Over the past week, I’ve watched, read, or listened to all of these, and I thought I would give you my quick impression of all three.
Tipping Point is a book by author Malcom Gladwell that outlines the properties of epidemics. It presents the author’s ideas of what is required to make an idea, product, or fad “tip” from obscurity into the mainstream.
The theories seem well-thought, and the examples make for very interesting reading. The section on stickiness has me looking more into the Blue’s Clues kids show, which apparently puts a ton of effort into making the information it present stick in children’s minds. The sections on crime as a factor of an environment’s appearance and on why teens smoke are both very interesting.
The concepts in the book fail to pass the Berta test, though. In this test, I retell the theories to Berta, and they either make sense or sound fishy. She was skeptical. Plus, the book offers no direct practical advice for making something tip, which is probably why most people bought the blasted thing.
James Patterson’s 4th of July was the 4th (duh) book in his Women’s Murder Club mystery series. We listened to it on the way to Johnstown over the weekend, and couldn’t help but finish the remaining two hours before our return trip.
In this story, Lindsey the main character, is sued for the wrongful death of two kids who had been performing seriail killings in a game-show-style. Surprisingly, much of the action of the story takes place away from the city where Lindsey is trying to escape the stress of the trial.
The pacing of the story is pretty good, and even though the other women don’t factor as prominently in this story as in previous ones, they’re still there for moral support. The courtroom sessions are suspenseful, and kept us listening.
I can’t help but wonder if the novel reads like candy fiction in print, since the audiobook chapters were so short. Still, I find this thing desireable in an audiobook for the road.
Mission Impossible 3 suffers from a fantastic plot. It reminds me a lot of True Lies, one of my favorite secret agent movies.
I did not care for the actor who played the villain. I felt he came across somewhat flat. And the casting of Lawrence Fishburn as the IMF director was a bit odd, but it played out in the end.
I admit that I was shocked by both plot twists and how well they played out on screen. Perhaps I should have expected them, but it’s nice to be surprised.
To whomever says, “I’m not going to see this because of Tom Cruise,” well… Uh, ok. That’s stupid. This is a good action flick, and Cruise doesn’t try to convert you to Scientology at any point. Except, you know, at that point in the middle of the climax when he makes an impassioned plea directly to the camera, jumping up and down and all.
Yeah. Just go see it.
