Ridiculous Email

XX just received the following email from a "friend" she hasn't talked with for many years. Names have obviously been redacted - he'll be referred to as Solicitor and college has also been redacted to College.

Hi XX,

I hope you’re doing well. I haven’t seen you in awhile, but last I heard you’re kicking butt at *Law School*. Have you and *Solicitor's girlfriend* hung out yet in *City Name*? She is finishing up her last year in Med School, so time is running out!

I think you maybe heard, but *Solicitor's girlfriend* and I are getting married! Chicago in early May of 2011. I'm hoping we get OK weather... This Christmas, I brought my never-traveled-internationally family out to China to see *Solicitor's girlfriend*'s extended family in Beijing for a large wedding banquet. It was one of those awesome cultural experiences, and my dad didn't even throw up at the sight of broiled sea cucumber (XY Note: broiled sea cucumber is actually quite good - squeamish Americans...)

Here’s the ulterior (XY Note: at least he acknowledged it) motive part -- I'm writing to see if you wanted to donate to the 5th Reunion *College* Class Gift. After getting thoroughly jaded by being one of *College* Senior Gift leaders (THANK YOU again for donating to Senior Gift and then again in 2007 and 2010!), I didn't think I'd ever again end up helping *College* solicit donations. (XY note: yet here you are...)

What really has resonated with me over the last few years (and made me want to solicit donations again) is how *College* has DRAMATICALLY enhanced financial aid for families of all levels of means. I.E., families with under $60k in income don't pay a cent. And families with incomes up to $180k get some level of financial aid. That's way better than any other school. It allows parents of all means to put their smart kids into *College* and on track to change completely the opportunities that they can access. I'm pledging $5000, myself, to support this continued sweetening of the pot that's going on only at *College*.

Three housekeeping things -- First, obviously your donation i tax deductible. So if you donate this year you can get the deduction for 2011. Second, for the 5th Reunion Gift you can pledge an amount and pay it off over 3 years. For example, if you pledge $1000 (or whatever), you would get that $1000 counted towards the 5th Reunion Gift but you could pay it off in 2012 or 2013. Third, if you have a company or organization that will match donations, the entire amount (including match) gets counted towards your donation.

Any questions, let me know! There are lots of ways that you can direct your donation only to areas you care about most. The website where you can donate is: *website link redacted*. If you want to do the pledge and then pay off over a few years, let me know and I will get you into touch with *Another Solicitor* from the Reunion Committee who can help you..

Finally, if you have some extra time and the inclination, the 5th Reunion Gift Committee is looking for new volunteers. They just recruited me a few months ago...

-*Solicitor*

On a level of 1-10 how inappropriate is this email? I'll put it at a 7. I guess if you have no shame then just spamming people emails like this (faux catch-up with a huge solicitation attached at the end) isn't a big deal - but I don't think I could bring myself to send this kind of email. Anyways a top 10 list of reasons not to give:

1) tax deductions are meaningless to someone with no income.

2) his preference for giving does not impact your preference for giving.

3) you prefer more global giving (i.e. you donate to global charities) that help the poor in other countries - who almost certainly have a greater marginal benefit from that $$.

4) money is fungible - i.e., your donation is not actually being funneled to the people receiving the student aid. In other words, your donation has absolutely zero impact on *College*'s student aid policies.

5) you don't think that parents with 180k in annual income (which puts them in the 94th percentile of income distribution) deserve financial relief.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States

6) *College* has a very large endowment and other universities almost certainly need that $$ more than *College* - it actually might help higher education to give to other schools.

7) *College* has had this policy for a few years now (I think since 2008? And I'm sure it was retroactive so existing students received benefits) - so I'm not sure what he means by dramatically increasing student aid - I guess relative to 3 or 4 years ago?

8) don't trust *College*'s investment managers - they got hammered during the financial crisis.

9) don't believe any non profit institutions should have a (*large number*) billion endowment that they are just sitting on.

Last but not least...

10) personal solicitations couched in "catch-up" emails to be very distasteful.

Wow, This Blows

I feel absolutely compelled to comment on how much the Black Eyed Peas performance at halftime of Super Bowl 45 BLOWS. I mean, absolutely blows.

Like, oh my god, you don't have auto-tuning and music/sound mixing to help make you sound good?

Their initial two pieces absolutely SUCKED. Like, MAJORLY. In particular, the woman clearly can't sing that well...

I'd rather you all lip-sync than perform this crap.

Not to mention the attempt to copy China Beijing Olympics with the masses. Sorry, guys, you just aren't as coordinated as the Chinese. (They've been raised by Chinese mothers to be robots!)

Prediction: Pixar's 1st FAIL

I am a huge Pixar fan, so I write this post with a sense of dread, but I have seen teaser trailers for Cars 2 and I predict it will be Pixar's first big FAIL--critically, at least, and possibly also box office.

Now, granted, I was not a huge fan of the first Cars. It was decent, but in terms of story, characters, and quality, it sat around the level of A Bug's Life for me: aka, pretty good for an animated movie generally (considering the other crappy fare out there), but at the very bottom of the Pixar rung.

I know one of the Pixar core loves cars, and Cars was his baby. But Cars also fared poorly internationally, because ain't nobody outside America that gives a damn about cars. A sequel with the same kind-of-annoying anthropomorphic vehicles from the first movie just seems to be a recipe for disaster.

I hope I am wrong. Pixar has been nearly infallible. But, gosh, I really think this is going to be its first big misstep.

Random thoughts on taxation

Taking a peak at Greg Mankiw's blog - there's a very interesting post about tax justice. What is a fair system? Of course, this argument leads to two different questions: 1) what is the level of services that the government should provide and hence the amount of revenue it needs to collect from its citizens and 2) how should that money be collected and from which parts of society.

I don't have too much new to say about the first issue (I'm right of center so I believe in smaller government), but the second question brings up some interesting philosophical questions. I do believe the rich should pay more taxes, but I'm very doubtful that our current progressive system is doing this appropriately. One benefit of a simpler tax code would be a more transparent understanding of how the tax burden varies across individuals. Going back to Roman history, public officials would pay with personal funds for the building of common spaces, roads, gladiatorial games, and even food for the masses. While individuals amassed personal wealth, giving it to the Roman people was a common act and those individuals directly funded activities that we now think of as governmental responsibilities. Additionally, these "donations" were pointedly for Roman citizens (for example, Julius Caesar's will gave every Roman citizen money from his personal wealth). Rich people today (for example Bill Gates) focus on global philanthropy, which is not a bad thing at all. Given our deficits, I don't think any US citizen would mind if he left a little donation to our government though.

Next Up for Tackling

Based on the other shows this guy has on his Top 10 Shows of the Decade list, I really ought to watch The Wire and Mad Men. After all, I'm a huge fan of 4 of the 10 shows he's got listed there (A:tLA, Veronica Mars, Dexter, Buffy), and he's got Avatar: The Last Airbender ranked #2!

Unfortunately, neither The Wire nor Mad Men ever seem to make it to the top of my Netflix queue, and both feel like significant commitments given how many seasons each has.

Or, more to the point, neither is on instant-streaming so it's just easier to binge on other shows...

Veronica Mars Season 1: Review

Buffy/Angel creator Joss Whedon is a huge fan of Veronica Mars, and after bulldozing through the first season, I can see why.

Veronica Mars is the daughter of a former police sheriff, now turned private-eye detective. She has picked up her father's sleuthing skills and puts them to work, Nancy Drew style, at her high school. Her best friend was murdered last year, and the fallout has completely upended her life.

The best friend's murder is the season-long mystery arc, but there are also mini-mysteries that Veronica solves each episode. The format works extremely well. The character work is also fantastic--Veronica and her relationship with her father, local biker gang leader Weevil, and high school rich punk Logan in particular. The dialogue is witty and the show is engaging. Smart writing, good show. Count me in for season two.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I watched this movie from my Netflix queue after seeing it on a not insignificant number of people's "10 Best Movies of 2010" lists. The trailer did not excite me when it came out, but I trusted that since the movie got an over-80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and A.O. Scott was a big fan, I would enjoy it as well.

From A.O. Scott's review: "There is plenty of [crazy fun] in “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” — fast cuts, off-kilter puns, sight gags and sound effects in such profusion that you may want to see it again as soon as its over. But underneath is a disarming sincerity and a remarkable willingness to acknowledge ambivalence, self-doubt, hurt feelings and all the other complications of youth."

As it turns out, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was the first movie I have rated "Bad" since Princess of Thieves, a made-for-TV movie about Robin Hood's daughter starring Keira Knightley that I watched on Youtube. It was worse than M. Night's horrible butchering of The Last Airbender.

In fact, I can't think of another movie in recent memory (although Blade:Trinity comes to mind) that I have genuinely wished to stop watching before it was even half over. The protagonist, Scott Pilgrim (played by Michael Cera, who I usually like but now find extraordinarily annoying), had to fight his new girlfriend's seven evil exes. I wanted to turn the movie after the first two. (Oh god, FIVE MORE of this BS?)

It is unfathomable to me that so many people not only enjoyed this movie, but expressed desire to "see it again as soon as it's over" and even put it on their top 10 movies list. I haven't had this much hatred toward a movie since Blade: Trinity, and that is NOT a flattering comparison.