Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Book Review: Emotional Intelligence 2.0

Guide towards enhancing self-awareness

I picked up this book at the library and started reading it out of curiosity. As I delved deeper into the book I realized that it is indeed a fantastic resource. It gives useful tips on how to become self aware, monitor our emotions and control our reactions.

Chapters in the book deal with steps and measures to identify our emotional triggers even before they take over and guide our response. The author warns however that readers should not expect overnight changes in their life or actions. This book is only a guide for those interested to become more aware of their emotions. By following steps given in the book it would be possible to control our futures.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Movie Review: Charley Varrick

Fantastic Thriller without the usual Bang Bang!!!

Direction: Don Siegel
Cast: Walter Matthau, Andrew Robinson, Joe Don Baker and John Vernon
Story: Based on novel The Looters by John H. Reese

This is the story of a small time bank robber and his gang. Charley Varrick played by Matthau is a crop duster by profession but his main occupation is pulling off small bank heists in rural America. During one bank heist they run into trouble and his wife and a gang member gets killed. Surprisingly the heist yields an unusually large sum of money $750,000 and the bank declares a loss of only $1,500.

The money actually belongs to the mob and is on its way out of the country. The mob sets people on Charley and the other surviving gang member's tails. Charley is too smart to fall prey to the mob. The rest of the movie shows how Charley uses his ingenuity to get out of the spot he is in.

This is one of those family movies that has something for every member. There is drama, thrill, some violence, action, stunts, and great dialogues. If you can get hold of this 1973 film do watch it.