Avatar: Innocence Dished Up The Ruthless Money Machine
AVATAR. The irony in the Edene-heavy, eco-message as the stars zoom about the globe to champion the electronic marvel is not all. Boris Johnson, London Mayor, notices:
“The final irony, of course, is that this entrancing vision of prelapsarian innocence is the product of the most ruthless and sophisticated money-machine the world has ever seen. With a budget of $237 million and with takings already at £1 billion, this exquisite capitalist guilt trip represents one of the great triumphs of capitalism.”
Posted: 25th, January 2010 | In: Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Forged Art Show At The Victoria & Albert: Simon Cowell’s Covers Versions In Pictures
AT the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, you can see fake art works by ‘Lowry’ pastels, ‘Barbara Hepworth’ sculptures, paintings by Thomas Moran and graffiti artist Banksy, many by Shaun Greenhalgh from Bolton aka Vincent Van Greenhalgh. In 2007, Greenhalgh was jailed for four years and eight months on account of goings on in his garden shed. The work Amarna Princess, by Greenhalgh, sold for £440,000. so is it a fake. Or is it what Simon Cowell brand of artiste would call a “cover version”?
8243235
Posted: 23rd, January 2010 | In: Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Goldman Sachs Staff Paid In Baby Organs And Elements
NEWS that Goldman Sachs’ staff are to reach get a small island each and their own weight in newborn babies’ organs has angered many. Gordon Brown says he is determined that bankers be reigned in, although not those bankers already advising his Government. The other ones.
But how do you pay bankers the money they deserve when they already have it all? You need to give them something else, like babies’ organs, yet-to-be-discovered galaxies and some of the bigger elements. The chairman gets to own oxygen, his PA argon and so on down the chain of command.
Posted: 22nd, January 2010 | In: Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Madonna’s Daughter Lourdes On $110,000 A Week Pocket Money
ANORAK’S man in LA with his nose in an Italian newspaper, says Madonna’s kid Lourdes Leon, is minted, raking in $11k a week.
THE daughter of Madonna and Carlos Leon, has a reputation for having her fingers on the fashion pulse of the tween set. And if an Italian newspaper is to be believed, we now know how she affords to be among the best dressed 13-year-olds in the world.
La Repubblica claims that Lourdes scores an $11,000 a week allowance from Mamadonna.
Posted: 19th, January 2010 | In: Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Kraft Unveils New Cadbury’s Cheez Egg And Cheez Flake
CADBURY is all set to be bought by US food giant Kraft and the news is full of Britons stood outside Old Ma Cadbury’s chocolate factory saying “Hands Off Our Buttons”. But will it so bad if Kraft takes over the shoppe? Anorak looks at some brands that Americans and with their big belts and labs might bring to market:
Cadbury’s Cheez Egg
Who doesn’t love an original? Since Old Mrs Cadbury created her snack in 1783, Britons have loved the taste of Easter. But now – finally! – things have been brought up to date as the egg is filled with delicious melted cheez. Available in Original and Triple Cheese.
Cheez Flake
Fashioned from the crumbliest, fakiest ™ cheez, the Cheez Flake tastes like chocolate never tasted before! Available in three varieties: Classic Cheddar, Four Cheese and Garlic Herb.
Posted: 19th, January 2010 | In: Key Posts, Money | Comments (10) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Advertising Porn And Sex Without Sex In Russia: NSFW
ADVERTS in Russia are not like adverts in the West. Adverts in Russia are, well, honest. This is an advert for “Strawberry, the shop for those who are really in love”. It’s not safe for work – unless you work in a porn shop that sells those things that stir coffee while you do wordsearch puzzles. It’s also interesting that sex is not being used to sell sex, or anything else:
Posted: 11th, January 2010 | In: Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
London Property Floats On £1m Houseboat: In Pictures
A SIGN that property prices remain reassuringly high is the £1,000,000, 3 bed boat for sale by London’s Cadogan Pier. For your money you get a water bed, water lounge, water kitchen, a water loo and to a sundeck that gives pretty much everyone else a commanding view of your navel…
Posted: 11th, January 2010 | In: Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
For Sale: Drowned Bugatti Brescia Rescued From Swiss Lake
SIGNS that the Government’s scrappage scheme are working as a1925 open-top Type 22 Bugatti Brescia that remained submerged in a Swiss lake for 73 years is expected to sell for £85,000 at a Paris auction.
Posted: 9th, January 2010 | In: Money | Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
The 10 Men Most Likely To Marry Katie Price
“WHAT’S Katie Price been up to?” you ask. How’s pop acorn Peter Andre? How are the kidzzz? Well, news is that Katie will “REVEAL ALL” in the I’m A Celebrity… Jungle.
What’s that? No, Katie isn’t still in the Australian Bush studio, left behind years after the fray like a Japanese soldier unable to commit Hari Kari because his chest keeps bouncing off his sword. Katie is back. Peter, however is not. He’s gone, lost in Ikea’s lighting section.
So what horror is waiting for our Katie in the ITV jungle? Having squired 1980s popster Peter Andre, is there another one-hit wonder of yesteryear waiting for her? Let’s take a look at the Top Ten next Mr Katie Prices:
Rico Suave - Gerardo
Posted: 6th, January 2010 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts, Money, Strange But True | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
The Top Ten Most Expensive Car Crashes (NSFW)
THE Top Ten Most Expensive car crashes - read them all. Spotter: AGW.
#10. Bugatti
EB110 … $500,000
This 1992 $500,000 super-exotic Bugatti EB110 was being driven by a mechanic as part of its annual checkup. He claims there was an oil slick on the road which caused him to lose control and crash into a pole. The owner of the Bugatti is a famous “feel good” guru named Emile Ratelband. Not sure how good he was feeling after this wreck.
Posted: 3rd, January 2010 | In: Key Posts, Money | Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Cartoon Of The Decade: Fat Cats And Final Salary Pensions
READER AGW sends us the Cartoon of The Decade. You want to sum up the City banking crisis, fat cats and the fact that if you really want to milk the taxpayer you need to work for the council?
Done…
Posted: 30th, December 2009 | In: Money | Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Somali Pirates’ Stimulus Package Nets $100million
IN Somalia, the local stimulus package is helping the pirate collective do pretty, pretty, pretty good:
“We have been given the ransom money, checked it, counted it and shared it among ourselves,” said the self-proclaimed pirate, who gave his name as Ahmed Afweyne.
Somali pirates have been paid more than $100 million in ransom over the last two years.
Posted: 29th, December 2009 | In: Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
British Airways Strikes A Blow For Mickey Mouse Unions
THE British Airways strike has taught us one thing. No, not that Bolshy well-paid union staff can bring down a business and ruin Christmas for the people who pay their wages. Not only that.
The shocker is that trolley dollies have a union: the British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association (Bassa), a branch of the Unite monolith. The head of Bassa is Lizanne Malone, “a senior stewardess and the union’s chairman”.
She “manages to conduct business from 5,500 miles away in the sizzling Californian sunshine”, earning an “estimated £50,000 a year, and is still paid, even though, for at least a year, she has not actually been working on any flights while recovering from osteoporosis in her foot.”
Is 55 degrees in the rain “sizzling”?
Posted: 17th, December 2009 | In: Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Tiger Woods: Using Gillette Gets You Laid And Other Tiger Woods Endorsements
TIGER Woods has been dropped by Accenture, and Gillette has announced it won’t use Woods’ name for an indefinite period.
Gillette isn’t thinking. Woods advertises shaving products to men for whom shaving is a novelty. Gillette has been cursed of late. Had their brand ambassador Thierry Henry not shaved his palms, Ireland would be going to the World Cup and not the French handball team. There are rumours of Roger Federer, the third Gillette shaving legend, growing a huge beard.
But back to the idea that Gillette is missing a chance.
Posted: 14th, December 2009 | In: Key Posts, Money | Comments (4) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Tiger Woods: Accenture Ignores Its Own Advice And Sacks Tiger Woods
TIGER WOODS: Accenture has severed all links with Tiger Woods. After six years of lending his image to such meaningful corporate slogans as “It’s not a setback. It’s a test”, “We know what it takes to be a Tiger”, “Go on. Be a Tiger”, “Opportunity isn’t always obvious”, “In every field of endeavor there are the timid. And there are the Tigers” and – oh, the irony - “It’s what you do next that counts”, Accenture has ignored its own advice and sacked the golfer.
“After careful consideration and analysis, the company has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising.”
Posted: 14th, December 2009 | In: Key Posts, Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Tories Rejoice At ‘Agent’ Alistair Darling’s Fine Work
HURRAH for Tory undercover agent Alistair Darling. Hip-hip toodle-pip. Parp! He’s putting the rate of national insurance up by 0.5%. The Tories are cock-a-hoop.
He’s placed the burden on employees in a failing economy. Hurrah!
Better yet – Darling is going to tax bankers’ bonuses. It’s a one-off tax that will tax any bonus over £25,000. Hurrah! Don’t pay them just loan them the money. Or pay the greedy bankers two years bonuses after the window. Hurrah!
Posted: 10th, December 2009 | In: Money | Comments (3) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
In Pictures: Thinnest House In London Could Be Yours For £550,000
ON Goldhawk Road, London, W12 you can buy a six-foot wide compact and bijou house for £549,950. The house boats five-floors, two reception rooms, a dining room, a kitchen in the basement, a bathroom, shower room, two bedrooms, a study but as yet no pole to slide down and rope ladder – although either would increase the living space. Property suits owner with morbid dread of fat people breaking in and stealing bisuits. The pictures:
Posted: 6th, December 2009 | In: Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
City Traders And Newspapers Headlines Both Deal In Fantasy
THE Daily Mail leads with news that “£40,000 A FAMILY” was used to “fund the £850bn bank bail out.”
The Telegraph has a different headline figure:
Rescuing the banking system has cost the equivalent of more than £5,500 for every family in the country, an official audit has found.
Neither headlines is true:
Posted: 4th, December 2009 | In: Money | Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Boders Closes Down And Trashes Gift Vouchers
ON the forums, AGW writes on how Borders closing its doors is bad news for anyone who bought one of the firm’s gift vouchers. It wasn’t a voucher - it was an investment, liable to go down in value. You are not a customer - you are an “unsecured creditor”.
YOU may have spotted the Internet and High Street books and the like trader Borders is in administration.
The Times said, on Novemeber 26, the move:
“Puts 1,150 jobs at risk, MCR, the insolvency and restructuring firm, confirmed. Borders, which has 45 stores including a handful that trade as Books Etc, has been struggling to raise cash to trade through Christmas.”
Very nice. But that beautifully-worded press release re-hash misses the important point…the customer. It turns out the Administrator may be on to a very good thing at this time of year. Thousands upon thousands of forward thinkers have bought Borders Gift Vouchers to hand out as Christmas presents.
Posted: 1st, December 2009 | In: Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Leeds University Advertises For A Lap Dance ‘Research Officer’ For Science Project
LEEDS University is adverting for a “Research Officer” to investigate “The rise and regulation of lap dancing and the place of sexual labour and consumption in the night time economy.”
Replies should be addressed to the Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law
School of Sociology and Social Policy.
The job description is gorgeous. Grab a light pen and get ready to take notes:
You will work on an ESRC funded study on the rise and regulation of lap dancing and the place of sexual labour and consumption in the night time economy. The post will involve qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. It is based in Leeds, although some travel to other cities may be necessary.
Posted: 28th, November 2009 | In: Key Posts, Money | Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
