I thought she was black, but Delta Maid is a white girl from Liverpool! I dig the song, You Better Run:
Movies Watched -- The Assistant (2019)
87 minute running time … this is playing off the Harvey Weinstein / Scott Rudin sociopathic-Jewish-movie-mogul-monster-with-a-casting-couch thing … one of the assistant’s many tasks is cleaning the cum stains / vaginal secretions off the casting couch and returning various lost objects such as earrings and hair ties to assorted rape victims … everything is implied, nothing is explicit, which is a clever approach … but anyway, what are we supposed to make of this? The young woman who plays the assistant has been in the role five weeks and one wonders why she even stayed five minutes! Harvey/Scott growling into the phone at her about how worthless she is, followed by an email flattering her, I mean, c’mon … yeah, sure, it’s a foot in the door to a Hollywood career, but after a half day with those assholes shouldn’t she be like, forget this!
It wasn’t badly made, I just thought the ethical dilemma presented was kind of stupid … obviously she should get the hell out of dodge at the first opportunity. Personal ambition can’t trump basic human decency, can it? John Farr recommended it and I didn’t hate it, I just wouldn’t recommend it myself.
Peter Debruge picks up on a major flaw that also rankled me: “… there’s no one for Jane to talk to about her mounting discomfort. This feels like a flaw in the film, since it denies the character much of a life or personality outside of the office, apart from two personal calls she makes that day, one placed to each of her parents.” I thought she should have called home and said, “Daddy, I work for a monster!”
I'm not gonna yell at you. Am I yelling? No. Because you're not someone even worthy of that.
Never Taught How To Love
Lucy McWilliams singing “Runaway” … not thrilled with the video but I like the song:
Find What Works and Stick With It
I enjoyed this interview with Matt Marino, a broker at CenterPoint Securities. The entire video is worth watching closely, but this was my favorite bit:
Q: “In your point of view in twenty years working for a brokerage, what is the most common characteristic among the most successful traders?”
A: “That would be that they find themselves. Not to get crazy about it, but it is the truth. They find what works for them and they just stick with it. They don’t vary. They’re not always trying to find the next thing. The guys that figure out what their mentality likes, and absolutely stick with it. The guys who are comfortable with their approach to trading, their strategy, they don’t vary, those are the ones who are successful.”
Movies Watched -- Maiden (2018)
97 minute running time … documentary about skipper Tracy Edwards and her all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Race … what shocked me was the amount of sexism / male chauvinism that existed in 1989/90 (I was in college then), but I guess that was the point of the story … King Hussein comes across well … you have to be tough and determined and persistent to get the things you want … I enjoyed it, but documentaries are excluded from the green-go rating system. Thanks to John Farr for recommending it.
The ocean's always trying to kill you.
Thursday Friday Short or Long
The official video for this David Gray song ends in a hilariously, weirdly gross way… “Be Mine” is a great song though:
The SPE Is Not Consolidated
Investment banks up to the same old shit. From: MORGAN STANLEY & CO. LLC CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2017 (PDF)
“Credit Linked Notes
In a Credit Linked Notes (CLN) transaction, the Company transfers assets (generally high quality securities or money market investments) to a Special Purpose Entity (SPE). An affiliate of the Company enters into a derivative transaction in which the SPE writes protection on an unrelated reference asset or group of assets, through a Credit Default Swap (CDS), a total return swap or similar instrument, and sells to investors the securities issued by the SPE.
In some transactions, an affiliate of the Company may also enter into interest rate or currency swaps with the SPE. Upon the occurrence of a credit event related to the reference asset, the SPE will deliver collateral securities as payment to the affiliate of the Company that serves as the derivative counterparty. These transactions are designed to provide investors with exposure to certain credit risk on the reference asset.
In some transactions, the assets and liabilities of the SPE are recognized in the Company’s consolidated statement of financial condition. In other transactions, the transfer of the collateral securities is accounted for as a sale of assets, and the SPE is not consolidated. The structure of the transaction determines the accounting treatment.
The derivatives in CLN transactions consist of total return swaps, credit default swaps or similar contracts in which an affiliate of the Company has purchased protection on a reference asset or group of assets. Payments by the SPE are collateralized.”
Led Me Back to the Light Side
Mellow tune, I dig it … Kate Bollinger singing No Other Like You:
Movies Watched -- Still Walking (2008)
114 minute running time so at least 20 minutes too long … "Happy Japanese families are all alike; every unhappy Japanese family is unhappy in its own way." I liked Kore-eda’s Shoplifters so I thought I’d give an earlier movie of his a try (plus Farr recommended it, probably because it stars the gorgeous Hiroshi Abe), but I wasn’t that thrilled. Kore-eda interested in exploring the cruelty of his parents’ generation, and especially the cruelty of mothers to children, husbands, and in-laws. Kore-eda also likes to reveal things slowly … I thought he did it more effectively in Shoplifters.
What a shame.
I Used To Be Seventeen
The duet version with Norah Jones is so much better than the original … gets a little messy / screechy after the three minute mark, but they reign it back in. I’m a big fan of harmonizing.