Friday night and no fever

Hello all visitors - from down under too :-)

Finally - another weekend.

This has been an eventful week I must say.

First there has been this move and cleaning of the office area. We are going to have a new canteen soon and everyone is looking forward to it being opened.

Second, we have a new supervisor. Let's say his name is John (although his real name is different of course). He has a hands-on, no-nonsense approach and has a huge drive to change things. He has a strong personality ... well just like me. I hope there is going to easy going co-operation between us. I see some potential area for personality clashes already and it is good I do; then I will act to minimise the risk. As it is weekend, I do not want to write about my boss too much but the next few weeks are going to be very interesting. Some update will be coming soon.

Third, I got my car sorted. The window was fitted last Tuesday in my company parking lot.
My car was fully serviced on Friday. Then I took it to a car wash and vacuumed all the glass from the floor and the seats. I had it washed too and then went for a ride around the city. I went to see a friend too and I cleaned the interior then too. I live in the city centre and it feels kinda awkward to run between my apartment and the busy street with some water in a bowl. It is easier to do those things in a private parking area.

So ... after I finished that and said good night to M. I drove to see my other friend A. We went shopping together. I was starving after all this cleaning and driving I must say. I had to buy just the regular stuff like but there was one treat as well - a pack of three DVDs: GoodFellas, True Romance, Heat. Criminal masterclass, says on the cover. So I will enjoy watching those soon.

I remember here I wanted to add something more on All the King's Men and The Good Shepherd but I cannot find time to sit down to that. I am always busy and tonight I am simply very tired. I will try to make some effort and May sounds like a good month for updates - I am going on long holidays.

I hope though I will have a job to come back to. Over the past 4 weeks my company laid off more than 100 staff. have my job for now and my project is one of the busiest in the office. There will be overtime coming too I imagine. Still I had a dream I was to be fired and I could not sleep last night for it. So I better wind it down now and say good night. I hope to have better dreams tonight.

P.S.
I took this photo in Yellowstone NP. This bird was just behind my window and I could observe it, its eggs and then its little offspring. During the time I lived in that room, this offspring learnt to fly and by the time I moved the nest was empty.

The Good Shepherd - part one.

As I am in the movie vain, here goes another post - this time on "The Good Shepherd." The post will be short for now as this movie is multi-layered and it hard to grasp all the nuances of the plot just after watching it once. I will wait till it is released on dvd and when I watch it the second time I might add something more.
The film itself is dark and complicated or rather I would say obscure; maybe intentionally so as it is about a secret organisation.
The protagonist figure of Edward Wilson is inspired by a real-life agent, James Jesus Angleton, whose charismatic personality and thorough knowledge of his colleagues' private lives made people uneasy in his presence. In turn, his willingness to sacrifice (almost) anything for his country made him a tragic figure; Willy Stark was also a tragic figure but in a totally different way (about that I will write later).
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I will try to get hold of the book by Tom Mangold on J.J.Angleton. The title is "Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton - The CIA's Master Spyhunter." Here is a review.
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For those curious or those who have not seen the movie, here is the short summary of the plot.

All the King's Men - part two.

First of all I wanted to say that Sean Penn's perfomance in this movie is brilliant, befitting the king. I could not find any weak points in his acting (maybe except for the last scene of the movie but once you see it, you'll understand). I was not looking at Sean Penn on the screen - it was Willie Stark, with all of his cold calculation, love of power, readiness to destroy opponents using blackmail and other "dark" means. Still, Willie Stark had the magnetic and powerful personality and was able to give great speaches which won him the people's hearts and votes. He was a brilliant if controversial and corrupted-by-power politician.

In particular I love one scene from this movie. During one of his numerous speaches, Willie Stark says: "Nobody ever helped a hick but a hick himself." Catchy but straight talking.
(more quotes here but this movie is a must)

source of the poster and the photo

All the King's Men - part one.

I just finished watching this movie and am going straight to sleep. I read the novel too - by Robert Penn Warren. I used to be fascinated by the Southern Literature.
Now only one more thing before I fall asleep. It took long time for Jack Burden to put all pieces together to find out what was going on. When am I going to put all the pieces together so that I can see the bigger picture if not the whole one? Is it at all possible?
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"What you don't know won't hurt you." Food for thought - not for now though.