Dear Reader, this will just be a few reviews and some updates because there hasn’t been a whole lot going on in my life.
SCHOOL
I started back to school on Monday at Seneca College. It’s not a full time course but I do have to go everyday, unless I fall off the earth or something. There are various courses I am taking, just to name a few: Contemporary Studies (about the media and how it affects us), Humanities (arts, science and history rolled into one), Health and Wellness. There are a bunch of other courses, I just chose to name the ones that I think I might really like. I think that Contemporary Studies has gotten off to a good start because the teacher told us to keep an eye or an ear open to media relating to the Virginia Tech Shooting. which I must admit that it is very horrific but it reminds me a lot of 2 incidents in particular. 1) It is very Columbine-esque, the death threats, the letters etc. The guy was a loner like the two guys were, it happened in a school setting and I’m sure if I wanted to I could name a few other similarities. IT IS ALSO VERY CLOSE TO THE DATE COLUMBINE HAPPENED. 2) The shooting at the school in Quebec where several female students were shot by a male assailant. I can’t explain why it reminds me of that, maybe it’s because they said the guy was looking for his girlfriend and then went on a shooting tirade when he couldn’t find her. Well, the guy is dead now, along with 32 other people that were innocent. He is the person to date that has killed the most people in a shooting like this. Columbine was 16 people and this young guy doubled that to make it 32. I truly wonder what was going on with his life and in his mind when he did such actions. It definitely makes me wonder, what about you? See school has gotten to me already by being analytical of such happenings. I think I will really like Humanities because it will be very interesting and the curriculum for the course is very broad so we can study what we like within the particular block (of arts, science or history) that we are studying.
Book Review – True Believer By Nicholas Sparks
I must admit that this book was my least favourite of all the books that I have read by Nicholas Sparks. The characters didn’t really connect till later in the book and I wasn’t really a big fan of the lead characters. They were sort of bland and plain. Usually, as you have read in other posts reviewing his books, the characters make you become one with them and you feel like you are going through the novel through them. The book was also revolving around ghosts and the main character was “a born skeptic and a science journalist who specializes in debunking the supernatural”. Not something that I am really interested in but I thought I would get the book because I have liked everything else I have read by him. There wasn’t even any really touching phrases or lines that I could choose from in this book, unfortunate because I really like things like that. The book says it’s an old fashioned love story, so if that’s your cup of tea then get the kettle boiling that water because you will like it, I on the other hand wasn’t the biggest fan of it. Like I said before, Nicholas Sparks has written books that I found way more touching and interesting then this one, I am still going to be a faithful reader and read his books because one bad one doesn’t make them all bad right!
Movie Review – Notes On A Scandal
This movie was a very interesting and powerful film. Big stars were Cate Blanchett, the dame Judi Dench and Bill Nighy. CB is an art teacher at a new school, she acts like a new student in some ways. JD is a battleaxe of a teacher, that can regain control of the students by just looking at them with a scowl. If she needs to raise her voice you better bet it’s not pleasant. Just FYI BN is CB’s husband, with whom she has two children. The main storyline of the film is that CB ends up falling ‘in love’ with one of her 15 year old students. When she is supposed to be at a play with JD in the audience and is not there, JD goes to try and find her. Lucky JD gets to be a witness to CB giving her young lover a BJ(I’m not going to define what that might be cause I know we are all adults and know exactly what it is). JD gets to know CB”s family very closely, to the point where they find it strange that she is always turning up at their house. CB finally gets a warning from JD that she knows about what is going on and that she better end it so that no one gets hurt. Interestingly enough, JD has it figured out to a T that she is going to use this to make CB become her friend and use the info she has sort of fallen upon to her advantage. Eventually the love story gets dragged out of the bag and CB gets fired from her job and her hubby says that he needs her to leave for a while so that he can sort his feelings out. CB gets whisked off by JD to her house, which JD is going to use to get her to fall in love with her. JD gets roped into the scandal by being the person that let all the info out into the open, when in a snit with CB she tells a teacher co worker that visits her to find out whether CB likes him. CB is very pissed, to say the least, when she finds JD’s diary which contains all this info plus the fact that she is falling in love with her. CB has a fit and ends up digging up JD’s past, which she had a love affair with a teacher companion and it didn’t work so the companion ended up teaching somewhere else and having a restraining order put on JD. The dynamics between the characters are very good and must say that I have never seen JD play such a conniving role, by the end of the film you really did not like her at all. CB played a very good role as a woman who doesn’t act her age and is like a free spirit even though she has a family and children. I really liked how CB interacted with her family, it was almost as if she wanted the best of both worlds. Very good film, almost brings how all these teacher and student affairs happen to the forefront.
Movie Review – Smokin’ Aces
This movie was full of stars, to name a few: Ray Liotta, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck, Alicia Keys, Common, Jeremy Piven, Jason Bateman, Andy Garcia. To sum up the movie for you I will give you the blurb on the back of the DVD. “Slick Las Vegas illusionist Buddy “Aces” Israel isn’t playing nice. Turns out, he’s telling mob secrets to the FBI. After a $1 million contract is put out on him. Aces tries to pull his greatest disappearing act before a rogues’ gallery of ex-cons, hit men and smokin’ hot assassins tries to rub him out in this dark action comedy that takes no prisoners”. I will say that it is a drama/FBI flick, there is definitely a lot of action, gun action that is. There is a lot of blood spurting all over the place, and it’s amazing how bad all the hit men/women really want to get Aces. I must say it was one of Jeremy Piven’s easier roles, all he had to do was act really paranoid and be on drugs a lot. The only thing he did that was really interesting was he was handy with a deck of cards. For Alicia Keys first film role her part was small but she handled it like a pro and ended up with Common, who was gorgeous to boot. Ryan Reynolds was very sexy but he was a bit of a young cop looking up to his superior officer who was Ray Liotta, you could tell the partner bond right from the beginning to the end of the film. Andy Garcia, meh, he was sort of like the loser character he played in the Oceans 11 and 12 movies, which I really didn’t like so he didn’t do anything for me in this movie. I think the best thing about the movie was that Ben Affleck’s character was one of the first characters to die, so you didn’t have to deal with him torturing you throughout the film. (Sorry I’m not a Ben fan.. he’s not that good… I can’t help it). Overall I would say the movie had way too many stars for the type of flick it was meant to be, the action was mediocre compared to other movies but some bits were entertaining. The fact that the company is saying it is a comedy is not a good description but they are trying to market a product …. I guess…not what I would have said that’s for sure. You may like it, the action is what I thought was the best part of the movie, but there are better movies out there with better action… that’s my final words for that one.
I am going to end this blog post with a quote that my friend Erin (from FLAWLESS DRYCLEANERS INC.) has in her msn name, “Fall in love with someone who calls you beautiful, not hot”. I find it very touching in a realistic way. Hope you get the same message that I got out of it.
SCHOOL
I started back to school on Monday at Seneca College. It’s not a full time course but I do have to go everyday, unless I fall off the earth or something. There are various courses I am taking, just to name a few: Contemporary Studies (about the media and how it affects us), Humanities (arts, science and history rolled into one), Health and Wellness. There are a bunch of other courses, I just chose to name the ones that I think I might really like. I think that Contemporary Studies has gotten off to a good start because the teacher told us to keep an eye or an ear open to media relating to the Virginia Tech Shooting. which I must admit that it is very horrific but it reminds me a lot of 2 incidents in particular. 1) It is very Columbine-esque, the death threats, the letters etc. The guy was a loner like the two guys were, it happened in a school setting and I’m sure if I wanted to I could name a few other similarities. IT IS ALSO VERY CLOSE TO THE DATE COLUMBINE HAPPENED. 2) The shooting at the school in Quebec where several female students were shot by a male assailant. I can’t explain why it reminds me of that, maybe it’s because they said the guy was looking for his girlfriend and then went on a shooting tirade when he couldn’t find her. Well, the guy is dead now, along with 32 other people that were innocent. He is the person to date that has killed the most people in a shooting like this. Columbine was 16 people and this young guy doubled that to make it 32. I truly wonder what was going on with his life and in his mind when he did such actions. It definitely makes me wonder, what about you? See school has gotten to me already by being analytical of such happenings. I think I will really like Humanities because it will be very interesting and the curriculum for the course is very broad so we can study what we like within the particular block (of arts, science or history) that we are studying.
Book Review – True Believer By Nicholas Sparks
I must admit that this book was my least favourite of all the books that I have read by Nicholas Sparks. The characters didn’t really connect till later in the book and I wasn’t really a big fan of the lead characters. They were sort of bland and plain. Usually, as you have read in other posts reviewing his books, the characters make you become one with them and you feel like you are going through the novel through them. The book was also revolving around ghosts and the main character was “a born skeptic and a science journalist who specializes in debunking the supernatural”. Not something that I am really interested in but I thought I would get the book because I have liked everything else I have read by him. There wasn’t even any really touching phrases or lines that I could choose from in this book, unfortunate because I really like things like that. The book says it’s an old fashioned love story, so if that’s your cup of tea then get the kettle boiling that water because you will like it, I on the other hand wasn’t the biggest fan of it. Like I said before, Nicholas Sparks has written books that I found way more touching and interesting then this one, I am still going to be a faithful reader and read his books because one bad one doesn’t make them all bad right!
Movie Review – Notes On A Scandal
This movie was a very interesting and powerful film. Big stars were Cate Blanchett, the dame Judi Dench and Bill Nighy. CB is an art teacher at a new school, she acts like a new student in some ways. JD is a battleaxe of a teacher, that can regain control of the students by just looking at them with a scowl. If she needs to raise her voice you better bet it’s not pleasant. Just FYI BN is CB’s husband, with whom she has two children. The main storyline of the film is that CB ends up falling ‘in love’ with one of her 15 year old students. When she is supposed to be at a play with JD in the audience and is not there, JD goes to try and find her. Lucky JD gets to be a witness to CB giving her young lover a BJ(I’m not going to define what that might be cause I know we are all adults and know exactly what it is). JD gets to know CB”s family very closely, to the point where they find it strange that she is always turning up at their house. CB finally gets a warning from JD that she knows about what is going on and that she better end it so that no one gets hurt. Interestingly enough, JD has it figured out to a T that she is going to use this to make CB become her friend and use the info she has sort of fallen upon to her advantage. Eventually the love story gets dragged out of the bag and CB gets fired from her job and her hubby says that he needs her to leave for a while so that he can sort his feelings out. CB gets whisked off by JD to her house, which JD is going to use to get her to fall in love with her. JD gets roped into the scandal by being the person that let all the info out into the open, when in a snit with CB she tells a teacher co worker that visits her to find out whether CB likes him. CB is very pissed, to say the least, when she finds JD’s diary which contains all this info plus the fact that she is falling in love with her. CB has a fit and ends up digging up JD’s past, which she had a love affair with a teacher companion and it didn’t work so the companion ended up teaching somewhere else and having a restraining order put on JD. The dynamics between the characters are very good and must say that I have never seen JD play such a conniving role, by the end of the film you really did not like her at all. CB played a very good role as a woman who doesn’t act her age and is like a free spirit even though she has a family and children. I really liked how CB interacted with her family, it was almost as if she wanted the best of both worlds. Very good film, almost brings how all these teacher and student affairs happen to the forefront.
Movie Review – Smokin’ Aces
This movie was full of stars, to name a few: Ray Liotta, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck, Alicia Keys, Common, Jeremy Piven, Jason Bateman, Andy Garcia. To sum up the movie for you I will give you the blurb on the back of the DVD. “Slick Las Vegas illusionist Buddy “Aces” Israel isn’t playing nice. Turns out, he’s telling mob secrets to the FBI. After a $1 million contract is put out on him. Aces tries to pull his greatest disappearing act before a rogues’ gallery of ex-cons, hit men and smokin’ hot assassins tries to rub him out in this dark action comedy that takes no prisoners”. I will say that it is a drama/FBI flick, there is definitely a lot of action, gun action that is. There is a lot of blood spurting all over the place, and it’s amazing how bad all the hit men/women really want to get Aces. I must say it was one of Jeremy Piven’s easier roles, all he had to do was act really paranoid and be on drugs a lot. The only thing he did that was really interesting was he was handy with a deck of cards. For Alicia Keys first film role her part was small but she handled it like a pro and ended up with Common, who was gorgeous to boot. Ryan Reynolds was very sexy but he was a bit of a young cop looking up to his superior officer who was Ray Liotta, you could tell the partner bond right from the beginning to the end of the film. Andy Garcia, meh, he was sort of like the loser character he played in the Oceans 11 and 12 movies, which I really didn’t like so he didn’t do anything for me in this movie. I think the best thing about the movie was that Ben Affleck’s character was one of the first characters to die, so you didn’t have to deal with him torturing you throughout the film. (Sorry I’m not a Ben fan.. he’s not that good… I can’t help it). Overall I would say the movie had way too many stars for the type of flick it was meant to be, the action was mediocre compared to other movies but some bits were entertaining. The fact that the company is saying it is a comedy is not a good description but they are trying to market a product …. I guess…not what I would have said that’s for sure. You may like it, the action is what I thought was the best part of the movie, but there are better movies out there with better action… that’s my final words for that one.
I am going to end this blog post with a quote that my friend Erin (from FLAWLESS DRYCLEANERS INC.) has in her msn name, “Fall in love with someone who calls you beautiful, not hot”. I find it very touching in a realistic way. Hope you get the same message that I got out of it.
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