Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

The Reel Deal:

The Top 10 Most Romantic Movies for Valentine's Day from Star magazine:
10. "Love Story"
9. "Pretty Woman"
8. "Ghost"
7, "Gone with the Wind"
6. "Say Anything"
5. "Lady and the Tramp"
4. "Dirty Dancing"
3. "The Princess Bride"
2. "Casablanca"
1. "The Notebook" (Myers)

Grace notes:

AC/DC's lead singer wants BONO to shut up. BRIAN JOHNSON told the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia, that U2's frontman has to stop bringing his charity causes into the concert hall. Brian said (quote), "When I was a working man I didn't want to go to a concert for some bastard to talk down to me that I should be thinking about some kid in Africa." AC/DC turned down a slot at Live Aid in 1985 because the band would rather make their charitable contributions in private, not on a world stage. (Marino)

Web celebs:

Every year for four years now, Forbes magazine has ranked the most popular people on the web --web celebs-- or as they put it, the biggest and brightest stars on the internet, the people who have turned their passions into new media empires."
   The list ranges from stay-at-home-moms to geek entrepreneurs and is whittled down from a list of hundreds of candidates. The candidates are ranked using traffic rankings, Google rankings, press clips, and Twitter followers.
   For the third year running, controversial gossip blogger PEREZ HILTON topped the list, attracting more than 7.2 million people a month to his site, PerezHilton.com.
   TechCrunch editor and founder MICHAEL ARRINGTON, Mashable founder PETE CASHMORE, Twitter founders EVAN WILLIAMS and BIZ STONE, and Digg founder KEVIN ROSE rounded out the top five.
   In a list filled with tech industry entrepreneurs, internet wunderkind and social media experts, perhaps the most surprising entry is TILA "Tequila" NGUYEN, who "rose to fame circa 2006 when she became the person with the most 'friends' on Myspace.com."
Rounding out the top 10:
 6. Guy Kawasaki, Entrepreneur, venture capitalist and blogger (GuyKawasaki.com)
 7. Heather "Dooce" Armstrong, stay-at-home mom, blogger, author (Dooce.com)
 8. Tila "Tequila" Nguyen (Tilashotspot.buzznet.com)
 9. Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine expert (Garyvaynerchuk.com)
10. Cory Doctorow, digital rights activist, Boing Boing editor (Craphound.com)

Smokers' patch study:

Smokers using the patch to quit may want to give it a little longer than recommended. The package suggests two months of the patch, but researchers found smokers who wore nicotine patches for six months were more likely to quit.
   Findings published by the Annals of Internal Medicine suggest smokers may need longer-term or chronic treatment to stay smoke-free. Researchers found the results were similar to those seen with prescription drugs like Zyban and Chantix. The problem with the drugs is that they can cause depression, hostility and other behavioral changes. The patch can deliver similar results without a prescription and without risky side effects. (Page)