This is not technically a New York story, but I could not help but be overwhelmed this morning when I read about 25-year-old Ben Goldhirsh's brass balls.

Goldhirsh inherited a fortune from his publisher father in 2003, and now he is jumping into independent filmmaking with partners no less than Don Cheadle and Michael Apted. He also plans to launch a bimonthly magazine called Good, which evidently aspires to "mixing media and idealism."

OK, Ben, fine. But what was that you just said about the young zillionaire venture capitalists who preceded you?

"I am aware of the history of people like me coming in and getting smoked, but a lot of them came with a degree of ego from previous success," Goldhirsh said. "I have no ego; I know I haven't earned anything I have. But I've got enough capital to bring two to four movies to production each year for many years to come, and I plan to be around a while."