Weekend Movies Recap

1. I just saw Milk, about Harvey Milk. Absolutely a must-see, especially if you live in California. I also enjoyed George Clooney in Michael Clayton.

2. I am pleased to introduce my readers to The I.T. Crowd, a British television series that began in 2006. It's not often I see anything on DVD that makes me laugh out loud, and if you enjoy comedy, you must not miss The I.T. Crowd. I give Season One my highest recommendation and look forward to seeing more.

3. I finally saw Lust, Caution. I do not recommend it. It is a two-and-a-half hour film that should have been no more than an hour. Ang Lee can't decide if he wants to make a sexually explicit film or a plot-focused one; as a result, the audience suffers through symbolic but superfluous sexual escapades. While Ang Lee has made a great period piece of 1940's China/HK, he has also sucked the life out of it by adding too many extraneous, slow diversions. Just my two cents.

Wiser Words Were Ne'er Spoken

From Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D.:

America is often referred to as the land of the free. But most people in this country are not really free. They are tied to debt and a treadmill existence in terms of earning a living. At this moment, our federal government has promised future social benefits in excess of $50 trillion. That figure is approximately the same amount of the total personal wealth held by Americans. In the future, it is very likely that the government will not be able to provide the promised social benefits to our seniors. The typical household in the United States has a net worth of just over $90,000.

Some people joke that by the time an average American man is 35 years old, he's a virtual slave. His bank owns his house; his employer owns his money and health insurance; his wife and kids own his time (which always reminds me that I should marry wisely); and the government owns the first three months of his work.

I am surprised that the typical household has a net worth of just over 90K. At the same time, these kinds of financial statistics are notoriously difficult to calculate. If I have 100K and I take out a mortgage to buy a 200K house, then doesn't my net worth go from 100K to negative 100K overnight?

Movie: Night of the Hunter

"Open the door, you spawn of the devil's own strumpet!" -- The Night of the Hunter (1955)

If you're looking for a good movie, and if you like suspense and drama, rent the Night of the Hunter. Robert Mitchum's character--a priest who's not really a priest--is incredibly memorable. Robert DeNiro in Cape Fear must have been inspired by Mitchum's performance. More movie recommendations here.

Quotes of the Day: Twain and a Terrorist

"Some men worship rank, some worship heroes, some worship power, some worship God, and over these ideals they dispute, but they all worship money." — Mark Twain

Osama bin Laden, 5/17/1998, ABC News interview with John Miller: "We are absolutely positive we will prevail, with the grace of God...We predict a black day for America and the end of the U.S. as we know it. They will be shattered and they will retreat from our land and collect the bodies of their sons back to America."

Worst Movie Ever?

In 2003, Laurence Fishburne, Orlando Jones, Kid Rock, Djimon Hounsou got together and made a movie called Biker Boyz. Basically, someone with too much money and time on his hands decided to do a motorcycle version of the Fast and the Furious. The result: a terrible movie that fails so badly, it doesn't even succeed in achieving unintentional comedy. When Fishburne says, "Burn rubber, not your soul," I didn't laugh, even though I should have. I was too stunned by the overall idiocy to appreciate the hilarity. Check out this review for more.

Oh, the 7Up commercial guy--Orlando Jones--spends the first half of the movie acting like a straight-up thug, and the second half of the movie as a straight-talking lawyer. No attempt at a reasonable segue is made. The movie goes from one scene where Orlando is in a leather jacket and too-large glasses yelling for his peeps to bow down to the motorcycle king, and then suddenly, we're in a hospital and Orlando is telling someone's mom, "You didn't know I was a lawyer, did you?" At least that's what I remember. (Speaking of which, know anyone who can help me erase my memory? Sigh.)

In case you're wondering, I saw this film on television to pass the time between NFL breaks. I did not willingly rent it.

KLA-Tencor Annual Shareholder Meeting (2009)

Walking into KLA-Tencor's (KLAC) annual shareholder meeting, I felt like I was entering a Mad Men set: everyone seemed crisp, professional, very white and very male. Out of the eleven upper management and/or board members seated in the first two rows, 100% were male, and only two were non-white. Having non-diverse upper management isn't as bad as having a city council member make misrepresentations to one of his own constituents (Hiya, Pete Constant!), but it's still undesirable. After all, a company that is global and non-diverse violates the Law of Diversity and hinders its own growth and reputation.

In a nutshell, KLAC provides highly specialized instruments that detect natural defects on man-made wafers and reticles. As semiconductor chips and wafers become smaller, they become more complex, and the manufacturing process requires increasingly specialized equipment to find defects. Put another way, KLAC engages in metrology--the science of measurement--for semiconductor companies like Intel (INTC) and fab owners.

KLA-Tencor offered shareholders water and coffee only. CEO Richard Wallace handled most of the meeting and did an excellent job bestowing confidence. He said KLAC was not interested in commoditizing its products, but this goal required high R&D expenditures. In short, KLAC must innovate at a rapid pace to continue its superior position in the marketplace and to beat competitors such as Applied Materials (AMAT) and Hitachi (HIT).

The CEO's Darwinistic attitude is good for KLAC because its "customers need to get [their products] to market quickly" in order to capitalize on high prices. Technology improves at such a rapid pace, consumer companies need to be able to rely on companies like KLAC to find chip defects quickly. When KLAC succeeds, companies can provide consumers with non-defective products and also effectively capitalize on the initial demand for highly-touted products.

CEO Wallace convincingly stated that KLAC doesn't believe its success is an entitlement. His intense yet dignified approach seems like an excellent fit for KLAC. Highlighting the sudden and severe depth of the recent recession, Wallace mentioned that he once felt he had "no visibility about when [demand] would come back." Now, however, he senses the worst is over.

I asked my usual question: what competitive advantage does KLAC have against its competitors? CEO Wallace said KLAC's products are more complex and therefore have "more capabilities" than competing products. At the same time, the high level of complexity makes KLAC's products "more expensive," so smaller companies might be able to target a specific area in KLAC's business and provide alternate low-cost solutions. I found the CEO's honesty refreshing. It's rare to see a CEO point out his company's advantages and disadvantages.

When I pointed out the company's lack of ethnic and gender diversity on its Board of Directors, the Chairman of the Board mentioned that KLAC had one South Asian male and one Asian male in upper management. (There are no women on KLAC's Board of Directors.) The CEO also pointed out that the Director of Communications was female. In an email sent to me after the meeting, the company stated that "KLA-Tencor has a geographically and ethnically diverse workforce--nearly 50% of our company is non-Caucasian...and 40% of our management team is non-Caucasian."

Other highlights: though KLAC has gone through some cost-cutting, "nothing significant was cut"; 80% of KLAC's sales are outside the United States; when the economy rebounds, KLAC believes it will be leaner and more profitable.

Disclosure: I own an insignificant number of shares of KLAC.

Andre Agassi: Open

Andre Agassi came to Palo Alto, California last week. The Commonwealth Club hosted an interview and book signing. Andre Agassi oozes charm, intelligence, and charisma. Although not formally educated, Agassi's intelligence is palpable, but so is his need for acceptance and his sensitivity to criticism. Joel Drucker, a reporter who recently reviewed Agassi's book, Open, was on the receiving end of a few barbs from Agassi. Few people can single out a reporter during an interview and still come out looking good, but Agassi's charisma allows him to say things almost no one else can say.

I look forward to reading Agassi's book. In the meantime, here are some snippets I remember from the interview:

On Michael Chang: Agassi found Chang's habit of crediting God for his wins "odd." He said if Chang had blamed God when he lost, he would have had more respect for him.

On His Father: if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn't have changed anything, except he would have pushed Agassi into baseball or golf. Apparently, Agassi's father believes that baseball and golf athletes play longer and make more money.

On Tennis: Agassi mentioned the loneliness of the sport and said no other sport is as lonely. As a result, Agassi joked that tennis players like to talk to themselves a lot, and also answer their own questions.

On Coach Brad Gilbert: he talks a lot, but in the middle of one particularly frustrating match, he was very quiet. When Agassi told him, "Now's the time you stay silent?" Gilbert, obviously incensed at Agassi's failure to perform up to his potential, responded, "What do you want me to say? Let me make this as simple as I can. See the ball; run to the ball; hit the ball. If you can't do that, then just do what the other guy is doing!" Agassi went on to win the match.

On His Dad's Iranian Connection: Agassi said his dad--ethnically Armenian, but born and raised in Iran--never taught him Farsi, so he doesn't feel a connection with Iran. He said his dad pursued the American dream by coming to America. At the same time, Agassi, ever the diplomat, said he was curious about Iranian culture.

I was disappointed, because growing up, Agassi was the closest thing to a cool Iranian celebrity. All the Iranian kids looked up to Agassi, just like all the Chinese kids looked up to Michael Chang. As my friend said, when Michael Chang, a Chinese tennis player, won the French Open, "all the Chinese kids (myself included) decided to pick up a racket."

On Roger Federer: Agassi called Federer a freak of nature and said he was the greatest of all time.

On His Son: after his son threw a tennis ball at Agassi's dad, his dad told Agassi if his son ever did that again, he'd kick his butt so hard, his son wouldn't sh*t for a week. Agassi's son responded with more curiosity than fear, asking, "Is that possible?"

On Charter Schools: Agassi has opened a charter school and said he favors the charter school system because charter schools are able to demand additional requirements (such as mandating parental involvement) and to terminate bad teachers. When someone asked if Agassi would send his own kids to the charter school, Agassi responded that the kids were chosen through a lottery system over which he had no control, but even if his kids were accepted, his school was for children who had no other options. Agassi said he didn't want one of his kids taking a spot from someone else with fewer options.

Father-in-Law: [from the book] the first time Andre's and Steffi's fathers met each other, they almost got into a fistfight.

Bonus: the NYT's book review is here (November 20, 2009, Sam Tanenhaus).