Movie Reviews x 4

Ok, here goes with a multiple movie review. Since none of these were the best movie ever, I think this is appropriate. Don't get me wrong, they didn't stink...just not the best ever.

"Knight and Day": This movie reminded me that Tom Cruise was once an enjoyable actor. I still don't understand why people think Cameron Diaz is so great, and I probably never will. For the first 75 minutes, I was going to rate "Knight and Day" 4 stars. Then the last 30 minutes happened, and really knocked this down to a 3 star movie. The banter between Tom Cruise and, well, everybody was terrific, and the action was good, but it all sorta stopped at about the 75 minute mark.


"The Other Guys": There are some genuinely funny moments in "The Other Guys." Wil Ferrell and Marky Mark (Wahlberg) star in this buddy cop movie about the other guys in the police precinct...the non-action stars. I have never been a huge Wil Ferrell fan, but he was actually really good in this. I also thought bringing in Michael Keaton as the Captain of the precinct was a nice touch. The only problem I had with this movie was Marky Mark...I just couldn't get the SNL skit "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals" out of my head. Overall, this is a 3.5ish star movie.

"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World": This is a really different movie. Michael Cera stars as Scott Pilgrim. A side note...Michael Cera is the same character in every movie...that's not going to last when he gets older. Anyway, Scott starts dating a new girl, but that comes with dangerous consequences...Scott now has to face her 7 evil ex's in video game style mortal combat. When he defeats and evil ex, they turn into coins and he gets points. "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" was definitely worth watching...approaching 4 stars. There is definitely some adult humor in this PG-13 flick, so be careful.

"Salt": Of the 3 movies I watched on the airplane back from Germany, "Salt" was my favorite, easily reaching 4 stars. There is no female actor out there that can play an action star as well as Angelina Jolie, with the possible exception of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a.k.a. Sara Michelle Gellar). In "Salt", Jolie plays CIA operative Evelyn Salt. Salt is accused of being a Russian spy. That kicks off a series of chases, gun fights, fist fights and plot twists to clear her name and save her husband. Pay attention to this one...I had to work very hard to keep up. "Salt" is just a good, smart action-thriller.

Back in the USA

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged in a week. Well, I was in Northern Germany, near Hannover, all week. The hotel I stayed at was very expensive, in terms of Internet, so I limited my online time to work, since I was there for work.

My company is great in that it flies us business class when we go internationally. Business class passengers get their own TV screens, so I watched 3 movies on the way back yesterday. I also read 2 books during the trip. Reviews on those are forthcoming. In fact...I'll probably be working through the 4 movie reviews that I have in the queue and 2 book review for the next several posts...may even have to do a multi-movie review.

To me, the best part of business trips is the food, and I do love good German food. On this trip, I had 2 fantastic meals, 3-4 mediocre meals and 1 sort of not so good meal.

The first really good meal was a Schnitzel, which in this case was pork, lightly breaded. They topped the huge portion of meat with tomatoes, onions, cheese and Hollandaise sauce and served it with a side of fried potatoes. In Germany, fried potatoes seem to be a standard side. Most often they are fried with onions and often bacon. I had this meal on my first night there, and it was awesome after 20 hours of travel.

The other really good meal was on my last night in Germany. The meetings had gone really well, so we finished early on Thursday and decided to take the train into Hannover. After walking around for a couple of hours, we ate at a very nice restaurant near the main train station in Hannover. I had a plate of Sausages with Sauerkraut and Fried Potatoes. Americans just haven't figured out how to make sausage like the Germans do. This dish was amazing. I had a bowl of potato soup with leeks for the opening course, and that was terrific as well. Very nice to leave with a full belly.

I mentioned that we went into Hannover to tour. One of my coworkers from Germany accompanied me and my other US colleague to Hannover. My German coworker had attended college in Hannover, so we got the nickle tour. Hannover was one of the cities that was almost completely destroyed in World War II, but it has been painstakingly rebuilt to look like it did pre-World War II.

A few buildings stood after World War II, and one was the main Government building in Hannover. A very beautiful building. We were able to go inside and see it. On the main floor, there were miniatures of what the city looked like in 1689, 1939, 1945 and now. The contrast between 1939 and 1945 was unbelievable.

A few buildings have never been rebuilt in Hannover, and we got to go into the remains of a church that was destroyed during one of the bombings. The steeple still stood as well as parts of the walls. There was also a cross still standing. I'm not sure if the cross had been put up since the war or if it remained. This was sort of a surreal moment for me on this trip.

Overall, a good work trip, with good food and luckily a chance to do some sight seeing. Even though it was a good trip, I'm always glad to get back home, and last night, I was definitely glad to be back home.

Book Review: Nuts & Bolts, A Practical, How-to Guide for Explaining and Defending the Catholic Faith

Wow, that's a long title for a book. For the rest of this review, I'm just going to call it "Nuts & Bolts". Some friends of ours lent us "Nuts & Bolts" by Tim Staples about a year ago. I let Nuke borrow it, and only recently did I decide I would read it myself.

Why did I decide to read it? Well, I went to a session on prayer with one of the Priests at my church. We got on the topic of continual conversion, and he emphasized that we have to work on changing our habits in our lives if we are ever going to become the type of people God wants us to be. So, right after that, I started reading from the Bible and praying every morning...so far I've done fairly well with that, though I've missed a few days. But, my evening routine was still the same...get my work done, relax in front of the TV, watch TV in bed, maybe remember to say my prayers, toss and turn for 30 minutes, then fall asleep.

About 2 weeks ago, I was in the middle of some serious insomnia, so I decided to try reading, but I didn't want to read a "fun" book, because that would just get me wired up. I had "Nuts & Bolts" on my bedside table, so I started reading it. I read about 1 to 2 chapters a night, and I found that it put me in a calmer mood, helped me to be more prayerful before bed, and I was falling asleep faster. Now, I'm trying to make reading an educational book a constant part of my nighttime routine.

Now, on to the book review. "Nuts & Bolts" is a good, beginner, Catholic apologetics book. I think if you are predisposed to be Catholic, you will agree with most everything in this book, and be excited that there is Scripture to back up the things that Catholics do (Reconciliation, Prayer to Saints, etc.). However, I can also see why Nuke wasn't convinced. Tim Staples sets up really good straw man scenarios throughout the book, but frankly, those in the "arguments" with his characters don't put up much of a fight.

If you are a Catholic who doesn't know the Scriptural basis for the things you believe, read this book. If you have an inkling that you might be predisposed to being a Catholic, read "Nut & Bolts" by Tim Staples. If, after reading it, you think, there might be something to this Catholic thing, talk to your local Parish RCIA coordinator.

Movie Review: Robin Hood

Wow, did this movie stink! I couldn't believe how bad it was. "Robin Hood" only rates 1.5 stars out of 5, and only gets 1.5 because I didn't shut it off halfway through. I can't believe accomplished actors like Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett are capable of making a movie that is this bad. There is no flow to the plot, and the characters are very wooden.

Here's how the movie went (semi-spoiler alert):

-I'm Robin and I'm an archer for King Richard on the crusades.

-Oh, King Richard, your crusade is a bad idea.

-Dang, now I'm in the stockades, but I'm going to escape and run off to my own selfish devices.

-Oh, hey dying guy on the road side. What's that? You want me to take your sword to your father? Ok, I'll do a complete 180 on my plan and do that.

-Here I am in Nottingham. Hey dead guy's father, here's your sword. What's that? You want me to pretend to be your son so that when you die Marion gets to keep your land? Ok.

-Marion, we should hang out.

-Now I'm acting like a noble and doing noble things. Guess I better go tell King John why he's screwing up.

-Oh, now I'm back in Nottingham and I saved it from the bad guys. I better tell Marion I love her.

-Off to fight another battle.

-Woohoo, we won the battle and I'm the hero. King John loves me.

-King John declared me an outlaw? Ok, well, I guess we'll go live in the woods with some random kids that showed up 3 times in the movie.

It was like this needed to be a 4 hour movie, but they cut it to 2 hours. This has to be the worst editing job I've ever seen. Skip this movie!

Cheese Soup

I don't remember when I first had cheese soup, but for some reason, I think it was in Victor, SD at a restaurant my grandparents used to take us to when we'd visit. Though I don't remember the time, I do recall that it was a life changing experience. Ever since that day, I've had cheese soup whenever I've had the opportunity.

One thing I had never done was attempt to make cheese soup because I didn't cook. Well, now I'm cooking, so I decided to make a cheese soup. I found a recipe at allrecipes.com and went with it. I did modify slightly (who doesn't) but only very slightly.

Creamy Cheddar Cheese Soup (serves 6):

6 strips bacon
1/4 cup butter
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
3 cups milk
1 pound shredded Cheddar cheese (recommend 1/2 lb. mild and 1/2 lb. sharp)

Directions
1. Cook the bacon, chop and set aside.
2. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour and cook until flour has blended with onion mixture.
3. Add chicken broth and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is slightly thickened. Add milk and heat just to boiling, stirring constantly.
4. In covered blender at medium speed, blend about 1/4 of soup mixture at a time until smooth. Return to saucepan and, over medium heat, heat just to boiling. Remove from heat.
5. With wire whisk or slotted spoon, stir in cheese until melted. If cheese does not melt completely, cook over very low heat about 1 minute, stirring constantly.
6. Add bacon and keep over low heat for 1 minute.

Add pepper to taste at the table.

This soup was outstanding. Very creamy, very rich and the bacon just adds a little something extra. It was even better the 2nd day. I ate mine with oyster crackers. We had some mixed veggies with it, and my wife dumper her veggies into her soup and she said that was really good. Veggies in cheese soup just seems wrong to me, but I guess, to each his/her own.

The best thing was, this wasn't a hard soup to make. I was really concerned that the cheese would get clumpy, but it didn't. What I'm finding is that cooking, in most cases, isn't nearly as hard as I used to think it was. Knock on wood that this will continue. We will make this one again.

The Rise of the Machines?

IBM has created a computer named "Watson" that is designed to play and win at jeopardy. The computer beat Jeopardy super champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a practice round. Watson will take part in real jeopardy contests slated to air Feb. 14 - 16.

According to Computer World:

"For IBM, the Jeopardy challenge represents the next stage in the challenge of creating computers that can mimic human intelligence. David Ferrucci, the scientist leading the Watson team, said in a previous interview that the challenge of natural language processing can be intense because of the many ways the same information can be conveyed."

Ok, does this sound like Skynet from the Terminator movies to anybody else? Why do we want computers that can mimic human intelligence? Doesn't that reduce the need for actual humans? Just because we can build a thing doesn't mean we should. Remember what happened with the Tower of Babel?

Today Jeopardy, tomorrow Armageddon? Let's hope John Connor is out there somewhere.

From the "What Is Wrong With People" File

Warning, this blog is going to tick off both left wing nutjobs and right wing crazies.

Over the last several days, I've had a couple of moments where I've just said to myself, "What is wrong with people?" We're are a totally screwed up society, and there are 2 cases over the past couple of days that confirms this for me.

First, last Friday, Rush Limbaugh reported that 41% of all pregnancies in New York City end in abortion. The numbers are even higher among minorities, almost 60% for non-hispanic blacks. Frankly, this disgusted me. I knew the numbers were too high...heck 1 abortion is too many, but 41%?!!! This just shows me how morally bankrupt our society is and how far we've gone in abandoning personal responsibility.

We're morally bankrupt because in our "greatest" city, we're killing 41% of our babies. Even if you're not a Christian or even if you consider yourself pro-choice, that should disgust you. Further evidence of the morally bankrupt society...the take away from the story is that birth control programs in schools aren't working.

And, we've abandoned personal responsilibity because I was always taught by my parents that, if you do the deed you have to be ready for the consequences. Apparently, parents haven't been teaching that lesson to their children.

Then today I read that the Westboro Baptist Church is going to attempt to protest at the funeral of the 9 year old girl who was shot in Tuscon this weekend. These are the same idiots that protest military funerals. Fortunately, the Arizona lawmakers are fast tracking a bill to keep these idiots 300 feet away from the funeral. What kind of nutjobs believe things like they put in this statement..."God sent the shooter to deal with idolatrous America," and "Thank God for the Shooter"?

Now, I'll fully admit I don't read my Bible as often as I should, but I am Catholic so we have like 7 extra books in there, and I don't ever remember reading anything saying that I should show up at tragic events in people's lives and tell them that this happened because God is mad at them. In fact, what I remember reading is that God is Love, and you should love your neighbor. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Westboro Baptist Church, or any church for that matter, decided to reach out to these families with a message of God's love? Wouldn't that draw more people to God?

But instead of reaching out with love, these morons are reaching out with a message of hate. And all it will accomplish is making these families hate this church, and I'm sure some people will come away with a strong dislike of Christianity because of what this church is doing. I'm generally for free speech, but you have to be responsible with your speech. This is neither responsible nor consistent with the message of the Kingdom of God that Jesus Christ brought to this world.

These things just make me wonder, what the heck is wrong with people?