98% The Muppets

The Muppets plot is ingeniously clever in it's simplicity. Walter, a puppet, discovers that evil oil magnate Tex Richman has purchased the historic Muppet Theater. Tex maintains he plans to turn it into a Muppet museum, but Walter overhears Tex's real intention to raze the hallowed site so that he can drill for oil. Apparently the sale may still be halted if $10 million can be raised to buy the theater back. The Muppets and Walter, along with his human brother Gary and his girlfriend Mary, all band together to put on a telethon to raise the money. The narrative is perfect because it allows the action to reunite all of our favorite characters by first portraying what they have been doing. Then it inspires them to put on a song-and-dance variety performance, much in the same way that The Muppet Show used to do every week. In other words, they get to be themselves, something 90s efforts like The Muppet Christmas Carol or Muppet Treasure Island didn't permit them to do. The story often brilliantly straddles the line between naivet? and cynicism. The self aware script even addresses The Muppets waning place in pop culture but without ever being disrespectful. The Muppets offers everything a longtime follower could desire as a fan and everything a newcomer would need to become a fan.The Muppets is sarcastic, hilarious, self knowing, adult and nostalgic but also warm, tender, sweet, childlike and modern. The dialogue zings with a love of life rarely seen in modern cinema. It's almost as if the film was created in a simpler, more innocent time. It's surprisingly touching at times. I wouldn't have thought that writer/star Jason Segel and screenwriter Nicholas Stoller (who wrote and directed the raunchy Get Him to the Greek) could have duplicated the 70s ethos of The Muppets so accurately in their script, but they do. They were clearly inspired by the benevolent spirit of Jim Henson. He most definitely would be proud of this unadulterated celebration of his beloved creation. Without question, the best Muppet movie yet.

November 27, 2011

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_muppets/

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Best Buy: TVs, consoles, tablets sell big on Black Friday

Best Buy in Burbank, Calif., draws 1,500 shoppers at midnight. They scoop up Microsoft XBox, e-readers, printers, laptops, and tablets, suggesting a 25 percent boost in annual sales for this Best Buy.

I've spent the day ? and last night ? at the?Best Buy?in Burbank, Calif.

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Door buster deals on giant flat screens ? like a 42 inch Sharp TV for $199 drew about 1,500 people to line up for the store's midnight opening.

Of the two dozen people I talked to, everyone said they planned to spend more this year than last year: some said they were feeling better about the economy, others said the discounts were just too deep to pass up.

?Though TVs were certainly a hot seller, a wide variety of items crowded shoppers' carts.

The store told us the single best selling item was a $199?Microsoft?XBox 360?? it's sold nearly 300 of the consoles so far and they're still going fast. But e-readers, printers, and low-price laptops were also flying off shelves.

For many, Best Buy is one-stop holiday shopping, which could bode well for the chain. This year, sales at electronics specialty retailers are expected to grow 6 percent from last year. MasterCard Spending Pulse's Michael Mcnamara says that electronics are actually taking share away from traditional gift sectors.

One of the hottest new items is the tablet. The Asus Android tablet was on sale for $179. There were tons of Kindles on sale at Best Buy and?Amazon?said the Kindle Fire was its top-selling item today. But despite this competition and the fact that there are no discounts on?Apple?products, the iPad 2 is still expected to lock in 62 percent of the market share in its category during the holiday season.

?Thanksgiving Day online sales were up 39%. We'll see whether that cannibalizes in-store sales or whether it means people are just shopping more, and earlier this year.

?This particular Best Buy expects a 25% increase in sales over last year. If it hits those numbers that could mean their midnight opening would become an annual tradition.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/D2mXCPq6VWE/Best-Buy-TVs-consoles-tablets-sell-big-on-Black-Friday

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