Recently in Entertainment Category

Thanks to Mark for passing along this video ode to the 2007 credit crunch, sub-prime implosion, and hedge fund blowups on Wall Street.

Michelle B submits:

As any trader knows, we can easily lose perspective when trading. Here's a little aid to help in keeping one's perspective.

If you missed Cramer's appearance on 'Conan' last night you missed some good laughs. Jim even revealed how he got caught up in the 'Booya' thing. Much to my chagrin it's not because Jim was a fan of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. (from my home town of Carson, CA). That episode re-airs Monday at 7 PM Eastern Time on CNBC, conveniently after Mad Money. As always, set those TiVos...

There's been a lot of good economics & business related blogging of late. This week's Carnival of the Capitalists highlights many good recent articles. Below are some of the ones that caught my eye, plus a few other posts I read over the weekend:

• Michael at the Calico Cat discusses the 'free market of blogs'. He shows how blogs compete for traffic and makes the astute point of how a mediocre blog with great marketing can trump a great blog with poor marketing. The part that I liked the best was his observation about the supply & demand for topics. Michael saw a demand for information about the Jessica Cutler story and decided to provide some supply. The result was a huge bump in traffic to his site. He also points out something that I quickly learned when I started blogging over a year ago -- "people would rather read about sex scandals than read about economics. That’s why a great blog like Truck and Barter hardly gets any visits, while Wonkette, who Richard Leiby of the Washington Post just today called a 'foul mouthed vixen', gets about five hundred times as much traffic." My other blog, which covers everything from entertainment to technology, averages four times the traffic of this blog. And even within that blog the posts about some nonsense get way more response than anything that covers a serious topic. Oh well, such is life...


• Russell at the Mobile Technology Weblog makes an example of the mobile phone companies by showing how they're trying to push a technology, MMS, that is probably way ahead of its time at best. There are certainly lessons to be learned from this by many technology companies.


• TJ extracts some valuable business lessons from the disasters in the satellite phone business a few years back. My favorite is this one: "disruptive technologies (a satellite phone) can be disrupted by an even stronger disruptive technology (the mobile phone), don't believe too much in your own pitch".


• David at VoluntaryXchange has several posts examining the economics in HBO's new series 'Deadwood'. I've been fascinated by the series since it premiered. The underhanded schemes that went on in that camp reminds me so much of what went on during the internet bubble, and every other bubble for that matter. And Swearengen should be a business school professor with his "mind on my money & my money's on my mind" attitude. The Ferengi would be proud!


• Barry at the Big Picture highlights a very interesting economic study that was done on EverQuest On-Line. In another parallel to the stock market, EverQuest players are actually paying real money to buy intrinsically valueless items (characters or virtual possessions) via eBay auctions.


• And last but certainly not least, Dr. Duru gives us another of his market missives, and if I'm not mistaken he's dusted off his perma-bear costume.

These caricatures just arrived in my inbox, so I thought I'd share them. Can you tell that I'm bored with this market???

It's been a while since I posted about a movie. Well after seeing Rabbit-Proof Fence I was moved to write about it. The (based on a true) story takes place in 1931 Australia. The Australian government has a policy of assimilating 'half-caste' (mixed-race) children by snatching them from their (black) parents and raising them in boarding/training schools. The government's plan is based on the theory that they can better these people by 'breeding the black out of them' over time. The story focuses on three girls who escape from one of these schools and walk more than 1,000 miles in an effort to be reunited with their families. All the while they are outfoxing police and a professional tracker who are determined to return them to the school. For a more detailed review, check out what Roger Ebert had to say about the movie.

This story is fascinating to me for a couple reasons. I've only recently heard of some of the racial issues in Australia. The story clearly shows some parallels to the history of the Americas (Brasil, U.S.A., Caribbean, etc.). The plight of the aboriginal people is the obvious one. But also the racial strife and the resistance to assimilation.

I really think this was one of the best movies of 2002, yet it was way under most people's radar. In my opinion it should have been nominated for Academy awards for cinematography and best score, at the very least. And probably for best director too. I purposely waited to see this film on DVD because I figured that there would be some good bonus features included. I was not disappointed in that respect. There's a 'making of' documentary on the disc that is almost as gripping as the movie itself. The three lead actresses had never even acted before. (The youngest girl gives an incredible audition!) You get to see the whole casting process, as well as how the girls reacted to learning about this painful episode in their people's history for the first time. Bottom line - go see this movie! And if your local video store doesn't have it (like my local Hollywood Video... wtf?), try NetFlix, or Amazon. Oh, there's a lot of related info on the movie's official site.

I stumbled across this very innovative Honda ad. This reminds me of the contraptions you'd see in the old cartoons. They say it took over 600 takes to get that shot right.

The Matrix sequels get IMAXed

At least now I have a good excuse to see 'Reloaded' twice! ( IMAX's stock got a nice pop from this news. )

Seems like this is one of those 'love it or hate it' movies, but if you haven't seen this movie I highly suggest that you do. I just rented it & saw it for the first time. This is one of those movies well suited to the DVD format. (It's disappointing that there's no director's commentary on the disc though. No doubt there will be a special edition with commentary tracks released later.) There are some good featurettes on the disc, in which the filmmakers discuss some of the minutiae of the story, as well as some technical filmmaking type stuff. I won't attempt to write a review - there are plenty already in existence. The NY Times has a good one. (You may have to register to get that link to work.)

If you're a fan of The Matrix, you have to check out the current issue (11.05) of Wired magazine. Unfortunately, that issue is not online yet. There's a good article about the special effects in the upcoming releases. As a bonus, there are some pictures of Jada too! (She's also on the cover.)

edit: The Wired issue is online now

Thanks to Mark for passing along this video ode to the 2007 credit crunch, sub-prime implosion, and hedge fund blowups on Wall Street.

Michelle B submits:

As any trader knows, we can easily lose perspective when trading. Here's a little aid to help in keeping one's perspective.

If you missed Cramer's appearance on 'Conan' last night you missed some good laughs. Jim even revealed how he got caught up in the 'Booya' thing. Much to my chagrin it's not because Jim was a fan of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. (from my home town of Carson, CA). That episode re-airs Monday at 7 PM Eastern Time on CNBC, conveniently after Mad Money. As always, set those TiVos...

There's been a lot of good economics & business related blogging of late. This week's Carnival of the Capitalists highlights many good recent articles. Below are some of the ones that caught my eye, plus a few other posts I read over the weekend:

• Michael at the Calico Cat discusses the 'free market of blogs'. He shows how blogs compete for traffic and makes the astute point of how a mediocre blog with great marketing can trump a great blog with poor marketing. The part that I liked the best was his observation about the supply & demand for topics. Michael saw a demand for information about the Jessica Cutler story and decided to provide some supply. The result was a huge bump in traffic to his site. He also points out something that I quickly learned when I started blogging over a year ago -- "people would rather read about sex scandals than read about economics. That’s why a great blog like Truck and Barter hardly gets any visits, while Wonkette, who Richard Leiby of the Washington Post just today called a 'foul mouthed vixen', gets about five hundred times as much traffic." My other blog, which covers everything from entertainment to technology, averages four times the traffic of this blog. And even within that blog the posts about some nonsense get way more response than anything that covers a serious topic. Oh well, such is life...


• Russell at the Mobile Technology Weblog makes an example of the mobile phone companies by showing how they're trying to push a technology, MMS, that is probably way ahead of its time at best. There are certainly lessons to be learned from this by many technology companies.


• TJ extracts some valuable business lessons from the disasters in the satellite phone business a few years back. My favorite is this one: "disruptive technologies (a satellite phone) can be disrupted by an even stronger disruptive technology (the mobile phone), don't believe too much in your own pitch".


• David at VoluntaryXchange has several posts examining the economics in HBO's new series 'Deadwood'. I've been fascinated by the series since it premiered. The underhanded schemes that went on in that camp reminds me so much of what went on during the internet bubble, and every other bubble for that matter. And Swearengen should be a business school professor with his "mind on my money & my money's on my mind" attitude. The Ferengi would be proud!


• Barry at the Big Picture highlights a very interesting economic study that was done on EverQuest On-Line. In another parallel to the stock market, EverQuest players are actually paying real money to buy intrinsically valueless items (characters or virtual possessions) via eBay auctions.


• And last but certainly not least, Dr. Duru gives us another of his market missives, and if I'm not mistaken he's dusted off his perma-bear costume.

These caricatures just arrived in my inbox, so I thought I'd share them. Can you tell that I'm bored with this market???

It's been a while since I posted about a movie. Well after seeing Rabbit-Proof Fence I was moved to write about it. The (based on a true) story takes place in 1931 Australia. The Australian government has a policy of assimilating 'half-caste' (mixed-race) children by snatching them from their (black) parents and raising them in boarding/training schools. The government's plan is based on the theory that they can better these people by 'breeding the black out of them' over time. The story focuses on three girls who escape from one of these schools and walk more than 1,000 miles in an effort to be reunited with their families. All the while they are outfoxing police and a professional tracker who are determined to return them to the school. For a more detailed review, check out what Roger Ebert had to say about the movie.

This story is fascinating to me for a couple reasons. I've only recently heard of some of the racial issues in Australia. The story clearly shows some parallels to the history of the Americas (Brasil, U.S.A., Caribbean, etc.). The plight of the aboriginal people is the obvious one. But also the racial strife and the resistance to assimilation.

I really think this was one of the best movies of 2002, yet it was way under most people's radar. In my opinion it should have been nominated for Academy awards for cinematography and best score, at the very least. And probably for best director too. I purposely waited to see this film on DVD because I figured that there would be some good bonus features included. I was not disappointed in that respect. There's a 'making of' documentary on the disc that is almost as gripping as the movie itself. The three lead actresses had never even acted before. (The youngest girl gives an incredible audition!) You get to see the whole casting process, as well as how the girls reacted to learning about this painful episode in their people's history for the first time. Bottom line - go see this movie! And if your local video store doesn't have it (like my local Hollywood Video... wtf?), try NetFlix, or Amazon. Oh, there's a lot of related info on the movie's official site.

I stumbled across this very innovative Honda ad. This reminds me of the contraptions you'd see in the old cartoons. They say it took over 600 takes to get that shot right.

The Matrix sequels get IMAXed

At least now I have a good excuse to see 'Reloaded' twice! ( IMAX's stock got a nice pop from this news. )

Seems like this is one of those 'love it or hate it' movies, but if you haven't seen this movie I highly suggest that you do. I just rented it & saw it for the first time. This is one of those movies well suited to the DVD format. (It's disappointing that there's no director's commentary on the disc though. No doubt there will be a special edition with commentary tracks released later.) There are some good featurettes on the disc, in which the filmmakers discuss some of the minutiae of the story, as well as some technical filmmaking type stuff. I won't attempt to write a review - there are plenty already in existence. The NY Times has a good one. (You may have to register to get that link to work.)

If you're a fan of The Matrix, you have to check out the current issue (11.05) of Wired magazine. Unfortunately, that issue is not online yet. There's a good article about the special effects in the upcoming releases. As a bonus, there are some pictures of Jada too! (She's also on the cover.)

edit: The Wired issue is online now

Thanks to Mark for passing along this video ode to the 2007 credit crunch, sub-prime implosion, and hedge fund blowups on Wall Street.

Michelle B submits:

As any trader knows, we can easily lose perspective when trading. Here's a little aid to help in keeping one's perspective.

If you missed Cramer's appearance on 'Conan' last night you missed some good laughs. Jim even revealed how he got caught up in the 'Booya' thing. Much to my chagrin it's not because Jim was a fan of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. (from my home town of Carson, CA). That episode re-airs Monday at 7 PM Eastern Time on CNBC, conveniently after Mad Money. As always, set those TiVos...

There's been a lot of good economics & business related blogging of late. This week's Carnival of the Capitalists highlights many good recent articles. Below are some of the ones that caught my eye, plus a few other posts I read over the weekend:

• Michael at the Calico Cat discusses the 'free market of blogs'. He shows how blogs compete for traffic and makes the astute point of how a mediocre blog with great marketing can trump a great blog with poor marketing. The part that I liked the best was his observation about the supply & demand for topics. Michael saw a demand for information about the Jessica Cutler story and decided to provide some supply. The result was a huge bump in traffic to his site. He also points out something that I quickly learned when I started blogging over a year ago -- "people would rather read about sex scandals than read about economics. That’s why a great blog like Truck and Barter hardly gets any visits, while Wonkette, who Richard Leiby of the Washington Post just today called a 'foul mouthed vixen', gets about five hundred times as much traffic." My other blog, which covers everything from entertainment to technology, averages four times the traffic of this blog. And even within that blog the posts about some nonsense get way more response than anything that covers a serious topic. Oh well, such is life...


• Russell at the Mobile Technology Weblog makes an example of the mobile phone companies by showing how they're trying to push a technology, MMS, that is probably way ahead of its time at best. There are certainly lessons to be learned from this by many technology companies.


• TJ extracts some valuable business lessons from the disasters in the satellite phone business a few years back. My favorite is this one: "disruptive technologies (a satellite phone) can be disrupted by an even stronger disruptive technology (the mobile phone), don't believe too much in your own pitch".


• David at VoluntaryXchange has several posts examining the economics in HBO's new series 'Deadwood'. I've been fascinated by the series since it premiered. The underhanded schemes that went on in that camp reminds me so much of what went on during the internet bubble, and every other bubble for that matter. And Swearengen should be a business school professor with his "mind on my money & my money's on my mind" attitude. The Ferengi would be proud!


• Barry at the Big Picture highlights a very interesting economic study that was done on EverQuest On-Line. In another parallel to the stock market, EverQuest players are actually paying real money to buy intrinsically valueless items (characters or virtual possessions) via eBay auctions.


• And last but certainly not least, Dr. Duru gives us another of his market missives, and if I'm not mistaken he's dusted off his perma-bear costume.

These caricatures just arrived in my inbox, so I thought I'd share them. Can you tell that I'm bored with this market???

It's been a while since I posted about a movie. Well after seeing Rabbit-Proof Fence I was moved to write about it. The (based on a true) story takes place in 1931 Australia. The Australian government has a policy of assimilating 'half-caste' (mixed-race) children by snatching them from their (black) parents and raising them in boarding/training schools. The government's plan is based on the theory that they can better these people by 'breeding the black out of them' over time. The story focuses on three girls who escape from one of these schools and walk more than 1,000 miles in an effort to be reunited with their families. All the while they are outfoxing police and a professional tracker who are determined to return them to the school. For a more detailed review, check out what Roger Ebert had to say about the movie.

This story is fascinating to me for a couple reasons. I've only recently heard of some of the racial issues in Australia. The story clearly shows some parallels to the history of the Americas (Brasil, U.S.A., Caribbean, etc.). The plight of the aboriginal people is the obvious one. But also the racial strife and the resistance to assimilation.

I really think this was one of the best movies of 2002, yet it was way under most people's radar. In my opinion it should have been nominated for Academy awards for cinematography and best score, at the very least. And probably for best director too. I purposely waited to see this film on DVD because I figured that there would be some good bonus features included. I was not disappointed in that respect. There's a 'making of' documentary on the disc that is almost as gripping as the movie itself. The three lead actresses had never even acted before. (The youngest girl gives an incredible audition!) You get to see the whole casting process, as well as how the girls reacted to learning about this painful episode in their people's history for the first time. Bottom line - go see this movie! And if your local video store doesn't have it (like my local Hollywood Video... wtf?), try NetFlix, or Amazon. Oh, there's a lot of related info on the movie's official site.

I stumbled across this very innovative Honda ad. This reminds me of the contraptions you'd see in the old cartoons. They say it took over 600 takes to get that shot right.

The Matrix sequels get IMAXed

At least now I have a good excuse to see 'Reloaded' twice! ( IMAX's stock got a nice pop from this news. )

Seems like this is one of those 'love it or hate it' movies, but if you haven't seen this movie I highly suggest that you do. I just rented it & saw it for the first time. This is one of those movies well suited to the DVD format. (It's disappointing that there's no director's commentary on the disc though. No doubt there will be a special edition with commentary tracks released later.) There are some good featurettes on the disc, in which the filmmakers discuss some of the minutiae of the story, as well as some technical filmmaking type stuff. I won't attempt to write a review - there are plenty already in existence. The NY Times has a good one. (You may have to register to get that link to work.)

If you're a fan of The Matrix, you have to check out the current issue (11.05) of Wired magazine. Unfortunately, that issue is not online yet. There's a good article about the special effects in the upcoming releases. As a bonus, there are some pictures of Jada too! (She's also on the cover.)

edit: The Wired issue is online now

Thanks to Mark for passing along this video ode to the 2007 credit crunch, sub-prime implosion, and hedge fund blowups on Wall Street.

Michelle B submits:

As any trader knows, we can easily lose perspective when trading. Here's a little aid to help in keeping one's perspective.

If you missed Cramer's appearance on 'Conan' last night you missed some good laughs. Jim even revealed how he got caught up in the 'Booya' thing. Much to my chagrin it's not because Jim was a fan of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. (from my home town of Carson, CA). That episode re-airs Monday at 7 PM Eastern Time on CNBC, conveniently after Mad Money. As always, set those TiVos...

There's been a lot of good economics & business related blogging of late. This week's Carnival of the Capitalists highlights many good recent articles. Below are some of the ones that caught my eye, plus a few other posts I read over the weekend:

• Michael at the Calico Cat discusses the 'free market of blogs'. He shows how blogs compete for traffic and makes the astute point of how a mediocre blog with great marketing can trump a great blog with poor marketing. The part that I liked the best was his observation about the supply & demand for topics. Michael saw a demand for information about the Jessica Cutler story and decided to provide some supply. The result was a huge bump in traffic to his site. He also points out something that I quickly learned when I started blogging over a year ago -- "people would rather read about sex scandals than read about economics. That’s why a great blog like Truck and Barter hardly gets any visits, while Wonkette, who Richard Leiby of the Washington Post just today called a 'foul mouthed vixen', gets about five hundred times as much traffic." My other blog, which covers everything from entertainment to technology, averages four times the traffic of this blog. And even within that blog the posts about some nonsense get way more response than anything that covers a serious topic. Oh well, such is life...


• Russell at the Mobile Technology Weblog makes an example of the mobile phone companies by showing how they're trying to push a technology, MMS, that is probably way ahead of its time at best. There are certainly lessons to be learned from this by many technology companies.


• TJ extracts some valuable business lessons from the disasters in the satellite phone business a few years back. My favorite is this one: "disruptive technologies (a satellite phone) can be disrupted by an even stronger disruptive technology (the mobile phone), don't believe too much in your own pitch".


• David at VoluntaryXchange has several posts examining the economics in HBO's new series 'Deadwood'. I've been fascinated by the series since it premiered. The underhanded schemes that went on in that camp reminds me so much of what went on during the internet bubble, and every other bubble for that matter. And Swearengen should be a business school professor with his "mind on my money & my money's on my mind" attitude. The Ferengi would be proud!


• Barry at the Big Picture highlights a very interesting economic study that was done on EverQuest On-Line. In another parallel to the stock market, EverQuest players are actually paying real money to buy intrinsically valueless items (characters or virtual possessions) via eBay auctions.


• And last but certainly not least, Dr. Duru gives us another of his market missives, and if I'm not mistaken he's dusted off his perma-bear costume.

These caricatures just arrived in my inbox, so I thought I'd share them. Can you tell that I'm bored with this market???

It's been a while since I posted about a movie. Well after seeing Rabbit-Proof Fence I was moved to write about it. The (based on a true) story takes place in 1931 Australia. The Australian government has a policy of assimilating 'half-caste' (mixed-race) children by snatching them from their (black) parents and raising them in boarding/training schools. The government's plan is based on the theory that they can better these people by 'breeding the black out of them' over time. The story focuses on three girls who escape from one of these schools and walk more than 1,000 miles in an effort to be reunited with their families. All the while they are outfoxing police and a professional tracker who are determined to return them to the school. For a more detailed review, check out what Roger Ebert had to say about the movie.

This story is fascinating to me for a couple reasons. I've only recently heard of some of the racial issues in Australia. The story clearly shows some parallels to the history of the Americas (Brasil, U.S.A., Caribbean, etc.). The plight of the aboriginal people is the obvious one. But also the racial strife and the resistance to assimilation.

I really think this was one of the best movies of 2002, yet it was way under most people's radar. In my opinion it should have been nominated for Academy awards for cinematography and best score, at the very least. And probably for best director too. I purposely waited to see this film on DVD because I figured that there would be some good bonus features included. I was not disappointed in that respect. There's a 'making of' documentary on the disc that is almost as gripping as the movie itself. The three lead actresses had never even acted before. (The youngest girl gives an incredible audition!) You get to see the whole casting process, as well as how the girls reacted to learning about this painful episode in their people's history for the first time. Bottom line - go see this movie! And if your local video store doesn't have it (like my local Hollywood Video... wtf?), try NetFlix, or Amazon. Oh, there's a lot of related info on the movie's official site.

I stumbled across this very innovative Honda ad. This reminds me of the contraptions you'd see in the old cartoons. They say it took over 600 takes to get that shot right.

The Matrix sequels get IMAXed

At least now I have a good excuse to see 'Reloaded' twice! ( IMAX's stock got a nice pop from this news. )

Seems like this is one of those 'love it or hate it' movies, but if you haven't seen this movie I highly suggest that you do. I just rented it & saw it for the first time. This is one of those movies well suited to the DVD format. (It's disappointing that there's no director's commentary on the disc though. No doubt there will be a special edition with commentary tracks released later.) There are some good featurettes on the disc, in which the filmmakers discuss some of the minutiae of the story, as well as some technical filmmaking type stuff. I won't attempt to write a review - there are plenty already in existence. The NY Times has a good one. (You may have to register to get that link to work.)

If you're a fan of The Matrix, you have to check out the current issue (11.05) of Wired magazine. Unfortunately, that issue is not online yet. There's a good article about the special effects in the upcoming releases. As a bonus, there are some pictures of Jada too! (She's also on the cover.)

edit: The Wired issue is online now

Thanks to Mark for passing along this video ode to the 2007 credit crunch, sub-prime implosion, and hedge fund blowups on Wall Street.

Michelle B submits:

As any trader knows, we can easily lose perspective when trading. Here's a little aid to help in keeping one's perspective.

If you missed Cramer's appearance on 'Conan' last night you missed some good laughs. Jim even revealed how he got caught up in the 'Booya' thing. Much to my chagrin it's not because Jim was a fan of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. (from my home town of Carson, CA). That episode re-airs Monday at 7 PM Eastern Time on CNBC, conveniently after Mad Money. As always, set those TiVos...

There's been a lot of good economics & business related blogging of late. This week's Carnival of the Capitalists highlights many good recent articles. Below are some of the ones that caught my eye, plus a few other posts I read over the weekend:

• Michael at the Calico Cat discusses the 'free market of blogs'. He shows how blogs compete for traffic and makes the astute point of how a mediocre blog with great marketing can trump a great blog with poor marketing. The part that I liked the best was his observation about the supply & demand for topics. Michael saw a demand for information about the Jessica Cutler story and decided to provide some supply. The result was a huge bump in traffic to his site. He also points out something that I quickly learned when I started blogging over a year ago -- "people would rather read about sex scandals than read about economics. That’s why a great blog like Truck and Barter hardly gets any visits, while Wonkette, who Richard Leiby of the Washington Post just today called a 'foul mouthed vixen', gets about five hundred times as much traffic." My other blog, which covers everything from entertainment to technology, averages four times the traffic of this blog. And even within that blog the posts about some nonsense get way more response than anything that covers a serious topic. Oh well, such is life...


• Russell at the Mobile Technology Weblog makes an example of the mobile phone companies by showing how they're trying to push a technology, MMS, that is probably way ahead of its time at best. There are certainly lessons to be learned from this by many technology companies.


• TJ extracts some valuable business lessons from the disasters in the satellite phone business a few years back. My favorite is this one: "disruptive technologies (a satellite phone) can be disrupted by an even stronger disruptive technology (the mobile phone), don't believe too much in your own pitch".


• David at VoluntaryXchange has several posts examining the economics in HBO's new series 'Deadwood'. I've been fascinated by the series since it premiered. The underhanded schemes that went on in that camp reminds me so much of what went on during the internet bubble, and every other bubble for that matter. And Swearengen should be a business school professor with his "mind on my money & my money's on my mind" attitude. The Ferengi would be proud!


• Barry at the Big Picture highlights a very interesting economic study that was done on EverQuest On-Line. In another parallel to the stock market, EverQuest players are actually paying real money to buy intrinsically valueless items (characters or virtual possessions) via eBay auctions.


• And last but certainly not least, Dr. Duru gives us another of his market missives, and if I'm not mistaken he's dusted off his perma-bear costume.

These caricatures just arrived in my inbox, so I thought I'd share them. Can you tell that I'm bored with this market???

It's been a while since I posted about a movie. Well after seeing Rabbit-Proof Fence I was moved to write about it. The (based on a true) story takes place in 1931 Australia. The Australian government has a policy of assimilating 'half-caste' (mixed-race) children by snatching them from their (black) parents and raising them in boarding/training schools. The government's plan is based on the theory that they can better these people by 'breeding the black out of them' over time. The story focuses on three girls who escape from one of these schools and walk more than 1,000 miles in an effort to be reunited with their families. All the while they are outfoxing police and a professional tracker who are determined to return them to the school. For a more detailed review, check out what Roger Ebert had to say about the movie.

This story is fascinating to me for a couple reasons. I've only recently heard of some of the racial issues in Australia. The story clearly shows some parallels to the history of the Americas (Brasil, U.S.A., Caribbean, etc.). The plight of the aboriginal people is the obvious one. But also the racial strife and the resistance to assimilation.

I really think this was one of the best movies of 2002, yet it was way under most people's radar. In my opinion it should have been nominated for Academy awards for cinematography and best score, at the very least. And probably for best director too. I purposely waited to see this film on DVD because I figured that there would be some good bonus features included. I was not disappointed in that respect. There's a 'making of' documentary on the disc that is almost as gripping as the movie itself. The three lead actresses had never even acted before. (The youngest girl gives an incredible audition!) You get to see the whole casting process, as well as how the girls reacted to learning about this painful episode in their people's history for the first time. Bottom line - go see this movie! And if your local video store doesn't have it (like my local Hollywood Video... wtf?), try NetFlix, or Amazon. Oh, there's a lot of related info on the movie's official site.

I stumbled across this very innovative Honda ad. This reminds me of the contraptions you'd see in the old cartoons. They say it took over 600 takes to get that shot right.

The Matrix sequels get IMAXed

At least now I have a good excuse to see 'Reloaded' twice! ( IMAX's stock got a nice pop from this news. )

Seems like this is one of those 'love it or hate it' movies, but if you haven't seen this movie I highly suggest that you do. I just rented it & saw it for the first time. This is one of those movies well suited to the DVD format. (It's disappointing that there's no director's commentary on the disc though. No doubt there will be a special edition with commentary tracks released later.) There are some good featurettes on the disc, in which the filmmakers discuss some of the minutiae of the story, as well as some technical filmmaking type stuff. I won't attempt to write a review - there are plenty already in existence. The NY Times has a good one. (You may have to register to get that link to work.)

If you're a fan of The Matrix, you have to check out the current issue (11.05) of Wired magazine. Unfortunately, that issue is not online yet. There's a good article about the special effects in the upcoming releases. As a bonus, there are some pictures of Jada too! (She's also on the cover.)

edit: The Wired issue is online now

Thanks to Mark for passing along this video ode to the 2007 credit crunch, sub-prime implosion, and hedge fund blowups on Wall Street.

Michelle B submits:

As any trader knows, we can easily lose perspective when trading. Here's a little aid to help in keeping one's perspective.

If you missed Cramer's appearance on 'Conan' last night you missed some good laughs. Jim even revealed how he got caught up in the 'Booya' thing. Much to my chagrin it's not because Jim was a fan of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. (from my home town of Carson, CA). That episode re-airs Monday at 7 PM Eastern Time on CNBC, conveniently after Mad Money. As always, set those TiVos...

There's been a lot of good economics & business related blogging of late. This week's Carnival of the Capitalists highlights many good recent articles. Below are some of the ones that caught my eye, plus a few other posts I read over the weekend:

• Michael at the Calico Cat discusses the 'free market of blogs'. He shows how blogs compete for traffic and makes the astute point of how a mediocre blog with great marketing can trump a great blog with poor marketing. The part that I liked the best was his observation about the supply & demand for topics. Michael saw a demand for information about the Jessica Cutler story and decided to provide some supply. The result was a huge bump in traffic to his site. He also points out something that I quickly learned when I started blogging over a year ago -- "people would rather read about sex scandals than read about economics. That’s why a great blog like Truck and Barter hardly gets any visits, while Wonkette, who Richard Leiby of the Washington Post just today called a 'foul mouthed vixen', gets about five hundred times as much traffic." My other blog, which covers everything from entertainment to technology, averages four times the traffic of this blog. And even within that blog the posts about some nonsense get way more response than anything that covers a serious topic. Oh well, such is life...


• Russell at the Mobile Technology Weblog makes an example of the mobile phone companies by showing how they're trying to push a technology, MMS, that is probably way ahead of its time at best. There are certainly lessons to be learned from this by many technology companies.


• TJ extracts some valuable business lessons from the disasters in the satellite phone business a few years back. My favorite is this one: "disruptive technologies (a satellite phone) can be disrupted by an even stronger disruptive technology (the mobile phone), don't believe too much in your own pitch".


• David at VoluntaryXchange has several posts examining the economics in HBO's new series 'Deadwood'. I've been fascinated by the series since it premiered. The underhanded schemes that went on in that camp reminds me so much of what went on during the internet bubble, and every other bubble for that matter. And Swearengen should be a business school professor with his "mind on my money & my money's on my mind" attitude. The Ferengi would be proud!


• Barry at the Big Picture highlights a very interesting economic study that was done on EverQuest On-Line. In another parallel to the stock market, EverQuest players are actually paying real money to buy intrinsically valueless items (characters or virtual possessions) via eBay auctions.


• And last but certainly not least, Dr. Duru gives us another of his market missives, and if I'm not mistaken he's dusted off his perma-bear costume.

These caricatures just arrived in my inbox, so I thought I'd share them. Can you tell that I'm bored with this market???

It's been a while since I posted about a movie. Well after seeing Rabbit-Proof Fence I was moved to write about it. The (based on a true) story takes place in 1931 Australia. The Australian government has a policy of assimilating 'half-caste' (mixed-race) children by snatching them from their (black) parents and raising them in boarding/training schools. The government's plan is based on the theory that they can better these people by 'breeding the black out of them' over time. The story focuses on three girls who escape from one of these schools and walk more than 1,000 miles in an effort to be reunited with their families. All the while they are outfoxing police and a professional tracker who are determined to return them to the school. For a more detailed review, check out what Roger Ebert had to say about the movie.

This story is fascinating to me for a couple reasons. I've only recently heard of some of the racial issues in Australia. The story clearly shows some parallels to the history of the Americas (Brasil, U.S.A., Caribbean, etc.). The plight of the aboriginal people is the obvious one. But also the racial strife and the resistance to assimilation.

I really think this was one of the best movies of 2002, yet it was way under most people's radar. In my opinion it should have been nominated for Academy awards for cinematography and best score, at the very least. And probably for best director too. I purposely waited to see this film on DVD because I figured that there would be some good bonus features included. I was not disappointed in that respect. There's a 'making of' documentary on the disc that is almost as gripping as the movie itself. The three lead actresses had never even acted before. (The youngest girl gives an incredible audition!) You get to see the whole casting process, as well as how the girls reacted to learning about this painful episode in their people's history for the first time. Bottom line - go see this movie! And if your local video store doesn't have it (like my local Hollywood Video... wtf?), try NetFlix, or Amazon. Oh, there's a lot of related info on the movie's official site.

I stumbled across this very innovative Honda ad. This reminds me of the contraptions you'd see in the old cartoons. They say it took over 600 takes to get that shot right.

The Matrix sequels get IMAXed

At least now I have a good excuse to see 'Reloaded' twice! ( IMAX's stock got a nice pop from this news. )

Seems like this is one of those 'love it or hate it' movies, but if you haven't seen this movie I highly suggest that you do. I just rented it & saw it for the first time. This is one of those movies well suited to the DVD format. (It's disappointing that there's no director's commentary on the disc though. No doubt there will be a special edition with commentary tracks released later.) There are some good featurettes on the disc, in which the filmmakers discuss some of the minutiae of the story, as well as some technical filmmaking type stuff. I won't attempt to write a review - there are plenty already in existence. The NY Times has a good one. (You may have to register to get that link to work.)

If you're a fan of The Matrix, you have to check out the current issue (11.05) of Wired magazine. Unfortunately, that issue is not online yet. There's a good article about the special effects in the upcoming releases. As a bonus, there are some pictures of Jada too! (She's also on the cover.)

edit: The Wired issue is online now

Thanks to Mark for passing along this video ode to the 2007 credit crunch, sub-prime implosion, and hedge fund blowups on Wall Street.

Michelle B submits:

As any trader knows, we can easily lose perspective when trading. Here's a little aid to help in keeping one's perspective.

If you missed Cramer's appearance on 'Conan' last night you missed some good laughs. Jim even revealed how he got caught up in the 'Booya' thing. Much to my chagrin it's not because Jim was a fan of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. (from my home town of Carson, CA). That episode re-airs Monday at 7 PM Eastern Time on CNBC, conveniently after Mad Money. As always, set those TiVos...

There's been a lot of good economics & business related blogging of late. This week's Carnival of the Capitalists highlights many good recent articles. Below are some of the ones that caught my eye, plus a few other posts I read over the weekend:

• Michael at the Calico Cat discusses the 'free market of blogs'. He shows how blogs compete for traffic and makes the astute point of how a mediocre blog with great marketing can trump a great blog with poor marketing. The part that I liked the best was his observation about the supply & demand for topics. Michael saw a demand for information about the Jessica Cutler story and decided to provide some supply. The result was a huge bump in traffic to his site. He also points out something that I quickly learned when I started blogging over a year ago -- "people would rather read about sex scandals than read about economics. That’s why a great blog like Truck and Barter hardly gets any visits, while Wonkette, who Richard Leiby of the Washington Post just today called a 'foul mouthed vixen', gets about five hundred times as much traffic." My other blog, which covers everything from entertainment to technology, averages four times the traffic of this blog. And even within that blog the posts about some nonsense get way more response than anything that covers a serious topic. Oh well, such is life...


• Russell at the Mobile Technology Weblog makes an example of the mobile phone companies by showing how they're trying to push a technology, MMS, that is probably way ahead of its time at best. There are certainly lessons to be learned from this by many technology companies.


• TJ extracts some valuable business lessons from the disasters in the satellite phone business a few years back. My favorite is this one: "disruptive technologies (a satellite phone) can be disrupted by an even stronger disruptive technology (the mobile phone), don't believe too much in your own pitch".


• David at VoluntaryXchange has several posts examining the economics in HBO's new series 'Deadwood'. I've been fascinated by the series since it premiered. The underhanded schemes that went on in that camp reminds me so much of what went on during the internet bubble, and every other bubble for that matter. And Swearengen should be a business school professor with his "mind on my money & my money's on my mind" attitude. The Ferengi would be proud!


• Barry at the Big Picture highlights a very interesting economic study that was done on EverQuest On-Line. In another parallel to the stock market, EverQuest players are actually paying real money to buy intrinsically valueless items (characters or virtual possessions) via eBay auctions.


• And last but certainly not least, Dr. Duru gives us another of his market missives, and if I'm not mistaken he's dusted off his perma-bear costume.

These caricatures just arrived in my inbox, so I thought I'd share them. Can you tell that I'm bored with this market???

It's been a while since I posted about a movie. Well after seeing Rabbit-Proof Fence I was moved to write about it. The (based on a true) story takes place in 1931 Australia. The Australian government has a policy of assimilating 'half-caste' (mixed-race) children by snatching them from their (black) parents and raising them in boarding/training schools. The government's plan is based on the theory that they can better these people by 'breeding the black out of them' over time. The story focuses on three girls who escape from one of these schools and walk more than 1,000 miles in an effort to be reunited with their families. All the while they are outfoxing police and a professional tracker who are determined to return them to the school. For a more detailed review, check out what Roger Ebert had to say about the movie.

This story is fascinating to me for a couple reasons. I've only recently heard of some of the racial issues in Australia. The story clearly shows some parallels to the history of the Americas (Brasil, U.S.A., Caribbean, etc.). The plight of the aboriginal people is the obvious one. But also the racial strife and the resistance to assimilation.

I really think this was one of the best movies of 2002, yet it was way under most people's radar. In my opinion it should have been nominated for Academy awards for cinematography and best score, at the very least. And probably for best director too. I purposely waited to see this film on DVD because I figured that there would be some good bonus features included. I was not disappointed in that respect. There's a 'making of' documentary on the disc that is almost as gripping as the movie itself. The three lead actresses had never even acted before. (The youngest girl gives an incredible audition!) You get to see the whole casting process, as well as how the girls reacted to learning about this painful episode in their people's history for the first time. Bottom line - go see this movie! And if your local video store doesn't have it (like my local Hollywood Video... wtf?), try NetFlix, or Amazon. Oh, there's a lot of related info on the movie's official site.

I stumbled across this very innovative Honda ad. This reminds me of the contraptions you'd see in the old cartoons. They say it took over 600 takes to get that shot right.

The Matrix sequels get IMAXed

At least now I have a good excuse to see 'Reloaded' twice! ( IMAX's stock got a nice pop from this news. )

Seems like this is one of those 'love it or hate it' movies, but if you haven't seen this movie I highly suggest that you do. I just rented it & saw it for the first time. This is one of those movies well suited to the DVD format. (It's disappointing that there's no director's commentary on the disc though. No doubt there will be a special edition with commentary tracks released later.) There are some good featurettes on the disc, in which the filmmakers discuss some of the minutiae of the story, as well as some technical filmmaking type stuff. I won't attempt to write a review - there are plenty already in existence. The NY Times has a good one. (You may have to register to get that link to work.)

If you're a fan of The Matrix, you have to check out the current issue (11.05) of Wired magazine. Unfortunately, that issue is not online yet. There's a good article about the special effects in the upcoming releases. As a bonus, there are some pictures of Jada too! (She's also on the cover.)

edit: The Wired issue is online now

Thanks to Mark for passing along this video ode to the 2007 credit crunch, sub-prime implosion, and hedge fund blowups on Wall Street.

Michelle B submits:

As any trader knows, we can easily lose perspective when trading. Here's a little aid to help in keeping one's perspective.

If you missed Cramer's appearance on 'Conan' last night you missed some good laughs. Jim even revealed how he got caught up in the 'Booya' thing. Much to my chagrin it's not because Jim was a fan of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. (from my home town of Carson, CA). That episode re-airs Monday at 7 PM Eastern Time on CNBC, conveniently after Mad Money. As always, set those TiVos...

There's been a lot of good economics & business related blogging of late. This week's Carnival of the Capitalists highlights many good recent articles. Below are some of the ones that caught my eye, plus a few other posts I read over the weekend:

• Michael at the Calico Cat discusses the 'free market of blogs'. He shows how blogs compete for traffic and makes the astute point of how a mediocre blog with great marketing can trump a great blog with poor marketing. The part that I liked the best was his observation about the supply & demand for topics. Michael saw a demand for information about the Jessica Cutler story and decided to provide some supply. The result was a huge bump in traffic to his site. He also points out something that I quickly learned when I started blogging over a year ago -- "people would rather read about sex scandals than read about economics. That’s why a great blog like Truck and Barter hardly gets any visits, while Wonkette, who Richard Leiby of the Washington Post just today called a 'foul mouthed vixen', gets about five hundred times as much traffic." My other blog, which covers everything from entertainment to technology, averages four times the traffic of this blog. And even within that blog the posts about some nonsense get way more response than anything that covers a serious topic. Oh well, such is life...


• Russell at the Mobile Technology Weblog makes an example of the mobile phone companies by showing how they're trying to push a technology, MMS, that is probably way ahead of its time at best. There are certainly lessons to be learned from this by many technology companies.


• TJ extracts some valuable business lessons from the disasters in the satellite phone business a few years back. My favorite is this one: "disruptive technologies (a satellite phone) can be disrupted by an even stronger disruptive technology (the mobile phone), don't believe too much in your own pitch".


• David at VoluntaryXchange has several posts examining the economics in HBO's new series 'Deadwood'. I've been fascinated by the series since it premiered. The underhanded schemes that went on in that camp reminds me so much of what went on during the internet bubble, and every other bubble for that matter. And Swearengen should be a business school professor with his "mind on my money & my money's on my mind" attitude. The Ferengi would be proud!


• Barry at the Big Picture highlights a very interesting economic study that was done on EverQuest On-Line. In another parallel to the stock market, EverQuest players are actually paying real money to buy intrinsically valueless items (characters or virtual possessions) via eBay auctions.


• And last but certainly not least, Dr. Duru gives us another of his market missives, and if I'm not mistaken he's dusted off his perma-bear costume.

These caricatures just arrived in my inbox, so I thought I'd share them. Can you tell that I'm bored with this market???

It's been a while since I posted about a movie. Well after seeing Rabbit-Proof Fence I was moved to write about it. The (based on a true) story takes place in 1931 Australia. The Australian government has a policy of assimilating 'half-caste' (mixed-race) children by snatching them from their (black) parents and raising them in boarding/training schools. The government's plan is based on the theory that they can better these people by 'breeding the black out of them' over time. The story focuses on three girls who escape from one of these schools and walk more than 1,000 miles in an effort to be reunited with their families. All the while they are outfoxing police and a professional tracker who are determined to return them to the school. For a more detailed review, check out what Roger Ebert had to say about the movie.

This story is fascinating to me for a couple reasons. I've only recently heard of some of the racial issues in Australia. The story clearly shows some parallels to the history of the Americas (Brasil, U.S.A., Caribbean, etc.). The plight of the aboriginal people is the obvious one. But also the racial strife and the resistance to assimilation.

I really think this was one of the best movies of 2002, yet it was way under most people's radar. In my opinion it should have been nominated for Academy awards for cinematography and best score, at the very least. And probably for best director too. I purposely waited to see this film on DVD because I figured that there would be some good bonus features included. I was not disappointed in that respect. There's a 'making of' documentary on the disc that is almost as gripping as the movie itself. The three lead actresses had never even acted before. (The youngest girl gives an incredible audition!) You get to see the whole casting process, as well as how the girls reacted to learning about this painful episode in their people's history for the first time. Bottom line - go see this movie! And if your local video store doesn't have it (like my local Hollywood Video... wtf?), try NetFlix, or Amazon. Oh, there's a lot of related info on the movie's official site.

I stumbled across this very innovative Honda ad. This reminds me of the contraptions you'd see in the old cartoons. They say it took over 600 takes to get that shot right.

The Matrix sequels get IMAXed

At least now I have a good excuse to see 'Reloaded' twice! ( IMAX's stock got a nice pop from this news. )

Seems like this is one of those 'love it or hate it' movies, but if you haven't seen this movie I highly suggest that you do. I just rented it & saw it for the first time. This is one of those movies well suited to the DVD format. (It's disappointing that there's no director's commentary on the disc though. No doubt there will be a special edition with commentary tracks released later.) There are some good featurettes on the disc, in which the filmmakers discuss some of the minutiae of the story, as well as some technical filmmaking type stuff. I won't attempt to write a review - there are plenty already in existence. The NY Times has a good one. (You may have to register to get that link to work.)

If you're a fan of The Matrix, you have to check out the current issue (11.05) of Wired magazine. Unfortunately, that issue is not online yet. There's a good article about the special effects in the upcoming releases. As a bonus, there are some pictures of Jada too! (She's also on the cover.)

edit: The Wired issue is online now

Thanks to Mark for passing along this video ode to the 2007 credit crunch, sub-prime implosion, and hedge fund blowups on Wall Street.

Michelle B submits:

As any trader knows, we can easily lose perspective when trading. Here's a little aid to help in keeping one's perspective.

If you missed Cramer's appearance on 'Conan' last night you missed some good laughs. Jim even revealed how he got caught up in the 'Booya' thing. Much to my chagrin it's not because Jim was a fan of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. (from my home town of Carson, CA). That episode re-airs Monday at 7 PM Eastern Time on CNBC, conveniently after Mad Money. As always, set those TiVos...

There's been a lot of good economics & business related blogging of late. This week's Carnival of the Capitalists highlights many good recent articles. Below are some of the ones that caught my eye, plus a few other posts I read over the weekend:

• Michael at the Calico Cat discusses the 'free market of blogs'. He shows how blogs compete for traffic and makes the astute point of how a mediocre blog with great marketing can trump a great blog with poor marketing. The part that I liked the best was his observation about the supply & demand for topics. Michael saw a demand for information about the Jessica Cutler story and decided to provide some supply. The result was a huge bump in traffic to his site. He also points out something that I quickly learned when I started blogging over a year ago -- "people would rather read about sex scandals than read about economics. That’s why a great blog like Truck and Barter hardly gets any visits, while Wonkette, who Richard Leiby of the Washington Post just today called a 'foul mouthed vixen', gets about five hundred times as much traffic." My other blog, which covers everything from entertainment to technology, averages four times the traffic of this blog. And even within that blog the posts about some nonsense get way more response than anything that covers a serious topic. Oh well, such is life...


• Russell at the Mobile Technology Weblog makes an example of the mobile phone companies by showing how they're trying to push a technology, MMS, that is probably way ahead of its time at best. There are certainly lessons to be learned from this by many technology companies.


• TJ extracts some valuable business lessons from the disasters in the satellite phone business a few years back. My favorite is this one: "disruptive technologies (a satellite phone) can be disrupted by an even stronger disruptive technology (the mobile phone), don't believe too much in your own pitch".


• David at VoluntaryXchange has several posts examining the economics in HBO's new series 'Deadwood'. I've been fascinated by the series since it premiered. The underhanded schemes that went on in that camp reminds me so much of what went on during the internet bubble, and every other bubble for that matter. And Swearengen should be a business school professor with his "mind on my money & my money's on my mind" attitude. The Ferengi would be proud!


• Barry at the Big Picture highlights a very interesting economic study that was done on EverQuest On-Line. In another parallel to the stock market, EverQuest players are actually paying real money to buy intrinsically valueless items (characters or virtual possessions) via eBay auctions.


• And last but certainly not least, Dr. Duru gives us another of his market missives, and if I'm not mistaken he's dusted off his perma-bear costume.

These caricatures just arrived in my inbox, so I thought I'd share them. Can you tell that I'm bored with this market???

It's been a while since I posted about a movie. Well after seeing Rabbit-Proof Fence I was moved to write about it. The (based on a true) story takes place in 1931 Australia. The Australian government has a policy of assimilating 'half-caste' (mixed-race) children by snatching them from their (black) parents and raising them in boarding/training schools. The government's plan is based on the theory that they can better these people by 'breeding the black out of them' over time. The story focuses on three girls who escape from one of these schools and walk more than 1,000 miles in an effort to be reunited with their families. All the while they are outfoxing police and a professional tracker who are determined to return them to the school. For a more detailed review, check out what Roger Ebert had to say about the movie.

This story is fascinating to me for a couple reasons. I've only recently heard of some of the racial issues in Australia. The story clearly shows some parallels to the history of the Americas (Brasil, U.S.A., Caribbean, etc.). The plight of the aboriginal people is the obvious one. But also the racial strife and the resistance to assimilation.

I really think this was one of the best movies of 2002, yet it was way under most people's radar. In my opinion it should have been nominated for Academy awards for cinematography and best score, at the very least. And probably for best director too. I purposely waited to see this film on DVD because I figured that there would be some good bonus features included. I was not disappointed in that respect. There's a 'making of' documentary on the disc that is almost as gripping as the movie itself. The three lead actresses had never even acted before. (The youngest girl gives an incredible audition!) You get to see the whole casting process, as well as how the girls reacted to learning about this painful episode in their people's history for the first time. Bottom line - go see this movie! And if your local video store doesn't have it (like my local Hollywood Video... wtf?), try NetFlix, or Amazon. Oh, there's a lot of related info on the movie's official site.

I stumbled across this very innovative Honda ad. This reminds me of the contraptions you'd see in the old cartoons. They say it took over 600 takes to get that shot right.

The Matrix sequels get IMAXed

At least now I have a good excuse to see 'Reloaded' twice! ( IMAX's stock got a nice pop from this news. )

Seems like this is one of those 'love it or hate it' movies, but if you haven't seen this movie I highly suggest that you do. I just rented it & saw it for the first time. This is one of those movies well suited to the DVD format. (It's disappointing that there's no director's commentary on the disc though. No doubt there will be a special edition with commentary tracks released later.) There are some good featurettes on the disc, in which the filmmakers discuss some of the minutiae of the story, as well as some technical filmmaking type stuff. I won't attempt to write a review - there are plenty already in existence. The NY Times has a good one. (You may have to register to get that link to work.)

If you're a fan of The Matrix, you have to check out the current issue (11.05) of Wired magazine. Unfortunately, that issue is not online yet. There's a good article about the special effects in the upcoming releases. As a bonus, there are some pictures of Jada too! (She's also on the cover.)

edit: The Wired issue is online now

Thanks to Mark for passing along this video ode to the 2007 credit crunch, sub-prime implosion, and hedge fund blowups on Wall Street.

Michelle B submits:

As any trader knows, we can easily lose perspective when trading. Here's a little aid to help in keeping one's perspective.

If you missed Cramer's appearance on 'Conan' last night you missed some good laughs. Jim even revealed how he got caught up in the 'Booya' thing. Much to my chagrin it's not because Jim was a fan of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. (from my home town of Carson, CA). That episode re-airs Monday at 7 PM Eastern Time on CNBC, conveniently after Mad Money. As always, set those TiVos...

There's been a lot of good economics & business related blogging of late. This week's Carnival of the Capitalists highlights many good recent articles. Below are some of the ones that caught my eye, plus a few other posts I read over the weekend:

• Michael at the Calico Cat discusses the 'free market of blogs'. He shows how blogs compete for traffic and makes the astute point of how a mediocre blog with great marketing can trump a great blog with poor marketing. The part that I liked the best was his observation about the supply & demand for topics. Michael saw a demand for information about the Jessica Cutler story and decided to provide some supply. The result was a huge bump in traffic to his site. He also points out something that I quickly learned when I started blogging over a year ago -- "people would rather read about sex scandals than read about economics. That’s why a great blog like Truck and Barter hardly gets any visits, while Wonkette, who Richard Leiby of the Washington Post just today called a 'foul mouthed vixen', gets about five hundred times as much traffic." My other blog, which covers everything from entertainment to technology, averages four times the traffic of this blog. And even within that blog the posts about some nonsense get way more response than anything that covers a serious topic. Oh well, such is life...


• Russell at the Mobile Technology Weblog makes an example of the mobile phone companies by showing how they're trying to push a technology, MMS, that is probably way ahead of its time at best. There are certainly lessons to be learned from this by many technology companies.


• TJ extracts some valuable business lessons from the disasters in the satellite phone business a few years back. My favorite is this one: "disruptive technologies (a satellite phone) can be disrupted by an even stronger disruptive technology (the mobile phone), don't believe too much in your own pitch".


• David at VoluntaryXchange has several posts examining the economics in HBO's new series 'Deadwood'. I've been fascinated by the series since it premiered. The underhanded schemes that went on in that camp reminds me so much of what went on during the internet bubble, and every other bubble for that matter. And Swearengen should be a business school professor with his "mind on my money & my money's on my mind" attitude. The Ferengi would be proud!


• Barry at the Big Picture highlights a very interesting economic study that was done on EverQuest On-Line. In another parallel to the stock market, EverQuest players are actually paying real money to buy intrinsically valueless items (characters or virtual possessions) via eBay auctions.


• And last but certainly not least, Dr. Duru gives us another of his market missives, and if I'm not mistaken he's dusted off his perma-bear costume.

These caricatures just arrived in my inbox, so I thought I'd share them. Can you tell that I'm bored with this market???

It's been a while since I posted about a movie. Well after seeing Rabbit-Proof Fence I was moved to write about it. The (based on a true) story takes place in 1931 Australia. The Australian government has a policy of assimilating 'half-caste' (mixed-race) children by snatching them from their (black) parents and raising them in boarding/training schools. The government's plan is based on the theory that they can better these people by 'breeding the black out of them' over time. The story focuses on three girls who escape from one of these schools and walk more than 1,000 miles in an effort to be reunited with their families. All the while they are outfoxing police and a professional tracker who are determined to return them to the school. For a more detailed review, check out what Roger Ebert had to say about the movie.

This story is fascinating to me for a couple reasons. I've only recently heard of some of the racial issues in Australia. The story clearly shows some parallels to the history of the Americas (Brasil, U.S.A., Caribbean, etc.). The plight of the aboriginal people is the obvious one. But also the racial strife and the resistance to assimilation.

I really think this was one of the best movies of 2002, yet it was way under most people's radar. In my opinion it should have been nominated for Academy awards for cinematography and best score, at the very least. And probably for best director too. I purposely waited to see this film on DVD because I figured that there would be some good bonus features included. I was not disappointed in that respect. There's a 'making of' documentary on the disc that is almost as gripping as the movie itself. The three lead actresses had never even acted before. (The youngest girl gives an incredible audition!) You get to see the whole casting process, as well as how the girls reacted to learning about this painful episode in their people's history for the first time. Bottom line - go see this movie! And if your local video store doesn't have it (like my local Hollywood Video... wtf?), try NetFlix, or Amazon. Oh, there's a lot of related info on the movie's official site.

I stumbled across this very innovative Honda ad. This reminds me of the contraptions you'd see in the old cartoons. They say it took over 600 takes to get that shot right.

The Matrix sequels get IMAXed

At least now I have a good excuse to see 'Reloaded' twice! ( IMAX's stock got a nice pop from this news. )

Seems like this is one of those 'love it or hate it' movies, but if you haven't seen this movie I highly suggest that you do. I just rented it & saw it for the first time. This is one of those movies well suited to the DVD format. (It's disappointing that there's no director's commentary on the disc though. No doubt there will be a special edition with commentary tracks released later.) There are some good featurettes on the disc, in which the filmmakers discuss some of the minutiae of the story, as well as some technical filmmaking type stuff. I won't attempt to write a review - there are plenty already in existence. The NY Times has a good one. (You may have to register to get that link to work.)

If you're a fan of The Matrix, you have to check out the current issue (11.05) of Wired magazine. Unfortunately, that issue is not online yet. There's a good article about the special effects in the upcoming releases. As a bonus, there are some pictures of Jada too! (She's also on the cover.)

edit: The Wired issue is online now