The DaVinci Code

I'm back. And since it's been a while, how about we just get right to it, huh?

I went to see The DaVinci Code this past Memorial Day weekend. Initially, I felt that I was going to go into the theater mostly bored, and dislike the movie. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. However, I felt that the intellectualism of the book, the aspect I enjoyed so much (the story didn't do as much for me, I felt it was a bit predictable), was going to be hard to translate on screen.

Boy was I wrong.

Now, first, let me say that I read the book two years ago. I didn't remember most of the little details, just the major essence of the story (the aspects that moved the plot, the general idea, etc.). The person I went with, however, read the book about a month ago or so, and his experience was almost opposite of mine.

We both enjoyed the movie. I enjoyed it a lot more, however, because I wasn't sitting there picking apart the movie, seeing what was different from the book and what was the same. The fact is, they had to remove a lot of interesting and cool stuff because the movie was 2 and a half hours as it is, and it felt like it moved really fast. It was impossible to make a 400+ page book that's written like a movie into a normal length movie without removing some things. But we found that reading the book recently enough to remember most or all of it - then seeing the movie - is not a good mix. It disappoints you, and you miss what the movie does really well, which is capture the essence of the book.

I was certainly intrigued by the intellectual aspect (even though I already knew most of the things they revealed), and generally entertained by the movie. The only thing that seemed to move slowly was the end, but that was done well also, I think, and it was necessary to slow it down a bit. There was one change at the end that I initially was put off by, but after a couple minutes of thought I decided I actually liked that change better than the original (it made more sense, in my opinion). So, all in all, it was an enjoyable time, and certainly worth the money.

What's my recommendation, you ask? If you haven't read the book yet, don't. Go see the movie. Enjoy the story. Then go read the book and enjoy the intellectual aspect. The movie shouldn't ruin the suspense of the book, especially since there's more in the book, and the suspense that's built up for the end is (mostly) predictable anyway. If you have read the book, however, don't fret. Just enjoy the movie. Don't pick it apart, compare it. Think of it as two different entities. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised if you let the movie take it's course.

One last thing. Something that I'm probably the only person in the world who cares about: in the movie, one thing Ron Howard made sure to do was to have French people speaking in French to each other. It seems like a simple idea, but in so many American movies French people speak English to each other. It's something that has frustrated me for years. So props to Mr. Howard for the realism. We're all adults. We can read a couple of subtitles.

Later in the week I'll discuss the impact the movie had, the discussions it started, and why I think they're important.



I sound like I'm teaching a class or something.

And since I've figured out how to embed videos...

This cat's dexterity is ridiculous:

The Atlanta Hawk

So a good friend of mine took this video, and he's gotten 23,000 views on You Tube in the past two days. So I figured I'd throw it up here so my reader(s?) know that I saw it first. Haha. Enjoy.

The Game

In my attempt to regain some of my reading prowess, I've been hitting Amazon a lot lately, checking out their best-sellers and looking for material that I can get at the University City Library. Upon looking at the top 100, I came across The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists.

I know, most people's intial reactions to this book have been, "what are you reading it for?" As I am currently involved, they wonder what reason I would need to learn to pick up women. My answer was simply that it was intriguing. And it got even more inriguing as time went on.

From my intial encounter with the book, it seemed it was going to be an interesting ride. The book is leatherbound, designed, it seems, to look similar to a bible. Clever, it seems, to create this "bible for men" more than just figuratively.

Once I started, I was pretty much wowed from jump. Not that the ideas in the book were so novel, just the way these pickup artists seemed to study, craft schemes, and create this community, was crazy to me. While I have yet to decide how much of the book is fact and how much is fiction, the fact is, regardless, it was an enjoyable read (not necessarily for females, however). The first half of the book reads more as an advice book (how I did this, how I did that, ways you can imitate me, etc.). The second half, however, was more of a story, and a love story at that. It turned out to be a really wonderfully written, well thought-out, caring book about relationships with people. The author, Neil Strauss, is a talented writer who clearly understands the emotions behind everything he went through. It was a wonderful study of human interaction, if nothing else.

I think what I most enjoyed about the book, however, was that from the beginning I could see in the author what, throughout the whole book, he was struggling to see in himself. It's somewhat of an affirmation that the person we all want to be is inside of us, we just have to go about finding that person, and letting them out. It doesn't mean who we are now is bad or wrong. In fact, the person we all want to be will have more of the qualities of who we are now than we ever expected. It will just be able to bring all those qualities to the front and help them shine.

So, do I recommend this book? I actually really do. While I hesistate to recommend it to women simply because I feel as though they will lose some faith in their interaction with men, if you read it all the way through, you begin to understand somewhat of what the author is trying to convey, which is that the true human interaction, and the true success with the opposite sex, as well as within any other interaction, comes from within, and not from well crafted schemes and lines.

I Lost Paris

"Your blog is boring"
- Anonymous

Perhaps this is why it seems as though I have a lack of readers (or perhaps just a lack of responses?). I, personally, don't find my blog boring, but then again, I do not have to read it. I simply write, and to me, that's almost never boring. So please, speak up. If I bore, then suggest topics for me to blog about. Is it my writing style? Am I attempting to be too intellectual for my own good? Criticism is always welcome. That's the only way to get better. All I have to say, however, in regards to the person quoted above, is that [said person's] favorite movies include "Legally Blone," "It Takes Two," and "The Fast and The Furious, Part 2." Enough said.

Now on to the blogging. I thought, since I broke the 500 visitor barrier, it was indeed a good time for a new post (not to mention yesterday's post was pretty much not about anything at all). Initially, I thought I would just post something small in reference to the milestone, but as recent crazy events have happened since, I thought I would venture into those.


Paris Bennet, for those that don't know, my beloved favorite on American Idol, was indeed voted off. Now, I knew it was coming, as she was never able to eclipse (or even reach) the greatness of her audition throughout the show. In fact, I'm actually surprised America elected to keep her this far, as I expected they would take obviously worse singers over the young, cute, black girl with a voice like you can't even imagine. The fact is, in my opinion, she was the best singer on the show this season. To be 17 and have a singing voice like that is incredible. I knew she was too good for America though, and never expected her to win.

The fact is, however, I'm a little upset about how they continually attempted to push her into genres that weren't for her. When she did sing something similar to her abilities ("The Way We Were") they called it "old fashioned." While Chris Daughtry was able to find a rock genre song every week, they didn't allow other contestants the same luxury, which has translated into him becoming the frontrunner. He's got a great voice, but I still maintain that a voice like Paris' doesn't come along that often. You can watch her audition here.


I don't know how many of you out there actually watch Lost (so far my count is The Generalist, Puff and myself), but if you don't, I seriously recommend you get the season 1 DVDs right now and watch them, then either download season 2 on itunes and watch it so you can catch up in time for the finale (May 24th), or wait until it comes out on DVD and watch it then. Either way, get on the bandwagon. I told people to hop on the 24 bandwagon years ago, and they're just doing it now, when, in my opinion, the show is going downhill. But the writers of Lost seem to be too clever for that to happen. I've read interviews with them, and they seem to write (or at least conceive ideas) way in advance. It's the only way this can be done. The fact is, Lost is by far the best show on television right now, and possibly the best drama/mystery I've ever seen. And it's just gotten crazier. It's to the point I don't know if I can ever watch it again, because I can't wait for the next episode. I would have to wait until they all came out on DVD and just watch them then. I think I was spoiled by watching season 1 in a matter of 5 days this past September. Either way, I strongly suggest you get on Lost. If you appreciate well written, well thought out, well made, well acted programming, then you can't not like Lost. Plus, I could use more people to talk to about it.


That's all. Comments welcome.

Resume's, anyone?

While in actuality I have no idea if anyone actually reads this blog, I would like to take this time to apologize to any of those loyal readers who wish I would post more. The combination of 10-12 hour work days, and lack of any type of subject that moves me into writing has lead to my recent dearth of contributions to the blogger system. Now, I initially predicted this imminent fall-off, as previously I have tried two blogs prior to this one, both on livejournal, and they both fell upon similar circumstances, though my lack of writing in those blogs was much worse than going almost two weeks without writing in this one. Having anticipated this, I attempted to pre-empt the situation by finding a partner to blog with (an insipirational idea I stole from my good friends Aristocrates and The Generalist), someone who could invariably keep the energy up and keep me blogging, as well as keeping the place fresh while I went through my regular lack of posting. I approached a friend about this situation prior to starting a blog, one who I felt would have a similar taste for discussion as myself. The following exchange occured:

Me: "I need a partner to blog with, so that I don't just stop blogging out of laziness."
Friend: "I would do it, except everybody has a blog now. I don't want it to look like I'm jumping on the bandwagon."
Me: "They don't even have to know it's you."
Friend: "I don't want to do it! Besides, I already use my away message as a blog. People look for that."

While I see and understand his point of not wanting to look like he's attempting to follow everyone else, it's hard for me to not attempt to be selfish in this situation, as I have already proven my need for another contributer. And though it may be easy to just find a contributer, to find someone who compliments not only your writing style but your opinions (not necessarily agrees with them, but is able to have an intellectual discussion despite disagreement), has proven difficult. After my last two blogs, I vowed not to start another one until I actually had something to say, and I would ask my contributer to stick to that idea as well.

So here I am. I suppose I would be accepting resume's, if anyone were actually to submit them. But in actuality it would just be nice to have a person to vibe off of. The fact is, though, that I have a few simple rules that would probably keep me from making this happen:

The First: I must know the person.
The Second: They must not speak about themselves in any manner of speaking, unless:
a. It pertains to their post.
b. It's an interesting story that simply must be told.
The Third: Their posts must be intellectual in nature. That's not to say they have to read like science journals, or 19th century novels. They just must bring about thought, in some way or another, be it funny or not. There is a lot of freedom in this, the idea is just to keep away the mindless dribble that you see in most blogs.

I realize most people will probably think these rules foolish. The fact is, that I didn't want this to become the usual "today sucked because..." blog. I would like it to be a forum of discussion. Something to read/write at work, a place where I can continue thoughts and have others respond. That's all. So, if anyone would like to join me, please inquire.