Don't be a movie critic marketer!

Have you ever watched a movie that you thought was pretty good, and later saw that almost all of the reviews by professional movie critics were negative? There's a reason why that happens, and the same issues that plague movie critics can also affect you as a marketer.

Let's talk about how.

First, let's answer the question: Why are critical reviews always worse than user reviews? I challenge you to go to Yahoo! Movies and find a movie where the overall critical grade is higher than the the average user grade. I've never seen it happen -- though there may be a few rare instances I just don't know about.

That used to drive me crazy. I'd watch a good movie and see that the critics gave it a C- and the users a B+. "Are critics really that clueless?" I thought.

No, they're not clueless. The problem is exactly the opposite -- they know too much about movies.

Cellphones, Mobile Handsets Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro first hands-on!

Amazing! Sony Ericsson actually managed to keep something secret from us. The Xperia Pro is the one handset from its MWC presser today that wasn't known about in advance, but we're damn happy to see it anyhow. It features a well-spaced QWERTY keyboard that slides out much in the same way as the gamepad would on the Xperia Play. We did notice there were some software issues on our demo devices -- the Sony Ericsson-customized Android 2.3 installation was nowhere near as smooth as what we've seen on the Xperia Arc previously, so maybe SE will need a bit more time to fashion out its software here. Physically, the Pro is compact and seems decently well built -- we did find the oddly placed power button and teeny tiny volume controls a bit of a bother to locate and operate, however. Obviously, this is a big step up in size from the Xperia X10 Mini Pro, but thickness is kept mercifully in check. It doesn't feel significantly thicker in the hand than phones that lack its hardware keyboard. We'll have video of the device for you very shortly, but for now, enjoy the hands-on shots below.

Human chain protests against far right in Dresden

DRESDEN, Germany (AP) -- Thousands of people formed a human chain in Dresden to protest against a far-right march Sunday on the 66th anniversary of the Allied bombing of the city in World War II.

City authorities said that 17,000 people formed the chain around the rebuilt city center. News agency DAPD reported that they included Germany's interior minister and Saxony's state governor.

Three waves of British and U.S. bombers on Feb. 13-14, 1945, destroyed Dresden's centuries-old baroque city center.

The total number of people killed has long been uncertain. In 2008, a panel commissioned by state officials found that the firebombing killed no more than 25,000 people - far fewer than scholars' previous estimates that ran as high as 135,000.

Dresden remembers the victims while also recalling "nights and days in which Warsaw, Rotterdam and Coventry were earlier reduced to rubble by German bombers," deputy mayor Detlef Sittel said.

Far-right groups have long sought to exploit the bombing. A few thousand supporters marched later Sunday from the city's main station, carrying torches and banners with slogans such as "the victims were our families."

The far right is a marginal political force in Germany and has no seats in the national parliament. However, Saxony, where Dresden is located, is one of two states where the far-right National Democratic Party has seats in the regional legislature.

Egypt CBank sells $1.1B in Treasury bills

CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's Central Bank on Sunday sold 6.5 billion pounds ($1.1 billion) in Treasury bills, still forced to pay high yields despite the easing of tensions after President Hosni Mubarak ceded control of the country to the military.

The auction of 3 billion pounds in three-month bills and 3.5 billion in 266-day bills was the latest push by the Egyptian government to raise funds as the political crisis battered the country's economy.

It was the first such auction since Mubarak left office on Thursday after 18 days of protests in which hundreds of thousands demanded his ouster.

Yields for the 91-day bills averaged almost 10.95 percent while the 266-day T-bill averaged almost 11.68 percent, slightly lower than previous sales last week.

"We expected the market to ease a bit because the situation was much better than last week," said Khalil El-Bawab, head of fixed income at EFG Hermes, the Cairo-based Mideast investment bank. Yields "will further ease in the coming few weeks once the situation is more stable."

Regional markets, meanwhile, posted moderate gains in the first day of trade in much of the Arab world since Mubarak's departure from office.

18 items missing from Egyptian Museum after unrest

CAIRO (AP) -- A full inventory of the Egyptian Museum has found that looters escaped with 18 items during the anti-government unrest, including two gilded wooden statues of famed boy king Tutankhamun, the antiquities chief said Sunday.

The 18-day uprising that forced out President Hosni Mubarak engulfed the areas around the museum, on the edge of Cairo's Tahrir Square. On Jan. 28, as protesters clashed with police early on in the turmoil and burned down the adjacent headquarters of Mubarak's ruling party, a handful of looters climbed a fire escape to the museum roof and lowered themselves on ropes from a glass-paneled ceiling onto the museum's top floor.

Around 70 objects - many of them small statues - were damaged, but until Sunday's announcement, it was not known whether anything was missing.

Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass said the museum's database department determined 18 objects were gone. Investigators searching for those behind the thefts were questioning dozens of people arrested over several days after last month's break-in.