Here we are once again. The four year presidential election is nye upon us. I’m at a loss for writing anything about how this cycle is, shall we say, unusual. No matter which side you’re on, or on neither side, or are not sure. We can always count on the cinema to provide a retreat […]
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Career Opportunity for a Mobile Professional
June 20, 2016 
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Project Manager, Mobile Applications Apply Here. Discover. A more rewarding way to work. At Discover Financial Services, you’ll find yourself in the company of some of the industry’s smartest and most reliable professionals. And at a company that rewards dedication, values innovation and supports growth. Thrive in an environment that promotes teamwork and shared success. […]
Continue readingMy 2016 Oscar Picks
February 28, 2016 1 Comment
The Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will will hold their 88th award ceremony Sunday, February 28th. I will not be discussing the over indexing of whiteness among the nominees, except to say it is something that certainly needs to be addressed. My interest here lies in the films, filmmakers and artists that were nominated by the Academy. 2015 brought us a raft […]
Continue readingThe Stakes are High in The Big Short
December 31, 2015 0 Comments
Adam McKay’s take on the bestseller by Michael Lewis is an investigative romp leading up to the financial meltdown that began in 2007. It’s full of colorful characters and even more colorful language. Mr. McKay uses voiceover and direct talking into an always moving, manic camera. He intercuts images, sounds and liberal use of the close-up […]
Continue reading“The Martian” and his Earthlings
October 16, 2015 0 Comments
Mars has long been the muse to writers, scientists and moviemakers. A wikipedia search for “films about Mars” will yield a page that lists 66 titles although many of them were television shows. The most common plot line that emerges when Mars and Earth are in the same script turns out to be mostly bad for Earthlings. We often […]
Continue readingThe Walk
October 4, 2015 0 Comments
Robert Zemeckis has given us The Back to the Future trilogy, Forrest Gump, Contact, Cast Away and Flight. These are formidable works that strike a cultural nerve and straddle past, present and future. Indeed, Mr. Zemeckis has a way of transporting us across the space-time continuum with flair and style. He weaves humanism into his stories of adventure, […]
Continue readingVinyl Makes a Comeback
October 3, 2015 0 Comments
I used to be the owner of about 2,000 vinyl, long playing (LP) albums. Also known as records. As the 5″ optical disc (CD) grew in popularity, my CD collection followed suit and I began to pass along my albums to friends or sell them at garage sales. Slowly my music collection went from 12″ discs to […]
Continue readingSeptember 11, 2015
September 10, 2015 0 Comments
Today, September 11th, we will relive that nightmarish day of 2001. We will relive it no matter how hard we try to suppress it. We will read the stories and blogs. Call family and friends. See the photos, yet again. And replay that footage over and over. What I will remember most about that day and […]
Continue readingOliver Sacks: June 9, 1933 – August 30, 2015 – Some People Can’t be Replaced
August 31, 2015 0 Comments
Oliver Sacks mattered much more than most people will ever know. He is not a household name, so here’s some background. Oliver Sacks was born in London and educated at Oxford, California and New York. He was a professor of clinical neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and author of numerous books, including Awakenings (1990) […]
Continue readingDip Your Chip Card like a Boss!
April 25, 2015 0 Comments
Change is Only as Hard as One Makes it It’s so very hard to change the behavior of a population as large as the U.S. Previously-held beliefs, resistance to change and just sheer inertia are but a few of the many forces that keep people on their current track. Marketers love to try to change […]
Continue readingReview: Logitech Harmony Smart Control Universal Remote
April 4, 2015 0 Comments
It’s been a thorny problem for years. Numerous electronics devices purchased across different eras mashed together to create your home entertainment system with no simple way to integrate or control them. To connect the components you first need to navigate the maze of cables, inputs, outputs and converters. This is not an easy chore as there are […]
Continue readingRadio Shack Nurtured a Culture of Everyday Technology
February 7, 2015 1 Comment
We knew it was only a matter of time. We just didn’t know how much time. It appears as if that long dreaded day has arrived. By “it” I mean Radio Shack filing for bankruptcy. Radio Shack has been a staple on 4,000 American streets for decades. It was founded in 1921 by the Deutschmann brothers and was […]
Continue readingDecoding The Imitation Game: It Wasn’t Hard
December 27, 2014 0 Comments
The Movie The Imitation Game Delivers and Disappoints I was drawn to this film because of my keen interest in history and technology. During WWII Germany created The Enigma machine that coded and then uncoded messages to their military machine around the world via radio signals. The communications carried intelligence and war strategy directions, and […]
Continue readingAppreciation: A Tribute to Poet Mark Strand
December 4, 2014 0 Comments
Mark Strand April 11, 1934 — November 29, 2014 I first met Mark Strand in 1995 on a visit to small apartment in Hyde Park, a Chicago south side neighborhood. He was in town for the summer to conduct a master class in poetry at the University of Chicago and staying with a friend. My purpose […]
Continue readingMoney 2020 Part 3 of 3: Tech Crime Takes Off
December 2, 2014 0 Comments
One of the most fascinating aspects of Money for me was sessions on fraud, security and of course hacking. I attended a keynote by Marc Goodman who started as a law enforcement officer in Los Angeles. He has been studying criminal behavior for years and has paired that knowledge with technology and of course the […]
Continue readingInterstellar Extends Life as we Know it, Maybe
November 29, 2014 0 Comments
It takes a while to get into the flow of Interstellar, Christopher Nolan’s latest film odyssey. But that’s not a problem because with a running time of 2 hours and 49 minutes you don’t need to be in a hurry. Mr. Nolan combines a number of narratives and even more visuals into a celestial maze […]
Continue readingMoney 2020: Part 2 of 3: Mobile Payments and Crypto Currencies
November 28, 2014 0 Comments
At the close of day one my head was spinning. I managed to avoid all the trappings and temptations of Vegas and made it to my room at an early hour to review my notes and prepare for the next day. I chose to focus on two topics, Mobile payments and Crypto Currencies. Apple Pay […]
Continue readingMoney 2020: The Future of Currency and Payments: Part 1 of 3
November 25, 2014 1 Comment
I attended the Money 2020 conference in Las Vegas this November. It’s a gathering of over 7,500 financial and technology professionals from over 60 countries. Essentially we all talk about the innovation of money and payments, both of which are undergoing unprecedented disruption. It was the forum’s 4th year but my first and I found it […]
Continue reading“i” is for Jobs, “A” is for Cook, and Other Thoughts about Time
September 14, 2014 0 Comments
Two days after the big Apple announcement event in Cupertino I’m was just beginning to digest all of the content. One of the things that hit home was subtle, meaningful and very much Apple. Amidst the hundreds of rumors and musings about what would be coming, the iWatch and a wallet of some sort were […]
Continue readingThe Counselor (Unrated and Extended Version) – Film Review
July 28, 2014 2 Comments
I first saw The Counselor when it was released in 2013. I was attracted to it because of the strong cast (Brad Pitt, Javier Bardhem, Cameron Diaz and Michael Fassbender), a solid director in Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy as the screenwriter. Mr. McCarthy has reached esteemed status as a novelist and his screen adaption […]
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