This weekend has been better than the past few weeks, and
therefore here is the late blog I mentioned in the Wednesday post. Hope you enjoy.
I briefly considered starting another blog called The
Average Person’s Entertainment Reviews where I would review books, TV shows,
and movies. I have a hard time keeping
up with the one weekly blog though, so I did not feel it would be a good idea
to start another one. Therefore, my
second option was to include the reviews as part of my normal blog. It would be too much to do full reviews on
everything I read/watch each month, so I decided to do brief mini-reviews on some
of the things I enjoyed. The material
covered will not necessarily be new or popular, and it will not fall in the
same genres all the time. My tastes vary
depending on my mood, so that will be reflected in what is included each
month. I also do not tend to be overly
critical of things, so my reviews will reflect my easy-to-please nature.
Movie: New Year’s Eve (2011)
I have seen this movie before, but I decided to watch it
again after enjoying Love Actually over the Christmas holiday. This movie is a similar concept where we
watch several storylines (some interconnected, some not) play out in New York
City over the course of New Year’s Eve.
I actually really enjoy this type of film, and usually can empathize
with at least one scenario. The nice
thing about this movie is that not all of the vignettes are love stories,
although all revolve around human connections of some kind. My favorite was Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer)
and Paul (Zac Efron) who are racing around New York City trying to find
creative ways for Ingrid to fulfill her New Year’s Resolution list consolidated
from prior years. I can connect with a
woman who has always allowed her own dreams to take a backseat to her job and
other people’s demands. It is a nice
reminder to not let life get in the way of doing what you want to do
sometimes. I enjoyed this film, and I
would recommend it to anyone who likes small stories with mostly happy endings.
Movie: Hot Pursuit (2015)
I chose this movie because I respect Reese Witherspoon as an
actress and the previews seemed funny. I
was not disappointed. It is about a cop
who is trying to prove herself (Reese Witherspoon) being given the
responsibility to bring in the wife of a drug cartel lieutenant (Sofia Vergara)
to testify in the crime boss’ trial. The
drug cartel members and some dirty cops all try to prevent the two women from
achieving their goal. The story results
in a very funny romp as they outmaneuver the bad guys and bond during the
process. This is a slapstick comedy,
meant solely to entertain. The plot is
thin and the characters are not very well developed. However, I still enjoyed it immensely. It moved very fast, and the hour and a half was
over before I knew it. I laughed the entire
time. You cannot take this movie very
seriously, but if you lose yourself in what it provides then you will enjoy it
too.
Book: The World is Flat: A Brief History of the
Twenty-First Century (3.0 edition, 2007) by Thomas L. Friedman
This is not a particularly easy read. I have been chipping away at it for the past
two months, slowed by my workload and by the density of the material. This book is over 600 pages of economics,
history, and social policy. However, it
is written in everyday language making it better for the average person than
many books on the same subject matter.
Friedman lays out his theory on why the world is flat (basically means
interconnected) and what that means for the world population.
He begins with ten events and/or world trends that he says have
contributed to the world become a flatter place. He then goes into a breakdown of what these
flatteners can mean when applied to America, developing countries, companies, and
individuals. Lastly, he lays out some of
the threats that exist which can disrupt the world from becoming completely
flat and some of the hopes he sees for why the world will continue to flatten
in the future. His message is
definitively positive on the world becoming flat, and on Americans doing what
they can to excel in a flat reality.
I agreed with many of the ideas the Friedman put forward in
this book. Globalization is here to
stay, and it is in everyone’s best interest to let it run its course. This does however mean that we need to let go
of previous personal narratives and continuously redefine ourselves with a new
worldview. I absolutely think he is
right to warn readers about a certain American narcissism that threatens our country’s
forefront status on the world stage.
America has done some great things and continues to do some great
things, but we cannot think that this will always be the case unless we put
forth the effort to keep it that way.
Other countries have made great strides in their world status in the
past few decades (think India, China), and there is no reason to expect them to
not keep moving forward with or without us.
I do not however agree with every suggestion Friedman put forth as the
best options for the future of America.
For example, he advocates free public college available to every student
who wants to go. I feel refocusing
efforts on children actually learning more in the primary and secondary
environments would be more advantageous than pushing more students unprepared
through a post-secondary education.
Until our students can compete on the same level in reading, writing,
and mathematics at the high school level with other nations, what is the point
of trying to give them higher degrees for free?
My end recommendation is to read this book, but do so with a healthy
dose of skepticism and actually think through the material as you go.
Not very many reviews this time, but maybe I will have more
free time next month. See you next week (or rather Wednesday)!
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