We Can Be Worry-Free

Melody Gardot singing Morning Sun live … talented and has a good band behind her…

Movies Watched -- The Cranes Are Flying (1957)

95 minute running time … stars Tatiana Samoilova, who is beautiful, she must have some Central Asian blood, no, I see now that her mother was Jewish … there is a lot of heavy-handed propaganda from the Soviet era, but it’s really well shot and well made, I can see why it won the Palm d’Or, though I wouldn’t give it a green-go. Farr recommended it.

You have your whole life before you, Veronika.

Movies Watched -- Student Services (2010)

108 minute running time but felt longer and I watched it mainly at 4x fast forward … sort of a pervy French movie (a movie made for TV), ostensibly about a college student who turns to prostitution to pay the bills, but it makes no sense in this girl’s case. She’s pretty and has perfect hair and skin and teeth and bones … I really didn’t buy into the prostitution angle in her case. The movie features lots of creepy 50-year-old guys who are either fat or short or bald and all of them are ugly … but she never once has a violent experience, it’s just generally awful, which was sort of far-fetched. Give it a miss.

You Thought She Was Your Age

I think the kid has another hit on her hands… Billie Eilish’s “Your Power” … a well-trained anaconda at work.

I Will Lay Me Down

Victory Boyd with a lovely cover of Paul Simon’s 50-year-old song:

A Sudden Surge in Buying Interest

From Key Points About Regulation SHO:

II. “Naked” Short Sales

In a “naked” short sale, the seller does not borrow or arrange to borrow the securities in time to make delivery to the buyer within the standard three-day settlement period.[3] As a result, the seller fails to deliver securities to the buyer when delivery is due (known as a “failure to deliver” or “fail”).

Failures to deliver may result from either a short or a long sale. There may be legitimate reasons for a failure to deliver. For example, human or mechanical errors or processing delays can result from transferring securities in physical certificate rather than book-entry form, thus causing a failure to deliver on a long sale within the normal three-day settlement period. A fail may also result from “naked” short selling. For example, market makers who sell short thinly traded, illiquid stock in response to customer demand may encounter difficulty in obtaining securities when the time for delivery arrives.

“Naked” short selling is not necessarily a violation of the federal securities laws or the Commission’s rules. Indeed, in certain circumstances, “naked” short selling contributes to market liquidity. For example, broker-dealers that make a market in a security[4] generally stand ready to buy and sell the security on a regular and continuous basis at a publicly quoted price, even when there are no other buyers or sellers. Thus, market makers must sell a security to a buyer even when there are temporary shortages of that security available in the market. This may occur, for example, if there is a sudden surge in buying interest in that security, or if few investors are selling the security at that time. Because it may take a market maker considerable time to purchase or arrange to borrow the security, a market maker engaged in bona fide market making, particularly in a fast-moving market, may need to sell the security short without having arranged to borrow shares. This is especially true for market makers in thinly traded, illiquid stocks as there may be few shares available to purchase or borrow at a given time.

Ring a Bell and I'll Salivate

Goofy Canadians, I think this is their best song … and a nice live version from the days when hundreds of idiots aren’t holding their cellphones up in the air. Page dances like a rabbinical student.

Sandwich Fixings

• BREAD

  • bagel $1

  • baguette $3

  • cheddar bread $6

  • flour tortilla $3

  • focaccia

  • multigrain $5.50

  • rye $4

  • sourdough $6.50

• MEAT

  • chicken breast $11

  • corned beef

  • ham $12.50

  • prosciutto $27

  • roast beef $15

  • smoked salmon $11

  • tuna salad $9.50

  • turkey $12

• CHEESE

  • american $6.50

  • brie

  • cheddar $17

  • cream cheese $2

  • fresh mozzarella $4.30

  • pepper jack $2.50

  • provolone $11

  • swiss $8.50

• VEG

  • arugula

  • grape tomatoes

  • lettuce

  • red onion

  • roasted portobello mushrooms

  • spinach

  • tomato

• SPREAD

  • basil pesto

  • deli mustard

  • champagne mustard

  • chipotle mayo

  • honey dijon

  • horseradish

  • mayonnaise

  • roasted garlic mayo

  • yellow mustard
    

• EXTRAS

  • avocado

  • bacon

  • corn and black bean salsa

  • cucumbers

  • hot cherry peppers

  • pickles

  • roasted red peppers

  • sundried tomatoes
    

Movies Watched -- Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

201 minute running time which means that it’s very… long. That’s the point, it’s supposed to be excruciating, and it’s cleverly made, back when people switched the light off when they left the room. I had read a spoiler and knew how it ended, which was unfortunate. This is capital A.R.T. art for the art house crowd … a “feminist classic,” I don’t know about that, but it is scary when monotonous routines unravel. Farr recommended it.

Don’t read while you eat.

A Queer Compulsive Game

Substitute “day trading” for backgammon in this quote from Tim Holland in Jon Bradshaw’s classic book, “Fast Company:”

“Backgammon is a queer compulsive game. It’s the luck factor that seduces everyone into believing that they are good, that they can actually win. But that’s just wishful thinking. To become good, really good, at backgammon could cost several years of your time and twenty, maybe thirty thousand bucks [~$150,000 in 2021 dollars]. But only if you had a talent for the game to start with.”