Jeff McKinney

Weekend Box Office: Think Like A Man, Plunder Like A Pirate

Think Like a Man held onto the top spot at the box office for a second weekend despite several new releases including The Five-Year Engagement and The Raven. Think Like a Man was off 47 percent from it’s opening weekend but still managed to bring in an additional $18 million. The movie, based on Steve Harvey’s 2009 book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, has now earned $60.9 million, making it the highest-grossing movie of April 2012.

Of the four new movies opening this weekend, only The Pirates! Band of Misfits managed to break the top three with an estimated $11.4 million. TimeToPlayMag.com’s family-film critic, Cynthia Fuchs, reviewed the pirates and gave it 9 out of 10 See-It-Again points. You can read Cynthia’s review by clicking here.

Other new movies opening included The Five-Year Engagement, which surprised everyone by how poorly it did. The movie, which opened to $11.16 million, is the latest project from Nick Stoller and Jason Segel, whose Forgetting Sarah Marshall opened to $17.7 million and spawned a sequel. The other two new releases were the latest Jason Statham action movie, Safe, which opened to an estimated $7.7 million and The Raven, which took in an estimated $7.25 million.

Here is the top 10 for the weekend of April 27 – 29, 2012:

1. Think Like a Man ($18,000,000)
2. The Pirates! Band of Misfits ($11,400,000)
3. The Lucky One ($11,325,000)
4. The Hunger Games ($11,250,000)
5. The Five-Year Engagement ($11,157,000)
6. Safe ($7,720,000)
7. The Raven ($7,250,000)
8. Chimpanzee ($5,460,000)
9. The Three Stooges ($5,400,000)
10. The Cabin in the Woods ($4,500,000)

Litchfield Mysterious Object To Remain Mystery

Remember that mysterious object that I told you about two weeks ago? The glowing-green, whale-sized object that fell from the sky in Litchfield, CT? Well it sounds like that object is going to remain a mystery as Connecticut officials and legislators apparently have no official plans to investigate.

The Litchfield County Times is reporting on the apparent lack of action in investigating this incident. Apparently, one of the eye witnesses who phoned the incident into State Police at the Troop L barracks in Litchfield, did not remain on the scene and has not come forward since making the call. Officials seem to think that without the eye-witness pointing out the splash-down spot on the lake, an investigation would be pointless.

State Sen. Andrew Roraback is quoted in The Litchfield County Times article as saying, “To the best of my knowledge, there are not any ongoing efforts to retrieve whatever it was, and my hope is that this summer scuba divers will take an active interest in trying to solve this mystery.” “We have added this to the list of life’s unanswered questions.”

You can read the entire article by Daniela Forte by clicking here.

Usher House Hunting in Hudson?

I heard from a friend and Hudsonite that Usher had been spotted in Hudson on Sunday. MediaTakeOut.com is reporting that Usher was in town with his girlfriend to do some house-hunting. I’m not sure how much credence we can give to this rumor since MediaTakeOut called Hudson a “Suburb” that is “Outside of NYC” but still, the idea is exciting. Usher wouldn’t be the first musician to take an interest in Hudson (click here for more on Hudson’s music scene) but he is definitely one of the most popular hip-hop artists to wander Warren.

Does anyone in Columbia County think of Hudson as a NYC suburb? I don’t.

Click here to read the post about Usher in Hudson and see another photo on MediaTakeOut.com.

Photo above from MediaTakeOut.com

Survive Zombie Infestation w/ Map of The Dead

Power outages during storms are fairly common in our corner of Columbia County but today’s outage, on a clear day, instantly brought out the alarmist in me. My first thought, naturally, was that the zombie infestation had begun. One of the benefits of our underpopulated spot in Columbia County is that we are in a good position to ride out the Zombie infestation. However, we might have to journey out for supplies like booze or medicine, which is why this interactive map is so handy.

Map of the Dead – Zombie Survival Map uses Google Maps to point out some possibly life-saving services in your area. Just enter your location and the map will show you where the nearest hospital, hardware store, army location and beer distributor are located. You can also find out where the Zombie Danger Zones are so that you can plan your recon trip accordingly.

Check out Map of the Dead now to find out if you are in a danger zone and to plan your safe routes.