Simon Cowell Turns 50
What does TV's Mr. Nasty want for his birthday? More money. Cowell, whose net worth is estimated at $200 million -- plus, earns millions each year savaging wannabes on American Idol and Britain's Got Talent, which he also created. But the pop mogul is reportedly miffed that he doesn't get a cut of the programs' profits, which go to the shows' owners, including Sony BMG and Fox. A new project with retail billionaire and Topshop boss Sir Philip Green, though, could make Cowell's big day. The pair are developing a media company that will handle the creation and licensing of new TV formats, talent management, and merchandising -- and give Cowell a huge hunk of revenue from new shows. With the extra income, he might just be able to afford some new shirts and a decent haircut. -- Theunis Bates
wed, october 07
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SIMON COWELL TURNS 50
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When this league of extraordinary gentlepeople convened in Washington last spring, they were met -- as is usual for world summits now -- with a small but creative resistance. "There were about 1,500 of us," recalls Lacy MacAuley of Global Justice Action, an advocacy group that organized street protests and dance parties as the bankers and ministers met behind closed doors. Their main gripe: "The IMF and World Bank are billed as charity organizations. Really, they're loan sharks who prey upon smaller countries in their times of need." In fairness, some of those economies would have crumbled without outside financing, and it's not like there are plenty of lenders rushing to offer humongous loans. MacAuley remains unmoved -- and her allies already have tickets to Turkey. "I've talked to some people," she says. "There will be protests." -- Dan Macsai
In the good old days, the AFP's annual conference must have been quite the celebration for the 6,500 gathered wannabe masters of the universe. If the headlines are to be believed, these are not the good old days. But wait! According to a report released by the AFP itself, the average annual salary for financial professionals increased by 3.4% last year, growing 13% more than the national average. Party on? -- ZW
If Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling were around today, "I think he'd be doing things on the Internet," says Zone historian and sci-fi writer Marc Scott Zicree. "It would allow him to sidestep the production companies, sponsors, censors." Indeed, the butchering of Serling's scripts for shows such as Playhouse 90 compelled him to go rogue and create The Twilight Zone, a place where he could comment on social, racial, and political issues under the guise of science fiction, eluding the censors. "The irony, of course, is that if he hadn't been censored, he wouldn't be remembered today," Zicree says. "He died thinking his work would be just momentarily adequate." Fifty years later, it's anything but. -- ZW
We have a big oil problem. As demand for olive oil has soared over the past decade, the trade in the commodity has become unfortunately slippery, says congress chairman Rod Mailer. Shady dealers have been mislabeling and diluting the real thing, and in recent years, Italian authorities have seized thousands of liters of fake or fraudulently labeled oil. The market, alas, may be taking care of the problem. The price of olive oil, which is relatively more expensive than other oils, has slid some 20% this year. The less lucrative it is, the less fraudsters want to fake it. -- Genevieve Knapp
Thanks to Richard Branson, one lucky fellow will tap the malty brew's semiquincentennial with a Virgin Galactic flight and a zero-gravity pint. (We're buying everyone a round if the winner says, "One two-step pour for man, one foamy head for mankind.") The rest of the Diageo-organized, St. Paddy's Day -- style celebrations honoring Arthur Guinness will be earthbound, taking place everywhere from Dublin to New York to Lagos. (Nigeria is Guinness's No. 2 market behind Ireland.) Concerts will be simulcast to pubs -- the Black Eyed Peas headline in Kuala Lumpur -- and at 17:59 local time, everyone will hoist one. Urrrrrrp. -- DL
Conference organizers of the world, pay attention: The Industrial Designers Society of America is schooling you in how to put together a convention. Let's start with a little surfing in the morning, then lunch in a gallery, and then a beach party. Oh, and good-bye to those long ho-hum lectures. The poobahs at this industrial-design meetup have decided on 10-minute presentations and free-flowing discussions, all in the spirit of the South Beach vibe and the "Project Infusion" theme: "The act of pouring in and infusing good principles in the mind," explains IDSA deputy executive director Larry Hoffer. Which is nice, but we'd settle for topping off our tans. -- ACL
Outlook for Bangalore: Cloudy. Experts on cloud computing -- that fancy term for using supercomputers and amped-up servers for remote services -- will gather in India. Ahead of the meeting, we called Ramnath K. Chellappa, the professor who coined the term in 1997, to ask for his outlook. He says that cash-strapped midlevel firms may "begin moving to a cloud-computing-type scenario" to cut costs, replacing pricey software bundles with "on-demand mixing and matching." In other words, this cloud has a much-needed silver lining. -- AB
