My Mind, or: The Haunted House

I might as well treat this as a notepad, and I'll keep delivering notes to myself through this blog. God not only wants us to be with Him, he wants us to be OF Him. Sounds kinda goofy, but think about it! What parent would not want people to look at their child and go, "I can see that he was raised by good parents," ? I had this realization while sitting in church this past Sunday. The pastor did the tale of Jesus calming a storm. Calming the storm is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels, namely in Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, and Luke 8:22-25. ... The Gospel of Mark then states that: He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Mark 4:35-41 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”   36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.   37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that i...

Quentin Tarantino is a LEGEND. It began with Reservoir Dogs in 1992 and followed by Pulp Fiction in 1994. Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, his resumé of films guaranteed the success of this one. He's been as funny and cool in recent years as he's been since the 90's, so OBVIOUSLY this was gonna be cool. I kept waiting for that moment when all the awesome set-up, drawn-out dialogue and motley crew of characters comes together to reach that OH DAMN! moment. What would a Tarantino film be without his blue-eyed boy, Samuel L. Jackson? He plays a grizzly (and very cool) Civil War hero named Major Marquis Warren. The cast includes impressive performances from Kurt Russell as John Ruth, another bounty hunter as well as a Tarantino favourite, Michael Madsen. Tim Roth (from T.V. series Lie To Me) makes an appearance too, and the cast is rounded out by Jennifer Jason Leigh, who performs the role of a real BITCH with some aplomb. I...

I'm lucky. In many ways, but particularly the fact that I get to watch lotsa Wall Street films with a stockbroker and his wife. This was a big one. It's about the crisis surrounding the housing bubble of 2008 and why it caused the downfall of so many. It was based on the bestselling novel by Michael Lewis. The stockbroker was around to explain difficult concepts to a schmuck like me. Talk about an ensemble cast... This was more star-studded and glittery than a Princess Barbie Prom Party! Christian Bale as Mike Burry. Ryan Gosling as Jared Vennett. Steve Carell as Mark Baum. Brad Pitt as Ben Rickert. Maybe these names mean something to you, maybe they don't. I can tell you that particularly Steve Carell was excellent in his role and was responsible for many laugh-out-loud moments. So what do we say about the plot? I've been informed that it was true to real life in almost every way. That's good. What did I learn from the film? I didn't know at all how...

I'm having a fantastic time in Hermanus, as always! It never disappoints. Happy New Year! May 2016 always be a very fond memory for you guys. I look forward to it being one of my best years, and I hope it's the same for you.   Before I list my resolutions, let me quickly review what I once learned to be a SMART goal. Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-bound I might not have put down the specific details in full of each and every goal, but ALL of these are far more than just pie-in-the-sky, trust me. Without further delay, my list: Count the Calories I aim for 1800 calories a day, and track this using the Health app on my phone. Before my next meal, I make sure that I'm up-to-date and have added the data manually. Even estimating the calories is better than just munching haphazardly, and makes you more aware of what's going in your body.  Join Virgin Active I've been putting this off for long enough, but ...

It came. After many years. I saw it. It did not conquer my heart. Not quite, but it came damn close! I salute director J.J. Abrams and his team for delivering a success. They certainly had all the odds against them. The opening battle didn't thrill me. As a designer, I'd have started a little more dramatically after the audience had waited for 40-odd years. However, Sith master Kylo Ren/Ben was initially very impressive. I loved his design, with the voice being OMG-cool! Soon, things start feeling a bit familiar with FN-2781/Finn and his exploits aboard the First Order battleship where he rescues Resistance pilot Poe Dameron. This feeling progresses when we're shown scavenger Rey's exploits on Jakku, a planet very much like Tattooine. We identify with the mission of the lovable BB8-droid entrusted with the map to Luke Skywalker's location. We are FIRMLY back in the saddle shortly thereafter. Han Solo and Chewbacca show up to re-tak...

I'm just playing, of course it's Hitman: Agent 47 . Or just Agent 47 according to Ster Kinekor's app. Anyway— I saw it today along with Richard and Lindsey. It was vaguely entertaining. I'll touch on two major flaws, along with one good point about the film in my review. Let's start with the plot. What can we say about it? Hitman has to kill a megalomaniac world leader and retrieve a nuke to stop him from blowing up the world! No wait, that's not it. He has to travel back in time to— Ok, I confess. I didn't really get the plot. I'm sure Richard would be disappointed here. To sum it up, there's a girl. She was created and genetically mutated to be paranoid by her father, an evil scientist who mellowed out like a hippie with orchids 'n' stuff in Singapore when he got older and developed lung cancer. People from Syndicate want him, because he's the only one who knows how to make new super soldiers, or AGENTS. Zachary Quinto...