Book Review: Pride and Prejudice

I have seen the end of this 2005 film about 5 times.  Courtney is a big fan.  I thought it would be fun if I read the book before finally seeing the entire movie.  Interestingly, some of the most memorable parts of the movie actually were not in the book.  The general location and purpose of the scenes were the same, but not the words.  That is forgivable of course.  It's not like Count of Monte Cristo from 2002 where the characters and half of the plot were different.

I thought this was a lot funnier than Count of Monte Cristo (talking about the books now).  And it was more manageable (approx 300 pages vs. 1200).  Most of the suspense in Pride and Predudice is around relationships, misunderstandings, and personality analysis.  I like the character of Elizabeth, because she reminds me of myself.  She does not divulge all of her information until it is safe.  At the end everyone is surprised that she loves Mr. Darcy, because she hasn't told anyone.  I also like to really be sure of things before I tell people about them.  The desired end of P&P is marriage to eligible bachelors.  The desired end of "Count" is revenge.

So even though the desired end of P&P is marriage to eligible bachelors, I still found it interesting and suspenseful.  The emotion of wanting someone to like you, it goes beyond that time period and whatever gender we are speaking of.  But that time period makes in more suspenseful in that women were more dependent on men, legally and financially.  So there is a lot on the line with these romances.

I thought the book an excellent description of various personalities and motives.  It is just excellent!

I'm not a huge fan of literary critiques, they are often too academic and ruin the story for me. So I skipped the introduction that was written by a scholar.  But I'm sure they wrote that the book and author, Jane Austen, were remarkable.

Conservative voting

Courtney and I voted today.  The battle plan in Republican primaries are to show voters who the MOST conservative candidate is.   And the game for voters is to find out who is LYING.   Unfortunately, in the information age, it is still difficult to find out facts.  Maybe it's because we also live in the age where we are too busy to dig up those facts, and we have to guess who is representing facts truthfully.

I noticed this year that for some, pro-life is still the top issue.   I remember growing up in the 90s, this and "family values" were the biggest deal.  Well, we've had pro-life and family values with Bush, but nothing got done in some key areas.   In my view, my top issues are Fiscal Responsibility and Illegal Immigration, and these are critical today.  If someone loves to be pro-abortion, I won't vote for them, but frankly not too many of those candidates show up in Republican primaries here. 

One person had a problem with a Senate candidate (Jerry Moran) because he voted pro-choice once in 1982 and another time in 1988 in the State Legislature.   I think this is foolish, because if that is the best you can dig up on someone, it is not worth mentioning. Although we did vote for Tiahrt because he is endorsed by pretty much everyone who is important.

I also have a problem with people who run for various offices, and are poster boys for conservatism.  I have great respect for Kris Kobach and the fact that he is a constitutional scholar and anti-immigration expert.  But this doesn't mean he should run for Secretary of State, which apparently has nothing to do with his experience so far.  Stop running for random offices, and just let people do the job who actually want the job.  I'm voting for the other guy who actually really wants that specific job.

Missing man found

A big story in my community has been of the missing man,  Larry Schnackenberg, whose car was found in Shawnee Mission Park, unlocked with his wallet, keys and phone on the seat.  There were no clues, and a search of the Park and lake turned up no results.   Twenty days later, he was found wandering around the trails adjacent to the Park, a few miles away.  And he was shirtless, disoriented dehydrated and bitten by bugs.   It was out of character for him to run off, and had no history of mental disorders.  So I'd like to say that he suddenly became "disoriented", although I haven't heard of that before, so that is not too satisfying.   So overall, I believed that when he was found, it would answer all of the questions, but it seems that the same questions remain, except for the one of his location. 

The good news is that his family no longer has to deal with his disappearance, and not knowing of his whereabouts. 

Fat King Eglon

Subtitle: Defeating the thing in your life that seems powerful, but turns out to be stupid

Fat King Eglon and his incompetent companions kept Israel captive for 18 years.  They were incompetent because they fell for "the oldest trick in the book" and were really gullible and foolish.   And Ehud defeated his adversary with relative ease, but also with a lot of courage and creativity.

So it parallels the things that keep us captive. We assume that they are mighty things that cannot be overcome.  But then when we attack them it turns out they are just fat and stupid.  And it still takes a lot of courage for us to overcome them.

for me it's confidence...fear of rejection...Rejection that I am too quiet, too religious, or not religious enough, or too conservative, or not conservative enough, too boring. There is no way for me to be accepted by all extremes, but I have played that game pretty well.  It is perhaps fear of a rejection that does not even exist.

Restaurant Review: Backwater Jack's (Lake of the Ozarks)

We were with our small group at the Lake of the Ozarks, and Saturday evening we visited Backwash Jack's Bar and Grill.  The rest of the group went by boat, but we drove because of baby transportation and eating needs. This may be a good time to point out that the bridge we crossed has a $2.50 toll one way.

We asked the hostess if a group of 10 people had showed up, and she promptly got involved in some social conversation, but luckily someone from our group saw us and retrieved us.  The small crowded building we went into had about six tables, but was mostly standing room for the bar.  The standing room quickly exceeded the posted maximum occupancy ,but eventually died down.  But I could not hear the person next to me speak, mostly because music coming out of a speaker right next to us.   Annique was awake but not crying. I figured that she knew no one would hear her, so she intelligently chose to remain quiet.   And...I tried not to look at the floor, because there was part of someone's meal down there.

The joke was that we were overdressed....a lot of guys didn't have shirts on and some women wore bikinis, and we were under-drunk.

BUT the food was excellent.  I had a jerk grilled chicken meal.  And the server was nice.  He opted not to wear the company shirt that said on the front "DRINK UP BITCHES!", and on the back "WE FEAR NO BEER".  Instead he just wore a Vodka brand shirt.

So needless to say, Backwater Jack's is a different culture...it's Lake culture, and more specifically Lake party culture. I would go again, but would dine outside, and I'd probably check out some other restaurants first!

Movie Review: Platoon (1986)

Here we go...

This movie was entertaining from the standpoint that a lot of young actors got their start in this movie...Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, the guy from Scrubs, Forest Whitaker,Willem DaFoe.

The first half of the movie was disappointing, just from the foul language used, drug use, illegal killings, and US soldiers being killed in horrific fashion.

But in the second half it did turn out that at least half the platoon was against the illegal killing, so that was encouraging. True protagonists were revealed. And the second half of the movie was really more exciting from a plot standpoint.

I think there is a lot to take away from this movie.  First,just knowing more about what kind of things the soldiers went through, it's just horrific, and there's no way they could have come back the same.   Most people have been in a situation or project where it's not going too well, and you consider giving up.   That is really difficult, you might lose sleep, or lose some part of your hope or your trust in others.  But when it comes to war, and people die and are wounded, and you risk your own life, then the feeling is much worse.  It turns out that our personal struggles in our own lives are not as serious as they could be.

Also, the movie shows that when leadership does not have integrity, then the followers will not have it either.  It also shows how soldiers were persistent and loyal despite the challenges.

Book Review: Be a People Person, by John Maxwell

When I acquired this book, I still had the idea to increase my business of selling books on Amazon.  So courtney told me about this large collection of books. There is former pastor, who left his ministry, marriage and his books behind. Sad story.  I didn't find any books that were worth money, but I picked out a few that looked interesting.

I have always seen John Maxwell books that my dad has been reading.  My dad keeps up to date on leadership issues.  The Wikipedia article states that John Maxwell has written 50 books.  So I was interested in reading something written by him, and I could always work on my people skills!

This book is from 1994, and the original date was 1989.  So that makes it one of the first books John Maxwell has written. And it is really impactful and impressive.  And it is brief which is nice. It is filled with fun and relevant stories, and is really convicting.  I am definitely keeping it around.

Some good quotes, used completely without permission.

• Charisma is being more concerned about making others feel good about themselves than you are in making them feel good about you!
• Helen Keller said "Security is mostly a superstition.  It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.  Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.  Life is either a daring adventure or nothing"
• An insecure leader, on the other hand, believes neither in himself or others. Insecure people are afraid to risk building others up with compliments, because they are constantly in need of compliments themselves.
• Establish your worth according to God's value system.
• Develop friendships with confident people.
• Be aware of the specific reasons why the other person requires persuasion and perhaps has resisted it.
• People do things for their reasons, not your reasons
• You can get everything in life you want if you help enough people get what they want.
• In the final analysis, results are what matter; attendance and activity don't.
• I act as I see myself.  In fact, it is impossible to consistently behave in a manner that is inconsistent with the way we see ourselves.
• Criticism is something you can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.
• Criticism: don't undermine the person's self-confidence. Attack the problem, not the person.  Look at yourself before looking at others.