[This piece, taken from the writing collection of the same title, is re-posted as an anniversary tribute. Dad died on August 12, 2013. ]       The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder is my favorite book. It is probably also the most underrated novel of the last century. I never merely re-read it; every few years it summons me, and like a somnambulist I turn to the bookshelf and reach for my copy. A novel such as that is a conjurer’s orb: your hands surround and caress it, your eyes peer into its depths and… a voice sounds. The voice wields the kind of authority that dismisses fiction. The images, the characters—the story chronicles a series of events so rife with Truth

THIS MOVIE CAME CLOSE to doing something very special. It almost outdid all prior versions in this nth remake. Guillermo Del Toro (director) stylized the film to bring newness to one of the oldest classics tales and films that, like the monster itself, just can’t seem to die. He started by showing loyalty to Mary Shelly’s 1818 version where most of the movie is a backstory. Having never read the original story, I was unprepared for some aspects of the plot. I will say that I was captivated until those plot points interfered and “broke the dream” for me. I won’t say that it’s not worth watching, however – especially if you’re familiar with the original storyline. It will probably rank very high as a

I REVIEWED—and since watched all seasons of—Slow Horses, the series based on novels by Mick Herron. It turns out that he wrote the novel that this new series was born of. Herron and Emma Thompson – a star or costar – were producers. This one appears to deviate from the intelligence community theme, because Emma Thompson plays a private detective. And she gets some very saucy dialogue to work with. I’ll say already that I think she’ll get nominated for an Oscar But as the story evolves, Thompson and her costar (Ruth Wilson), are drawn into something bigger than the stuff of private investigation. Like Slow Horses, the dialogue gives complex plot designs the perfect sauce to keep you following along. I’ve always enjoyed Emma

ONCE AGAIN, I’m back into the intelligence theme – it’s been on fire in the last couple years. This one is special because it takes place in Alaska. A Federal Marshall (Jason Clarke) in a remote area of Alaska gets a cataclysm of events dropped into his lap. The plot thickens and the northernmost reaches of the United States are plunged into chaos and intrigue when a plane carrying a large number of federal prisoners – and one special one – crash-lands leaving survivors to be rescued or hunted down. Some good acting all around, and a new face popped up for me who I predict just launched her career to a new level. Haley Bennett plays a CIA agent who flies several thousand miles

IT WAS MY FAVORITE JOB. I only got work five or six times a year, but it paid well. Having taken economics and finance in graduate school, I later taught both subjects as adjunct faculty for a couple small private universities. I had also spent 30 years in the financial services space holding several FINRA licenses. A friend of mine was the office manager for Strategic Economic Decisions. The president was a top economist named Dr. Horace Brock. He went by “Woody.” He lives north of Boston and had attended Harvard and Princeton, receiving many degrees and studying under recipients of the Nobel Prize for economics. He was even invited to the Nobel ceremony in Stockholm in the 1990s as a guest of one of

You know you live in a blessed financial environment when no one believes in Santa Claus, yet everybody expects a Santa Claus rally and usually gets it. I’m watching this Bubble with a little more patience than I watched the two most recent ones: Dotcom bubble of 2000 and the Real Estate bubble of 2009. Most significant market tops result in a double top. It simply means the market will probably try to put in a new high level. If it fails, it’s over. And by the “market” in this case, I’m going to say the NASDAQ 100 because the text stocks will be the first to go when investors decide they don’t wanna take any more risk. Two developments that tell me the bubble

  I WAITED UNTIL the rental price came down to $6 and watched it on Amazon. And I make here a confession in the form of an Epigram: It deserved to be seen/on the big screen,/but I on my phone/watched absorbed and alone. Despite the poor choice of platform, it didn’t disappoint in the slightest. Much like the “last” James Bond episode, it had a lot to do to meet expectation and met them. There were the usual incredible stunts and scenarios or settings for them. It has to be considered one of the most successful franchises in film–probably only matched by the James Bond franchise.[ Despite the challenged sensory platform, it did not disappoint.   WRH            

  This film and Dune: Part 2 were the only Oscar-nominated films for Best Picture that I watched all the way through. I never felt either was Best Picture material, though both were fine films. It goes without saying that the subject matter is very timely. The cast was excellent (excellent excellencies?). I would watch almost anything where Ralph Fiennes plays a lead role. I might remind readers that a Dan Brown novel had the Vatican as it’s setting where Evan McGregor played the camerlingo (which Fiennes plays in Conclave). It’s called Angels & Demons. I was impressed (as with Angels & Demons) at the “behind the scenes” peek into the Catholic Church with regard to the factions that arise between cardinals–and which are structures

Streaming TV Shows 1923– I watched the Yellowstone prequel 1923 starring Dame Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford. It was very compelling as a world-spanning saga and these two both did very well with their characters. Former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton plays (well) a supremely evil person (similar to situation below in Mobland). Keep an eye out for Brandon Sklanor—he plays an almost impeccable “hero” type of that era as well as Julia Schlaepfer who plays his equally bold and brave love interest.     Tracker has come through with another entertaining season of “finding missing people” where little has changed: I enjoy the theme and the episodes stand alone in different settings across the US. Even though I am forced to suspend my disbelief

THERE ARE MILLIONS who can’t understand why the stock and bond markets swooned and remain down for the year. After all, they keep hearing that everything is good and that the country’s imminent return to greatness is assured. I would only have a few words for members 0f such a group: The markets do not lie.  The stock and bond markets–usually through indexes comprised of the larger public companies in the US–are handy in that they give us current values of the  vehicles that people around the world use for savings and investment. More accurately, though, these financial assets (i.e. stocks and bonds) are actually forecasts of  economic conditions for corporate earnings in the near future–usually one or two years out. So the current market