Thom's mutant take on 'Magorium' and the market
By Thom Calandra
www.thomcalandra.com
TIBURON, Calif. -- I
went this weekend to see "Mr. Magorium," the Dustin Hoffman film with Natalie Portman and Justin Bateman. A funny, well acted film with a clever script. Our daughter was enchanted. And it was shot in
Toronto, presumably when the C-dollar was cheaper than the USD.
Ahh, but you don't want to hear about some kids' flick. Somewhere in the film, I saw the phrase New Beginnings, or some such thing,
perhaps it was in the chapter headings, which by the way were sketched and gorgeous, like some antique cabinet maker's idea of fairy tale illustrating. As I said, t'was a magical film, and clean as a whistle, which
loosely translated means no fart jokes or ripped panties. No one, we must inform you, gets knocked up. Or down.
New beginnings? Well, so be it. I once sat on a panel with Jonathan Clements,
the WSJ writer and someone who almost always has a common sense solution to the week's good and bad and indifferent events. Jonathan is so common sensible, he probably could take the place of the actor Justin
Bateman, who plays the accountant in this new film. The characters call him 'Mutant' because the guy thinks in numbers. Quite a piece of Pi.
So here is the BORING part. A Mutant point of view this
week, or this month, or the past four or six weeks, is one that states many stock market (and bond market and commodity) valuations are way out of kilter. For many reasons, I suppose. Who cares? Clements in his
weekend commentary said this is always, or almost always, a fine time to BUY those poorly valued pieces of paper and metal.
So true. So hard. Once again, we might come back to the term smart money
as meaning not clever or magical but instead fixed in an investment for three or five or more years. Those who are buying today, whether it is a diamond company with results on the way, or an energy management
company, or an avian flu vaccine developer, almost surely are better off than those who six weeks ago bought, and possibly those who six weeks ago sold (but we won't know about that for a year and perhaps more).
A fellow from Canada this morning, having RE-connected with me now that I am looking for the perfect publisher and agent for (uh-oh, here comes a personal plug, so DUCK!!!!!) for my new and gut-busting
novel, Pablo By Numbers, an old acquaintance of mine, no names please, used the phrase "sometime very soon" when describing a diamond company and its timeline perhaps for providing feed for nearby mills.
Now, I believe that to be true as well, but like New Beginnings, Sometime Very Soon is one of those phrases that baffles me, and most human beings.
I mean, no one really knows how short or long a
span Sometime Very Soon is, mundo? Thus, we can hope and pray that a monstrous diamond mining developer, looking to replenish its pipes, locates mills directly next to such and such speculative diamond exploration
company. Or in this case, look to restock existing mills with new content, tons of rock and gunk from zee kimberlite, yah-vold? But no one, not even the execs and the manicured geologists KNOW when something of that
nature will happen. Or almost no one.
Just as no one really knows when a New Beginning will, well, will begin. A new beginning to an old life. A new beginning for a market segment. A new beginning
for a family nursing a pregnant mommy Labrador Retriever.
No cute endings here, I'm afraid. Take some time to see the
'Magorium' film, if you have kids. Read the excerpts that we revealed from
the novel Pablo By Numbers this month. The feedback from readers ranges from "marvelous" and "crazy funny" to "more revealing than a naked puppy" and "deathstream of P-V."* (I
hope to see the entire novel published in the spring.)
Ci vediamo presto. Hi-ho kimberlite, and no, I and my family, my family and I, do not own any publicly traded diamond companies, just a few
ILLIQUID shares of Robert M. Friedland's Africa interests under the privately held Ivanhoe Nickel and Platinum, or Ivanhoe African Minerals (not sure of the name these days folks). I don't even know if that
company has diamonds, or the prospect of diamonds, in its holdings, whether sometime very soon or not.
Ooopsie, almost forgot: Good morning Voldy Morts!
*P-V: Puke and vomit
-- Thom Calandra
www.thomcalandra.com
