Have I mentioned that it's hot here? Very, very hot?

Went to see "50 Dead Men Walking" today. Very nicely done film. Fantastic acting (i.e. you couldn't tell). Great story. Scary story. All about being caught between a rock (the I.R.A.) and a hard place (the British Secret Service), and the charming fact that, for many of the years of "The Troubles" the two were working together. That's comforting, isn't it?

It's the story of a young, unemployed Catholic Irishman in Ulster - a pretty much terrible combination. A sure-fire ticket to unemployment and a life spent searching for a way to earn enough money to survive. Which often meant less-than-honest employment. Which pretty much inevitably led to contact with the I.R.A and the police. And, if you seemed to have brains or courage or both (or, sometimes, you were just stupid enough to do one lethal job), a job offer from one or the other or both.

A lot of innocent people died during those times. A lot of crooked thugs profited. A lot of psychopaths got to shoot people, blow them up, torture them, whatever, all in the name of duty to country. Exactly which country seems to have been pretty much irrelevant. Which, of course, is what you'd expect from psychopathic thugs.

Sadly, nobody got away untainted. Not even the ones who were trying to stop it all. Or at least to keep the innocent body count down. You really should go see this movie. It is, like I said, very well done.