06/03: Swiftly to and through St. Louis, Part 1

About three fortnights ago, it was my pleasure to spend a whirlwind afternoon in the Gateway to the American Midwest, the iconic, energetic, unmistakably-aging St. Louis.

As my blitz-paced trips typically go, that Saturday sojourn was book-ended with flights on my airline of choice, United, was chock-full of visited spots within the destination city, and afforded opportunities for intellectual stimulation, thinking, and writing. Atypically, however, I only committed to Saturday’s wanderings late on Friday night, or about nine hours before I would leap from ORD’s runway 22L en-route to Lambert Field. To be sure, the seeds for a potential journey were firmly planted for some time deep within my brain, somewhere between the neurons that continually push me towards spontaneous, intellectual travels and the brain matter responsible for happiness / fulfillment / etc. Trips do seem an integral part of my raison d’etre, given their revelation of artistic and architectural beauties, anthropological nuance, and a personal level of historical understanding, to highlight but three domains from which I often derive very real intellectual gratification, particularly on trips to fresh locales. And that is not all; travel is also a tremendous aid in re-evaluating my own goals, strategies in reaching them, and in my recently exhibited performance. I can be a harsh critic, and time for intensive, honest, and inspired self-assessment is golden.

Mindful of these myriad of benefits, I was actively considering the calculus of various potential jaunts’ competing value propositions; metropolitan areas under review included New York City, St. Louis and Cincinnati. Vigorously pulsating Manhattan was atop my list, particularly as a midweek edition of the FT brought to my attention an exhibit of Eero Saarinen’s architecture at an Uptown museum. A near-worshiper of the divine arcs, airy and clerestory-like windows, and monumental volumes that the inspired Finn summoned within Dulles airport’s colossal Main Terminal, I was ravenous for a chance to contemplate within a dedicated exhibit his other masterpieces, which include heavy-weights like the St. Louis Gateway Arch and JFK’s soaring TWA terminal. And the show would move to Yale at the end of January, giving further impetus to a NYC daytrip.

Yet pricing was unappealing. LGA could be had for just north of $150 and would afford some 6.5 hours of ground time (whittled down to five, once ground transportation and pre-departure airport arrival would be factored in). While I yearned to see the Saarinen exhibit, I also wanted to diversify with time for a leisurely coffee, opportunities for wandering and possibly making serendipitous discoveries, etc. In contrast, CVG (Northern Kentucky / Covington / a.k.a. Cincinnati metro area) was pricing at $95 for slightly longer ground time. After a few pleasant jaunts through CVG early last year while utilizing my status-matched Northwest Airlines Worldperks Gold credentials, including one odyssey aboard the TANK municipal bus lines into the downtown area, I was eager to return for a bowl of chili and further studies of the quintessentially Midwestern post-industrial decay, depression, and scattershot, fledgling rebirth.

STL -- Lambert Field and its Dulles-inspired (though not nearly as grand or sublime) main terminal hall -- would finally edge-out the value proposition contest. Desiring admiration of Saarinen’s work, the prospect of rigorously contemplating his most celebrated, soaring and iconic achievement -- and in situ, not via two dimensional museum snapshots -- was a major selling point. Fares to St. Louis and its Gateway Arch were a mere $97. The other selling points: STL is efficiently linked to city centre and its near-suburban Art Museum campus, the sprawling and manufactured-bucolic Forest Park, via a light railway with fast and frequent service. I could distill eight or nine hours of ground time thanks to a well-timed flight schedule and a briefer flying time, all the while affording a valuable option of earlier return, if I should have desired to work an evening stint as an O’Hare Travelers Aid volunteer. And I’d never been to St. Louis since coming of age as an enlightened and discriminating individual (if I may take the liberty of saying so). Having solved these differential equations on Friday night (and including many more esoteric variables than I’ve hitherto revealed, including opportunities for taking a so-called ‘bump’ due to a flight over-sale, availability of my preferred seats and upgrade chances, local weather forecasts, the promise of inspired local dives for lunch or coffee, etc.), I decided upon St. Louis! I booked my flights around 11:30pm, set my alarm for 5:15am, and would be pushing back at 8:04am.

The first moments of morning were difficult. Under-rested after a strenuous work week, I recoiled at having to awake at my usual M-F hour, rather than sleeping-in to a luxurious seven or 7:30am. But when a zip on the cute and vibrant Embraer 145 awaits, how can I possibly complain? After the morning routine and a large three-course breakfast were expeditiously accomplished, I motored off -- for my usual leisurely reading of the Weekend FT at Starbucks. Energized by the literary eloquence and substantive political-economic content of the experience, I then commenced an aggressive, full-throttled assault of the John F. Kennedy expressway, bound for O’Hare and recording an average speed that must be near the takeoff gallop of many an aircraft. The silky, southern sounds of Swift beat full-throatedly from the Toyota‘s speakers -- admittedly, a guilty pleasure that can be justified only by moderated intake, given the pantheon of more worthy auditory accomplishment that exists, and that could have instead been contemplated. I know no moderation when positively jazzed by an unfolding trip.

Soon I was approaching the dawn-kissed O’Hare grounds and, eschewing frugality, I shot into the City’s cash cow parking garage. In an apex of decadence, I opted for a ground-level parking spot ($51/day), thus saving a 60 second commute down an elevator, in lieu of the higher levels ($31/day). I shall explain later!

Never has a mortal achieved such supremacy of the airport departure experience -- and I write with the experience of over five hundred thousand butt-in-seat miles under my belt. (I trust that you, patient reader, shall forgive the forthcoming boastfulness!) Leaving Starbucks around 7:20 or 7:25am, I shot across the 10.3 miles of space to ORD’s main parking garage, taking in perhaps two or 2.5 of Taylor Swift’s mesmerizing ballads to youth and love in the interim, before parking in the ‘money’ section, darting the approximately two or three hundred feet to ORD’s employee security screening area (just south of GS check-in, near B5), and then scanning my RFID-enabled, ORD personnel badge, providing a positive fingerprint scan (on the second try), and then positively strolling through the screening lane. Having thus waltzed through the formalities of airside access, I then executed a confident and vigorous walk to the area around F11, savouring the liberation of not needing to unduly rush, and arrived at the gate reader with about 4 minutes of boarding time remaining, or approximately 7:50am. As this is a (true!) tale of the absolute apogee of the human travel experience, the gate agent manning the gate reader was uncommonly cheerful and greeted me by name as I approached. Yes, I was the last passenger to arrive, and the aircraft was ready to depart. We exchanged smiling pleasantries, and I was thanked for my business as a 1K (top-tier) Mileage Plus member. Brilliant!

Executing a controlled descent down the pronouncedly downward sloping jet way -- those 145s do sit quite close to the ground! -- I was exuberant at having seized the opportunity to travel on that weekend day. In particular, after many evenings of late spent at ORD as a Travelers Aid volunteer, I was itching to finally complete the deed, to finish my journeys to the air field with a full-throttled acceleration and leap into the heavens, not with the Blue Line ride home after assisting immigrant laborers from Romania, Heartland Americana folk bound for Cedar Rapids or Charleston, and the odd dead-heading United F/A seeking the local Lego store for her four-year-old‘s edification. Indeed, I do love breathing and living the airport milieu, including parceling out experienced assistance like that just described; but nothing compares to the thrill felt after a tower controller announces “United XXX, cleared for takeoff.”

And soon, so wonderfully soon, I was airborne, where bliss and clairvoyance are invariably but a contemplative thought away. The journey to St. Louis was, objectively, none too pleasant, with a crying baby less than a dozen feet from my eardrum, with cloud above and below our 22,000 feet cruise altitude sullying any potential inspired earthly geography or heavenly sky, with a brief flight time inadequate for serious writing or reading. Yet, my own experience was starkly to the contrary! Our roll down 22L, with torso pushed carefully -- even tenderly -- against the padded seats, the mind accelerating in line with our trusty little flying machine, was mesmerizing, and soon afterward, I was positively surprised to learn that the flight attendant on this short-duration, regional jet -operated flight would actually conduct a proper beverage service. Emboldened to similar feats of productivity, I re-doubled my efforts to polish off the FT, going into sections for which I rarely have time, such as the various essays on the editorial pages. Strictly to aid absorption of said content, I availed myself of the onboard bar -- or, in less flowery language, placed an order during the beverage service that required the support of a United ‘drink chit’ -- and was soon sipping a tomatoe juice and vodka (not a bloody mary!; those mixes further spike the already criminal sodium content of a simple tomatoe juice). Having clearly scoped out the passenger manifest, which has notations for the quantity of a passenger‘s business, the flight attendant singled me out towards the flight’s end by coming to my seat and discreetly asking whether I would like another drink or some other service. While never an expectation, such unscripted extra attention is certainly much appreciated by us frequent fliers!


(Lambert: a Dulles look-alike)


(The Protagonist)

And so, our fifty-seater (well, 54 including 3 crew seats plus a cockpit jump seat) was all-too-soon navigating the ILS glide-slope to 19L (if I recall correctly) at the erstwhile TWA fortress hub. Having pierced the low cloud layer only seconds before touchdown, my first visual impressions of the city and suburbs would have to wait until my forthcoming light-rail commute. But before boarding that navigator of parallel steel ribbons, I performed the obligatory task of retrieving my return boarding pass from a United Easycheckin machine and, determining the next train departure to be some minutes away (I was carrying a printed light-rail schedule in my jacket pocket, created on Friday night during my last minute -- but still solid -- preparations!), I productively used the downtime to snap some artistic impressions of Lambert.

Pleased with my morning thus far, I was nonetheless slightly uneasy during the half-hour roll down the right-of-way of the fin-de-siecle, heady railroad era -- the history was apparent from the incongruously aged stone viaducts we occasionally passed under, which obviously pre-dated the modern light railway to a significant extent. Impetus for the perturbation was a pressing need to do some needed critical thinking, strategizing, and writing, work that I had put off yet which was critically needed. (Us writers are a strange lot.) I had given myself the goal of accomplishing something substantial while in St. Louis, but could I deliver?


(The relic: an overview)


(Lattice handiwork)

Abhorring the thought of perpetuating the unease, I decided to tackle the problem head-on. I disembarked from the light railway at the stop entitled “Union Station” where, presumably, I’d succeed in finding a quiet nook or caffeine-greased dive to tango with my netbook’s keyboard. And I’m pleased to report that I succeeded, with sincere apologies for the sudden anticlimactic curtness. But the real story here is the anthropological experience that was Union Station.

Which will have to wait, along with the remainder of this trip report’s content, to the forthcoming second installment! Cheers for your readership!

04/03: Markets nudge higher in anticipation of Friday's employment report

Equities ticked modestly higher on Thursday with bolder moves curtailed by uncertainty ahead of Friday's (i.e. today's) monthly employment report. The S&P500 added 0.4% to close at 1123, with an intra-day high of 1124 and an intra-day low of 1117.

03/03: Markets pronounced dead. Second day of flat-lining

Markets chopped around during the middle day of the trading week, with the S&P500 up fractionally (and less than 0.1%) to close at 1119. The I-D high and low values of the index were 1126 and 1117, respectively. Of particular note, price action dipped aggressively below the 50SMA (using 15 minute bars) with a long thrust in the 2:00p (EST) hour. Here's a 10-day from the customary source:



The other two main benchmarks were likewise little changed: the DJIA settled at 10397 after a dip of 0.1%, while the NASDAQ closed unchanged from Tuesday, i.e. at 2281.

In my own trade, I scurried away from long positions taken at Tuesday's close, selling each into strength near the market's open, and reaping slight gains on each position. In the case of BA, I was concerned that Tuesday's resistance of $65.00 would not be broken. Indeed, price action retreated to below the 50SMA (using 15-minute bars). Here's what bigcharts says:



With regards to BAC, $16.57-16.60 is a significant support/resistance level at multiple points on a 60-day; hence, it was a logical exit position. Indeed, price retreated upon hitting an intra-day high of $16.62. Here's a 10-day:



Regarding QCOM, I likewise pulled the sell trigger as price approached the upper demarcation of an important price channel off the 60-day. Indeed, price action consolidated just under the price channel for the remainder of the session -- a bullish sign compared to the alternative of pulling back strongly. I expect to re-enter a long QCOM position if I perceive a durable break above the upper price channel during today's trade. Here's a 60-day (1-hour bars) from ThinkOrSwim:



In closing, I expect another subdued trading day today ahead of tomorrow's critical BLS employment report. Indeed, /ES futures (e-mini S&P500 futures, a 24-hour market) are currently showing only slight change compared to yesterday's close -- up about 2 points -- indicating that markets will open with only slight change. Yet no bets are certain vis-a-vis the equity markets; a forecast sleeper could turn out to be a thriller. Good luck, snake oil salesmen!

02/03: Markets flat-line

Markets traded tepidly on the second day of March, with the S&P500 closing ahead by 0.2 percent and settling at 1118. The intra-day high and low, respectively, were 1123 and 1117. Yes, the trading range was indeed just shy of 7 points. Here's a 10-day chart (15-minute bars) with a 50-period SMA, courtesy of bigcharts.com:



In my own trade, I decided to dip my toes into the long waters yesterday. Many leading stocks became attractive upon the late-afternoon market pull-back, and I entered BAC and BA, each at key support levels ($16.40 in the case of the former, a key level off the 60-day; $64.35 in the case of the latter, an important support off the 10-day chart). Gold and the USD notched bullishness. In the case of the precious metal, one should be mindful that present prices, while off of last year's highs in USD terms, are actually at all-time highs in EUR terms. Something to ponder!

With the bell <60 seconds away, good luck tight rope walkers!

01/03: Markets continue advance, spurred by M&A

Equity markets advanced on solid footing yesterday, with the broad-based S&P500 ahead 1.0 percent, or 11 points, to 1116. The index's close was its highest since mid-January, and its intra-day high -- also 1116 -- surpassed the mid-February intra-day highs on about 1113. Markets seem firmly en-route to, at least, a re-test of the mid-January high of 1150.

Leading equities onward was an announcement of a significant deal in the insurance industry: British insurer Prudential announced a purchase of AIG's Asian business in a deal worth $35.5bn.

Airlines continued their rip to higher ground, with many issues notching fresh 52-week highs. UAUA popped as high as 18.49, settling up 5.1 percent at 18.03 on heavy (but not quite capitulation) volume. LCC continued its month-long sprint, advancing 5.0 percent to 7.69; it began February around $5.50.

Gold is maintaining a more bullish hue, with price action hugging key resistance from the 1-month chart around $1125; this follows a bounce in the middle of last week from a key sloping support level (around $1090). Possibly expect an explosive advance if $1130 is breached. Longer-term outlook for the yellow metal is also favourable, assuming the USD begins to weaken anew, which it most certainly would should the Greek debt situation be expeditiously resolved.

Good luck, traders. And be careful in shorting those pesky airline shares.

25/02: Shares bounce decisively off intra-day lows

O Goldman, who art on Wall Street...

So might begin my inspired chant of contrition to those crazy enough to read these pages. (Thankfully there are very few of you.) More frequent posts are forthcoming. Oh yes.

Markets recorded a volatile session on Thursday, with the Dow initially free-falling nearly 188 points before paring losses to close down 53 points, or 0.5%, at 10,321.

EUR/USD trade proved dramatic, with the European currency declining to an intra-day low of 1.345, a level only a whisker above last Friday's touch of 1.3444, which represents the currency's nadir since May 2009. Of course, fears of Greek default and spillover into other EU weak links are the drivers behind Euro weakness.

Gold futures also had a notable session. Front-month contracts kissed a critical support area around $1090, a support that takes the form of a descending trendline that begins at price action on December 3, 2009 (a day after the market's peak), incorporates the upward reversal peaks in mid-January, neatly contains the highs of February 3rd, and beautifully underpins support of February 17th, 18th, 24th and 25th. I anticipate either a durable bounce upward (if the Greek situation should become resolved and leads to dollar depreciation), or a downward break (if Greek problems re-intensify).

I have been trading, among others, MT (Arcelot Mittal ADRs) and AKS (AK Steel), perceiving recent selling pressure to have reached durable support. I entered both positions earlier this week, and while yesterday's sharply lower open brought losses, the ensuing turn-around changed these to slight gains. As the overall market and steel were both trading into significant resistance off 5-day charts near yesterday's close, I sold both positions near yesterday's respective intra-day highs.

Good luck today, traders of the world!

03/02: Technology bounces as market recovery stalls

YHOO:


**
GOOG:


**
MS:


**
TXN:

02/02: Risk trade further intensifies

After an uncertain start of trade, markets eventually shifted into higher gear and placed further distance between their new-found bullish spirit and January's pronounced correction. On the day, the broad-based S&P500 gained 1.3 percent to 1,103. The DJIA propelled forward by 1.1%, while the NASDAQ languished with a +0.9% return. A 10-day chart of the S&P500, courtesy of bigcharts.com, follows:



My own trade on Tuesday, 2/2 focused on five different securities. Forgive me, dear reader, for presently doing no more than posting charts. I shall return to fill-in the story, either within this entry or in a subsequent one.


**

**

**

**

01/02: Markets begin February with a pop

Market action on Monday, February 1 was positive, with the S&P500 ahead by 1.4% to 1089.2 and the DJIA and NASDAQ as relative under-performers, with respective returns of +1.2% and +1.1%.

A major catalyst for Monday's advance was a favourable reading of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) index, which registered as 58.4. Any value in excess of 50.0 indicates manufacturing expansion. Furthermore, the dollar pivoted from multi-month highs, notably in the EUR/USD market, where the dollar declined from an intra-day high on Sunday, January 31 of 1.3852; and in the USD trade-weighted index, where the dollar lost ground from an intra-day high of 79.55. Other risk-on trades also re-ignited, with crude oil futures advancing from an intra-day low of $72.43, recorded during Friday's (29/1) trade.

My own trade focused on identifying securities with heavily oversold 60- and 30-day price action. Pickings were abundant, and I further focused on a higher-probability situation whereby price first declines within an explicit downward-sloping price channel, and then violates that channel on high volume to plunge lower still, in accelerated fashion. My own in-house term for such a set-up is the "parabolic sell-off" (though such a phenomenon also occurs in the capitulation phase of bull markets), as the second derivative of price-vs-time takes and maintains the same sign as the first derivative, e.g. the second derivative would become negative in a sell-off, indicating accelerated selling. This is analogous to the behaviour of the second derivative in a simple parabolic equation (such as y=x^2), where it also takes a non-zero value with a sustained orientation in sign that is equal to the sign of the first derivative.

The above-described search yielded three securities of particular interest: YHOO, GOOG and BP. Yahoo and Google share the position of technology bellweathers, and as such, it is not surprising that their charts should share common technical characteristics. Plotting of price channels and support/resistance lines, along with consideration of key support/resistance areas on the 1-year chart of each security, all supported a bullish viewpoint of both stocks. (I expect to post charts of these with the market wrap-up for 2/2.) BP, likewise, featured an attractive entry towards the end of "parabolic sell-off" price action event, and the security also came with earnings risk, as the quarterly figures would be released during the morning hours, London time, of 2/2. The earnings risk was not altogether undesirable, as rival Exxon (XOM) itself issued an earnings report, in its case positive, on Monday that sent shares soaring.

Thanks for reading!

19/01: Markets rally off support levels, led by healthcare

Tuesday's market action was buoyant, on the one hand articulating the customary knee-jerk reaction that a touch of significant support typically catalyzes, and on the other hand pricing-in ever-increasing odds of a Republican victory in the ostensibly parochial Massachusetts race for a U.S. Senate seat (but, in reality, a highly significant, national litmus test on the durability of the agenda of the Democratic party's liberal wing). A national lurch rightward would, of course, change expectations about the expected degree of heathcare reform, and more of the status quo shall (obviously) benefit the incumbent firms.

The Republican, Scott Brown, won emphatically. (This is a little voice from the future.)

In summary, the S&P500 advanced 1.3 percent to close at 1150, a post-Lehman closing high, while the DJIA recorded a triple-digit gain of 1.1 percent and the technology-weighted NASDAQ notched a relative out-performance, appreciating 1.4 percent.

Among notable price action -- and forgive me, reader, for the lack of colour, one caused by the increased irrelevance of such details due to the elapsed time since long-gone 19/01 --, Google (GOOG) saw gains as the markets continued to digest last week's bombshell news of the firm's possibly pulling out of the Chinese market; the financial sector SPDR (XLF) regained momentum in anticipation of the mid-week earnings report from sector bellwether Goldman Sachs (GS); and Apple (AAPL) exploded to a fresh 52-week closing high on fresh (and feverish) speculation about the forthcoming iSlate. Humana (HUM), the leading S&P500 heathcare-sector stock in Tuesday's trade, leapt 7.1 percent.

15/01: Markets sell-off to key support levels

If I were to offer you, dear reader, a quarter for every 'reset' in relations between myself and this blog (and a half dollar for each unapologetic mixing of cliches), then you might have the green for a free lunch! Yet, as the saying goes, there is no such thing. And, esteemed reader, you already are privy to uptake of the latest mind bullets within this trader's mind, so what's another quarter or half dollar?

With that positively garish introduction, I must now add a pinch of the customary humility: yes, I regret this latest of my absences from the blog; yes, I shall not leave my dear lambs any more; no, I do not intend to disappear again in a fortnight or two. I live to serve my readers. Right.

**

In brief, my non-trading life -- which would, naturally, be comprised in large part by my alter ego of rather excessive travelling -- enjoyed some highly notable moments during my absence from regular posting, i.e. the two-month period since about mid-November. I enjoyed hops to the exotic locales of Traverse City (MI) and Madison, obligatory multiple visits to West Coast mileage run destinations of San Francisco and Seattle, and most significantly, a roaring and powder-dumping skiing jaunt to the northern Lake Tahoe area. Below, looking beautiful, is a specimen of the oft-maligned CRJ species, on an idyllic late-November afternoon on the Chicago O'Hare tarmac:



**

Finally, markets! Yes, this blog's true raison d'etre. Friday's trade proved more tumultuous than any in this still-young year, with indices declining to significant support levels that, if broken in follow-up trade of early next week, would provide fertile grounds for an intensified sell-off (a.k.a. the correction forecast by every talking-head analyst and his grandmother). To add some objectivity to the just-spewed blabber, the S&P500 ended Friday's market action with a 1.1% decline (-12 points) to 1136, while the DJIA declined 0.9% and the NASDAQ erased 1.2%. The S&P500's intra-day registered a trading range between 1148 and 1131. Here's a 10-day chart of the broad-based benchmark, courtesy of bigcharts.com:



My own trade of Friday was not altogether laudable, as the sharpness of the morning pull-back took me by surprise. I entered the session long in X (that's US Steel) calls, which defied a bullish chart by savagely selling-off in the opening minutes, though recovering considerably later. Materials stocks, such as US Steel, alongside financials have been the market leaders since the Christmas holiday while the previous baton-carrier, technology, has been a relative underperformer. It shall be interesting to see whether Friday's unnerving pull-back shall henceforth disrupt this market dynamic of risk-trade leadership. I wrap-up with a quick artistic musing on the essence of '10dX':

29/12: "Up in the Air" inspires a fresh blast of commentary from this neglectful blogger.

With apologies (to myself, probably the only regular reader, it must be noted) for the near- three fortnight lack of content, an absolute eternity in the blogosphere, I've decided to peck away about my recent experience of viewing the movie Up in the Air. As it's a much-awaited movie about frequent-flying, how could the movie possibly escape my comment?

And with luck, this shall be a new dawn for more frequent content generation on these pages.

**

While certainly not among the most profound productions in the medium, Up in the Air did leave me with some positive insights (into the human condition, as insights from the arts generally go) and, likewise, did inspire a fairly intense feel-good state of mind that stuck for the night’s remainder. The movie begins with stunning eye-candy that presents the most literal interpretation of the film’s title: scenes from up in the heavens, including angles on wispy cloud, from-altitude shots of the serpentine highways and downtown business districts of Midwestern mini-metropolises, mosaics of bucolic countryside as from 20,000 feet, meanders of the camera onto the criss-crossing patterns of runways at undefined airports.

And the visual pleasures for those with romanticized views of travel and aviation would continue, brilliantly so. One of the first scenes shows the protagonist, Ryan Bingham (played by George Clooney) at his home: the airport terminal. “To know me is to fly with me,” he says in a voice-over, as the camera tracks him at an American Airlines First Class check-in counter, then discombobulating himself in uber-efficient, almost lyrical fashion at the security screening checkpoint, and finally boarding across the red carpet lane (how else?) to take his seat at the pointy end of a Maddog American Airlines MD80-series jet.

Is this deliberate, extended view of the indulgent premium travel experience, this protracted, discerning contemplation in the manner of a grand genre scene of Velazquez or Michelangelo’s time, meant to be a labor of love, an exaltation of the seamless fluidity, the Swiss-like simplicity, the unexpected joy, that the travel experience at its apogee can be? Or is the message cryptically sinister?, the first brush strokes into the checkered colour of the protagonist, who viewers shortly learn to engage in a most-despicable profession, the ruthless and uncaring firing of people, many of whom have very bleak prospects of ever again turning their lives onto a positive trajectory, burdened by under-developed skills, advanced age, financial travails, etc.

Whatever the meaning of Jason Reitman, the film’s avant-garde, himself serial-flying director, the film proceeds to rapidly present ever-more insight into the life of the enigmatic Ryan Bingham, part admirable high-flying success story, the rest despicable and soulless automaton of inhumane “workforce rationalization,” and without sufficient love for fellow man to desire so much as a network of substantial friendships and perhaps a stable and intimate romantic relationship. Yes, viewers soon learn that Up in the Air refers not just to Ryan’s Sisyphean flying, nor even to the travels combined with the other-worldly feeling of the recently-unemployed, those who, in the midst of despair, uncertainty and grief, all of the sudden feel curiously groundless and adrift. The film title is actually a triple-entendre (at least!), for Ryan Bingham is also up in the air with regards to his relationships or, put another way, with that most fundamental aspect of humanity, inter-relations with one’s fellow women and men.

“Don’t you feel isolated?”, asks an irked family member of Ryan Bingham, frustrated that he remains reticent towards deeper involvement with the family, despite his sister’s approaching wedding. “Isolated?, I’m surrounded!”, Ryan quips into his Blackberry’s mouthpiece, gesticulating at the bustling, anonymous crowds all around, within the airport terminal. Yes, Ryan Bingham was again travelling. (“To know me…”). And yes, he was missing the point by a mile. While technically in ever-ongoing transit from public airport to populated aircraft cabin to bustling hotel lobby, where were Ryan’s real relationships? Who knew his dreams, for whom did he yearn while falling asleep, with whom did he catch up over beers or dinner?

And so, in a steady meander through seemingly never-ending product placements (American Airlines, Hilton and Hertz, you dogs!), airport / airline / travel porn (loved that suave, ‘wingletted’ Boeing 757-200, gingerly kissing the runway on landing before thundering down in gradual deceleration), and unfolding insight into the life and business of one Ryan Bingham, Jason Reitman serves up the meat of the film, the main-course inquiry: how do people relate to one another, and what might be appropriate?

One the one hand, there’s Ryan, up in the air, haughty and self-centered, untethered and mobile. The man, dismissive of human connections, replaces them with manufactured and corporate ones, for instance by seeing false community in the ubiquitous American Airlines adverts that thank customers for their loyalty. These stilted posters -- imagine, a corporation making friends with a human! -- are at once also genuine, as the airline does understand that frequent fliers tend to contribute inordinately towards the firm’s profitability, which is its ultimate end; yet, Ryan Bingham does nonetheless inappropriately allocate the few warm embers within his heart to such inanimate marketing.

Conversely, the supporting cast, though not as impressively accomplished as Ryan, is notably more receptive to forming and nurturing human relationships. Ryan’s sister and her fiancé, both distinct underachievers, manifest the human longing to find love and settle down. Ryan’s newly-hired work colleague, the clever and confident-to-a-fault Natalie (played by Anna Kendrick), turns down superior job offers to follow a boyfriend to underwhelming Omaha. Even the seductress of Ryan Bingham, Alex (with Vera Farmiga acting), a character initially appearing as Ryan’s female mirror-image, owing to her own exhaustive travels and irreverence of more prudent social norms, is actually a married woman and mother. Granted, her failure to reveal these crucial details to her lover are a serious (but separate, I’d argue) matter.

In summary, Up in the Air abounds in giddiness-inspiring scenes for the travel junkie while also provoking serious thought on the very consequential issue of human relationships. It’s a film to which I’ll certainly wish to return in subsequent writing!