Harry Potter vs. Twilight

With the Harry Potter release tonight at midnight, it's got the world abuzz with anticipation. Harry Potter is set to be the most successful movie franchise ever, and we've still got 2 more movies after this one! But one new concern is whether Harry Potter will continue to succeed now that there's a new hot teen drama on the scene, one that feels a bit more grown up.


Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is when the young wizards and witches start taking notice of each other, romantically. You have crushes and dating and a fair bit of "snogging"! However, this is strongly encroaching on the niche Twilight has set up for itself - the sexy side of teen interests. The books have already started the battle, but Harry Potter is still winning with 60% of all 9-11 year olds in the US having read the books. But as they grow up and hit 13-15 and older, the romance and angst in Twilight take hold. Check out this article in the Wall Street Journal for more facts and figures on the matter.

While Twilight crashed on the scene with its $70 million opening weekend, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is poised to be the biggest movie EVER, hopefully beating out Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and maybe even The Dark Knight. It has the potential to break all the records: PG rating makes it fun for the whole family, IMAX and IMAX 3D screenings, and the foundation of one of the best selling book and movie franchises in history. If Harry Potter doesn't come out on top, I honestly don't know what will. My 5 day box office estimate: $205 million, beating out Transformers $200.1 million. I'd guess higher, but it's going to suffer from the lack of IMAX theaters it has until it takes over all the ones Transformers occupies until the week after next.


Photoshopped image from The Geek Files. Movie posters come from The WB and Summit Entertainment.

So readers, which is your teen epic of choice? Do you think Harry Potter can top Transformers?

Cupcake update

So every month at work we do "Employee Appreciation Day" where there is some type of sugary goody to celebrate all the bdays and work anniversairies in the office. Today, because it was one of the head honcho's bday, we got Sprinkles Cupcakes! As I mentioned earlier , I've never had Sprinkles before because it's smaller in size than Crumbs. Well, I'm impressed.

I just had a Key Lime cupcake that was delivered to our office. It was so fresh and moist, just a great cupcake! Sprinkles doesn't do the jam/cream filling that Crumbs does, but it just made it a cleaner eating experience, which I could always use help with!


So, after finally having had a Sprinkles cupcake, I can see why their store is always so cramped. It's delicious! I really recommend it. Although, if debating between Crumbs and Sprinkles, I think I'm still going to pick Crumbs.

The wonders of Internet TV

Just a heads up, Hulu is going commericial free for the next 6 hours, thanks to a sponsorship via McCafe. (BTW McCafe is amazing, I prefer their coffee to everyone else's but Coffee Bean).

So, in honor of this auspicious occasion, I'm putting up a couple clips from my favorite shows. I hope you like them!

How I Met Your Mother:

Arrested Development:

Chuck:



You can check out full episodes at Hulu.

Also, this is a Hulu celebration, but if they don't have a show you're looking for you should check out these other sites:

Fancast
The WB

The Hunt for Good Fro Yo

As many of you already know, I LOVE frozen yogurt. I love frozen yogurt even more than I love cupcakes. Now, I haven't been able to find a handy dandy map of fro yo places in LA like I did with cupcakes, so we'll just have to make do with my reviews.

My all time favorite is Yogurtland. With 16 flavors, 32 toppings, and 5 syrups (at least) this has the best overall selection I've come across. It's a chain, so you can find Yogurtlands all over LA (and maybe America?) These are the ones I've been to:

Little Toyko: great selection of toppings, including some Asian ones like Mochi and Lychee that you don't find everywhere. Open til midnight everynight, which is great for it's very USC heavy crowd. Free parking lot to boot! A great find near downtown LA.

La Brea: standard Yogurtland, but no seating to speak of. That's because it is not much bigger than 10ft squared. And parking was horrible, only 6 spaces for the 5 businesses in that mini shopping center.


Sawtelle/West LA: Has the same awesome selection as Little Toyko. Parking can be annoying at busy times, but I live walking distance away so it's not an issue for me. This is one of the few that has water (with fruit in it!) easily accessible and readily available.

There's also Pinkberry. It started this whole trend by has fallen to the wayside in favor of DIY/pay by the ounce places like Yogurtland. The plain is too tart for me and the selection of 4 flavors is never enough variety. Why pay $4 for a small one flavor, 3 topping here, when you could pay $0.30/ounce for as many flavors, toppings, and sauces you can fit into your cup?

Cherry on Top: This one actually isn't in LA, I stopped in at the one in Mission Viejo. It had the same set up as yogurtland, but even more topping options! If this one wasn't so far away, I'm sure I'd go all the time.

Golden Spoon (Torrance): Delicious and simple. Their flavors are more traditional, but taste better and more like ice cream than yogurtland's. I recommend the Heath Bar or Cake Batter.

Penguins: Offers great low-fat, low-carb options that do not exist at yogurtland. Great options for those watching their weight.


And lastly, another great one that isn't really in LA. 21 Choices (Old Town Pasadena): It's like Coldstone's with frozen yogurt! They update their site each day with the flavors they have so you know if they'll have your favorite or not. Worth the trip out to Pasadena if you're grabbing dinner or shopping out there too.

Alright, I've just made myself hungry so that's it for now. Got any good fro yo recommendations? Or what's your favorite flavor?

TIME agrees with me

Twitter can ruin a movie's box office. My last post focused on this, and now TIME has started the week off with a similar article. Check out their stance on the issue: "Brüno could be the first movie defeated by the Twitter effect."