At Road and Track, the whole competitive review of 10 submissions for the year, awesome, "Road & Track Performance Car of the Year 2018."
And the winner is: "The McLaren 720S Is the Future."
Monday, December 25, 2017
Christmas Is the Perfect Time to Mock Leftists
It is. Indeed, it is.
From Kurt Schlichter, at Town Hall, "Christmas Is the Perfect Time to Mock Liberals, and Other Random Thoughts":
From Kurt Schlichter, at Town Hall, "Christmas Is the Perfect Time to Mock Liberals, and Other Random Thoughts":
Ho ho ho, jerks!
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) December 25, 2017
|| Christmas Is the Perfect Time to Mock Liberals, and Other Random Thoughts https://t.co/YQUPRqmayD
When we gather together this Christmas, it’s going to be super-awkward since everybody is dead because Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Scam, repealed net neutrality, and cut taxes. The depredations of Genghis Khan, the Black Plague, and the repeal of the Obamacare mandate – these are pretty much the same thing. Santa Claus and all of our dreams are dead too.Keep reading.
On the plus side, since we are all dead there’s no one to make egg nog, which is the worst of all possible nogs.
No. Whoever invented egg nog is the second grossest human being ever who is not Lena Dunham, exceeded in grossness only by the first person being who thought, “Look, an oyster! I know. I’ll put that slimy thing in my mouth.”
The Democrats are the egg nog of American politics. Discuss...
Despite 'Star Wars' Surge, Movie-Going Audiences May Keep Fading
Well, I'm especially not going to see anything affiliated with Harvey Weinstein, and of course I won't see movies featuring any number of leftist stars, like Meryl Streep, George Clooney, or Matt Damon, to name a few.
I did enjoy "Hostiles," so it's not movies per se that are bogus. It's the far left politics for me. For everybody else? Well, who needs the multiplex anymore? Not too many, apparently.
At LAT, "Even with 'Star Wars' surge, moviegoing could hit 22-year low. Blame bad sequels, rising ticket prices and streaming":
I did enjoy "Hostiles," so it's not movies per se that are bogus. It's the far left politics for me. For everybody else? Well, who needs the multiplex anymore? Not too many, apparently.
At LAT, "Even with 'Star Wars' surge, moviegoing could hit 22-year low. Blame bad sequels, rising ticket prices and streaming":
Wow! They failed to recognize that Hollywood hatred toward @POTUS & his supporters had anything to do with the drop in sales. 🙄— Leslie Banks (@LeslieBanksUSA) December 24, 2017
Even with 'Star Wars' surge, moviegoing could hit 22-year low. Blame bad sequels, rising ticket prices and... https://t.co/lhSjZqiqSp
American Conservatives are turning away from the false idols of the @NFL & #Hollywood. #NFL
— occupycorruptDC (@occupycorruptDC) December 24, 2017
"Even with '#StarWars' surge, moviegoing could hit 22-year low. Blame bad sequels, rising ticket prices and streaming"https://t.co/7fNBXcJksc pic.twitter.com/ipSyFDQiAB
Hollywood is celebrating the end of 2017 with astronomical sales from "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," which is on track to soon exceed $1 billion in global ticket sales and eventually become the biggest movie of the year. But that won't be enough to write a happy storyline for the industry.
Although 2017 movie ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada are expected to dip just below last year's record of $11.38 billion, the number of tickets sold is projected to drop 4% to 1.26 billion — the lowest level since 1995, according to preliminary estimates from studio executives.
The falloff in ticket sales can mostly be explained by a handful of movies that flopped, especially during the dreary summer season that posted the worst results in more than two decades. Even such massive hits as "Wonder Woman," "Thor: Ragnarok" and "It" couldn't make up for a lackluster summer lineup populated by rickety franchises ("Alien: Covenant") and poorly reviewed retreads ("The Mummy").
However, the long-term decline in attendance reflects systemic challenges facing the industry. Audiences are spending less time going to the movies and are consuming more entertainment on small screens and through streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon that are spending billions of dollars on original video content.
At the same time, while higher ticket prices have helped to offset attendance declines, they have made consumers pickier about what movies they're willing to go see. And those increasingly discerning consumers turn to social media and Rotten Tomatoes to decide what's worth their time and money.
"You cannot pull a fast one on the audience," said Greg Foster, chief executive of Imax Entertainment. "The tools that are available for consumers to decide how and where to spend entertainment dollars are so vast. Consumers know what works and what doesn't long before the product becomes available."
Challenges at the box office are helping to fuel a wave of media consolidation. Walt Disney Co. this month announced a blockbuster deal to buy entertainment assets from Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion.
Murdoch's surprise decision to sell the bulk of his media empire was at least partly motivated by concerns about the future of the movie business in a world dominated by streaming, analysts said.
Cinema chains also are bulking up to better compete. Regal Entertainment Group, the nation's second-largest theater owner, last month agreed to sell itself to British theater company Cineworld for $3.6 billion.
For studios, the box office has become a land of princes and paupers, with a handful of movies and a couple studios increasingly dominating the business. As of Dec. 17, Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros. accounted for 40% of domestic market share. In 2012, the top two studios (Sony and Warner Bros.) only took up 30% of the industry total.
Of the 165 wide-release movies this year, the top 20 claimed 51% of ticket sales in 2017, representing an increase of two percentage points from last year, according to estimates from distributors. Five years ago, the 20 biggest movies accounted for about 40% of annual grosses.
"It's a really binary business between the haves and the have-nots," said Jeff Goldstein, head of domestic distribution for Warner Bros.
Nowhere was that trend clearer than last weekend, when the animated Fox movie "Ferdinand" opened against Disney's "The Last Jedi."
The $111-million kids' film about a fighting-averse bull opened with a pitiful $13 million, due to a lack of audience interest in the story and competition from Pixar's hit computer-animated movie "Coco." By contrast, the new "Star Wars" opened with $220 million — nearly 17 times "Ferdinand's" debut.
Professor Jordan Peterson on the Lindsay Shepherd Affair
At Blazing Cat Fur, "Pronouns professor Jordan Peterson on the Lindsay Shepherd affair."
And more, at the Rebel:
And more, at the Rebel:
Gift-Wrapped Package of Horse Shit for Steve Mnuchin
Leftists are so disgusting.
At the Los Angeles Times, "Secret Service takes over investigation of package of manure sent to Steve Mnuchin's Bel-Air home."
At the Los Angeles Times, "Secret Service takes over investigation of package of manure sent to Steve Mnuchin's Bel-Air home."
Danielle Gersh's Christmas Forecast
She's a hot weather forecaster.
And it's nice weather for Christmas!
Here's the lovely Ms. Danielle, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles
And it's nice weather for Christmas!
Here's the lovely Ms. Danielle, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Helmand Christmas Tree
Been busy all day running around, finishing shopping, cleaning the kitchen, and watching "Die Hard" with my young son. Not too much blogging, but I'll be back on it over the next few days.
Merry Christmas everybody!
Seen on Twitter:
Merry Christmas everybody!
Seen on Twitter:
Epic sandbag Christmas tree created by Marines deployed to Helmand province, Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/DAnzjiJzO0
— Hope Hodge Seck (@HopeSeck) December 24, 2017
Saturday, December 23, 2017
Wilbur Smith, Men of Men
I gotta say Wilbur Smith's books are irresistible, man.
At Amazon, Wilbur Smith, Men of Men (The Ballantyne Novels).
At Amazon, Wilbur Smith, Men of Men (The Ballantyne Novels).
Dodge Demon
Just was reminded of this monster on Twitter.
The Dodge Challenger Demon is a street-legal dragster. That's it. It's a race car, bottom line.
I've been reading about it at Road and Track and Car and Driver, and will post more later.
But watch the videos. It's seriously as mean as you can get. It's not built for Grand Prix racing. Or for Daytona, even. It's built for the drag strip and will blow your mind. (At the second video below the Demon pops a wheelie.)
The Dodge Challenger Demon is a street-legal dragster. That's it. It's a race car, bottom line.
I've been reading about it at Road and Track and Car and Driver, and will post more later.
But watch the videos. It's seriously as mean as you can get. It's not built for Grand Prix racing. Or for Daytona, even. It's built for the drag strip and will blow your mind. (At the second video below the Demon pops a wheelie.)
Built for the strip. pic.twitter.com/SCW4UCb67u— Dodge (@Dodge) December 22, 2017
Alessandra Ambrosio for LOVE Magazine (VIDEO)
She's better looking now than ever.
What a fantastic woman.
What a fantastic woman.
We Need to Talk About Jacob Zuma
Speaking of South Africa, here's a great piece at Johannesburg's Mail and Guardian, "After 10 years at the helm of the ANC— We need to talk about Jacob Zuma":
"One of the paradoxes of Zuma’s time as ANC president is that a man who came to power largely through the efforts of the SACP and Cosatu was, in the final analysis, the catalyst for the decisive collapse of the tripartite alliance." https://t.co/Osv1TGX1Z2
— Mail & Guardian (@mailandguardian) December 20, 2017
Of all the deleterious aspects of Zuma’s legacy in the ANC, this is perhaps the most significant: in 10 years of disastrous and amoral leadership, the ruling party has lost all capacity for self-examination. This is why most have waited in vain for the start of the party’s mythical and supposedly inevitable “self-correction”. Self-correction is a result of self-criticism, and self-criticism itself results from self-examination. Under Zuma, the ANC has become the hapless victim of malign forces, foreign powers, enemies, fifth columnists, the media, and every other external influence you can think of. Nothing is of its own doing; no problem is ever self-inflicted. This is pretty much Zuma’s personality, which has imprinted on the ANC. And it is not obvious that this unfortunate trait will cease to be a part of the ANC’s DNA when Zuma is gone.RTWT.
Tamara Holder Claims Rupert Murdoch Ruined Her Life (VIDEO)
This "sex panic" moment seems to be getting more political all the time.
Tamara Holder looks terrible here, so I have to agree this whole thing is ruining her life. I used to think she looked pretty attractive when she was on Hannity's back in the day. Frankly, I'd forgotten all about her, but now, man is she bitter.
And see, coincidentally, see NYT, "Rupert Murdoch and President Trump: A Friendship of Convenience."
(Maybe a lot of leftist sexual assault criminals have to come down to get to the real target: President Trump. Now that's a dialectical idea.)
Tamara Holder looks terrible here, so I have to agree this whole thing is ruining her life. I used to think she looked pretty attractive when she was on Hannity's back in the day. Frankly, I'd forgotten all about her, but now, man is she bitter.
And see, coincidentally, see NYT, "Rupert Murdoch and President Trump: A Friendship of Convenience."
(Maybe a lot of leftist sexual assault criminals have to come down to get to the real target: President Trump. Now that's a dialectical idea.)
Martin Meredith, Diamonds, Gold, and War
I'm on a sort of Africa jag right now. It's been off and on, but since teaching South Africa in my comparative politics class this fall, I'm getting excited about further reading.
At Amazon, Martin Meredith, Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa.
At Amazon, Martin Meredith, Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa.
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