Inside Job

Liz and I decided to see the goriest, scariest, most shocking horror movie we could find for a pleasant Halloween afternoon. Inside Job, a documentary about the 2008 financial catastrophe and its continuing aftermath, fit the bill.

The film starts by showing what a mess bank deregulation made of Iceland’s idyllic financial structure, creating a massive credit bubble that eventually burst. This foreshadows things to come here in the states as the U.S. government systematically deregulated banks.

The film does an excellent job of introducing all the players, those who made the decisions, those who tried to alert and stop those decisions, and those who, directly or not, enabled and supported those decisions. This includes the CEOs of the big financial institutions like Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns, Bush’s and Clinton’s finance teams, finance lobbyists, finance journalists, former bankers who have 'gone straight', social advocates, and even a psychologist to the Wall Street bankers.

Also, and most surprisingly, a passel of economists and theorists in positions of power at distinguished business schools like Harvard, Yale, and Columbia who are exposed as paid shills for lobbyists, banks, and even, in one case, the chamber of commerce of…wait for it…Iceland.

Inside Job covers all the trend points of the market's downward spiral: dismantling of the Glass–Steagall Act,  deregulation, the lax oversight of Wall Street's derivatives market, the rise of criminal lending practices that caused almost immediate mortgage defaults and subsequent home foreclosures across the country, the failure of big banks, and the collapse of the company that insured most of the above, AIG. Not to mention the fact that we borrowed money from other countries to bail out our own. And much much more.

The maddening reality of all this is that nothing has changed. CEOs are still compensated with extreme amounts of cash for essentially failing to do anything and the money in D.C. is still funneled to the right politicians because the laws have barely changed. Looking at America from the view of other countries, our culture of greed from the top down sends a message that our own bloated needs will be our undoing.

While filled with talking head interviews and basic animated flowcharts, Inside Job is far from boring. Featuring damning footage from various sources, its message is backed by an array of concise facts presented in follow-the-dots chronology.

The movie is almost two hours in running time, and by the 60-minute mark much of the audience in my theater were vocally seething. But maybe we need to get angry, to get mad. Maybe a general public that knows the truth is the only way to propel more fearless politicians into office.

See Inside Job, and get seething.

Now, a word about the theater. We went to the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline. Inside Job isn't in wide release, and the Coolidge is one of the few art house/repertory cinemas in the Boston area. So it's worth the drive from Lowell. It's also across the street from the Brookline Booksmith and Peet's Coffee, so if you go be sure to make an afternoon or evening of it.  

Stats:

Theater location: Coolidge Corner Theater, Brookline. Moviehouse II. Sunday afternoon, 2:50 matinee. Price $7.00. Viewed with Liz.
Snacks—Panda All Natural Raspberry Liqorice

Coming Attractions: N/A

An Evening with Jenna Blum

Last night was the book launch for Jenna Blum's much anticipated second novel, The Stormchasers. Her first novel, Those Who Save Us, was a New York Times bestseller and a book club favorite. There's every reason to believe The Stormchasers will live up to the high-water mark set by its predecessor.

The night kicked off with Jenna's reading at The Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline. Braving Thursday afternoon rush hour traffic from Lowell to Brookline, Liz and I got to our seats just as Grub Street's Chris Castellani introduced Jenna onto the stage. Jenna was gracious and appreciative, thanking her many readers and supporters. She introduced The Stormchasers and read from chapter 20, which was a great introduction of the main character Karena, a woman searching for her bi-polar, storm chasing twin, Charles, whom she hasn't seen in twenty years.

The chapter details a pending storm through Karena's point of view while she heads off in a jeep with group of chasers. Jenna's vivid descriptions of how Karena, a novice chaser, witnesses the storm's build up while also catching sight of Charles for the first time in years was gripping and real. These storm details were no doubt a result of Jenna's extreme research techniques, which have amounted to storm chasing during the stormy spring months in the midwest over the past few years.

After she read, Jenna answered questions from the audience. Her various answers encompassed a terrifying experience she had while storm chasing (getting a flat just as a massive storm descended), confirming that there would indeed be some love elements in this new book, and explaining why she wrote The Stormchasers in the present tense: it's more immediate and visceral, and gives the reader the impression that nobody and nothing is safe whereas in third person there is an implication that, because the story is being told in a voice that is looking back, that it's possible things have worked out on a certain level. Whereas present tense destroys this supposed (and possibly subconscious) comfort zone for the reader.

After the reading Jenna signed books across the street at one of the best independent booksellers in the area, Brookline Booksmith. Having taken numerous classes with Jenna at Grub Street, it really was a joy to be at her reading and book signing. 

After the signing, Liz and I went with writer and publicist Sharon Bially (whom we had chatted with while waiting in line at the signing) to dinner up Harvard Street to Khao Sarn Cuisine, a wonderful Thai restaurant (I recommend the Thai Garden Chicken). At one point I spied a whole table-full of fellow Jenna students (as well as bloggers from Beyond The Margins) off in the corner. Oh, serendipity.

From there it was time for the launch party at the Hampshire House on Beacon Street, across from Boston Common and upstairs from Cheers. Open bar, and it was time to chat with fellow writers. I love walking into a party and knowing people. Beats not knowing people and standing at the bar drinking free beer alone and then striking up awkward conversations with strangers. Even if they are fellow writers.

Me and Leslie Greffenius:

But, tonight many familiar writer faces were out to help Jenna celebrate the chasing of the storms, including Henriette Lazaridis Power, Iris Gomez, Becky Tuch, Leslie Greffenius, Whitney Scharer, Kathy Crowley, Chris Abouzeid, Necee Regis, Cecile Corona, Nichole Bernier, Lisa Borders, Christiane Alsop (the newest blogger on Beyond the Margins), Stephanie Ebbert, Michelle Seaton, Javed Jahangir, Sonya Larson, and many others.

J.P., Chris, Kathy, Henriette, and a party crasher:

Henriette and Jenna:

It was a great launch for what promises to be one of this summer's most talked-about books. Have a great book tour, Jenna! 

Special thanks to my lovely wife, Liz, for snapping all these great photos.