Always Amazed

I am always amazed by how Kanye West can make one of the most beautiful, surreal beats to fall on one’s ears and nearly ruin it in the first 30 seconds by what he says on it.

“Livin’ in a Movie” Instrumental:

“Livin’ in a Movie”:

Butchering the news. 2/2/10

Alright men, quit monkeying around and getting facials and get caught up on the happenings of the world around you… because if you pretend you’re smart you will be smart. If this belief got me to grad school, it can at least get you a decent conversation at the dinner table.

If you need a list of good movies to download, check this one out.

My thoughts:
The Hurt Locker is fantastic for an Iraq movie
Avatar = Pocahontas + 3D that makes me feel ill
Up made me cry
Up in the Air is deep, Clooney is the shit(reminds me too much of Chaos Theory though… anyone else?)
District 9 is the perfect nerds critique of whats wrong with society
Inglourious Basterds is a wonderful break from your typical WWII movie.

America might be in decline, this piece is epic and can’t be summarized in one sentence, but you responsible people of the world should read it.

In the world outside of America, Greece and Spain are fucked; They are like the skinny kids in middle school that picked fights with everyone and once they were about to actually get hit someone would step in and stop it. The world loves thedrama though.

Back in Banktown USA, Old man Volcker his woke up from a nap in the old folks home and started saving the world again via Glass Steagull 2.0 (last time he did it he bitchsmacked inflation with a 20% FED FUNDS rate ) .

If you, like Volcker, ever need to speak to the Mortals (or “Morts”) here is a nice guide courtesy of the sweethearts at Goldman Sachs.

Last but not least, over in “waaa waaa you owe us rots of money” China Mr. Obama is still meeting with the Dalai Lama, which is a sweet honor, and one that after reading The Audacity of Hope I think that the Obaminator would love to partake. Google and the Dalai Lama together could bring that puppy down.

“On Principles & Values: Raised secular, but with working knowledge of world religion I was not raised in a religious household. For my mother, organized religion too often dressed up closed-mindedness in the garb of piety, cruelty and oppression in the cloak of righteousness. However, in her mind, a working knowledge of the world’s great religions was a necessary part of any well-rounded education. In our household the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita sat on the shelf alongside books of Greek and Norse and African mythology. On Easter or Christmas Day my mother might drag me to church, just as she dragged me to the Buddhist temple, the Chinese New Year celebration, the Shinto shrine, and ancient Hawaiian burial sites. In sum, my mother viewed religion through the eyes of the anthropologist; it was a phenomenon to be treated with a suitable respect, but with a suitable detachment as well. This spirit of hers guided me on the path I would ultimately take. It was in search of confirmation of her values that I studied political philosophy.”

The Audacity of Hope, p.201-2

In other news, if you want to read the news better and do other things good too get an iPhone and this app. and if you need another reason not to TV news check this one out (via self-evident).

On to the next one for Apple

Introducing the iSlate.  This thing is sexy.  I can see the Kindle shaking in its boots with the thought of this thing having e-books AND apps available for sale through iTunes.  Thoughts?  http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/apple/article/754728–apple-expected-to-unveil-tablet-computer

Proof Goldman is a Hedge Fund

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2010/01/22/132576/that-goldman-hit/

This about says it all, boys.  Obama’s curb on prop desks will be this decade’s Sarbane’s-Oxley.

In lieu of the insanity that will be Vegas…

I’m not much of a blogger, but I figured I’d share this…

78 days.  That is all.

Moment of Clarity Remix

We used to bump this remix, haha:

The original: Jay-Z “Moment of Clarity”

“Children of the Night” by Saul Williams

Thoughts on 2009 and 2010

Following a very robust and bullish quarterly earnings season in September, I entered the last month of the year with a cautious optimism for holiday sales and, more generally, 2010.  Third quarter earnings left a pleasant taste in our mouths as we entered the last phase of the year, with 84% of companies surpassing analysts’ expectations for earnings.  On the surface, capital markets appeared very strong throughout December too, raising nearly $64 billion in equity, trailing shortly behind the all-time high of $71 billion raised last May.  The dollar value is startling from an issuance perspective; however, keep in mind that 83% of issuance was driven by 3 deals – with Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo repaying TARP funds.

Throughout the third quarter, investors rejoiced over a thawing IPO market.  The capital markets prepared for a spate of IPOs before the end of the year, as a previously frozen product began to creep back into bankers’ vocabularies.  Just as it appeared America had turned a corner into a final stage of recovery, what was anticipated to be an impressive re-awakening of the IPO market unexpectedly stalled.  In December, 5 of the 7 completed IPOs priced below their initial filing range – a sign of structural and systemic weakness.  In addition, 5 IPOs were withdrawn and another 3 postponed across a diverse range of industries, citing “market conditions.”  The only IPOs that did successfully come to market were private equity-backed, a trend everyone believes will continue and eventually come to dominate 2010 IPO issuance.

Market conditions appear flexible, but in truth are more brittle than at first glance.  Of the withdrawn IPOs, two were reputable and anticipated Chinese issuers, Trony Solar and Linkage Technologies, slated to raised $ 195mm and $143mm, respectively.  MacCap’s personal failure with a Chinese company looking to list in the US accents that the China growth story that existed throughout the summer is perhaps waning.  Partially, pundits blame the arrant Chinese presence on investor fatigue; anytime three of the largest financial institutions in the world tap the markets simultaneously for a combined $54 billion, investors understandably lose their appetite.  Furthermore, many portfolio managers automate their cruise control through December, hibernating in order to lock in returns gained through the fall.  Despite these alibis, news continues to drip into mainstream papers about a Chinese bubble.  Whether it is now or a year from now, I think we will see a reflex from investors.

2010 continues to yield mixed economic indicators, doing little to relieve investor anxiety.  Employment numbers are still falling short of expectations, pushing consumer confidence to an all-time low.  Alcoa posted mixed results to kick off Q4 earnings.  Lastly, the market will be closely reading the Fed’s Beige Book report and data on inflation – information that will strongly influence the FOMC meeting at the end of the month.  My Directors often speak of their expectations for markets to trend sideways through January and February until fundamentals begin to truly rebound.  It should be interesting to see if this prediction becomes a reality.

Nerd Links

thePiratebay.org is basically useless… so try these.

http://bitsnoop.com/

http://www.kickasstorrents.com/

http://fenopy.com/

Custom Google Search

Happy Torrenting.

Oh and if you still dont have a bittorrent client try these

Mac: http://www.transmissionbt.com/

Windoze: http://www.utorrent.com/

For TV Shows that download regularly, mac users can try this fella

http://deathtobunnies.com/tvshows/

You know I dreamed about you for 29 years…

…before I saw you.