“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).

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“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

People that are not business owners or that have not been responsible for their own revenue line have a poor understanding of what a CEO, or even a top salesman, are. CEOs, ostensibly the ones in the public eyes, let very little of their own true image show though in interviews and publications, because they worry about their public image. Politicians do too, with the exceptions of Donald Trump, which had to reveal himself to get elected.

People are so divided over Trump. It’s hard to find anyone that’s indifferent or not opinionated. His fiercest supporters call him “King”, while his critics are no less shy in going to the other extreme. I think this division goes into institutions as well.

Well, what is ? What’s the secret sauce that has taken millions of people by the storm ?

What Trump does he speaks to the emotions of the audience. Trump uses language designed to provoke and enrapture the listener. He is, in my opinion, often bare of facts, ignoring content but getting a deep emotional response that have his supporters raving and his detractors go mad. You can do anything but ignore him. Both his words and body language are a battery of emotion-laden imagery, a emotional rollercoaster. His outbursts are very carefully scripted. This comes from CEO and showbiz training. You can’t very well argue with that –Watch the grab-and-jerk handshake. Trump has an emotional gravitational pull and unbridled frank language that along with his open hand gestures constitute his trademark. What the stunt doesn’t tell you Trump functions like a good businessman, and number one law in business is that “All relationships are transactional.”

Business community leaders have come out of WH meetings expressing being “charmed” by Trump. Reality check: negotiations are rarely done by the President, but by his aides. I would default to Frank Underwood on this one: “Shake with your right hand but hold a rock in your left.”

Trump is the “Showbiz President”. He likes using hyperbole, stunts, brake the norm of civility, but in the end what counts is seeing the economy flourish, sales and employment grow.

“Nobody cares more for the intelligence community than I do. Nobody !” -That’s a statement Trump made not long ago [if not the exact words, it was along those lines]. Let’s examine this statement. Onto fact checking: Is there any evidence that is true ? No. Is there any evidence it isn’t true ? None whatsoever. So this is a plausible statement. However, the way he made it was emotionally loaded. Some people might say: this is bullshit. Other might think: that’s the guy that cares for me. A plain language statement that anybody can understand would be: “I support the intelligence community”. That’s a simple, unemotional, un-provoking way of saying the same thing.

Social media is reduced perception, second-hand experience

4, 8, 12, etc. years ago social media did not exist or not in this form. Today, social media is a form of instant gratification. We are all addicts to this game. I wrote about reducing social media dependency here. What’s the net result of using social media ? Simply put, reality becomes less congruent to our needs. Facts that do not matter become part of our reality. Our lives as a result are poorer because our experiences come through indirect messages. Now kids watch Youtube videos while doing their homework. Social media is one easy way to manipulate opinion and distort reality.

Trump seems to like to amplify the bad news while “burying the good news”. Yesterday he twitted “he couldn’t find any country the U.S. had a trade surplus with” when in fact there are quite a few. To quote a follower of his “when he hasn’t tweeted before 8 AM ‘he’s got you eating out of his hands’.”

                                                                                                  What’s a good logo for this site ?

Updated video: July 27th, 2017