April 2007
April 30, 2007 –
Hola CAPS Fans,
This is an interesting, and hopefully Amusing interview that takes us into the mind of Seth "The Big Red Thumb" Jayson. To me, a key part of maxing out the value of CAPS is to explore, as much as possible, the mindset of the best stock pickers. How do they think about companies, in general? What about their style meshes with your own? What about it differs? Seth has been in the top 10 for as long as I can remember and having watched him be right far more often than wrong, I now think twice about companies that earn his red thumb, and perk up at his green ones.
Enjoy!
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2007/04/30/foolish-interview-caps-star-seth-jayson.aspx [more]
April 29, 2007 –
Hola Foolito Football Fans,
As a very proud video-making Fool, I play hard to the AMUSE section of the Foolish mission statement - Educate. Amuse. Enrich. And frankly speaking, I can be a tad sensitive when smarty pants hardcore analyst types poopoo the fun factor of the stock market. I recently had a good ol' pal view the 27-Second Stock Pitch Videos and shoot me a friendly jibe that went like this, "they actually PAY you to make these?" I could be oversensitive - actually there's no doubt about it - I am. More than once I have burst into tears upon reading my own poetry or discovering that the little black magic marker line I make to track my growth on our bedroom doorframe hasn't moved up in a decade despite nightly bedtime prayers for a 12-inch morning pop. If I was six-feet-six I'd stare down at short guys and smirk while they were talking, and mock their little cars that go "meep meep"-- whoops. Sorry. Got a little distracted. Anyway, for this Fool - life is short. And FUN counts. Don't get me wrong - I strive to pack my videos with great stock information and no doubt a dream stock pitch video does all three things - EDUCATES, AMUSES and ENRICHES. But why spend time picking individual stocks if it's not fun? I would much rather track the market and enjoy more living than try to beat the market and not enjoy it.
I hate to get therapeutic on y'allitos, but nothing has caused me - and many friends I know more frustration - and detraction from quality of life, than struggling to be perfect. (No no, stop - I'm really not perfect. Honestly!)
Fun counts. Fun is good. The most painful line I've ever heard comes from David Milch (NYPD Blue and Deadwood) who said, "When you've been dead for a billion years, you're just getting started being dead." (Hold on, I have to dry my cheeks and blow my nose. Ah. There. Ow.)
So what does this have to do with Brady Quinn? Well, personally, I really wanted to hurl when I saw the way his family behaved at yesterday's draft. Here's a young man - and the older I get the more I realize 21 years-old is a baby, who was drafted in the FIRST round of the NFL. He is going to be the starting QB, make MILLIONS of dollars, play before millions of fans and was one of the top QB's selected out of gazillions of young men who play QB in High School and College. But what does his family do on this incredible day? They rage, burst into tears, and threaten other teams in the NFL who passed up Quinn when they had the chance to draft him. And the media actually plays along, hyping how awful it was for the poor young man to have to suffer the incredible indignity of waiitng to get drafted. And his sisters were traumatized because the long suffering nationally recognized QB from one of the most notable schools in the country didn't win the Heisman, didn't win the National Championship and now wasn't drafted really high! O the humanity. I have to change my shirt cause I just cried all over it. As a father, I think Mr. Quinn, the dad, should be deeply ashamed of his family's performance. Get a load of this crapola from Yahoo! Sports, "Now he has to go out, get a job and then kick their ass," the elder Quinn said, referring to how the Miami Dolphins, desperately in need of a fix at the quarterback position, passed on his son at No. 9 overall. "That's how it is in the Quinn family." Woooo, them's fightin' Quinns! Maybe this type of winning-is-everything strategy works for some. But it must be a horrible way to live. I think of guys like John Wooden - possibly the greatest sports figure of all time - and how you never heard this type of attitude from a guy like that. And when you hear Bill Walton and other former UCLA players talk about Wooden, they talk about him with reverance and feel that he made them not just great basketball players but better men.
I believe very strongly in the power and strength that comes from virtue. For example, you probably wouldn't run through a glass window and into a burning building to save a child molester. But you'd do it in a second to save your child. You'd do it in a second, regardless of the sacrifice - even if it's your life or physical health. You'd do it in a second because it's the right thing to do. I genuinely love and believe in the Foolish mission statement with all my heart. In fact, I would argue it is the most brilliant tag line ever written. It's gonna take all my strength not to make a dirty joke here, but what could possibly be a better way to spend your time than to spend it doing stuff that Educates, Amuses and Enriches? That's better than hitting the trifecta at the race track. And way, way, way too many of us forget the MIDDLE one. Don't forget the middle one. Don't give poor Amuse a middle child complex. I implore you, dear Fools. Make investing fun. Make it amusing. Enjoy life. There's no crime in having fun. I would go so far as to say that the real reason capitalism works is it has a built-in gaming component. The stock market is fun. And it's a national disgrace that our school's don't instill this belief in our children to make them as financially literate as possible. I'll save my why-the-heck-can-my-kid-tell-what-a-hypotenuse-is-but-looks-at-me-in-shock-when-I-ask-her-what-a-cashflow-statement-is? rant for another time.
So, in wrapping up, let me say, dear Fools, AMUSE AMUSE AMUSE, baby. Doing something that is merely educational and enriching without being amusing is like eating an Oreo cookie without the cream filling. It's totally unFoolish and just plain not the right way to live. I wish Brady Quinn a successful NFL career - and one that he enjoys. If he wins 10 Super Bowl rings in a row but didn't enjoy wining them, then, in this Fool's eyes, that's nothing more than glorified failure.
Fool On. [more]
April 25, 2007 –
Hola Freedom Loving Fools, [more]
April 18, 2007 –
Hola Foolitos, [more]
April 11, 2007 –
I know that many Fools think that TMF El Capitan is a modern miracle, born of the Universe in a staggering act of miraculous creation. But alas, my birth is just like any other - ripped c-section from a woman's belly. That woman, for me, is the one tap dancing around a white walled room for all she's worth in the Yahoo! video. I gotta say, I thought the ol' gal brought her A-Game. I think she's notably vibrant and shows some real charisma. Somewhat cruelly, I told her I needed lots of footage, just because seeing her tap dance was cracking me up. Honestly, she was tapping like a woman who was completely mentally unhinged. She is a retired school teacher who spent 20 years in the Brooklyn public school system and the funny thing is that she sounds both like she's from Brooklyn and speaks very proper English. Notice the way she lectures the viewer like the viewer will be sent to the principal if he/she forgets that Yahoo! still has 26% of the market for search. I love that stat because with all the hype you'd think Google owned 101% of the market for search. That shows these videos can be very informative. Great information doesn't have to take an eternity to communicate. 27-Seconds can go a long, long way.
Finally, some funny tidbits. My mother was so excited about this video that she has watched it on my private Youtube account a gazillion times. She didn't know Youtube counted views, and when I called her she couldn't stop laughing about getting busted on that. In all honesty, her husband, my stepdad has called me to ask if mother should get an agent based on this video. HA! Yeah, look out Meryl Streep. Lastly, when my starlet mother first saw herself she shouted, "Oh my goodness, look at that fat cow!" She wants all of her millions of fans to know that after seeing her "fat rolls" in the video, she immediately began a South Beach diet that has knocked off 8 pounds of blubber. I hate to be corny because I am machismo personified but working together on this with my mom - something I never thought I'd do in a million years - was really fun, and I was amazed by her tenacity and willingness to risk extreme ridicule in order to make what I think is a really solid video. I could be prejudiced with momma's boy love, but I think her saying, "Why go for the new new thing when the old new thing still sparkles?" is touching.
I can't encourage you, YOU, the one reading this right now to throw your hat in the ring to snag FIVE GRAND just for making one really fun 27-Second stock pitch video. If not, you're missing out on what may be the easiest money you ever made.
[more]
April 07, 2007 –
Hola and Peaceful Holidays to All, [more]
April 05, 2007 –
So, my wife is in a rush to get ready so she can meet a friend to take their/our daughters to some crappy kid show I wanted no part of. I needed to get some videos into the boss-kings of Fooldom or I would surely have been whipped, wedgied and j'accused senseless. I knew my wife could do a wicked "Wizard of Oz"-style munchkin voice and I asked her to throw on something that looked "munchkiny." She, being the world's greatest (except yours or you) wife, said she would quickly do her best. I then cleared all of the furniture out of our den and with back-harming effort moved the TV out of our big-arsed wall-unit. I then filmed the wall-unit a bunch of times and thought it would be cool if we made it seem like she appeared magically where the TV used to be.
My wife then comes down the stairs wearing clothing that was made for my daughter to match her doll. Why in the heck a little girl would want to dress like her doll is beyond a macho man like me, but kid-girls do such things. Anyway, my wife kneels down on a pair of shoes I placed in the wall-unit but her head doesn't fit. So, we have to march outside on a pretty darn chilly day (for LA that means it's like 55 or so) and I hand her some lyrics. I summoned all the power of those really annoying Broadway musicals that make El Capitan kinda want to toss his lunch and kinda wanna take center stage and sing loud enough to alleviate all human suffering. Of note, I think these get an A+ for creativity and humor but only a C+ or so for useful stock information. The lyrics are as follows:
How do you doogle?
My stock is the Google
They snookered Yahooble
When they bought Youtuble
But they still have room left to growwwww
With no long-term debt
And cash up the wazoogle
It's a safe bet they'll make money for yoogle
I see the future I knowwwwww
Now I gotta blow!
My wife works in sales & marketing and has never acted or sang in her life. But sure enough she gets the lyrics and questions me as to why her munckin is clairvoyant and can see the future. I said she had eaten a giant honeydew as a child that was accidentally sprayed with mist from a space shuttle that flew too low over Mexico and gave her special powers. She said that is what she thought had happened.
Now, I'm a writer, playwright and loudmouth who is not a professional film director. In short, I'm learning this art just as much as y'all are. I then take the girl out into our yard and ask her to do 37 takes for 45 straight minutes while I film her from every conceivable angle so I make sure my editor has choices. I would later learn that two angles were fine and I almost cost my wife her voice. I have to say the ol' gal was a real trooper. She was late, not dressed to go out yet, cold, tired, had worked all day, and still kept singing her little Munchkin heart out.
Some interesting things to note:
Yes, I know there's a little editing poop up in the transition from long shot to tighter shot. I apologize to my family and all Fools for this.
My wife is also the coach in the Cemex video and I think shows surpising range. I had no clue this woman could kinda sorta really act.
A freaking plane flew over during one of the best takes and you can hear it toward the end.
My editor (the main guy in the Gap video) and I spent forever scanning the Internet for the perfect - humorous and believable - bird song.
I specifically asked her not to make any "up the wazoogle" gestures but, I think the song in her heart took over.
Working with one's wife on something like this was surprisingly bonding and after 387 years of marriage, it was very cool to work with her. Our love has re-blossomed like springtime in New England.
For this one, I used my Sony Handycam (which could use a better external mic) and my editor edited it on Final Cut, which I plan to learn. I'm currently trying my hand at iMovie. My creative genius FAR surpasses my technical genius, but as the latter tries to catch the former (not bloody likely), I will share all lessons and seek the help of the great "dynamic community intelligence" that is Fooldom and CAPSdom.
As always, thanks for reading this and FOOL ON, baby!
El Caps-itan
PS - THE CONTEST IS ON! - Surely you're going to try to snag that whopping FIVE GRAND! by trying YOUR hand at one little 27 Second Stock Pitch video, right? If so, keep an eye on my blog. I will be dropping some serious science about what I learned in making the first batch of these suckers. To be honest, when Mighty Mac Greer told me the stocks pitches had to be exactly 27-seconds I thought he was insane and may have used poor language in thinking about the idea. But the more I started making these the more I loved the challenge of nailing them in 27 seconds and the more amazed I was by how useful it actually is to condense your thoughts into a small amount of time. I honestly believe this qualifies now as an art form/genre and encourage all Fools to take their shot at doing at least one, if not a hundred and one. Don't have a video camera? C'mon - you know you want one. This is your excuse!
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April 04, 2007 –
Hola Foolitos!
As you know, some of the greatest things in the world are sweet beautiful openness, honesty, transparency, and integrity. It is these qualities that I value and cherish most about Fooldom and the reason I have spent, and will continue to spend so much time here. In this blog I hope to achieve six major objectives with the Foolish community - which I honestly consider the greatest collection of dynamic community intelligence ever assembled around one clear mission - to Educate, Amuse, Enrich. The objectives of my blog include:
* Establish a great place to discuss stock pitch video production (Educate)* Discuss, with killer candor, my adventures in Foolish Video production (Educate)* Make the community laugh - amuse, baby, amuse! (uh, Amuse)* Help Fools "brand" their own CAPS pages, blogs (Enrich - I'll explain below)* Inspire all to see how much fun and rewarding investing can be* Dream and scheme (Educate, Amuse and Enrich)* Hype cool Fools
I think it will be an incredibly cool thing to have a place where Fools can ask questions, discuss issues, share information (about technology - cameras, software, books, art, methods of working, etc.) about what goes into a great video stock pitch. This seemingy narrow subject actually has many long tails. And we'll probably, in the coming years, go way beyond just video stock pitching.
I am also starting a series on this blog shortly called "Behind the Videos," which I think will be really fun. In the making of any video anything, there is always some funny, interesting stuff that goes on behind the scenes that is worth mentioning - outtakes, disputes, challenges, etc... I think it will be fun to have a place to note these things.
I would never in a million years spend a minute on the stock market if I didn't think mongrel hordes of millions pursuing wealth was not inherently hilarious. I will try to do my best to make all visitors to this blog laugh as often as I can at the exploits of wealth hunters, with a special emphasis on praising the righteous and wet towel-snapping the asses of the wicked.
I am a self-taught marketing super genius - and am a huge fan of the works of Seth Godin, Malcom Gladwell, Chip & Dan Heath and many others. I think that the coming years will no doubt offer Fools the ability to use their blogs to generate personal income (perhaps off Google ads, and other creative ideas). It will be very cool to have a place where Fools can dream, scheme, plot, plan, and kick around ideas regarding the best way to create the biggest win-win for us all. My guess is there will also be ways in the future to, for lack of a better phrase, "pimp out" our blogs.
Think of the possibilities, dear Fools. Think of being able, one day, to upload audio, video, comic strips, and countless other forms of creativity mixed into your own personal stock market analysis. And to know that you have access to the countless Fools who share similar tastes, and respect the essential code of Fooldom - that thou shall educate, amuse and enrich. And not act like a jackarse.
The bottom line really is this. It's a tough freakin' world out there. And more and more it seems that we all have to create serious wealth in order to live comfortable lives. Those of us who ignore our longterm financial plans risk being burdens to our children, risk having to work at crappy, dehumanizing jobs well into our golden years and risk failing to come even close to fulfilling our potential and doing all the things we dream of doing. In other words - we gotta make money. So we gotta make making money fun.
Really, here in El Capitan's lair - the Foolish mission is Amuse Amuse Amuse Enrich Oh Sweet Enrich, Educate Amuse Amuse Amuse Make Us Filthy Rich!
Lastly, the Grand Poobahs here are incredibly open to input from the Community and curiosity and wonder (two mighty words) are always welcome. So, because I'm one of these so-called "arses" who is forever thinking I could run the world better than those who have to actually work for a living running the world, I think it will be real cool to have a place where we can constantly ask, with great enthusiasm, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if the Fool and Caps did X, Y and Z" - with X, Y and Z symbolizing our brilliant ideas. (Of note there is a furious and shamefully disrespectful poster clogging CAPS with negativity and obnoxiousness that is a great example of what I WON'T support or promote. You probably know who he is but I won't mention his name because I'm praying he'll change his ways or leave TMF.) The bottom line is HOW we do things is almost as important as what we do. If it's not fun, why bother? And rampant wild negativity is not fun.
And lastly (again), I want to do all I can to promote Fools that do a great job, that inspire me and that I think deserve a great Foolish bugel blast to say, "look at this Fool! Holy crapamoly!" I think the interview I did with CAPS Star Fool David "Pencils2" Kretzmann was really fun and informative. I believe the better we get to know each other, the better the communication between Fools, the better we'll be able to use each other's information and the richer we'll get.
Will we make mistakes? Heck yeah! But I'm hoping to help lead a charge of stock market crushing amusement enhancing greatness and finantertainment the likes of which the world has never seen.
Onward & Upward Great Fools,
Onward & Upward!
The Ultimate Investing Muscle Man,
TMF El Capitan [more]
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