Movie Review #123

I saw "Teenage Paparazzo" on CBC, a film I heard about a couple of years ago. A celebrity that I've never heard of, Adrian Grenier (from "Entourage") notices a 14-year-old kid taking pictures of him and decided to make a documentary about this young paparazzo. I enjoyed this documentary, it was more interesting than I thought it would be, as Adrian himself goes to academics to learn the value of celebrity in society.

Book Review #83

I finally dragged my way through The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson. Less sick-o than the first one, but still with long boring parts. One more book to get through.... 1472 Amazon reviewers gave it an average of 4 stars.

Movie Review #122

Behind again on the blog. I'm sure I've missed some movies and books. Here's what I remember:

Toy Story 3. If you liked Toy Story # 1 and #2, you'll like #3 ! (quick review today). Rotten Tomatoes gave it 99%.

Movie Review #120 and 121

Can't remember if I've missed reviewing some movies, but here are the ones I remember.

Comic-Con: Episode IV - A Fan's Hope was a movie I saw at TIFF. It roughly follows 4 stories of various people and their reason for heading to Comic-Con -- the old dude comic book dealer, the girl making crazy costumes in her garage, the young nerdy boy planning on asking his nerdy girlfriend to marry him, and a couple of guys hoping to break into the comic book illustrator business. Entertaining but nothing earth-shattering, and was about 20 minutes too long.

The Hangover was a stupid comedy that was actually pretty funny if you are in the mood for that kind of film. It added a bid of twist to the typical stupid comedy plot by the whole "we got drugged and can't remember what happened last night in Vegas" trick. I probably even laughed more consistently than in "Bridesmaids" even though the latter gets better ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. All you feminists out there should be warned that Hangover's few female characters are limited to "controlling bitch" and "beautiful whore with a heart of gold". (Bridesmaids was more female friendly but still made fun of fat women .... one day you will get a bit classier, Hollywood comedies!). On the progessive side, I have found raunchy comedies no longer use female nudity for shock, but now use only male nudity! Rotten Tomatoes gave it 78%.

Book Review #82

5 years later than everyone else, I finally read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. It really perplexed me why these books were so popular. Nothing happened for the first 150 pages. The major plot point resolved itself before the last 100 pages of the book. The book alternates between boring digressions about lawsuits and newspapers to the major plot line about solving an old murder case. I think the violence in the novel is more shocking because you were lulled into complacency by the mundane stuff. In the end (without giving away spoilers), I found the "shocking" ending to be kind of ridiculous, it's so shocking that it actually becomes ridiculous. Even crazed killers have to have some plausibility. However, when the novel gets going, it is quite a page-turner .... one night I still have 150 + pages to go but read the ending ahead knowing that I couldn't sleep without knowing what happened. (I felt quite guilty about this but then I heard a guy on CBC discussing reading endings ahead of time. He said that experiments showed knowing the ending of a book does not harm, and it sometimes actually improves, your appreciation of a book).
I may sound critical but I will probably read the next 2 books, as they are laying about my home, and the reviews improve for the sequels. 2834 Amazon reviewers gave this book an average of 3.5 stars.

Book Review #78-81

I loved the quirky little book "Spousonomics: Using Economics to Master Love, Marriage, and Dirty Dishes" by Jenny Anderson and Paula Szuchman. Written humorously but with serious research (by hiring professionals to conduct their "Exhaustive, Groundbreaking and Very Expensive Marriage Survey", quoted in full many times during the book!), the authors look at economic theory to maximize spousal happiness. They intersperse real economic theory with examples from actual marriages to illustrate their points. Unfortunately, one of the findings was it was best not to split chores 50 / 50 but to have each person do what they are relatively better at. Which means I'm making dinner for the rest of my life. 37 Amazon reviewers gave this book an average of 4 stars.

I couldn't resist, I picked up another Laura Ingalls Wilder related book. "The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie" by Wendy McClure. (Off topic, I think the early 2000s nonfiction literary contribution will be the rash of titles following the format of "Short title: Long Explanation".) Nowadays you don't even need to do some kind of crazy one-off experiment to land a non-fiction book deal, you can just document your personal obsession! This is an imperfect book, but I still enjoyed it. Wendy finds her old LHOTP books and renews her childhood obsession with it. She buys a butter churn, explores Laura related literature, and embarks on a road trip with her very patient fiancee to the various home sites of Laura. The author twitters as #halfpintingalls, so her offbeat sense of humour colours all her observations in the novel. The book lacks a certain cohesion but for anyone with a strange obsession with these books, it is a fun read. It leads one to reflect on how a certain book, read at a certain time in your life, can have a resonance and impact that stays with you forever. 40 Amazon reviewers gave it an average of 4 stars.

Already having read "Predictably Irrational", I now had to read "The upside of irrationality: the unexpected benefits of defying logic at work and home" by Dan Ariely. I guess I have found out I have quite an interest in behavioural economics because again I found this to be another enjoyable book. The first chapter we learn how large financial bonuses are not helpful for performance (because the looming massive bonus will actually hinder a worker's performance). Other topics touched on include meaningful work conditions makes work more enjoyable, we tend to overvalue things we make (hence the existence of Ikea), the biases we have towards our own ideas, why we like revenge, the pitfalls on online dating, etc. My favourite study was the one where it was found almost all animals enjoy working for food instead of getting freely fed, except for cats! 96 Amazon reviewers gave this book and average of 4 stars.

I was practically forced to read "Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World" by Jane McGonigal. But it was a lot less academic than I thought it would be, and I was happy that the author had scientific justifications for my video game addiction. However, I found her arguments about the appeal of the social problem-solving games she has been involved in to be lacking. I have seen "World Without Oil" and it is boring. I think these games lack the wide appeal of Plants vs. Zombies. Indeed, I would like to see more of the literature of the addictive nature of pressing buttons and things happening, since Farmville, not World Without Oil, is one of the most popular games out there. I am also very jealous of the kids who get to go to the school that is made similar to a video game. 51 Amazon reviewers gave an average of 4.5 stars.

Book Review #77

Well, using the Kindle has me reading a bit more now. In keeping with my theme that reading about eating well will spurn me to eat better, I read "The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable North American Appetite" by David Kessler. Since I've read quite a bit about food-related matters, a lot of the basic concepts in the book wasn't so new to me, although there certainly was a lot of extra detail I hadn't heard about. The author gives convincing evidence that the food industry has us all hooked on various combinations of salt, sugar, and fat, and details the science behind our addiction to these substances. Various animal studies show how large amouts of the bad stuff lead to addictive-like behaviour and overrules our internal biological mechanisms for self-regulation. One study that stood out for me was the addictive like behaviour of lab rats to junk food was on par with heroin. The author also outlines the extend of manipulation of the food industry to make processed food palatable in terms of consuming the most amount of food in the least amount of time. The last chapters deal with some techniques to deal with our overeating urges, which I often need when dealing with places selling chocolate gelato. Indeed, I most appreciated the first chapters, with spoke with people, both obese and thin, who felt that all the challenges of life paled in comparison to resisting a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. I can relate! 336 Amazon.com reviewers gave this book an average of 4.5 stars.

Movie Review #118 & 119

I'm really behind on my reviews. I've probably forgotten some stuff (oh the shame!)

Recently I saw No Strings Attached on an airplane (limited selection). This romantic comedy was neither romantic nor comedic. In short, it was terrible. Rotten Tomatoes gave it 49%.

Much better was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. Although the movies always paled in comparison to the books (and it's too easy to fall into the "but they left out this part..." trap), this was a fitting ending to the series. I hear J.K. Rowling has been waiting to publish any new books until the last movie came out, so at least there's still something to look forward to ...
Rotten Tomatoes gave this film 96%.

Movie Review #117

As part of Avoiding UFC Fight Party, I ventured to see "Kaboom" at the new TIFF film centre. The description was "the first great paranoid, dystopian sex comedy in the history of cinema". I call it "the most ridiculous movie I have ever seen." But not the worst movie I've ever seen, it was entertaining in it's own way. Rotten Tomatoes gave it 54%.

Book Review #76

"Bossypants" by Tina Fey, is of course, beyond awesome. Not that I'm biased because she is my favourite celebrity in the whole world. The only thing missing is the "real" Tina Fey ... everything is for maximum comic impact, but Tina is stilling keeping truly private stuff truly private. Anyways, Tina, will you be my friend? 162 Amazon reviews gave it an average of 4.5 stars. All the reviews who gave it less than 5 stars are total morons.

Book Review #76

I believe the Happiness book I read a while back recommended "The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life" by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander. However, I didn't really get anything out of it. It suffered a lot from the illness of many self-help book - lots of positive ideas but not a clear way to apply any of it to your own life. One of the authors is a classical conductor and the musical metaphors were hard to relate to for a non-classical music person. (I have yet to hear a classical music piece that has brought me to tears, but that seems to be an everyday occurrence in Mr. Zander's life, along with many other transformational moments). As I read this book, I pictured Jack Donaghy reading it. 138 Amazon readers gave this book an average of 4.5 stars.