If you’re a football fan, you’ve probably heard a thing or two about Troy Polamalu’s famous hair. Well, Head and Shoulders certainly have. They’re using the Samoan-descended NFL superstar’s lengthy locks to promote their brand and, in case of unforeseen hair trauma, they’ve insured it for $1 million.

The 29-year-old strong safety received his first haircut in 2000, on advice from his coach at the University of Southern California. The last haircut, however, was seven years ago, and the mass of hair spilling out of his helmet has become one of his most distinctive features. In fact, it’s been said that his whole head of hair, laid end to end, would stretch across 1,100 football fields.

The insurance policy was developed by Watkins Syndicate at Lloyd’s of London. It covers Polamalu’s hair for the entirety of the NFL season.

Do you want to send your child to one of the costliest schools in the nation? It’s not a matter of tuition money—it is, after all, a public school. All you have to do is live in the right district in Los Angeles, California and you can send your child to the most expensive public school in America.

Built on the former site of the Ambassador Hotel and named after the former US Senator and Democratic presidential candidate who was assassinated in the kitchen of that building, the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools will serve 4,200 K-12 students living in the predominantly low income and Latino neighborhoods of and around Pico Union. The complex is one of three $100-million-plus megaschools recently built in Los Angeles to unburden the city’s overcrowded public school system.

The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex cost $578 million to build. Compare that to Los Angeles’ other megaschools, the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, built for $377 million and opened in 2008, and the Visual and Performing Arts High School, built for $232 million and opened in 2009.

Unless you’re going to school in your home town (and who wants to do that?), room and board will likely be a large portion of your college expenses. That’s not likely to change any time soon, either, as Forbes reports the price of freshman room and board has increased by 11% over the last three years. Some, of course, are more expensive than others. If you go to one of these top universities, expect to pay for the most expensive college dorm rooms in America.

Pomona College – $12,220

Freshmen at this private liberal arts college in Claremont, CA all live on its South Campus, where only one of the four residence halls on “Freshman Row” is air conditioned. Despite that, Pomona College ranked #13 on Princeton Review’s “Dorms Like Palaces” index.

Georgetown University – $12,750

This Jesuit university in Washington, DC is the oldest Catholic university in the US. Students at Georgetown University may choose between traditional dormitories and “villages” that are more like apartment complexes. Freshman students may lodge in Darnall Hall, Harbin Hall or New South Hall, where University mascot Jack the Bulldog resides with Father Christopher Steck. Freshmen may also opt for Village C’s West wing.

Sarah Lawrence College – $13,104

This former women’s college, known for its politically active students, offers a wide variety of housing options. In addition to the school’s four original dorms, there are three newer dorms designed by architect Phillip Johnson as well as a number of renovated private dwellings, apartment buildings, manor houses and even former maid’s quarters.

The Hamptons—that easternmost stretch of Long Island catering to the financial elite—have just seen a record set, as a recent rental is the most expensive in the area’s history. Is this the most expensive rental home in the US?

If not, it’s pretty close.

Sandcastle, an 11.5-acre estate with a 31,000 square foot main house, has been rented to an anonymous family for two weeks. Aside from the main house’s nine bedrooms and 11.5 bathrooms, Sandcastle also holds a guest house, pool, tennis courts, bowling alley, movie theater and even a half pipe.

The couple has paid $500,000 for their two week stay—or over $35,000 per day. The estate that may be America’s most expensive rental home, owned by New York City’s Corcoran Group, is also for sale at $49.5 million.

For some individuals, a dog or cat or even the odd parakeet isn’t an exotic enough pet. Those interested in more outlandish pets may turn to snakes, lion cubs or even our distant relative—the primate.

The most expensive monkey is the De Brazza’s Monkey, which has a price around $10,000. This shy creature is very good at hiding, but can be easily recognized by its orange crown, long white beard and distinctive crest. They’re native to central Africa, where they are preyed upon by large African eagles, leopards, humans and even other primates. A De Brazza’s Monkey is sixteen to twenty-five inches long and can weigh over eleven pounds.

The most expensive of all primate pets, on the other hand, is the chimpanzee. These African apes can cost over $50,000.

Before you go rushing off to buy one, though, keep in mind that primates are illegal to own as pets in 21 states. In addition, they haven’t had the benefit of centuries of domestic breeding that makes them suitable for civilian environments.

Whether or not the Boston Red Sox are the most successful team of the decade may be questionable, but one thing is for sure—they’re certainly the most expensive team to see at home.

A recent Team Marketing Report has surveyed the Fan Cost Index of Major League Baseball teams and, after being overtaken in 2009 for the first year since 2001, Fenway Park is once again at the top of the chart.

The Fan Cost Index is the total price for a typical family of four to see a game. The FCI includes the price of two children’s tickets, two adult tickets, four small soft drinks, four hot dogs, two small drinks, two programs and parking. Fenway Park’s FCI was $334.78, making it the most expensive park to see a game.

The Cubs’ Wrigley Field came in at a close second with $329.74, while Yankee Stadium placed third at $316.32.

Fans of the Red Sox aren’t paying for the most expensive tickets, however, as the average price of a ticket at Wrigley Field $52.56, a scant few cents more than Fenway Park’s average ticket price of $52.32.

The New York Yankees have a long and storied history as a team that produces legendary players. Forty-four Yankees have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, including such players as Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and, of course, Babe Ruth.

Maybe that’s why the New York Yankees are the most expensive sports team in the world.

According to the first Annual Review of Global Sports Salaries, written for sportsintelligence.com and covering the salaries of 211 teams in 2009, the average Yankees player makes just under $7 million annually, while their highest-paid player, Alex Rodriguez, makes over $30 million. The Yankees were paid so much, in fact, that they had to pay a $23 million luxury tax to the MLB.

Following the Yankees are Spanish soc–er, football teams Real Madrid with an average salary of $6.3 million per year and Barcelona with an average salary of $6 million. The second best-paid team in the US (and fifth in the world) is the Dallas Mavericks, whose average salary is $5.3 million.

Do you think your rent is too much? Well, you might think again after seeing rental prices in the most expensive rental markets in the United States. Compiled by the Center for Housing Policy, an affiliate of the National Housing Conference, the report ranks 210 metropolitan areas in the US by the fair market rent of a two bedroom apartment.

Topping the list was San Francisco, California, where the monthly fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,760. In fact, three of the four highest-ranked areas were in California—Santa Cruz and Santa Ana ranked third and fourth, respectively.

Second place went to Honolulu, the Hawaiian capital, where a two-bedroom apartment goes for around $1,704. New York City’s place on the list was perhaps most surprising, as it ranked a low thirteenth place at $1,359.

The top ten most expensive rental markets in the US are listed below.

HBO’s latest attempt to recapture the magic that made The Sopranos a hit may just be the most expensive television show in the world.

According to The New York Post, the pilot episode for Boardwalk Empire has set HBO back $50 million—around five times the price of Lost’s two-hour pilot episode, formerly thought to be the world’s most expensive television episode.

Boardwalk Empire fuses the period style that made AMC’s Mad Men popular with the gangster drama that propelled Sopranos to the top. It will star Steve Buscemi as politician and gangster Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, who reigned over Atlantic City in the 1920s. The series was created by Buscemi’s fellow Sopranos alum Terence Winter and is produced by none other than Martin Scorsese.

Boardwalk Empire is set to debut in late 2010 with a 12-episode season.

You already know about the world’s most expensive sunglasses, but what about prescription glasses? In 1998, a pair of glasses became the most expensive prescription eyeglasses in the world.

What was so special about these glasses? They were one of two pairs of glasses sold by the widow of Buddy Holly and formerly worn by the legendary Father of Rock and Roll himself. The first pair, auctioned by Sotheby’s in 1990, sold for $50,000. The other pair was worn by Holly during the infamous crash that took his life.

That pair spent 22 years in an Iowa sheriff’s office before being sold by Maria Elena Diaz-Holly to the City of Lubbock, Texas, for $80,000. Lubbock, where Buddy Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley, is the site of the Buddy Holly Center where the glasses are now on display.

Both pairs were furnished for Holly by Dr. J. Davis Armistead, who recalls that Holly experimented with contact lenses before settling on his iconic glasses.

Chicken is often one of the cheaper meats at the grocery store, but you can still pay a premium price for the poultry if you try hard enough. Bresse chickens, from their namesake area in France, are valued for their gamey flavor and tender flesh while Silkie chickens are valued as show chickens for their almost mammalian plumage. The Sussex chickens offered by Greenfire Farms, however, may be the most expensive chickens in the world.

Sussex chickens are a dual-purpose breed. They’re useful for both their egg-laying capacity—up to 250 eggs per year—and their fat, meaty bodies. As the breed’s name suggests, the Sussex chicken comes from Sussex County in England and only four of the eight different varieties of Sussex chicken are widely available in the US.

Greenfire Farms offers two of the varieties less common in the US, the Silver Sussex and the Coronation Sussex, for a hefty price. The Silver is black with prevalent streaks of white and silver while the Coronation is an almost opalescent white. Greenfire offers both of these bloodlines at $750 for six day-old chicks.

Coronation and Silver Sussex chickens

When the Louisville Slugger used by legendary baller Babe Ruth to hit his first home run at Yankee Stadium in 1923 went up for auction, some feared that the winner might destroy it—either to end the dreaded “Curse of the Bambino” and allow the Red Sox victory in that year’s World Series or to sell pieces of it for profit. Instead, it became the most expensive baseball bat in the world as it sold for $1.3 million.

The bat, which left Ruth’s hands as a prize for a Los Angeles high school batting champion, features an autograph and dedication “To the Boy Home Run King of Los Angeles” and a brass plate that reads “Presented to Victor Orsatti at Manual Arts H.S. by the Los Angeles Evening Herald.” The 46-ounce bat’s model number, 148, is still visible amidst the lathe marks.

During his career, Ruth hit 714 home runs. His mythic batting prowess paid for the original Yankee Stadium—earning it the monicker “The House that Ruth Built”—and filled the 58,000-seat stadium with at least 60,000 fans in its first game, when the Yankees played against the Red Sox.

Speaking of the Red Sox, the Curse of the Bambino was lifted the year of the auction when they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 in the 2004 World Series.

What can you carry in the most expensive backpack in the world? From the look of it, you could stuff just about anything you need for a good day’s hike in one of its many pockets.

Leather goods producer Mulholland has made this luxury backpack out of deerskin, a supple but strong leather. The buckles are made of refined nickel or brass findings and the zippers are of the highest quality. The backpack is trimmed with signature Latigo leather and lined with water-resistant Italian linen. Each backpack is handmade in San Francisco and, due to the quality deerskin used in its manufacture, features unique graining.

Mulholland’s Deerskin Rucksack Backpacks are priced at $1,324.95. I dare you to find a more expensive backpack.

In 2005, a couple named Mike and Liz started a blog about a special french fry they’d found at McDonald’s. The fry, which they had dubbed the Lincoln Fry, featured a near perfect profile of the sixteenth president as seen on the common penny. It was also seen in an “amateur” commercial during that year’s Super Bowl XXXIX.

Of course, the story was completely fabricated. It was concocted by McDonald’s as a viral marketing campaign and the Lincoln Fry itself was made from polyurethane plastic.

That didn’t stop GoldenPalace.com—an online casino that, for some reason, thinks I’m in Kentucky—from purchasing the 4-inch french fry for a nationwide tour alongside the “Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich.” The casino secured the world’s most expensive french fry at auction for $75,100.

Proceeds from the Yahoo! auction went to Ronald McDonald House charities.

It’s only available at Mélisse in Santa Monica, CA and even then only between October and December. It’s the most expensive macaroni and cheese in the world and it’s a far cry from Velveeta Shells and Cheese.

The decadent dish is just one example of Chef Josiah Citrin’s cuisine, blend of traditional French and modern American that has made Mélisse a Mobil Travel Guide 4-star recipient for 8 years. The macaroni and cheese is Chef Josiah’s fresh tagliatelle covered with a hefty portion of white truffle, brown butter truffle froth and grated parmesan cheese.

The white truffles are the reason it’s available for a mere three months of the year—during the truffle season—and the most likely culprit for the most expensive macaroni and cheese’s $95 price tag.

How much would you pay for a tablespoon of dirt? Before you answer, you might want to ask about the quality of the dirt, what nutrients a hungry plant might extract from it. Those, as the world’s most expensive dirt will attest, are the wrong questions to ask. No, you need to know where it’s been.

Sold in a coin-shaped, commemorative format, the eminently salable sod comes from the now defunct Yankee Stadium. Originally purchased from Beam Clay, provider of turf for “The House that Ruth Built” since 1952, the exceptional bit of New York Yankees memorabilia was used in the very last game played there on September 21st, 2008—when the Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-3.

The dirt was then pressed into coins under the watchful eyes of Steiner Sports Marketing authenticators and can be purchased in framed sets like the pictured “Yankee Stadium Final Season Game Used Photomint” sold by Highland Mint for $89.95.

By contrast, Beam Clay sells unused dirt by the ton for $75.

BusinessWeek has put together a list of fifty of “The Most Expensive Suburbs to Live in Now” for 2009. The list features the most expensive suburb in each state rated by median home price, median property tax and cost of living, each compared to the state average. Of course, “compared to the state average” doesn’t fly with the luxe standard of living that you’re used to reading about here, so we’ve picked out the ten suburbs with the most expensive median home prices.

Note that these aren’t necessarily the top ten most expensive suburbs in the US; only one suburb is listed in any given state.

Wellesley, Massachusetts – $899,000

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Located about half an hour west of Boston, the old-money town of Wellesley is the home of Babson College and, of course, Wellesley College. Wellesley High School also claimed 70th best public high school in the US in 2007.

Highland Park, Texas – $937,500

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Five miles north of Texas, Highland Park is the home of the Dallas Country Club and is the 41st wealthiest city in the US—19th if you only count cities with populations of 1,000 or more.

Millburn, New Jersey – $960,000

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Despite the bad rap that Jersey usually gets, this opulent suburb of NYC is only considered the 53rd best place to live in the state by New Jersey Magazine. It’s known for The Mall at Short Hills, a high-end mall across from the town’s Hilton Hotel, and its proximity to the South Mountain Reservation.

Great Falls, Virginia – $1,028,000

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North of Washington, DC, Great Falls is the home of the 800-acre Great Falls Park which overlooks the Great Falls of the Potomac. I think I’m beginning to see a pattern here.

Winnetka, Illinois – $1,060,000

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This Chicago suburb is located on the shores of Lake Michigan. It’s notable as the home of both the Hadley School for the Blind, a long distance learning center for the vision impaired, and the family from those dreadful Home Alone movies.

Darien, Connecticut – $1,145,000

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Home of one of the top ten libraries in the US, Darien is just short of an hour away from New York City. CNN rated it one of the top ten best places to live in America in 2005.

Scarsdale, New York – $1,230,000

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Speaking of New York, this suburb has been home to Yoko Ono, wife of John Lennon, West Wing writer and creator Aaron Sorkin and gangster/Las Vegas resort developer Bugsy Siegal.

Paradise Valley, Arizona – $1,650,000

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Paradise Valley, a suburb of Phoenix, is famous for being the namesake, if not the home, of several organizations, including Paradise Valley Community College, Paradise Valley Mall and Paradise Valley Golf Course.

Travilah, Maryland – $1,295,000

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Travilah is an unincorporated area Northwest of Washington, DC. Surprisingly, its claim to fame is its really expensive mansions. Go figure.

Atherton, California – $3,800,000

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I’m sure you’re all shocked that the most expensive suburb is in California. This wealthy community’s notable residents include Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt, former EBay CEO Meg Whitman and retired football player Jerry Rice.

In its original form, the word “whisky” meant “water of life.” I’m sure some of you readers out there will agree with that sentiment. Luckily for you, there’s quite a variety of different whiskies (or “whiskeys,” if we’re talking about American or Irish liquors). Check out the most expensive whiskies in these popular varieties.

The Most Expensive Bourbon Whiskey
$300

The most expensive Bourbon is the 16 Year Old A. H. Hirsch Reserve, one of the few remaining examples of the Kentucky pot-still tradition.

The Most Expensive Canadian Whisky
$10,000

The world’s most expensive Canadian rye whiskey was presented to Queen Elizabeth II at the Kentucky Derby in 2007. If it were sold, it would be expected to go for over $10,000

The Most Expensive Scotch Whisky
$58,000

The world’s most expensive Scotch whisky is a Dalmore 62 Highland Malt Scotch Whisky sold to an anonymous buyer and, reportedly, shared with five of his friends in 2005.

The Most Expensive Irish Whiskey
$143,020

One of the last remaining whiskeys from the Nun’s Island Distillery in Galway, Ireland, this particular elixir is still up for sale at £100,000. If purchased, it will be the most expensive whiskey ever sold.

Canadian rye whisky doesn’t quite have the prestige of its Scotch cousin, but it still has its moments. One such moment happened at the 2007 Kentucky Derby, when the attending Queen Elizabeth II was presented with the world’s most expensive Canadian whisky.

“Canadian whisky” refers to any whisky that is mashed, distilled and aged at least three years in a 700 L or smaller wooden barrel, all within Canadian borders. By Canadian law, any such whisky may also be labeled “rye whisky”—even if low rye content would prevent it from being labeled such elsewhere. Crown Royal Canadian Blended Whisky, one of the most popular Canadian whiskies, was originally brewed in 1939 to commemorate the first Royal Tour of Canada by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the late Queen Mother). The Crown Royal brand is now owned by Diageo, the world’s largest producer of spirits.

The presentation of Crown Royal’s Extra Rare Heritage Blend to Her Royal Majesty hearkens back to that inaugural event. The expensive whisky’s high rye content can be attributed to the rare barrels selected by Crown Royal’s master blender, Andrew MacKay, who supervised its production. In deference to the venue chosen for the presentation of the exclusive blend, Diageo commissioned Casey Hyland of Glassworks in Louisville to create the bottle, which is etched with 24-karat gold leaf for lettering.

While the most expensive Canadian whisky in the world is obviously not for sale, it has an estimated value of over $10,000.

Bourbon whiskey, like Champagne, is named after the region from which it comes—Bourbon, Kentucky. Unlike Champagne, however, Bourbon’s production isn’t limited to its home region. While it is still made primarily in Kentucky, Bourbon can be distilled anywhere in the US.

Currently, the most expensive Bourbon is the 16 year old A. H. Hirsch Reserve. This smooth whiskey was distilled at Michter’s Distillery in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania in 1974 and left to mature until it was bottled in 1990. In fact, this particular whiskey is one of the few remaining examples of whiskeys distilled in the Kentucky pot-still tradition. A 750ML bottle of the 16 year old Reserve may cost up to $300.

Another expensive Bourbon, Evan Williams’ 23 year old, was reported by Forbes to be the most expensive in 2006 at $350. It has since gone down in price, however, and may be had for less than $200.

George Takei and Brad Altman

You’ve probably heard of Proposition 8, the Californian ballot measure that denied gays the right to marry as of November 2008. What you might not know is that the battle over Prop. 8 was the most expensive social issue campaign in US history.

The effect of Proposition 8 was simple—it added a line to the Constitution of California that stated that only marriage between a man and a woman is recognized in the state. This addition had the outcome of overturning a recent Supreme Court decision that allowed same-sex marriages on the basis that denying anyone the right to marry—when marriage was not explicitly defined in the state’s Constitution as being between a man and woman—was discrimination.

Supporters of the bill included the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, who pledged $200,000 to the cause, Mormons, evangelical Protestants and the Knights of Columbus, who made the largest single contribution at $1.4 million.

On the other side of the fence was the Screen Actors Guild, who voted to officially oppose the measure. Director Stephen Spielberg and actor Brad Pitt also made sizeable contributions to Proposition 8’s opposition.

All told, $82 million were raised in support or opposition of the measure and Proposition 8 passed 52-to-48. The 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place during the short time when it was legal, including that of George Takei (of Star Trek and Heroes fame) to Brad Altman, are still legally recognized.

November 2008 marked the end of what was the most expensive election in US history, which culminated in the election of Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Now, it’s likely true that every presidential election could claim that title until the next one came around—and that will probably continue to be true in 2012—but this last one really set the bar with over $2.5 billion spent by the twenty candidates that entered the race over the past two years.

Previous elections have cost significantly less—candidates in 2004 raised only half as much money while 2000’s candidates collected merely a third. Twenty years ago, George Bush Sr. and his opponents spent only 59 million, a mere 25th of this election cycle’s totals.

According to the Federal Election Committee, Republican nominee John McCain raised over $368 million while President Obama raised over $521 million. Other big money campaigns included Republican candidate Ron Paul’s, which raised more money in a single day than any Republican campaign in history when it raised $6 million on December 16th 2007, and Hillary Clinton’s, which was similarly successful on the blue side of the fence on June 30th 2007 and raised over $242 million in total.

How much does public transit in your town cost? According to a recent survey by Citizens Taking Action, a transit watchdog group, most Americans pay a basic fare around $1.53. According to the group, Chicago’s public transportation system is the most expensive in the US at $1.50 for bus fare and $2 to ride the El.

That may not sound like much, but the difference shows when you consider weekly and monthly passes–$17.80 and $58.43 nationally, $24 and $75 in Chicago. The watchdog group’s concern is that fare hikes proposed for 2009 will further widen the gap between the national average and Chicago fares.

Of course, it’s no coincidence that Chicago Transit Authority and Citizens Taking Action share initials and the study to find the national average and America’s most expensive public transit was conducted informally.

Do you know of any public transit prices more expensive than Chicago’s?

The long anticipated Corvette ZR1 may finally see the light of day in 2009. First unveiled at the 12 Hours of Sebring race in 2005, the car was supposedly the result of GM CEO Rick Wagoner wondering what his Chevrolet designers could do for $100,000. The answer, of course, is the most powerful and most expensive Corvette in the world.

Equipped with a new LS9 engine,a supercharged 6.2 liter V8 that produces 620 horsepower (100 hp per liter) and 6500 RPMs, this costly Corvette is reportedly capable of top speeds over 200 mph and experts guess it will be able to do 0-60 in around 3.0 seconds. That’s .6 seconds faster than the Z06. It also features a number of carbon-fiber body parts and adjustable suspension.

The Chevrolet Corvette C6 Z1 was formally announced in December 2007. The world’s most expensive Corvette still has a sticker price of $100,000 and, for anyone who wants to pimp out this luxury sports car, chrome wheels and premium interior options are available.

The price of Super Bowl advertising has steadily increased since the event’s inception in 1967. Forty-two years later, Super Bowl advertising is as popular, if not more so, as the game itself. A thirty second advertising spot during the first Super Bowl cost a nominal $40,000. The same spot during Super Bowl XLII cost $2.7 million, making last year’s Super Bowl placement the most expensive television spot of all time.

Noxzema – 1973

The first Super Bowl commercial to garner any fame was a 1973 Noxzema ad featuring quarterback Joe Namath shaving while actress Farrah Fawcett belted out “Let Noxzema cream your face, so the razor don’t.” The most renowned ad, though, was probably Apple’s Orwellian Macintosh ad which aired, most appropriately, during Super Bowl XVIII in 1984. Then, of course, there are the “I’m Going to Disney World!” and “I’m Going to Disney Land!” campaigns which have been featured in every Super Bowl since 1987, with the notable exception of Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005.

Apple – 1984

Last year, the Nielsen Company revealed that the Victoria’s Secret spot, watched by 103.7 million people, was the highest-rated commercial minute. The most popular ad, though, was the Budweiser Horse/Dalmatian ad. Pepsi’s Justin Timberlake ad generated the most on-line buzz and the ad for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian received the biggest boost from DVR playback.

Victoria’s Secret – 2008

With the steady increase of Super Bowl advertising prices, which only decreased in 2002 due to 9/11, one can say with certainty that placement during Super Bowl XLIII on February 1st will surpass last year’s Super Bowl as the most expensive TV spot in the world.

You might have heard that the 2008 presidential election was the most expensive election season in the history of the United States. Surprise, surprise—it’s being followed up with the most expensive inauguration.

The ceremony, which President-elect Barack Obama has attempted to make as accessible as possible, is expected to attract 1.5 to 2 million attendees—around three to four times the normal population of Washington, DC. In response, the outgoing Bush administration has declared a state of emergency in the District of Columbia. That decision allowed the allocation of emergency funds to cover the costs of the influx of people flooding the capital.

The inauguration will be preceded on the 18th by a free concert featuring Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Beyoncé. On the 19th, Obama and Biden will celebrate Martin Luther King Day at various events around Washington. The ceremony proper will begin at 10:00 AM (EST) on the steps of the Capitol building and the first African-American President of the United States of America will be sworn in by noon.

All told, the event is expected to cost over $150 million—more than three times the cost of President Bush’s inauguration in 2005. Forty-nine million of that has been budgeted by the federal government. The rest will be paid for by donations, including $43 million raised by Obama for the ceremony.

The world’s most expensive cake may look tasty, but was it? If this glitzy wedding cake’s creators are to be believed, no one ever knew.

Unveiled in 2006 at the Luxury Bridal Show on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, the expensive cake was created by cake designers Nahid La Patisserie Artistique along with jewelers Mimi So. That’s right—it’s decked with jewels both exclusive and priceless.

The cake wasn’t meant to be eaten—or even touched. During the show, it was surrounded by a team of uniformed guards. I’d really like to know what they did with it when the show was over, though.

So how much was the most expensive wedding cake in the world? The diamond-studded masterpiece was said to be worth $20 million at the time.

Broadway theatre has its roots in the very end of the 18th century, when New York’s first theatre companies were formed. Nowadays, Broadway audiences can expect to see a mixture of well known television and movie stars and stage actors who only play bit parts outside of theatre. Considering the salaries commanded by film actors, let alone costumes and sets, it’s little wonder that Broadway productions can become quite expensive.

The most expensive Broadway production in history will be “Spider-Man: The Musical,” directed by Julie Taymor. Taymor is no stranger to Broadway, having directed “The Lion King,” based on the Disney film of the same name, in 1997. Feature films under her belt include Shakespearian gore fest Titus (1999) and, most recently, Across the Universe (2007).

Taymor isn’t the only big name attached to this production, though. Scoring the musical will be U2’s Bono and The Edge.

The most expensive Broadway musical in history is expected to cost around $40 million to produce. It’s expected to open next year and, according to the New York Post, will have to run “about 8,000 years” in order to break even.

Anyone who’s ever read anything about US military spending shouldn’t be surprised that the world’s most expensive aircraft was a Department of Defense project.

Created as part of a secret project in the 1980s, the expensive plane is a design executed with the Soviet Union in mind. The Northrop Grumman ATB (Advanced Technology Bomber) was designated the B-2 Spirit after it was chosen over a Lockheed/Rockwell design in 1981. The stealthy bomber was meant to be able to penetrate even the most impregnable anti-aircraft defenses.

The project didn’t turn out quite as expected, though. A redesign from high-altitude to low-altitude mission profile added two years and $1 billion to the project’s cost, bringing the total expenditure up to a reported $23 billion. Furthermore, the dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in the production being limited to 20 planes—21 if you count an upgraded test bomber.

Reports on the cost of a single B-2 bomber vary from $737 million to $2.2 billion, but the most often cited figure for the most expensive aircraft in the world is $1.3 billion.

(Image via The German Car Blog.)

One of the world’s most prestigious car auctions has produced some very impressive figures this year. Part of the famed Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance, Gooding & Company’s auction has set several world records since its inception in 1990. Now it has hosted the auction of the most expensive car ever sold in the US.

The Concourse d’Elegance was started in 1950 and has since become the world’s premier auto show. Other events include the Tour d’Elegance—a “driving event,” not a race—and an exhibition by the Automotive Fine Arts Society. Of course, the main event is the Concourse d’Elegance itself, in which the best cars in the world are judged for historical accuracy, technical merit and style.

The auction, which follows the main event, was expanded this year to two days. The final tally added up to $64.2 million–$4.2 million more than last year’s auction. Among the expensive autos sold at this exclusive auction were a collection of twelve Bugatti cars sold for $15 million, a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB “California” Spider for $3.63 million and three cars from Oprah Winfrey’s personal collection for $716,000.

Then, of course, there’s the most expensive car in the world. A 1937 Bugatti Type 37SC Atalante Coupe, the production year marks it as one of the original cars produced under the Bugatti name. The original company was founded in 1909 and closed its doors in 1963, sold for its production of airplane parts rather than automobiles. The Bugatti name was eventually reunited with the automobile industry, however, and now graces a limited line of luxury autos from Volkswagen AG.

The most expensive car ever sold in the US was auctioned for $7.92 million. It wasn’t the most expensive car in the world, however. That honor belongs to a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder sold for $10.9 million.

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