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Tuesday, May 22, 2001 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes · A new non-profit enviornmental group is targeting the magazine publishing industry. The Magazine P.A.P.E.R Project is launching a campaign to convince magazine publishers to switch to more environmentally preferable paper. The PAPER initiative says that magazine publishers are responsible each year for deforestation that destroys over 30 million trees, which is enough to cover a major U.S. national park. The PAPER project also reported that more than 60% of the billions of magazines sent to newsstands every year are discarded without being sold. · 1stBooks Library, an epublishing services provider, named Thomas J. Grech as the company's new Senior Vice President of Business Development. Robert McCormack, Chief Operating Officer of 1stBooks, made the announcement. In his new post as Senior Vice President of Business Development, he will be responsible for developing new strategic relationships and partnerships within the publishing world and leading efforts to grow the 1stBooks model in new media areas. As the former Vice President of Operations at 1stBooks competitor Xlibris, Tom was responsible for operationally scaling and growing the Author Services/Call Center, Book Production, Book/Channel Sales and Prospecting teams. Prior to Xlibris he served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Merrill Corporation, a leading financial printer. He began his career with the R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company. · Bloomberg.com is unveiling an expanded class roster for Bloomberg University, its free online learning resource that teaches investors how take greater control of their fiscal futures. Starting this month, Bloomberg University will offer four new courses in addition to the ten courses it already provides: Bond Basics and Beyond, Fundamentals of the Futures Market, Mutual Funds 101, and Investing 101. · IDG's Computerworld announced the launch of Computerworld Executive Suite, an online community providing IT leaders a forum to exchange ideas and information in a secure, collaborative environment. The Computerworld Executive Suite is an interactive community where approved members selected from leading IT decision makers control the content and exchange of ideas. In an effort to combat information overload and save time in the IT decision-making process, the site enables IT leaders to network with peers through the exchange of content that changes according to member needs. · Retail asset-based lender Wells Fargo Retail Finance announced that it has provided a $35 million line of credit to The Museum Company of Fairfield, N.J., to aid its further expansion and merger with online sister company, MuseumCompany.com. Based primarily in major shopping malls, the niche retailer offers museum-related items, including jewelry, sculptures, stained glass, models, scientific instruments, graphic reproductions, books, and music. The Museum Company has worked with such museums as the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the American Museum of Natural History to bring its customers authorized, museum-related items for sale. · Schmuck University (Schmuck U) is a website which teaches people to be schmucks. However, it really is intended for good people to see how schmucks operate. Michael Prolman, the site's creator, says that Schmuck U ``grew out of my observation that schmucks tend to operate in the same ways, as if they were trained in the same school, and my experience as a sole proprietor, an employee at several Fortune 1000 corporations, a naive young man, and a driver in Boston.'' The site features a free, ``PhD in Schmuckology'' diploma, which you download, fill in the name of someone who deserves schmuck recognition, and give to that person. Schmuck U offers fifteen courses in various aspects of schmucky behavior. Subject areas include business, psychology, sociology and driving. Schmuck U also has a section of banned books with titles such as ``Civility,'' and ``Respect.'' Students caught reading or owning these books are expelled from the University. Schmuck U's business model is to license the name and website content for t-shirts and other apparel, posters, books, film and animation. · DreamWorks Pictures' computer animated comedy Shrek enjoyed a ``once upon a time'' weekend at the box office, with an estimated gross of $42.3 million -- the largest of any DreamWorks release to date. Opening in New York and Los Angeles on May 16 and nationwide on May 18, Shrek stars the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow. Based on the children's book by William Steig, Shrek was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson from a screenplay by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Joe Stillman and Roger S.H. Schulman. Aron Warner, John H. Williams and Jeffrey Katzenberg produced the film, with Penney Finkelman Cox and Sandra Rabins serving as executive producers. The co-executive producer is David Lipman, and Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are the co-producers. · Ultimate Sports Entertainment, Inc. announced that it has had its licensing agreement with the Major League Baseball Player's Association extended. The agreement sustains the company's rights to create animated comic book Superheroes featuring the images and likenesses of Major League baseball players, including their names, nicknames, facsimile signatures and statistics. · To promote Walt Disney Pictures' feature Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney Online and Kellogg USA are launching a promotional mini-site as part of a multi-level, integrated marketing campaign. Set in 1914, the new animated feature follows the adventures of Milo Thatch (voice of Michael J. Fox), an inexperienced young museum cartographer, as he joins with a mysterious Captain and a diverse group of daredevil explorers to find the lost empire. Using an ancient book, The Shepherd's Journal, to guide them, they set off on a mission filled with intrigue, discovery and danger. More information about the movie can be found at atlantis.com. Click here to return to the homepage of The Write NewsTM Click here to subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter.  www.writenews.com Copyright © 1997-2007 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
