Good news - lactose-free cheese!

Bad news - it kills you.

Cultural catch-all

Glad she’s keeping her name; wouldn’t want to get new monogrammed towels!

Cultural catch-all

He didn’t start making music until his 30s, does jujitsu - and is a big fan of Terry Gross.

Great Fresh Air interview with James Murphy, the LCD Soundsystem behind LCD Soundsystem*. Self-effacing guy who came to pop success later in life; he’s got a unique perspective on the New York music scene.

* As in, he’s a one-man band.

Cultural catch-all

Prediction: At some point in tonight’s season-debut of “Lost,” we’ll hear the line:

[spoiler]: Now arriving, Gate 23, Oceanic 815

Can I get odds on this?

Cultural catch-all

O’Brien’s last night as host of “The Tonight Show” drew a preliminary rating of 7.0, which translates to about 8 million households. But more impressive, he scored a 4.8 rating in the key demographic of viewers 18 to 49, one of the highest scores for any show at any time of night on network TV this year.

By comparison, Jay Leno’s so-called last show as host of the “The Tonight Show” earned a final household rating of 8.8, topping O’Brien by about 2 million households. But O’Brien did better with young viewers, as Leno’s “finale” scored only a 3.4 rating in that group.

-Zurawik, Baltimore Sun, 1/23

Cultural catch-all, Textcerpts

The humorous conflation of late-night comics, comic book heroes, and The Sims fills my belly with laughter.

If only these guys did the health reform debate, too!

Cultural catch-all

The New York Times issued three news alerts on Tuesday - one as thousands died in Haiti, another when Google threatened an industry-shaking pullout of China, and a third after a comedian warned that he’d quit his low-rated TV show.

Obviously, it’s a fun story to follow; late-night comics like Kimmel are piling on NBC, and everyone I’ve talked to seems to have an opinion. The whiff of scandal and Conan deathwatch also have the Internet abuzz and driven Tonight Show ratings up, up, up.

But is this a real story, worthy of the NYT’s red-ball coverage?  If not, why do we care so much?   Read more…

Biz of the biz, Cultural catch-all

A quick update on ‘Avatar’s cash climb‘ - which several of you kindly deemed my second- or third-best blog post of 2009 - and the assertions contained therein.

As foreseen by the Tree of Souls…err, my back-of-the-envelope forecasting, Avatar is indeed challenging box-office records. Since that Dec. 31 post, the film’s shot from 54th to fifth all-time in total domestic gross; by the time you read this, it may have passed Shrek 2 for fourth behind Titanic, The Dark Knight, and Star Wars.

To be honest, by Dec. 31, it didn’t take Eywa to see that Avatar would rise above flop fears and become a box-office juggernaut. However, many still don’t grasp Avatar’s remarkable resilience vis-a-vis other modern blockbusters - specifically, how the movie’s gained steam when rivals historically fell away.  Read more…

Cultural catch-all

Forget soaring epics and steel yourself for the next epic failure…or so goes the credo of the movie fan circa 2009. Pardon the cynicism, but having been weaned on films that tended to star Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones’ withered resurrection last year was a final shot to the heart and a triumph for the Hollywood hype machine.

Given several worrying signs - notably, the movie’s reliance on CGI aliens, clunky dialogue, and obsessive attention to mammary glands - I was among many hopeful fans with serious concern (or twisted desire?) that James Cameron’s $380 million film would join the great Hollywood busts; Slate even speculated “is Avatar destined to flop?”

We’ve got a clear answer: The film’s among the highest-grossing movies of all-time (and yes, it’s awesome). Avatar’s total U.S. box office receipts topped $250 million on its 11th day of release; it’s also made more than $475 million abroad. 

What’s really interesting, though, is how the film is making its money.   Read more…

Cultural catch-all