his Orlando buds called him to see if he wanted to get together at the Clubhouse to play poker with the guys, to which Tiger said yes.  Tiger left the house around 7:30 to go play poker, and left behind his cell phone... and one message he had forgot to delete from Rachel. 


When Tiger returned home around 11:30 - 12 that night, Elin confronted him about the text message in the phone, and the started a heated discussion to its regards.  According to what I was told, there was more "incriminating evidence" than just the text message (i.e. photos).

Tiger tried to play it off to Elin by telling her she was reading too much in to it, and did not know the story, etc.  Tiger went upstairs to chance into his gym shorts and t-shirt, came back down, and Elin confronted him again; to which Tiger gave the same story.

Tiger sat down in a chair in the living room, and Elin sat acorss from him urging Tiger to just come clean.  Tiger stuck to his guns and denied everything.  At one point Tiger turned away to look at the TV, and as he turned back, Elin hit him on the right side of the face with the head of a 9 - iron.

When she struck Tiger, she put a huge gash in the right side of his face next to his nose (causing his nose to bruise some), and virtually knocking two of his upper teeth out, and breaking the bone on the upper right side. Tiger ran scared as hell out of the house (which is why he had on no shoes) with Elin swinging the golf club throughout the hallway to the garage (i.e causing the severe damage which has been reported).

Tiger hopped in the Escalade and tried to leave; and as we know Elin knocked out the windows in the Escalade.  When Tiger crashed, Elin panicked and was not sure what to tell the police (which is why there are two conflicting stories from her).

When this happened.  Elin immediately called Mark Steinberg to tell him what happened, and Mark told Elin to tell him what hospital they were going to, and he would meet them there. 


Tiger Woods and IMG's Mark Steinberg 

Tiger is transported to the hospital with Elin in the ambulance, and as they arrive Mark is there waiting for them. The people from the hospital and the doctors take Tiger in for X-Rays etc to check out the damage caused. The doctors tell Mark there is not much they can do to repair the teeth and the gash, but the doctor knows a cosmetic dentist and plastic surgeon in Phoenix who will make Tiger look as if nothing happened.

Tiger tells Mark to get the jet ready and "lets head to Phoenix to get this
done."  Friday after Tiger is released from the hospital, he does not return home.  He and Mark board the plane for Phoenix.  If you remember, FHP (Florida Highway Patrol) kept showing up at Isleworth to talk to TIger, and was told by another FL attorney (who Tiger hired for PR reasons) Tiger was not ready to talk.  (That person is Orlando Lawyer Mark LeJane)

Well now we know why... he was in Phoenix, and did not arrive back in Orlando until either late last Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. The surgeries were more intense than what they had originally planned, which meant Tiger was in PHX longer than he should have been.

Upon arriving back in Orlando, Tiger and Elin have been in intense marriage counseling sessions (up to 6 to 7 hours a day) every day!  Both Tiger and Elin have told the counselors they love each other, and want to make the marriage work.

The reports you are reading on TMZ and RadarOnline are about 30 percent accurate at best according to Mark. 


In regards to Tiger's boat being in Palm Beach this week, along with Rachel; that part is true.  However, Tiger is not on the boat, and is not in Palm Beach; and Rachel is not on the boat.  Her parents live 6 blocks from where the boat is, but that is it.

Tiger has not returned to his house at Isleworth since the day of the accident except for the therapy sessions. IMG has enlisted the assistance of one of its most recognized sports figures, and Tiger has taken up residence in his neighborhood; Bay Hill.

IMG contacted Arnold Palmer because of the high regard in which Tiger holds Arnold. Arnold has agreed, and IMG has said if anyone can get through to Tiger, Arnold may be the only person who can, based on his public persona when he was at the height of his game as well.

The moving trucks being shown on TMZ and RadarOnline are moving out pictures and furniture which was damaged during their Thanksgiving Day argument; not of her moving out. Yes, Elin has retained a divorce attorney (Sorrell Troupe), but has not filed any papers, and as of yesterday had no intention on doing so.

Tiger has not made any public appearances or statements due to the surgery and plastic surgery he had in PHX. It will be about another month if not more before he gets in front of a camera.  Yes, Tiger is hitting golf balls late at night at Bay Hill out of their teaching center (which is equipped with lights). 


That is as up to date as I have........

My reason for posting this, separate from the idea that it makes sense (if we were to see Tiger Woods before his facial injuries lessened it could put Elin in legal trouble) and has a number of players - people involved - in the right place, is my anger with how some in media, particularly HLN's Nancy Grace, have played "fast and loose" with information regarding Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren. Yes, Grace herself has taken care to use terms like "alleged" and "reportedly" as have I, but she never corrects her guests and then slips and says that Elin's in Sweden without even making a qualifying statement.

Stay tuned.

TMZ.com should explain JFK photo hoax - more to story

Now that The JFK Photo Scandal is history - and a fast, one - TMZ.com really has to explain how and why it got caught up in this photo-fish-finding expedition.

The real photo.

I write that because TMZ enlisted so-called experts who said the photo was real. But were those experts paid for their work? If so, checkbook journalism may have failed the one organization alleged to have made an industry out of it.

TMZ has made a living on being first with information the mainstream media was not even aware of how to get. And it's been accurate far more often than not. But this case reveals a "chink" in the armor of the suit of TMZ's success.

They got so caught up with the idea that the photo was real, they never stopped to consider that it may not be real.

The fake photo.

I also wonder how old the TMZer who led this effort were? Old timers who know about the Playboys of the period were quick to question the photo.

I can't wait to hear and read TMZ's explanation. I'm not happy they were wrong, nor am I sad. Just fascinated.

Stay tuned.

JFK photo a fake - real Playboy 1967 no-JFK photo here

Ok, the matter of the TZM.com JFK Naked sexy women on a yacht photo issue - now called "the JFK photo scandal" is closed.

Someone over at Democratic Underground got the photo from an archived copy of the 1967 Playboy issue my source said contained the actual photo. That magazine is Playboy, Vol. 14, No. 11, November 1967, P. 137. (Article name "Playboy's Charter Yacht Party".)

Here's the photo:

Now, as of this writing, I've beat TMZ.com to the punch.