This is a Recap of Boardwalk Empire Episode 2, “The Ivory Tower”, originally airing September 26, 2010. If you thought the first episode was Olde Timey Gangstery, then hoo boy, you were correct in that evaluation.
Episode 2 of the ‘Walks picks up with Nucky getting a visit from the resident prohibition agent, the joyless, no-nonsense, no-sympathies, yes-hat Agent Van Alden:
Live-Action Rex Banner isn’t buying Nucky’s explanation that Hans Schroder, the baker’s assistant with one minor arrest 10 years ago, mastermined the previous week’s gangster mass-murder, and shrugs off Nucky’s shady offer to speak with the sheriff, Brother McIncahoots. We find out later that the agent isn’t just mad at Nucky but also generally joyless, evidenced when he writes this unromantic letter to his wife:
Van Alden returns to his supervisor with the series-establishing line that compared to Arnold Rothstein, Nucky Thompson is the “much bigger fish.” Congratulations – you watched the opening credits.
After the jump, Al Capone beats a reporter, then some not the most famous gangster ever gangsters do some other gangster stuff:
Meanwhile in Chicago, we open on the giant funeral procession for Big Jim Colosimo, the gangster who got shot in the face last episode for playing a record real loud. Press agents hound the pallbearers asking Johnny Torrio if he was involved in the murder, and I don’t know who he is because seriously this show has like ninety characters right now. But his companion, Al Capone — easy to remember! — shrugs the reporters off all Al-Caponelike.
Later, a reporter comes to Capone in a speakeasy asking him to give a statement about the murder, and Al gives him the statement “Hey I am hitting you with this bottle”:
Having Al Capone in the show really helps things, because he’s super famous and you never forget which character he is. Every character should be someone really famous. Jimmy? He should be Teddy Roosevelt. Rothstein should be Charlie Chaplin. And Margaret is Abe Lincoln. Not should be – she is Abe Lincoln. That’s the subtext I got from this episode. Just wait a few more weeks, it’ll be revealed.
Speaking of Rothstein, he’s surprisingly uncool with Nucky stealing his own liquor shipment and selling it to Chicago, and demands $100,000 to cover the damages, which in the 20s was literally 9 trillion dollars. Nucky’s like “Go buzz off like Ruth Buzzi!” That was the most vulgar insult back then.
Rothstein takes his frustration out by interrogating the guy who shot Big Jim with a really badass story about making a dude choke to death on a cue ball. But my guess is he’s gonna let the murder slide and let the 100 grand slide then go buy a slip n’ slide and slide down it.
Margaret is recovering in the hospital by reading Henry James’ The Ivory Tower — titular line! — and gets a visit from Nucky’s brother Eli, who shadily gives her money to ensure that she won’t deny her husband’s involvement in the gang shooting:
In other financial matters, Nucky demands that Jimmy pay him the $3,000 from his share that he was shorted. Sidenote: Gangsters are always shorting each other money, aren’t they? Here’s my impression of a gangster: “You shorted me, where’s my money, see? I’m a gangster!” That line was originally gonna be the title of this show.
Jimmy gets the money by selling his mother’s necklace that he was originally gonna give as a gift to a showgirl [Correction: That showgirl WAS his mother - thanks, commenters!] — seriously, so many humans filmed in this thing — and hands the cash to Nucky, who immediately loses the whole amount on one roulette spin. Burn! Gonna take Jimmy a lot of Fatty Arbuckle watching to get over that one.
Also, Jimmy and his wife are having sex and their kid is right next to them and wakes up. Zuh?
In general, pretty solid second episode of the ‘Walks (gonna keep calling it that because it sounds so uncool), even if it was basically a “react to stuff last week, set up stuff for coming weeks” transition episode, and not a traditional television “things happening” episode. I dealt with Lost for like 15 years, these things don’t bother me anymore; it’s like once you’ve been on a 14 hour flight, you no longer get restless on 5 hour flights. Especially if those flights crash and cause time mysteries.
Much has been made over Steve Buscemi’s role in this series — my colleague Alex Zalben called him the show’s central problem – but I’m still torn on the casting decision. On one hand, it’s a different role for Buscemi, and his alternately reserved and passionate demeanor is both unpredictable and interesting, if a bit uneven. On the other hand, though, part of me wishes HBO had gone with a semi-newcomer in the lead role, giving someone the chance to really inherit the role independently of their own notoriety, like James Gandolfini in The Sopranos, Ian McShane in Deadwood, or Mrs. Blankenship in Mad Men. Or just straight up given the role to Mrs. Blankenship.
That about wraps up the recap for this week. Oh also, some boardwalk guy was trying to sleep with a 19-year-old and she finally was giving him an HJ in the car and a dying guy stumbled onto the road and scared them. Also, Nucky is giving Mickey Doyle’s business to Chalky White, because his name is even more olde timey. Also the prohibition agent stole Margaret’s ribbon and was sniffing it.
…The f*ck?
Boardwalk Empire episode thoughts? Series thoughts? Evaluations/predictions? Favorite/least favorite parts? Buscemi feedback? Leave it in the comments.
One of the great things about flying first class is that you often get to meet some interesting people. During the early eighties, I found myself on a flight from Los Angles to New York sitting next to an unknown, aspiring, young director named Oliver Stone, who was on his way to pitch a new film idea to potential investors.
Over six hours I enjoyed one of the most interesting conversations of my career, covering jungle combat in Vietnam, the ins and outs of movie making, and the harsh realities of Hollywood style accounting. The movie he was pitching turned out to be the 1987 industry cult classic, Wall Street.
The film sparked one of the greatest guessing games of all time, with everyone attempting to identify the real people behind the fictional characters. The villain, Gordon Gekko, was easy. That was Ivan Boesky, a risk arbitrageur who became the target of one of the first high profile insider trading case. Other links with reality were more obscure, and many real life traders on the floor of the NYSE simply played themselves as extras.
In the sequel, it is much easier to play who’s who, thanks to the financial crash that seems like was happening only yesterday. Gordon Gekko, released from federal prison, this time turns into legendary hedge fund manager John Paulson, whose character turns $100 million into $1.2 billion in a matter of months through buying up cheap credit default swaps on subprime debt. Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner are easy to pick out in a crucial meeting at the New York Fed. The chairman of “Keller Zabel” (Bear Stearns), one “Louis Zabel” (Ace Greenberg), throws himself in front of a train on the Lexington line. Well, this is fiction, after all. The $2 dollar/share sale price gave it all away.
Many people played themselves. The whole CNBC crowd was there, their descriptions of the crash so realistic that I thought it might be archival footage. So were Warren Buffet, Nouriel Roubini, Jim Chanos, and other notables. In fact, Chanos managed to get Stone to change the original script, switching the bad guy role from a hedge fund to Goldman Sachs (GS), known as “Churchill Schwartz,” as it should be. They are easily identified as the Wall Street firm that took out a big short in housing debt just before the crash.
Shia Labeouf does an outstanding job playing Jake Moore, an aggressive, razor sharp, earnest young investment banker. I have known so many like him over the years, both working for me and at competitors, that his performance really rung true. Michael Douglas, who has aged dramatically, seemed to be simply replaying the same role that he has in countless earlier films. To understand their characters, several actors opened up online trading accounts and did quite well in the market, with Shia alone reportedly booking some $20,000 in profits.
There are a few minor flaws in the film. It could have used more editing. There is a mention of “50% leverage” of subprime debt, when the correct figure was 50 times. The Chinese government investor doesn’t act like a real person from the People’s Republic, but as an American with a bad accent. No one has yet figures out the true meaning of Eli Wallach’s repeated bird calls.
In this incredibly target rich environment, Stone seems to take aim at so many enemies, That even an insider myself got confused. However, these are trivial complaints. If you want to have a hoot, go see the film, but expect to provide a simultaneous translation about all of the different instruments and strategies if you bring any non financial types with you.
Not wanting to spoil the ending, I’ll say no more, except that you can buy the original wall Street movie from Amazon by clicking here at http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Charlie-Sheen/dp/B00003CXDB/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1285432060&sr=1-2
And thanks to Oliver’s advice, I never got involved in financially backing a film project, despite countless invitations to do. It was the best trade I never did.
To see the data, charts, and graphs that support this research piece, as well as more iconoclastic and out-of-consensus analysis, please visit me at www.madhedgefundtrader.com . There, you will find the conventional wisdom mercilessly flailed and tortured daily, and my last two years of research reports available for free. You can also listen to me on Hedge Fund Radio by clicking on “This Week on Hedge Fund Radio” in the upper right corner of my home page.
<b>News</b> Corp. Donates $1 Million to U.S. Chamber of Commerce <b>...</b>
The donation is the News Corporation's second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year.
Denver Broncos <b>News</b> - Horse Tracks - 10/02/10 - Mile High Report
Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .... Horse Tracks!
Small Business <b>News</b>: Management 101
Is management ability something you're born with or can it be learned through careful study? Just as there can be many kinds of small business owners and many.
bench craft company rip off
bench craft company rip off
<b>News</b> Corp. Donates $1 Million to U.S. Chamber of Commerce <b>...</b>
The donation is the News Corporation's second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year.
Denver Broncos <b>News</b> - Horse Tracks - 10/02/10 - Mile High Report
Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .... Horse Tracks!
Small Business <b>News</b>: Management 101
Is management ability something you're born with or can it be learned through careful study? Just as there can be many kinds of small business owners and many.
bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off
This is a Recap of Boardwalk Empire Episode 2, “The Ivory Tower”, originally airing September 26, 2010. If you thought the first episode was Olde Timey Gangstery, then hoo boy, you were correct in that evaluation.
Episode 2 of the ‘Walks picks up with Nucky getting a visit from the resident prohibition agent, the joyless, no-nonsense, no-sympathies, yes-hat Agent Van Alden:
Live-Action Rex Banner isn’t buying Nucky’s explanation that Hans Schroder, the baker’s assistant with one minor arrest 10 years ago, mastermined the previous week’s gangster mass-murder, and shrugs off Nucky’s shady offer to speak with the sheriff, Brother McIncahoots. We find out later that the agent isn’t just mad at Nucky but also generally joyless, evidenced when he writes this unromantic letter to his wife:
Van Alden returns to his supervisor with the series-establishing line that compared to Arnold Rothstein, Nucky Thompson is the “much bigger fish.” Congratulations – you watched the opening credits.
After the jump, Al Capone beats a reporter, then some not the most famous gangster ever gangsters do some other gangster stuff:
Meanwhile in Chicago, we open on the giant funeral procession for Big Jim Colosimo, the gangster who got shot in the face last episode for playing a record real loud. Press agents hound the pallbearers asking Johnny Torrio if he was involved in the murder, and I don’t know who he is because seriously this show has like ninety characters right now. But his companion, Al Capone — easy to remember! — shrugs the reporters off all Al-Caponelike.
Later, a reporter comes to Capone in a speakeasy asking him to give a statement about the murder, and Al gives him the statement “Hey I am hitting you with this bottle”:
Having Al Capone in the show really helps things, because he’s super famous and you never forget which character he is. Every character should be someone really famous. Jimmy? He should be Teddy Roosevelt. Rothstein should be Charlie Chaplin. And Margaret is Abe Lincoln. Not should be – she is Abe Lincoln. That’s the subtext I got from this episode. Just wait a few more weeks, it’ll be revealed.
Speaking of Rothstein, he’s surprisingly uncool with Nucky stealing his own liquor shipment and selling it to Chicago, and demands $100,000 to cover the damages, which in the 20s was literally 9 trillion dollars. Nucky’s like “Go buzz off like Ruth Buzzi!” That was the most vulgar insult back then.
Rothstein takes his frustration out by interrogating the guy who shot Big Jim with a really badass story about making a dude choke to death on a cue ball. But my guess is he’s gonna let the murder slide and let the 100 grand slide then go buy a slip n’ slide and slide down it.
Margaret is recovering in the hospital by reading Henry James’ The Ivory Tower — titular line! — and gets a visit from Nucky’s brother Eli, who shadily gives her money to ensure that she won’t deny her husband’s involvement in the gang shooting:
In other financial matters, Nucky demands that Jimmy pay him the $3,000 from his share that he was shorted. Sidenote: Gangsters are always shorting each other money, aren’t they? Here’s my impression of a gangster: “You shorted me, where’s my money, see? I’m a gangster!” That line was originally gonna be the title of this show.
Jimmy gets the money by selling his mother’s necklace that he was originally gonna give as a gift to a showgirl [Correction: That showgirl WAS his mother - thanks, commenters!] — seriously, so many humans filmed in this thing — and hands the cash to Nucky, who immediately loses the whole amount on one roulette spin. Burn! Gonna take Jimmy a lot of Fatty Arbuckle watching to get over that one.
Also, Jimmy and his wife are having sex and their kid is right next to them and wakes up. Zuh?
In general, pretty solid second episode of the ‘Walks (gonna keep calling it that because it sounds so uncool), even if it was basically a “react to stuff last week, set up stuff for coming weeks” transition episode, and not a traditional television “things happening” episode. I dealt with Lost for like 15 years, these things don’t bother me anymore; it’s like once you’ve been on a 14 hour flight, you no longer get restless on 5 hour flights. Especially if those flights crash and cause time mysteries.
Much has been made over Steve Buscemi’s role in this series — my colleague Alex Zalben called him the show’s central problem – but I’m still torn on the casting decision. On one hand, it’s a different role for Buscemi, and his alternately reserved and passionate demeanor is both unpredictable and interesting, if a bit uneven. On the other hand, though, part of me wishes HBO had gone with a semi-newcomer in the lead role, giving someone the chance to really inherit the role independently of their own notoriety, like James Gandolfini in The Sopranos, Ian McShane in Deadwood, or Mrs. Blankenship in Mad Men. Or just straight up given the role to Mrs. Blankenship.
That about wraps up the recap for this week. Oh also, some boardwalk guy was trying to sleep with a 19-year-old and she finally was giving him an HJ in the car and a dying guy stumbled onto the road and scared them. Also, Nucky is giving Mickey Doyle’s business to Chalky White, because his name is even more olde timey. Also the prohibition agent stole Margaret’s ribbon and was sniffing it.
…The f*ck?
Boardwalk Empire episode thoughts? Series thoughts? Evaluations/predictions? Favorite/least favorite parts? Buscemi feedback? Leave it in the comments.
One of the great things about flying first class is that you often get to meet some interesting people. During the early eighties, I found myself on a flight from Los Angles to New York sitting next to an unknown, aspiring, young director named Oliver Stone, who was on his way to pitch a new film idea to potential investors.
Over six hours I enjoyed one of the most interesting conversations of my career, covering jungle combat in Vietnam, the ins and outs of movie making, and the harsh realities of Hollywood style accounting. The movie he was pitching turned out to be the 1987 industry cult classic, Wall Street.
The film sparked one of the greatest guessing games of all time, with everyone attempting to identify the real people behind the fictional characters. The villain, Gordon Gekko, was easy. That was Ivan Boesky, a risk arbitrageur who became the target of one of the first high profile insider trading case. Other links with reality were more obscure, and many real life traders on the floor of the NYSE simply played themselves as extras.
In the sequel, it is much easier to play who’s who, thanks to the financial crash that seems like was happening only yesterday. Gordon Gekko, released from federal prison, this time turns into legendary hedge fund manager John Paulson, whose character turns $100 million into $1.2 billion in a matter of months through buying up cheap credit default swaps on subprime debt. Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner are easy to pick out in a crucial meeting at the New York Fed. The chairman of “Keller Zabel” (Bear Stearns), one “Louis Zabel” (Ace Greenberg), throws himself in front of a train on the Lexington line. Well, this is fiction, after all. The $2 dollar/share sale price gave it all away.
Many people played themselves. The whole CNBC crowd was there, their descriptions of the crash so realistic that I thought it might be archival footage. So were Warren Buffet, Nouriel Roubini, Jim Chanos, and other notables. In fact, Chanos managed to get Stone to change the original script, switching the bad guy role from a hedge fund to Goldman Sachs (GS), known as “Churchill Schwartz,” as it should be. They are easily identified as the Wall Street firm that took out a big short in housing debt just before the crash.
Shia Labeouf does an outstanding job playing Jake Moore, an aggressive, razor sharp, earnest young investment banker. I have known so many like him over the years, both working for me and at competitors, that his performance really rung true. Michael Douglas, who has aged dramatically, seemed to be simply replaying the same role that he has in countless earlier films. To understand their characters, several actors opened up online trading accounts and did quite well in the market, with Shia alone reportedly booking some $20,000 in profits.
There are a few minor flaws in the film. It could have used more editing. There is a mention of “50% leverage” of subprime debt, when the correct figure was 50 times. The Chinese government investor doesn’t act like a real person from the People’s Republic, but as an American with a bad accent. No one has yet figures out the true meaning of Eli Wallach’s repeated bird calls.
In this incredibly target rich environment, Stone seems to take aim at so many enemies, That even an insider myself got confused. However, these are trivial complaints. If you want to have a hoot, go see the film, but expect to provide a simultaneous translation about all of the different instruments and strategies if you bring any non financial types with you.
Not wanting to spoil the ending, I’ll say no more, except that you can buy the original wall Street movie from Amazon by clicking here at http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Charlie-Sheen/dp/B00003CXDB/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1285432060&sr=1-2
And thanks to Oliver’s advice, I never got involved in financially backing a film project, despite countless invitations to do. It was the best trade I never did.
To see the data, charts, and graphs that support this research piece, as well as more iconoclastic and out-of-consensus analysis, please visit me at www.madhedgefundtrader.com . There, you will find the conventional wisdom mercilessly flailed and tortured daily, and my last two years of research reports available for free. You can also listen to me on Hedge Fund Radio by clicking on “This Week on Hedge Fund Radio” in the upper right corner of my home page.
bench craft company rip off
<b>News</b> Corp. Donates $1 Million to U.S. Chamber of Commerce <b>...</b>
The donation is the News Corporation's second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year.
Denver Broncos <b>News</b> - Horse Tracks - 10/02/10 - Mile High Report
Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .... Horse Tracks!
Small Business <b>News</b>: Management 101
Is management ability something you're born with or can it be learned through careful study? Just as there can be many kinds of small business owners and many.
bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off
<b>News</b> Corp. Donates $1 Million to U.S. Chamber of Commerce <b>...</b>
The donation is the News Corporation's second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year.
Denver Broncos <b>News</b> - Horse Tracks - 10/02/10 - Mile High Report
Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .... Horse Tracks!
Small Business <b>News</b>: Management 101
Is management ability something you're born with or can it be learned through careful study? Just as there can be many kinds of small business owners and many.
bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off
<b>News</b> Corp. Donates $1 Million to U.S. Chamber of Commerce <b>...</b>
The donation is the News Corporation's second known contribution to a group that is advertising heavily to support Republicans this year.
Denver Broncos <b>News</b> - Horse Tracks - 10/02/10 - Mile High Report
Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .... Horse Tracks!
Small Business <b>News</b>: Management 101
Is management ability something you're born with or can it be learned through careful study? Just as there can be many kinds of small business owners and many.
bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off
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