Management

Stephen Belber

Mike (Steve Zahn) is a motel manager in Arizona and Sue (Jennifer Aniston) is a travelling saleswoman based in Maryland.
This low-key comedy asks what happens when two people meet, make a connection and have to deal with the realities of geography.
It is a relief to have Zahn scale back his usual over-the-top zaniness for a more likeable sweet goofiness, while Aniston actually manages to look a little dowdy and touchingly insecure.
Too bad writer-director Stephen Belber did not have enough trust in his actors and the initial premise.
Midway through, he willy-nilly throws in an ex-punk turned yogurt magnate (a cartoonish Woody Harrelson) who hooks up with Sue, as well as an instant sidekick and best friend (James Hiroyuki Liao) for Mike.
Or perhaps this was the result of notes from meddlesome movie management.

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The New Silk Road
By Ben Simpfendorfer

The jade, silk and musk that used to be plied along the trading routes between East and West have been replaced by toys, office equipment and electronic Qurans.
Ben Simpfendorfer sees this as evidence that the Arab world and China are rediscovering each other after a long dormant period and that this could come at the expense of the complacent West.
His achievement is to take seemingly disparate threads and weave them together into a persuasive coherent tapestry he christens the new silk road.
For example, the terrorist attacks of Sept 11 and America’s response, China’s growth and thirst for oil, and the resulting spike in Arab wealth funds are just a few of the factors bringing about a “historic global rebalancing”.
While there is a good grasp of the big geopolitical picture, it is in the details that Simpfendorfer excels.
His credentials as an Arabic- and Mandarin-speaking banker stand him in good stead as he travels to Shenzhen and Yiwu in China, and Cairo, Damascus, Dubai and Riyadh in the Middle East to talk to traders, officials and students.
While this tract serves as a wake-up call to the West, Simpfendorfer is also careful not to draw sweeping conclusions.
Yes, there are factors drawing the Arab world to China but the area is not a monolithic whole and different countries are responding differently as some have had stronger ties to the United States recently.
The tapestry of the future geopolitical economy of the world is still being woven.
If you like this, check out: www.silkroadeconomy.com. Simpfendorfer’s blog includes a posting dated April this year on Singapore’s Lesson For Dubai.

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