Three Decent Movies

I  wrote a long blog last Wednesday that somehow got deleted so I will do my best to recreate it.

Running

I did not sleep good last Monday and it impacted my Tuesday run.  I only ran 4 miles instead of my planned 5 miles.  Tuesday night I went to the Maryland game so I did not get home until 11:30.  Since I did not get much sleep for two consecutive days, I ended up sleeping a little later and moving my rowing machine workout until Friday.  On Thursday, I was planning to do a 6 mile run on the treadmill.  I did about 4.5 miles and gave up, starting walking towards the locker room and changed my mind, I went back ran for a minute or two and gave up a second time.  This time I went into the locker room and decided to try once more.  I was able to run an additional mile and half this time.  On Friday, I did my 30 minutes on the rowing machine.

I had a very good running weekend. The weather cooperated and it was comfortable running on both days although it did rain yesterday after I finished.  I did about 8.5 miles on Saturday and 15 miles on Sunday.  Saturday I did the 3 mile loop around the neighborhood and Sunday I ran on the C & O Canal.  My plan to get to 17 miles next Sunday, 19 miles the next week and 21 miles the following week.

The Kite Runner

Over the summer Directv had given me the Showtime channel free for several months.  I had recorded several movies which sat on my tivo for quite some time.  I recently watched two of these movies.  The Kite Runner was a critically acclaimed best selling by Khaled Hosseini that I never read.

The Kite Runner

Amir immigrated to the United States after leaving Afghanistan as a kid.  He is now an adult that is married and about to publish his first novel when he gets a phone call from his father's old best friend from Afghanistan.  This leads Amir to flashback to when he was a kid growing up.  Amir's father was a successful businessman in Afghanistan and his best friend was Hassan, the son of one of his father's servants.  Amir was timid and Hassan would stand up for him leading Amir's father to think that Amir was a coward.  They enjoyed flying kites.

 One day, after winning a kite flying competition, Hassan get beaten up and brutally raped by some older kids after protecting Amir.  This embarrasses both of them and causes the friendship to end.  Amir even lies and says that Hassan stole from his father, which causes Hassan to quit in shame.  Shortly after this, Russia invades Afghanistan which prompts Amir and his father to escape to America.

Shortly after getting married, Amir's father dies of cancer.  Several years after this is when Amir gets the call from his father's friend who requests that Amir meet him in Pakistan.   Amir reluctantly travels to Pakistan where he learns that Hassan and his wife were recently killed by the Taliban and that their son is in an orphanage in Afghanistan.  In addition, he learns that Hassan was actually his father's illegitimate son, meaning that he and Hassan were actually half brothers.

Amir goes to Afghanistan, rescues the boy and takes him back to the United States.  The movie ends with Amir and the boy flying a kite.

I thought that this movie was very well done. I especially thought that the actor who played Amir father did a strong job.  The actor's name is Homayoun Ershadi.  I give The Kite Runner a B+.        

3:10 to Yuma

This movie is based on a book from Elmore Leonard and is a remake from a movie made in 1957.  Elmore Leonard must be really old.  I am not really a big fan of westerns, but heard good things about this film.  The film is about two men who appear to be complete opposites but really are similar.

3:10 to Yuma

Christian Bale plays the good guy, Dan Evan who is a veteran of the Civil War, where is lost a foot and is trying to raise his family and operate a ranch, but is having financial problems.  He has lost the respect of his oldest son because it is not a typical wild west gunslinger type.

Russell Crowe plays the bad guy, Ben Wade who leads a Jesse James type gang that is robbing, killing and  causing all kinds of havoc. 

Wade is captured, but in order to put him to jail they need to get him on the 3:10 train to Yuma, which is a big challenge with Wade's gang looking to free their leader.  Dan Evans offers to help with getting Wade on the train because he needs the money. Evans is one of a team whose job it is to get Wade on the train to jail.

Wade is a quite talkative and is especially interested in Evans.   Evans is fully aware but Wade is trying to catch him off guard. Evans' son runaway from the ranch and joins the team against Evans. As the movie progressives the team shrinks as they are either killed or leave when they decide that the money is not worth the danger of continuing to staying and dealing with Wade and his gang.  This leaves Evans and his son.  Wade tries to bribe Evans to leave, but Evan refuses.  Wade seems to genuinely like and respect Evans.

As Evans is about to escort Wade on to the train, Wade's gang shoots Evans.  Wade responds by shooting everyone in his gang and boarding the train.  He says that he has already escaped from the jail twice before.

I enjoyed the interaction between Wade and Evans.  Both Christian Bale and Russell Crowe were very good in this film.  I give 3:10 to Yuma a B-.

Funny People

Funny People is a movie from Judd Aptow that is different than Knocked Up and 40 Year Virgin because it is not completely a comedy and is much longer.  Based on what I heard the first half was very good but that the movie falls apart in the second half.

Funny People

Adam Sandler plays George Simmons who is a very successful actor / comedian who does not have a family or good friends.  He suddenly learns that he is going to die. 

He befriends Ira played by Seth Rogan who is an aspiring comedian who will do anything to get his big break in show business.  George hires Ira as an assistant / writer and they start to become good friends.

In addition, George reconnects with an old girlfriend, Laura from many years ago that was his one true love but that he blew it with.  Laura is now married with kids.  Eventually George learns he is not dying.  Laura is tempted to end her marriage to get back with George but Ira is critical of how George is messing up their marriage and George and Ira have a big argument.  Eventually, Laura decides to get back with her husband.

Several weeks later George goes to the comedy club and makes up with Ira.

I did not think that there was a major difference between the two halves of this movie.  Both were pretty good, but the movie is not particularly funny and it is definitely a bit too long.  I give Funny People a C+.







   

1776

My running results has been mixed. Last weekend was very cold, but I still got my runs in though both were slightly shorter than I planned.  On Saturday, I went about 7.5 miles instead of 8.5 and on Sunday I went about 11.5 instead of 13 miles.   I ran on the C & O Canal both days, although there was some ice. 

During the week at the gym, after working on the rowing machine on Monday, I had a good 5 mile run on Tuesday. However, after a bad night sleep (rough Maryland loss) I only did a slow 5 miles on Wednesday instead of my planned 7 miles. I was planning to do the 7 miles on Thursday as a make up. However, Thursday was a discouraging day.  My legs were tired and I only got thru 4.5 miles before I gave up.

I have today off for MLK day so my original plan was to do 9 on Saturday and Monday and to do 14 on Sunday.  Saturday was a very nice day and I got the 9 miles in without a problem on the C & O canal.  Yesterday was Alex's  birthday and we ended up going out for breakfast. I tried to eat less than normal.  It was also a cold, nasty, very rainy day.  I started out about 10:30 but quickly determined it was not going to be a good day for my running and stopped after only 2 miles.  Today was much nicer and I did 13 miles going after a hilly loop in the neighborhood.

This week I am planning to do 5 miles tomorrow and Thursday. I will work out on the rowing machine on Wednesday. For the weekend I am planning to do 9 miles on Saturday and get my long run up to 15 miles on Sunday.

1776

After enjoying the Abraham Lincoln book that I read over the summer, I vowed to read more history books.

Abraham Lincoln book review

Virginia and I spent a day at Mount Vernon in October and I wanted to learn more about the revolutionary era so when I saw this book fairly cheap at Costco, I went ahead and bought it. 1776 is by David McCullough. It was written in 2005 and is about the first full year of the Revolutionary War. I had not previously read a book by McCullough, but I did watch and enjoy the John Adams miniseries.

1776

This book was not as interesting or as easy to read as the Lincoln book. This is likely because the book is primarily about the battles rather than politics which don't interest me as much. However, there were several interesting things that I learned from reading this book.

• The main point of the book was how the American Army was a ragtag group of men with no military experience and that George Washington was very frustrated with the number of troop and the shape that they were in.
• Washington was an inexperienced leader that struggled with indecision, but grew into the job.
• Charles Lee was second in command of the US army.  He was arrogant and very critical of Washington. Lee was captured by the British while in a tavern away from his troops.
• Henry Knox, who I never heard of previously, was a book store owner who became a big hero for transporting weapons to battles.
• The British under General Howe made a major mistake by stopping for the winter late in 1776.
• The winters of  1775-1776 and 1776-1777 seemed to have especially bad weather compared to today. Global Warning?
• The Battle of Trenton around Christmas in 1776 was probably the turning point for the US. They were in very bad shape until that point.
• The British was a well trained army but had little experience in battle.
• The British employed German mercenaries that seemed to help them quite a bit until Trenton.  The Germans were call Hessians in the book.
• The French were not assisting Washington at this point.
• The Americans caught the Hessian Gereral Rall by surprise at Trenton.

I would like to read another book by McCullough since he obviously does a great job researching. However, I would not have read this book if I knew it was so much about military strategy.  I give 1776 a C.

The Brass Verdict

The Brass Verdict

I read this book by Michael Connelly several months ago and really enjoyed it.  The book is told from the point of view of Mickey Haller who was previously the mail character in The Lincoln Lawyer.  I liked all of Connelly's book, but The Lincoln Lawyer was not one of my favorites.  Haller is a a criminal defense lawyer that works out of a Lincoln Continental vehicle, rather than an office.

As the book opens, Haller has been taking a hiatus from practicing law and he works to overcome a pain killer addiction.  However, an old colleague, Jerry Vincent is murdered and Haller inherits.  Vincent was preparing for a high profile murder trial for Hollywood producer, Walter Elliott.

The police believe that Vincent's murder is related to the Elliott trial and that Haller may be in danger as well.  The Detective investigating Vincent's murder is Harry Bosch, who is the main character in many of Connelly's book.  The strength of The Brass Verdict is the interactions between Haller and Vincent.  There is a natural animosity between a policemen and a defense attorney.  However, Bosch is protecting Haller from a potential danger if the person that killed Vincent is now after Haller.

The novel was told from Haller's point of view which made it interesting since we got his thoughts and perceptions of Bosch, who is more of a secondary character in this book instead of the central figure in most of Connelly's books. Haller and Bosch like each other despite the natural distrust from their jobs and earn each other's respect.

The story of Elliott trial involved jury tampering that had been set up before Haller got involved.  Eventually Haller and Bosch get to the bottom of it, but not before Elliott is murdered.  This was not a typical Connelly  because the Haller / Bosch interaction was as much a part of the story as the the Elliott trial and more interesting.  

I enjoyed the feeling out, conversations and working together between Mickey Haller and Harry Bosch throughout the story.  However, I did not like the surprise at the end when Haller and Bosch discover that they are half brothers.  This was a bit too small worldish for me.

Bosch has been a great character through a lot of books, but there are times that I get tired of him.  Having Bosch as a secondary character worked well in this case, better than it did previously in A Darkness More than Night.  Haller grew on me in this book and I can see that Connelly is adding more depth to Haller and additional secondary characters so I expect there is to be more Haller books in the future.
         
Connelly is a talented writer, whose book are consistently good and at times outstanding.  I would rate this book as an average book for Connelly which means it was very good.  I believe that I have read all of Connelly's book except for a non fiction book he wrote several years ago.  He is one of my favorite authors. I give The Brass Verdict a B.

Friday Night Lights

I completed my weekday running for this week. I did 5 miles on Tuesday and Wednesday and 6.2 miles today. My train was late yesterday so I did my long run today instead of on Wednesday. My run today was .8 of mile less than my goal. I was feeling worn down so I stopped at a 10k rather than get to 7 miles. In addition the very high escalator at the Metro was not working, so I had to walk up a lot of steps this morning. I plan to get to 17 miles during the weekdays next week.

This weather this weekend is looking cold and my schedule is going to be tight. I am going to have to try to run 8.5 miles at 7 AM on Saturday. On Sunday, I will go for 13 miles at 11:30. I will DVR the Ravens game and hopefully I can start watching by 2:30.

Friday Night Lights Season 1

http://www.amazon.com/Friday-Night-Lights-First-Season/dp/B000RF1QE2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1262889372&sr=1-4

I started watching ths critically acclaimed show around Thanksgiving since the first three seasons are on Netflix's free instant watch. I read the book that the show is very loosely based on about 20 years ago. The book is a true story based on a actual team.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_Night_Lights:_A_Town,_a_Team,_and_a_Dream

There was also a movie that I saw, which is based on the team in the book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_Night_Lights_(film)

The tv show is about a fictional team and characters.

At the time the series started, I did not want to watch it because I did not think a fictionalized team would work well. I enjoyed the MTV reality show about the high school football team in Alabama.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-A-Days

This show is a drama / soap opera. Part of the issue is that I am far more knowledgable about a football team than I am about for example an ad agency in the 1960s. Some of the problems that I had with storylines.

• Jason Street the star quarterback gets paralyzed in the first episode. This happens but is very rare.
• Matt Saracen the new quarterback is dating the coaches daughter, Julie. This is too much of a cliche.
• Jason Street is playing wheel chair sports far too soon after that type of injury. I would think it takes quite some time after an accident before he would be ready to participate.
• In one episode, Coach Taylor decides not to turn his star running back, Smash Williams in when he finds out he was taking steroids. Smash is greatful and the episode ends with the two of them watching a group of little kids play football. It appears that the player is close to his coach. However, the very episode, Smash leads the African American on the team towalk out before a key game based on an assistant coaches comment to the press without talking it over with Coach Taylor.
• Jason Street is suing the school and Coach Taylor for his accident. Once the lawsuit is settled, Coach Taylor hires Street as an assistant coach in the next episode.
• Tim Riggins the troubled fullback goes from partying too much and drinking during the day to a father figure to the little kid who moves in next door.
• Every single game goes down to the last play and most involve a miracle ending.
• Matt Saracen and Smash Williams have a part time job in a diner. This is inconsistent with the way the star football player are kings in these small Texas towns. In addition, when Tammy Taylor thinks she is pregnant she goes to the crowded doctors office. Who does not use a home pregancy test in 2006 and since she is the coaches wife this would have been big gossip in small town Texas where the football coach is a celebrity.

While I am critical and possibly nitpicking on the storylines, I did enjoy the season because all the character are interesting, likable and endearing. Even though Tim Riggins and Smash Williams have their faults, they are real, not bad people, they are characters that you root for. I felt for Matt Saracen, who is a nice, humble, quiet kid who is suddenly thrust into the pressure packed position spotlight as the starting quarterback. Kyle Chandler as Coach Taylor is born to play the part of the new coach that is earning the team and the town's respect. Lila Garrity and Tyra Collette are girls from opposite sides of track who do not get along. Lila goes out with Jason Street and Tyra with Tim Riggins. Lila's father is very good as the teams biggest booster. Landry is a good student who does not play on the team. He is best friends with Matt and has a crush on Tyra.
Despite the storylines, I am continuing to watch season two. I have already watched the first two episodies. For season one, I give Friday Night Lights a B-.

New Year, Old Story

• My running has not gone as planned. As I suspected, running at lunch time did not work too well on Thursday. I was only able to get in 3.37 miles. Friday was a scheduled day off. Saturday was very windy and cold, but I got my 8.5 miles in. However, Sunday the weather was too much. I did about 2.5 miles and it was too cold to continue.
  
  Last winter the weather on weekends, which is when I was running outside was amazingly mild and I had good running days. This winter it seems that the bad weather days are falling on the weekends. We had the blizzard on Saturday two weeks ago and extreme winds all of this past weekend.
  
  Not getting my long run in this weekend will likely make it tough to to do a 20 mile run by the end of the month. Today I worked on the rowing machine. My tentative plan for this week is
  
  Tuesday 5 miles
  Wednesday 7 miles
  Thursday 5 miles
  Saturday 8.5 miles
  Sunday 13 miles
  
  The Invisible Wall
  
  I purchased the audio of this book for my MP3 player from Audible when they had a sale. The sale was on a limited number of books. I really didn't find anything I was looking for, but the price was low so I took a chance on The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Wall-Story-Broke-Barriers/dp/0345496108/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262619183&sr=8-1
  
  The unique aspect about Bernstein is that this is his first book and he started it when he was 93. He has published two more book since then and is now 99. This is a non-fiction story of Bernstein's childhood that reads like a novel. Bernstein grew up Jewish in London around world war I in a ghetto. He lived on a street that was Jewish on one side and christian on the other side. Harry was was the fifth of six children. Bernstein considered his mother to be a saintly women and his father to be a distant alcoholic.
  
  The book can be broken down in the following topics.

• A very young Harry secretly carries messages between a Jewish teenage neighbor and her Christian boyfriend. When they are discovered, the Jewish girl is shipped off to live with relatives in Australia. They boy loses his legs in the war and end up killing himself.
• Harry's sister, Lily wins a academic scholarship and wants to become a teacher. However, their father makes her quit school and go to work in the tailor shops where a lot of the Jews work.
• The relationship between the Jewish side and the Christian side of the street is discussed throughout the book. Both sides keep their distance. The Jews would never go into the Christian's houses. However, the Jews would hire the Christians to light their fire on the sabbath since the Jews could not do it themselves during the sabbath . There was a lot of anti-Semitism. However, there were also similarities such also all the people on the street were lower working class people. In addition, during the war when both sides were very concerned about loved ones fighting in the war, the two sides became closer. However, when the war ended, it went back to the same separation.
• Lily had a Christian friend, Arthur Forshore that she admired since she was young. He helped her win the scholarship. Her mother was always concerned about their relationship. When Arthur returned from the war, Lily started to secretly go out with Arthur. Both Arthur and Lily became Marxist and did not believe in religion or that there was any reason for the Jews and Christians to be separated. Harry accidentally found out about their relationship and kept their secret. Eventually Lily's mother finds out. She convinces their relatives in America to allow Lily to move to the US. However, Lily runs away and marries Arthur. Lily's mother disowns Lily.
• Lily and Arthur live in a nearby town and Harry continues to visit regularly. Eventually Lily has a baby. Their mother reconciles with Lily and the street has a big party for the baby with both sides of the street. This is how the book ends.
• The epilogue is revealed that Lily and Arthur both die of health problems at a young age and their child ends up dying in WWII. Harry and the rest of his family move to America. About 30 years later Harry revisits the street just before they are demolishing the houses and the street for a new housing project.

I enjoyed the The Invisible Wall. It is a pleasant, sweet book that shows how much the world has changed in less than 100 years. It was a bit strange to have an upbeat ending and they to find out about the deaths of Lily, Arthur and their son. However, this is a true story. If you are looking for an action packed story this book is probably not for you. I give The Invisible Wall a B+.