Posted on by Lady James

The way the medias go….

….is down the drain. Ok I said it all. but what makes me mad about it?

– I don’t expect the majority of people reading the news to take the necessary time to question what they read. This frightens me. example: Gordon brown has spent his summer holidays in a village called Southwold on the Suffolk coast. I visited it a few months ago and it is a very nice little place with a lot of tourists. I personnally prefer Aldeburgh- but let’s be honest, Aldeburgh is more well know for its culture and Arts. I don’t expect Gordon to fit in such a place. Now, this said, he has been seen as a model of virtue for not going to Tuscany or France like Blair used to and keeping such a low profile. In my view he tried to set an example but it was a little too late. But here you go; Yahoo news then publishes some statistics for this year, saying that dear old Gordon has set a magnificent example by encouraging his people to do the same and re discover the charms of England ‘s beaches. But has he? Truth is yes- but not the way he expected it. Given the choice, most Britons would prefer California or Florida’s beaches to England’s- but they don’t have the means to anymore thanks to Gordie here and his great financial decisions during this last decade. Are they really thanking him for having their opportunities reduced? I doubt it strangely. And to be frank, had Gordon gone to Fidji or Bali or Santa Monica, do you think the news would have praised him for his decision?. Now to finish the Yahoo news, it was added that this year alone tourism has gone down 14% in the Uk alone. American tourists cannot afford coming to Europe or the Uk anymore as the dollar has gotten particularly weak ( and let’s face it, Americans are in serious trouble right now economically; their housing market has been plunging for longer than ours). So Gordon might be more cunning than you expect; by encouraging – or should I say forcing- Britons to wanders on the roads of England he simply replaces American tourists by Uk ones. Genius. I am quite sure that he didn’t do it on purpose.

This one tiny example of what one article can do. You read it in a minute and then you forget about it. But the facts are quite different from what they are made out to be. How many articles do we read in a day? And how many do we question? Bottom question- which side are the medias on? Because at the end of the day that’s what it is all about.

Posted on by Lady James

“You don’t mess with the Zohan” with Adam Sandler

Why did I go to see this one again? Zohan is an Israeli secret agent who does unbelievable things. Yup this is another of Sandler’s thick comedies where he teaches lessons to the whole wide world. Anyway. This secret agent as secret aspirations- to become a hairdresser and to leave the army as long as Israelis and Palestinians don’t try really to reach a peace agreement. Hello New York and welcome to reality…eeerrr….Hollywood’s one I mean. Zohan will reach his dreams, make peace with his worst enemy and create in New York his own peaceful world. Medias ( I know I have them in the nose lately) marvelled that Israel and Palestine didn’t react more strongly to this but truth be told, Sandler doesn’t do much damage to either parties. My guess is that the Americans come worst in this film and their diplomats were fully aware of it. Now leaving the political scene I must admit that Sandlers is the type of guy that sends messages through his messages. In this one, gays, older women, dogs and idiots all have the right to be loved and he demonstrates it with a total lack of gusto. Anyway, well done Mr Sandler, let’s move on to the next one. I wonder who read the scenarios and decide that they can go through with them. At least it wasn’t as bad as any of the last Eddie Murphy’s films. DO NOT GO TO SEE EDDIE MURPHY’S MOVIES. Please. Please. Please. I will allow Sandler’s in exchange.

Posted on by Lady James

The markets are rallying. Why not?

Markets have been bullish since mid July and everybody has been raving about it, from the optimistics who are ranting that the bottom has been touched to the pessimistics who are claiming that as soon as the holidays are over the honeymoon will end. So here we go, first days of September and the markets keep climbing while gold and black gold ( crude oil) fall. The news are alledgedly good as US GDP has been better than expected and who cares if debts keep worsening. A last rebound for Freddie and FAnnie claim to the world that the battle isn’t lost yet.

Truth is as a trader I just trade what I see. Today the market go up and you will find me going up with it. Tomorrow is another day and I will gladly do the same. When I go against it ( it is called a reversal or a pullback or a retracement for the ones who wants technical words), I am carefully setting my tragets as I don’t want to be caught up on the wrong side of the trend. I have become the type of person who says things like :” this markets looks like it is going to keep trending up…unless it doesn’t”. It drives people potty, but any good trader knows what I mean. You can have all the signs, but a warning is worth all of them. I have been careful as the reality of this job is that most people who try it end up at the cleaners. I’ve been doing it for 3 years now and I am still there. In itself it is quite an achievement. If you’re not a trader, you have no idea.

Somebody pointed out to me a few weeks ago that I love my job and I loved the markets. I was intrigued by his remark until I noticed that most people don’t. They are in for the money ( whatever your job, who isn’t? It’s called work for a reason),but if you can be in for more, that’s a plus. Turns out, I am in for more than that. I like trading because it teaches you that the world is one big place where everything happens for a reason. You have to be pretty smart to figure this one out, right? But since I started trading I’ve learned to see other people ‘s point of view. I learned that it is sometimes unwise to go against the mass but you still can if you’re a contrarian. Then you have to learn if the time’s right, and once you have this one under your belt you have to learn to manage your finances. Once you trust you’ve got it, you have to realise that your set ups are not worth a chicken pellet anymore and you have to clear your ideas and start from afresh. I read several dozens of books, watch webinars, went to seminars, consulted great traders, wrote down all kind of research and spent countless hours just watching the markets and checking all kind of indicators, strategies, internals and news. I learned that things that had been true for the last 30 years could become invalid overnight. That certain things are cyclical but most of them are not. I learned that some traders rely on their beliefs and some on their superstitions to hold on. I learned that you can be right and wrong at the same time ( right about the set up and wrong about the time /and/or/your stoploss,etc). I learned that your health can suffer, that your cholesterol levels can shoot up, that your eyes can pay a hefty price for computer watching all day, that you put on weight, that you have to master your moods and your nerves if you want to keep your family sane and that finally, sometimes, it is not enough. I’ve learned to listen to other traders ideas and discoveries and learned that there is a world of difference between something they say ( ” should have gotten in here and set your target here and stoploss there for a profit of 82 pts in half a day…easy!” ) and what they do ( ” is this what you’ve done ?” is my usual question. The answer is almost always no.). I’ve learned that you can take two steps away and wonder what happened to your children, since when did they all grew an inch and a half, and wonder if you’re not wasting what is important in life ( this one ended up 3 months away from my brokers but funnily enough I kept reading and watching the results of the markets every night). Finally you learn that you’re still there, that there are a lot of theories and as many people out there and that as long as you’re making money, that is all that matters. ( Yeah right).

So the markets are rallying. Why not? I say. They will come down again- or go sideways. I will keep learning- and some things will have nothing to do with what I do. I will keep trading because that is what I love to do. And I hope I will keep meeting a lot of people as it keeps this job being interesting!

Posted on by Lady James

“Mamma mia!” with Mery Streep, Pierce Brosnan

I had seen this musical comedy on stage and almost gave birth whilst watching as the sound was so loud. I remember thinking the plot was quite superficial and the songs, well, I was a teenager during the Abba’s years, so I had enough. My mother-in-law wanted to watch the movie and dutifully I proposed to come with my youngest son ( he’s almost 11). Surprise! We all liked it! The scenery makes you dream- it puts you in holiday automatic pilot mode. Although most of the male cast were a tad rigid and definitely not the best singers, it gave a touch of reality and tenderness to the whole thing. Mery Streep – whom I would never had seen as a hippy- was so right that you sympathize all along with her character. Her daughter on screen- played by Amanda Seyfried- was just beautiful. She stole the screen at every appearance and made a very unlikely story believeable ( at least for 2 hours). We came out relaxed and joyful. My son loved the songs. Poor me. Another summer listening to Abba. What wouldn’t we do for love…
If you need to de stress, go and see Mamma mia!.

Posted on by Lady James · 1 Comment

SAVE THE WORLD

I don’t know if any of you have noticed but it seems that not another day can go by without some hint that it is time for us to try and save the world. You are told to recycle, to send money to charities and to stop wasting energy. It all seems well and good- until you get into details. Recycling is accepted as long as it is clean. It means that you have to wash all the plastic and glass you are throwing away. Great, I am now wasting water. I try to save water you know. I have a 200 ltr water-butt filled up with rain from my drainpipes. I used it for the garden- I grow my own vegetables, fruits and flowers, all organic of course. I clean my bathrooms once every week and do a quick swipe in between. I make sure that my dishwasher is loaded before starting it and I turn it on only while I am still awake so I don’t let it on all night. I also try to save electricity. I turn off the lights when I am out of the room. I try all I can to save energy.I don’t use my car for unneccessary travels. I used boxes for my weekly shopping. I encourage my family to eat properly and not to waste food. I recycle clothes from one kid to another then sell on Ebay what is still in good shape- or hasn’t been worn. I give my magazines to other people, toys and books. I use less cleaning products or reduce the doses. The list is almost endless.

But then you learn that aiplanes companies are not taxed on petrol and they send their aiplanes empty accross the world in order not to lose their spots. Oil companies poison civilian waters while refining their products. Even desalinization might create sulfuric acid rains. Big companies are fined if they trespass their pollution levels- which they do happily as they don’t want to reduce their waste. You start to wonder- what is the point for us to make the effort when most of it is made useless or barely compensate the waste created by those companies? Better still, are these entreprises run by human? Don’t they have children?

I am realistic. I have noticed that some countries are more active then others. Islands have a tendency to be aware that independency comes at a cost, but rich countries such as Switzerland feel totally unconcerned. They may complain about climate changes but that is because the snow is melting on their mountains and it has become harder for tourism. But the population feels rather unconcerned about the future and/ or any form of emergency towards amending our ways of life.

What strikes me most is that the medias are campaigning harshly but at the same time the good news are widely ignored. Tornados and twisters bring to the surface an algae that purifies the air. North Dakota is discovering huge amounts of oil on its land- that has been untouched. The current petrol crisis is forcing entreprises to fund research for renewable energy.

An economical factor though doesn’t seem to make its way to the mass though. There are more and more people on earth, and like it or not, we will have to make room for them. It also mean that we will have to share our heritage and that the costs of life will keep increasing. Luxuries will become rarer and more expensive. It is a reality.

Ultimately you have to know we are living on borrow times. The future is going to be our children’s present. You may want to ignore this, but the only way to become immortal is to keep your children and grand children alive. Do you want to be remember for genocide? i don’t think so.

Of course I am a bloody idealist. I have five kids, haven’t I?

Posted on by Lady James

“Wanted” with James McAvoy and Angeline Jolie

Another action movie I thought. The kind where everything is surreal – think the after Matrix- and violent. Angelina Jolie and her overdone pout are not a plus as I am a woman and don’t need a blow job. McAvoy though is an entire other dish though. Not that I fancy him whatsoever, but I consider him one of the best actors of his generation. I am convinced that he could sell nappies to a bachelor if he wanted to and turn any scenario into a goldmine despite the director and the script – and I have a tendency to think that the director make the actors in general.( I came up to this conclusion after seeing Tom Cruise in ” Magnolia” by the way. Tom Cruise for me is the epithome of action heroes actors,fast but incapable of conveying anything less than a canvas face – a blank face – which is supposed to let the spectator imagined any emotion applicable to the situation described ( ” Your mother had died” becomes a stare of despair or hope depending on what YOU feel but if you look closely the actor’s eyes it could also means ” When is the next pause, I need a wee/a fag/ a shag/ to get out of here”.Sorry for the disgression).

Ok so the story is about the son of an assassin who becomes involved in a fraternity of assasins in order to restablish some kind of order by bringing down a villain. The hero is supposed to have his father’s pool gene and in consequence is submitted to a regime of humiliations and routines so he can replace his father – the latest has been killed by the villain-and finish his task while helping the fraternity. Ahoy, that’s a scenario. Of course there is a twist you great neenee and the final scene has probably to do something with alost part of Matrix somewhere ( never forget that a killer, even a good one, can’t always completely win. No way. This is Hollywood talking).

Morgan Freeman is as best bored, Angelina Jolie is doing her Lara Croft routine without blinking and James McAvoy gives you the most unbelievable performance of the most pathetic killer ever seen – and he is better than wonderful. Just for him, and Mr McAvoy I salute you, the movie is worth seeing, watching, buying. I hope James McAvoy continues his way to stardom and remains what he truly is at heart- a great actor. Hats off.

I hated the scenario of course. It is one of these guys thing where being tough and tougher is of course best, and they actually are plain stupid. Even James Bond looks like a grown up compared to this.

Posted on by Lady James

“Hancock” with Will Smith and Charlize Theron.

Will Smith in a comedy, playing a Superhero gone awry and possibly alcoholic, I couldn’t missed that one. For the ones who know me – and the ones who don’t- I love Will Smith. His performance is okay but the roles he chooses are just genius. He gives you a story, he delivers a performance, he makes cinema interesting. I am all for it and I don’t even check what the story is about, I go and see it. A bit the same with John Travolta and John Cusack by the way.

So Will Smith is Hancock and not doing the best of it. Comes in an idealist whom he saved, and redemption is down the road. Then right in the middle of the movie, once you suddenly realized ” So what? How far can we go with this?” , you are embark on an entire new scenario that is completely separated from the first part. You just go:” What the heck….?” and you don’t have to think it over until the end. The twist is clever although the ending was a tad over the top for me. You can see that the credit crunch is already biting- people need sweet and hopeful endings. So that’s what you get.

The kids loved it.

Posted on by Lady James

“Penelope” with Christina Ricci and James McAvoy

A lovely fairytale for girls of every age who wants to find a prince charming and please to her parents at the same time. If you are the girl in question and you have some act of independency to perform , go and see this WITH your parents.

Christina Ricci is cute, McAvoy is cute, Reese Witherspoon is under employed and the good ones win. Happy ending, it is afairy tale I telling you.

Strangely my eleven years old son liked it. So maybe it is not only for girls.

Posted on by Lady James

“The other Boleyn girl” with Nathalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson

We all have heard about this one. Two lovely girls ( tongues out gentlemen please) AND Eric Bana. Guys and gals are salivating. History is happily revised, the story of ambition and love of two sisters who are living opposite in the midst of their dirty family plans is quite a program for a movie. Quite cleverly done ( you don’t need a PHD to follow the plot suttleties), you can still see that strong women have to submit to their males counterparts otherwise they have to be ready to pay the heavy consequences ( in these days, it was your head off. Nowadays, a guy who is half as qualified as you are is paid double). Neither portman nor Johansson are entirely convincing in their roles and for some reason I believe that if the director had been a tad more perverse he could have achieved a masterpiece had he inverted the roles of the leading ladies, but hey, it is not my job after all.<br />
Eric Bana is good. I liked him a lot in ” Munich”- a movie that deserves better and is worth watching. It is quite nice to see English people acting as low as Machiavel – although they don’t seem too good at it. I’d give this a five out of ten. At least Keira Knightley was not in it.

Posted on by Lady James

Randy Pausch- the living paradox

Dr Randy Pausch is creating a stir on the internet. He’s a 47 year old professor at Carneggie Mellon and was diagnosed last August with pancreatic cancer. He was then given 3 to 6 months to live. Being a father of 3 children under 10, Mr Pausch must have taken the news hard. Coming from an ingeneering background he thought of how he was going to resolve this – which he obviously couldn’t- so he tried to make the best of it. So what do you do when you think you have about a hundred days left to live? You try to make it worthwhile- that’s the dignified way to go. I know a few others who would have done something completely different – like trying to have fun- but that’s not what Mr Pausch is about.
So there is this tradition at Carneggie Mellon where professors who are about to retire give their last lecture. Mr Pausch used his right to give it and it was broadly broadcast on the internet. He was at first praised for his lucidity, his courage and his dignity. He encouraged people to follow their dreams and tried to give an example of how to achieve this. The lecture was officially aimed at his students and at his children, but it became open to the rest of the world. And then – you know the saying: Man plans, God laughs. And that’s what happened. The plan backfired.
Dr Pausch looks like the healthiest person on earth. Although clinically he is dying, in the facts, he’s still there. His sudden notoriety has propulsed him on the scene- you can even have a glimpse on the internet of him doing push-ups in front of Oprah and a large audience, something he is condemned to do again and again like a bad scenario in front of the cameras. And these repetitions – plus the publication of a book called ” The last lecture ” suddenly becomes an indecent commercial for a narcissic agony. And the lash out begins, followed by the accusations of milking it to the last degree. You have here all the ingredients to create collective fury when it all started with the best intentions. It is easy to see why: Mr Pausch is a good looking guy, with the sort of funny haircut that you can suppose he wore all his life since he was 12 or 16. His beautiful wife and lovely children seem to come straight of a Disney story. He has achieved a great career and has many friends who are ready to support him. He’s trying to do the right thing, like probably he has been doing all his life. In one word: he has it all. Dying the is the catch, but if you think about it one minute, it is going to happen to all of us and we are not all making a big deal out of it. We could- after all, not all of us have the time to get prepared and ready for it. So he remains a lucky guy throughout the end.
But then the paradox begins. He is dying, right, but in this world of instant information, he doesn’t drop dead once he has finished his lecture. So people feel cheated and are demanding explanations, which he has to answer to- radios in hand and defenses all out. The poor guy gets trapped by his own snare. So now he’s out there trying to get his point through and wasting precious time, instead of laying on his living-room floor and playing with his kids.
I have no judgements to pass on this one. Mr Pausch forgot one thing- that some events such as birth, marriage and funeral are best kept private. It is in our culture. He probably tried to overcome his fears by trying to pass on what he had learned in his short life. Making a book out of it was a simple way to perpetuating the message and maybe even to assure a little income for his family once he had disappeared. It may be seen as cynical when I believe it was just desesperate. The plan was genuine but hadn’t been thought through- for one good reason: nobody will shoot an ambulance. But Mr Pausch didn’t look ill enough- and that was the paradox.
Were he dead now we’d say ” rest in peace”. I don’t mean ” piece”- and nobody else should.
That was my lecture of the day.