Lazy Man and Money

Finovate, Pop Culture, and Personal Finance Links

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The big news this week is that it is Finovate Spring. For those who don’t know what it is, it is a conference with a number of financial companies (usually start-ups) demoing their products. This is where the Mints get born for example. It’s a two conference, Tuesday and Wednesday, and I hope to live blog a large portion of it. I stress the word hope, because it moves along really fast. Demos are usually kept to some ridiculous time like 5 minutes when the projector is timed to shut off. Net Banker, who organizes Finovate, doesn’t mess around. There seems to be 64 companies presenting, though I noticed that a number are ones that you as a consumer are not likely to care about. One company who makes plastics for credit cards wanted to know if I wanted to interview their CEO. (I passed.) So that’s something to look forward to this week.

Before I get to the links, here are some pop culture thoughts. (I know that’s why you come here.)

  • Went to the Drive-In this Weekend – As part of a pre-mother’s day gift for my wife, I agreed to take her to see the movie of her favorite book – Something Borrowed. Like all movies at my drive-in it was a double feature. The $6.50 per person ticket included a viewing of Prom as well. I thought I’d give you a quick review – perhaps more so for other men who find themselves in a similar situation as I did.

    Something Borrowed – I was prepared to hate this movie. It had typical “chick flick” written all over it… and that’s really what it is. However, it moved fast enough and had enough little twists to keep me interested. Usually, I can pick out the character who is being the jackwagon causing all the problems. In this movie I found myself shifting the blame through the three major characters. The only problem I found with the movie is about halfway through I solved everyone’s problems by suggesting they all live in the house in Westchester together in a non-platonic Three’s Company. I received a dirty look from my wife for that comment. If you are a guy and getting dragged to this movie, keep your chin up, there’s a lot worse out there.

    Prom – Since this essentially came free with Something Borrowed, we figured it was worth it. My wife made the point that it should have been on television like High School Musical. The budget on IMDB had it pegged at $8M – which is next to nothing. For that you don’t get any A-list actors. We were hoping for the girls from Pretty Little Liars, but that didn’t happen. I can only guess the money went into the soundtrack, which wasn’t bad. The movie revolved around several couples and the trials and tribulations surrounding the high school prom. The couples aren’t friends and for the most part their stories are segregated with little overlap. Each story is something that you’ve seen in some other movie such as Say Anything or 10 Things I Hate About You. As a 35-year-old male, it wasn’t exactly my thing, but for the right audience it fills a niche. I should note, that if you happen to be a dog, you might like this movie. Our dog was glued to it for the first 25 minutes, which is the first time he’s watched any movie or television. Also, for the budget, it will make Disney money.

    Oh and for regular readers who thought that I’ve been hiding a child on them with the whole Mother’s Day thing, don’t worry. My wife is a mother to our dog, so I let that qualify.

  • Katy Perry’s E.T. Sounds Familiar – For the second week in a row, I’m writing about a Katy Perry song. That’s somewhat significant since I didn’t write about what I thought was her best song, the one about Las Vegas or the one that most people would expect me to write about, I Kissed a Girl. (Oh wait, I did write about that song.) I was in the car with my wife when her latest single E.T. came on the radio. I didn’t realize at first it was Katy Perry though I’ve heard the song before. I asked my wife and she confirmed it was Katy Perry. I then said, “Something’s familiar about this song. I’ve heard it before.” I just have an uncomfortable feeling about the song. I decided to do an internet search as see what I could find about it. It turns out that nearly a million other bloggers beat me to it and made note that it is essentially T.a.T.u.’s All the Things She Said. I’ll give you just one example of one of the blog posts that allows you hear both songs on YouTube.

Now let’s get to those links:

Money Writers:

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