- Oppenheimer was excellent, and glad I went to see it at the theater rather than waiting for it at home. The visual/audio effects Nolan uses throughout to illustrate Oppenheimer's state of mind are both immersive and overwhelming. While it'll still be great at home, it was unreal in the theater. I usually get antsy with movies with extended run times, but it's so compelling I didn't even notice. The casting was also tremendous. I didn't recognize Gary Oldman or Josh Hartnett 'til I browsed through the credits. The cast all look remarkably like their real-life counterparts. Cillian Murphy's stare is particularly effective for this role.
I knew Oppenheimer was a complicated guy, but I had no clue about any of the security clearance issues following the Manhattan Project--or the machinations behind the hearing to strip his clearance. McCarthyism was so stupendously insane, but in context...it's not hard to see how it took hold. What a chaotic, paranoid time in history. I've read The Man in the High Castle, so it's not a novel question; but I wonder what life would look like had the Nazis beat us to the bomb. Or if the Soviets' Tsar Bomba wasn't just a shock-and-awe demonstration, and they had actually used it.
- Because I have ADHD and I hyperfocus on topics, since Sunday night, I've already devoured American History Tellers: The Bastard Brigade and I'm halfway through The Cold War: Prelude to the Present. Other Cold War-ish podcast recs welcomed for when I finish this one.
- Best story from the Bastard Brigade: the Nazis were worried about a scientist who later won the Nobel Prize (Walther Bothe) who was vocally unhappy with the Reich defecting to the Allies instead of joining their uranium program. They sent a Nazi spy to honeytrap him on his vacation to America. She succeeded, but a little too well. When she convinced him that these Nazis weren't that bad and he came back to work in the program, he couldn't concentrate worth a damn. He was supposed to determine if graphite could be an effective moderator for fission (it is). He was so lost in the sauce he didn't run his tests correctly, and the Nazis had to pivot to using heavy water...which gave the Americans time to catch up. In conclusion: fascist ***** saved Europe.
- Speaking of Nazis, when I was in 7th grade, my Social Studies teacher was explaining Nazi racial policies and what "Aryan" meant. I grew up in an area with a pretty diverse population. My classroom was not majority white. Rather than just describing Hitler's fetish ideal, like, you know, a normal person, she pointed at me, the only tall, blonde, green-eyed child in the room, and said, "She'd be an Aryan." The kid who sat in front of me was named Ivan Rodriguez. He turned around and gave me the most disgusted, withering stare a 7th grader has ever given. I could have passed away from terminal shame in that instant. Teacher just breezed on with whatever she was talking about like that wasn't an incredibly strange thing to say. (She also showed us the news broadcasts about Timothy McVeigh's execution, which...is also weird.) Probably the most embarrassing moment of my middle school career, tbh.
- July 1 until this past Saturday was a stressful, miserable whirlwind of prepping my house for listing. It went on the market Thursday night and we accepted an offer from the first showing we had on Friday. Still have to pass inspection, so not out of the woods yet, but holy ****, what an incredible relief. Especially since I had to do a lot of the staging alone with my other half working out of town. Ron, good luck.
- Speaking of moving, the basement in my new house is about to be the home gym of my dreams and I CANNOT WAIT. I've wanted a set up at home for years, but never thought it would be feasible...but now it is, and I feel like a kid on Christmas picking out the pieces I've always wanted. Why we do this, atkot. /meathead
