Funny or Die has taken the activist route by adding a ‘contact your senator’ message at the end of this hilarious video where the last 5 ex-presidents (as portrayed by Saturday Night LIve actors) visit Obama to give financial reform advice. So have a laugh then bug your Senator.
Finally had a chance to watch this trailer for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the sequel to the original and best all-time movie about money (except for maybe Rodney Dangerfield’s Easy Money). There’s almost no way this movie won’t be entertaining. Trailer is below (along with a trailer for Easy Money—watch that one to the end, when voiceover asks you to mail your request for information about new movie releases. Classic. Truly.)
The folks at Dictionary.com aren’t always topical on their word of the day choices, and I’m not even sure that’s their goal, but they certainly nailed it today with the word panjandrum. It means an important personage or pretentious official, and today was jam packed with panjandrums. In fact, I didn’t even get a chance to read my word of the day email (yes, I’m old school, I still receive email) until tonight because I was immediately sucked into Tim Geithner defending AIG’s bailout to a congressional mob. His Treasury predecessor Hank Paulson was next, then the Fed’s FOMC rate decision was announced, then Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad, then global bigwigs started pontificating to reporters from the World Economic Forum in Davos, and now Obama’s state of the union speech.
It was quite the day of panjandrums that meet both definitions of the word, and my hat is off to the (good version of) panjandrums from Dictionary.com for offering today’s word with perfect context.
As the last business day of the decade winds down and everyone is preparing for a little or perhaps a lot of boozing, it seems appropriate to bow deeply to the anti-business avatar of our time … The Dude, aka Lebowski, aka El Duderino … and honor his simple wish for some good relaxation and an icy White Russian, or Caucasian, as he calls them.
Much has been made of Lebowski and his ways this week after the NYT reviewed a book of essays on The Dude. So we’d just like to thank the authors of this tome for adding timeless meaning to a piece of pop culture that was initially cast off as meaninglessness when it was released in 1998. And specifically, we’re honoring the Caucasian because there’s simply no other cocktail that evokes the same kind of soothing aura (and as a Dude-worthy sidebar, check out the White Russian image search results from Google). So enjoy one tonight as you ring in the new decade, and if you’re so inclined, you can read this book excerpt On The White Russian. We understand these pages qualify as “business papers” in that they’re copyrighted, and we’re prepared for any investigation that ensues from the boys down at the crime lab.
Jack Bauer, do you know no bounds?
Poor Nick Cage, first he was going to have to sell one of his castles to raise money to solve problems (he alleges in a lawsuit were) caused by his business manager. Now the manager is countersuing Cage, citing the list below as evidence of Cage’s reckless spending behavior. Useful perspective for anyone slogging through this recession and lamenting those over-the-top Vegas trips during the boom years.
By July 2008, Levin claims, Cage owned: more…
One key supporter of TheBasisPoint who goes by H1ghway is a fellow pop culture nut, and like so many of us, feeling the prolonged economic pinch as a self-employed web consultant. His case is that: sure, we’ve finally got improving GDP. But yesterday’s 10.2% unemployment rate is proof of the increasing misery so many people can’t seem to shake.
So he’s been trying to get us to do a pop culture weave-in piece using a Ghostbusters 2 thread (since it’s apparently been showing on cable recently). As a reminder, the plot is that there’s a river of slime below New York that’s the source of all the misery, and the Ghostbusters have to find a way to make it go away or be forever doomed. We’ve struggled to make this connection, but H1ghway won’t relent and just sent the picture you see here for inspiration—it’s Dan Akroyd hanging over the slime river hellbent on finding a solution.
This is local Denver news coverage from this year’s Lebowski Fest, and this reporter is definitely privy to all the new Lebowski shit that has come to light since 1998. For such a slacker, The Dude has created a cult industry around his way of life. It may be hard for some to figure out why, but the rest of us know what he would say: “Well, that’s, uh, what you pay me for…”
With 9.4% unemployment, 6.7m jobs lost since the recession began, and another 8.8m workers forced into part time work, perhaps it’s time to think about the big idea … that massive money maker that’ll put you on easy street for life. It’s simple: meet with a business coach to develop your idea, pitch it to Donald Trump and a few venture capitalists, and you’re on your way. If you’re still feeling unclear about how to do this, here’s an instructional video to watch before you formulate market research on your $34.6 million billion dollar idea. Respek…
Seacrest out … into the TV host stratosphere. We’ve never been fans of Ryan Seacrest since his style (t-shirts with suit jackets) and quips (Seacrest out) have always suggested a guy trying too hard to be cool. But we’re officially fans now because what does cool matter when you’re a $45 million dollar man?
The “American Idol” host has closed a new three-year deal with “Idol” producer 19 Entertainment, said to be worth $15 million a year. Under the pact, which is believed to be the richest ever for a reality host, Seacrest is locked in as host of “Idol” through 2012. Additionally, Seacrest will work with “Idol” creator and 19 principal Simon Fuller on developing new projects. more…
“Manually underwritten loans are subject to scrutiny such as we have never seen before and we do not have the courage to paint outside of the lines because we cannot afford to have a loan purchase refused by an investor. Today, it takes two to three times as long to underwrite a loan and we have checklist upon checklist that help us make sure all of the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed. I have been doing this for over 30 years and frankly we are back to the rules of the early 80’s or worse when it comes to documentation.”
— A senior mortgage bank underwriter, on why loan approvals are so hard, even for the most qualified borrowers.
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