Daily Archives: December 26, 2009

Book Review: Me 2.0

Book Review: Me 2.0

By Dan Schawbel, 2009, Kaplan Publishing

As someone soon to join the professional world, I have found myself completely overwhelmed by what I should be doing in order to have a competitive advantage.  Let’s face it—the job market sucks.  What should I be doing now in order to have the best job opportunities after college?  I’ve talked to several family members, friends and teachers, and they have all given me a fair share of advice.  I have printed up business cards, started making a website and purchased a slew of job and career advice books.  Of all these books, none has been as informative, relevant an helpful as Me 2.0.

What makes Me 2.0 so great is its focus on modern technology.  I read an article in the HuffPost today called “12 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade,” which listed such things as calling, wires, fax machines, handwritten letters, and so on.  We’ve moved into the digital age and so we must learn to network, self-promote and job search digitally.  Me 2.0 (named after the concept of interactive “Web 2.0”) focuses on using resources such as websites, social networks, blogs and so on to brand yourself the way big companies do in order to create a consistent vision of yourself that will attract employers.  I have the advantage over older people trying to promote themselves online because I have been using social networks and blogging for years, but this book really opened my eyes to what else I should be doing in order to really exploit these online resources.

If you’re in college and soon to enter the professional world, read this book.  If you’re already in the professional world but have been laid off or are looking for new work, read this book.  If you’re a professional that wants to improve your networking skills, read this book.  In fact, I can’t think of very many demographics that this book wouldn’t apply to, other than children, of course (and they might want to read this book for practice—just saying…)

Bottom Line: It’s the 21st century—welcome to the digital age.  It’s time that you read Me 2.0.  5/5 stars.

[And if you’re really feeling digital—buy it and read it on the Kindle.  Now that’s 2.0-worthy.]

Mini Reviews: Up

UP (on DVD)

A young boy scout teaches an old man to live again when he accidentally gets stuck on a house floating to South America.

2009, Pixar, nominated for 2 Golden Globes

Pixar Has Done It Again

After Ratatouille and WALL-E (both of which I would give 5/5 stars), I eagerly anticipated Pixar’s next creation.  Well, they’ve done it again.  Up, like other great animated movies such as Shrek and WALL-E, is a movie written for adults but disguised in kid’s clothing.  Kids of all ages will love this film—the adventure plotline is a time-tested favorite; the talking dog Dug will win everyone’s hearts and remind you of your own favorite mutt; Russell’s upbeat, never-surrender attitude and desire to become a Wilderness Explorer plays so well when many recent movies have tried to turn kids into little adults—instead of just being kids, like they should be.

On the other hand, Up delves into some deep, mature topics that will resonate with adults in the audience.  The topic of loss is a very crucial one—old man Carl is learning to cope with the recent loss of his wife and several developers who are trying to kick him out of his house.  This is a story about learning to live again.  Instead of giving up, Carl finally decides to follow his childhood dreams and along the way, he learns the value of friendship, memories and determination.  Although this is an uplifting movie on the whole, it certainly has its fair share of very depressing themes and moments.

Bottom Line: Rent it.  Up is another great addition to the Pixar collection and although it is a very depressing movie at times, the adventure is worth the ride.  4/5 stars

Mini Reviews: The Proposal

THE PROPOSAL (on DVD)

To avoid being deported to Canada, an attractive cougar executive orders her young protégé to marry her and they must travel to his hometown in Alaska to deliver the fake news.

2009, Starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, nominated for a Golden Globe

By All Means, Deport Her

There was a time when I loved Sandra Bullock movies—Miss Congeniality, Speed, Two Weeks Notice, Crash, etc.  Recently, however, I am absolutely sick of her.  Lake House wasn’t great, Premonition was bad and I’m pretty sure no one saw All About Steve.  The Proposal fell into the same category for me.  After seeing the previews, I had little or no interest in seeing this movie, but after it was breaking box office records right and left and then it was nominated for a Golden Globe, I thought I would give it a try.  Sure, it had one or two funny moments (Sandra and Ryan accidentally running into each other naked, for example), but on the whole, this was another crappy romantic comedy wedding movie.  Ryan Reynolds could make me swoon with his manly good looks, but as the “good guy” I found myself not caring about him or his situation at all.  As for Sandra, I felt absolutely no sympathy for her character, so as far as I’m concerned, deporting her to Canada is a good idea.

As a romantic comedy, this movie follows the very predictable route, but if that’s what you’re in the mood for, leave a comment and I will list at least 200 good rom com’s to watch before this one.

I’m going to go see The Blind Side this week, so I’ll give Sandra one more honest try and we’ll see what I think.

Bottom Line: I’m tired of cougars.  I’m tired of Sandra Bullock.  I’m tired of dramatic weddings where someone makes an epic speech right before they’re supposed to say, “I do.”  I’m not really sure why this movie made so much money but it wasn’t the movie for me.  1/5 stars