Oscars on Sunday Night: the REAL "Avatar" Revolution

"Avatar" and the Commoditization of Actors

Quick, name an actor from "Avatar," the world's highest grossing movie at $2.5 billion (so far).

With the exception of Sigourney Weaver, you probably can't.

While the movie reportedly cost $250 million to make (and another $150 million to market!), almost all of that went into technology, not actors' salaries:

Avatar's highest paid actor appears to have been Sigourney Weaver, though she almost certainly worked for a small fraction of the $11 million she was reported to have been paid for “Alien: Resurrection” in 1997. Zoë Saldana and Sam Worthington, meanwhile, got fees that were more than guild minimums but less than enough to make them feel financially secure.

--"For Movie Stars, the Big Money Is Now Deferred"; The New York Times (3/3/2010)

In fact, the (increasingly prevalent) technology used to make Avatar all but obscured the actors' identities.

And if you don't know who the actors are, they become (interchangeable) commodities.

Commodities, of course, are sold exclusively on the basis of price. Lowest price.

P.S.: Sigourney Weaver's real first name is Susan; she changed it as a teenager because she thought "Susan" was too plain. The Stanford sweatshirt she sports in "Avatar" is for real -- she graduated in 1971.

Realtor Dreams -- and Nightmares!

Don't wait -- procrastinate now!

--Ellen Degeneres

In college, I used to dream that I was barely halfway through an impossibly long and difficult final exam, and time was just about to run out (sort of the academic "running in quicksand" nightmare).

As a lawyer, I used to dream that I hadn't done my time sheets for months.

(Note to non-lawyers: lawyers track their time in increments of one-tenth of an hour -- literally, 6 minutes -- and typically turn their timesheets in weekly (or did, way back when I practiced).

So what do Realtors dream about? (At least, that I can tell you about)

I dreamt that I had signed a listing (home for sale), but couldn't remember where it was, find my interview notes, or even the house key I'd been given!

Note to clients: Don't worry, I've never really done that!

P.S.: my favorite college test story was about a student in a huge, entry-level math class who repeatedly ignored the Professor's announcement that time was up, and to hand in his exam.

He finally complied, and raced to the front to turn in his exam.

Mary Sunseri, the Professor (and a Stanford icon) said, "I'm sorry, I can't accept this --- it wouldn't be fair to all the other students."

The student paused and asked her, "do you know who I am?"

Sunseri shook her head "no."

The student shoved his exam into the stack of hundreds she was carrying, and ran out!

(Give him an "A," at least, for quick thinking -- and no, it wasn't me; I distinctly remember getting a "B-" in the class.)

Barney Frank: 'Pull Plug on Fannie, Freddie'

Dear Barney: Read This!

Imagine Ted Kennedy, before he died, admitting that the health care reform bill was a mess and that everyone should start over.

Or John McCain saying that campaign finance laws were unworkable, and should be scrapped (actually, the Supreme Court just said that).

So it's big news when Congressman Barney Frank, the biggest benefactor of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announces that they're hopelessly flawed and that the U.S. housing finance system should be re-built from scratch:

The remedy here is ... as I believe this committee will be recommending, abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their current form and coming up with a whole new system of housing finance," said Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

--"Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Should Be Eliminated, Frank Says"; The Wall Street Journal(1/22/2010)

Since Mr. Frank seems to be casting around for new ideas, I thought I'd direct him to my proposal for digging Fannie and Freddie out of the multi-trillion mess they're in (want the two word, Reader's Digest version? Here it is: 'equity sharing'):

When housing prices fall, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suffer major impairments to their capital as borrowers default. However, when home prices rise (yes, that can actually happen!), the most they stand to recover is the amount they originally loaned.

Heads, borrowers win; tails, the government loses (sound familiar?).

Instead, Fannie and Freddie should insist on sharing in any upside that borrowers enjoy.

Stanford University long ago established a similar housing subsidy for faculty struggling to afford expensive Bay Area housing. In return for down payment assistance and low-cost mortgage money, the University effectively becomes a "partner" with the faculty-homeowner, enjoying a cut of the appreciation when the home is sold.

Emulating Stanford's approach not only would help the government's balance sheet, it would relieve pressure on foreclosures while putting borrowers on notice that there's no free mortgage lunch. Over time, one might expect that realization to curtail their appetites . . .

--Ross Kaplan, The Equity Sharing Solution to the GSE Morass; City Lakes Real Estate Blog (12/29/2010)

Will this happen?

I doubt it.

Instead, my guess is that Congress will take a page from the mutual fund industry when it has a big loser on its hands.

Namely, the fund's stewards put the "loser fund" out of its misery by merging it with another fund with a better name -- and track record.