July 30, 2010

In What Circumstances Do People Have Sufficient Food and Yet Starve to Death?

A Holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, 'Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.'

The Lord led the holy man to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.

In the middle of the room was a large round table.

In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly.

They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

The Lord said, 'You have seen Hell. They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water.

The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The holy man said, 'I don't understand.'

'It is simple,' said the Lord. 'It requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other. The greedy think only of themselves.'

Jesus died on the cross because he was other-centered and not self-centered. Life is not just about having your spoon, it is also about knowing how to use your spoon

July 29, 2010

Movie Review:

Hercule Poirot - "The Double Clue" Exposes Hercule's Facade as the Thief Melts His Heart

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Hercule Poirot - The Double Clus - 4 Stars (Excellent)

The dramatization of "The Double Clue" by Anthony Horowitz in 1991strays somewhat from the original novel written by Agatha Christie in 1923, but remains one of the best Hercule Poirot episodes ever.

Poirot (David Suchet) is called to investigate the theft of an irreplaceable piece of jewelry that occurred during a social gathering at the home of wealthy collector Marcus Hardman (David Lyon).

Only four guests are possible suspects—a millionaire who could buy the missing piece in a heartbeat; a middle-aged society lady who is on hard times; a young, effeminate agent for Hardman; and a Russian refugee, Countess Vera Rossakoff (Kika Markham).

Poirot's assistant—Captain Arthur Hastings (Huge Fraser)—and personal secretary—Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran)—pretty much make fools of themselves investigating the case while Poirot is smitten and spends all of his time with Countess Rossakoff. Both Hastings and Miss Lemon are visibly upset because the precise, orderly, rational, meticulous little Belgian detective is so out of character.

Even more upset is Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson) whose job is on the line since there have been three recent thefts of precious jewelry and the thief is still at large. Japp is given only a couple of days to solve the case; he sees his livelihood slipping away as Poirot idles away his time with the Countess.

Miss Lemon is distraught. She has been in love with Hercule forever and Poirot never even notices her. Poirot finds the Countess to be the most extraordinary woman he has ever met, a brilliant thief who is the match of his brilliant mind. Will Poirot be able to experience an impluse and yet not act on it?

See how Poirot finds and returns the stolen goods only to have the thief escape into the night.

July 27, 2010

Movie Review:

"A Man for All Seasons" Demonstrates What Integrity Should Be in the Middle Ages and Now

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

A Man for All Seasons - 4 Stars (Excellent)

A Man for All Seasons poses the question: What would a man sacrifice for his principles?

When King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) seeks approval to divorce his aging wife Catherine of Aragon who could not bear him a son, and marry his mistress Anne Boleyn, the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church stand in his way.

Henry VIII's new Chancellor of England and Cardinal--Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield)—stands in his way as well. Henry VIII wants Sir Thomas More's blessing in his action but does not get it as Sir Thomas More, a good Catholic and Cardinal, will not go along with such heresy.

More resigns as chancellor, seeking to live out his life as a private citizen, but Henry VIII will settle for nothing less than More's public approval of his headstrong course. Sir Thomas refuses to either endorse or denounce the King's action, and remains a man of principle.

Great effort is made to convince More to change his stance on Henry VIII's action. One of More's rivals, Thomas Cromwell (Leo McKern); another religious, Cardinal Wolsey (Orson Welles); and The Duke of Norfolk (Nigel Davenport) all take their turns at More.

One example is when More testifies before an inquiry committee and Norfolk attempts to persuade him to sign an oath of allegiance:

Norfolk: "Look, I'm not a scholar, and frankly I don't know whether the marriage was lawful or not—but Thomas, look at these names! You know these men! Can't you do as I did and come along with us for fellowship?"

More: "And when we stand before God, and you are sent to Heaven for doing according to your conscience, and I am sent to hell for not doing according to mine, will you come along with me—for fellowship?"

There are several lines by More that merit mention but there is not enough space to do so. Here is one of the best: "I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos."

Sir Thomas More was a very smart and savvy—as well as principled—man.

Henry VIII gets every person of any consequence in England to sign his oath (the Act of Supremacy), endorsing his action, except Sir Thomas who will not sign, and remains silent as to the reason why he will not sign.

Cromwell is an English statesman and the chief minister to King Henry VIII. It is Cromwell who presides over King Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon in 1533 and Henry's subsequent break with the Roman Catholic Church.

When More proves himself to be loyal to King Henry VIII by not speaking out against him and also shows himself to be a loyal subject by not inciting rebellion, Cromwell appears to prosecute Sir Thomas out of personal spite.

In the end, Sir Thomas is the only person in England who will die for his principles, and commit himself to God for judgment. He is betrayed by an ambitious, lower level appointed attorney general, Richard (John Hurt), whose outright lie condemns Sir Thomas to be beheaded.

Sir Thomas More loses his head (no pun intended) but most importantly, not his soul. Sir Thomas is later canonized as Saint Thomas More by the Roman Catholic Church.

Henry VIII subsequently dies of syphilis, and the evil Thomas Cromwell who orchestrates Sir Thomas More's tragic demise is himself judged a traitor to England 5 years later and is also beheaded.

The riff subsequently leads to England's split from the Roman Catholic Church and the creation of the Anglican Church, the Church of England.

A Man for All Seasons does not deviate from the truth of Sir Thomas More's stance, and as such provides a role model for acting with right thinking and right motives, even at the cost of one's life.

What makes A Man for All Seasons even more impressive is that the plot for the movie is based on the true story of Sir Thomas More. Sir Thomas More was a scholar and statesman who became the leading humanist of the Renaissance Era.

A Man for All Seasons is a story about everything that is right in England and life (Sir Thomas More's integrity to his principles) and everything that is wrong in England and life (greed, avarice, lust, lying, cheating, stealing, the corruption of power, and the corruption of religious leaders).

A Man for All Seasons was writer Robert Bolt's greatest success, first as a play and then as the screenplay for its 1966 movie release following a successful Broadway run. Bolt's 16th Century period piece has exacting details of the era.

A Man for All Seasons would win 6 Oscars at the 1967 Academy Awards: Best Picture (Fred Zinnemann), Best Director (Fred Zinnemann), Best Writing (Robert Bolt), Best Actor (Paul Scofield), Best Cinematography (Ted Moore) and Best Costume Design (Elizabeth Haffenden and Joan Bridge).

The film also received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Robert Shaw) and Best Supporting Actress (Wendy Hiller as Sir Thomas More's wife Alice).

In addition the movie garnered another 27 wins and 5 nominations, including Golden Globe wins for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor and a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Interestingly, Charlton Heston lobbied heavily for the role of Sir Thomas More, but was not seriously considered. Richard Burton was offered the part and turned it down.

The producers originally wanted Laurence Olivier as Thomas More and Alec Guinness as Wosley, but Director Fred Zinnemann insisted on Paul Scofield and Orson Welles in the roles. The rest is history. Zinnemann obviously knew how to direct a great film and a huge box office success.

July 26, 2010

Movie Review:

"Prada" Boss Drives Away Everyone and Everything But Blind Ambition

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

The Devil Wears Prada - 2 Stars (Average)

Meryl Streep, one of Hollywood's best and most honored actresses, carries The Devil Wears Prada like the namesake handbag we see early in this movie, which is about a powerful New York fashion magazine editor and her wannabe gofer.

Streep, a graduate of Vassar and the Yale School of Drama, has 13 nominations for an Academy Award, more than any other actor. Streep has 10 nominations for Best Actress and 3 for Best Supporting Actress. She won Oscars for Kramer vs. Kramer (Best Supporting Actress) and for Sophie's Choice (Best Actress). In The Devil Wears Prada, Miranda Priestly (Streep) is the editor of Runway fashion magazine (modeled after Vogue).

She hires Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), a recent journalism grad, to be her new gofer. Andy supposedly wants this opportunity to grovel for an iron-willed, focused Miranda who would intimidate her favorite pet if she had one.

In her new job Andy does not write a memo much less a news story. She picks up Miranda's cleaning and coffee and fulfills other outrageous requests of the spoiled editor who believes she is the cat's meow. The plot line involving Andy is specious in that no serious journalist would ever work for a Miranda Priestly in the role of a gofer.

She would rather work for a weekly newspaper than the New York Times if she had to put with the crap that Andy had to put up with. This is especially true of anyone with talent who has integrity. It is possible to get ahead on talent alone without integrity but doing so over a period of time molds you into a lower life form.

I know as I spent 20 years in the news business as a reporter, investigative reporter, sports editor and managing editor for a daily newspaper, and owner of a community publishing company.

Miranda Priestly had such demands as "Find me that piece of paper I had in my hand yesterday morning." Steep played her role very well. Andy supposedly has a metamorphosis from a naïve, plain, simple girl into a trendy, elegant gofer, and manages to do so with the help of Nigel (Stanley Tucci), the magazine's art director.

In the end, she ditches the job when she realizes that life without her boyfriend, her friends and family are not worth the price of being exclusive. Her career move into the fashion world pushes people out of her life as her career demands suck time away from all her other relationships. She ends up getting a job offer as a journalist with the New York Mirror, a real newspaper that ceased publishing in 1898.

I want to believe this film has a more serious message about commitments by young adults, but Andy slinks back to her live-in boyfriend, who has secured a new position as a sous-chef in another city. The film does not make it clear whether Andy goes with her boyfriend, stays in New York with her new job, or visits him in his new digs when she wants companionship.

The ending of this movie is as lame as Andy's choice of a new job as a gofer. A successful person of substance does not lead the kind of life Andy leads, hence The Devil Wears Prada becomes an average movie because it ignores a chance to make an even more important point about what is important in life, love and romance.

July 25, 2010

Movie Review:

"Saint Ralph" Showcases a Teenager With a Dream and Great Determination

Copyright © 2006 Ed Bagley

Saint Ralph - 2 Stars (Average)

Saint Ralph is the story of Ralph Walker (Adam Butcher), a 14-year-old boy who is raised by his single mother. He grows up without his father who died a war hero. His mother then gets ill and falls into a coma while he ends up living in his home alone telling school authorities he is living with his grandparents.

As if his life is not troubled enough, he is picked on and put down continually by his Catholic school classmates.

When he realizes he is bound for an orphanage if his mother dies, he has an epiphany that tells him if he accomplishes the miracle of winning the Boston Marathon his mother will come out of her comma and recover.

You will have to see the movie to discover if he wins the Boston Marathon. Despite some technical issues and weak acting, Saint Ralph is a movie worth the time and effort to see because of the values that it teaches, including having a dream, believing in your dream, being focused on your dream, and being determined to accomplish your dream.

This is a good film with a good message that falls short of a great film. There are audio problems which experience and knowledge could solve. Ralph has a diction problem which maturity and experience could resolve.

The title (Saint Ralph) does nothing to lift this good film to a great one. Miracle in the Making would have been a better title than setting up poor Ralph with the task of becoming a saint. The story line is really too much of a stretch, but at least the movie will touch your heart and moisten your eyes.

I would love to give this movie a 3-star rating, because it deserves it, but it just does not get it done.

July 24, 2010

Movie Review:

A 9 Year Old Weighs In on "Racing Stripes"

Racing Stripes - 3 Stars (Good)

(Editor's Note: This one line review was written by my 9-year-old grandson, Eric Bagley, Jr.)

"I liked my movie about Racing Stripes."

(There you have it, 9 year olds like Racing Stripes; it is definitely cleared for family viewing.)

July 23, 2010

The Most Memorable Quotes on Technology

Bill Gates is a very rich man today... and do you want to know why? The answer is one word: versions.
Dave Barry

Congress will pass a law restricting public comment on the Internet to individuals who have spent a minimum of one hour actually accomplishing a specific task while on line.
Andy Grove

Do you realize if it weren't for Edison we'd be watching TV by candlelight?
Al Boliska

Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.
Gertrude Stein

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
Richard P. Feynman

For my confirmation, I didn't get a watch and my first pair of long pants, like most Lutheran boys. I got a telescope. My mother thought it would make the best gift.
Wernher von Braun

Gates is the ultimate programming machine. He believes everything can be defined, examined, reduced to essentials, and rearranged into a logical sequence that will achieve a particular goal.
Stewart Alsop

Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.
Mitchell Kapor

Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons.
R. Buckminster Fuller

I am sorry to say that there is too much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours.
John F. Kennedy

I don't have to write about the future. For most people, the present is enough like the future to be pretty scary.
William Gibson

I just invent, then wait until man comes around to needing what I've invented.
R. Buckminster Fuller

If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.
Frank Lloyd Wright

If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.

Omar N. Bradley

Inventor: A person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization.
Ambrose Bierce

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
Albert Einstein

It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.
Clive James

It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being.
John Stuart Mill

It may not always be profitable at first for businesses to be online, but it is certainly going to be unprofitable not to be online.
Esther Dyson

It's impossible to move, to live, to operate at any level without leaving traces, bits, seemingly meaningless fragments of personal information.
William Gibson

Just as we could have rode into the sunset, along came the Internet, and it tripled the significance of the PC.
Andy Grove

Men have become the tools of their tools.
Henry David Thoreau

Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.
Linus Torvalds

One machine can do the work of 50 ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.
Elbert Hubbard

People are stunned to hear that one company has data files on 185 million Americans.
Ralph Nader

People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.
Alan Kay

Perspective is worth 80 IQ points.
Alan Kay

Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.
Larry Wall

Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds.
John Perry Barlow

Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation.
Jean Arp

Style used to be an interaction between the human soul and tools that were limiting. In the digital era, it will have to come from the soul alone.
Jaron Lanier

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.
Aldous Huxley

Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge.
Daniel J. Boorstin

Technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it.
Max Frisch

Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other.
Carrie P. Snow

Telephone, n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.
Ambrose Bierce

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
Alan Kay

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.
Bill Gates

The Internet is so big, so powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for life.
Andrew Brown

The Internet is the most important single development in the history of human communication since the invention of call waiting.
Dave Barry

The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite.
Thomas Sowell

The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.
Edward R. Murrow

The only thing that I'd rather own than Windows is English, because then I could charge you $249 for the right to speak it.
Scott McNealy

The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
B. F. Skinner

The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology.
E. F. Schumacher

The typewriting machine, when played with expression, is no more annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation.
Oscar Wilde

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.
John F. Kennedy

There are three roads to ruin; women, gambling and technicians. The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technicians.
Georges Pompidou

Time moves in one direction, memory in another.
William Gibson

We are the children of a technological age. We have found streamlined ways of doing much of our routine work. Printing is no longer the only way of reproducing books. Reading them, however, has not changed.
Lawrence Clark Powell

What the country needs are a few labor-making inventions.
Arnold H. Glasow

Why shouldn't we give our teachers a license to obtain software, all software, any software, for nothing? Does anyone demand a licensing fee, each time a child is taught the alphabet?
William Gibson

You affect the world by what you browse.
Tim Berners-Lee

Lessons in Life:

You Must Answer Three Questions to Find Your True Purpose in Life

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

There have been times in my life when I have sat down and wondered: What is the meaning of life?

Why are we here?

Is this what my life is going to be?

Is this all there is to life?

Who will remember me when I am gone?

Sometimes my answers to these questions were not very positive. Sometimes my answers were downright negative and involved cussing. Sometime I felt helpless and sorry for myself. I even had a pity party.

Then I thought: What is a matter with you? You should be thankful for all of your blessings. I would start reciting old sayings, like "I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no feet."

Would any reader who HAS NOT experienced at least one of these thoughts, please stand up and announce yourself. If you stood up, you will lie about other things too. We all, without exception, have questioned our existence and purpose in life at one time or another. Welcome to the club of self-doubt, you are a charter member by simply being human.

What is it that will give you true—not temporary—happiness here during your life on planet Earth? Accomplishment? Money? Notice? The perfect soul mate? I have had them all and still did not find permanent happiness and peace of mind.

There is much in my background to suggest that I should be happy with the blessings I have had, and I certainly am to a degree, but I was never totally satisfied with myself and my purpose in life.

To find my reason for being, I was forced to answer in writing these three questions:

Who am I?

What am I meant to do here?

What am I trying to do with my life?

Finding answers to these questions and putting them into writing was not an easy task, but doing so has make me happier than I have ever been in life. Why? Because now I understand my place in the universe and am comfortable with myself and my role in life beyond being a husband, father and grandfather to my family.

After much reflection and soul searching, here is what I found about myself:

Who am I? I am a survivor, and a man of integrity who became a professional writer.

There are three key words in this statement—survivor, integrity, writer. I am a survivor because I grew up in a very dysfunctional family. As a man of integrity, I learned early on that I could not stand lying, cheating and stealing. In the Bible, Proverbs, Chapter 20 Verse 7 says: "The just man walketh (walks upright) in his integrity; his children are blessed after him." I am that man, and have always been that man. As a writer, I became aware of my ability to communicate with the written word early on, and have used my God-given gift to become a professional writer.

What am I meant to do here? Serve others.

Being hard-headed, I spent more than 6 decades of my life waiting for God to reveal to me some great purpose for my life. Finally, thankfully, slowly, I came to realize without any great revelation that there was really only one reason for me to be here and that was to serve others and not myself. This epiphany of personal growth on my part has given me continual happiness for the first time in my life.

What am I trying to do with my life? I am using my writing skills to bring knowledge, understanding and ideas to life that will encourage and motivate people to achieve their true potential.

Perhaps Albert Schweitzer said it best: "I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
 

Welcome to my blog. You are not alone. My blog has received 5.6+ million visits and 1+ million extended visitors during the past 12 months.

Here are the Top 10 Most Read Articles Since the Site Launched in October 2006:

1) USA High School Track & Field Records and the Current Best 2008 Performances (Sports)

2) Job Interviews - How to Answer When Asked Your Strengths and Weaknesses - Part 2 (Getting Hired and Promoted)

3) Power Secrets - How to Make Money Without a College Degree - Part 3 (Getting Hired and Promoted)

4) The Role of Money in America's Economy (Internet Marketing)

5) Who Has Had the Greatest Influence on Your Life and Why? (Lessons in Life)

6) Want a Six-Figure Income Without Getting a College Degree of Any Kind? Here Is How (Getting Hired and Promoted)

7) A Little Learning Is a Dangerous Thing, Drink Deep, or Taste Not the Pierian Spring (Lessons in Life)

8) College Football - If You Thought SEC Was the Toughest NCAA Conference, Think Again

9) Which State Has the Highest Beer Consumption Annually?

10) College Football - The Sagarin Ratings - What They Are, How to Read Them & What to Do With Them (2007 Football)

 

Main Section Index

All Other Sports

2009 College and Pro Football

2008 College and Pro Football

2007 College and Pro Football

Track and Field, Cross-Country and Distance Running

Movie Reviews - A to H

Movie Reviews - I to Z

Lessons in Life - Families & Qualities

Lessons in Life - Business & Politics

News and Comment

Internet Marketing

Getting Hired & Promoted

Resume Service

Money Making Opportunities

Famous Quotes - The Second 1,000

Famous Quotes - The First 1,000

Contact Me

Home

Contributing Writers:

Celeste Champagne's Movie Reviews

Daisy Ouye's Social Commentary