One World Planet

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is in no way forgetful by any means. I thought this movie would be a silly money grabber riding on the coattails of Superbad and The 40 Year Old Virgin. This in no way is true. I dare say I enjoyed it as much, if not more than the aforementioned films. The story of a Peter Bretter, a young man who is dating a superstar television actress who gets dumped for an ultra cool superboy British rock star rings true in many the ear of all those that have been on the receiving end of a dumpage in life. Jason Segel of TV’s How I Met Your Mother fame, is so good in this role, just like other Judd Apatow creations all of the casting is dead on and it is another story of the everyman going through an everyday situation (although I don’t know many people, including myself, that have hooked up with a TV. superstar). Peter tries to drown his sorrows by vacationing to Hawaii only to discover that his now ex-girlfriend is there on a romantic getaway with her now Noel Gallagher-like rockman. What ensues is a laugh riot and heartfelt dialogue that all play just the right notes to produce just the right mix of emotions to create a truly awesome movie. If you are thinking about skipping this one, don’t. There is just so much crap out there, that to find something, that seems so logical to make, but so often is not, is like finding a diamond in the rough. A+

Simply put: this is the best book I have ever read. When I was about half way through the book it dawned on me that this was my favorite book, to know that half way through, made reading the rest that much more enjoyable. To my amazement this feeling never dissipated nor did the story let up at any moment, it just kept getting better. The story of Joe Kavalier and his cousin Sammy Clay is one of hope, trust, misfortune, unfairness, love, life, disappointment, comedy, tragedy and of course comic books. From Joe's amazing escape from Nazi occupied Prague to his dumbfoundedness on the fact that he can make money at drawing comics to the rage burning inside him for revenge against the Nazi's is so clearly defined by Chabon that you empathize with him immediately. To counter Joe's leading man status, is his "sidekick" and cousin American born Sammy Clay, who always seems to come in second place in life, whether it be with his circus strongman father, his job at the whoopee cushion creating novelty house or love and happiness, he always seems to be playing second fiddle. That is until Joe Kavalier enters his life and together, and to their out and out amazement they create the wildly successful comic book character of "The Escapist" (based on Joe's being trained as one as a young boy), which gives Superman a run for his kryptonite. The ups and downs and ins and outs of their lives through comic book creating, the love of Rosa (a girl that Joe literally stumbles upon) and the state of the human psyche through sheer pleasure and terrible atrocity is all right with in the 637 pages of this book. Michael Chabon is clearly one of the most talented writers to come along in a long time. His descriptions are beyond reproach, with his twist of a word or a flick of an adjective you are literally smelling the coffee, hearing the wind, and envisioning each character to a tee. Kavalier and Clay is a fantastic journey through the World War II era through the lives of two cousins that accent each other and are just opposite enough to create a wonderful taste of literature. I absolutely recommend this book and hope you enjoy as much as I know I did.

There are few moments in life where you know you are actually witnessing an historical event. Some are tragic, some are wonderful and some, are just plain magical. When Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band stepped onto the stage to circus music and Springsteen, still in the dark, screamed :"is anyone alive out there?!" (a lyric off of his song Radio Nowhere), the crowd responded in a deafening call to start what would be one of the finset performances I have seen in my lifetime. To see the original E. Street Band backing Springsteen is something that does not and will not happen often. I couldn't help but notice that each member of the "backing band" are now all celebrities in their own right. Little Steven, Max Weinberg, Nils Lofgren and of course the big man Clarence Clemens, could all put on a concert of their own and do very well. To see them all together in one place playing in the band that made them famous is quite a spectacle. With the release of Springsteen's Magic last fall (which this reviewer named as the number one album of the year) he returns to pure form. Springsteen dabbled, and extremely well I would add, into acoustic folk rock albums prior to Magic, with his albums The Seeger Sessions and Live in Dublin. With Magic this was the perfect opportunity to tour with the original band recapturing that orginal sound. Listening to Magic you would think that you were listening to a Springsteen album from the 1970's. The raw energy of the album and the concert is and was inspiring. The show was full of numbers off the new album accented nicely with old material that is now cemented in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When the band took a bow and left the stage, the lights stayed down and people were calling for more. Usually during this time you see a ton of lighters being lit, however, in a sign of the times, there was one lighter I saw in a sea of swirling cell phone lights, man, times have changed. When the band made it back to the stage he asked for a sign that someone was holding in the audience which read "Rosalita Please", Bruce noted that they haven't played it in a long time and he didn't know if they would even be able to get through it. However, with the "Rosalita Please" sign leaning against the mic stand, the band whipped up a next to perfect rendition of the song. For me, as I'm sure it was for the rest of the crowd, this was amazing. Back in 1986 when I was just a young spry of music, I watched a TV Special for the 25th Anniversary of Rolling Stone Magazine. This special encompassed the history of rock and roll through the modern day of 1986. This special changed the course of my life. It was my first real foray into music and seeing how one musical movement inspired the next. In it was an E. Street performance of Rosalita from the 70's, I remember every note from that live version and played it over and over again. To see this actually live in person was a full circle moment for me and one I will truly never forget. Springsteen and the E. Street Band encompass all that is good about American rock and blues, they are the embodiment of the message of what American music was and every once in a while sometimes still is. I don't know if I will ever see the Boss again, but whether I do or not one thing is for sure, I saw rock and roll history being made, because at this point, whatever that band does makes history.

The only thing I really knew before reading this book is that Hershey chocolate has been around a long time and there is a town themed after it somewhere in Pennsylvania near Amish country. Boy was I undereducated in this realm.

Milton S. Hershey or M.S. as he was later known was the epitome and poster-boy for American capitalism at it's grandest hour. Starting off as an apprentice to a Confectioner he was able to start learning the tricks of the trade. He found his life's calling and tried his hand at a few candy businesses primarily focusing on caramel chews. At this time in America, chocolate was not like the chocolate we have today (which is due almost entirely to M.S.) it was a rough texture that wasn't that tasty. The only people in the world that understood how and mastered the making of milk chocolate at the time was the Swiss and they guarded their secret with a passion. Eventually, after a few failed attempts at businesses in both Philadelphia and New York, he returned to his home to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was then that he started experimenting with trying to master milk chocolate. In fact after he had begun construction on his new factory in what would be known as the Town of Hershey, he still had not gotten it right, he was experimenting with a chemist up until the time the factory was completed when he got it right.

The book is wonderfully written, It makes you really take a step back and think about not only the history of Hershey, but America itself. A time when companies and products were an explosion onto the American scene more than any other time in our Country's history. The book also takes a very intricate look at Hershey and his drive to support the Orphans that were taken in by Hershey's Industrial School, that, on paper own the Hershey company which has been a major issue over the years.

I was so enthralled by this book that I am going to be picking up another book on the same industry called "The Emperor's of Chocolate" about the wars between Hershey and the Mars Candy Company. If you are looking for a great read and knowledge of corporate American history this is a wonderful book to read. A+

Peer into the future - what do you see? Flying cars? Civilian space travel? How about food shortages and possible starvation? Well have no fear people smarter than you and I are way ahead of us. People at The Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCTD) are doing something about it. Right now in the World we save seeds in national seed banks that specialize in that region's native crops like pistachios in Iran and rice in the Philippines. What this does is if a disaster hit, we can go to the seed bank and find the seed that produced that variety of food and begin to grow that crop. The problem is a lot of the national food banks are in very hostile parts of the World such as Afghanistan and Iran. The GCTD estimates that almost half the seed banks in that part of the World may be at risk. Instead of waiting around for a possible major problem, the GCTD has begun to build the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which will serve as an international seed bank in the Arctic. The first shipments began to arrive in January. The vault will have enough room for millions of seeds to be stored and will be kept very dry. By doing this, even if the vault looses power certain seeds can still last for thousands of years. Also this will serve as a place to store seeds that may not be adaptable in the current growing conditions but with global warming they may be the seeds of tomorrow able to adapt to Earth's rising temperatures. So never fear, the seeds of tommorrow are being "planted" today.

To find out more go to Time.com

Given the fact that The Beatles are my favorite band I had very high expectations for this movie musical extravaganze that featured Beatles music as its soundtrack. I also knew ahead of time the director of the film, Julie Taymor, was known for her creativity and nuance that she proved while directing Broadway's The Lion King. Therefore I was ready for something quite spectacular when it came time to watch the film. The fact is, with those sort of expectations, unless somehow miraculously The Beatles reunited on screen, it was not going to be as great as I wanted it to be. The story about a young Liverpoolian named what else, Jude, travels across the pond to find his Dad, upon finding him he links up with a guy named Max who is a student and also has a very attractive sister named Lucy. To make a very long story short Jude and Lucy hook up and Max is sent off to war as the couple struggle through the turbulent times of the Vietnam era. Pretty simple story, no problem, but as much as I enjoyed the artistic direction and song remakes (which some were quite good, some were just not), I feel that the movie completely missed the mark. I felt that everytime you thought the movie would be headed straight for a bullseye with plot point and dramatic musical underscoring it veered left and then right, then up and left again. Being a fab four fan, I wanted to be moved and somehow transported by and through Beatles music, but instead I found the songs, acting and story out of whack with with each other. Taymor somehow manages to have all three going on on the same screen without ever really connecting. I wanted very much to see these facets all gel beautifully and at some points I actually found myself really trying to make them connect due to the fact that I really wanted the film to work, it just does not. The best part of the movie is actress Rachel Evan Woods who plays Lucy and is wonderfully cast as the muse of the film and a very surprise cameo by none other that U2 frontman Bono, which was a desparately needed gem in this ocean of comotion. It is too bad, because here was a chance to draw upon the renewed popularity of the movie musical with Beatles music and it just fails miserably. Sorry for the pun, but I have to say, I guess for this movie, all you needed was way, way more than love. D-

You may or may have not heard of the writer Diablo Cody. Ring a bell? No? What if I told you that she wrote the screenplay of the Oscar contender Juno. Now you at least know who I am referring to. Diablo Cody's book "Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper" was written before the astronomical success of Juno. The book is a memoir written about the time period of her life when she met her now husband Jonny, moved to his hometown in Minneapolis, got a job as a copywriter in an agency and at night took on the job of, first, as a topless dancer who tries out for amateur night at some dive, and eventually, becomes a full fledged sex worker at a erotic playhouse. It took me three days to read this book, that is how hard it was to put down, not necessarily because of what she was doing, but, more, why she was doing it. It is hard to find any rhyme or reason of why she does the things she does and she admits this in the book, but she does them, almost proving the emptiness of it all to herself that she didn't need to prove. The writing by Cody is absolutely spectacular and the only downfall to the book is that, when it is over, she has not written any others. Cody is a new backpage writer for the magazine Entertainment Weekly, and she already is in pre-production for a new movie that she has written. I am hoping though, that she sits down and writes another book, this was a non-stop roller-coaster of a ride, that when it is over, you will just want to get right back in line and want more. A+

The story of a the Russian mob in London and how it falls into the lap of an idealistic nurse is the premise of Eastern Promises. Anna (Naomi Watts) gets mixed up with the mob when a patient who is pregnant dies in her care and she delevers the baby. She then starts to try and find the woman's next of kin and that is where her search finds its way to the front doorstep of a ruthless faction of the Russian mob and where she first meets Nikolai (Viggo Mortenson) who is the driver of the family. She meets with the father of the family (Armin Mueller-Stahl) and informs him of what she is trying to do and drops the fact that she is trying to get the woman's journal into the next of kin, but that it is all in Russian and she needs someone to translate it. Simyon offers to do this and seems a little too eager to do so for her liking. She is then warned by her own family to stay away from the mob after her own Uncle, who is Russian, translates the diary and explains to her what is written. After she finds out the woman's story she is unable to supress her own morals and stay away from the mob and tries to confront them the best way she can. She deals primarily with the driver who is tough, but seemingly gentile to her and her plight as he constantly tells her to stay away from "people like (him)". The film itself has touches of "The Godfather" in it, not because it is a family mob story, but because of the craftsmanship of how the story unfolds. Vitto Mortenson gives one of the best performances I have ever seen with his carefully crafted tones and delivery, he most suredly should win the Best Actor Oscar that he is nominated for. Eastern Promises, in my opinion, should have been nominated for a Best Picture nod and at that, it should have been a frontrunner. The movie is masterfully done and I watched it twice in two days becuuse I enjoyed it so much. It is out on video now, so if you get a chance, give it a rent, or if you want to own something incredible, give it a buy, it stands up on repeat viewing and is a great story. A+

I like when politically based movies don't try and cram their ideals down your throat and become preachy, telling you what to think and how to feel. This is why Lions For Lambs works brilliantly. The movie done in three separate factions, argues the case for all sides of the Iraq war, and for that matter war in general. We have the powerful Senator (Tom Cruise) who has beckoned a seasoned reporter from a magazine like TIME (Meryl Streep) to "break the story" on his new plan for the war. He tries to spoon feed her what to write, while the whole time she tries to make sense of why she would ever report it.....again, the way that her station did originally when they sold the war in the first place. We then have the college professor (Robert Redford) who tries to help a sharp as a knife, yet shiftless student, understand why he should care and why someone as smart as he is needs to stand up and help, not lay down and not do anything. To explain his point he tells the story of two other shar as knives students he had that wanted to stand up and do something, joining the army to fight in the war against their professor's plea not to. We also see firsthand their story of the fight that they and the rest of the army are fiighting. All sides are spoken, all sides are argued regardless of political party association, and in the end the viewer must decide which side, if any, they are on. This is why I enjoyed this film, because, in the end, there was no answer, there was no neat and tidy wrap up and the fact that the issues that are argued are real, the viewer leaves (hopefully) with a decision of what side of the issue they are on. And if a movie can inspire that decision, then it is no longer a movie, it is a referendum. A

Why is it that every year there is always some sort of Oscar fave that I just can't seem to get in line with and why does it always seem to be the frontrunner? No Country For Old Men directed by the Coen Brothers is a painstakingly slow moving thriller that is purposely sludge-like to give the audience the laid back feel of how the South goes about their business. It is the story of Lewellen Moss a laid back cowboy who comes across a shootout gone bad where he stumbles upon and takes a case filled with millions in cash. A cold blooded, psychopathic killer (is there any other kind?) named Chager (played brilliantly by Javier Badem) pursues Lewellen to get the money back. All along the Southern gentile, no bull gentelman Sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) tries to pursue Chager, protect Lewellen and tries to understand how the world around him has changed so much in such a short period of time. What ensues is a chase to the speed of molasses. There is no musical score, because apparantly in the South there is no music, the scenes that have dialogue do not have that much in it and the only time the movie is somewhat exciting is to watch the acting chops of Badem who takes to the role of Chager like a panther to the wild. I usually adore the Coen brothers films, but even upon a second viewing of this movie, I couldn't find what the big deal of it was. It, at best, is a lazy Sunday afternoon happens to be on TV movie, that has a cool character in it. Besides that, once again, here we go with a movie that most likely will win the Best Picture of the Year Oscar and I for one would not understand why. In a field of nominated movies such as Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton and There Will Be Blood, please tell me that the Academy will vote for one of the other and not for this boring whatever of a movie. C-