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Thursday, July 25, 2013
Sunday, July 21, 2013
89% In the House
All Critics (73) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (8)
The film treats imagination-and talent-in certain hands as an almost mystical force.
Ozon and the script move a little too far afield and hold on a bit too long as the film approaches its end. Still, "In the House" has enough trippy truth to it to grab your interest and shake your mind.
It's fiction about life that becomes fiction that might be life - and the viewer happily dives in.
The expected punch line... never materializes, so I guess this must be a drama after all.
Savor In the House for its meta-exploration of adolescence, class resentment and suppressed desire, but don't expect much more.
The seductions of storytelling drive "In the House," a cleverly structured comic thriller rich with narrative trickery and macabre humor.
Has the slow-pulsing vertigo of a psychological thriller & the twists of an elaborate melodrama, but to reduce it to these labels is glib. Caustic & funny but never misanthropic. A study of the ways people actually live, rather than how we assume they do.
These characters are messed up and yet there I was, sitting in the back row of the cinema, with a smile on my face.
A cinematic bouquet of surprising left turns and addictive story hooks. Strongly recommended.
Provocative, playful, entertaining and audacious, In the House is a writer showing us the inner workings of writing, complete with its power to subvert, to imagine and to deceive
Occasionally too clever for its own good, the film may go one step too far, but Ozon manages the hybrid of genres beautifully and ultimately it is his superb cast that sells the nuances and the concept
A sly, stylish blend of melodrama and suspense that's also a cunning commentary on the seductiveness and danger inherent in storytelling itself.
Director/scriptwriter Francois Ozon knows his Hitchcock well. He employs him effectively, but the clutter is his own.
An almost perverse delight, an egghead thriller that slyly shell-games its truer purpose as an inquiry into the construction -- and deconstruction -- of fiction. Scratch deconstruction: Make that tear-the-house-down demolition.
It's partly real and partly a fable, full of events that might have happened or could never have happened, with intrigues that defy us to take them seriously.
In the House is a structurally solid thriller that is both inventive and absolutely seductive in nature.
Inviting photography and a relentless pace complement Claude's unfolding narrative, but the big thrills are in the deftly drawn characters...and the incisive satire...
A slick psychological thriller that veers into dark comedy the more absurd it gets, "In the House" demonstrates the dangers of addiction -- not to sex or drugs, but to story.
Captures why we do what we do, and the extent to which stories reflect both the writer and the reader.
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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/in_the_house_2013/
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Saturday, July 20, 2013
Fed rethinking move allowing banks to trade physical commodities
By David Sheppard and Josephine Mason
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is "reviewing" a landmark 2003 decision that first allowed regulated banks to trade in physical commodity markets, it said on Friday, a move that may send new shockwaves through Wall Street.
The one-sentence statement suggests the Fed is taking a much deeper, wide-ranging look at how banks operate in commodity markets than previously believed, amid intensifying scrutiny of everything from electricity trading to metals warehouses.
While the Fed has been debating for years whether to allow banks including Morgan Stanley
By referencing its initial decision a decade ago permitting Citigroup's Phibro unit to trade oil cargoes - setting a precedent for a dozen more banks that followed suit - the Federal Reserve has put in question a key profit center for Wall Street's top players, which have already seen multibillion-dollar commodity revenues shrink in the face of new regulations.
On Tuesday, the Senate Banking Committee is holding its first hearing on the issue, asking whether so-called "Too Big to Fail" banks should be taking on additional risks like moving tankers of crude oil or operating power plants.
Amid growing frustration in Washington over regulators' failure to push through new rules five years after the financial crisis, the Fed's widening area of enquiry came as a shock.
"They must be feeling some pressure on this issue if they've felt compelled to issue a public statement," said Saule Omarova, associate professor of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, who will appear at the hearing.
"Are they using this opportunity to in fact review the entire position of banks in physical commodity markets?"
The pressure may intensify as the U.S. power market regulator levies record fines over manipulating power markets. It levied a $453 million penalty against Barclays
"The Federal Reserve regularly monitors the commodity activities of supervised firms and is reviewing the 2003 determination that certain commodity activities are complementary to financial activities and thus permissible for bank holding companies," the Federal Reserve said, its first public statement since a 2012 Reuters report brought the issue to light. (Full story: http://link.reuters.com/xer86s).
A Federal Reserve spokesperson declined to elaborate or provide any details on the scale or timing of the review.
Spokespeople for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to comment on the Fed statement.
PHIBRO SET PRECEDENT
In 2003, the Federal Reserve issued a letter to Citigroup, which had been seeking permission to allow its Phibro unit - acquired in 1998 - to continue trading in physical energy markets. The Bank Holding Company Act (BHC Act) normally prohibits banks from engaging in non-financial activities, but Citi had argued that the activities should be allowed.
Regulated commercial banks had long been permitted to trade in commodity derivatives such as futures, but at the time did not enjoy the same freedom in physical markets, unlike investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
The Fed agreed with Citi, saying that trading in real commodities would allow the banks to "transact more efficiently with customers". It said the trading must be "complimentary" to their main activities, contribute to the public good and should not pose a "substantial risk" to the bank.
That decision, which came at the start of a decade-long boom in commodity trading, opened the door to a dozen more applications from global giants like Deutsche Bank and domestic players like Wells Fargo. With many of the permits, the Fed gave greater and greater leeway in what and how they could trade.
"Maybe the Fed can openly say we think these activities are systemically risky unless they're cut back but I don't know what's going through the Fed's head," said one commodity regulation expert who declined to be named. "This came out of the blue. This has taken everyone by surprise."
Since converting to bank holding companies at the height of the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have also been subject to the holding company rules.
But up until now, the Fed's focus was believed to be on their ownership of assets, a more clearly controversial issue.
Under the 1999 decision to repeal part of the Glass-Steagall Act, ending the forced separation of commercial and investment banking, any non-regulated bank that converted to holding company status after 1999 would be allowed to continue to own and invest in assets, as long as they held them prior to 1997. The banks have argued that their activities are "grandfathered" in, or that they are simply merchant banking investments.
It is not clear that argument will hold up under political pressure, which is intensifying ahead of a nominal September deadline for Goldman and Morgan to comply with the rules.
"Reviewing Wall Street's expansion into commercial activities is essential," Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, said in a statement. "Congress, regulators, and the public need to understand what has happened in the 14 years since the financial floodgates were opened, and reconsider what we want banks to do."
Large industrial consumers of aluminum have accused banks of boosting prices of the metal through their control of London Metal Exchange warehouses, which have been slow to deliver metal to customers, boosting premiums for physical metal and earning big profits on rent for storing the metal.
Four U.S. congressmen wrote to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on June 27 expressing their concern about the issue, and asking for more information on the Fed's position.
Both Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have explored selling their warehouse businesses they bought in 2010 in recent months, although it is not clear if that is because of increased regulatory pressure.
GETTING PHYSICAL
As commodity prices surged over the past decade, a host of global investment banks piled into the market, pressuring the former duopoly of Goldman and Morgan. At their peak in 2008 and 2009, revenues in the sector reached some $15 billion.
But pressures have mounted over the past few years as regulators crack down on proprietary trading, new capital measures limit trading books and bonus caps shrink.
Commodity revenue from the top investment banks fell to about $6 billion in 2012, consultants Coalition estimated.
While banks generate much of that revenue from trading derivatives - selling indexes to investors or hedging prices for an oil company - many have delved deeply into physical markets in order to get better information on markets, leverage their positions or offer more options to customers.
For instance, many banks are involved in "supply and offtake" arrangements with refineries, providing crude oil to the plant and then selling gasoline or diesel in the market.
The Federal Reserve has generally allowed banks to trade in most major physical commodity markets so long as there is a similar futures contract for the commodity, which means it is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Crude oil and gasoline, for instance, are allowed but iron ore is not.
Friday's statement calls that into question.
While some consumer groups have been critical of the sway that banks can exert on commodity markets by owning key pieces of infrastructure, it is unclear how many would support barring them from trading commercial markets entirely.
"I want them to have physical business because they play a positive role in the business on balance by providing financing," said one senior executive in the metals market who has been critical of the banks' warehouse ownership.
(Additional reporting by Jeanine Prezioso in New York; Editing by Jonathan Leff, Bob Burgdorfer and Peter Cooney)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-rethinking-move-allowing-banks-trade-physical-commodities-204643689.html
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The Open Golf 2013: Jordan Spieth and Players Who Will Continue to Shine
Jordan Spieth is only 19 years old, yet he's bettered most of the field at the 2013 British Open through two rounds of play.?
A player who wasn't even invited until last weekend, when he won the John Deere Classic, Spieth wasn't necessarily expected to be a contender at Muirfield. But entering the weekend, there are only 10 players in front of the former Texas Longhorn star, who is just four shots off the lead at one-over par.
Heading into Saturday, Miguel Angel Jimenez leads the field at three-under par, while Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood and two others are in a tie for second place at two-under par.
Spieth isn't the only unexpected contender, either. There are a few players who have played better than most predicted they would, but not all will keep the momentum going over the course of the next couple of rounds.?
These players will continue to shine on Saturday, putting pressure on guys like Woods, Westwood and the rest of the world's top golfers contending for the Claret Jug in 2013.
?
Jordan Spieth (+1)
Photo Credit: d_daviss on Instagram
Through 14 holes on Friday, Spieth was one-under par. He was doing what he'd been doing since the start of play on Thursday, hitting greens with regularity and playing smart golf.?
Unfortunately, the final four holes drew blood, and Spieth went four-over par to end his round. The young golfer certainly wasn't alone, however. Those final holes have been killers for most of the field the past couple of days.?
Even after his disastrous finish, Spieth finished his second round having hit 80.56 percent of his greens in regulation?good for the No. 2 against the field.
He's just four strokes off the lead heading into the weekend and hasn't showed any inclination to fold under pressure thus far.?
?
Dustin Johnson (-2)
A player whose game has always been good enough to win a major championship, Dustin Johnson has battled through injuries for the past few years.?
After winning the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in early January, Johnson's game has been up and down since. He did manage to finish in 13th place at the Masters, but he really struggled at the U.S. Open and finished in 55th place with a score of 17-over par.?
Needless to say, Johnson wasn't a real hot name heading into the British Open.
But the power-hitting American golfer made some waves this week, and after two rounds he's just one shot off the lead. And as noted by Taylor Made Golf, Johnson has the right attitude to continue playing well:
Though hitting fairways has never been Johnson's strength, he's managing to hit greens at a high rate, finishing the first two rounds in a tie for fourth place with 28 GIR. His natural high, arcing approach shots are perfectly suited for landing softly on the rock-hard greens at Muirfield.?
If Johnson can get the hang of the speed of the greens and start making more putts, he'll be even more dangerous this weekend.?
?
Charl Schwartzel (+1)
Thursday wasn't a day Charl?Schwartzel would like to treasure in his heart forever.
In addition to the fact that he shot a four-over-par round of 75 that included two double bogeys, he made headlines after hurling his 6-iron in a surge of anger, snapping the club, as shown by Jamie Murray:
It would have been understandable if the South African had come out and had another bad round after so much frustration in Round 1, but he turned his fortunes around in impressive fashion.
Which player will shoot up the leaderboard on Saturday?
-
Jordan Spieth
-
Dustin Johnson
-
Charl Schwartzel
-
All of them
-
None of them
Which player will shoot up the leaderboard on Saturday?
Matching Westwood for the lowest round of the day at three-under par, Schwartzel dug deep and put together a nearly flawless round. He made four birdies on the day with just one bogey?one of the tidiest rounds by any player on Friday.?
Even more impressive than his actual score is the way Schwartzel got to it.
Through two days, he's struggling to hit fairways and greens, but Schwartzel's short game has been on fire. He's averaging just 1.53 putts per hole, which is more than two-tenths better than the field average.?
Look for more of the same on Saturday, as Schwartzel will continue moving up the leaderboard.?
?
Note: Stats courtesy of TheOpen.com.
Follow me on Twitter @JesseReed78.?
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Friday, July 19, 2013
Earnings roundup: General Electric, Baker Hughes
Among the earnings stories for Friday, July 19, from AP Business News:
? General Electric Co. posted a slight gain in net income in the second quarter and said its U.S. operations are picking up steam. GE, based in Fairfield, Conn., has a broad view of the global economy because it sells a wide variety of industrial equipment and appliances around the world, including jet engines, medical diagnostic equipment, locomotives, washing machines, natural gas-fired turbines, and oil and gas drilling equipment.
? Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said that its second-quarter profit fell 45 percent as it cut operations in Brazil and Mexico.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/earnings-roundup-general-electric-baker-162804207.html
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MALAYSIA ? Legal comparison Church-government on the use of the word "Allah"; th...
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