Writer Block, Movie Reviews, Book Reviews

For some reason I have experienced some kind of writer block this morning and just can’t come up with anything real inspirational or motivational. So, in search of something meaningful to write about I consulted my library of over 900 books and found titles such as: Napalm & Silly Putty by Carlin, Build To Serve by Sanders, Mind Management by Greer, Living Successfully With Screwed Up People by Brown, Vampire Hunter by Brown, The Stuff of Thought by Pinker, Why We Suck by

Leary, Triathlon 101 by Mora, Power Meter by Allen, Divorce Busting by Davis, Anti Oxident Revolution by Cooper, Where Have All The Leaders Gone by Iacocca, and on and on. When it was all said and done all I gathered from this small gathering of my intellectual properties was a vast amount of either useless trivia, senior rambling or stuff too deep to comprehend this morning. Let’s take the Power Meter book for example. Now I bought that book at the recommendation of a cycling friend of mine who is quite good, but who is also a science type of guy. Well this book is about training on your bicycle with a power meter to get much faster and efficient. Since I have been riding for over 28 years I found the challenge of the Power Meter idea much too complicated and costly for my blood. Not only that I couldn’t understand most of the book. So, bottom line here is that I figure that if it really works then the riders who are smart enough to figure it out will also become faster and then beat all of us simple minded people, no matter how athletic they are. My current reading is being devoted to mind growth centering around books like, Rising To The Call by Guiness, and Courage and Consequences by Rove. To date I haven’t realized any real growth but I am having some fun and have plenty of room for this subject. But when I really want to get back to my roots of nasty, low down sarcastic humor I consult the likes of George Carlin. No one could(since he is dead now) be more direct and obscene than this guy. He said he didn’t like funerals, for many reasons, especially his own. He didn’t want a wake for his own service because he didn’t like the idea and lying on display, dead, in a mahogany convertible with the top down. Everybody looking and you’re dead as a door nail and someone says, doesn’t he look natural, when in fact the too much makeup thing makes you look like a drag queen. But then when life turns serious there is always the King James version of the Bible. Now you say, mentioning the works of George Carlin in the same breath as the Bible is somewhat against the grain of respect and dignity for both of these writings. Carlin was not much into religion of any kind, other than to make fun of it and use it for shock affect, while in turn the Bible needed scoundrels such as Carlin to make its’ point. So, a win win for both publications. In conclusion I think all of my readers can see my point of the day is that if you experience writer block just go to the family library and something will pop into the ole brain cells. Also, it also helps to gulp down a Red Bull and swallow some Ginkgo Smart!! In football we always said, “when in doubt, punt, when that doesn’t work, run like hell!!”

Movie Reviews: “The Adjustment Bureau”, ****, This is a good movie with a very different twist to a romantic story. Matt Damon(David Norris) stars as a very charismatic young man who is running for Congress. He has dedicated himself to this goal of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate. On the brink of winning this election he mysteriously meets beautiful ballet dancer Elise Sellas(Emily Blunt). Just as he realizes he has fallen for her, mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart. Who these men work for is the real story in this movie, so you have to go see it to learn who the employer is. Very well done. Rated PG-13 for brief strong language, some sexuality and a violent image.

“Hall Pass”, 0(as in Zero), This probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Not only is the subject matter bad, the way it is presented is even worse. Crude, obnoxious, nasty, obscene, horrible, stupid, just starts the description of it. Not only does it waste some good acting talent it wastes the viewers time even more. The so-call story line is about two best friends, played by Owen Wilson and Jason Sefeikis who are in long term marriages and they are now bored with their lives. So, their wives come up with the idea that maybe if they had one full week of not being married and they could chose to do whatever they wanted(no questions asked), would bring them back around. The idea is not bad and could have been an enjoyable romantic comedy if all of the real crude stuff had not been used to hijack the movie public into this farce. The Farrelly brothers direct while they try to copy the Cohen brothers, and they fail miserably. If you go see it after this review then it is your own fault you have wasted your money. Rated R for crude and sexual humor throughout, language, some graphic nudity(you mean when a guy takes a dump in the sand trap on a golf course) and drug use.

“Just Go With It”, *, Looks like I am on a roll with bad movies. This one also has some potential but just turned into real boring and stupid. Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman and Dave Matthews, all good actors, are really wasted. The involves a plastic surgeon(Sandler) who carelessly pretends to be married. He actually uses this as his “line” to pick up good looking babes, since he is single. When he does fall for a much younger school teacher his line back fires on him. So, he enlists his assistant(Aniston) and her children to help ease him out of the jam he caused. Could have been a cute movie but was poorly presented and really boring in most parts. Rated PG-13 for frequent crude and sexual content, partial nudity, brief drug references and language.

“Unknown”, ****, Liam Neeson proves again that he can carry a film with action, remember “Doubt”? This film has lots of action and intrigue with a great script, and acting to meet the challenge for this type of movie. The plot finds an American scientist and professor, played by Neeson, accompanied by his wife(January Jones), to a conference in Berlin. However, a traffic accident leaves Neeson hospitalized in a coma for four days and, upon awakening with no identification, his memory is fractured. When reunited with Jones, she says she has no idea who his is, and another man(Aidan Quinn) appears to have stepped into his identity. Bits of the truth start to emerge, but the questions are: is he who we are led to believe he is and what is his real mission? Go see, you will find out this important answer and how the director presents it is very entertaining. Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence and action.

Book Reviews: “The Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Part 1”, **, very well done but probably of no interest to most people other than for those who study the American presidents or like to read about past battles, i.e. Mexican War, and Civil War.

“Rising to The Call”, *****, A great little book written by Os Guiness concerning our call in life and whether we chose it or not, or how we chose it. But more than anything it illustrates through the concept of the Audience of One, and God’s Grand Employment. Well worth the time to read and ponder over.

For today EA, SH(where are you?).....:),

greerman