Where are they now? Matt 'of the House of' Thompson

Artist's Depiction

Well, Dear Reader, I bet that you thought you'd have heard the last regarding FOTLer Matt 'of the House of' Thompson - as did I - but it appears we were both wrong.

He has recently made the pages of our Daily Rag - the Court section no less.

Oh dear.

Could we really have expected anything less from Matt, though?

So what back-country shennanigans has he been up to now?

Regrets, I've had a few...

Nothing good ever happens after 1AM, or so I have been told, Dear Reader.

In this case, the possibly rash decision to submit an application for a governmental investigative position, one that I have applied for on a number of previous occasions - all unsuccessfully - around the country.

Only this time, I've amended my standard cover letter. Obviously, the old one wasn't getting their attention.

Lurid Tales

'The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess' as pulp novel cover

If I were to make a confession, Dear Reader, it would be that I have a kind of thing for the covers of pulp fiction novels. Sexy, disheveled, women with buttons strategically undone - that kind of thing.

Anyway, I recently came across some work done by Ástor Alexander who has turned the premise of several modern video games into lurid covers, taking his inspiration from the actual covers from a bygone age. 

Coffee and stakeouts. And more coffee.

(The above is the first of four adverts from an Australian campaign for Riva Instant Coffee).

Coffee. It is the stuff investigations are fuelled by. And what is better during a surveillance op at 2am than a steaming cup o' joe?

That's a rhetorical question, by the way.

But why settle for crappy instant 'coffee' when there are a number of other options out there serving actual coffee, freshly made in your car...? Like the Handpresso Auto, for example.

Never break a Golden Rule

In case you were ruefully unaware, Dear Reader, there are a series of novels by Irish author Ken Bruen featuring ex-Garda "finder", Jack Taylor.

Well, it came as a bit of a surprise to me too, when I first learned of this!

Several of the novels have also been turned into feature-length films for television, which is how  Taylor first came to my attention. Taylor is played by Iain Glen, perhaps better known for his role as Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones. 

I have only recently started reading the novels and while they contain familiar, if not cliched, private investigator tropes - at least the setting is somewhat unusual, with the novels based in the author's home town of Galway.

So far, I am enjoying the first novel in the series: The Guards - which is in turn darkly funny and deadly serious. 

For your reading pleasure, an excerpt... 

This is the beginning

We are now a few days into this new year, Dear Reader, and I hope we all made it through relatively unscathed.

I, for one, have several case files open (received one while out of town on what one might euphemistically call 'a holiday') so this year is already off to a flying start.

Which is something.

Anyway, on a semi-unrelated note, I was recently thinking of this Zen Buddhist parable. Make of it what you will.

A soldier named Nobushige came to Hakuin, and asked: "Is there really a paradise and a hell?"

"Who are you?" inquired Hakuin.

"I am a samurai," the warrior replied.

"You, a soldier!" exclaimed Hakuin. "What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? Your face looks like that of a beggar."

Nobushige became so angry that he began to draw his sword, but Hakuin continued: "So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably much too dull to cut off my head."

As Nobushige drew his sword Hakuin remarked: "Here open the gates of hell!"

At these words the samurai, perceiving the master's discipline, sheathed his sword and bowed.

"Here open the gates of paradise," said Hakuin.