Movie Reviews

Within the past week, I've seen 2 movies, both of which I would recommend to you if you have $10 burning a hole in your pocket (or $20 if you want to see both, and spring for some popcorn).

I.O.U.S.A.



Yes, it's a movie about the national debt. And I can totally understand how you would just assume that this would be a real snoozer. But it was really good. It's hard to make a good movie about a global financial crisis, but these guys did it. I actually want to get it for people for Christmas....

You need to watch this. Even if you have no clue about the national debt, or don't care, this is an issue that requires our attention. It was really eye-opening, so if you do go see it, let me know! We can discuss :)


Body of Lies



Now, I'll be totally honest. It's never hard for me to watch Leonardo DiCaprio. However, this was not originally on my "must see" list until it became the movie chosen for our off-site at work. It's a spy movie set in the Middle East, and it was pretty entertaining. One of those that made me think about the plot for the rest of the day, trying to figure out who told who what and when and where they were and how on earth did this happen? Oy.

Anyhow, if you like action movies, or movies with plots about international spies who also happen to be fairly attractive (wink!), then you should go see this. I will warn you, there are a few scenes that I couldn't watch (violence-wise), but the rest of it was good.

One question: why do all spy movies have the same font? You know what I'm talking about. It's that all caps, computery-looking text that you can just imagine someone using to type in the coordinates of some safe house in the desert. Just something I noticed...

Enjoy!

How did we get here?

Here's another little gem about our crazy financial times. Now, I don't really care if you're pro- or anti-bailout, it's nice to have a summary of how we got here, and just how much cash has been shelled out.

And the comic is just for fun, because apparently I enjoy making fun of the government (wink!).





Image courtesy of the Consumerist

A long week...

I miss you, coffee.

Is it sad that this made my day?

This picture literally made my day. I hope it makes you smile.

To be fair, here's the caption:

US Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) reacts to almost heading the wrong way off the stage after shaking hands with Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) at the conclusion of the final presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, October 15, 2008.

Link to Yahoo story

Face it

We live in a world where a movie like this not only makes money, but it makes almost $30 million dollars.

Let me say again, that I do not approve of entertainment that features animals that talk. The only exception to that rule is the K-9 Advantix series of commercials. I mean seriously, how cute is that little singing puppy?!?!?




Note: if you happen to like talking animals, please don't take this post personally. I think we can still be friends, right?

My current reading list

Ever since reading the "Frantic Family" book a few weeks ago, I've been on a bit of a Patrick Lencioni kick.

For those of you familiar with his work, let me know your thoughts. For those of you that aren't incredibly familiar with his work, he is a long-time consultant who writes business narratives in order to drive home a central point, whether that be about meetings, silos, goals, etc.

And given the fact that I'm married to one of the most avid readers I know, I didn't have to go too far to start picking up some more Lencioni and diving right in.

First up, Death by Meeting



And it happened to be quite timely, because I had a little Death by Meeting experience yesterday, despite my best efforts in recent days to avoid such a travesty.

Rather than having a meeting for the sake of having a meeting, or spending hours on end in a conference room and getting nowhere, Lencioni argues that there are different formats, frequencies and agendas that one should have on their calendar. Honestly, it helped me think about work differently, which can't be a bad thing, right?

Some of what he covers in the book helped me try some different approaches to my day-to-day meetings, and I'm hoping that in the long run, my time, and my co-worker's time will be spent more effectively. I'll keep you posted.

Next up: Silos, Politics and Turf Wars



If you've spent any time in corporate America, you just might be familiar with the idea that a lot of folks have an "us vs. them" mentality in the work place. I can guarantee that folks, including myself, do at my office.

A lot of what Lencioni talks about in this book is familiar to the topics in "Frantic Family", especially the idea of setting a rallying cry to unite folks.

Man, how I wish that this were as easy to put in place as he makes it sound. The fictional story that he paints would be great if it were happening in real life, but from what I've seen, a lot of businesses are a long ways from getting there.

But I'm holding out some hope. And this did make me think of things a bit differently. I'd love to talk to some of the execs in my department about what they see as our rallying cry and what they think about working through some of the existing politics. I see how his concepts could work at a small company, but trying to get 80,000 people unified around a few core concepts is a bit of a daunting task.

And finally, The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive



I'm about 1/3 of the way through this one, and I'm enjoying it. No, I am not an executive. Will I ever be? Who knows. But I don't think it can hurt to try to start thinking like one. Or to start thinking like an extraordinary one, at that ;)

Mammoth, revisited

I have to admit I was a bit shocked when the news broke this week that evidence of Steve Fossett (cash, license) had been found near Mammoth Lakes, California. And then today, they found the wreckage of the plane near that same spot.

Why was I shocked? Becuase Amar and I were just there 6 weeks ago.

Here's a write-up in the Times about the find, first discovered by a hiker and then confirmed by an air search.

This is the kind of terrain that was searched.



Massive trees. Steep cliffs. Mountains. All in all, a tough find.