Monday, April 19, 2010
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
Boy oh boy was this book not quite what I expected. It was very heavily tilted towards mathematics and I was not expecting that at all!The book contains some interest stories and statistics but overall it was just too tedious and might have been over my head. He does try to show you how some common usages of statistics are used incorrectly and he attempts to explain the correct usage. Those parts can be interesting but it is 219 pages and I slogged through them. Attempt to read this book at your own peril. Or at least be ready for some serious mathematical thinking which I clearly was not.
Labels: Books
Saturday, April 17, 2010
SWAY: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
What a great and fast read. I flew through this book on a flight from Boston to Chicago. Not exactly the longest flight. Sure the book is only 181 pages so that helps the quickness of the read but the material is at least entertaining. Why do good people make bad decisions? The book discusses this with various examples and studies. It really paints the picture of people who should know better (and actually DO know better) but still can't make the right decision based on various outside (and inside) influences. If you enjoyed reading the Freakonomics books and studying why people do things this book is surely for you.
The highlight of this book? The chapter labelled "In France, the Sun Revolves Around the Earth" which opens with the discussion of "Who wants to be a millionaire" audiences spitefully picking the wrong "ask the audience" answer. Is this proving my theory that spite is the greatest human emotion? Well if that doesn't do it for you the an additional study on two randomly assigned people splitting a $20 bill will sure prove it. Turns out people will reject a $18/$2 split because its not fair. Of course rejecting the bonus $2 versus $0 seems to not make sense but people will reject the offer if they deem it unfair to themselves. Spite wins again!
I strongly recommended this book. It's fun, quick, entertaining and even will learn you a thing or two!
Labels: Books
Sunday, April 11, 2010
I'm Reed Fish
The movie is a little slow and kind of dull. What is really weird is at the end it turns out to be a movie within a movie so you need to sort out the characters again in the last 10 minutes. Kind of odd. Overall there was nothing really special or notable about this movie. C- for being a decent movie with no real appealing one thing.Labels: Movies
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Zombieland
This movie was hilarious, light hearted and inane. It was the perfect movie for me tonight. No real lessons to learn (other than we all need people/friends/relationships) or any real heavy lifting on the viewers part. Just know some of the zombies are creepy looking and there are a couple of startling scenes where zombies just pop out. Other than that the movie is mostly a slapstick zombie movie.
I had some great laughs. The Bill Murray cameo is a hilarious touch. Woody Harrelson's character was flat out funny. He was the perfect casting as he is the right combination of crazy, creepy and funny. I didn't think I would ever enjoy his acting (if it was acting) as much as I did today.
This movie is only 88 minutes long and the pace is actually pretty fast so it flies by. No need for this movie to run any longer since there is no heavy plot. Just a couple of survivors avoiding zombies. I actually give this movie an A+ for its humor. This would never be confused with an Oscar movie and that is ok with me.
Labels: Movies
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Big Papi
This is the autobiography of David Ortiz written with Tony Massarotti. Kind of ironic that I read this before the 2010 season in which Ortiz could be potentially let go or relegated to a full time bench player. Anyways the book itself is kind of bland and boring. It doesn't really reveal too much about his early life in the Dominican which is where I think most of our knowledge of Ortiz is the thinnest. He does shed some insight into his experiences in the minors and what lead to his release with the twins. Ultimately though you don't gain much new knowledge of him.
The biggest complaint I had though is the book is written as Ortiz speaks English which is to say not great. There are several bro's and you know's thrown in that make this very difficult to read and take serious.
Don't be in a rush to go read this book unless you are (still?) a big Ortiz fan.
Labels: Books
Sunday, April 04, 2010
The Broken Hearts Club
Well this is what happens when you search for a movie containing an actor and don't really care what the movie is about. This is how you end up with this movie that is solely about homosexual men and their lives. There are a lot of notable (and presumably straight) actors in this movie: Zach Braff, Dean Cain, John Mahoney, Timothy Olyphant and Andrew Keegan. The movie itself wasn't all that entertaining. Kind of a story about one of the gay men (Olyphant) deciding his current manizing (that gay for womanizing right?) and whats more from life. He attempts to find himself. In any case it is similar to any straight ensemble cast doing the typical relationships are hard and different for everyone movie.
I just didn't think the quality of this movie was all that great and the story lines are old and stale. It was kind of amusing watching many of these actors play gay. Braff's character was a little too similar to his role on scrubs. Hmmmmm...
Anyways this is movie was kind of blah so it gets a C.
Labels: Movies
Funny People
I had heard some bad things about this movie but I found it to be pretty darn funny. Unfortunately most of the funny parts were from the one-liners of comedians doing their stand up and not so much from the script creating the humor. Still I found myself laughing quite a bit.
The plot itself was simple. Man learns he's dying, man has regrets and seeks out the one who got away, conflict with the lost love, discovery that he has made a real friend. Still I did enjoy the ending and the way it was presented but the movie was 2.5 hours long which is just way to long for any movie especially for a fairly simple plot like this movie.
The other thing I didn't like about the movie was how dark Adam Sandler's character was. I want to like Sandler but in this role he plays a guy who can be a jerk. It's tough but he pulls it off.
I give this movie a B+ mostly because of the length.
Labels: Movies
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Bart Got a Room
This movie was actually much more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be. A pleasant surprise actually. It's kind of a teen romp movie but not done with the usual dumb humor we expect from that genre. The movie stars William H. Macy, Cheryl Hines & Alia Shawkat (from Arrested Development) who all perform quite well.
The movie revolves around a high school senior who is getting ready for the prom. Hilarity ensues including an appearance of a hooker. As I said before this movie has a touch more of a mature vibe than the typical teen romp but in the end it still tries to express that teenagers sometimes get overwhelmed with issues that seem huge at the time but, in the end, are not big important things in the great scheme of life.
Don't be in a rush to go see this movie but for some good chuckles. It's short and it moves quick. A solid B- movie.
Labels: Movies
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