Chuck Palahniuk's - Survivor

Not a bad book so far....


“To stand here and try to fix her life is just a big waste of time. People don’t want their lives fixed. Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. Their distractions. Their stories resolved. Their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 282


“The idea came by accident when a newspaper did a feature about a new crisis hotline. The phone number in the paper was mine by mistake. It was a typo. Nobody read the correction they ran the next day, and people just started calling me day and night with their problems.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 280

“Call me a sexual predator, but when I think of predators I think of lions, tigers, big cats, sharks. This isn’t so much a predator versus prey relationship. This isn’t a scavenger, a vulture, or a laughing hyena versus a carcass. This isn’t a parasite versus a host.
We’re all miserable together.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 278


“Just concentrate on the stain until your memory is completely erased. Practice really does make perfect. If you could call it that.
Ignore how it feels when the only real talent you have is for hiding the truth. You have a God-given knack for committing a terrible sin. It’s your calling. You have a natural gift for denial. A blessing. If you could call it that.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.268

“Ask me how to repair stab holes in nightgowns, tuxedos, and hats. My secret is a little clear nail polish on the inside of the puncture.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.265

“Whether you clean a stain, a fish, a house, you want to think you’re making the world a better place, but you’re really just letting things get worse. You think maybe if you just work harder and faster, you can hold off the chaos, but then one day you’re changing a patio light bulb with a five-year life span and you realize how you’ll only be changing this light maybe ten more times before you’ll be dead.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.263

“After working in these rich houses, I know the best way to get blood out of the trunk of a car is not to ask questions.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P.263


“And maybe this is just a trick of the light, but I’ve eaten most of the lobster before I notice the heart beat.”
- Chuck Palahniuk P. 260

The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit

“It’s Funny, Tom thought – it’s funny, the way the world goes. You take your children and with all honesty you teach them, “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” You give them dancing lessons. You teach them Latin, and how to dress properly. You teach them self-respect, if you can. All these things my father must have learned when he was young, and all these things I learned, and if I can, I will teach all these things to my son. And if I can, I will also teach him to defend his country. If he has to, I hope he’ll be a tough bastard too.”

Tom Rath - P. 97


““I want justice,” he had said. I wonder how many murders have been committed, and how many wars have been fought with that as a slogan, Bernstein thought. When the say that want justice, they always want someone else to get the sharp end of it. Justice is a thing that is better to give than to receive, but I am sick of giving it, he thought. I think it should be a prerogative of the gods.”

Judge Bernstein - P. 136

Wilson, Sloan. 1983. The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit. Four Walls Eight Windows: Canada

Narcotization

Narcotization - When something is shown as being too large to handle; the studied effect usually makes a person unresponsive to a problem and simply does nothing from the perceived hopelessness of the situation.



Chuck Palahniuk - (Stranger than Fiction)

The Tendency to Value Our Own Form

“The tendency to value our own form of civilization as higher, not as dearer to our hearts, than that of the whole rest of mankind is the same as that which prompts the actions of primitive man who considers every stranger his enemy, and who is not satisfied until the enemy is killed.”
- Franz Boas


Wright, Robert. 2000. Nonzero – The Logic of Human Destiny . Vintage Books: New York.

Beerfest (2006)

Hoffman AMC Theater - Alexandria, VA 22307

Rating: 6 out of 10
The R rating is from the language used and nudity.

Broken Lizard always entertains, but in this movie, I was let down. I didn’t enjoy Beerfest nearly as much as I did Super Troopers. The comedy troop did add a lot of funny ideas and scenes throughout the film, but if you believed the previews showed you how funny this movie would be, you are going to be as disappointed as I was walking out. Of the three movies Broken Lizard made, Super Troopers was the funniest by far, Club Dread ranking as an entertaining no.2, but Beerfest is dismal compared the other two.
The movie is still worth seeing, but don’t get your hopes up. Perhaps I am being so hard on this film, because I think they could have done much better with the movie. The plot and characters were great, but as a whole, it just didn’t deliver as I hoped it would have.

Accepted (2006)

Hoffman AMC Theater - Alexandria, VA 22307

Rating: 7 ½ out of 10
The PG-13 rating is from the language used.

The movie was generally entertaining. The story had a lot of possibilities, as with must movies in the past centered around college dorm life. The main character played by Justin Long (the kid who gets eaten in Jeepers Creepers), was similar to a mediocre Van Wilder. His friend, (Jonah Hill) who also played a small part in The Forty Year Old Virgin, really made the movie pretty funny. If you have seen the previews, “Ask me about my wiener” coming from a fat kid in a Oscar Meyer Weiner suit, his lines were just as great throughout the movie. I think he’s going to be in more comedies later on. The dean, played by Lewis Black, added a lot of laughs to the movie as well. The role of the moronic friend (Adam Herschman) didn’t deliver as well as a person in that role should have.
In summary, it was worth the money and I had a good time watching it. I will most likely buy the DVD when it comes out. If you are looking for the typical college T&A, you’re not going to find it here.

Either Make Love or Fight

“An authority on human behavior once remarked that if two people stare at each other for more than a few seconds, it means they are about to either make love or fight. Something similar might be said about human societies. If two nearby societies are in contact for any length of time, they will either trade or fight. The first is non-zero-sum social interaction, and the second ultimately brings it.”

Robert Wright

Wright, Robert. 2000. Nonzero – The Logic of Human Destiny . Vintage Books: New York.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Little Miss Sunshine

Hoffman Center Alexandria VA 22307 AMC Theater

Rating: 7 ½ out of 10

The R rating is from the language used.

The movie encompasses the dysfunction of six family members on a road trip from New Mexico to California. The story puts a suicidal gay, a teen who chooses not to speak, a heroin using grandfather, a self-promoting jerk of a father, little girl obsessed with a beauty pageant, and a mother struggling with everything going on into a yellow VW bus for the duration of the film.
The film stays relatively in touch with reality for the most part, adding humor where there should be humor and more humor where there shouldn’t be. Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, and Toni Collette are just two of the stars in the movie. Everyone appeared to work well with each other. I didn’t hear any reviews through the media to compare my thoughts with other reviews.
I’m a big fan of Steve Carell; just about everything he says in the movie amuses me. His style of humor is much more subtle than his previous performances, but still retains the effectiveness in the delivery and timing of his lines.
I love Alan Arkin’s (the Grandfather) role the most out of everyone’s character in the movie. Most of my laughs came from his obscene outbursts and behavior towards everything going on around him.
The finale at the end contained a number of funny elements, but it could have ended better. It was funny, but not hilarious. I probably wouldn’t watch this movie again unless I knew someone who was also a fan of Steve Carell that wanted to watch it. Carell was the main reason why I wanted to see this and I was not disappointed.
Some people may be a little confused by some of my comments about the movie and it boils down to this: I like it, but it wasn’t great. The movie retains my appreciation, but it just isn’t my ideal genre. If you like independent films like The Tenebaums and The Life Aquatic, this movie was a lot like it and I am sure you will think it’s great. I was half-expecting Bill Murray to make an appearance. The scenes and props had the same resonance as the above mentioned.

TV Violence and the Hays Code

The Hays Code shows the intended path for Hollywood from the 30’s. This was brought to my attention from On Combat. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman discusses the impact that movies have on society, especially the area concern violence and our youth. When I first came across this information, I didn’t realize how much influence movies have in our lives. From his book, he states the correlation between violence on television and a significant increase in assaults among teenagers 17-20 years old 15 years later. The reason why that delay is fifteen years in duration- that’s how long it takes for children exposed to tv violence to grow up and act out with what they have seen through tv. Studies taken from societies around the world compared the time television was introduced in an area and the number of assaults.
Another interesting point Grossman makes deals with the violence in our society today. Many areas, especially big cities, tout the fact that murders per capita have dropped over the years, thus being a safer city. The flaw in this statement comes from the assumption that the murder per capita is the correct statistic to use when addressing the level of violence in a community. Assaults should be the standard where community violence is judged; the reasons why murders have not spiked year after year come from the advances in medical technology.
The Hays Code speaks at length on the reasoning it gives for it’s principles and recognizes the impact that films and stories have on people. Just from the movies in my lifetime, I have seen them become more violent and explicit. The Hays Code has a few other interesting statements concerning the views of 1930.
Getting to the point here, for anyone who wants to have a little more insight to the violence we see in today’s society, take a look at his book, whether it be On Killing or On Combat, each book offers an extremely interesting read on the subjects of psychology in stressful environments through history and in today’s world.

The Hays Code is found here:

http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html

Snakes on a Plane (2006)

Snakes on a Plane (2006) Opened in theaters Friday August 18, 2006

Rating: 6 /10

The key word to this movie is PREDICTABLE.

The movie kept me entertained for the 1 hour and 45 minutes it was on. Was it worth the $5.00 matinee charge? Just barely. My thoughts are, Sam Jackson didn’t add value to the film, nor did his name make me want to see. Producers could have saved some money there. Concerning his line everyone is publicizing, it only made the delivery sound worse than what it would have otherwise.
Synopsis:
· Obviously a lot of people died
· One typical 30 second sex/nudity scene
· Nothing remotely different in this movie was truly impressive.
· Special effects on the snakes was really good
· Plot was plausible for a action/horror movie

Snakes on a Plane made me jump 3 or 4 times and it made me chuckle about 2 times. If you liked Executive Decision or Anaconda, then you would probably like this movie, because you could combine the two and you would come up with , you guessed it- Snakes on a Plane. If you didn’t like Anaconda, then you wouldn’t like this, because Anaconda actually had better acting.

This is my first posted review; I am open to positive criticism, please give me some suggestions of what other information you would like to see in this critique, and what did you like about my posting. The main purpose for me to start writing these reviews is to find others who share the same taste and feel the same about the reviews that are out there; the published reviews from better known critics are inaccurate to what I think of a movie. Most cases it boggles my mind on what they use for judgement basis.

Conflict

“In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

- Orson Wells

Trouble with most of the beautiful women

“George was attracted to beautiful women, but he tended to avoid the beautiful ones. They were too aware of their own good looks, and that awareness often made them moody and difficult.”

(P. 138)
Jakes, John. North and South. 1982. Penguin Putnam: New York.

How Can I best Respond

“One simple practice can propel you forward in your long-term quest for excellence and in your struggle for true maturity (courage balanced with consideration) and for integrity. It is this: Before every test of your new habit or desired behavior, stop and get control. Plumb and rally your resources. Set your mind and heart. Choose your mood. Proactively choose your response. Ask, “How can I best respond to this situation?” Choose to be your best self and that choice will arrest your ambivalence and renew your determination”

-Stephen Covey
Principle-Centered Leadership

First Official blog entry - The Fall of the Athenian Republic

The Fall of the Athenian Republic

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.”

-Alexander Tyler

“The average age of the world’s greatest civilization has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence. From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back into bondage.”

-Alexander Tyler

Alexander Tyler was listed as a Scotts Historian Professor 1787 re: The Fall of the Athenian Republic.