I saw the pilot for this show because it was on right after the AFC Championship game (poor Stillers). I must say as a math geek, I was intrigued. The show is quite interesting. The pilot episode was very straightforward... math was used to solve a crime except that an obvious point was overlooked in the creation of the mathematical model.
The second episode is probably a better look at what this series will be about. It's not really about using mathematics to solve crimes. It's about two brothers. One is an FBI agent (played by the super-sexy Rob Morrow) and his little brother is a professional mathematician. This episode seemed to have more to do with how these two very different people react to the hurdles of crime solving. The mathematician predicts that a couple of bank robbers (who have never used violence before in the MO) will strike a particular location. When the FBI confronts them at the robbery several people are killed because they have many others working with them and they have car bombs set up and stuff. The mathematician doesn't want to help his brother anymore because he feared that his brother could have been killed.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Not a bad book at all. I've heard people say that these are nearly impossible to read because the children really are that unfortunate but I quite enjoyed it. For an adult this book is an extremely quick read (I finished it in a single bath). I recommend it to all lovers of children's literature. As for the movie, I still don't know. I plan on seeing it after I read the first three of these books.
My Rating: 3/5
I loved it. And how could I not? It's a Dutch musical comedy! You just can't go wrong. The premise of the movie is entirely silly. The Dutch definitely understand stupid movie style comedy! The songs were fun too. I wanted to get up and sing along, but no one else did so I chickened out. The discussion afterward was a little disappointing because the discussion leaders didn't like it much. They said it wasn't a legitimate musical in the Hollywood style or whatever! BUT IT WASN'T A HOLLYWOOD MUSICAL! GRRR!
Oh well. Go see the movie. It's playing this week only at the The Oaks Theater near Pittsburgh, PA.
My Rating: 4/5
Okay, either this is the most blasphemous book ever written or it is genius. The book starts out with Raziel (an angel of the Lord) bringing Biff back to life in modern America so that he could write a gospel explaining Christ's life between the ages of 4 and 33. Biff and Jesus (who he called Josh) made many travels to seek out the Magi who came to his birth. Much hilarity ensues. Obviously the book is full of speculation and non-truths. That's why it's called fiction. However Christ's message of kindness, humility and love is somehow preserved amid all the satire.
All important Questions Answered:
#1. Bunnies being associated with Easter has nothing to do with the Norse/Druids.
#2. You find out how it became tradition for Jews to eat Chineese food on Christmas.
And again, none of it is likely to be true...
My Rating: 5/5
This is one of those books that I had been waiting to read for some time. Everytime I went to check it out of the library, it was unavailable. For some reason, I never bought the book. I got it as a Christmas gift. It is a fantastic read.
The story takes place in South Carolina. A teenage girl with all of the typical teenage girl problems feels unwanted by her father and the community around her. She starts off on a search for her late mother. This of course not only leads her to discover things about her mother, but also things about the world at large and herself.
This book is an example of good American storytelling. Every chapter leaves you satisfied yet wanting more. I haven't read a book this good in some time. I'm definitely going to need to read more of Sue Monk Kidd's works.
This book is also relevant to the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday this weekend. This book spends a lot of time dealing with segregation and race issues in the South. Since this dark era of American history was before I was born, it is helpful for me to read books dealing with these issues to help me understand how far we have come--and how far we have to go.
My Rating: 5/5
Well. I must say that this was a stunningly fast read. It went very smoothly and I found the book to be interesting even though it was written for the layperson with little knowledge of higher mathematics. Is this book the new Cosmos? Only time will tell, but Greene has done a fantastic job of making science available to the masses. Many young folks today will probably cite this book (and the PBS series based on it) as their main reason for studying science.
My Rating: 4/5
Hello. Thanks for stopping by. This is where I'm going to put my reviews of books, and movies. I go to a movie about once a week and I'm trying to read 100 books in 2005 (I want 50 of them to be novels). So I should have at least 3 updates to this blog every week. If not, I need to count on others to prod me into reading/viewing and writing more.