Constantine

it's a nice work of fiction, i liked it

of course there were a lot of the ideology behind it that i didn't agree with especially that part about what made constantine eligible to go to heaven. it smacks too much of works. i believe constantine would still go to hell even if he did that sacrifice simply because it isn't our sacrifice that will bring us to heaven but only Jesus'. not one "good" thing that we can do can earn us heaven. hmmm but anyway, I digress ... I have to remind myself, this is fiction, the ideas doesn't really have to be true. so i go on.

anyway, the movie was visually filling. the effects were good and, i think, didn't overwhelm the movie unlike the others where the sheer magnanimity of the CGI would make me forget the story.

and only once did i thought of the matrix (when angela dodson fell from the building and john was trying to save her i almost imagined he would call out "Trinity!").

and i appreciated that they didn't go overboard with the demon thingies. i mean they could have gone the way of other scary movies and overloaded on gore, blood, and guts. but there wasn't much of that, the only abundance of blood i saw came from constantine and he inflicted the cut himself. what's amazing was, even with the minimum gore/kadiri parts it was able to scare me. i mean there were times when i literally shivered in my shoes (yes, partly because the aircon in greenhills theater was full blast but mostly because some scary scenes are too close to home and too realistic), the sound that was like a thousand evil whispers heard whenever there were demons did it. i've heard that before in a scary dream that i had. and i almost felt the same terror i felt when i tried to wake myself up. the terror that that sound evoked in me was the same.

i wonder though if it was truthful to the comics version. i couldn't tell since my only encounter with Constantine was through the Sandman: "Preludes and Nocturnes" when Dream asked help from John to retrieve his pouch of sand. but basing from that, i think even if his hair isn't blond at least he got the general feel of it.
anyway ... i'm sleepy now and can't get anymore get coherent sentences out of my head ....

mixed-feelings sunday

Category: spiritual journal

it's sunday. my emotions are muddled. first off, i have mixed feelings, i heard that our fellow-worker in church, arene, is sick, and she's in really bad shape since it's cancer and one that has spread all over, even to her bones. it's bitter sweet actually. a christian nearing her death is something to rejoice about, biro mo she'll get to see God na face to face! all that our hopes and dreams are anchored on. mauuna na siya! on the other hand we will surely miss her sa church. am sure most of her close friends are hurting right now. ako nga recently ko lang talaga siya nakilala but a lump in my throat keeps forming whenever i think of her today. i just pray to God that she might continually ask to be sustained lalo na sa darating pang panahon na makakaramdam siya ng matinding sakit. i'm praying na sana mag-recover pa siya if that is God's will, but if not then sana wag nang dumating sa point na sobrang sakit na that na hindi na niya makayanan. in any case I know that God will be her comfort.

upon watching / reading ...

Learnings after watching the "homeland" episodes of full metal panic:
a soldier in the battlefield needs to be strong, he can not be influenced too much by sentimentalities and emotion. he will experience a lot of trauma and heart-wrenching happenings as expected during battles, but he has to be able to take them so as to continue and fulfill the mission.

upon reading confessions of st augustine:
i am just grazing the tip of the iceberg so to speak, page 16 of out of 367 of Augustine's confession, yet I have already learned so much. actually it reads more like my own memoirs. i can identify with so many things that Augustine mentioned so i highlighted some of the texts. i especially bobbed my head up and down in acquiesence to some of the portions where he mentioned about his studies, loving latin and hating greek and math. relating that he empathized so well with aeneas and dido, even crying because he was so moved by their pathos. and yet at that point, though his soul was so sensitive to these things, his heart grieved because he did not know God, that his own wanderings in life are taking him farther and farther away from his God and that his love is not bestowed upon Whom it should be bestowed.

sun

Category: of the moment

the perfect globe of the orange sun peeked between the branches and leaves. this is one of those days when I wish I can paint so I can capture such a sight on canvas forever. i closed my eyes and took a snapshot of it in my head. hopefully it will keep.