A newsletter for the students, faculty and staff of the Collin County Community College District. Published monthly. For information or submissions, call 972.599.3142. Cougar News welcomes student and faculty submissions. Next deadline: April 10 All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on the due date. Photos cannot be returned. Text should be e-mailed to mrobinson@ccccd.edu or sent on disk. Please submit copy that is proofed, edited and saved in Word format. Cougar News staff: Lisa Vasquez, director; Mark Robinson, editor; Marcy Cadena-Smith, contributor; Sydney Portilla-Diggs, student correspondent; Stephanie Hall, student correspondent; Lydia Gober, special contributor; Nick Young, photographer.
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Book and Movie Review
“Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking”
By Malcolm Gladwell
By Mark Robinson
It is a little too easy to say a book (or movie, recording or whatever) will change one’s life.
At that point, we are giving pop culture a little too much credit. All these things are nice, but should having a child be a bit more life altering than, say, a Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass record or “Lost in Translation?” Buying a house? Suffering a heart attack? Losing a loved one to cancer? You get my point.
But what if a book legitimately changed the way you think on a subtle scale? It is not life changing, but merely eye opening. Well, that is “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking,” no pun intended.
Malcolm Gladwell’s latest (and it has been out for a while so if you have read it, feel free to skip down to Faculty and Staff News; if you have not read it, please, keep going) expounds on how the little and almost unseen aspects of life tend to affect more than we know.
Various stimuli affect conscious and unconscious decision making and lifestyle choices on very basic levels, Gladwell contends.
Although the content sounds a bit heavy, Gladwell pens his research and ideas in a masterfully flowing narrative that cuts down psychological, physiological and sociological mumbo-jumbo into insightful nuggets about ourselves.
Life is not necessarily a series of days, weeks, months and decades, but continuous sections of milliseconds – Gladwell puts human behavior under the microscope. It is almost an anti-biography where the whole is not nearly as important as the parts.
Facial expressions, underlying prejudices and an uncanny ability to “thin slice” as Gladwell puts it.
In “Blink” you come to understand that getting to know someone can be easily accomplished by exploring one’s room instead of talking to them for half an hour.
Some may scoff at Gladwell and his treatise, but it is hard not to take even the most minute lesson to heart – the little things do count.
Five out of five paws
"Madea's Family Reunion"
By Sydney Portilla-Diggs
Campus Correspondent
Starring:
Boris Kodjoe as Frankie
Blair Underwood as Carlos
Cicely Tyson as Myrtle
Lisa Arrindell Anderson as Vanessa
Lynn Whitfield as Victoria
Maya Angelou as May
Rochelle Aytes as Lisa
Tyler Perry as Madea/Joe/Brian
Running time: 163 minutes
Rated PG-13, for mature thematic material, domestic violence, sex and drug references
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion made its theatrical debut Feb. 24. The website “Rotten Tomatoes: Movies and Games, Reviews and Previews” polled a consensus of movie critics that suggest the film leaves something to be desired, despite the fact that the film is sincere in its positive intentions.
Nevertheless, two weeks after its release, Madea’s Family Reunion still tops the box office charts. Madea’s Family Reunion is crammed full of stereotypical and scatological humor. However, if one overlooks the bawdy, raucous and sometimes crude antics of the Southern matriarch Madea and her flatulent brother Joe, the film addresses some of the harshest societal issues like domestic violence, child abuse, dysfunctional families, child molestation and socioeconomic prejudice in a realistic way.
The cast of Madea’s Family Reunion is predominantly African-American. However, the relational issues can be found throughout any cultural group or family. Several plot lines run simultaneously and appear completely unrelated. Madea has a reduced role in this installment of Tyler Perry’s portrayal of the southern matriarch.
The pistol-carrying matriarch finds herself facing the judge because of a parole violation; instead of jail time, Madea is forced to become the foster mother to a troubled young teenager.
Meanwhile, Victoria played by the incomparable Lynn Whitfield is completely believable as a snobby socialite and mother of two daughters. Her favorite daughter Lisa is engaged to Carlos who is a successful banker. On the surface, their relationship appears to be made in heaven.
Very quickly, cracks appear in their idyllic romance; Carlos is not who he seems to be. And the “Queen bee” Victoria has some pretty nasty secrets of her own. Lisa Arrindell Anderson (Vanessa) gives a poignant portrayal of a bitter single mother. To add insult to injury, her mother Victoria takes every opportunity to show her disfavor for her eldest daughter and rub her mistakes in her face.
It is no surprise that when Vanessa meets Frankie, she resists his advances. Will the love of a good man change Vanessa’s life? Despite the chaotic goings on in the family, Madea still pulls off the family reunion. When you think you can’t stomach one more cliché, Cicely Tyson calls the young and old members of the family together to sermonize the importance of their roles and responsibilities in the African-American family in future generations. She urges her family to “Learn dignity. Demand respect.” And if that doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, Maya Angelou’s recitation of one of her poems will push you over the edge.
Critics suggest that Tyler Perry attempts to cross too many genres. Nevertheless, on some level it works because the audience laughed and cried, and related to the illustration of familial love and personal empowerment.
3 ½ out of 5 paws
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
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