Tired Golden Geese?

I attached a post I made about Genting and Resorts World on April 16,2007.

Seen from hindsight,all the worse fears came and now Genting and Resorts World is traded at huge discounts.

Read this post to know the issues then in April 2007.

"Both counters went ex-subdivision on 11 April 2007, amassing huge gains. Gentings added 50 sen and Resorts took in 28 sen. However, on the following two days, the mood turned nasty and they sold both counters down the river. Gentings went as low as RM8.35 and Resorts to RM3.40.

Why is there this contrasting scenario before the subdivision and after the subdivision of the shares? No facts have changed. The negative news of UK 's intention to subject betting licences to additional taxes or for that matter the uncertainty of the Sentosa Island casino licence has not changed. The market is fickle!

The only logical explanation is that those who had the extra lots wanted to dispose of them because there believe there was no longer any “up-side news”. To play safe,they will just hold a lot or two as keepsakes and locked away all the profits. Similarly, some Singapore fund-managers could have sold on Day 1 because of the good profit margins. Then, there are the jittery sellers who saw the breaching of the 1,300 level as Bursa Armageddon and have been liquidating. Other than that, there is just no good reason for the selling pressure.

Both Gentings and Resorts are solid blue-chips and should pay well in the medium term. As we take cognizance of the downsides of both counters, let us not be unduly disturbed by short-term analysis. Analyses are based on static facts but the market is dynamic. Anything can happen. To me, both counters are dynamic and resilient.

From time to time, I will make my comments on both theses counters. The important thing is to look for the new support price of both counters. It appears that the support price of Gentings is RM8.75 and Resorts -RM3.50.

Resorts had never offered an IPO to the investing public except for a restricted bumiputra public offer way back in the late 80s. At the current price level, Resorts is now going for RM3.50–dirt cheap by any standard. Good to collect for the medium term.

As for Gentings, when was the last time you could confidently buy up a lot or two? Just like Resorts, it is rather inexpensive at RM8.75. The Bursa seems to have run out of good counters at this point of time and my belief is, Gentings still possess good ‘intrinsic value’. So do not hesitate, invest in this counter.

For your information, I have seen the market collapsed during the First Gulf War and during the Asian currency meltdown in 1997. Believe me, on both occasions, the counters that rebounded the fastest were gaming stocks like Gentings, Resorts, B-Toto and Tanjong. Also during recession, these are the best defensive stocks. Dividend-wise, Gentings and Resorts have been paying fair dividends.

The world is Gentings’s and Resorts’s oyster. Good news can be created by the dynamic Gentings Group when opportunity arises. A changing scenario can impact prices again towards a northerly direction for both counters."

I believe there is still a lot of steam left in both counters for us to look at them for inclusion into our portfolio.

Not only Ostriches Do it!

What a wonderful photo. It screams out at you in the face!

The message-The denial syndrome.

Believe me, that has always been a problem with Malaysian society. When there is a problem, they will deny it at the first instance. No exception. We are ostriches with our heads in the sand.

When can Malaysia mature into a truly civil society that can come out clean on the greater issues and happenings confronting Malaysian society?

Another generation?

Solid Gold

Watching old movies is fun!

Believe me, they are so much fun to watch especially at this age. Some of the movies are at least thirty to 60 years old.

I sat through a few goldy oldies some seasons back.

Groundhog Day-wonderful movie and one of the best role to showcase the beauty and sexiness of Andie Macdowell. Such joy!

Cat Ballou-see the youthful Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin having the fun of their lives. Marvin went to win the best actor award in this movie. As for Fonda, isn't she heavenly?

Prime Cut-another Marvin movie this time showcasing an innocent young Sissy Spacek in the buff. Exciting but be careful when you eat the next sausage-you may never know what you're eating.

Julius Caesar-a classic Shakespearean play where Brando sparked as Mark Anthony. John Gielgud and James Mason gave awe-inspiring performances too!

Ferris Beuller's Day Off - A flighty movie showing the early days of Matthew Broderick and Mia Sara. Mia Sara is mesmerisingly charming. Now we know why we need to preserve youth. If only Mia will always be Mia as in this movie-never aging a day! Fun movie and a romp around Chicago in a day!

Happy Gilmore- Adam Sandler and a satire on golf versus ice hockey. Fun movie!

Gigi- Leslie Caron in her best role. Songs are wonderful especially Thank Heaven for Little Girls.

Thomas Crown Affair- A classic involving a cat and mouse between Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway-Cool and entertaining. Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!!!

In the Heat of the Night-Bigotry in the racist South. Steiger versus Poitier in a small town of Sparta. All because of a girl that went nudie in the heat of the night! Wonderful music by the fabulous Ray Charles!

These days we would give an arm and a leg just to watch truly good old movies.

Cheating the Gods!

These days,its not only the Ah Longs that are in the act.

Fruit sellers are up to their tricks as well.

The law of the jungle has really come down hard upon society in these lean times. The dark side of their characters are being 'illuminated".

Overheard at a coffee shop.

On special occasions, the Chinese community in Malaysia will hold prayers for their deities, particularly on the 15th day of the new moons. They will buy fruits as offerings to the gods.

On such days, the fruit sellers will gang up and sell the 'ugliest and almost rotting' fruits to the buyers. They placed the good fruits on top of the heap and when a customer comes calling, they will choose good ones and mixed with a few bad ones. They continue with this foul act in spite of receiving complaints.

When you are in a monopoly or in a monopolistic position, you call the shots.

So, customers are cowed to buy the fruits if they are in desperate need of them.

As they say, what goes around, comes around.

In this case,I believe the gods will soon be angry with these profiteering cheats.

So they better watch out for the wrath of the gods will soon be on them!

Defeatists,Apologists and Queers

I sometimes wonder.

Why are artists and poets not considered as 'mainstream people'?

Are they weird,queer or what?

Take the following cases.

John Keats killed himself after being spurned by a lover. Yet he wrote one of the greatest poem "Ode to a Grecian Urn"-where we find the oft quoted line,"Beauty is truth, truth beauty."

There there is that great artist-Vincent Van Gogh-with his overflowing talent in creating art pieces-of which "Starry,starry Night" was the epitome of his work. Yet, he went mad, cut off his ear, used some of his blood to paint and finally shot himself in the heart and perished.

Then we have William Shakespeare-wasn't it possible that he was a gay in those bygone days, falling in love with a young man which he so affectionately put into lines in Sonnet 18??

They were defeatists,possibly queer in their own way.

But the world,similarly, is one big funny farm. Sadly, we are apologists and suckers for art. We posthumously recognised these talented people ages after they have gone from this earth. Their art pieces are worth millions these days, a testimony of what is their real worth in the world of art.

It's rather strange that oftentimes we recognised talent too late to reward them in their own times. Most artists were destitute at their death.

How sad!

Look for the Roots

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. observed that 'a word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary in colour and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used".

Winston Churchill added that 'words are the only things which last forever."

A word indeed vary greatly according to circumstances and the time in which it is used. The embodiment of a living thought derives from a root-word, in which a thought was initially expressed, and that root-word, by a Darwinian process of evolution, spawned other words based on the same kernel of thought.

To discover root-words, etymologists study words from different languages having a common meaning called cognates and work backward by deduction. For example:words beginning with tri which include trinity, triangle, triathlon, triceratops, triplet and trivia among others. The common root for these words would appear to be Greek and Latin.

Just like geneticists studying DNA samples try to find a common ancestor, etymologists search for the true source of the word-the ultimate root word called an etymon, a word or morpheme where compounds and derivatives are formed.

It is great when you actually stumbled on to something revealing.

An Irish Joke

Let us have some harmless fun.

The story of a Parish Boy's Confession

'Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have been with a loose girl'.

The priest asks, 'Is that you, Kennie?'

'Yes, Father, it is.'

'And who was the girl you were with?'

'I can't tell you, Father, I don't want to ruin her reputation.'

'Well, Kennie, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later, so you may as well tell me now. Was it Mary Allen?'

'I cannot say.' 'Was it Tess Hillary?'

'I'll never tell.'

'Was it Marilyn Simpson?'

'I'm sorry, but I cannot name her.'

'Was it Nellie O' Hare?'

'My lips are sealed.'

'Was it then Sophie Cassie?'

'Please, Father, I cannot tell you.'

The priest sighs in frustration. 'You're very tight lipped Kennie, and I admire that. But you've sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for 4 months. Now you go and behave yourself.'

Kennie walks back to his pew, and his friend Jojo slides over and whispers, 'What'd you get?'

'4 Months holiday and five good leads'.