Fame

In the beginning of the movie, it shows a bunch of different kids auditioning to get into a very competitive performing arts high school in New York City. Only 200 get in out of the 10,000 kids that apply. There were a lot of scenes of kids auditioning for dance, acting, singing, and playing an instrument.

There was not a huge overarching plot for the movie. In a lot of other movies or TV shows I have watched they would have a main plot, and then maybe a bunch of side plots to go with it. Also, a lot of shows have main characters and then some side characters too. This movie didn't seem to have a main plot, or main characters. It felt like a lot of side plots and side characters. It had the affect of not watching a movie but a lot of mini documents or something. That made me feel like this movie was different than any other movie I have watched. I can't exactly judge it and say it's bad. It may just be a format I am not used to.

Regardless, all of these side characters and side plots that made up the film were a little captivating, but it lacked an extra umph and power. The movie needed a connecting thread between all the side characters and plots. In that way it just didn't even feel like a real movie.

I didn't like the building they chose to shoot the movie in. It was ghetto and ugly. If it's such a great school, could they have found the money to make it nicer? A lot of the characters didn't seem that talented to me either. These are the ones that won out of the ten thousand?

To try and give the movie some positive feedback, I can say I enjoyed it, a little. I do like watching performances and what not, and this movie was made up of mostly performances. In that way I was pleased. But then, I have to go and criticize the performances too.

These kids were supposed to be in high school? They didn't seem like it at all. It looked like they hired a bunch of 30 year olds to play high school students. They had scenes that were too sexy and where they dressed too scantily for high school performances. They had scenes were they were at house parties and bars. Bars! They are in high school!

And, then a lot of the singing and dancing was just too ghetto, and carnal, sensual and devilish. I guess that's now the norm for our society. But, seeing a bunch of high school students mimic that kind of bugged me. It made me sad. That kind of thing is more accepted now. To be an artist in this world right now, it is normal to demean yourself, even at a young age. At least that's what this movie told me. It kind of made me depressed when it was all over.

The Dark Knight

I didn't watch this movie when it came out because of all the hype. I didn't want to be disappointed. But, curiosity got the best of me and and I ended up renting the movie last Wednesday.

The first time I watched it, it was really noisy, people were talking, I was sitting far from the TV, and there was a glare on the TV too. This is all really bad conditions for watching this movie because it was filmed in the dark, and you can really miss a lot. From far away and a brightly lit room with a lot of noise everything looks too dark and I did miss a great deal the first time.

Anyway, the second time I watched the movie I did like it better than the first time. I sat right in front of the TV, and the rest of the family was asleep and I didn't have to put up with a lot of noise.

I have to give the movie credit, it had to be a hard movie to make. There were a lot of special affects and details, and serious acting. And scene after scene followed in very quick succession of the next maniacal plot of the Joker. I thought to myself, how does such a freak, find so many goons and criminals to help him out in so many plans, and how does he think up so many plots in a short amount of time? That Joker was super busy. Maybe it was really a longer time period for the Joker to spread out all the chaos, but in the movie it looked like a very short time span.

The Joker was a genius at wrecking havoc on Gotham, and had a lot of twisted plots, and there were a lot of criminals, explosions, and stuff, but Gotham didn't feel real, and none of the characters felt real to me, even if some of the acting was serious. This lack of realness made the movie less relevant in my mind, no matter how complicated and difficult of a movie it was to make. I wish it somehow felt real, instead of a comic book. For me, that would have made it better.

One of the points of the movie, or the point that The Joker wanted to come across anyway, is that he is not the only evil one, we are all capable of becoming evil if we are pushed in that direction hard enough. If something bad happens, or the circumstances are bad enough, we can all do something bad. In this movie, I good guy named Harvey Dent, "two face" becomes bad when his finance dies, and half his face is ruined. The Joker keeps on telling people different stories about his past as to why he is a bad person. He tells different stories that don't match up about how he got the scars on his face.

Boo, hoo, you suffered, and now you can be a bad boy. What a bunch of self indulgent hogwash. There is no excuse to be bad. And the Joker should know that.

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince

I am not into Harry Potter, I never read any of the books, and I only recall watching 2 Harry Potter movies. I hated the first Harry Potter movie a lot. Every scene was like this: I'm Harry Potter, look at me. I'm so amazing! Harry Potter here to save the day, again. I remember liking the second movie though.

This Harry Potter movie named the Half Blood Prince, was boring in the beginning. It had a lot of disconnected scenes that didn't go together, and it had no plot. It was just random scene after random scene, showing I don't know what. I didn't even understand it.

But, after all the kiddies arrived back at Hogsworth or whatever that school they attend is called, the movie got much better. I started to find it easy to follow, understandable, cute, and interesting. The acting and characters are kind of charming. The plot kept me curious and interested and the movie didn't drag that much. It had a main plot that was dark and mysterious, going into deep secrets and dark magic. Then, there were cute side plots that were fun and whimsical. The movie had layers, and a lot of personality and detail.

For me, once I got past the dull, disconnected dragging beginning part, it was an entertaining movie to watch. I didn't like the way the atmosphere looked in the movie a lot of the time. I wish they made things look differently, but I guess that is part of the character and charm of The Harry Potter movies so I shouldn't complain.

Another thing I found off putting is that Harry Potter had no trouble getting girls to like him. The were throwing themselves at him in this movie. Come on! Harry Potter and his friends seem dorky. The movie puts up this pretence that girls dig him because Harry Potter is famous and he is well known and respected for his wizardry, and because he is the "chosen one." Even if that were the case, in real life, being known as the chosen one, or an exceptional wizard, would most likely make people afraid of you, not o so popular with the ladies. There was someone in my high school that claimed to be a witch, and people would be afraid of her, and avoid her. Okay, I know it must be different if you are attending a school for witches, but if you are known for being exceptional at magic, then the other witches will become afraid of you. Because you are the different one. And Harry Potter is not hot, and he looks dorky, and acts dorky.

So, in summary, the Harry Potter series likes to portray Harry Potter as an all star. Wonderful wizard that saves the day, and is popular, and a hunk for the ladies, and that just doesn't jive with me. He and his crew, doesn't seem like the popular winner types, and I just explained an extra reason why he wouldn't be popular, and why his peers would shun him. I mean, when I watched this movie, seeing all those women crawling over Harry was just so creepy and not even realistic. They did portray Harry as a great Winner all star, self important go getter, but it was muted more than in the first Harry Potter Movie so it didn't get on my nerves.

Other than those complaints, it was a decent movie.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin

I avoided reading classic literature in the past for two reasons. One reason is that I was afraid to be disappointed. "This book is supposed to be good?" The second reason is that I get attached to fictional characters, and when the book is over I miss them. This makes me feel sad and weird. I have a tendency to read non-fiction for that reason. I don't want to feel sad when the character is gone.

In reading this book, neither problem arose. I didn't get attached to the characters, so when they were gone, it was nothing to me. And, I was not disappointed with the book.

This book had a lot of dialogue. It was mostly overhearing people talking the whole time. It felt like you were eaves dropping on the characters. I get the impression that people talked back then more than we do now. It seems that no one in this book had a job or a TV. They just talked and sat and walked, and entertained. I wish it was explained what people actually "did." Did they have a job?

I knew what was going to happen from watching 2 movies based on the book, but despite that, I was full of suspense to see the unfolding of the possible romances and marriages. When any hint of breakthrough in Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship would take place, I would become very excited.

I take this book to be like a baseball game. To me, baseball is boring, but I may watch it to find out who will win. I was full of suspense and anticipation while reading this book, but page by page, it could be dull with dragging conversations that took care to relate things you already knew, or assumed. Sometimes the dialogue carried on as if Jane Austin thought her reader must be dumb so lets make it REALLY clear.

My two complaints about the book are, Jane Austin didn't describe what anything looked like. I felt like I was a blind man who could only hear conversations. That bugged me a lot. Ok. I don't want to be bogged down with a lot of details, but just a few would have been nice. I suffered from sensory deprivation while reading this book.

Another problem I have is that the characters didn't seem real to me. For all their talking you think that they would. But I didn't miss them, like I do when I read most books. I think it's because they seemed to much like "characters" to me.

The F-Factor Diet Discover the Secret to Permanent Weight Loss By Tanya Zuckerbrot, M.S., R.D.

I was at TJ Max and I found the F-Factor Diet book for only one dollar. It was cheap, so I bought it.

This book is written by a nutritionist who has a practice in New York and Miami. She said she talks to a lot of people who struggle with their weight. She hated seeing how they worked so hard, failed and then felt really terrible about themselves.

She said no wonder they fail. They are on impossible diets. No sugar, no carbs. No this or that. A diet is not something you can be on forever. That you would fail is inevitable. Imagine going the rest of your life without eating pasta, or bread, or ice cream or pizza?

Tanya, the author claimed that the amazing thing about this diet is that you have no food restrictions, you can eat anything. In this diet your objective is to add foods, and eat more. Not take things away. She said fiber is the secret ingredient you need to lose weight. Eat more fiber!

The sad thing is that when she gets past the introduction, and actually explains the diet, which has three stages; she gives a lot of restrictions and rules and crazy advice. For example, she says to buy GG crackers and eat 8 of them a day. Was she just saying in the intro, that a diet is bad, because it can't be a permanent lifestyle? I think that all of those weird rules and regimens are not necessary if you have the right attitude or intrinsic understanding with food.

I agree with the beginning of this book......which contradicts the middle of the book. I wish that this book stayed on course, and taught you how and why to eat in a healthful way. I wish it didn't turn into some crazy diet.

Fiber is filling, and has no calories. As long as you eat foods with fiber, you won't be hungry, and you will eat less. I have been trying to eat more fiber. And I find that to be true. I can eat a lot less, by just eating fiber. Fiber also really seems to curve my cravings for food too. I don't have to worry about restricting what I eat, as long as I eat fiber. Because fiber makes me have less cravings and hunger. I no longer feel a strange relationship with food. Or want to overeat, or eat a lot of crazy things. It has the ingredients to make me sane when it comes to food, so I don't have to worry about a strict diet anyway.

Because of my new relationship, I feel free! I don't have to have a neurosis about food. Thinking the enemy food product is just around the corner. The obsession and craziness that food can cause in me seems to go away with fiber. Fiber makes me feel mentally healthy about food. There is no more of a difficult or strained relationship with food.

It also helps foods that are the most healthy for you, plant based foods, that are not processed or industrialized, contain the most fiber. Like fruits, vegetables, and grains. Fiber is part of a healthful lifestyle.

What is truly sad however, is what I read on amazon.com about this book. From some people's reviews of this book, it seems that people are so desperate for a regimen over their food intake to control their weight, they turned this book into a stick diet. Any slight suggestion for improvement they took as one of the ten commandments. It was almost insane to read the reviews these people made. They really had a crazy relationship with food.

It's like they missed the whole point.....this book at least at the beginning, is to free you from a diet, a strange and complex, and hard to do regimen that is close to unattainable, unless you want to torture yourself for a long time. It is meant to teach you to just be healthy, and that fiber can help you do that. Fiber made me feel less crazy about food. It's a freeing thing.

I feel sorry for all the people out there that need to go to extreme lengths with very strict diets. They have an obsessed, unhealthy relationship with food. It's different from anorexia, or bulimia. It's like orthorexia. Which is deadly too. Orthorexia is less well known. It's when someone tries so hard to be healthy...they ironically end up killing themselves.

Something's Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton

I didn't think that this movie would be worth commenting about, except that it put some ideas in my head that I want to remember.

I dreaded seeing this movie because from the cover on the DVD I could tell it would be a "romantic comedy" involving, old people....gross!!!!

It starts out with Jack Nicholson driving a convertible in the Hamptons. He is driving to the beach house of his girlfriend's mother for a weekend together. His girlfriend looks young, and is thirty years old. Jack Nicholson in this movie is 63 yrs. old.

Everyone was wondering why is she with this old man? She says something in the movie that was very telling. She is too afraid to get hurt, so she always chose the wrong man she didn't really want. That way if it didn't work out, she would not be upset or sad.

Later on in the movie, she was talking with her mother, who was crying a lot because of a breakup. The daughter didn't want to suffer like her mom ever, and wanted to be shielded from any possible pain from love. The mom said to her daughter, "What happened to me is not so bad, you can't run away from love." She also told the daughter, "You never really lived and enjoyed yourself have you?"

Another thing that struck me in this movie is a scene where Jack Nicholson was talking to the young girlfriend's mother. The mom says, "I researched you on the Internet too. You started your own business at 29, later you started a magazine. At 40 you sold your business and started a bunch of other businesses. This man tried a lot of different career paths and projects.

Seeing a movie where some of the main characters happen to be old is striking. It gives me perspective about life. I think that I could be more daring to try different career paths, but I am too afraid to try something, because it could be the wrong thing. I could find someone I really like too, but I am also afraid of love and relationships.

I learned from watching an icky movie about old people who fall in love. It's okay to get hurt, and to fail. It's best that you give love a try, and try different things. It's okay if it ends up not working out. Life is a trial and error thing. And it's not going to be so bad if you have to cry. Like the mother said.

The Kite Runner

This movie is a based on the book, but it has a lot of deviations. It is about people from Afghanistan. It takes place in Afghanistan, Pakistan and America. The movie starts out in 1978, when Afghanistan has not been at war with Russia yet. It shows Afghanistan pre-war, and pre-taliban. There was still a lot of political strife though.

The movie was mainly about a young boy named Amir, and his friend Hassan. The beginning of the movie is mostly in Farsi, and you have to read the sub titles to understand what is happening. The dialogue in this movie is really genius, so even though the sub title thing can be annoying, it's worth reading.

You start out seeing the both of them playing together and acting like very good friends. It isn't until later I find out that Hassan is actually a servant in Amir's house. The neighborhood bullies tease Amir and Hassan. They say, if I have a friend, and I pay them to be my friend, is he my friend, or my servant? He is my servant. They said to Amir, "I guess you have no friends." The neighborhood bullies also don't seem to like Amir's father because of his political views. They seem to want to get violent with the boys.

In a scene you hear Amir's father complaining about his son. Saying how much of a coward Amir is, and how he doesn't stand up to bullies, but Hassan has to step up and defend both of them. He says that a boy that does not stand up for himself, will turn into a man that does not stand up for anything. Amir overhears this, and thinks his father does not like him. Amir says that he thinks his father hates him because he killed his mother. His mother died giving birth to Amir. An older friend, who is a friend of the family, says that this is not true, that life is dangerous, being born, and giving birth. He goes on to say your father would do anything for you.

Amir's father won a kite flying contest as a kid, and is very proud of that. Amir enters into a kite flying contest to gain the approval of his father. He actually wins the contest, and is really excited. After the competition, Amir's friend Hassan runs off alone to find the kite for Amir.

Off alone, Hassan runs into the neighborhood bullies. They say that they will leave him alone if he gives him the kite. Hassan refuses, saying it's Amir's kite, and I can't give it away. The bullies beat Hassan and rape him. Amir is actually hiding off in the distance, and witnesses the whole thing. He runs off when they start to rape Hassan. He does nothing to help his friend. Back home, things get very awkward between Amir and Hassan. Amir does not want anything to do with his friend anymore, and seems to be too embarrassed to be near him. Hassan sleeps a lot, and seems depressed.

In an attempt to get rid of Hassan, Amir frames him of stealing his watch. Hassan admits to stealing the watch even though he didn't. Hassan and his father say they are leaving, because it is too unbearable here. Amir's father asks, "Why, I forgave you for stealing?" He doesn't understand why his servants are leaving. Amir's father looks confused as to why, and forbids them to leave. The servants say, "We don't work for you anymore, you can't forbid us anything."

In the next year, Amir and his father escape to America to get away from the Russian invasion. Amir's father was too outspoken against the Russians, and he thought that would get him into a lot of trouble. In the next scene, Amir is no longer a young boy in Afghanistan, but an Americanized young adult who just graduated from college. He turns out very nice looking. His father gets sick with cancer. And he refuses treatment, preferring to die at home. Amir takes an interest in a young Afghan woman. According to their tradition, Amir's father has to ask the women's father if he will let them marry. Amir asks his father to ask her father for permission. Amir's father, though sick, goes to the young woman's house to ask her father if his daughter can marry his son. He agrees, and his son gets married. They make a very cute couple.

When things start to seem calm and happy, Amir gets a call from an old friend from Afghanistan who is very sick. He is living in Pakistan now. Amir, who is now a writer, has to cancel his book tour to visit his friend. Amir finds out from his friend in Pakistan, that his childhood friend Hassan was killed by the Taliban, and that his son is now an orphan. Amir reads a letter that Hassan wrote him. The letter was very touching. It spoke of how bad things got in Afghanistan, how peace has left the land, and killing is everywhere. Hassan speaks of a hope for a better day again, when peace is restored. A time when things will be nicer like before.

Amir travels to the dangerous country of Afghanistan to find Hassan's orphan son. He goes to an orphanage, only to find out the orphanage gave Hassan's son to the Taliban. Amir takes the risk, and goes to the Taliban to find the son. He finds out that the son is used as a sex slave by the Taliban. They have him dress fancy, and dance for them. The boy and Amir fight this one Taliban guy, who was actually one of the bullies that raped Hassan, the boy's father. They escape, and go to Pakistan. Then they go to America. The final scene is Amir and Hassan's boy...which is actually Amir's nephew, flying kites together. (Long story as to why Amir and Hassan's son are related. The short version entails Amir's father messing around with the servant's wife.)

I was really touched by the contrasts in the movie. Pre-war Afghanistan vs. the terrible and scary Taliban-Afghanistan. The coward young Amir vs. the brave adult Amir. Hassan's letter really sums it up. His letter made be start to tear up. It talks about the lost prosperity, dreams, and beauty. And the hope of it's return. The movie really hit home the tragedy of the country. I can sense a great loss.

Part of Hassan's letter really demonstrates the loss that can be felt:

I have been dreaming a lot lately, Amir agha. Some of them are nightmares, like hanged corpses rotting in soccer fields with bloodred grass. I wake up from those short of breath and sweaty. Mostly, though, I dream of good things, and praise Allah for that. I dream that Rahim Khan sahib will be well. I dream that my son will grow up to be a good person, a free person, and an important person. I dream that lawla flowers will bloom in the streets of Kabul again and rubab music will play in the samovar houses and kites will fly in the skies. And I dream that someday you will return to Kabul to revisit the land of our childhood. If you do, you will find an old faithful friend waiting for you.

Freearcade.com

I used to play games on yahoo.com. The games used to be mostly free. Then I take a two or three year break from playing games on the Internet. I come back to yahoo.com to play....to find in aghast horror, that a lot of the games are no longer free. And, they are much more of a pain to load. The site also became less user friendly.

Due to my annoyance at the new yahoo games section. I was on a quest to find a better site. I found it! Freearcade.com. It is all free, and it has a ridiculously large amount of games to choose from. The selection is astoundingly huge. It is also a very user friendly site that is super easy to navigate. I think that it is really worth being any one's source for games on the Internet.

People Will Talk with Cary Grant

For me, Cary Grant is one of those names you have heard of, but have no clue as to who he is. I guess I am not an old movie buff. And I am not up on the names of old actors. Or new actors for that matter. I have not had the opportunity to watch that many old movies.

To tell the truth, when I see black and white, I get a little depressed. I'm like...oh, no! Not an old movie....how boring! I think that my mind is used to seeing faster paced bam! wham! It is actually a shame that my attention span is so terrible. It's like a four year old, or a gnat.

This old movie from 1951 was impressive for this reason. It broke through my gnat mentality. It was an old movie that didn't bore me, or have trouble keeping my attention. I was captivated as soon as I started watching it. It had no quick scene changes, and it was not fast paced, but it didn't need all that to hold a person's attention. The movie really held its own. (I was even willing to give up watching Matlock....which was on at the same time, to see this movie. That is saying something. And yes, I am embarrassed that I watch Matlock...and like it.)

I get the impression that this is not a well known old movie, even though Cary Grant is supposed to be famous. I heard it was a movie made before the second part of his successful career. I really recommend watching this movie because it was very interesting, and drew a person into it. I could go on about the plot...which was a little strange is some ways, however I am afraid this will get to be long.

What helped make the movie interesting was Cary Grant's performance. He has a great stage presence. Him, and the interaction of the female star opposite him, made for a performance that was fascinating and enjoyable to watch. Now that I think about it....this film may be classified as a "romantic comedy." I hate romance films, or chick flicks. I hate, or dislike old movies and chick flicks, but I like this movie. I guess that makes this film special.

This film is causing me to reevaluate my dislike for old movies and chick flicks. There may be some special films out there, I have yet to see.

The Secret Life of Bees

The movie takes place in the South in the 1960s. It depicts a lot of racial issues and conflicts.

For me, this movie started out interesting, but it lost it's momentum and suspense at the end. After awhile, it got boring, and really started to drag. The movie began with a scene of a husband and a wife having an argument. The husband did not hit his wife, but he was grabbing her. The wife goes for a gun, but she drops the gun on the floor. Then, her four year old daughter, Lily, picks up the gun and accidentally shoots her mother. Her mother dies.

This was a flashback memory of Lily, the main character in the movie. Lily goes on to say, "The only thing I knew about myself is that I killed my mother." Her mother ran away from home for a few months, but came back to get her daughter Lily, and leave once again. The argument the husband and wife had was about her running away.

In this movie, when Lily turns 10 or 11 yrs old, she runs away from her father, with their African American maid, who worked for her father. They run away together after Lily breaks the maid out of prison. The prison actually looked more like a hospital. The maid was injured because she was beaten by racist white men.

Through some circumstances, Lily and the maid became aware of the Calender Sisters, and asked to stay with them at their house. The Calender Sisters are named May, August and June. They are bee keepers and have a honey making business. June is also a music teacher. The sisters are very cultured and educated. Their house is very large, and they own a lot of land. June did not want Lily and her maid to stay with them, but August did. June suspected that Lily was lying about their circumstances. Lily did make up lies about being an orphan, and her father dying.

They asked to stay with the Calender Sisters because no one would take a black person into a hotel, they said. The Calender Sisters were black, and they assumed that they might take in Lily, who is white and the black maid.

The sister named August knew that Lily was actually the daughter of the little girl she took care of for nine years as a nanny. But, we have to wait until the end of the movie to find out that August knew Lily's mother. We believe until the end of the movie that complete strangers took Lily and the maid into their home. I think that this makes the movie less sweet. It was not complete strangers that had compassion on people who had no where to go and no money, but people who knew Lily's mother.

Because August knew Lily's mom, August was able to tell her daughter all about her, and tell Lily that her mom did leave her, but, was going back for her, that she did love her. Lily felt unloved because she was told by her father that her mother abandoned her, and didn't want her. And because Lily's mom died when she was only 4 yrs old, she knew little about her mother.

I felt bad for the father in this movie. The movie did not do a good job of depicting that he was a bad guy. The movie did not have a lot of scenes with him in it, and so I didn't get a good picture of how horrible he was supposed to be. The movie should have showed how bad he is, so I could be more sympathetic to the daughter that ran away. The movie makes her seem selfish for leaving. But, maybe not because she was helping the maid escape from the prison hospital.

First his wife leaves him, then his daughter. He is now alone in the world, rejected by his own family. I read a review on the book the movie is based on, which makes the father seem very mean and abusive. It was odd, I felt worse for the father than the daughter, or the maid, or anyone else in the movie, and I don't think the movie intended for me to feel that way.

The Secret of the Villa Mimosa by Elizabeth Adler

I was at the library, and it was going to close in 5 minutes. I didn't have much time to pick out a book. I was in the mood for a Matlock like mystery. I ran looking for the mystery section, like what the other library had, but I didn't see a section marked mystery. I just grabbed this book off the shelf without thinking. I was in a rush.

I did a good job appeasing my Matlock mystery mood because this book was a bit like Matlock. Okay, Matlock is not the best show, and I am embarrassed to admit to liking it. What I like about Matlock however, is the humanity in it. The main characters have a personality, and when a murder takes place you get to know a lot about the victim and all the people he knew from their life. I get glimpses of people's lives and humanity. The modern shows on TV have no humanity or personality.

On the show CSI, they call the person murdered "vic." You don't even get to find out victim's name. They are "vic."You find out nothing about the person, and his life, or the people in his life. The main characters have the personality of a robot. You could replace the cast of some shows with data from Star Trek and no one would notice. I like Matlock because I miss humanity. So sue me.

What is bad about Matlock is that it can be predictable, rehearsed, and the plot is always contrived for everything to work out. The person Matlock defends is always innocent, and they always prove him so, just in the nick of time, by some silly unlikely clue.

This book was just like Matlock. It had a lot of humanity in it, and I was really into the main characters. I was really disappointed with the book, though. It was extremely predictable. I knew what was going to happen early on. It was also really unrealistic to the point of being annoying. It had too many contrived plot points. It worked out like a silly fairy tale. I am not five years old. It insulted my intelligence. The book had too many coincidences, that was off the wall ridiculous.

This book is written by a very cultured person. She has lived in England, Ireland, France, Brazil, etc. The main characters in the book were rich and beautiful, and ate fancy food at fancy places. Because the book was so insulting to my intelligence, it somehow felt cheap. But, there was so much culture in the book. In the end, reading this book feels like going to a very fancy restaurant and eating a hot dog.

Despite a part of me believing this book was not worth my time, I did enjoy the characters in this book and their personal stories. It satisfied my urge for he human filled mystery that I was searching for. It was just like Matlock.

If there was a moral to garner from reading this book, it was this: Don't fall for someone because they are hot, or good looking, or rich. They could be a sick evil bastard. Don't be taken in by their charm. Be on the lookout.

The Phantom of The Opera by Gaston Leroux

I watched two versions of the movie Phantom of The Opera. The endings of the two versions were so different, I was wondering which one was based on the book.

One version of the movie was from the 50s or around then, and the ending was actually supposed to be funny and people were laughing. That is so not the Phantom of the Opera. The ending of the book is really sad.

I read the book and it turns out the book and the modern movie made by Joel Schumacher and Andrew Lloyd Webber was extremely similar. It's amazing that they can fit a whole book, and all it's details in an 141 minute film. That's some sort of an amazing feat.

In some ways, I think that the minor changes the movie made that deviated from the book were good. Sometimes the book was over the top, and unbelievable. The movie took it down a notch, and actually improved upon the plot. Even so, the movie and the book are almost exactly alike.

Two things I didn't like about the book was that the author didn't "show scenes." If that makes any sense. If something happened in the book, Gaston would often explain it through dialogue between two characters. He would use a character to retell the story. It sounded lazy to me. It's easier to just use dialogue to explain drama than to actually take the time to use imagery to actually explain what happened.

What made that method worse is that the dialogue in this book is not too good. It sounded fake, like bad actors talking back and forth at times. The book having so much dialogue to explain the plot did not help it. The author did a bad job putting mental pictures in my mind. I had to rely on the movie sometimes to know what people and places looked like. Not that the author didn't describe things sometimes. But, it just wasn't enough for me.

Overall, the story of the Phantom of the Opera is very sad, and weird. You end up feeling sad for the evil villan. The book wasn't bad at all despite my critisisms. I liked an other book that Gaston Leroux wrote too. The Yellow Room. I read that book awhile ago, so I don't remember it much, other than that I really liked it.

Thinking in pictures by Temple Grandin

I met an autistic person a few weeks ago, and it occurred to me that I don't know too much about the disorder, other than what I learned from an episode of Law and Order.

I was curious about it, so when I saw a magazine article in Mental Floss about this book, I decided to find the book and read it. This book was written by an autistic person, who explained what it's like to be autistic.

I am getting old...26. Okay. Not so old, but I don't hear much that is new to me. I feel like I have heard it all sometimes. When I get into a conversation, I can sometimes swear I have had that same conversation 12 times before with 12 other people. Sometimes I feel like yawning and rolling my eyes at some conversations I hear.

That's why I appreciate this book. I really enjoyed learning a lot of new things that I never thought of before. Some things were truly new to me. Not just about autism, but just a lot of other things too. I learned about different ways of thinking and viewing the world. I really liked this book, and I recommend reading it.

Scrubs on ABC?

I remember watching Scrubs with my roommate from when I was in college living in Riverside. She was laughing a lot, almost every ten seconds it seemed, and I don't think I even laughed once. I talked to my other roommate about it. (I had two roommates at the time.) She told me, I don't think that show is funny either, she does have a strange sense of humor.

Scrubs was cancelled from NBC, and I was really surprised to find it back on the air on ABC. I got roped into watching a few episodes because of someone I live with-- who thinks it oh so funny. (I wouldn't watch a lot of things if it wasn't for other people wanting to see it.)

Surprisingly, in a good way, Scrubs on ABC is very funny. Scrubs on NBC, wa. But the new Scrubs is delightful. I don't like the word delightful, and I am using it. Scrubs is now that good. Maybe, I have changed, or my humor has changed, but I really think its Scrubs that has changed. I think the show will end up lasting on ABC for awhile.

It's humor is so creative, and the characters are so goofy, and I can really believe them as goofy friends that hang out with each other. The characters come together to portray a story, and a plot, and it seems to harmonize and mix really well with a lot of the humor thrown into it. I am now excited to get stuck watching Scrubs now, instead of the old emotion it would get out of me....akin to watching a documentary on toothpaste or something.

Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood

I think that Clint Eastwood was really hot when he was younger. I watched the Good, Bad and the Ugly a bunch of times mainly for this reason, oh and I liked the movie too.

I didn't like Million Dollar Baby, even though it received really rave reviews by the critics and won a lot of awards. I had a lot to say about the movie that was negative. Needless to say, a part of me was weary of seeing this movie.

I read the description of it on yahoo movies, and the critics made is seem like a really serious, soul sucking, 4 hour drama that will weigh you down, full of controversy and subjects for debate to even further weary the mind.

What the critics on yahoo movies failed to portray about Gran Torino, was that it was hilarious!!!! I laughed the whole time. No soul sucking involved. I know, it does not seem like a comedy, and it's really not, but the movie was very funny and very serious at the same time. Few movies can pull that stunt off. In a way, the movie was just like real life. Real life has a lot of drama, but people stop to joke and make fun with each other too, and just live their life.

This movie was done really well. It was realistic, and every scene was like a fine crafted piece of art work. This movie is not a movie I will forget. Most movies, I forget the characters, what happened, where it happened. But, I will remember every scene and and character of Gran Torino. It was so cool. I replayed a lot of the movie in my head, something about it just sticks in my mind. There is some violence, and some bad language, that didn't bother me too much though. I was mainly replaying the conversations that took place.

I read a lot of reviews before seeing the movie to make sure it would be okay for me to watch. I thought it was on the level, but others may not think so. It portrays racism, but not in a serious way. I was not offended, maybe I should have been. The movie has a lot of bad language too.

Clint Eastwood was really good in this movie. He did an excellent job acting, and directing. I loved the ending to this movie too. I think the movie was almost perfect. The only thing about the movie that troubled me is believing that Tao's cousin would be that mean over nothing. It was a little far fetched for me. But, I hear stuff on the news that says someone got murdered for a scooter, so you never really know with some people. I thought that Clint's immediate family also seemed a bit stereotypical, as if they are not real people. But, his family was only in a few scenes of the movie, and I think they were supposed to not seem real, because he was not close to his family. I think that this is a great movie, that entertained me a lot.