Bride and Predjudice

We saw a little gem of a movie yesterday: "Bride and Predjudice", an Indian movie. It's part comedy, part drama, part musical, and totally a farce. The only thing I can think of similar to it is Busby Berkeley's movie version of 42nd Street. It is set in modern day India (and London and Southern California). Don't take it seriously and don't miss it.

Carly Fiorina

It has been interesting to read the press stories on the fall of Carly Fiorina at Hewlett Packard. For several years the business writers had written about how she was the perfect CEO for HP, now they are explaining in great detail how she failed.

I see many similarities to John Sculley who was regarded as the answer to Apple Computer's prayers when he became CEO of Apple, then failed miserably. Carly and John Sculley both brought a strong business background to a highly technical company. Both emphasized marketing. Neither deeply understood the technology. Both drove the best technical people out of the company.

Apple was saved from near death by Steve Jobs who rejoined the company to lead the development of one innovative product after another. Apple is now on a roll and beginning to eat Microsoft's and Dell's lunch.

The essence of the situation was explained to me years ago by my grandfather. He was Chief Engineer of Chevrolet in the 1920s and 1930s when the automobile industry was the high tech growth industry of the United States. He told me that the marketing department always said that Chevrolet should build what people wanted. He always replied, "How do they know what they want until we show them what we can give them?"

Million Dollar Baby

Katherine and I saw "Million Dollar Baby" yesterday. With all the buzz, we expected it to be good but we were surprised at how good it really was. We have not seen all the contenders, but this really could be the best picture of the year.

Smoke and Mirrors

No matter how I look at it, I can't understand it. George Bush campaigned on being a "CEO President". Yet he has just submitted a budget to Congress that does not include a) funds for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and b) the cost of his proposed Social Security changes. He must seriously underestimate the intelligence of the American public.

He says that he wants to reduce government spending. OK. Good idea. But how does sending Congress an incomplete budget help decrease government spending?