New Sermon – Angels

Films i’ve seen this year:

• Yes Man
• Marley & Me
• Dean Spanley
• Slumdog Millionaire
• 17 Again
• Bolt
• Watchmen
• Confessions of a Shopaholic
• Notorious
• Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
• The Wrestler
• Milk
• The Boat That Rocked
• Dragonball Evolution
• Star Trek
• Angels & Demons
• Duplicity
• The Hangover
• Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
• Terminator Salvation
• Hannah Montana: The Movie
• Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince
• The Proposal
• Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
• District 9
• The Ugly Truth
• Coraline
• Inglorious Basterds
• Man On Wire
• Sunshine Cleaning
• September Issue
• Fame
• Couples Retreat
• Up
• This Is It
• A Christmas Carol
• My Sister’s Keeper
• Away We Go
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
• (500) Days Of Summer
• Surrogates
• Where The Wild Things Are

& i’ve probably forgotten a couple but that’s probably because they weren’t tickets I kept or got swiped onto my trusty Film Squad card, or they were just crap.

My favourite *insert number here* movies of the year are:

• Star Trek
• Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
• Away We Go
• UP
• Watchmen
• Dragonball Evolution
• Angels & Demons
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Milk
• Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince
• This Is It

& I haven’t seen anything else yet, but it’s safe to say New Moon wont make my favourites.

Stanley? Try turning it upside down?

It’s 4:15am and I’ve already been at work for over half an hour….first opening shift and I’m not even that tired (yet)!

So it’s almost 100% decided that I’m moving up to Alaska with my sister.  This all started on Saturday when I was super frustrated with how stagnant my life is.  I am not doing anything moving.  I have a minimum wage part time job…which, while it is a lot of fun, it is not a career and it is not enough to let me start my own life.  I am still living at home, and my boyfriend still lives four hours away and he is still not trying to get a real job (at least I’ve been trying) so that we can move together.  And he doesn’t ever take initiative to visit me (I always plan the trips).  I know he loves me, and I love him, but we need to start moving somewhere!

So, I was having a breakdown on the phone with my sister, and she told me to move up to AK for a while.  She got it okay-ed with her fiance, and even found me a job in marketing at the medical spa she works at.  There’s a possibility that I also might get a job at a paper (which is almost my line of work- close enough!)  It looks like I’ll be moving up early to mid January.  The plan is to only stay for about two months, but, as my sister said, it will “give me a new perspective on things.”  It will also give me experience, the chance to get a new view and breathe, and to see Alaska!!  I almost can’t say no.

My boyfriend knows it’s a great opportunity for me, but he’s really bummed about it.  I am nervous moving so far away from him, too, but I can’t wait here forever.  I think and pray that we can handle it and survive.

In other news, before I sign off, if you have not seen Angels & Demons, go see it!!  It just came out on DVD and it is absolutely amazing.  PLUS, Ewan McGregor is in it, which makes it even more fantastic!  But even if it wasn’t him, the movie is incredible.  It is one of the few (along with The DaVinci Code) where I have not read the book (although now I am going to, as soon as I’m done the one I’m reading).  It is well worth the money to see it.  Wow!

First of all, gua mau ngucapin Happy Thanksgiving dan Selamat Idul Adha buat yang merayakan yaaaa…

Rabu, 25 November 2009

Seperti biasa kalo ada long weekend, pasti sehari sebelumnya kita cuma kerja setengah hari. Asik banget ya. Apalagi banyak banget yang udah cuti, jadi nyantai abis di kantor.

Siangnya kita cuma ke Costco untuk last minute grocery shopping. Tadinya gua kirain udah sepi karena pasti banyak yang lagi sibuk nyiapin Thanksgiving di rumah masing-masing, ternyata rame banget… Banyak yang masih belanja! Yang banyak diborong orang ya pumpkin pie, frozen turkey, dan bunga poinsettia.

Kita sendiri sih cuma belanja bentar trus pulang buat tidur siang. Malemnya, gua ama Andrew bikin snowman untuk ditempelin foto-foto orang-orang yang kita undang untuk Thanksgiving dinner besok. Jadi ceritanya instead of naruh nama di masing-masing piring untuk nentuin siapa duduk dimana, kita taroh foto-foto mereka (yang ama Esther di print dari Facebook). Good idea kan? Jadi lain dari yang lain…

Ini nih penampakan snowmen yang kita bikin:

Eh malemnya, tetangga kita ada yang ngetok. Dia ngasih kita mocca chocolate cake! Doh gua jadi gak enak ati. Soalnya awalnya sebenernya gara-gara pas Halloween kemaren kan dia ngasih kita permen, jadi pikiran pas Thanksgiving kita balesin gitu. Jadi kemaren pas Selasa, gua ngasih dia pumpkin pie (yang mana ukurannya kecil banget soalnya kan gua pikir dia masih single)… Eh ternyata malah dibalesin lagi kita dikasih cake (yang mana pasti harganya jauuuhhh lebih mahal kan!!). Haiyaaa… Jadi kepikiran dah, berasa kok gua pelit amat. Hahaha.

Kamis, 26 November 2009

Hari ini Thanksgiving day!!! Yah walaupun setiap hari pun kita harus kudu bersyukur selalu, tapi hari ini kita bener-bener lebih bersyukur, atas segala yang Tuhan udah kasih ke kita selama ini. Yang pasti karena kita bertiga sehat-sehat aja, keluarga kita juga semua sehat, gua juga punya kerjaan yang lumayan, kita punya tempat tinggal, ada mobil, masih bisa jalan-jalan dan makan-makan… dan semua-semuanya dah… Kita sangat bersyukur banget!

Makanya kita bakal ngerayain lagi kali ini. Kita ngundang 5 orang, jadi total ber-8 ama kita. Gak banyak-banyak ngundangnya, soalnya mau sitting dinner.

Paginya sih kita nyantai-nyantai dulu di rumah. Internetan, nonton DVD… Enak banget ya nyantai-nyantai itu. Hehehe. Trus sekitar jam setengah 1 baru keluar. Ngambil pesenan makanan dulu buat malem. Sama kayak taun lalu, kita taun ini juga mesen semua dah. Males mau nyiapin dari scratch. Menunya pun sama, ya tipikal menu Thanksgiving dinner lah: roasted turkey, bread stuffing, dinner roll, yam caserolle, gravy, mashed potato, dan cranberry sauce.

Trus kita pergi makan siang dulu di luar, baru trus pulang. Andrew dipaksa tidur walaupun rada susah, soalnya dia udah excited banget karena ntar malem mau pesta. Dia udah nanya-nanya mulu kapan orang-orang mau dateng.

Begitu Andrew tidur, langsung kita beraksi. Makanan-makanan dimasukin oven, meja makan mulai disiapin (ditata gitu biar rada keren.. Haha). Untung kita cepet beraksinya, soalnya Andrew cuma 1 jam tidur udah bangun.

Dan ya malemnya kita makan rame-rame. Andrew juga seneng banget banyak yang nemenin main. Trus ngobrol-ngobrol sampe gak nyadar, udah jam setengah 1 pagi! Huaaaa… Cape tapi seneng banget!

Jumat, 27 November 2009

Hari setelah Thanksgiving day dikenal sebagai Black Friday, hari dimana banyak sale gede-gedean dimana-mana. Terutama di toko-toko elektronik, orang-orang biasa dari midnight udah ngantri di depan toko. Toko-toko juga dari subuh udah pada buka.

Kita sendiri gak niat ikutan. Soalnya kalo gak beli barang elektronik yang emang mahal, rasanya gak worth ya untuk ngantrinya. Plus lagi malem sebelumnya kita jam 1 pagi baru tidur, jadinya Jumat ini kita bangun rada siangan.

Nyantai-nyantai lagi di rumah, sampe jam 12-an baru jalan keluar. Tujuannya ke Foxhill mal. Rencananya sih untuk sekedar memantau Black Friday di mal.

Nyampe sana, mau masuk tempat parkir aja udah ngantri. Macet! Parkiran pun penuh banget. Untung cuma muter sekali eh langsung dapet. Trus langsung cepet-cepet masuk cari makan. Udah laper. Foodcourt nya pun rameeee banget! Semua orang bawa belanjaan yang banyaknya bukan main.

Abis makan baru kita jalan-jalan. Masuk dari toko ke toko yang sebenernya sale nya gak sampe gimana-gimana banget (bukan elektronik sih). Barang yang sale nya lumayan, banyak yang udah abis. Eh tapi gak nyadar, entah karena pengaruh ngeliat orang lain pada belanja (alesan aja), akhirnya kok kita dari yang tadinya cuma mau memantau malah jadi ikutan belanja ya? Huahahaha….

Apalagi pas ke Disney store. Mau masuk aja kudu ngantri dulu! Padahal di dalemnya ternyata gak gitu banyak diskon juga. Awalnya gara-gara ada boneka yang emang good deal, jadi kita beli buat ponakan gua. Eh trus ngeliat ternyata kalo total belanja $40, bisa beli boneka Mickey Mouse yang lumayan gede seharga $5 doang. Lumayan banget kan… Jadinya malah nambah-nambahin belanjanya biar $40. Huahahaha. Kaco ya… korban iklan banget…

Trus sempet foto ama Santa Claus juga. Taun ini Andrew udah gak takut lagi, malah seneng, soalnya dia mau minta kado Natal! Huahaha.

Yah gitu deh, akhirnya baru jam 7 malem nyampe rumah lagi, dengan belanjaan yang… ehhmmm banyak juga! Huahaha…

Sabtu, 28 November 2009

Hari ini pengen nyantai lagi. Siang-siang baru keluar pergi makan, trus mampir sana sini beli titipan bentar trus pulang… Tidur siang! Enaknya… Sore nya ke gereja, trus pulang… Dan kita mulai packing untuk pulang Indo. Wah ternyata lumayan ribet juga ya… Banyak banget barangnya!! Huahahaha. Akhirnya kelar jam 10-an, lumayan lah sekitar 80% udah masuk koper. Tinggal baju-baju aja…

Minggu, 29 November 2009

Yah udah hari terakhir liburan… Kenapa ya kalo yang namanya liburan selalu cepet banget jalannya?

Hari ini kita ngunjungin temennya Esther yang baru ngelahirin. Rumahnya lumayan jauh di Laguna. Sekitar 1 jam perjalanan. Temennya Esther ini punya anak umur 2 tahun tapi gedenya ampir sama ama Andrew. Demen banget mereka main berduaan.

Trus kita pergi ke wharf untuk makan. Ngobrol-ngobrol, jalan-jalan di pinggir dermaga ngeliatin laut ama kapal-kapal. Andrew ama anaknya temennya Esther lari-larian mulu berduaan. Gak nyadar sampe jam setengah 4 kita disono. Trus langsung buru-buru balik dah soalnya masih kudu mampir ke salah satu toko buat beli titipan sepupu gua, trus masih mampir supermarket, dan ditutup pergi makan… Baru pulang dah.

Yah begitulah cerita liburan long weekend kita kali ini. Very very fun!! Yah ada acara nyantai-nyantainya, ada acara makan-makannya, ada acara belanja-belanjanya, dan banyak ketemu temen-temen… Menyenangkan sekali…

Gimana acara long weekend kalian?

PS. Gua kasih review dikit DVD yang kita tonton ya…

1. Angels and Demons – nilai 9/10 – “bagus, seru, mantep banget dah film ini… very recommended!!”

2. Orphan – nilai 8/10 – “seru juga, cukup menegangkan, bikin kaget-kaget… very recommended!!” Btw, ada pelajaran yang patut diambil dari film ini… Kalo mau ngadopsi anak, ngambil yang bayi aja, jangan anak yang udah gede. Serem gile…

3. Ugly Truth – nilai 5/10 – Pelajaran yang gua dapet dari film ini adalah… Mendingan nonton film yang lain dah ya!

PS lagi. Hari ini dapet kabar gembira. Satu hal lagi yang perlu kita syukuri banget. Akhirnya kita berhasil untuk refinance mortgage kita! Setelah bete berat karena pas bulan Mei lalu kita gagal untuk refinance, padahal waktu itu prosesnya udah sebulan lho… Eh gagal gara-gara nilai properti kita turun 15%! Jadi kalo kita tetep mau refinance, kita harus nombokin DP nya (soalnya rasio loan to value nya harus tetep 80% dan kita dulu pas beli emang naroh DP nya dipas-pas-in 20% aja). Ajegile… Duitnya dari mana coba…

Nah bulan lalu, gua coba-coba lagi untuk ngajuin refinance. Dan ternyata nilai properti udah balik normal (bersyukur #1). Dan bunga bank masih cukup ok (kita dapet 5.125%, bandingin ama bunga kita sebelumnya yang 6.375%), jadi per bulannya lumayan banget kita bisa saving nya (bersyukur #2). Dan hari ini (setelah 1,5 bulan prosesnya… yang mana lama dan ribet banget!) akhirnya dananya keluar juga (bersyukur #3)… Legaaaaa…. Thank  God banget banget dah!

Son 3 günüm tam anlamıyla filmlerle geçti diyebilirim. Hazır bayram zaten herkes sinemalara akın etmiş durumda, harçlıklar değerlendirilsin hesabı. Ben 7 filmin 6’sını evimde, bilgisayarımın başında izledim. Sadec 1′ini sinemada izleyebildim. İzlediğim filmler sırasıyla;

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Harry Potter ve Melez Prens

Matchstick Men – Üçkağıtçılar

Destere

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – Buz Devri: Dinazorların Şafağı

Güneşi Gördüm

Angels and Demons – Melekler ve Şeytanlar

Türkler Çıldırmış Olmalı

Aşağıdaki yazılar filmle ilgili spoiler içerebilir.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Harry Potter serisinin son filmi. Diğer filmlerinden daha kasvetli bir ortamı var. Artık film daha fazla gençlere ve yetişkinlere hitap ediyor. Kitapta da bu gelişmeler görünüyordu. Ancak bu filmde bir sorun var, Melez Prens kitabını okumamış olanlar senaryoyu kesinlikle parça parça görecektir. Ben kitabı 2 kere okudum.

Ve filmi izlerken parçaları kafamdaki kitaptan alıntılarla birleştiriyordum. Kitaptaki çoğu önemli bölümde bulunmuyor. Bu filme en etkili yorum şu olur;

-Kitaptaki yazıların bir kısmının görselliğe vurulmuş hali.

Matchstick Men: İlgi çekici bir senaryo. Herşeyden önce süprizlerin filmi. 2 dolandırıcı kafadarın hikayesi. Film sadece sonu için izlenmeli diyebilirim. Genelinde biraz sıkıcı, ama sonlara doğru herşey değişiyor. Nicholas Cage’in iyi oyunculuğunun bir başka örneği.

Destere: Açıkça söylüyorumki VA-KİT-KAY-BI… VAKİT KAYBI! Bir Ege şivesidir gidiyor filmdeki, ilk “ışık açma” muhabbetinde film rengini belli ediyor. Tam anlamıyla saçma bir senaryo, Saw, ülkemizde bilinen adıyla Testere filminin parodisi olacağım derken saçmalık oluyor, sonuç hüsran. Filmin sonu ise ayrı bir hayal kırıklığı, sonuna bakılırsa 2. si çıkacak… Çıkmasın korkuyoruz.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Ice Age serisinin 3. filmi ki her filmde gerçekten işlerini iyi yapıyorlar. Başarılı bir senaryo başırılı bir akıcılık var filmde. Sonuç olarakta başarılı bir yapım. İzlenmeli.

Güneşi Gördüm: Mahsun Kırmızıgül’ün 2. yönetmenlik koltuğuna oturuşu. Doğudan gelen bir ailenin yaşadığı sorunlar. Kendiside doğulu olduğu için meseleyi saf bir biçimde senaryoya aktarabilmiş oradaki olan olayları görmüş birinin elinden geçmiş film. Türk sineması yeni ve başarılı bir yönetmen kazanmış gibi. Film doğulu halkın yaşadığı sorunları ve onların şehire göç etmelerinden sonra yaşadıkları güçlükleri yansıtıyor, aynı zamanda daha bir çok önem taşıyan konulara değiniyor. Beyaz Melek’i beğenenler, bunu da oldukça beğenecektir.

Angels and Demons: The Da Vinci Code (Da Vincinin Şifresi) adlı filmdeki Tom karakteri bu filmdede karşımıza çıkıyor. Bu sefer mesele direk Vatikan’la. Vatikan’daki entrikaları konu alıyor ancak filmin sonu anlatılan yüksek ihtimalle gerçek olan olayları Vatikan’la bir sorun çıkmaması adına tatlıya bağlar gibi. Yine de Da Vinc’nin Şifresi’nde olduğu gibi filmi ağır bir şekilde eleştirenlerde var. Bence film iki arada kalmış ve yanlış olanı yapmış. Ya bu olaylar var filmde anlatıyoruz diyeceksin ya da hiç böyle bir film yapmayacaksın. Sonunu tatlıya bağlayıp işi kıvırmaya çalışmak amatörce olmuş bence. Ancak işlenen konu enteresan, film izlenmeli sonu ciddiye alınmamalı.

Türkler Çıldırmış Olmalı: Sinemada izlediğim tek filmdi ki 1 saat evvel AFM Sinemaları’nda izledim. Birazda film ve yer bulamama sonunda seçtiğimiz bir filmdi. Neşeli Hayat’tan daha çok komedi üzerine olacağını düşünmüştük en azından. Somali’de kaçırılan zengin bir iş adamını kurtarmak için hapisten adam seçmek oldukça saçma geldi bana. İş adamının yaşamasını şansa bırakır gibi olmuş. Genel olarak senaryodan çok birşey beklememek gerek. Komik olmak için zorlanmış gibi. Kabile Şaman’ının Türk çıkması gibi çok eneteresan durumlar mevcut. En komik sahne ise sorgu sahnesi tabii ki. Sonunuda pek beğenmiş değilim ama gerek sinemadakilerin, gerek arkadaşların gazıyla güldük az buçuk. Filmin bütçeside ortalama bir Türk filminden daha fazla olmalı. Fena değil yinede.

Angels and Demons is a nail-biting thriller by Dan Brown. Dan Brown has proven to be one of histories best mystery and thriller novelists. Angels and Demons is a prequel to the Da Vinci Code which has sold forty million copies since its release in 2003. But, in my opinion Angels and Demons is far better than The Da Vinci Code.

Angels and Demons’ star is Robert Langdon. Langdon is a Harvard Symbologist who studies religious symbols. He is called in the middle of the night by a nuclear research facility to analyze a horrifying message and he must come immediately. He agrees to come and he arrives and looks at the message. He finds a dead corpse seared with an ancient, long forgotten symbol signalizing an ancient brotherhood has returned. The Illuminati.

He joins the murdered victim’s daughter, Vittoria Vetra. They find another shocking discovery. The most deadly weapon in the world which can vaporize half a mile in a flash, antimatter, has been hidden in the Illuminati’s sworn enemy, the Vatican, the center of the Catholic Church.

They quickly fly to Rome and find a horrible threat has been received in the middle of ,conclave, the election of a new pope. They race through Rome in deadly cathedrals and even underground cemeteries to save the Vatican. Will they save one billion catholic’s most sacred place or will they let it blow up. You’ll have to read to see.

When I read this book every time there was a twist or turn I was like “How in the world?!”. One time I was in the car reading it I said, “Oh no!” Dan Brown has perfected another novel. This is a nail-biting, exciting, adrenaline running, and fast paced novel which all can enjoy. Even a film has come out which I enjoyed. The Angels and Demons Legacy has been perfected and surely to be one of the best novels ever.

I was too overstuffed with turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, turkey, gravy, turkey, corn, salad and turkey to sit at my desk and write this Thanksgiving night…

Somewhere between my third serving of turkey and dessert, my father, stepmother and I staggered in to the den where we watched Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons” in 48-inch plasma screen glory.   It was definitely a great idea of his to leave off with attempts at cyberpunk and go with a “symbologist” as his hero.  He just was not getting the tech right. He’s not exactly getting things right with the Illuminati, or the Church, but it make for an even better thriller than the DaVinci Code.

If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, either a) you’ve been on a deserted island or a rock since The DaVinci Code came out and made all of his prior writings best sellers, or b) you listened when the Church said not to read any of his works or see the movies. You’ll just have to deal with the spoilers.

All of the action in the movie was apparently in payback for an event in 1668 called “La Purga”, in which the Church suppressed science by kidnapping members of a secret society of artists and scientists and branding them with a cross.  They called themselves the Illuminati, and in payback (over 300 years later, but why hurry) four cardinals who were the odds-on favorites to be elected as the new pope were kidnapped, branded, and executed horribly in ways that illustrated the four elements of science (1600’s science, that is): earth, air, fire and water.  The first was found dead underground being nibbled on by rats.  The second was killed by having his lungs pierced.  The third was burned to death, and the fourth was nearly drowned, but saved at the last minute. 

It later turned out not to be the Illuminati getting even with the church, but someone making it look like the Illuminati were getting even with the Church, in order to shut down the Large Hadron Collider. Because they considered anti-matter “The God Particle”.

And we can’t have science talking about God, now can we? Because God is the property of the One True Church (and all of the other true churches, religions and cults of the world), not science.

Although the purge of the scientists in 1668 was as fictional as the rest of the events in Angels and Demons, according to this FAQ on the subject, the fact is that the Church has done everything possible to keep people from asking questions where religion has already provided them with answers. 

Asking questions is not good for the Church, as we saw when Martin Luther started asking questions, touching off the Protestant Reformation and the beginning of the end for the empire known as “Christendom” that was ruled from the Vatican.  As a result, the Church has been ruthless in the past when it comes to suppressing science.  This is why the Church’s seizure of power in Europe coincided with the beginning of the Dark Ages and ended with the Renaissance.

All forms of science, including medicine and hygeine were brought to heel by the Church.  People died unnecessarily in plagues and epidemics, of infections and childbed fever.   For no reason. Other than the beliefs taught by the Church-which had no basis in science or empirical data of any type, were accepted as fact.  Because the Church said so, and the Church was infallible.  Scientific inquiry, especially inquiries which resulted in contradictions to what the Church said, were therefore heresy.

And although we’ve come a long way since the Renaissance and the Reformation, there are still many holdovers in our general and religious belief systems from the days when it was called “The Church” because it was the only game in town.  Some of these date as far back as the year 325 A.D., when a group of bishops got together in order to reach a consensus on what was and wasn’t Christianity.  As a result of the council of Nicea, it is very difficult to do research into ancient lifetimes. Especially if they took place before the Flood, an involve memories of the Nephilim and the Giants.  Here is some of what I’ve managed to piece together as I’ve searched for validation that there was once a race of non-humans who looked down upon humanity, engaged in senseless violence and debauchery, all in the search for amusement.  I remember them, but were they real?

At the time of the Council of Nicea, everyone was free to come up with their own interpretations of scripture, which the next bishop would call heresy because it didn’t agree with his version of things.  In addition, there were many different Gospels floating around, as well as other books of the Bible.  

And as if that wasn’t chaos enough, there was a Bishop named Arius who was preaching some very heretical stuff.  He preached that Jesus, the Son of God, was not coeternal with God, but was at some point created by him.  He was excommunicated for that, but his writings stirred up enough controversy that the bishops gathered at Nicea needed to decide the question. 

Was Jesus created by God? Or was he part of God? Or something in between.  They also needed to make changes to the rules that Christians needed to live by, in order to distinguish themselves from the Jews.  Moving the Sabbath, ending the dietary restrictions, and prohibiting the loaning of money helped to separate Christianity from Judaism. Thus setting the stage for centuries of strife between the two religions.

The most important thing they did, when it comes to knowledge was to decide which books of the Torah and the Gospels were to be considered divinely inspired and which were to be considered to be only useful.  The useful books were designated by the Greek word apocrypha (hidden away)  as they were in many cases literally hidden away from Christians.  According to Wikipedia, “The modern equivalent term to the ancient “apocrypha” would be “top secret government files.”

And they still are.  Some of the lost books of the pre-Nicean scripture were only found when the Nag Hammadi library was found near the Dead Sea, and some are probably still are lost.    Interestingly, some Gospels were designated apocrypha, and 22 letters (“epistle” is a word meaning letter) from various apostles, mostly Paul.  That’s what a large part of the New Testament is-correspondence that was determined by the Council of Nicea to be “divinely inspired” and not just useful.

In addition, they removed books from the Old Testament, calling them either aprocrypha or (worse) pseudepigraphical.  That’s a mouthful which means that they dispute the authorship of the books.  Many scholars consider large portions of the canonical New Testament to be pseudepigraphical, as well.

They not only hacked out large parts of the New and Old Testament, they also did some editing here and there, something that reincarnationists often point to as the reason that reincarnation is not part of  Christian dogma.    Interestingly, reincarnation is a part of Orthodox Jewish beliefs, and as Christianity inherited much from Judaism (and then intentionally differentiated themselves). 

The Books of Enoch are among the suppressed parts of the Old Testament.  In spite of the fact that the First Book of Enoch is said to have been inspirational to the early Christians, and many copies of 1Enoch were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the only place that book survived is in the Ethopian Church.  It is quoted in both New and Old Testaments, yet, the book itself was suppressed, not only by the Christian Church, but it was made apocryphal by the Jewish religious leaders as well.

Why? What was so far out about the Enochian writings that they had to be removed from circulation?

It has to do with the Grigori and the Nephilim.  The Grigori are described as a gentle group of angels assigned to shepherd and teach mankind.  Also called “Watchers” because “Grigori” translates as “Those who watch”, “:hose who are awake” and “The ones who never sleep”, they made a few mistakes along the way.

In 1Enoch, the author speaks of the angels who occupied physical bodies in order to have relations with and marry the daughters of men, whose sons were “the heroes of old, the warriors of renown”, referred to as the Nephilim, which has been translated as ”Giants”, and whose evil was widespread-they were violent and they ate everything, consuming resources at an accelerated rate. These were enough that God told Noah to build an ark because there was about to be a flood. A flood which would kill every man, woman, child, giant and animal not aboard the ark, but would also rid the world of the menace of the Nephilim.  In addition, the angels sinned by teaching forbidden secrets (aka “science”) to humanity.  The Book of Enoch contains a list that specified which angels taught which forbidden secret.  The flood also killed the fleshly bodies they occupied in order to mate with human women and produce offspring, as well as to enjoy all of the sensory pleasures (and pains) of human existence.  The angels were then bound to the earth as their punishment. This was the story of the “fallen angels”.

These angels could not be killed by the flood, because angels are not human, but a completely nonphysical race of  immortal beings that had somehow figured out how to incarnate themselves in human bodies. Only the bodies that they occupied and discarded as they aged, could be killed.  Not as easily as those occupied by a human soul because you were fighting an angel, but still killable. 

The word “nephilim” was translated in the King James Bible as “Giants”, but it comes from the Hebrew root, “naphal”, meaning fallen ones.  The Nephilim, therefore, were not gigantic half-human, half-nonhuman offspring, but the Grigori who were occupying human forms to entertain themselves by engaging in sexual activity, violence, and teaching the human race secrets that they were not meant to know.

The Nephilim and the Grigori are the same group of angels.  The ones who watch, the observers whose purpose was to observe and guide humanity found themselves tempted by the “daughters of men”, became monsters when they incarnated into human form.  They became the Nephilim, the fallen ones, who were so bad, and so difficult to kill that God was forced to wipe the slate clean of them and all but a handful of humans in order to break that cycle and split them up.  It is said that God was so horrified by the Flood that he vowed never to do that again.

The problem was that he bound them to the Earth, so that they are still here. Still living in hu man body after human body, because angels cannot be killed.  Some have learned their lessons and have returned to being observers who teach.  Others are still enjoying their fleshly pleasures and inflicting suffering on others.

Not all of the evils of the world can be laid at the feet of fallen angels trapped on earth because they did teach humanity a great deal over the aeons since they were set to shepherd and teach humanity so humanity would be gentle. But if they hadn’t discovered that there was a great deal of amusement to be had in toying with humanity and turning the world into a game for their pleasure, humanity would be as God envisioned, and not the violent, decadent and cruel race that they are.

Thanks to the Grigori. 

In the Revelation of St. John the Divine (aka “The book of Revelations”) he predicts a future that comes about following a cataclysmic battle on earth. A battle known as Armageddon.  At that time, Jesus is expected to take the throne of Earth (“his kingdom come”) and bring about peace on earth, also doing away with death.

Personally, I don’t see that happening.  Humanity didn’t exactly listen to Jesus the first time around. In fact, the Church has killed more people in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, than Hitler did.  This is why believers in the Revelation expect that the first thing that will happen is the Church will be brought down by the returning Messiah.

He’s going to be very angry about a lot of things. Think about it.  He was a very orthodox Jew who was sent to Earth by God to reform the Jewish religion.  He failed to do that. Instead, some of his followers started a new religion based on Judaism and his teachings.  And then did everything possible to set themselves apart from the Jews, to the point where it became okay to mistreat them.  It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when the returning Jesus sits down with the Pope and says, “Look…”

This is why I”m an atheist.  Not because I don’t believe in God, but because I don’t believe in religion. It is the work of mankind, and therefore questionable.  The Church had their reason for covering up the story of the angels among humanity, and making sure that “fallen angel” was misread as “Giant”, I’m sure.   They never do anything without a good reason, one that benefits the Church, usually by strengthening their power.

And that’s the problem I have with the Church.  If ever an organization showed the hand of the fallen angels at work, it is a religion that kills in the name of the Prince of Peace, and stepped on scientific inquiry to the point where Europe was living in the Dark Ages, while other cultures were doing brain surgery. It’s an organization that is all about control and power, not saving people’s souls from evil.

Think about it. If you were this group of fallen angels living on Earth and you wanted to cover up evidence of your existence, and there was a book that spelled it out, wouldn’t you want it declared a “top secret government file” and hidden from the world?

Phoenix

Mijn dagje begint niet echt lekker vandaag. Ik ben ziek, tenminste het is niet ernstig en ik vermoed dat ik ook geen griep heb, maar uitputtend is het wel. Ik denk niet dat ik veel mijn bed uit zal komen vandaag. Misschien komt het door dit weekend, een gebrek aan slaap, de Mexicaanse griep die me probeert te pakken of misschien is het oververmoeidheid omdat ik te veel doe of gedaan heb de afgelopen tijd. In ieder geval vandaag even op mijzelf passen dus. Ik ben al begonnen met een kopje brandnetelthee, jus d’orange en twee boterhammetjes met smeerkaas.

In een eerder blogitem heb ik privacy aan de kaak gesteld en ik las net een opmerkelijk bericht in de Volkskrant over een vrouw in de Canada die door vakantiekiekjes op Facebook haar maandelijkse steungeld van de verzekeraar verloor. Op basis van deze kiekjes had het bedrijf bepaalt dat zij niet depressief was, gezond en daarom geen recht had op het geld. Mensen die verzekeraars oplichten moeten natuurlijk aangepakt worden, maar ik vind het ook belangrijk dat deze beslissingen op een eerlijke manier wordt genomen. Hoe gaan deze praktijken van een dergelijk bedrijf samen met het recht op privacy van een persoon? Moeten we gewoon maar accepteren dat dit soort zaken gebeuren en er zelf rekening mee houden wat we op internet zetten? Ik zou graag pleiten voor een grote eigen verantwoordelijkheidsgevoel, maar dit geeft het bedrijf in kwestie nog geen toestemming om deze informatie te gebruiken. Misschien moet ik hier vandaag eens even goed over nadenken, want volgens mij klopt hier iets niet.

Verder las ik ook de blog van Lucie de Nooij op VKblog. Zij doet momenteel onderzoek bij de CERN, dat deeltjesversnellerproject die een paar maanden geleden kadoek was gegaan. Je hoort er vanuit de landelijke media niks meer over, maar zij meldt dat de eerste botsingen zijn gekomen. Een interessant project, zullen we straks allemaal verdwijnen in een zwart gat?

De CERN komt volgens mij ook voor in een van de films over de boeken van Dan Brown: Angels and Demons. Deze film heb ik een tijdje geleden gezien, maar ik kan me nog herinneren dat ik een aantal zaken misten. Ik had het boek eerder gelezen en ik had gewoon graag een aantal scenes uit het boek terug willen zien in de film. Toch altijd een plezier om Ewan McGregor in een film te zien..

Imagine That Standard DVD

What if your daughter’s imagination was the secret to your success? When a highly competitive money mogul (Eddie Murphy) finds his financial kingdom slipping, he turns to his 7-year-old daughter (Yara Shahidi) and her fantasy world of imaginary princesses for help. Embarking on a whirlwind journey of comic proportions, father and daughter are about to discover that sometimes all you need is a little imagination – and a lot of love. SRP $39.99

Angels & Demons 2 Disc Extended Edition DVD

The team behind the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code returns for the highly anticipated Angels & Demons, based upon the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard religious expert Robert Langdon, who once again finds that forces with ancient roots are willing to stop at nothing, even murder, to advance their goals. Ron Howard again directs the film, which is produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and John Calley. The screenplay is by Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp.

When Langdon discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati – the most powerful underground organization in history – he also faces a deadly threat to the existence of the secret organization’s most despised enemy: the Catholic Church. When Langdon learns that the clock is ticking on an unstoppable Illuminati time bomb, he jets to Rome, where he joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and enigmatic Italian scientist. Embarking on a nonstop, action-packed hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra will follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that mark the Vatican’s only hope for survival. SRP $29.99

When you find yourself hoping and praying for a book to end, there is a good possibility that you could classify that book as one that sucks. Hear me out.

The Lost Symbol is a novel by Dan Brown, author of such works as Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code. He has other not-so-well-known works such as Deception Point and Digital Fortress.  The latter two books are wholly unimpressive, but follow the Dan Brownian plot style: one of the main characters is actually a bad guy and is in some way involved with a conspiracy theory.

LS doesn’t necessarily follow that same plot style, but there are definitely a lot of reoccurring annoyances. For one, Brown (or his wife) does A LOT of research. Much of his research is unnecessary to his plot and comes off as just plain showing off his knowledge when sprinkled throughout narration.  He also often puts his character’s thoughts into italics.  Most of the thoughts are unneeded fodder that are reminiscent of Lt. Horatio Caine’s lines on CSI: Miami which are unbelievably lame.

Despite the things that annoy me about Brown’s writing, I was so excited for this book to come out. I loved A&D and DVC and was ecstatic about another high-speed, action-packed thriller that got the cogs in my mind working. I thought it was happening again in this one, but I got incredibly bored about 60% of the way into the book. I was literally begging for it to end and considering just flat out stopping. I also found Mal’akh to be a pretty superficial villain. DVC’s Silas and A&D’s Hassassin scared me so badly I had nightmares, and I just didn’t feel that fear for Mal’akh.

I was surprised by the inevitable twist (there’s always one when Brown is writing), but I was not impressed.

I don’t know, Dan! You made me wait this long, but left me unhappy!

The one thing I can say is that when The Lost Symbol film (due in theatres in 2012) starts casting, they would do well to cast NCIS: Los Angeles’ Linda Hunt (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001373/) as Director Inoue Sato.

H, out.

Children in Need is tonight and I’ve been having a look at the TV schedule they have. It looks awful, I mean really awful. There isn’t one thing that has made me consider watching it. It seems to be a combination of Strictly Come Dancing, Soap opera stars and bad music. That said it’s for a good cause, but can’t they give us something good to watch as a reward for our donations?

The Vatican apparently has a problem with the Twilight series. They’ve come out saying that the film is a ‘deviant moral vacuum’. While Angels and Demons, the sequel to The Da Vinci Code, is considered ‘harmless entertainment’ even though it’s about a priest hiring an assassin to kill other priests. The Vatican also doesn’t have a problem with the new Harry Potter film, though I can’t say I’m surprised about that one. Apparently it’s the supernatural forces in Twilight that The Roman Catholic Church has issues with, but young boy wizards are no problem at all… Here’s the thing though, does anyone (who isn’t a nut job Christian) care what they say about films? I know I don’t.

I’ve got to say I’m surprised that the world hasn’t ended today, I was sure something along those lines was going to happen with the amount of press the Henry handball has been getting. Roy Keane has now given his opinion on what happened and I’ve got to say I completely agree with the nut job Irishman.

“I’d be more annoyed with my defenders and my goalkeeper than Thierry Henry. How can you let the ball bounce in your six-yard box? How can you let Thierry Henry get goal-side of you? If the ball goes into the six-yard box, where the hell is my goalkeeper?”

He’s right, if Ireland hadn’t ballsed up their defending nothing would have happened and they would have probably got to the penalty shoot out. Keane also talks about the harsh penalty Georgia conceded against Ireland, a match that ended 2-1 in the favor of the Irish, that helped them qualify to play the French in the first place. And how the FIA didn’t mention giving them a replay like they’ve been demanding from FIFA for this match. The replay ’suggestion’ has been turned down by the way, so it looks like the French will be going to the World Cup. Meanwhile the media will shut up keep on talking about the situation, over and over and over again…

Hi Katie,

When does “Angels and Demons” come out on DVD?  I loved the movie, and it seems like it should be out by now.
Taylor, 18

Dear Taylor,

Considering the fact that it came out in May of this year, it does seem like it should be out on DVD by now.  But keep in mind, the Christmas shopping season is nearly upon us.

According to the Internet Movie Database, it will be released on DVD and 2 disc special DVD on the 24th of November.  That does seem like a really long time to wait for a DVD, but special features take a long time.

Luckily, you won’t have to wait much longer.  Here are a few links to check out.

The Internet Movie Database

Amazon.com

Examiner

angels and demons- download

da vinci code- download

digital fortress- download

deception point- download

the lost symbol- download

Have you noticed how many popular novels are being made into films this year? Angels and Demons, based on Dan Brown’s popular Robert Langdon series started the year off with a blockbuster film from a bestseller book.  Oddly enough the book is set prior to the events is The Da Vinci Code, but the film is made as a sequel. 

If thrillers weren’t your thing, ever popular Jodi Picoult had her first novel to film treatment with My Sister’s Keeper just a few months back.  Shortly after, Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic also came to the screen starring Australia’s Isla Fisher. This film was a reasonable box office success, but panned by the critics. Audrey Niffennegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife has just been released starring another Aussie, Eric Bana, and whilst we are on the Aussie theme, Maurice Sendak’s timeless children’s classic, Where the Wild Things Are which was filmed in and around Melbourne will be released next month. Most of this feature was actually filmed in 2005 but has been in what they call ‘development hell’ until this year.

If Graphic Novels are your thing, the very popular Will Eisner series The Spirit was released as a film this year, but has unfortunately been tagged one of worst films of 2009.

But wait there’s more!

Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol has had a CGI re-imagining, released just in time for Christmas and to rave reviews. But possibly the most highly anticipated book-to-film event this year is the Twilight sequel, New Moon which was released today across Australia!

There’s plenty I’ve missed, tell us what others you have enjoyed this year or are looking forward to being released in 2010?

Which do you think was better, the book or the film? If you haven’t yet read the book, come to the library, grab a copy and make up your own mind which was better.

Yeah, I’m back because I forgot to mention something… and I’m going to have to finish off that two part thing tomorrow…

I was reading guardian.co.uk today and I found a headline that naturally piqued my curiosity: Angels and Demons – the Swansea Connection. I initially thought that Dan Brown might be writing a sequel set in my fair city, and imagined the possiblities of Robert Langdon trying to uncover a hidden mystery that takes him through the city visiting such locations as Oystermouth Castle and the council estates of Pentrechwyth, but it turns out that it was an article about the research of Professor Mike Charlton of Swansea University’s Physics department. I was fortunate enough to be taught by Professor Charlton during my time at Swansea, and I’m happy that the Guardian is drawing attention to his world-leading research in the study of anti-matter at CERN. One of the things I certainly came to appreciate was the strength of Swansea’s experimental research, and I’m glad the spotlight is being shone on Swansea’s physicists in the national media.

Detta är tredje och sista delen i min lilla serie om antimateria i verkligheten, inspirerad bland annat av saker som Dan Brown skrev i sin roman Angels & Demons, och sånt som folk ibland undrar över efter att ha läst boken eller sett filmen. Här finns del ett om vad antimateria är för något och del två om antiatomer och om energi från antimateria. Den här gången handlar det om vad man faktiskt kan använda antimateria till, både vedertagen teknik och lite vildare ideer.

Medicinska tillämpningar

En typ av antimateriateknologi som funnits rätt länge är en medicinsk avbildningsteknik som kallas PET, Positron Emission Tomography. Det fungerar så att man injicerar en radioaktiv isotop som sänder ut positroner. Positronerna annihilerar med elektroner i vävnaden och sänder ut två fotoner som lämnar kroppen i rakt motsatta riktningar. När man fångar upp denna signal i detektorer omkring patienten är det en fråga om enkel geometri att se precis var reaktionen ägde rum och alltså var det injicerade ämnet ansamlas.

Något som fortfarande ligger i framtiden, men som verkar väldigt lovande, är att använda antiprotoner för cancerterapi. Protoner är relativt tunga laddade partiklar och väldigt bra att bestråla tumörer med eftersom de bromsas upp på ett sätt som gör att man kan få maximal effekt på tumören medan man minimerar skadorna på vävnader runtomkring. Antiprotoner fungerar på samma sätt, men eftersom de annihilerar när de bromsats upp kan de avge mångdubbelt mer energi i en väl avgränsad volym. Man skulle behöva använda mycket färre antiprotoner än protoner för att förstöra en tumör.

Det här är en teknologi man hoppas mycket på av flera orsaker. Faktum är att utveckling av antiprotonterapi skulle pumpa in pengar i antimateriaforskningen och göra det möjligt att utveckla apparatur och tekniskt kunnande som skulle behövas för att göra häftigare och mer avlägsna saker. Som att driva rymdskepp.

Raketer!

Just det. Det har faktiskt gjorts en hel del tänkade vad gäller möjligheter att använda antimateria för att driva rymdfarkoster. Även om forskning och utveckling på området fortsätter ligger den här teknologin fortfarande kanske femtio år fram i tiden (sådana här saker ligger alltid femtio år i framtiden, tänk på fusionskraft), men principerna är fullt utarbetade.

Fördelen med att använda antimateria i stället för konventionella kemiska bränslen är att man skulle kunna komma mycket längre utan att behöva dra med sig mer massa i större bränsletankar. Det skulle då bli möjligt att skicka aktiva rymdsonder, som har en motor och kan manövrera och inte bara driva fram, ut till heliopausen och Oort-molnet eller ännu längre. Om teknologin sedan finns där kan man förstås tänka sig bemannade farkoster också.

Konceptet är att använda den energi som frigörs i annihilation av antimateria för att hetta upp reaktionsmassa i form av vanlig materia, som sedan kan slungas ut genom en raketdysa på vanligt sätt. Ett förslag till första generationens antimateriamotor är en cylinder av Wolfram, med ett hål genom centrum där man låter antiväte annihilera med väte. Annihilationsprodukterna hettar upp cylindern, som innehåller kanaler där man låter ytterligare väte passera och hettas upp, för att slungas ut i den bakre änden. Hastigheten hos reaktionsmassan begränsas här av smältpunkten för Wolfram.

En lite mer avancerad konstruktion skulle vara att låta annihilationerna ske i ett magnetfält där man kan styra de laddade pioner som bildas. De laddade pionerna bär med sig 60% av energin och kan i sig själva fungera som reaktionsmaterial. De kan även användas för att hetta upp ytterligare materia i ett andra steg. De neutrala pionerna som också bildas sönderfaller snabbt till fotoner med hög energi, och skulle tillsammans med fotonerna från positron-elektronannihilationen absorberas av något skärmande material. Överskottsvärmen kunde sedan användas för att driva en del av de omkringliggande systemen.

Reaktionsmassan består alltid av vanlig materia, och det är den som kommer att ta upp det mesta av bränsletanken. Man kan sedan komma långt eller kort på ungefär samma mängd beroende på hur mycket man hettar upp gasen, alltså hur snabbt den slungas ut.

Problemen som behöver lösas innan det här kan bli verklighet är uppenbara. Eftersom det är besvärligt att lagra stora mängder laddade partiklar behöver man framställa antiatomer och lära sig kyla och lagra dem, helst i kompakt form som Bose-Einstein-kondensat eller åtminstone väteis. Dessutom behöver man ett effektivare sätt att framställa antiprotoner. Man kommer att behöva antiväte i storleksordningar som närmar sig gram, bara till att börja med. Det är enorma mängder, när man räknar antal atomer!

När vi väl löst de här problemen är det bara att sätta igång att bygga Enterprise och bege oss ut i universum.

Några länkar för den som vill läsa vidare

• Wikipedias sida om PET-teknik med bilder och figurer (på engelska).
• Texter från Forskning och Framsteg om antimateria
• En artikel från Scientific American, om vad antimateria är (på engelska).

Jag har nu också placerat denna blogg i Uppsala på bloggkartan.se. Bara för att, liksom.

Bakit buntot ang tawag mo, hindi nalang pakpak?

Accepted historical fact often turns out to be mere fiction. That’s not only the underlying theme of J. Christoph Amberger’s The Lazarus Smile. But sometimes even modern media remind us of this truth:

By Guy Keleny, Independent.co.uk

Decline and fall: Most of the things that “everybody knows” are wrong. One of them surfaced in Bruce Anderson’s Monday piece: the familiar idea that the fall of the Roman Empire was accompanied, if not caused, by spectacular dissipation on the part of its ruling class. Anderson was arguing that drug prohibition should be relaxed. “The aim of these measures would not be the promotion of universal hippydom: still less, to bring the decadence of the late Roman empire to the streets of south London.”

In fact the familiar monsters of depravity — Caligula, Nero, Domitian, Commodus — ruled the Roman Empire at the height of its power in the first and second centuries. The nonentities who presided over its decline in the fourth and fifth centuries — Honorius, Arcadius, Valentinian III — were Christian gentlemen of comparative personal respectability. No druggies they.

And here is a piece of more recent history. “Hippydom” should be “hippiedom”. They say that if you remember the Sixties you weren’t really there, but I definitely remember the spelling of “hippie”.

(Read Mr. Keleny’s whole article here…)

The Lazarus Smile has been available as an e-book from Amazon.com since Nov. 1, 2009. The paperback release is scheduled for Dec. 15, 2009.

]]> http://quickstartthereactor.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/the-lost-symbol/ Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:36:53 +0000 quickstartthereactor http://quickstartthereactor.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/the-lost-symbol/

I just finished reading Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” and the remaining stack of books I have lined up to read continues to laugh at me. Basically, I skipped dinner and went straight to the chocolate bump cake. And now I need the Pepto.

Actually, it wasn’t that bad, just not terrific by any stretch of the imagination. It took about 380 pages for me to get to the first twist that actually caught me by surprise, albeit extremely surprised. Then the whole surprise was just a big psych-out on account of some science-y crap. There was way too much of that stuff going on and the annoying part was that a lot of the description of technology came from the dialog. So it had the effect of one long, messed up episode of Encyclopedia Brown. Even smart people wouldn’t speak to each other this way in a life or death situation. I don’t remember ever rolling my eyes on a consistent basis when I read “The Da Vinci Code,”  “Angels and Demons,” or even “Deception Point.”

The material that Brown covered was expansive and remarkably complex, so for that he deserves some credit. But I felt like his writing came off a little too autobiographical in parts. Brown clearly thinks of himself as Robert Langdon and, that said, he must think he is just the absolute champion of breakfast. You can hear Brown patting himself on the back throughout his text and it makes for a less enjoyable read than some of his past endeavors. The ending is a bit of a letdown as well. Though it closes in an anticlamatic fashion, however, the concept it explains is rather uplifting. You’re left hoping that Brown’s answer to life’s questions is the correct one because it gives our fantasies a shred of hope to become realities.

So, basically, it was just OK. I’ve had better.

GF called me while I was writing this because she got rearended on Garfield. The guy who hit her kept on driving, in a traffic jam! What an asshole. She said he looked right at her and slowly kept moving on. So she got his license plate number and called the police. Of course, the cop that showed up was a total asshole as well. This is a quote from GF, “And [police officers] wonder why people don’t like to call them about shit. I get rearended in a hit-and-run and now I’m supposed to feel like the asshole?” My thoughts exactly. I told her to write her local representative. I wasn’t kidding but reading that just now made me kind of laugh. That’s normally something I would say to someone sarcastically. But she should. She did the right thing and I find it hard to believe that there were better things that cop needed to do. And sleeping in his car doesn’t count. Thus continues the horrible recent run of bad luck for GF.

Now that I’ve got a BD player, I need BD movies. Of course. And after work last night I got some. The ones above.

Night Watch (or Nochnoi Dozor), a fantasy tale set in modern day, tell the story of a delicate balance between the forces of Light and Darkness. I had half expected it to be a sad copy and mixture of Lord of the Rings, The Matrix and Underworld, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that while elements from the aforementioned works are present in Night Watch, the director has managed to weave them together nicely. I will get Day Watch, the sequel, later on.

Angels and Demons is, for those that don’t know, based on Dan Brown’s book with the same name. Professor Langdon (Tom Hanks) returns in a race against time to find four kidnapped cardinals. This film is a lot more action themed than The da Vinci Code, but that in itself doesn’t make it worse. In fact, it’s an enjoyable movie for those who liked The da Vinci Code and mysteries involving the secret mason brotherhood of the Illuminati…

Just one thing, Night Watch played without troubles. Angels and Demons didn’t. I had to upgrade the player firmware for the disc to be recognized so, please, upgrade to the latest firmware version for your player. Also, at some points during the film, the movie froze. Sort of like when a double-sided DVD switches layers to read from, only longer. So, I fast-forwarded back a bit only to find that the movie had leapt a minute or so forward from where it had froze. Anyone else experiencing this with Samsung’s BD-P4600?

“Readers of Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, Angels & Demons and The Lost Symbol will find J. Christoph Amberger’s The Lazarus Smile a terrific thriller!” —Christopher Corbett, Orphans Preferred: The Twist Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express

Walmart is giving you the opportunity to pre-order top movies for only $10. Here’s your chance to own the movies that you may have missed.  For this great deal,  think Christmas presents, stocking stuffers or maybe a gift to yourself, etc.  This offer is online only and not available in stores.  Here are the top 10 for $10:

1. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smitsonian
2. Star Trek XI
3. Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince
4. G-Force
5. Angels & Demons
6. Four Christmases
7. My Sister’s Keeper
8. Santa Buddies
9. Julie & Julia
10. Terminator Salvation

Order your movies!!!!

Image from www.drexel.edu