“Elements that fit the CW [that’s the channel that has is] include betrayal, murder, lust, and a hotshot Ferrari-driving protagonist…

Patrick Dempsey plays Dominic, the president of a fictional international bank. The flawed hero of the story is the bank’s head of trading, Massimo, played by Alessandro Borghi, an actor with a passing resemblance to Bradley Cooper. The character says he was ‘born low’, making him an outsider among the blue bloods at the bank, who pepper their gripes about his rogue methods with anti-Italian stereotypes…Massimo’s accomplices include an operative for a Wikileaks-like site, Laia Costa. Together they go up against Massimo’s main adversary who -spoiler alert- also happens to be his mentor and father-figure, Mr. Demsey’s Dominic.”

Wall Street Journal’s review by John Jurgensen

The movie is based on the novel “I Diavoli” by Guido Maria Brera and was acquired by The CW after its spring 2020 debut in Italy. Supposedly it was successful in the Italian market (on Sky Italia).

“

“In the first five episodes provided for the press, we don’t find out. One assumes it’ll be revealed in the back half of a 10-episode first season, but the question is what ultimately propels the series forward, as Massimo becomes the main suspect in the murder investigation. Fighting to clear his name, he becomes involved in an intercontinental financial war and is forced to choose between supporting his mentor Dominic or going up against him. Without giving anything away, it should still be obvious which path he takes.

The series is teeming with characters and multiple subplots — including the mysterious death of Massimo’s ex-wife (Sallie Harmsen), who may or may not have been an escort, and the travails of an ambitious journalist (Laia Costa) with familial reasons for trying to bring down NYL — that it might be a challenge to keep up, or, in my case stay awake, because this is no Robert Altman movie. It’s clearly more plot- than character-driven and meant to be fast-paced, so there has to be some new major revelation every episode in order to keep viewers engaged. They’re just mostly vapid, essentially made for audiences with short attention spans.”

Indiewire

Well, they got the woman right – Laia Costa, the journalist, is “exposing secrets” which means destroying some man’s life and work.

Devils is available for streaming for free on the CW network

Mr. Savage: Max I am thrilled to have you here, even it’s just for 10 minutes.

Max: And I am thrilled to be here with you, even if it’s just for 10 minutes. As I like to say, if you don’t know what you’re doing in 10 minutes, 10 hours won’t get you there. So go ahead.

Mr. Savage: You’re going to double publish it on Medium, you said. Isn’t that a public relations risk ? After all, you’re not exactly mainstream.

Max: No, I am not. But I have to let the larger public know what I’m about.

Mr. Savage: The value proposition of you writing this personal blog goes beyond anything I’ve seen. And I’ve seen a lot.

Max: I am one of the most controversial bloggers in the world, and I have fans beyond the finance industry. In fact, some of my biggest fans are from outside this industry. I’ve opened a lot of doors for people who’s improved their lives with the tips and “School of Hard Knocks” I’ve kept running for 7 years.

Mr. Savage: Right. One of the latest thing we’ve seen is your fascination with the Game of Thrones. That series ended earlier this year.

Max: I am a late fan of the show, and I had to watch it all. You see different types of leaders throughout the show, and they all have something to teach. For example, the saying the “Night is Dark and Full of Darkness” could be the World is Worse and Full of Scumbags.” I wrote an amazing book last year. And you know what ? Your *leaders* and *fat cows* kept it under wraps. So I say: If anyone working here has it, you’d better not tell your co-workers and supervisors. There’s a tremendous amount of ill-will toward those who are getting up the career ladder. The elites have embraced virtue-signalling and the kakistocracy is full-swing. It is now the hardest it’s even been to be promoted from low-level or mid-level to upper-level employee. True in almost ANY industry or occupation. The most typical letter I get from readers starts with: “I’ve been here for so many years and haven’t been promoted once…” The managers refuse to promote the hard-workers. I’ve tried to give you some tools in that book.

Mr. Savage: The Book of the Underdog, yes. Are you saying the managers and C-suite keep a “blind spot” to the achievers that should otherwise get promoted ?

Max: Totally. It’s a willful blind spot. You’re not part of their “tribe”, a term I’ve used in the book.

Mr. Savage: And you told us how to deal with it. Word by word.

Max: Managers stage conflict all the times. Remember, they want to see you -the underlings- fight each other and lose. They will beat the dead horse (an unreasonable issue) so the messenger falls with it.

Mr. Savage: Ok, Max. What is the next direction for your blog ?

Max: You’ve seen we got a “Free Resources for the Free Minds” where the suggestions come from readers. Readers like you. Courses, classes, white papers, suggestions, it’s a lot in there. Since I moved the blog, readership has decreased. By a lot. Like 97%. We’re not interested in paupers and jumping jacks “trolls”, but in committed and serious readers. Readers who have a mission and purpose aligned with mine. Strap on your belts, this is going to be a rough road.

Mr. Savage: Any other messages for your readers ?

Max: You need to cull and curate your reading. Cut back or completely cut your social media consumption. Social media (especially Twitter) has become a cancer. Delete your social media apps from your phone. Spend time reading books, not social media feeds which are garbage.

Mr. Savage: Which books go well, or let me say it, which 3 books go best with reading the Book of The Underdog ?

Max: Good question. I would pair the Book of the Underdog with The Magician’s Way: What It Really Takes to Find Your Treasure by W. Whitecloud and with David Goggin’s Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds. The former is not so well -known and is fiction while the latter is a 2018 best-seller readers might already have. But there are dozens more that go well with mine.

Mr. Savage: Thanks, Max.

Note: Mr. Savage insisted he needed to watch a movie.

There

“Max,

I am a [redacted] industry analyst for one of the largest investment firms. Sometime ago while doing a visit at a large company we cover, I was the leading analyst conducting our due diligence visit. As I started peppering a C-suite executive there, I went beyond your typical what’s the outlook for your company, and asked him why was he doing [what he was doing, redacted] to which he replied: 

“Listen, fucker, you wouldn’t have this job if it wasn’t for us.” 

What is it that I should have done ? Also, please write some more maxims, I like them. They reflect my workplace reality.

Thanks,

Alex”

Max: Alex, you are saying this is a client, he’s not your existing boss or supervisor. He is lashing out presumably unhappy with the fact Wall Street firms exist to cover firms like his. So if there were no firms doing [whatever industry] there wouldn’t be the need to cover them. Guy is obviously an assho*e and you irked him.

His complaining is weak. I mean, if there were no WS firms, he’d have no investors and no business to be working at and his lavish lifestyle. I’d like my readers to take a look at the relocation packages below, for illustration purposes only, and to think for a moment, how does that compare with what they make. How close are you…or how remote.

There are two responses to what you were told:

1. Ignore and continue, Take it in, not react, I imagine eventually you’d excuse yourself and leave at some point. If you were alone with him, you’d not share this with someone else. This is the base case of NOT responding to verbal aggression.

2. You can repeat back what he said: “If it wasn’t for you, you say I didn’t have a job ? Is that right ? I would not have a job if you weren’t around.”

Him: Yes, that’s right. You’d be sleeping and eating the sidewalk.

You can try humor him:”That can’t be that bad. Have you tried it ?”

Or you can escalate to where somebody is going to get hurt. But I imagine that’s not what you want. If you said “Douche-bag says what ? he’ll say you called him a douchebag. And that might got you fired.

The bigger question here is how many people have been told they would not have their job…if it wasn’t for this [insert] person’s name, title.   

The response to such a statement needs to be weighted carefully.