The Washington Redskins opened their deep pockets and snagged the biggest name available: Albert Haynesworth. The Tennessee Titans' All-Pro defensive tackle agreed Friday to a seven-year deal worth about $100 million, including an NFL-record $41 million in guaranteed money.
Haynesworth's deal came shortly after another Redskins blockbuster: a six-year, $54 million agreement to re-sign cornerback DeAngelo Hall. The team also planned to release expensive and oft-injured cornerback Shawn Springs.
AP
Five weeks after pledging to carry out tougher reforms, Sony (SNE) Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer has reshuffled his management team. On Feb. 27, Stringer announced he would take charge of the Japanese company's struggling core electronics group, adding the title of president to his existing roles as chairman and CEO. He will also reorganize Sony's divisions and replace his top lieutenants with four young executives who have held posts outside of Japan and are "familiar with the digital world," Stringer told journalists at the company's headquarters in Tokyo.
Business Week
Major porn distributor Vivid Entertainment has just fired off a letter to Nadya Suleman, offering her 1 million bucks to star in a skin flick of her own. Vivid is willing to go one step further, by telling us they'll give her family full medical and dental insurance if she becomes a "contract girl"... meaning she'll have to do multiple videos.
TMZ - our guilty pleasure
The New York Knicks and Stephon Marbury agreed to go their separate ways almost three months after the point guard was told to stay away from the National Basketball Association team.
Financial terms of the buyout that ended Marbury’s five- year tenure weren’t disclosed in a joint statement released by the team. Marbury, who hadn’t played this season, was scheduled to be paid $21.9 million.
“A comprehensive agreement was made this afternoon between the New York Knicks and Stephon Marbury,” the statement said. “The Knicks have requested waivers on Stephon.”
From
Bloomberg
Following President Obama's first address to Congress on Tuesday night, an MSNBC host or producer was caught muttering "Oh God" on the air as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal walked toward the camera to deliver the GOP response.
The remark was heard after "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann interrupted the network's political panel to introduce the Republican governor.
From
FOX
Maureen Dowd
The entertainment Web site TMZ broke the story Tuesday that Northern Trust of Chicago, which got $1.5 billion in bailout money and then laid off 450 workers, flew hundreds of clients and employees to Los Angeles last week and treated them to four days of posh hotel rooms, salmon and filet mignon dinners, music concerts, a PGA golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club with Mercedes shuttle rides and Tiffany swag bags.
image courtesy of
Tavis Coburn
I’ve been toying with an idea that I am deciding to launch after watching Big Bama tonight. We are working on an official announcement next week but I want to roll the idea out here and get some comments.
The idea is to form a Hip-Hop Advocacy Group. A venture designed for the single purpose of improving the Hip-Hop brand. Provide advice and counsel for artists, entrepreneurs and business owners. In looking around I see virtually no organizations dedicated to supporting Hip-Hop on a macro level. We have scores of amateur and professional journalists doing their part for the art. Bloggers and fans who support every shade of Hip-Hop. From Harlem champagne poppers to DC go-go babies. But what do you do after you get that ‘buzz.’ How do you monetize it? Maximize it? And prevent it from being exploited? How do you find a lawyer, manager, or booking agent?
Secondly, who is out there advocating for Hip-Hop in the face of negative publicity? Making sure the stories of arrests, domestic violence, and missed child support payments are balanced with stories of increased market share, voter registration drives and reinvestment in the community? We may be the only billion dollar industry that sends email blasts when one of our own gets arrested and bury the stories of nationwide tours on the back page.
It is my belief that Hip-Hop is the most powerful force on the planet. It leaves its fingerprints on politics, fashion, sports, art, music, and more. We must take care of it. I am a child of Hip-Hop. The first record I can ever remember is ‘Rapper’s Delight.’ ‘Jimbrowski’ was the soundtrack to my first love. Raiders and Kings hats were my wardrobe in high school. I have spent my life supporting Hip-Hop. From starting and running a record label (three and counting – Seven Heads, Uncle Junior and now Savannah Boogie), the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, and a marketing company (The Room Service Group) we are committed. I realize what is important to me is not the money. Year after year I have made decisions that put a focus on giving back to Hip-Hop rather than taking from it. And I like it.
So what we are planning on doing is something I wanted to do last year after I met incredibly talented up and coming artists like Homeboy Sandman. Brooklyn Bodega will offer free advice, counsel and support to anyone we can help. Especially to those who can’t afford it. Contracts, marketing plans, licensing agreements, digital distribution. The whole shebang. Whether you’re a backpacker, hipster or trap star we want to make sure the machine doesn’t gobble you up and spit you out.
I am not sure how we will fund it, and we will not be able to help everyone but that has never stopped me before. We’ll do what we can. After listening to our president last night I realize now is the time for service. It is time to help the youth, the next generation of professional and artistic stars.
Congress will hold two separate hearings related to the proposed Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger this week, the first conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the second by the House Subcommittee on Courts and Competitive Policy. Tomorrow's Senate hearing will include both Irving Azoff and Michael Rapino as well as Jerry Mickelson, Chairman/EVP of promoter JAM Productions and David Balto, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress
HITS
Topping the charts as the best-selling global album of 2008 was British rockers Coldplay with their fourth studio album, Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, according to the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry). The recent three-time Grammy award winners sold 6.8 million units worldwide, beating out sales for the #1 album of 2007, which was the High School Musical 2 soundtrack.
FMQB
The
BBC
The United States is preparing to donate $900 million for Gaza.
The aid would not go to Hamas, the group that controls the territory, but it would help the Palestinian Authority, the official added.
It comes as the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepares to attend a Palestinian donors' conference.
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