Feb
07
2010
Overall an OK show, but maybe a little heavy on wrestlers. I pick Matt Sera for fight of the night, which is pretty good considering how much I dis-liked him going into tonight. Serra’s great post fight quote ‘I’m like Gimli from Lord of the rings’.
Randy Couture beats Mark Coleman
Randy put on a great show to win, but that is mainly due to Mark Coleman being only an average fighter. The fight was two old guys duking it out and looking tired. Randy used the same game plan as his last fight against Brandon Vera, but it worked this time. Randy’s uppercuts were great.
Nate Marquardt loses Chael Sonnen
Chael Sonnen is the most entertaining pure wrestler in the UFC, but that still isn’t saying too much. I don’t think any celebrity fighters will agree to fight Chael ever. Also Nate does need a few more moves to escape from a never ending wrestler attack. Don’t want him to end up like Cheick Kongo.
Matt Serra knocks out Frank Trigg
Great starting fight for pay-per-view. Many UFC shows have a boring opener that goes to a decision killing the excitement… not this one. Great fast knockout fight by Matt. I think I’ll pick him to win next time.
Decent show. Hopefully Mike Swick is ready for the next one or he will be bumped down to UFC fight nights with Chris Leben.
Feb
05
2010
Overall the fight card looks pretty good. It really depends if Randy Couture is there to fight or only to press Mark Coleman against the cage for 15 minutes of nothing.
Randy Couture vs Mark Coleman
I’m hoping for Randy to win this win fight with excitement to re-build some current fight star status. His last match-up against Brandon Vera was painfully boring to watch. (No fault on Brandon.)
Nate Marquardt vs Chael Sonnen
Nate is an entertaining top contender. Always great to watch and cheer for. This fight is probably the real main event action-wise.
Matt Serra vs Frank Trigg
I don’t really care for either fighter, but it is one I really want to watch. I like frank Trigg better than Matt for his outside of the ring activities and personality… so I’m hoping for Frank Trigg to win.
The other fights are ok, but I don’t have anyone picked to win. I would like Mike Swick to win a couple more before I cheer for him again. He seemed to drop out of too many fights cards due to injury.
Jan
28
2010
- and what you can learn from their mistakes -
Author: Sydney Finkelstein
Rating: 4/5
Inside Jacket Snippet: ‘… conducted hundreds of interviews with insiders at top companies that have risen and fallen … to expose the root of these failures and to gain insight into the people behind them. …’
Comments: The book has good information, but has a repetitive feel throughout. I could never guess when the next corporate example was going to be a brand new one for the book or another repeat from an earlier section. The company might have been re-used for slightly different material or looked at in a new way, but it was too many re-hashes. Overall a good book and it is definitely worth reading as part of the executive business book category.
Jan
18
2010
- An Alchemist Novel – The Elixir of Eternal Life -
Rating: 5/5
Back Cover Snippet: ‘… The Elixir of Life is the secret of immortality, a magic serum that grants eternal life and supernatural abilities… ‘
Comments: Great book. I am usually reading two or three books at any given time, but this one bumped the rest and I had to read it straight through.
Going by the Wikipedia entry I don’t think there will be a follow novel. That Wiki entry is a decent adventure story just to get this book published.
Overall The Red Lion is an entertaining and fast paced book. It includes astral entities, re-incarnations, non physical intelligences, immortality, and more. Definitely worth the read.
Jan
08
2010
Author: Damian Hughes
- Inspirational lessons from the world’s great leaders-
Rating: 5/5
Back Cover Snippet: ‘… captures the principles of success used by modern-day legends… ‘
Comments: Now most documents on the web have templates available to help writers. This book completes all the requirements to be a great leadership book; concise, accurate, nice quotes, optional exercises, follow-up readings, touching stories, great layout, etc… So the book gets a full 5/5 rating, but some-how still reads a bit flat. If I could pin point the issue I would bump it down to a 4, but I can’t quite do so. Vaguely like a skilled musician playing perfectly without added feeling? Or if the google search engine could write a leadership book on the fly?
Overall ‘Liquid Leadership’ is a fine book to read and I have already picked up some of the recommended readings to start next.
Jan
05
2010
Authors: Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval
- Why Little Things Make All the Difference -
Rating: 4/5
Inside Jacket Snippet: ‘… Our smallest actions and gestures often have an outsized impact on our biggest goals …’
Comments: A small, light, very read-able book, with more than a few nice anecdotes thrown in. Probably not going to change any-one’s life, but a good refresher on paying attention to detail. It is worth a quick read.
This book does not include a ‘further recommended reading’ list at the end, and I’m starting to use those more and more. When I find a good book to read, like this one, I will trust their opinion on at least one more book to try.
