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Celebrities Bring Star Power to Nonprofit Boards
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Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi to marry (Muckety)
When the California Supreme Court ruled yesterday in favor of same-sex marriage, Ellen DeGeneres was the first celebrity to announce that she intended to take advantage of the court’s decision.
Hint: Click in map to explore connectionsStory continues below interactive map
MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.DeGeneres said she and her longtime girlfriend Portia de Rossi would marry at Thursday’s taping of her talk show, which will air today.
An emotional DeGeneres joked, “I’ll tell you who the lucky guy is soon,” after cameras panned to de Rossi, who applauded in the studio audience.
DeGeneres has been pioneer for gays in the public eye. She made headlines in 1997 when, on her sitcom, Ellen, her character came out as a lesbian. DeGeneres came out personally, in an interview with Time magazine, the same year.
She is one of many celebrities who spoke to The Advocate about the new ruling.
“I can’t wait to get married,” she told the magazine. “We all deserve the same rights, and I believe that someday we’ll look back on this and not allowing gays to marry will seem as absurd as not allowing women to vote. P.S. I’m registered at Crate & Barrel.”
Other high-profile people who have added to the commentary on the new ruling are: Marc Jacobs (”Who to love and how to love should be up to the individual or the couple. Enough said!”), Melissa Ethridge (”I feel they have made an honest woman of me”) and T.R. Knight (”Our ‘certain inalienable rights’ are protected today. It makes me proud to live in a country that works to correct its sins”).
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Pellicano Convicted of Wiretapping and Racketeering
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Michael Moore Has More to Say About the Bush White House
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Ellen Degeneres and Portia De Rossi to Marry
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CBS will pay $1.8 billion for CNET Networks
CBS announced today that is acquiring CNET Networks Inc., for $1.8 billion, at $11.50 per share.
Hint: Click in map to explore connectionsStory continues below interactive map
MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.CNET, which holds the coveted news.com domain name, operates a range of web sites, including CNET, ZDNet,
GameSpot.com, TV.com, CHOW and Search.com.
Leslie MoonvesAs Dealbook notes today, CBS chief Leslie Moonves said a year and a half ago that the company wasn’t interested in pricy web acquisitions. “We are not going to spend $1.6 billion on YouTube,” he said then, referring Google’s purchase of the video site.
Moonves has apparently changed his mind. In today’s press release, he says, “There are very few opportunities to acquire a profitable, growing, well-managed Internet company like CNET Networks.”
Jana Partners LLC, CNET’s largest shareholder, had pushed for a higher stock price. Jana has not yet responded publicly to the CBS announcement.
The deal may affect content distribution for other web publishers. CNET currently provides content to Hulu, a subsidiary of NBC.
The purchase will bring significant online traffic to CBS. In the fourth quarter of 2007, CNET claimed 148 million unique users per month. The company also boasts a strong presence in Asia and Europe.
CNET, one of the early publishers on the web, was founded by Shelby Bonnie, who stepped down after an internal audit found back-dating of stock options. Bonnie went on to found Political Base.
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Cbs Will Pay 18 Billion for Cnet Networks
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Beyond the grave: Sinatra still has Muckety
Frank Sinatra is as cool as ever.
Hint: Click in map to explore connectionsStory continues below interactive map
MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.Today a new U.S. postage stamp commemorating the Chairman of the Board goes on sale. Although Sinatra died 10 years ago today, his name continues to sell not only stamps, but music, movies and other products.
Frank Sinatra stampTurner Classic Movies is dedicating prime-time programming to him on Sundays and Wednesdays through May. Warner Home Video is releasing four sets of his films today.
The Clooney-Pitt version of Ocean’s Eleven, along with its sequels, has acquainted a new generation to the original rat pack of the 1960s. The wonders of 21st-century technology enabled Alicia Keys to perform a duet with Sinatra at the Grammy Awards show in February.
While his talents assure him a permanent place in modern culture, the current wave of popularity is about much more than nostalgia.
In November, his heirs and Warner Music Group formed a company called Frank Sinatra Enterprises LLC. The firm will manage the Sinatra name in a range of ventures, possibly including a Broadway show and a casino.
The Sinatra name is not just a powerful brand. It also has great demographics.
As Jimmy Edwards, head of Frank Sinatra Enterprises, told the Los Angeles Times, “Frank opens the door to a very exclusive club. He crosses so many zones too; he’s working-class, but he also runs around with the country-club set.”
“The amazing thing is how untapped all of it is,” Tina Sinatra, the singer’s younger daughter, told the Times. “By design we have done very little, particularly once he died.”
Sinatra himself formed a company late in life, called Artanis (Sinatra spelled backwards) Foods, to manufacture and market spaghetti sauce. Investors at the time included Pia Zadora and Annette Funicello.
Yet his heirs may be trying to manage a market that is beyond control. The nearly 2,000 Sinatra-branded products offered on eBay this morning included Frank Sinatra wristwatches, Frank Sinatra dolls (description: “It says Mattel 1975 on the butt”), a Frank Sinatra fan parking sign, Frank Sinatra Christmas ornaments, a Frank Sinatra music box shaped like a golf bag, and a CD of Frank Sinatra declassified FBI files.
Other web sites market a Cuban cigar called the “Sinatra Belicoso Torpedo.”
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Make a Muckety: David Rockefeller and family
David Rockefeller, the only surviving son of John D. Rockefeller Jr., has raised his family to carry on the Rockefeller tradition of involvement in the arts and philanthropy.
Hint: Click in map to explore connectionsStory continues below interactive map
MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.This user-created Muckety map explores the connections made by David Rockefeller and his children. Organizations they are involved in include the Museum of Modern Art, Doctors Without Borders, National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center and Global Development and Environment Institute.