In Case You Missed It

Here are the Top Ten money making films of 2010.

(courtesy Boxofficemojo.com)

1 Toy Story 3 $415,004,880

2 Alice in Wonderland $334,191,110

3 Iron Man 2 $312,128,345

4 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse $300,531,751

5 Inception $292,525,041

6 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 $278,837,000

7 Despicable Me $251,032,000

8 Shrek Forever After $238,395,990

9 How to Train Your Dragon $217,581,231

10 The Karate Kid $176,591,618

Top of The Pops

Today our Top of the Pops survey is from December 30th 1967.
We have 2 things to mention about this day in music history.
First, the Beatles again topped the charts and 2 of the Monkees celebrate birthdays today. Michael Nesmith turns 68 and Davy Jones is 65.

Here are the Top 5 songs


5 - Woman, Woman - Gary Puckett & The Union Gap
on its way to a peak of #4


4 - I Second That Emotion - The Miracles
Peaking at #4 but soon to top the Billboard R&B chart


3 - Daydream Believer - The Monkees
Dropping down after 4 straight weeks at #1


2 - I Heard it Through the Grapevine - Gladys Knight and The Pips
Still holding at #2 and also topping the Billboard R&B chart for 6 weeks


1 - Hello, Goodbye - The Beatles
Once again the Beatles reach the top spot and hold it for the next 3 weeks.
The 15th of their 20 #1 singles.

Starrcade 1991

Now for something different here, today in 1991 WCW (World Championship Wrestling) held its annual Starrcade PPV in Norfolk, Virginia.
This year was the first Lethal Lottery where wrestlers were chosen "at random" to form tag teams and the winners would meet in a tag team "Battle Bowl" to crown the winner. This was also the first Starrcade event to not involve Ric Flair.

- Marcus Bagwell and Jimmy Garvin defeated Michael Hayes and Tracy Smothers, when Bagwell pinned Smothers.
- Steve Austin and Rick Rude defeated Big Josh and Van Hammer, when Rude pinned Hammer.
- Richard Morton and Dustin Rhodes defeated El Gigante and Larry Zbyszko, when Rhodes pinned Zbyszko.
- Bill Kazmaier and Jushin Liger defeated Mike Graham and Diamond Dallas Page, when Liger pinned Page.
- Todd Champion and Ricky Steamboat defeats Cactus Jack and Buddy Lee Parker, when Steamboat pinned Parker. Abdullah the Butcher attacked Parker in the locker room before the match.
- Arn Anderson and Lex Luger defeated Terrance Taylor and Tom Zenk, when Luger pinned Taylor.
- Abdullah the Butcher and Sting defeated Bobby Eaton and Brian Pillman, when Sting pinned Eaton.
- Mr. Hughes and Big Van Vader defeated The Nightstalker (subbing for the injured Diamond Studd) and Rick Steiner, when Vader pinned Nightstalker.
- Thomas Rich and Ron Simmons defeated Steve Armstrong and P.N. News, when Simmons pinned Armstrong.
- Sting won the "BattleBowl" battle royale, last eliminating Lex Luger.

Jack Benny Christmas Again

Here is the second installment of the Jack Benny Christmas clips/shows.

The entire Christmas episode from the first season on TV in 1950.

Top of the New York Times Bestseller List

The #1 non fiction bestseller for the 4th consecutive week -
Decision Points - President George W Bush



The #1 fiction bestseller, debuting this week at #1 -
Port Mortuary (A Scarpetta Novel) - Patricia Cornwell

Jack Benny Christmas

I am not a fan of christmas music but I love tv sitcom christmas episodes.

Today I start a week of clips from the wonderful Jack Benny christmas episodes that were made famous on his radio show.

Here Dennis Day tries to buy Jack a gift

Happy Birthday

Birthday wishes today for a legend in entertainment, Dick Van Dyke is 85 today.

Here he is with "wife" Mary Tyler Moore on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1979.

Boll Weevil Day

Today in 1919 The kind citizens of Enterprise, Alabama dedicated the first known monument to an insect!
The town turned out to honor the boll weevil; the evil weevil that destroyed cotton plants. However, by forcing folks to diversify their crops, the farmers wound up tripling their income.
Thus, the tribute to those bugs.

30 Years Ago Today

Sadly that Beatles refrain can be used today to mark 30 years since the horrible murder of John Lennon.
He was gunned down outside his apartment house by Mark David Chapman.

Most of the United States learned of the murder from of all people Howard Cosell on Monday Night football.
I remember watching the game and hearing the news but I was 12 and really didnt realize the impact of what I was hearing.

R.I.P. "Dandy" Don Meredith

Today we learned of the death of football and television legend Don Meredith at the age of 72.
He was in his prime on ABC's Monday Night Football when I was just beginning to watch MNF on a regular basis. My dad really enjoyed him calling the games and really got a laugh when Don would start singing the Willie Nelson song "The Party's Over" when a game was locked up by one team.
I remember being amazed when my dad told me how good a QB Don Meredith was and how he had played in 2 NFL championship games against the Green Bay Packers before retiring. That just didnt seem possible that a guy that good on TV had been an NFL QB and was good at that too.

They have never been able to replace him on MNF as they bumble through one announce team after another on different networks. They caught lightning in a bottle with Don, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford.

The Trailer Park (Remake Edition)

Today the trailer park is giving you preview of the 2010 remake of the 1969 John Wayne film "True Grit". Directed by the Ethan and Joel Cohen and starring Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn (the role that Wayne won an Oscar for) and Matt Damon as La Boeuf the Texas Ranger that was originally portrayed by Glen Campbell.

The new True Grit opens December 22nd and is expected to be among the contenders for the Academy Awards in 2011.

Here is the trailer for the 1969 classic and followed by the new Cohen Brothers updated and less humor filled version.