SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS
About 40 commercials, with costs of up to three-million dollars for 30 seconds, will air during Sunday's game. Here are the big names to look out for...
Justin Timberlake will be pitching for Pepsi with a "magnetic attraction" ad that has his body hurling through New York City. And that's really Justin taking the bumps and bruises. He says the shoot was "full of stunts and painful activity, running into buildings and flying up buildings and going through the Hudson River. [I] see a couple of people along the way, almost running into cars, taking car doors out, everything you can think of, and I'm doing most of my own stunts. So it's kind of fun, but also scary at the same time."
Missy Elliott, L-L Cool J, Busta Rhymes and Macy Gray are also in a spot for Pepsi, parodying the cheesy Saturday Night Live skit-turned-film A Night at the Roxbury.
Richard Simmons and Alice Cooper show up as "Unexpected Obstacles" for Bridgestone Tires.
Sunsilk hair-care products will play a mix-up song featuring Marilyn Monroe, Shakira and Madonna.
Carmen Electra will be hawking Hershey's Ice Breakers Ice Cubes gum.
Coke gets political with Democratic strategist James Carville and former Republican senator Bill Frist riding Segways and coming together over a Coke.
New York Yankee Derek Jeter launches Gatorade's new drink G-2 with a walk through Manhattan where everything underfoot turns green.
And Go-Daddy-dot-com features race driver Danica Patrick watching an online ad featuring herself and an animatronic beaver.
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Check out this website... www.yournovel.com. You can order a romance novel where you and your significant other are the main characters... They'll customize it completely... in the book you'll eat at your favorite restaurant, take off for a trip from your local airport, and more!
R.I.P. STARBUCKS SANDWICHES
It seems like Starbucks just added those breakfast sandwiches to their menu. And, I'll admit, I've only had them a few times... but I liked knowing they were there if I ever DID want to eat one. But it's too late, because now they're gone.
Howard Schultz is the CEO of Starbucks... and he's announced that they're getting rid of their breakfast sandwiches in every single Starbucks around the world.
The main reason: When the sandwiches are cooking, the smell of the eggs, cheese and bacon takes over the store, masks the coffee smell and, they believe, makes people buy less coffee.
The other reason: Schultz believes that by focusing on sandwiches, it's distracted Starbucks from concentrating on what made it such a ridiculous success: The drinks.
Starbucks' sales have gone down for the past two quarters.
A store selling sandwiches usually pulls in $35,000-a-year in revenue from them. Schultz believes that by NOT selling sandwiches, over time, each store will be able to make more than that in extra drink sales.
Schultz says, quote, "The decision and the courage it takes to remove something when there's pressure on the business, like the sandwiches, is emblematic that we're going to build for the long term and get back to our roots."
LIFT WITH YOUR LEGS!
You know how, whenever you're about to lift something heavy, people say you should lift with your legs and never with your back??? Well... according to scientists in Finland... that's just a waste of time. Just lift it however you want.
They found that there's no evidence that lifting in the "correct" way protects your back. In their studies, they found that people who lift with their legs get just as many back injuries as people who yank the box up with their arms and back. Now you know.
ONLINE PIZZA TRACKING... BRILLIANT!
Do you HATE that period of time between when you order a pizza and just have to sit there, in the dark, praying they didn't lose your order, hoping you'll hear the sweet sound of your doorbell so you can go downstairs and get your pizza from the stoned out delivery guy???
Well, that era is OVER. Just in time for the Super Bowl, Domino's has unveiled its brand new ONLINE PIZZA TRACKER.
Now, when you call and order from Domino's, you can sit in front of your computer and watch your pizza's progress. There's a bar that will constantly update the status of your pizza... from prep to baking to being put in a box to being delivered.
Unfortunately, the tracker isn't tied to a GPS receiver in the delivery guy's car. So you won't know exactly where, geographically, your pizza is... but you will be able to see when he gets in his car, so you can estimate how long it's going to take him to get to you.
Chris McGlothlin is the head of technology at Domino's; he says, quote, "It's an emotional roller coaster when you order. We're filling that black box of uncertainty... 'Has my pizza been forgotten?'... with information."
He says the system is accurate to within 40 seconds, and it's free to all customers. Yesterday, the tracking system went live at 3,400 Domino's and will be in all of their stores by June 30th.
