Over the last two days the media and blogosphere has formed opinions, speculated, crucified, harrangued and harrassed Mark Cuban on the basis of one sided Securities And Exchange Commission(SEC) spin.  During that time,  Jeffrey Norris, the SEC attorney, who had the contentious “Loose Change” email exchange with Mark while his employer investigated allegatons of insider trading has been able to hide under his desk. He has been able to slink home every night relatively free from any type of media exposure.  That is all over. The emails between SEC attorney Jeffrey Norris and Mark Cuban have been made public.  It is time to enter the email “no spin zone”.   It is time for Jeff’s integrity, ethics and propriety of actions to be put under the same microsope.  Here is the pdf link to the full text of the email exchanges between Jeffery Norris and Mark Cuban.  The emails speak for themselves. Come to your own conclusions about the integrity of Mr. Norris and his office in general.

This is the only time I will address the ignorant and hateful mail I have received.  The allegations against my brother are just that, allegations.  The only version of events the public gets to see is the SEC version in their complaint. They are going to spin facts in the light most favorable to their case.  As an attorney I am aware that this is the nature and reality of litigation.  Mark will get his say in court. I have no doubt that the true chain of events will play out in his favor.  It is also important to keep in mind that this is a civil proceeding. The blogosphere seems to be poorly educated on this point.  The only remedy the SEC is  for the most part seeking is monetary. (They are also asking for equitable relief)

There are only two people in this world that have known Mark longer than I have.  Everyone else has an opinion and gets their blog stats up by voicing it and speculating. I don’t have a problem with this. It is what makes the blogosphere one of the most fascinating ever expanding frontiers on earth. I however, have 47 years of facts. Mark is an ethical person of the highest level of integrity in every aspect of his life.  I urge people to not pass judgment on SEC self -serving P.R. Let the facts play out where they should, in a court of law.

As the Sears ship continues to sink into the depths of devalued stock prices, irrelevancy and non-existent sales, the rats scurrying for dry ground have expanded from executive talent to activist investors.   Noted activist investor Bill Ackman has reduced his SHLD holdings by 92.5 percent. When an activist like Ackman dumps like that, he has probably decided that nothing he says or does will make a difference.

So why did Ackerman bail?   In fairness to Sears, he may have simply decided that the the current state of the retail sector merited a pull out. He however does not appear to have reduced his Target holdings.   It is more likely  that he finally came to the conclusion that there is nothing he could offer that was going to stop the SHLD free-fall or turn company fundamentals around for the long term. He realizes that changes such as the return of layaway are simply desperation gimmicks and not fundamntal changes.  It is also more evidence of the either unwillingness or personality inability of Sears chairman Eddie Lampert to listen to anyone with real world experience.  If you do not have a Ivy League MBA you have nothing meaningful to say to him. Maybe all the Harvard, Yale and other big time MBA types at Sears can waterproof their degrees to use as as rafts when Sears finally goes under.

I love disaster films.  I must have an inner desire to see the Earth pulverized or mankind snuffed into extinction by a  biological plague.  Maybe the dogs and cats can do a better job at managing the environment than we have.  There are literally thousands of movies out there that could be classified as “disaster movies”  In coming up with my list, I gravitated to movies that in my opinion  had attention holding story lines as compared to movies that were simply built around disaster special effects.  I tried to include movies from a wide variety a genres such as zombies, historical events, aliens and natural disasters. The minimum requirement was that a large group of people had to have been killed off.  While large is a relative term, I took the pornography approach.  I know it when I see it.  Some notable disaster flicks did not make my list. These include Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow and The Core.  I viewed these as having no semi-believable story line or simply special effect excuse for movies.  Since it impossible to suspend disbelief in a Zombie movie(unless you believe in Zombies) I only included  Zombie movies that attempted to address underlying social issues. This left out Night Of The Living Dead type movies. I also did not include some of the original disaster genre flicks such as Earthquake and The Towering Inferno. While these were ground breakers for their time I do not consider them particularly good movies.  I also did not include made for television movies which would leave out the very good Testament and  The Day After.  These are intended to be nothing more than my personal choices, feel free to comment with yours and why.

1. Deep Impact.   Full of cliches.  Standard disaster story line.  I don’t care.  This is my favorite disaster movie. The scene where the tidal wave strikes New York City still gives me chills. I think I enjoy it so much because it is rated one of the more scientifically accurate natural disaster movies.  For me a great disaster film is one that does not have to suspend reality too much.

Memorable Quote: “We get hit all the time by rocks and meteors some of them the size of cars, some no bigger than your hand, but the comet we discovered is the size of New York City, from the north end of Central Park to the Battery, about 7 miles long. It weighs 500 billion tons”

2.The Poseidon Adventure. I am talking about the original and not the crappy remake. The Poseidon Adventure is considered the father of epic disaster films. I remember seeing it with my parents at a theater that no longer exists in Pittsburgh, Pa. I cried when the priest played by Gene Hackman died at the end saving the lone surviving group of passengers. The pre-digital era special effects of the wave hitting the SS Poseidon is laughable by today standards. Looking at it today you can tell it is pretty much a model boat in a bathtub. It  does not matter.  The Poseidon Adventure is a disaster film from a long gone era where the story line and not the special effects defined the movie.

Memorable Quote:  “They’re suppositories Mr Rogo. You don’t swallow them.”

3.The Ten Commandments The movie that defined Charlton Heston as Moses. How can I not include a movie where the 1st born of Egypt are killed and the Pharaoh’s army is wiped out in the Red Sea. Anyone who has taken the Hollywood Universal Studios tour got to see how they actually parted the waters. Quite impressive for its day. Once again I prefer the films where the production actually tells a story versus being a vehicle for special effects.

Memorable Quote: “You will be mine, like my dog, or my horse, or my falcon, except that I shall love you more - and trust you less.”

4. Titanic The one and only time any of us guys can say we went to a Chick-Flick Disaster Movie and not be talking about simply it simply being a disaster that we were dragged kicking and screaming to a  chick snoozer.  This far and away beats out its terrible chick- flick disaster competitor, Armageddon.

Memorable Quote: ” Do you know of Dr. Freud, Mr. Ismay? His ideas about the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you.”

5. Planet Of The Apes The Charlton Heston original and not the terrible Mark Wahlberg career damaging remake. What makes this one of the great disaster movies of all time is that you do not realize it is a disaster movie until the final chilling Statute Of Liberty scene which many sites have rated one of the greatest endings of all time.

Memorable Quote: “ Get Your Stinking Paws Off Me You Damm Dirty Ape!”

6. The Omega Man Another Charlton Heston flick that is an adaption of the 1954 novel ” I am Legend.” Most are familiar with the visually better but storyline and politically inferior 2007 remake starring Will Smith. The Omega man in my opinion is better because it take a much more introspective look at the dangers of biochemical warfare and the dangers of technology. It does much more with the story and relies much less on special effects as you would expect from of movie of that era. If you have seen  the Will Smith I Am Legend, give the Omega Man a look and compare for yourself.

Memorable Quote: “You know the old song? If you were the only girl in the world, and I was the only boy, well, okay, but until then, don’t bother me? Well, I guess I’m the only boy…”

7. 28 Days Later The U.K version of I Am Legend done with much more style, story and suspense. With all respect to George Romero and his Night Of The Living Dead franchise, this and the sequel 28 days later are two of the best zombie holocaust movies of all time. Great use made of the en vogue, “fast cut” zombie carnage that you see in most horror films now.

Memorable Quote: “Plans are pointless. Staying alive is as good as it gets.”

8. Fail-Safe One of the most unique and riveting disaster movies of its day.  At the height of the cold war with the Soviet Union the Unite States military protocols break down resulting in the dropping of an atomic bomb on Moscow. In order to prevent all out nuclear war, the President Of The United States played by Henry Fonda agrees to the unthinkable.

Memorable Quote:  ” I’ve been making a few rough calculations on the effect of two twenty megaton bombs dropped on New York City in the middle of a normal workday…”

9.Independance Day The dialogue and acting are so campy you are not sure whether this is a disaster flick or parody of a disaster flick ala Mars Attacks. The special effects however are spectacular. This one gets on the list for the destruction of the White House. See it in Blu-ray if you have a compatible blu-ray  player and television.  Boomer Boomer!

Memorable Quote: “If you’re so smart, tell me something, how come you go to M.I.T. for 8 years to become a cable repairman?”

10. The Andromeda Strain A meteorite strike brings an alien virus to earth wiping out a town.  Scientists must work to find a cure before the virus destroys mankind. Great performance by Arthur Hill.  Watch this instead of the dialogue idiotic Dustin Hoffman remake Outbreak.

Memorable Quote: “….the aircraft and pilot’ll have to be sterilized”

11. War Of The Worlds The original adaption of the Orson Wells radio broadcast of the alien invasion that panicked the world.  Much superior to the Tom Cruise remake which  in my opinion is unwatchable save the first 20 minutes of the movie.

Memorable Quote”  “After all that men could do had failed, the Martians were destroyed and humanity was saved by the littlest things, which God, in His wisdom, had put upon this Earth.”