BuzzSugar

Briefing Book! French Workers Hold Bosses Hostage

CitizenSugar — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:00:13 PDT

French workers angry at Caterpillar for cutting 700 jobs are holding their bosses hostage in their offices. – CNN
In Europe, it's war of the rosés. - YumSugar
Trya tells you everything you need to know about sex changes.- Jezebel
Man gets DUI on motorized bar stool. - Huffington Post
Despite intense snowstorm, the water levels of the Red River in Fargo, ND, are slowly falling. - New York Times
Despite Obama being hit by the left and right, 42 percent of Americans think the country is on the right track, up from 15 percent in December. - The Daily Beast
The Obama administration has given up on bipartisanship. - Slate
Authors worried about Kindle for the wrong reasons. - Boing Boing
Poll dancing as an Olympic sport? - Feministing

Buzz In: What Movies and Series Do You Watch With Your Dad?

BuzzSugar — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:00:38 PDT

Happy Father's Day, everyone! In honor of the day, I want to hear about your favorite entertainment options for when you want to do a little bonding with your dad.

This might seem a little twisted, but my dad and I both love the movie Fargo, and the quirky, dark comedy is one of our staples. We also love cheering for favorite teams on the high-energy reality show The Amazing Race. And for the perfect dose of macho drama, nothing beats The Sopranos.

When you and your dad are jonesing for some entertainment, where do you turn?

Source

Fargo: The "Yah" Edit

GiggleSugar — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 02:00:00 PDT

Oh, yah? I know there was a lot more to the awesome Fargo screenplay, but after seeing this mashup, it looks like there were also an awful lot of "Oh, yah's"!

Movie Night: Deep-Freeze Films

BuzzSugar — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 15:54:42 PST

So many movies, so little time. Thankfully, BuzzSugar is here to help you sort through them all! Every Thursday, we'll choose a theme for a weekend Movie Night and feature three must-see movies in keeping with the topic. This week's Movie Night: deep-freeze films. So if the weather outside is frightful this time of year, make a protective pillow fort and turn on these icy-themed films.

The Ice Storm
Tobey Maguire stars as teenager Paul Hood, who returns from boarding school to a deteriorating world. His family is struggling to stay together, the Watergate scandal is threatening to unravel Washington, and a fierce ice storm is gearing up to freeze over his suburban Connecticut town. With a strong cast which includes Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Christina Ricci, The Ice Storm depicts how the atmosphere of free experimentation and liberalism prevalent in 1973 caused a freezing of one family's morals. The literal freezing of the physical world outside as a figurative device is heavy-handed at times, but also effective, and visually startling.

Two more so

read more Fargo In Fargo, the only thing thicker than the Minnesota accents is the snow cover. An iced-over Upper Midwest landscape serves as the perfect setting for this noir thriller, which is one of the best examples of the Cohen brothers' ability to combine the bleak with the bitingly funny. Fargo tells the story of hapless used-car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) who gets embroiled in a botched murder, while Frances McDormand pulls off a near-flawless performance as Marge Gunderson, the very pregnant detective investigating the case. Other highlights include Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare reimagining Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as incompetent criminals.
The Cutting Edge I know so many people who like the movie The Cutting Edge but won't admit to it. True, it's not a complex, socially important film, but it is very fun and satisfying to watch. Moira Kelly is charming as the beautiful but spoiled figure skater Kate Moseley, who, in order to remain in the 1988 Olympics, must team up with a new skating partner. Her coach brings in hockey player Doug Dorsey, and the two make beautiful figure eights together. Their personalities, however, do not harmonize. Competition movies are so much fun because of how predictable they are, especially when they feature a relationship that is feisty and argumentative but which you know is only masking passionate attraction. Guilty pleasure, much?

Bank of America Drops $5 Monthly Debit Card Fee

Emily Co — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:18:46 PDT

Consumers, your voices were heard! Bank of America announced today that it is dropping its plan to charge debit users $5 a month for usage. This comes after a surge of public disapproval about the fees. Thousands of customers flocked online to sign petitions - one by change.org received over 300,000 signatures. Politicians like President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have also spoken against the fees.

David Darnell, the bank's co-chief operating officer, says, "We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee . . . Our customers' voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so."

Two other banks, Chase and Wells Fargo, also announced last week that they decided not to charge customers debit usage fees after testing the $3-a-month fee with pilot programs in several markets.

How to Get a Better Deal at Your Bank

Kiplinger — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:15:35 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart Kiplinger story here on Savvy!

Pesky bank fees aren’t just creeping up - they’re attacking from all sides. Banks impose 49 different fees, on average, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Getting paper statements in the mail will cost you $1 to $2 a month; seeing a teller could result in a $9 fee; and maintaining a checking account without meeting deposit, balance, or usage requirements could cost as much as $30 per month. Earning interest on a checking account often requires a hefty minimum balance, and yields on certificates of deposit and money market deposit accounts are minuscule.

Ironically, a big reason for the fee explosion is federal legislation designed to protect consumers from excessive fees and misleading practices. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act and a rule that requires customers to opt in to overdraft services have reduced revenue, and banks now lose an average of $174 per year on each checking account, says Mike Moebs of Moebs Services, an economic-research firm. And banks’ coffers will also be hit by a new regulation that prevents banks with assets of $10 billion or more from charging merchants more than 21 cents each time a customer swipes a debit card (some banks will also get an allowance for fraud protection and loss).

Fortunately, free and high-interest checking accounts haven’t disappeared, and some banks will reimburse ATM fees no matter where you go.

Free checking. In 2009, 76 percent of banks offered free checking, but only 65 percent did in 2010, according to a recent Bankrate.com survey. To qualify for free checking at most banks, you’ll have to meet stiffer requirements. For example, customers of Citibank and JPMorgan Chase must have an average monthly balance of about $1,500 or keep a minimum total of $5,000 in the bank in various accounts.

Read on for more ways to get a better deal at your bank.

Handy Everyday Gmail Tips and Tricks

GeekSugar — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 07:11:32 PDT

If you've moved to Gmail recently (congratulations!), it's possible that you could get overwhelmed with all of the options, settings, and possibilities at your fingertips. We've got a ton of tips to share, but let's start with a few basic and handy tips that you could use every day. Check them out below!

Make voice calls - You can easily make voice calls in Gmail on the cheap. In the "Chat" section, just click the "Call Phone" button and enter the digits. You'll then be able to make free calls to landlines the US and Canada, and for super cheap you can call cell phones and landlines worldwide.
Search with options - If you haven't discovered the "Show Search Options" link to the right of the Gmail search bar, you're in for a treat. Clicking it reveals a host of helpful options, including the ability to search by sender, date, attachment, subject, and more. It's extremely helpful if you are less than diligent about labeling and filing emails in your inbox.
Use rich text signatures - Tired of those boring text-only signatures or canned responses coming from your Gmail account? Take note: Gmail supports rich text signatures! Add links, colors, images, or formatting to your Gmail account signature, or any other account you've set up to send from Gmail. It's super easy to set up - just head to your settings page, scroll down to the Signature section, and design away!
Use keyboard shortcuts - First, enable keyboard shortcuts in your Settings menu. Then, use these fast and easy keyboard shortcuts to navigate!

See the rest of the list after the break.

Debit Cards Under Attack? What You Need to Know

LearnVest — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:15:15 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

We’re a fan of debit cards. They’re convenient, help us track our spending, offer rewards, and best of all, keep us out of debt because they limit our spending to what’s in the bank. Which is exactly why we’re a little concerned that their free and rewarding usage is under attack.

A Little Thing Called The Durbin Amendment

Currently, banks charge retailers a fee every time you use your debit card (an interchange fee). The current average fee for a signature debit card transaction (when you use your debit card like a credit card) is $0.56, and the interchange fee for a PIN transaction is $0.23.

In less than a month, Congress is slated to implement the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act (which passed with bi-partisan support). This hotly-debated amendment would cap interchange fees for debit card usage to $0.12.

The intention of this bill was to invigorate the economy with savings to retailers, which would theoretically be passed down to the customer.

But banks will take a huge hit on revenue, about 70%, according to a spokesman for the American Bankers Association, and that loss will also get passed on to the customer. With big retailers on one side of the debate and big banks and credit card companies on the other, which side is for the consumer?

How to Choose the Best Credit Card for You

Guest Writer — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:05:26 PDT

Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Kimberly Palmer, the author of Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back, and personal finance columnist at US News & World Report. Take it away, Kimberly . . .

Even in our post-recession, tight credit market world, choosing a credit card can feel more overwhelming than sorting through dating profiles on Match.com. There are about a gazillion choices, each slightly different from the next, and who knows exactly what we want, anyway?

The good news is that with a little introspection, you can pick the card that will do the most for you, whether that means minimizing your fee and interest payments or getting you a free spa trip every few months with all your rewards points. Here are six key questions to ask yourself before selecting a piece of plastic:

1) Do you tend to carry debt? This is really the most important question, because if you carry any debt at all, meaning you don’t pay off your balance in full each month, then there is only one thing you need to worry about when selecting a card: finding the lowest interest rate. If you have debt, then you don’t have the luxury of even considering rewards points or other perks, because the extra costs in the form of interest payments are simply not worth it. On average, rewards cards carry an interest rate that’s about two percentage points higher than non-rewards cards, which means debt-carriers pay dearly for those rewards. Instead, look for a card like the Discover More card, which offers 12 months at a 0 percent introductory rate.

2) What’s your spending style? Do you use your credit card for absolutely everything, from coffee purchases to phone bills? Or are you more selective about your plastic habit, and only use it for online purchase, or hotel rooms? Your answer matters, because if you seldom use your card, then you want to be absolutely sure you won’t be charged annual fees for simply carrying the card around, and you certainly don’t want to pay extra for additional warranties or travel insurance if you are barely enjoying those benefits. On the other hand, if you use your card a lot and are racking up the rewards points (while taking care to pay off the balance each month, of course), then you’ll want to look more closely at those extra goodies. Extended warranties, identify theft protection, customized discounts at your favorite retailers, and travel insurance are just a few of the options.

3) What free tools do you want? Credit cards and banks are increasingly tempting users with online tools that analyze your spending patterns, help you set and reach savings goals, and alert you with low balance warnings. If you want that extra hand-holding, then make sure you select a card that offers it. But if you have your own systems in place already, then you can skip these bells and whistles.

For more key questions to ask yourself, read on.

Link Time - John Cusack Joins Dictablanda

BuzzSugar — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:30:14 PST

John Cusack to star in the international comedy Dictablanda - The Playlist
10 cultural habits to give up for Lent (bye for now, Charlie Sheen) - Flavorwire
NBC announces its season finale schedule - TV Squad
The cast of Fargo: where are they now? - Moviefone
Katy Perry covers Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" - EW.com
It's official: Alec Baldwin will join Rock of Ages - Cinema Blend
Warner Bros. to start streaming movies on Facebook - GeekSugar