Person of the Year '08

Yup, shockingly enough, Barack Obama has been named Time's Person of the Year for 2008. (I'm sure Sarah Palin was hoping she'd at least win something this year...but praise the Lord she didn't.)

It's no surprise our soon-to-be first Black president is gracing the cover of the annual issue, but I'd still suggest you take a gander. The article is very well-written, and right off-the-bat puts to rest your, 'Gee, Obama as Person of Year - that's original' complaints.

It's unlikely that you were surprised to see Obama's face on the cover. He has come to dominate the public sphere so completely that it beggars belief to recall that half the people in America had never heard of him two years ago — that even his campaign manager, at the outset, wasn't sure Obama had what it would take to win the election. He hit the American scene like a thunderclap, upended our politics, shattered decades of conventional wisdom and overcame centuries of the social pecking order. Understandably, you may be thinking Obama is on the cover for these big and flashy reasons: for ushering the country across a momentous symbolic line, for infusing our democracy with a new intensity of participation, for showing the world and ourselves that our most cherished myth — the one about boundless opportunity — has plenty of juice left in it.

Read on: 2008 Person of the Year. (Don't you love that they no longer call it 'Man of the Year'?)

Better shake it like a Polaroid while you can

I'm a photo freak. I'm constantly documenting every important and mundane moment in my life by way of my awesome digital camera. That thing comes with me everywhere. But for the most part, those pictures just end up on Facebook, because it's en vogue. Having tangible photos is so last decade, right?

Well, apparently the people at Polaroid picked up on that: This month is the last month the iconic Polaroid film will be in production. Pretty sad, huh?

What will Outkast tell us to shake it like now? On what will Tyra base her "America's Next Top Model" castings? What will Eskimos get when they sit on ice for too long?????

Read more about Polaroids production shutdown and Americas response. (And for your information, shaking a Polaroid might actually hurt your picture.)

I feel a little guilty now. Like my love of the convenience that is digital photography is the sole cause of this. Actually, maybe we can just blame Ashton Kutcher because his stupid digital camera commercials never stop being on television.

RIP Polaroid. You will be missed.

Thanks, TJS!

Recession is in session

It's official, folks: We've got a recession on our hands.

The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007.

Employers have trimmed payrolls by 1.2 million jobs in the first 10 months of this year. On Friday, economists are predicting the government will report a loss of another 325,000 jobs for November. Well that's uplifting...

Click here to read more from CNNMoney.com.

EMPLOYEE: DUMB B----

A Missouri man was shocked to find a racial slur on his Journeys receipt after returning a pair of shoes this weekend.

Keith Slater, 22, bought an $80 pair of shoes at the store, but later returned them after finding a better bargain at another store. Slater got his money back, but was later shocked to see that the receipt identified him as "Dumb N-----"

Like, really? Did anyone there think that someone somewhere might possibly notice the N-word printed on their receipt? My God, that's stupidity!

By the time the college student returned to Journeys that night, the store was closed. When he came back on Saturday, employees said that a generic code had been entered with the return and that's what appeared.

But, Slater's father said, there were six or seven choices that came up when that code was entered and the one the employee had chosen was at the bottom of the list. Probably not a coincidence then, eh?

The employee who rang up Slater was fired, according to a statement issued by Genesco Inc, the company that owns Journeys.

"While we are continuing to investigate this incident, it appears an employee in one of our stores entered highly inappropriate statements in a form used to process a merchandise return...Needless to say, such an act was not authorized by Journeys, and will not be tolerated." --Genesco, Inc.

The Slaters received an apology call today from Genesco's corporate office, and have also been contacted by the Justice Department. The department will reportedly refer the case to the FBI to investigate whether a civil rights violation has occurred.

RIP 'Mr. Clean'

House Peters Jr., a TV actor who became the original Mr. Clean in Procter & Gamble's commercials for household cleaners, died today.

Peters, 92, died of pneumonia in a Los Angeles hospital. Not to make light of the situation, but it's somewhat ironic to me because when I was little, I used to confuse pneumonia with the ammonia, the agent used in the very products Peters was selling.

Other than his Mr. Clean persona, Peters played supporting roles in "Perry Mason," "Gunsmoke," "The Twilight Zone" and "Lassie," and had many parts in cowboy movies.

He is survived by his wife, Lucy Pickett, a daughter, two sons and four grandchildren.

I'm singing M-to the-C-to the M-to the A...

After years of sidekicking the "Tonight Show," making children's dreams come true on "Star Search" and delivering those big ass Publisher's Clearing House checks to small towners, Ed McMahon now plans to spread the love as a rapper for FreecCreditReport.com.

Think of it as his own personl bailout plan...

McMahon, who recently revealed he was fighting foreclosure after falling $644,000 behind on mortgage payments on his Beverly Hills home, will be featured wearing a tracksuit, being chauffeured around LA in a Cadillac Escalade golf cart and spitting lyrics about his very public financial troubles.

"When I retired, I was famous/I had money and glory/ I bought a house for 6 mill/I thought nothing could touch me/ Until my credit went south, and debt started to crunch me/ Next thing I know, instead of playing gin rummy, I was scrambling just to make ends meet/It wasn't funny," so the rap goes.

The spots will appear in two viral videos, set to be released online in October.

Charles Harris, FreeCreditReport.com's vice president of strategic marketing, said the company sought out McMahon to star in the humorous spots after seeing him openly discuss his finances on "Larry King Live." Harris said McMahon represents "a man who is taking charge."

I think it's brilliant. Does anyone remember when FreeCreditReport.com's old commercials just had a lady singing "Freeee credit report dot com!" and that was it? Probably not because they were lame. Women are crooning over the indie boys in the new commercials and people everywhere can't get the songs out of their heads. I'm sure these new ones will be no exception. The Web site even has the "As seen on TV" logo on its mainpage. Talk about hamming it up.

This one is my fav.

Creme Boob-lee?

Ben and Jerry's is known for being environmentally friendly and using organic ingredients, so the people at PETA are thinking that the ice cream company should take being organic to the next level...

PETA urges Ben and Jerry's to use human milk

PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health. PETA officials say "breast is best!"

Something tells me that wouldn't do too much good for their sales...

Your cell phone is a bit fuzzy

I know they come up with some crazy things in Japan, but this is almost unbearable (haaa).

The Kuma Phone -- or "Bear Phone" -- by Wilcom is a stuffed bear that holds a SIM card and is an actual working phone. Users can even program four numbers into speed dial, which can each be dialed by pressing one of the bear's four paws. It also vibrates and makes custom noises for incoming calls, which can be answered and ended by pressing the animal's tail.

Call me crazy, but I thought we were tending toward sleek and shiny phones...

The item was recently shown at the Good Design Expo in Tokyo. Maybe it can help you get your bearings - haaa, get it? bear - rings. I love being corny.

So, How much for this fuzzy phone, you ask? Oh, only $500. What a rip - they could have at least picked a cuter bear instead of some raggedy-ass looking furball.

Afternoon delight at Starbs

Speaking of tanking economy (see below), Starbucks is trying to take itself off life support by offering a new promotion to help save company loyalists a few bucks.

The "Treat Receipt" program allows Starbucks customers to bring in their receipt from a purchase earlier in the day to receive any grande iced drink for $2 (beginning at 2 p.m.). The deal is good til Sept. 2

This is excellent news for people who are addicted to Starbucks enough to regularly purchase its overpriced drinks twice a day, but for the rest of us... Is this really going to push you to spend $4 on a small--sorry, "tall"--coffee at 8 a.m. just to get the reduced price Mocha Choca Latta Ya Ya in the afternoon? Mm, probably not. You'd essentially be paying $6 to get the latter.

Still, the company says it is responding to customer requests for nationwide promotions, and Starbucks fiends who can overlook the backward logic in this program will be happy to know that their morning receipt could save them $2.15 off a Mint Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino. Okay, well that one kind of sounds good enough to go for broke...

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Your barista today is: Ronald McDonald?

Where's the beef--err--cheese?

Sorry, McDonald's lovers: Our tanking economy strikes again and this time it's one of the fast food restaurant's staples that will be getting sliced.

McDonald's is reportedly taking steps to modify its double cheeseburger --the anchor of its Dollar Menu-- due to rising food costs, particularly in dairy.

Some restaurants are selling it with one slice of cheese instead of two, and billing it as a "double hamburger with cheese," according to McDonald's President Don Thomas. Others are offering a double hamburger without cheese. Some are selling the traditional double cheeseburger at prices ranging from $1.09 to $1.19.

If the double cheeseburger is removed from the Dollar Menu, Thomas said there will still be some sort of burger available for $1.

I personally could care less about this because I haven't eaten McDonald's since I was 8 years old and Happy Meals were like crack, but I know this is traumatizing news for some burger enthusiasts. But take a look at the nutrition facts - maybe they're doing you a favor.

Getting 'saucy' at Subway

You usually learn in kindergarten what is and is not grounds to call 911, but one Florida man apparently didn't learn that lesson.

Police said that Reginald Peterson called 911 multiple times when he felt his sandwich order was not being properly prepared at his local Subway restaurant.

The first time he called was because employees did not put sauce on his spicy Italian sub. The second call to 911 was because police had not arrived in what the 42-year-old believed was appropriate response time.
Workers at the restaurant said Peterson became belligerent and yelled while they were fixing his order. They reportedly locked him out of the store when he left to call police the second time.

[UPDATE] See below for real audio from calls! I seriously cannot believe they entertained this for this long...



Officers responding to the scene said they tried to calm Peterson down and explain the proper use of 911. When he did not cooperate, he was arrested on a charge of making false 911 calls.

'Cuil' as the other side of Google

So some ex-Google employees launched an alternative search engine yesterday, touting it as bigger and better than powerhouse Google, but from my experience, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Cuil --pronounced "cool"-- drills into the actual content of a page, displaying results in more of a magazine-like format instead of just a vertical stack of Web links, according to one of its developers. Cuil's results are displayed with more photos spread horizontally across the page and include sidebars that can be clicked on to learn more about topics related to the original search request. [click here to learn more about Cuil]

One big advantage Cuil developers are pushing is privacy, which Google tends to ignore these days. Does anyone else think it's creepy that as soon as you send a Gmail message with the word "love" in it, you get 20 ad links on the page for "Who has a crush on you" and the like?

As far as Cuil goes, the name is fun (My co-workers and I certainly had fun telling each other to "cuil it" yesterday in the newsroom when one of us had an inquiry that would normally beg a Google search), and the look of the site is pretty sleek...but Cuil doesn't really cut it in my book.

Try entering your name, your hometown or even the name of this site and you'll see just how inferior Cuil is to Google --or Yahoo! for that matter. Most of the results don't even match, and what does come up is not very relevant. In fact, try searching for "Cuil" on Google and you'll learn infinitely more than if you enter "Cuil" into the actual Cuil search.

This is the first time a new search engine has been developed by former Google employees, but it doesn't appear as though Cuil will be giving Google a run for its money anytime soon. I mean, "googling" is synonymous with Web searching now, is it not?

Say cheeeese!

Just a heads up for your deal seekers--and cheesecake lovers--Tomorrow is National Cheesecake Day!

To celebrate The Cheesecake Factory's 30 years, the restaurant is offering individual slices of cheesecake at 1978 prices tomorrow, July 30, 2008.

The $1.50-per-slice special is limited to one per guest and it's only for dine-in orders, but come on... take one look at this menu and tell me that it's not totally worth it. Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudget Ripple cheesecake, described as "creamy cheesecake swirled with caramel, peanut butter, Butterfingers and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups"? I guess this was a bad week to crack down on my dieting...

A limited edition cheesecake --the 30th Anniversary Chocolate Cake Cheesecake-- will be introduced tomorrow, too. The company will offer $0.25 from the sale of each slice sold this year to benefit America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network.

Desperately seeking bridesmaid...

Picking your bridesmaids might be almost as difficult a task as paying for your wedding, but a Virginia Beach bride-to-be has put the decision in the hands of America, killing two birds with one auction.

Kerry Gray, a 23-year-old hairdresser, recently posted the opportunity to be a bridesmaid in her August 2009 wedding up on eBay in an effort to keep wedding costs under $7,000. Little did she know that placing the spot up for bid would not only save her money, but earn her media attention and free beverages for her big day.

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group placed the winning bid, which was originally $5,700 but was later upped to $10,000. The company may have found the auction because of its mention in a local newspaper article about Gray's money saving efforts. One of Gray's co-workers suggested she try eBay because a Dr. Pepper can was selling on the online auction site for $400.The company will be responsible for selecting a bridesmaid and will reportedly launch a Web site to help her find someone or provide a surprise guest.

Gray and her fiance, Karl Grau, had decided that they would provide a dress and shoes for the selected individual, as well as an invitation, plus one, to the reception. If a man happened to be the winner, they'd supply the tuxedo.

The couple makes a combined $32,000 per year and planned to bake their own wedding cake and pass up a DJ to instead hook up their iPods to a stereo system (which [sidenote] got me thinking about my road trip to Virginia this weekend, in which my three friends and I created embarrassing music playlists incredibly worthy of being played at any wedding/bar mitzvah. I should totally see if they'd hire us for the gig with that extra $5K.)

Anyway. Raise your frosty glasses of Dr. Pepper in a toast to the future newlyweds. Cheers!

That's the catch

In operating this blog, I often have friends and family members throwing stories and videos my way to see if it's anything I'd be interested in posting. Today, my dad asked me if I'd seen the incredible catch made by a ballgirl at a minor league game this week.

An incredible catch? Yes. But there's a figurative catch to the video, too. Take a look...



At first glance, it looks like this little brunette goes Griffey on the long foul ball toward the left field wall, but take another look at the catcher's equipment--During the initial shot (the actual footage), the glove is on his left hand and the equipment insignia is on his right shoulder; in the (staged) reaction shot, it's the reverse.

It appears viral advertising has struck again. Check out that sports drink bottle clearly displayed at the feet of the mini outfielder. Tricky, tricky Gatorade.

Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself. It's awesome, but not real.

Sex obviously sells

Congrats to Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte--

The ladies proved this weekend that sex sells, as the "Sex and the City" movie's opening weekend numbers trumped the opening weekend sales of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

I absolutely refuse to give away any bit of the SATC movie, but two of my girlfriends and I went opening night to see it, and I must say...If you are a woman who's seen even one episode of this show and you still haven't seen the film, what in the name of Manolo Blahnik are you waiting for??

The ladies have obviously aged, but I don't care what Maxim has to say: Sarah Jessica Parker looks stunning in this movie.

And two warnings: If you're a crier at movies, pack your tissues. My friend Jenn and I cried for a good hour of the movie. It's a tad more depressing in parts than you might like. And also, the movie is 2.5 hours long, so go easy on the pre-show martinis.

You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll be glad you didn't drag your grudging boyfriend to the film for him to complain about how unrealistic it is to spend $500 on shoes or how unattractive he finds Miranda to be.

Here's the trailer:

Put your mouth where the money is...?

Subliminal messages may only have proven worthwhile for Zack Morris, but apparently KFC is giving the technique a try.

Check out this video by a Consumerist reader who discovered that KFC slipped a dollar bill into the lettuce of its Snacker sandwich. Pretty interesting.

Free this time, I swear!

Okay, no joke this time: Tomorrow (May 15) is Dunkin Donuts Free Iced Coffee Day!


For some reason, the chain set the first day of spring as its annual giveaway day, but backed out at the last minute, leaving freebie-seekers feeling stupid at the counter and awkwardly paying for a drink they were only ordering because they thought it was free.

But tomorrow we will all be given the opportunity to imbibe some delicious and free iced coffee--regular or flavored! [click here to find a D&D location near you]. Enjoy!

UPDATE: After the original entry was posted, I saw a commercial for a free McDonalds giveaway today (May 15), as well.

Between 7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., McDonalds will be giving away a free Southern Style Chicken Biscuit--new this month--with purchase of any medium or large drink. Nothing like fried chicken between two buttery (and fatty) biscuits to start your day!

From 10:30 a.m. til 7 p.m., the chain will give away free Southern Style Chicken Sandwich (I think it's got pickles on it or something) with purchase of medium or large beverages.

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Paying for your free iced coffee
Forgiveness, please

Stimulating stimulus, yeah!

Good news for those of you expecting some free money from the government: It's on its way a few days early! whoo!

The Treasury Department announced today that the special tax rebates will arrive five days earlier than the originally scheduled May 2 release date.

Want to know how much you'll be receiving? Click here for the calculator!

Thanks to a faster than expected computer program, 800,000 tax filers daily will get rebates on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. No rebates will be distributed on Thursday, and 5 million payments will be made on Friday.

Overall, the Treasury will distribute more than $110 billion to 130 million taxpayers by July and hopes to get the first $50 billion out by the end of May.

La la lala, la la lala, Elmo's gone

Meet the Elmo Knows Your Name Doll, or as I've dubbed him--the creepiest f'ing doll ever. Yes, more sinister than Chucky. More knowing than Talking Tina.

Upon purchase, the Elmo doll is programmed via computer to know your child's name and include it in his random expressions as they laugh and play all the live long day. Except for 2-year-old James Bowman, of Lithia, Fla., Elmo doesn't get excited when you tickle him, he makes death threats.

After James' mom replaced the batteries in Elmo, he started saying, "Kill James." I'm not kidding. Watch the news piece yourself.

James' mom, Melissa, was obviously upset, especially because her two-year-old started repeating the expression and freaking out because she took his favorite toy away.

Fisher-Price said it will issue the Bowmans a voucher for a replacement doll and examine James' model for the source of the problem and check whether other Elmos are experiencing the same malfunction.