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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check
November 11, 2010
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Black Friday:
Target's Black Friday sales ad got leaked online and includes Chefmate kitchen appliances like sandwich makers and hand mixers for $3 and a Tom-Tom GPS for $79. But the item people may storm the doors for when they open at 4 a-m is a 40-inch Westinghouse HDTV for $298. Like last year, Target will offer a 46-inch Apex HDTV for $449, a free $10 Target card for shoppers who spend at least $100 that day. (Kaye)
Sears will be open for holiday shopping on Thanksgiving Day for the first time in 124 years, from 7 am till noon, according to Marketing Daily. Doorbusters will include such deals as a Panasonic 58' 1080p Plasma TV, plus two bonus Blu-Ray DVDs, for $1,099, a savings of $745, and diamond or ruby pendants for $20, regularly $60.
However, there are rumblings that many of the store's employees aren't all that thrilled with the idea. (Kaye /Pacelli)Health and Medical Briefs:
For those with any lingering doubts about the hazards of smoking, the government is going to clear things up: Starting next year, all cigarettes packs will be sold with anti-smoking ads that cover at least half of the package.
The Food and Drug Administration unveiled 36 of the proposed images on its website yesterday and they're not pretty. (The FDA was given the power to regulate tobacco last June) "They're all here," writes one blogger. "hole-in-the-throat guy, child at risk, toe-tag dude, skeletal cancer man, preemie, zipper-chest fella, weepy lady ... it's like a United Nations of tobacco victims."
The public will be able to comment on the images until Jan 09, 2011, and the FDA will launch the campaign as soon as next June.
Editor's note: You can lead a smoker to the emergency room but you can't make him quit. (Maiman)Idiots or Insane:
A porn-mogul in Sweden plans to build a chain of hotels where the intimate exploits of guests can be viewed online.
The New York Post confirms BERTH MILTON will offer free stays to guests who allow their sexual activities to be streamed on the hotel website. Milton says, "The important thing is to go all the way --not halfway or a third of the way."
Milton believes a single hotel could generate around 44-million-dollars a year in online viewer subscriptions. (Still)Grace notes from Vinny Marino:
Disney Channel star DEMI LOVATO was boozing it up and snorting lines of cocaine like a rock star before sge checked herself into rehab. Life & Style magazine says that's what a Texas college student told them. BRIAN PAYNE claims he saw the then 17-year-old Demi's self-destructive behavior, which reportedly continued until she finally got help last week. The article goes on to say that her breakup with JOE JONAS of the JONAS BROTHERS also fueled her drinking binges. (Marino)
Sucking the life out of the wire services:
Add MADONNA's name to the long, long list of celebrities that were bullied as a kid. The material mom whined to ELLEN DeGENERES on her daytime talk show that she felt "isolated and alienated" as a child and was "incredibly lonely" as a teenager. Sadly, the creative types tend to suffer through high school and she was no exception --the poor Queen of Pop says she was treated like a plain, old "weirdo." (Lee)
MARIE OSMOND has found the courage to come forward about the tragic suicide of her eighteen-year-old son, MICHAEL BRYAN. The broken-hearted mom discusses the battles of her baby boy with OPRAH WINFREY today and says one of her last conversations with Michael was about how he had "no friends." Although she promised him she'd be there Monday, the depression couldn't wait and he jumped to his death before she arrived. Marie's been dealt some tough blows in life, but says this is the "hardest thing I've ever been through." (Lee)