By Len Penzo on January 31, 2010
This past week, the technologically ground-breaking 3-D movie Avatar was hailed across the globe as the new king of the box office world, “topping” Titanic’s box office take by grossing over $1.859 billion worldwide.
According to the media, this week Avatar will also surpass the $600 million mark in the United States and overtake Titanic as the domestic box office record holder as well.
I understand why, when reporting box office totals, the press loves to cite gross dollars. The problem with that, of course, is that those gross figures ignore the corrosive effects of inflation on the value of money.
After all, nobody would care if they printed the real story that said, in terms of the domestic box office, Avatar is only the 21st biggest movie of all time – which it was as of the end of January.
When Gone with the Wind came out in 1939 a dollar had the
Continue reading Inflation 101: Why Avatar Isn’t the Biggest Movie of All Time (And What Movie Is)…
By Len Penzo on January 29, 2010
It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe…
Blogs I’ve Been Following This Week
Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance. Here’s what caught my attention over the past week…
Earlier this week, Darwin from Darwin’s Finance wrote on Twitter that when he went to Google and typed in the words “college majors suck,” he noticed that his blog made the front page.
That got me thinking and so, naturally, I went to Google and typed in “Len Penzo sucks.”
Imagine the pride and joy that filled my heart when I noticed that my blog not only made the first page, but it occupied almost every position there save for the number three slot – which J at Budgets are Sexy somehow managed to score. Darn him to heck.
Anyway, I immediately shared
Continue reading Black Coffee: My Favorite Blogs, Money News & Opinions #31 (The “Len Penzo Sucks” Edition)…
By Len Penzo on January 28, 2010
This is a review of the 2009 movie District 9 starring Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, and Luis Minnaar
Plot Summary: An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly finds a kindred spirit in a government agent who is exposed to their biotechnology.
Me: District 9 is the debut science fiction film from South African writer-director Neill Blomkamp, and I’ve got to say he really hit a home run on his first trip to the plate, so to speak.
The Honeybee: Well, I never heard of him. But the story was really good.
Me: I bet you never heard of any of the actors either.
The Honeybee: Should I?
Me: Not unless you happen to be a fan of the South African movie scene – although as I understand it this was the big screen debut of Sharlto Copley, who played the film’s protagonist, Wikus Van Der Merwe.
The Honeybee: Gesundheit!
Me: Cute.
The Honeybee:
Continue reading Drive-By Movie Review: District 9…
By Len Penzo on January 26, 2010
Our “household Constitution” requires the Honeybee, who is the family’s household CFO, to deliver the family financial report every January to yours truly, the household CEO.
For years, the Honeybee has painstakingly tracked and recorded our finances using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Last week she completed updating that spreadsheet for 2009.
Having reviewed the latest numbers I am pleased to report that the state of the Penzo household is currently very good.
This report is divided into three sections:
1. Net worth estimate as of December 31, 2009
2. Long term financial performance since 1999
3. 2009 Financial Performance
The Big Picture
As of 31 December 2009 the household net worth was just a notch under $700,000. This represents a net increase of five percent from 2008.
Overall, assets increased four percent while liabilities increased one percent.
On the liabilities side, other than the mortgage, we have no loans, credit card debt or any other obligations. That, ladies and
Continue reading My 2009 State of the Household Financial Report…
By Guest on January 24, 2010
Oops, my bad. This is a guest post from some guy who wasn’t who he said he was and was trying to make a few bucks off of an affiliate link. Still, I can attest to the information within this post as being accurate, as I too buy my glasses and contacts on-line – so I will keep this post up. But I have since removed the offending affiliate links from this post.
As an added bonus, with the new information given to me by Patrick at Cash Money Life regarding this character, I thought it would be fun to add some editorial comments to this post.
This past week I was reflecting on how I was able to save money in 2009 and I realized that one of the ways, purchasing eyewear online, wasn’t very well known by most people. (Editor’s note: Actually, he was reflecting on how he could make money
Continue reading Buying Glasses? 3 Facts Your Eye Doctor Doesn’t Want You to Know.…
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