lightning strikes twice

Basketball injury from last weekend.  And it is about 50% larger and blacker today.  Hopefully this doesn’t keep me off the court too long, but I’m not getting any younger, and these things take a while to heal these days.

Obviously this should worry everyone.  Incompetent People Really Have No Clue:

One reason that the ignorant also tend to be the blissfully self-assured, the researchers believe, is that the skills required for competence often are the same skills necessary to recognize competence.

I built a pretty cool robot with the help of my dad for a year 10 science project.  I programmed the whole thing in BASIC.  It was actually pretty neat, till I leant it to someone I’d met on Active BBS that never returned it.  That was a stupid, stupid thing to do.

Anyway, you’ve no idea how excited I was to see this yellow robot that also records and plays drum beats.  Super cool:

Yellow Drum Machine Robot

• I Am Legend – haven’t read the book, so can’t compare, but this was reasonable for a blockbuster.  Better than I, Robot, this suffered from more than a few hollywood-isms, such as the super shiny cars, the explanation in dialogue, and over the top CGI.  In terms of an experience, it was nothing compared to 28 Days Later (and 28 Weeks Later).  And they could have played up the angle that the zombies were a new social organisation a bit more I think.  Will Smith was good, but its hard to shake being Will Smith, y’know
• American Gangster – I loved the graininess of the film, the characterisations and the depth of the story.  Denzel shares a bit of the problem of Will Smith, in that he is such a character as a person that most of his film roles have a continuity that can be difficult to get away from as a viewer.  Russell Crowe was fantastic and must surely be the best actor in Hollywood right now.  The only downside of this film was the inexplicably poor last fifteen minutes.  Was it even necessary?  Why would Frank give everyone up and then be friends with his captor.  But considering that they really hadn’t had a “cat & mouse” type relationship anyway, it felt very stilted.  I think they could have finished off the last 30 min far, far better.
• No Country For Old Men – This was great, from Tommy Lee Jones, to Josh Brolin, and whoever the creepy bad guy was.  The cinematogrophy was top notch, and the story line perfect in pitch.  Briefly, a bad guy with a very strong but incredibly strange set of standards haunts portions of Texas, and in particular Llewelyn Moss, who has a couple of million dollars that the bady guy Anton Chigurh feels entitled to.  Sure, there was lots of blood, but it wasn’t out of context.  I could have done with a neater tie up at the end, but am in no way complaining with the decisions of the Coen brothers.

Kings defy injuries to take series to decider

HOW big are the Sydney Kings’ hearts? Big enough to produce the greatest comeback in NBL grand final history and deny the Melbourne Tigers the title they covet and appeared to have firmly in their grasp at three-quarter time at the State Netball and Hockey Centre in Melbourne last night.

…

Goorjian said Draper had pleaded to go on after half-time, saying: “Coach, man, this is it, please.”
Goorjian described that scene and the way it swung the match as “like a Walt Disney movie”.

Interesting outline from book outlines on “learned optimism”:

Changing from Pessimism to Optimism

When to use Optimism

• If you are in an achievement situation (e.g. selling, writing a book)
• If you are concerned about how you will feel
• If the situation is likely to be protracted, and your physical health is an issue
• If you want to lead, inspire, or win votes

When to use Pessimism

• If your goal is to plan for a risky and uncertain future
• If your goal is to counsel others whose future is dim, do not use optimism initially
• If you want to appear sympathetic, don’t start with optimism, though using it later once confidence and empathy are established will help

If the cost of failure is high, optimism is the wrong strategy.

The outline also has other approaches to how to utilise optimism and pessimism, and why society is harbouring more depression now than ever before.  Could be a good book to read in detail.

Having season tickets this season has turned me into even more of a Kings junkie.

And if you love the Kings, you have to love BJ Carter and what he brings to the table.  The sad thing is, as much as I love the guy and how he plays, he is so well known as BJ that I had to go and look up his first name (and even then I couldn’t find it).

Here is a great article about the kid from Sutherland who embodies the spirit of the Kings.

What a fantastic concept: Book Outlines

The purpose of this wiki is to allow readers to contribute to a community repository of book outlines. Whether you’re here because you’re too cheap to pay for Cliffs Notes, or because you want to be able to better remember your favorite books, welcome

And that describes me.  The reason I keep movie and book notes in this blog is so that I can better remember my favourites (and least favourites).  The only downside to Book Outlines is that if I contribute, then someone else has my data (plus other people can modify my content), whereas keeping it on my blog at least I know it will be around forever.

Anyway, I’ve read a few book outlines, and have loved the service.  Two thumbs up.

Wow, what a game.  Sydney was near perfect: at three quarter time the score was 91-43.  Redhage flopped his way around the court, and was his sooky self generally.  Every single King contributed to this win.  Very excited and nervous about the Grand Final series versus the Tigers now.  They are really stacked, but you have to feel good after a commanding win, so I predict we get the championship in 4.

And my own team, The Players, reached another Grand Final in our comp.  Hopefully another title for us too.