Ani Alexander

Human marketing for tech startups

Midnight in Paris

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I could not skip Woody Allen’s new film and watched it with great pleasure. It seems that Woody has become milder and more romantic with the age. His sarcasm and irony have become smoother and this film was almost poetic, although still Allen-ish.

Here are moments from the film, which seemed striking to me.

The hero is absorbed with extreme admiration for Paris, but unfortunately he shares it with the wrong people. It seems that he is so very out of place and so misunderstood…

As a counter fact his fiancée adores her friends (married couple) almost as much as he adores Paris.

His fiancé, her parents and her friends are so…hmmm how to put it in exact words. Well they are people who prefer Californian wine, as opposed to French wine. It says it all, I guess.

The hero is drunk and alone, walking in Paris empty streets. What can be better? Only a trip to the past J

Shaking hands with Scot Fitzgerald, talking to Hemingway and Picasso, drinking with Dali… amazing how happy everyone ”back there is”. It’s all about drink, laugh and music. It is peaceful place with no worries. That just illustrates hero’s nostalgic idealization of the past.

Did the scenes from the present get on your nerves too? It seems that Woody managed to show the contrast between guy’s feelings in the past and in the present and how unpleasant the present is to him. Guy’s fiancée and others are distracting and annoying the viewer. We want to just get rid of them.

The scene when they go from the past to the past. I guess it shows that when real feelings, such as love, excitement, pleasure, passion, anticipation and others are there the time does not matter.

The sad fact that most of great men would like to go back to the past because they think that in the past people were better… Does it mean that regression, degradation and devaluation are permanent processes?

And the last question, which was turning in my head, was why? Why didn’t he stay in the past, where he fitted better? There was nothing in the present which could possibly keep him – nothing worth coming back to. Don’t tell me he was serious when he was telling about the antibiotics, which did not exist in the past 

Margin Call

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At my uni years, when I was doing my majors in corporate finance and portfolio management, I imagined myself being one of the best stock investment brokers at Wall Street in the future…

Yes, time changes many things after all. And although I still have slight interest in stock valuation and find investing very exciting, I am very happy I am not at the Wall Street now.
I watched ”Margin Call” today. It showed the insights of the Wall Street and I was impressed by the following:
  • The cruel way people are fired – remember how Mr. Dale was fired after 19 years of service? One cold interview, humiliating walk along the cubicals with boxes of personal belongings and the security guy following his each move to make sure that he takes nothing more than his personal belongings. In short – even committed employees are treated like shit!
  • At some point you think that the top executive is crying because 80% of the floor was sent home forever, but suddenly he tells ”My dog is dying…”… On the other hand it is kind of logical, after all it is his dog, while the fired people are company’s people, no?
  • Remember when one of the big executives is called to see the projection graphs and figures he tells ”I can’t read this thing” 🙂 Maybe it is not fair, but that is the reality of most offices. Bosses are almost always professionally much weaker than the people working for them
  • Looking at the scene contrast between the night life and the tense athmosphere in the office at night I somehow made parrallel between the freedom and slavery
  • When it comes to Demi Moore, she could not help herself even in the extreme situation such as ad hoc meeting in the middle of the night act as a perfect snob and asking about guy’s background
  • Be first, be smarter or cheat! I guess no comments needed there
  • ”When did you get so soft”? That is how Wall Street calls ethical employees – soft!
  • What is right might take multiple interpretations 🙂
  • There is a scene, when one sees that even in 150k car one can feel pretty uncomfortable. Isn’t it ironic?
As a conslusion I would say that the movie was really nice. It managed to show relatively dull subject in quite entertaining way. Most probably for those, who are familiar with different financial terms and the Wall Street market it is more understandable than for others, but the main topic i.e. business ethics is understood by all. And the cast is great too.
But… of course I can not deny that Wall Street is not only a source of big money, but also of adrenaline, speed, risk and the excitement of walking on the edge!

3 metros sobre el cielo

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I was not psychologically ready to watch the movie, but I cameacross it when it had just started and could not get away…
This will not be a classical review; rather it will reflect the feelings and thoughts it provoked.
First of all these type of movies make me think that no matter how rare I really feel it, but my husband is right telling that maybe we are not young anymore… The good thing is that I feel it only when I watch similar movies or recall my past.
The film was vividly illustrating the light, careless and independent days that only young people can have. It showed how important is the ”here and now” concept, since there are things which if you did not do ”then” you will most probably never do again anymore…
Have you ever thought what happens with the fear? I mean, when we were young we did not know what that feeling was about and were completely fearless and bold. Where does it come from and why? It’s as if is waiting for you to become certain age and it visits you and stays from then on, saving you from any risky activities and acts.
It is not even about romance or love, it’s about pure happiness. Happiness which seemed so perfect that I was sure that a price will have to be paid. The movie was a good one, which means that the end was not happy. Somehow most of the great movies I have seen so far do not have happy ends and maybe that is their strength. Those films do not feed you with the lies of ”happily ever after”, because they are the reflection of the reality and not a fairy tale for naive children.
What irritates at the end is that one person has made a decision for two. And that one person was inexperienced and stupid… and the decision was so very wrong. But then again, that’s the drawback of being young I guess.
After all one reaches the 3 metre above the sky only once and only for a short while. Even with the same person it will ever not happen again..
2,8 is closest you can get after your 3 metres once in a lifetime. If you have never been on 3 metres, you will never know that 2,8 is not good enough… but if you have been at your 3 metres, nothing will be good enough and you will feel it… all the time!
So it is just a matter of choice of your dreams. Either to be as high as very few have reached and then slap down on the floor from there but have perfect memories and uniqely intense emotions, or be safe and fly on average hight… If you do not have anything special you do not have anything to lose, right?
There is only one thing I can tell… the average hight has frequent traffic jams and car crashes, because it is pretty crouded most of the time !

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

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I always loved Woody Allen. At first it was based on the main fact that he was different, but after Vicky Christina Barcelone it is also based on the fact that he is deep. It was amazing how on the surface with very simple and easy scenes he was touching deep and phylosophical topics.

This is a move, which may be viewed in 2 different manner, depending on who you are or what mood u r at.

Here are some observations, which brought the thoughts below:

Quote:

Ted: Here in Barcelona, everything was swept aside. The world was turned upside down and stayed there.

Fred: Has it ever occurred to you that maybe the world was upside down before, and now its right side up?

It seems that from time to time you have to step aside and try to re-evaluate your coordinates, where you stand, who you are and many other things… Not always you will like what you will realize, but it is better to know things than wrapping yourself with the fake illusions through which at some point you will not be able to see the reality anymore.

Observation: Vicky’s and Cristina’s clothes

They both wore American style clothes with a priority of comfort being above style and taste even when they went for dates.

Quote:

Only unfulfilled love can be romantic

Maybe being in love is a transitional period and love needs to be unfulfilled, so the couple does not reach the finish… Or maybe it is not true at all and love is good in all its forms… who knows?

Quote:

He had this hot divorce and she tried to kill him

Living with hot tempered people has its price… But on the other hand you will never get bored, which takes us to the point below:

Observation: Vicky’s guy

The guy was good, there was nothing negative in him…but he seemed so disgustingly dull… and their relationship was sooo EMPTY!!! And the saddest thing is that this is how normal relationships of normal people in this world are…

Quote:

Maria Elena: You’re still searching for me in every woman.
Juan Antonio: That is not true, Maria Elena. I was in Oviedo some weeks ago with a woman who was the antithesis of you. An American, and something beautiful happened with her. So you’re mistaken.
Maria Elena: You’ll always seek to duplicate what we had. You know it.

When you are looking for someone specific in someone else all you will find is bitter disappointment from the fact that what you had and lost was unique. And in case you find what you were looking for you will get the bitter disappointment from the fact that what you had lost was not as unique as you thought it was.

Observation: Barcelona

After all, putting aside the film… how beautiful, warm, sexy, nice, attractive, intimate, passionate and perfect Barcelona is!!!

Eat, Pray, Love!

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Eat love Pray – first everyone spoke about the book and the author, now everyone speaks about the film.

A woman in her thirties reached the stage when she lost herself. The story is about the long journey she took to find herself back. It’s a journey starting on the bathroom floor, where she sat and cried, unable to decide what she wants finishing in Bali, where she found love and found herself with it.

In between the two points, Elizabeth visits
Italy – where she eats and gets back her appetite for life
India – where she prays and gets time to spend with herself
Bali – where she slowly learns to get life’s balance and finally loves

These days many women, inspired by what they read or saw take the same route, visit the same places and talk to Bali’s wise man. What they don’t realize is that the journey she took was more within and inside, then the geography they are after. Going where she went, eating what she ate and praying the same prayer is not the universal remedy for thousands of uniquely damaged souls. People are different and their journeys should be such too.

One more thing that many don’t seem to realize is the amount of courage a person should have in order to seek change and make the required actions to realize it. It’s not only about the nice story, it’s also about how strong you are to make your own story, which will lead you to where you wanna get.

The main idea I had at the end of the book/movie was to make sure that the “eat, pray, love” becomes permanent process within myself!

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