Click is an Academy Award-nominated 2006 comedy/drama/science fiction/fantasy film directed by Frank Coraci and written by Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe. Click tells the story of Michael Newman (Adam Sandler), an overworked architect so wrapped up in his job because of his boss John Ammer (David Hasselhoff) that his family is forced to take the backseat. He gets a "universal remote" from an eccentric engineer named Morty (Christopher Walken), and finds he can literally control the universe around him. It began filming in late-2005 and was finished by early-2006. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup.

Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) just wants to be promoted. To achieve this, he inevitably keeps missing on important events of his family, like plans to go camping on July 4. One night, after arguing with Donna and having trouble locating his TV remote control, he gets angry and drives to try to find a universal remote control. Finding most stores closed, he enters the still open Bed, Bath and Beyond. After dropping on a display bed for a second, he makes his way to the "Beyond" section, where he meets Morty (Christopher Walken), an eccentric inventor. Morty takes Michael to the "Way Beyond" storeroom and gives him a one-of-a-kind universal remote control, which Michael believes to be an ordinary remote. He is warned by Morty that it is "non-returnable."

I could not sleep so watched this. I would strongly suggest to everyone watch this - deals with what not to do in a relationship and how to mess it up.

In Chicago, the art dealer Brooke Meyers feels not appreciated and neglected by her immature husband Gary Grobowski, who is partner of his two brothers in a tourism business, and decides to break-up with him to make Gary misses her. Gary misunderstands her true intention, both follows the wrong advices of family members and friends, beginning a war of sexes with no winner. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Saw this play at theatre today - was excellent

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare written sometime in the 1590s. It portrays the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors, their interactions with the Duke and Duchess of Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta, and with fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.

The play features three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazonian queen Hippolyta, and set simultaneously in the woodland, and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Midsummer_Night's_Dream
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/full.html

The Story of Us is a 1999 film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer as a married couple of 15 years. The film depicts their marriage through a series of non-linear flashbacks.

In a poor neighborhood, the choreographer Honey Daniels (Jessica Alba) works in a record store during the day and as a bartender in a night-club in the night-shift, and teaches dance to teenagers of her community. She dreams to be successful as a video-clip dancer. When she meets the video director Michael Ellis (David Moscow), she believes that her dreams have come true. When Michael discloses his real intentions with her, she decides to struggle for making her dream come true.

Nia recommended this book I have and am reading now - WOW!

This classic manual is filled with spiritual first aid--recipes, rituals, incantations, and quotes to rid your home, office, and self of negative energy. With hundreds of practical ideas, Spiritual Cleansing has been a boon companion to thousands. Spiritual Cleansing is a guide for lay people who'd like to keep their lives and their environments spiritually clean, now newly revised and designed for the first time.Learn how to use incense and flowers to clear the air after arguments and how to employ protection from negative energy while you sleep. Discover ways to remove a previous tenant's energy from your new home, and why it's important to do so. There's even a chapter on the Evil Eye, a universal human phenomenon, and how to counteract it. Techniques to increase mental acuity, bring love into our lives and attract money are all included.With knowledge gained from a lifetime of practicing witchcraft, Draja Mickaharic draws on traditions from around the world to share magical methods of energy clearing, casting out the negative to make room for the positive.This little book is a manual of spiritual first aid, to help you maintain the cleanliness of your spiritual atmosphere. Remove negative energy and make room for increased mental acuity, love and money in your life. Newly revised anniversary edition of a book that's sold 120,000 copies since its publication in 1982. Contains significant new material and with updates throughout.

Publisher: Red Wheel / Samuel Weiser

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?r=1&ean=9781578632787

http://thesims.ea.com/

The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game created by game designer Will Wright, published by Maxis, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual persons ("Sims") in a suburban household near SimCity.

The Sims was first released on February 4, 2000. By March 22, 2002, The Sims had sold more than 6.3 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling PC game in history.[2] Since its initial release, seven expansion packs and a sequel, The Sims 2 (with its own expansion packs), have been released. Another sequel, The Sims 3, is currently under production. The Sims has won numerous awards, including GameSpot's "Game of the Year Award" for 2000.

Overview

The Sims, lacking definite goals or objectives, which are common in most other computer games, focuses entirely on the lives of virtual people called Sims, placing the player in control of their virtual "world" and their daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, reading, and bathing. Will Wright, the game's designer, calls it a "digital dollhouse". Although players are encouraged to make their own characters, certain pre-made characters, such as the Newbie and Goth family, have become popular.

The player controls almost all aspects of the lives of a family either premade or self-created. Many choices lead a player's sim to a large family or a lonely life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims



The Sims 2: Open for Business is the third expansion pack for The Sims 2, released on March 3, 2006, which allows Sims to run a home or community lot based business. Aspyr released a port of the game for Mac OS X on September 4, 2006.

Description

The Sims 2 Open For Business adds the ability for Sims to own and operate businesses, either on their own home lot or on purchased community lots. Several new gameplay features are added that relate to businesses, including a new "Talent Badge" skill system, the ability to craft new items from specialized workbenches, and a "perk" system for business owners.

Like the previous two expansion packs, Open for Business introduces a new neighborhood: a shopping district, meant to represent the main street of the area. It is known as "Blue Water Village." However, sim-owned businesses are not restricted to the shopping district. They may be opened in the base neighborhood (either in the same residential lot as the business owner's home, or in a purchased community lot) or in the downtown destination expansion neighborhood introduced in The Sims 2: Nightlife. The game manual suggests that shopping district lots are more expensive, but have higher foot traffic, along with new Bluewater Village Sims to meet.

Changes to the main game

The main change to the core game introduced by Open for Business is a new neighborhood type - the Shopping District, the default one being named Blue Water Village (which is also the name of a British shopping centre). A number of Sims live here, such as a toymaking family, a woman who owns a home-based flower shop, a family bakery, and a rich tycoon who owns a nightclub and an electronics shop.

Community lots are more flexible now, removing many of the gameplay restrictions that were present on them in the original game. Players can now save the game while their Sims are visiting community lots. Reloading their household automatically takes the player to the community lot where the Sims are located. The downside of this ability is that Sims can now die on community lots, but only on ones that the player controls.

Like the previous expansions, new Wants and Fears and interactions were added, including a new Lifetime Want and several new interactions for children. Some changes to items from the base game are also present. For example, doors are now lockable. They can be set to allow only one Sim, the whole family, or just employees to enter. This is useful for home-based stores, so customers won't enter the family's house.

There are many new objects in this expansion. While furniture styles and the build-mode selection have been expanded, the biggest difference is the addition of business-oriented things like cash-registers, shelves, and crafting centers that sims can use to create things to sell.

Several features from Nightlife and University, such as influence levels, turn ons and turn offs, are available to players without those expansion packs.

Running businesses

The concept of running a businesses is the game's main new feature. This is a new direction for The Sims 2, as it now includes elements of a tycoon game. The game allows the player to control various aspects of running a business including picking which products to sell, hiring and firing employees, crafting goods, and restocking shelves. The game also rewards the player for meeting several predetermined goals; also, a mystery shopper may visit the business and critique it.

Around the house

Open for Business adds new functionality to a Sims' productivity around the house. Sims are able to craft new items, including toys, flower arrangements and robots. Additional items include those aimed specifically at enhancing the business setting like an old-style Cash Register, Beauty salon chairs, child-oriented toys, and Mission Style furniture. Also is the addition of the Servo, a household robot, which can perform banal tasks and function like a Sim in regards to Social interaction. Some new items, called "Bots" in general, aim to increase productivity on a lower scale than Servo's operation, usually performing one task, such as cleaning the floor or watering plants.

Architecture

Open For Business adds more functionality to Build Mode. New Elevators both open a new possibility for a public WooHoo and create a risk for fatality by plummeting. Domed, conical and octagonal roofs in different sizes are now available. Players may also build split-level floors and add Awnings. Doors may now also be locked by a home or business owner, to either the selected sim, family or employees only.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_2:_Open_for_Business

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_reality

Big is a 1988 comedy film about a boy who wished to be aged to adulthood by a magical fortune-telling machine. It stars Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard, Jared Rushton, David Moscow, Jon Lovitz and Mercedes Ruehl. The movie was written by Gary Ross, with Justin Schindler, and Anne Spielberg. Penny Marshall directed, replacing Steven Spielberg whose sister was one of the writers.
After being humiliated while trying to impress an older teenage girl at a carnival, Josh Baskin (David Moscow) goes to a wish/fortune-telling machine (called Zoltar Speaks) and wishes that he were "big". The next morning, he sees a face in the mirror he does not recognize. Overnight, he has become a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks).
Josh, after having a cycle around town as an adult, reluctantly decides to show his mother his new look. As soon as he enters his house and tries to explain, his mother sees him and runs and screams around her own home. Josh's mom then brandishes a steak knife at Josh, unaware that what appears to be a menacing intruder is really her son. Eventually, screaming blood-curdlingly, she drives the now 30-year-old out of her house, and then finding Josh gone believes he has been kidnapped. In desperation, Josh corners his 13-year-old best friend Billy Kopecki (Jared Rushton), and convinces him of his true identity (by singing a secret song only they know). With Billy's help, Josh rents a cheap room in Manhattan and gets a lowly data-entry job at the MacMillan Toy Company.
In a memorable scene, he meets the company's owner, MacMillan (Robert Loggia), checking out the products at the FAO Schwarz toy store, and impresses him with his childlike enthusiasm. They end up playing a duet together on a giant foot-operated electronic keyboard, performing Chopsticks and Heart and Soul. This earns Josh a promotion to a dream job for a kid: testing toys all day long and getting paid for it. With his insight into what sells to children, he quickly rises up the corporate ranks.
It is widely rumored[1] that a different ending was used in test screenings, in which Josh is in class, and a "new girl in school" is brought into the classroom. Her resemblance to Susan and a shot of Josh's reaction imply that this is Susan, having also become young by using the Zoltar machine. There is no mention or evidence of this ending on the Extended Edition DVD released in 2007.

This was one of my favorite movie and it best describes my thoughts and approach to life as well as how I matured as a person.

The story begins on "the strangest day" of Larry Burrow's (Belushi) life consisting of a series of comic and dramatic misadventures. Larry, who blames all of his life's problems on the fact that he struck out during a key moment of a high school baseball game, wishes he had done things differently. His wish is granted by a guardian angel-like figure named Mike (Caine), and appears at various times as a bartender, a cab driver, and so on. Larry soon discovers that Mike has transferred Larry into an alternate reality in which he had won the pivotal high school game. He now finds himself rich and (within his company) powerful, and married to the boss's (McCutcheon) sexy daughter (Russo).

* Continuity: When Clip is using the copy machine, we first see manila folders flying out the door, but when Larry enters the room, copy paper is flying from the machine.

* Continuity: We see four light switches in the garage, but Larry manages to switch on about eight lights (not at once).

* Continuity: When Jewel stabs the cigar and shows it to Larry, the wrap around the cigar is shredded. In the next shot, it is more intact.

* Continuity: When Larry crashes the sports car, the windshield is smashed. In the next shot, the windshield is perfectly fine.

Cast

* James Belushi — Larry Joseph Burrows
* Linda Hamilton — Ellen Jane Burrows/Robertson
* Michael Caine — Mike the Bartender/Mr. Destiny
* Jon Lovitz — Clip Metzler
* Hart Bochner — Niles Pender
* Bill McCutcheon — Leo Hansen
* Rene Russo — Cindy Jo Bumpers/Burrows
* Jay O. Sanders — Jackie Earle Bumpers, aka 'Cement Head'
* Maury Chaykin — Guzelman
* Pat Corley — Harry Burrows
* Douglas Seale — Boswell
* Courteney Cox — Jewel Jagger
* Doug Barron — Lewis Flick
* Jeff Weiss — Ludwig

I Think I Love My Wife is a 2007 film directed by and starring Chris Rock. It is a remake of the 1972 French film, Love in the Afternoon by Éric Rohmer. Rock also co-wrote the screenplay with Louis C.K..

Richard Cooper (Chris Rock) is a happily married man, professionally successful, perfectly content with his home life, his lovely wife Brenda (Gina Torres), and his two young children. He finds his life great, yet he is extremely bored. He and his wife never have sex anymore, which is a constant theme around the movie, and this causes him to be rather sex starved. During those dull days at the office, he occasionally fantasizes about other women, but never acts upon the rather harmless impulses. However, an encounter with an incredibly sexy old friend of his (Kerry Washington) suddenly casts doubt over his typically resilient self-control. At first she just wants to be his friend, or so she claims, but she begins to show up consistently at his office just to talk or have lunch. When the woman begins to deliberately seduce Richard, he is forced to muster up all his strength just to resist her and remain loyal to his wife.

I like this movie because have been in real life situations like this in the past so could relate tot he main character.

The Lake House is a 2006 American romantic drama film remake of the Korean motion picture Il Mare (2000).

It was written by David Auburn, directed by Alejandro Agresti, and stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock as Alex Wyler and Kate Forster, respectively an architect living in 2004 and a doctor living in 2006. The two are introduced and share correspondence across the years by leaving letters in a mailbox at the lake house they've both lived in at separate points in time. This film also reunites Reeves and Bullock for the first time since they co-starred in Speed in 1994.

I really enjoyed this movie

The siblings Noah and Emma travel with their mother Jo from Seattle to the family cottage in Whidbey Island to spend a couple of days while their workaholic father David Wilder is working. They find a box of toys from the future in the water and bring it home, and Emma finds a stuffed rabbit called Mimzy, and stones and a weird object, but they hide their findings from their parents. Mimzy talks telepathically to Emma and the siblings develop special abilities, increasing their intelligences to the level of genius. Their father becomes very proud when Noah presents a magnificent design in the fair of science and technology, and his teacher Larry White and his mystic wife Naomi Schwartz become interested in the boy when he draws a mandala. When Noah accidentally assembles the objects and activates a powerful generator creating a blackout in the state, the FBI arrests the family trying to disclose the mystery.

This is a book by my friend Wayne Gill.

A. Wayne Gill, Partner
Adorno & Yoss LLP
200 Congress Park Drive, Suite 210
Delray Beach, FL 33445

I have know Mr. Gill for some time and have come to respect him for his integrity. This book while written to address issues with ethnic minorities touches on basic principles that apply to any business as well as the politics that exist. So often people forget simple things that fail to plan and plan to fail or Business is Business.

This book takes it a step further and deal with the truth of customer/client loyalty as well as the systemic issues of inclusion and the fact people hate change even if you are better but if you cannot service them and someone else can for a reasonable price they will go.

So often business owners forget a simple truth - our clients do not exist to keep us in business - rather our purpose is to serve them. Lastly the book deals with the shear tenacity it takes to create a successful business venture. Anyone in business should easily identify and walk away with some learning from this book and I strongly encourage you to purchase it.

http://www.amazon.com/Tales-My-Grandma-Told-Diversity/dp/097978560X/ref=sr_1_1/002-6686262-9728062?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192406156&sr=8-1

This is a book I am currently reading. As some of you know I was many years ago commissioned by my church for the task listed in this resource. So far I am enjoying this book and the perspective it brings. It is our commisions homework assignment before our next meeting in about 2 weeks.

This guide for the pastor, leader, social ministry committee or task force moves beyond doing social ministry for others to engaging in ministry with others. Provides practical advice and skills training for congregations...

Provides practical advice and skills training for congregations who want to build a partnership with their neighborhoods. This resource intends to point congregations and members to more excellent ways of serving God and serving God's people, especially those outside the current membership. Written in a conversational style by an author who has spent his life helping people and congregations build bridges of understanding.

http://www.augsburgfortress.org/store/item.jsp?isbn=0806638761&clsid=113838&productgroupid=0

I enjoyed this movie - interesting plot twists and dealt with the importance of following ones dreams and the price one pays when not being true to oneself.

Jackie Chan stars as Jack, a world-renowned archaeologits who has begun having mysterious dreams of a past life as a warrior in ancient China.

A review by Kozo: Calling The Myth a good movie is a tough thing to do, because it's not really a movie. The Myth is actually two movies intertwined into a questionably coherent time-spanning plotline that works better in concept than in execution. Jackie Chan takes on two roles; some of the time, he's a Qin Dynasty-era general named Meng Yi, and the rest of the time, he's Meng Yi's reincarnation, archaeologist Jack Lee. Basically, what happened in the past fuels the plot in the present, but the parts don't work as well as advertised. Still, The Myth provides welcome flashes of Jackie Chan's trademark cinematic panache - and even manages to throw in a surprise or two. The film is also cheesy and occasionally embarrassing, and features a SFX-enhanced ending that's best left to a standard Hollywood wannabe film. Sadly, you can't win them all.

Awards:
25th Hong Kong Film Awards
• Nomination - Best Picture
• Nomination - Best Action Design (Jackie Chan, Stanley Tong Kwai-Lai, Richard Hung)
• Nomination - Best Original Song ("Endless Love", performed by Jackie Chan, Kim Hee-Sun)
• Nomination - Best Visual Effects (Wendy Choi, David Tso)

Runtime:
Philippines:117 min / Canada:118 min (Toronto International Film Festival) / Hong Kong:122 min / US 96 min

Essential information on the Bible, Biblical culture, and the Church: Its history, ideas, and major personalities

Cecil Murphey has compiled one of the most exciting books about the Bible on the market. Brimming with information, this book touches on all facets of religious heritage--biblical events, people, places, and concepts basic to understanding Christianity.

This is one of the books I got right after my undergrad to keep with me and is a part of my collection along with other resource information like a volume set of the complete biblical library - translation greek to english, etc. This book does help education and remove some common misconceptions and confusions people have regarding religion vs society and culture.

Hotel Rwanda is a historical drama film that shows the quiet heroism of one man, Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), during the Rwandan Genocide. Directed by Northern Irish filmmaker Terry George, it was co-produced in 2004 by US, British, Italian, and South African companies, and the first ever co-production between the rival independent film studios Lions Gate Films and United Artists. It was filmed mostly in South Africa, with some second unit filming in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

Hotel Rwanda has been called an African Schindler's List. Both movies portray a man who uses his political position, social skills and quick wit to rescue thousands of lives from a holocaust. Unlike its more famous cousin, Hotel Rwanda did not win any Oscars, though it was nominated for three: Best Actor (Cheadle), Best Supporting Actress (Sophie Okonedo), and Best Original Screenplay.

The film is based on true events that took place during the genocidal violence that erupted in Rwanda between the Hutu and Tutsi groups in 1994, when the Hutu military and Interahamwe militias killed roughly one million Tutsis in barely three months.

A boy and a town living in denial and trying to be people they are not as well as being totally unaware of who they are and what they are capable.

Ian McKellen as narrator - excellent
Robert De Niro - funny - too funny

One of the funniest scenes to me was a panicked look on the crew's face when they said captain at the helm.

Of the 50 men and women whose testimony A Wealth of Wisdom: Legendary African American Elders Speak comprises, flew traveled a smooth road of life. Yet this is not a syrupy collection of "thank you, Jesus" tales by know-it-all old black folks. As the author Maya Angelou noted, age ,alone doesn't confer wisdom. "Most people don't grow up," she said. "Most people age."

The collection compiled by Camille Cosby, educator, mad Renee Poussaint, a television journalist, is based largely on interviews. The "legends" speak for themselves. Their observations are inspiring, enlightening and informative. There will be attempts to treat this book as "inspirational." But, more significantly, Cosby and Poussaint have put together a literary work that provides slices of some 20th-century African Americans lives, positioning this volume as a companion to the slave narratives by our 19th-century forebearers.

Shirley Chisholm, a trained nursery-school teacher from Brooklyn, born in 1924, became the first African American woman elected to Congress, ran for president in 1972 and retired from Congress in 1982. She says she wants to he remembered "as a black woman who lived in the twentieth century and dared to be herself. I want to be remembered as a catalyst for change."

Many voices in the book spoke of a triumph of will. The singer Ray Charles said his mother believed that her son had to learn: "Just because he's blind, he's not stupid. He can find ways." Another musician, Jimmy Heath, the saxophonist and teacher; said he could not give young people experience. "You have to get out there and experience things and work," he said. "Jazz is hard work."

Two women of religion, the first Episcopalian female bishop, Barbara Harris, and Mary Alice Chineworth, a Roman Catholic ram, spoke of inconsistencies they found in their faiths.

The 70-plus generation of elders coped with legal segregation, overt civilian racism and racial discrimination. In 1950, Robert Churchwell be came the first African American journalist on a Southern daily newspaper--The Nashville Banner (Tenn.). His assignment: Write on "how Negroes were doing well in the Negro community." For Churchwell's first five years as a Banner reporter, the editor barred him from sitting in the newsroom. Churchwell wrote his news stories at borne and carried them to the Banner's office every day. Once given a desk and chair in the newsroom, he found few friendly colleagues. Churchwell said, "I didn't care about that. It was a test ... and I had 31 years of success."

Edward Brooke, the former United States senator from Massachusetts cites his political accomplishments and says he achieved because he was in the "power structure." To do something about "human issues," he said, "You've got to be where the power is."

While the summary of of the book the movie remained true to much of the book. It also inspired a post which you can read later.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth of seven novels in J.K. Rowling's popular Harry Potter series. The book is 766 pages in the British edition, and 870 pages in the US edition. At 257,045 words,[1] it is the longest book in the Harry Potter series. It was also the first Harry Potter book to be released after the movie adaptations began in 2001.

Harry Potter is spending an agitating summer in Privet Drive: not only is he bracing himself for the catastrophe that is certain to accompany Voldemort's return, but he has had little contact from the wizarding world. When Harry and his cousin Dudley are attacked by Dementors in Little Whinging, Harry repels them with a Patronus Charm. An owl letter soon arrives stating Harry has been expelled from Hogwarts for performing magic outside school. Several more letters arrive in quick succession: Arthur Weasley and Sirius Black instruct Harry to remain in the house, while another overturns his expulsion and orders him to appear at a hearing at the Ministry of Magic.

Order of the Phoenix members arrive to escort Harry to their secret headquarters at the Black family home, 12 Grimmauld Place in London. The Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black, are there. Harry learns that Voldemort is building an army and is attempting to retrieve a "weapon". Arthur Weasley escorts Harry to his hearing. He is cleared of all charges after testimony from Dumbledore, and from Harry's neighbour, Mrs. Figg.

When the students return to Hogwarts, they are surprised to hear that Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, has been appointed by the Ministry as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. She refuses to teach real defense methods and only lectures from Ministry-approved theory. It becomes clear she is there to spy on and take control of the school and is soon appointed High Inquisitor, arbitrarily imposing rules and regulations. She also harbours racist hatred for "half-breeds", such as centaurs, werewolves, and similar creatures. She considers Rubeus Hagrid (a half-giant) and Sybill Trelawney incompetent, and sacks Trelawney (Hagrid is dismissed later). Although Dumbledore is unable to prevent Trelawney's dismissal, he invokes his authority to allow her to remain in the castle and appoints a new Divination teacher - the centaur, Firenze.