In the fourth episode of our new series “The Zeroes,” it’s all about volatility.

From the markets to–yes–the boxing ring, traders bet on volatility in a way that “was clearly delusional.” If you’ve ever wanted to see a couple of traders literally beating each other’s brains out, here’s your chance:

To really understand why Wall Street went bonkers in the early 2000s, it helps to understand…men.

A specific type, to be exact. The “alpha male” led to a new saying: “alpha is the currency.” Alpha firms, alpha deals. You get the idea. In the third episode of our series, “The Zeroes,” we delve into the mindset–and what happened to the people covering the industry at Trader Monthly as the magazine began to run out of money.

And here is the seduction episode of our five-part series, “The Zeroes.”

It’s easy to say now that the culture of consumptive mayhem that exploded with the markets was all about greed. But as you’ll see, when 28-year-olds start making $10 million, they act…like 28-year-olds making $10 million a year. And the people watching from the sidelines caught a few crumbs, too.

We wanted to know what made smart people, people who should have known better, buy into the financial madness that turned a staid industry into an orgy.

There are a lot of books and movies out there that beautifully describe the mechanics and motivations of the big players. But what about the traders themselves? Why did those guys believe what they were doing was right?

We turned to the cautionary tale of Randall Lane, former editor in chief of Trader Monthly (now, he’s got a nifty new job), whose book The Zeroes is the basis for our new five-part series.

As producer Ivan Weiss found out, the good times were, well, pretty damn good.

A Decade of Insanity

BROOKLYN, NY—Film at 11 TV, a company based in Brooklyn, NY that produces video news features, documentaries and weekly series for multiple platforms has partnered with Irvine-based media company, KoldCast Entertainment Media, to distribute its new documentary program “The Zeroes,” which will be featured on the KoldCast TV network beginning today, Wednesday, October 12, 2011.

“Our partnership with KoldCast is an important step in licensing our content around the globe,” said Edward Head, Senior VP, Business Development.  “We are excited to be one of the first documentary programs to be featured as KoldCast expands its original programming to documentaries and short films.”

“The Zeroes” is a fresh examination of the 2008 financial collapse from the perspective of a key witness who says he should have known better–Randall Lane, then the founder and editor-in-chief of Trader Monthly and currently editor of Forbes Magazine. Why did smart people get sucked into the financial bubble? Through footage from trader parties, boxing matches, interviews with the players themselves as well as their psychics and therapists, we see how risk came to be rewarded, and how a veteran financial and political editor like Lane got caught up in it.

But Lane made a mistake that they didn’t – instead of using other people’s money like Wall Street did, Lane used his own…and lost. Summing up the situation, Lane says, “When the figures were tallied at the end of 2009, there would be zero increase in household net worth for the decade. Zero net job creation, zero median income growth, zero stock market appreciation.”

“I think this story is even more relevant and important now than when I wrote the book.” – Randall Lane, Editor of Forbes.

“Why did smart people suspend logic like that in 2008? When I saw some of the footage of the parties they went to, the lifestyle they led, it was easy to see why,” said producer Ivan Weiss. “And it’s easy to see why it could happen again.”

“Given the Occupy Wall Street movement, which started in Manhattan, the timing could not be better to share the story of “The Zeroes” using a global internet based platform,” said Edward Head.

Watch Episode 1 of the five-part documentary series “The Zeroes”: http://onkc.tv/tz1

Note: News media download link to 30-second excerpt from “The Zeroes”: http://onkc.tv/tz2

Film at 11 TV is a media company based in New York that produces video news features, documentaries and weekly series for multiple platforms, focusing on keeping the audience ahead of the news narrative. Bullshit-Free Since 2008 (the tagline suggested by the company’s Facebook community), Film@11’s news is cheeky and irreverent but non-partisan, smart.

FOR ALL MEDIA INQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT:

Jennie Walker, VP Business Development, Film at 11 TV

Jennie.walker@filmat11.tv

MEDIA CONTACT – KOLDCAST TV:

KoldCast Entertainment Media, LLC

Mediainquiries@koldcast.TV

When the East Coast sweltered last summer (remember last summer–it was just as hot as this one), we checked in with David Easterling of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. For those of you thinking that a Europe-size hurricane like Irene is an unusual event, we thought we’d bring back this little item for you.

Because according to Easterling, dramatic weather like major heat waves or hurricanes in odd places is going to become more frequent as the world’s weather changes.

“I WANT TO BE FREE.”

That was the message recently sent to us by one of our contacts in Tripoli. The last we’d heard from him, in July, he wrote, “I am coming back from front line in the war between us and FUCKING GADAFI, any way I would like to thank you and all Americans for helping us in our war for freedom ,we will never surrender.”

Well, he’s on his way to freedom, now. While rebel forces storm the compound of  Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi (there is currently a nearly $2 million bounty on the former leader’s head, courtesy of Libyan businessmen–dead or alive), the burgeoning victory rippled through the Internet.

@misrati_free tweeted, “Brother-in-law just made it home after 3 months in jail for refusing to put q’s picture in his hospital operating room.”

From @ShababLibya–”a group of Libyan youth…inspired by our brothers and sisters in Egypt and Tunesia”: “Deputy chief of intelligence quits Qaddafi regime (or what is left of it) and says he now supports the NTC (jumping off the sinking ship).”

And other Libyans are finally revealing their whereabouts, now that they don’t have to fear Qaddafi forces hauling them off to jail for using the Internet or watching television. @SayNoToQaddafi tweeted, “Right. Time to reveal where I am from. I am from Tamanhint 30 km north from Sebha. We have created a local council and raised the indp flag.”"

But the one Libyan who everyone wants to find is of course Qaddafi himself. Al-Jazeera thinks he’s still “somewhere in Tripoli.”

An excellent live blog of events, including an English translation of the latest message from Qaddafi, here.

Film@11 is a 2011 winner in the British Airways Face of Opportunity Program.  Company executives, along with 250 winning businesses, traveled to London in February 2011 to attend winners events and promote their company internationally.

LONDON, UK–The blame for Tottenham and Hackney is getting passed around like a parcel at a children’s party. So whose fault is it anyway?

Prime Minister David Cameron says it’s “criminality – pure and simple” started by “thugs.” London Mayor Boris Johnson says those who helped instigate the rioting will face “punishments that they will bitterly regret” (they already have–some say, excessively so) and Home Secretary Theresa May refuted claims of deeper underlying problems, declaring it was about “sheer criminality.”

That may be the easy analysis. It’s much harder to reconcile with what one young man told Johnson when the mayor toured an affected London neighborhood. “Think about the amount of time you are cutting and cutting and cutting and then you are putting off youth fees…You are spending hundreds of millions of pounds a week, okay, in Libya, when you can be over here. Sort yourselves over here first!”

(Americans: sound familiar?)

But according to renowned historian David Starkey, it may not be just a reaction to the “austerity” cuts to education and NHS. Starkey controversially (to say the least) offered up the theory that the riots were a cultural by-product: “The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent destructive, nihilistic gangster culture has become the fashion and black and white boys and girls operate in this language together.”

Meanwhile, however, a website offering a Google map of London has been launched, highlighting the businesses worst hit by the violence and encouraging new customers to offer trade to those recovering. The two most-looted stores? JD Sports – a clothing line that hails the image of the underground–and the Carphone Warehouse’s mobiles.

–Oli Foster

Tim Pawlenty annouced this morning that he was ending his campaign for President.  Disappointed with 3rd place showing yesterday in the Iowa Straw Poll, and with new competition from Texas Governor Rick Perry, Pawlenty decided it was better to fold now.

His organization in Iowa looked pretty strong, with busloads of enthusiastic supporters.  And, most political observers expected Pawlenty to do well in coming weeks as the GOP race moves into New Hampshire. Pawlenty’s blend of fiscal conservatism appeals to the moderate wing of the Republican Party.  But the race to the right, a position Pawlenty never really appeared comfortable with, a race shared with Michele Bachmann (and now crowded with the addition of Perry) proves the deciding factor for dropping out.