Filed under: Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Coca-Cola (KO), China, Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Money and Finance Today, Bank of America (BAC), Whole Foods Market (WFMI), Sears Holdings (SHLD), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Wachovia Corp (WB), Genentech Inc (DNA), Japan

Keep Panic Out of Your Portfolio
This January has been the worst on record for the stock market. Is it time to buy?
Keeping Panic Out of Your Portfolio (Common Sense) | SmartMoney.com

Coke Is It
The beverage maker’s massive size and strong overseas sales make it a recession-resistant company in a weakening economy. Is this the one company to own in today’s volatile market?
Coke Is It - Kiplinger.com

Understanding Your Tax Bracket
While it’s true that the Internal Revenue Service usually taxes every last cent we make, not every penny is taxed the same.
Understanding your tax bracket -Bankrate.com

The Death of Mass Luxury
Is the “mass luxury movement” dead? It certainly looks that way. Formerly free-spending shoppers who were “trading up” to high-end goods are now less likely to treat themselves to that Gucci bag.
The Death of Mass Luxury - BusinessWeek
Also: Consumers Are Tapped Out

Owning a Small Piece of Big Luxury
Fractional ownership can let you live the lifestyle of the rich and famous without necessarily being either.
Ownership of a fraction of luxury -Bankrate.com

100 Best Companies to Work For
Fortune’s annual list surveyed nearly 100,000 employees from 446 different companies and asked them to evaluate their employers. These firms ranked the highest. Topping the list again this year is Google, followed by Quicken Loans, Wegman’s, Edward Jones and Genentech.
Top 50 employers - FORTUNE Full List

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Filed under: Action, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

There is no exclamation or excitement in the title for this post because, well, there’s not too much to “ooh” and “ahh” over. Still, this is a hugely-anticipated movie, one that I’m really itching to see, so here goes. Superhero Hype has posted the first set photos from 20th Century Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Both photos were taken in Queenstown, and one shows the frame of a building, while the other shows a half-built log cabin. The original source of the latter photo, Southland Times, says the log cabin is in Deer Park Heights, which already houses locales from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Rescue.

I imagine Logan (Wolverine) will hole up the log cabin, being all pensive, for at least some of the film, but hopefully that will be followed by classic, huge, and impressive action scenes, Wolvie Berzerk style. We have to wait over a year until the flick hits theaters on May 1, 2009, but in the meantime, here is some Wolverine action against a dastardly assailant:

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Filed under: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

As you may or may not have heard, Cloverfield pulled in some monstrous (getting that joke out of the way up front) numbers this weekend, taking in just over $40 million according to Box Office Mojo. The monster that beheads the Statue of Liberty and ruins the evening for several partying New Yorkers has been a closely guarded secret, and for those of us who haven’t seen the movie yet (I’m hoping to catch it this week), the creature’s appearance remains a tantalizing mystery. Whatever the big fella looks like, though, he’s about to be immortalized by the same folks who brought us Cabbage Patch Kids, Play-Doh and Monopoly.

Variety is reporting that orders for an action figure based on the Cloverfield monster are being taken over at Hasbro’s website. The figure won’t ship until September 30 and, presumably in the interest of keeping the monster’s look under wraps a while longer, no images of the toy are available just now. If you absolutely must have one of these, start saving your pennies because it’s going to be a bit pricey. Aimed at the collectible crowd, it’s selling for $100. The 14-inch figure comes with two interchangeable heads (one calm, one on the rampage), 10 parasites, and the Statue of Liberty’s noggin.

Hasbro, of course is no stranger to movie tie-ins. Not only do they have a long history of movie based toys, but several of their products have gone in the other direction and had films based on them. Hasbro’s Transformers was the basis for the last summer’s film of the same name and a motion picture version of G.I. Joe is in the works.

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Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in an apartment in Manhattan, according to the New York City police.

A masseuse went to the apartment for an appointment with Ledger, and was let in by a housekeeper, who knocked on the door of Ledger’s bedroom. He was found naked and unconscious in bed, surrounded by pills.

Paramedics were unable to revive him.

Signs point to a suicide or an accidental overdose, according to police sources.

Ledger leaves behind a 2-year-old daughter from his relationship with actress Michelle Williams.

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New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was photographed Monday with what appears to be a walking cast on his right foot.

This is a pic of Brady walking from his car to girlfriend Gisele Bundchen’s apartment.

Brady’s response to the pics:

“Ah, you know, there’s always bumps and bruises. I’ll be ready for the Super Bowl.”

“I’m not worried about that. I’m not missing this one. I’d have to be on a stretcher to miss this one. There will be treatment this week. In games like this, you get a little nicked up. It’s nothing serious.”

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Filed under: Gaming

Sure, your racing games are exciting… we guess. Though when you think about it, they don’t really deliver the kind of visceral, knock-about action of an actual race, do they? That’s where the Force Dynamics 401 comes in — a simulator chair which features a “direct transfer of information,” i.e., you get bruises if you drive poorly. Judging from the video (which you can see after the break), you’d be hard-pressed to get a more realistic experience… unless you were actually driving a race car at breakneck speeds around tight chicanes whilst passing speeding, desperate competitors.

Continue reading Force Dynamics’ 401 simulator chair is pure abuse

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Paris Hilton has come to Britney Spears’ defense:

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Just as expected, the former Gizmondo Europe director is free at last — well, almost. Barely a year after Stefan Eriksson was sentenced to “three years” in the slammer, he’s now been let loose from behind bars and is currently “awaiting expulsion.” Purportedly, everything was nearly in place to ship him back to Europe prior to Christmas, but apparently, the Swedish consulate has taken its sweet time in preparing a new passport. What’s still unclear, however, is whether the Ferrari Swede will be flown back to Sweden or Germany, but if all goes to plan, we’ll be liveblogging the whole ordeal as soon as that news breaks (we jest, we jest).

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Britney Spears apparently loves the paparazzi.  After dumping celebrity gossip photographer Adnan Ghalib, she has moved on to paparazzo Filipi Teixeira.
Spears invited him into her car and later to her home.

Filipi was arrested last week for reckless driving when he was pulled over FOR CHASING BRITNEY SPEARS AT HIGH SPEEDS.

What a dumb bitch!

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Filed under: Gaming, HDTV

The FCC just approved the 40GB Ceramic White PS3 for US consumption. It’s apparently the same model announced for Japan back in October. Perfect for the living room laboratory if ever released this side of the Pacific.

[Via gi]

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