Tuesday, January 22, 2002

First, I need to clear a few things up.

First off, I admit it. I let the dogs out. I'm sorry. Stop asking.

Secondly, Amy, sorry I got your birthday wrong. I blame Microsoft. Outlook kept saying it was your birthday.

Third, we're hoping to get a house. If you don't like the news, maybe the trials and tribulations involved in that will be of interest to you.

And now, the news.

MGM has announced it's putting itself up for sale. Yeah, because we need more consolidation. I thought AOL Time Warner already owned most of it. I expect that it won't take long for someone to come along and buy MGM. They're only asking for 7 billion. (Even I don't know if I'm being sarcastic.)

Soon, you'll be able to do more at the ATM. Buy tickets, watch ads (yay!) and more.

Why aren't more people outraged over what happened at Enron asks this pretty good opinion piece on MSNBC.

It's like a shining light at the end of the tunnel... Will wonders never cease? Happy happy joy joy. Hear ye, hear ye... Sprint PCS announces fourth quarter led to fewer new customers and less revenue than expected. (By the way, Sprint PCS sucks in Detroit and San Diego.)

While we'll never get our flying cars, this guy thinks we're going to get jet packets. Or personal helicopters. His invention flew for 19 seconds. And looks neat.

And my good man Jon Stewart is going to host the grammys again. I used to not be able to stand Stewart, but now my wife turns on The Daily Show on Comedy Central all the time and I'm able to appreciate his comic timing as well as a really well done show.

WOO HOO! New Wallace and Gromit mini-eps to hit the internet. Would you like some cheese?

And in the funnier side of things... The inventor of the CD says that if you put copy-protection on it, you shouldn't be able to put the Compact Disc logo on it.

Kmart today filed for chapter 11. Martha Stewart might also pull her line, a contract clause would allow her to do so. And it recently got removed from the S&P 500. I never liked K-Mart. It always felt dirty. And the people who worked there were rude. One time we went there and we got to the register and tried to use our credit card and suddenly something happened. Their computer system went down and the cashier (probably 12 years old, chewing gum) asks "So are you going to pay with cash or a check?" We vowed never to return. (I snuck back the next day because I needed that red shirt for my Gilligan costume for a party, but after that, never again.) Interesting note... K-Mart, Wal-Mart and TargetMart, er, Target, were all founded in the same year.

And in sad news... Talk Magazine to shut down. Can't say as that I ever cared or read the magazine, but it's a bummer when things get pulled after such short runs. Was it a bad idea, bad timing, bad execution or bad marketing?

Regis won't host daytime "Millionaire". Will he be out of a millionaire job completely?

And Doritos won't advertise in superbowl. They said they're going to spend more on internet advertising instead. I dunno... is that wise? Is an animated character named Clive better for selling Doritos than that Ally chick getting knocked over by flying chips?

Speaking of Superbowl, Fox is about to have a fire sale. Or we'll be seeing a bunch of ads for "That 80's Show"...

The Golden Globes were held recently. Usually I say these awards are more bogus than most awards because the foreign journalists love gifts, but Moulin Rouge picked up 3. Hooray.

Speaking of awards shows... Nokia has just announced a new line of $20k phones. Why are these two relevant? Because these phones will probably be the newest thing sported by phony celebrities who talk about helping the less fortunate and giving to charity while they wear $20k phones around their necks on little chains that Nokia will no doubt offer. (Or maybe I should beat them to the punch and design some.)

Amazon.com posted a profit. I don't know if that's a real profit or a made-up one, but it's great news for those of us who had driving to the mall.

And lastly... another opinion piece from MSNBC. A great job of disecting what happened in "Black Hawk Down" and in Somalia originally.


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