Ever miss the screeching sound of your kids fighting for control of the Wii while you’re on the road?

Well, now Marriott hotel guests can indulge in a little Nintendo Wii in the comfort of their hotel rooms.

Bethesda-based Marriott International, Inc. is piloting a new specially-built Wii hotel game system in guest rooms and lounges. Guests will have 20 games to chose from, including Mario Kart, Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports and Wii Fit.

The six properties with the pilot game systems are:

• New York Marriott Marquis

• Renaissance New York Hotel Times Square

• Boston Marriott Cambridge

• Bethesda (Md.) Marriott Suites

• Annapolis (Md.) Marriott Waterfront

• JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, Phoenix (Lounge only)

The Wii guest room packages include unlimited Wii access for the entire stay, but there is a small premium for a room with Wii over the standard guest room rate. Of course.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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After a nerve-racking week, Congress will vote on a proposal later today for a $700 billion government bailout.  The basic proposal hasn’t changed much, but lawmakers have added safeguards to protect taxpayer money and put caps on executive pay.

If you would like to read a draft of the bailout bill, click here.

RICHARD SIMON, Multimedia Reporter

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The Daily Record often covers big real estate projects built by major developers with well-funded investors. But today marks the inaugural installation of something different: “Real Astute,” an occasional feature where I will profile small-time residential real estate investors.

The idea is to highlight folks who have made interesting and/or successful investments, done fun things with equity, taken a chance on a transitional neighborhood, or otherwise done extraordinary things with real estate in and around Baltimore.

Today we meet Nik Todorov, a 26-year-old Bulgarian immigrant who came to America six years ago with virtually nothing, but now owns two houses, is a partner in a retail kiosk business (you know – those jewelry stands in the Inner Harbor), auctions off residential properties he buys from wholesalers, and brokers homes the old-fashioned way for Keller Williams.

I hope you take a look at the story itself to find out how Nik turned his networking skills and work ethic into solid small business practice. In the coming weeks and months, I’ve got a few other subjects in mind, from a former WWF wrestler to a green building innovator in Northeast Baltimore.

Meanwhile, I want to hear from you! If you or anyone you know has real estate dreams, has renovated and sold a house to some success, or who has taken a chance and come out on the right side of a real estate deal, let me hear about it! The more amateur, the better!

Send tips to me at robbie.whelan[at]mddailyrecord.com, and we’ll see if you or your friends, family, or colleagues end up featured as “Real Astute.”

Thanks in advance!

ROBBIE WHELAN, Business Writer

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There are few things as enjoyable to me as getting lost in the fantasy of a video game. With the stress of the current economic crisis, it appears more and more people have come to agree, according to a recent NPR report.

Much as movie theaters provided Americans distraction during the Great Depression, video games have proven to be excellent providers of escapism. According to NPR, movie revenue is up only slightly when compared to the same time last year. That’s not the case with the world of gaming:

“By comparison, overall video game sales are up 43 percent from this time in 2007. Since its release on Aug. 12, fans have purchased more than 2 million copies of the football game Madden NFL 09, according to the National Purchase Diary (NPD) Group.”

Grand Theft Auto IV grossed more than $500 million in its first week of release. Compare that to The Dark Knight, released July 18 with a current total gross of $522,573,036, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. I think that puts the game’s success into perspective.

The great thing about games, as opposed to movies, is that you can actually spend time with friends without having to sit quietly in a darkened room. Also, a movie is over in maybe two hours. With ticket prices, obligatory snacks and parking, that could mean $50 for two people to enjoy two hours. A $50 game can provide hours more entertainment.

Maybe this isn’t the best venue for a post extolling the virtues of video games – but maybe it is. Anyone out there spend their free time in this particular fantasy world?

JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist

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Looks like someone has found a way to use the current financial crisis to drum up interest in their business.

Mike Zippelli, CEO of Classic Sleep Products in Jessup, has sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offering the donation of 535 mattresses so that members of Congress have a comfy place to nap while (if?) they work round the clock to find a legislative way out of the financial crisis.

“I was watching John McCain announce the suspension of his campaign this afternoon and said to my leadership team that it doesn’t matter what side of the political aisle you are on, solving this crisis is paramount…

“Congress should be in session 24/7 until this issue is resolved, and I’ll make sure we give them the tools to take some naps on the Hill, but stay in session until this problem is resolved,” Zippelli said in a release.

At the very least, it’s a funny way to get publicity. And it pokes fun at the work ethic and effectiveness of elected officials, which I quite enjoy.

But it’s also pretty much unnecessary. My father was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives back in the early 1990s — I consider it his mid-life crisis — and I know for a fact that he spent many a night sleeping on a couch in his office, waiting for a late-night vote. He even had a private shower almost large enough to fit a fully-grown adult.

Assuming the cafeteria is still open in the basement of the Longworth and all the inter-connected underground tunnels are open, members of the House and Senate should have everything they need to keep themselves rested and nourished in the coming days, weeks or even months while they develop a plan to fix the economy. And all without ever going outdoors.

In fact, I say we go ahead and lock them inside until they figure out that fix. They should be fine.

JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist

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If you like converted shipping containers as a housing option for Mexican border towns (see today’s Uncover Story), how about putting them in Monkton?

A nursery owner famous for his irises had a double-container house built for one of his workers after the state said the man could no longer live in an RV on the property, according to this story from the North County News.

L. Bruce Hornstein and partner Lee Dorman were so taken with the result — painted to match their own house, and built to Harford County code — that they formed a production company, Steel’s the Answer. They envision not just houses but “villages for migrant workers or for the homeless.”

The director of Harford County’s Office of Economic Development offered another intriguing possibility: using the houses to accommodate the influx of federal workers brought to Maryland under BRAC. (No, he didn’t specify Aberdeen Proving Ground; I’m just guessing that’s what the director of Harford County’s Office of Economic Development means when he says “BRAC.”)

Call me skeptical, but I don’t see this as a big draw for all those folks who’d rather stay in New Jersey.

BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor/Law

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For more than a week now, the owners and family of Chang Yim’s now-padlocked Linden Bar and Liquors on North Avenue in Baltimore have been staging a silent protest in front of City Hall over the closing of their family-run business.

The store has been the site of frequent drug-related activity, according to newspaper reports and liquor board officials, and on July 20, the day after a fatal shooting in the store that was said by some to be drug-related, the Liquor Board used emergency powers to shut the store down.

City police officials contend that Yim refused to hire an armed security guard to curb drug activity at the shop after he was asked to do so in January, but in a three-page statement being distributed by Yim and his family last week, he wrote that he “did not feel comfortable introducing deadly force to our establishment.”

The statement goes on to portray Yim and his family as law-abiding small business owners who are victims of the ills of a drug-plagued neighborhood, and attacks the practice of padlocking problematic liquor stores as unconstitutional:

“First, the padlock law blames us for conduct that is not our fault…Second, the padlock law includes within the definition of nuisances, conduct that is purely legal. For example, it is legal to sell Maryland State Lottery from our store…Additionally, the padlock law makes possession of unregistered firearms a nuisance. Under Maryland Law only handguns and assault rifles are required to be registered. Shotguns and non-automatic rifles are not require to be registered, and in fact are owned by many law abiding citizens to protect their homes and businesses. Third, the police commissioner was never given the legal authority by the State of Maryland to hear and decide padlock cases.”

In a violent, often dangerous city where small business owners take risks doing business in some neighborhoods, sometimes even ones that are thought of as safe or middle class, who do you think is to blame for encouraging drug activity and shooting deaths? Should problem bars and liquor stores be punished for being the site of unfortunate incidents?

What sort of message do you think this sends to criminals? How about small business owners?

ROBBIE WHELAN, Business Writer

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The Baltimore Sun certainly does get around. In the last six years it’s made three content- or staff-sharing deals with two local stations (twice with ABC affiliate WMAR-TV and once with NBC affiliate WBAL-TV and radio) and Tuesday announced yet another deal — this time with CBS affiliate WJZ –TV.

(The Sun is just one local news station short of hitting for the cycle…has someone notified the Fox affiliate WBFF-TV to stand by?)

Touted as a “content-sharing partnership,” The Sun will air WJZ’s local news videos and the two outlets will share story leads and partner on major journalistic projects, according to a station press release.

The Sun’s past collaborations with television stations have included journalists being featured or interviewed on WMAR’s evening news, and WBAL-TV’s chief meteorologist, Tom Tasselmyer, on the back page of the Maryland section and answering weather questions on The Sun’s Web site.

According to the release, WJZ’s sales team will be responsible for selling advertising inventory within WJZ video content on baltimoresun.com, and the station’s regional news coverage will include stories provided by The Sun’s four county bureaus, and WJZ will promote the newspaper’s top stories in its newscasts.

Content sharing between the organizations is expected to begin by the end of the month, and WJZ news video is expected to be available at The Sun’s Web site by mid-October.

Tim Franklin, editor and senior vice president of The Sun, said in the release that the move benefits readers because combining the two outlets’ resources provides “an even more comprehensive news report.”

But are some news readers concerned that “combining resources” really means that the same news will be rehashed on both outlets, effectively reducing the variety of news reported? What do you think?

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer

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There’s a lot more to learn from Oriole Park at Camden Yards than just the retro architecture trend it’s touted for starting in the 1990s.

Monday afternoon on National Public Radio’s Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU in D.C., former Baltimore Sun sports columnist Milton Kent and George Solomon, the University of Maryland’s resident sports journalism professor and former Washington Post sports editor, used Baltimore as an example when they spoke about the final game played at Yankee Stadium and Nationals Park’s disappointing performance in its first season.

Kent compared the enormity of Yankee Stadium’s closing to the closing of Memorial Stadium — which saw the Orioles win three World Series titles, the birth of “Orioles magic” in 1979 and Cal Ripken Jr.’s major league debut, among other memories.

“I can tell you in October of 1991 when the O’s played their last game…I cried at Memorial Stadium,” Kent told Nnamdi. “All of my memories as a child about baseball were tied up in Memorial Stadium. I only hope the people in New York understand what they lost last night.”

Solomon also mentioned Baltimore when asked about a recent Post article that said D.C.’s new ballpark is on pace to generate about $13.5 million in sales tax revenue for the city in its inaugural season — about $2.6 million below officials’ projections. It is also on pace to draw about 2.36 million fans this year.

He attributed the financial gap and lower attendance to the team’s poor performance this season, noting the Nats could potentially lose 100 games, and said that the tradition of baseball in D.C. was not well-established enough to overcome that record like it was in other cities.

Oriole Park drew about 3.57 million during its first year while the O’s went 89-73 and missed the playoffs. During the O’s first losing season in Oriole Park in 1995, the team led the league in attendance, drawing nearly 3.1 million fans.

“I think the Baltimore fans get it…I don’t think the Washington fans quite get it yet,” Solomon said. “It’s difficult to do when your team is losing…but the ballpark is terrific…now I think it’s up to the Nats to put a better team on the field.”

Solomon did note it was “remarkable” Nationals Park drew as many fans as it did, considering the team’s play this year.

Do you think Baltimore fans “get it,” or is it fair to compare the two cities at this stage in the game? How much of Nationals Park’s perceived disappointment is due to the team and how much is due to the fact that a glistening, new ballpark is sitting in an undeveloped part of the city?

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer

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A news release from Loyola College in Maryland announces that English professor Juniper Ellis’ “Tattooing the World: Pacific Designs in Print and Skin” has been named 2008’s “Best New Book by a Local Author” by Baltimore’s City Paper. (Ellis shared the honor with best-selling mystery author Laura Lippman’s “What the Dead Know.”)

According to the release, Ellis’ book, published by Columbia University Press in March 2008, traces the origins and significance of modern tattoo in the works of 19th- and 20th-century artists, travelers, missionaries, scientists and famous writers including Herman Melville, Margaret Mead, Albert Wendt and Sia Figiel. Hers is the first book to specifically consider the role of tattoo in literature and culture.

“Thirty-six percent of young Americans are tattooed,” the release quotes Ellis, a member of the Loyola faculty since 1997. “Clearly the designs are a flashpoint in our culture and a visible way people create meaning and identity. I’m happy City Paper thinks the book contributes to the conversation about a living art form.”

While it’s nice that Ellis’ book has been singled out for praise, I’m at a loss to understand the appeal of tattoos, or why more than a third of young Americans, or Americans of any age, are willing to spend money to despoil their bodies. It’s not that I have anything against tattoo studios, many of whose employees are talented artists.

But if people need to “create meaning and identity” for themselves, permanently disfiguring their bodies seems a bizarre way to do it. Why not volunteer at a local soup kitchen, or tutor low-income kids, or do something that helps other people while building your self-esteem?

Can anyone enlighten me?

PAUL SAMUEL, Associate Editor

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