!marty finestone's activitybook

‘monster’ by you say party! we say die!

Marty Finestone — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:45:13 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kick ass track from a great Canadian outfit. Check out more on You Say Party! We Say Die!

the most expensive new book in the world

Marty Finestone — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:40:19 +0000

It’s made by hand, it’s about the works of Michelangelo, it weighs 62 pounds and it costs north of $100,000. “Michelanglo: La Dotta Mano”, is out now.

begging in ireland yields fines

Marty Finestone — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:38:29 +0000

For the first time since the Irish Potato Famine, there are prohibitions against begging in Ireland.

godzilla has some real tough lawyers

Marty Finestone — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:35:05 +0000

Wired has a greatly informative piece on the litigious and protective nature of Toho Co. Ltd., the rightsholder to Godzilla, and quick they are to protect their piece of IP.

Hurling hundreds of lawsuits and takedown notices like so many fireballs, Godzilla’s owner — Toho Co. Ltd — has roasted Hollywood studios, automakers, toy manufacturers, rock bands, book publishers, national food chains, record labels, bloggers, wineries and just about anybody seen as capitalizing on the monster’s unique features, name or theme music. When it comes to policing trademarks and enforcing copyrights in the United States, intellectual property attorneys say Tokyo-based Toho is easily a match for Walt Disney, Fox and Lucasfilm in terms of courthouse zeal.

“I think they have got litigation in their reptilian DNA,” says Jonathan Handel, a Hollywood IP lawyer. “They’re afraid that their intellectual property rights will suffer the same fate that Tokyo has in many Godzilla movies.”

detroit lions could be 0-16 for the season

Marty Finestone — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:43:30 +0000

The 2008 season has been a very bad one for the Detroit Lions. The question is just how bad will it get. This analysis from the Detroit Free Press posits that the team could go the full season without winning a game. No team has gone a full season without winning since the NFL switched to 16 games over 30 years ago.

gm drops tiger woods

Marty Finestone — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:38:58 +0000

GM has ended its marketing sponsorship deal with Tiger Woods a year early. Ah, spending cuts.

pomegranate phone = nova scotia

Marty Finestone — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:29:46 +0000

I stumbled upon this not so clever marketing campaign for the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Earlier today, I saw a full page colour add in the business section of a newspaper pitching what looked like a funky design for a coffee machine. At the bottom of the page was the url pomegranatephone.com.

Having a few extra minutes, I visited the site to see what the connection between a mobile phone, the pomegranate and coffee. What I saw was a site for a device that purports to market a new mobile phone/swiss army tool. It makes coffee (hence my initial thinking the newspaper add was for a coffee machine), it has built in harmonica and electric shaver and other tools (see very cheesy and not funny videos on the site). It’s only when you click on the ‘Release Date’ that this site’s true intentions are revealed.

theme from super mario played on the ukulele

Marty Finestone — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:11:11 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

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say it ain’t so writting joe – joe the plumber gets a book deal

Marty Finestone — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:08:36 +0000

As shocking as this seems, Joe the Plumber has landed himself a book deal. The magnum opus is titled Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream, and will focus on his take on American values.

2 journalists now work in the mail room

Marty Finestone — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:05:14 +0000

Two journalists at the Newark Star-Ledger are now working in the mail room. Find out how that happened.

Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – Somewhere over the rainbow/What a wonderful world

Marty Finestone — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:39:09 +0000

I hope that this puts a smile on your day.

Click here to view the embedded video.

eat local? food miles may not be the best sustainability indicator

Marty Finestone — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:33:57 +0000

This article from Reason posits that eating local may sometimes produce more carbon emissions that shipping food from other countries. Here is an excerpt as some food for thought:

Local food production does not always produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions. For example, the 2005 DEFRA study found that British tomato growers emit 2.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide for each ton of tomatoes grown compared to 0.6 tons of carbon dioxide for each ton of Spanish tomatoes. The difference is British tomatoes are produced in heated greenhouses. Another study found that cold storage of British apples produced more carbon dioxide than shipping New Zealand apples by sea to London. In addition, U.K. dairy farmers use twice as much energy to produce a metric ton of milk solids than do New Zealand farmers. Other researchers have determined that Kenyan cut rose growers emit 6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per 12,000 roses compared to the 35 tons of carbon dioxide emitted by their Dutch competitors. Kenyan roses grow in sunny fields whereas Dutch roses grow in heated greenhouses.

via Arts & Letters Daily