Monday, October 31, 2011

Balance of October

During the month of October, I read/watched and reviewed the following:

Audio-books:
- "Only Time Will Tell" by Jeffrey Archer. Read my review.
Books:
- "Android Application Development in 24 Hours" by Lauren Darcey and Shane Conder. Read my review.
- "Discover Peru" a Travel Guide by Lonely Planet - Carolina A. Miranda et al. Read my review.
- "The God Pocket" by Bruce Wilkinson with David Kopp. Read my review.
- "Windows Phone 7 Programming for Android and iOS Developers" by Zhinan Zhou et al. Read my review.
- "Bible Stories for Preschoolers" by B.Swanberg et al. Read my review.
- "Hope Underground" by Carlos Parra Díaz. Read my review.
- "The Book of Man" by William J.Bennett. Read my review.
Movies:
- "A Horrible Way to Die" (2010). Read my review.
Other Products:
- "T225 Universal Bluetooth In-Car Speakerphone" by Motorola. Read my review.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Book "The Book of Man" by William J.Bennett

About the Book: New York Times best-selling author William J. Bennett uses stories, essays, historical vignettes, and contemporary profiles to explore and explain what it means to be a man. Fashioning men has never been easy, but today it seems particularly tough. Boys need heroes to embody the everlasting qualities of manhood: honor, duty, valor, and integrity. Without such role models, boys will naturally choose perpetual childhood over the rigors of becoming a man - as many women, teachers, coaches, employers, and adults in authority can quickly attest. Too many boys and men waste time in pointless and soulless activities, unmindful of their responsibilities, uncaring in their pursuits. Have we forgotten how to raise men, how to lead our boys into manhood?
In The Book of Man, Bennett charts a clearer course, offering a positive, encouraging, uplifting, realizable idea of manhood, redolent of history and human nature, and practical for contemporary life. Like his classic, The Book of Virtues, Bennett uses profiles, stories, letters, poems, and myths to bring his subject to life, defining what a man should be, how he should live, and to what he should aspire in several key areas of life.
Chapters include:
Man in War
Man at Work
Man in Play, Competition, and Leisure





Man in the Polis





Man with Woman and Children





Man in Prayer and Reflection

About the Author: William J. Bennett served as Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George H. W. Bush and as Secretary of Education and Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities under President Reagan. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from Williams College, a doctorate in political philosophy from the University of Texas, and a law degree from Harvard. He is the author of such bestselling books as The Educated Child, The Death of Outrage, The Book of Virtues, and the two-volume series America: The Last Best Hope. Dr. Bennett is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show Bill Bennett's Morning in America. He is also the Washington Fellow of the Claremont Institute and a regular contributor to CNN. He, his wife, Elayne, and their two sons, John and Joseph, live in Maryland.

My Review: This is a superb piece of literature from Mr. Bennett. Very well written, this book is inspirational, making us stop from what we are doing and think about to where humanity is heading nowadays.
Mr. Bennett put together in this volume a collection of stories, essays, vignettes and profiles, all commented out by his vision of experienced person, adding new reflections and leading us to think about the importance of the basic moral concepts of manhood, like honor, duty, valor and integrity, as the role model for becoming a man.
Many of those values were lost during recent years and Mr. Bennett makes a huge effort trying to rescue them back into our society. Some stories touched me deeply, like those selections from Middlemarch by George Elliot.

This is a powerful book. I recommend this book to be in the permanent library of all Christian men and they should read constantly to remind them on the importance of being a man like God want us to be.

This book was written by William J. Bennett and published by Thomas Nelson in October of 2011 and they were kind enough to send me a copy for reviewing through their Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers Program.

If you are reading this review, feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Product "T225 Universal Bluetooth In-Car Speakerphone" from Motorola

About the Product: Part of the Essential Series, the Motorola T225 Universal Bluetooth In-Car Speakerphone reduces road noise for hands-free calling. The Motorola T225 features one mic noise reduction, powerful 2-watt speaker, 45 hours talk time and 5 1/2 months standby time, and voice prompts for spoke updates.
Product Features
- Loud and Clear- World class echo and noise reduction with one microphone, and powerful 2-watt speaker ensure you'll hear and be heard over the road noise.
- Most Talk and Standby Time- Industry leading talk and standby time so you can talk for miles without charging. The longest standby time with up to 5 1/2 months, and the most talk time with up to 45 hours.
- Speaks to You- This speakerphone tells you when you are connected, battery level and if mute is on with audible voice prompts.
- Connects to 2 Phones- Take calls from up to two phone lines at the same time, so more than one passenger can use the speakerphone. Also save up to six phone connections, so the whole family can use.
- Choose "ships from and sold by Amazon.com" product to ensure new, authentic Motorola product. Motorola retail packaging includes- Bluetooth In-Car Speakerphone, Car Charger, Quick Start Guide.

My Review: This is truly a universal product. I have a 5 years, old fashioned cell phone from Samsung provided to me by Verizon, which was never happy with any other Bluetooth device. It worked with this one like a charm. Very easy to pair and connect, almost like plug-and-play. The product itself has a very beautiful design and speakerphone is very powerful. Even if you drive with your windows open, you can clearly hear the voice from your call. Battery lasts a lot. This is an excellent deal for the price.
I am extremely happy with this product and I recommend it to all users who experienced problems with other Bluetooth devices in the past.

Amazon.com was kind enough to provide this product for me through their Vine Program for reviewing and I was not request to provide a positive review. Opinions expressed here are my own.


If you read this review, fell free to leave a comment!


Friday, October 21, 2011

Book "Hope Underground" by Carlos Parra Díaz

About the Book: "God has never left us down here"
Thirty–three miners – trapped beneath the Chilean desert. _their situation, at first, seemed hopeless. Yet instead of abandoning hope, the miners, their families, communities of faith, the Chilean government and rescue workers united in an effort to achieve the impossible. What drove these people to defy failure and persevere against all odds? How did a small, white butterfly, a wayward probe, and a '34th miner' all play a significant role in the unfolding of this incredible story? While most reports of this stirring drama focus on what human effort can achieve, Hope Underground reveals the spiritual nature of the miners' experience, highlighting amazing details of how God's providence turned a potential tragedy into the most successful mining rescue of all time.
RELIGION / Christian Life

About the Author: CARLOS PARRA DÍAZ was serving as an ordinary pastor in northern Chile when, on August 5, 2010, the San José Mine collapse occurred. Eager to serve wherever there is a need, Parra suddenly found himself becoming one of the most influential spiritual leaders in the most publicized and successful mine rescue in history. His active participation at Camp Hope, the temporary residence of the miners' families and rescuers, allows him to share unique insights into the miraculous chain of events which led to the triumphant liberation of the miners. This experience not only changed his life forever, but deeply touched the whole nation of Chile. Parra has since been invited to share this inspiring story in countries around the world. Today, Pastor Parra and his family live in Asunción, Paraguay, where he serves as a regional pastor and missionary.

My Review: This is a superb book, a very well written history about all the drama involved in the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners that got trapped inside the San José Mine, at 700 meters below the surface, in the Atacama Desert, Northern of Chile, for 69 days. The narrator is Pastor Carlos Parra Díaz, an Seventh-Day Adventist pastor who God placed at that site acting as the chaplain of Camp Hope, where the family of the trapped miners were waiting for their rescue.
His testimony is very touching. He starts telling about his life and how he ended up being at that place, at that time, when the mine collapsed trapping the miners inside. Then he goes over the roller-coaster of emotions on the news when the first drill missed the place where the miners could have been waiting, and when a second drill reached their place and first communication came from them stating they were all alive and well, after 17 days of the initial collapse of the mountain. And from there, he narrates all the combined efforts of the rescue group created by Chilean government, with the help of the entire world experts in mining accidents and other fields, as well as all prayers that his group and the entire world contributed as a decisive factor for the final result.
This is a story of true hope, and clearly shows that for God nothing is impossible. Like it is written in Mark 10:27, "Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God"".


I recommend this book to the permanent library of any serious Christian reader who needs a boost on his/her faith through the powerful testimony of a God's person describing God in action.

This book was written by Pastor Carlos Parra Díaz and it was published by Imago Dei Books in September, 2011 and B&B Media Group were kind enough to send me a copy for reviewing through their blogger book review program.

If you are reading this review, feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Book "Bible Stories for Preschoolers" by Swanberg, Kustra and Chalecki

About the Book: Bible Stories for Preschoolers, written by a team of preschool church education experts, makes the Bible come alive for young children. The dynamic, high-energy, vibrant illustrations featured on every spread will capture children’s imaginations while giving them a lifelong love for God’s Word. In addition to the retellings, each story includes fun, easy activities that parents and kids can do together. The activities help kids remember and relate to the stories!

About the Authors: The text of this book was written by Monika Kustra, adapted by Betty Free Swanberg and illustrated by Andrzej Chalecki.
No information on Monika Kustra was found or supplied by the publisher, as well as for Andrzej Chalecki.
Betty Swanberg was born and raised in northern Illinois. She received a bachelor of arts degree in education from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, and did graduate studies in early childhood education at National-Louis University in Evanston, Illinois.
For 25 years Betty was editor of preschool and elementary Sunday school curriculum for David C. Cook Publishing Company. In 1995 she became editor of children's books at Tyndale House Publishers.
Betty is the author of Day by Day, a book of devotionals for preschoolers, and Quiet Moments for Caregivers, a book of prayers to encourage those caring for loved ones. She also assisted Mr. George Beverly Shea in writing How Sweet the Sound.
In 2002 Betty married a childhood friend, Dave Swanberg, and moved to Southern California. She continued to edit for Tyndale until her retirement in 2006 and currently serves as an on-call editor.

My Review: This is an incredible result from the combined effort of three persons, producing a wonderful book for kids ages 4 to 8. The most important stories of the Christian Scriptures (Old and New Testaments) are told here in a language that is easy to the young children to understand and assimilate. After every story was told, there is what is called a Family Time, with activities like Talk, Do and Remember. This is a great orientation for your children to learn and grow in the right path (as it is written, "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it" - Proverbs 22:6). The illustration is monumental, one of the highlights of this book. The whole production was very carefully executed and the final result is really a masterpiece.

This book was written by Monika Kustra, adapted by Betty Free Swanberg and illustrated by Andrzej Chalecki and was published by Tyndale House Publishers in August 2011 and they were kind enough to send me a copy for reviewing through their blogger book review program.

If you are reading this review, feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Book "Windows Phone 7 Programming for Android and iOS Developers" by Zhinan Zhou et al.

About the Book: Learn to develop for the new Windows Phone 7 platform.
With a special focus placed on the new Windows Phone 7 (WP7) design guidelines and technologies, this reference helps you extend your knowledge so that you can learn to develop for the new WP7 platform.
The book covers the exciting new technology of Windows Phone 7 (WP7) and serves as ideal reference for Android and iPhone developers who are eager to get started programming for the WP7.

About the Authors:
- Zhinan Zou is a senior software engineer with 10 years of professional experience in the R&D of mobile applications and wireless communications. He has a rich hands-on experience in mobile-platform development on Android, Windows Phone, and J2ME. He is also an author of numerous cited publications on IEEE and ACM journals and conferences.
- Robert Zhu is a principal development lead with Microsoft, developing Windows Phone software products, providing hands-on design in computer engineering, such as kernel, device driver, and board support packages, and driving the technical partnership whit mobile carriers and OEM partners.
- Pei Zheng is a senior software architect with 10 years of experience in the mobile wireless industry. He is the author of two books in the mobile computing area, Smart Phone and Next Generation Mobile Computing from Morgan Kaufmann and Professional Smartphone Programming from Wiley/Wrox, as well as numerous cited publications in IEEE journals and conferences.
- Baijian Yang is currently an associate professor in the Department of Technology at Ball State University. He has extensive industry and academic experience in mobile computing, distributed computing, and information security.

My Review: This is an excellent join effort from fours authors, all experts on mobile development field. But that does not make this book easy to use if you are new into this area and trying to develop your fist application ever for a smartphone. I have developed an application for iOS named "Bible Names", using a book called "iPhone Application Development for Dummies" from the "for Dummies" series. What I think this book is missing is more examples going deeper into details of the code for many scenarios. I personally like to code by example, but that is just my style.
But the comparison between Android and iOS and WP7 is really interesting and presented in a very academic way. The book goes over what is new in Windows Phone 7 (WP7), the development environment, fundamentals, user interfaces, application data storage, WEB services and push notifications, leveraging location and maps, graphics, multimedia and much more, but always at a high level, showing some snippets of code, never going into details that would be so useful for a novice, although they never claimed the book was for novices, and that is why I give the book a four star out of five.

Overall it is a very useful book, that I recommend if you have some experience developing applications for Android or iOS platforms and want to start playing with WP7 platform.

This book was written by Zhinan Zhou, Robert Zhu, Pei Zheng and Baijian Yang and was Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc on August of 2011. Amazon.com was kind enough to provide this book for me through their Vine Program for reviewing and I was not request to provide a positive review. Opinions expressed here are my own.

If you read this review, fell free to leave a comment!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Book "The God Pocket" by Bruce Wilkinson with David Kopp

About the Book: God wants to put a face on giving – and the face he has in mind is not yours, but his.
What if you could take something out of your pocket today that would make God wonderfully personal and absolutely real to someone who, only minutes earlier, had been secretly calling out to God for help, for an answer, for any shred of evidence that He cares?
Discover the incredible resource that’s small enough to fit in your wallet or purse, yet big enough to change someone’s life – starting with yours. In The God Pocket, Bruce Wilkinson tells you what that little something is, explains how to deliver God’s provision to someone in need, and shares how God is ready to reveal Himself through you.
The God Pocket Prayer: Dear God, today I ask to be sent to show Your love and deliver Your funds to the person You choose. I carry Your provision in my God Pocket, and I am ready and willing. I am Your servant, Lord. Whenever You nudge me, I will respond! Here am I – please send me!

About the Author: Bruce Wilkinson is recognized as one of the world's foremost Christian teachers and speakers. But he is best known as the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller, The Prayer of Jabez, and other bestsellers including A Life God Rewards, Secrets of the Vine, and The Dream Giver. He is the founder of WorldTeach, a global initiative to train Bible teachers in every nation. Wilkinson also founded Dream for Africa, a humanitarian agency that has taken on AIDS, orphan care and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa. Bruce and his wife, Darlene, have three children and six grandchildren. They live outside Atlanta.

As founding editor of Christian Parenting Today, David Kopp was the writer of the award-winning column “Inside View.” He also served as Bruce Wilkinson’s writing partner for The Prayer of Jabez and Secrets of the Vine. Heather Harpham Kopp is a writer and editor whose books include The Dieter’s Prayer Book and Lost Boys and the Moms Who Love Them. Together, they are the authors of the Powerful Prayers series, as well as the parents of five young adults

My Review: The concept described in this book is something that can change the face of this world. Through seven steps you can start this wonderful journey of creating your own God Pocket. Decide, Devote, Deposit, Depend, Deliver, Declare, Disciple. What a powerful message in such a small book.
The author did a superb job writing this book. You can almost read it in one sit. It took me about two hours to read the book and since I read it I have been praying to make a difference in this world. Mr. Bruce Wilkinson describes a concept that we carry some amount of money that really belongs to God. We separate this money and devote this money to be delivered to someone in need. This person will be indicated by God through a "nudge", that is a inner push that direct us toward a person, a place or an action. It is a signal from God that unexpectedly focuses our attention on someone, directing us to something God wants done. And we do it in His name, for His glory.
I recommend this book to any Christian that wants a new perspective in his/her life, that wants to really make a difference in this world, acting as "God's partner", delivering help to people in need.

This book was written by Bruce Wilkinson with David Kopp as contributor and was published in October of 2011 by WaterBrook Multnomah Books. The publishers were kind enough to provide me a copy for reviewing through their Blogging for Books Program. Thanks, Mr. Wilkinson, for this wonderful book.
If you read this review, feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and give a feedback about this review using the link below.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Book "Discover Peru" a Travel Guide by Lonely Planet - Carolina A.Miranda et al.

About the Book: Experience The Best of Peru: Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, the enigmatic Nazca Lines – we’ve selected the most iconic sights and incredible places so you can enjoy the real Peru with the minimum of fuss. Highlights reveal the must-see attractions and unbeatable experiences. Itineraries make planning your trip simpler than ever. Local Experts recommend what not to miss. Easy-to-use Maps make getting around simpler than ever. Our Promise: You can trust our travel information because Lonely Planet authors visit the places we write about, each and every edition. We never accept freebies for positive coverage, so you can rely on us to tell it like it is.

About the Authors: Carolina A.Miranda is the coordinating author for this book. Born of a Peruvian father from the Chiclayo area, Carolina has spent her life making regular sojourns to Peru to wander around the Andes and eat as much ceviche as is humanly possible. when not experimenting with pisco sour ratios (three parts of pisco, one part lime juice, simple syrup to taste), she makes her living as a writer in New York City. She has written articles for Time, Budget Travel and Travel + Leisure, and is a regular contributor to WNYC, New York Public Radio. She blogs about culture at C-Monster.net and can also be found on Twitter (@cmonstah).
Other authors are Aimée Dowl, Katy Shorthouse, Luke Waterson and Beth Williams.

My Review: This is a travel guide that should be able to fulfill all your needs for information on what to do, how to do, where to go, etc... when you are visiting Peru. The authors did a magnificent job putting together this excellent travel guide.

The book starts with a chapter called "This is Peru", followed by Peru's map and "25 Peru's Top Experiences", highlighting the most incredible places, foods, drinks, cultural activities etc that you cannot possible think about missing when going to Peru. Following this chapter you have "Peru's Top Itineraries" where the authors suggest a 5-days, a 10-days and a 2-weeks itineraries, that you can use as a baseline depending on your availability. After that you have a "Peru Month by Month" with a calendar with the regular activities that happens around the year. Then you have a "What's New" and a "Need to Know" with general information on currency, language, driving, tipping, internet access etc.
After this initial introduction, the authors start describing places to visit, starting with Lima, followed by Nazca, Arequipa & the South, Puno & Lake Titicaca, Cuzco, Machu Picchu & Around, Huaraz, Trujillo & the North, and finally Iquitos & the Amazon Basin. For each segment there is an introduction with the history, a map and beautiful photos, highlights, where to eat, what to visit, where to stay, costs for attractions, hours of operations, etc

This is an outstanding result for a combined effort from five different authors and it was published by Lonely Planet in July 2011. I recommend this book for those who are serious about planing their trips and also for those who want to remember details on previous travels, while wishing they can return to Peru some day in the future.

Amazon.com was kind enough to provide this book for me through their Vine Program for reviewing and I was not request to provide a positive review. Opinions expressed here are my own.

If you read this review, fell free to leave a comment!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Book "Sams Teach Yourself Android Application Development in 24 Hours" by Lauren Darcey and Shane Conder

About the Book: Android is the world's #1 mobile development platform, and with the new Android 3.0, it's becoming as popular for tablets as it is for smartphones. If you are a beginner, in just 24 lessons of one hour or less, this friendly, full-color book will help you master modern Android development. You can build a fully-featured app from scratch, learning all the skills you'll need to create your own. Each lesson builds on prior chapters, providing a solid foundation for success. This edition is thoroughly updated for Android's newest features and development tools, while still supporting the popular Android 2.0. Coverage includes: Using Eclipse to write apps quickly and efficiently, Understanding the application lifecycle, Building robust, friendly user interfaces, Retrieving, storing, and using data, Adding network, social, and location-based features, Supporting the camera and other hardware, Internationalizing, testing, and publishing apps, Revised and simplified step-by-step instructions with full-color screenshots walk you through key tasks... updated Q and As, Quizzes, and Exercises test your knowledge..."Did You Know?" tips offer insider advice..."Watch Out!" alerts help you avoid problems. By the time you're finished, you won't just understand core Android concepts: you'll be comfortable writing, testing, and publishing your own new apps.

About the Authors: Lauren Darcey is responsible for the technical leadership and direction of a small software company specializing in mobile technologies, including Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre, BREW, and J2ME and consulting services. With more than two decades of experience in professional software production, Lauren is a recognized authority in enterprise architecture and the development of commercial-grade mobile applications. Lauren received a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Lauren spends her copious free time traveling the world with her geeky mobile-minded husband and is an avid nature photographer. Her work has been published in books and newspapers around the world. In South Africa, she dove with 4-meter-long great white sharks and got stuck between a herd of rampaging hippopotami and an irritated bull elephant. She's been attacked by monkeys in Japan, gotten stuck in a ravine with two hungry lions in Kenya, gotten thirsty in Egypt, narrowly avoided a coup d'état in Thailand, geocached her way through the Swiss Alps, drank her way through the beer halls of Germany, slept in the crumbling castles of Europe, and gotten her tongue stuck to an iceberg in Iceland (while being watched by a herd of suspicious wild reindeer).
Shane Conder has extensive development experience and has focused his attention on mobile and embedded development for the past decade. He has designed and developed many commercial applications for Android, iPhone, BREW, Blackberry, J2ME, Palm, and Windows Mobile-some of which have been installed on millions of phones worldwide. Shane has written extensively about the mobile industry and evaluated mobile development platforms on his tech blogs and is well known within the blogosphere. Shane received a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of California.
A self-admitted gadget freak, Shane always has the latest phone, laptop, or other mobile device. He can often be found fiddling with the latest technologies, such as cloud services and mobile platforms, and other exciting, state-of-the-art technologies that activate the creative part of his brain. He also enjoys traveling the world with his geeky wife, even if she did make him dive with 4-meter-long great white sharks, and almost get eaten by a lion in Kenya. He admits that he has to take at least two phones and a tablet with him when backpacking, even though there is no coverage, that he snickered and whipped out his Android phone to take a picture when his wife got her tongue stuck to that iceberg in Iceland, and that he is catching on that he should be writing his own bio.

My Review: This is a well organized book, very easy to follow and give you great perspective on all details of how to build an Android application. It is divided in five major parts plus a series of Appendixes. First part does a quick presentation on Android Fundamentals, Second part covers Building an Application Framework, how you implement Splash Screen and a Menu screen, as well as Help and Scores screen if you are developing a game. Third part covers Enhancing Your Application with Powerful Android Features, that deals with usage of images and cameras, as well as network features and support, and social features. Fourth part is called Adding Polish to Your Android Application and teaches how to internationalize your application,  how to develop for different devices and how to test your application. Last but not least, part five teaches you how to get ready to publish your application.
This book is a valuable tool, explaining in details on how to create the developing environment and which are the best open source tools to use.
Overall it is a very useful book, that I recommend if you want to start developing applications for Android platform.

This book was written by Lauren Darcy and Shane Conder and the second edition was Published on August of 2011. Amazon.com was kind enough to provide this book for me through their Vine Program for reviewing and I was not request to provide a positive review. Opinions expressed here are my own.

If you read this review, fell free to leave a comment!


Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Movie "A Horrible Way To Die" (2010)

About the Movie: Forget everything you've ever seen in a serial killer movie and get ready for the chiller that stunned festival audiences around the world: Notorious murderer Garrick Turrell (AJ Bowen of HOUSE OF THE DEVIL and HATCHET II) has escaped from police custody and resumed his killing spree. His former girlfriend Sarah (Amy Seimetz of ALEXANDER THE LAST) is a recovering alcoholic trying to put her life back together in a new town with a new man (Joe Swanberg of NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS). Her past continues to haunt her. And now her ex-boyfriend is leaving a trail of slaughter in his hunt to find her. From Adam Wingard, the director of the award-winning film POP SKULL and screenwriter Simon Barrett (DEAD BIRDS) comes the movie experience that is emotionally raw, disturbingly graphic and brutally real. Prepare yourself for A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE.

My Review: This is a horror/thriller movie directed by Adam Wingard with a very interesting plot. A young lady (Sarah/Amy Seimetz) finds out that her boyfriend (Garrick/A.J.Bowen) is a serial killer and turns him in to the authorities. While trying to recover herself from drinking problems, she finds what it seems to be a nice guy (Kevin/Joe Swanberg) at an AA meeting. When her ex-boyfriend escapes from custody and starts to pursuit her, her nightmare starts all over again. She fears for her life and for the life of her new boyfriend. The movie goes in a slow motion action until its final 20 minutes, which are electrifying and unpredictable. Amy Seimetz does an incredible work and by far she is the highlight of the movie.
If you like action, this movie is not for you. But for those who like blood and graphical scenes or murder, this is the one.

This movie was released in DVD in September 2011 and Amazon.com was kind enough to provide this copy for me through their Vine Program for reviewing and I was not request to provide a positive review. Opinions expressed here are my own.

Length of Movie: 84 minutes

If you read this review, fell free to leave a comment!

Monday, October 3, 2011

AudioBook "Only Time Will Tell" by Jeffrey Archer

About the AudioBook: From the internationally bestselling author of Kane and Abel and A Prisoner of Birth comes Only Time Will Tell, the first in an ambitious new series that tells the story of one family across generations, across oceans, from heartbreak to triumph. The epic tale of Harry Clifton's life begins in 1920, with the words "I was told that my father was killed in the war." A dock worker in Bristol, Harry never knew his father, but he learns about life on the docks from his uncle, who expects Harry to join him at the shipyard once he's left school. But then an unexpected gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys' school, and his life will never be the same again. As he enters into adulthood, Harry finally learns how his father really died, but the awful truth only leads him to question, was he even his father? Is he the son of Arthur Clifton, a stevedore who spent his whole life on the docks, or the firstborn son of a scion of West Country society, whose family owns a shipping line? This introductory novel in Archer's ambitious series The Clifton Chronicles includes a cast of colorful characters and takes us from the ravages of the Great War to the outbreak of the Second World War, when Harry must decide whether to take up a place at Oxford or join the navy and go to war with Hitler's Germany. From the docks of working-class England to the bustling streets of 1940 New York City, Only Time Will Tell takes readers on a journey through to future volumes, which will bring to life one hundred years of recent history to reveal a family story that neither the reader nor Harry Clifton himself could ever have imagined.

About the Author: Jeffrey Archer was educated at Oxford University. He has served five years in Britain's House of Commons, fourteen years in the House of Lords and two in Her majesty's prisons, which spawned three volumes of highly acclaimed Prison Diaries. All of his novels and short story collections--including Kane and Abel, Sons of Fortune, and False Impression--have been international bestsellers. Archer is married with two children and lives in London and Cambridge.

My Review: This audio book comes in a 10-CD compilation, read by Roger Allam and Emelia Fox.

The plot is quite interesting and will keep you entertained and paying close attention till the end. The author tells us the saga of the Clifton's family, a lower class family of dock workers from which Harry Clifton is a talented son from Maisie, and the Barrington's family, a wealthy family from which Giles and Emma, children of Hugo and Elizabeth, turn to be and important part of Harry's life. The story starts with Harry fighting to rise in life through his studies. He finds  an old man named Jack leaving in the docks, who tutors him and both ended up being great friends. And as he progress with studies through scholarships, life presents very tricky to Harry, with bullies and real friends crossing his path. The story is full of twists, some predictable, but the end is really unexpected.
This is suppose to be the first part out of five book series that is called "The Clifton's Chronicles", this first one in particular covering the period between 1920 and 1940. The whole story is told from different perspectives. There is an introduction from Harry's mother, Maisie, followed by the main stream by Harry, back to his mother, them to Hugo Barrignton, Old Jack, Emma and Giles points of view, before returning to Harry for the final part.
The only detail is that as this book is the first part of a series, the story does not wrap up on itself, on the contrary, it is left open on a hook for the next part.

Overall this is a masterpice composed by Mr. Jeffrey Archer, where each character is described in rich details and the voice that Roger Allam uses for each one is simply priceless. The female characters are read by Emelia Fox. Their narration is superb and contributes a lot to the success of this audiobook. Excellent fiction novel, a must have in the permanent library of any reader that enjoys this genre.

This audiobook was published by Macmillan Audio in August 2011 and Amazon.com was kind enough to provide this audiobook for me through their Vine Program for reviewing and I was not request to provide a positive review. Opinions expressed here are my own.

If you read this review, fell free to leave a comment!