Big Blue Huddle

Quote from: LennG on February 25, 2022, 12:04:48 PM
Excellent job my fellow movie watchers. You got them all so let's move on to maybe a couple a bit less well known (maybe)


1--- "Nothin'! A handful of nothin'. You stupid mullet head, he beat you with nothin', just like today when he kept comin' back at me, with nothin'.


2---

Quote from: T200 on February 28, 2022, 08:16:12 AM
What I really love the most about QT's movies is the dialogue between the characters. Nothing is rushed or forced. It's easy to get attached to the characters because they share so much of themselves. I especially loved the opening scene of Inglorious Bastards with Kristoff Waltz going to the cabin.

Completely agree about the dialogue. It's one thing to have great characters. That is hugely important by itself. But making them interact in an incredibly entertaining or thought-provoking way takes it to a different level. The dialogue in Reservoir Dogs is up there in anything I've ever seen. The scenes between Buscemi and Keitel... the scene early in the movie in the diner when they're talking about tipping, some of the stuff with Madsen and Chris Penn, etc. Just brilliant. To me that was up there with movies like Glengarry Glenn Ross. Pulp Fiction was the same. Great characters and great dialogue. Pulp Fiction also had incredible scenes in it that went beyond just the dialogue. For me those two movies were QT's best. It's not to say I didn't like the others, because I did, but IMO nothing held a candle to those two. Which is saying a lot because movies like Jackie Brown were outstanding in their own right.

Quote from: jimmyz on February 26, 2022, 12:49:41 PM
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is very underrated to me. 

The characters that inhabit Tarantino

Interesting rankings. For me, I would have ranked the Reservoir Dogs main characters higher. In particular, I thought Mr. White (Keitel) and Mr. Pink (Buscemi) were superb. Mr. Blonde (Madsen) was also terrific - what a complete psycho.

Pulp Fiction is my favorite Tarrantino movie ever, but Reservoir Dogs was not far behind for me. Some of those scenes with Buscemi and Keitel arguing with each other while Tim Roth is slowly dying in a pool of his own blood were just pure cinematic gold.

Quote from: MightyGiants on February 25, 2022, 03:34:55 PM
On a slightly different note.  Crypto currency got hammered during this (came back much like stocks though).  Prior to this week, some people were pushing the idea that like gold, Crypto was a safe harbor for your money during troubled times.  Boy was that claim proven to be wrong.

It sure has. Crypto has been buoyed by zero rates/QE/stimulus like every other risk asset. With the fed now finally beginning to let the air out of the balloon, crypto has taken a dive over the past few months.

What's kind of funny/ironic is that crypto was supposed to be this disruptor, alt asset for those who are opposed to excessive Fed money printing, artificially low rates, and heavy government stimulus spending, etc. And yet the surge in crypto in 2021 was due pretty much entirely to those exact forces. And now that those forces are being reduced, and the Fed is about to begin normalizing and is almost done tapering QE, crypto is weaker. So this whole premise that it's this rebellious asset is kind of false in a way. It benefited tremendously from the same market forces that have benefited stocks, real estate, and other assets prices.

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on February 25, 2022, 08:00:33 AM
I got this morning's on the last try. There was literally almost no available letters left.
After 5 tries, I only had one letter (a vowel) and that was it. I finally got it on the last try juggling words with only a few consonants and the one vowel left. Thought for sure I was going to have another "fail", but I lucked out - whew 

I found this AM's on the trickier side but got it in 5 tries. Took me a little time though. I have had a lot of 5 try outcomes recently, and my career 5th guess total is now one short of my 4 guess total. It had previously been the 4's way out in front with a few threes and one two. I do feel like they've had some trickier words in the past week or so.

I think people like Wordle because for the most part you solve it each day and it usually doesn't take more than a couple of minutes, sometimes even less than a minute if you get a bunch of letters in your first two guesses. So it makes you feel good starting your day off that way. I think they probably should have made the standard format six letter words. The game would be more interesting if striking out were a more common occurrence for people.

Quote from: MightyGiants on February 23, 2022, 10:43:25 AM
I am wondering about Netflix in the long run.  I mean there was a time that Netflix was the unquestioned king of streaming.  Now you have Disney and HBO max nipping at their heels.   Plus you have other entries like Paramount Plus, Apple Plus, and Peacock to go along with old favorites like Hula

The more players, the more demand there will be in terms of the the talent used to create content which will drive up prices and make it harder to produce high end content.

I feel like HBO Max is a slightly different model. A lot of their content is driven by their flagship channel, which is not what Netflix is based off of as their brand is pure streaming. We have HBO Max, but that's in part because we like many HBO shows. Since they also sometimes do HBO max exclusives, they got us roped in. However this doesn't make me want Netflix any less. I appreciate that there are others like Amazon Prime and the ones you mentioned, and that is a totally valid point and I have considered it as well, but I still think Netflix is the pioneer name, and I still believe they are innovative and cutting edge.

I get your overall point. We have moved from a situation where one player was completely dominant to there being many players. I think the big loser in this though is the past means of entertainment like cable TV and brick and mortar movie theaters. As the concept of streaming is still relatively young, I don't think the leading name in it is on the brink of extinction or even significant decline because other players have entered the arena. I still think they will remain a powerhouse myself.

I feel similarly about Uber by the way. 7-9 years ago there were not really other players in that arena. I guess there may have been, but nobody really knew who they were. Not you have tons of others like Lyft, Via, Curb, Gett, etc. I think when you're the first monster in a new space though you have a real advantage. You can lose that advantage by slacking off and resting on your laurels, but if you remain cutting edge (which Uber definitely is), people will continue to respect you as the preeminent, most trusted force in that market and the competition can only take away so much from you. I think Netflix is similar in this respect, personally. I'm happy to nibble on these companies after a roughly 50% decline.

FWIW I have begun to dip my toes into some of the battered "tech" names. Uber and Netflix are ones I have bought recently around the current levels. My thinking is that while the selloffs could continue in the near term, both have had very big corrections (50-ish percent), and both are companies that I don't think are going anywhere. Both are smart, cutting edge companies that are pioneer brand names in their industries. Not only are they not going anywhere, but I don't think these are companies that will just sit on their laurels and fail to innovate/adapt. On the contrary, I think that is what these two (and other) companies are all about. Obviously, none of what I have said means that the stock price cannot continue to go lower from where it is today -- in fact I think it likely may -- but I do think these are both sound very 3-5 year investments (or longer). I think it is reasonable to speculate that the majority of the "pain" in these moves has played out.

Tech was extremely frothy heading into early-mid Q4 of last year. You had the covid stimulus and the QE/zero rate environment leading people to really chasing moves higher to silly levels in a lot of these stocks. However since then, the corrections have been huge. Moreover the market has become much more realistic and accepting about the reality of fed hikes and the removal of QE. So while again I am not saying these stocks can't/don't have further near term downside, when something that I regard as an excellent long term company corrects 50%, it begins to pique my interest. Should the ongoing downward moves continue, I will likely look to add further in these and other stocks.

While I am certainly long stocks overall, because the environment is skittish, I am continuing to hold a reasonable amount of cash, although my intention is to continue deploying it in certain areas when opportunities present themselves.

Quote from: LennG on February 22, 2022, 11:37:05 AM
You guys are good.

Anyone take a shot at #2. It is from one of the greatest movies ever made, just not one of the more memorable lines.
(Hint) It's 50th anniversary is coming up)

It's certainly a saying I have heard before, but I am not aware which movie it's from. Is it from one of the Godfather movies?

Quote from: LennG on February 20, 2022, 11:53:21 AM

A few easy ones (softballs as we call them)

1--"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."


2---" Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold."


3--"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

3 -- "Animal House", Dean Wormer talking to Flounder.

Quote from: LennG on February 21, 2022, 11:37:34 AM
Just my opinion, but an easy one today.

Using the words I always start with, I had all the letters early and just had to rearrange them.

I agree - today's wasn't bad. There have been a couple of trickier ones recently.

Five tries again this morning.

Funny word today. Not one I was expecting. I had the first three letters in green after the fourth try and had enough eliminations at that point that it could really only be this word. Amusing.

5th try for me. Definitely trickier than average. I got a bit lucky with my fourth guess as it yielded four greens. All I had was two yellows after three. I could have easily picked something else on the fourth guess, gotten fewer clues and then been sweating it out in the 6-hole.

Thanks guys. I am largely on the same page, and I agree with the point about really close, true, loyal, good friendships not always being easy to find. I also agree that you always help family in need provided you're able to, and it is much better to treat it as a gift.

There is a lot of real wisdom, intelligence, and life experience on this board, so I figured this would be a good group to ask a bit of a tricky question.

What are your general overall thoughts on loaning friends money? Have you done it before? What were the circumstances in your friend's life that led to him/her asking you for the loan? Was it a very substantial amount of money? Did you get paid back when the friend said he/she would? If they didn't pay on schedule how did you handle it? Did it impact your friendship? If you said no, did it impact your friendship?

Do you have any rules of thumb on this practice? Do you have a firm, "hard no" policy under all circumstances, or are you more case by case? Or do you basically to it almost anytime a good friend asks? If the latter, how have the results been as far as getting paid back?

I have loaned friends money before myself but I have mixed feelings on the broad subject, and I have a situation where I think I'm about to get asked by someone, possibly for a more meaningful amount than what I have done with people in the past.

I'm just curious what your experiences have been around this subject and what if any rules of thumb you have.

Thanks in advance.