'Return of the Mac' - coming soon

"McDonald's has offered to pay top hip hop artists to incorporate the 'Big Mac' into their song lyrics. According to Advertising Age magazine, the fast food chain will pay rappers up to £2.80 ($5) every time a song namechecking the burger is played. McDonald's said the US deal reflected the appeal of hip hop to young people. However, critics said the tie-up was "deceptive" given that the songs would appeal to children, for whom obesity levels have become a major concern."

They're In on the Joke: Hollywood's Funniest Clique

NY Times: "THE pitch took five minutes. And it went something like this: 'Will' (that would be Will Ferrell) 'is the driver.' (That would be a Nascar driver.) 'His whole thing is: I wanna go faster.' Does it sound funny yet? Does it matter? Adam McKay, a former head writer for 'Saturday Night Live,' was doing the pitching. The studios, in competition, were doing the catching. In the end, Sony Pictures agreed last June to pay Mr. Ferrell $20 million to act in the then-unwritten film 'Talladega Nights,' with a green light almost certain if Mr. McKay, the director, and Judd Apatow, the producer, could keep their budget in the area of $70 million. It helped that the principals had certain things in common. They'd worked together on last year's 'Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,' for instance. And they were all clients of both the United Talent Agency and a pair of powerhouse managers, Mosaic Media Group's Eric Gold and Jimmy Miller, making them key members of a very select group. Ever since Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi hit Hollywood 30 years ago, screen comedy has been something of a circle game. For protection, inspiration or just plain fun, Hollywood's comic talent has tended to cluster and take care of its own. But never, perhaps, has the circle been tighter, or the financial stakes higher, than now. Mr. Ferrell, Mr. Apatow and Ben Stiller are among the club's kingpins. Mr. McKay, Owen Wilson, Jim Carrey, Vince Vaughn and Jack Black belong, as do Nick Stevens, a United Talent agent who represents Mr. Carrey and Mr. Stiller, and Mr. Gold and Mr. Miller, who have much of the group in their stable. The funnymen appear in one another's movies, from 'Dodgeball' to 'Anchorman' to 'Elf' to 'Zoolander,' creating a wheel-of-comedy effect that can leave viewers wondering just whose movie they're watching. What's more, the stars and their representatives live, work and play in a continuum that has virtually shut the studios out of the development process. By coming up with their own concepts, finding screenwriters and then offering the whole package for production - script, director and cast, take it or leave it - this group is reshaping screen humor to their liking."