Rowling joins the big league of US celebrity earners
The News Review:
- Rowling joins the big league of US celebrity earners
- Zogby Poll: Most Americans Can Name Three Stooges, But Not Three…
- Rewind: Snakes On A Top Ten Movies List – Movie News Story | MTV…
- Seven dwarfs more famous than judges – poll
- Where are board games for biz types?
- Jiang Zemin books a place in history
Rowling joins the big league of US celebrity earners
The Independent – Independent – Aug 15, 2006
And when it comes down to hard cash, the Harry Potter author J K Rowling is not doing too badly either. She has been named the celebrity world’s ninth-highest earner, with a fortune that increases by £77 a minute – more than £100,000 a day. Rowling, who is currently writing the seventh and final book in the series, is the only non-American within the top ten highest-earning celebrities, according to the US business magazine Forbes. Last year alone she earned £41m. The penultimate novel in her series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was the best-selling novel of 2005 in the United States, shifting more than 7… Rowling, who is currently writing the seventh and final book in the series, is the only non-American within the top ten highest-earning celebrities, according to the US business magazine Forbes. Last year alone she earned £41m. The penultimate novel in her series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was the best-selling novel of 2005 in the United States, shifting more than 7. Hannah Clark, of Forbes, said: “While celebrities grab headlines, it is rarely actors who make money. If you want to keep making money in the long term, you need a winning franchise and J K Rowling is proof of that. “The last three volumes in the series have all been the fastest-selling books in history, with bookshops opening at midnight, such was the demand for the next installment of wizardry.
Zogby Poll: Most Americans Can Name Three Stooges, But Not Three…
FOXNews – Aug 15, 2006
That’s according to a new Zogby poll in which 77 percent of Americans could name two of the seven dwarfs, while just 24 percent knew two of the nine Supreme Court justices. And while 57 percent of Americans could name fictional boy wizard Harry Potter, less than half could name Great Britain’s real prime minister, Tony Blair. Allen’s Apology Virginia Republican Senator George Allen is apologizing for repeatedly referring to a 20-year-old Indian-American campaign volunteer as “macaca” — the name for a breed of primate that sometimes doubles in Europe as a racial slur against North Africans. Related Column Archive.
Rewind: Snakes On A Top Ten Movies List – Movie News Story | MTV…
MTV.com – Aug 15, 2006
But as David begins growing scales and an aversion to mongooses, he realizes otherwise. Of course, there are hundreds more snakey sections in movies like “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” “Superman II,” “Rattlers,” “Venom,” and of course, almost every movie set in the Old West or the jungle. We’ve barely scratched the scaly surface. And if “Snakes on a Plane” causes as much buzz at the multiplex as it has online, we are sure to see more mother&%#$in’ snakes on our mother&%#$in’ screens!Check out everything we’ve got on. Visit Movies on MTV.
Seven dwarfs more famous than judges – poll
Independent Online – Aug 15, 2006
According to the poll by Zogby International, commissioned by the makers of a new online game on pop culture called Gold Rush, 57 percent of Americans could identify J. Rowling’s fictional boy wizard as Harry Potter, while only 50 percent could name the British prime minister, Tony Blair. The pollsters spoke to 1 213 people across the United States. The results had a margin of error of 2.
Where are board games for biz types?
Seattle Post Intelligencer – Aug 15, 2006
Perusal of a collectors guide to board games reveals that, for every Monopoly or Clue that could be found in at least a few houses on your block, there were hundreds more based on the slightest or marginal of subjects (there was, for example, an actual board game based on the infamous “Where’s the beef?” Wendy’s commercial). For all the advances in computer, video and hand- held-electronic games, board games are holding their own in popularity (in some cases incorporating new technologies, such as DVDs). The Seattle area has had a sort of cottage industry of game development, such as Cranium and Front Porch Classics. There’s even a game for sale that ties into the current interest in the Lewis and Clark expedition — and aren’t those two sorry now that they didn’t think 200 years ago to lock up the licensing rights to their excursion. But here’s what’s striking about the board games of yesteryear, and what’s on the shelves of toy and specialty games stores today — how few there are dealing with business or with a finance-related theme. The shelves are positively groaning with fantasy role- playing games, games based on trivia, word play and pop culture, as well as the classics ranging from Candy Land to Sorry.
Jiang Zemin books a place in history
Guardian – Aug 15, 2006
Photograph: AP
It is a book promotion that puts Harry Potter in the shade: rave reviews, front-page headlines, lead stories on TV and a must-buy recommendation by the president of the world’s most populous dictatorship. Add the distinct possibility of demotion, imprisonment or the withdrawal of publishing licences for any critic, and there is every reason to believe that the Selected Works of former head of state Jiang Zemin will be at the top of the best-seller lists in China for many months. Published in three tomes, the collection of 203 speeches, articles, letters and decrees is difficult to carry, let alone read. But since its launch last week, the work has been extolled as one of the three ideological foundations of the Communist party. Along with similar works by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, it forms the closest thing the party has to a Bible, guaranteeing its place in every library, university and military barracks.