?!

The CIA, its predecessor the OSS, the Skull & Bones fraternity, MI5, the KGB, the Cubans, World War II, the Cold War that quickly followed in its aftermath, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Kennedy era, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro (also directing), Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, Joe Pesci, spies! Espionage! Cloaks (or at least trenchcoats) and daggers! Bad guys and conspiracy theories! It all sounds like a list of ingredients for a bloody and good action-spy flick, a popcorn pleaser, doesn’t it? But alas and alack, it is nothing of the sort. The Good Shepherd is a careful and slow paced look at the origins and early development of the CIA. And when I say slow, I do mean it - it is a good hour too long, most of which is taken up by long apparently meaningful shots of Damon looking… flat. Emotionless. ...

Twisted ankle, again. Playing basketball, again. First game of the day, again. D’oh. Not my fault this time! At least the other guy felt my whole weight coming down on his foot. Take that, bastard! Serves you right for sticking your foot under mine. *grumbles*

Out in the desert, we have rocks which are naturally hot due to deposits of radioactive materials - and this can potentially be used to provide all-natural nuclear energy. Man, is Australia a lucky country or what? It comes with nuclear reactors built in!

Pearls before Breakfast, the article I was talking about yesterday, got me thinking about the why and how. I’m convinced it’s bad experimental design (let alone any considerations about the playing style), and to have taken the single instance (a.k.a. “stunt”) as the representative result is a clear example of confirmation bias: they went in with a hypothesis, and in single stroke of brilliance, proved it! (asking the symphony orchestra director was merely a play to setting up the fall, I say - the article starts cynical and stays that way). ...