Category: Politics, Religion & Money

Adolescent Sexual Fantasies in the Adult Suburban Male

The 1962 farce Boys’ Night Out is on Watch TCM for a couple more days. It seems to have been inspired by 1960’s The Apartment, but without Billy Wilder’s sardonic edge.

The premise is of its time, peak Mad Men era. Four men split the cost of a Manhattan apartment for a beautiful young woman to live there, so they can take turns sleeping with her. Being the early 60’s, nothing actually happens, of course.

When I first saw Boys’ Night Out on TV, I was just old enough to be interested in the implications of the arrangement between the four business buddies and the girl. Living in Norwalk, Connecticut, I liked the references to places I knew, like Stamford. There was also this screen credit that filled the family’s 23″ RCA color console, thanks to the need for panning-and-scanning.

Did women think this movie was all in good fun? Or did they consider the idea behind it offensive, but said it only in the company of their girlfriends? Many women were married to men who had served overseas in WWII, and perhaps that made them more tolerant of the male mindset.

P.S. According to TCM, Kim Novak herself was behind the production.

Self-Regulation Self-Deception

Brooksley Born was one of the authors of the official government report on the 2008 financial crisis. I bet it was Born who insisted on putting this knock against Alan Greenspan in the preface.

FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON THE CAUSES OF THE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS IN THE UNITED STATES
January 2011

“More than 30 years of deregulation and reliance on self-regulation by financial institutions, championed by former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and others, supported by successive administrations and Congresses, and actively pushed by the powerful financial industry at every turn, had stripped away key safeguards, which could have helped avoid catastrophe.”

Speaking of banks, I am the victim of attempted fraud. A check I had mailed to the contractor replacing the deck was stolen somewhere between the post office and the contractor’s office. It was modified by the crook, who deposited the check in an ATM. Thanks to the notification settings on my account I caught it in time. Any withdrawal over $100 shows up in e-mail and as a text message. Lots of stress and hassle getting it all straightened out this week.

There’s No App For That

When my father was in an assisted living facility, I was taking care of his house during my many frequent trips to Phoenix. His answering machine was constantly getting automated messages from CVS, saying he had prescriptions ready for pickup.

I’m now having the same problem with my cellphone. There is no option in the CVS app to stop the calls, let alone turn off automatic refills. So I resorted to Facebook.

So an old-fashioned phone call is what it’s going to take? I’ll give it a try on Monday.