Blahg

21 September 2008

Spotted on IMDB.com: "With studios finding it especially difficult during the current financial storm to find funding for their pictures, Universal Pictures has rejected a film submitted to it by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Friday). The final budget for their 3-D animated Tintin had come in at $130 million. In reporting the studio's decision, the Times commented, 'Universal's refusal to finance Tintin underscores how in today's tough economic climate, bottom-line concerns trump once-inviolable relationships between studios and talent. Until now, however, filmmakers of Spielberg's and Jackson's stature were thought to be immune to the brass-knuckles tactics of the studios. Squeezed by a business trapped between rising costs and leveling revenues, the two filmmakers are Hollywood's latest -- and most prominent -- victims of cost containment.' The newspaper also observed that Universal's decision places Spielberg in a position of 'embarrassment' as he prepares to end his relationship with Paramount. Many had supposed that Universal, where he maintains his offices, would become the distributor for Spielberg's DreamWorks productions. Now, it is supposed, he will presumably have to go 'hat in hand' (as the Times put it) to Paramount in hopes of getting the Tintin film made."

OK. That's about as boneheaded as a studio decision can get. Spielberg and Tintin (it's pronounced "Tantan") are a perfect match. Tintin is, after all, nothing less than a precursor to Indiana Jones. Not only that, but obviously Universal is underestimating the universal appeal of the Tintin series. As a very simple indicator, I have a Tintin T-shirt I picked up during one of my visits to Brussels. I get more compliments, questions, and comments about that Tintin T-shirt than any other - and I have many, many T-shirts. It doesn't matter if I'm working out at the gym, shopping at Target, or whatever, people have come up to me to talk about Tintin - all smiles and quite excited to see Tintin being represented in the U.S. of A.

Yeah, the economy sucks right now. But just about the only sure bet out there is that a Spielberg Tintin series will be HUGE. Tintin already has a global audience - 79 years in the making. Thinkaboudit!

Update 22 Sept. 2008: Variety reports that, hot on the heels of the Paramount/Dreamworks "divorce," Paramount has actually offered to pony up the $130 million in full. Hmmm... Studio politics and chess-like maneuvers. Bleh.

8 September 2008

It's amusing snooping around the stock market and checking out the activity, the expectations, the analyses, and, most of all, the silly Scottrade Smart Text widget. It tries to break everything down into pure, raw numbers, totally excising the human factor.

Here's the perfect argument that it's a fairly useless tool. It's the information Smart Text showed following the close of FRE (Freddie Mac) on Friday, 5 Sept.

"The MACD has risen above its signal line and indicates that downward momentum is waning."

... and...

"Today, FRE closed above the trigger point for the Parabolic SAR and is registering a bullish signal."

Such fancy, schmancy terminology! The stock closed at $5.10, up 15 cents for the day. When the stock opened on Monday, following the government's decision to seize the company and suspend its dividend, it plummeted 90%, trading as low as 65 cents. To put things in some historical context, the stock's 52-week high was $65.88.

There's nothing like getting to know a company or an investment prospect, what issues it faces, and what the real world prospects are going forward. I'm hardly the savviest investor and I've made my share of mistakes, but numbers only tell a part of the story. If a simple computer program could really help you make all the right stock picks (that those dopey packages sold on late-night infomercials), then everybody would be rich - and effectively cannibalizing each other's gains.

In other Web B.S. news, I finally went back to one of those online dating sites over the weekend out of sheer curiosity. It had been many, many months since I'd logged in.

Well, almost instantly after signing in, I got a couple e-mails. In looking at one profile, I read she was 26 years old. Sweet! And she lives in Mississippi. Bummer. That's what I refer to as a "red flag." I live in Colorado, so this smacks of an invitation to incur travel expenses and, being the jaded fellow that I am, she's probably looking for an all-expense paid ticket out of the hurricane zone.

Another red flag followed immediately and was even more troubling: in her bio she states she has two sons. I'm not big on inheriting other people's kids, but what really caught my eye was that she went on to say one of those sons is married and has children of his own.

So... When exactly did she have that son? When she was 8?

As for the other e-mail, the subject line was "Yoo hoo!" Um. No thanks. Didn't even read it.

It was such a brief visit, but it served as a fantastic, free reminder as to why I'm "still" single (well, at least partially; personality probably has something to do with it) and all the garbage and nonsense I'm avoiding as a benefit of that single status.

6 September 2008

After another lawn mowing session at my parents' house (part of an estate management saga I'll have to explain at some other time), I decided to treat myself to a full slab of babyback ribs and a few pints of Guinness during happy hour at Jim 'n Nick's Bar-B-Q out at Stapleton Northfield.

While there, I overheard this guy talking with the bartender about "Cellfood" and how it's helped him gain mental clarity.

He was explaining - and I've thrown in some extra details here - how Everett Storey was exposed to radiation while working on the Manhattan Project testing the hydrogen bomb in Nevada. As an antidote, he concocted Cellfood, Deuterium Sulfate, and wound up living to the age of 74. Albert Einstein, he noted, referred to Storey as a genius.

Out of curiosity, I butted in and asked the guy to clarify the name. He said, again, that it was called Cellfood and that his only testimonial regarding its effectiveness was that he attained mental clarity and no longer craved coffee. It has, though, other healing powers depending on your situation - after all, it did help Everett live into his 70s.

But this guy, who said he was an electrician and explained that one false decision could cost him his life, stumbled when he tried to explain what I had already heard. He said Everett was exposed to radiation while testing the hydrogen bomb out there in... uhhh...

I chirped in, "Nevada?"

"No."

"New Mexico?"

"No. What's that state just east of California?"

"Um," and I restated, "Nevada?"

"Yeah! Nevada!"

OK, dude. If that's your idea of mental clarity, I've lost interest.

Newer   |   Older