Extra Credit Reading

Just want to hip you to this week's "New Yorker", the "Money Issue".

There's so much good shit here, I almost couldn't turn out the light last night.

Start with Tad Friend's article on Nikki Finke, "Call Me ” Why Hollywood Fears Nikki Finke". Not only are Ms. Finke's personality and working agenda delineated, you learn how the movie business truly operates. Stay in until Joel Silver leaks Joel Robinov's sexist comment and then says that maybe they both might have made it. Wow, such duplicity is not evidenced in the realm of ordinary households. When that executive lies to you, know that your mind is not playing tricks, it's truly an untruth. Like the President of a major label who told me the quote I read from a ubiquitous rock star in a London paper was untrue, even though, of course, it was real. Damn, if say it's so, it is!

When you're done reading about Ms. Finke, and her petty wars with Patrick Goldstein, who knew everybody took this stuff so seriously...

Oh wait, I almost forgot the most significant point!

It's not about movies.

One of Ms. Finke's favorites is "Legally Blonde".

Nikki doesn't care about movies, she cares about power.

And if you think David Geffen isn't all about power, read through to his quote. Wow. I can't tell you how many phone calls I've gotten from people wherein King David has...

So when you sit home and complain that the labels aren't about music and the movies suck, know that you're right!

Then read the story on Google.

I've got to quote this one passage, it's priceless:

"Diller was disconcerted that Page, even as they talked, stared fixedly at the screen of his P.D.A. 'It's one thing if you're in a room with twenty people and someone is using his P.D.A.,' Diller recalled. 'I said to Larry, "Is this boring?"'

'No. I'm interested. I always do this,' Page said.

'Well, you can't do this,' Diller said. 'Choose'.

'I'll do this,' Page said matter of factly, not lifting his eyes from his hand-held device.

'So I talked to Sergey,' Dillerr said. 'I left thinking that more than most people they were wildly self-possessed.' Later, Diller said, he came to think that what might be construed as rudeness was also purpose."

There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear. But nobody from the old guard, nobody with money, no one whose picture appears in the society pages of the "New York Times", treats Barry Diller that way. But Larry Page of Google did.

They say that the younger generation can't focus. Bullshit. They just don't want to waste time in a world where there's more information than you can ever graze.

And then there's David Owen's article on executive compensation. Turns out the expert, Nell Minow, says regulation is the wrong strategy. It's about shareholder power, to penetrate the CEO-controlled boards.

Whew!

The article about the guy who's got the market analyzed based on pi is fascinating too, and I've just started reading about Obama's economic advisers...

Pick up the physical magazine, it's the October 12th issue.

But you can read the Nikki Finke article online here: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/12/091012fa_fact_friend

Whilst the public is entertained by the gossip circus, while people are anesthetized by TV, those in power rule absolutely. Read this issue of the "New Yorker" if you want to know how the game is played.