Coming up at 8 tonight ET, watch Joe Pera’s Full Comedy Special.
Author: DOuG pRATt
The Big Con/Scheme/Lie/Rip-Off
Episodes of the old Dragnet radio and TV series had titles with “Big” in them. This one is “The Big Grifter”.
With Sam Bankman-Fried on trial for various charges related to fraud, the timing of Michael Lewis’ latest book couldn’t be better for him or, for that matter, worse. Stopping short of accusing Lewis of Stockholm Syndrome, his reputation is taking a Big Hit for his fawning admiration of Bankman-Fried. As a former Wall Street trader, the author of The Big Short is a successful non-fiction writer, but he isn’t a journalist. If he were, once Lewis was up close and personal with Sam and FTX he would have sensed that “something’s wrong with the whole setup.”
Amazon is offering the Kindle edition of Lewis’ book about Bankman-Fried for less than ten bucks.
Even at that low price I won’t buy Going Infinite. The fact that Bill Clinton and Tony Blair embraced the boy wunderkind’s ambition — and short-lived money — doesn’t make me any more understanding that Lewis fell for Bankman-Fried’s obvious sales pitch. One of the people who saw through Bankman-Fried’s act, perhaps not surprisingly, is an actor who played a crusading comic book character on TV. Ben McKenzie has this review of the Michael Lewis book.
A classic Lewis protagonist—the aberrant thinker, the guy who can hear past the noise—has done it again. This is where things get squirrely in Lewis’ telling.
The Kindle edition of Ben’s book is also less than ten bucks. This is the expose of cryptocurrency and SBF that Lewis’ book should have been.
Border Noir
On Turner Classics Movies right now is Border Incident, about illegal immigration along the Mexican border 75 years ago. If you don’t mind the Japanese subtitles over the movie, here is another simulated TCM Noir Alley presentation, with Eddie Muller’s informative commentary.
https://youtu.be/-Gaq6qqsdHM
The Little Drummer Man
The PBS News Hour profiles RINGO.
Paper for Old Skin
I had a routine appointment at a large dermatology practice this morning. When I first saw a dermatologist there, for a biopsy that turned out to be melanoma, they had paper medical records. Six years later, they still don’t have an electronic medical record system. Appointment scheduling and billing yes, but EMR no. Why that is, I don’t know, but it’s interesting they’re a holdout. My guess is the owners don’t want to invest the money and deal with the hassle of transcribing all of those records, because their long-term plan is to sell the business.
A hospital in a small neighboring city is one of the last in the area to still be a customer of my former employer. Cost is the obvious reason why. The leading HIS/EMR software, from Epic Systems, is typically much too expensive for a small community hospital. Last year I chatted with an employee at the hospital, who said of my alma mater’s system, “you get what you pay for.” Ouch! Well now it appears they’ll be getting Epic after all. A pattern that I have seen played out many times over the past 10+ years is about to be repeated. The hospital has announced its intention to be acquired by a regional medical center that, I’m certain, will convert them to their existing Epic system.
Going In Breaking Bad Style
Someone who I know checks this site every so often might remember me liking Going in Style, when it came out in the memorable month of December, 1979. I haven’t seen the 2017 remake.
The premise of three average, old, law-abiding men robbing a bank is silly, but a lot of what happens in the story is at least plausible. The point of the movie isn’t the robbery, but the lives of the three retired friends who share a low-rent New York apartment to save on expenses.
Last night I watched Going in Style with an old man’s appreciation. Checking on their ages, George Burns, 83, was old enough to be Art Carney’s father. At 61, Carney was younger than I am now. With that in mind, Carney’s interest in women is established early in the movie. It’s one of the plausible parts. 😉
Carney’s character is tempted to take advantage of an opportunity with an obviously top-dollar “working girl” at a casino. Burns spoils it by indicating there’s no point in offering. Some friend he is!
I have no big point to make about the movie other than remembering how young I was when first seeing it, and realizing I’m now in the age group of the characters.
P.S. How plausible is it that all three men were widowers? Not very. A hidden subplot must be that at least one of them was a murderer before turning to robbery.