Monday, January 10, 2011

bank foreclosure

A
coalition of seven major public pension systems, led by New York City
Comptroller John Liu, has asked the boards of four of the largest U.S.
banks to examine their mortgage and foreclosure practices.

In
a letter dated January 6, the pension fund coalition urged the Audit
Committees of Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase &
Co, and Wells Fargo L& Co to launch independent examinations of their loan modification, foreclosure, and securitization policies and procedures.

"This
will help to prevent future compliance failures and restore the
confidence of shareholders, regulators, legislators and mortgage
markets participants," the coalition said in the letter.

Bank representatives could not be reached for immediate comment on Sunday.

On
January 7, in a decision that could slow foreclosures nationwide,
Massachusetts' highest court voided the seizure of two homes by Wells
Fargo & Co and US Bancorp after the banks failed to show they held
the mortgages at the time they foreclosed.

That
sent fears through the market as investors worried that decision could
threaten lenders' ability to work through hundreds of thousands of
pending foreclosures.

The
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts' unanimous decision upheld a
lower court ruling and was among the earliest cases to address the
validity of foreclosures done without proper documentation.

That
issue, including the use of "robo-signers" who approved foreclosure
documents without reviewing them, last year prompted an uproar that led
lenders such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Ally Financial Inc
to temporarily stop seizing homes.

Courts
in other U.S. states are considering similar cases, and all 50 state
attorneys general are examining whether lenders are forcing people out
of their homes improperly.

The
pension fund coalition represents more than $430 billion in pension
fund investments, including $5.7 billion invested in the four banks.

Liu
represents the five NYC pension funds. The coalition also includes the
Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, the Illinois State Board
of Investment, the Illinois State Universities Retirement System, the
New York State Common Retirement Fund, the North Carolina Retirement
Systems, and the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund.

The
coalition called for the banks to report the findings of their
independent examinations in their 2011 proxy statements this spring.

At
the end of the last year, the coalition's combined holdings in each
bank included: 97.1 million Bank of America shares valued at $1.3
billion; 226.6 million Citigroup shares valued at $1.1 billion; 40.7
million JPMorgan Chase shares valued at $1.7 billion, and 50.6 million
Wells Fargo shares at $1.6 billion.

It's about
time public pension funds get involved and use their clout to pressure
banks to examine their loan modification, foreclosure, and
securitization policies and procedures. I'm not sure anything will come
out of this but the foreclosure crisis has sounded the alarm bell and
banks need to respond to make sure that measures are in place to prevent
this type of abuse from ever happening again.

Finally, I leave you with some thoughts from Graham Turner of GFC Economics, one of the best independent economic consultancy shops for institutional clients:

Check out this really depressing map (this link takes you to the full-sized image).

The text introducing the map: "Leading Democrats, such as Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) whose state was hit hard by the real estate downturn, have called on lenders to halt foreclosures. But the Obama administration says a nationwide delay could devastate the fragile real estate market in places like Florida."

Looking at Florida on that map, I'd say the devastation has already been wrought.

Meanwhile, Bank of America continues in its position as the most likely lender to fraudulently foreclose on borrowers. Here's the latest egregious story, from a few days ago.

In one of the more bizarre foreclosure cases, Bank of America is threatening to throw a West Hartford family out of their home even though the couple never missed a mortgage payment.

The largest bank in the United States earlier this month notified Shock Baitch and his wife Lisa (Friedman) Baitch that foreclosure action will start today – Christmas eve – unless the couple agrees to put their home up for a forced sale.

Why?

Because another unit of Bank of America erroneously reported to credit agencies that the family was seeking a loan modification, ruining their credit rating and as the result putting their mortgage into default.

All this is happening even though the bank – after admitting it erred and sent a letter of apology in September – handed this case to a special unit at Bank of America that is charged with dealing with severe customer issues. It promised to notify the credit reporting agencies that the couple were not deadbeats, but were good credit risks.

“I have never seen a case like this,” said Manchester attorney Wendell Davis, whose office handles many foreclosures.

Before taking the case, Davis said he thoroughly checked Baitch’s records and found that all his and his wife’s allegations were accurate.

“They have never even been late on a mortgage payment,” said Davis this morning in an interview....

Baitch’s story began about a year ago when he and his wife wanted to refinance their home in order to pay for improvements and to consolidate their debts. Baitch is a firefighter.

They spoke to a BofA loan specialist and asked for the cheapest refinance option. The loan specialist tentatively put them into the “Making Home Affordable program,” which unbeknownst to the couple would signal to the credit world that they were in financial straits.

When the couple received a package of papers to sign, they decided to go with a conventional mortgage because they did not want to have to add escrow costs and home insurance to their mortgage payments, not because they were aware of the ramifications on the loan program.

But it was too late. Shortly after that, in April, Baitch’s wife (whose name is on the mortgage) received a letter from BofA telling her that the credit limit on one of her credit cards was reduced to $18,800 from $30,000. The two weren’t worried because they had plenty of credit available on other credit cards. Baitch said he just figured that the bank was tightening everyone’s credit.

It was only after his wife started receiving notifications from other creditors that several of her other accounts were being closed that the couple discovered what had happened.

Because of BoA's fraudulent reports to credit bureaus, the couple's credit has been ruined. Supposedly BoA is working on restoring the credit limits on their BoA accounts, but that doesn't fix their credit rating. That's a hassle for the couple, but the true nightmare is the foreclosure letter the couple received just before Christmas, a foreclosure proceeding that no one at BoA has been able to justify. Baitch describes the long trail of customer relations calls he's made, culminating at the top.

“I then spoke to Debbie Lambert from the Office of the CEO and President. Debbie advised me that, in fact, my account is still “under review” and has a “work out negotiator” assigned to the case. She could not explain why the letter of foreclosure was issued, but, did confirm that our status is that we are still in the loan modification process. A process we NEVER agreed to or ever entered and were PROMISED that it would be corrected!”

“So, in summary, BOA is threatening to proceed with foreclosure on a house that was NEVER late or in risk of default. No one at BOA can find where this letter came from, but admits, that somewhere in there system, some department at BOA thinks we are to be foreclosed on. This is just proof that BOA is far too large to be of any benefit to themselves or the consumer.”

Reading this story, and looking at that map of the extent of the crisis, might be enough to make the Geithner and Obama reconsider forcing a national halt on foreclosures. Letting the banksters steal it all isn't a policy solution.

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'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews
'The Daily' iPad News Publication to Debut January 19th - Mac Rumors
Last month, All Things Digital reported that News Corp.'s forthcoming tablet-focused news publication, The Daily, appeared likely to debut sometime the week of January 17th. Forbes has now confirme.
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Digital Photography Review
Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 samples gallery: Just posted: Olympus XZ-1 sample photos. While we were attending CES in Las Vegas, we were offered a full, production-standard version of the latest enthusiast compact from Olympus.
The State News :: The Snyder Effect
Gov. Rick Snyder, who took office Jan. 1, repeatedly has said K-12 and higher education and retaining young people in the state are priorities for his administration. But until Snyder releases concrete numbers as part of his budget ...

Friday, January 7, 2011

managing your personal finance

Consumerist Budget Spreadsheet Balances Your Money, Encourages Your Nest Egg

The saving-savvy folks at The Consumerist blog have put together a template Excel spreadsheet for managing personal finances. It's the kind of thing you always say you're going to do, but they went ahead and did it for you, and it's free.

It's not a new thing, but Consumerist's budget spreadsheet, crafted during the days the site was one of our blog network brethren, has come back, after being lost to the vagaries of server maintenance. The site has instructions on setting it up, including tips on thinking through your monthly expenses and advice on how much you should plan on socking away for a rainy day, retirement, and other expenses.

Maybe you use Mint or another automated spending/saving tracker instead—but then again, maybe those tools are so automatic that you don't get a good look at your real money situation.

Best Mobile Personal Finance Tool?

Earlier this year we took a look at best money management web sites, but often, tracking money on-the-go is just as important. What's your favorite tool for managing your money on the go?

Photo by Erik Hersman.

Whether you're using a mobile-optimized web site or an application specific to the iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and so on, we want to hear from you. What mobile money management tool makes it easy to manage your money when you're away from your computer?

Hive Five nominations take place in the comments, where you post your favorite tool for the job. We get hundreds of comments, so to make your nomination clear, please include it at the top of your comment like so: VOTE: Mobile Personal Finance Tool. Please don't include your vote in a reply to another commenter. Instead, make your vote and reply separate comments. If you don't follow this format, we may not count your vote. To prevent tampering with the results, votes from first-time commenters may not be counted. After you've made your nomination, let us know what makes it stand out from the competition.

About the Hive Five: The Hive Five feature series asks readers to answer the most frequently asked question we get: "Which tool is the best?" Once a week we'll put out a call for contenders looking for the best solution to a certain problem, then YOU tell us your favorite tools to get the job done. Every weekend, we'll report back with the top five recommendations and give you a chance to vote on which is best. For an example, check out last week's Five Best Resources for Free Games.

Send an email to Jason Fitzpatrick, the author of this post, at jason@lifehacker.com.

free rental agreement forms

Atlanta Hawks Off Day News and Notes - Peachtree Hoops

Opinions and Reactions to the Atlanta Hawks 110-87 victory over the Utah Jazz.

Overcoming Bias : Bad News: Kant & Bets

If we were to see life out there in the universe, at or below our level of development, that would be bad news regarding our future. It would suggest that more of the great filter that stands between dead matter and expanding ...

Star Wars Complete Saga Blu-ray news: release in September, 30 ...

This might not be the 'most impressive' Star Wars announcement you were looking for. Not that it's a bad thing the complete saga will be.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Making Money Marketing

Amazon is officially taking the wraps off its long-awaited Amazon App Store for Android, with the formal launch of a developer program. The Amazon store — which won’t arrive until sometime later this year — is aimed at creating a high-quality destination for Android app buyers and will give Android users a trusted place to pick up apps.

As I wrote last year, what Amazon is doing has a lot of potential, because it addresses some major shortcomings of Google’s own Android Market, which appears on almost all Android devices. Android Market, with some 200,000 apps, doesn’t suffer from lack of quantity, but it hasn’t been a huge money-maker for app developers because it’s rather simple, provides too few discovery tools and categories, has had little marketing and requires that purchases go through Google Checkout, a system that many users don’t seem to want to use.

While Google has addressed some of the concerns with recent improvements to Android Market, there’s still a lot Amazon can provide to both users and developers. I think serious developers will definitely look at the Amazon App Store as a way to sell their apps. It does bring some confusion to consumers, having to consider multiple application stores, but Amazon’s approach and its reputation as an online retailer should make it a popular destination for both consumers and developers. Here are the details of the program, some of which have been reported before:

Amazon will take a 30-percent cut of the sale price, the same as Google and Apple. There’s a $99 developer fee that Amazon is waiving for the first year. Developers must set a list price, but Amazon will be able to discount the app on its own. Developers will get at least 20 percent of the list price on discounted apps. This could get tricky if Amazon starts undercutting the price of an app already listed on Android Market, but Amazon officials told TechCrunch they’re looking to make money for developers and price flexibility can be helpful for that. This won’t be an issue if developers ultimately make more money selling through Amazon, but we’ll have to see.

The Amazon App Store will be built into Amazon.com and will also be accessible from mobile devices through the Amazon app. It’s not quite clear how the installation process will work, which could be an important point. Amazon is reportedly in talks with manufacturers to get the App Store pre-installed, but until then, users will have to go into their settings to allow app installations from “unknown sources.” App purchases and installations will need to be dead simple for this to work well.

At launch, the Amazon App Store will work on Android 1.6 devices and higher and will only be available in the U.S. initially. This will need to expand quickly for developers to take advantage of the big opportunity overseas.

Developers will be able to submit an unlimited number of images and up to five videos showing how the app works. Amazon will use the videos on its products page. This should be good for developers to better showcase their apps, and videos especially could convince some consumers that an app is worth buying. The fact that users will be able to browse from their PC is also a plus. Google has promised an online storefront for Android Market but we still haven’t seen it yet.

Developers who want to apply DRM must use Amazon’s system. Amazon will test all apps for functionality and to ensure they meet content guidelines, which forbid things like pornography, illegal content, offensive material and intellectual property violations. According to some reports, Amazon is looking to take a more liberal stance than Apple, so it should allow more satire. This review process could also weed out some of the junk apps and blatant copycats in Android Market, making for a more refined buying experience. There may be fewer options for consumers, but they may feel more confident about putting down money for an app.

Amazon will help market the apps and will apply its recommendation engine for apps, so consumers will be able to get recommendations on apps based on previous purchases. This is a big part of value proposition for Amazon. They know how to sell, and many consumers obviously have a good relationship with them. Android App Store has a new “similar to” feature to recommend apps, but Amazon will be able to draw on more of a user’s overall purchase history to help create more precise recommendations.

App purchases will happen through a consumer’s Amazon account, so existing users won’t have to enter credit-card information, and developers will be able to add their own payment system, presumably for in-app purchases. This is also a big win for developers. Google Checkout, the main way for buying apps on Android Market, doesn’t have that much penetration among consumers, so first-time app buyers are forced to enter in credit card information from their handset. Having an existing financial relationship with consumers gives Amazon the ability to do one-click purchases and gives consumers some of the ease they see in iTunes purchases.

We still have to see the Amazon App Store for Android in action and how many developers actually support it, but it sounds like this should be a positive addition for consumers and developers. Android Market is still getting better, but for now, Amazon’s app store is showing there’s a need for more choice in the marketplace.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub. req.):

Why RIM’s Future (Unfortunately) Hinges on BlackBerry OS 6

Will Killer Apps Affect Which Handsets Consumers Buy?

How Carriers Can Crack the App Discoverability Nut

One of the movies which immediately caught my eye when looking at the line-up for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival is Morgan Spurlock‘s new documentary The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Spurlock shot to fame at the 2004 festival with his feature doc Super Size Me, and has since produced two seasons of the underrated reality cable series 30 Days. His feature follow-up Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? was met with mixed response. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is his third theatrical feature film (not counting the segment he directed for the Freakanomics movie).

The initial announcement described the movie as “A documentary about branding, advertising and product placement is financed and made possible by branding, advertising and product placement.” Sounds like an interesting, if not gimmicky, concept. Hit the jump to see the first image from the film.

Sundance’s longer description of the film follows:

Acclaimed filmmaker and master provocateur Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) returns to the Sundance Film Festival with tongue-in-cheek perfection as he examines the world of product placement, marketing, and advertising by making a film financed entirely by product placement, marketing, and advertising. We live in an age where it’s tough even to walk down the street without someone trying to sell you something. It’s at the point where practically the entire American experience is brought to us by some corporation. Utilizing cutting-edge tools of comic exploration and total self-exploitation, Spurlock dissects the world of advertising and marketing by using his personal integrity as currency to sell out to the highest bidder. Scathingly funny, subversive, and deceptively smart, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold shines the definitive light on our branded future as Spurlock attempts to create the “Iron Man of documentaries,” the first ever “docbuster”! He may very well have succeeded.

Spurlock says that he has “funded this entire film with money from some pretty straight-laced companies, and the end result will surely make you laugh all the way to therapy.” The plan is to release the movie in Spring of 2011.

via: Gordon and the Whale

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'Friday Night Lights': The Bad News Lions - From Inside the Box ...

Most of you likely won't be watching “Friday Night Lights” until the NBC run later in 2011, but for the dedicated few tuning into DirecTV, please join our swoony recapage of the series' final season.