Move Review: Transformer Revenge of the Fallen

This is the first review I've posted of a movie, but thought I'd go ahead and do this one.  We checked it out last night (yay for redbox's 1 dollar movies).

I'd like to point out that my biggest problem with the first movie is that, in my firm belief, a Transformers movie should be 80-90% giant robots fighting, and instead got 50% teen romance, 30% teens outwitting experts employed by the government, 15% people fighting giant robots, and about 5% of actually giant robots fighting each other.

So, initial overall:
90% -Movie was mainly about giant robots fighting.  Glad you learned your lesson Mr. Bay.
+5%- Optimus Prime is awesome, from nostalgia to just kick butt coolness
+2%- Geriatric Jetfire was well done, and very amusing

However, this movie had a lot of small detractions.
-5%- Excessive amount of scrotal jokes and references...I don't want to hear or see that thank you very much
-5%- "Pseudo-gangsta" talking robots, wow, obnoxious.
-3%- Potty mouth robots.  Related to the above, but not only.  In a movie with a bunch of soldiers and military dudes, it's the robots that are cussing like a sailor, well and the kids mom.
-2%- Stereotypical over the top annoying parents.  We got it last movie, we get it again, it's still not funny.
-3%- Cheese/"Fan service" Megan Fox shots.  I don't want this junk in my movies, why the heck does it keep showing up?
-2%- Still to much teen romance, in fact, between the parents and the protagonists you wonder why they let the real actors on at all, the cgi-animated voice actors do much better job acting...
-2%- Stupid trope of "higher authority who doesn't get it taking over the job" and this one doesn't even make sense.  How can the US threaten to "order the autobots off the planet?"  Out of the country maybe...and all the justifications for the threat are meaningless to.
-2%- Dude in a thong...it's not funny just gross.
-1%- Dude who constantly cries like a girl.  It was annoying in the first one, why do we have to have another one in the second one?
-1%- Coming up with a new villain that only Optimus can beat.  Okay there was enough bad guys in the original group, couldn't you use those, why do you have to come up with something new?
-1%- Optimus almost got his butt whipped by megatron, why then does he beat down the BBG in like 10 seconds...worst fight ever.

Final grade: 70...C-

Long time, no book

My I-Pod died...don't know why, but it makes me sad.  And bored.  And, no more book reviews for a while.  I'm behind on the ones I did read to.  Ah well.

Book Review: The Four Seasons of Marriage

I've enjoyed Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages so when I came across this, it made an impromptu introduction to my reading list (the fact that I was still #2 or 3 on all my holds was a contributing factor as well).  This made an interesting "read" and I really enjoyed it, as a husband and as a student of counseling.  The premise that all marriages shift through various states of marriage was a gain in useful knowledge in itself.  Note, the seasons are not stages, they are states.  You move from one to another in some order, yes, but people do not begin in spring and end in winter, they fluctuate between them all.

The crux of the book was that Spring (the growing joy of marriage) and Summer (the warm and happy time of marriage) is the place we want to be, so we need to learn to move from Fall (the rough spots) and Winter (the spot of absolute despair/misery) to those happier states.  He details the states quite well, but mentions there is some overlap.  You can't point to a given place in your life and says "There is where we moved from Spring to Summer."  But they are different, and useful to understand. 

Probably the best part was the ending where he discusses seven different methods of moving out of fall and winter and into spring and summer.  I think the best, and hardest, was learning where you failed your mate, both through your own meditation on the subject and consulting family and your spouse!  That would be so hard, to go to others and say, "Tell me how I failed."  Then, and only then, you can begin to repent and ask for forgiveness.  There were many others, but this one really amazed me, to commit that much would seem hard in the season of winter.

Overall, great book on marriage.  I'm almost considering adding it to my mandatory reading list for marriage (which I should put on this blog I guess).   Great read for anyone in marriage to think of how their marriage is and where to go from here.

Book Review: Who Moved My Cheese?

Okay, this was kind of a silly tale.  However, I think once you get over the silliness of the story, it gets really good.  It seems to me to make a very good point about how we as people over complicate things.  We DO NOT LIKE CHANGE!  Who took my stuff?  Why was I fired, I worked hard!  These things are all bits of whining we have done over the years and it shows how we over complicate our lives.  Change happens, you need to roll with it.

Short review for a short book:  I like it, it has a good message about an aspect that is deficient in our own lives.  I would recommend it, especially in light of the current increase in joblessness and lay-offs.  It's a good place to learn about how to deal with the curve balls of life.

Book Review: The Millionaire Next Door

Amazing book.  I really enjoyed this one.  A book on money, backed by research on how the rich handle money.  It is very enlightening to hear a description other than that of Trust Babies and Super-Stars.  To hear about people who make money in a slow and steady way, to hear and find how people best become wealthy.

It is a very through book, describing multiple levels of the way money is handled.  A couple of interesting things to me were:  The largest indicator of wealth accumulation seemed to be the way the spouse that stays at home.  They referred to two aspects of wealth building: financial offense and defense.  Financial offense was acquiring money.  You know, high salary, good yielding investments, being born into the right family, etc.  Financial defense was keeping expenses low, spending on what is necessary without fluff, etc.  They found sound financial defense was the strongest indicator of wealth building, and the wife most often was influential one in this realm.  Very interesting.

Another interesting aspect is how they view the acquisition of vehicles.  One thing they mentioned is how once someone remarked flippantly how the wealthy tended to buy their vehicles by the pound.  Then, when they checked, they found that they were in fact buying vehicles that were cheapest by weight!  The buying techniques were interesting to.  Once those with a "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" arrangement with a dealer was removed, the most prevalent car shopping technique was to shop all locations for used cars.  They said that people who do this are always casually looking for a car, but never in a hurry.  They will often check, even test drive, then make a low ball offer.  If it's not taken, they politely say good bye and walk off.

I really liked this book, and found it very interesting.  It's actually kind of nice to know I already have a number of these habits having been taught by my parents.  Not that wealth building is my goal in life, but being able to be wise with my money is, and it's nice to know I'm on the right track.  A recommended read.

The Book Review: The Richest Man in Babylon

Great book on money that is actually different than all the others.  Most books on money I have read are either heavily based upon one man's experience and story (Rich Dad Poor Dad for instance) or heavily a research book describing what they found (Millionaire Next Door is next on the list).  This one, however, goes about it in a different way through a number of parables from Babylon.  Seriously, if you want to learn about money, but find most money books to dry try this one.  It's a good, easy read, with lots of information on how to live a life that is wise with money.

My biggest critique is the attempt to use Elizabethan English.  It is really annoying, I realize it's supposed to convey an antiquity feeling.  The reality is, the Babylonians spoke Akkadian and therefore anything we hear is a translation, so what not actually do it all the way?  That being sad, as long as you are reasonably familiar with the language it's not to bad to listen to or read.

I do wonder about whether there is any basis in history for any of these stories, or if they were based upon actual myths and stories from Babylon.  Somehow I doubt it, I mean on character actually mentions how he envisions life insurance in the future.  There is no real explanation about the historical connection, though they try and imply such in a correspondence letter from a Sumerian linguist and and archaeologist, but that doesn't necessarily mean that is not fictional as well.

Overall, this is an excellent book.  It's easy to read, flows well, tells compelling stories, and manages to educate you about money in the process.  Oh, and if you think you don't need to learn about money, then let me tell you this: those who think they have nothing to learn usually have the most to learn.  Money handling ability, like everything else, is a learned skill.  You can learn from the school of hardknocks, and maybe squeak by, or you can learn from others of wisdom (parents, authors, etc) and become stable, independent, and able to use your money for good will rather than just scraping by to meet your own needs.

Coercive help is better than volunatry according to Mr. Obama

Obama Closes Summit, Vows Broader Engagement With Latin America - washingtonpost.com

In this article, 5th paragraph the line states that President Obama " felt the United States could learn a lesson from Cuba, which for decades has sent doctors to other countries throughout Latin America to care for the poor." So apparently apparently the US needs to learn that rather than the thousands of volunteers, we need to curtail our efforts and make it mandatory for top doctors to win us geo-political support. Stupid doctors who volunteer...

Seriously, the IMB, Samaritan's Purse, and Doctor's Without Borders all export VOLUNTEER doctors in vast numbers. These people sacrifice their financial abilities, earning no pay beyond what support they get (which is no more than the lay, untrained man with a hammer) to use their years of expensive study to simply aid others. Added to that, often these missionaries go with no compensation and at their own expense! Now, I don't know about you, but to me that seems to be a larger amount of compassion and caring than state funded doctor's drawing a salary as they go over seas. Added to that, private practice physicians have to pay staff while they are paying their way.

Shame on you, Mr. Obama, for disparaging those who sacrifice so much. Medical missions is just one of a plethora of foreign aid put out by private individuals. Step back from your socialist agenda for a moment and see what good the free market has had. Yes, greed can abound and people do run around using their wealth to their own selfishness, but that happens in socialism to. What is more interesting is the huge amount of aid, both financial and service based, that the US sends over seas. Learn to see what Americans do, and then think about whether we should embrace a political gambit that would actually lower our aid to others.