about Books

First, I have to comment on one more Movie before we move on to the next subject... 'Star Trek' I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about it, a few months ago. But after seeing a couple previews and finding out more about who was in the cast and all that, I went with more anticipation than reservation... I'm glad to say I wasn't disappointed. I have seen a fair amount of the original show 'Star Trek', and watched 'The Next Generation' quite regularly, so I would classify myself as a fan, but not a "Trekkie". I really don't have much criticism of it, except I suppose with the character of "Spock" I think that it did take away a bit from the stoic, logicality and, obviously, played up his ability for emotion. But seeing as he is half human, and that being part of the reason he went to 'Star Fleet' I guess it makes sense. (Yikes, I might be sounding to trekish)

Time to move on. :)

Books: I've been reading quite a lot, up until about a month ago, when I seem to have gotten really busy... During that time (starting mid August I suppose) I read all seven installments of 'Harry Potter' for the first time... They are captivating books, very well written and very well thought out... I like how the author (J. K. Rowling) tied everything in, and created such a fantastical world, right under our very noses... I know there's some controversy as to wether they are sutible for children, and yes, there is quite a bit of magic... but I think that if kids (or adults for that matter) are able to read Tolkien's 'Hobbit' and 'Rings', and Lewis' 'Narnia' and hopefully are able to distinguish between reality and fantasy, then there are many good things that can be taken from these books. My Opinion.

Following that I read 'The Dragon King Trilogy' by Stephen Lawhead, being such a fan of everything else he's written, I had to read this series. It's pretty good. Not as good as most of his other stuff, but even if this is his worst (and worst is such a bad sounding word) it's still very good. It's just that once you've read 'The Song of Albion Trilogy' and his 'Pendragon Cycle' it's hard to top those.

Oh! Did I mention that I finished reading 'The Once and Future King'? What an amazing book, I can't remember when I read and finished it... but it did take me quite a few months... partly because of the amount of time I devoted to reading, and partly because of the book (I did find it a bit hard to get through certain parts) but it was well worth the effort. Absolutely loved it!
Thanks go to Katie Woo, I believe, for recommending. Thanks!

Let's see... what else?

Ah Yes! 'The Count Of Monte Cristo' is my most recent book read, and another awesome book as well. Already a big fan of Dumas with 'The Three Musketeers' I've wanted to read it for quite awhile, and am so happy that I finally did. I think the thanks for recommendation goes to my sister Mary for this one. I remember she read it years ago and told me how good it was. Thanks!

But alas, all good things must come to an end (so they say) and as this bit of my blog must, so too does my extra reading time...

I'm now back to my regular pace and am currently reading 'The Princess Bride' which, one chapter in, is already a favorite. I've seen the Movie many times, and we have all heard it quoted time and again, so it's nice to read it and see what all the fuss is about :) We'll see. I'll let you all know what I think when I'm finished.

Other Books I'm in the process of reading:

'A Tale of Two Cities' I've been working on this for a few months, and have actually tried at a couple different times over the last few years... but other "funner" reads seem to keep popping up. I will finish it.

'Atlas Shrugged' just barely started this, it's a giant read, and will take me quite awhile I'm sure. But it does seem very interesting.


If you have any recommendations, feel free. I love good books.

Thanks for reading. Keep reading, this (if you like) and other great works.

Education isn't something that can be given to anyone, it's only something that can be given to oneself. - 'I just made it up... But it is true, no?

Peace.

- Matti

Etc.

I can't believe how the time flies by... so long since my last post, and I think back on all that's kept me busy and find that it's quite the average list... Not something that most of you would find interesting. So I thought I'd just post a couple of my opinions on movies I've seen and books I've read in the last few months... and new music that I've found cool.

Music first, since it's on the brain at the moment...

Dan Wilson, the Lead singer for Semisonic released a few solo songs after the band broke up. I found that out a few days ago, and he's got a couple cool songs I found. I've always liked Semisonic a lot and felt that they never got their due. 'Breathless' is one of the tracks.

Ever heard of 'The Features' ? another very cool band, found out about them a couple months ago. A couple favorite tracks are: 'The Idea of Growing Old', 'Lions' and 'Me and the Skirts'
I really like everything I've heard of theirs so far.

If you, like me, are not a very big fan of the hip-hop genre, I think you may be pleasantly surprised by 'Hilltop Hoods' an Aussie group. I was.
'The Nosebleed Section' and 'Dumb Enough?' are two fine examples.

And to wrap up, the new album by 'Green Day', '21st Century Breakdown' is quite good. I've already listened to it several times, it's the type that grows on you over time, I think, though I liked it pretty well the first time. Also, 'Ben Harper' has a new album too, with 'The Relentless 7' I've only heard a couple tracks, but what I have heard is some really good 'Ben'

On to Movies: (How'm I doin so far?)

Just watched 'Slumdog Millionaire' on Wednesday night for the first time... I have to say, it deserved all the praise it got and then some... I can't believe the main actor didn't get nominated. I like things like that, with destiny and stuff.
"d. It was written"

Last night I watched 'Joe vs. The Volcano', which I found out, I'd seen half of before... It's a later '80's flick with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, pretty good I must say.
Makes me want to live in awe of life and everything around me, not be one of the so many who are asleep their whole life.

Also warched 'Hot Fuzz', for the third or fourth time, a week or so ago. I love, love , love it.
A bit of British comedy mixed into a who-dun-it. I highly recommend. Though do be careful, there is a fair bit of grisly-ness when the crimes happen.

A couple Movies I'm looking forward to:

'Year One' (Jack Black and Michael Cera)
'Public Enemies' (Christian Bale and Johnny Depp)
'Moon' (Sam Rockwell)

And I've run out of time... next time I'll talk Books. I've done a fair bit of reading since last we talked... mostly good stuff.

Until next time. Appreciate each moment, Life is awesome... even when it's hard.

Peace,

Matti

P.S. keep an eye out for more frequent posts here... I'll make an effort to be more consistent, and as always, I appreciate any kind of feedback :)

A quote, from "Benjamin Button"

Sometimes we're on a collision course, and we just don't know it. Whether it's by accident or by design, there's not a thing we can do about it. A woman in Paris was on her way to go shopping, but she had forgotten her coat - went back to get it. When she had gotten her coat, the phone had rung, so she'd stopped to answer it; talked for a couple of minutes. While the woman was on the phone, Daisy was rehearsing for a performance at the Paris Opera House. And while she was rehearsing, the woman, off the phone now, had gone outside to get a taxi. Now a taxi driver had dropped off a fare earlier and had stopped to get a cup of coffee. And all the while, Daisy was rehearsing. And this cab driver, who dropped off the earlier fare; who'd stopped to get the cup of coffee, had picked up the lady who was going shopping, and had missed getting an earlier cab. The taxi had to stop for a man crossing the street, who had left for work five minutes later than he normally did, because he forgot to set off his alarm. While that man, late for work, was crossing the street, Daisy had finished rehearsing, and was taking a shower. And while Daisy was showering, the taxi was waiting outside a boutique for the woman to pick up a package, which hadn't been wrapped yet, because the girl who was supposed to wrap it had broken up with her boyfriend the night before, and forgot. When the package was wrapped, the woman, who was back in the cab, was blocked by a delivery truck, all the while Daisy was getting dressed. The delivery truck pulled away and the taxi was able to move, while Daisy, the last to be dressed, waited for one of her friends, who had broken a shoelace. While the taxi was stopped, waiting for a traffic light, Daisy and her friend came out the back of the theater...

And if only one thing had happened differently: if that shoelace hadn't broken; or that delivery truck had moved moments earlier; or that package had been wrapped and ready, because the girl hadn't broken up with her boyfriend; or that man had set his alarm and got up five minutes earlier; or that taxi driver hadn't stopped for a cup of coffee; or that woman had remembered her coat, and got into an earlier cab, Daisy and her friend would've crossed the street, and the taxi would've driven by.
But life being what it is - a series of intersecting lives and incidents, out of anyone's control - that taxi did not go by, and that driver was momentarily distracted, and that taxi hit Daisy, and her leg was crushed.

Time For Change

There's a certain feel that comes with winter, and I felt it last night... Last night, when it was still fifty degree at midnight, no snow in sight, but I still felt it... It was like a warm shiver, I could smell and taste it in the air... The Changing of the Seasons. It is a good thing.

We need the seasons, more than I think we know. You can only continue on the same course, doing the same things for x-amount of time before the joy we derive from it fades, and it becomes nothing more than another chore.

America is changing, and some will say that it is for the better, some for the worse... and both are right I think, things must change. What we have been, we can no longer be. Even if the change we experience today is "for the worse" it is a change that moves us toward the better.

There are plenty of challenges ahead, and, for some, it's going to get harder before it get's easier.

Just remember there is a plan and a purpose to all these things. Keep hope alive.

I'd write more, but I must not.

'til next time - Matti

Money Makes The World Go 'Round

Hindsight is said to be 20/20. Foresight, impossible. Insight... too rare.

Imagine, if you will, a world of corrupt politics and greed, and then try to imagine it all changing to a beautiful world where all men are treated equal and government of the people, by the people and for the people exist in more than some sort of dream state.

The problem, some say, started during the Clinton years, when our nation started lending hundreds of thousands of dollars to people who were never going to be able to pay it back... Others say it is because of the war and Bush's policy of spend, spend, spend... There are many differing views and I can see good points in most of them, but I think these are all symptoms rather than causes, symptoms of somethings so much bigger, and I'm sure I've written something to this effect in the past...

The people in our government are career politicians and have lost touch with what an honest days work is worth, so much more than dollars and cents, it actually keeps things in perspective, reminding us how much we all rely on one another for the lives we live... Money won't catch us when we fall, not like the arms of our fellow men and women. But I think, (I don't know for a fact) that having millions of dollars might be enough to tempt me into trusting money rather than the goodwill of others...

I don't have the time to sit here and write out all my thoughts in the right words... but maybe my readers will get a glimpse of the point.

I'll leave you with this: as the times get harder, try not to let it make you hard... remember to trust the ones who God has put into your life and trust that our creator has a purpose and a plan. Only God has the hindsight and the foresight that is a 20/20 vision of reality.

Peace - Matti

As we live, we forget...

It does seem that there are many things we forget over the course of time and the last two postings are a couple of things that i have heard of many times, but have never taken the time to read, never even really thought to read... and so, I have never even known the words the come before and after "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" and there are many. And Lincoln's speech, in the face of an ongoing civil war, with no certainty of the outcome, is quite amazing...
That is our history. That is what has afforded us these freedoms that we all take for granted everyday. Thank God for our leaders of the past, and I'm praying for those of our future that they maybe lead us in the right direction.

John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address

Here also is John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, which Obama's speech was also compared to.


"Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens, we observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom—symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning—signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge—and more.
To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do—for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.
To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom—and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required—not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge—to convert our good words into good deeds—in a new alliance for progress—to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.
To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support—to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective—to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak—and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.
Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.
We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course—both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.
So let us begin anew—remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms—and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.
Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah—to "undo the heavy burdens ... and to let the oppressed go free."
And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.
All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.
Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"—a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own. " - John F. Kennedy