So, when you look at the second-quarter press release from Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK), you notice something right off the bat. Part of the headline reads as follows: "Kodak Reports 2nd-Quarter 2009 Results, Reflecting Global Economic Realities." I don't think a shareholder can feel too encouraged after mentally processing the implied image that the results are like a mirror being held up to the ugly face of the recession, do you?

I didn't think so. Anyway, sales declined 29%, and I don't think we can use the currency issue to save the day on this particular top line. On an adjusted basis, the 43 cents from continuing operations that was lost during the quarter missed expectations by 7 cents, according to Reuters.

Kodak's announcement today is evidence that sentimentality is dead in 21st century business.

The film world has, after all, been moping since Polaroid stopped producing its iconic instant camera film in early 2008 (take heart, Polaroid fans, "The Impossible Project" is working to reinvent instant film in an old Polaroid factory in the Netherlands). But today Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) said it was halting production of the complex-yet-storied Kodachrome film, immediately. Not only does the product make up less than 1% of its worldwide still-picture film sales; it's extraordinarily expensive to produce.