My Entertainment Favorites Of 2020

 

Fandango Survey Of The Most Popular Holiday Movies

 By Sydney Bucksbaum, Entertainment Weekly, 19 November 2020)

Since the holidays are going to look quite a bit different this year, so too will everyone's holiday movie-viewing habits. That's why Fandango surveyed more than 1,000 film fans age 18-34 during the first two weeks of November to find out which films and genres they'll be watching during the holidays from the comfort (and safety) of their own homes, and EW exclusively has the results.

New favorite Knives Out, starring Chris Evans' delicious cream sweater, was voted the top film to watch for Thanksgiving, while the Macaulay Culkin classic Home Alone took the prize for favorite family-friendly film. And no surprise here, but Die Hard won top unconventional holiday film to watch over Christmas (so don't even try to argue that it's not a Christmas movie!)

As for how movie fans will stream films over the holidays this year, 92 percent said they plan to watch more movies at home than in previous years, with 71 percent planning to binge-watch. Sixty-two percent plan to watch and then rewatch their favorite holiday classics more than once, and 61 percent are most interested in streaming a classic holiday movie rather than a new one (not great news for new fare like Happiest Season).

“Watching a favorite classic movie is part of a beloved holiday tradition for many families,” says Fandango managing editor Erik Davis. “This year there’s an extra nostalgia factor because many of us cannot gather together in front of the same screen. The top picks center on the power of families, warts and all, and serve as the kind of cinematic comfort food we look forward to enjoying during the holiday season.”

Check out the full list on winners below.

Top Movies to Watch for the Holidays

Knives Out

Addams Family Values

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Home for the Holidays

Grumpy Old Men

Free Birds

Scent of a Woman

Pieces of April

The Oath

Favorite Family-Friendly Holiday Movies

Home Alone

Elf

The Santa Clause

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Polar Express

A Christmas Story

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

It's a Wonderful Life

Favorite Unconventional Christmas Movies

Die Hard

Edward Scissorhands

Gremlins

Bad Moms Christmas

Bad Santa

Krampus

Office Christmas Party

The Night Before

Trading Places

Anna and the Apocalypse

Favorite Performances as Santa Claus

Tim Allen, The Santa Clause

Edward Asner, Elf

Billy Bob Thornton, Bad Santa

Tom Hanks, The Polar Express

James Cosmo, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Richard Attenborough, Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

Paul Giamatti, Fred Claus

Edmund Gwenn, Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Rickey Smiley, Friday After Next

Alec Baldwin, Rise of the Guardians

Favorite Holiday Movie Villains

Harry and Marv (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern), Home Alone

Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), Die Hard

Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), It's a Wonderful Life

The Grinch (Jim Carrey), Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Oogie Boogie (Ken Ross), The Nightmare Before Christmas

Frank Cross (Bill Murray), Scrooged

Scrooge (Jim Carey), Disney's A Christmas Carol

Fulton Greenway (Michael Lerner), Elf

Ted Maltin (Phil Hartman), Jingle All the Way

Scut Farkas (Zack Ward), A Christmas Story

https://ew.com/movies/favorite-holiday-movies-fandango-survey/?did=582685-20201122&utm_campaign=entertainment-weekly_newsletter&utm_source=ew.com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=112220&cid=582685&mid=45299653926

Year In Music: 2019

This has been a weird year for my music listening habits.  For a vey long time, my primary way of listening to new music has mostly been playing new CDs in the car on the drive to work and listening to the more cutting edge and modern leaning channels on Sirius satellite radio when I didn’t have any new CDs to play. 

I also would listen to terrestrial radio or Sirius at work but the stations played there were safe ones with older music, like 70’s and 80’s commercial radio songs or Adult Contemporary and classic rock channels,  since I didn’t want to have customers hear vulgarity or sexual innuendo and report me to someone.  That meant every day at work I would hear the same particular songs.  For instance, when Adele’s last album was out, I would hear “Hello” twice a day.  Taylor Swift’s “1989” album meant I heard “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” repeatedly.  Even on Sirius, I was guaranteed to hear Climax Blues Band’s “Couldn’t Get It Right” and Redbone’s “Come And Get My Love” once a day when playing the 70’s channel. 

Even though I love those songs, I want to hear new songs more than the older stuff.  I don’t want to have a finite, unchanging playlist of songs because after a while, the songs will become just background music that I don’t pay attention to.  I want to hear favorites just often enough that I remember what I love about them and what special meaning they hold for me.  When I hear Rod Stewart’s “You’re In My Heart (Final Acclaim)”, I want to remember being a 12-year old in Chester while crushing on Paige and sending her secret candlelight messages then years later, in college, talking to Amy about Rod Stewart music.  I want to remember dancing with Julie to Journey’s “Open Arms” at 4-H camp and how I get maudlin whenever I hear songs from that summer, especially the ones with yearning lyrics, like Naked Eyes’ “Always Something There To Remind Me” and Flock Of Seagulls’ “Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)”. 

I want to consciously think about me and my co-workers at the Waxie Maxie’s music store arguing about who got the promo CD from Daisy Chainsaw, what was the best song on Nine Inch Nails “Pretty Hate Machine”, and how we would divide up the John Cougar Mellencamp CD catalog we got for winning Polygram’s Mellencamp display contest.  (I got the ones with “Cherry Bomb” and “Crumblin’ Down” on them, I didn’t get the one with “I Need A Lover” and I didn’t care who got the “American Fool” album.)  I want to hear ZZ Top’s “Sleeping Bag” and recall how awesome it sounded in the movie theater, blasting from the speakers while watching a skating scene in the hilarious and touching “I, Tonya”.

I need new music because I don’t want to obliterate that music-memory connection through overuse.  I want to create new memories, hear new songs, and keep expanding my horizons. So that is what the drive to and from work is all about- time to hear new stuff when I’m not distracted by anything else and I can just listen and absorb the songs.  That’s why this year is weird.  For several months I wasn’t working (a story for another day) so I had no drive-time and I have no practical way to play CDs at home.  Then in April, my car’s CD player refused to accept any CDs.  I would put them in, it would split them back out.  For two weeks I kept hoping it was a fluke that would suddenly disappear but it didn’t.  I finally gave up hope of playing CDs anymore and I started listening to Sirius instead because I didn’t want to lay out any cash for a new stereo system since I wasn’t working right then. 

This continued for about three months and I did enjoy what I heard.  I discovered some new artists and songs and bought their stuff but radio, even streaming radio, is a bit different than playing things on demand.  If I hear a new artist and buy their CD, I want to be able to play that CD.  If I hear a familiar song and listen to it, I want to be able to select more things by that artist.  When Billy Joel comes on the radio, I almost always skip the song even though he is one of my all-time favorite artists.  It’s that memory-music connection.  I want to think about belting out the lyrics to “All For Leyna” in my bedroom during high school or being in college with other Billy Joel fans, or wondering how on earth Joel would be able to sing “We Didn’t Start The Fire” if his teleprompter ever gave out during a concert.  And let’s not forget the recurring argument with Adam over whether “We Didn’t Start The Fire” was or was not a rip-off of REM’s “It’s The End Of The World”.  (It’s not.  In fact, if you listen to Reunion’s “Life Is A Rock But The Radio Rolled Me” you might argue they both ripped off that song.)  So, when a Billy Joel song comes on, I skip it unless I’m in the mood to delve into that memory which will likely involve then playing the whole album that the song is on.  Which I can’t do because the CD player doesn’t work anymore.  Yeah, I can hear you sarcastically thinking “Why don’t you stream it, numbskull?”  Well, because 2008.  Obviously. 

My car is a 2008.  It has a factory installed radio and it is not setup for inputs for streaming.  It doesn’t have Blue Tooth and there is no USB input port so I have no way of getting things from my phone to the car’s radio.  Nor do I want to listen to my phone’s little speakers instead of my car’s more immersive speakers.  I can’t stream on-demand options like Spotify, Amazon Music, or my phone’s library and yeah, it was getting to me.  I wanted to control my music experience so it was time to get a working car stereo system again.  Care to guess if that was an easy process? 

You win the prize if you said it would be a tortuous, expensive, ridiculous process.   My first thought was to contact an electronics store for some options, so I called Best Buy and asked if they did repairs for car stereo systems.  They did not- just new installations. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get a new system from them  because when they installed my first Sirius system in a different car, they brute-forced the installation, like a surgeon opening up a patient and then closing him back up with duct tape and staples, so I was hesitant to go with them again.  I couldn’t think of other places to go either – Circuit City was long gone and local businesses would likely cost much more so I called the car dealership.  They said they don’t do repairs but they could install a new radio for me.  It would be an exact replacement of the existing radio though. They don’t put new model radios in the older cars.  So essentially, I would be getting the same radio I had before.  No new bells and whistles like streaming services or USB inputs but it would be something familiar that I was okay with before. 

Then came the cost estimate.  He could get me a “new” replacement radio for $700 dollars.  Yikes!  Plus, of course, another $300 for the installation.  Wait- that $700 dollar quote doesn’t include the installation?  Even though we were talking by phone, I think the service tech could imagine the double-take I was doing.  Either that or he knew it was a ludicrous price.  He waited a beat and then said he could also get a refurbished radio.  He would have to get a quote and call me back the next day.  That quoted ended up being for $350.  Plus $300 installation.  So again, I’m looking at a price in the neighborhood of $700 for an old model refurbished radio for a 2008 car.  I don’t even know if the car itself was worth that much!  Or how much longer the car would keep running.  I would hate to sink $700 into an out-of-date stereo system in a 12-year old car that might need to be replaced in a couple of years. 

So I went back to Best Buy, looked at some systems in store and online because they had free installation with the purchase of a car stereo system.  Also, it was getting close to July 4^th so I figured there might be some sales around then.  I favorited a few systems on the Best Buy account I created, ones that had the newer bells and whistles, like streaming radio, GPS capability, iPhone integration, USB inputs, and most importantly a CD player.  You might not realize it but some systems have started to exclude CD players. 

Now I just need to wait for a sale to happen so I could buy a radio.  I went to visit some friends out of town for the holiday, at their place in central Virginia.  Once there and after multiple attempts, I realized that my phone couldn’t get a reliable signal so I couldn’t complete a purchase from my account.  There was a hard-wired computer I could borrow though, so I spent an hour going through the selection and checkout process.  It turns out that one of the criteria for the free installation option was that I had a schedule an installation appointment before completing the sale or the price wouldn’t calculate right.  So I scheduled the appointment and then bought the system.  I went for the one that allowed iPhone integration so I could use the apps on my phone, like the GPS program and Apple Music, so all told I spent about $485 dollars.  Pricey but definitely less than the $650 the dealership wanted for a refurbished system that couldn’t do anything but play CDs and play streaming and terrestrial radio stations.   Now I just had to wait three more weeks to enjoy it all.  Oh, didn’t I tell you?  The earliest appointment was three weeks away.

When it was time for the appointment, I drove over to the Best Buy in Tysons Corner, walked in and went over to the customer service desk where I was then directed to go back outside and drive around to the back of the building and check-in with the service tech there.  So I did that and then the tech and I walked through the back of the building (which was kind fun to check out) and over to the customer service desk, again, to pick up the system that was waiting for me.  Of course, only two of the three items were readily available.  The tech had to look around the storage area for ten minutes to find where the third component was hiding.  Then after reviewing what I had bought, he noticed that I didn’t include a fourth component, which was needed for what I wanted.  Apparently, if a system is satellite radio ready, that just means it is capable of streaming satellite radio stations.  It can’t actually do it though until you get a receiver for another $50.  So I did that- still cheaper than $650 for a refurbished radio.  After that, everything went smoothly.  It took about an hour and a half but I was sitting on a sofa reading my current book club book and occasionally chatting with the tech so I didn’t mind at all.  When it was done, the car looked good- no Frankenstein surgery.  The tech showed me how to operate the various features, I thanked him and then drove off happily in possession of a functional, modern car stereo system with a working CD player! 

You would think that I played CDs non-stop for the rest of the summer but no.  I did play some, naturally, since I had a backlog of purchases.  Even though I could not play them prior to the new system, I still bought things I wanted.  I played those but also jumped whole-heartedly into on-demand streaming services, I was checking out Amazon Music, and especially Spotify.  I churned through all the new releases I was considering buying plus every whim I had.  If I thought “I haven’t heard anything from Tom Tom Club recently”, then I used Spotify to play one of their albums.  I started revisiting older artists to listen to stuff I never paid attention to initially.  I listened to early albums by 10cc, Neil Young, Duran Duran, Tennis, and Black Keys.  That is mostly how I listened to music in 2019- pulling out old favorites, delving into unexplored albums from well-known artists, and going through the entire catalogs of new artists and underappreciated established artists.    

The weirdest diversions were that I listened to the entire catalogs of AC/DC and Nancy Sinatra.  After I finished listening to the entire Kix catalog in 2018 and the beginning of 2019, I wanted something else in that vein and since I have never listened to any AC/DC albums back in the day, except Back In Black and the compilation Who Made Who, I thought I’d give them a try.  I’m glad I did because they have a bunch of other gems hiding on their albums, alongside the famous songs everyone already knows.   Yeah, every song is about sex, either overtly or subtly (for them) but it sounds so good.  If you don’t think to closely about the lyrics (You Shook Me All Night Long, Dirty Deeds, Flick Of the Switch, Shot Of Love, Shake Your Foundations, et al) then you get some pretty rocking songs to enjoy!     

On the opposite end of the spectrum was my new-found appreciation for Nancy Sinatra.  Most people know her for three things- the hit song “These Boots Are Made For Walking”, the # 1 duet single with her father Frank – “Something Stupid” - and for those iconic album covers with her in a mini dress, long legs emerging from thigh-high boots, and a dazzling smile matched by platinum blonde hair.   I knew her for a fourth thing though, the James Bond theme “You Only Live Twice” which was a favorite Bond song of mine as a kid.  Well, at some point this year I heard one of her songs (“Tony Rome”) on the Little Steven’s Underground Garage channel on Sirius XM.  I had heard “Tony Rome” before and forgotten about it but this time it struck a chord.  I pulled out the best-of CD I got in college, mainly for “These Boots Are Made For Walking” and the cover with that oh-so-1960’s look, and I played it several times afterward along with the other songs I hadn’t paid much attention to originally.  Then I started going into her albums to see what other gems I had overlooked.  I started with her first album and loved it- a nice swinging, cool, catchy blend of originals and covers that combined a spirited attitude, great musicians, entertaining lyrics, and a unique vocal style.  It seemed fresh to me because I hadn’t heard that style lately and it took me back to the 1960’s hangover that was the 70’s, back when I was a kid in Chester creating my core pre-teen childhood memories. 

I kept going until eventually I had gone through some 15 or more albums.  I saw how the passage of time and trends influenced her work and how the right collaborators make all the difference.  The Lee Hazelwood joint ventures are creative, clever, bizarre, and engaging high marks.  Various songs work for various reasons- it might be a guitar lick on one (“99 Miles From LA”), a vocal technique on another (“I’m Just In Love”), an attitude and song structure (“Lightning’s Girl”) or all of them combined (“Tony Rome”).  I’m so bummed that most of her work is out of print, particularly the fantastic “Nancy In London”, because I would have bought all of her earlier stuff on CD.  Instead, I plucked out my favorite songs from those albums and created my own ultimate compilation by buying the MP3 versions, much like I had done with AC/DC.  I did this all year with established artists and complete unknowns.  This is how I came up with my monthly mix CDs for each month and then I eventually boiled those down to the two yearly CDs you hold in your hands.  Either happily or unfortunately, depending on your musical preferences, as a result you will see two AC/DC songs and quite a few Nancy Sinatra songs.  It is possible these songs are well-known to you but I’m hoping most will be new to you and you also end liking them as well. 

 As for the other songs here, some were stumbled across by accident.  For example, I was watching television one weekend and while flipping channels I came across a college football game half-time show.  I didn’t recognize the band but I liked the song they were playing so I identified it by using Shazam, then I found the band (the Beaches) on Spotify, and on while driving to work at a new job, I listened to the album with that song and then kept going  after that until I had listened to their whole catalog.  Last year, I had enjoyed a Grace VanderWaal song so now I also polished off everything she had done, which is much easier with newer artists like her and The Beaches who only have a couple of albums and some EPs or singles.  I couldn’t decide which of the two Vanderwaal songs was best - on one, I love the vocals and on the other I like the mood and lyrics- so they are both included here. 

A friend of mine writes cozy mysteries and she recently delved into a space-themed cozy mystery.  On her blog she discussed some of her influences and when I was looking up some of the more obscure references, I mistakenly came across Asteroids Galaxy Tour, which had nothing to do with her influences but I liked the cover and later listened to the album and loved it.  The song that first hooked me is here but I went through all of their albums later on so they will also be on 2020’s CD with another track.    

Edie Brickell is an artist I listened to in college when she was part of Edie Brickell And The New Bohemians.  Their stuff was beguiling, quirky, catchy, and unusual.  Everyone I knew in college seemed to have that first album.  After two albums she went solo, and promptly became utterly forgettable.  A dozen or so years ago, they reunited and put out a really good album, one that was significantly better than her solo work and maybe even better than the original two albums from the group.  Then she went off and did solo work again and also wrote a Tony-nominated Broadway show and soundtrack with Steve Martin!  Then, as I occasionally do, I search names of artists I like just in case they did something new and I don’t hear about it, which should never happen in a recommendation-based online economy and social media dominated world.  Yet somehow two years ago she did another album with The New Bohemians that I had not heard about and it was really good.  It made me think back to how I felt about her stuff and what my life was like back.   Then I think about what she has done since then, and what I have done during that same time frame (She wins in terms of accomplishments.)  I put a couple of those new songs on here so you can make your own comparisons.      

 Bird And The Bee is an act that consists, basically, of a vocalist and a pianist. Other instruments do appear as well but you won’t hear any squealing electric guitars and extended drum solos on their material.  They had done a couple of cover songs I liked- the Bee Gee’s “How Deep Is Your Love” and a whole album of Hall & Oates songs- so I was intrigued when I heard they were covering Van Halen.  Yes, Van Halen done by a piano-centric duo group!  It turned out much more enjoyable than I expected and I was actually blown away by one song in particular.  It is included here- “Running With The Devil”- so you can see how marvelously they re-create the guitar solo on that song without using a guitar.  It is a phenomenal cover version and very appropriate as I write this because last week Eddie Van Halen passed away.  It is a nice acknowledgement of his songwriting skills that this band can make a great adult-contemporary arrangement out of his hard rock song.

Anya Marina is an artist that I follow out of a desire to support and foster less prominent artists.  She has had some success but does not make tons of money or have a big publicity machine behind her. She had placed songs on many television shows such as Grey's Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, The Real World, Castle, United States of Tara, Gossip Girl, Batwoman, The Vampire Diaries, and Supernatural. She created a short web series last year that won some local awards in New York, she has a podcast and appears on a Sirius XM show with her former roommate, Nikki Glazer, yet you have never heard of her.  I first noticed her when she did a wonderful collaboration EP with The Dandy Warhols and then I started following her.  She hadn’t done all those things when I first followed her – I just liked her music.  Now though I’m interested in seeing how her musical journey unfolds, just like my reason for following Juliana Hatfield’s career, which coincidentally is an artist Anya once toured with as an opening act.  She is an independent artist - she puts out albums by doing Kickstarter campaigns – and I enjoy watching and hearing her efforts.  It gives me some insights into the industry and how non-mainstream artists get by.  That is also why you see a song on her from Elizabeth & The Catapult- she did a Kickstarter that I pledged. 

Regina Spektor is here with a song from the movie “Bombshell”, about the recent revelations surrounding Roger Ailes and Fox News.  It worked so well as an end credit song – haunting, lacerating, insightful- that I ended up buying it.  Whenever I play it, I think of that movie that I saw with Mike, Holly and Delta.  They all had varying opinions of the movie but mine is that it was unfairly neglected and an excellent statement about sexism and harassment in the workplace.  The initially understated, then defiant and savage song perfectly matches the themes the movie wanted to highlight.  

Everyone has heard of the Monkees.  They have many well-known and excellent songs, usually written by other famous names like Neil Diamond, Carol King, and Harry Nilsson.  Whenever I hear them now, it reminds me Val, a fellow passenger on a river cruise in Germany, because she said one of her exes loved the Monkees.  I told her I liked them too and she clarified “No, he really loved them, like was obsessed with them.”  I found that hard to believe- they are a decent band with several good songs but they are not the Beatles.  Then again, every band is someone’s favorite band despite rational thinking.  Recently I happened to hear one of their songs (“She”) on the radio and for some reason, a bit out of character for me, I was listening closely to the lyrics.  I was so tickled by the phrase “And now I know just why she, Keeps me hanging 'round, (Hanging 'round).  She needs someone to walk on, So her feet don't touch the ground.”  I played the song several times in the days after hearing it and it just grew on me so now it is here on the year-end list. 

Kylie Minogue is here because I love her so much, musically speaking.  She always has a good song or two every year, either as a stand-alone single like this duet or from her latest album, which will be dropping in November of 2020.  John and I both liked her when she started out, 30 years ago, but I’ve been carrying the torch ever since.  This is one artist where I am being selfish - I put her songs on the CD for me rather than for you.  No one has ever mentioned liking one of her songs but I keep including her because I do go back periodically and listen to my compilations and I want to hear her efforts from that particular year.  It reminds me of what was happening then.

The rest of the songs represented here are from artists I like and listen to and always get their new stuff, regardless of reviews.  They range from somewhat recent favorites like Selena Gomez (but only the dance tracks), Boy And Bear, and Metric (still waiting for their masterpiece album) to longer term artists like the Black Keys (consistently excellent for the last ten years), Mark Ronson (always interesting and always experimenting), Cage The Elephant, and long standing legacy artists like Weezer (usually good but I always like discussing the albums with Elizabeth), Sheryl Crow, Jayhawks (I do sometimes like mellower country-leaning stuff), Pixies (I’m hooked for life), Berlin (also hooked for life but please, no more live albums), Funkadelic, and Prince (I waiver between thinking he is an unparalleled genius and an annoying egotist).  As I said when I started, I like to listen to things that can make new memories and that I can associate with certain events or feelings.  I’ve talked about these connections, like driving in to work at a new job with a new car stereo while listening to a new band, watching a movie end-credit sequence with friends, revisiting old favorites and thinking about what has gone on since I first heard them, and watching the career path an artist takes and celebrating and commiserating vicariously with them. 

That was my 2019 musically.  I hope you enjoyed hearing about how I came to experience these songs and that you find a new favorite or two among them.  Please let me know if anything resonates with you. Or if you hate AC/DC and are mad at me for putting two of their songs on here!  Music is extremely subjective. What I hate, others love and vice versa.  I dig Nancy Sinatra and couldn’t care less for Frank Sinatra.  My friend Elizabeth thinks she is a terrible singer and will hate all the coverage I am giving her.  Some of you might not be as enthralled with The Jayhawks or Cage The Elephant as I am and there is nothing wrong with that and I would be surprised if we responded the same to everything so feel free to give ME some recommendations.  Streaming services make recommendations almost cost-free and certainly risk free and I now have the drive time to devote to listening and a brand new stereo to do it with.  You never know where you will find a great song! 

The Weekend When Box Office Revenue Hit Zero For The First Time

(By Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 March 2020)

My alarm clock has awoken me between 5:45 a.m. and 6 a.m. on nearly every Saturday and Sunday for the past decade in order to cover box office for The Hollywood Reporter. My go-to coping mechanism — believe me, I am not a morning person — is to hit the snooze button two or three times, providing the illusion that I get to sleep in. By 7 a.m. latest, after coffee or tea, I’ve started writing and am prepared for the onslaught of grosses flooding my inbox.  And now utter silence.

As of last Friday — and for the first time in the 100-plus year history of the motion picture business — virtually all cinemas in the U.S. were closed amid the coronavirus pandemic, as well as in much of the rest of the world.

On Sunday, my heart skipped a beat when I received a 9 a.m. PT email from Comscore, the industry’s receptacle for grosses. Perhaps there were still enough locations open to make the effort worthwhile, but when I opened the attached excel sheet, it was empty and an inconceivable reminder that cinemas — like so many other businesses — have gone from full steam to no revenue in a “blink of an eye,” as National Association of Theatre Owners chief John Fithian told me during a recent interview.  He and I are among the numerous members of the box office tribe scattered across the world. Throughout the weekend, and especially on Sunday, teams of people at the major Hollywood studios and indie distributors collect data and blast numbers and analysis to reporters, studio chiefs, producers, directors and talent.

I can't possibly count the number of times those of us on perpetual box office duty have commiserated about how nice it would be to have a break. We celebrated when we gained an hour in the fall and griped when the clocks turned forward in the spring. Even during vacations, post-9/11 and personal crises — in my case, major cervical spine surgery last year which wiped me out for five weeks — all of us still peeked at the numbers flowing in sooner or later, even when “off” duty. Never could we have imagined a full stop.

Erik Lomis, a don of the distribution business who presently works at United Artists Releasing, is famous for waking up at 4 a.m., seven days a week. By 5:30 a.m., he sends out projected grosses for the previous day. That’s in addition to a detailed analysis on the weekends of how new movies and recently released titles have performed. Last Thursday night, he realized he had to let go. “I sat at my computer at 11 p.m.,” he recalls, “and saw that a rerelease of The Big Lebowski was the top-grossing movie from nine theaters.”

Emails dispatched late last week turned into missives of grief. “I have been reporting the grosses since we started using computers to get the data and while I can’t remember the exact date, the year was 1988. Prior to that we used to get the grosses by calling a central hub and writing them by hand or actually calling the individual theaters to get the grosses if you can imagine that,” Lomis said in a March 19 note. “Today in these wild and crazy times I don’t think that there is any reason to continue reporting until we make it through to the other side and return to some kind of normalcy. I believe that we are resilient and that we will make it through but it may take a little time.”

Or this from Walt Disney Pictures on March 18: “Given the current large number of theater shutdowns around the globe, Disney will suspend global weekend reporting for the time being. Wishing you and your families the best during these testing times and please be safe.”

In happier times, I was always relieved when the new movie of the weekend belonged to Disney. Most studios announce their North American grosses by 7:30 a.m. Disney doesn’t generally send out their note until well after 8 a.m. — Hallelujah, one more tap of the snooze button! — since they include both domestic and global in the same memo. The rest of the studios issue their international numbers separately. (Universal is generally quickest, with overseas grosses following domestic.)

For those of us those covering box office, this separation between domestic and international means constantly updating the main story until 11 a.m. or later. In between, there are the calls to studio distribution executives in the hopes of gleaning a good quote and catching up on the most gossip. This past Sunday, calls went mostly unanswered. What was there to say, other than to commiserate about whether current releases being made available early on premium VOD did any business?

The first wave of frenzy for box office junkies begins around noon on Friday when studios begin privately estimating weekend grosses for the top five or 10 films. If you are lucky, sources will share this info. There are updates on Friday night, followed by Saturday morning stories on Friday grosses, and then the Sunday crush. And forget about having a break during major holidays (try explaining to your family year after year why presents can't be opened until you finish your Christmas morning story, or why it's tough to travel over Thanksgiving).

We are creatures of habit. When I went to bed on Saturday night, I stared at my iPhone, lost. What time should I set my alarm for? I decided on 7 a.m. to preserve some sort of normalcy. For Lomis, it meant getting up at 5:30 a.m. instead of 4 a.m. “It’s weird to look at the grosses and see nothing,” he told me on Sunday. For Comscore ambassador and box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian, it meant setting his alarm for 7:45 a.m. instead of 6:30 a.m. or so. He wanted to be prepared in case he received emails or phone calls from journalists. Mine was the first he received, and that was well past 10 a.m.

“Digesting numbers is baked into my DNA, so Sunday was a very strange feeling. I feel like a very lonely Maytag repairman,” Dergarabedian adds. “We are an ecosystem. And it represents more than the numbers going out, but a lot of hard-working people who are stuck in neutral like so many other businesses. Sometimes, we talk about what a bummer it is to have to wake up so early. Believe it or not, we will be very excited to set the alarm for 6:30 on a Sunday morning. All of us.”

I will be happy to say I’m a morning person after all.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/weekend-box-office-hit-zero-first-time-1285879?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR%20Box%20Office_2020-03-23%2006:40:00_knordyke&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_boxoffice

Cake

Time to celebrate!

All his friends were invited…
Birthday cake for one.

Coronavirus, Allergies Or Flu? Here's The Difference Between COVID-19 And Other Illnesses

(Nicole Villalpando and Adrianna Rodriguez, USA Today, 20 March 2020)

It's allergy season and we haven't exactly cleared flu season yet, but that hasn't stopped the new coronavirus from spreading throughout the nation and creating a new normal for Americans who are now stuck at home.  Symptoms of the coronavirus include a fever, dry cough and shortness of breath, but those symptoms closely resemble other illnesses, as well. So, how do you know if you have coronavirus or something else?

Dr. Maria Granzotti, chief medical officer at Ascension Texas, breaks down the differences between allergies, cold, strep, flu and COVID-19 to put your mind more at ease before going to the doctor.

Allergies

• Runny nose
• Sneezing
• Red, swollen eyes
• Itchy eyes
• Itchy nose
• Tickle in the throat
• Rarely a fever

Cold

• Runny nose
• Sneezing
• Sore throat
• Aches and pains
• Mild dry cough
• Rarely a fever

Strep

• Sore throat
• Painful swallowing
• Fever

Flu

• Fever is common
• Dry cough
• Quick onset
• Headache
• Sore throat
• Fatigue
• Sometimes a runny nose
• Sometimes diarrhea

New coronavirus, COVID-19

• Shortness of breath
• Fever (above 100 degrees)
• Dry cough
• Gradual onset (two to 14 days after onset)
• Sometimes headache
• Sometimes aches and pains
• Mild sneezing
• Sometimes fatigue, but it’s not predominate like the flu
• Diarrhea is rare

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/20/coronavirus-allergies-cold-flu-strep-these-differences/2882663001/

My Entertainment Picks For 2018

Rank	Rating (1-10)	My Favorite Movies of 2018	Category	Cost
1	9	Avengers: Infinity War	Superhero	$15.00
2	9	Free Solo	Documentary	MoviePass
3	8	Favourite, The	Drama	$14.50
4	9	Mission Impossible: Fall Out	Thriller	AMC-AList
5	8	A Simple Favor	Mystery	Sinemia
6	8	Antman & The Wasp	Superhero	$10.00
7	8	Crazy Rich Asians	Rom Com	AMC-AList
8	8	Ralph Breaks The Internet	Animation	AMC-AList
9	8	Incredibles 2	Animation	MoviePass
10	7	Puzzle	Drama	$10.00
11	7	Jumanji (2018)	Action	MoviePass
12	7	Black Panther	Superhero	$18.00
13	7	Tully	Drama	MoviePass
14	7	Tag	Mystery	MoviePass
15	7	Widows	Drama	AMC-AList
16	7	Quiet Place, A	Horror	MoviePass
17	7	Ocean's 8	Thriller	MoviePass
18	7	Mile 22	Action	AMC-AList
19	7	Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts	Animation	MoviePass
20	7	Juliet, Naked	Drama	$12.50
20	8	Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse	Superhero	Sinemia
21	7	Game Night	Thriller	MoviePass
22	7	Bookshop	Drama	$10.00
23	7	Bohemian Rhapsody	Drama	AMC-AList
24	7	A Star Is Born	Drama	Sinemia
25	7	Ready Player One	Fantasy	$16.99
26	7	Fleetwood Mac: Destiny Rules	Documentary	$12.68
27	7	BlackKKKlansman	Drama	MoviePass
28	7	Mortal Engines	Fantasy	Sinemia
29	7	Blockers	Comedy	MoviePass
30	7	Commuter, The	Thriller	MoviePass
31	7	Bad Times At The El Royale	Drama	MoviePass
32	7	Green Book	Drama	Sinemia
33	7	Isle Of Dogs	Animation	$0.00
34	6	Colette	Drama	Sinemia
35	6	Annihilation	Fantasy	MoviePass
36	7	Post, The	Drama	MoviePass
37	7	Predator	Action	AMC-AList
38	7	Mule, The	Drama	Sinemia
39	6	Nutcracker & The Four Realms	Fantasy	AMC-AList
40	6	Deadpool 2	Superhero	MoviePass
41	6	Meg, The	Thriller	$8.00
42	7	Mamma Mia	Musical	MoviePass
43	6	Creed II	Drama	AMC-AList
44	7	Ladybird	Drama	MoviePass
45	7	Hotel Artemis	Action	MoviePass
46	7	Journey To Space	Documentary	$9.00
47	6	Tomb Raider	Action	MoviePass
48	6	Spy Who Dumped Me	Comedy	MoviePass
49	7	Glass	Superhero	$10.00
50	6	Sicario: Day Of The Soldado	Drama	MoviePass
51	7	Mary Poppins Returns	Musical	AMC-AList
52	6	Peppermint	Action	Sinemia
53	7	Aquaman	Superhero	AMC-AList
54	6	Solo: A Star Wars Story	Science Fiction	MoviePass
55	6	Super Troopers 2	Comedy	MoviePass
55	6	On The Basis Of Sex	Drama	$14.50
57	6	Halloween (2018)	Horror	Sinemia
58	6	Eighth Grade	Drama	MoviePass
59	5	Red Sparrow	Drama	MoviePass
60	6	Equalizer 2	Action	$12.95
61	6	Venom	Superhero	AMC-AList
62	6	Anna & the Apocalypse	Horror	AMC-AList
63	5	Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald	Fantasy	AMC-AList
64	5	Shape Of Water	Fantasy	MoviePass
65	6	Kin	Science Fiction	$0.00
66	5	Marshall	Drama	$0.00
67	5	Longest Ride	Drama	$0.00
68	5	Death Wish (2018)	Action	MoviePass
69	5	Wrinkle In Time	Fantasy	MoviePass
70	4	Jurassic World	Fantasy	MoviePass
N/A	9	Rebel Without A Cause (Special Event)	Drama	$12.50

Rank	Rating	CD Title	Band / Musician	Category
1	10	Solo Anthology	Lindsey Buckingham	Rock
2	10	Still So Far To Go (Greatest Hits)	Chris Rea	Rock
3	9	Mercury Albums Anthology	Runaways, The	Rock
4	8	Balin/Lucky	Marty Balin	Pop
5	8	Carnavas	Silversun Pickups	Alternative Rock
6	8	Eagles - The Studio Albums 1972-1979	Eagles	Rock
7	7	Rock Your Face Off	Kix	Rock
8	7	The Association - Greatest Hits	Association, The	Pop
9	7	Egypt Station	Paul McCartney	Pop
10	7	Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John	Juliana Hatfield	Alternative Rock
11	7	Maurader	Interpol	Alternative Rock
12	8	Mirage (Deluxe Edition 2016)	Fleetwood Mac	Rock
13	8	Live At The ICA	Queen Adreena	Alternative Rock
14	7	Behind the Mask	Fleetwood Mac	Pop
15	7	Great Perhaps, The	Boy Least Likely Too	Pop
16	7	Complete Dunhill / ABC Hit Singles	Grass Roots	Pop
17	7	Waiting On A Song	Dan Auerbach	Pop
18	7	Out Of the Blues	Boz Scaggs	Pop
19	7	Tell Me How You Really Feel	Courtney Barnett	Alternative Rock
20	7	The Other One	Bob Welch	Rock
21	7	Out Of All This Blue	Waterboys	Alternative Rock
22	7	Jesus Of Cool (Deluxe Reissue)	Nick Lowe	Alternative Rock
23	6	Joy Of Sex	Tragedy	Alternative Rock
24	7	And Now…The Runaways	Runaways, The	Rock
25	6	Yesterday Was Today	Kate Nash	Pop
26	7	Music Volume 3 - Reimagine The Tijuana Brass	Herb Alpert	Pop
27	6	High Voltage	AC/DC	Rock
28	7	Out Of All This Blue	Waterboys	Alternative Rock
29	6	Nothin 2 Lose	Marty Balin	Rock
30	6	Rockin' Rudolph	Brian Setzer Orchestra	Pop
31	6	TrickS	OhGr	Alternative Rock
32	6	Golden (Deluxe Edition)	Kylie Minogue	Pop
33	7	Pretty In Kink	Lords Of Acid	Rock
34	6	Bullding Nothing Out Of Something	Modest Mouse	Alternative Rock
35	6	How To Solve Our Human Problem	Belle & Sebastian	Pop
36	6	Here Come The Aliens	Kim Wilde	Pop
37	7	User's Guide to TMBG & They Got Lost	They Might Be Giants	Alternative Rock
38	6	Come With Us	Chemical Brothers	Pop
39	5	Speak Low	Boz Scaggs	Jazz
40	5	Call The Comet	Johnny Maar	Alternative Rock
41	6	Lotta Sea Lice 2018	Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile	Alternative Rock
42	5	Mockingbird Time	Jayhawks	Alternative Rock
43	6	Hunchback Of Notre Dame (A Musical)	Dennis DeYoung	Pop
44	6	Road Songs For Lovers	Chris Rea	Rock
45	6	Wrong Creatures	Black Rebel Motorcycle Club	Rock
46	6	Crooked Timbers	Therapy?	Rock
47	6	El Camino Real	Camper Van Beethoven	Alternative Rock
48	5	Stone Temple Pilots	Stone Temple Pilots	Rock
49	5	Time	Fleetwood Mac	Pop
50	5	Spirits Of The Western Sky	Justin Hayward	Pop
51	6	Eden	Sarah Brightman	Pop
52	5	Keepsake	Elizabeth & The Catapault	Pop
53	5	Sad Sappy Sucker	Modest Mouse	Alternative Rock
54	5	ABBA: Live At Wembley 1979	ABBA	Pop
55	4	Dodge And Burn	Dead Weather	Rock
56	4	The Big F	Big F, The	Rock
57	5	Darkness, The	Pinewood Smile	Rock
58	5	Bad Witch	Nine Inch Nails	Alternative Rock
59	5	From The Fire	Greta Van Fleet	Rock
60	5	Putumayo Presents Caribbean Party	Various Artists	World Music
N/A	7	Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap	AC/DC	Rock
N/A	8	Turn On The Bright Lights	Interpol	Alternative Rock
N/A	9	Sgt. Pepper's … (50th Anniversary)	Beatles	Pop
N/A	9	Aphrodite  Les Folies : Live In London	Kylie Minogue	Pop
Rank	Rating	Book	Author	Category
1	9	Infinity Gauntlet	Jim Starlin	Graphic Novel
2	8	Randi Rhoades- Ninja Detective: Case Of The Time Capsule	Octavia Spencer	Young adult
3	8	Match Up (Edited by Lee Child)	Various authors	Thriller
4	9	Daredevil: End Of Days	Superheroes	Graphic Novel
5	7	Music Shop	Rachel Joyce	Drama
6	7	Modesty Blaise - Top Traitor	Peter O'Donnell	Action
7	7	Geekerella	Ashley Poston	Drama
8	7	One Shot (Jack Reacher # 9)	Lee Child	Thriller
9	7	Rat Queens: Vol 04 - High Fantasies		Graphic Novel
10	6	Heavy Vinyl		Graphic Novel
11	7	Frostbite		Graphic Novel
12	7	Look Alive Out There	Sloane Crosley	Memoir
13	7	Lazarus: Vol 05 Cull		Graphic Novel
14	7	Pajama Frame	Diane Vallere	Mystery
15	7	I'm Your Venus	Diane Vallere	Mystery
16	7	Panty Raid	Diane Vallere	Mystery
17	7	Saturn Night Fever	Diane Vallere	Mystery
18	7	Scrappy Little Nobody	Anna Kendrick	Memoir
19	7	Randi Rhoades: Ninja Detective - Sweetest Heist In History	Octavia Spencer	Young adult
20	7	The Getaway	Jeff Kinney	Young adult
21	7	13 At Dinner	Agatha Christie	Mystery
22	6	Catwoman: Soul Stealer	Sarah J. Maas	Thriller
23	6	Bonfire	Krysten Ritter	Mystery
24	6	And Then There Were None	Agetha Christie	Mystery
25	6	In Sunlight And In Shadow (Anthology )	Edited By Laurence Block	Drama
26	7	5 Minutes Mysteries	Hy Conrad	Mystery
27	6	ABC Murders	Agatha Christie	Mystery
28	4	Joys Of Reading Children's Books As An Adult	Bruce Handy	Non-Fiction