I’ve been using My French Coach<img src=“http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=buddhistbookr-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000SQ5LOG” width=“1” height=“1” border=“0” alt="" style=“border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” / > for two days and I’m already up to the rank of “First Grader”. I think I’m progressing so fast because I wasn’t ranked correctly in the first place. I also think it’s too easy to progress. For example, I might be exposed to a word ten times in various games, and then I’m assumed to have “mastered” the word. In fact, that’s not really the case. I may be able to pick the correct translation in a multiple choice quiz, but if I were asked to translate the word without any hints, I might be unable to. And if I did get it right, I might still get the spelling incorrect.

Despite that, I’ve spent at least 4 hours over the last couple of days playing with the gadget. So far as motivation goes, it seems to be working.

I was only slightly disappointed when I finished The Traveller. I felt like the book was wandering a little bit towards the end, but maybe that’s my own fault for not reading it straight through. Regardless, I’m eager to get started on book two, The Dark River.

I got a Nintendo DS for Christmas, along with Ubisoft’s My French Coach<img src=“http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=buddhistbookr-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000SQ5LOG” width=“1” height=“1” border=“0” alt="" style=“border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” / >.

When initializing, the game tests you to start you at the correct level. I started at level 10, which sounds great! But they give that level a rank of “Pre-Schooler”. Oops!

I didn’t read the manual before starting, but jumped right in. I give the game kudos for how easy it was to start.

The software consists of learning modules and game modules. Mostly, I’ve been playing four games: word search (hunt for French words in a square matrix of letters); a whack-a-mole style game where you bop the critters holding the French word that matches the English word you are hunting; a multiple choice quiz game where you’re given an English word and a set of four French words to match it with; and a similar word match game called “Flash Cards” which isn’t really flash cards. In the Flash Cards game, you are given a French word, sometimes spoken and sometimes written, and then given a choice of four English words with which to match it. So the multiple choice game and the flash card game are similar, but differ in which direction you are translating to/from.

Will I become fluent in French by playing this game? I do not think so. However, I have found that my motivation in studying French is sporadic at best. In contrast, I know that I can obsessively play video games for hours. So much so, that I have stayed away from video games for many years, since I tend to be unable to play them in moderation. And indeed, in the last 24 hours of possessing this game, I’ve played it for about two hours.

My hope is that this will be a good motivational tool, to drive me to pick up my French text books more often. I think the interactivity will help in keeping me interested. Time will tell.

I have to be wary of the temptation to buy a “real” video game module for my new Nintendo DS. One of my nieces was playing MarioKart on her Nintendo, and I asked her to show it to me. It was quite a lot of fun! I can see myself ejecting “My French Coach” in favor of a mindless video game and never coming back to it. Maybe I could play just for a little while…

I first watched Holiday many years ago, and since then it’s my favorite Christmas film. It’s a simple romantic comedy starring two greats, Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. But its message is resounding: money is a means to an end, and nothing more. On top of that, Holiday is bursting with cheer. It always amazes me that It’s a Wonderful Life, which is so dreary and depressing, enjoys such success in contrast.

OK, it’s not really taking me “forever” to read The Traveller. But it’s taking me longer than it should, because I am afraid to finish it. There are two reasons. It is just that entertaining, and when I finish it I know I’ll have a hard time finding anything else that good to read. Worse, what if it disappoints? I’m over three-quarters into the book. There have been some minor flaws which I can easily overlook, but it could be a sign of bad things to come. Will the denouement be thrilling? I am afraid to look…

The first Jean Claude Van Damme movie that I saw was Timecop. In one scene, he leaped up from the floor to avoid electrocution, landing in a split on a kitchen countertop – in his underwear, no less (see it in the trailer). I became a fan instantly!

Unfortunately, that was my peak Jean Claude Van Damme experience – until today, when I saw JCVD. I like my mindless action and violence as much as anyone else, and that’s really the most I was hoping for, although I had read a short review which promised more.

Well, this movie delivers. If you need convincing, go read the review at the Washington Post. For someone who is a fan of both the martial arts genre and French film, as I am, JCVD is a dream come true.

SPOILERALERT – this review contains some plot details that you might not want to know if you plan to see the movie.

The Day the Earth Stood Still was only mildly entertaining for me. It might be more enjoyable for children and teens, or anyone who hasn’t seen the original 1951 movie.

It has been a long time since I’ve seen the original, and I recall liking it. The remake requires way too much suspension of disbelief for me. The aliens come off almost as dumb as the humans, which I don’t recall in the original.

I refreshed my memory of the original by skimming the synopsis at wiki. In the older movie, the aliens’ motives were more convincing – a fear that humanity would become a danger to alien races. In the current movie, the vague rationalization is that humans are destroying the earth, but the aliens don’t give a strong reason for caring about that. It’s something like “we’re going to kill all humans in order to save the other living species on the planet, and besides, humanity’s going to extinguish itself anyway.” This goes way beyond deep ecology. And they’ve based their conclusions on a perfunctory study of the human race… Another giant plot hole.

Worst of all, in the remake we never hear the magic phrase “Klaatu barada nikto.” Major, major flaw!!

Is it worth seeing this in the theater as I did? Well, if you’re going to see it at all, see it on the big screen, to get all the spectacle (try to ignore all the blatant product placements). Go for a discount matinee, like I did. But if you’re waffling, I’d say don’t bother. Rent the original instead.

The Brave One is a simplistic, fantasy vengeance movie. Jodie Foster plays a woman who is brutally assaulted, along with her fiancé, who doesn’t survive the attack. The story follows her as she tries to deal with surviving the event.

I was disappointed because I was expecting something more complex from Jodie Foster. Not that she doesn’t do a good job acting the part. However, in her “prosecution” of the criminals that she meets (with unrealistic frequency), her character has an omniscience which is completely lacking in reality… she (and the viewer) are always completely certain of the guilt of the people she kills. This kind of certainty is rare in real life; and even when it happens, one person’s certainty is no guarantee of their correctness. That’s the reason that vigilantism is generally a bad thing, and we’re better off with our admittedly flawed justice system.

Is it interesting that a woman is playing the role of vigilante? I suppose so. I don’t think I would have bothered watching the movie if it had been about a male vigilante; but in that case, I wouldn’t have been expecting more depth either.

The redeeming feature of this movie is its realistic portrayal of the impact of violent crime on its victims. The manner in which Foster’s character completely changes is very believable, although the rest of the plot is not.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a suspenseful page-turner. Although it deals with some lurid sex crimes, I didn’t feel the topic was exploited.

The characters are pretty well fleshed out, but I was disappointed to meet yet another fictional character with eidetic memory. Here, it really wasn’t even necessary as a plot device. Despite the quibble, I’m adding Larsson’s other books to my reading list.

I wanted to like The Handmaid’s Tale. Unfortunately, I found it ferociously boring. I suspect that Atwood was trying to relay the incredible boredom that comes with oppression, but she did it too well.

The protagonist is extremely weak, so much so that I didn’t care about her, or become absorbed in her story. Stuff just happens to her. In fact the only thing she initiates involves a silly and unbelievable “love story” which is tacked on near the end. I suppose the love story may be an ironic commentary; presumably the protagonist has some form of Stockholm syndrome.

I suppose some might argue that she was strong, because she was a survivor. That might be my perspective if this were a real, living person. But this is fiction, and I want more from my fictional characters than what was given here.

I’ve been trying to read more about this book, to discover if there’s any underlying meaning or symbolism that I’m missing… so far, zilch. It is what it is.