Well, Harry Potter has done it again. Proving that even a
darker installment of the popular series--released in the summer instead of the
fall--is still the stuff of box office gold, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" took
in $77.4 million over the weekend to top the charts and bring its domestic
total to $140 million since opening Wednesday. It's the lowest-grossing opening
weekend of all the Potter films, but the previous four opened on Friday, so
Harry's probably not too worried about it. Elisha Cuthbert is likely a bit more
embarrassed: Her terrible horror flick "Captivity" earned only $1.55
million to land at No. 12. Even though we weren't bowled over by
"Potter"-seriously, hardly anything happens!-we'd rather people see the
Hogwarts kids getting bleak ten times rather than see Cuthbert degraded and
tortured even once. What did you see this weekend? How does "Order of the Phoenix" compare to the
other Potter movies? What's the deal with John Travolta in the upcoming remake
of "Hairspray"?

Now that day three of the exhausting and generally
disappointing Pitchfork Music Fest is in the books, let's not harp too much
on the missteps (OK, just to name a few quickly: The sound was screwy again on
the Connector Stage; soul singer Jamie Lidell couldn't even bring himself to play piano,
instead doing his entire performance without live instruments; Stephen Malkmus'
quiet solo show has no business being slotted at 6 p.m.; Chicago rockers The
Ponys still don't seem to have a consistent personality). Instead, a few
highlights from the final day: Local vets The Sea and
Cake legitimately rocked and proved to be one of the few bands that
translated to the outdoor setting. Canada's Junior Boys cranked up the
fun after a mid-day lull that came from Menomena's intriguing set that was
significantly weakened by poor sound. One enterprising fan fashioned a sign on
the front of a Fuze beverage box that read, "Let's trade Pokemon." And for the high point of the day, Of
Montreal delivered the expected weirdness and then some, with frontman
Kevin Barnes wearing progressively less throughout the show, and a borderline
theater-level production on stage that featured angel wings, a Darth Vader
outfit and much, much more. Other than that, still-solid New Pornographers aren't quite the
same without Neko Case, and snippets of Klaxons and De La Soul failed to keep
our interest. We're not sweating it, though: Lolla is only three weeks away. Who do you think put on the best show at Pitchfork? Who was a
disappointment? What was up with the sound? Will you go next year?