So... it's been a while since I posted any reviews, although I've finished several books and a movie. So here goes.
First up is Tomahawk by David Poyer. I'm a big fan of the whole "techno-thriller" genre... Tom Clancy, Steven Coonts, etc. and I think I may have a new favorite. If you look at my review of The Teeth of the Tiger by Clancy, you'll see that I want more from this genre than the good guys whacking the bad guys without a second thought. Tomahawk delivers. There are so many layers to this story that, for once in a thriller, you feel like the protagonist is an actual person. In fact this story focuses more on the internal conflicts that Dan Lenson has with working on a nuclear program and working in the military at all. How much force is too much force? Is violence ever justifiable? Is there a moral difference between nuclear weapons and conventional? These are just a few of the questions that are wrestled with in this book. And while the character answers some of them for himself, it is obvious that the author doesn't intend the book to answer them for the reader. 8 of 10
Next up is The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. This book was chosen as part of the One Book, One Chicago program.The style is very interesting. It starts off with a documentation of the physical items that soldiers in the Vietnam War carried with them, and progresses to the things they carried with them emotionally. Later it spreads to the stories of why they carried these emotional artifacts. Finally the book progesses to the things that the veterans carry with them to this day. The book reads like memories. Short stories that connect, but jump around a bit and seemingly random changes of train of thought, but along a recognizable path. One of the most interesting aspects of this book is the examination of truth that it uses. It asks "What makes a story true?" This turned out to be a faster read than expected. 7 of 10.
Finally, a movie. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Yup, finally went and saw it yesterday. What can I say... it was good. Very good. It's the kind of movie I might see more than once in a theater, and I almost never go to movie theaters. Visually stunning, emotionally powerful, long. And good. I'm not a rabid Tolkien fan, so while I realize that important aspects of the book were left out of the movie, I didn't miss them. If I want every aspect of the book, I'll read the book (again). I'm looking forward to The Hobbit when Peter Jackson does that one. I'll buy the DVD's eventually. 8 of 10.

First to be reviewed is Shakey: Neil Young's Biography by Jimmy McDonough. As far as biographies go, this is one of the best I've read. Written by an author who clearly cares deeply about his subject, to the point of being a fan, Shakey manages to not be a book about how great Neil Young is. If anything it's the opposite. But you also get the feeling that Young definately wanted it that way. They guy's lead a rough life, and a lot of his decisions he, himself, would classify as mistakes. But they are part of who he is. He feels bad for the mistakes he's made, but doesn't seem to feel that he would take any of them back. The format is very interesting. You read the author's information he derived in interviews with people around Young, and then a response from Young. If you have any interest in Neil Young, I'd recommend this book. It was also interesting to discover that Neil Young owns the Lionel Trains company. 8 out of 10.
Next on the review list is 8 mile with Eminem. I can only say that I'm impressed. There are so many things this movie could have been that it's not. It wasn't a celebrity ego-fest. I don't think it would've been much difference if no one had ever heard of Eminem before. There were also about 100 times it could've turned into a bad After-School Special, but instead of making some cheesy moment become a focus, they let it slide into the background. Teen pregnancy, sex, guns... they were all there, but they were not focused on. If you like rap at all, or like well made movies, you should see this one. 8 out of 10.

So, for Thanksgiving, my wife and I decided to blow off the day. We didn't want to cook or anything like that, so we got a bunch of easy to prepare snacky foods and a bunch of movies.
The movies we rented (in order that we watched them) were Star Trek: Nemesis, Casablanca, The Italian Job, Holiday Inn, and Punch Drunk Love.
StarTrek: Nemesis was decent, but I can't say I'll miss the franchise if this is the end. The characters are still great, but with 5 different Star Trek series, and almost a dozen films, they are running out of things they can do that are truly new. As a Star Trek fan, I enjoyed the movie, but they just don't bring out the excitement that they used to for me. 7 out of 10
Casablanca is, of course, a classic, and justifiably so. This movie has been seen and reviewed so many times that there's little I could say that would add to what's already out there. Suffice to say, if you've never seen Casablanca you've done yourself a disservice. If you've ever said "This looks like the begining of a beautiful friendship." or "Here's looking at you, kid." than you know that this movie is a part of life. 9 out of 10
The Italian Job is the kind of movie that as a red-blooded, american male, I enjoyed. There were fast cars, stuff got blown up, there was humor, and a pretty girl to top it all off. What it didn't have was much in the way of anything new. New ways of doing old things... ways that were cool... but still nothing particularly new. Edward Norton's character was fairly two dimentional, which is dissapointing for someone as tallented as he is. Seth Green was the best part of the movie with some good one-liners and entertaining moments. This is the kind of movie to rent for a guys night, decent for background while playing cards and having a few beers. 6 out of 10
Holiday Inn is another classic. Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire... This is the movie where "White Christmas" comes from. There is great singing and amazing dancing, and a pretty good story which uses a circular pattern of having a movie made about "Holiday Inn" as part of the plot of the movie. There are some things that are clearly dated (such as a blackface number) but on the whole, it's a classic that deserves to be such. 7 out of 10
Punch-Drunk Love is an entirely different kettle of fish than the previous movies. This movie defies classification, and in-fact understanding to some extent. I'm not sure that I'm able to wrap my mind around it even now. As best I can tell, the movie was about relationships and how they give life meaning. People are all insane, especially when seen through the eyes of an outsider, but love can give that insanity reason and meaning. This movie is surreal and strange. Not at all what I would expect from Adam Sandler, but amazing in its own way. I want to watch it again, and my opinion of it may change if I do, but for now... 7 out of 10 (maybe 8)

So, my little brother came up this weekend from Iowa. He went to a concert at the metro with a couple of his friends. It was good to see him. We got to sit an chat for a while, and that was nice. Not that many years ago, that would never have happened. Somewhere along the way we've both matured... a lot. I guess it's one of those things, you either grow up or your life sucks. I'm glad that my brother is more than just my brother. I'm proud to call him my friend.
In the last couple days I've finished a couple books. First was The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy. I've read a lot of Clancy's stuff, and I've liked most of it. This one, not so much. I think he's trying to introduce replacement characters for Jack Ryan and John Clark, who are getting a little bit old to be doing the things they've done in earlier books. However the characters he's introducing in these are too far of a stretch for my tastes. They are much more two-dimentional and even a little more jingoistic than previous characters. Jack Ryan was his stand-by and John Clark was my favorite, so things were already going down-hill in my opinion. But oh well, perhaps the next will be better and he'll develop the characters more to the point where I can care about them, but for now, I give The Teeth of the Tiger a 6 out of 10.
The next book I read was The Ice Opinion by Ice T. This book was interesting, and entertaining. While I don't agree with some of Ice T's opinions, I really liked his outlook. His opinion was that the people who defend his First Amendment rights have been as in-effective as those who oppose what he says. He feels that the issue of what he's saying has been overshadowed by the people who are saying that he does, in fact, have the right to say it. The issue should not be "Does he have the right to write and perform 'Cop Killer'?" but "Why would he want to write 'Cop Killer'?" That i agree with. Like I said... it was interesting.

Over the last few weeks, I've been re-reading the Ender saga by Orson Scott Card. I personally feel that Ender's Game is one of the most important books ever written. I feel that everyone should read it at least once, and anyone with a position of authority and responsibility should read it several times. Even after reading all seven of the books for at least the second time each, I find myself wishing there was more. I want to know the whole life story of nearly every character. It's like meeting someone that your best friend admires... you want to know as much as possible about them. You feel like because they are part of the life of someone who is part of your life, they should be a part of yours too.
Every time I read these books, I have to examine my life and wonder how what I do compares. Not in an envious or worshipful way. The best thing about the characters in Card's books are the fact that there are no "heroes" or "villians." His characters are regular people in their passions and the fact that they have to make choices in thier lives... and that sometimes the choices are wrong... or are right and hurt a lot. The people in the books are by turns, selfish, sacrificing, honorable, cowardly, loving, mean, and so many other things that make you feel like they are real people you might now. If you've never read Ender's Game, go get a copy... now.

TBWITWW and I went to see The Matrix: Revolutions last night. Our opinion... see it in a second run or discount theater maybe a matinee. Visually it's worth seeing on a big screen, but the story is so-so at best. It's too slow paced (with a few scenes that are exceptions) to be an "action movie" but the philosophy aspects of it are about as deep as a Wal-Mart kiddie pool. There's not subtlety in this one, and they used up all their really nifty effects in the first movie. Even the climactic fight scene between Neo and Smith is kind of disappointing. If you've seen the other two, you'll go see this one, but try to see it at a cheaper price.
On the other hand, it was nice to spend an evening out with my wife. We don't get to do that enough. We like to rate the previews too... so Troy and (of course) LOTR look good, everything else looked bad. So, there you go.

So somehow I discovered WWDN. Being a bit of a Star Trek dork myself (which I suppose falls somewhere between Trekkie and Trekker) I expected, as I'm sure most people who find it do, either something catering to the die-hard Trekkers about how Wesley Crusher got shafted and how he should have been on the show more and blah blah blah, or else the opposite, a "Star Trek suck, everyone who watches it sucks, the people who cut me suc", etc. etc. sort of thing. Turns out to be neither... nor anything close. Very little discussion about Star Trek at all in fact. Just the ramblings of a guy who used to work in Hollywood, and would like to again, but if he doesn't that's okay too. Turns out that Wil Wheaton doesn't need to worry about if he'll ever work in Hollywood again. He still acts, mostly with improv groups and so he's happy with that. Still goes to auditions, but they're not that important to him. Why?
Because he's got a wife he truly loves and who seems to love him right back. He's got 2 kids who look to him as a Father even though he's not the one who supplied the sperm. He's got dogs who he treats as family (I firmly believe that a person who can't treat animals right has no business being part of the human race) and he's got things he wants to do with his life that he's doing. Not a lot more that you could ask from life as a whole. But the best part is, he doesn't talk about how great his life is (well not too much) he just writes what his life is and you can tell that it's mostly good. He doesn't hide the fact that there's stuff that hurts, but he also shows that life is good on the whole.
So anyway... I got hooked. I check the page every day. Got my wife hooked too. We've come to the conclusion that if we had the chance, we'd hang out with the Wheaton family. I bet they'd be fun to play Cranium with. It also doesn't hurt that he's a Cubs fan. He wrote the most well thought out commentary on the "Foul Ball Incident" in the playoffs that I've come across.
So when it was announced that Wil Wheaton had a book out, my wife and I decided to buy it. Now, we're pretty much broke, so we hemmed and hawed over it. Then one day my wife calls from work and says "WWDN says the book is sold out!" Well... Crap. A bit later she calls and says "They still have it at Powell's Books, and I can use my Amazon.com gift certificate." So Dancing Barefoot was ordered.
Flash Forward... We get the book and, of course, I'm not allowed to read it. My wife's logic is that it was her gift certificate, so she gets first dibs. Which I suppose is valid. So I had to wait a few days to read the book. Today I read it. Bet you didn't expect this to be a book review.
Dancing Barefoot is a great book. I read the whole thing in about an hour and enjoyed it quite a bit. There are 5 stories and the first four are short, and simple. They make their point and are done. The style is simple and honest and it's easy to read, and you can see yourself in similar situations very easily. I found myself wishing that I could write my life as well as Wil Wheaton can. Then maybe someone would read this, because the stuff I do, normal stuff, would seem as interesting as normal stuff does when he writes it.
The last story is great and puts a real perspective on why Wil Wheaton doesn't need to worry about being among the least respected characters on a great show, or the fact that William Shatner treated him like crap. It's worth reading.
I love finding new stuff to read.