Several movies

I've gotten behind in posting, so I'll review several movies at once.

I thought Walk The Line was a bit long, but otherwise an okay movie. Of course, I'm not the Johnny Cash fan in the house.

The book is undoubtably my favorite fiction book of all time, but it's hard to adapt The Visitation to the large screen. However, I did think it was a fairly good job, but the book was much better. Of course, it's hard to pack a 500 page book into 90 minues.


Greedy was funny, but it had a predictable plot. I laughed out loud several times in this movie.

I sort of enjoyed Monty Python's the Meaning of Life but the jokes were rather raunchy, even for me!

Very different, America's Heart & Soul was a look at the different people who make this country great. They interviewed a sculptor of metal, a blind mountain climber, a man who was once in jail and now works with kids in the inner city so they don't make the mistakes he did. It was really a different, unique, and facinating look at the people who live in this country. I would have liked to have seen more about the bike messanger in New York City, however. I thought that was a neat job!

Finally, I have a new favorite movie. I checked Heavyweights our of the library today, and it was WONDERFUL. I don't know when the last time I laughed so much at a movie! It's pretty much as if Ernest would have gone to fat camp. I have a feeling it's going to be one of those that the more you watch it, the better it gets.

Childbirth

I'm not sure why I picked up this book except some friends talked about what an amazing book it was. It was pretty much a Word Of Faith book where you have a pain-free birth. My friend claimed it worked for her not once, not twice, but three times. Supernatural Childbirth is an interesting concept, but I figure I'd freak out and forget everything I learned! :) But if it works for some, great!

Write Away!

I was a bit disappointed in
Journal Keeping: Writing for Spiritual Growth as I expected it to be more of a book about exploring our ideas about God, but it was more of a book where we were expected to know the right answers and just develop them. It wasn't much of anything I hadn't heard before. I suppose it was a good book but it was very mainstream and I was hoping for a book that would spur me on to being a bit more creative in the spiriutal journaling process, but this wasn't it. I wanted something that would help me want to develop the ideas where I'm unsure about God, helping me to look into these ideas and write what I find. But this was more of a book where some of the suggestions were, for one thing, copying Bible passages because it claimed you'd see new things as you write slowly. I suppose some people may enjoy this type of book, but I wasn't too impressed.

Another Episcopal book

I ran on to the book The Ways and Teaching of the Church which was used for Confirmation preperation in the Episcopal church. Of course, it was a more facinating read than the one my priest loaned me. (I've read more interesting cereal boxes than that last book!) :) This book was more of what I was looking for when I borrowed a book from him. There were illustrations in this one even. LOL! Between the two books, I have few questions for the moment. I'm sure my priest is happy about that because I'm one that always likes to ask, "WHY?"

Dry theology

I asked my priest for a book about what our church believes, and he loaned me What Is Anglicanism? It is a pretty boring book, but did answer a number of my questions. I felt like I was back in college, and had to read it sitting in a straight-back chair so I wouldn't fall asleep. Oh well, it was informative, and SHORT!

Happy Clappy book

I know I'm odd. I enjoy upbeat Christian books from the 1970s. They are just so different from what is printed today, and are often so corny! But I like reading them. I will leave opinions of theology out of my review. I recently found Clap Your Hands! A Young Catholic Encounters Christ at a second-hand store. I thought it looked fun, and I enjoyed the read. Basically the man who wrote it grew up Catholic with all the ritual involved, but it didn't mean anything to him. He spent 12 years in Catholic schools. Then he was in a rock band. One day his car broke down and a man gave him a ride to Uni, and invited him to church. He went and eventually got saved. Then he started speaking in tongues, and this is the account of then how he tried to bring renewal to the Catholic church. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I like this genre (yes, I know I'm odd) but it was well-written, and it was interestring throughout -- I only skipped a couple pages where he was witnessing to others because the conversations are typical of the Happy Clappy Christian genre of the 1970s.

Dear America

Last summer I discovered the "Dear America" series and loved them. They are a fictional diary of girls from different periods of American history. When I heard about Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: The Diary of Molly MacKenzie Flaherty (Dear America) I definately wanted to read it because it was hard for me to immagine history in the 1960s. This is set during the Vietnam War, the girl's brother is fighting in the war. I have thought some of the Dear America series have been kind of graphic with violence, but this one took the top honors. It was only one line in it, but it was enough for me. I can't immagine a child reading this book with that graphic description of war. While I realize war is violent, I also remember this is a children's book. Other than that, this is one of the best Dear America books I have read.

The Prize Winner

FINALLY! The long awaited movie finally came out on DVD. I wanted to see this in the theater last year, but it didn't come to this area. The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio was a great film adaptation of the book. This is my favorite book, and I hoped they would do the book justice. It is hard to pack in just an hour and 37 minutes, and of course some scenes got delted, including my favorite where the boys take the car -- without knowing how to drive -- and drive to the hospital to visit their dad. There was language in it that is unsuitable for children, but that is because the dad is an alcoholic. It's truly amazing to me that she was able to raise 10 kids just entering contests. I love to enter contests, but I haven't won nearly as much as that lady did! She's truly an inspiration to me!

Win a Date!

I typed in "contest" in Netflix to see what came up since entering contests is a hobby of mine. It pulled Win A Date With Tad Hamilton! up in the searches. I decided to put it in my queue. It was a fun movie, a romantic comedy. I don't know I'd want kids watching it, but it was pretty innocent as most movies go these days. A girl from West Virginia enters a contest, wins, and gets to go on a date with a movie star who falls in love with her, while the boy she grew up with is also in love with her. I laughed out loud several times, which is rather uncommon for me to do in a movie.

An odd allegory.

I am not sure how to review this. I bought the book a few years ago and never got around to reading it until now. I had the opportunity to hear Kay Arthur speak about 10 years ago, and I have loved her Bible studies and teachings, but this book fell somewhat short of my expectations. As reading, Israel, My Beloved was a great read. I learned much about the Jewish people in the Diaspora, however I thought the theology fell short. Also, I wasnt' sure I liked the allegory of God having a wife, even if she was to represent the nation of Israel. For history, I would give the book a thumbs up, for theology, look elsewhere.

Getting Past The Author's Name was HARD

The author is Jack Frost. Everytime I picked up the book I wanted to sing a song that was on a Snoopy Christmas album when I was little about "Every Christmas we'd all be lost without ole Jack Frost". If I could ignore the cover where I saw Jack Frost, this book was excellent. Experiencing Father's Embrace: Finding Acceptance in the Arms of a Loving Father -- In my experience I've heard far more about the judgment of God than I have about the love of God. I remember someone asking me one time if I believe God loved me. This was years ago. I said no because I never had heard anything about the love of God in all my years in church. So this book was a wonderful read because it was basically saying what it says in the Bible -- that God is love. God has a lot of qualities, and sometimes as Christians we tend to focus on certian ones and exclude other attributes, so I thought this was a great book because it was so different from what I've been used to hearing in church growing up. A friend recommended this book to me, and I am so glad he did!

Doogie!

Tonight I finished watching Doogie Howser, M.D. - Season One I loved this show when I was younger, but since I was in college, I didn't get to see it real often. I didn't remember the number of sexual references in it, but I still enjoyed watching it. It's been a long time since 1989!

I love a controversy

I'd heard so many controversial things about To Train Up a Child that I thought I'd give it a read. Surprisingly it wasn't much like I'd heard. Not that I think that everything is a great idea, but it's not the horrible book like some reviewers say.

"House" party gone bad

Typically I have loved the historical "House" series. However Regency House Party has been my least favorite. The concept was there would be a group of men and women who come looking for a spouse 1800s style. It was very pointless and all based on status. The women had to look pretty and be proper all the time while the men were required to do things like vomit because it was good excercise. Another day the men walked back and forth between two posts for five hours in a competition. All I have to say is I am glad I live when I do and that I didn't have to subject myself to all this.

The Bride Wore White

I was disappointed in And the Bride Wore White: Seven Secrets to Sexual Purity -- sometimes I think Christian "dating" books go too far one way with courtship, but it wasn't even mentioned in this book, nor was the fact the earlier you start to date the more likely you'll have have sex before you're married. Although I suppose this was an okay book for Christian teens who date, I wouldn't really recommend it.