Monday, December 2, 2002

Is This Still Supposedly Fun? Yet another cruise ship full of (let's see... what description could I use that won't get me accused of New York elitism?) dopes has returned to port sicker than they left. Though I've never been on a cruise myself, I have read David Foster Wallace's hilarious, detailed, and ultimately damning essay on them, "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," and I'm astonished that all cruises don't end that way. 7:09:08 PM     What do you think? ()

Isn't This Prostitution Rather Than Marriage? ITV says: Jennifer Lopez has presented her husband to be with a pre-nuptial bombshell, according to reports. Jen is said to be so determined to make her third marriage to Ben Affleck work that she wants to slap a £5 million fine on him if he strays. Other items on the list are said to include a demand for sex at least four times a week and a £1 million fine for lying. Halle Berry can't find a husband who won't cheat on her and Jennifer Lopez needs contractual guarantees of sex? I'm embarrassed on behalf of my gender. 6:50:15 PM     What do you think? ()

Do You Get Your Daily Lesson in the Moral ABC of All-One? In our shower, just below eye level, we have two bottles of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, just like characters from an R. Crumb cartoon. I wonder if starting every day reading those labels has some effect on my mental and emotional health. 8:29:58 AM     What do you think? ()

Why Won't Dick Parsons Return the Beans and Get His Cow Back? Eric points out a New York Times article about more foolishness by senior AOL Time Warner management: Several Wall Street buyout firms approached AOL Time Warner earlier this year about the possibility of acquiring its flagship online unit but were rebuffed, according to executives close to the discussions. It seems that Parsons et al are clinging to the notion that there is some synergy to be had here like grim death: Mr. Parsons and other executives have said that owning the service would benefit AOL Time Warner's other media and entertainment business, while connections to those business would help AOL. A spokesman for AOL Time Warner refused to comment on the efforts of the buyout firms, which were reported in Newsweek magazine, in the issue that reaches newsstands today. He said the company was not selling AOL and that tomorrow, the company will give Wall Street an update on its plans to overhaul the business. Mr. Parsons has said that the company would seek to bolster its balance sheet, possibly by selling ancillary units. Time Warner's stock price reached about $100 prior to the merger and would now, more than a year later, be somewhere around $24. It's very difficult to imagine how owning AOL has benefitted Time Warner's businesses. AOL is an ancillary unit whose contribution to AOL Time Warner's stock price is currently negative. If someone wants to give AOL Time Warner actual value for that "asset," and thereby reverse the worst decision ever made by Time Warner management, senior management has a responsibility to its shareholders to seriously consider such offers rather than dismiss them out of hand in some faint hope of eventual personal vindication. 8:18:37 AM     What do you think? ()

© Copyright 2003 Morgan N. Sandquist. Last update: 11/2/03; 10:31:37 AM.

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