McCain Bumper Sticker

I think I'll buy a few of these and give them away. Too bad it isn't in blue though.

McCain Bringing in the Heavy Guns for 2008

It looks like the Strait Talk Express is loading up the Bunker Busters for a 2008 run.

The first catch is Robert Zoellick, current US Deputy Secretary of State has agreed to work full-time for the 08′ campaign. He will consult on foreign and trade policy issues.In a more surprising move, Nicco Mele will work on the campaign website. Mele is known for being the webmaster for HoHo Dean’s 2004 White House run. Zoellick and Mele will be joining Mike Connell of New Media Communications. He designed, developed and managed the Bush campaign’s websites in 2000 and 2004. Bush’s media guru, Mark McKinnon, consults for McCain on strategy and the husband-wife team of Mark and Nicole Wallace out of the WhiteHouse and U.N. will consult also.

I think I'll declare my allegence early and officially jump on the "Draft McCain in '08" bandwagon. I want to get in on the ground floor so I can say I am a McCainiak two years before he wins the Presidency in a landslide win over Hillary Clinton. I got this button from this site.

Pluto Memorabilia New Collector Craze?

This article thinks that Pluto is going to be a new collectors craze now that it has been demoted to dwarf planet status:

Time will tell how strong the market for Pluto products really is and
much of it depends on whether the public embraces the astronomers' resolution or
decides to keep Pluto a planet, at least culturally.

If the demotion sticks though, Pluto also runs the risk of being
lost among the hundreds of dwarfs that are sure to follow its
reclassification.

Whatever may be, the hot toy this Christmas may just be a
polystyrene solar system kit, Pluto not included.

This Pluto controversy sure has resonated through the blogosphere though. Checking Technorati you can tell that some people have some real strong opinions on this thing.

William H. Macy blasts Lindsay Lohan

These are pretty strong words directed at Lohans usual lateness:

"I think what an actor has to realize [is that] when you show up an hour
late, 150 people have been scrambling to cover for you," Macy said when asked
about Bobby costar Lohan's usual check-in time. The two share a scene together
in the Emilio Estevez directed drama about the 16 hours leading up to Robert
F. Kennedy's assassination in 1968.

"There is not an apology big enough in the world to have to make 150 people scramble. It's nothing but disrespect. And Lindsay Lohan is not the only one. A lot of actors show up late as if they're God's gift to the film. It's inexcusable. They should have their asses kicked."

Survivor: Segregation Island

The first shots back at Survivor: Segregation Island are coming from some sort of NYC officials and civil rights groups.

A group of New York City officials and civil rights groups have blasted
CBS' announcement that it has split the contestants on Survivor: Cook Islands
into tribes by race, claiming the producers' decision to pit blacks, whites,
Asians and Hispanics against each other during the early rounds of the show
would only promote divisiveness among competitors and viewers alike.

I can already see the subsequent protests which end up leading to record viewers tuning in for the sake of curiosity.

Logitec Brings out Motorized Mouse

This will really help out those accountants or legal aides that have to scroll through lines and lines of text.

The MX is configured to automatically switch between motorized and manual mode,
based on the application being used, Logitech said. In Excel, for example, the
mouse will go into free spin if the wheel is spun rapidly. People can also
toggle manually between modes by pushing down and clicking the wheel.

The mouse itself looks a little bit like an Anime spaceship

Ford is Getting Desperate

Ford (F) is really scraping the bottom of the barrel in this new promotion.

For those of you keeping score, automakers Ford and GM (NYSE: GM
- News) first introduced the concept of large-scale 0% financing in response to flagging sales trends in the wake of the twin disasters of the 2000 bubble burst and Sept. 11. But back then, the deal was much more limited in scope, being extended only to buyers with strong credit histories, and for no more than three or four years' duration. Ford's latest gambit breaks the rules in both respects,
targeting buyers who are huge credit risks, and enticing them with longer
interest amnesties.

So they are extending 0% financing to people with bad credit histories and trying to get them to pay for their cars for a longer period of time. I guess Ford figures they can at least clear the deck of all the 06 cars that aren't selling anyway. However this article points out that they will end up stuck with those cars if these people default on their loans. Those cars already have a bad resale price because they are American made. So Ford is pretty much trying to boost this current quarter by potentially morgaging their future. I guess that is why they are thinking of going private.

Japanese Consumer Loans

This is an interesting article on how consumer loans are handled in Japan.

Things look better for the banking business in Japan now than they have
for a long time, but truth be told, the recovery has been a long time coming.
However, consumer lenders in Japan such as Acom, Aiful, Promise, Takefuji, and
Honobono Lake have always had a pretty good deal over the same period.

Debt in Japan is relatively low-cost, and if you can lend out money at
interest rates greater than 20%, you have a pretty good business on your
hands. In recent years, some of the large consumer lenders partnered up with large banks in Japan, including Acom with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (NYSE: MTU - News) and Promise with Sumitomo-Mitsui Financial Group providing additional, and likely cheaper, capital. It's worth noting that the economics of the business are attractive enough that General Electric (NYSE: GE - News), through its consumer finance business, owns Honobono Lake, and Citigroup (NYSE: C - News) has a division of its own, CFJ, as well.

Now that is a good lending rate. I wonder how the credit card business is in Japan. If access to consumer loans is so easy it seems that people won't use a credit card when it comes to a big purchase. If they want to go on a trip to Hawaii or something they can pop into Promise and pick up one of these loans and spend the next few years paying it down. This industry would be a very interesting one to further look into.

New Economics of Hollywood?

This article really gives a good overview on why the studios are fighting back.

Studios, seeing profits shrink as box-office flattens and DVD sales
decline, are trying to dump the long-held economic system in Hollywood that led
to stars earning paychecks north of $20 million.

"Studios see things are slowing down and they can no longer afford
to make big movies" and agree to lucrative deals for actors where, in some
cases, "the star makes more than the studio at the end of the day," said media
analyst Harold Vogel.

I think studios are tired of shelling out $200 million to make a movie that probably brings them only about $20 million or so after they give the celeb gets their front-end cut. Also the studio have to shell out for marketing costs that don't get counted in the actual making of the movie. So the studios not only have to worry about the movie bombing but also about the movie coming in below expectations. You shell out $200 million and you are forcing the movie to break records at the box office or you end up making hardly anything for all that invested capital.

So I think studios will start bankrolling more movies like Sideways or backing more stars like Tyler Perry. These are things they can pay about $16-$20 million for and have the potential to make $100 million or more. Even if they bomb the studio isn't out too much money.

One interesting side effect of this would be that the studios can afford to take risks again. You can't mess up when you have $200 million on the line but you can make a few mistakes when you have only $20 million or so on the line. Thus, they might be able to bankroll more experimental stuff or decent movies that aren't studded with high priced celebs. So scripts would not have to be dumbed down because you won't need millions of people in the audience to make back your initial outlay.

That means you will see a lot more horror movies done on the cheap like Saw or book adaptions with only one big star in them like Devil Wears Prada. Devil was made for only about $35 million according to this and raked in $120 million so far. That is a nice profit margin when you compare it with movies like Miami Vice and even Superman Returns. These movies froze up $135-$270 million+ of capital and had a far lower profit margin. Devil was a 3 bagger while Vice will probably barely break even and Superman might barely be a 1 bagger.

There might come a day when the only $100 million+ movies that some studios will make would be animated CGI types from proven money makers like Pixar. I mean Cars cost $120 million to make and has already doubled its money with a $385 million. It will be a sure blockbuster on DVD and all of the toys and stuff will push it into the stratosphere. This it is really likely to be a 5 bagger or even better.

It will be sad to see the Blockbuster Summer season go into movie history. What we will get in return is many smaller budget movies that might end up being far better then the $200 million shlock and TV remakes that we are getting today.

Tom Cruise Booting Signals Sea Change in Hollywood?

This is a very interesting article about the Tom Cruise booting from Paramount.

To some, Redstone's comments signal a major change in Hollywood.

"There is a definitive, palpable change in
climate," one source at a major Hollywood talent agency said.

"Stars' demands have gotten so over-the-top, and they've gotten so
petulant. And the studios, because they're part of publicly traded
companies, have to maintain quarterly results, I do think they are less
intimidated by the stars," he said.

I think this means that the stars won't run the studios as much as they did in the past. Perhaps paychecks will start getting lighter now that the conglomerates are starting to fight back against the largesse demanded by the stars. This will be especially true of the moonbat Celebes like Cruise who act crazy (Oprah chair incident,) give the studio ultimatums that effect their other properties (Getting Comedy Central to axe a South Park episode,) and generally drain off a bunch of money and get a disappointing return in the process (MI3.)

Here are some Funny Quotes from Talladega Nights

Here are some quotes collected at this persons blog. The Tom Cruise one is especially front of mind to me nowadays.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Quotes from Talladega Nights!!! Current mood: amused
Talladega Nights Quotes!!

"You can't have two number ones, if you do that makes 11"

" I got mauled by a cougar, didn't learn anything about driving a car and I ruined my crystal gayle shirt"

"Help Me Jesus! Help Me Tom Cruise, use your witchcraft to get the fire off me"

"When I wake up the in morning, I piss excellence"

"If I wanted sissy boys, I woulda named you Dr.Quinn and medicine woman."

"I'm as hard as a diamond in an ice storm!"

"Shake and bake"...gotta have that one

"Your magic man and im el diablo...Whats that?Its like a fighting chicken"

"I liked to thank the lord baby jesus, for my two sons, walker and texas ranger"

"Chip I'm gonna come at you like a spider monkey"

Tips on Setting Up a Budget

This is pretty sound advice from Motley Fool on how to go about setting up a Budget. I have been doing this for about a year now and it is a very interesting thing to do. What I tried to do is to make my budget similar to an Income Statement from a company.

1. The first thing I do is figure out my Revenue (I just total up my 2 paychecks for the month) and put it on the Revenue Line.

2. Next I figure out my Fixed Expenses for the month. Here I put how much I pay for housing and also various monthly subscriptions like Netflix, the phone bill etc. These things are pretty much fixed in stone so the number doesn't really change too much from month to month. I put this stuff in the Cost of Revenue line.

3. I then put the Variable Expenses next. Here I put the cost of fuel, eating out, clothing and entertainment. You can break this out futher if you wanted to by listing the places you eat out at, where you purchase clothing from, and how much you spend on each entertainment item. You can make this easier by linking excel sheets together.

4. I then put in a line for Non Recurring Expenses. This is where I put how much cash I spent on various things in everyday life. Here I would put the magazines I bought from Barnes & Noble, or the Açai Supercharger I bought from Jamba Juice. This is usually the stuff I bought with cold, hard cash so I can track it pretty easily by just checking out how much I take out from the cash machine and then breaking it down. Putting down the entire amount you took out for the month is more important to me then figuring out what I bought.

5. Finally, I put down my Net Income by minusing the Fixed, Variable, and Non Recurring Expenses from the amount I have for Revenue. My goal is to have this number be positive each month no matter what. If it is negative I go into cost cutting mode to see what fat I can trim mostly from non-recurring expenses.

K-Fed Embarrasses the Human Race on Teen Choice Awards

I never got a chance to see this affront to humanity but luckily I found a clip on Defamer and it is actually worse then I imagined. He gestures wildly and jerks spasmodically like some kind of stiff-jointed automaton. In one point of the video he actually sits down and rests for a bit. I guess he was all tuckered out by all that talk of "rims, chains, and tax brackets." Also at the end of it (if you can make it that far) you can see that K-Fed does a dance that seems very similar to Charlie Brown in this picture. I have a feeling that Charlie Brown and K-Fed rapping may sound very similar.

Are Matt Stone and Trey Parker Behind Cruise's Ouster?

It sure makes a lot of sense but is just pure speculation and innuendo.

Viacom Conspiracy Theory: Please note that the pissing contest between
Sumner and Xenu began on the same day that Paramount announced a two picture deal for the South Park guys. How's this for a scenario: Tom gets wind of the deal and calls Brad Grey telling him to cancel the Important Pictures pact or
he'll leave. Brad Grey kicks it up to Freston who kicks it up to Sumner who
-- knowing that negotiations are going poorly and not so fondly recalling
being forced to pull the Trapped in the Closet episode or else Cruise
wouldn't do press for MI3 -- says, "Fine, goodbye. You and your alien race
will bully me no more."

Redstone seems like the kind of man that doesn't like to be pushed around by his employees so instead of just quietly severing the ties he fires the guns on the way out. I mean Redstone could have just said they didn't want to renew Cruises deal but instead he blasted Cruises weird behavior in a press release. He is making it known that Cruise is the one that forced himself out by acting like a space cadet.

Paramount Dumps Tommy Boy Cruise

Looks like all the couch jumping, Today Show freakouts, and Suri hiding have finally hit Tommy Boy in the wallet.

Sumner Redstone, Viacom chairman, said the behavior of the star of the
"Mission: Impossible" series and "Top Gun" was unacceptable to the company,
according to the Wall Street Journal story e-mailed to
reporters.

Redstone must have really been angry at Cruise because Paramount is giving up a sure $100 a movie property. Maybe Paramount is afraid of further, unanticipated freakouts coming down the road. Maybe he would have bitten off Matt Laurer's ear or something like that. In any case I'm going to follow this story because it will probably be the wall-to-wall du jour in the next few days.

What Kids Are Buying for Back-to-School

This is an interesting article about what things people are buying their kids for their return to school. One interesting thing is how much parents spend nowadays:

The National Retail Federation (NRF) has a very optimistic view
estimate for this year's average back-to-school spending. The trade
association's annual survey claims that the average American family will spend
$527.08, up from $443.77 last year.

It seems that parents are mostly buying electronics (PCs and IPods) but some are buying more clothes too. And it seems like the 80s trend may be what is in now:

We'll just have to see how the 80s-inspired looks will go over, "skinny
jeans" and all. Fashionistas claim the look's definitely hot, but teens have yet
to confirm that opinion. Although many retailers had a heyday with denim over
the last couple years, they might have to stay on their toes, seeding their
stores with the right balance of trendy goods and more conventional duds, since
the retro-'80s trend is still pretty new on the scene. This year has been a
bloodbath for many retail stocks, so investors will be watching teens' shopping
trends closely.

Judging by recent solid earnings reports, some of the "most likely
to succeed" retailers for back-to-school wardrobes include American Eagle
Outfitters (Nasdaq: AEOS) and Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF). Plenty of other retailers hope for teens' and college students' dollars as well, including J. Crew (NYSE: JCG) and Urban Outfitters.

Cisco the Set-top Box King?

Arroyo seems like a pretty good add to CSCO.

Taken together with the Scientific-Atlanta acquisition last year, the
Arroyo deal is further proof of Cisco's ambition to run your living room. In
announcing the deal, a senior executive noted that the entertainment industry is
shifting to personalized anything-on-demand with "any content delivered to any
end device." I agree with that assessment, and I believe that Cisco is doing the
smart thing in positioning itself for leadership in that space.

It seems like a good fit because they can go from networking equipment to consumer equipment quite easily. Perhaps we will see a digital set-top box that doubles as a wireless access point sometime in the future.

Dark Matter Found

This seems like a pretty interesting discovery in the field of Astronomy. Now they just need to find that Dark Energy.



The dark matter is not seen, but its gravity has a predictable effect on the observations. The resulting blue color in a new image represents the gravity fields observed by noting how the light from each background galaxy is distorted

Here's what the image reveals:

The hot gas-normal matter-was slowed by a drag force described as the cosmic equivalent of air resistance. But the dark matter was not slowed by this effect, presumably because it does not interact with normal matter, as theory had predicted.

So the normal matter and dark matter became separated.

"This proves in a simple and direct way that dark matter exists." Markevitch said in the teleconference.

Democratic Republic of Congo Actually Democratic?

It seems they actually pulled off an election there for the first time since they were a Dutch colony. Now there will be a runoff election between Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba.

Kabila, the young former soldier who inherited the presidency from his
father following his assassination in 2001, won a landslide victory in the east,
where life proceeded normally after the vote. Congolese here in the east call
Kabila "Le Pacificateur," crediting him with bringing an end to years of brutal
conflict in which an estimated 3.9 million people died.

In Kinshasa and elsewhere in the west, Kabila is un- popular. He speaks Swahili,
the language of the east, and has only a loose grasp of Lingala, the main
western language. Kabila's opponents branded him a foreigner during the campaign period.

Lots of gunfire later and maybe they will have an actual President of the Congo heading some kind of coalition government. This is Africa so almost anything from a Coup placing a dictatorship in charge, to a military takeover, to the country breaking into two parts could be in the offing. But let's hope democracy can actually take hold after 3.9 *million* people have died.

Interesting Article About Media Overexposure

This is a pretty interesting article about how the media goes ape over stories like catching Jon Benet's supposed killer.

The problem is that when the media, particularly television news shows
and especially the 24-hour cable networks, turn their focus on an issue, most
everything else disappears. That means the issue is much larger than the
JonBenet saga. Anything can be overdone, even serious topics such as the crisis
- or crises - in the Middle East.

It seems the media always end up doing this. I guess this guy dubs it "Blocking out the Sun" and I really agree with it. The news media seems to just go after a story and run it into the ground and then totally forget about it. When they bring one story to the front the other ongoing stories seem to be like background noise.

Meanwhile, Iraq slowly becomes a daily casualty report, the fall
elections become a discussion about "security moms," the economy boils down to
the daily stock numbers, and Afghanistan essentially disappears from the
news.

It would be interesting if they gave the news in an update format keeping each update the exact same length. So they would have an Update from Iraq, and Update from Afganistan, Update from the Campaign Trail, Economic Update, Washington Update etc. Each update would be 5 minutes long and be all the current news about a topic and maybe some background or human interest stuff if they have to fill in some time. It would be kind of like RSSing the news.