We are clearly in a golden era, or year, of cinema. We saw Slumdog Millionaire yesterday and were stunned. My emotions kept turning left and right, brightly happy, horribly sad, my eyes alternatively closing and opening wide, from laughter to tears. A wonderful film. As …
Good, good movie. But I don’t think it is, as one of my neighbors suggested, “a life changing experience”. But it is very entertaining with memorable characters and it is one I’d see again. I have the feeling Gran Torino will have a long shelf …
I like Ron Howard’s movies. Deemed a semi-light weight by hard-core Hollywood types I really enjoy his direction. In close ups, in Frost/Nixon, he must use lenses designed to photograph flowers. Close, close, close. His use of time, wasted some might say, is immensely powerful. …
Last week I was concerned that the Obama (why do I always want spell it O’Bama?) glow was peaking. And I worried that this may have an impact on markets. There was some evidence for my concern: Majority Leader Reid’s comment , “I don’t work …
Being constructive about the market is easier to say than being bullish. Being bullish implies that all the indexes are headed up. Being constructive means that there are opportunities out there but I have no idea where all the averages will be in three months. …
My wife and I smirked and snorted at some of the lines by the nun played by Meryl Streep. Both of us recall the stern looks, the blind obedience demanded and the harsh, unloving manner by our respective grade school principals. Doubt was probably a …
Before you go into the movie, go. A.O. Scott, the NYT’s movie reviewer writes that Brad Pitt has mastered the art of reticence as Benjamin Button. I have to agree here. Pitt never really lets himself go, really go, as he did in Burn after …
A disappointing day. Once again my gold positions (DGP, GLD) bailed me out. That’s not a good sign. Corporate bonds are getting the nod from numerous quarters. I painted that picture last week: junk bonds historically have a 4 1/2% default rate but have recently …
Good Morning. Futures are pointing to a moderately positive opening. We may be getting a Santa Clause rally both before and after Christmas. The TED spread indicator on Bloomberg.com: Investment Tools again appears to be improving. Remember that a ratio of 1.40 to 1.60 indicates …
Lots and lots of bad news but am thinking we may still get yet another positive close. The only problem with this strategy is that profits are taken so swiftly, we will have to have a couple of buy programs to set it up. Bob …