Sunday, December 30, 2007

Best of 2007

Fave Film:

The Host. I saw it a few nights ago. Slapstick horror, you're never sure whether you should giggle or wince.





Fave Albums:

I love my dodgy RnB and I'm passionate about pop, Amy Winehouse's Back in Black is a record that doesn't make me feel all that embarrassed about that :)




I didn't think Pete Doherty had another good record in him, but Babyshambles' Shotter's Nation is a very good one. Surely his lawyers shouldn't have allowed him sing about the murder case he was involved in??




According to Last FM my most listened to album was Kings of Leon's Because of the Times, but that doesn't take into account what I was listening to on my iPod.

Because of the Times was a good album, but Willy Mason's If The Ocean Gets Rough is a really lovable record. I never really fell for Because of the Times.




Plan B's Paint It Blacker album, is the best rap album I've heard since JayZ's heyday, even if it has that chainsaw serial killer song on it, set to bloody Leonard Cohen. Fuck, that's a song you don't wanna walk down a dark street listening to - then again Plan B is a big fan of Necrophilia (the rapper).




Steve and CoconutTreez is excellent, Melly's Mind n Soul is hit and miss (but I love her to bits), Iwan Fals in Love is v dodgy in places (at times Iwan sounded like an early 90s Italian rock star mimicking acoustic Bon Jovi).




Dizzy Rascal's Maths and English is a stone cold classic.




My sis had been telling me about Jamie T for over a year (I always thought he was Jamie Theakston reincarnate -- like Marilyn Manson is the Milhouse guy from the Wonder Years) stupidly I only caught on when he sold lots of records.




If I have to choose a best album of the year its Plan B's Paint it Blacker! Or maybe, Willy Mason's If The Ocean Gets Rough - too close to call :)


Fave Song:

Jamie T & Lily Allen - Rawhide




[Notable mentions: Lily Allen & Common - Driven Me Wild; Dizzee Rascal & Lily Allen - Wanna Be; Amy Winehouse - Love Is a Loosing Game]


Fave Book:

Jung Chang's Wild Swans. As my Chinese pal Wu Fan told me, Wild Swans was written for Westerners; Mao The Untold Story was written for Chinese. Wild Swans is one of those books that brings you on an emotional roller coaster ride from the comfort of your own life.


Fave Piece of News:

Paris Hilton is losing her inheritance


Fave Blog:

Indcoup's. What the hell happened to it?? Looks like the bloggers left will have to try doubly hard to compensate :)


Fave Purchase:

My Nikon D40 + 18-200 Nikkor Lens. Thing is, I gotta practice more.


Fave Picture:




Fave Blog Post:

Summer of Love :)


Fave Place:

Semarang


Fave Bit of Work:

Independently figuring out that volatility smiles are bullshit :) [not bad for someone that hasn't studied too much finance (yet!)]


OK, that's it. I reckon if I made a record or a film, they'd be my faves too :):)

New Year's Resolution: listen to more DIFFERENT types of NEW music and less of the same old CRAP! Suggestions are welcome!! (especially new Indonesian stuff :))

Happy New Year!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, volatility smile is bullshit. At-the-money options usually have a higher implied volatility, at least lately. Does that mean it's volatility "frown" instead?

Unknown said...

oh really? well you shouldn't have :), :(, :/ or :\ just :|. Anything else means that your model is assuming the wrong distribution.

That Derman guy came up with a way to get :|, which is very interesting but I haven't fully understood it yet :/

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=derman+volatility+smiles&btnG=Search

coffeeliqueur said...

I think this is your longest post...:D

Unknown said...

and u read it all, u must b my best reader!! :):)