About three brothers in Detroit who formed a band called "Death" in the 1970s. Here's a New York Times article about them: This Band Was Punk Before Punk Was Punk. I wasn't especially interested in this story and fast forwarded it after an hour in. A really fascinating movie about another unknown musician from Detroit was recently made: Searching for Sugarman ... that's one you should watch.
ETF Trading Portfolio Update -- July 4, 2014
No changes this week. Another week like the last in the bonds (TBT) and they will reverse for sure.
Movies Watched -- The Act of Killing
This one was hard to watch and I stopped after 100 minutes (with another hour to go). Movie is about the death squads in Indonesia who murdered around a million "communists" in 1965-66. A lot of those killed were ethnic Chinese. There's a paramilitary organization called Pancasila Youth that still exists, has millions of members, specializes in intimidation, shakedowns (again of Chinese merchants), vote rigging, etc. Weird, I didn't know Indonesia is that screwed up.
The movie tried to mix in these strange performance art pieces, bizarre. Made an uncomfortable viewing experience ("the banality of evil") that much worse. It didn't help that the sidekick of one of the executioners (seen dancing on a former killing ground in screenshot below) looked exactly like Stephen Chow's sidekick in Kung Fu Hustle.
Movies Watched -- The Crash Reel
Told the story of a professional snowboarder named Kevin Pearce who suffered a terrible fall (see below) in 2009 and is brain damaged as a result. Documented his recovery which was pretty amazing ... he's a genuinely sweet kid, has a really nice, strong family behind him ... when they did play the crash reel of all these skateboarders and BMXers, and snowmobile and dirtbike jumpers, I admit I covered my eyes, couldn't watch it. 22 foot walls in the half pipe present a lot of risk. I had a childhood friend who was in a terrible car crash and is also brain damaged as a result ... he too made a remarkable recovery, but like Pearce, is not his old self. Good movie to show to someone who takes outsized risks, it might make them think twice.
NQ Mobile Closes at $4.58
No great surprise to those of us who have been following this stock: NQ Mobile Inc. Announces Changes to its Board of Directors and Provides Status Update of the 2013 Annual Audit. Can't wait to read Frederick Ziegel's next company update. He's an analyst at Topeka Capital Markets who has been bullish on NQ (Buy rating, $33 price target), even after everyone else (Piper Jaffray, Macquarie, Cannacord) wisely suspended coverage.
Movies Watched -- The Stories We Tell
Spoilers ... the filmmaker tricks the audience by mixing real old family film footage with re-created scenes ... I wondered why there was so much old film footage at first .... anyway, the story of a Milkman's Child, i.e., the girl's father isn't her biological father and she doesn't learn that fact until she's in her twenties. The people who really suffered here, besides the girl, were her mother and real father who kept the secret, and the man who raised her, once he learns the truth. Her siblings are hurt too, but not as badly as the older generation. All the young people in this movie are really attractive and intelligent and articulate, despite being Canadian (a joke). I don't think I would have found the story as engaging if the people had been dumb and ugly.
Fine Wine Price Versus Macau Gaming Revenue
Deutsche Bank keeps this kind of interesting chart:
They use the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100. They're not all French wines, there are a couple Italian wine components like Ornellaia and Sassicaia.
Singapore 10,000 Dollar Bill
Sad to read that the SG$10,000 will be retired. Equivalent to around US$8,000, it's a favorite of drug dealers, coal barons, smugglers, property developers, gamblers, and day traders everywhere.
Movies Watched -- Muscle Shoals
A small town in Alabama where the Fame recording studio, and later, Muscle Shoals Sound recording studio were established ... Great black artists like Arthur Alexander, Percy Sledge, etc. record music backed by an all-white band comprised of talented local teenagers (pictured below) ... later Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, so many greats featured ... Lynyrd Skynyrd, Duane Allman, The Rolling Stones, and countless others make their appearance. Interesting, esp. in the context of the civil rights movement. Heard a new expression from Rick Harris, maybe it's well known in the South, but not to me: "shitting in high cotton" ... means riding high, good days, I guess.
Movies Watched -- Room 237
A movie about a movie ... presents various crackpot interpretations -- Injun genocide, the Holocaust, faked Apollo landing, etc. -- of Kubrick's The Shining, some more interesting than others. Several of the analysts sound like potheads, one guy in particular with the tell-tale stoner's laugh. An hour in you begin to tire of these kooky theories, but I did watch it to the end. The screenshot below is from a screening of the movie being played forward and backward at the same time, done to reveal it's "secrets," I suppose. See, Jack's a clown.
Why You Never Want to Sell Baidu
Wrigley has 77% share of the chewing gum market in China and so does Baidu, though with search not bubble gum. I'm stunned that Google has even 11% market share ... recently all Google services, including Gmail and Search, were hard-blocked in China ... this is a new development that has gone largely unreported. Maybe I'm the only one suffering it?
Trading idea for Tue. Jul. 1, 2014 | GameStop (GME)
Mortgage Loans as Percent of Nominal GDP
Nice chart from Deutsche Bank, China versus the US:
Everything I Ate in July 2014
Food diary, updated daily:
July 16, 2014 -- Too bored to update this, plus I fell off the wagon with several binge drinking sessions as well as the odd bag or two of Cheetos in there. Maybe will try again in August.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
87.8 kg 22.5 bf
08:00 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, blueberries, soy milk)
09:30 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
13:50 apple
14:05 gym scale 189.5
14:21 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
15:47 apple
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
87.4 kg 22.5 bf
07:44 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, blueberries, soy milk)
09:18 small coffee
11:07 apple
12:41 apple
13:10 gym scale 188.75
13:13 apple
13:30 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
14:00 one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
16:06 one glass Caol Ila (12 yo), bowl of unsalted peanuts
16:54 first handful of Tostitos hint o' lime which eventually led me to finish the bag (~250 grams or around 1500 cals) by end of night -- bad.
17:44 cheese sticks from South German Bakery and bread pretzel
18:00 many slices of sweet pork, cucumber, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
Monday, July 7, 2014
87.6 kg 23.0 bf
07:15 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, blueberries, soy milk)
08:15 small cup of coffee
09:05 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
14:37 gym scale 187.5
14:39 apple
14:48 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
18:28 235 grams (uncooked) or 176 grams tenderloin (cooked), potatoes carrots beans, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
19:03 One serving Tostitos hint o' lime chips is a whopping six chips (one bag is the normal serving size, no?)
Sunday, July 6, 2014
08:20 one pear, one apple
09:34 60 grams Cream of Wheat, two cups milk, dash of salt. maple syrup (several spoonsful, spoonfuls?)
12:03 several lychee
12:28 240 grams (uncooked) ternderloin is 187 grams (cooked)
14:06 20 macadamia nuts, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
15:18 5 slices of Wasa bread
17:55 sweet pork ribs, bowl of stew, large handful edamame
Saturday, July 5, 2014
08:13 banana
09:38 One and a half croissants (Comptoirs)
11:20 bowl of mixed fruit, one yoghurt, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
11:34 two slices Wasa original
11:42 handful Goldfish original crackers
14:13 Nongfu sugary green tea
16:31 one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
16:45 pretty sure I had 200 grams (uncooked) tenderloin here?
16:55 couple forkfuls forksful? of bean sprouts
17:16 handful of McD fries, several sips of Sprite
17:54 three bottles Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar) during foot massage
20:58 20 Fard dates
Friday, July 4, 2014
87.4 kg 23.5 bf
07:14 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, soy milk)
08:09 small cup of coffee
09:04 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
11:15 apple
13:28 apple
13:54 gym scale 188
14:10 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
18:30 cold tofu rice noodle dish (DTF), shuijiao (pork and veggie?) (DTF), massive mound almond ice jelly (DTF)
21:26 17 Fard dates, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
Thursday, July 3, 2014
88.4 kg 23.5 bf
07:11 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, soy milk)
08:04 small cup of coffee
08:30 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
11:15 apple
13:22 gym scale 188
13:37 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs
15:12 apple
17:28 apple
[shit, not sure how update got lost, seem to recall 173 grams of cooked tenderloin, and then various handfuls of dates throughout the evening]
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
88.4 kg 23.0 bf
07:18 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, soy milk)
08:20 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
11:50 apple
13:30 apple
14:14 gym scale 188.5
14:18 apple
14:30 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs
15:43 apple
16:01 20 lychees
18:12 220 grams beef (uncooked) is 180 grams beef tenderloin (cooked), massive handful edamame, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
19:40 12 Fard dates
20:37 10 Fard dates
21:09 8 dates, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
88.6 kg 22.5 bf
07:11 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, soy milk)
08:32 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
11:08 apple
12:40 apple
13:24 gym scale 189.5
13:38 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, two boiled eggs
16:41 one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar), 12 Fard dates
17:55 Couple of bites of cantaloupe, supermarket trial tray
18:31 ~190 grams beef tenderloin (cooked), swallow of skim milk (polish off dated carton), small bowl stew/soup, pre-packaged 28 kuai lazy man's salad, Caesar dressing not enough supplemented with Newman's light Italian, HP sauce, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
20:54 12 Fard dates, one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
21:24 6 Fard dates
21:41 5 Fard dates (bag is finished)
Monday, June 30, 2014
89.8 kg 24.0 bf
07:17 mush (apple, pear, banana, sunflower seeds, almonds, soy milk)
08:19 Teekanne tea, mixed herbs
13:38 apple
14:15 gym scale 192
14:31 ~90 grams hamburger meat with pickle slices and trace amounts of catsup and chopped onion, steamed cauliflower and sweet peas (in pods), two boiled eggs
14:56 one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
15:45 apple
17:56 144 grams beef tenderloin cooked (195 grams uncooked), HP sauce, edamame, cucumbers and hummus
18:09 one bottle Nongfu brand jasmine tea (no sugar)
Trading idea for Mon. Jun. 30, 2014 | Honeywell (HON)
Similar to last Friday's long in UTX, another in the war, what is it good for? file:
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ETF Trading Portfolio Update -- June 27, 2014
No changes this week.
Golden Eagle Crash Landing
When I read about the booming online shopping market in China, it makes me wonder about how many department stores are going to go bankrupt here in coming years. Chinese department stores tend to have tenants with no-name brands that try to charge crazy prices for their goods. There's a reason Golden Eagle's stock price chart looks like this:
China's Mobile Shoppers
From Deutsche Bank:
iResearch recently published a report profiling mobile shoppers in China. 61% of mobile shoppers under 30 years old. Female users accounted for 60% of the total population. Some 70.3% of China's mobile shoppers use Android phones, followed by the iPhone (18%) and Windows Phone (3.7%). Approximately 56% of users transacted on a mobile more than 10 times in 2013, as compared to 46.8% in 2012. In addition, 57.6% of users paid for products and services through third-party payment channels such as Tenpay, and 18.7% of the total made the payment using mobile banking connections.
Mobile shopping market volumes reached RMB64.2b (+140.8% YoY) in 1Q2014, with mobile shopping penetration (mobile shopping as a percentage of total online shopping) increasing from 11.1% in 4Q2013 to 14.1% in 1Q2014 alone. Mobile Taobao and Tmall combined accounted for 76.4% of the total GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) of the market [ed. WHO'S YOUR DADDY? BABA, THAT'S WHO] , followed by Mobile JD (6.9%) and Mobile Vipshop (2%).
In 1Q2014, Vipshop’s mobile revenue accounted for 36% of total revenue, compared with 8% in 1Q2013. For Jumei approximately 49% of its total GMV was generated through its mobile platform in 1Q2014. Approximately 18% of JD’s fulfilled orders were placed through mobile in Mar 2014, as compared to 15% in Dec 2013.
Egregious Example of Insider Trading in WUBA
Somebody got Friday's news on Thursday, it looks like. I didn't look at the options activity in 58.com, but I'm sure it looks suspicious as well.
Addition to Clay Figure Collection -- White Rabbit
My daughter was born in the year of the rabbit, so this is a nice addition. My son thinks the eyes "look evil." Number six in our collection.