Skip to main content

And the Oscar goes to...

As the tradition goes, I must write blog on afternoon of Oscar night. Given my love for movies (a good movie in any language would do - that's why I have been Netflix member for more than a decade) and penchant for predictions, how can I resist making predictions on who would win Oscars. So I have picked six categories for predictions. Here are these:

  1. Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis (Fences)
  2. Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
  3. Best Actress: Emma Stone (La La Land)
  4. Best Actor: Denzel Washington (Fences)
  5. Best Director: Damian Chazelle (La La Land)
  6. Best Movie: La La Land
We saw La La Land in a nostalgic theatre in Santa Barbara during Christmas vacation. We all moved the movie (and songs). It is one of the highest nominated movie with 14 nominations. However it's Oscar haul would not match that of Titanic and others which won 11 Oscars. Most likely La La Land would by high-single digits.
Next week there is another action happening in City of Angels (LA). It's high-profile tech company Snap Inc is going IPO next week. Given my limited survey (with Yash and Isha), this seems to be very popular with high-school and college kids. Over last couple of years, it has added interesting and cool ways of communicating with friends. While it's audience is still small (1/10th of that of Facebook and 1/2 of Twitter), it seems to be highly engaged audience. At $20 Billion valuation at IPO which most likely would become close to $30 Billion by end of week, is it worth investing? Answer lies in predicting if Snap would become mini-Facebook (success!) or Twitter (not-so-much). At $30 Billion valuation, it would be worth 1/12th of Facebook and almost 3 times of Twitter. On this, I most likely would take my kids advice who are users of Snap and may decide to do small investment!
Happy Oscar viewing and Snapping!
/Shyam

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Clicks to Tokens: Will 2026 Echo 1998's Boom or 2000's Bust?

My "blogging" was in hibernation last 8 months due to my self-imposed restraint given the environment as well as built-in inertia to get started despite so many interesting events and markets reaching all time highs after taking a big dump around "Liberation Day" in Apr...Around that time I had the blog ready that it would be repeat of Mar/Apr 2020 panic and recovery during onset of Covid Pandemic. The hunch happened to be correct and I was glad that I could keep and take some positions which I am still holding especially around AI theme. But that was then...as 2025 is about to wrap up in 10+ weeks, let's look at what's in store for rest of 2025 and 2026. And what's better time than to start writing again just before one of the most important week on the calendar with multiple key events coming up next week... Fed meeting to decide the course of interest rates - it's almost guaranteed that Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points (2nd time in 2025) and...
Post a Comment
Read more

2026: The Year of Convergence – Melt-up, Moonshots, or Mid-cycle Correction?

Happy New Year! After another period of self-imposed hibernation from the blog—partly due to the festivals, travel, intertia and partly to watch the dust settle on a chaotic 2025—I decided to use the quiet of this New Year’s morning to finally reboot.  Looking back at my October post,  “Clicks to Tokens,”  the hunch about the AI theme held firm. We spent much of 2025 debating whether we were in 1998 or 2000. As we enter 2026, the answer seems to be "neither and both." We have the roaring optimism of the 1920s fueled by "Silicon Spirits," but with the high-speed volatility of the 2020s. So, as the calendar flips, what is in store for 2026? Markets may experience melt-up (S&P touching 8000),  with some moonshots (like SpaceX and OpenAI) IPOs or even see mid-cycle correction bringing down S&P to 6000. That's a wide range and will be decided by Four R's... Here are my thoughts on the " Four R’s ":  Rates, Robots, Rotations, and Real Assets. 1. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

And the Oscar goes to...

It's Oscar Sunday and time for predictions for few categories - before I digress into talking about drama in DC or markets.  First of all, I want to recognize the damage LA fires have done to the beloved areas of Los Angeles and impacted families across all spectrums. My heart goes out to them and wish them recovery and rebuilding of their lives... This year's Oscar nominees and post nomination period had been interesting to say the least. Due to this, the field is wide open in almost all categories and that's what makes prediction game so interesting. Just to set expectations, I would consider a win if I get even 50% predictions correct given the dynamics of nominees this year. So here are my predictions - "And the Oscar goes to..." Best Picture - Anora (surprise could be "The Brutalist") Best Director - Sean Baker for "Anora" (Surprise could be Brady Corbet for "The Brutalist") Best Actor - Adrien Brody for "The Brutalist"...
Post a Comment
Read more