Damien Riley HQ

Anthony Hopkins plays John Clancy, a psychic Doctor. If I were psychic and could see people’s death path when I touched them, I think I would pass on being a doctor and work in a toll booth. It turns out the serial killer cop “Joe” and Clancy seek is also very psychic and quite a few steps of both of them as they try to track him down.

There isn’t much new here for the genre. It feels like a run-of-the-mill serial killer movie. Anthony Hopkins does a few Hannibal Lecter clone scenes. One example is when he describe Abbie Cornish’s child to her without knowing anything about her. She plays Joe’s partner on the force. Clarisse anyone?

The killer, played by Collin Farrell, doesn’t show up until past midway. When he does, he is docile and tame. In my opinion, he was a very poor casting choice. His impetus or killing is supposed to be benevolent but it’s really not. Yes, it’s that hard to divine. We have a dead victim in a bloody bath (Dexter anyone?) and a script that borrows from every serial killer more cliche but it’s “ok,” the more isn’t terrible. I hated seeing talents wasted on such nonsensical writing though.

The ending is very predictable. I read on Wikipedia that this movie was meant to be a sequel to se7en. That might explain why the borrowed so much rom that and movies like it.

I enjoyed the actors but everything else is a fail for me. I took three stars away possibly to warn people this movie doesn’t merit the actors in it. There is some action between the nonsense so if you have nothing else to watch, I might recommend it.

I almost feel like if I don’t give this film 5 stars, bad movie karma will visit me. It is mentioned in so many reviews I read as well as in interviews with directors and actors. It was released with an “X” rating which is laughable by our standards today. I think you see one female breast in about three short, clothed sex scenes. It later received an R rating.

This film is old, it came out the same year I was born.

Oldies are often goodies though and “Midnight Cowboy,” while gritty, is a drama treat with award winning actors that make the story come alive.

I love movies that show us the naked city. From the playbills stapled and frayed on side streets to the honking of taxicabs. People are trying to survive and we get to travel with the camera, taking it all in. Of course, we can pause at any time or come back to revisit another time. People in the real city can’t. Maybe that’s why we like watching what they will do, often out of desperation.

Just seeing John Voight and Dustin Hoffman in their prime is very entertaining.

These guys were showing us acting like university drama instructors here in their mid twenties. John Voight has always struck me as one dimensional and stupid. That actually works for his character here. Hoffman is a con man, a sick one at that. We get a slice on 1969 in this very well made and incredibly acted film. I recommend it.

Title: Midnight Cowboy
Number of times I’ve seen it: 1
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Year: 1969
Director: John Schlesinger, (“Marathon Man”)
Top Billed Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles

Brief Synopsis: Man moves to the big city and makes an unlikely friend.

This post is about self help / personal development. Or, specifically, how to make acronyms and use them for self-improvement. The process of making them can be challenging, but using them is easy and rewarding. At New Year’s cusp, people always think about resolutions but shouldn’t we be thinking about them all year long? Trying to reinvent ones self once every year can have some value but ongoing changes throughout the year yields greater results. I usually make my resolutions around August because that is where my teaching work year renews itself. Continuous improvement is what I strive for and I use self-invented acronyms to make it happen.

These funny little words really work!

There are many quality online personal development courses that attest to the power of acronyms. The reason I use acronyms is because they are easy to remember. Usually all goals can be narrowed down to three words. That’s the perfect length for an acronym. The word you create becomes your personal thing and you carry it with you while traveling toward your goals. This past new year’s eve I read about a great worksheet and used it to develop some of my goal words for the year. Check it out here.

The first three goals are your creation!

At the beginning of the process, write down three words you want to focus on. You might write many and narrow them down to the three best. For example, a horse trainer might list:

patience, people, volume

Each word has a lot of idiosyncratic meaning to the horse trainer. You can imagine what these three words might mean in a horse trainer’s life in contrast to that of say, a lawyer.

Next in the process come up with a three letter word you will use as your acronym. It doesn’t matter if it’s related to the three words you just chose or not, but you should find the imagery of the word pleasing. You may find this list of three letter words intended for Scrabble players useful. This is in a way the game of your life.

To illustrate these first 2 steps, let’s say the horse trainer chooses the goals listed above and then chooses the word “ACT” as his acronym.

That leads to the most fun and rewarding step in my opinion. It’s also the step that takes the most time. The step is to come up with three words that start with the letters A,C, and T. Each word should represent one of the word-meanings you came up with when you started the process ie; patience, people, volume.

This can take a lot of trial and error until you get it right but once you are done you “own” the acronym. Take this as a possibility:

Allow (patience)
Culture (people)
Tons (volume)

The words you assign to the acronym don’t have to be exactly the same meaning as your goals but they should have enough to do with the original goal for you to remember the goal when you recall the acronym.

Now the horse trainer can go to work thinking about his meaningful acronym “ACT.” He has given his job and life a more precise focus.

I chose nouns for this example, but you can choose action verbs as well.  A resource you might find useful is this list of action verbs by letter. You can even make up a sentence like “I will Always be patient,” where Always is the A part of the acronym. This is helpful when you just can’t think of a word to match the goal.

When it comes to personal development and self-improvement, I swear by my acronyms to improve memory and other stuff. I think once you give it a try, you will too. If you are a trainer or a mentor, acronyms can assist you greatly with your time management training program. On a last note, you should check out this make an acronym engine, it is helpful.

Title: The 5th Wave
Number of times I’ve seen it: 1
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Year: 2014
Director: J Blakeson
Top Billed Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz (“Hugo,” “Kickass”), Matthew Zuk, Gabriela Lopez (“Million Dollar Arm”)
Brief Synopsis: Aliens start inhabiting Earth and a group of tenagers rebel trying to save themselves. The main character, Cassie Sullivan, is trying to find her little brother.
[usr 4]

The rest of this review may contain spoilers.

Here we have yet another teenage post apocalypse love triangle action sci fi film. On that level, it holds its own. There are some great action and cgi destruction scenes.

Chloë Grace Moretz commands the screen with a presence that belies her youth. It’s a great movie and I highly recommend it. My one criticism is that it took a while to get going. I don’t think the story started moving for me until the scene where the main character is shot in the leg. That’s where the mysteries start to unravel. Because that took far too long, it lost a star from me.

My friend Shelly wrote in a recent comment:

We don’t prepare for old age, because when we are young we think we are immortal.

This is so true. We see this in young men under 25 and the psychologists call it “young man’s syndrome.” It is near impossible for men in this age bracket to imagine their own death. So why does our brain and mental health come into clear focus later in life? What changes? Is there a certain quota of aches and pains that have to occur before we realize we are mortal? Maybe this syndrome is a survival mechanism. Maybe it once kept us at the top of the food chain before we became domesticated creatures. Whatever the reason for it, it shows a very important point:

Our brain has a lot to do with our notion of reality.

Phineas Gage, whose skull and brain injury is a pillar of brain study, emerged from his injury virtually unaffected. The thick metal rod shot directly through his cheek and up through his brain leaving fragments of of brain and bone on it yards away. Though everyone thought he would die, he lived another 15 years. His reason and inhibitions drastically changed in those 15 years, but he did indeed live.

Four representations of Phineas Gage, from Macmillan, M. (2006). Restoring Phineas Gage: A 150th Retrospective. J. Hist. Neurosci. 9: 46-66. [Abstract]

I think we take for granted that our brain is like a knee or an elbow or any other external body part: It can get bruised, it can get scratched and upset. Birth defects are a given, but during our life, parts of our brain can be neglected, causing neuroses. It doesn’t have to be a metal rod through the skull to affect our brain chemistry. We tend to think that our brains are immortal. Just because they are there hidden and snug inside our skulls, we can trust they are feeding us a perception that is 100% “reality.” I challenge that common belief. I posit that for as many brains there are walking the Earth there are different notions of reality. We may share some of the basics, but after that brain chemistry differs and therefore so does perception.

So what does this mean to you? Do all you can to take care of your brain. The instrument is fine. The treasures you will find will be in your mind. If you are chronically upset, see a doctor. It could be a chemical problem. There are many out there untreated. Why suffer when drugs exist to bring you into balance? Short of drugs, make sure you eat right and get the vitamins you need. Sleep and rest are also crucial to mental balance. The next time you think you are upset because of “real” things, remember that your imperfect and delicate brain interprets real. Until you’ve had the decent sleep, mediation, and diet, you should never assume that your brain is qualified to judge reality. Even then, it still can be wrong.

Is your brain getting all it needs?

If you don’t grab opportunity, someone richer and smarter will. I tell my students that they can go to college. Many voices in their lives tell them otherwise.

We of education and a measure of success owe it to the youth today to provide them with a vision.

Furthermore, hope for college and a life beyond. In the 1980’s, it was possible to finish high school and start a lifelong career. Since then the factory system along with the assembly line has died. The service jobs are all still there but they don’t pay enough to pay the bills. Uneducated people in the service industry end up renting rooms with other low paid people and the family unit suffers all around.

I have a respect for those in the service industry but it is a lie to tell our young students today that is all they need to have the American life they see on tv and the silver screen. We’re raising dropouts who know the good life as they have perceived it. They don’t understand that a cool sports car is owned by people who have a college degree more than those who deal drugs.

We need to tell them our success stories.

Even if we never lived in a poverty situation, everyone who is educated and thriving in our society has a story. When we tell kids our story, we are fighting against ignorance and propaganda. We are providing a clear light in a hazy grey universe.

Take a ten year old’s mind for instance, I teach this age of child as my job. Ten year olds are immediate creatures. This means, they want the reward now. The further away the reward, the less interested they become. I show them stairs and explain They are on the 4th grade step. Every step is another one closer to their dream. Have them visualize their dream. Nurture their dream with them.

We should never forget that where there is no dream, the people will die.

After all, as great as we think our careers are, would we do them for free? I know I wouldn’t. We need to get kids the buy in that any person would have. If we don’t we will see more and more kids drop out. As I said before, there really is no dream anymore for the uneducated. They may get lucky but I am talking the law of averages. We owe it to them to wake them up. I know it can feel tiring when they don’t respond right away. Strain to do it, you can sleep when they’re older, educated, and successful.

Your thoughts?

Title: Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Genre: Documentary, Crime, Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Year: 2008
Director: Kurt Kuenne
Top Billed Cast: N/A
Brief Synopsis: The disappearance of a 28 year old man reveals dark truths. The documentary maker made this for his son and complications arose.
My Word to the Wise: Fans of Dateline and 48 Hours will likely enjoy this film. It’s a gripping true story told in news footage and interviews. It will likely infuriate as well as entertain. It is a masterful telling of a story with an ending you’d never expect. As a documentary it was too long for me. They do a lot of filler scenes that repeat content. For that it lost a couple stars.