The Happening
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It seems fairly ironic that M. Night Shymalan’s latest scare fest is entitled “The Happening“…as nothing really seems to happen at all during the movie-except people committing mass suicide. A brief synapses of the movie might look something like this: A bit of frightened sounding dialog then cut to someone blowing their brains out…and this scene repeating itself over and over again.
Sure, the movie is good for a few gasps…a jump or two out of your seat…perhaps even a scream from the especially squimish…but that’s all the movie is. The trailers-which have been tantalizing us for months now could definitely be classified as false advertisement.
Shymalan’s movies have definitely lost their charm, where “The Sixth Sense” could be classified as a classic “horror” flick, we’ll be lucky if we can pick up the rest of his fare in the discount bin at Walmart. Hopefully he will rethink his methods long and hard before the next nightmare he attempts to produce.
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The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
Samantha Sweeting is a high powered lawyer, or at least she was until she seemingly made an error which cost her law firm millions of dollars. In shock Samantha takes off-and finds herself in a far off village where she is a total stranger. She decides to use the opportunity to reinvent herself and start over fresh.
The Undomestic Goddess is a lot of fun to read. In the past I have found Sophie Kinsella’s books to be a bit irritating but this book seemed a little more balanced and it’s characters were just a tad more believable. I think it would be nice to see some sequels to this book, rather than Kinsella focus her attention so much on the Shopaholic series…which, while entertaining, seems to have run it’s course.
Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner
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Last year on Father’s Day my parents and I treated ourselves to a viewing of the Will Smith movie, “Pursuit of Happyness“. It was quite enjoyable-as most Smith movies are and I was interested in reading more about Smith’s true life character Chris Gardner and his rags to riches story.
Although Gardner’s autobiography was interesting and engaging-especially during his childhood and teen years, I found myself disagreeing with quite a few of his morals…and his version of “Pursuit of Happiness”…while the movie version showed Chris Gardner as a dedicated father trying to get himself and his son off the street…the real life Chris Gardner seemed a little too focused on the green stuff. While I’m not denying that his heart was indeed in the right place in regards to his children that seemed a little secondary at times.
Despite my personal objection however, both the book and movie version of “The Pursuit of Happyness” were good and worthy of their praises.
The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum
Emily Haxby is going through changes. First she splits from her long term boyfriend, then she up and quits her job…and is abruptly faced with the looming reality of quickly losing her beloved grandfather. It’s a lot for one girl to handle.
Julie Buxbaum does an excellent job at conveying the “quarter life crisis” that many 20-30 somethings experience, and she does an even better job at allowing both Emily and the reader come to an understanding as to at least some of the reasons for Emily’s current crisis. Buxbaum also does a good job at creating mostly believable characters, though, at the same time she seems to falter at describing certain characters so that they become vague ghosts in the mind of the reader, rather than actual physical people that you could picture walking down the streets of New York City.
Another downfall is the prologue, it gives too much away-at least if you pay close enough attention. It’s written as though Buxbaum wants to be vague and not give too much away but unfortunately that did not seem to be the case for me.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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If you have walked into a Starbucks within the last six weeks or so, you have most likely seen this book prominently on display. The book explores the phenomenon of “black swans”, or, events that occur that are unpredictable and how they impact our society.
Some of the events that are explored in this book-the terrorists attacks of 9/11, the explosion of the Google phenomenon amongst other such events.
From the book jacket, it would seem as though the book would be interesting, even for the layperson with even the most minor interest in economics, mathematical theories or philosophy. The book is a tad dull, but mostly readable-especially with the handy glossary at the back of the book. However, the last section of the book dealing with statistics is especially difficult to read (I finally gave up). I also found Taleb to be pretentious and unfortunately at many times throughout the book his personality shown through-which made the book to be unenjoyable.
Unless you are very interested in this theory and don’t mind having the feeling of being talked down upon I would recommend it. If not, perhaps pass this one.
Shakespeare: The World as Stage (Eminent Lives) by Bill Bryson
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Bill Bryson is well known for his travel books. He has a natural gift for weaving humor in with education which makes his books both informative and extremely fun to read. In recent years Bryson has traveled from his normal adventures to exploring the world of science, himself…and now biographies.
In his latest book, Bill Bryson has contributed to the Eminent Lives series with a biography about The Bard. As there is painfully little known about William Shakespeare (included the correct spelling of his name!) Bill Bryson does a solid job of filling in the gaps with interesting tid bits of what life was life in London during that time.
While this book does not include many of the hilarious anecdotes that are normally found in Bryson’s other books, there does include a few chuckles regarding certain customs during that time period.
From the Muddy Banks of the Wishka by Nirvana
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Two years after the untimely demise of Nirvana’s front man, Kurt Cobain, surviving band members Krist Noveselic and Dave Grohl came together in order to release an album filled with some of Nirvana’s top performances. The songs chosen for the compilation spanned the band’s entire career, from the low budgeted “Bleach” to the punk inspired “Insesticide”.
Each track on the album is solid, and despite the fact that the performances spanned across many concerts over the course of their career, it is difficult to tell where one track ends and the next begins. You could almost be fooled into believing you have been treated to one of Nirvana’s very last performances.
Unlike some live albums where die hard fans are more likely to enjoy the album, “From the Muddy Banks of the Wishka” would appeal to true Nirvana fans as well as the more casual music fan.
Track listing is as followed:
1. Intro
2. School
3. Drain You
4. Aneurysm
5. Smells Like Teen Spirit
6. Lithium
7. Sliver
8. Spank Thru
9. Scentless Apprentice
10. Heart Shaped Box
11. Milk It
12. Negative Creep
13. Polly
14. Breed
15. Tourette’s
16. Blew
Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs
Image via WikipediaIf you can believe the author’s bio, Augusten Burroughs is one of the top fifteen funniest people in America. I tend to agree. After reading (and throughly enjoying) three of his previous books I had a pretty good feeling that 1. I would laugh and 2. I would probably gasp from shock at least once. I was not disappointed.
“Possible Side Effects” is a collection of stories-memories that Burroughs has stored away through out his lifetime. Spanning from childhood until very recently, the anecdotes he conjures up are sure to entertain. Some are hilarious, some are shocking, and some are heartbreaking.
A bit of warning however, much like a person’s memory never seems to go in chronological order, this book does not either. The stories are scattered throughout the book in no particular order and at times it can get slightly confusing.
Not for the faint hearted or easily offended, but nonetheless, a fun read.
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
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I am sure that by now most have heard of this book, or at least are familiar with the movie adaptation. In recent months, the story of Christopher McCandless has received a lot of publicity and spectulation.
In case you aren’t familiar with the book (or movie), Christopher McCandless was a young idealist who donated all his money to charity, rid himself of all his possessions and took off for the wilds of Alaska-never to return. Several months after his journey began, his body was discovered in an abandoned bus. A victim, many claim, of his own stupidity.
Jon Krakauer first picked up McCandless story for Outdoor Magazine. It gleamed so much publicity and interest that Krakauer returned to the story and dug further into finding out who Christopher McCandless was, why he did what he did, and what he did wrong. Armed with interviews from those who befriended McCandless prior to his Alaskan adventure and anecdotal stories about other men who attempted to go “into the wild”, Krakauer managed to deliver a heart breaking account of a lost soul.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Image via Wikipedia“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey is not for the faint hearted. The book gives a compelling and candid view of life in a mental institution from the 60’s, and some of it’s descriptions and events could be upsetting to some.
The story however is exciting, yet for the most part is fairly low key. There’s not a whole lot of physical action amongst the characters-bar a few episodes-but there is a great deal of intensity between the main character McMurphy, and the other characters, especially Big Nurse.
The story itself is told in somewhat of a unique way. Rather than told in the voice of either of the two main characters, or in the voice of a face-less narrator, the story is told in by the view of another patient on the mental ward. Due to his supposed condition he is given the vantage point of being able to observe both his fellow patients and the staff of the ward with relative ease. Along with his narration of the events unfolding on the ward, he gives bits and pieces of his own past history which builds into the events that are currently happening in the book.
