The book I read to research this post was The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steven Peters which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. This book was recently No1 on the kindle business book chart. The ghist of this book is there are 2 major components to your personality. One is the conscious or human brain, the other is the limbic or chimp brain. Your decisions in life are dictated by what these 2 decide. The limbic brain is a leftover from when we needed instinct to survive. It's a similiar type of brain to that found in animals. Your human brain makes decisions rationally. These 2 brains must work together which of course isn't always successful. Hopefully knowing about this conflict will help us understand why we do certain things.

The book I read to research this post was The Berlitz Travel Guide to New York. Henry Hudson was the first european to sail up the River Hudson & he discovered the Hudson Bay whilst looking for a route to India. The settlement where Manhatten is now was bought off the local Native Americans for £24. It was originally called New Amsterdam & was a dutch settlement. Later it became a melting pot for lots of races & was the main point of entry into the USA. New York has a population of approximately 16 million & has more Irish than Dublin & more Jews than any other city. Brooklyn has 2.5 million is the 4th biggest urban area in the USA. Manhatten is famous for its skyline. Some of the most famous places are the Empire State Building, The UN Building & the Statue of Liberty. A lot of people are very poor & it has a high crime rate. They also have an interesting lingo ie they call a chemist a druggist. They also get 16 million tourists per year, 2 million from abroad.

I am reviewing Ice Age 4: Continental Drift which is an excellent film. The best film out of the Ice Age series is still Ice Age 3. This is a worthy addition all the same to the series. The animation is wonderful and it's very funny. The theme to this film is the break up of Pangea when the separate continents were formed. Seismic activity causes the animals to become separated from their families and they are stranded on an ice sheet. They are then attacked by animal pirates led by a barbary ape. They succeed in sinking the pirate ship made out of ice and propelled by sea cows. The pirates however are hot on their trail. The pirates get to the rendezvous point where the animals planned on meeting up with their families & hold them hostage. Of course as in all childrens films there's a happy ending.

The book I read to research this post was The Gerry Hitchens Story by Simon Goodyear which is an excellent book which I borrowed from the library. Gerry was a famous footballer who made it in Britain & Italy. In those days there was a £20 a week limit on players in Britain but the Serie A had no such limit & it was possible to get £80 a week. It was starting to attract many foreign footballers. Gerry played for InterMilan among other italian clubs. He was around the same age as my dad & they both worked at Alveley colliery as coal miners at the same time. Gerry was snapped up by Kidderminster Harriers & soon got on the A team. Harriers were a nonleague side and a lot of there income came from selling players. They sold Gerry to Cardiff City for £1,500 a harrriers record. He did really well for Cardiff who in turn sold him to Aston Villa for £20,000. From there he went to InterMilan where he became a pin up and a great player. He played for several italian clubs. Sadly although he played in the England team of 62 he couldn't play in 66 due to playing for a foreign club. Towards the end he played for nonleague clubs in Britain, Worcester City & then Merthyr Tyddfil. He wasn't as talented as some players but he was a hard worker and made himself good at soccer. He also had a knack for spotting half chances.

I am reviewing Tom & Jerry: Robin Hood & His Merry Mouse which is excellent & I think anyone would enjoy it but especially children. You can tell the plot is quite inspired by the proper legend of Robin Hood. There is a spy in The Sheriff of Nottingham's household which is of course Maid Marion. Jerry is her messenger & Tom is assigned to stop him. There is the archery competition which is an archery competition which is really a trap for Robin Hood. There's 3 characters from the Hanna Barbara cartoons that you might recognize but sadly they've only got small parts. There's also King Richard the Lionheart coming back from the crusades which doesn't go down well with Prince John or the Sheriff. Also Tom changes sides at the end and their is an exciting battle. I think this will rank as a Tom & Jerry. Incidently did you know Tom & Jerry have won more oscars than anyone else even though there obviously not real. They have won the oscar for best short animation loads of times.

The film I am reviewing is a horror called Sinister which is excellent. It's a bit like an old fashioned horror movie in that the violence tends to be suggested rather than showing loads of gore. The producer also produced Insidious & Paranormal & I think this film ranks alongside them. It's a kind of haunted house plot where a family move into a house that has a history of violence. Also they have a little girl who is missing. The father finds these snuff movies and tries to investigate and find out who is depicted in them. Also it appears his children have been watching them and drawing scenes from them at school. The house also appears to have some kind of demons who come out at night & at one point the family go somewhere else to live but the evil just follows them & of course as with a lot of these films there is a shock ending.

The book I read to research this post was Confidence for Dummies 2nd edition by Kate Burton et al which is a very good book which I borrowed from the library. Viktor L Frankl wrote a very famous book called Man's Search for Meaning which is mostly about his experiences in several concentration camps including Auschwitz. While there he learned a lot about what motivates people not to give up which later in life helped him become an emminent psychotherapist. He discover the people who cope best with trauma are those with deep seated faith. a goal in life and those with something to look forward to like seeing a loved one again. He once had a male patient who had outlived his wife and was depressed because he missed her. Viktor reframed it and told him that at least she has been spared the fate that he is enduring. When you think of it one or the other  would have to suffer that fate. It's vital to have goals in life. Another thing is if you face rejection it shouldn't be taken personally. A famous speaker called Antony Robbins who specializes in self improvement does an exercise where he selects a man from the audience who has to ask a beautiful actress who works for Robbins out. She is instructed that on no account is she to say yes. He is told that he is to try and talk her into having a date & not accept rejection. What comes out of this exercise is she is merely doing as instructed and the rejection isn't personal which is the way we should see rejection. Of course if this were a real situation he would have to be careful it didn't turn into harrassment. A final thing is there are organisations like Toastermasters International which encourage people to do public speaking at there meetings and work at their speach making skills.

This film I am reviewing is a documentary about people both male & female being raped & sexually in the US armed forces. Until this film was made the decision on whether or not to prosecute was left with the commanding officer who had neither the training or knowledge to decide on these matters. A lot of the time victims were bullied into staying silent. In a lot of the cases the rapist was the commanding officer who in theory they should report it to. Also members of the armed forces can't sue and get compensation and in a lot of cases sustain substantial both psychological & physical injuries. Apparently you are more likely to get PTSD  as a result of sexual abuse than combat. This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Over 20% of female recruits are either raped or sexually assaulted & that's only the ones who report it. Those who report it can be expect to be investigated for false allegations & expect their career to be adversely affected. In one case in the film a single female recruit was raped by a married male officer & was prosecuted for adultery but he got away scoff free. Often even if there is plenty of evidence the charges are reduced to avoid bad publicity. They have been promising for years to get there house in order but according to this film they're a long way off. Also female recruits are ordered to join drinking binges & to drink by superior officers. Small wonder they have this problem.

The book I read to research this post is The Berlitz Travel Guide to Costa del Sol & Andalucia which is an excellent book which I bought from a secondhand bookshop. The first settlers in Andalucia were there 25,000 years ago and they left cave paintings although we don't know much about them. The Vandals & Visigoths came over from Africa & settled a few thousand years ago. They started trading with the Phoenicians from the Lebanon area who were great traders. The Romans & Carthaginians also invaded this area as part of the 2 Punic Wars. One invasion by the Romans was an attempt to sever Hannibals supply lines in the 2nd Punic War. The Roman's built a great road along the Costa del Sol coastline. They also found the oldest cities in this area. Later the Moors invaded this area and made first Cordoba & later Granada their capital. Cordoba was to become one of the great cities of the ancient world with the first european university & a peak population of 500,000. The christians eventually drove the Moors out but were less tolerant of muslims than what muslims had been of christians. Of course it was in the 1960's that jet airliners opened up this area to holidaymakers from abroad. There are 3 main airports serving the area which are Malaga, Gibraltar & Seville. Most tourists arrive via Malaga. If you arrive from england there is 2 ferries one is Plymouth - Santander, the other, Portsmouth - Bilbao. There is a long journey time though. There is a lot of english influences like chip shops & curry houses to remind people of england. The Andalucian region is semi autonomous within Spain. It also enjoys almost year round sunshine and avoids the extreme summer heat they get further inland. If you do visit this area there is alot of history here in old cities like Granada, Seville, Cordoba & Cadiz.

This post is a review of the film Flushed Away. It is a cartoon from Dreamworks & Aardman, the latter of course has given us little gems like Chicken Run. This animation features models which they have done stop motion photography with. It also features a fantastic cast including Hugh Jackman & Kate Winslett. Winslett in particular gives a nice performance as a feisty love interest. The plot is Hugh plays a pet rat who finds an intruder sewer rat in his house and Hugh is tricked and flushed down the toilet. In the sewer is a city populated by small animals. Winslett is his only hope of getting back home via her boat the Jammie Dodger but she is pursued by gangsters & their boss is a villianous toad. He also plans on flooding the sewer city. Anyway after many an adventure Hugh gets home but by then he has fallen for Kate & he gets the sewer rat to flush him back down the toilet so he can save the day. Even though the sewer rat played well by Shane Ritchie is allowed to take Hugh's place he gets his comeuppance in a very funny final scene. It's an excellent that I think most people will enjoy.