Brown Motion

Three girls puking while wearing 18th century gowns no less.   And much of this by either candlelight or dusk.  This to me was the plot for the 'Oscar for best actress winner film' called 'The Favourite'. Directed by a Greek and containing several English and American actors this story of Queen Anne was somehow a certain crowd pleaser for it garnered applause for the lead role. The protagonist is a heavy set Queen, bordering on delirium, who through postpartum depression and not having access to an iphone or Google comes off angry and capricious. Several instances of the film contain otherwise beautiful looking actresses puking their guts out in everything from expensive vases, to spittoons to the wild jungles.  I personally never enjoy period movies for a variety of reasons but humored my better half by sitting to watch this rather longish tale of woe.  It is perhaps a good capture of a period in English history in terms of costume and drama but it is ...

A love story worth 45 years told in 100 minutes.  On some gravelly, scenic and quiet beach in England.  It is a comedy drama set to a of bunch of Mozart, Beethoven and some other classical masters I cannot recognize.  It is a directorial debut for Dominic Cooke. Leading actor Saoirse Ronan, who I last saw in a film called Ladybird plays her part as Florence Ponting, the female interest of a student, an unknown British actor, who has just received his diploma in History and earned high honors.  He lives with his two young twin sisters and parents in a dowdy cottage in some rural part of England.  The story is something of a love at first sight event with its magic and mystery.  It is about life.  Its myriad turns some unexpectedly brilliant and some utterly devastating.  It is about innocence and honesty.  It begins when Florence first lays eyes on Edward where the latter is rushing to express his joy at earning a first class in History...

This is not the name of a new saint nor a new pill for erectile dysfunction or to aid in digestion. Rather the three headline grabbing items in the past week. Start with BABA.  A new stock symbol for the world.  A Chinese school teacher who through enterprise and some luck created the world's largest online marketplace called Alibaba.   So now a famous Arabian nights character that not many knew about is made into a household name by a Chinese man going public on the NY stock exchange.   At least popular among those household's that delve into somebody's stock.  A 'khul ja sim sim' moment as the world awaited with bated breath (or whatever version of breath they were breathing) for the equity to begin trading on the exchange. Just like each decade has its blockbuster event - in the 70s it was ABBA for the 10s of this century it is BABA - the largest initial public offering by market capitalization. Initial public included all the black sheep in all familie...