Review Time!

I rented three movies this weekend - I was only going to rent 2 but when I was at Blockbuster, I couldn't decide so I just got all 3. Here is my review of those movies.

Casino Royale
Casino Royale was awesome. I wish I had gone to see it in the theatre. It had a better storyline than some of the Bond movies and it was action packed. It wasn't quite the predictable storyline of Bond gets bad guy and Bond gets girl although it did use that formula. I think this movie protrayed a different side of Bond. You see him care about a woman and fall in love with her, not just use her and go on to the next Bond girl in the next movie. I also like the plot better and thought the movie did a good job of using cool gadgets (ie the car with the defiblator). I would definitely buy this movie - it helps that Bond is hot and it has a good love story. The opening scenes in Uganda are kind of slow and you wonder if you are watching Spiderman as Bond chases a guy up a crane and through a building. I do love the shower scene where Bond is comforting Vesper - love it! This is definitely a must see movie.

The Holiday
I didn't have a lot of expectations going into this movie. I rented it so I could watch a romantic comedy and maybe have a few laughs. I think both the Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslett storylines were well done. I thought Cameron's storyline made me laugh and cry more and Kate's really touched me as she grew into her own skin. Kate's story mirrors my own past so I guess that hit home and Cameron's story just made me laugh (and cry!). This was definitely a feel good movie and I am glad I rented it.

Little Miss Sunshine
I really wasn't sure what to think going into this movie. I had a vague idea about what it was about and knew that it had gotten acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival (I think that is where it came from) and then was really popular. This is a good story about a family and how family's grow together. I must admit when the story began and when they were all sitting around eating dinner, I thought "why am I watching this when I could just have dinner with my own family - who happens to be very funny". But the story grew on me. I thought the message at the end was really good. One of my favorite quotes/themes was that life is really a beauty pageant. Everyone is trying to be the best - look their best, act their best - when really we should all just be ourselves. This was a good "message" type movie.

2:32:40

That is how long it took me to run (and sometimes walk) 13.1 miles through Atlanta. It was a hot day, I am glad the race started at 7am! We go to see the sun come up at we were running through the 4th ward, then headed into the shady area of Inman Park, through Little Five, down Freedom Parkway (that is a lot of concrete and was very boring), through Va Highlands (always entertaining and also shady), through Piedmont Park (what a good idea!), around midtown (not sure why we looped Juniper) and then down Peachtree (or should I saw up Peachtree) to the finish line. I was glad to take part in the inaugural ING Half-Marathon in Atlanta. It feels like quite an accomplishment - especially to finish in 2:32:40 - I was hoping to be under 2:30 but was a little slow on Peachtree. There was a point during the race - mostly when I was on Peachtree - that I thought I might die. It was everything I could do to go past 14th, 13th, 12th, etc streets. I did put on the iPod about that time and it got me through to the finish line. The cheering crowds throughout the race definitely helped. I will say that I haven't felt just right all day which kind of stinks but the face that I can say that I ran 13.1 miles is kind of cool!

Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner is a very entertaining intellectual read. The book doesn't really have a theme according to the authors and I would agree that there is not one common thread throughout the book. Each chapter could stand on it's own. The chapter titles themselves are very entertaining - Why do drug dealers still live with their mom? to What do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in Common? The book attempts to look at every day questions and apply math to figure out causality or correlation. The book has supplied me with great work lunch conversations and has made me think outside the box on certain topics. For example, the authors explain the decline of crime on the legalization of abortion. This has proven to be a very controversial topic which surrounds the book. This argument at the very least leads one to realize that maybe we should dig deeper when given an explaination for a particular situation. Maybe the Brady Bill or more police doesn't really help reduce crime. Maybe there is something out there that happend 40 years ago that later caused crime to drop. So next time you hear the news or listen to a politician, stop and think about what they are saying and what really may be the cause of the problem. This is definitely a good read if you want to be entertained while learning something.

The Oceanaire Seafood Room

I went to the Oceanaire Seafood Room this weekend in the ATL, it's roughly at 14th and Peachtree. It is actually a chain - but what isn't these days. The menu changes daily because they fly in fresh fish every day. We kind of took a tapas approach to the menu even though it isn't a tapas place. We had the shrimp and grits appetizer (too yummy!), crab cakes, spinach salad, and lobster bisque. Had I saved room, we would have had the baked alaska. They light it on fire and it looks really cool so I will have to do that next time. So if you are in need of a fancy place to take a date (the place is fancy but you can wear business casual or even casual), then this is your place. This is restaurant #12 in my New Places to Eat category. I am doing well in this area:)

When God Winks by SQuire Rushnell

I just read When God Winks by SQuire Rushnell on my flights from DCA to ATL. I have actually started 2 books in between this book and my last read Everyone Worth Knowing but I am still working on them. This is a very quick read - it just takes a prolonged flight of about 2 hrs. The full title of this book is actuall When God Winks: How the Power of Coincidence Guides Your Life so really it is no coincidence that I am now writing this book and no coincidence in the timing of my life and reading this book. This book has some good insight into how life really has a path and that God has certain coincidences planned to let you know that you are on the right path or to let you know that He is thinking about you. The book gives many examples of winks in other peoples' lives and encourages you to think about all the winks in your own life. While I didn't have anything to write down my thoughts while I was reading (which the book recommends), here's one that I don't mind sharing:

When I started grad school right before the orientation, I was standing in the hallway with all of the other students. No one was really talking - I am guessing because the folks didn't know one another and some didn't even speak English well. The girl standing next to me strikes up a conversation and through a series of questions we find out that not only are we both starting the PhD program, we both lived in the same area of town, and in the same apartment complex. This girl is now one of my good friends and was there for me throughout grad school when I needed a good friend. Ironically, a lot of our evenings were spent watching Friends together and just haning out. Looking back, I know she was placed in my life for a reason and the fact that we started talking that first day of school and that we lived in the same complex was God's way of saying I was on the right path.

So if you have been wondering about all those coincidences in your life or wondering if you are on the right path, I would encourage you to read this.