Book To Movie

The Ghost
by Robert Harris

I acquired this book after seeing the trailer for the movie on which it is based. Thought it might be interesting to read a book followed closely by the movie. It would be a first for me, to be able to critique both is such quick succession. After all it is usually stated, “the book is always better”.

The Ghost is a suspense thriller. It captures an essence of truth, hence making it very believable despite being fiction. It follows the events of an author who agreed to ghost write for a controversial recently dumped British prime minister caught up in a war crimes case against him for matters relating to the war on terror.

I felt captivated by the book, it was one I found difficult to put down. Even in some apparent boring bits there was a twist around the corner. There were twists everywhere and I doubt you will pick the final twist.

Perhaps my expectations of the movie were too high after the book. Others will probably tell me that it happens with every movie that comes from a book. Plus it didn’t help that I knew the ending that was straight out of left field.

A great performance from Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan, and an impressive British accent from Kim Cattrell.

Roman Polanski chose a great setting that captured the mood magnificently. It was bleak yet picturesque.

So choose the order you like, book then movie or movie then book. Both are worth checking out.

’96 Revisited

Plugger and the Mighty Swans
Jim Main

To the Swans fan 1996 was a magical season. We went from near bankrupt perennial losers to almost premiers and grabbing the heart of a city that had scant regard for the greatest game on earth.

I was lucky enough to participate in most of season ’96. I had started playing in 1994 and convinced Dad to buy season tickets after seeing an ad in the paper for memberships prior to the 1995 grand final.

In the beginning of the year my dad and me could sit just about anywhere. By the end we had to work very hard for a finals ticket. Dad tells me it cost him “an arm and a leg” to get us down to Melbourne to watch the grand final at the MCG. I never asked him the exact amount, and he never told.

This book lays the foundation to explain why 1996 was such a fantastic year. Author, historian and fellow Swans nut takes us back to the origins of the club that has only recently celebrated 125 years. As South Melbourne we were one of the original clubs to form the VFL. Our club celebrated an era of dominance in the 30’s and 40’s followed closely by many lean years, despite having the best player in the competition in Bob Skilton.

Many lean years didn’t help the coffers and the move or extinction outcome became obvious. It just took some people a bit longer than others. Jim Main captures the emotion and anger of a public that felt like they were losing a part of themselves.

It took a long time to regain the old South fans support, but 1996 did that. A premiership 9 years later further entrenched the support from our original home.

I enjoyed the read but perhaps that’s because I was part of it, if only in a small way.

Outsource

David Koch, better known as ‘Kochie’, from channel 7’s breakfast program, ‘Sunrise’ apparently stated that sending children to day-care was effectively outsourcing parenting. Probably paraphrasing, as I am not a regular viewer. No doubt this rubbed some parents the wrong way.

I heard one such objector on afternoon radio. Ironically she voiced her disapproval while she was on her way to pick up her children from day-care. Perhaps she has a valid gripe, or perhaps she felt convicted of her poor choices. She didn’t go into detail with her reasons for objecting to Kochie’s comments.

Whatever your opinions are of these sorts of comments at the very least Kochie is correct, to an extent. Any form of childcare from sports coaching to long day-care is outsourcing time that you can spend with your children. They are all situations where the parent relinquishes partial responsibility for the children.

So did Kochie say that children should not go to day-care under any circumstances? I really don’t know but I suspect not. These are choices for each family and your own conscience after assessing the circumstances. It’s all about priorities.

The Bible - Cover to Cover

“The Message – Remix”

The bible in contemporary language
Edited by Eugene H Peterson

Reading the bible is something everyone should do at least once in their life. Even non-Christians. There is a reason why it is the best selling book in history, and the first ever to be printed.

It is an intimidating book though. Firstly, it’s thick, even with the extra thin paper it is still a relatively thick book. It was my first aversion to tackling it, thinking that I would never get through it. Secondly, what you read in the book might force some life changing decisions to be made.

I made some rules for myself. I didn’t want to join a yearly reading plan, as I knew I would get unmotivated when I fell behind. With my work situation I knew I would fall behind. I would plough along at my own speed. I read other books concurrently as I would get unmotivated seeing all the other books on my shelves not getting read. It worked well for me, as I couldn’t read for more than 30 minutes most of the time.

There are so many versions of the bible. It is an important choice of which one to read cover to cover. I went with ‘The Message’ version on the recommendation of my parents who had previously completed the bible cover to cover. The ‘Remix’ version has verse and chapter references whereas the original didn’t. It seems taylor made for an introduction to bible reading and cover-to-cover reading in particular. It has no footnotes (or cheat notes), which are good for study but can be distracting for this purpose.

It took me 20 months to finish, not bad considering I thought it would take me at least 2 years, but what now? Finishing reading the bible cover to cover just opens the door to a life of bible study. I could go in a few directions to start with.

1. Cover to cover reading of the ‘Daily Bible’ comprising of a New Testament reading, Old Testament reading and a Psalm or Proverb reading everyday. Again I would read at my own pace and have concurrent books.
2. Start seriously studying one book at a time. I have the study bible with a commentary ready to go. Where to start would be my first question. So many books of the bible peeked an interest while reading it through. Mainly minor prophets and epistles.
3. Both these options will probably be put on the backburner as my life situation goes through a major change. In the mean time I think I will give my overcrowded bookshelves some attention and get into some shorter reading: Christian books, novels, sporting biographies, political biographies/commentaries. It’s all fun.

The GFC Storm

“S**tstorm”
by Lenore Taylor and David Uren

This book is a narrative of the events surrounding the global financial crisis (GFC) and the Labor government’s response. It gives background to the GFC that most wouldn’t have known or thought about. Those closely involved with the response such as Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan were interviewed and provide tremendous insight into what they had to deal with and why they did it.

It’s not a commentary or an opinion piece. It does not offer much in the way of rebuttal, which would comprise another entire book. Although there are moments where either the author or ministers involved acknowledged that they could have done things better in hindsight. There is still a definite lack of serious critique on what took place.

Whatever your thoughts are of their justification for responding a certain way, it must be acknowledged that the situation was potentially very serious for our nation. This might be good introductory reading if interested in exploring the effects of the GFC. Ironically soon after the publication of this book the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was ousted by his deputy, Julia Gillard. His handling of the GFC being sighted as a reason.