show business as usual

Distraction's the name of the game, so the Kardashian and Gaga backsides are more noteworthy than the US tapping Merkel's phone for a decade.

Or as old school chum Phil says - why will the NSA director's declaration, that newspapers reporting the Snowden affair should be shut down, not make the TV news? Answer: because Miley Cyrus's spat with Sinead O'Connor is FAR MORE IMPORTANT!!!

I distracted myself with two films in the last few days.

Captain Phillips - immensely exciting, without a single car chase, zombie, warlock, or superhero. And by Hollywood standards, only minimally gung-ho. 

Gravity - 90 minutes of SFX in search of a story. They say that every Sandra Bullock movie contract stipulates that the male lead has to tell her how attractive she is, and this film honoured that tradition. To be fair though, her acting was more believable than the script. I suppose the 3D version would be fascinating after a herbal smoke.

trains boats and planes

I'm indebted to Albert for these euphemistic news snippets from down under:

(Bureaucrat-speak re Sydney light rail closure after several derailments): initial investigations showed there were several contributing factors to the derailment, which were "related to an interface issue between the wheels and the rail that has led to accelerated friction and wheel wear."

(After Qantas planes only just avoided a head-on collision thanks to pilots' quick reflexes): two Qantas jetliners were flying in opposite directions between Sydney and Perth on September 20 when they were involved in what is known as a "loss of separation" in air space near Adelaide.

Albert's personal news is that he has returned to the ranks at work. Last week after a 20k hike in the heat, he came home by ferry with a smoker's cough from the bush fires.