How to Get the Amex Black Card

(Source: Yahoo Finance)

The American Express Centurion Card, more commonly known as the "Black Card," has become the status symbol du jour for high-end cardholders. But how do you get your mitts on one? Here's a roadmap.
The high-end credit card has actually been around for about a decade, and shares more myths and legends than the entire story arch of The X-Files. Going back to the 1980s, hip urbanites spoke of a magical credit card where the owners could order up the Concorde for a trip to Paris, or where someone knew someone who used a "black" card to buy the horse Kevin Costner used in the Oscar winning Dances With Wolves. To date, no stories like the ones listed above have ever been confirmed, but that hasn't stopped some affluent Americans from wondering if they're missing out by not having the card.
Turn the page to 1999, where myth meets reality and American Express actually does release a black credit card -- the Centurion, named after Amex's corporate logo. According to, the Black Card is made of anodized titanium, a heavier substance that gives the card more heft, literally and figuratively. Benefits include automatic first-class upgrades on all airline flights; a personal shopper in major cities worldwide, top-of-the-line concierge and travel agent service, the first crack at elite shows and sporting events, and after-hours privileges at elite stores and boutiques worldwide.
But the marketing gurus at Amex made a conscious choice to build on the Centurion's "urban legend" status -- especially the part about how getting one is as difficult as getting George Clooney's private cell phone number. That's why, up until 2006, the Black Card was issued to preferred clients by invitation only.
So how do you go about getting a Black Card? The good news, as it were, is that you no longer have to be invited by Amex to get one. Just call Amex and ask. To heighten your chances, you'll need to accomplish the following (from the blog QuickSprout.com, whose founder is a Centurion cardholder):
• Have a nearly blemish-free credit history.

• Spend at least $250,000 annually on a current Amex Platinum or Gold card.

• Accept a one-time card membership fee of $5,000, along with an annual fee of $2,500.

• Have a "major" net worth (undisclosed by Amex).
You can call and ask for an invitation at 1-800-263-1616 -- but this ploy definitely falls into the "it can't hurt to ask" category. If you do, be prepared to answer some tough questions.
One hurdle, for example, that would be tough to crack is the $250,000 annual spending minimum. That's about $21,000 per month and most individuals would balk at spending that kind of dough. QuickSprout advises offering to pay the money upfront, to convince Amex you're a good credit risk.
If you want to bypass the invitation/application route, you need to be both successful and creative. One possibility for the elite business set is working for a firm that issues Centurion cards to high-end executives. That way you don't have to hunt down the card -- it will find you.

It's a high mountain to climb but those who are there say it's worth it. Amex built the Black Card around its signature phrase, "membership has its privileges." In the case of the Centurion card, boy does it ever.

Star Smile mad

'Jaws' Shark Hunted Down

(Source: Yahoo Movies)

The star of "Jaws" has been found resting in a Los Angeles junkyard.

No, not Richard Dreyfuss -- the shark! With the 35th anniversary of Steven Spielberg's classic blockbuster just around the corner, an NPR reporter set out to track down the mechanical beast that struck fear into the hearts of so many.
In order to maximize their control over the creature, the "Jaws" filmmakers built three sharks for their 1975 movie. All created from the same mold, the sharks were dubbed "Bruce" after Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer. The gigantic metal creatures were 25-feet long and weighed hundreds of pounds. The heads alone came in at 400 lbs. apiece, with jaws the size of a small human. When reporter and "Jaws"-enthusiast Cory Turner set out to track down Bruce's whereabouts, he went straight to the source -- the movie's director. A spokesman for Steven Spielberg explained that the original Bruces had all been destroyed, as no one had thought to save them.
But theories circulated on a Facebook page for the famous shark that another Bruce might be out there. After a little research, Turner discovered that a fourth shark had indeed been cast from the original mold, just months after its brothers were constructed. The baby of the Bruce family was created for display at Universal Studios Theme Park, where it hung by its tail for fifteen years.

In 1990, the shark was taken down and shipped out to destinations unknown. Turner picked up the phone and started dialing junkyards. He finally found the creature in a yard in the Sun Valley area of Southern California -- just minutes away from Universal. Turner brought the team who built Bruce -- art department members Joe Alves and Roy Arbogast to verify the shark's authenticity.

"It's the real one," Arbogast told Turner after examining the creature. "It's just kinda' nice to see it again after 25 or 30 years. It's amazing that it's still here."

Bruce's discovery couldn't come at a better time. There's talk that Universal might be considering a 3D "Jaws" remake -- with comedian Tracy Morgan in the shark-hunter role. Perhaps Bruce will find his way onto the silver screen once again.

Star Smile mad

AT&T sorry it warned customer who e-mailed CEO

(Source: Yahoo News)

Love him or hate him, you have to give Apple chief exec Steve Jobs credit for
responding to all those e-mails from everyday Joes. Apparently, however, the
CEO of AT&T Wireless doesn't share Jobs' enthusiasm for e-mail from random
customers, and now AT&T corporate has been forced to apologize after
threatening to send a "cease-and-desist" letter to a subscriber who'd send a couple
of innocuous messages to the carrier's big cheese.


TechCrunch reports that AT&T has, indeed, issued a bowing, scraping apology
to a certain Giorgio G. (who has a Tumblr site you can check out), saying in a statement that "this is not the way we want to treat our customers" and that "AT&T strives to provide our customers
with easy ways to have questions answered."

The trouble started after Giorgio sent a pair of e-mails to AT&T Wireless CEO
Randall Stephenson — one asking if his eligibility date for a
discounted phone upgrade could be moved up in time for the expected next-generation
iPhone (he currently owns the iPhone 3G), and another a week later, complaining
about AT&T's recent move to
phase out its unlimited data plans.

In response to Giorgio's second e-mail, however, he got a voicemail from a staffer
on AT&T's "executive response team," first thanking him "for the feedback" and
then issuing a warning: "If you continue to send e-mails to Randall Stephenson, a
cease-and-desist letter may be sent to you."

Naturally, the blogosphere erupted after Giorgio
posted the voicemail on his Tumblr blog, with bloggers drawing plenty of unkind
comparisons between Steve Jobs' willingness to engage with ordinary folk and
Stephenson's (or his executive response team's, at any rate) tin ear for public
relations.

In any case, someone in AT&T's executive group wised up and issued the apology,
pronto (and yes, the word "apologizing" actually appears in the statement), and
Giorgio reports on his blog that a senior VP for the carrier called him personally to
"sincerely" apologize for the PR blunder. Giorgio writes that he "accepted her
apology" but later notes that "I really wish that Mr. Stephenson would have made
the phone call."

Meanwhile, it looks like AT&T may lose at least one subscriber in the wake of
the snafu. You guessed it: Giorgio, who appears to have his eyes set on the Evo
4G.

Star Smile mad

Video: Even Chris
Rock can't distract Kobe Bryant

(Source: Yahoo Sports)

Saying Kobe Bryant is focused is like saying tacos are delicious — it's a major
understatement. To throw Kobe Bryant off his game you're going to need more
than trash talk, flying elbows or crowd noise. You're going to need one of the
funniest stand-up comedians of the past 20 years, someone who knows just what
to say to get under a person's skin. You need someone like Chris Rock, and even
then, results aren't guaranteed.

I've been laughing at that reveal since the moment it popped up on ABC's
broadcast. Kobe Bryant could sit through a hurricane if it happened during a
finals game.

Kobe summed up his mentality best in his postgame news conference, telling
ABC's Doris Burke that when he's playing basketball "nothing else matters."
Either he's a big Metallica fan, or he's intent on getting his fifth ring. Probably
both.

Star Smile mad

'Golden Girl' Rue McClanahan Dies

(Source: TV Yahoo)

Rue McClanahan at the 2008 TV Land Awards

AP Photo/Matt Sayles, file

NEW YORK – Rue McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 76.

Her manager Barbara Lawrence said McClanahan died Thursday at 1am of a stroke.

She had undergone treatment for breast cancer in 1997 and later lectured to cancer support groups on "aging gracefully." In 2009, she had heart bypass surgery.

McClanahan had an active career in off-Broadway and regional stages in the 1960s before she was tapped for TV in the 1970s for the key best-friend character on the hit series "Maude," starring Beatrice Arthur.

But her most loved role came in 1985 when she co-starred with Arthur, Betty White, and Estelle Getty in "The Golden Girls," a runaway hit that broke the sitcom mold by focusing on the foibles of four aging — and frequently eccentric — women living together in Miami.

"Golden Girls" aimed to show "that when people mature, they add layers," she told The New York Times in 1985. "They don't turn into other creatures. The truth is we all still have our child, our adolescent, and your young woman living in us."

Blanche, who called her father "Big Daddy," was a frequent target of roommates Dorothy, Rose, and the outspoken Sophia (Getty), who would fire off zingers at Blanche such as, "Your life's an open blouse."

McClanahan snagged an Emmy for her work on the show in 1987. In an Associated Press interview that year, McClanahan said Blanche was unlike any other role she had ever played.

"Probably the closest I've ever done was Blanche DuBois in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' at the Pasadena Playhouse," she said. "I think, too, that's where the name came from, although my character is not a drinker and not crazy."

Her Blanche Devereaux, she said, "is in love with life and she loves men. I think she has an attitude toward women that's competitive. She is friends with Dorothy and Rose, but if she has enough provocation she becomes competitive with them. I think basically she's insecure. It's the other side of the Don Juan syndrome."

After "The Golden Girls" was canceled in 1992, McClanahan, White and Getty reprised their roles in a short-lived spinoff, "Golden Palace."

McClanahan continued working in television, on stage and in film, appearing in the Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau vehicle "Out to Sea" and as the biology teacher in "Starship Troopers."

She stepped in to portray Madame Morrible, the crafty headmistress, for a time in "Wicked," Broadway's long-running "Wizard of Oz" prequel.

In 2008, McClanahan appeared in the Logo comedy "Sordid Lives: The Series," playing the slightly addled, elderly mother of an institutionalized drag queen.

During production, McClanahan was recovering from 2007 surgery on her knee. It didn't stop her from filming a sex scene in which the bed broke, forcing her to hang on to a windowsill to avoid tumbling off.

McClanahan was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in Healdton, Oklaholma, to building contractor William McClanahan and his wife, Dreda Rheua-Nell, a beautician. She graduated with honors from the University of Tulsa with a degree in German and theater arts.

McClanahan's acting career began on the stage. According to a 1985 Los Angeles Times profile, she appeared at the Pasadena (Calif.) Playhouse, studied in New York with Uta Hagen and Harold Clurman, and worked in soaps and on the stage.

She won an Obie — the off-Broadway version of the Tony — in 1970 for "Who's Happy Now," playing the "other woman" in a family drama written by Oliver Hailey. She reprised the role in a 1975 television version; in a review, The New York Times described her character as "an irrepressible belle given to frequent bouts of 'wooziness' and occasional bursts of shrewdness."

She had appeared only sporadically on television until producer Norman Lear tapped her for a guest role on "All in the Family" in 1971.

She went from there to a regular role in the "All in the Family" spinoff "Maude," playing Vivian, the neighbor and best friend to Arthur in the starring role.

When Arthur died in April 2009, McClanahan recalled that she had felt constrained by "Golden Girls" during the later years of its run. "Bea liked to be the star of the show. She didn't really like to do that ensemble playing," McClanahan said.

Star Smile mad

British Airways red-faced over faux image of Bin Laden boarding pass

(Source: Yahoo News)

It just seems like a bad time for any firm with the word "British" in its title. We know all too well the various setbacks experienced by the oil giant once known as British Petroleum; now British Airways has drawn much unwelcome attention to itself with a photo touting its new mobile-boarding pass system as it appears to expedite the air travel of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted man.

The photo appeared in the LHR News, the company's internal staff magazine covering London's Heathrow Airport. The image accompanied an article spelling out the benefits of the mobile-boarding setup, which permits users of mobile digital devices to print out their boarding passes on the fly. The boarding pass reads "Bin Laden/Osama" and appears in the graphic panel of a user's iPhone. (AT&T reception in remote Pakistani caves is apparently better than anyone might have guessed.)
What's more, the image features a frequent-flier number for passenger bin Laden — so much for all those airport terrorist watch lists — and has him flying first class on Oct. 26, 2010. As the travel site Gadling.com mused, "sadly, knowing the brilliant minds behind the anti-terror organizations, the terror level will be raised to 'red hot' on October 26, 2010, while airport police all over the world try to figure out which airport the most wanted terrorist in the world will be flying to."

So how did this happen? The short answer is that no one knows — or at least, no one's telling if they do. A British Airways spokeswoman told ABC News reporter Scott Mayerowitz that "a mistake has been made in this internal publication and we are working to find out how this occurred." And in response to a follow-up call from Yahoo! News, another spokeswoman for the airline remained firmly on message, saying, "We're still working to find out how this occurred at this time."
The gaffe could be the result of a tasteless prank that got out of hand — but current speculation is running toward the theory that it's the handiwork of a disgruntled employee. British Airways is currently locked in a labor dispute with the union representing its cabin-crew workers, and the strike has grounded flights for thousands of travelers in one of the busiest travel times of the year. At issue in the labor fight is a proposed cut in the base salaries for new flight attendants. The company estimates that it has lost more than $150 million in revenue during the dispute.

Between the union woes and the Osama PR setback, British Airways executives must be fondly reminiscing about last summer, when the major controversy was the airline's plan to sell ad space on its online boarding passes.

Star Smile mad