Wendell’s Modest Review Of The Universe

Here’s a good site for doing mortgage calculations.

http://www.mortgage-investments.com/

I especially like their Investment Spreadsheet, in case you’re considering getting into the real estate rental game.

I saw this movie the other day amid all the rave reviews. People were comparing the Borat character — played by B-team comedian Sacha Cohen — to that of Forest Gump. I think he’s a little more like the Johnny Knoxville character in the Jackass movies. They’re both plain stupid and only borderline funny. At least Johnny Knoxville is a real person and not a made up persona. At least I think Knoxville is a real person…

The basic premise of the movie is that of Kazakstani reporter Borat doing a road trip across America and asking everyday people to help him learn about the American culture. Borat of course eventually leads the situation to something gross and/or outrageously racist. Wow. Shock humor from “The Foreign Guy.” So smart and original! Andy Kaufman did the foreign guy bit better and without being so disgusting.

About the only funny scene — albeit outrageously gross — is a hotel fight between Borat and his manager. This happens about halfway through the movie so be sure to eat all your popcorn first. You’ll be able to upchuck quite easily after the scene.

Save your money and wait for the video.

A nice little online java calculator for figuring out the size of your nest egg 20 years from now…

http://www.moneytoys.com/future-value-calculator.php

Pretty trippy Lumalive technology from Philips. I’m waiting for the full screen cloth monitor that you can roll up and keep in your backpack.

I tried the http://www.zillow.com site today. It’s the one that shows you home prices along with a lot of other niceties like property tax, square footage, comps.

Great for finding out how much your friends and neighbors have tied up in their homes, who to hit up for a loan, who’s been lying about how much they paid for their house, how much they sold it for, etc.