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[Matt H.]

Well, I think I'm going to have to call it a night. On much later than usual, and I'm tired now. Hope the West Coast will keep things hopping for the next few hours.

Good night.

[Dan (the Man)]

Driving back home with der Brucer from the party, we spotted a surprising number of fireflies.  I like them.  They are tiny, but magical.

I don't think that I will ever be
too old,
too busy,
too jaded,
too depressed or dispairing,
too into my self or too into someone else,
too drunk,
too angry,
too fearful or too lost
to ever not be amazed and awed
by a backyard full of lightning bugs.
And if I ever am
it will be because I am too dead.
And won't that be too bad?

[Jay]

I believe it was Jennifer who yesterday said this was impossible... (And notice that it opened in far fewer theaters than any of the others in the top ten.)

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE ESTIMATE (VARIETY)
June 25 - 27, 2004
Title -  Engagements - Estimated Weekend Box Office (in millions of dollars)
1. Fahrenheit 9/11 (LIONSGATE) 868 $21.8

That's over $25,000 per screen, an extraordinary achievement for a film of any genre.

[Dan (the Man)]

I've been errant and truant this weekend up till now.  It's been a long one, not to mention wide.  

I had such a nightmare Friday night!  I went to bed much earlier than usual for me, and I had my first nuclear nightmare in years!  It was about terrorists setting off a nuclear bomb 40 miles north of NYC.  The dream seemed so real that when I woke up I had to turn on the radio to make sure that all was right with the world.  Even then, I was still so shaken that I left a light on when I laid back down to sleep, something I haven't done since those horrible days followin 9/11.  

P-tooh! on such dreams!  P-tooh!  P-tooh!

[Dan (the Man)]

That's over $25,000 per screen, an extraordinary achievement for a film of any genre.

My sister and I tried to go see F 911 both yesterday and today and all shows were sold out.  

Of course, all bets are off starting on Wednesday, when Spider-Man 2 opens.  But it will be interest to see how F 911 holds its own, especially when it inevitably opens on more screens.

[Jay]

I have served on three juries in which the case made its way to decision, all of them criminal cases.  First time (in Hollywood) it was a prostitution case.  Second time (in Burbank) it was a case of vehicular manslaughter.  Third time (in downtown L.A.) it was a case of domestic battery and child endangerment.  I've been called other times, but not seated in the box to hear the trial.

I think jury service is interesting and educational if one is placed on a case.  In each of the cases I was on, my fellow jury members were conscientious in examining the evidence that was presented and put great effort into coming to an appropriate verdict.  On none of the three occasions was it 12-0 from the get go, so there was ample discussion and debate before we arrived at unanimous verdicts.

If left to wither in the jury assembly room, however, jury service can be dreary, indeed.

I also believe doing jury service is an important obligation, and I do not suffer lightly those who make a "game" of getting out of it.

[Dan (the Man)]

Want to get rid of the cat?  Play Cats - she'll bolt right out of there.

I wonder if there are born-again cats that accost other cats outside of supermarkets, calling "Excuse me, but can I talk to you about the Heavyside-Layer?"

[Dan (the Man)]

Darn it all to H-E-double hockey sticks!  I was just outbid on a set of Funny Face drink mugs on eBay.  I shoulda played dirty and zoomed in during the last seconds.  Only way to win if there's something you really want.

(Trying to do my part to prevent an all-time low from occurring here...)

[Jay]

I was at the Knightsbridge Theatre this evening, Dear Readers, a tiny community theatre here in Los Angeles that operates on a shoestring budget.  The show was The Fantasticks, which I have not seen in over thirty years.  

Although the quality of the performance varied considerably from player to player, and the orchestra consisted solely of a very electronic sounding keyboard, the charm of the show itself shined through.  The Fantasticks offers good argument that, as in architecture, when it comes to musical theatre, sometimes less is more.

I had forgotten (or never noticed in the first place) the parallels between The Fantasticks and Voltaire's Candide.  And looking at the show now from the perspective of one in the prime of life (a term far superior to "middle age," in my humble opinion), as opposed to that of a teenager, which is what I was when I first saw it, the bittersweet aspect of the tale resonated much more strongly for me this time around.

[S. Woody White]

Joss Whedon (of BUFFY and ANGEL fame) had a series on Fox called FIREFLY two seasons ago. Fox only let it run half a season, but Whedon got the go-ahead to do a feature film version of the show. I think it's going to be called SERENDIPITY.

I tried watching an episode of that show.  That would not be the sort of story I'd want to tell.  It sure wasn't the sort of show I was interested in watching.

[JoseSPiano]

Good Evening!

I actually checked into the chat (right as "Six Feet Under" was starting), but no one was in there, so...  I think I may have just missed DR Michael Shayne.  -Although, after reading some of the various reports tonight, I wonder if the chat room was having issues.

In any case...

I finally got out of the apartment this afternoon, and headed over to Sidewalk for lunch - since I missed brunch.  I had a great bacon cheeseburger!  And since the brunch rush was over, Edwina and I were able to do some good catching up.  She'll be going in for her double knee replacement surgery at the end of July.  Fortunately, they can do the procedure in a morning or afternoon now.  And she'll only have to be in the hospital for three days, if even that.  But then it's a few days of monitored recovery, and then weeks of physical therapy.

Unfortunately, she'll have to be off her feet - and knees - for anywhere from six weeks to six months depending upon how things heal and settle.  So that means she'll have to be out of work for that time - definitely no waitressing for her during that time.  She also has no real medical insurance, but something may be able to be worked out.  Thankfully, she's been working for the same family and their family of restaurants for about 20 years, and, they, apparently, are kicking in a chunk of money to help her out.  -And her daughter will be picking up some of her shifts when she's away.  However, I'm thinking I may check around, and see if there's anyway some sort of collection can be taken up for her.  Edwina has truly welcomed and served many, many people in Richmond over the years, and I'm sure her other regulars would be happy to contribute to the cause.  *Today, she even asked how Steve, my ex, was doing.  She remembers everyone.  Hopefully, everyone remembers her too.  Knowing the family she works for, they may already have something in the works, so I'll check in with them tomorrow and go from there.

-And I may actually help pick up some of her slack while she's away as a part-time job.  We shall see.

[S. Woody White]

Quote from: Panni on Today at 05:09:35pm
I believe it was Jennifer who yesterday said this was impossible... (And notice that it opened in far fewer theaters than any of the others in the top ten.)

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE ESTIMATE (VARIETY)
June 25 - 27, 2004
Title -  Engagements - Estimated Weekend Box Office (in millions of dollars)
1. Fahrenheit 9/11 (LIONSGATE) 868 $21.8
 
TO WHICH JAY REPLIED:
That's over $25,000 per screen, an extraordinary achievement for a film of any genre.


AND I JUMP IN:
At ten bucks a ticket, that comes to 2500 people seeing the film per screen.

The film is close to two hours long.  Figure fifteen minutes between films, to clear the audience out, clean up the place, and fill the place up with a new audience.  A theater opens at 12 noon, the next screening would be at 2:15, followed by 4:30, 6:45, and 9:00 pm.  (Theaters don't like to keep their staff on for too long, it kicks into overtime if they aren't careful, so don't plan on midnight screenings.)  And three days, makes for fifteen screenings.  If you're lucky.  

(Here in Rehoboth, one screen at the 16-plex, four showings daily.  And they're in competition with the beach and shopping.  Figure the figure in my town to be lower than the national average.)

That makes each screening, nationally, pulling in 167 people.

It's do-able.

But don't forget that the estimates are made by the studios that are releasing the films, or at least by the distributors.  And they are known for inflating the figures in order to generate publicity, have done so in the past and will do so again.

We're also talking about an R-rated film, which seriously cuts into the audience.  And this doesn't strike me as your typical date flick.

My guess is that the numbers involved in this film will prove to be greatly exaggerated.

[S. Woody White]

I don't think that I will ever be
too old,
too busy,
too jaded,
too depressed or dispairing,
too into my self or too into someone else,
too drunk,
too angry,
too fearful or too lost
to ever not be amazed and awed
by a backyard full of lightning bugs.
And if I ever am
it will be because I am too dead.
And won't that be too bad?

Thank-you, Dan-T-M!

You've exactly captured what the title Firefly Night should express.

I still don't have a story, of course, but you've helped express the tone.

[JoseSPiano]

It was another beautiful early summer day here in Richmond.  Not too hot, and just a touch of humidity in the air.  It made for a nice walk up to school to practice.

Well, as soon as I opened the door to the studio, I thought I saw my music back on the piano.  Alas, it was just the note I had left on the piano in place of my music.  Ah, well...

I decided to take a break from the scales and arpreggios today, and I dove straight back into the Chopin I've been working on.   I mainly did memory reinforcement today, as well as some wood-shedding of some particularly tricky spots.  -There really are just some places where you have to "throw the hand" to make it work.

After about two hours, I heard the door to the studio open, and one of the other students was coming in.  And, as he was placing his bag down, he asked, "Are you the one who left that note?"  He had my music!  It turns out he had seen the music on the piano for weeks, and just figured someone had left it there to be taken.  (Hmmm.. I guess he didn't notice that the scores were rotated every now and then.)  In any case, he brought them back, and all was forgiven.  Well, there was really nothing to forgive.  I knew someone in the studio had to have taken them, and that I would get them back eventually.  But still...  -Thanks for all the good vibes.

And of interest to DR JRand - He really didn't know what he had.  He just thought they were nice editions since they were hardcover, and they stayed open.  I didn't bring up just how "nice" they were, but I may have to have a talk with my piano teacher about not passing on information like that to her students.   -And from what I can tell, he's quite an accomplished pianist.  We discussed the repertoire for his upcoming senior recital - quite impressive.

Oh, and he was cute too!  Young, but cute.  

Since I'm not currently enrolled, I always let the current students have the studio when they come in - besides, I have keys to the general grand piano studio around the corner.  So, since I got my books back, I figured I should at least do some work on the Bach I've been "poking" at.  After some good finger work on that for about 30 minutes, I headed back home.

And I took all my music books with me.  My hardcover music books.  All six of them!  Boy, did those books get heavy about halfway home!  But I got my music back!  YEAH!!  

[Charles Pogue]

The denial in some Republicans about the extraordinary performance of F9/11 this weekend is very amusing.

But, Robin, you said it's preaching to the choir.  Not too sure.  Very interesting article in LA TIMES today said the film even performed well in strongly Republican areas and the articles talks about how it is affecting some Republicans...or as ex-Republicans, as one life-time GOP member referred to himself.  

My favourite thing in the article was about a 70-yr. old woman who was outside the theatre with a placard that read:  "Nobody died when Clinton lied."

[Panni]

My guess is that the numbers involved in this film will prove to be greatly exaggerated.

I don't think so. Certainly not a scientific survey - but I've spoken to many people - all over the country and Canada - who were unable to get into sold out showings at all times of day and night.

[Panni]

So glad to hear you got your music back, Jose. I love happy endings!

[bk]

I really didn't think we would tonight, but looks like we made it - oh, a Barry Manilow reference.  I'm going to agree about inflated figures because it happens with just about every film these days.  Not to say that its box office achievment isn't impressive, it is.  But I don't think the numbers will prove accurate.  It's mostly in smaller cineplex theaters which are easy to sell out.  I'm sure it sold out in the bigger houses too, but not necessarily outside of the biggest cities.  It's getting a ton of publicity and you could even hear it on the news all weekend that everyone was predicting it could actually open at number one.  There was no way it wasn't going to open at number one, that was a given from the day it opened.  It had no competition at all, at least from what I could see was against it.  And the figures will not prove to be accurate, I'm pretty sure.  Close, but not quite what they're saying.  Again, it doesn't matter - its figures are still mighty impressive and its obviously touching a chord in people.

[JoseSPiano]

The film is close to two hours long.  Figure fifteen minutes between films, to clear the audience out, clean up the place, and fill the place up with a new audience.  A theater opens at 12 noon, the next screening would be at 2:15, followed by 4:30, 6:45, and 9:00 pm.  (Theaters don't like to keep their staff on for too long, it kicks into overtime if they aren't careful, so don't plan on midnight screenings.)  And three days, makes for fifteen screenings.  If you're lucky.  

(Here in Rehoboth, one screen at the 16-plex, four showings daily.  And they're in competition with the beach and shopping.  Figure the figure in my town to be lower than the national average.)

That makes each screening, nationally, pulling in 167 people.

It's do-able.

But don't forget that the estimates are made by the studios that are releasing the films, or at least by the distributors.  And they are known for inflating the figures in order to generate publicity, have done so in the past and will do so again.

We're also talking about an R-rated film, which seriously cuts into the audience.  And this doesn't strike me as your typical date flick.

My guess is that the numbers involved in this film will prove to be greatly exaggerated.

Just some reports from my neck of the woods on the box office for this movie:

It's only being shown at one theatre here in Richmond.  They had only planned to show it three times a day, but after the advance demand was bigger than expected, they added two shows each day this weekend: one at 10:30AM, and one at 11:30PM.  All the showings since Friday, and going into Monday evening have been sold out.  And for Richmond, that's saying something.

I had friends in DC who saw the movie last night also at added late showing of it.  -And there was a report on the news that theatres in DC had added midnight showings of the movie.

As for the R-rating... -And this applies to any movie, not just this movie...  Just how much does an R-rating really hurt a movie nowadays anyway?  And I know that not all theatres truly enforce the age limitations.  *However, I do find it appalling that parents will sometimes bring their very young children (4 to 9-year olds) into R-rated movies with them!

As for this movie, the only really big portion of the potential audience they are shutting out would be teenagers.  And I'm not really sure just how many teenagers would want to see this movie anyway.  -But I'd be very proud of any teenagers who do want to see this film.

And, as was pointed out, when "Spiderman 2" opens this weekend...

And in the bigger non-political picture, even if "F9/11" does truly finish first at the box office this weekend, the numbers are no where near a typical "blockbuster" opening.  In fact, after looking at the Top Ten, it actually looks like it was a slow weekend at the multi-plexes.

*But, of course, I can already see the ads for "White Chicks" this week: "The Number One Comedy in America!"

But, then again, some people think "F-9/11" is a farce, so...  But that's horse-racing!

[S. Woody White]

The denial in some Republicans about the extraordinary performance of F9/11 this weekend is very amusing.

My "denial" has nothing to do with my personal politics.  Exaggerations about box office returns are commonplace, and have been noted quite often in news reports.  They were even common back when I worked at the Alex Theater in Glendale, a quarter century ago.  My comments are based on experience, not wishful thinking.

I have also seen Mr. Moore himself on talk shows, urging everyone to see the film and judge it for themselves.  This being the case, I fully expect a segment of the audience to do exactly that.  Seeing the film does not automatically mean agreeing with it.  The critic for the New York Times, A. O. Scott, has written "It is worth seeing, debating and thinking about, regardless of your political allegiances."  Similarly, Mark Keizer of Boxoffice Magazine writes "In pure filmic terms, Fahrenheit 911 is a second-rate documentary, but it is first-rate entertainment and top-notch muckraking."


I'm merely trying to be objective in my ascessments.

[JoseSPiano]

Oh... And I actually received a mass e-mail earlier this evening from a stage manager I know.  In it, he was urging everyone from both sides of the aisle to get out and see "Fahrenheit 9/11".  He basically stated that whether or not you agree with the film and the filmmaker, there is no way you could walk out of the movie theatre and not want to talk about it.  And, ultimately, the film would inspire and rekindle the sense of patriotism that has been lacking in this country of late.

-Any (more) thoughts?

In any case... His subject line was "A Must See".  I thought he was going to plug the latest show he's been working on.

[S. Woody White]

I need to do more research on fireflies.  Other than that they are extraordinary, I know almost nothing about them.

[S. Woody White]

...In any case... His subject line was "A Must See".  I thought he was going to plug the latest show he's been working on.

Gee, I thought "A Must See" was how you were discribing that piano student...

 

[JoseSPiano]

Yes, fireflies are truly a fascinating creature.  When I was about six or seven, the backyard of our house at the time seemed like firefly central during summer evenings.  It was always quite magical.  And boys being boys, my three brothers and I would get jars from the kitchen and go "hunting".  -Which was very easy since there were so many.  -The smell of fireflies is actually one of the true signs of summer for me - very subtle and base.  Insecty.  

[JoseSPiano]

Gee, I thought "A Must See" was how you were discribing that piano student...

 

Well, I'll try to snap a pic sometime, and let you judge for yourself.

-Actually, I think he may be Filipino too.  Or at least part-Filipino based on his looks and his name.  

[JoseSPiano]

OH! OH! OH! OH!

It may turn out that the "bad news" e-mail I got last week, may not be the "bad news" I thought it was.

Another e-mail I got tonight was from the same person, and it was in response to another e-mail I had sent him a few weeks ago.  One of the many I've sent over the past couple of weeks.  However, the "answer" in this e-mail was to a question I had asked before the "ultimate" question.  And after thinking about it, the "answer" I got last week, could have been an answer to a question I had asked earlier.  So...

-Maybe he's just catching up on his e-mail - albeit slowly - and I'm just getting the responses crossed.

It may be a false hope, but it's definitely a cause for me to try to get some sort of final, definite, in-person answer this week.  We shall see...

*However, that still doesn't excuse him - or explain - why he just hasn't called me in person in the first place.  He's not getting off the hook for that.

And, actually, in other good news...

-I have a date Tuesday night.

-And then on Wednesday, my friend, Andy, will be taking me to the Wolf Trap Gala.  Linda Ronstadt is the featured guest with the Baltimore Symphony.  She'll also be performing some numbers with her band, as well as the Nelson Riddle arrangements which I've always liked.

-And I may be condo-sitting in SoHo come mid-July for a couple of weeks!



*Right now, I'm reminded of that joke:

Q: What do you get when you play a country song backwards?

A: You get your dog back.  You get your woman back.  You get your woman back. You get your truck back...

[George]

But, let's face it, Michael Moore is preaching to the choir.  Lefties (like me!) are going to be predisposed to agree with what he's saying, and Righties (who, in all likelihood, won't actually bother seeing the movie) have already decided that it's all a pack of lies and distortion.

This is the feeling that I had coming out of the movie tonight.  And that's exactly what was said by a couple of people who I went with.  People applauded at the end of the movie.  I haven't experienced that in quite a while.  I saw a bit of a magazine show segment about Michael Moore this afternoon before I left and he said that he hired three fact checkers to check facts.  After the fact checkers checked the facts, he hired a lawyer to check the facts that the fact checkers checked.  He said that if anyone has any issue with his facts, he has the proof of what he's claimed in the movie.

[S. Woody White]

By the way, BK, earlier I forgot to say how, erm, inspirational I found the fotos you posted.

 

[George]

Talk about timing!  As Ebert and Roeper were reviewing "Fahrenheit 9/11," ABC cut in to announce that the transfer of power in Iraq has just happened or is happening right now!

[Tomovoz]

I'm late! At least I arrived home in time to post.