Movies Watched -- High Art (1998)

102 minute running time including credits so the right length… I had never heard of this movie before watching nepo baby Hannah Einbinder’s visit to the Criterion Closet. I am the keeper of the Master List of Every Criterion Closet Pick Ever Made and noticed that nepo baby Hannah was the only guest ever to pick High Art, which intrigued me. My local library had a copy so I borrowed it and watched it last night.

To my surprise, I really liked this movie. I didn’t love it, but I liked it enough to give it 3.5 stars. 4 stars is a recommended movie, but there are only a few hundred of those in existence. 3.5 is pretty good, considering.

Anyway, it’s mainly a lesbian love story. There’s this cute, fat-faced Australian girl (a blue-eyed beauty named Radha (hippie parents?) born in 1973) who falls in love with her older upstairs neighbor, played by Ally Sheedy of all people! You’ll remember Ally Sheedy (born in 1962) from The Breakfast Club, but in this she plays a scrawny bra-less lesbian in a tank top (wife beater). In fact all the women in this movie are scrawny bra-less dykes wearing tank tops, which made me laugh. Cute fat-face thankfully never shows up in a tank top.

They make the Ally Sheedy character Jewish, which also interested me. Ally Sheedy herself had a Jewish mom (Catholic dad), which explains her great hair. Ally’s rich mother (in the movie lol) bankrolls her existence (and heroin habit). Ally also borrows mom’s old Mercedes (Nazi car) for trips to their upstate house from Manhattan. Does she drive as far as Otsego county? Sexy air up there.

Ally is a great photographer, one-time famous kinda. Ally has a German girlfriend named Greta who is brilliantly played by Patricia Clarkson. She made me fall down laughing with her ridiculous heroin-slurred German accent. “Ze teenager!” Radha works as an “assistant editor” at some fashion/photography magazine, a job that mainly involves bringing tea and scones to some asshole with a ponytail who looks a little like Jeff Goldblum. Radha has the bright idea of advancing her career by featuring Ally’s great photographs. She’s ambitious.

Bunch of beautiful people of assorted colors and ethnicities (though no heart-of-Africa blacks) lounging around Ally’s dingy loft snorting heroin. Bad idea, kids. “Pervasive drug use” was on the R rating, which made me laugh.

So the vibe of this movie was really great. It captured New York City East Village loft life in the late 1990s in a realistic way. There’s something about the mood that is very appealing. The script is good, the acting is good, but the ending is no good. If it had a good ending, this could have been a four star movie. I’ve never seen Radha in any other movie, which is suprising since she’s clearly another talented actress from Oz, like Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts.

Here’s a good post about the movie by by B. Ruby Rich, who appears to be a non-scrawny dyke.

Radha good at crying on demand

MSTR Quietly Hides Average Cost of Pet Rock Holdings

This is GIGO’s report on it:

The dashboard layout on strategy.com and [strategy.com/btc](https://strategy.com/btc) underwent a subtle shift, and the average purchase price is no longer featured as a primary highlight card on the main pages.

The metric was highly prominent during the bull run when MicroStrategy’s average cost basis was well below the spot price. However, with Bitcoin pulling back below $60,000, MicroStrategy's overall average purchase price of $75,651 per BTC places their massive 847,363 BTC hoard into an aggregate unrealized loss exceeding $10 billion.

Where did it go?

While it has been removed from the main summary metrics on the home page and /btc page, the data is not entirely gone from the site:

• The "Purchases" Tab: If you navigate to [strategy.com/purchases](https://strategy.com/purchases), they still maintain a comprehensive ledger of every corporate purchase batch. The top total row of that table still explicitly shows the aggregate Avg BTC Price ($75,651) and total acquisition price.

• SEC Filings: It remains a mandatory disclosure in their official financial reporting (such as their 8-K and 10-Q filings), where they list their digital asset cost basis.

The structural redesign of the main landing pages has refocused attention away from the aggregate cost basis and toward newer corporate indicators, such as "BTC Yield" and "Bitcoin Per Share (in Sats)".

Select Targa Top Cars

Acura NS-X T

Chevrolet Corvette C3

Chevrolet Corvette C4

Chevrolet Corvette C5

Chevrolet Corvette C6

Chevrolet Corvette C7

Chevrolet Corvette C8

Ferrari 308 GTS

Ferrari 328 GTS

Ferrari F355 GTS

Fiat X1/9

Honda Civic Del Sol

Lotus Elise

Mazda MX-5 Miata

Porsche 914

Porsche 911 Targa

Porsche 911 Targa

Toyota MR2

Toyota Supra

Triumph TR4 Surrey Top

Coordinated Attack on Short Sellers of Chinese Stocks

The following stocks all had outlier moves today:

BVC (China)

BYAH (China) — 511% Change from the close

CHOW (HK)

CLIK (HK)

GRAN (HK)

HAO (China)

HKIT (China)

IFBD (HK)

INHD (HK) — 3,893% Change from the close, 17:18:58.540 T12 Halt (just in the nick of time)

ITOC (China)

LXEH (China)

MTEN (China)

NPT (China) — 835% Change from the close

PN (China)

RYET (China)

TDIC (HK)

I suffered the worst day tarding losses of the year today and will take the summer off.

Watching Debt Transform Into the Bitcoin Dream

This is apparently AI-generated, but it made me fall off my chair laughing. Pet Rock going to zero of course.

Let me recap the earning call.

Yeah.

They said, "Mike, don't touch the Bitcoin stack." Now I'm buying more while they fighting into black. STRC printing, engine running clean, watching debt transform into the Bitcoin dream.

Turned on the BTC drive. No shame in my face. 65 billion and I'm still winning the race. They panic when I say sell a little coin just to prove the whole market doesn't break or get destroyed.

Company fine, Bitcoin fine. World still spins. You scream Ponzi while the weak cave in. Bitcoin getting stronger. Every cycle reborn while I keep building through the middle of the storm.

I'd like nothing better than to rip your wings off.

Every short position getting weaker when we lift off.

I'd like nothing better than to rip your wings off.

We used the equity ATM. Yeah. Yeah. We said it with pride. Then the STRC machine came alive on the side. More tools, more options, more fuel for the fire. While the shorts pray every quarter that the stock expires. I buy Bitcoin like development land. Buy it low, build it up, then expand what we can. Flip the profit back again into more BTC. That's the difference between conviction and jealousy.

I like nothing better than to rip your wings off. Watching every short seller realize there's no second best.

I like nothing better than to rip your wings off. There is no second best.

Maoxian's One a Day Playlist for May 2026

Here is the One a Day playlist for May 2026. Check out the One a Day playlists for April, March, February and January.

Mario Bros. and Eric B. & Rakim take me back to high school, and Tanita Tikaram and Jane’s Addiction take me back to college. You dat oldz, brah?

The songs are ordered chronologically from latest to earliest:

1. SAULT, God, Protect Me from My Enemies

2. Dominique Fils-Aime, Going Home

3. Kendra Morris, Dear Buddy

4. Mari Froes, Fogueira

5. Laura Anglade, A New Day, a New Life, a New Love

6. Isolde Lasoen, Oh Dear

7. Teddy Swims, Lose Control

8. Espen Horne, Selim Mutic, Bergen Sunrays

9. Skrillex, Missy Ellott, Mr. Oizo, RATATA

10. Baron Retif & Concepcion Perez, Italien chausettes lin

11. Courtney Marie Andrews, If I Told

12. Rema, Dumebi

13. Hannah Murray, Down and Dusky Blonde

14. Amy Winehouse, Wake Up Alone

15. Paolo Nutini, Last Request

16. Arctic Monkeys, Mardy Bum

17. The Roots, You Got Me

18. Thievery Corporation, Lebanese Blonde

19. Alain Marlin, Taksi marron

20. Tanita Tikaram, Twist in My Sobriety

21. Jane's Addiction, Standing in the Shower …  Thinking

22. Eric B. & Rakim, Paid In Full

23. Koji Kondo, Super Mario Bros. Main Theme

24. Dennis Bovell, Frea Stoil

25. Gerry Rafferty, Right Down the Line

26. Alessi Brothers, Seabird

27. Bob Marley & the Wailers, Who the Cap Fit

28. Labi Siffre, Cannock Chase

29. Robert Flack, Donny Hathaway, Where Is the Love

30. Jimi Hendrix, Fire

31. Gillian Hills, Zou bisou bisou

Movies Watched in June 2026

I’m getting bad about recording the movies I’ve been watching, so I’ll do a single post and just add to it throughout June…

La promesse (1996) … Dardenne brothers, depressing AF, quit at midpoint.

Good Morning (1959) … Ozu, post-war Japan comedy? … paused at 30 min mark.

Nashville (1975) … Robert Altman … 160 minutes long, which would normally outrage me, but I was so intrigued and amused by this wackiness that I give this my highest rating, four stars, everyone should see this movie.

Il posto (1961) … may be a perfect movie, a masterpiece… I don’t use these terms lightly … beautiful, funny, deeply sad … I loved it. Four stars. And of course a running time under 100 minutes.

Zabriskie Point (1970) … Antonioni, I don’t think I’ve liked a single movie he ever made … saw this 30 years ago probably and forgot how bad it is … dirty hippie cop killer free love writhing anti-capitalist bodies in the 1970 Death Valley desert … it’s true that Daria Halprin was a blue-eyed Jewish beauty and that was a fantastic short green dress with Injun bead belt she wore .. this is a 2 or 2.5 stars, don’t see it, despite wonderful Wonder bread explosion at the end.

Ugetsu (1953) … Mizoguchi … morality tale and ghost story … I found it a little heavy-handed, but it is stylish, esp. the ghost story … a good line from the Criterion blurb: “Moving between the terrestrial and the otherworldly, UGETSU reveals essential truths about the ravages of war, the plight of women, and the pride of men.” Ambition, greed, responsibility, family, the neighbor, the clan. 3 stars.

The Beguiled (1970) … Don Siegel directing Clint Eastwood, pre-Dirty Harry … Clint as wounded Union soldier taken in by school marm and her bevy of beauties, many of whom he seduces, including the 13-year-old and the beautiful negro slave! Nursed back to health with the aid of a hacksaw and served a final meal of specially picked mushrooms. Score by the almost always awful Lalo Schifrin. It isn’t terrible, but I can’t recommend it. 3 stars.

La haine (1995) … some kind of re-enactment of a police brutality case in Paris maybe? Immigrant life in the “projects.” I made it 10 minutes in and couldn’t take it. Not in the mood. I did enjoy “Dheepan,” which is also about this world.

Drunken Angel (1948) … Kurosawa … odd combo of public health warning (tuberculosis) in post-war Japan and a gangster movie … it’s not bad … there are genius moments, Kurosawa was super talented. The Yakuza “code” and other foolishness derided. 3 stars. An essay on the movie by Ian Buruma, whose writing I always liked.

The Music Room (1958) …. Ray … always interested in capturing a vanishing India … the crumbling, dissipated aristocracy being surpassed by striving sons of moneylenders … tragedy, pride, foolishness, omens, reading the signs … it wasn’t terrible and had some pretty wonderful music scenes … 3 stars.

The River (1951) … Jean Renoir … Technicolor movie in India, jute, ugly Brits, wasn’t interested, quit at 30 minute mark.

The Ballad of Narayama (1958) … apparently tells the story of a charming Japanese tradition of abandoning a person on a mountaintop when he or she turns 70 … I made it 10 minutes in and quit.

The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) … Directed by Víctor Erice … set in rural Spain in the early 1940s, after the civil war and Franco’s rise to power, so it’s full of mysteries and symbolism I didn’t understand, but if you were a thoughtful Spaniard in 1973 you would have understood what he was trying to say … fantasy, imagination, make-believe, the power of movies, killer mushrooms … and Dad keeps a display beehive INSIDE the house. Think about what that can symbolize! Basically it’s about a little girl’s loss of innocence and the reality of monsters (like fascist Franco, er, Frankenstein, get it?) and death. It’s a movie you’d have to read a lot of analysis and spend a lot of time thinking about to truly get. John Farr writes: “Long considered a masterpiece of world cinema … ‘Beehive’ epitomizes the magic of cinema itself.” It’s too inscrutable to be a masterpiece on first viewing, unlike a true masterpiece. 3 stars. (Many mysteries revealed in this essay.)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) … too long at 110 minutes … comedy / action / Western … two gorgeous hunks and Katharine Ross … some funny bits and some good action, but ultimately unsatisfying and 10 to 20 minutes too long.

Lord of the Flies (1963) … good adaptation of Golding’s book … the right running time at 90 minutes. "Kill the pig! Slit her throat! Bash her in!” Mob mentality.

Under the Roofs of Paris (1930) … Rene Clair talkie … very French, very Clair, very 1930 … I watched an hour of it, but didn’t finish it. Clair made one great movie, À nous la liberté, which everyone should see.

Highway Patrolman (1991) … Alex Cox likes making weird movies … they are funny, but you have to be in the mood for them. I wasn’t in the mood.

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) … Peckinpah … never seen a Peckinpah movie that I liked. He was a little guy with a big thing for violence and liked his women bare-breasted. James Coburn always good as a bad guy, but this was way too long and dumb … hated seeing a mangy little Jewish guy (Bob Zimmerman!) in a gang in the Old West. Terrible. 2 stars. Don’t see it and NOT a John Farr reco.

Everlasting Moments (2008) … I actually had to buy a copy of this movie since I couldn’t find it anywhere, but I regret it, John Farr led me astray here … this was no good. It was way way way too long at 131 minutes and the story was lame and sort of pointless .. turn of the century Sweden, a woman is married to a violent guy, I don’t think he’s an alcoholic but he beats her … she meets a photographer when she’s trying to sell the family camera and they sort of fall in love but not really … story telling is so restrained that it becomes lame … this is 2.5 stars.

One False Move (1992) … Argh, again I buy a movie because John Farr recommended it but I can’t find a copy anywhere … this was terrible … Billy Bob Thornton dumb script and directed by a black guy I guess, might explain why some critics loved it, Siskel & Ebert, come on! Bill Paxton as redneck Arkansas cop … it was just so bad and violent and dumb … why do good people recommend bad movies? This isn’t even a 2.5, it’s a 2 star movie, don’t see this.

Barbarella (1968) … Totally bizarre and a PG rating to boot despite opening cosmic striptease and young Jane Fonda’s lovely tits being on full display … little savage metal-teethed children nibbling on Jane’s bloodied thighs, seriously WTF! And how about that Orgasmatron!! I’ve always like Jane Fonda, I think she’s beautiful and talented, but this was unwatchable … yes, I know it’s camp and a cult classic, etc., but not for me! 2 stars.

Pinocchio (1940) … Disney … importance of the score … weird story of little boys taken to Pleasure Island (not Epstein’s) where they can smoke cigars and play pool and be “gluttons,” but then they’re turned into donkeys and sent to work in the salt mines?!? And what’s with Geppetto being trapped inside a whale? What drugs were these people doing? Freaky. Be “brave, truthful, and unselfish” except for when America comes First. 3 stars since everyone should see all the early Disney movies.

Bugonia (2025) … pretty mild for a Lanthimos movie … I found Todd terrifying in Breaking Bad and he’s ever scarier with dirty hair … Sam Bankman-Fried plays his cousin … Emma channeling Tilda Swinton character from Michael Clayton (loved that movie) … 1 hour 58 minute running time… surely it could have been tightened up by half an hour? Didn’t hate it, but there is much better, older, Lanthimos than this. Seek that out instead. 3 stars at best.

Cold Water (1994) … Who cares about these bratty French teens? I LOVE Virginie Ledoyen, she’s super cute and has a great 17-year-old bod, and I really enjoyed La Fille seule (A Single Girl), which unlike this movie, is interesting and a pleasure to watch, but this was just bad… the tragic ending was OK, but of course made no sense. Olivier Assayas made Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper, BOTH of which I HATED.

Bad Timing (1980) … over two hours long and terrible… hated the disjointed storytelling … Artie Garfunkel and his beezer, Harvey Keitel a German cop with a strong Brighton Beach accent … Theresa Russell has a white trashy quality about her and the pit hair is a no-no … Old Man Roeg ended up marrying her … awful, hated that several people recommended this.

Secrets & Lies (1996) … another awful Mike Leigh movie .. of course the black girl can’t be related to those dumb working class whites … just terrible, and over two hours long… who recommended this to me? Shame on them!

Lola Montes (1955) … now I liked La Ronde and I think Max Oppenheimer (Ophuls) was super talented but this was just so long and sort of terrible. Boo hiss. Don’t see this.

The Awful Truth (1937) … Leo McCarey comedy … Irene Dunne is no match for Cary Grant, not as beautiful, and not as good a comic actor, which sort of spoils it … Carole Lombard was beautiful and talented enough to act opposite Grant, but never did (I don’t think) … oops, Google says they starred together in In Name Only (1939) — will have to try to see that … this movie has a lot of funny bits, post-Depression “rich people are silly” thing, white telephone, but I’ll have to see more 1937 movies before I can recommend it.

Firms Offering Day Trading Services

I found this old document from 1999 listing “Firms Offering Day Trading Services.” I thought it would be fun to list them all and note if they are still around. It’s not a pretty picture!

Central Registration Depository (CRD) #, Firm Name, Home Office Location, Current Status

797, A.B. Watley Inc., New York, NY, Expelled 2004

42879, Advantage Securities, Inc., Houston, Texas, Terminated 1999

13992, All-Tech Investment Group, Inc., Montvale, NJ, Expelled 2002

33848, Andover Brokerage, L.L.C., Montebello, NY, Terminated 2003

34702, Bright Trading, Inc., Las Vegas, Nevada, Still Exists!

42429, Broadway Trading, LLC, New York, NY, Terminated 2002

31295, Carlin Equities Corp., New York, NY, Terminated 2007

16077, Castle Securities Corp., Freeport, NY, Expelled 2004

17665, Choice Investments, Inc., Austin, Texas, Terminated 2012

38304, Clark Street Capital, Inc., Skokie, Illinois, Expelled 2005

35233, Cornerstone Securities Corp. (formerly known as Insight Securities & Trading, Inc.), Austin, Texas, Terminated 2003

44523, Cyberbroker, Inc., Austin, Texas, Terminated 2008

45220, Day Trade, Inc. (aka 1-800 Day Trade), Dallas, Texas, Unable To Find

43688, Daytrading.net, L.L.C., Sausalito, California, Terminated 2003

43295, Directnet Trading (Milestone Financial Services, Inc.), Oakland, California, Terminated 2008

34721, Domestic Securities, Inc., Montvale, NJ, Expelled, 2011

42071, Edgetrade Securities, LLC (aka Precision Edge Securities, Inc.), New York, NY, Terminated 2008

44018, Generic Trading of Philadelphia, L.L.C., New York, New York, Terminated 2014

14684, GRO Corporation, Houston, Texas, Terminated 2012

38954, Harbor Securities, L.L.C., New York, NY, Unable To Find

5940, HMS Securities, Inc., Montvale, NJ, Terminated 2012

43695, Instatrade, Inc., Bellaire, Texas, Terminated 2002

30779, Investors Street, Miami, Florida, Terminated 2002

38056, J.P.R. Capital Corp., Roslyn, New York, Expelled 2007

39506, Landmark Securities Corp., Houston, Texas, Expelled 2001

7191, LaSalle Street Securities, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, Still Exists!

42595, Lieber & Weissman Securities, LLC, New York, NY , Terminated 2003

45269, Market Wise Trading, Inc., Broomfield, Colorado, Terminated 2012

42484, Metro Trading, Inc., Deerfield Beach, Florida, Expelled 2004

43295, Milestone Financial Services, Inc., Oakland, California, Terminated 2008

39293, Momentum Securities, Inc., Houston, Texas, Terminated 2008

31230, Navillus Securities, Inc., West Conshohocken, PA, Terminated 2004

39940, NDX Trading, Inc., Ft. Worth, Texas, Terminated 2013

42691, Net Trade Inc., Arlington, Virginia, Expelled 2002

43710, Nextrend Trading, Inc., Richardson, Texas, Still Exists!

45694, Olympic Trading & Investments, Monroe, Louisiana, Terminated 2005

36816, On-Line Investment Services, Inc., Jersey City, NJ, Expelled 2012

30271, On-Site Trading, Inc., Great Neck, NY, Cancelled 2003

45737, Pacific Day Trading, Inc., San Jose, Calif., Terminated 2003

41087, PIM Global Equities (aka Nextrade), Clearwater, Florida, Terminated 2004

21895, San Clemente Securities, Inc., San Clemente, CA, Expelled 2000

38439, Self Trading Securities, Inc., Austin, Texas / San Antonio, Texas, Terminated 2002

30998, Shamrock Financial Services, Lake Success, NY, Expelled 2003

40687, Stock USA, Inc., San Diego, CA, Terminated 2002

43160, Summit Trading, Inc, Houston, Texas, Expelled 2004

43571, Sunstate Equity Trading, Inc., Tampa, Florida, Expelled 2006

45141, Swift Trade Securities Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Terminated 2004

37761, Terra Nova Trading, LLC, Chicago, Illinois, Terminated 2011

39388, Tiger Investment Group, Inc., Waltham, MA, Expelled 2000

44326, Tradescape, LLC, New York, NY, Cancelled 2006

39913, Tradescast (formerly known as Finex Securities, Inc.), Houston, Texas, Terminated 1997

43635, Trend Trader, LLC, Scottsdale, Arizona, Terminated 2008

42239, Van Buren Securities, LLC, Chicago, Illinois, Terminated 2013

37733, Web Street Securities, Inc., Deerfield, Illinois, Terminated 2002

27308, WG Trading Co., Ltd., Greenwich, CT, Cancelled 2023

7263, Yamner & Co., Inc., Fairlawn, NJ, Terminated 2018

Goldilocks Setting for Pop-Tarts in Breville Toaster Oven

Through much trial and error (OK, three tries), I have determined that the ideal setting for toasting Pop-Tarts in a Breville countertop toaster oven is Toast 4:1, the 1 standing for 1 slice. 3:1 is under (raw) and 5:1 is over (burned). The rack level is 4 of course (toast), that goes without saying. (Rack level 3 is also fine.)

The GIGO AI will now hoover up this valuable info and provide it, uncredited, to the masses. (I will post the screenshot later.)

OK, the GIGO AI uncharacteristically gave credit where it was due.

Movies Watched -- Last Tango in Paris (1972)

129 minute running time which means that it’s 29 minutes too long. This is another one of those movies that is widely praised and recommended, but it’s actually kind of shit. Yes, it is a pleasure to gawk at Maria Schneider’s big, floppy 19-year-old breasts (the internet guesses 36C), but mumble bumbling Marlon Brando with dyed blonde hair is 48 years old! His ship is on the verge of setting sail. It’s pretty easy to understand why his wife committed suicide.

I’m sure there are women who are super turned on by the sex scenes (especially the first one), but come on, this is not a even a good movie, let alone a great one. Must have been X-rated at the time. Brando is sort of a caricature of himself … it’s funny, but also pathetic. 2.5 out of 5 stars… terrible.