Witness Me
Monthly Archives: September 2020
I’m Not a Vegetarian, but the Cows I Eat Are
Friday officially marked National Cheeseburger Day, so lettuce give thanks for the mighty meat this weekend with a FactSlap column, served medium well:
- Each year, Americans eat 50 billion burgers, or three burgers a week.
- Hamburgers and cheeseburgers account for 71 percent of beef served in commercial hotels in the United States.
/https://www.thedailymeal.com/sites/default/files/slideshows/copy/71-hughbabys_0.jpg)
- McDonalds sells 75 hamburgers a second.
- Louis Ballast of Humpty Dumpty Drive was awarded the hamburger trademark in 1935.
- The Jimmy Buffet song Cheeseburger in Paradise was first inspired by a boat trip that he took. The trip was hampered by bad weather and he was forced to eat nothing but canned food and peanut butter that was aboard the boat, leaving him dreaming of a cheeseburger.
- The most expensive burger sold in America is sold from the New York City food truck 666 Burger. The $666 burger is wrapped in a gold leaf, topped with lobster, caviar, truffles, foie gras, and aged gruyere cheese melted with steam from champagne poured on a hot griddle. The good thing is you get $300 back, as the burger comes wrapped in three greasy $100 bills.
- The biggest cheeseburger ever was cooked by a Minnesota casino in 2012 and weighed 2,014 pounds. It required a special oven, a crane, and a special bun that had to be baked for seven hours.
- During the First World War the U.S. government tried to rename burgers as “Liberty Sandwiches” in order to promote patriotism and avoid using its original Germanic name.
Christopher Nolan’s Quarter-Billion Question Mark
The consensus is pretty clear: Tenet is a solid film.
The latest Christopher Nolan opus is a time-leaping thriller with a plot as convoluted as Inception and a look that’s just as polished. The movie earned a thumbs-up from three-quarters of the nation’s critics and earned positive reviews from 77% of America’s moviegoers, according to RottenTomatoes.com
It also cost a quarter-billion dollars.
That last point is a stickler for Hollywood, which is trying to make sense of the tea leaves left in the wake of the Labor Day opening for the film. Tenet was to be the litmus test of moviegoing since the pandemic.
“The movies are back!” Warner Bros. proudly exclaimed in advertising the film.
Moviegoers, however, were another matter. The film has made $30 million since its release, and more than $200 million overseas, bringing it near its production costs.
But in today’s Hollywood, a film needs to make about twice what it cost for the industry to consider it a success, much less a sequel. And it’s hard to see Tenet nearing the $500 million mark.
To be fair, Nolan’s film was facing an uphill battle since its release. Only 70% of the nation’s theaters are even open for business, and they can only accommodate 25% capacity due to social distancing.
In response to expectations, Warner Bros. has quit reporting daily box office for the movie — never a good sign. And they are, as expected, mum on how much they’re spending on their next tent pole picture, Dune, due December 18.
But clearly, summer 2020 was a graveyard for Hollywood films. And like the nation, U.S. theaters cannot be forced to open, even with as elegant a crow bar as Christopher Nolan.
Here’s hoping for better holiday tidings.
