Davin blog

Groupon's "Lincoln Lawyer" ticket offer is popular

Don't expect long lines to see "The Lincoln Lawyer" -- a big portion of the audience for the Lionsgate film has already purchased their tickets online and got a hefty discount for doing so.

Lionsgate began selling tickets for $6, roughly a 50% discount in many areas, on Wednesday through social-shopping site Groupon, and insiders say it has been a hot offer.

Groupon hasn't disclosed how many tickets it sold nationwide, but its website tracks the number city-by-city. In Los Angeles, 9,710 tickets had been bought, with eight hours and 29 minutes remaining before the deal expires at midnight Thursday.

Groupon is using movie website Fandango to facilitate the transactions, and on Thursday, 31% of all movie tickets sold were to "Lincoln Lawyer," far ahead of second-place "Rango" at just 12%.

It should be a horse race for the top spot at the box office this weekend, so if "Lincoln Lawyer" can crack the Top 2 ahead of either of the other newcomers - "Limitless" and "Paul" - the Groupon initiative might get the credit.

Unclear, though, is how the $6 tickets will be accounted for in determining box office revenue. Groupon and Lionsgate did not comment for this report.

Lionsgate intends to profit from a marketing standpoint from the discounted tickets, though the $6 admission fees are probably too small for the studio to share in after theaters, Groupon and Fandango take their cuts.

Groupon, though, has said it intends on delving deeper into the sale of media products, though it hasn't disclosed upcoming initiatives.

LivingSocial, a competitor, this month was selling a pair of Fandango tickets to any movie for $9, representing up to a 70% discount, and reportedly more than 600,000 of its users took advantage of the deal.

For a short while, it also sold tickets to "Little Fockers" for $5 apiece, though it was limited to two per person. LivingSocial said 100,000 tickets were sold in 12 hours.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

N.Korea's Kim Jong-Il 'dreamed of stoning'

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il told a visiting businessman he had nightmares of being stoned by angry members of the public in his isolated nation, a Seoul lawmaker said in an interview.

Kim told the late founder of the Hyundai group, Chung Ju-Yung, of having a dream that he was being stoned "first by Americans, second by South Koreans and finally by North Koreans," said Chung's son, Grand National Party lawmaker Chung Mong-Joon.

"I think Kim wanted to express that he was well aware of the desperate reality of North Korea," the younger Chung said in the interview with MBC TV on Sunday. He said he had heard the story from his father, who died in 2001.

The late South Korean business tycoon, who spearheaded major inter-Korea economic cooperation projects, visited Pyongyang several times from 1998 to 2000 to meet Kim.

In one of the meetings, Kim told Chung he was "well aware" that most people in the communist state disliked him, despite pervasive propaganda campaigns that idolise the ruling Kim family, according to Chung's son.

The Kim dynasty has ruled the North with an iron fist since its founding in 1948, sending political dissidents to prison camps where they reportedly face torture and forced labour that can last a lifetime.

Notre Dame tops Louisville for sixth straight win

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Ben Hansbrough scored 25 points and Carleton Scott had nine of his 16 points in overtime Wednesday night to lead No. 8 Notre Dame to an 89-79 win over No. 16 Louisville.

Tim Abromaitis added 23 points for the Fighting Irish (20-4, 9-3 Big East), who extended their overall win streak to six games and their home streak to 17.

This was the fifth overtime game in the last nine meetings between the two teams. Louisville beat the Irish at home last year in double-overtime.

Kyle Kuric scored a career-high 28 points and Terrence Jennings added 14 for Louisville (18-6, 7-4) before fouling out in overtime.

Preston Knowles, the Cardinals' leading scorer at 14.9 points a game, returned to the starting lineup after missing a home win over DePaul on Feb. 5. and finished with 13 points.

Notre Dame scored the first 14 points of overtime after Scott hit a 3-pointer to start the extra period. Scott added a three-point play to put the Irish up by eight with 3:12 left.

Scott then grabbed an offensive rebound and dunked the putback, and Ben Hansbrough drove the lane for a layup with 1:06 left to push the Irish lead to 14.

In the final minute of regulation, Knowles missed a 3-point attempt and Hansbrough knocked the rebound out of bounds with 25.6 seconds left. Louisville had a chance to win it, but Knowles missed again from long range to send the game to overtime.

Kuric vaulted over Scott Martin near the end of the first half and dunked with eight-tenths of a second to play. Martin was whistled for a foul, but Kuric picked up a technical on the play. Abromaitis hit both free throws and Kuric hit his as well to give the Cardinals a 44-40 halftime lead.

Jack Cooley provided a lift off the bench in the first half for the Irish with 10 points.

Welcome to Bill O'Reilly's Spin Zone

While Bill O'Reilly says his interview with President Barack Obama before the Super Bowl will be among the most watched interviews in television history, will it also prove to be among the most irrelevant in recent years?

Friday morning, O'Reilly described the interview , "More people will see this interview than any other interview that's ever been done in the history of mankind." Given the huge audience that the Super Bowl draws, there would seem to be a reasonable enough chance for O'Reilly to be proven correct. Most believe a Barbara Walters interview with Monica Lewinsky in 1999 is the most watched interview of all time, with an estimated 70 million viewers tuning in.

Whether it sets records or not, the O'Reilly/Obama discussion is sure to draw a huge pregame audience. But will anything really important be discussed during the 12-minute interview, or is it mostly a PR opportunity for both the Fox commentator and the President?

While O'Reilly created a sort of self-fulfilling buzz about his conversation with Obama, he also wroteon Friday that seemed designed to temper expectations over what will be discussed. O'Reilly, who has made his name on Fox News by establishing a so-called "no spin zone," seemed to almost apologize in advance if his questions to the president are not hard hitting enough.

O'Reilly said that the interview is "fraught with danger" for him (not the president). He said he expects to get "hammered" after the interview from all ends of the political spectrum. The main point of O'Reilly's article seems to be that while he will ask hard questions of President Obama, he will not be able to "call out" the president on spinning as he must respect the man as president.

So as the nation settles in front of the national campfire that is the Super Bowl, and as a sizable percentage of the Super Bowl audience will surely settle in beforehand to watch the O'Reilly and Obama interview, what is it that they will actually be watching? Will it be an insightful give and take or will it be a chance for both Obama and O'Reilly to elevate themselves? O'Reilly gets the opportunity to the most powerful man in the world immediately before the biggest television event in the United States. The president gets the opportunity to appeal to O'Reilly's audience ... one that contains critical swing votes that Obama will need in 2012? The cynic, or perhaps even the realist, probably has his or her mind made up on those questions.

O'Reilly has already signaled to not expect much out of this interview. He has already, in advance, said he cannot interview Obama the way he would most anybody else. And if O'Reilly cannot apply his signature style and follow-up approach, if he cannot "call out" spin as he sees it, what is the point of all of this, really?

Perhaps O'Reilly is purposely setting expectations lower. He's an experienced journalist who should know how, at this point of his career, to remain respectful of the president while still asking hard hitting and insightful questions. If he cannot ask tough follow-up questions to answers that he considers "spin," then there is little point to having O'Reilly conduct the interview; Fox could just as easily hire a game show host or Larry King to handle the interview.

Ron Hart is a political observer living in New York City. Having volunteered on several political campaigns, for both , he brings a moderate's perspective. He is following the 2012 presidential campaign in its nascent stages.

Funeral procession features 'legend of lowriders'

LOS ANGELES – She was a cover girl, had a bit part in a popular 1970s TV show and was an icon of car culture. "Gypsy Rose," an award-winning Chevy Impala admired for its elaborate floral paint job, was known in the world of cruising lowriders as one of the most tricked-out muscle cars of a generation.

On Saturday, the pink, rose-covered car rode atop a flatbed truck, leading a funeral procession of lowriders through East L.A., behind the hearse that carried its owner to his final resting place.

Car clubs from across Southern California and as far away as Las Vegas rolled out to pay their respects to Jesse Valadez, a founding member of the Imperial Car Club. Valadez died of colon cancer Jan. 29 at age 64.

"He loved that car. It was known as the legend of the lowriders," said his brother Armando, 63, who co-founded the Imperial Car Club with Jesse in 1964. "It was his pride and joy. It was his baby."

Mourners, many wearing shirts touting their car clubs, gathered Saturday morning for a service at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, before joining the procession to Rose Hills Memorial Park, ten miles east in Whittier.

The first "Gypsy Rose," a 1963 Impala, was featured in the NBC sitcom "Chico and the Man," which brought customized cars into the national spotlight.

"`Chico and the Man' was the beginning of everything. That car opened the door for everything you see now," said Joe Ray, editor of Lowrider magazine. "I don't know how lowriding would be today without him, his car and that club. He was a pioneer. The name of his car and his car club and East Los Angeles are all synonymous to me."

Valadez's friends in the club bought a casket painted with roses for him to be buried in. At the cemetery, mourners lined up to place freshly cut roses on top of the casket.

"Jesse lived for his club," said his older brother Gil. "Everyone looked up to the Imperials back then because they had the best lowriders."

According to East L.A. legend, "Gypsy Rose" inspired so much envy that one night in the early `70s a rival car club, or maybe a gang, attacked it with bricks, doing so much damage that it could never be a show car again.

"Car clubs were considered gangs on wheels back then," Ray said. "But it was just fists and maybe knives, no guns. There were rivalries, but they wouldn't touch your car."

Valadez started over with a 1964 Impala, decorating it with more elaborate roses this time, upholstering the interior in hot pink, and installing a cocktail bar in the backseat and a chandelier where the rear dome light used to be. The paint job took two and half years, his brother said.

The car's intricate flower patterns, designed by Walt Prey of Walt Studios in Van Nuys, were "heralded as one of the best paint jobs ever," said Ray. "It set the tone for a lot of the custom jobs back then."

The car rode low but not too low — about 5 inches off the ground — because Jesse Valadez "didn't like to play with hydraulics," said his brother Armando. "That came later."

Ray, 55, grew up down the street from Valadez and was president of the Lifestyle Car Club.

"We went head to head in car shows and competitions. I was always looking to my left at him. And I know he was looking at me," Ray said.

The candy colored "Gypsy Rose" got a lot of attention at car shows and cruising on Whittier Boulevard.

"The girls were attracted to those crazy nail-polish colors," Ray said. "I'd only go one block before my ex-wife was pinching my leg and we had to get out of there."

Later as lowriders became more established and law enforcement cracked down on cruising, Valadez became a mentor and role model for a new generation of car fanciers and helped other car clubs, Armando Valadez said.

Meanwhile, the "Gypsy Rose" was featured in advertisements for car shows and soon was touring the country.

"When Jesse's car was invited to Texas, all the way across the country, I knew it was big," Armando said.

The car traveled the country with lowrider tours and was featured at the Peterson Auto Museum's "La Vida Lowrider" exhibit in 2008.

Ray said the funeral caravan would make him and others nostalgic for old times.

"We were serious competitors back in the day. But when you grow older and go back 30 years, you become friends," he said. "You realize things have changed, and you appreciate those memories and sharing them, because some people aren't around anymore."

Valadez is survived by two daughters and a son, Jesse Jr., who is also an Imperial member and will inherit "Gypsy Rose."