The Portland White's

There's a few movies I've watched over the past month that I wanted to remember to refer to my family back in Idaho.  I'm chosen to list those movies here for two reasons.  One, because I'll probably forget to mention it whenever the next time is that I get to talk to them, and two, because they'll probably forget them as well.  We watched all these movies through Netflix.

1. The Forgotting, a Portrait of Alzheimers - My grandfather, Clem Thompson died of Alzheimers in November of 2006.  He taught Chemistry at Ricks College.  It was sad and heartbreaking to see this disease take ahold of him.  It slowly consumed his mind and left a shell of a man.  Anyone who has ever had a relative diagnosed with Alzheimers should watch this movie.  IMHO, everyone should watch it because the statistics are they will have a family member be diagnosed with Alzheimers and will have to deal with this in a very personal level at some point.  After watching this I started to wonder if shouldn't be changing my profession, or at least do what I do but instead in the field of research to help find a cure for Alzheimers.  I'm still dealing with this question and haven't found an answer yet.
2. Outsourced - What a great show.  You'll enjoy it.  It's funny, and touching.  We're all dealing with this issue in some form or another and this is a great way to start the dialogue in discussing it.  But, you can just enjoy the show and don't have to discuss the issues associated with it.  Again, it's funny, it's entertaining.  We're all humans with the same joys and sadnesses, we come from different cultures, we look and sound different, but with have the same emotions and are more alike then we are different.  If I was younger, I'd really enjoy a trip to India and working overseas.  That's the anthropologist inside me talking.  It's harder for me to do that know, but maybe someday.
3. Lions for Lambs - There are three types of people in this world.  Two of the types will watch this film, one type will not.  Of the two types who watch this film, the first type will enjoy it, perhaps recommend it to friends, and maybe even refer to it as edu-tainment.  The last type will be the ones Robert Redford's character is addressing throughout the movie.  This group finds themselves in a position to change their lives and to choose the course Redford's character is placing before them.  This group is also made up of individuals who maybe aren't in a position to change their lives, but have the desire and determinition to do it anyways.  The questions they are asking themselves is "where", and "what".  They're not asking "why", though everyone else around them will.  And they're not asking "when", because the answer to that question is already known.  "How" is an implementation detail and will be answered after "where" and "what" have been crystalized.  "How" doesn't affect the outcome of "where" and "what", but instead it is the outcome of those two questions.  "How" is the question which distinguishes the two groups who watch the movie, from each other.  If you've seen this movie, what group do you find yourself in?  Because it's really a separate topic, I'll write later about what group I find myself in.