Tag: the new ledger

#rsrh (Unfortunate) QotD, Grecian Earn edition.

Not ‘unfortunate’ because I think that it shouldn’t have been written: ‘unfortunate’ because I wish it didn’t have to be.

Have you ever tried to tell a petulant child to eat his spinach or he won’t get his dessert, and had the child respond by throwing flaming gasoline at you? If so, then you know quite literally how the Greek prime minister feels.

That’s from RS’s own Francis Cianfrocca… err, for The New Ledger.  And the news is… well, financial people tend to see opportunities in every situation that affects the market, up to (but not quite including) ‘multiple asteroid strikes in the Atlantic Ocean.’  I’m pretty sure that the rest of us are in deep trouble, though.

“Too big to fail.”

There’s not much I can add to this excellent article on why we’re funding too many analysts and not enough activists, except this: those of us who have stepped up to do online or grassroots activism for no pay and with no infrastructure can make up for a quite a bit by substituting enthusiasm for resources.  Which is great… until enthusiasm wanes, or the outside world interferes, or someone can’t afford to spend the money or time any longer on what may not actually be a hobby, but has to be treated as one.  And then that particular slot goes unfilled for a while; best hope that the volunteer wasn’t doing anything too important, right?

And I say that as one of the lucky ones: I don’t actually have to worry about site maintenance on either RedState.com or MoeLane.com (and you should hit Neil’s tip jar if you like the latter; he’s hosting this site for me).  Imagine if more of us didn’t have to worry about that…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

‘Coffee and Markets,’ 07/27/2009: the great non-recovery recovery.

My RedState colleague Francis Cianfrocca will be doing a daily podcast over at The New Ledger called, obviously, ‘Coffee and Markets.’ Today’s edition is on the current status of the economy, specifically the recession: and how we’re going to discover that ‘ending the recession’ is not the same as ‘things are better now.’ Check it out.

Crossposted to RedState.

Mini Giant Movie Imax Screens appearing… anywhere they can be shoehorned in, apparently.

This (via The New Ledger) is interesting, if self-evidently shortsighted. And my apologies for the pun:

In a bid to extend its brand beyond planetariums and museums and into multiplexes on every street corner, Imax is installing a new digital system in Regal and AMC theaters around the country.

Don’t be deceived: Although marketed under the same name, this is newfangled Imax, different and diminished from the traditional system. Installed in existing auditoriums, the screen is enlarged as much as possible, and the first few rows of seats are removed in order to create a field of vision more dominated by the screen, while the sound systems are souped up to deliver a more intense aural experience.

But the giant screens that were the hallmark of Imax are nowhere to be seen — the new digital screens are typically 28 to 35 feet high, about half the size of their predecessors — provoking protests from the blogosphere to the multiplex.

As it happens, the only time that I’ve seen anything in Imax was for The Dark Knight (mentioned later in the article) during last year’s Republican national convention.  We (‘we’ being the RedState blogging contingent, plus a couple of others) had heard that there was an Imax at a local zoo, and we were all, of course, rabid fans of the new Batman franchise – so we all piled into various cars and went to go see it.  It was worth the extra money that I spent, although I don’t think that I’d want to shell it out for every movie that comes down the pike.

Probably not smart of Imax to dilute the brand like this.

‘Mostly harmless.’

That’s Ben Domenech’s two-word assessment of Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court justice:

This is worth noting: given the chance to select Diane Wood, a brilliant legal voice and a hardened defender of unrestricted abortion rights, Obama went for the personal story that would appeal to the media instead, disappointing once again some of his supporters. It is possible, yes, that Sotomayor is personally an abortion centrist. But the pro- and anti-abortion groups should fall in normal lines on this nominee — her decisions in favor of anti-abortion policies weren’t based on opposition to Roe, and in viewing the entirety of her background, Sotomayor gives no signs of being a stealth nominee for the pro-life cause.

This is what it all comes down to, in fact. As John Yoo notes, Sotomayor gives no signs of being a threat or an asset to any particular cause. It’s unlikely that she’ll be further left than the man she’s replacing, and if she has the gift for motivating or shifting her fellow justices, she hasn’t displayed it on the Second Circuit, where even after 17 years, no one regards her as a leader. She is, in other words, unlikely to shift the Supreme Court in any direction, to any significant degree, from where it was before her arrival.

Continue reading ‘Mostly harmless.’

Today’s vicious time-suck should have been brought to you by the The New Ledger.

[UPDATE] Finally.

…except that I’ve yet to see a link to “The Cryptic Canvas: 50 Movies Hidden In a Painting” pop up on their site. Given that I was sent the link by their Editor-in-Chief, I’m disappointed: it’s good blog-fodder, and the Maw of Content is never filled.

I got to 15/50 pretty quickly, but I’ve probably gotten all of the low-hanging fruit at this point.  Or else I’m not as checked out on either modern movies, or pattern recognition, as I flatter myself being.  Probably the latter: I may be the only person in North America who would have gone to see Lost in Translation if Bill Murray had only had a proton pack*.

Moe Lane

*Yes, I’m sure that it’s a perfectly lovely genre film.  But if it isn’t going to have explosions, Hellmouths, extensive CGI, starships, and/or gun fu**… well, I’m afraid that my taste for something that outre is somewhat limited.

**God. Imagine all of that at once.

The New Ledger has gone live.

I’d like to bring to your attention The New Ledger, which is a new online site analyzing politics, the market, and the news. It’s been started up by a couple of friends of mine (and former colleagues from RedState), and a look at the masthead may reveal a few more names that would be familiar to RS readers. They’ve also set up a Transom feature on the site which will link to various interesting news stories.

There’s some good, solid writing talent on that site: I suggest that you check them out. I expect that it’ll be a regular stop for me.