First is the Martin Scorsese’s movie Irishman that was released not long ago. You will need to have 3 free hours to watch the film. It has some of my favourite characters.
Next is this paragraph from Man without qualities
The train of events is a train that lays down its own tracks as it goes along.
The river of time carries its own banks along with it.
The traveler moves on a solid floor between solid walls, but the floor and the walls are strongly influenced by the movements of the travelers, though they do not notice it.
Random thoughts 
“ The train of events is a train that lays down its own tracks as it goes along”. Wow! That is a bit of an indictment on freewill.
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I had not thought of that way but i think there is a sense in which it can be seen that way.
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Watching The Irishman on Netflix. Finally you recommend a good movie.
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Jim! Did you say finally? I am offended by the way (•‿•)
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Haha. Yes finally. Hey, that quote is hard to pin down, but like you said, it certainly paints a picture of a happening, 99.9999999999% of which is infinitely out of our control.
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We should ask Zande about this finally of yours. I have recommended great, not too great and hopeless movies over the time man.
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Your books have been good enough to make up for the movie thing. Maybe John just has bad taste too? ⚔️
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Hahaha Jim. I don’t know you. I will find you. I will kill you!
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Can we at least have coffee first? How does this effect our Ethiopian vacation?
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Puts your life in jeopardy. Hahaha
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I have no fear. I m descended from The Purple Gang out of Detroit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Purple_Gang
My grandfather.
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Is this to make me fearful? It’s not working
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Haha. No. But maybe why I’m willing to go to Ethiopia with a Kenyan I can’t trust. Haha.
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This is good enough for me. The case is settled. Now we can fundraise
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Oooh, I like that last one.
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Started watching Irishman on Netflix last night but stopped after about 40 mins. and watched the soccer.
I reckon I’m getting too long in the tooth for Scorcese and his ”Mob Movies” these days. Too much violence.
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I am not a soccer fan. So movie does it for me.
The violence in this was not too much
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Well, it put a new spin on painting walls.
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Exactly.
Now you can’t say I paint walls in public
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I like the idea of the train laying down it’s own tracks. To me, that doesn’t presuppose preordination, that says, you make your own way, for good or ill. Your train, your tracks.
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The future is open, that’s how I see it. Tracks can be laid anywhere
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I’m only an hour into it myself, but so far I’m really liking the movie. There are some pretty big things going on in it even in what I saw. For example, the main character was seen shooting prisoners after digging their own grave. They were Germans, no less.
That is a huge statement in an American mob movie. In most other depictions, war service is seen as something different from criminal activity or outright frowned upon (The Godfather book and movie did this, for example). I’m interested in seeing how the theme fully plays out.
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It’s a good movie. The acting is superb and the story flows quite well. It would be great to hear your general view of the film at the end
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Greatly enjoyed The Irishman. Terrific actors and a brilliant director all working at the top of their game.
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It’s a good movie.
I like Al Pacino and De Niro. Having them together is just fire
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Yep. You’ve seen Heat, I imagine. That’s the only other time the two of them shared the screen in the same scene. That’s a terrific movie, too.
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I should look for it.
I love those two guys together or alone.
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Oh, you MUST watch Heat if you like these guys. It’s a film by Micheal Mann. Came out in the early to mid-90’s. Good stuff. DeNiro’s a bank robber and Pacino’s the cop trying to catch him.
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I must.
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Irishman – great screenplay and fantastic performance by three of my favourite artists (Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci).
But I am no fan of the characters they portrayed; there is nothing redeeming about them.
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There is no redeeming the characters they all played, that is a fact. But their performance was superb
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