'Dancing With the Stars' : Bristol Silences the Critics and Has No Regrets

It's been a tough week to be Bristol Palin. Last Tuesday, when Bristol earned the final spot in this week's finals, it seemed there was a universal outcry as Brandy was eliminated.

While the Palin voters and fans have remained mostly out of the fray, there was a lot of pressures on Bristol as she prepared to dance this week. Not only with learning new dances, she also had to deal with the fall out of a mysterious white powder being sent to the ABC studios in Los Angeles that insiders said was supposed to be delivered to Palin. The white substance ended up being baby powder and police were conducting an investigation.

That brings us to tonight's dances. Bristol and Mark Ballas knocked their first routine out of the ballpark. Some extra coaching from Bruno paid off as the couple earned three 9's from the judges. Overall, a very strong performance.

Wow, the scores are great tonight. Up next for Bristol is her freestyle. They will be dancing to a song from the Broadway show, Chicago. Bristol says she has motivation to prove the doubters wrong. I almost thought I was watching a scene from Chicago. The dance was cute and fun. From week one, each and every week, Bristol kept enjoying herself more and more.

Give her a 10 for dancing in a cage. The judges gave her a 25 out of 30 for this effort. Bristol seemed pleased, Mark seem pleased and Palin fans and Tea Partiers are getting their dialing fingers ready.

Al Harris Thanks the Packer Nation

Al Harris was released by the Green Bay Packers about two weeks ago.  He wasn't shocked, he wasn't bitter.  He has since joined the Miami Dolphins, but in a classy move, the All-Pro cornerback who played hard on every down and gave it his all for his entire run Green Bay, took out an ad in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Sunday to thank the Packer Nation.

Good luck to Al, and I think he may be back in the Green & Gold someday.

Heres the ad:

Play The Packers, Head Coaches Lose Their Jobs

NFL coaches, if you like your job, be weary of playing the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers became coach-killers for the second time in three weeks (and second straight game) following a 31-3 defeat of the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday as head coach Brad Childress was terminated.

Before the Packers' bye week, Green Bay defeated the Dallas Cowboys 45-7. One day later, the Cowboys fired head coach Wade Phillips.  I don't think Atlanta Falcon's head coach Mike Smith has anything to worry about if his 8-2 team loses to the Green and Gold, but the Packers right now aren't just winning games, they are embarrassing teams.

Green Bay has won four straight games and boast a defense featuring Clay Matthews and Charles Woodson that are dominating opposing teams each week.

How many more teams will fire their coaches after playing the Pack?  Mike Singletary, Tom Coughlin and Lovie Smith are on notice.

Kindle Free Pick of the Week: Quiet as They Come

A nice little easy read for a busy Thanksgiving Week.  It's by Angie Chau.

 Quiet As They Come is a beautiful and at times brutal portrait of a people caught between two cultures. Set in San Francisco from the 1980s to the present day, this debut collection explores the lives of several families of Vietnamese immigrants as they struggle to adjust to life in their new country, often haunted by the memories and customs of their old lives in Vietnam. While some are able to survive and assimilate, others are crushed by the promise of the "American Dream." No matter their fate, you will never be able to forget the people you meet in this remarkable collection.

Free right now in the Kindle Store.

Harry Potter's Weekend Take: $330 Million

 "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," cast a spell in more than 50 countries and collected $330 million in global ticket sales.

The tally includes a best-ever U.S. and Canadian debut of $125.1 million in this latest adventure of the teenage sorcerer and his friends at Hogwarts school. Six previous "Potter" films collected $5.4 billion globally for the Warner Bros studio.

In the United States and Canada, last week's champ, comedy "Megamind," came in a distant second with $16.2 million, just ahead of runaway train flick "Unstoppable" with $13.1 million. But given the popularity of the "Potter" movies, the other movies had not been expected to be much competition for No. 1.

The $125.1 million for "Deathly Hallows: Part 1" beat the previous best weekend debut for a "Potter" film in the United States and Canada, which was $102.7 million for "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in November 2005.

The movie, which is based on the final installment of the series of best-selling books by author J.K. Rowling, collected more than $30,000 per theater in just over 4,100 U.S. and Canadian venues. By contrast, "Megamind" took in $4,300 per location in nearly 3,800 theaters.

The movie played in some 54 overseas countries with highlights being 17.5 million pounds ($28 million) in the United Kingdom and A$15 million ($14 million) in Australia.