News Briefs

OLIVE GARDEN: is rolling out its annual Pasta Tales essay contest asking students in grades one through 12, "If you could create a new holiday, what would you name it and how would it be celebrated?" Their answers could win them a trip to New York and a $2,500 savings bond. U.S. and Canadian students can enter from Oct. 2 through Dec. 1 by submitting 50- to 250-word essays. Entry forms and rules will be available beginning Oct. 2 at local Olive Garden restaurants or online at OliveGarden.com/company/community/pasta_tales.asp. Online materials support.

MYSPACE.COM: and Twentieth Century Fox have teamed up to launch the first international film screening event called Black Carpet. MySpace members in six countries can attend an exclusive Sept. 20 screening of Borat at MySpace.com/borat. MySpace members in Canada, Germany, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and 20 U.S. cities have the chance to attend advanced local screenings of the film. To access the MySpace Carpet screening events, users must join the Black Carpet profile at MySpace.com/blackcarpet and the profile of their favorite film to receive notices with locations and show times. In the film, Borat travels from his primitive home in Kazakhstan to the U.S. to make a documentary. On his trip, he meets real people in real situations. The movie, which opens Nov. 3, follows one Sacha Baron Cohen's characters in the HBO comedy Da Ali G Show.

ADIDAS: has been named by the National Football League (NFL) as an authorized supplier of footwear. Under the agreement, Adidas will supply NFL players with branded footwear for use during games, and may also use NFL and club logos to promote its footwear products. Earlier this year, Adidas signed contracts with the top two NFL draft picks, Mario Williams and Reggie Bush, who will be featured in upcoming Adidas brand campaigns and will be wearing Adidas footwear and TechFIT apparel during the 2006 NFL season. Adidas joins another company within the Adidas-Group, Reebok, in addition to Nike and Under Armour as authorized footwear suppliers of the NFL. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.