Category Archives: Humor

The shame!

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lehman BrothersYou know things are really getting bad in the financial markets when FT.com’s always-lively Dear Lucy column (previous post here) receives the following letter from an investment banker:

"At a dinner party last Saturday I was asked by a fellow guest what I did and I said I was an investment banker. I might as well have said I was a paedophile. Suddenly the whole table – all friends of my wife from the art world – turned on me with such venom I was really taken aback. I tried to defend myself by saying that I had nothing to be ashamed of in the work that I do in M&A, but the more I argued the more hostile the other guests became."

"Next time this happens – and I fear there will be a next time – should I accept guilt for what isn’t my fault, or should I lie and say I’m a librarian?"

Investment banker, male, 42

Among the many entertaining reader comments to the letter were the following:

"Bit surprised you were invited to dinner in the first place."

"Confess and beg for another glass of wine."

"A sensitive investment banker……….. whatever next?"

Campaigning in 2008

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Villages logo_enl Although things aren’t going so well for the McCain-Palin campaign, it looks as if they have at least locked up The Villages, the golf-course retirement community in Florida that runs those cheesy commercials during PGA Tour golf tournament telecasts:

With thousands of supporters packing the streets and sidewalks of this massive retirement community, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took the safe route Sunday and said she and John McCain would reform Washington, put America on the path to energy independence and nurse a struggling economy back to health. [ .  .  . ]

At one point while signing autographs for the sweltering crowd, a surprised Palin laughed when a supporter reached over and handed her a giant, plastic lipstick replica — an obvious reference to a joke delivered by Palin at the Republican National Convention. Palin’s comment about the only difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom being lipstick has since inspired a volley of campaign rhetoric. As the crowd cheered, a smiling Palin autographed the novelty before moving on for more autographs and handshakes.

Meanwhile, it appears that the Obama-Biden campaign has conceded The Villages to McCain-Palin. At least that’s what Senator Biden seems to indicate in the video below:

Therapy, Jack Donagy-style

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Whew! After the past couple of weeks, we all could use a little levity.

The creator and star of NBC’s clever sitcom 30 Rock — Tina Fey — has been getting quite a bit of publicity lately because of her spot-on impersonation of GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin. But the real star of 30 Rock is Alec Baldwin, who plays Jack Donaghy, the  self-important television executive who oversees the fictional television show that 30 Rock revolves around.

In the clip below, Baldwin’s Donagy helps counsel Tracy Morgan’s character (who is the star of the fictional TV show) through a therapeutic role-playing session that a psychologist has arranged at Donagy’s request to bring Morgan out of a personal crisis. In just over two minutes, Baldwin resolves the root cause of Morgan’s crisis (estrangement from his family) by assuming the roles of Morgan’s father (a black man from "funky North Philly" with a droopy lip), Morgan’s mother, the white boyfriend of Morgan’s mother, Morgan himself and a Hispanic neighbor of the family, Mrs. Rodriguez.

Television these days doesn’t get any better than this.

Awkward Loan Interview

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The proposed Treasury bailout leads to an awkward loan interview:

Movies in five words each

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bogie casablanca-002 What with Hurricane Ike scheduled to bear down on the upper Texas Gulf coast over the weekend and the Texans looking as pathetic as ever, we could use a bit of levity around here.

So, check out The AFI Top 100 Movies… In 5 Words Each (H/T Craig Newmark). Several good ones include:

2) Casablanca (1942): Great love story. Plus: Nazis!

32) The Godfather Part II (1974): Advice: stop after this one.

42) Rear Window (1954): Watch a guy watch guys.

Following on the movies theme, if you have a spare ten minutes, check out this incredible YouTube video entitled "100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers."

Election 2008

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Inasmuch as the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign resembles a high school student council race in terms of sophistication, it appears that Jon Stewart and Comedy Central are going to have a field day between now and Election Day. Below are a recent segments on the "substance" of Obama’s campaign and McCain’s VP selection:

The genesis of a mortgage fraud hotspot

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Florida Dealbreaker’s essential Opening Bell yesterday included the following note about the connection between the state of Florida and mortgage fraud:

Florida tops 1Q mortgage fraud list (AP)

This is not surprising… Florida is already a key location of the housing bubble. What’s more, Florida tops every fraud list. Hello, Boca Raton? Clearwater? These cities are to fraud what Hungary is to Paprika. It’s an industry. Plus, doesn’t Florida have really lax mortgage/bankruptcy laws as it is?

However, what’s most interesting about Florida is how relatively well the state has turned out given its checkered history. In his fine Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era 1829-1877 (HarperCollins 2008) (earlier blog post here), Walter A. McDougall provides the following colorful overview of Florida’s evolution from the epitome of a backwater port:

From the day of the of the pirates to our day of offshore bank accounts, hedonistic resorts, and drug smuggling, Americans have found in the Caribbean an escape from their own laws and morals. The sand spit that Juan Ponce de Leon baptized La Florida was no exception.

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