I saw this and wrote this review about 9 months ago, but just published it here.

First off let me just say it is amazing. IT appealed to basicaly every part of me. The music part obviously, but I also absolutley adore film, and this was a good one. Good story line, good actors, and amazing directing (that sounded kinda gay, but whatever). Anyway- you definitely need to go see this movie, and a commercial for it just played, weird. The movie is about an orphan who's parents were of two completely different music backgrounds, the mother a classical cellist, the father guitarist and singer in a band. Long story short, neither knows the boy, Evan, is alive. I am not going to tell anymore because I refuse to give away the story. The music in the movie was fantastic. I just sat and watched in absolute awe. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. The only way it could have been better would be more music.


Across the Universe: I don't believe it had the box office numbers anticipated, but i believe it will follow such greats as Donnie Darko and Garden State. The music of the Beatles is here uniquely presented with the actors/singers own twist. That is another thing i loved about this- there was no "lipsynching" with actors who did not sing. This movie gets 4 out of 5 stars.

On my theme of "based on true stories," I am reviewing the movie "21" starring Kevin Spacey, Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, and Lawrence Fischer.

Unlike "The Bank Job", this movie moves fast, never leaves you sitting bored, and is filled with action, gambling, violence, and MIT (who would've thought!) This movie seems probable to true, leaning more towards true. It is about a MIT student needing 300,000 to pay for Harvard Med. Being amazing with numbers, he is invited into a "Blackjack Card-counters 'Club'" taught by Kevin Spacey. Spacey takes his "class" to Vegas to count cards and win unimaginable amounts of money without getting caught.

It was amazing to watch this movie and think, wow, this- or something nearby to this- happened. Nothing that happened in the movie was out of reach of fact, everything could have actually happened, which is what makes the movie so fascinating.

I would give this movie 4 and a half stars, because it "jumps off the page and dazzles me."

So i sat down and watched the Bank Job, starring Jason Statham, yesterday. Tag for the movie states "Based on the largest heist in the history of London" I am not debating that.

The movie was entertaining, let me say before I begin. It is a movie that isn't going to make you dumber, or make you feel cheated out. The action is decent, story line is good, characters, welll....... they're alright.

A big hype of the movie is that the criminals were not bank robbers, but always referred to in the movie as "getting into trouble and mischiev"- they had prob shoplifted, done minor felonies like that... But they are given a proposal to rob this bank, and the moment they accept, they have one meeting of "what do we do?" and then its all professional. I know it says based on true story, but I question how much was true.... Seemed a little to farfetched.....

Roger donaldson (director) gave us a movie to watch when we don't want to take anything away. I have already forgotten most of it to be honest.

I hoped that it would be a great movie that I was proud to own, but unfortunately it will be one I have to apologize for when people see my collection....

Everyone at some point has or will go through the funeral process. I am going through it right now with my grandmother. Tonight was the receiving of friends, and I have never seen so many people all gathered for one person who isn't on television or in the public's eye. There were around 600 people estimated (my estimate, hehe) that came through the line.

Now before I go too far and sound harsh for everyone that came, let me explain- I only knew about 10 people (out of 600!!!). Each of the 600 that came deeply cared for Mama or my family, and I am incredibly thankful to each of them, but why does this night always become the night to sit and chat? I mean, we stood in line for 2 and a half hours. We are the ones who "lost" (i quote because as my uncle Sonny quoted someone- we are the ones lost, not them.) a family member, yet we must stand in a line and console others by the multitude? It doesnt make sense to be honest, there could be a much easier way to go through it.

To be honest this de-sensitized me alot to this. because I just wanted to go home. I wanted to kick all people except for my family out and sit and cry as we all watch the memorial video or pictures of mama. But instead I had to smile and shake hands of people I don't know, won't meet again, and be polite about the whole thing.

Maybe I'm ranting, I'm definitely being a little selfish, and I apologize for that, but this is how I am having to deal with all of this.

Yesterday my grandmother, Mama (AKA Esther Owens Holmes), died. She was diagnosed with ALS (or Lew Gehrig's disease) about a year ago. Looking back over this past year- knowing the whole time that there was no cure available for Mama, I have really grieved.
I try to think why, and the only thing that I can come up with is that the woman who died yesterday was not my grandmother. Biologically yes, she was, and is. But the woman who I call Mama couldn't let a phone ring more than once, never met a stranger, talked constantly, and was completely joyful and energetic. The woman I saw a few weeks ago lying in bed was the complete opposite.
Being at school all last year, I feel that its as if someone switched places with Mama, and just laid there. The grandmother who raised me, sadly enough, died awhile back. I have tried to substitute the ALS-ridden woman for Mama, but now I cannot.

The pain that I witnessed Mama go through over this year makes me see how strong she truly is. I say is because her strength isn't gone, and the being that made her strong isn't either. She lost the ability to talk and walk within the same few months, which was devastating for everyone.

Mama loved to talk. Let me explain: I can remember a trip to the beach where my sister and I fell asleep. Mama woke me up to tell me she bought her pants from JC Penny. Talking was how she connected with others, and no matter how bad your day was, listening to her was great. She could also manipulate people well. I heard of my aunt getting a speeding ticket in Mama's driveway one time, because my cousin was crying loudly and distracting Aunt Sally. Mama told the officer very strictly "You will NOT give this woman a ticket for being a mother. You will leave her alone" She was not mean about it, did not yell, but just had that quality about her.

I will forever miss my time with Mama here on this earth, regret not spending as much with her, but I will get to see her again. She has already claimed the job as phone operator, my family is sure of that!

Life isn't over. One life is over on this earth, but that does not mean that my life, my mother's life, my sister's life, or even my grandfather's- who was been married for Mama for 60 years next month- is over. The thing I will leave you with, is a quote from one of my favorite books "Between A Rock and A Hard Place" by Aaron Ralston (who was stuck with his arm underneath a boulder in Blue John Canyon, had to amputate it himself).

"Life moves on for the living."

So now many adults are getting on facebook. Whats this about? I mean some ages are "appropriate" for this kind of thing, like 20-somethings. If you were in college when facebook was created, then you can use it, no one older should, unless u have a good reason to interact with those young enough- like youth pastors, and stuff like that.

But I have seen a lot of older (like 40+) people, mainly women, adding them. It may be so that they can "check" on their kids, but still. I saw a bunch from my church that don't have kids old enough, yet they had one. It makes me so ashamed, honestly. So sorry to those people- but you will not receive friend requests from me, I will not turn facebook into a nursing home (no offense, its just not for you). It was created for college kids, I remember the big deal that came up from high schoolers joining. Now middle school can basically. You have to draw the line somewhere.

Sexual predators. Facebook is a lot less safe with all these adults running around. Now the predators don't necessarily have to even pretend to be young to get to your profile and all.

This is ridiculous, that is all.
Bye

What truly defines a career, especially in the area of ministry. I mean, with a doctor, they know their career will be in medicine, in a specific area, they won't go from foot doctor to neuro surgeon overnight, but a youth pastor could become a senior pastor. I was recently asked how serious I am about youth ministry. how should I answer that, if that means its all i want to do in life- who knows. If it means I care deeply about it and want to be involved in it for at least the next decade or so, then probably.
Anyway- thats just what I have been thinking about. HOw do you define a career this early in life? I mean, say I graduate with a degree in Christian Ministries- am I then going to have that as a career immidiately, or must I accomplish that. They say you are "pursuing a career in..." when you're in college. That is dumb, we are "pursuing" paper saying we can do a certain career, sometimes.