Read this interesting article Opposite sex friendships: Is it possible?. I suppose the article is referring to special friend(s) as opposed to casual friends. So essentially, if your relationship with your spouse is good and with some ground rules, it certainly is possible. But if your relationship is bad or there are no ground rules, it may not be possible, it may worsen your relationship with your spouse, or may even be the reason for your bad relationship in the first place! Something to think about.
Make no mistake, Zero Dark Thirty is not an action movie about a SEAL Team assaulting UBL hideout and ending him with extreme prejudice. It is primarily a spy thriller with a sort-of-action segment towards the end. It’s about “Maya”, a female CIA agent, on her single-minded 10-year search for UBL aka the needle in the haystack, her struggles in a male-dominated workplace, brute-force approach (yes, torture), bureaucracy ridden government, unreliable allies, and the culmination of the search with an efficient little raid a little-known city in Pakistan. There’s a lot of social and political commentary somewhere there but I chose to ignore them.
Towards the end, the narrative of the movie sort of weaves in with the narrative of the book No Easy Day. For example, the female CIA operative leading the search and the way the raid unfolds. So having read the book helped me understand and appreciate the events as it unfolded on the big screen. Makes me wonder if Mark Owen/Matt Bissonette is a technical adviser for the movie.
I’m kind of a Kathryn Bigelow fan because of The Hurt Locker and her latest work didn’t hurt. Definitely a good watch whether you’re a spy thriller fan or an mil action fan.
Rating: 4/5
It’s sometimes overwhelming the blessings from God are. I can only wish I can give back as much.
Today is Epiphany, a festival commemorating the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi. It is also popularly known as the festival of the three kings but that’s something the church is moving away from. Long ago, it used to be observed on January 6 but these days it’s observed on the first Sunday of the year. It doesn’t matter, today is both.
Epiphany also means an experience of sudden and striking realization, originally through the divine, but these days not necessarily just the divine. This holiday (holy day) season, I had a personal epiphany, sort of. It may not be new to most but it is to me. So yeah, it’s quite significant.
I realized that it is quite easy to be Christian or Christ-like when everyone is nice to you and everything is fine and dandy. The challenge is when people are not-so-nice, maybe even downright mean, to you and when things are not to your liking. What would Christ do? Can I do the same?
Finally back to work from the quite long vacation. We went to visit my parents and it was awesome! We went to Camiguin, we went swimming (twice at the beach and once at the pool), we played a whole lot of Modern Warfare (and its mobile equivalent, Modern Combat), we went to the range, we ate and ate and ate (we were responsible for the demise of at least 2 whole pigs), we had durian shakes, and of course, what’s vacation without sleep, lots of sleep? The downside to having such a fun vacation is when it ends. Well, I guess it does make the next time so much exciting to look forward to.