Movies: The Clouds Of Sils Maria

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Watching movies & stage plays is fun. But sometimes it is even more fun to look behind the curtain and spot the actors at work. The movie "The Clouds Of Sils Maria" by Olivier Assayas (writer & director) gives such an opportunity (imdb).

Maria Enders, an international movie star around 50, accepts again a role in a prestigious stage play, where she had kick started her career in her youth. Then she played the seductive assistant and lover of a ripe woman, who drove the other one to suicide, now she is cast in the role of the elder. The switch causes her a lot of doubts & and inner turmoils of course. The frequent & intense rehearsals together with her young & attractive female assistant seem to be a screen for her inner conflicts and a mirror for the play (this is a spoiler-free blog. If you want a synopsys you can find it here wikipedia).

The German-French-Swiss co-production continues very slow and focuses on the dialogues between 2 smart women. Psychological & philosophical conversations and musings about aging, relationships (between women), life strategies, theater business and much more replace action. The movie is partly set in the awesome mountain region of the Swiss Alps. The name giving "clouds of Sils Maria" is a special weather phenomena which is awesomely photographed.

Juliette Binoche, as Maria, is the center of the movie. She is still one of the most beautiful and elegant actresses of today´s cinema. Again she displayed her thoughtful fragility covered with charm and I couldn´t get enough watching her. 

The gorgeous Kristen Stewart convinced as the perfect assistant, combining a kind of early wisdom with allure. Chloë Grace Moretz in the role of Maria´s casted stage partner brings some freshness into the scene.

"The Clouds Of Sils Maria" is a little cinema gem and not just for adorers of Binoche, Stewart and Moretz.

Street Art New York: April 2015 Edition - The Return Of The Bowery Mural Wall

(Drivebycuriosity) - It`s springtime in New York City. The trees and other plants are blossoming. And New York`s street art also seems to be in spring mood. Since my latest street art report from March 2015 (driveby) I spotted a lot new works @ Lower East Side, East Village and Soho. My favorite of the month is the stencil above which I found on a house wall on Eldridge Street I believe.

The stencil above this paragraph which I spotted in the neighborhood of the image on the top seems to be by the same artist. I believe both images are reproductions of some Renaissance paintings. Awsome!

The street artist Bradley Theodore, who is known for his colorful skeletons was also activ. It looks like that he had changed his style a bit. Well done.

I spotte the huge mural above on a house wall in Little Italy, it seems to be still in creation.

Above a collection of anonymous stencil works. 

Here more stencils.





                                                 Beautifying Houston Street

New York`s Centre-Fuge Public Art Project continued their project to beautify the construction infrastructure along the perma-construction side @ East Houston Street.

And the famous Bowery Mural Wall @ the intersection with East Houston Street, which had been hidden behind a construction site, had returned. The incarnation is not my favorite, but somewhat entertaining.

Above some of her funny segments.

To be continued.

Movies: Ex Machina

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - It seems that it is just a matter of time that someone will develop a really artificial intelligence (AI). How will a software behave, that is capable to learn & accumulate knowledge with an accelerating speed? Some celebrities, including Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, claim that an AI could advance too fast and too far and endager whole humankind. 2 years ago the film "Her" dealt with this subject, now the movie "Ex Machina" tells another story about an AI (imdb).

To say it clearly, "Ex Machina" is much better than "Her". A young software coder gets a one-week appointment in a remote research facility in a mountain forest to execute a Turing Test. His employer, a billionaire genius, had created "Ava", a smart robot with a female body and wants to know if this android is really an AI. "Ava" will pass the test if her interviewer cannot distinguish her behavior from human (this is a spoiler-free blog. If you want a synopsys you can find it here wikipedia).

"Ex Machina" is set in a near & plausible future. The only science fiction issues (not yet available technologies) are the AI and her humanoid body. Director Alex Garland, who also wrote the script, created a fascinating psychological triangle between the young and smart coder, who is eager to fulfill his job, the employer, a bully with a sharp mind, and the sexual highly attractive machine-girl ("sex machina"?). 

This creates tensions and conflicts which  escalate and get more and more dramatic. The plot is spiced with intelligent dialogues and philosophical debates about evolution, creating life, freedom of will, sexual attraction, deceit, survival strategies and much more. Even that the plot was highly intellectual it had a lot of suspense and I really cared about the fate of "Ava" and the humans.

"Ex Machina" benefits from the fine cast. Domhnall Gleeson, as the coder,  Oscar Isaac, the controlling boss and the stunning Alicia Vikander, as the smart & alluring female machine, did great jobs. Director Garland, cinematographer Rob Hardy and their team created a cool and stylish scenario (the research facility looked a bit a like a gallery for contemporary art) immersed in a gorgeous and wild mountain environment. Part of the fun is the soundtrack, mostly created by members of the group Portishead.

"Ex Machina" is the proof that a science fiction film can be smart, entertaining and stylish at once - the best movie of the year so far.

Stock Market: Why Are The Analysts So Pessimistic?

(Drivebycuriosity) - The US earning season is in a full gear. Companies are reporting their profits & revenues from the first quarter 2015. According to Reuters the reported profits are better than analysts had expected (finance): Seventy percent of S&P 500 companies are beating analysts' expectations for earnings so far and first-quarter earnings have risen 0.02% from a year ago. On April 1, analysts' consensus forecast was for a 2.9 percent profit decline. Bespoke Investment wrote on April 24 "so far this earnings season, 67% of the companies that have reported have beaten consensus bottom-line earnings estimates.  For top-line revenues, 52% of companies have beaten estimates" (bespoke).

It seems the analysts have been too pessimistic and underestimated the company`s capability to squeeze out rising profits even in a sluggish economic environment. These under-estimates are not new. Since at least 1999 the majority of US companies have been beating the analyst`s profit expectations, around 60% on average (bespoke).

Why do analysts underestimate the company numbers quarter for quarter? There is definitely a negative bias. It seems analyst are following the pessimistic Zeitgeist. Negative news & predictions are en vogue. The media get more readers (and clicks) when they deliver negative news. Maybe analysts try to be popular and deliver pessimistic predictions to please their employers and customers (fund managers).

Stock Market: Why The Talk About A Nasdaq Bubble Is Nonsense

(Drivebycuriosity) - Recently there is a lot of talk that technology stocks might be in a bubble again like in the year 2000. The bubble claims refer to the fact, that the Nasdaq, which stands for technology, gained 24% in the recent 12 months and reached an all-time high, the first time since the peak from spring 2000, the so-called Internet bubble.

I think the bubble talks is nonsense. The Nasdaq 100, which contains the biggest components, costs just around 20 times the expected profits for this year (P/E) (wsj). I think this is cheap because companies like Apple, Google, Netflix, Amazon.com, Facebook & Baidu are growing much faster than the more traditional companies which dominate the Dow Jones (P/E 16 ) and the S&P 500 (P/E 18 ) (wsj).







                                                  New Technological Revolution
 
I believe that the current stock prices don´t  reflect the potential the technology companies have. I think that we are still in the beginning of a new technological revolution which will drive company profits and stock prices. We are experiencing rapid advances in 3D-printing, robotics, nano-technology, bioengineering (new medicaments) and more industries which all are reducing costs, open new markets and make our lives better.

Consumers love smartphones, tablets, e-book readers, game consoles and other high tech devices. Those gadgets, which didn´t even exist in the year 2000, are rapidly getting better thanks to new apps and other software. Many digital devices can be used to access the Internet which accelerates the mobilization of the World Wide Net. The number of frequent Internet users is climbing sharply - especially in China and other emerging markets.

As a result people worldwide are spending much more time and money on the Internet for E-commerce and other services. Billions are using Internet and other incarnations of software to organize shopping, leisure time, traveling, dating, eating out and more.

Therefore online shops, search providers, social networks and a lot of other Internet based services are growing fast. Simultaneously there is a thriving demand for devices & software that enable the burgeoning data streams (chips, server, router, transmitters, satellites and more).

Technology in general is getting more and more important for our every day life. Chips & software are increasingly used for medical supervision, entertainment, communication, security, controlling room conditions, monitoring cars, steering household appliances and a lot of other purposes.

Technology also is getting more important for businesses. Companies have to invest into Internet and other hard- and software technologies to adapt to a rapidly evolving world. They will use more technology to reduce costs (for instance via robotics and other forms of automatization) and to process a deluge of data to respond to competitors and to exploit chances on global markets.


And: Many fund managers are too skeptical (bearish) and are underinvested. They will experience a growing performance pressure which will translate into further buying and climbing stock prices. I think that all these factors will play together and the Nasdaq could reach the mark 10,000 by the end of 2017. Enjoy!

Disclosure: I am an investor in Amazon.com, Apple & Baidu.

Street Art: Marvels Of Barcelona - A Photo Collection

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Street art is a global phenomena. It seems everywhere in the world there are plenty of artists who show their talents & imagination on the public walls. While my recent visit in Barcelona I found lots of interesting murals, graffiti and other incarnations of street art.

 

I discovered the weired murals above on a wall in the Eastern suburban part of the city. The wall seems to be the rest of a ruin and stands in a piece of wasteland which reminded of New York´s lost parts of the Bronx.

On my way from the hotel close to the subway station "Selva de Mar" towards the center of the city I found more walls with fancy murals.

I enjoyed the pop-art color composition of the image above.

Here some stencils which remind me of Renaissance paintings.

What a nice play with colors


                  Large Variety Of Styles

Walking through the streets of Barcelona I spotted a large variety of styles.

Here is a more traditional image.


                       Inspired By Greeks?

Barcelona has a huge collection of painted roller shutter doors. It seems they are often used as an additional way of advertising.

Above the door of an undergarments store.

Some of these artists seem to be inspired by ancient Greeks, others by American comics,

Even surrealistic art has its place on Barcelona`s shop doors.

Enjoy!