Perkins’ Picks

Brad is completely running this acting thing. His performance in “Burn After Reading had me in stitches and his latest release, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, a story adapted from the 1920’s story by Scott Fitzgerald (the author of The Great Gatsby) is nothing short of amazing. The story is about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backward. In addition to being an inspring and smart piece, the movie is also quite stylish and features a favorite of mine, motorcycles. Above Brad and Cate ride a Triumph Twin (I own a Bonneville model) and the other is a Flathead Indian (below).

Below, Brad keeps it cool and smart in real life on a bicycle in New Orleans were he launched his Make It Right project to bring affordable homes to New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward. Pitt has already pledged $5 million of his own funds for the effort.

Chanel is to cut 200 jobs as fears grow that the supposedly recession proof luxury market is falling victim to the global credit crisis. Citing a steep decline in this year’s sales, the largest French union, the CGT, said the losses at the French fashion label would concern all staff on fixed term and temporary contracts and come into effect on Wednesday. Sixteen posts would be cut from the brand’s boutique on rue Cambon in the heart of Paris’s fashion district, it added in a statement at the weekend…

The troubles at rue Cambon will be taken as a warning signal for the rest of the luxury goods industry, traditionally thought to remain resilient in a tough economic climate. After several years of rapid growth, the sector’s coveted niche is showing signs of weakness and analysts at JP Morgan have predicted the luxury market will see sales fall by 4% in 2009.

Bulgari, the Italian jeweller, has forecast a lower profit for the year and has said it will not give an outlook for the new year after the global crisis knocked 44% off its third-quarter net profit.

Prada shocked fashionistas in Milan over Christmas by reportedly putting up sales posters advertising price cuts in their boutiques’ windows. Even world leader LVMH, the French group behind Vuitton and Givenchy, has had a tough year, postponing a plan to open a leading Vuitton store in Tokyo.

Source: The Guardian

This Tuesday a Boeing 747 passenger jet took off for a 2 hour flight to test a new biofuel/diesel fuel hybrid.  If implemented the new fuel could mean lower fuel costs for airlines in the years ahead and less air pollution as well.   The new aviation fuel hybrid consists of a combination of jatropha seeds and traditional diesel fuel.

Jatropha Seeds are unique in that unlike other forms of biofuelthey do not freeze at the low temepatures usually encountered at crusing altitudes required for flying.  But tests show jatropha, whose seeds yield an oil already used to produce fuels like biodiesel, have an even lower freezing point than jet fuel.

Air New Zealand Chief Executive Rob Fyfe referred to the flight as ”a milestone for the airline and commercial aviation.”

Air New Zealand spokeswoman Tracy Mills says the blend is ‘cost competitive’ but Air New Zealand was unable to confrm whether or not the blend is cheaper than the industry standard jet fuel used at this time.

I guess time will tell whether or not this development compeltely changes the way airlines can fly, but one thing I can say for certain is that the recession is definitely changing how people are doing business - and that’s a good thing.  What will drive the US and the international community out of this recession is NEW ideas for a NEW economy; not the same old ideas with new money. 

But then again if you were reading my Perkins Picks blog posts you would already know how I feel about that …

For a more in depth look at the tests ran by Air New Zealand, whose goal is to become the world’s first most environmentally sustainable airline, click here.

Icelandic singer partners with financial services firm to launch sustainable investment fund. Read about the story here.

Born Catherine Elise Blanchett - May 14th 1969; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

“If you know you are going to fail, then fail gloriously!”

“If I had my way, if I was lucky enough, if I could be on the brink my entire life - that great sense of expectation and excitement without the disappointment - that would be the perfect state.”

If you are wondering about my choice then go see ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ right now.

This year the abbreviation X-Mas seemed to bring with it an abbreviated holiday season. Something was missing. In fact, during this year’s holiday season, I felt as though I was sleep walking. I mean, all of the decorations were up, but it didn’t FEEL like the holiday season. Even after I adjusted for my bachelorhood, something was still missing. Walking around New York’s 5th Ave, I saw all the things that I usually see every year during this time but something was off. Or was it that there were extra decorations (sale signs and 60% Off signs) next to the tensile that I wasn’t accustomed to seeing.

One of my favorites, Bloomies (Bloomingdales, above) was all aglow on the outside. But a trip inside made for a very different experience. As soon as i set foot in the door, i was met with a messy array of gloves, and hats. Not the usually calm greeting: “Good evening Sir, Care for a pair of MArc Jacobs cashmere lined leather gloves. They are on sale for $300.”

LV's version of holiday lights

No, this was people damn near glowing $39 gloves at each others heads. It was extremely UNHOLIDAY. Upon further notice, half of the store seemed to be boxed up for some kind of renovation. Only there was no sign that said: “Excuse our appearance while we blah blah…” I wonder if it was just done to make the store look less empty as perhaps they decided to prudently order less inventory since the inventory they already had did not appear to be flying off the shelves.

What happened to Christmas? I remember the good ‘ole days when my parents would scour the city just to find a store that may have an extremely important toy to me in stock, and happily pay 3 times the asking price.

This year, the days leading up to Christmas looked more like after Christmas:

Here in New York, people really showed up for the post Holiday sales in droves as many luxury boutiques had the kinds of sales you’d only dream of. Prada, Dior, YSL, and Saks all seemed to be approaching everything 50 to 70% off. However, another abbreviation in these pictures also seems to be the lack of shopping bags which is concerning.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

The reporting of 4Q08 earnings and holiday sales figures could ignite another moderate sell-off in the market. The good news is that we have gone about as low as we can go, and many stocks have worst case scenarios nearly priced in as we have heard from Saks, JC Penny’s, and fave American Apparel who all indicated a need for some form of help.

I see this all as an opprtunity to put any new money to work. H&M won’t be the only one with “even more on sale”. Look at the market’s store too!

Later this week look for 9 stocks for 2009.

Here are more shots during my walks:

Intersection: 49th and 5th Ave.

The 57th Street and 5th Ave. Holiday Star. It appears to float.

Crowds outside of Abercrombie.

A sea of people out side of Louis Vuitton.

People in front of Prada.

Coming Jan. 12

Check back for sneak peaks at Season 3!