Happy New Year!!

Another year has come and gone, 2008 will now officially come to a close, and looking back It was all in all a year filled with sadness, love, history, excitement, and utter boredom near the end.

For all those people driving tonight we urge you to be safe and have rides planned or have an alternate way to get home if you choose to get drunk which apparently everybody does on New Years except me 'cause I'm a loser, case in point I'm blogging just as if it were any other day(seriously I'm not even watching the New Year's special). Why do people romanticize New Years? everybody always wants to go to Times Square and watch the ball drop but its really overrated trust me, one it sucks if your by yourself or the third wheel in a group 'cause you're surrounded by couples everywhere, and two after the ball drops its like "now what?" and people wanna go home 'cause they've been waiting in the streets for 6 hours and absolute bedlam ensues. New Years is like Valentines Day 2.0 + Oktoberfest 2.0, two things always happen you either get drunk or spend the day with your significant other or if your like me you just don't really care and just eat lots of chocolate ice cream and watch a movie 'cause really does anyone ever come through on their resolutions? not me.

As for the year 2008 itself we here at Arbitrary Opinions would just like to remind everyone how devastating this year was to the entertainment industry as we lost countless legends such as: Heath Ledger (will win a much deserved Oscar for sure), Tim Russert (one of the greatest journalists and a great interviewer), Paul Newman (Oscar winner), Bernie Mac (one of the greatest comics ever), Roy Scheider (Chief Brody in Jaws), Charlton Heston (Oscar winner), Eddy Arnold (country music hall of fame member), Sydney Pollack (Oscar winning director), Isaac Hayes (soul music legend and chef on South Park), George Carlin (greatest funny man ever?), and many more; sorry to those who were left out you will all be remembered.

However 2008 had its upsides too with possibly the greatest sports year ever with the Olympics (Michael Phelps with 8 gold medals and Usain Bolt just making fun of the fastest men in the world as he shattered every sprint record), the heartbreak of the Patriots losing in the Super Bowl (carry over from '07) and Tom Brady, who's getting married to Gisele Bundchen (sorry ladies), getting injured on the first play of the '08 season. The Red Wings just making a mockery of the NHL and showing Bettman that the salary cap won't do anything for parity in the NHL as they dominated the league and won the cup. The Boston Celtics finally win a championship again and against the arch rival Lakers no less. Kansas upsets Memphis in the NCAA basketball championship after they were about to lose. LSU wins another BCS title. Tiger Woods wins the US Open on a broken knee as he was playing with a torn ACL (is he human?). Rafael Nadal beats Roger Federer at Wimbledon in an epic matchup. So for sports it was an awesome year filled with intrigue.

However the biggest story of 2008 however was made when a nation stood up for change and let hope be brought in by the name of Barack Obama. Okay so his first day as the President won't be until '09 but he was elected in '08 in a political race that was fierce as he battled party rival Hillary Clinton (is SHE human!?) and eventually beat her and then demolished John McCain when everybody thought it was going to be a tighter race and the pundits were claiming they were neck in neck after each made their vice president picks. Sarah Palin will forever be remembered thanks to Tina Fey and most people will probably forget about Joe Biden who actually is the vice-president elect.

Anyways I hope 2008 was a good year for you and that 2009 is no less exciting for you enjoy the night though you probably won't remember any of it and be safe, I'm gonna go play video games now by the way 2k sports can't call their games "2k10" and EA can't call theirs "'10" for next year 'cause neither sounds good at all.

Peace and Much Love To Ya

What New Years Means to Me...

It means a big fat nothing =) Not just because I'm Chinese and we have this crazy calendar where New Years lands somewhere in January or February and we get lotsa moolah...I need money...wait what was I talking about? Oh right, New Years. It's not that interesting you know why? Everyone gets drunk and forgets it anyway. And for those who don't go to parties and get drunk like ME (I'm a saint aren't I), we're stuck at home watching 3 different broadcasts of New Years from Times Square. Boo! I want to see Anderson Cooper without his shirt WITHOUT Kathy Griffin touching him and making him giggle. It makes me feel like I'm less than Kathy Griffin...which is just depressing.

Wanna know what I'm doing for New Years? Well, I'm blogging on a shiny new blog about how much I don't like New Years celebrations =) I'm probably done blogging soon so what I'll actually be doing right at the new year mark is watching the West Wing. Yes, I am ringing in the new year with a show that's been over for a few years now. I'm ringing in the new with the old.

I'm really just posting for the sake of posting because I can do what I want! I'm making my New Years Resolution the same as the one I had last year. I will try to blog as much as I can!

I'll count this one for tomorrow: the first day of what will be a (good/bad) year where I (will/will not) pass my first year of university. I (will/will not) continue to do this because I am (bored/bored).

On that note of arbitrariness (yes, I brought it up =P), I do wish you all a Happy New Year because I'm sure it means a lot to you (drunk/sober), (stone slackers/dull nerds) =) And because I'm a party pooper, the next actual post I make will be about either Gaza being blown up or Blagojevich being blown up. I actually much rather enjoy the latter...

Cheers!

- Franny.

When the world lost its economic virginity

After WWII, America found itself as the largest economic power in the world. Right afterwards, the government largely reduced tariffs and price controls, and ended the massive war budget that consumed nearly 50% of the US economy. Scarce capital was freed up; labour that once worked building bombs could now be hired to build productive economic resources. And like most postwar economies, America saw a massive boom. The growth of the American middle class and industrial base were the hallmarks of its expansion. All this wealth led to ambitious government spending programs, and the 1960's saw the first move towards large government. Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor, the expansion of New Deal departments, and more bureaucracy were started by Lyndon Johnson. This trend continued, and the tax and spend - guns and butter - policies continued through the seventies. Yet America could no longer rest on its laurels of economic strength. But still, it spent and consumed, printing and borrowing money. This all came to a very sticky conclusion at the end of the 70s with Stagflation. Which caused many economists to cry as the tidy Philips curve which predicted a negative correlation to inflation and unemployment suddenly became a positive correlation.

The solution to this inflation - caused by living beyond the economy's means - was Volker's Disinflation which lasted from 1980-1982. Volker raised interbank lending rates to over 20%, and the banks passed on the heavy cost of borrowing to its customers. Industries (like farming and construction) which heavily depended on short term financing were crushed. But after 1982, America bounced back, with permanently lower inflation and unemployment. The weak industries were out, and the strongest survived. The 80's turned to a boom time. But this boom was different than the postwar boom that occurred last time. When Volcker raised interest rates to 20%, this created a magnet for world deposits to America. Foreigners could gain massive interest on their cash by merely lending it for a short while to an American bank. And even after interest rates were lowered, the cash stayed, and America went from a Current Account Balance (from 1946-1980) to a Current Account Deficit (from the 1980 to here on).

Now as a note, a current account deficit isn't a bad thing. It's just what it is. Whether it is for the best depends on its reasons. From 1865-1914 America maintained a large current account deficit. This was because America lacked domestic capital, and borrowed it from abroad. This borrowed foreign capital was used to build railroads, canals, the first highways, and finance America's burgeoning industries. After it had enough industrial capacity, America paid off its debt and lent its excess capital to the rest of the world (becoming a net lender).

But the current account deficit that began in the 80's wasn't to build infrastructure or strengthen productive American corporations. What began as interest rate manipulations became a global culture. Suddenly everyone wanted to lend to America. The United States government could finance a 30 year bond with an interest of 3%! Never in the history of the world, would anyone lend to another person for such a long period of time with such a low rate of interest. But the real problem began in the 90's.

The 80's really didn't see much of an aggregate change in economic imbalances, it merely began them. When the Berlin Wall fell in '91, the global labour supply doubled. Overnight. Richard Freeman coined the term as the 'Great Doubling'. Suddenly communist posters were replaced with Coca-Cola signs, and the world scrambled to invest in these newly found post-communist countries. It took only around 10 years! But by the year 1999 (reforms in many of these countries began before '91), these new communist countries, became net lenders! What! The economic model was broken! Rich countries, having excess capital, should be lending to poor countries whose growing industrial capacity can repay the debts. But instead, the world, for whatever reason, still saw America as the place to invest. What happened? The tech bubble. American corporations promised light speed internet connections and a futuristic world around the corner. Suddenly everyone wanted to invest in anything that was associated with a '.com'. WorldCom and Enron were the new American industries. Their stocks exploded (as they did eventually). Even though they never paid dividends, and the cash streams still never materialized, they were seen as the future.

Once people realized that a company which paid you nothing, and never made you any money wasn't a good investment, the NASDAQ (the index of technology stocks) crashed, and stocks slumped. But yet! America still remained the global vacuum of capital. This in my opinion was when insanity became the guiding force of global capital.

America had a blank check to do anything. Bush stepped into the White House, and sure enough this happened. First of all, if America could borrow for any reason at low interests rates, why not? The American national debt exploded (doubling under Bush's tenure). As did American corporate debt. Why shouldn't companies follow the government's lead? Then Greenspan lowered interest rates to 1%. So what? Foreigners should be damn pleased to earn less than inflation. And then the subprime mortgage industry sprang up. Why NOT! America was invincible; nothing could ever go down, never, at any point. Housing prices were rocket ships only going more into the stratosphere. So clever bankers like Hank Paulson (know him?), got their banks to buy overvalued homes from mortgage lenders who charged no interest, then packaged them up and sold them at ridiculous prices to foreigners, who up until now, seem to eat anything America shoveled into their mouths. The rest as they say is history.

This all came to a sticky end in 2007. Housing prices slumped; the hundreds of billions of dollars of subprime loans became worthless, and were amplified by even more subprime derivative losses by banks (in layman’s terms, they bet the wrong way). Whereas in the 1980 everyone knew that the economy would go into recession (it was a planned action), the important people (aka the leaders of the major businesses/governments) in 2007 never saw it coming. What has been the response of 2008? The printing, spending, and borrowing orgy that caused the unsustainable economic policies of the 1970s of course. If there is anything positive in this whole mess, it's that we might just learn a lesson or two. Now that the world has lost its naivety, and we realize that we can't walk on water, me might get back to some common sense.

Merry Christmas!!

To everybody around the world, we here at Arbitrary Opinions wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope you all got the presents you wanted and if you didn't at least you spent time with loved ones.

I would personally like to give a shout out to all my friends and my family all over the world and a big one to my partners in crime Franny and Gentlemanly Capitalism (that's a long ass name lol) thank you guys for being wonderful people filled with love and making this thing work and awesome presents.

Since it is Christmas and I'm done watching the Celtics lose to the Lakers in a customary Christmas basketball game (my own little tradition) I want to share my favourite Christmas memory.

Ok I was like seven years old and my family went down to Seattle to celebrate with some of my extended family and I wasn't too hyped since my presents always consisted of being, well kid stuff you know rollerblades, toys etc... so I was expecting the same old stuff you know maybe a toy Gundam (I would totally join the army if I could fly one of those, but so far only in my dreams) but when Christmas rolled around I was in for a surprise.

The day started off snowing and when it was time to open presents I was really excited for a toy Gundam, while I opened my first present from my much older cousin I saw everybody smiling mischievously, though I didn't recognize them for what they were at the time, I thought everybody was just happy it was Christmas so when I opened my present my face fell as I realized it was a lump of coal (the barbeque kind) and I almost cried but everybody around me started laughing and they teased me that I was bad that year.

Shortly after I sulked and contemplated what I had done wrong that year my cousins came up to me and handed me my next present which I refused to take but they assured me that the first one was a joke. As I looked at their faces I saw they were sincere and filled with love so I hesitantly opened the present and low and behold it was the Gundam I had so desperately wanted along with the biggest Hershey Kiss ever!! I swear it took me like a month to eat the thing.

So there you have it my favourite Christmas memory although at the time I felt bad and then happy, looking back it was the last time I really celebrated with my cousins who now have their own families and I got some cool presents and spent my holiday with loved ones and visited the Space Needle on New Years and watched the fireworks.

If you have any special memories we would love to hear them in the comment box. Once again, Merry Christmas!!

Peace and Much Love To Ya

The Soon-to-Be POTUS

Let me clear things up for you non-West Wing fans (unless this isn’t an exclusive term but I’d like to say it is). “POTUS” stands for “President of the United States” and the person I am referring to is Barack Obama. I’m sure many of you have heard of this person or have seen him grace the cover of many magazines from Newsweek to People – but who is this figure of hope and change? Being the amazing profiler I am even though this is the first profile I’ve done, I’ve decided to introduce you all to the next POTUS. It doesn’t matter that he’s not your president, you just have to accept the fact that he is one of the most influential men in the world and that definitely affects you.

Barack Hussein Obama II was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii to a white Kansas woman and a black man form Kenya. For those of you who are confused, this makes him half-white and half-black. Barack’s parents divorced in 1964 and his mother re-married shortly afterwards relocating them to Indonesia. His father died in a car accident in 1982 in Kenya. Barack returned to Hawaii when he was 10 and lived with his maternal grandparents. His mother spent most of her time in Indonesia but moved back to Hawaii in 1994. She died of cancer in 1995.

Everyone knows he went to Harvard to study law but before this, he studied at a school in L.A. for two years before going to Columbia University where he received his B.A. in political science. At Harvard, he became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, and if this were a very cheesy PBS documentary, I would end that sentence with, “Foreshadowing his precedence in Washington.” But of course, being the first black president of anything would garner him media attention and this led to his book deal, Dreams from My Father. He did a lot of business stuff (if I went into detail, you would stop reading if you haven’t already) before lecturing at University of Chicago Law for 12 years. His law license expired in 2002 (and people keep telling me to renew my driver’s license).

Now onto the good stuff! His political career began in 1996 when he was elected to the Illinois Senate in Illinois’ 13th District and became well known for his bipartisanship I got marks taken off my essay for writing this about Bush, I don’t think my liberal professors would dock me anything for this one. In 2002, he ran for the U.S. Senate, enlisting David Axelrod (it’s an important name) to help him, and won with 70% of the vote. He wasn’t the first black senator but was the 5th, which doesn’t mean much to him except the fact that only FIVE African-Americans have been elected to the senate in all of its history. I would go into the many awesome things he’s done as senator but none of that really matters so let’s move on.

On February 10th, 2007 in Springfield Illinois, the halfer from Hawaii announced his candidacy at the same place Abraham Lincoln gave his “House Divided” speech in 1858. Fast forward to November 4th, 2008 when Democratic Nominee Barack Obama defeated Republican Nominee John McCain 365 to 173 electoral votes (I’m not putting the number of people who voted for each person because as we’ve learned in 2000, the popular vote means nothing). After an amazing speech at Grant Park, Chicago surrounded by 10 feet high bulletproof glass, the 44th President of the United States of America was decided.

Hopefully, after almost 500 words you’ve learned something about the president-elect. What has he been doing since Election Day and will be doing until Inauguration Day January 20th? He’s been announcing his cabinet/Team Awesome with names such as Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Senior Adviser David Axelrod (remember him?). That’s all unimportant because right now he’s enjoying a nice little holiday in Hawaii looking like this: (My Xmas presents to you)

Gift Number One

Gift Number Two

Gift Number Three

Don't feel guilty for enjoying those pictures; he's the one who's flaunting it. I hope those pictures have made up for my lack of posting =) Until next time, Ciao!

- Franny.

True Fans

Since there's no news of any kind I'm just gonna rant.

As I was watching the later stages of the Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors game on TV, I heard an unusual sound from the fans at the ACC when superstar Chris Bosh touched the ball, it wasn't the cheers I was used to hearing or the chants of "M-V-P," he was being booed by his home fans. At first I was confused and thought maybe the Raps were playing in Dallas but sure enough it was the "loyal" ACC fans that were booing the only high profile player in the whole city of Toronto from any sport (except for maybe Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay).

The so-called die hard Raptors fans, are Not true fans. The only reason they probably even watch basketball is 'cause the Leafs suck ass and always will, at least the Raptors are good. However this isn't uncommon in the world of sports, Roberto Luongo was booed by the Canucks faithful at Trevor Linden's retirement ceremony!!, on many occasions home fans will boo and slander the players they believe are the best because they simply are having a bad game or season (i.e. Markus Naslund, Vince Carter, A.J. Burnett, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Vince Young etc...).

Even the best players can't produce great numbers game after game or season after season, they are humans just like the fans, they get tired (probably more so than normal people) and they get old.

However, what the ACC fans did to CB4 was uncalled for and unjust because he has been producing good numbers and is averaging personal bests in almost every category this season, plus he is the heart and soul of the Raptors and has carried them on his shoulders since he was 19 and Vince Carter left the Raps without an identity. Not only is he the best player but he is also the most humble and works harder than anybody on the Raps and has huge responsibilities outside of basketball in the Dallas (where he grew up) and Toronto communities through: NBA Cares, Read to Achieve, Chris Bosh Foundation etc...

The ACC fans should learn from CB4 who has actually been loyal to the franchise he could have went for more money or to a much better team when he was a free agent in 2006 but he stayed with the Raps (he donated $1 Million the day of his signing to local charities in Toronto), but with his contract expiring in 2010 many GMs of other teams are salivating at the thought of getting him on their teams especially the Atlantic Division rival New York Knicks who will have enough money in 2010 to sign marketing icon and superstar LeBron James and he might invite his good friend Chris Bosh to join him in going to the Knicks as they will have the money to pay both of them and Madison Square Garden and the city of New York are considered to be the Mecca of basketball.

To stop this from happening the Raptors fans must be that, true fans, and support the team through the bad times and not just the good times because if you make Chris Bosh feel unwelcome and unappreciated I'm sure the Knicks faithful will have no problem accepting him and his Double-Double (10+ points per game and 10+ rebounds per game) average with open arms. If that happens and the Raps lose arguably the best Raptor ever the Raps won't have a Chris Bosh like player to fall back on and hand the franchise to 'cause no one on that team comes even close to being young (he's only 23) and an all-star. The T-Dot can't fuck this up 'cause the franchise will be crippled and they'll be relegated to the painful task of watching the Leafs (that name is grammatically incorrect, cocky Torontonians) lose night in and night out.

I mean how can you not love CB4 check the vids,

CB4 on Leno



This one's CB4 in his early years as a Raptor, sorry 'bout the music but it does go with the vid,



Peace and Much Love To Ya

Where There's A Will...

Will Smith is by far the biggest star in Hollywood, the only person who can even come near him is Johnny Depp and its a bigger gap than one might think. Every movie that Smith stars in becomes a box office hit and achieves well over $100 million at the gates, but he has never won an Oscar. Everyone knows Will Smith can play the funny guy and smile on cue but can he act? the answer is yes and he's a damn good at it. He first was introduced to audiences as a gay con asrtist in the 1993 flick, Six Degrees of Seperation but he got no recognition he later moved on to do Bad Boys and the sitcom, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where he gained a reputation as a great comedic/action star.

It wasn't till 2001 when he did the biopic Ali and played the icon, the legend, the one who floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee, that Smith was regarded as a serious actor (he even put on 20 pounds of muscle to get to Ali's weight, in his prime, of 220 lbs) but he still didn't win the Oscar, though he was at least nominated this time. (Denzel Washington won for his role in Training Day)

However he fell back into what produced the big money and did the movies: Men in Black II, Bad Boys II, I Robot, Shark Tale, and Hitch. While these movies were all in there own way entertaining (and did huge at the box office) they weren't all that serious roles except for maybe I Robot where Will Smith showed he had a darker side to him rather than the bubbly, always smiling actor we were used to.

In 2006 Smith took his acting to a whole new level in the biopic Pursuit of Happyness, where he played the true gutter-to-corner office story of Chris Gardener. Smith showed a wide range of emotions in his acting and the audience was taken through heartache and finally hope at the end. Again Smith was nominated for Best Actor but lost to Forest Whitaker this time. Smith followed up the Pursuit of Happyness with I am Legend the following year and although he was good his performance wasn't Oscar worthy and he was not nominated.

2008 is now coming to a close and Will Smith still doesn't have that Oscar on his mantlepiece but it may finally be his time to win and I'm not talking about his role in Hancock. In Smith's new movie Seven Pounds he once again collaborates with Gabriele Muccino (director of Pursuit of Happyness) and delivers a stunning performance, this movie showed Will Smith at his best as he had the audience on the edge of their seats the whole time and ultimately had them in tears at the end (I was teary I must admit). The movie has faced mixed reviews so far but Will Smith was solid and opened up his range of acting more than ever before but will he win the Oscar? Only time can tell but for now he's ruling the box office and he is the king of Hollywood, Oscar or not.

Peace and Much Love To Ya