Movies Watched -- The International (2009)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

119 minute running time so at least 20 to 30 minutes too long. I’m on a Naomi Watts kick, trying to watch every movie she has ever been in, which may be a mistake. I think she’s super talented and she looks just like the Australian version of one of my closest Chinese girlfriends from back in the day.

This movie was terrible. Clive Owen can’t act, but he has the designer stubble, cleft chin, and deep brown puppy dog eyes that got him some work for a time. Dumb story, badly written. No one is interested in criminal banks, even if they are led by Kai Proctor (god, I loved Banshee). One interesting thing they did was build a Guggenheim Museum set and shoot it up, but this was so idiotic, so incoherent, so pointless. Poor Naomi having to take roles like this with embarrassing expository dialogue. Lots of drone shots of fabulous locales, but just lousy, not thrilling, not interesting … a total waste of time. Red rating, avoid.

Edelstein called it a “slow road to nowhere,” and Rex (sorry, no link) said it “makes no sense at all.”

Teary on demand

Teary on demand


Office Art

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I had the classic Al Ross (Abraham Roth) cartoon, “Welcome Bagholders” (from December 1981), framed for my spare bedroom, er, home office. The framer did a great job with it.

IMG_2881.jpg

Stabilizing Transactions

Added on by C. Maoxian.

From The IPO Decision by Jason Draho:

“Short covering: The underwriter can take an initial short position in the stock by overselling the IPO. Short covering in the open market creates additional demand that supports the price when there is selling pressure. The short position can alternatively be covered by exercising the overallotment option (OAO). An OAO is a standard feature of IPOs and it grants the underwriter the option to purchase additional shares from the issuer and resell them to investors at the offer price. The typical OAO is for 15 percent of the offer size and is exercisable for up to 30 calendar days after the offer date. The underwriter can completely hedge the upside risk if the short position does not exceed the size of the OAO, yet still maintain buying power to support the price when there is a sell imbalance.

Share repurchases by the underwriter in the open market are referred to as syndicate covering transactions and are subject to the same Regulation M disclosure requirements as penalty bids. In practice, investors are not informed that a particular trade is a short-covering transaction. The underwriter only has to include a statement in the prospectus indicating that it may engage in stabilizing transactions in conjunction with the offering of securities.”

And the same is true for every following offering of securities, although “Stabilizing is prohibited in an at-the-market offering.“

Movies Watched -- Green Book (2018)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

129 minute running time which means it was at least 30 minutes too long … I would cut out the punching the cop scene / Bobby Kennedy phone call and the YMCA rescue scene, since they were both no doubt fictionalized to give the movie a little more drama, but frankly it didn’t need it and moviemakers should always be looking to cut cut cut.

Stars Aragorn, son of Arathorn (who has put on 50 pounds in around 15 years), and Remy Danton, acting ever effete … never forget that Jimmy Breslin called Mayor Dinkins "a fancy shvartzer with a mustache."

This wasn’t badly made, but it was pretty heavy-handed (Barry Hertz called it “Racism for Dummies,” which made me laugh) and also didn’t spare the heartstring music, which annoyed me. Nice to see Linda Cardellini get some movie work (I loved her in Bloodline … well, I loved everything about Bloodline). The Negro Motorist Green Book itself does interest me, it was more than the black AAA guide, it was a directory to all the service providers who didn’t discriminate based on skin color, put together by a black postman and his network of other black postmen. That’s fascinating.

Solid yellow rating for sure but doesn’t get the coveted green go.

Dick Brody hated it and called it a “bland, regressive flip on ‘Driving Miss Daisy,’” which may seem overly harsh, but I see what he’s saying and largely agree with him.

Christ, I’m blacker than you are!

Christ, I’m blacker than you are!

Movies Watched -- Siberia (2018)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

97 minute running time, which is a good length, but this was a terrible, terrible movie. I got it out of a Red Box on a lark, and regret it. A Rotten Tomatoes score of 11% (which I learned after the fact) is generous.

An idiotic non-story, badly written. Multiple gratuitous sex scenes, completely unrealistic for a 51-year-old guy (even if he is fit), except for when he was performing Keanulingus. His Russian (actually Romanian) lover was sort of different because she had buck teeth and weird bones — I liked that.

Keanu still can’t act, everyone knows this, including Keanu, but he looks good with his stubble and no eyelashes (1/4 Chinese after all), and thankfully doesn’t open his mouth much, except to perform Keanulingus.

Blue diamonds, private jets, jacked-up Range Rovers, comical Russian gangsters … these are things that might appeal to a certain kind of teenage boy, but even he would throw up his hands about this one.

It’s a complete mystery to me how movies like this get made. Who funds them? Taxpayers in Manitoba? God almighty.

Rex hated it (“direction looks phoned in from a toll booth in the Ukraine … the screenplay is incomprehensible”) along with everyone else.

Burn the house down (with the movie producers trapped inside)

Burn the house down (with the movie producers trapped inside)

Movies Watched -- Battle of the Sexes (2017)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

121 minute running time so at least 20 to 30 minutes too long. I didn’t hate this one. The story of the World Tennis Association is interesting, though they whitewashed Bille Jean’s relationship with Marilyn (which ended badly). The girl who plays Billie Jean King is much more attractive than Billie Jean ever was, and Steve Carell is good as Mike Myers playing degenerate gambler Bobby Riggs. Good production values, slickly made. Also works in some pro-homosexual propaganda, as Hollywood likes to do these days. Not a green rating since it’s overly long, but a solid yellow for sure.

My favorite old fag and brilliant movie critic, Rex Reed, predictably loved it.

Dorky 70s Eyeglasses

Dorky 70s Eyeglasses

Movies Watched -- The Disaster Artist (2017)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

103 minute running time, which is a good length, but I found it sort of unbearable and watched it at 1.5x. Tells the story of a brain-damaged guy named Tommy Wiseau who, along with his friend Mark, made a movie called The Room, which is apparently so terrible that it became a cult classic — I’d never heard of it. It’s a sad story, an awful story really about this deranged guy and his efforts to write, direct, and star in a movie. Maybe Tommy got the money from a medical malpractice lawsuit? He spent $6 million apparently, and the people who helped make the movie were happy to take it, the lowlifes. Red rating, avoid.

Dick Brody also wasn’t thrilled.

I feel you.

I feel you.

All This Science I Don't Understand

Added on by C. Maoxian.

It’s about time he had a single out (1972) …. sort of a companion song to Bowie’s Space Oddity (1969).

Elton John performs "Rocket Man" live at the Honky Chateau debut concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London. - February 5th, 1972

Trading Wisdom

Added on by C. Maoxian.

You have to figure out if you’re trading to win or trading not to lose. You need to trade to win. A bird in the hand is not worth two in the bush. You don’t have an edge. Every trade is a coin flip. Your only edge is trade management: cutting losses short and letting winners run. Don’t double down. “… quite a few participants felt that some sort of doubling down, or Martingale betting strategy, was optimal, wherein the gambler increases the size of his wagers after losses “ Keep your bet size consistent and in line with your bankroll. You have to be able to lose and lose and lose and lose and lose and keep your bet size consistent. You want to bet bigger to “make it back,” and you want to get revenge, that’s only human nature. Recognize the urge and resist it. Hide your P&L to conceal both your losses (which are known, but cumulative) and gains (which are unknown).

When I was a kid I worked as a photocopy boy in an H&R Block office. They offered something to customers called the “Rapid Refund,” which was a high interest loan on a tax refund. People would pay the $20, $30 whatever fee to get their $100 tax refund a month earlier than normal. This struck me and the lesson it taught is forever in my mind as I trade.

“… individuals’ usual tendency to attribute winning performance internally and losing performance externally“

I have no idea why the academics call it the “disposition effect,” but it’s natural for human beings to cut their profits short and let their losses run … it’s also human to attempt to add to a loser to dig yourself out of a hole. The struggle against your own natural tendencies is real and all-important.

Trying to find something that works, you’re going to go down a thousand dead-end roads. Be willing to give up on your cherished ideas when they prove to be worthless. Every one of your brilliant ideas has already been tested and discarded by somebody who is smarter, richer, and faster than you. Don’t be naive. You might think for years that VWAP or Fibonacci or Elliott Wave or whatever is the end all be all, so you won’t be able to drop the idea even when you find no value in it. You have to be able to cut your losses in the idea realm too. Sunk cost fallacy is real.

From Tom Basso: “When you find the proper level [of dollar risk] to trade for you, everything will seems easier and less stressful. If you are just starting out, start with as small a size as you can. As you are successful with trading and are starting to notice a long run of sticking with your strategy, having discipline, and feeling comfortable with the process, you can always dial it up a little at that point. The more experience you have, the more size you can tolerate and still feel comfortable that you are right-sized. Err on the conservative side.”

From Jack Schwager’s interview with Stevie Cohen:

“Q: Has that been something you were always able to do—that is, turn on a dime when you think you're wrong?

A: You better be able to do that. This is not a perfect game. I compile statistics on my traders. My best trader makes money only 63 percent or the time. Most traders make money only in the 50 to 55 percent range. That means you're going to be wrong a lot. If that's the case, you better make sure your losses are as small as they can be, and that your winners are bigger.”

“Use a wider initial stop (say 3 ATRs) … once the market starts moving in your favor, tighten up the stop … use a time stop as well as the initial wide stop … doesn’t hit proft target or stop within X bars, just get out.” — Linda Raschke

Every HTB (hard-to-borrow) is guilty until proven innocent and every ETB (easy-to-borrow) is innocent until proven guilty.

chasten

verb

chas·​ten | \ ˈchā-sᵊn \

chastened; chastening\ ˈchās-​niŋ , ˈchā-​sᵊn-​iŋ \

Definition of chasten

transitive verb

1: to correct by punishment or suffering : DISCIPLINE

2a: to prune (something, such as a work or style of art) of excess, pretense, or falsity : REFINE

b: to cause to be more humble or restrained : SUBDUE

….

Never short the break, always short the bounce. Never long the break, always buy the dip.

You have to figure out which swings matter and which swing don’t. Once you have a clear idea about this, you can really start making money.

“You have to find what triggers the defects in your personality, and then avoid them. You’re driving along the road at 70 mph, the white line is there and on the other side of that is the shoulder and the ditch, and it’s wet. You have to know when you get over that white line, so you can get back in your lane and stay in your lane. What are your emotional defects, your triggers which will put you on tilt, where you can rip up weeks or months of profit after hard work. Stay away from the white line, stay in your lane.” — Jeff Davis

“Control fear with a stop, greed with a target, and revenge with a systematic way of re-entering a trade.” — The Chairman

“We tighten the stop up after the trade moves off in our favor.“ — LBR

“For an initial stop, wider is better. When the trade starts to move off in your favor, then you must tighten the stop. If the trade does not do what you think it should do within a certain amount of time, then close the trade out and cancel the stop. In other words, time can function as a stop parameter as well as price levels.“ — LBR

(I’ll add more when inspired.)

Movies Watched -- The Big Sick (2017)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

120 minute running time so at least 20 to 30 minutes too long. Culture clash rom-com. Promising beginning, but then it became mawkish or soppy and started to drag on and on and on. My big problem with it was the guy was a wimp… a feminized, milquetoast-y, Millennial-type. He didn’t tell his parents straight up, “I’m not marrying a Pakistani girl, I’m in love with Elia Kazan’s granddaughter,” he just sort of strung them along. Tiny Holly Hunter (mom) looks good for her age, but I didn’t care for her foul mouth, and there was old mumbling Ray Romano (dad) in disguise (beard and glasses). No discussion of the girl’s health care expenses in the corrupt American healthcare system (that would have been interesting). I wasn’t thrilled. Yellow rating at best.

Dick Brody gets it right: “‘The Big Sick’ suffers from an excess of pleasantness, and this very pleasantness thins out its substance, blands out its tone, weakens its comedy … wan and flaccid … [the movie] labors under the curse of the relatable, the likable, the admirable.“

You can lose your family… for love

You can lose your family… for love