Edited on Sun Jul-11-10 11:53 PM by walldude
Ok so I took the kids to see Despicable Me today. It was actually pretty decent. It did have a moment I thought worth mentioning here... At one point the protagonist Gru goes into a bank to get a loan to pay for his new evil plot, he goes up to a safe and dials in the combination, the safe opens to a huge red lobby with a giant sign that said:
BANK OF EVIL
and below it in little tiny letters it said:
Formerly Lehman Brothers
BANK OF EVIL
and below it in little tiny letters it said:
Formerly Lehman Brothers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Schwarzman
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35950655/ns/today-books/
Excerpt:
TODAY books
Vanity Fair contributor Vicky Ward landed interviews with many previously off-the-record insiders, executives, spouses and major dealers in the financial industry to write “The Devil's Casino,” a riveting portrayal of modern Lehman Brothers and its two real leaders: one who brought the small firm roaring to ascendency — and then was brutally betrayed and erased from its corporate history, and another who ruled the firm like Robespierre ruled France — but under a smiling façade while the company crashed and burned. An excerpt.
Chapter one: A long, hot summer By nightfall on Saturday, June 7, 2008, the Manhattan streets were still radiating heat, an unwelcome harbinger of a long, stifling summer. At the Skylight Studio, a sprawling private event space in SoHo, George Herbert Walker, a 39-year-old second cousin of then President George Walker Bush, and at the time head of Lehman’s Investment Management division, was celebrating his marriage to Nancy Dorn, 31, a pretty blonde hedge fund analyst from Texas. The couple — who had exchanged their vows at New York’s City Hall a few weeks earlier and had already celebrated with family down in Texas — ate Southern food, danced to the overwrought musical stylings of a suitably ironic wedding singer, and drank margaritas with 400 of their friends.
It was, however, a celebration tempered by the first signs that Lehman Brothers was about to come crashing down.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/17/lehman-layoffs-will-they_n_127106.html
Excerpt:
George Herbert Walker IV?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/17/lehman-layoffs-will-they_n_127106.html
Excerpt:
George Herbert Walker IV?
Read More: Bush Family, George Herbert Walker IV, Layoffs, Lehman Brothers, Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy, Lehman Brothers Layoffs, Business News
Radar caught a new angle in the financial crisis -- after Barclay's buys up parts of Lehman Brothers, there will likely be layoffs. But will they include a particularly well-connected executive?
Excerpts:
1) Lehman Brothers Investment Management Director George Herbert Walker IV dismissed the proposal, going so far as to actually apologize to other members of the Lehman Brothers executive committee for the idea of bonus reduction having been suggested. He wrote, "Sorry team. I am not sure what's in the water at Neuberger Berman. I'm embarrassed and I apologize."[54]
Will George Herbert Walker IV be laid off? The President's second cousin is the global head of investment management for now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers, at the managing director level.From his Lehman Brothers bio:
George H. Walker Global Head of Investment Management George H. Walker is global head of the Investment Management Division at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. In this role, Mr. Walker oversees Asset Management, including Neuberger Berman, Private Investment Management and Private Equity businesses. He is a member of the Firm's Executive Committee.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehman_Brothers
Excerpts:
1) Lehman Brothers Investment Management Director George Herbert Walker IV dismissed the proposal, going so far as to actually apologize to other members of the Lehman Brothers executive committee for the idea of bonus reduction having been suggested. He wrote, "Sorry team. I am not sure what's in the water at Neuberger Berman. I'm embarrassed and I apologize."[54]
2) In popular culture
In the 2010 children's film Despicable Me, Lehman Brothers is referenced near the beginning. As Gru tries to take out a loan, he passes under a banner for the bank that funds all evil plots for villains around the world. Under the name of the bank, in small letters it reads, "Formerly Lehman Brothers".
http://www.marshallnews.com/blogs/1132/entry/36348/
Reference in Despicable Me to Lehman Brothers
Excerpt:
Andrew,
Did you notice the reference to Lehman Brothers in the "bank for villians" where Gru went to get his loan? It wasn't on-screen for more than two seconds. I was the only one in the theater that laughed. Talk about embarassing.
All in all, I thought it was a cute movie. Must agree though, the 3D format wasn't at all necessary. Avatar, on the other hand, I don't think I could watch in two dimensions after seeing it in 3D.
Did you notice the reference to Lehman Brothers in the "bank for villians" where Gru went to get his loan? It wasn't on-screen for more than two seconds. I was the only one in the theater that laughed. Talk about embarassing.
All in all, I thought it was a cute movie. Must agree though, the 3D format wasn't at all necessary. Avatar, on the other hand, I don't think I could watch in two dimensions after seeing it in 3D.
-- Posted by Smokin' Cheetah on Mon, Aug 9, 2010, at 1:38 PM
I did notice it and was searching my brain when I wrote the review to try to remember the exact reference because it was one of my big laughs for the movie too. My kids looked at me, searching to find what I had laughed at. But I wrote the review so late, and was more concerned about the 3D commentary when I finally wrote it, that I'd forgotten what I'd found so funny about the entrance of the bank. Thanks for reminding me.
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/08/2069258/despicable-me-as-entertaining.html
Excerpt:
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/08/2069258/despicable-me-as-entertaining.html
Excerpt:
First Posted: 09-17-08 11:25 AM | Updated: 10-18-08 05:12 AM