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A 53 might be the lowest Metacritic score of any movie I’ve watched. Goal “earned” its way to the bottom. The movie was on my Netflix queue because it was a pitched as a Rocky on the soccer field. In its outline, yes, that’s true. Other than making Newcastle seem scenic, Goal is simply trying to sell soccer (football). An illegal immigrant from Mexico playing in a local league in Los Angeles is noticed by a visiting ex-Newcastle United player and one-time scout. Run through Rocky script, and guess who scores the winning goal over arch-rival Manchester United to earn a trip to the Champion’s League? I’m skipping several other cliches, but there you go. Propaganda for FIFA, plain and simple.

For the first movie of a supposed trilogy, wouldn’t you keep the original website working? Maybe Buena Vista Pictures (read: Disney) realized this wasn’t that good, either. I did find the actual website, and it’s touting the second part of the trilogy, coming this year. Oh goody!

My chess is limited, but until tonight, it’s been enough to hold off the boy. I got sloppy. The boy, playing black, got his first ever win (one stalemate previously). He didn’t realize he’d won until I pointed it out, but he sauntered off to bed with a buoyancy that’s rare. Click on the thumbnail to see the final board.

First bicycle race under my belt yesterday, and I’m happy enough with the results. Official time, 20:03, which put me 115th out of 228 overall. I was 21st out of 37 in the Master 35+…which seems less competitive (slightly) than the Elite Men 5 results. I don’t really understand these groupings yet, but it was a great way to start the New Year: crisp, clear, tired. Fun ride back down to the starting line, too.

I’m a bit early for everyone here in America, but Happy New Year!

I’m more familiar with UTC (aka GMT) thanks to OpenDNS; that threshold was crossed hours ago.

Besides, I won’t make it to midnight tonight, especially with a hill to climb in the morning. As long as my back doesn’t flare up, I’m looking forward to my first bicycle race.

Peter noted my introduction to John Le Carré last month, and Santa’s wheels turned. Thank you!

I now have a box of Le Carré awaiting time to turn the pages. One is already completed: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Cold indeed. The spy in question, Leamas, is a hard man, an operator. But it’s only as the story unfolds that you realize the truly callous ones are the ones pulling the strings, like Control, who does indeed control events. Where the old school tie and club exterior might lead you to dismiss the bureaucrats, their actions undercut any softness or uncertainty. Who’s the traitor? Who’s the bait?

After all the back and forth whipsaws you around, the conclusion made sense. Coming full circle, you recognize what’s coming a few pages from the end, at the approach to the Berlin Wall, from the East.

When we reach the place you must get out and run to the wall. The searchlight will be shining at the point where you must climb. Stand in the beam of the searchlight. When the beam moves away begin to climb. You will have 90 seconds to get over.

You have to believe that Leamas recognized the cold justice about to be delivered, too, but he had to try all the same.

I haven’t read Ian McEwan’s novel yet, but the wife has, so Atonement was always going to be on the must-see list. Very compelling. The trailers had given away a bit much, but the main twist jarred me still. I wonder how the book will read knowing the basic story. There’s no doubt I will have that typewriter score jumping through my head when I do. And Keira Knightley wasn’t a drawback.

Metacritic score of 85 may seem a bit high after the not-so-subtle push for an Oscar wears out, but it’s hard to judge only a few days later.

Dunkirk means little more to me than the British retreat from the fury of the German blitzkreig. From the re-creation here, I know it’s time to learn more. Any specific suggestions out there for well-told histories of that “strategic retreat”?

If all history were this well written, everyone would be a historian. War Made New: Weapons, Warriors, and the Making of the Modern World by Max Boot is a joy to read.

His writing is clear. That’s rare enough to be notable. I can summarize the five themes in his four military revolutions because he’s not trying to hide anything. Nor does he dumb things down in a “who moved my cheese?” type of exercise.

The military revolutions:

• Gunpowder revolution – Spanish Armada, the Swedes (!), all the way through the Napoleonic wars
• First industrial revolution – Consolidation of Germany through World War I
• Second industrial revolution – World War II
• Information revolution – in progress

The themes:

• Technology is not enough. Organization (read: government structure) matters in the application of innovation.
• History’s winners harnessed these shifts.
• Applying innovation effectively does not compensate for over-weaning ambition. See Hitler’s Eastern Front.
• Being first never lasts. Successes are copied, and the defeated learn lessons faster than the victors.
• Innovation is accelerating. And the predominance of the US is not to be taken for granted.

Boot references Guns, Germs and Steel, and while the message is different, the scope, academic thoroughness and journalistic storytelling are similar. War Made New is sweeping and ambitious, but with the right touch of detail. Boot has a clear theme, and abundant examples, carefully chosen. And, for some of the key battlefields he uses to illustrate his points, he includes diagrams and maps. These may not be necessary for famous campaigns such as the Nazi Germany blitzkreig of France and Belgium in 1940, but I couldn’t have found Breitenfeld on a map before now (and might be hard-pressed even today).

Boot is convincing, not pedantic, even though Wikipedia considers him a neoconservative. I found the point of view consistent and well-argued, and not obviously “neocon” in any charicatured way. But I’ve also been influenced by the writings of Robert Kaplan, one of the many, many sources Boot cites.

I may not dive into his earlier books, but I admire such command of material, combined with the talent to share it with others.

Like everyone else, I got the “we’re shutting down Newsburst” email on December 12th. Sigh.

I pushed and prodded to build this web-based reader service, and poured a lot of energy into its creation. But you can’t change some things, and it’s smart of CNET to shut this down gracefully and move on.

See all my posts on this topic. It was fun to let it leak out nearly two years ago.

I’ll admit that I’ve been using NetNewsWire exclusively and happily ever since I left CNET.

Since I’m disappointed with our Sony digital camera, I pay attention to roundups like this one: “Looking beyond megapixels” But I get annoyed when the links leading to the NYTimes branded version of CNET don’t lead straight to the right camera, though. The Fujifilm FinePix f50fd looks like a possibility. (I wasn’t impressed that the site crashed Safari on my second click.)

I’ve read much Wallace Stegner, but not his Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil (scroll to the bottom). A future read, certainly.

I don’t need Adventures in $40 eyeglasses right now, but for the future…

Haven’t watched The Kingdom, but the opening credits sequence is nifty. (via)

The best 10 books of the year? So says The New York Times in its 2007 list. Despite my reading, I never even came close to one of this group, and had only heard of two.

I don’t pour myself into Twitter, but I recognize that’s its very open-endedness is a strength. What caught my eye about this analysis was simply its method: pictures and diagrams, in lieu of many words. My education continues.

Who has time to read Draft Business Model Innovation Manual (beta version)? Not me, and I haven’t even downloaded the PDF, but I love the audacity of someone creating a manual for innovation. Clayton Christensen has described innovation and its consequences on businesses wonderfully. But a “manual” implies prescription, which is much, much harder.

Among the least surprising headlines of the year, from December 4, 2007: “Hybrid Vehicle Owners are Wealthy, Active, Educated and Overwhelmingly Democratic, According to Scarborough Research” (PDF available from press page)

Domains are interesting to me. I have seven of my own, though I only use one. DomainTools introduced “Registrant Search,” with an offer of a free self-search. Yup…found them all. But I don’t try and hide.

I’m a sucker for things like this: “human history in 60 seconds.

Joe Jackson is starting another tour and will be in Redwood City in May 2008.

The boy joined me this morning for the first road race using his own muscles. (His earlier efforts were riding in the jogging stroller, not always happily.)

The “Miracle Mile” was the right distance in the right location (Golden Gate Park). The crisp, clear weather (40+ degrees) meant hat and gloves for the boy — but he handed those to me just past the halfway point. He ran the entire way, only slowing once, and sprinted through the finish line…and beyond. (Little confusion about where to stop. 😉 )

This is a downhill, point-to-point mile, so the boy’s time of 7:30 was “assisted” by the landscape, but it was faster than I would have guessed beforehand.

I was glad to have an excuse not to race myself, since my back is still tender. But running alongside the boy made me a proud father.