Another Reason for me not to go to Camden

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20090514_Camden_cops__Defendant_boasted_about_killing.html. This article reinforced the theory Pat Bateman has laid out that nothing but trouble stems from these fried chicken shops.

A few words in support of the "Buy Black" Movement

I came across this article today on foxnews.com http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,519965,00.html the basic sentiment was that there is a growing sentiment among some black consumers that they need to empower their community buy buying products from only black owned stores. While this seems to be a classic case of reverse racism, its something I fully support, if anything this will stimulate white owned stores. After all with blacks not out at white owned stores. There will now be an 80% less chance that a violent crime will be perpatrated. Whies will now be able to leave there homes and enjoy their communities without the fear of being assialed by the now "empowered" blacks.

Robocop

I read today that production has started on a remake of the neopunk classic Robocop. http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/06/10/robocop-remake-confirmed-first-marketing-banner/ I normally hate re-makes, but with Darren Aronofsky at the helm it has hope. In my opinion the five worst movie remakes in order are:

1) Psycho- Not Vince Vaughn or Gus Van Zants best work, sadly it may have been Anne Heches though.

2) Planet of the Apes- Mark Walbergh is awful.

3) King Kong- Jack Black was good in high fidelity and school of rock, but this was terrible.

4) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- Johnny Depp reminded me of a pedophile in this one.

5) Godzilla- See #3 but substitute Matthew Broderick for Jack Black Godzilla sucks.

Floyd $$$ Mayweather

I have to preface this by stating that I am an avid boxing fan, but I found Floyd Mayweather's foray into the WWE a disgrace, Floyd not only disgraced boxing, but disgraced himself and his legacy. Floyd is unquestionably the best boxer in the world, he is an all time great, winning titles at six weight classes. He made over 45 million dollars last year for boxing and defeating Oscar DeLahoys and Ricky Hatton, at 30 years old in the prime of his boxing career he could achieve anything in the sport, there are big matches he could have against Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, or a number of other fighters that would be lucrative and great for the sport that helped take him from Floyd Pretty Boy to Floyd $$$ Mayweather. Instead Floyd has turned his back on boxing and instead focusing his attention on wrestling. I understand that large amounts of money like the 20 million Floyd reportedly received for wrestlemania can make a man do strange things, but the best boxer in the world wasting his prime by fighting a scripted match at wrestlemania against a 7 ft man that could in any other arena except the "sport" of wrestling swat him like a fly is tragic. Floyd obviously sees a world outside of boxing, and he is trying to make himself a crossover star, like Ali and DeLahoya, but both of those men gained that stardom through boxing, not through cheap publicity stunts. Floyd has a gift he is an artist in the ring blessed with all the physical attributes a great boxer could hope for, yet he runs from the sport that made him. Imagine if Picasso had decided he didn't want to paint because someone offered him a few more dollars to be a stonemason, the world would have lost some of its most wonderful art,. Floyd is that good of a boxer he is Picasso in the ring. I know now with the paychecks and endorsements rolling in boxing is probably a complete afterthought to $$$ Mayweather, but it is safe to assume one day when he takes a sstep back adn hears boxing historians ask what could have been had he really focused on boxing he will realize there is more to life than money.

Jason Whitlock = Brilliant

Another great article from Jason Whitlock http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7955740/Am-I-supposed-to-be-mad-about-LeBron

Some Economics Links

JP Morgan buys Bear Stearns for $2/share. This is fantastic news. One, JP Morgan picked up Bear’s financial obligations, so they believe they can be met, and we don’t get a default that really could trigger a broader financial panic. Two, there’s no government bailout, at least not in this case. Bear fucked up, and they’re paying for it. This is is how financial markets are supposed to work: If you take on too much risk, or evaluate risk incorrectly, you may get burned, and Bear did.
The Buck Stops Where?: If you want to be a pessimist, the way that the Fed is cheapening the dollar is the best argument that our immediate economic future is dim. We’ve seen scattered reports in the last two weeks that the recession is already abating and that economic growth should resume in the next quarter, so why is the Fed still pushing interest rates down? This would be a good time for President Bush to step in and show the sort of economic leadership he showed earlier in his tenure when he pushed for lower marginal tax rates, elimination of the dividend tax (albeit temporarily), and freer trade. The editorial argues that the Bush administration has tacitly approved of Bernanke’s rate cuts, and if that’s true, it’s a huge mistake. A weak dollar will drive investment funds out of the country at a time when we need more coming in to help ease the credit crunch. This is one example where the equity markets have it wrong. The Fed needs to start bumping rates back up, and sooner rather than later.

Soul (less) Food

I was approached by a colleague yesterday about a soul food delivery business one of her friends was starting. As my colleague divulged the details I was skeptical about the whole structure of her friends business, sure they made up fancy menus, but the food she made was not cooked to order, but cooked the night before to ensure timely delivery. As a favor to my colleague I decided to order one of the meals, I went with the turkey meatloaf, the least offensive choice on the menu and standard soul food fare. The problems started from there, no one answered the phone at this woman's house/restaurant last night I was hoping to get more order for lunch, I did not even get to place the order until 12:30. I don't like late lunches but I had point to much effort in at this point to quit without my meatloaf. The food came about a half an hour ago, I paid ($ for the meatloaf and cabbage, I thought that seemed high but figured at least the portions would be large. My food arrived on a paper plate covered with plastic wrap, I mean could they not at least spring for Styrofoam containers , especially with the nine bucks I paid. I was immediately disappointed with the paltry portions, a small slice of meatloaf that was bone dry and what looked like an ice cream scoop of cabbage, my request for hot sauce was also rebuffed when I talked to the restaurant. I am all for trying new places and people doing something different in the food world, but this was an example of someone with an idea, but no preparation behind it, thou roughly disappointing meal.