I am not normally a fan of Leo. I mean come on, Lord of the Flys? Gimmie a break. But this year he has put on two master performances that I have got to respect. The latest is in Blood Diamond. All the action you could want, a love story and a message as well. Don’t buy diamonds. Didn’t put me off diamonds as much as SuperSize Me put me off of MacDonalds, but this was made by Hollywood who likes to hide their messages as bes they can. And a GREAT performance by all the cast. I rate as 4 of 5. There may even be some Oscars in there somewhere. Best supporting?

The Nativity Story. Can’t get more Christmas than that. Most of the movies of this are afternoon TV sugary sweet. This is not. No, it is not Passion of the Christ gory, but the real human challenges of the situation come through. Mary got pregnant during her engagement to Joseph while in a different town. In their time that was a stonable offense. It took true courage to accept her after that. The three kings are funny and a bit hollywoodized. They also come the same night Jesus is born which is not how most scholars have it (they have them coming a week or so later). Something good to do with the relatives. I rate 3 of 5 stars.

At first I was in Hawaii with a free night. so I saw it. Then I was back in Seattle two days later and my mother was visiting for thanksgiving and she wanted to see it. Then three days later a girl wanted to see it. So I saw it three times. And I have already ordered the DVD from Amazon. This is the best Bond ever and I can’t wait for the other two in his three picture deal

I read this book about 15 years ago. During a time when I was really into Bond and I read all the original Ian Flemming books. It was great then. Great now. And even better after the movie. The movie “hollywooded” up the story, but Flemming is still fresh and enjoyable. It has a certain sort of 60’s innocense that the movie lacks. I love it and rate it 3 of 5 stars.

so i am on Oahu surfing and doing a little business. Stop by Borders for something to read. There is a whole wall of surf books. I have most of them. but not this one. It is a great coffee table book. Super pictures from Surfer and Surfer’s Journal with little inspriational quotes. Nice feature is a built in ribbon bookmark like the bible. I have it set on a double page photo from under the water of a barrel with a surfer in it saying “live in the moment”. Good advice for anyone.

I mispoke. The VERY last thing I want to read now is another management book on how the workplace is going to “change”. The thought of that is even worse than humanitarian utopia books.

There are lots of books out now about the end of oil. Paul Roberts does a better than average job describing the impacts. This is not a light or happy read. If you want to be scared, read it. If you have already read The Prize or seen the End of Suburbia, or clicked through the site LifeAfterTheOilCrash.net, you already know everything. I rate 3 of 5 stars. Not seminal work, but worth the read.

I just can’t be bothered to read yet another humanistic utopia book right now. I am not in that kind of mood.

Lance is a true American hero. Not perfect, but unbelievable driven. His ability to destroy the competition is unhuman. The author lived with Lance for over a year and a half. This is the best book on professional cycling I have ever read. And a keen insight into what makes Lance tick. A must read for every cyclist. A should read for every competitive American. I rate 4 of 5 stars!

So I work for this company called Imperium Renewables. We make Biodiesel. When Imperium the novel came out I just had to get it right away. Robert Harris writes about life of Cicero as told by his slave scribe Tiro, the inventor of shorthand. Very engaging. I kept wanting to get back to it. I also want to read the next one which will undoubtedly be about Ceasar who is just getting his political career going as Cicero becomes Counsel. The political intrigue and parallels to the factious infighting we have today was striking (and probably intentional). Much more corruption back then though. I recommend it 4 of 5 stars!