The Mystery of Mark

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Mall Cop correct once again:

"That's the problem with [him]. He's a marketer and I don't think he makes a lot of money from his trading. He keeps trading these illiquid stocks. He could be trading an account worth hundreds of millions, but for some reason he's not, because his focus is on selling courses. But his methodology is sound, I think his trading books are great. The problem is he's pumping these thin stocks to his followers so he can get these great returns on the investing championship so he can sell more courses and books and stuff. I have no idea why he hasn't just scaled up his trading, he would make ten times more money with ninety percent less effort."

Movies Watched -- Sorry We Missed You (2019)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

101 minute running time … this is more poor white English trash porn from Ken Loach … Loach a specialist in this stuff. You see they weren’t always poor and awful, they were good, honest, respectable, upstanding white people who have now sunk so low as to become delivery men of Amazon packages (if male) and caregivers for the old and retarded (if female). This is so depressing that you want to slit your wrists after watching it. Who on God’s green earth watches this stuff for entertainment? Hard pass!

(That said, young Ken Loach made one of the greatest movies of all time, “Kes.”)

Don’t do it, Dad

Movies Watched -- Lord of War (2006)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

121 minute running time, but felt like an eternity … great opening sequence and then it all went downhill from there … Nic Coppola has a certain charm, but this movie was all over the place, sort of like it was made by a committee, and it ended with endless talking … there was some promise in parts, but ultimately terrible. You can give it a miss, I should have….

Ann Hornaday got it right: “… the filmmaker relies too heavily on a didactic, epigrammatic script; Yuri doesn't talk or relate to other characters, but simply delivers a series of rules and apercus that could have resulted from a collaboration between Hunter Thompson and Oscar Wilde. ‘Lord of War’ has a hip, gonzo energy to it and it's often transfixing to watch and listen to. But it's finally just as empty as the man it's about.”

Nicely staged shot

Phil D. Gap's Companion, Tess D. High

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Walter Deemer coined the term “Phil D. Gap,” and I would like to be credited with coining Phil’s companion, "Tess D. High.” Understanding both the ideas that these funny names represent is important if you’re serious about trading.

… to be continued

My Zippo Collection -- Sunburst

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I recently mentioned that I had acquired another deeply engraved Zippo (non-Armor) from the early 2000s that reminded me of my “Sunburst” Zippo (model 20378?), which is pictured below. It is date-stamped A 03 (January 2003).

I’m really interested in the handful of Zippos that were deeply engraved prior to the release of the Armor series. If you are an expert on Zippo history or know anyone who is, I’d love to hear from you! Here are the two pictured together.

Movies Watched -- Blood Diamond (2006)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

143 minute running time … a full HOUR too long, this was at once too complicated and too facile, too unrealistic, too violent, too political, too preachy … Leo’s accent was ridiculous … I watched 20 minutes and then went to 8x ffwd which wasn’t nearly fast enough … this is a movie that I would have walked out of if I still went to movies in the theater (which I haven’t done for at least 20 years)… as Stephanie Zacharek wrote, “… should Zwick really be using a glorified action movie to scold us?“

Jennifer Connelly patented head cock pose

Give Away Your Love

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Brandi Carlile with Most of All … she didn’t grow up in Beverly Hills like Bonnie Raitt did … I dig it: