Bloomberg: While revenue will surpass the $9.45 billion record set in 2004, attendance was little changed, Media By Numbers said. Ticket sales dropped in 11 of the past 14 weeks from a year earlier as films including Iraq war dramas “In the Valley of Elah” and “Redacted” made less than $2 million each in their opening weekends. “Compass,” a fantasy based on the book by Phillip Pullman, fell short of

over at YouTube, and listening to some of the stuff that M&D listened to when they were courting, including The Platters, whose Zola Taylor and Barbara Randolph set the standard for the black female singers who came after them.  The ingenuity and literacy of the lyrics was equalled only by Dozier-Holland-Dozier Holland-Dozier-Holland (thanks, Rock Guy!) in the American songbook of the period, IM(nvh)O.  Also discovered, some wonderful Bacharach pieces sung by

according to Glenn Reynolds.  And he ought to know. Asian Animal Protection Network on “Food Dogs”: We see no difference between pig eating and dog eating. The degree of objection lies in the methods of rearing, transport and slaughter rather than in the choice of species. The popularity of dog eating is currently increasing at a huge rate – it is evolving rapidly from its traditions as a cottage industry.  

featuring the hither2fore unknown Archangel Mark(ael), or Marchangel, for short: “Pope Benedict XVI has no intention of ordering local bishops to bring in garrisons of exorcists to fight demonic possession,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters in Rome Friday.On Thursday, the Roman Catholic Web site Petrus said the pope planned to install more exorcists in every diocese next year and reintroduce a prayer during mass to Mark the Archangel, believed

It was understandable that The New York Times would not want to speak ill of the late blogger Steve Gilliard in its obituary — our estimable host took the same classy approach. But Matt Bai — appropos of apparently nothing six months later — has decided to whitewash the dead in the latest NYT magazine. With a headline (which, to be fair, may not have been Bai’s idea) that conflates

Granted, it is not breaking news that Andrew Sullivan has become an increasingly lazy blogger, but he may have hit a new milestone on the road to irrelevance: Support for suicide bombing has plummeted in recent polls. Stanley Kurtz remains pessimistic. How recent?  A click on the first link shows that it has been declining since at least 2004 (possibly 2003, as Pew did not poll that year).  This same

US film director Oliver Stone said Friday he would travel with a Venezuelan-led air mission going to Colombia to pick up three hostages being released by Marxist rebels.  “It’s wonderful,” the Oscar-winning filmmaker said in Santo Domingo airport in southwest Venezuela, from where a first air convoy left for Colombia on Friday. “I’ve never been in such a thing and I’m proud to be part of this.” Stone said he

where my lungs begin: France bans smoking in cafes, hotels and clubs on Jan. 1, stamping out the habit popularized by Jean- Paul Sartre puffing Gauloises in hazy brasseries.    Mon dieu!  And I thought it was l’Anglais Walter Raleigh!  

My wife gave me Eric Clapton’s new autobiography for Christmas, and I must say that it was compelling reading.  Of course, I was interested in the musical bits, but he was very open and honest about his drug and alcohol addictions, a subject with which I’m unfortunately familiar.  Normally, when I see a blurb that screams, “Open, frank, searing!!”, my reaction is, “Blah, blah, blah.”  For one thing, I couldn’t

In “The Big Picture(s),” I noted the case of Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi stringer working for the Associated Press with a history of taking staged photographs of Islamic terrorists, who was detained by the US military as a security threat in April 2006. In follow-up posts, I have noted that the AP’s coverage of the case has ignored — but demonstrated the wisdom of — the AP policy regarding conflicts of interest. Apparently,