A viral video happy ending
The world’s worst parking job attracted a million-plus views on YouTube. Hyundai was watching. Very clever marketing.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Tiger roars past $1 billion
Tiger demonstrates is pitching skills in this Buick ad.
Forbes.com’s SportsMoney blog by Mike Ozanian estimates that Tiger Wood’s $10 million payday last weekend pushed his career earnings — on and off the course — past the $1 billion mark. That would make him the world’s first billion-dollar athlete, Ozanian said.
Ozanian writes:
The scary part is that Woods is only 33-years-old and might have 15 years of competitive golf left in him and 30+ years of designing golf courses. This is only the first $1 billion for Woods.
Comments on the blog claim that Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher already have eclipsed the billion-dollar mark. But Woods’ financial accomplishments at such a tender age are impressive.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
A century of dumb inventions
Life has compiled a photo gallery from its archives of some of the dumbest ideas that inventors created in the 1900s. Many of the photos are priceless, and the captions contain just enough snark. About a gunslinging robot, Life writes: “It’s always easy to question the wisdom of giving a robot a gun, but also making him quick on the draw is just irresponsible.”
Of an anti-bandit bag with a bottom designed to collapse and dump the bag’s contents when its owner is threatened, Life writes: “That’ll stop those thieves from getting at the contents of your bag! No, wait. It won’t.”
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
The $300,000 clunker
The Detroit Free Press ferrets out some fascinating details from government data about the recently concluded Cash for Clunkers program. Someone traded in a 1997 Bentley Continental R, which had an original price of more than $300,000, in exchange for no more than $4,500 credit toward a new car.
Some enthusiasts would have paid many thousands of dollars for the rare 1987 Buick GNX destroyed under the program; only 547 were built. The nation’s supply of used Chevrolet Corvettes was thinned by 131, including 34 convertibles, and the program also liberated 22 Americans from the burden of owning a Peugeot.
And this
And 37 people decided to clunk models that were less than a year old.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
And you thought your morning commute was tough
Bike trickster expert Danny MacAskill performs his magic in this viral ad for a Scottish jobs company.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Rounding up
The ubiquitous .99 typically tacked onto prices may be going the way of the gas station attendant and the credit card imprint device. Consumers Reports Money blog notes that a couple of news organization have reported that some British retailers are shunning the .99 for the “round pound.”
There appear to be a number of reasons behind the switch, a major one being that consumers are no longer fooled into thinking that £1.99, for example, is really significantly less than £2. The higher price may actually seem more honest.
Seems like a great idea. Let’s bring it across the pond. And the first place to implement it should be on the 9/10 of a cent we pay on each gallon of gas.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Disney-Marvel team-up spawns new rivalries
The folks over at Woot (and a few thousand others online) are already mapping out the possibilities of Disney’s $4 billion purchase of Marvel. My favorite: Colossus vs. Pinnochio.
Mary Poppins vs. Dr. Strange: The Cloak of the Vishanti vs. A Spoonful of Sugar! The Faltine dimension vs. the racetrack full of penguins! “Abracadabra” vs. “Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious”!
Spider-Man vs. Jiminy Cricket: Seized by arachnid instinct, the way-out web-slinger craves cricket meat! Will an enchanted umbrella be enough to shock him back to his spider-senses?
Hercules vs Hercules: The battle the public domain laws demanded! Not a dream! Not a hoax! Not covered under the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act!
Colossus vs. Pinocchio: The building materials who walk like men! Who will triumph: Italian wood… or Russian steel? There’s no flesh in this supersaga – but plenty of blood!
Wolverine vs. Tramp: One is a scruffy loner with heroic instincts and a heart of gold! The other has giant adamantium claws! Who will win the good girl’s heart?
Bambi’s Mother vs Uncle Ben: “With great power comes great responsibility” – or, “If you’d just been a better kid, I’d still be alive.” The neuroses of tomorrow begin here!
More here.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
“District 9″ director started with commercials
“District 9″ is getting rave reviews, including this solid thumbs up from our own George Lang. Director Neill Blomkamp displayed his creativity and ability to work with special effects in several television commercials, including this classic.
For more examples, go here.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
So long, Kodachrome
We waited up nights to open those golden boxes--like young children surprised with glee and knowing we could drift asleep again and that all was right with the world, and that there was still Kodachrome, and almost nothing else mattered.\
After 74 years, Kodak is retiring Kodachrome film. While some of the world’s best photographers have used it to produce some spectacular images, Kodachrome has been pushed to the fringes of photography.
From the AP (which couldn’t resist the bad Paul Simon joke in the hedline and the lede)
It enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s but in recent years has nudged closer to obscurity: Sales of Kodachrome are now just a fraction of 1 percent of the company’s total sales of still-picture films, and only one commercial lab in the world still processes it.
See a slide show of iconic images shot on Kodachrome film.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Switzer always liked the pitch
Barry Switzer has hired on as a spokesman for Dunkin’ Donuts, and a new set of ads trades on his willingness to do crazy stuff, along with his intensity as a coach — even when he’s coaching chess. (via Sporting Press)
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
