Why There Are No Blockbusters in Beijing

I bought some DVDs on the street the other day. They cost 5-8 kuai (62 to 99 cents) a piece. As the ad says, Why Rent When You Can Buy? The trouble is the discs don't often work, so you have to average up your cost for the duds or try to find the guy who sold them to you. He will happily exchange them rather than risk the wrath of a large, sweating, bald, ugly white guy.

I watched The Interpreter and The Terminal and tried to watch War of the Worlds and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, neither of which worked. The Interpreter was a big budget thing with Nicole Kidman. Like most big budget fare, it was slick but painfully dumb. Scratch the shiny surface and the stupidity comes gushing through.

The Terminal was cute in parts, but it was about an hour too long. I'm not a big fan of Tom Hanks or Steven Spielberg (whose last good movie was "Duel"), but I will suffer through anything to watch Catherine Zeta-Jones. The sacrifices that I've made for that lady -- Intolerable Cruelty indeed! Anyway, she had a new haircut in this movie, and as always, she looked absolutely fabulous.

Conundrum, Continued

The Notes leapt higher yesterday taking the yield down to 4.09% -- this trade has gotten bettah and bettah. What's the pun that answers this quonun-drum? Beats me!

10-Year T-Note Futures, Hourly Chart