Sunday, April 30, 2006

Media hype did not convince droves to board United 93—Robin Williams' return to his strongest genre did not get RV rolling—Starbucks and positive buzz did not keep Akeelah and the Bee from flunking. It was the least heralded picture, Stick It, that beamed the most over the weekend.

The first major motion picture about the Sept. 11, 2001, Islamic terrorist attack on America, Universal Pictures' United 93, opened to a solid estimated $11.6 million at 1,795 sites, comparable to Syriana's first wide weekend. Writer-director Paul Greengrass' $15 million drama was not rejected by moviegoers as had been feared, but its number was low in relation to the raft of press coverage.

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In the weeks leading up to release, the media constantly pondered whether or not United 93 was "too soon" and then, after screening it, near unanimously praised the movie's Flight 93 recreation, frequently using the word "visceral" in their compliments. Rush Limbaugh and his ilk also gushed over it, hinting at a possible Passion of the Christ effect, while Universal promised to donate 10 percent of the opening weekend gross to a memorial for those who died on Flight 93.

America's number one talk-radio host, Rush Limbaugh, is giving an enthusiastic thumbs up to the controversial new 9/11 movie, "United 93."

Limbaugh said on Friday's broadcast that critics are wrong when they say it's too soon to revisit the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Limbaugh noted that he was invited to a private screening of the film near to his home in Palm Beach, Fla.

"The whole movie is powerful," Limbaugh said.

"The overwhelming emotion I had was sheer anger at the terrorists, bordering on hatred," Limbaugh said.

If you check your e-mail at home or at work and someone happens to send you a little Flash game called "Border Patrol," you may want to think twice before opening it. The reason isn’t because it might contain a virus; the reason is that it might contain an outright disease. The disease is gruesome racial violence, and the game encourages it.

Border Patrol shows immigrants crossing the U.S. border, where signs are posted that read, "Welcome to the U.S. Welfare Office This Way." The instructions for the game say that there are three targets to kill: a drug smuggler, a Mexican nationalist, and a pregnant woman with children (called a "breeder" by the game). The instructions continue, "Kill them at any cost." Upon completion of the game, you are given a score that contains a derogatory term.

I, every once in a while, will take out a compilation that I made the day after 9/11, because I just kept the Tivo running all day. And I put it all together, and I edited the day down. And when I see that day, when I see that thing that I made, it is that day again.