'Twilight' stays bright but Hollywood snoozes

In this July 21, 2011 photo, from left, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner pose at an event held to promote the film "The Twilight Saga: Breaking the Dawn Part 1" at the Comic-Con International 2011 convention July 21, 2011, in San Diego. The latest "Twilight" movie still cast the longest shadow with $16.9 million for a third-straight No. 1 finish during one of the year's slowest weekends at the box office. Business was dismal, with box-office tracker Hollywood.com estimating Sunday that domestic revenues totaled just $82 million. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

In this July 21, 2011 photo, from left, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner pose at an event held to promote the film "The Twilight Saga: Breaking the Dawn Part 1" at the Comic-Con International 2011 convention July 21, 2011, in San Diego. The latest "Twilight" movie still cast the longest shadow with $16.9 million for a third-straight No. 1 finish during one of the year's slowest weekends at the box office. Business was dismal, with box-office tracker Hollywood.com estimating Sunday that domestic revenues totaled just $82 million. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The latest "Twilight" movie cast the longest shadow with $16.9 million for a third-straight No. 1 finish during one of the year's slowest weekends at the box office.

Business was dismal, with box-office tracker Hollywood.com estimating Sunday that domestic revenues totaled just $82 million. That puts it barely ahead of Hollywood's worst haul of the year, when revenues were $81.5 million over the second weekend in September.

Once studios release final numbers Monday, this past weekend could come in as the worst of the year if revenues finish even lower.

The first weekend of December often presents a lull in between big Thanksgiving releases and the onslaught of year-end blockbusters that arrive a bit later. But this big a slowdown is surprising given that there's quality stuff out there among the top-10 films, particularly family fare such as "The Muppets," ''Hugo" and "Arthur Christmas."

Hollywood executives usually blame bad weekends on a weak crop of movies.

"It's tough to blame it on the product when the product is pretty good and the films are solid," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "While the post-Thanksgiving weekend is typically slow, it's not usually this slow."

The dreary weekend comes after a relatively quiet Thanksgiving holiday at movie theaters, despite analysts' predictions of potential holiday records because of a great lineup of films.

But more fans might be thinking twice about heading out to theaters given the new entertainment options they have with Apple's iPad, Amazon's Kindle products and other gadgets, along with their big-screen home setups for movies and television.

Or it could be that Hollywood has temporarily neglected its mainstay audience of young males. Dergarabedian said there's little out there now for guys looking for thrills and laughs.

That will change in the coming weeks as Jonah Hill's comedy "The Sitter" opens Friday, followed by a rush of action tales: Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol," Robert Downey Jr.'s "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" and Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin."

Women and families continue to dominate the scanty business at theaters now. Summit Entertainment's female-driven blockbuster "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1" raised its domestic haul to $247.3 million. "Breaking Dawn" added $40.2 million overseas, taking it to a tally of $341 million internationally and $588.3 million worldwide.

Coming in second again was Disney's "The Muppets" with $11.2 million, lifting the family film's domestic total to $56.1 million. Despite good reviews, though, "The Muppets" audience was off more sharply than any other top-10 movie compared to Thanksgiving weekend.

Paramount's family adventure "Hugo," an acclaimed saga directed by Martin Scorsese, finished third with $7.6 million, raising its domestic take to $25.2 million.

Sony's animated holiday comedy "Arthur Christmas" was fourth with $7.4 million, pushing its total to $25.3 million.

In limited release, Fox Searchlight's sexually explicit drama "Shame" opened strongly with $361,181 at 10 theaters in six cities. "Shame" expands to six more cities Friday.

Starring Michael Fassbender in a grim portrait of a sex addict, "Shame" is the latest film angling to lure moviegoers despite an NC-17 rating that prohibits anyone younger than 17 from seeing it.

Some fans and theaters equate the NC-17 tag with pornography, but serious films with that rating occasionally break through and find an audience. Fox Searchlight is positioning "Shame" for Academy Awards attention after the film earned Fassbender the best-actor prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1," $16.9 million ($40.2 million international).

2. "The Muppets," $11.2 million ($1.8 million international).

3. "Hugo," $7.6 million.

4. "Arthur Christmas," $7.4 million ($11.4 million international).

5. "Happy Feet Two," $6 million ($16.3 million international).

6. "Jack and Jill," $5.5 million ($3.2 million international).

7. "The Descendants," $5.2 million.

8. "Immortals," $4.4 million ($4 million international).

9. "Tower Heist," $4.1 million ($4 million international).

10. "Puss in Boots," $3.1 million ($23 million international).

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1," $40.2 million.

2. "Puss in Boots," $23 million.

3. "Happy Feet Two," $16.3 million.

4 (tie). "Arthur Christmas," $11.4 million.

4 (tie). "Vysotsky: Thank God I'm Alive," $11.4 million.

6. "The Adventures of Tintin," $10.6 million.

7. "In Time," $9.6 million.

8. "Real Steel," $5.3 million.

9 (tie). "Immortals," $4 million.

9 (tie). "Tower Heist," $4 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-04-Box%20Office/id-3b6d058a03f64098b9b17d375aa57a55

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Police chief in Oklahoma fired after meth arrest (Reuters)

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) ? An Oklahoma police chief arrested on drug charges this week has been fired from his job,marking the second time in five years that a scandal has left the head police job vacant in the 1,500-person town of Snyder.

The latest scandal may not compare to the 2006 one in salaciousness, but it's a tale that has the town talking.

It started with an investigation into the poisonings of about a dozen dogs -- a crime serious enough for the sheriff to ask for help from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Sharon Motley, the animal control officer for Snyder and two other small towns in southwest Oklahoma, was a suspect in the case, court documents showed, and it turned out she was also wanted on an outstanding felony warrant out of Colorado.

When police arrested her, Motley told them she was a methamphetamine-smoking buddy of the Snyder police chief, John Phipps. She even recorded one of their dope-smoking sessions on her cell phone, which she played for police, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Phipps, when confronted at the Snyder police department, walked to the corner of his office, unlocked a box and withdrew a bag of methamphetamine, tossing it on his desk for his interrogators, according to his arrest affidavit.

Phipps, 37, was fired on Thursday and was released on $50,000 bail on a felony charge of possession of a controlled dangerous substance. Motley, 47, was also fired and released from jail without charges.

How the case compares in the public's mind with the last police scandal, in which the police chief resigned after it was discovered his wife posed nude on a web site, is open to conjecture.

But Snyder Mayor Stan Moddie is happy the latest kerfuffle is over.

"I'm glad it's done. We need to clean the house," Moddie told the Lawton Constitution newspaper. "I guess everybody's ratting on everybody, so if somebody else rats, we'll know."

The dog-killing case remains open.

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111203/us_nm/us_crime_police_oklahoma

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Automotive Service Manager ? Some Important information For you

The automotive industry is without doubt one of the most significant employment creating industries of existing periods. From analysis and enhancement to profits and administration, there slovakianholiday.com is a huge avenue of task possibilities using this sector. The submit of automotive dealership service administration in a vehicle/car dealership is a coveted placement to possess. It can be a task placement along with a extensive variance of obligations and obligations for being dealt with. But an individual who productively manages this submit will also receive an esf-unrwa abundance of economic returns and benefits from the employing small business.

Many people from a wide array of instructional backgrounds can choose for this placement. But is chosen that candidates maintain a diploma or certificate in Automotive Technological innovation or Home business Administration. Added to this everybody vying for this task method must also be dynamic, revolutionary and innovative to handle the numerous facets of this deliver the results. Trade surveys estimate that Automotive Services Professionals get paid everywhere from fifty five, 000 to 88, 000 dollars yearly, dependant upon their encounter and site. But this isn?t the work for stragglers; almost every cent is earned by way of straightforward and simple very difficult deliver the results.

Next while in the list of responsibilities appear the numerous interactions with city officials to take care of the industrial premises. Right here once again the ASM is needed for being aware of the safety regulations and official processes to run the dealership having an automotive dealership service administration. He also needs to m4you.net frequently update his expertise as per the regulations.

She needs to see the profits flooring quite often to help keep an eye on profits proceedings and worker perform. Any buyer complaints and requests will also need to be treated by the ASM instantly. Also last profits approval has to be provided by the ASM, who himself needs to remember of profits policies and processes.

These front office specifications are but a fraction on the obligations dealt with while in the back office. Right here the ASM has to deal with the total running on the automobile dealership. they is exclusively responsible for your productive operating on the total technique. The responsibilities encompass employing the personnel (equally office and profits personnel) in the dealership and also overseeing their coaching. Next the ASM will need to have knowledge of the finances on the store, in order in order to perform internal audits and checks.

Past this they must also oversee the ordering and stocking of merchandise and their servicing while in the premises. All back office works of file retaining and administration are also under the purview on the ASM.

Supplied the extensive array of obligations that an ASM has to tackle, individuals with different instructional backgrounds are viewed as for this submit. Qualified candidates for this kind of posts are online business graduates, automotive engineers as they have some prior coaching while in the difficulties involved in the running of a automobile dealership.

Sports and Hobbies

Source: http://www.numis-cs.org/automotive-service-manager-some-important-information-for-you/

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876,000 cars may contain deadly exploding airbags

By msnbc.com staff

Hundreds of thousands of Honda vehicles sold the United States are being recalled?or will be inspected by the company because their airbags could potentially explode causing injury or death, the company said.

In a notice posted in a PDF file on its website, the American Honda Co. said it was expanding a previously announced recall to include some?273,000 of certain 2001-2003 model Honda and Acura vehicles to replace the airbag.

---

"Affected driver's airbag inflators may deploy with too much pressure, which can cause the inflator casing to rupture and could result in injury or fatality," the message said.

It also said airbag service parts were sold for installation in an unknown number of vehicles for collision repair or other service.

"Because Honda is unable to determine the specific vehicles that may have received the affected service parts through existing information, Honda will inspect an additional approximately 603,000 vehicles and replace those parts as necessary," the notice added.

The expanded?recall?applies to?certain 2001 and 2002 Accord, 2001 to 2003 Civic, 2001 to 2003 Odyssey, 2002 and 2003 CR-V, 2003 Pilot, 2002 and 2003 Acura 3.2 TL and 2003 Acura 3.2 CL vehicles, the notice said.

"Honda is aware of several incidents related to this recall and expansions, and is announcing this further recall expansion to encourage all owners of included vehicles to take their vehicle to an authorized dealer as soon as they receive mailed notification from Honda. Notification to the expanded group of customers will begin in late December 2011," the notice said.

It said that "nothing is more important" to Honda than alerting its customers.

It said that it would contact customers by?mail, "in late December, owners of these vehicles will be able to determine if their vehicles require repair by going online or calling."

To find out whether your car is included,?Honda owners can go to www.recalls.honda.com or call (800) 999-1009 and select option 4; Acura owners can go to http://owners.acura.com/Maintenance/Recalls.aspx or call (800) 382-2238 and select option 4. You will need your car's VIN.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/02/9161123-up-to-876000-cars-at-risk-from-deadly-exploding-airbags

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Fahrenheit 451 now available as an ebook, memorize at your own discretion

E-books may have caught on in a big way these past few years, but there have been a few big holdouts. The Harry Potter series only became available for the first time earlier this year, and now Ray Bradbury has finally allowed his dystopian classic, Fahrenheit 451, to be made available in electronic form (the title remains unchanged). Bradbury himself has been a longtime critic of ebooks (and the internet itself, for that matter), but he reportedly relented when his publisher, Simon & Schuster, explained that a new contract wouldn't be possible without ebook rights.

Other Bradbury novels may also be released as ebooks eventually, according to his agent, but there's apparently no firm plans for those as of yet. There are plans for a new paperback edition of Fahrenheit 451 to be released in January, however, followed by new editions of The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man that are slated for release in March. We're fairly certain you can still consider those the Bradbury-approved editions.

Fahrenheit 451 now available as an ebook, memorize at your own discretion originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/30/fahrenheit-451-now-available-as-an-ebook-memorize-at-your-own-d/

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Caution on euro zone bailout progress hits Asian shares (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Asian shares fell and the euro trimmed gains on Wednesday as caution set in over the chance for more progress in resolving euro zone debt woes after officials agreed to strengthen a rescue fund and seek more aid from the International Monetary Fund.

European share markets were set to dip, with financial spreadbetters expecting Britain's FTSE 100 (.FTSE) and France's CAC-40 (.FCHI) to open down 0.9 percent and Germany's DAX (.GDAXI) to open down 0.6 percent. (.EU)

An early rise in Asian shares was mostly seen as a correction to last week's huge selling, with investors only tepidly scaling back risk aversion as they waited for more euro zone debt sales and meetings ahead.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) rose as much as 0.5 percent but then reversed course and was down 0.6 percent. It rose on Monday and Tuesday after slumping to a seven-week low on Friday. The index was set for a monthly loss of around 9 percent.

Japan's Nikkei (.N225) ended down 0.5 percent, weighed by the downgrade by Standard & Poor's of several major U.S. and European banks. Financial firms dragged Hong Kong and China shares lower -- the Shanghai Composite was down 3.7 percent -- after a Chinese central bank adviser dashed hopes of a monetary policy easing. (.T)

Focus is turning to a crucial European Union summit on December 9, with Germany and France working to propose a more rapid European fiscal integration while Germany's opposition to an expanded role of the European Central Bank in lending to the region's financially-strapped economies has hurt market sentiment.

"The focus remains on who will give money, to which no fresh news was provided," said Junya Tanase, chief currency strategist at JPMorgan Chase in Tokyo, adding that investors were likely relaxing their risk aversion stance but not turning risk-on yet.

"In the end, whether the ECB will become more actively involved in the debt crisis is key as it is the only viable lender. All other developments are mere technicals."

The euro inched up 0.1 percent to $1.3333, but still well below Tuesday's high of $1.3443.

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday on euro zone hopes as well as a bounce in U.S. consumer confidence in November in another sign the U.S. economy remains on a recovery path.

"There is still a lot of concern about what's happening in the euro zone, but investors appear to be just a little bit more hopeful that progress has been made," said Juliette Saly, market analyst at Commonwealth Securities in Sydney.

"Also heading into the end of the year, investors see our market has been more sold off than the U.S," she said, adding also that follow-through movement hasn't been all that strong and volume was quite low.

On Wednesday, the benchmark Australian share index (.AXJO) rose 0.4 percent to a one-week high, as banks gained and data showed record business investment in the third quarter.

This month, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) has lost 3.3 percent while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) has fallen 4.6 percent.

Euro zone officials agreed on Tuesday to leverage the firepower of their bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), using it as an insurance scheme and a co-investment program. They also agreed to extend aid payments to Greece and Ireland.

Hopes rose for more involvement from the IMF after Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker said they have agreed to rapidly explore ways of boosting the IMF's resources through bilateral loans so it can match the leveraged EFSF's capabilities.

FUNDING STRESS

Italy, which faces a dire funding situation with its skyrocketing borrowing costs, has had preliminary discussions with the IMF about financial support, but no decision has been taken, several sources close to the situation said.

On Tuesday, Italy had to pay a record 7.89 percent yield for its 3-year bonds, above levels which Greece, Ireland and Portugal were forced to apply for international bailouts, but drew strong demand, with the maximum 7.5 billion euros sold.

The inversion of three-year yields being above the 7.3 percent 10-yield was also noted in the Italian credit default swap curve, where the shorter-dated contracts were quoted higher than the 5-year CDS.

Spain and France are due to tap the market on Thursday.

Euro zone funding strains persisted on Tuesday, with the spread between three-month euro Libor rates and overnight indexed swap rates reaching 87 basis points, near 90 hit in November, its highest since March 2009.

Banks were reluctant to lend to each other, pushing one-year euro/dollar cross currency basis swaps, or the premium that a borrower of dollars needs to pay to access funds, to 108 basis points, its most expensive level since 115 basis points in late 2008.

Asian credit markets weakened, with spreads on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment grade index widening by four basis points on Wednesday.

"Markets want to see more definitive action and until then we wont see aggressive buying just on positive headlines," said a Singapore-based trader with a European bank.

(Additional reporting by Umesh Desai in Hong Kong; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111130/bs_nm/us_markets_global

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British Library puts historic newspapers online (AP)

LONDON ? The newspaper coverage was troubling: London's huge international showcase was beset by planning problems, local opposition and labor woes ? and the transportation was a mess.

It sounds like the 2012 Olympics, but this was the Great Exhibition of 1851 generating stories of late trains, unscrupulous landlords and dangerous overcrowding.

Coverage of the event is found in 4 million pages of newspapers from the 18th and 19th centuries being made available online Tuesday by the British Library, in what head of newspapers Ed King calls "a digital Aladdin's Cave" for researchers.

The online archive is a partnership between the library and digital publishing firm Brightsolid, which has been scanning 8,000 pages a day from the library's vast periodical archive for the past year and plans to digitize 40 million pages over the next decade.

A glance at the stories of crime and scandal shows some things haven't changed ? including grumbling letter-writers complaining about disruption caused by the 1851 exhibition, held inside the specially built Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park.

"People were saying, 'This isn't good, I can't ride my horse in Hyde Park,'" said King. One regional newspaper editor complained that the "celebrated p.m. fast train service to London" arrived two hours late and warned visitors "not to trust themselves to the tender mercies of the numerous private housekeepers" renting out rooms at exorbitant prices.

The library hopes the searchable online trove will be a major resource for academics and researchers. The vast majority of the British Library's 750 million pages of newspapers ? the largest collection in the world ? are currently available only on microfilm or bound in bulky volumes at a newspaper archive in north London, where the yellowing journals cover 20 miles (32 kilometers) of shelves.

"We've got 200 years of newspapers locked away," King said. "We're trying to open it up to a wider audience."

There will be a cost to download articles online, though they can be accessed for free at the library's London reading rooms.

Most of the first batch of 4 million pages are from the 19th century, and include stories about huge international events, freak accidents and local crimes, as well as articles about Victorian celebrities such as Florence Nightingale, whose nursing of troops in the Crimean War made her famous.

There are stories of war and famine, crime and punishment, alongside birth and death notices, family announcements and advertisements for soap, cocoa, marmalade, miracle cures and treatments for baldness.

Crime columns provide a glimpse at rough 19th-century justice. Newspapers printed lists of people transported to Australia for stealing money, silver, cloth, hay and, in one case, "seven cups and five saucers."

The archive includes national and regional newspapers from Britain and Ireland, as well as more specialized publications. The Cheltenham Looker-On reported on society, fashions and gossip in the genteel English spa town. The Poor Law Unions' Gazette contained vivid accounts of workhouse life, and descriptions of inmates who had absconded.

King said the library hopes the archive will also help amateur genealogists find information about their ancestors.

Library staff have already highlighted a few links to the famous, including an 1852 appearance in insolvency court by Simon Cowell's great-great-great grandfather, Michael Gashion, and a local newspaper item about the great-great grandfather of actress Kate Winslet, who was "embedded in a mass of bricks and timber" when a hotel facade fell on him in 1903.

Bob Satchwell of press trade group the Society of Editors welcomed the archive ? some good news for newspapers amid all the negative press from Britain's ongoing phone hacking scandal.

He said the website "opens up a magical new window on a magnificent treasure trove of real history, recording the lives of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in vibrant communities, rather than merely the cold facts of politics and pestilence."

___

Online: http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_newspapers_online

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