WallStreetFighter

The Funny and Money Monday Daily Links

2008-05-12T05:13:00.000-07:00

Now this is how you recommend someone after a successful business transaction

Long grain: Rice and grains not being driven up by speculators

I used to trade and the CBOT meaning I also had the right to trade at the CBOE. When CME bought out the CBOT that right was terminated....or was it? Many people want to buy the CBOE but until they figure this out there is no sale ahead

If you like WSF a vote for us would be nice. We have to at least beat Herb Greenberg

MCIO about to break out according to the "Underground Trader"

What the hell is wrong with this girl's arm? Did she get so excited about her tax rebate she broke it?

Man loses $35K in "maridated money" scam

The Rich watch different TV shows than others. Which ones may surprise you

Just to remind you. Stamps go up a penny today. Here are the rest of the Postal rate changes
Email still free

5 Whiskeys to invest in

Finding the Money For Mother's Day

2008-05-09T14:31:00.001-07:00

Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year for the restaurant business, but with recession worries all around, will you screw over your mom this year?

Let's hope not, but the idea is crossing a lot of people's minds. Many news sources are reporting human interest pieces about sad moms having to cook on 'their holiday', which is really kind of depressing when you think about it.

According to an article in the Canadian Press:

Americans will spend $3.51 billion on eating out in full-service restaurants, excluding fast-food places, this Sunday.

This figure more than doubles the average $1.5 million Americans spend on an average day eating out at restaurants. Hopefully these estimate will become truth, it would help both the economy and make your mom not hate you so much.

For those looking for budget Mother's Day gifts, MainStreet offers a few terrible suggestions for the cheapskate inside you:

LESS THAN $30: A Sophisticated-looking Picture Frame
Pair this with a disposable camera—usually going for less than $7. She can take a picture of whoever she likes, which one hopes will be you after giving her this lovely present! (WSF: Maybe instead, your Mom will realize no one uses disposable cameras anymore and will be disgusted to look at your face in real or picture form?)

LESS THAN $20: QT with Oprah
Remind mom you love her once a month just by sending something to her mailbox, such as a subscription to O: The Oprah Magazine for $18. (A once a month reminder that you love your mom? Since when does a big bottle of Midol not do the trick? Plus, I can't think of a worse magazine than O. That thing doesn't even make a good wobbly table prop.)

LESS THAN $15: Boost Her Book Smarts
With a subscription to BookSwim, she’ll place books in her queue online and BookSwim will mail her books subject to their availability; she mails them back for free. Is Mom a big reader? Rent her two books at a time for only $14.99 (So, this is like Netflix for books? They send you used books in the mail? How is this any better than getting books at the library for free? Worst Mother's Day Present ever.)

LESS THAN $10: Every Blockbuster Imaginable
Mom may still not know how to work the TV remote, give her incentive to learn with a subscription to Netflix (NFLX), which will send her DVDs in the mail. She’ll pick what movies go into her queue and Netflix will mail them to her based on availability; she can mail them back in free envelope, postage already paid. You can rent Mom one DVD at a time with a limit of two per month for $4.99 or one DVD at a time with unlimited rentals per month for $8.99. (It's safe to say that if your Mom has never heard of Netflix by now then she's probably not going to pick it up very well. And if she doesn't know how to work the TV remote, she's probably not a big TV watcher anyway. Hey! and what about all those crappy used books we're overpaying to send her, shouldn't she be spending her free time getting our money's worth with them and not lounging around with the TV all day? Yeah, that's what we thought.)

In conclusion the best plan of attack is to just go with the tried and true breakfast in bed, nice card, macaroni necklace, and dinner at the local watering hole. Failing that, how about a nice big hug and some Google stock?

MainStreet: Five Best Budget Mother’s Day Gifts For Those Hit By The Recession, May 9, 2008

Canadian Press: Will love of mom overcome economy worries on Mother's Day?, May 9, 2008

Gillette Sponors Zambonis, Ice Becomes Less Hairy

2008-05-09T12:50:00.001-07:00

Gillette gets in on the sports sponsorship game by sponsoring this Zamboni at a Boston Bruins hockey game.

With the Bruins having a decent season, and going on to the playoffs, it looked like their 'silky smooth ice' may have been the advantage.

Unfortunately, the Bruins lost in the first round to the Montreal Canadiens, who went a little over the top with their celebrations.

It's all about raking in that sweet advertising money and according to Darren Rovell, our favorite and only sports business reporter at CNBC, this is the "Coolest sports sponsorship around" (emphasis on 'cool'):

"It's very cutting edge," said Amy Latimer, senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Bruins and the TD Banknorth Garden. "And the amazing thing is it really looks like the razor is shaving the ice."

I commend Amy Latimer for referring to this razor promotion as 'cutting edge', she must have a degree in marketing from somewhere prestigious. But her observation as to 'the amazing thing' about this promotion strikes me as not true. Pretty clearly it's the zamboni that's 'shaving' the ice rather than the promotional plastic razor.

My sports promotion idea is to get Rita's Ices to sponsor a Zamboni, and make italian ices/ water ices out of the gross dirty ice the machine scoops up. The kids will love it!

What's with this shaving promotion at a hockey playoff game anyway? Aren't all those NHL guys supposed to be growing their playoff beards?

CNBC Sports Biz: Coolest Sponsorship Around, May 8, 2008

Citi's New Slogan Plays Well With Insomniacs

2008-05-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

Vikram Pandit is relatively new to his position as CEO of Citigroup - the supermarket of financial services - but he's absolutely killin' it so far.

Citi was never an easy ship to take the controls of. Between getting called out by hot babes and recording two consecutive quarterly losses due to suffering billions of dollars in writedowns, its shares have fallen nearly 55% in the last year.

But Vikram, who always appears to be smiling and looking so impishly whimsical, has buckled down and done some serious work. Not all of it sounds great, but it's work nonetheless.

One of the first piece of business Vik got around to was instituting a new slogan for the Citi brand. Playing off that old cliché that New York is the city that never sleeps, all commercials for the big bank will now end with 'Citi. . .never sleeps'.

The Wall Street Journal released an early copy of the new Citi commercials, but DealBreaker's version feels so much more fitting for the bank everyone is becoming tired of:

Citi New Slogan - Watch more free videos

The next thing Vik came up with was to aggressively prune Citi's balance sheets. The Financial Times reports:

Mr Pandit is thought likely to announce up to $15bn in reductions in Citi's operating expense budget, which stood at $61.5bn at the end of last year.
Cuts are expected to come from a radical overhaul of the company's sprawling information technology systems as well as from job losses.

Aw hell yeah, Vik! Coming in blastin' with some serious firings, are we? Now who's smiling, right? Many news sources are predicting that this 'lightening of the load' at Citi is the only good route they can go.

But now with all those insomniac slogans, those employees keeping their jobs will have a reason to stay late and work.

FT: Citi to identify $400bn of potential disposals, May 9, 2008

DealBreaker: Citi Never Sleeps: The Ad Campaign, May 7, 2008

Would You Rather Have a Mansion Abroad or a Crappy Apartment in the U.S.?

2008-05-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

The housing market in the United States is in shambles, but looking at some of these comparisons will definitely make you want to buy elsewhere.

Take for example, the beautiful Stratford Castle in South Africa. You can buy this thing for $500,000 and reenact all your favorite Lord of the Rings scenes everyday. The castle comes with stained glass windows and a great proximity to a beautiful lake and golf course.

Compare that to what you might find for $500k in the San Francisco market and you're looking for a big disappointment. Hippies everywhere, pretentious neighbors, tiny apartment, all for the same price.

vs.

Now we travel to Europe where everyone's favorite, the French, are offering a jewel of a chateau in a quiet town with 5 bedrooms, sauna, swimming pool, and gardens. Plus all the frog legs you can eat for that same $500,000.

Compare that to the Downey neighborhood of Los Angeles, where you can get what appears to be an old crack house with some serious landscaping issues. Jennifer Lopez's nanny dated a guy in the 80s who lived here!

vs.

In the Ukraine you can use $1.8 Million to buy this sweet medieval castle. It's gotta have all sorts of crazy torture chambers, Soviet riches, and Siberian babes in it somewhere. Try not to use them all at once.

Compare that to mutha effen New York City where $1.8 Mil gets you a little converted 2-bedroom in Chelsea. The thing was probably an industrial revolution-era factory not more than 10 years ago. But now it's close to Penn Station and you can barely fit your twin-sized bed in it.

vs.

Let's not forget that South Africa, the Ukraine, and France, might not be your ideal places to live. Even though you bought yourself a cheap house, all those dollars you saved will disappear when you start converting your money into Euros.

Plus South Africa is hosting the next World Cup in 2010, are you sure you want soccer hooligan nonsense all over your doorstep?

via [DivineCaroline] +photos

The Funny and Money Friday Daily Links

2008-05-09T04:15:00.000-07:00

This is the sexiest video on "peak oil" that I've ever seen and an interesting way to deliver an "educational" video.

News Corp is making all the right moves to be a front runner on the internet and they're willing to use all their assets to do it

Looks like the $500 million opening week of GTA IV wasn't enough to hold off a hostile takeover attempt from EA. Should be interesting.

A little more discussion on buying VIX calls at the Daily Options Report

Don't get me wrong , I love John Stewart, but this shows how stupid people in our country can be. His show is named "most trusted " news source

Internet millionaire throws the nicest 29th birthday party ever

Ebay is going to hell. Their are so many scammers it is impossible to sell a laptop anymore. Every time you put up an auction you get 50 questions from "ebay users" trying to hack your account.

Pocket Change goes to Chetah's and takes a look at the world's most expensive nude sushi

Economic stimulus check burned for warmth

I love this story of courage and perseverance. Somehow Zachary Feinstein got on the NBA draft list despite never having played basketball and is a 5' 8' white guy. Ok this story has no courage or perseverance but is funny as hell. He'll probably sign for league minimum

A Rebuttal to 'What Makes Beer Go Bad'

2008-05-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

In the interest of full-disclosure, the genuine Anheuser-Busch BREWMASTER himself, George Reisch, contacted us here at Wall Street Fighter about Tuesday's post on what makes a good beer go so bad.

The third generation brewmaster/home brewer has a few points of clarification to make on our very glib, yet entirely grammatically correct post.

George's comments in red:

1. Bottles of beer kept in a glass-door cooler are slowly being skunked by light. Beer is like a vampire that craves darkness. True, especially if the bottles are right against the light versus the bottles on the shelf below "in the shade".

2. Beer can get skunked from being in less than 10 seconds of direct sunlight. True, IF using whole hops or pellets AND the beer is in a clear beer bottle or glass. If in a can or aluminum bottle (where the sunlight is blocked) only the light entering through the opening affects the beer. Green and clear bottles containing beer that uses whole hops or pellets will also become light-struck in seconds. If in a brown bottle, the beer will not become light-struck in the normal time it takes to drink the beer. However, even the beer in brown bottles will become light-struck over several days.

3. Brown bottles offer the best protection, while green and clear bottles are not good protection from light. Miller uses hops that are more resistant to light than most beers. (Good call, Miller) Though there’s no such thing as “hops” that are more resistant to light, it is true that SABMiller, Anheuser-Busch, MolsonCoors and other major brewers use light-stable hop extracts in most beers packaged in clear glass bottles to prevent the light-struck note and preserve the beer’s shelf life.

4. Chilling and warming beer does not effect it. (Hard to believe, right?) It goes through so many different heating and warming processes that you wouldn't notice a change in taste unless you chilled and warmed it everyday for a month. Beer has a "freshness timer" that goes faster at higher temperatures. If your beer is allowed to warm up, the "aging timer" goes faster and the beer becomes stale. Therefore, if you keep your beer as cold as possible from the moment you buy it and take it home (without freezing it), it will stay fresher longer.

5. Freezing beer makes it taste better, but exposing beer to extreme heat can lead to a gross frothy taste. (This one is kind of obvious. Why would you put a beer in an oven?) Not true. Freezing beer makes beer taste softer and duller and also produces a haze in the beer. Ice beers are brewed and fermented differently in order to accommodate freezing the beer late in the process, rethawing it, and filtering it. (In essence, Ice Beers are brewed, fermented, and aged so as to taste great when frozen,thawed, and filtered). As stated above, heat speeds up staling (oxidation) of beer and should be avoided at all costs.

6. Beer won't spoil like milk, so don't worry about those 'born on dates' too much. It's still drinkable after 110 days. Although the taste of every brand of beer will vary over time, in general during the summer months, if you store bottles of the same beer brand from the same case in the refrigerator, inside your home at your "living temp", or in the garage or trunk of your car (very hot in the summer), you will find each storage temperature tastes different than the others in just a matter of days. Remember that three things are bad for beer: "heat", "air" inside the closed package, and "light". The brewer’s job is to remove the air from the packages (bottles, cans, and kegs) before filling with beer. The retailers and consumers should keep the beer appropriately stored (to guard against staling) and dark (to guard against light struck effects) until consuming. Though beer won’t “spoil,” it certainly will change in taste if not stored properly.

7. Beer with more than 7% alcohol gets better with age. In general, beers with higher alcohols are usually brewed to accommodate the higher alcohol level with a greater percentage of darker malted and unmalted grains and also more hops. They are frequently fermented at higher temperatures giving more fruity and winey notes. These higher alcohol beers also change – better or worse – with age, and the aged beer (although different than when tasted fresh) still has an interesting taste. On the contrary, delicate 4-5% ABV lager beers allowed to age in the package will show the harsh, woody, papery aroma and taste notes of staling to a greater degree and therefore should be consumed as fresh as possible. As stated earlier, if stored cold (without freezing the beer) these delicate lagers will stay fresh in taste for a longer period of time than if stored warmer.

Now that we're all fully versed in the latest anti-skunking techniques, let us all go out and make this the summer of beer. Keeping our beer as frugal as our checking accounts, without an ounce wasted.

Any other questions about beer you've always wondered about? Let us hear them in the comments section.

Portfolio: Defending Your Beer by Lew Bryson, May 2, 2008

Biz Babes: Ivanka Trump

2008-05-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

The Don's daughter is one of the premier babes in the business world.

Her father, the guy everyone wearing a tie thinks they can impersonate -the Donald Trump - made his billions in well executed real estate maneuvers. His 'Trump Tower' buildings have become landmarks in the many cityscapes stand out in. Although he disputes his Forbes net-worth estimate, he is still pretty high on the list as the 117th richest person in the world with $3.0 Billion.

None of that makes any difference to Ivanka though, because she claims she isn't some spoiled rich girl comparable to Paris Hilton. In an interview in 2007 she responded to those comparisons by saying:

“I work 13-hour days for my money,” the 25-year-old former model, who now works for dad Donald’s business, told the London Express. “I bought my house from my father — I have a mortgage, you know.”

And although I doubt Ivanka has a mortgage like many of the high-interest subprime mortgages most people in our country battle with monthly, I will give her credit for actually doing stuff.

She even attended an Ivy League School, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in real estate from UPenn's Wharton School of Business. Not something you can buy without having some modicum of intelligence.

Don't forget that she's gorgeous too. According to Chickipedia.com, Ivanka is 5'11", boasting measurements of 36 - 24 - 34. She was once a premier fashion model with Versace too, before going into the family real estate business.

Her Forbes.com profile lists her as:

26 years old and currently serving as a Class I Director of the Trump Organization Board since August 1, 2007. Ms. Trump is the Vice President of Development and Acquisitions of the Trump Organization LLC, a position she has held since September 2005. From September 2004 to September 2005, Ms. Trump was a Project Manager in the Retail Development division of Forest City Ratner Companies.

Ivanka is currently launching the Ivanka Trump Collection, any piece of which would make a ridiculously expensive gift of jewelry for your girlfriend. Better bust out one of these bad boys when you've really f'ed up.

Here's some other good news for anyone out there trying to decide which billionaire heiress businesswoman to stalk - Ivanka is great with creeps. Interested in getting down to business with Ivanka, let knows in the comments section. May she reads this site?

Chickipedia.com: Ivanka Trump

Forbes: Ivanka M Trump profile

MSNBC: I'm no Paris Hilton party girl, Feb 2007

The 90s Finally Sellout

2008-05-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

10 years ago, you could walk down the street and buy an old beat up guitar used by Kurt Cobain for $10,000 easily. Now good luck getting one for less than $100,000.

What happened to non-conformist Nirvana fans recently? Ironically, the've got plenty of money now. According to an article in Portfolio the Generation X buying blitz is on. Everything from collectible skateboards, 90s grunge flannels, mint condition Transformers, original Mac computers are hitting the auction block.

Now that the baby boomer generation has bought all the useless Beatles and Elvis crap up, it's the Brat-Pack kids and the Grunge Revolution's turn to take the wheel on eBay. I hope trapper-keepers are worth a lot in a few years, because I could make a killing off my collection.

One of the more surprising facts from the Portfolio piece is that stupid tools are also making their presence felt at the auction houses:

A pretty ordinary Led Zeppelin T-shirt went for $1,625. "Younger buyers might not even listen to Led Zeppelin," Lipman says, "but they want the T-shirts because they're cool."

I can't believe this guy actually thinks someone would buy a limited edition Led Zeppelin t-shirt without ever listening to their music. That kind of stuff just makes you sick. What about the guy who wiped his ass with those incredibly rare WWI stamps? Didn't that happen? Well even if it didn't, I'm sure it's a cause for concern.

In a stark contrast to all the hype over 80s and 90s nostalgia, it seems Marilyn Monroe is having a bit of a resurgence as well:

"For the last six years, Marilyn Monroe has been our biggest seller at auction," says Margaret Barrett, director of entertainment memorabilia at auction house Bonhams & Butterfields. "She died in 1962, so she's pre–baby boom. Yet she appeals to collectors in their twenties and seventies—male and female. Every generation seems to discover her."

Maybe they're just trying to 'discover' her secret sex tape. The guy who owns it now is gonna die sometime, and then Joe Francis is going to make it the lamest Girls Gone Wild video ever.

Portfolio: Reality's Bites, May 5, 2008

Stimulus-Check Advertising Floods The Airwaves

2008-05-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

I just heard a cringe-inducing Sears ad on the radio for new refrigerators. At the end of the ad the voice-over guy interjected, 'Sounds like a great way to spend those stimulus checks!'

Are you kidding me with these? I'm pretty sure spending your money on anything is 'a great way to spend' your stimulus check. Home Depot has also launched a campaign in the coming weeks to capitalize on all those much-anticiapted $600 checks. The thinking behind the Home Depot market grab is to take advantage of all those housing fears. Maybe if you add a new little 'breakfast nook' on your kitchen, you won't have to worry about all those foreclosures and homeowners unable to sell.

As we 'reported on' last week, Wal-Mart is very excited to cash in on some of that precious stimulation.I'm just hoping every local TV ad and mom and pop store doesn't come at me begging I 'use that stimulus check here!'

It's kind of like when you walk past a homeless guy begging for money, and you fake checking your pockets to tell him you don't have any money, but all that fake checking makes some change jangle around and then he's on to you. That's how I feel with all these stimulus ads. They know we're getting $600 in our pocket soon and we're supposed to increase consumer spending with it, for the good of the economy.

Of course it's a smart business plan to plant the association of those checks with a certain purchase through advertising. Even local community colleges classes are being pitched as the best investment you can make with those extra funds. An investment in your education. The underlying fear driving that effort is the one people have of losing their jobs and being unqualified for anything else.

I say spend your money where you usually do, and definitely pay off your debts first. Other than that, might I suggest purchasing two $300 pens? In case you lose one.

CNN Money: Smart Moves For Your Stimulus Check, April 28, 2008

The Funny and Money Thursday Daily Links

2008-05-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

What's is it like being an oil trader?

Did you know that the Fed has sold half of the nation's gold to keep gold prices down? That or they're trying to cash in.

EA has Zero percent chance of buying Rockstar now. Grand Theft Auto IV did $400 million in 5 days.

NBC aka NBC Universal aka GE plans to announce that SuperBowl ads will be $3 million per 30 seconds

Did you make some good money trading this week? Remember last week on The Office where Dwight bought a 2001 Xterra from Andy, flipped it, and then put it on ebay. Well it really is on Ebay now and I think you should buy it

While the rest of the states struggle, the government of Texas has a $10 billion surplus

Damn the BMW M1 looks fast. I have to add one of these to my collection.

You heard about the lives lost in the Cyclone but did you know it destroyed many of the regions top rice fields? Rice continues to fly. How much more do I have to tell you to get you to buy some rice options?

Plastic surgery is a super hot market and only getting hotter. Pretty soon Wal-Mart is going to have $4 facelifts

How to get a job in venture capital

I enjoy his site but I have a new drinking game. Get 4 bottles of whiskey and go to Tim's site. Each time you see the word "Tim" take a shot of whiskey and then see how long until you pass out.

Disney Saves The World From Economic Peril

2008-05-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

Many news sources are pissing themselves with joy over Disney's earnings announcement today, however should we really take this as a sign of a turnaround?

Many Wall Street analysts have been using Disney vacation sales as a key indicator for the current economic recession. The thinking behind it is, if Americans can afford a nice family vacation to Disney Land or Disney World, the economy must not be so bad after all.

Forget about all the inflation fears and sell offs occurring in the markets. If a couple of privileged kids get the chance to punch a life-size Mickey in the nuts, we're all in good shape.

Of course, the Disney brand has other sources of revenue besides amusement parks, including movie (Enchanted, No Country For Old Men) and television (ABC, ESPN) brands. According to a report in today's New York Times:

ABC Studios, which produces shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” fueled the rise in profit because it recorded lower production costs.

I think we all know where those lower production costs came from - the writer's strike. And that's obviously not a good thing. Just because the studio 'saved tons of money' airing reruns, doesn't mean it helped their business grow at all.

By that logic, failing to negotiate a multi-billion-dollar merger deal was good for the company because it saved money on all the paper it would have had to buy to sign the contracts. That's being 'eco-friendly' too.

Disney World itself seems to be hitting some recession problems as well. Recent statistics show that 40% of the animatronic dolls in the 'It's A Small World' ride, will be seeing disastrous foreclosures on their tiny properties. The 'Thailand doll' is also looking very malnourished due to unforeseen rice cost increases.

New York Times: No Signs of a Slowdown in Traffic at Disney's Parks, May 7, 2008

Dream Jobs: King of the Dumplings

2008-05-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

Fox Business delves deep into the seedy world of start-up dumpling restaurants with this dark portrayal of dump-lord Kenny Lao.

Nah just kidding, it's not like that at all. Instead, this dude Kenny is waaay too excited about dumplings and Fox Biz's Christina 'Kind-of-Hottie' Scotti isn't afraid to ask the tough questions:

A couple of great lines here:

Scotti: "Kenny Lao has dumplings in his DNA!"

Lao: "I've never seen so many dumplings in my life!"

Scotti: "What did your parents think?! [about starting a successful dumpling restaurant]"

Scotti: "Are you trying to make this the McDonald's of dumplings?"

(in the accompanying interview) What's an important life lesson you learned from this? Lao: "Nap whenever you can nap."

One of the most interesting strategies that Kenny discusses is calling a famous New York restaurateur's mother at home to pitch his idea. Really, how did that follow-up conversation go, "Sorry I was harassing your mother late at night at home, but I have a dumpling franchise idea you NEED to hear about."

All kidding aside, I'm happy for this guy. It's always good to see some young guys taking risks with new businesses and succeeding. And Kenny's chain, Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, which currently has 2 New York locations (soon to be 4), is pulling in over $2.8 million in revenue. As you may have noticed, I'm still bitter about the huge financial and health-code failure my dumpling-themed restaurant, 'Taking A Dump', was.

FoxBusiness: Young Guns: Behind the Scenes with Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, May 6, 2008

10 Movies With Horrible Product Placement

2008-05-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

Product placement is a fact of life in the big movie business. Some do a much better job of it than others. But even still, some are so ham-fistedly clumsy about it, that it's sickening. Here's a list of some of the worst examples of product placement in a movie.

10. Iron Man - Yeah, I know 'Wow, that movie just came out, how did it make this list?' Well in one scene, main character Tony Stark, arrives back in the United States after being held by terrorists in a desert for months. The first thing he wants when he comes home? A good American burger. Yeah! U-S-A, U-S-A! But wait, in the next scene we see him 'satisfying' his craving with his hand in a big bag of 'Burger King'. Horrible. What person on earth would prefer something from BK over a genuine restaurant/diner grilled burger?

9. Sideways - This movie about a couple of douchey wine lovers going on a vacation in California's wine country got plenty of recognition in the Oscar department with a few choice nominations. But the movie served as a big ad platform by blasting wines like Merlot in favor of expensive Blackstone Pinot Noir varieties. Stats showed that sales of pinot noir, a mostly forgotten type, skyrocketed up by 22% in the year following the movie's release. Good business for those sponsors, but hatin' on wines is just lame.

8. Spider-Man - Peter Parker conveniently learns his Spidey powers by slinging web at a nice cold can of Dr. Pepper. Then later on in hot pursuit of some thugs, he jumps on a pristinely framed Carlsberg logo with a truck attached to it.

7. The Coca-Cola Kid - This movie from 1985 can't get it's face out of Coca-Cola's crotch for two seconds. The whole plot of the movie is about a Coke executive going to Australia to see why Coke isn't selling well in this one remote town. Even the movie poster is full of goofy coke puns and product placement. Those crazy 80s.

6. Forrest Gump - Not only did Forrest drink tons of Dr. Pepper in this movie, but he also invested in a 'fruit company' that turned out to be Apple Computers. He also wore a pair of Nike sneakers that got framed up nicely during all those long running scenes and when he pulled them out of the box. But oddly enough, the reason this makes the list is for inventing a product to place. The shrimping company that Forrest and Bubba start is a big success in the movie. Much like the real life Bubba Gump Shrimp Company with restaurants in the big tourist areas of Times Square, New York and Tokyo, Japan.

5. Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle - Here's another movie I actually like. Maybe it shouldn't even be on this list, because it was such a ballsy move for White Castle to go along with this. But they did, and the trek of two stoners looking to rid the munchies defines 90% of White Castle's customer base. Who else would eat a 'Crave Case' of 30 onion fried burgers? But still, this company and its logo are referenced too many times to even count as product placement. Pretty egregious as far as lack of subtlety standards go.

4. Friday Night Lights - Great movie, but it acts like a time-warp. One of the big factors in the draw for this movie is its intense realism and attention to detail in setting the scene of a small town obsessed with high school football. The author of the book it's based on, Buzz Bissinger (who is now famous for hating the very nature of blogs on last week's Costas Now), followed the true life story of a Texas high school football team in 1988. But for some reason in the film, many of the players are seen wearing Under Armour (UA) jerseys and accessories on the field. UA wasn't even founded in its infancy until 1996, and only now in 2008 is it getting to the point where it sponsors high school teams.

3. Castaway - You've got to be kidding me with this one. The whole movie is a giant FedEx advertisement. Jeez, I hope they financed all production costs on this one because it comes out looking like a long and oftentimes boring commercial. Tom Hanks' character works for FedEx and crashes on an island while flying on a FedEx plane. That's not even a good placement! Saying your company's planes crash? Tom Hanks, a trusted employee for the company, also works himself to death for his company before landing on the island. Not a good representation of a company I'd want to work for.

2. The Island - I think the Brits over at theshiznit, described this one the best:

"The Island is a serial offender; just when you think Michael Bay can’t cram any more adverts down your throat, he shoves a Puma trainer up your arse and takes a swig of Michelob beer. Numerous Microsoft logos are littered around the future cityscape (incuding, bizarrely, an Xbox-related ad that was already out-of-date when the movie opened), plus lingering shots of Nokia phones, Aquafina water bottles, Macintosh trucks and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream."

1. I, Robot - I think this is one everyone can agree on. In one of the opening scenes alone, this movie acts as a giant billboard for over a dozen brands. Between the JVC stereo he listens to, the specialized Audi car he drives, the FedEx packages he uses (they're really still using FedEx in the future? That doesn't even make sense), it's all painful to watch. The worst has to be the vintage 2004 Converse sneakers he insists on buying, talking about, lacing up and wearing throughout the whole movie. Yeah Converse are cool in that 'not trying to be cool' way, but 2004 isn't even vintage Converse. If they wanted to go with cool vintage Chucks, they should have went with some Sandlot-era pair.

With product placement being so rampant and profitable in the movie industry today, it's difficult to keep track of it all. Let us know in the comments section which other horrible examples we forgot.

CNBC: Movies and Product Placement: A Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?, May 7, 2008

Brandchannel: Product Placement Awards

The Shiznit: 10 Worst Product Placements

Sprint and Clearwire Bring Out The Big Guns

2008-05-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

Better cell phones and faster internet speeds could be flooding the market soon. Can you handle it?

The Sprint and Clearwire merger announcement brings news that the new company will be heavily invested in WiMAX technology. This sounds like bringing a gun to the already existing wireless knife fight.

After the Sprint and Clearwire merger is completed later this year, the new company will be named Clearwire. They've got some big-time backers for this deal as well. Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks will be investing over $3.2 billion to make this baby happen.

Verizon and AT&T better watch their backs because things just got serious. Sprint was always the disappointing little wireless carrier. Even in those lame Alltel ads, Sprint was the fat dumb guy. And what came from that big talked about merger with Nextel, a NASCAR cup series sponsorship?

But the hope for the advent of WiMAX looks to be changing all that. Surprisingly, WiMAX stands for 'Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access', but has nothing to do with kitchen based microwaves apparently. (They're missing out on a golden opportunity with Hot Pocket cell phones, though).

This new technology is said to be lightyears faster than what AT&T and Verizon are using. According to the MarketWatch report:

it's a wireless broadband technology designed to operate multiple times faster than today's 3G wireless networks. With embedded WiMAX chipsets in laptops, phones, PDAs, mobile Internet devices and consumer electronic equipment, mobile WiMAX technology is expected to allow users to wirelessly access a range of multimedia applications anywhere in the network coverage area.

This deal has a long way to go before benefiting the customers, but it's something I'm definitely looking forward to. Even if Sprint doesn't 'take over the wireless' market like many people are claiming it will, they will cause AT&T and Verizon to step up their game.

Better service, lower prices, faster networks, it'll be a fantasy land. And you can't complain about the investment potential if a crappy company makes a big move and it pays off.

Are you excited about some new life in the wireless industry? Let us know in the comments section if you think this deal will have any impact.

CNBC: Sprint, Clearwire to form $14.5 Billion WiMax venture, May 7, 2008

MarketWatch: Sprint and Clearwire Combine WiMax Businesses, May 7, 2008

The Funny and Money Wednesday Daily Links

2008-05-07T05:34:00.000-07:00

I wanted to thank Boyd and Globe and Mail for the kind words about the site and for listing us as his favorite financial blog.

Nobody knows what the f to do with Yahoo stock right now

$12 billion is being invested to bring super high speed internet to phones and portable devices. Look at the Big names involved and you'll see this is for real

A well comprised chart of average home prices across the US

Great article on shorting puts from CrossingWallstreet

Speaking of homes. How crazy is this? Countrywide shuts down all home equity loans in Las Vegas. Talk about not wanting to take any more risk

This just in. Fast food companies do trial and find out that too much food causes monkeys to become fat asses. Pictures here

This was just a matter of time. The big telcos are setting up a system to compete with Skype

You're not a real trader unless you have this setup. (courtesy of dinotrader)

If you're looking for an investment during this "odd" economy. Look into things that people will buy to save money. For instance, seeds to grow your own food is a super hot market

What Ruins Beer and What Doesn't: An Important Consumer Experiment

2008-05-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

Every guy thinks he knows how to take care of his beer. In the same way every guy thinks he knows what his girlfriend is thinking. In both circumstances we are usually wrong.

Lew Bryson, a writer for Portfolio (who should be considered a saint or at least granted a Nobel Prize for all his hard work), rigorously pushed beers to their physical ends to find out how to properly treat one.

Some excerpts of what we found in his report:

1. Bottles of beer kept in a glass-door cooler are slowly being skunked by light. Beer is like a vampire that craves darkness. (in Britain they don't have skunks, so they call it "cat-piss beer")

2. Beer can get skunked from being in less than 10 seconds of direct sunlight.

3. Brown bottles offer the best protection, while green and clear bottles are not good protection from light . Miller uses hops that are more resistant to light than most beers. (Good call, Miller)

4. Chilling and warming beer does not effect it. (Hard to believe, right?) It goes through so many different heating and warming processes that you wouldn't notice a change in taste unless you chilled and warmed it everyday for a month.

5. Freezing beer makes it taste better, but exposing beer to extreme heat can lead to a gross frothy taste. (This one is kind of obvious. Why would you put a beer in an oven?)

6. Beer won't spoil like milk, so don't worry about those 'born on dates' too much. It's still drinkable after 110 days.

7. Beer with more than 7% alcohol gets better with age.

Another good tip I learned from MythBusters is that the fastest way to cool a six-pack of beer is in a cooler filled with an ice/water/salt concoction.

Now armed with this wisdom, go out and stop wasting your money on skunked beer.

Any other helpful tips for caring for beer? Let us know in the comments section.

Portfolio: Defending Your Beer, May 2, 2008

The 7 WORST Money-Saving Tips

2008-05-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

In these hard-fought recession days, every penny counts and there is no shortage of money-saving tips and lessons. Unfortunately, many of them are terrible. But have no fear, we've scoured the internet and dissected some of the absolute worst.

1. Stop Buying Alcohol- Well, how do they suggest we get it then? Steal it from somewhere? Now that's just advocating theft. If meeting up with a few friends for drinks after work is the only thing that gets me through the workday, then maybe I have a drinking problem. But if I don't, then it's totally fine. Some better ideas that will keep your sanity are to have updated lists of all the local Happy Hour specials. That way you're not the chump buying $7 Bud Lights on $2-Miller-Night.

2. Attend Free Events You Find In Your Local Newspaper- First off, a newspaper? What are we, stockbrokers from the 1930s? Get digital, baby. Second thing, those free events in the park are always a horrible idea. Most of the time they're nothing more than crappy local theater groups and pukey kid choirs. But if 'park cleanup event' or 'charity fundraisers' are on there, stop and think. Are you trying to save money or are you looking for a second job with a guilt trip?

3. Don't Pay For The Internet At Home, It's Free At The Library- The people who suggest this one are either psychopaths or shut-ins. Don't they know the only people using the computer at the library are perverted homeless men looking for some 'motivation' before 'using the facilities'? I wouldn't let my kid use the library's computer if his life depended on it.

4. Go For A Walk- I almost don't want to dignify this one with a response, but many people are proponents of going out for some fresh air rather than letting some expensive indoor hobby or gadget occupy their time. So to those people I ask, what's the point of going for a walk? You'll just end up back at your house later, and a bunch of people will probably see you on the sidewalk while they drive by and wonder if maybe you went insane or had your car stolen. If I'm going outside for a stroll it's going to be while wearing a pair of expensive anti-gravity boots.

5. Sign Up For Every Customer Rewards Card- Here's where those bright young cashiers try to pawn off theirs scams on you at the checkout. These cards can save you a couple of bucks at the register, but signing up for each one will guarantee you an inbox full of spam. And who knows where Best Buy will sell your personal information for the right price. Is sorting through every 'Barnes and Noble' Weekly Newsletter worth saving the $2 next time you buy something?

6. Buy Cheap Generic Medications- So instead of getting Tylenol, you'd rather just buy Tyleñol, which is made on a Mexican dirt farm with whatever similar ingredients they cooked up out back? The best way to get healthy is to go with a name-brand you trust. If you start dabbling with Ukrainian herpes medication, you only have your cheap self to blame for that third testicle.

7. Plan Your Meals Around Your Grocery Store's Flyer- You should only go this route if you have an acquired taste for week-old-sushi and out-of-season fruit. I'm also sure the grocery store 'coincidentally' planned that 50% discount on ground beef for a few days after the E. coli outbreak hit the headlines.

There are plenty of other ways to save money. Stop driving an SUV around the neighborhood and buying Starbucks coffee each morning strike me as good starts. But trust me, you can do way better than some of these other ones.

Heard any other horrible money-saving tips recently? Let us know in the comments section.

Playboy Starts To Sag

2008-05-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

Playboy stock is beginning to go the way of so many soiled and discarded issues.

The stock dropped from 8.25 yesterday to 7.39 today. All of this comes after news last night that Playboy had a particularly sucky first quarter this year. The Playboy brand, which includes print publication, pay-per-views specials, and internet download as main sources of revenue, announced it would be seeing a fall in revenue from $85.4 million to a very disappointing $78.5 million this quarter.

According to Christie Hefner, the Playboy CEO and Hugh Hefner's daughter, these...

results reflected the dual challenges of structural transformation in our traditional media business and a difficult U.S. economy. Our publishing and domestic entertainment businesses continue to face unprecedented change in the way consumers access and use media content.

I'm not really sure if the Playboy company is only realizing this now, but the Internet has become a dumpster of free pornographic content for users. Getting customers to purchase $30's worth of pay-per-view specials is going to be a difficult sell.

However, according to the same MarketWatch report, subscription sales and revenue increased slightly in this past quarter. This does show that there is value to the flagship magazine product that started the whole franchise.

Maybe the age old 'I'm just reading it for the articles' excuse is coming to fruition. Playboy was one of the first magazines to feature online content back in 1994 and continues to push development in mobile distribution. This has added much of the value to Playboy's modern content.

However in times of economic distress and high fuel costs, where is much of the disposable income going to get crunched? I would assume subscriptions to pornography, no matter how cutting edge and inspired they may be, wouldn't fall under the necessities list. Especially with the availability of 'cheaper thrills' out there on the interwebs.

But Playboy has managed to stay afloat in rougher seas than this. It's a powerful brand, and the Playboy mansions continues to be an American institution. Playboy even saw the value behind reality TV with its E! Channel show The Girls Next Door, which garners an audience of 2.17 million viewers for each new episode.

In other news, Playboy just got soccer game streaker Tiffany May to sign a contract for a nude pictorial in an upcoming issue.

Does anyone expect the Playboy brand to come up with new ways to add value, or could this be the end of the line for the bunny ears? Let us know in the comments section.

MarketWatch: Playboy swings to loss on revenue skid, May 6, 2008

Worldscreen: Playboy's Christie Hefner

Buffett Enjoys Comedians Explaining Finance

2008-05-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

Warren Buffett and his shareholders gathered over the weekend in Omaha, Nebraska for the annual Berkshire Hathaway 'Woodstock for Capitalists'. It's a big pep seminar where Warren unleashes his shiniest pearls of wisdom, and people sell books and jump on moon bounces. Good times all around.

According to many of the participants, a highlight of the entire program was the following clip explaining the subprime crisis by the famous British comedians John Bird and John Fortune:

What Created The Subprime Mess - Watch more free videos

Great video, especially at around (5:55) when the fictional character 'George Parr the banker' portrayed by John Bird, discusses the two massive Bear Stearns hedge funds that blew up over the summer of 2007. Keeping in mind this video was made months before the eventual Bear Stearns collapse/buyout in March of 2008.

Also, at (7:18) in the video it looks like there is quick glimpse at one of these old Brits hunched over a laptop doing something no doubt inappropriate.

The Funny and Money Tuesday Daily Links

2008-05-06T04:46:00.000-07:00

The dumbest things I heard Warren Buffet say

Don't underestimate the value of Ironman on Marvel. This is HUGE

This may actually work

Sequoia is now taking money for the first time in 25 years. In case you forgot they invest in the Buffet style because it was started by Buffet's first stock broker

I am always surprised how many people don't understand how to hedge their investments using the VIX. Certainly something you should look in to

Sponsors are starting to get worried about their investment in the Beijing Olympics. Which bring me to the question

Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy signs a $100 million dollar deal. He deserves every cent

What top tech CEOs really make

My good friend Ugly is on his way to greatness. If you need a trading platform built for you make sure to hire him.

Totally off topic: A craigslist ad put to music from the fine people over at Details mag. Sounds like Axl Rose is singing this one

200 Economists Say 'Gas-Tax Holiday' Sucks

2008-05-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

When economists believe in something this strongly, their posse rolls deep.

The Gas-Tax Holiday, proposed by John McCain, was an attempt to make one super-wealthy candidate seem like a guy concerned about the average citizens' problems. Instead, it's getting blasted as the worst idea imaginable.

Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain agree in unison that something needs to be done to help out the little guy. Maybe a lifting of the gas-tax will drop prices enough so that people could enjoy a little cruise to start their summer? And maybe, in doing that, those people will repay that brave politician by voting for them in fall. Not a terrible idea in theory...wait, apparently yes it was. Bloomberg reports that:

The moratorium would mostly benefit oil companies while increasing the federal budget deficit and reducing funding for the government highway maintenance trust fund, the economists said.

Over 200 economists from around the country, including 4 Nobel prize winners, have signed and circulated a petition rejecting the gas-tax holiday proposals. And they are being pretty vocal about it. Alice Rivlin, herself a Clinton supporter, continued by saying that if anything, we should raise the gas-tax to perhaps curb gasoline usage entirely.

Now that doesn't really sound like a good idea either. If the only solution to high gas prices is to use less gas, do you think anyone would go along with it?

But none of that matters to Hillary. She doesn't want to hear about all these economists spending too much time thinking and not enough time caring for the middle-class.

Clinton yesterday dismissed economists' objections to the plan.

``I'm not going to put my lot in with economists,'' she said in an interview on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. ``We would design it in such a way that it would be implemented effectively.''

Basically Clinton doesn't care that the very theory of temporarily suspending gas-taxes doesn't work, that's hogwash. She's going to implement it so it does work. Is that too hard to understand, egghead economists?

That having been said, can we really trust a group of 200 economists that hang out together? Do they really get out much. I'm imagining a bunch of nerds drinking tea and riding these around campus:

Bloomberg: Economists Criticize Clinton, McCain Gas-Tax Plans. May 5, 2008

Why The UFC Was The Ultimate Buy

2008-05-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

The UFC has a bloody history, but it's getting some real attention as a revenue churning monster that may rival college football and pro-wrestling someday soon.

Forbes magazine, in their recent cover story Ultimate Cash Machine, described UFC as:

the Ultimate Money Machine. The night before the Super Bowl 10,700 fans packed the arena, paying an average of $340 for a ticket to witness nine mixed martial arts fights. Another 500,000 fans paid $45 ($55 for high definition) to watch five of the nine fights at home. The total haul from the event: $25 million.

In an interview with CNBC, UFC President Dana White said the sport has come a long way since it’s branding a bloodsport by such critics as John McCain who referred to the UFC as ‘human cockfighting’. Dana said that in the early days UFC was banned from pay-per-view, and showed his irritation over that, by saying ‘Even porn is on pay-per-view, but they wouldn’t put us on.’

Now the UFC is expected to generate $250 million in 2008, and owns 90% of the mixed martial arts genre's revenue. The tables have turned and the UFC now generates most of that revenue from monthly pay-per-view events. Other revenue comes from ticket sales to live events, licensing for its Spike channel cable shows The Ultimate Fighter and UFC Fight Night. Tack on DVDs, T-shirt, and downloaded fight archive sales, and you’ll get the full picture of where that $250 million comes from.

The UFC is also branching out with international appeal after selling out live fights in Manchester, U.K. and Montreal, Canada. Obviously, UFC’s main target is the World Wrestling Entertainment, which as a publicly traded company is valued at $1.4 billion.

Also, according to CagePotato.com, the UFC is faring a lot better than it’s struggling competition, which are on the verge of extinction.

Although a lot newer (and with real fighting), the UFC could be coming close to WWE's target price. The brothers Fertitta (Lorenzo and Frank III) have said they have been approached by private equity and media firms to sell with offers exceeding $1 billion. The Super Fertitta Bros. are not interested in selling.

They were very interested in selling back in the dark days of the UFC, though. After purchasing the UFC for $2 million from its previous owner in 2001, the Ferttita’s had given prez Dana White over $44 million to make the league a success, until they saw the drain on their finances and wanted out.

Back then White said he could only get them a buyer interested in paying $7 million. The Fertittas decided to give it another shot, given their lack of feasible options. The produced and shopped The Ultimate Fighter reality show and Spike TV picked it up. The show became a huge success and the rest of the fairy tale is history.

With each owning 45% of the UFC empire, both Fertitta brothers are currently sitting pretty as the 380th richest people on the Forbes 400 list. They each have a net worth of $1.3 billion from their UFC endeavors in addition to stakes in the Station Casinos brand.

So, turning a $2 million purchase into a $1 billion+ brand in a little over 6 years, how can you beat that?

Forbes: Ultimate Cash Machine, May 5, 2008

Cage Potato: IFL and Bodog on Verge of Extinction; UFC Keeps Stacking That Paper, April 18, 2008