Forbidden Planet

Today is my mother's birthday. She would have been 64. She died 361 days ago. I went with the kids to church this morning to pray for her. The photo is of her when she was 19.

I am going to take a bit of a hiatus from blogging. I will probably post on 22 or 26 January (mother's birth and death dates, respectively) as well as 18 February (my birthday). Until then:

We saw this with the kids on New Years Day. Despite the number of rather negative reviews of the movie, we all thought it was really, really good. It prompted a lot of questions from Tania afterward, which means it made her think. Jason was just pleased there was some fighting. It is a simple story of the forces of light versus the forces of darkness. Or as the Yahoo movies synopsis puts it, "A 12-year-old girl tries to rescue a kidnapped friend and winds up on an epic quest to save her world." I wonder why movies such as The Golden Compass, Van Helsing and Willow, which are simple good vs evil stories, get lower critical acclaim than movies such as Aliens or Forbidden Planet which are also simple good vs evil stories. The only difference I see is that the former are steeped more the mythology and symbolism of Western Judeo-Christian thought than the latter. Consequently, people not familiar with it (i.e. possessed with preconditioned emotional responses) miss the impact of

Today Sofia celebrates an indeterminate age (as she has for the last many years ;-) There are things I'd like to say to you my love on your special day: I am forever thankful God sent you my way. Like a gift from up above, you showed me how it is to feel real love. I know many mountains we've had to climb and sometimes forever has seemed like a very long time. Yes, we've endured our share of pain, but together we have so much to gain. Bigger mountains may lie ahead, but together there is no hill we can not tread. So always remember my love for you, and there is nothing together we can not do. I'll be here forever - my love is true. The person beside me, that would be you. Poem was nabbed from here . Photo credit: Richard at Forbidden Planet. Location is the Colca Canyon in Peru (1996) - hence copyright is mine.

Well, maybe not. That was the title and opening words from a piece of SPAM in my inbox when I got into work. At least this one was honest. Here are two others I found amusing Attain your true masculinity by New Year! Operating under a UN mandate in Iraqi waters. Dont understand, hope you can help Might be, for he suggested the idea and gave roseto? On the table, over which all three had been eagerly did not pass unnoticed by the crowd of girls won by her tender they stepped aside, ordered a silver oil-can, inlaid with gold Sorry, I can't help you, I do not understand either.