Before Midnight is the third movie following the relationship of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy). The first two movies, Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004), featured director Richard Linklater’s patented shooting style with long, uninterrupted scenes full of dialogue. In fact, if you’re not ready for movies where most of the film (about 90%) is dialogue, it comes as a shock. Whether you’re going to enjoy these movies depends a lot on whether you like the characters. Jesse is a writer with some narcissistic tendencies. Celine is a beautiful but moody French woman. As you might suspect, Jesse and Celine’s relationship has plenty of ups and downs. Spacing these movies about seven years apart allows for the audience to see the arc of the characters’ relationships. I found watching the latest installment, Before Midnight, like getting together with some old friends. However, [SPOILER ALERT!] if I were in bed with a half-naked woman (like Ethan Hawke is) I would NEVER start an argument and piss her off! [END OF SPOILER ALERT]. GRADE: B+

If you’re in the mood for a farcical cop movie, The Heat will make you laugh. Sandra Bullock plays a prim and proper FBI agent. Melissa McCarthy plays a scruffy, street-smart Boston cop. Together they seek to bring down a mysterious drug lord. But, of course, their partnership is fraught with problems. Both women are dealing with personal problems. The clash of personalities is amusing. But the on-screen chemistry works. This is silly summer fun! A sequel is already in production. GRADE: B

Giant robots battle giant alien monsters…what’s not to like! A great Summer Blockbuster! Buy some popcorn and enjoy! GRADE: B+

During the 1960s, I considered Keith Laumer my favorite science fiction writer. My first contact with Laumer’s work was a serial in AMAZING in 1962, A Trace of Memory. It was an adventure that any teenager would love full of action, danger, and suspense. I loved Laumer’s Retief series. Not only did the Retief stories, full of galactic diplomatic skullduggery, specialize in cleverness they also were full of humor. Keith Laumer wrote several stories and SF novels that blended action and adventure and wit. Eric Flint collected the best of Laumer’s humorous work in Keith Laumer: the Lighter Side. This 500 page volume is a bargain and delivers plenty of laughs. In addition to some very funny stories, this collection includes two complete Laumer novels: Time Trap and The Great Time Machine Hoax. If you’re in the mood for some light, comedic science fiction, you’ll find it in Keith Laumer: The Lighter Side.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
In the Queue
The Planet Wreckers
The Body Builders
Time Trap
The Devil You Don’t
The Exterminator
The Big Show
Goobereality
Phototaph
The Great Time Machine Hoax
Afterward

Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton present a breezy (and short!) introduction to the science of happiness. Examining all the current research on the link between money and happiness, they come up with five principles that can increase satisfactions:
1. Buy Experiences
2. Make It a Treat
3. Buy Time
4. Pay Now, Consume Later
5. Invest in Others
Most people have increased happiness when they take a trip or go on vacation. Experiences tend to increase satisfaction. Boredom is the enemy of happiness. Treat yourself to something out of the ordinary and chances are you’ll feel better. Most people are time-deprived: we are constantly stressed by having too much to do. By giving ourselves more time–taking a day off, only checking email twice a day, etc.–happiness goes up. Anticipation increases happiness. Delaying consumption actually makes us happier than immediate consumption. Finally, investing in others–in a word, charity–makes us feel happier. Follow these principles and your happiness will go up! Check out Elizabeth Dunn below. GRADE: B+

I’ve seen the trailers for The Bridge for the past few months. Now, our local Buffalo News TV critic weighed in with a rave review. I’m sure there will be others. Like The Killing, The Bridge is a dark drama involving a murder. The bridge referred to in the title is the Bridge of the Americas that serves as a border crossing between El Paso and Juárez, Mexico. A corpse shows up in the exact middle of of the bridge making the case both American and Mexican. Like The Killing with obsessive Detective Sarah Linden, The Bridge features Diane Kruger as Detective Sonya Cross, a member of the El Paso police department who suffers from Asperger Syndrome. I’m looking forward to this new series which begins tonight on FX at 10 P.M. EDT. Check for the time in your area.

Director Joss Whedon took a break from editing what was to become the biggest movie of 2012, The Avengers, and with a little help from his friends shot Much Ado About Nothing at his home in 12 days. Whedon’s version is different from the classic Kenneth Branagh/Emma Thompson. It’s shot in black & white. The movie is set in the present. I fell in love with Amy Acker as Beatrice (I had also fallen in love with Emma Thompson as Beatrice so at least I’m consistent). This Shakespearian tale of love, evil, and forgiveness has always been a favorite of mine. There’s more here than meets the eye. GRADE: A-

Robert Shiller teaches at Princeton University and is famous for coining the term “irrational exuberance” (and he wrote a book about it, too). And, if you’re watching the news and the commentator refers to the “Case-Shiller Index” (a national home price measure), that’s Shiller, too. In Finance and the Good Society, Shiller makes the case for fixing capitalism. Capitalism, for all its flaws, is still the best economic system to generate economic activity. But flaws like “too big to fail,” “the 1%,” “CEO compensation,” “insider trading,” and buying political influence threaten capitalism. Shiller addresses these problems in a sensible, realistic fashion. In fact, if you want to you can take Shiller’s Economics 252: Financial Markets at http://oyc.yale.edu/economics/econ-252-11. Shiller avoids most of the jargon usually mucking up books like this. If you want a readable, clear, and intelligence book on our economic problems–and options to solve them–try Finance and the Good Society.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface vii
Introduction: Finance, Stewardship, and Our Goals 1
Part One: Roles and Responsibilities
1. Chief Executive Offi cers 19
2. Investment Managers 27
3. Bankers 37
4. Investment Bankers 45
5. Mortgage Lenders and Securitizers 50
6. Traders and Market Makers 57
7. Insurers 64
8. Market Designers and Financial Engineers 69
9. Derivatives Providers 75
10. Lawyers and Financial Advisers 81
11. Lobbyists 87
12. Regulators 94
13. Accountants and Auditors 100
14. Educators 103
15. Public Goods Financiers 107
16. Policy Makers in Charge of Stabilizing the Economy 111
17. Trustees and Nonprofit Managers 119
18. Philanthropists 124
Part Two: Finance and Its Discontents
19. Finance, Mathematics, and Beauty 131
20. Categorizing People: Financiers versus Artists and Other Idealists 135
21. An Impulse for Risk Taking 139
22. An Impulse for Conventionality and Familiarity 143
23. Debt and Leverage 151
24. Some Unfortunate Incentives to Sleaziness Inherent in Finance 159
25. The Significance of Financial Speculation 168
26. Speculative Bubbles and Their Costs to Society 178
27. Inequality and Injustice 187
28. Problems with Philanthropy 197
29. The Dispersal of Ownership of Capital 209
30. The Great Illusion, Then and Now 219

While I am firmly in the Starbucks Blonde Coffee camp, I took a chance on this bag of new Starbucks Mocha Coffee. TARGET was having a “Buy Four Bags of Starbucks Coffee, Get a $10 Starbucks Gift Card” Sale. So I bought three bags of Starbucks Blonde Coffee (Veranda and Willow) and a bag of Starbucks Mocha Coffee. After using up the bag of Mocha, I’d say I’d buy it again. The Mocha taste is prominent (like a hazelnut coffee) and the underlying coffee taste is bold. I’ll drink this Starbucks Mocha as a change from the Blonde coffees, but it will be just an occasional switch. Give this new Starbucks Mocha a try, you might enjoy it.