THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
01/23/09 -- Vol. 27, No. 30, Whole Number 1529
El Honcho Grande: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
La Honcha Bonita: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Correction
Science Fiction Becomes Reality (comments by
Evelyn C. Leeper)
Mixed Recommendation (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Another Set of Top Westerns (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
The Bush Legacy (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Kids (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Where's the Mouse? (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
My Top Ten Films of 2008 (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
The 100-Thing Challenge (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
MILK (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
LIFELINES (a.k.a. WHEREVER YOU ARE) (film review
by Mark R. Leeper)
Mice (letter of comment by Tim McDaniel)
This Week's Reading (THE GILDED AGE) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
==================================================================
TOPIC: Correction
Last week's issue was mistakenly labeled "01/16/09 -- Vol. 27,
No. 28, Whole Number 1527".
It should have been "01/16/09 -- Vol. 27, No. 29, Whole Number
1528".
Thanks to Jack Weaver for catching this. [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction Becomes Reality (comments by Evelyn
C. Leeper)
THE MAN (1972)
THE FIFTH ELEMENT (1997)
DEEP IMAPCT (1998)
24 (2001-present) (TV)
HEAD OF STATE (2003)
IDIOCRACY (2006)
Inauguration (2009)
See http://www.slate.com/id/2202810/ for details. [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Mixed Recommendation (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
If you are interested in viewing science fiction art online, as
well as a lot of other categories, ImageNETion.com has a fabulous
collection. That is the good news. The bad news is that the
interface is absolutely horrible. I have been able to find
reasonable ways to browse their collection, but only by using
features specific to my browser. I think somebody just needs to
write them a much better user interface. But there is a wide
variety of beautiful collections of high-definition reproductions.
http://www.imagenetion.com/ [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Another Set of Top Westerns (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
For those of you now sick of hearing about Western movies-I figure
there are about four of you-It just happens that the historynet, a
site connected with several history magazines, has just recently
done their own selection of the best 100 Westerns selected by a
panel of experts. Go to:
http://www.historynet.com/100-greatest-western-movies.htm/print
Of course with 100 Westerns in no particular order, there is a lot
of overlap with films already mentioned in this discussion. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: The Bush Legacy (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
President Bush has said of his legacy, "Let history be my judge."
Can it be that he just wants a judge he can be sure will never
bring in a final verdict? [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Where's the Mouse? (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I promised to continue with my story about my house invader last
week. I will interrupt that narrative to announce my Top Ten Film
List for 2008. The mouse will continue that discussion next week.
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: My Top Ten Films of 2008 (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
2007 had been a good year for films, mostly in the latter months.
I was hoping that 2008 would be equally good. Sadly there were not
as many memorable films. There were some very good films, but not
enough to match the best of 2007.
1. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
More than just a film, David Fincher's THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN
BUTTON is a genuine accomplishment. It stylistically shows a span
of history, carefully orchestrating an evolution of feel and mood
that tracks the passing years. This is an intelligent fantasy with
a beautifully sustained and intricate attention to tone. This is a
loose adaptation and a translation forward in time of the story by
F. Scott Fitzgerald from his TALES OF THE JAZZ AGE. Rating: +3 (-4
to +4) or 9/10
2. TRUMBO
The story of Dalton Trumbo's career is told, based on the play of
the same name by Dalton's son, Christopher Trumbo. The biography
is illuminated by Trumbo's writings, particularly his
correspondence dramatically read by major actors of the film
industry. Actors recreate the moods of this always tremendously
well-spoken man. This may be the last film to feature Trumbo's
writing and it has some of his most powerful prose. It is maybe
the best film that has ever been made about the Hollywood blacklist
and the Hollywood Ten. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
3. MILK
Gus Van Sant directs a powerful docudrama of the life and times of
Harvey Milk, from coming to San Francisco to being elected city
supervisor to being murdered along with the mayor of San Francisco.
The style is realistic and not overly polished. This is a highly
affecting film, and Sean Penn gives the most moving performance of
the year of a very ordinary man whom history moved to greatness.
Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
4. THE DARK KNIGHT
In a year in which so many films are based on comic books this is a
super-hero film whose depth is like no other. It plays with the
whole philosophy of the superhero and the whole nature of superhero
battles. It manages to bring together an action film and a thought
piece. This is a lot more than we have come to expect from a comic
book film. Christopher Nolan directs and co-authors the screenplay
with his brother. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
5. THE WRESTLER
Boxer/actor Mickey Rourke makes an acting comeback as a
professional wrestler trying to retire and return to his personal
life. Like his character, Rourke has been scarred by his years of
fighting but can still make a pretty good grab for the viewer's
empathy. Darren Aronofsky tells a solid character-driven drama
with simplicity and impact. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
6. WALL-E
Pixar Animation is known for making good kids' films that even
adults can enjoy. But now they have crossed over the line to make
an adult film that even kids can enjoy. WALL-E is a light fun
comedy set against a very grim background. This film has a lot
more message than just "have a good time." It is all about some
serious problems our world is facing. Under the laughs and the
humanized robots this is a serious science fiction film and well
above average for the genre. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
7. THE BANK JOB
When high political powers in Britain, wanting a piece of
"evidence" to disappear, arrange for a bank robbery to take place,
the result is complex chaos. Jason Statham plays Terry Leather, a
family man going through a bad patch who takes what appears to be a
great opportunity to rob a bank. The robbery opens a legal and
political Pandora's Box. This film is full of action and actual
suspense. The wit of the story is not always obvious when watching
the film, but does come out in retrospect. Rating: high +2 (-4 to
+4) or 8/10
8. DEFIANCE
This is an unusual true story of two Jewish brothers from
Belorussia who fought back against the invading Germans and offered
protection to a community of over a thousand fugitive Jews.
Occasionally using thuggish tactics and more often being heroic,
they survived in the forest while in constant danger from both the
Nazis and the Soviets. The story is made a little idealized, but
this is a chapter of history that has rarely been explored before.
Rating: +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
9. THE COUNTERFEITERS
The Austrian-German production THE COUNTERFEITERS is good cinema
that deals with serious moral issues. It is about the ethical
question of concentration camp prisoners prolonging their lives by
helping the Nazi war effort. The issue is at what cost is
survival. Writer/director Stefan Ruzowitzky does not give a pat
and easy answer. Be aware that survivors of the camp do not
remember the central moral question ever being asked. Rating: high
+2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
10. THE VISITOR
Richard Jenkins, a popular character actor going back to SILVERADO,
finally has the lead in a film and gives a strong performance as an
insular and lonely professor who gets a cause that brings him out
of his shell. The cause comes in the form of two illegal
immigrants squating in his New York apartment. He befriends and
learns from them and they learn from him. He also gets involved in
the politics of US immigration policy. Thomas McCarthy who wrote
and directed the excellent THE STATION AGENT writes and directs
again. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
Honorable Mention goes to these films:
CHOP SHOP
CLOVERFIELD
GHOST TOWN
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
QUANTUM OF SOLACE
REFUSENIK
RELIGULOUS
THE TRAITOR
VALKYRIE
One film that should have been mentioned last year, but I saw too
late:
THERE WILL BE BLOOD
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: The 100-Thing Challenge (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
There have been a lot of "simplicity movements" lately. And I'm
all for simplicity as a guideline. I think it makes more sense to
use basic ingredients to prepare a variety of foods (or cleaning
products) rather than buying a huge variety of specialized
products. But I don't think carrying it to extremes is necessary--
I buy some canned soup rather than making it from scratch because
you can't really make a small amount of soup from scratch and two
people don't eat that much soup.
And I must admit that my first reaction when I got a new shirt and
did not have a hanger for it was not to say, "I need to buy more
hangers," but "I need to get rid of one of my old shirts."
But these simplicity plans are getting a little too gimmicky. The
latest is the "100-Thing Challenge", which is David Michael Bruno
trying to reduce his possessions to only 100 items. This sounds
marginally possible if you are homeless or backpacking through
Europe with all your possessions in a rucksack, but can someone
living in the United States--and well enough off to get his idea
publicized--do so?
Well, maybe, if you take advantage of all his loopholes:
1) Nothing jointly owned counts. So the house, the dishes, the
appliances, the souvenirs from all your joint trips, etc., don't
count.
2) All your underwear counts as one item. All your socks count as
one item. All your undershirts count as one item (though
apparently not all your T-shirts!).
3) All your books count as one item (although he then lists two
individual Bibles as well).
4) Food, toiletries, and other consumables don't count.
Some of his breakdowns are just peculiar. For example, he lists
his printer and external hard drive as separate items from his
iMac. So I assume his iMac is a laptop, or he'd have to list the
monitor, keyboard, and mouse as well. He also lists a file cabinet
and a desk. Are they empty, or for some reason do the items in
them not count?
Half his items are clothes, another twenty are camping gear. And
most of what he listed as getting rid of were also clothes, camping
gear, or sports equipment. So apparently most of what counts
towards this "challenge" were in these categories. I guess if you
don't do camping or sports, this challenge is basically reducing
your clothing to 100 items. He did say he got rid of a pewter
Gollum, Beorn, and hobbit, and also woodworking tools ("very sad
about this") and side table drawer [sic] ("My wife insisted on
keeping this as 'her' item, but I'm not going to use it").
And there is what is wrong with this plan: having decided that lots
of stuff doesn't even count, and that his library is one item, he
then gets rid of something that he apparently really wants to keep,
just to make his hundred items. And even if his wife says that she
will keep something as hers, he won't use it, so doesn't have to
count it.
And if you have twenty shirts suitable for wearing to work, does it
make sense to get rid of ten, and then have to buy new shirts
sooner because you've worn those out faster? I can understand
saying "I won't but more shirts until I have fewer than ten," but
not, "I will give away ten shirts this year, and then next year
have to buy more shirts because I've been wearing what I have twice
as much."
Details of the "100-Thing Challenge" can be found at
http://www.guynameddave.com/100-thing-challenge.html. [-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: MILK (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Gus Van Sant directs a powerful docudrama of the life and
times of Harvey Milk, from coming to San Francisco to being
elected city supervisor to being murdered along with the mayor of
San Francisco. The style is realistic and not overly polished.
This is a highly affecting film, and Sean Penn gives the most
moving performance of the year of a very ordinary man whom history
moved to greatness. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man elected to a major office
in this country. At age forty he moved from New York City to the
Castro section of San Francisco, lobbied for gay rights, and ran
for public office. In fact, several times he ran for office
eventually being elected City Supervisor. He had conflicts with a
mentally unbalanced City Supervisor named Dan White. Eventually
Dan White settled his multiple conflicts by bringing a gun to City
Hall and murdering Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk. Gus Van
Sant directs the story of Milk in a style is very much like
documentary footage. Films like the current VALKYRIE and DEFIANCE
use a more dramatic style. Van Sant does not understate his scenes
but he does not overstate them either. One feels that this is an
authentic view into these lives.
The structure of the film is confused but not confusing. Mostly is
seems to be Milk's reminiscences spoken into a tape recorder and
dramatized in flashback. However, the narrative includes Milk's
death. His reminiscences flash between his political and personal
lives. His political life repeated pits him against self-righteous
opponents who identify their will with that of God. Opponents
include State Senator John Briggs (Denis O'Hare), Anita Bryant
(played by herself in newsreel footage), and Dan White (Josh
Brolin). Dustin Lance Black's script even does a reasonable job of
representing Dan White's position and even some truth to his
feelings of betrayal by Milk. This film even has some sympathy for
its most negative character. On the other hand, Milk's personal
life is more of a mess with multiple troubled relationships. Milk
has a soft spot in his heart for the weak and the wounded. At
times this brings him to the edge of scandal, but he seems to come
out untarnished.
I have never considered Sean Penn a particularly appealing actor.
He can be powerful, but until MILK he never played a character I
had much feeling for. His Harvey Milk is powerful but also
vulnerable and funny. He can be a political wheeler-dealer, and he
can sabotage himself for principle. Penn gives a letter-perfect
performance of a complex figure. He pulled me into the character
and made me feel for him. When he died at the end there was a
feeling of loss. In one scene Milk is rushing around doing
something political when he gets a phone call from a young gay man
in Minnesota. Milk tries to brush him off. As soon as the young
man mentions he is considering suicide Milk turns on a dime.
Saving this man in trouble is his first priority and there is no
second. Milk as Penn plays him is tremendously likable and
sympathetic in ways that transcend his politics. This is charm I
have never seen in Penn and this may well be the role Penn will be
remembered for.
There are several familiar faces peppered throughout including
James Franco of the Spider-Man films and FLYBOYS showing a more
vulnerable side. Victor Garber, who played the builder of Titanic
in the film of the same name, exudes confidence as San Francisco
mayor Moscone. The film's Dan White, Josh Brolin, brings some
unexpected sympathy to his role. He may be familiar from MIMIC, NO
COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and perhaps AMERICAN GANGSTER.
MILK is a film about a man of courage and compassion. I rate MILK a
low +3 on the -4 to +4 scale or 8/10. And it does not hurt a bit
to have liberal use of Puccini's spectacular music from his opera
Tosca.
Film Credits: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1013753/
What others are saying: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/milk/
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: LIFELINES (a.k.a. WHEREVER YOU ARE) (film review by Mark
R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: REVOLUTIONARY ROAD is not the only film this season that
features a family being split to the tune of bitter argument. In
LIFELINES a hugely dysfunctional family spends a day with a family
counselor. It is a day of cutting comments, raw nerves, telling
observations, and eventually some understanding. While the day
does not prove to be a panacea, it does let the family understand
each other better and finds a hidden vein of concern. The story
produces a gamut of emotions from comic to tragic. This is a
moving human drama. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
The Bernstein family, highly dysfunctional, is composed of five
people, each of whom cannot get along with the other four. We see
them on what seems to be a typical morning with each of the
children a different problem for the mother Nancy (played by Jane
Adams). Each of the children has his own reason for bitterness and
that hostility dominates his reactions. Michael (Robbie Sublett)
is the eldest and withdrawn into his shell, stuttering with self-
doubt. He may be the most able member of the family. Young
Spencer (Jacob Kogen) is twelve, hyperactive, and but for the foul
mouth behaves like a spoiled five-year-old. The biggest pain is
the sixteen-year-old daughter Meghan (Dreama Walker) who has
several names for her mother, all of which end in the word "bitch"
and seem to fit Meghan better than Nancy. Father Ira (Josh Pais),
is as ineffective as Nancy at controlling the savages. Central to
all is Nancy, the mother who is shells-shocked and crumbling under
the strain.
We discover that today is not typical at all. Ira (Josh Pais), the
father, is going to announce he is leaving the family and going to
live with his boyfriend. To prepare the family for the
announcement and for the giant changes that are coming, the
Bernsteins are seeing a family counselor, Dr. Livingston (Joe
Morton). This healing step is years late for this family. In the
beginning Ira plays the game of being over-cooperative, trying to
say exactly what the counselor wants to hear. Nancy simpers along,
and children do what they can to derail the process. Soon truths
are being told and we see beyond the annoying shells these people
have chosen to inhabit all the way to the hurt and vulnerability
inside.
Late in the film there is a highly unlikely coincidence that gives
Dr. Livingston a personal connection to this family. But it is a
real contrivance. Morton as Livingston, with his shelves full of
toys and puzzles and his hair braided in cornrows, always seems a
little too good and a little too much in control of himself to be
true, at least true to his real self. He smoothly plays games to
get his clients to reveal the source of their pain. Later in the
film we learn something unexpected about him but it only serves to
make him seem more noble. The film raises unreasonable
expectations of family counselors much in the way CSI raises
expectations for crime scene investigation.
Newcomer writer/director/producer Rob Margolies kept to a minimum
of settings so LIFELINES is essentially a stage play, opening out
only in the last third of the film. A restaurant dinner for the
family is the most enjoyable and witty section of the film, if at
the same time no less dark than the rest of the story. This film
is touching and occasionally powerful. If one can get by the early
negative characterizations, it eventually rewards the viewer. I
rate LIFELINES a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10. Any
filmmaker who starts his film showing a naked man sitting on a
toilet needs to have a really good reason. LIFELINES is a good
film, but that pointless touch shows more license than taste. On
the other hand, I have lived in central New Jersey for thirty-two
years and David Sperling's photography makes it look more beautiful
than I realized that it is.
Film Credits: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1127227/
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10010084-wherever_you_are/
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Mice (letter of comment by Tim McDaniel)
In response to Mark's comments on mice in the 01/16/09 issue of the
MT VOID, Tim McDaniel writes:
[Mark writes,] "A very cheap but unconscionable way to kill mice is
to leave dry instant whipped potato flakes around. The mouse eats
the flakes. When he tries to digest the flakes the moisture in his
system goes into the flakes. They then expand to many times their
original volume. ... I do not want to think about it."
I strongly suspect that it's false.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/birdrice.asp says
"Seagulls don't explode when they eat Alka-Seltzer; pigeons don't
explode when they eat rice." It notes that lots of migratory birds
use flooded
rice fields to rest and feed up. (Churches dislike rice because
it's hard to clean up and it's like walking on small ball
bearings.)
The Straight Dope (Cecil Adams) also thinks it's false:
http://tinyurl.com/8yhhpk
I think that, at the very worst, over-full mice would do exactly
what *you* would do (fellow mammal) if *your* stomach were too
full. I can see why you "do not want to think about" mice who are
projectile vomiting potato flakes all over your pantry.
Mark replies, "I cannot say I have tried it myself, as I said in
the article. But I have heard it said that this is a way to kill
mice. Whatever we do, let us *not* send it to Mythbusters."
http://tinyurl.com/9tspzb
Evelyn adds, "I don't think Mythbusters would actually test this on
real mice, because everyone would be all over them about it."
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
I just read a novel set in the world of real estate speculation, of
lobbyists and pork barrel projects and Congressional corruption,
and of honest people who invest their life savings in businesses
that seem safe but are built on sand and so they lose everything.
Some might ask why I would want to read a novel about all this when
the newspaper are full of the same thing. But a novel lets one
step back from reality and see a situation more clearly. In this
case, what one sees is that the more things change, the more they
stay the same, because the novel is THE GILDED AGE: A TALE OF TODAY
by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner (ISBN-13 978-1-605-89752-3,
ISBN-10 1-605-89752-3), set a hundred and thirty-five years ago.
And if one wants to select one chapter from THE GILDED AGE to
discuss, Chapter 50 seems to be the most packed with ideas.
Twain and Warner start by saying words that will appeal to any fan
of alternate history:
"It is impossible for the historian, with even the best intentions,
to control events or compel the persons of his narrative to act
wisely or to be successful. It is easy to see how things might have
been better managed; a very little change here and there would have
made a very different history of this one now in hand.
If Philip had adopted some regular profession, even some trade, he
might now be a prosperous editor or a conscientious plumber, or an
honest lawyer, and have borrowed money at the saving's bank and
built a cottage, and be now furnishing it for the occupancy of Ruth
and himself. Instead of this, with only a smattering of civil
engineering, he is at his mother's house, fretting and fuming over
his ill-luck, and the hardness and, dishonesty of men, and thinking
of nothing but how to get the coal out of the Ilium hills.
If Senator Dilworthy had not made that visit to Hawkeye, the
Hawkins family and Col. Sellers would not now be dancing attendance
upon Congress, and endeavoring to tempt that immaculate body into
one of those appropriations, for the benefit of its members, which
the members find it so difficult to explain to their constituents;
and Laura would not be lying in the Tombs, awaiting her trial for
murder, and doing her best, by the help of able counsel, to corrupt
the pure fountain of criminal procedure in New York.
If Henry Brierly had been blown up on the first Mississippi
steamboat he set foot on, as the chances were that he would be, he
and Col. Sellers never would have gone into the Columbus Navigation
scheme, and probably never into the East Tennessee Land scheme, and
he would not now be detained in New York from very important
business operations on the Pacific coast, for the sole purpose of
giving evidence to convict of murder the only woman he ever loved
half as much as he loves himself. If Mr. Bolton had said the little
word 'no' to Mr. Bigler, Alice Montague might now be spending the
winter in Philadelphia, and Philip also (waiting to resume his
mining operations in the spring); and Ruth would not be an
assistant in a Philadelphia hospital, taxing her strength with
arduous routine duties, day by day, in order to lighten a little
the burdens that weigh upon her unfortunate family."
Then they proceed to suggest that "a little money" can solve almost
all problems:
"And the most annoying thought is that a little money, judiciously
applied, would relieve the burdens and anxieties of most of these
people; but affairs seem to be so arranged that money is most
difficult to get when people need it most.
A little of what Mr. Bolton has weakly given to unworthy people
would now establish his family in a sort of comfort, and relieve
Ruth of the excessive toil for which she inherited no adequate
physical vigor. A little money would make a prince of Col. Sellers;
and a little more would calm the anxiety of Washington Hawkins
about Laura, for however the trial ended, he could feel sure of
extricating her in the end. And if Philip had a little money he
could unlock the stone door in the mountain whence would issue a
stream of shining riches. It needs a golden wand to strike that
rock. If the Knobs University bill could only go through, what a
change would be wrought in the condition of most of the persons in
this history. Even Philip himself would feel the good effects of
it; for Harry would have something and Col. Sellers would have
something; and have not both these cautious people expressed a
determination to take an interest in the Ilium mine when they catch
their larks?"
Meanwhile, Philip has decided that he needs to earn some money, but
is not sure how. As Twain and Warner observe:
"It was not altogether Philip's fault, let us own, that he was in
this position. There are many young men like him in American
society, of his age, opportunities, education and abilities, who
have really been educated for nothing and have let themselves
drift, in the hope that they will find somehow, and by some sudden
turn of good luck, the golden road to fortune. He was not idle or
lazy, he had energy and a disposition to carve his own way. But he
was born into a time when all young men of his age caught the fever
of speculation, and expected to get on in the world by the omission
of some of the regular processes which have been appointed from of
old. And examples were not wanting to encourage him. He saw people,
all around him, poor yesterday, rich to-day, who had come into
sudden opulence by some means which they could not have classified
among any of the regular occupations of life. A war would give such
a fellow a career and very likely fame. He might have been a
'railroad man,' or a politician, or a land speculator, or one of
those mysterious people who travel free on all rail-roads and
steamboats, and are continually crossing and recrossing the
Atlantic, driven day and night about nobody knows what, and make a
great deal of money by so doing. Probably, at last, he sometimes
thought with a whimsical smile, he should end by being an insurance
agent, and asking people to insure their lives for his benefit."
I don't know about you, but there seem to be a lot of people these
days who want to get rich, but do not want to apply themselves to
learn anything useful or train themselves for any profession. Even
if all they want is to live in the lifestyle which their parents
have allowed them to become accustomed to, they don't seem to think
they have to do anything to prepare themselves.
And the small investor getting into something he is unfamiliar with
is not new: "It is not unusual for a quiet country gentleman to be
more taken with such a venture than a speculator who, has had more
experience in its uncertainty. It was astonishing how many New
England clergymen, in the time of the petroleum excitement, took
chances in oil. The Wall street brokers are said to do a good deal
of small business for country clergymen, who are moved no doubt
with the laudable desire of purifying the New York stock board."
[-ecl]
==================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
It has been said that the love of money is
the root of all evil. The want of money is
so quite as truly.
-- Samuel Butler