O.k., I just finished two books and saw a movie this weekend (my count goes up to 4 books for the year…31 left! :) )

For the books -

“Breakpoint” Richard Clarke – He can write a heck of non-fiction novel, specifically I thought ‘Against all enimies’ was ridiculously good.  He can’t write his way out of a paper sack for a fiction book.  It seemed like the majority of the book was long speeches about various technology and how people were going to be using it. 

The premise of the book is that it’s 2012 and we’ve just had a cyber-terrorist attack launched against the US.  It’s plausible, the technology descriptions were right, the plot was horrid.  The characters seemed like they were tossed in as filler and that they were secondary to really long speeches. Did I say they were long?  They were awkwardly placed too.  In one scene, a character asks about a what a ‘packet’ is – they should have known.  I can’t imagine that a conversation like that occurs in a technical briefing during the middle of a crisis. For all my luck, Richard Clarke is going to read this review; for what’s it’s worth I appreciate the care that went into the technology, but the plot was weak.

Oh yeah, the villians were Christians who were upset and the continued Chinese persecution of Christians.  Boo on that point as well.

“Parenting in the Pew” Robbie Castleman – On the other end of things, I adored this book.  It’s a how-to in getting your children interested in church and I would highly recommend it.  It is as useful to us now as ‘True Love…in a world of false hope’ was when we were dating.  It couldn’t have come at a better time either because Aidan is coming into the first part of the worship service. The advice is good and useful for anyone who wants to train their children in how to worship.  It also really made me rethink how to explain things to Aidan, and turned an experience I was dreading to one that really enhances the experience while Aidan is there. I really appreciate the pragmatic nature of her advice.  It’s just simply a good book

Finally, just got back from ’300′.  It’s simply mindless entertainment.  It’s better to see with a group, there’s almost no basis in reality or in history and there is absolutly no visible plot, but that’s not really why you’re there.  There were a few places that plot kind of eeked it’s way on screen and it was problematic.  At one point a Spartan sees his son die in battle (way too long of a scene) and gets upset and says that he only had one regret – not telling his son that he loved him.  The execution of the scene was incredibly lame and unrealistic and out of place for a culture that valued the warrior mind. 

It was *alot* of fighting and too much nudity.  The later of which will ultimately doom the movie to the 5 dollar bin at walmart in 8 or so years. It’s a shame because it’s one of the movie visually stunning movies that I’ve seen in a while.  It’s also an R rated movie that firmly deserves it’s rating.

Overall, it’s a fun movie (similar to Vin Diesel’s xXx flick from a few years ago in terms of action), it’s a stunning movie (the whole green/blue screen thing made Frank Miller’s unique look translate well to the big screen), and I would definately see it in the theater.  However, the really ridiculous nudity at points in the film make it not for everyone.

Oh, did I mention it ripped off Gladiator and Braveheart at points in the story?  Yes, there were a couple of scenes that made me totally think of those two movies. What didn’t help was Leonides accent was strongly scottish and when he talked of being ‘free men’ I expected him to yell out ‘we fight for scotland!’

p.s. A real description of the battle, which would make for a good movie in it’s own right, is here on wikipedia.