The Gateway Objectivists' February
Meeting:
"The Myth of Market Failure"
Our next meeting will be a live presentation by
Jeffrey Kiviat, M.D., entitled "The Myth of Market Failure."
Jeff's lecture will critically examine this oft-used excuse for government
intervention in the economy. We also will enjoy plenty of snacks and
discussion after the lecture. This month's meeting will be at the
home of Lorie and Bob Bugby on Saturday, February 19, at 8 p.m. Lorie
& Bob have offered to host our meeting this month at their house in
West St. Louis County. You can still call (314) 469-2723 (Joy & Jeff's
house and/or voice mail) to get directions to the meeting at the Bugby's
house, or you can call the Bugby's at (314) 878-2472 for more information.
"Ayn Rand: A Sense of
Life"
In January, we watched "Ayn Rand: A Sense of
Life" on DVD. The 1998 documentary by Michael Paxton is an inspiring
movie filled with interviews, film clips and pictures of Rand's life and
accomplishments. The film truly achieves its goal of portraying her sense
of life through her novels and characters, her art and her life.
Rearden Steel is now a Reality
An entrepreneur in Silicon Valley has started
Rearden Steel, an incubator for technological start-up companies and
digital artists. Steve Perlman, co-founder of WebTV Networks, has
built a 3,800-square-foot building that provides office space,
administrative services, Internet connections and other digital tools for
up to four or five companies. With this infrastructure, these start-ups
can be fully operational within 24 hours. Entrepreneurs usually need to
spend several months putting these types of businesses together. After a
year or so, the companies can move out on their own.
Perlman said, "The name is an industrial age
name, and we think we are a post-information age company. Steel is so
physical, it's so actual, but everything we are doing is so virtual...
Over the Internet, everything is virtual."
The Reuters article by Therese Poletti on February 3
did not say that Perlman took the name from Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas
Shrugged." But Poletti mentioned Rand and made comparisons to Hank
Rearden, "the embattled steel magnate...who is trying to defend his
steel empire from being driven into the ground by government taxes and
regulation."
Casting "Atlas"
There have not been any official announcements yet
on the cast of the "Atlas Shrugged" miniseries currently in
development for TNT. However, columnist Jeannie Williams of "USA
Today" has promised updates as they become available. Her column on
January 7 contained information from Al Ruddy, the executive producer.
Ruddy, who has received hundreds of suggestions from
Williams' readers, told her that a web site will be set up to keep people
informed of the latest developments. He also suggested that the miniseries
could run five hours now, instead of four.
The only clues he gave regarding the cast were that
Dagny and Rearden would be, at the youngest, in their late 20s, and that
Galt, "having such a mystical quality," could be any age. While
discussing Oscar nominations, Ruddy did say that Jude Law, the young actor
opposite Matt Damon in "The Talented Mr. Ripley," could be a
contender for Galt.
Before the script can be started, Ruddy said that a
story treatment must be approved "by certain people involved with
Rand (organizations). We have contractual obligations to let them know how
we want to abstract a screenplay from the book." He did not elaborate
on that involvement.
New Member Section on GO Web Site
On March 1, you can view the new section of our web
site dedicated to GO members. The section will contain names, profiles,
and email addresses of all willing members. To add yourself, please send
your entries to webmaster@webdesign-jrd.com.
Several of our members have already placed examples
on the web site, which can be viewed at http://www.webdesign-jrd.com/go/members.htm.
If you have your own web site or articles posted online, we also can
create links to your works. For those of you without the luxury of your
own web space, but would like to see your work published online, email it
to webmaster@webdesign-jrd.com (preferably in a Word or WordPerfect
attachment, or in the body of the email).
Golden Globe Winner
Peter Fonda received the award for Best Supporting
Actor in a TV Series, Miniseries or Made-for-TV Movie at the Golden Globe
Awards on January 23. He won for his portrayal of Frank O'Connor in
"The Passion of Ayn Rand," a made-for-cable movie on Showtime
last year. Fonda had made a bet with a friend before the awards show
that he would lose. Afterwards, he said, "I lost $2,000, but this is
better. What an affirmation that I did my job."
Helen Mirren, who played Ayn Rand, was nominated for
Best Actress in a Miniseries or Made-for-TV movie, but lost to Halle Berry
for her performance in "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge." Both
Fonda and Mirren also have been nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards
for Outstanding Performance in a Television Movie or Miniseries. Those
awards, judged by the members of SAG, will be given March 12.
We welcome submissions of reviews, articles, columns
and commentary. Direct all correspondence to gwobjctvst@aol.com.
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