CHESSNOID

The only reading I do now is mostly online and a few magazines that I subscribe to. Last week, my friend loaned me a book he had just finished reading called Randy Couture: Becoming the Natural. It interested me because he is a successful MMA fighter. His biography was interesting enough. The beginning is a slow read for me. When he starts talking about his wrestling and his quest to get to the Olympics it became more interesting. What’s very interesting is the many MMA fighters he meets along the way as the actual sport started to grow. I think the book is just OK and can’t really recommend reading it unless you are really interested in MMA, otherwise you will probably find the book boring. The good thing is it is well written and an easy read.

The movies I watched this last weekend were pretty good. I saw a low budget independent movie called The Hammer starring that funny guy Adam Carolla. I use to listen to him on KROQ’s Love Line with Dr. Drew before his career took off. He was always pretty funny and still is in this movie. This movie is about a 40 year old guy trying to get to the Olympic boxing event in 2008.   There is just one other actor I recognize in the movie Constance Zimmer from “Boston Legal” the TV series that I used to watch.
The Lookout was another independent movie that was actually very good. It would definitely be a sleeper. There are some big names like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Isla Fisher, and Carla Gugino, but most of them played small parts. The movie has strong characters and the plot is very strong. The ending is good and balances out the movie. This was no blockbuster at the box office, but very entertaining to me.

I also watched The Jane Austen Book Club movie too. I have actually watched all the other real Jane Austen books-turned-into-movies and usually enjoy watching them with my wife. In this movie, I learned there is another book turned movie I never heard of called Northanger Abbey .  I have seen the other 5 movies:  Emma – Mansfield Park -  Pride & Prejudice - Sense and Sensibility - Persuasion .  Anyways, The Jane Austen Book Club has some famous actors: Maria Bello, Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman, Jimmy Smits, and Nancy Travis.  Overall, I had low expectations for the movie, so I really enjoyed it.  This was more of a Hollywood type of movie which has the nice happy ending.  If you like romance, then you will probably like this movie too.

I am still playing a ton of chess games.  I have logged in almost 1000 games online.  The more I play the better I become.  It is very addictive and fun.  I like to review the games I have played and analyze where I made brilliant moves and idiotic blunders.  Unfortunately, I have more of the latter.