A load of crap from an idle brain

Over the weekend watched a movie, “Inside Job“.  A movie that tracks the collapse of the Wall Street in 2008 which caused the worldwide recession from which the world is yet to recover.  It tracks and interviews many of those responsible for the financial crash.  Many financial behemoths like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers collapsed.  Many were taken over by other financial firms like Merrill Lynch bought over by Bank of America, Wachovia by Wells Fargo, Bear Stearns by JP Morgan etc.

The whole collapse was fueled by the excesses of the financial institutions and the professionals who were a part of them.  Technology ensured that that complex financial products like CDOs were sold to institutions, retail investors.  People with no jobs were given loans to buy property, excessive salaries for brokers, heads of major financial companies only made them greedier leading to more and more desperation in inflating sales so that they could take a bigger and fatter pay packet at the end of the month.

Prostitution, fake bills, consuming cocaine and other forms of drugs, splurging on luxury goods, bay-front properties, casinos etc was the order of the day for the bankers, brokers employed in these institutions on Wall Street.

According to this list provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, more than 370 banks have closed down since the beginning of 2008. An estimated $14 trillion was lost because of the crisis.  And that is just a lower estimate.  The true cost of the whole crisis might never be known.  Millions of jobs lost, tens of millions of people pushed back into poverty.

All those responsible for the crime were never brought to justice, nor will they ever be. Some of the ones who violently opposed any form regulation of the financial industry which was the basic cause of this financial crisis are now sitting comfortably in the seats of power.  They are today part of the government.  Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner; everyone contributed their part to the crisis not to mention Dick Fuld (Lehman Brothers), Angelo Mozelo (Countrywide Finance), Hank Paulson (Goldman Sachs & Treasury Secretary in 2006), George Bush, Bill Clinton etc were in some way or the other responsible for the mess we find the world in.

During the boom years of the 2000s, there were lots of people hectoring the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for taking a conservative stance and blaming the RBI for not opening up the financial markets to the so-called reform that the US was doing. Its that same conservatism that shielded India and its banks from getting smashed up by the tsunami created in the US and world financial markets.

For years, the Wall Street had been my dream place to work.  I loved the whole idea of minting money the way the bankers made.  From the late 90s till the collapse in 2008, i had a rosy idea of these places. In fact, my dream job would have been working with Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch etc.  As i kept reading about the collapse in 2008 and the circumstances that lead to it, it not only crumbled my dreams but also made me think if i could have handled such a life of debauchery & lies that were commonplace in this industry.

Would i be able to mis-sell a product to a retail investor and then go home and sleep peacefully?  The movie raises a lot of questions about morality and your job.  For every parent who wanted their kids to join the financial industry and make tons of money, this movie is an eye opener.  Money is there in abundance, but what we need to realise is if there is the moral compass that can guide us when the excess money flows in.

Are you an investor in real estate, stocks, bonds, mutual funds etc?  Are you planning to make a career in the financial industry?  Do you know someone who works there?  This movie is a must watch and the book “The end of Wall Street” is a must read.  Roger Lowenstein writes a blow by blow account of the last few days of the collapse of the Wall Street.  Its a riveting read.

And yes, if this doesn’t outrage you, nothing will.  Because in the world of finance, there is something called TBTF (Too Big to Fail).  Just become big by hook or by crook and then the government will ensure that you will never fail.  They will always bail you out no matter how big an asshole you have been.

“If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.” – J Paul Getty

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The Diwali weekend was spent lazing around at home and watching movies.  Caught up on all the ones i had missed.  Inception was really exceptional both concept wise and in the way the director Christopher Nolan shot it.  Was amazed at the way he was able to narrate the movie.

Having read so much about the movie, i thought i would be lost and the movie would be confusing.  But i found it quite engaging and entertaining.  The way the movie races through the different countries, the whole concept of getting into someone’s dreams to steal information or to plant them.  Man, where do they get all these ideas from? 

Avatar on the other hand transfixed me visually.  Its stunning.  No other word comes close.  But nothing great actually when it comes to either acting or the script.  Visually the movie is in its own class and will take a long time for any other director to match it.  Now, James Cameron has announced 2 more sequels to the movie in the years ahead.  Looking at all he has done in this one, the expectations are already quite high.

The Expendables was the usual 80s Rambo kinda movies that Stallone was so good at.  Explosions, bodies getting ripped off, the heroes going to the villain’s den and blowing up the whole place, a sexy woman who is rescued by the hero just as she is about to be raped.  Would have loved to see Arnie and Bruce Willis get their hands dirty though.

Machete was similar to the Expendables.  Mindless action with lots of gore attached.  Its rare to see Steven Seagal and Robert de Nero in the same movie. But was fun.  Another mindless action flick.

Having read so much about the financial meltdown in the US and with so much interest in finance & investing, this movie was a must watch for me for quite some time.  The movie did drag a bit, nevertheless i found it engaging.  Now, it has motivated me to go search for the original that released some 20 odd years ago.

All pictures above courtesy: IMDB

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Prime Focus, the Mumbai based post production company has worked on significant portions of the recent blockbusters, Avatar and The New Moon.

Prime Focus played an essential behind-the-scenes role in two of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of 2009 — Chris Weitz’s “New Moon” and James Cameron’s “Avatar.” The company established itself as one of the cutting-edge firms in the visual effects business by producing about 10 percent of James Cameron’s path-breaking 3D superhit and a whopping 80 percent of the shots for the second installment of the Twilight franchise.

“’Avatar’ obviously is the biggest of all,” Malhotra said. “We’ve done some exemplary work in ‘GI Joe’ and ‘New Moon’ as well. But when you’re working on ‘Avatar’ as one of the top five vendors you have got to a lot more credible space than working on just any movie.”

The London Stock Exchange-listed company’s portfolio of work runs the gambit from “Avatar” to top Bollywood hits like the Amir Khan starrer “3 Idiots” to Splinter Films’ DVD release of a live performance by Beyonce. The company already owns the lion’s share of the Indian post-production and visual effects market, and the international business is expanding rapidly.

Full article here

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Playing around with the look of my blog.  That’s what you do when you have nothing better to do.  

Deccan Chargers crashed out of the T20 Champions Trophy and i hardly watched even a single match of the tournament.  Ended up wondering why the hell are they playing.  Read some news that the TRPs of the T20 Champions Trophy are worse than the other Champions Trophy played recently in South Africa.

With so many Champions Trophies in a single sport, no wonder the people are disinterested.  Read Pritish Nandy’s tweet where he predicted that cricket is on a decline as a sport as money has corrupted it.  But then, the self professed God of cricket, Lalit Modi has some other plans.  He plans to have 2 IPLs in a year, 3 Champs leagues, 4 world cups and if possible a few more matches here and there.   Not that i care.  Fortunately for me, once i left India, i left the craze for cricket behind too.  Earlier used to subscribe to sports channels to watch them.  Now, even with tons of websites doing free streaming of all TV channels, i still dont bother watching them.

With Diwali around, 3 big movies are releasing in Hindi.  I might finally drag my sorry ass to some multiplex and watch one of them.  Which one of them is something that will depend on my mood at that particular moment.

Mr & Mrs Khanna surely wont be the one i will spend my money on.  Who in the right frame of mind wants to see 2 constipated faces (Salman and Sohail) on the screen after having paid so much money?

Picture source:  Icanhascheezeburger

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No matter how much some intellectuals tried to wish it away, Slumdog Millionaire like a bad dream comes back again and again.  It created history by sweeping 8 oscars.

Meanwhile, AR Rahman scored another massive victory in an impressively star studded career with 2 Oscar awards.  One for the original background score and one for Original Song (Jai ho) which was written by none other than Gulzar himself.

Am awesome day at the Oscars for India as the documentary, Smile Pinki, a heart-warming tale of a poor Indian village girl whose cleft lip made her a social outcast won the award for the best short documentary.

Many people look at Slumdog as poverty porn.  I look at it as the coming of age of Indians who by sheer determination and hard work are making a mark in the world.  They dont crib over their poverty and hardships; instead work hard to rise above all that life has to offer.  There are millions of examples around us and we just need to look around.

A perfect example of the same is AR Rahman.  From having to support his family as a young man after the untimely death of his father, he took to music and his dedication to his craft has brought him to the place where he is today.

“I want to thank everyone. The essence of the film is optimism and hope. All through my life I had the choice of love and hate…I chose love and I am here” an elated Rahman said.

The composer was overwhelmed and interspersed his speech with Hindi as well as Tamil on receiving the coveted trophy.

“There is a dialogue from an old Hindi film,”Mere paas ma hai” – which means I have nothing but a mother. My mother is here, I have her blessings. I am glad she could be here” said Rahman.

He ended the acceptance speech by saying “God is great” in Tamil, something he says after winning every award.

Meanwhile, sound engineer Resul Pookutty became the third Indian to bring Oscar glory for India by winning the award for sound mixing in Slumdog Millionaire.

“I dedicate this award to my country. This is not just a sound award but a piece of history that has been handed over to me” a beaming and emotional Pookutty said while dedicating the trophy to a billion Indians.

“I come from a country and civilisation that gave the world the word that precedes silence and is followed by more silence. That word is ‘Om’. So I dedicate this award to my country” said Kerala-born sound technician.

Pookutty shared the honours with colleagues Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke.

“This is unbelievable. I share the stage with two magicians, who captured the noise and cacophony of Mumbai to create the soul stirring artful sound of Slumdog Millionaire” he said.

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