Freebies for Silicon Valley celebs

This story reported by Newsweek is one week old, but I still find it noteworthy:

This month, 100 of Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, bloggers and promoters will begin receiving cool new stuff for free, delivered straight to their homes and offices. In return, these movers and shakers promise to sample the products and offer feedback to the their manufacturers. The companies hope that, if the mood strikes, the Silicon Valley 100 will chat up, blog on, or just plain recommend the products to friends and colleagues, generating that most invaluable of currencies: buzz.

Clever or slimy? Hollywood can tell stories about the power of gift bags...

Discount warehouse sold Picasso work

Sold for $39'999.99.

Only in America you can buy a Picasso work in a discount warehouse. But still - I love this story:

The wholesaler giant Costco – based in Issaquah, Wash., with 400 locations worldwide – sold a hastily drawn crayon-on-paper work by the famed Spanish cubist Pablo Picasso on its website last Wednesday. The purchaser of a $39,999 drawing identified himself as Louis Knickerbocker, a 38-year-old environmental contractor from Newport Beach, CA. Since last March, the site has been offering fine art on consignment from dealers, and this is the most expensive piece sold to date. Knickerbocker says he bought the Picasso sight unseen.
"I was running late, driving the kids to school, and I heard about it on KABC radio, and I called my wife on my cellphone and told her to get online and go to costco.com and buy that thing," Knickerbocker says. "It's an investment for the future. I'm not getting much return on the money market, or Oppenheimer funds; I figured I'd get more return on a piece of art." While Knickerbocker owns a few works by lesser-known and local artists, he says: "This is my first real expensive piece." Knickerbocker, who says he charged the Picasso on his American Express card, has never been a serious art collector but says, "Now I've got the bug." He adds that in the past he made two other important purchases at Costco: his hearing aids, and a diamond engagement ring for his wife.

O, and by the way: If Knickerbocker doesn't like the Picasso drawing for any reason, he can return it and gets the full refund! Even if he has lost the receipt (like with any other product bought from Costco). No questions asked. Again: only in America.

Small talk L.A. style

Hillarious! Mark Ganek, a transplant from Illinois, is the author of the column "The Cultural Savage" on the website Orkut where he describes his experiences of living in Los Angeles. In one of them he makes fun of the kind of smalltalk one can only hear in Lalaland. In order to describe the essence of it he created "The Los Angeles Universal Conversation Generator (patent pending)". It sounds like this (excerpt of his column):

Person 1: So, I like went to [shopping establishment] to find [trendy item]. But when I got there, they were totally out. So instead I got this [comically ugly trendier item]. Don't you love it?

Person 2: Oh my God, I saw [vapid C-list celebrity] wearing that at the [Generic Award Ceremony/Celebrity Circle-Jerk].

Person 1: Did you hear that she [comment indicating I have no personality and simply repeat what I hear on E! instead.]

Person 2: I know, and then [likewise].

Person 1: Yeah, I totally think that [comment indicating my brain contains only a rusty hamster wheel, but due to cost-cutting measures, the hamster has been replaced by a picture of a hamster.]

Person 2: Yeah. [Silence indicating I have forgotten what we were talking about because I was distracted by a reflection of myself in a mirror.] Totally.

Bystander: I'm going to shoot myself in the face.

O my god, I laughed so hard. Read the entire column.

Win with spin

According to USA today, the Bush administration "spent $250 million on public relations contracts during its first term, compared with $128 million spent for President Clinton between 1997 and 2000. (...) The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services spent the most on PR over the past four years, $94 million, and the largest recipient of government PR contracts was Ketchum, at $97 million. Any more questions?

In the news today

Dubya claims credit for elections he originally didn't want.
"Voice of freedom" vs. concerns and incertainty.
And oops: the U.S. lost track of $8 BILLION in Iraq.
Apple edges out Google as worldwide no. 1.
Robert rules the box office.
A $16 billion merger will turn the U.S. phone market into a duopoly.
Mister "Peace Train" does something good, but he is still considered as a threat.
Will Howard lead the Dems?
Oscar favors Clint.
Hillary collapsed. Too much abortion talk?
Just seen: Con Man in Cannes.
And the best of all: sunshine in California.

A daily dose beach

Long time, no see. Webcam from Zuma Beach, Malibu, California.