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By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer Sun Aug 31, 1:43 PM ET LOS ANGELES (AP) — Batman's rich alter-ego Bruce Wayne has added half a billion dollars to his riches. "The Dark Knight" on Sunday became the second movie in Hollywood history to top $500 million at the domestic box office, raising its total to $502.4 million, according to estimates from distributor Warner Bros. The film hit that mark in just over six weeks, half the time it took "Titanic," which reached $500 million in a little more than three months. "Titanic," the biggest modern blockbuster, remains No. 1 on the domestic charts with $600.8 million. Despite its brisk pace, "The Dark Knight" is not expected to approach the total for "Titanic," which put up smaller numbers week after week but lingered at the top of the box office for months. Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros., said he expects "The Dark Knight" to finish at about $530 million, though it...

By: Joal Ryan August 2008 - 14:15 Even a football stadium couldn't hold Barack Obama's audience. An Oscars-esque 38.4 million watched Obama's speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, Nielsen Media Research said today. Actually, the Oscar ceremony hasn't averaged 38 million-plus viewers since 2006. Obama's Thursday speech, delivered before about 75,000 at the football home of the Denver Broncos, not only topped this past year's Oscars (32 million), but every night of the just-concluded Beijing Games (which, at its best, scored 34.9 million), and last spring's American Idol finale (31.7 million). The speech drew more viewers than President Bush's last State of the Union address (37.5 million) and was easily the most-watched hour of this week's Democratic convention. Nielsen stopped short of outright declaring it the most-watched convention event ever as its data for night-by-night, convention viewership only goes back to 2000. Also unkn...

By Annabelle Robertson Post date and time : 8/31/08, 4:29 AM WebMD.com If you're looking for quick muscle building, go no further than your local gym, where doctors say that major strength gains can be had in just a few weeks. Last year, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American Heart Association updated their recommendations for physical activity. In addition to regular cardio workouts, Americans are now being encouraged to perform resistance training at least twice a week, working every major muscle group. Spero Karas, MD, assistant professor of orthopaedics in the division of sports medicine at Emory University, says that testosterone, the male hormone responsible for muscle growth, maxes out between the ages of 16 and 18. It reaches a plateau during the 20s and then begins to decline. As a result, muscle building after the adolescent years can be challenging, he says. Fortunately, a little strength training goes a long way -- particularly in the early d...

By: By Ty Wenger 8/31/08, 4:14 AM Provided by: webmd.com "mens" I was in the ninth grade when I learned a vital lesson about love. My girlfriend at the time, Amy, was stunningly cute, frighteningly smart and armed with a seemingly endless supply of form-fitting angora sweaters. And me? Let's just say I was an adolescent Chris Robinson to her budding Kate Hudson -- and well aware of my good fortune. Then one day, as we stood in line for a movie at the mall, Simone Shaw, junior high prom queen, sauntered by. Suddenly Amy turned to me. "Were you looking at her?" she asked. "Do you think she's pretty?" My mind reeled. Of course I was looking at her! Of course she was pretty! My God, she was Simone Shaw! I paused for a second, then decided to play it straight. "Well, yeah," I chortled. Five days later our breakup hit the tabloids (a.k.a. the lunchroom). There comes a time in every man's life when he discovers the value of hiding the grosse...

By Glenn Curtis Tuesday, August 26, 2008 Provided by: Investopedia.com Let's face it; we all don't make millions of dollars a year, and the odds are that most of us won't receive a large windfall inheritance either. However, that doesn't mean that we can't build sizeable wealth — it'll just take some time. If you're young, time is on your side and retiring a millionaire is achievable. Read on for some tips on how to increase your savings and work toward this goal. Stop Senseless Spending Unfortunately, people have a habit of spending their hard-earned cash on goods and services that they don't need. Even relatively small expenses, such as indulging in a gourmet coffee from a premium coffee shop every morning, can really add up — and decrease the amount of money you can save. Larger expenses on luxury items also prevent many people from putting money into savings each month. That said, it's important to realize that it's usually not just one item ...

By AFP Aug 27, 5:07 pm EDT BEIJING (AFP) – China plans to auction off 20 million items related to the Beijing Olympics, including the bed that basketball star Yao Ming slept in while taking part in the Games, state media reported Wednesday. Also on the block will be electric appliances used by Liu Xiang, the celebrity 110m hurdler forced to quit the Games with an injury, and ancient musical instruments from the opening ceremony, the Beijing Times said. There are so many items it could take up to two years to auction them all, it said. The auctions will be conducted by the China Beijing Equity Exchange, which mostly sells off shares in state-owned enterprises to private buyers. The paper did not say how much the sales were expected to raise, but an earlier report said it could be as high as one billion yuan (145 million dollars).

By MIN LEE, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 27, 10:27 AM ET HONG KONG - Who is the "iPhone Girl"? Pictures of an Asian factory worker found on a new iPhone sold to a British customer have generated keen discussion on the Internet about her identity — and her fate. The three pictures, posted on the Apple discussion Web site MacRumors.com, show a young Asian woman working on what appears to be an assembly line for iPhones. Dressed in a pink striped outfit and hat and wearing white gloves with yellow fingertips, the young woman now known on the Web as the "iPhone Girl" is shown smiling and making victory signs as she poses next to an iPhone. The MacRumors.com user who posted the photos last week, identified as only "markm49uk" from Kingston-upon-Hull, England, said in a posting that one of the pictures showed up on a new 3G iPhone when the iTunes program was launched. News reports say the woman may work at a factory run by an Apple contractor, Taiwan-based ...

By Gina Serpe Thu Aug 28, 4:19 AM ET Los Angeles (E! Online) - Someone has taken Kate Moss' role as fashion's golden girl rather literally. British sculptor Marc Quinn is ready to unveil his latest creation to the world, a nearly $2.8 million, 110-pound solid gold statue of the supermodel, hyped as the largest such creation built since ancient Egypt. Quinn, the artist behind 2006's Sphinx, a painted bronze statue of Moss in a somewhat provocative yoga pose, has dubbed his new golden girl Siren. And the British Museum has already heeded its call. While the venerable London museum has so far only released a close-up photo of the statue's face, the work purportedly shows Moss, once again, in the same contorted yoga pose as before. "I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who's the ideal beauty of the moment," Quinn said of his fabulously excessive creation. "But even Kate Moss doesn't live up to the image." Th...

by Daren Fonda Tuesday, August 26, 2008 Provided by: SmartMoney.com 1. "You may think I'm rich, but I don't." A million dollars may sound like a fortune to most people, and folks with that much cash can't complain — they're richer than 90 percent of U.S. households and earn $366,000 a year, on average, putting them in the top 1 percent of taxpayers. But the club isn't so exclusive anymore. Some 10 million households have a net worth above $1 million, excluding home equity, almost double the number in 2002. Moreover, a recent survey by Fidelity found just 8 percent of millionaires think they're "very" or "extremely" wealthy, while 19 percent don't feel rich at all. "They're worried about health care, retirement and how they'll sustain their lifestyle," says Gail Graham, a wealth-management executive at Fidelity. Indeed, many millionaires still don't have enough for exclusive luxuries, like membership at an e...

Monday, August 25, 2008 provided by: Kiplinger.com It's been said that the best things in life are free -- and we couldn't agree more. So we've beefed up our annual list of our favorite freebies to bring you even more this year. We looked for primo goods and services, no useless junk allowed. And boy, did we find 'em, from financial management and planning helps to entertainment and vacation freebies. Go ahead. Embrace your inner tightwad: Our favorite freebies Free TV & Movies At Hulu.com, you can watch full episodes of more than 300 shows from NBC Universal and Fox stations, including The Simpsons, The Office, 30 Rock, The Colbert Report, Psych and House. You can even catch classics such as The A-Team, Bewitched, Dragnet and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Hulu also offers more than 165 free full-length movies. There's something for everyone, and it's 100% legal. If your favorite show isn't on Hulu, you can go to individual network Web sites, such as ABC.co...

Yahoo News Mon Aug 25, 2:36 PM ET DALLAS - Southwest Airlines Co. has published its schedule and fares for early next year, a move that could spur rivals to lower their fares for the period, an airfare observer said Monday. Many airlines takes reservations nearly a year in advance, but Southwest usually goes out only about six months. Recently, the Dallas-based carrier issued its schedule and prices for Jan. 9 through March 6. The new schedule has forced other major airlines to roll back fares they had been charging to match Southwest's lower prices on many routes, said Tom Parsons, chief executive of travel Web site Bestfares.com. Parsons said the old rule of booking farther in advance to save money doesn't always hold true. He said other airlines will probably charge higher fares for travel after March of next year.

by Ben Steverman Friday, August 8, 2008 The more we spend unnecessarily, the less money we save for our true priorities and future needs. That's especially important in challenging economic times. BusinessWeek asked financial advisors for tips on how to reduce expenses and boost savings. Changing spending habits can be difficult, but here are 25 suggestions to get started. 1. Track Every Expense Financial advisors say the best way to control your spending is to know precisely where all your cash is going each month. There are several options: Make a budget; keep a spreadsheet of all spending; or buy a computer program designed to help manage your finances. 2. Vacation in the Off-season Reston (Va.)-based financial planner Frank Boucher says he is taking his beach vacation in early September, when he found a luxury condo for half its cost during July and August. Vacationers can also save by staying with friends or visiting low-cost locations like developing countries. 3. Cut Out Inv...

By ERIN CARLSON, Associated Press Writer Post date and time, 8/25/08 4:10 PM NEW YORK - Scooching in between Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson sounds intimidating, if not a little scary. But Kara DioGuardi, the newly-installed fourth judge on "American Idol," is confident she'll find her niche within the bickering, ratings-tested judges' panel where the line between love and hate is blurred with every critique. "I'm just gonna speak to Simon the way I speak to everybody," DioGuardi told reporters during a teleconference Monday. "I'm just gonna have my opinion, be honest and I don't foresee any problems. I'm really excited about this, and up for the challenge." The Grammy-nominated songwriter will make her debut when the eighth season of "Idol" premieres in January, the Fox network said Monday. "It's really flattering too, you know, to think that (`Idol') even thought about me," she said. "I...

WebMD Feature from "Redbook" Magazine By Amy M. Keller. Post date and time : 8/25/08 3:29 PM When the normal bacteria on your feet interact with moisture trapped in your socks and shoes, they emit stinky sulfurous byproducts, says Doris J. Day, M.D., an assistant professor of dermatology at New York University. 1. What causes foot odor? The fix: Since dry feet equals odor-free feet, wear absorbent cotton socks with shoes made from breathable materials, like canvas and leather, and sprinkle Zeasorb - an over-the-counter drying powder - into your shoes every morning. Three nights a week, pour a pot of tea made with several regular (not herbal) tea bags into a basin, then soak your feet for five to 10 minutes. The tannic acid in tea temporarily inhibits sweat production. See your doctor if your feet are also red, swollen or scaly to make sure a bacterial or fungal infection isn't causing the smell. 2. Why does my breath smell despite constant brushing? Although brushing wil...

By Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports Aug 24, 11:29 am EDT BEIJING – It is the biggest buzz word in Olympic circles, and the promise of it can dramatically sway the bidding process for future Games. Legacy. These days, any hopeful city with Olympic aspirations must not only show its ability to provide venues and infrastructure of the highest standard, but also prove there will be a lasting positive effect on the local community. The 2004 Olympics in Athens showed how to get it embarrassingly and disgracefully wrong. Over the past 16 days, Beijing has shown the world how to get it magnificently right. Four years since the Athens Games, a Greek tragedy is taking place. Incredibly, 21 out of the 22 Olympic venues now lie abandoned and in various states of ruin. Gypsy camps have sprung up in the shadow of stadiums where the world’s finest athletes once battled for gold. Graffiti is scrawled over the outer walls of many sites, and it has been reported in Greece that upward of $1 billion has been ...