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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Nov 28, 2011
November 28, 2011
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Black Friday Sales:
Maybe all those stories of shoppers lined up outside the stores weren't an exaggeration. Retailers saw their strongest Black Friday sales ever this past weekend.
ShopperTrak, which counts foot traffic at malls, estimated that sales rose 6.6 percent this year, to $11.4 billion. Last year's Black Friday sales climbed just 0.3 percent, to $10.7 billion. Nearly one-quarter of Black Friday shoppers were at stores by midnight Thanksgiving night.
As for the entire weekend, the National Retail Federation says a record 226 million consumers spent a record $52.4 billion over the four-day holiday, up 16 percent from $45 billion last year.Sucking up:
JOHNNY DEPP is still a nice guy after all these years. Bystanders outside a Paris hotel tell the NY Post's Page Six gossip column the "Pirates" star gave some local kids a real treat by posing for lots of pictures. A server inside didn't do too bad, either --word is the quirky actor left the waiter a $661-dollar tip!
Phone starter: What celebrities have you met? Were they sweet or sour? (Lee)Bottom feeding:
LINDA HOGAN walked away from her marriage to HULK HOGAN (real name: TERRY BOLLEA) a very wealthy woman. RadarOnline.com got their mitts on the former couple's divorce decree, which states the missus received $7.44-million-dollars from joint bank and investment accounts, 40 percent of the Hulkster's companies, a three-million-dollar "property settlement," along with a Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac Escalade, Corvette, Rolls-Royce and a few off-road vehicles.
Phone starter: How much did your divorce cost? Was it worth every penny? (Lee)Lady Gaga Speaks:
LADY GAGA wants to be cremated in her Chanel gown and still believes in Santa Claus. She talked about her “Gaga’s Workshop” in New York City and shared some of her Christmas traditions with Women’s Wear Daily:
--On her New York city holiday traditions: “Go to Rockefeller Center, seeing the tree. Just watching the snow fall in Central Park. A carriage ride around the Plaza..."
--Her favorite items for sale in “Gaga’s Workshop” at Barney’s: “We commissioned the fans to bring their jewelry here to sell at the store. We have boxes of Little Monsters. There’s cookies that look like my outfits. There’s magnets that are dress-up Gaga dolls.”TV Briefs:
MTV is airing it's RYAN DUNN "Tribute Special" tonight. The one-hour show (10:30 pm) will celebrate the life and antics of the "Jackass" star who died in his Porsche in a high-speed crash in June.
JOHNNY KNOXVILLE said "I still can't believe he's gone but we wouldn't trust anyone else with this, so we are doing the best we can for Ryan, his family, friends, and everyone who loved him."Grace notes:
You'll be able to see JUSTIN BIEBER's new Christmas video Wednesday night during the live broadcast of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting. Justin filmed his duet with MARIAH CAREY on her holiday classic, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" at Macy's flagship store in Herald Square. The video was shot overnight in about nine hours. (Marino)
GEORGE MICHAEL is getting better. He's been in a Vienna hospital since last week with pneumonia, but his boyfriend, celebrity hairdresser FADI FAWAZ told the UK's Daily Mirror tabloid that George's condition is improving (quote), "by the hour." Fadi also said that George does not have a heart problem and he is not in a medically induced coma. There were also rumors that the singer has AIDS. George has canceled the rest of his European tour. (Marino)
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