A Southland man is rolling in the dough after turning in his winning Mega Millions lottery ticket from last Friday’s game. John Dalkos walked into the Santa Ana lottery office to claim his winnings on Monday. Dalkos’ ticket was originally worth $133 million bucks, but strong ticket sales pushed the value up to $134 million.

Dalkos bought his super lucky ticket at Country Donuts, 3200 East Anaheim Street in Long Beach. The winning numbers were 11, 31, 34, 44, 52 and the Mega Ball 32. Not to be left out of the money, the owner of Country Donuts gets a bonus of one-half percent for selling the winning ticket. That amounts to $670,000!

Dalkos, who according to the California Lottery website did not want to be interviewed, reportedly has not decided how he wants to take his winnings. Dalkos has 60 days to decide if he wants the annuity or cash option. If he cashes out the winning ticket, it’ll be worth $82.9 million.

California joined this multi-state lottery in 2005. Since then, 12 Californians have taken home Mega Millions jackpots. The largest, $315 million dollars, was won back on November 15, 2005. If you didn’t score one of these jackpots there is a new one up for grabs.

No one won the Mega Millions jackpot in yesterday’s drawing. The winning numbers for Tuesday’s game 14, 16, 18, 19, 29, and the Mega Ball 16. One ticket, bought in the Golden State, had all the winning numbers, except the Mega Ball and it’s worth $464, 048.

The jackpot for the Friday, March 12, 2010, Mega Millions game is already up to $20 million. Not a huge haul, but enough to ride out the rest of the recession in style.

Some weather reports say it’s “breezy” outside. I call it “windy.”  In Burbank, the palm trees are being whipped around by the strong winds. Some of the gusts in Media City are over 30 miles per hour. And temperatures have dropped down into the 50s. Brrr! I know back East, they would break out the shorts and tee shirts in this kind of weather. Hey, this is Southern California where we put on coats and double sweaters when it gets this cold.

This chilly weather is expected to hang around until the end of the week, when we have a good chance of  getting a sunny, dry, and warm weekend.  Nice.

Photo: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters– Director/Producer Kathryn Bigelow and Screenwriter/Producer Mark Boal of “The Hurt Locker”

She did it!  Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the best director Oscar at last night’s 82nd Annual Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood. Bigelow’s name was announced by Superstar Entertainer/Filmmaker Barbra Streisand, who was overlooked as a contender for the award back when she directed “Yentl” (1983), “The Prince of Tides” (1991), and “The Mirror Has Two Faces” (1996).

Bigelow’s best director Oscar was one of six wins for “The Hurt Locker,” which included  best original screenplay, picked up by screenwriter/producer Mark Boal, and best picture. 

The winners in the other top categories were Sandra Bullock, best actress for her performance in “The Blind Side,” Mo’Nique best supporting actress for her role in  “Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” best actor trophy went to Jeff Bridges for his performance in “Crazy Heart,” and best supporting actor award to Christoph Waltz for his role in “Inglourious Basterds.”     

 A complete list of the winners on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website.

Good coverage of the Oscars on Reuters, CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, and a ton of photos and video moments from the telecast over on oscars.org  

UPDATED:  Latest figures from the rating giant Nielsen shows 41.3 million people watched Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony. That’s the best rating for the Oscars since 2005. Last year, 35.3 million tuned into the Academy Awards to see ”Slumdog Millionaire” win best picture.

Director Tim Burton’s cinematic version of the classic “Alice in Wonderland” story clicked in a big way with moviegoers over the weekend. The fantasy adventure live action/animation in 3D debuted with an estimated $116.3 at the domestic Box Office to claim the crown as the number one film in the country.

Burton’s ”Alice” is a take-off on Lewis Carroll’s beloved novels “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass.” The film stars include Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helen Bonham Carter, and Anne Hathaway.

“Alice in Wonderland” broke a number of records. The biggest winter release and the best 3D film debut, beating “Avatar,” which debuted last December with a $77 million opening. 

A new cop thriller “Brooklyn’s Finest,” directed by Antoine Fuqua, came in second with  around $13.5 million. “Brooklyn’s Finest” is a crime drama about cops and criminals in a rough section of New York. It stars Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, and Wesley Snipes.  

In third, the thriller “Shutter Island” with an estimated $13.3 million followed by the comedy “Cop Out” with around $9 million and rounding out the top five, “Avatar” with about $7.7 million.  By the way, the 12 week domestic haul for ”Avatar” is now up to $720 million!

Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty/Instyle.com – Actress Vera Farmiga

Before the 82nd Annual Academy Awards ceremony began at 5:30 this evening in Hollywood, many of the stars walked the red carpet. Actress Vera Farmiga looked lovely in a glamorous, ruffled fuchsia gown by Marchesa. Farmiga is a best actress nominee for her role in, “Up in the Air.”  More star arrivals at the Oscars on Instyle.com

File Photo: Kodak Theatre in Hollywood

The stormy weather is out of here!  On Oscar Sunday, sunshine and maybe some partly cloudy skies, but very little chance of raindrops, according to weather reports. Southland temperatures will be cool — in the 50s and 60s today. The live ABC broadcast of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood kicks off at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Before that, the red carpet coverage with the hype, the fans, the stars, and those fancy designer gowns. Bring it on!

UPDATE: A few raindrops and dark clouds in Burbank around noon. Hope that’s not a bad omen for the Oscar parade of stars on the red carpet a few hours from now.

Surprise, we’re getting dumped on by another winter storm. The cloudy skies let loose with a prelude of thunder and drizzle, which soon erupted into a steady rain in Burbank shortly after 10 a.m. This is a cold rainstorm. The high might reach 60 in Media City, but I doubt it.

The rain is expected to hang around through tonight. The prediction is for cloudy skies and a 20 percent chance of rain tomorrow. Hopefully, it will not rain on Sunday’s Oscar festivities.

The Walt Disney company scored a major promotional deal with the Los Angeles Times for its new movie, “Alice in Wonderland.” The Times created a special front page newspaper ad just for “Alice” that runs in today’s edition. This is not a first for the Times and more than likely, it’s part of a trend.  

The Wrap has a nice story about the controversial decision and what it says about the possible direction of the Times.

“Alice in Wonderland,”which opens in theaters today, has received mixed reviews. An interesting review of the film, with photos and video, on the Times’ website.

UPDATE:  Nikki Finke, over on Deadline Hollywood, reporting “Alice in Wonderland” is headed for a super weekend debut — somewhere between 75 and perhaps $100 million!

2ND UPDATE: Deadline Hollywood has some early figures from Friday that show “Alice in Wonderland” is on track to becoming a huge hit. The live action/animated fantasy adventure rang up an estimated $45 million when it opened yesterday. At that pace, “Alice” could surpass the $100 million mark this weekend.

Some scattered showers in the Southland tonight. In Burbank, sprinkles began around 10 p.m. In a matter of minutes, those sprinkles had turned into a steady rain. Forecasters are predicting this storm will be a lightweight and will blow out of here by mid-morning. However, more rain is headed our way in a day or so. 

Hopefully, Los Angeles County Officials and residents in the burn areas of the local foothills are prepared for tonight’s rain and whatever storm rolls in over the weekend.

The Mega Millions jackpot has rolled over into that ridiculously-rich territory. Again, no one had a jackpot winning ticket in yesterday’s game, so all the money and more is now up for grabs in Friday’s draw. Tuesday’s winning numbers were 9, 12, 47, 48, 56, and the Mega Ball 25. Two lucky tickets bought in California had five winning numbers, but not the Mega Ball. Each is worth $144, 868.

The next Mega Millions drawing is Friday, March, 5, 2010.

Justin Timberlake & Cameron Diaz back together again?

They were once part of a hot Hollywood couple before splitting up a few years back, now Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz are making a movie together. MTV.com is reporting that Timberlake just signed on as the male interest in a raunchy comedy called, “Bad Teacher.”

Diaz takes on the role of a foul-mouthed grade school teacher who gets dumped by her boyfriend and then goes after a co-worker’s guy, played by Timberlake. The script is by film/TV writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, co-executive producers of “The Office” sitcom.  Filming on “Bad Teacher” set to get underway this month in Los Angeles.

Spec script market heating up

stack of screenplays

More spec screenplays are being shopped this week. Spec Chaser is a great website for tracking specs. You can check out the loglines for thrillers, dramas, action-adventures, horror, sci-fi, supernatural specs, and yes, some comedies as well.

The spec that caught my eye today, “Stuck at 7″ by Jason and Geoff Hart. This is a family comedy about an irresponsible husband who finally has to grow up after his wife undergoes hypnosis, something goes wrong, and she gets stuck in the mind-set of a 7-year-old. The screenwriters are managed by Kathy Muraviov.

Spec Sale 

On Monday, the  Done Deal website reported another comedy spec, “The Escort,” sold to DreamWorks Pictures. The screenplay focuses on an unreliable flight attendant who is forced to escort a 14-year-old passenger to Boston after their plane gets grounded. The screenplay is by Justin Adler, a TV writer and producer, who is repped by Julien Thuan at UTA.   

File Photo: Jay Leno

Jay Leno returned to his old gig as host of “The Tonight Show” on Monday.  I guess it’s going to take a while before Leno and staff get their “Tonight Show” groove back.  Last night’s monologue seemed a bit stiff and light on the throw-down funny jokes. Still, there were a few smile-worthy zingers.

Jay Leno

”It’s good to be home.  I’m Jay Leno your host… at least for a while.  ”

“This is something you may have heard on ’60 Minutes.’  Blackwater Worldwide, the State Department’s largest contractor… those guys we hired as guards. Well, now they have been accused of hiring prostitutes with tax dollars and putting them on the company payroll. In fact, they say this is the first time tax money has ever been used to pay whores since that Wall Street bailout.”

“Speaking of getting screwed. The airlines are going to begin charging a fee for flying standby. They are going to charge you a fee to standby. In fact, they don’t even call it standby anymore. It’s now called ‘Stand and Bend Over.’” Leno’s Monday monologue, complete text and video, at The Wrap.

Oh, there’s a new website for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” It’s got a lot of flash and things to check out. I found it all rather so-so. Let’s see if Leno and crew can bring back that old “Tonight Show” spark or maybe even something new and interesting. I could dig that.

Despite competition from two heavily promoted ”R” rated films, the adult thriller, “Shutter Island,” sold the most tickets at theaters over the weekend to hold onto the number one spot at the domestic Box Office.  “Shutter Island” scored $22.6 million bringing its two-week total to $75.5 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

Not far behind, “Cop Out” the new Bruce Willis & Tracy Morgan cop buddy comedy with $18.2 million. In the film, Willis and Morgan play NYPD buddies who have to track down a stolen rare baseball card — Willis’ only hope to pay for his daughter’s expensive wedding.

In third, the debut of the remake of the 1973 horror flick,  “The Crazies.” Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell star in a story about a town where the water supply is poisoned by a mysterious toxin, causing the residents to die or become homicidal. ”The Crazies” raked in $16 million.

The epic adventure “Avatar” landed in four with $13.6 million, and rounding out the top five the family-friendly fantasy “Perry Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” with $9.5 million.

Photo: Mario Anzuoni — Gabourey Sidibe accepts the outstanding actress award at the 41st Annual Image Awards in Los Angeles on Friday, February 26, 2010. More photos on Reuters website.  

The heart-wrenching drama about an abused teenage mother struggling to find her self-worth captured the major trophies at the 41st Annual NAACP Awards held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, last Friday, February 26, 2010. “Precious:Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” won six Image Awards.

The multi-cultural awards pay tribute to the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts as well as individuals and groups who promote social justice through their creative works. “Precious” snagged most of the top film awards including: outstanding motion picture, outstanding actress in a motion picture (Gabourey Sidibe), outstanding supporting actress in a motion picture ( Mo’Nique), outstanding independent motion picture, outstanding writing in a motion picture (Geoffrey Fletcher), and outstanding director in a motion picture (Lee Daniels).  A complete list of the Image Awards winners here.

Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Fletcher, and Daniels are up for Academy Awards. Also, ”Precious” received a nomination for the best motion picture Oscar. The 82nd Annual Academy Awards ceremony is Sunday, March 7.