Man of Steel takes flight with a debut of $125 M

The “Man of Steel” leaped over box office expectations in a single weekend. The Warner Bros , superhero film earned $113 million in its opening weekend at the box office , according to studio estimates Sunday. The retelling od Superman's backstory earned an additional $12 million from Thursday screenings, bringing its domestic total to $125 million. Original box-office expectation for “Man of Steel” range from $75 million to $130 million.

"They finally got the Superman formula right," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "Superhero movies really are the bread and butter of the summer box office. The fact that 'Iron Man 3' has the biggest opening of the year so far and 'Man of Steel' has the second biggest opening of the year just proves that."

"Manof Steel," which stars Henry Cavill as Superman and Amy Adams as Lois Lane, also nabbed the record for June's biggest opening away from "Toy Story 3," the Disney-Pixar film which banked $110.3 million when it opened in 2010. "Superman Returns," the previous Superman film starring Brandon Routh in the titular role, launched with $52.5 million in 2006.

The new take on Superman's origin also performed solidly overseas, earning $71.6 million from 24 territories, including the Philippines, India, Malaysia and the United Kingdom, where "Man of Steel" earned $17.1 million. The film, which also stars Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon, is set to open next weekend in 27 more territories, such as Russia and China.

Sony's "This Is the End" debuted in second place in North America behind "Man of Steel" with $20.5 million in its opening weekend. The comedy starring Seth Rogen, James Franco and Jonah Hill as versions of themselves trapped in a mansion during the apocalypse opened Wednesday, earning a domestic total of $32.8 million. The film cost just $32 million to produce.

Source: yahoo.com

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Justin Rose closes out 1st major win for his dad

Justin Rose received a text message last week telling him to "go out and be the man your dad taught you to be." After he finished his round but before he had won the U.S. Open on Sunday at Merion Golf Club, Rose pointed skyward as a nod to his late father and coach, Ken.

"The look up to the heavens was absolutely for my dad," Rose said. "Father'sDay was not lost on me today. You don't have opportunities to really dedicate a win to someone you love. And today was about him."

Rose shot an even-par 70 Sunday, capping it with one of the loveliest pars he has ever made, to win the U.S. Open by two shots over PhilMickelson and Jason Day.

Rose, 32, finished one over par and became the first English player to win the U.S. Open in 43 years. He shared the experience with the crowd, mingling with them holding the Open trophy in one hand and a wicker-basket flag in the other.

Rose's elation sat in stark contrast to Mickelson's "heartbreak," a word he used again Sunday to describe his sixth runner-up finish in this championship. Mickelson's four-over 74, his highest round of the week, appeared to prod the 43-year-old toward that most difficult of resignations.

If a one-shot Sunday lead, a golf course he loved and a system he trusted weren't enough to produce the breakthrough victory, what will be?.

"If I had won today or if I ultimately win, I'll look back at the other Opens and think that it was a positive," Mickelson said. "If I never get the Open, then I'll look back and think that, every time I think of the U.S. Open, I just think of heartbreak."

For Rose, the victory might be enough to persuade him to buy a house on Philadelphia's Main Line. Three years ago he won the AT&TNational at nearby Aronimink, an equally difficult course that many players say could hold a major as well.

In the Open, Rose played Merion without a double bogey while tying Day and Luke Donald for the most birdies (15). Rose made consecutive birdies twice Sunday, including at holes 12 and 13 that briefly made him the only player under par. But it was a par that ultimately won him the championship.

Rose took a one-shot lead to the 18th hole, which yielded no birdies on the weekend. That gave Rose an opportunity if he could just make par.

Rose split the fairway with his tee shot, which landed near a plaque commemorating a shot Ben Hogan hit on his way to the 1950 U.S. Open title. Hogan used a one-iron to reach the green, make par and force a playoff, which he won.

Rose hit a four-iron to the back of the green and nearly holed a chip with a fairway metal. After tapping in for par, Rose wiped away a tear, then waited in the clubhouse, where he nervously looked at Merion's historic collection of memorabilia.

"That image is kind of hard not to escape," Rose said, "that this was my turn to kind of have that iconic moment, I guess, for me. And I hit a good four-iron, I felt I did it justice."

Mickelson, who heard choruses of "Happy Birthday" on Sunday, could have made this a coronation early. But he lipped a birdie putt at the first hole, missed a four-footer for birdie at No. 2 and then made three-putt double bogey at the third.

That hole, a par-three, played 266 yards into a pretty stiff wind. Mickelson elected during the Open not to carry a driver.

"I didn't really have the shot to get back there," he said. "I needed a driver."

At the fifth, Mickelson sprayed his tee shot left — "Unbelievable," he said — leading to a second double bogey that could have smothered his chances. Instead, Mickelson followed five holes later with the shot of the day — surpassing Shawn Stefani's hole in one at 17 — to regain the lead.

With 75 yards and a wedge in hand, Mickelson holed a shot from a fluffylie in the rough to make eagle and return to even par. With birdie opportunities coming on the next three holes, Mickelson expected that to be a launch pad.

It wasn't. At the 121-yard 13th, which 24 other players birdied Sunday, Mickelson overcooked a pitching wedge into the back rough. "Too much club there," he said of the shot, which produced bogey.

Two holes later, Mickelson hit another poor wedge, coming up short this time, and made bogey after trying a desperate chip from the green. Mickelson said he "quit" on the shot instead of aggressively trying to hit past the hole.

"Those wedge shots on 13 and 15," Mickelson said, "are the two I'll look back on."

And not only those. Mickelson had a number of birdie chances on the weekend that either hit the cup or just missed the edge. Unlike some other runner-up finishes, Winged Foot in 2006 notably, Mickelson will rue missed opportunities rather than chances given away.

"This one's probably the toughest for me," he said, "because, at 43, and coming so close five times, it would have changed way I look at this tournament altogether and the way I would have looked at my record. Except I just keep feeling heartbreak."

Source: latimes

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Stanley Cup Finals

There is a saying in hockey that always sprouts at this time of year: "Your best players need to be your best players."

That is to say, if you have a team with Wayne Gretzky, chances are, you'll need Gretzky to be your best player to win a Stanley Cup. If some fourth-line guy who has fewer teeth than fingers is playing better than Gretzky, that's not a good sign.

And it makes sense. On the Pittsburgh Penguins, there is no doubt that Sidney Crosby and EvgeniMalkin are the two celestial lights around which that constellation of stars swirls. Reggie Jackson might say their sticks stir the drink.

Well, when the Penguins were swept by the Boston Bruins last round, they were dreadful.

And now, with the Stanley Cup final tied at 1-1 heading to Boston Monday night, the Chicago Blackhawks must wonder if Superman is still stuck in his phone booth.Patrick Kane, who once wore a cape during the shootout competition on all-star weekend, has seemed to shrink before the Big Bad Bruins, skirting on the edges of play, pushed to the areas of the ice where there is least resistance – and where he is very little threat.

MarianHossa, too, has been largely anonymous so far. The Blackhawks need both to be among their best players over the next (potentially) five games.

But then, what about the Bruins?

On one hand, the Bruins' best players have been their best players – emphatically – this postseason. The Bruins' first line of David Krejci, Milan Lucic, and Nathan Horton has been the best line so far in these playoffs, and by some distance. Lucic scored twice in Game 1 of the final.

But that, in itself, is telling. None of that threesome would likely even be on the Penguins first line. For the Blackhawks, arguably at least four forwards are all bigger offensive stars than any of the Bruins top 3 – Kane, Hossa, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Sharp.

And that, if anything, is the legacy of what one might call the National Hockey League's "Bruins Era," whether or not the Bruins win this cup. Since the Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 2011, team has trumped talent, steadiness has trumped star power. And this series is shaping up no different.

TheBruins are essentially a team with two second lines and two third lines. Their best forward, Patrice Bergeron, is best known for playing defense. Their leading point-scorer in the regular season, Brad Marchand, is a second-line winger best knowing for annoying opposing players past endurance.

They are hockey's embodiment of the bell curve: one great goaltender (Tuukka Rask), one great defenseman (Zdeno Chara), and everyone else bunched together in the middle – none spectacular, none awful. If competence can be an art form, the Bruins are its Picasso.

In Game 2 Saturday night, the Bruins third line was its best, creating both goals in the Bruins' 2-1 overtime win. Why? Because Bruins coach Claude Julien moved up fourth-liner Daniel Paille. On many teams, fourth-liners are ballast – fists on skates that bump and bruise to avoid being sent back down to the Charlotte Checkers or Grand Rapids Griffins in the minors. The idea of improving the team by moving a fourth-liner up the pecking order would be preposterous.

Then again, they're all sitting at home now.

Coach Julien was spot on in his news conference after Game 2: The top forward lines always draw an opponent's top defensive pairing, with the result of each often canceling the other out. In the toughest games, where every square inch of the ice is contested – as this series has been – that can leave the third and fourth lines to do the damage.

And make no mistake, that is a major reason the Blackhawks are here, too. Put aside Toews and Kane and Hossa and they still have a positively Bruinian supporting cast. In Game 1, the Blackhawks' third and fourth lines accounted for goals 2, 3, and 4 of Chicago's 4-3 triple overtime win. In Game 2, the Blackhawks' fourth line was by far their most dangerous when the game was in the balance.

It was the same last year, when the Los Angeles Kings won the cup by being steadily unspectacular.

Now, should the Penguins offload Sidney Crosby? Does today's NHL have no room for superstars?

No. But to win the Stanley Cup, it seems, they're no longer a necessity.

Source: csmonitor.com

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Mexican president commemorates Cinco de Mayo

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is commemorating Cinco de Mayo by urging his countrymen to tackle current problems with the same "unity and commitment" that defeated the French 151 years ago.

PenaNieto says the holiday celebrates principles that, in his words, "encourage the political forces and federal government to pursue a transformative reform agenda that the country demands and needs."

Cincode Mayo marks the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, when Mexicantroops defeated a French army of Napoleon III, then considered the mightiest military in the world.

The anniversary was marked Sunday with a military parade in the city of Puebla, where the battle took place. It is considered a bigger holiday in the U.S., celebrating Mexican heritage with parades and revelry in many major cities.

Source : usatoday

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May Day protests: From Bangladesh to Europe, angry workers rally in the tens of thousands

In Jakarta, Indonesia, some of the tens of thousands of demonstrators marching through the city came dressed as ants – complete with bright red outfits and antennae – to depict the exploitation of workers. 

And in Greece, trains, buses, and ferries sat vacant and hospitals nearly empty as thousands of public sector employees walked off the job in a one-day strike.

Each year, May 1, better known as May Day, is marked with labor rallies and strikes around the world. And this year's holiday came at a particularly prescient moment in many parts of the world. 

From Europe, where the bite of austerity has left many facing down unemployment and reduced benefits, to South and SoutheastAsia, a region cluttered with precariously-built factories similar to the one that collapsed last week in Bangladesh, demonstrators gathered to vent outrage and demand reform.

“My brother has died. My sister has died. Their blood will not be valueless,” yelled one Bangladeshi protestor through a crackling loudspeaker, according to the Associated Press.

As the march wove through downtown Dhaka, rescue workers in the industrial suburb of Savar continued their search for bodies and survivors in the rubble of Rana Plaza, which collapsed suddenly on April 24 with thousands of garment workers inside.

The disaster at the factory, which manufactured clothing for several low-end Western retailers, touched off global outrage about the working conditions of garment workers across the developing world. In Phnom Pehn, Cambodia, workers rallied for higher wages and safer working conditions. In Manila, Philipines, where labor unions are banned, workers marched to demand the right to organize. And in HongKong, thousands turned out in support of striking dock workers, calling for wages that would help close the income gap between the country’s rich and its poor.

Source: csmonitor

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Call of Duty: Ghosts Goes To War Against Battlefield 4 As Activision And Electronic Arts Shoot For Next Gen

There’s a war brewing. Activision and developer Infinity Ward are launching the new Call of Duty: Ghosts game on November 5, just after Electronic Arts and DICE release Battlefield 4 on October 25. It’s another epic battle between two of the most popular shooter franchises out there.

Activision blew away EA last year when Call of Duty: Black Ops II from Treyarch obliterated Medal of Honor Warfighter from EA and Danger Close Games. But the confrontation was much closer the year before when Battlefield 3 took on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Of course, the Call of Duty franchise doesn’t really have any “close” competition, except perhaps for Microsoft’s Halo franchise. Activision has seen its COD games top $1 billion in sales and break records for the last four years. These games have also managed to have long tails thanks to online game play that has kept them relevant even after a new COD franchise has launched. Activision keeps things fresh with COD events featuring NFL stars like Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl Champion Ray Rice. See more..

Source: forbes

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Why Amanda Bynes is not eligible for conservatorship, while Britney Spears is

Even though it seems former actress and child star Amanda Bynes is unraveling before our eyes, experts say the now 27-year-old "retired" entertainer doesn't yet qualify for any form of parental or court-ordered conservatorship.

The star has been spotted wandering strangely around New York City, shaving half her head, tweeting obscene things about her affection for musician Drake, posting videos of herself mumbling in front of the mirror, and on Tuesday, even tweeting pics of herself in a bra.

Bynes' behavior reportedly has the children in her apartment building scared, too.

And while some of her actions are reminiscent of a 2007 Britney Spears, whose very public meltdown culminated in her shaving her own head and later led to -- and still requires -- a legal conservatorship, one court expert tells us there is nothing like that in the works for Bynes.

"There are two main standards that courts look at as far as conservatorships. The first is the person a danger to themselves  -- Spears was and demonstrated that often -- and the second is whether the person a danger to society. Britney Spears was, and to her two children as well," legal consultant and alternative sentencing expert Wendy Feldman told FOX411's Pop Tarts column. "Amanda seems to have a serious mental illness, but that does not meet the standard in court. There is no record of suicide attempts or drugoverdoses, and in public, she is a loner."

According to Radar Online, Bynes -- who earned serious cash first as a Nickelodeon star and later in other films, shows and even with her own clothing line -- demanded access to her millions a few months ago. The money had been put away in investments by her parents and lawyers while she was growing up in an effort to secure her future. But now, she's apparently spending without limitation. 

TheRichest.org has Amanda Bynes listed with a net worth of $8 million.

"Amanda doesn’t qualify for an involuntary, emergency commitment in New York because she’s done nothing that is likely to result in serious harm to self or others. You could say she’s acting like a typical New Yorker – making goofy videos, wearing odd hairstyles, talking to herself, staying up all night, tweeting and spending money like water. It’s a free country," said attorney Larry Bodine of Lawyers.com, adding that there is no legal action her parents can take.

And just last month, Bynes was in the headlines for being escorted from a gymnastics class in New York City after she broke down crying when he wig fell off during a cartwheel, and posting Twitter photographs of herself in everything from blonde wigs to blue lipstick. 

"She has made one smart decision though," a source added. "She got off the roads in Los Angeles and moved to New York where she can take the subway and not endanger others."

Bynes is still not in clear in California, where her driving began in March last year when she was stopped by L.A. police for talking on her cell phone while driving, arrested and charged for driving under the influence after side-swiping a cop car, and was accused of hit-and-run in two separate accidents.

Bynes's parents, still based in California, could not be reached for comment.

Source: foxnews

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