day 76

michael phelps, bong boy

a photo of michael phelps indulging in some illegal activity was leaked to news of the world (yeah, i'm surprised too - you'd think someone at us, at least, would have bitten at the pic) and now the olympic golden boy has released a public apology.  the swimming star basically said he was being a stupid and blamed it on his youth.  but, michael, it wasn't stupid that you smoked. it was stupid that you let someone photograph you.  celebrities need to learn that your "friend with the camera" is probably your worst enemy.  do one thing to scorn them, and they're to the tabloids as soon as possible. michael also said it would never happen again.  does he mean smoking or letting someone snap his pic?  no word yet on how any of his endorsement deals - which include speedo, visa, omega, and powerbar - will be dropped and what his future as a swimmer holds.  though, i doubt anything will actually happen.  for the most part, any of the head honchos at these places would probably be hypocrites if they dropped phelps.  

box office breakdown

this weekend at the movies proved to be quite the surprise.  first of all, the weekend's big movie was the surprise hit thriller taken, starring liam neeson, which was released in the states almost a year after being released over seas.  the neeson-lead flick was able to bump 2 week champ paul blart: mall cop from the top spot, taking in about $25 million to mall cop's $14. and, renee zellweger might finally be getting the memo that she's not exactly box office gold anymore.  her new movie, new in town, premiered at number 8, with only $6.8 million.   that's the worst debut for a comedy starring zellweger, minus the 1999 bomb the bachelor.  the weekend's big winners were oscar hopefuls, with slumdog millionaire, the reader, and frost/nixon all seeing a spike in ticket sales.  slumdog even beat out zellweger's romcom.  

happy super bowl sunday.