Python variable assignment order of operations

Question

Is there a way to do a variable assignment inside a function call in python? Something like

curr= []
curr.append(num = num/2)

Answer 1

Nopey. Assignment is a statement. It is not an expression as it is in C derived languages.

Answer 2

I'm pretty certain I remember one of the reasons Python was created was to avoid these abominations, instead preferring readability over supposed cleverness :-)

What, pray tell, is wrong with the following?

curr= []
num = num/2
curr.append(num)