Happy Endings

This past weekend I took my son, the aspiring filmmaker, to see Martin Scorcese's Hugo. He loved it. And so did I. It's a wonderful (literally wonder-full), tender and lovingly made story. And an homage to early filmmakers and filmmaking. Scorcese's best in my opinion. It's certainly a radical departure from his normal work which, as we all know, never gets rated PG (like Hugo). The entire cast is superb. (Well, almost the entire cast. Sorry Sacha.) The performances of Sir Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield and Michael Stuhlbarg are especially good, excellent even. At one point, Georges Méliès, Ben Kingsley's character, expresses his deep disaffection with the way his life has turned out: "My life has taught me one lesson: Happy endings only happen in the movies." Without giving away too much, the whole story is about how Monsieur Méliès is cured of this cynical view of life through the efforts of the eponymous Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) and Prof. Rene Tabard (Michael Stuhlbarg).

I remembered this later on in the weekend when I watched a second happy ending:

The final whistle will tell the final story

I already that knew Rainford "The Master" Kalaba is one of the finest midfielders in the world. Last night's game was only the latest demonstration of that fact. What I didn't know is that he's also a philosopher and a poet:

Football is not played in the papers, it is played on the pitch; 11 against 11 and the final whistle will tell the final story.

Swallows for my son at seven

Jack Mapanje reading (beautifully as always) at the launch of his latest book last month:

Mo Better News

Dr. Mo Ibrahim guest edited the 27 December 2011 edition of the BBC's Today Programme. A very different take on Africa's present and future.

Economical with the Truth

Thomas J. Sargent's speech at the Nobel Banquet on 10 December 2011 was economical with the truth in the very BEST senses of that phrase:

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Chris Sims and I thank you for recognizing the many women and men like us who use statistics and economic theory to understand how governments and markets can improve peoples' lives. I state 7 practical lessons taught by my beautiful subject, which investigates the consequences of time and chance and cooperation and competition and foresight and incentives.

1. Many things that are desirable are not feasible.

2. There are tradeoffs between equality and efficiency.

3. Other people have more information about their abilities, their efforts, and their preferences than you do.

4. Everyone responds to incentives, including people you want to help. That is why social safety nets don't always work as intended.

5. When a government spends, its citizens eventually pay, either today or tomorrow, either through explicit taxes or implicit ones like inflation and defaults on debts.

6. Most people want other people to pay for public goods and government transfers (especially transfers to themselves).

7. It is feasible for one generation to shift costs to subsequent ones. National government debts and the U.S. social security system do that (but not the social security system of Singapore).

Perl(mutter)s of Wisdom

2011 physics laureate Saul Perlmutter's Nobel lecture. Awesome.

An Early Christmas Present

I gave myself one:

The case against a carbon tax for South Africa

As the big global climate change conference to be hosted by South Africa approaches, it's worth taking a realistic look at the various public policy issues involved. Philip Lloyd, a distinguished South African engineer, makes the case AGAINST a carbon tax for South Africa.

Modernity, Majority and Generality

And now for something COMPLETELY different...

Simon Butteriss sings the Modern Major-General's Song from Gibert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance:

The illusion of validity and the illusion of skill

Daniel Kahneman is one of my favourite scientists. His work combines simplicity of questions and methods with profundity of results and insights. This recent article, adapted from his latest (and perhaps greatest) book, explores two cognitive illusions that are particularly relevant to these interesting economic times: the illusion of validity and the illusion of skill.

The (Real) Pixar Story

Dr. Alvy Ray Smith's documented correction of some of the myths about the history of Pixar.

The Gruffalo

"A gruffalo? What's a gruffalo?"

"A gruffalo! Why, didn't you know?"

A wonderful recent (last night!) discovery that boys and I loved: The Gruffalo written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.