continuing to follow news of AIG

Again, not specific to Toyohara, but of interest to me because of his ALICO CMs and how the company’s problems might impact his continuing to be a commercial spokesman for their hospitalization insurance plans.

Two articles, the one from AP including some interesting information:

The Financial Times, citing people who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported this week that the government will swap the 80 percent stake it currently holds in AIG for even bigger pieces of three units that would be split off from the company: AIG’s Asian operations, its international life insurance business and its U.S. personal lines business.

AIG’s traditional insurance subsidiaries are widely viewed as safe. If AIG needed to file for bankruptcy protection, “AIG’s insurance subsidiaries are separately capitalized and would continue to operate,” Hartwig said.

Full text of the articles behind the cut…

omoshiro nankyoku ryurinin | 南極料理人 | south pole cook

Official site

IMDb

Set for release in August.

Directed by Okita Shuichi

Other cast: Sakai Masato, Namase Katsuhiro, Kora Kengo, Furutachi Kanji, Kuroda Daisuke, Kohama Masahiro

articles behind the cut (last edit 2009.02.23)

2008 cm ranking

Toyohara ranked higher last year than the year before with only the ALICO CMs and despite the near downfall of AIG. He was tied with Maki Ota, who was in the same CM, so their numbers were identical. The region names are linked to the original Video Research Ltd charts published on 19 February 2009. Statistics kept are from January to December 2008.

Kanto region – 7th (12th last year) | broadcast 3418 times for 39 hours 54 minutes 30 seconds air time

Kansai region – 1st (13th last year) | broadcast 5124 times for 63 hours 56 minutes air time

Nagoya region – 6th (16th last year) | broadcast 3321 times for 39 hours 46 minutes

News articles (text and link) behind the cut…

rumor | Omoshiro nankyoku ryurinin

confirmed on official film site

南極料理人 | Omoshiro nankyoku ryurinin | South Pole Cook
There is a rumor that Toyohara has been cast in this film, currently filming & due for release in August, though I have yet to see anything to substantiate it. This entry is to help me keep track of some things as I try to find out if it’s true. If it turns out to be false, this entry will be deleted.

The film’s official site (at the moment, at least) looks to be primarily an extras casting schedule.
A pre-production entry is up at IMDb.

Announcement for the film on nikkansports.com on 2009.12.25

Cinematopics information page (to watch for new info)

Cinemacafe information page

eiga.com information page