Markets are like water, seeks it’s on level, the Chinese government is all controlling, being new to the rule of markets, think markets can be controlled up or down, markets operate by their own special rules, called the ‘market place’. What China lacks that is a most important element in markets are institutional investors that compliment individual investors the two go hand in hand, one steps in when the other falters. To simplify, a dam can be built to hold and control the flow of water… fine, if the dam breaks, control is lost, a plain must be in place to counter the break. The best made plain can and is often overwhelmed, that is when knowledge of how markets work come in handy, cannot be learned overnight, and takes experience and years of practice in the operating of markets. Capitalism and markets go hand in hand too, capitalism is based on free enterprise and is controlled by the market place, government can regulate but must not control it, economic systems, trade systems, the market place are on auto polite does its best work very well if left alone most of the time, to interfere is inviting trouble as we have seen this week in the international market place…

The 1942 movie Casablanca has always been used to illustrate the imperfections of the human condition, when the police captain is awarded his gambling winnings having been shocked that there is gambling going on under his nose.

A wax figure of Nicki Minaj at Madame Tussauds receives special security after patrons proceed to take risqué selfies (photos) of the figure, as if the posture of the figure is not naughty and suggestive enough. A mild rough up has developed on the internet over the pose and the selfies that it has generated. Someone even claimed it to be demeaning to Miss Minaj, a woman of color and by extension all women of color, and they may have a point, up to a point. But where were these claimants at the dawn of the Hip Hop Culture, which seem to be all about the ‘booty’, and the degradation of woman of all colors, in speech, lyrical poems, pictures and acts of physical engagement… Standing on the sidelines waiting for a wax figure at Madame Tussauds to go on display…

I like music, I love music, a singer with a microphone, in a baby spot, in a night club or concert hall is divine. The trend these days is for the music to take a back seat to the presentation when it’s the music that led us to the hall in the first place. Let us call it ‘presentation creep’ that has taken over cable news. Information is news, current information is news, is why it is tuned into, delivered either by a talking head, panel discussion, its information, opinion, conviction, persuasion, sentiment, inference, I could go on. Every cable news program, let me cap that word, ‘EVERY’, suffers from ‘image repetition’ at the mention of a name. It takes sixty percent of brain power to process the spoken word(s) add an image, that power is reduced by ten. Comprehension takes a back seat when an image is added to spoken information both has to be processed by the same brain. Often emphasized, The Kennedy-Nixon Presidential Debates, television viewers rated Kennedy the winner based on image, radio listeners Nixon based on arguments, where more brain power was deployed because it did not have to process an image only the arguments. Cable news producers have never learned this lesson, and that ‘information’ can be entertaining, producing viewer numbers that want to be entertained and informed at the same time…

What should you say to a bald head woman? Get a wig. No, but realize that woman go bold just as often as men, perhaps even more so, women are much more likely to use caustic chemically altering hair products. Noting that it’s a natural normal occurrence included in the matrix of life… its androgynous…

Some psychologist suggest that playing some violent video games may lead to aggressive and callous behavior in everyday life. And by extension viewing movies of people misbehaving does not lead to a harbinger of good works, according to some behavioral scientist. I don’t mean to suggest that moves about ‘bank robbery’ can lead to bank robbery, wait that is exactly what I mean…If it’s celebrated it’s copied…

During the early days of television content was king the same as it is today. However, since the movie studios also owned the theatres, did not want to discourage attendance, movies on television was limited. One station called a program The Million Dollar Movie, played the same movie twice a day for a week. The Late Show was originally a showcase for movies, then much later, The Late Late Show was added because of the popularity of movies on television. After the movie there was a fifteen minute audio of news and weather, then the Star Spangled Banner, station sign off, the screen went snowy marking the end of the broadcast day till 6a. Before Turner Classic Movies, my local Public Television Station on weekends would play classic movies, uncut, without commercial interruption from midnight till dawn, it was before the days of the on-screen logo. I hate to admit it, but I have not contributed to Public television since they started displaying an on screen logo during programing, which I consider a horrid distraction even on commercial networks. As a cable subscriber with access to over a hundred networks if the on-screen logo is too districting will never meet my eyeballs, to add insult to injury they have added promos too. So the media gods have given us premium networks, and for a fee, all is well in the universe, for now, until the next big thing coming our way by way of the internet…And oh, let me not forget on-demand internet streaming video providers like Netflix, Amazon, etc…May we never want for something to view…

Every so often we get to watch Charlie Rose interview a bunch of those baby geniuses, founders of multibillion dollar companies or industry changing developments that cannot speak a sentence without a truck load of grammatical errors. And that’s ok up to a point. We have seen many of these same people author books that would never have the time nor the skill to do so; how is it done you ask? Ghost writers, either as a co-author or with no mention at all. So what be the harm of another one-trick pony, to play the part as ‘company spokesperson’, to speak on behalf of the founders, present or absent from the interview, stepping in with a correction or two when need. We live in a world of fake eyelashes dyed hair and greasy lips so (‘au pays des aveugles les borgnes sont rois’) what is another layer of deceit and duplicity…

 

It would be in bad taste for me or anyone to comment on the natural facial features as an imperfection or to call attention to them in a derogatory way. However, once elected steps are taken such as surgery or cosmetology, then critical observation, critiquing, may be considered in order. The first female President of the United States can expect no mercy when the press and some women groups comment on her choice of hair color, lipstick and nails. All this critiquing can be avoided if only she will agree to always appear in public unregenerate or unreconstructed…

Years ago while considering marriage my mother and I thought it would be a good idea to invite my intended to view the family photo albums as a way for her to better understand the family she would soon become a part of. What surprised me was the number of pictures my mother did not want shown, because of the styles of her hair and garments. Which opened wide the door of just how fashion conscience most women are, the French say it better, crise de conscience.

In these modern times fashion is dictated by men but it’s the women who adopt, continue in the enterprise in spite of the economic discouragement and sometimes danger to their health. Some brave woman first had to take the plunge with dyed streaking blond hair, it did not take long for over seventy per cent of women to copy it both in their professional and business life.

My mother would rather not have photos of herself seen out of fashion even though it was years ago. ‘Whatever happens make sure I’m not buried in that old dress, you know the one’. Even in death the slave to fashion is most powerful. Women don’t like to admit to ‘aping’, meaning, ‘to copy closely but often clumsily and ineptly’…

I have developed a love for old movies, the 1930’s hold an arousing interest for me particularly the women of that era. After viewing on Turner Classic Movies I would Google the images of the stars that appeared. The males mostly age very well but not the women. I will never understand why a once raving beauty cannot continue to be so. As far as I can tell there is nothing wrong with a young beauty now an aged beauty. As in most crimes it’s the cover up that invariably is the true crime. Beauty is ageless. It’s when women began to try to cover up their age is when it becomes a comedy of irruption. Pictures of high school sweetheart’s years later, the male with age appropriate gray hair the female not. It’s the cover up that’s the crime and the tragedy of aging and its denial…in short, get a grip, ‘a death grip’ described by Merriam-Webster 11^th Collegiate, ‘an extremely tight grip caused especially by fear’…