Forbes

‘Forbes’ Ranks America’s Best Hipster Neighborhoods

By Caroline Stanley on Sep 21, 2012 3:05pm

Admit it: as tiresome as you find the term “hipster,” you can’t help but feel at least a little bit curious to see which spots made Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s Best Hipster Neighborhoods — which, it’s worth noting, was not topped by Williamsburg.

The magazine partnered with Nextdoor.com to analyze data on more than 250 neighborhoods in major cities across the US, with things like walkability, the number of neighborhood coffee shops, the assortment of food trucks, the frequency of farmers markets, and the percentage of residents who work in creative fields all playing a factor. Click through to see their top 20 neighborhoods, and let us know in the comments what you make of their picks. … Read More

Pop Culture

The Fictional 99%: 10 of Pop Culture's Poorest Characters

By Emily Temple on Apr 28, 2012 3:02pm

Earlier this week, Forbes released its annual list of the 15 richest fictional characters, topped by Tolkien’s legendary dragon Smaug and featuring other one percenters like Tywin Lannister, Tony Stark and Robert Crawley. Well, that’s all very well and good, but the list got us to thinking about the other end of the stick — the poorest fictional characters across pop culture, from street urchins to hobos to a very special monster who lives in a trash can. Click through to check out our list, and since we obviously couldn’t hit them all, let us know if we’ve missed your favorite impoverished fictional figure in the comments. … Read More

Celebrity

Who Are the 10 Most Overexposed Celebrities?

By Judy Berman on Mar 30, 2012 4:00pm

Forbes is always good for a ranking of some aspect of fame you’d think would be entirely impossible to measure. So it was with great interest that we read through their list of the most overexposed celebrities, the result of an E-Poll Research study, and found many of the usual suspects: two Jersey Shore cast members, Lindsay Lohan, all three Kardashians, including Kim at #1. What we didn’t expect to find were so many former tabloid staples whose, er, star has already pretty much fallen: the Octomom, Paris Hilton, Levi Johnston, and Kate Gosselin. Also worth wondering is why a whopping eight out of the top ten are women, especially considering that Charlie Sheen didn’t make the cut. Check out the list after the jump, and visit Forbes for more details on the results. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on Dec 15, 2011 10:03am

1. This year’s Golden Globe Award nominations were announced earlier this morning, and while we’ll have more to say about the picks in a bit, in the meantime, you can peruse the full list here.

2. This should be interesting: NBC has announced that Howard Stern will be joining the panel of judges… Read More

Film

Forbes Figures Out Hollywood's Best Actors for the Buck

By Caroline Stanley on Dec 7, 2011 12:00pm

When it comes to investing in Hollywood stars, who is going to give studios the biggest return for their money? That’s the question answered by an interesting new survey from Forbes. A few things to keep in mind as you peruse their findings: Forbes looked at the last three non-animation movies of the 40 highest-earning actors in Hollywood, and the total compensation number includes both upfront and backend pay (ie, money made from DVD sales). The end result? A top five that’s dominated by young actors who have starred in some of the biggest franchises of the decade — and Anne Hathaway. Click through to find out who else made their list. … Read More

Film

Forbes Names Hollywood’s Most Overpaid Actors

By Judy Berman on Nov 4, 2011 2:00pm

The number crunchers at Forbes are always dazzling us with mathematically calculated lists of who rules the entertainment industry. Undoubtedly the most satisfying of these — especially for those of us with cold, cruel hearts — is the annual rundown of “Hollywood’s Most Overpaid Actors.” Although this would seem to be a subjective list, Forbes bases its rankings on which actors offer the worst return on investment — that is, which stars’ movies earn the least money relative to the amount they were paid to appear in them.

So, which A-listers aren’t earning their keep in 2011? Drew Barrymore tops the charts, and has the distinction of being the one actor whose films actually earn less than they spend to hire her — in fact, studios are averaging only 40 cents for every dollar they pay Barrymore. Eddie Murphy, with whom we expressed our frustration earlier this week, comes in second, returning about $2.70 on the dollar. See the full list after the jump, and get the details at Forbes. … Read More

News

The Morning's Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on Sep 13, 2011 10:01am

1. Nas is working on an autobiography called It Ain’t Hard to Tell that is scheduled to come out next fall. Says music journalist Touré, who is collaborating with him on the project: “I’ve been talking to Nas about writing his autobiography for 15 years. This is hip hop history. We’ll tell his life &… Read More

Music

Forbes’ Top Earning Hip-Hop Stars: A Numerical Analysis

By Judy Berman on Aug 10, 2011 2:00pm

From authors to celebrities, it seems Forbes is always publishing some new list of who’s making an obscene amount of money. Today, they’ve brought us the “Cash Kings of 2011: Hip-Hop’s Top 20 Earners.” For music-industry nerds, it’s a fascinating list. The big take-home, as far as we can tell, is that a hit album doesn’t have nearly as much to do with a rapper’s earning potential as what else he’s doing — producing and endorsing products are big, and three of this year’s top five earners are also moguls. Check out the full list, and our numerical analysis by gender, age, race, and more, after the jump. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on Mar 11, 2011 10:02am

1. An earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale hit off the coast of Japan this morning (the strongest ever recorded in the country), followed by a massive, 33-foot-high tsunami. Google has responded to the crisis by launching a tool that “helps you find a person or provide information on missing persons.” The site also… Read More

Books

Forbes’ Top Earning Authors: A Numerical Analysis

By Caroline Stanley on Aug 20, 2010 1:08pm

Forbes has published a list of the year’s highest-paid authors, and it’s a rather illuminating look at the way that the industry works. What do we mean? JK Rowling didn’t publish anything this year, and yet she still managed to rake in $10 million. James Patterson, who tops the list at $70 million, made $500 million for his publisher over the past two years. (One of every seven books sold in the US is his.) All of the highest-paid writers are white, and none of them are under the age of 36. Want to know more? Click through for the full list, and our breakdown of the numbers. … Read More