All thumbs
South Koreans Bae Yeong Ho, 17, and Ha Mok Min, 18, won the LG Mobile World Cup as the world’s fastest texters Thursday in New York. The pair, judged on both speed and accuracy, took home $50,000 each for their efforts. Second-place finishers were Kate Moore, 16, of Des Moines, Iowa, the 2009 U.S. National Texting Champion, and Morgan Dynda, 14, of Pooler, Ga., the 2009 runner-up. They took home $10,000 each.
Reality bytes
“Pants on the ground. Pants on the ground. Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground,” 62-year-old Larry Platt sang Wednesday night on “American Idol,” decrying the low-slung jeans look, in a clip that went viral Thursday. If you haven’t seen it, catch the video at chicagotribune.com/platt. It’s so bad, it’s great.
The list
The Top 10 global brands of 2009, according to brand-value management firm Interbrand:
1. Coca-Cola
2. IBM
3. Microsoft
4. GE
5. Nokia
6. McDonald’s
7. Google
8. Toyota
9. Intel
10. Disney
To be clear
Peter Jackson’s new “The Lovely Bones,” in theaters this weekend, is in no way a biopic on Rachel Zoe.
What day is it?
Friday is International Fetish Day, but we understand if you’re already tied up.
the number: $2.1 million
Sale price of New York City’s famed “skinny house.” Built in 1873 in an alley between two Greenwich Village homes, the 9 1/2 -foot-wide, 42-foot-long building has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Listed in August for $2.7 million, it last sold in 2000 for $1.6 million.
