Eye Openers: What's hot around the Bay Area this week

Ticketmaster gets stubbed in first quarter

 

If Ticketmaster gets called back to Capitol Hill to defend its controversial plans to merge with concert promoter Live Nation, it can just bring a copy of its first-quarter earnings to help make its case.

Net income fell almost 80% to $7.25 million from $32.7 million in the first quarter of 2008. The company said ticket sales were down in concerts, sports and family fare but not arts and theater. Revenue from ticket sales was down 3% from the previous year, and the number of tickets sold was off by 8% because of the expiration of Ticketmaster's contract to oversee admissions for Live Nation events.

Ticketmaster Chief Executive Irving Azoff said the company was "executing well on its business strategy during a challenging economic environment."

Ticketmaster's proposed merger with Live Nation is expected to face a rocky road on the Hill. Music fans and politicians have expressed concern about the combination and what it could do to prices for tickets. Christine Varney, who is the Obama administration's point person on antitrust issues, said during her confirmation hearings in March that the Justice Department would be much tougher on consolidation than the Bush administration was.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: Paul Sakuma / Associated Press

A sneak peek at the 'Lost' finale

Below is a clip from Wednesday's season finale of "Lost." At the end of this post, there's also a description of the 2-hour episode from ABC's press site.

If you're hankering for more "Lost" clips, Watch With Kristin has some here.

Locke and Ben continue their beach stroll and their conversation, which we first glimpsed last week:

From ABC's press site, a description of the season finale:"The Incident," Parts 1 & 2Jack's decision to put a plan in action in order to set things right on the island is met with some strong resistance by those close to him, and Locke assigns Ben a difficult task, on the season finale of "Lost."

Guest starring are L. Scott Caldwell as Rose, Sam Anderson as Bernard, John Terry as Christian Shephard, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Francois Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana, Brad William Henke as Bram, Jon Gries as Roger Linus, Alice Evans as younger Eloise Hawking, Andrea Gabriel as Noor "Nadia" Abed Jaseem, Kevin Chapman as Mitch, Mark Pellegrino as man #1, Titus Welliver as man #2, Emily Rae Argenti as young Kate, Tanner Maguire as young Tom, George Gerdes as Mr. Springer, Agnes Kwak as Aunt Soo, Amy Stewart as mother, Rylee Fansler as young Juliet, Savannah Lathem as young Rachel, William Makozak as Captain Bird, Daniel James Kunkel as anesthesiologist, Sonya Masinovsky as Russian nurse, Keegan Boos as young Sawyer, Colby French as Uncle Doug, John Pete as prison clerk, Michael Trisler as father, Sally Davis as woman and Adam Bazzi as cab driver.

Eye Openers: What's hot around the Bay Area this week
Eye Openers: What's hot around the Bay Area this week
Lauren Shuler Donner's Eclectic DVD Tastes

Longtime movie producer Lauren Shuler Donner's favorite flicks range from The Battle of Algiers to Tootsie. That list is as varied as her own movies, which include St. Elmo's Fire, Any Given Sunday, The Secret Life of Bees and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

MIGRATION: Human Beings Can't Be 'Illegal', Book Argues
NEW YORK, May 12 (IPS)Julio Guerrero came from Mexico to the U.S. state of North Carolina on a legal, H2-A temporary visa to work on a tobacco farm in 2002. After only a few weeks on the job, his fingers began to hurt and before long his fingernails had fallen off.