Body of Lies review

After having this movie in my house for about a month (I am reconsidering my NetFlix subscription), I finally watched this movie last night.  Or rather, I watched half of the movie and then put it in the return envelope and went to bed.  Yea, it was that interesting.No, I take that back.  It was interesting - I just couldn't get over 2 main things: 1. the pace was really slow (the 'romance' I think made it worst) and 2. yep - that is SOOOOOO not Jordan.  I had wanted to see this movie and then put it aside until I came across a blog that talked about this movie and how it was supposed to be in Jordan, but that it was VERY obviously not in Jordan.  So, I wanted to see the movie anyways and thought - maybe this person was just very sensitive and maybe it's not THAT bad.  ... well - it's pretty bad.

Now, I can't say anything about the Iraqi part.  I've never been to Iraq and while I think it did look more like Morocco there than Iraq... I have not been to Iraq.  (or Morocco for that matter, but I'm more familiar with their landscape and geography - sad, huh?  I should be more familiar with Iraq)  But, Jordan?  Now, that was pretty bad.  I mean - it was pretty OBVIOUS that it was NOT Jordan.  It was good to see some green, but just everything was wrong about the landscape.  

OMG - I laughed so hard when I saw the "American Embassy!"   They made the Embassy like a regular building (for the most part), but for those of you who have been to Jordan, the embassy is essentially a fort.  As in... 1. I can't figure out how to get in - a problem if I'm ever in trouble.  There are huge walls around the entire thing and Humvees with soldiers with AK-47s on each corner.  2. The embassy is a compound and has all of the admin buildings, plus housing for workers. 3. The

 embassy in Jordan is pretty much smack in the middle of a residential area and takes up an entire block of land - so you don't just go down the street and turn into it (unless there is a side entrance

 that I don't know about which is possible since, as mentioned before, I have yet to see how you get in) like they show in the movie.

They tried to insert the King Abdullah mosque into the city scape - I assume that here they used the same technique that was used in The Kingdom where they put in the Kingdom Centre 

(Al Mamlaka) - see picture to the right - into their

 view of what was part of Dubai, I believe...  They actually wanted to film this movie in the UAE, but that was denied and so we got the filming in Morocco.  But, they didn't really work to make the area look like Jordan and Amman.  I mean, Amman is a rather new city.  They are celebrating their 100 anniversary this year.  There has been SO much development there since the Hashimates came to Jordan in the 1920s.  JORDAN for the most part is pretty new - they were part of the Roman empire and then had villages as part of the Holy Land and during the crusades and then as Bedouin tribes - but I don't think people how NEW Jordan is as a nation.  And how somewhere in between 60-80% of the population is not native Jordanian, but is from Palestine.  ...but I digress. :)  (let me know if you want me to write more about this and I'll do extra research)

So, the movie was interesting in how it had the CIA working in the Middle East and how they work with the locals and the partner government agencies (2nd complaint - the head of the Jordan police -or whatever - is VERY not Jordanian - the actor is Mark Strong - complete with a very small pointy noise and everything.  I think he did ok with the accent - it would come and go, but I anyways think that to speak Arabic better you have to think in a British accent to get the vowels correct, but his body language was all off.  He tried to be smooth, which was good, but he couldn't get the defensive posture that I find in every Arab male in that area.  lol - it's quite funny; I can write about that at any request).  They put Leo's character as willing to understand the area and work with people and learn the culture/language and Russel Crowe's character as an ignorant, cowboy jerk.  To which - they both did very good jobs in there roles - I really don't like Crowe's character and I know that's the point. :)  But, the pace was getting rather painful to watch.  So, I stopped...

Now - this movie was taken off a book written by  David Ignatius, a columnist for The Washington Post.   I like reading Ignatius and so I would hope that the BOOK is better than the movie - slow paced stories usually are better to read.  I understand that the romance in THAT book is even more painful, but at least I can skip over it if I need to.

So - the movie is NOT worth renting, but I would try to watch it again if it came on tv...

Some Pictures of Amman, although they don't do it justice:

Oxford visit

I won't bore you with the school pictures, but here are some others from my site visit to Oxford.  We have students in Christ Church College, Trinity and... one more that I'm blanking on!  (sorry)

Impression of Oxford - great city; very studious and there is definitely a social 'thing' going on that

 makes me prefer the anonymity of London...

Christ Church College from the Medows (left) ; Random road in Oxford (right)

Oxford market (left) Christ Church College Main Quad (right)

Christ Church Statues (left) Face in Christ Church Cathedral (right)

Alter in Chirst Church Cathedral (left) Window in Christ Church Cathedral (right)

Christ Church College Dinning Hall Oxford, Bridge of Sighs

aka. Harry Potter Dinning Hall (rip-off from Venice)

(left) (right)

Oxford buildings - by the Bodleian (left) The Camera (Library) (right)

Food from Jamie's: Polenta appetizer and a pasta and truffle dinner.  Sooooo gooooood!

Inside the initiation into "No Peel" Burnt into door outside Christ

the Bodleian (left) Church College Dinning Hall, in reference to PM Peel (right)

Angel & Demons Review

So... I had been looking forward to seeing Angels and Demons; in part because I love fluff like that and in part because I think that story is much better than the DaVinci code.  Dan Brown may be no where near the best writter in the world (OMG - sometimes I am reading it and thinking, is he in High School?  Like, any time he tries to bring in romance and sexual attraction.  It's not his strong suit.  Leave it alone!), but he still can carry a good book with deception (abeit a bit see-through), conspiricy and action.

So, the movie...  Well- aparently, we are back to those times when the movies a loosely based of the books.  I understand there are time constraints, but this movie went pretty far off some of the book's points.  And not in a good way, in my opinion.  First off- (I will take it that this is more realistic though) there is a whole team working on creating anti-matter.  So, the idea of recreating the "big bang," for which the creation on anti-matter is a bi-product and not the main point, is not important in this story.  Which devalues the role of the priest/scientist at CERN.  So, we have a team working on the project (yes, more realistic, but does take away a latter plot twist - although they weakly try to bring it in) and Vittoria is a member of the team who, with the priest, she is the main people in charge.  Fine.  But, NOTHING about the priest being Vittoria's (adopted) father and there is NO branding of the Illuminati symbol on the priest.

Second, the Vatican contacts Robert L and not CERN.  In fact, the head of CERN is not in the story at all.  Vatican wants Robert to come since he is so knowledgeable about Illuminati and his previous involvment with the church.  Which leds to the film trying to cover this difference by showing a relectant Swiss Guard which doesn't make sense for, as Robert says, "You invited me."  So, that whole dimention of science vs the Church is pretty much thrown out the window...  (not good considering that is kinda' the point behind the Illuminati vs the Church)

So, they get going along the plot with the different parts of the path with minor changes... The assassin is NOT part of Hashshashin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashshashin), something I kinda' liked due to their part during the crusades, and he is not sadistic at all (they make him seem religous for some reason)... The first part of the path was filmed mid-day which bugged me because it's supposed to be 8 at night... Vittoria's position is lowered down to kinda' a side note... The Camerlengo is made less important within the Vatican...  They have the main cardnal who presides over the conclave, give up his role to be included in the vote (makes him seem very political)...  They kinda' skip over everything about the Illuminati and Gallieo besides making it since so much more-- bloody?

Third, they cut out the media.  This can be seen as not important to the plot, but where it WAS important was how it made the Camerlengo so important to the Church and to the public.  That speach about the war between science and the Church (which is much more harsh in the movie than how I read it), is done in the book in front of the media (BBC) and the media is following the path with them as the assassin contacts them so that they are aware of what is going on.  It's sad they cut that out.

They cut out the romance, but I'm not sorry for that - as I said above - Dan Brown can't write romance.  Besides, I don't like sex for the point of sex when everyone is going to die.

Fouth - they let the last cardnal live.  WTF?!!!!

Fifth - they don't have Robert L go up in the hellicopter.  Although I did think the fabric thing was pretty unlikely anyways, but it was a good ah ha moment for Robert L in the book.  Plus, it let to the Camerlego's performance on the balcony afterwards.

Sixth - they don't explain AT ALL WHY this whole situation begins.  Which is a HUGE point.  I don't get why they don't bring that in AT ALL considering it's importance.  I guess they though the conspiracy was more important that a motive.

So, overall, I was pretty disapointed and wish I hadn't read the book yet.  F---- seemed to like it although he did see the parts that didn't make sense in the movie because they didn't go over them at all like in the book.

My rating: D

Topic Winner: Long Flights

So, my one vote was to write about long flights...

Well, I have certainly been on my share of long trips.  Growing up, we would drive from Northern CA to Southern CA which, with 3 kids in the car, takes 9 hours.  (as we got older, we got it down to 5 hours - man, we must have stopped a lot!)  I have never been able to sleep in the car and that has moved over to flights as well.  So, when I face the prospect of a long flight, I prepare myself for boredom.  (It's really not that bad...)

My first long flight was probably to Washington, DC in 6th grade (and again in 8th grade).  About 6 hours total non-stop, that was longer than any flight before hand of about 2 hours, tops.  And everything was still new and exciting.  But, I think that it is a good thing that I took so many long trips when I was young.  I know how to amuse myself.  That goes with any other boring things like dull baseball games, etc.  I went with my mom and a friend to a Nationals game a few years ago and it got more and more dull throughout the game (just not a good game that day) and we are talking and blah, blah, blah.  My friend was getting more and more bored (apparently he had never gone to a baseball game), but my mom and I just talked.  And eventually, I noticed a spider hanging down from the stadium overhead.  This spider must have been hanging down about 30-40 feet from the overhead and it was interesting to watch it swaying in the wind.  My mom and I started to comment on that and eventually she said, "You know, I never had to worry about finding entertainment for you.  You always found something to do."   ... I hope my kids are the same!  They certainly will have their share of long trips between the US and Jordan or the east coast and west coast (depending on where the future finds us).

Back to flights...

Where the long flights started to make a difference is when we fly overnight somewhere.  Again, I don't sleep and we usually arrive in the morning to said country and so I have to stay awake the entire day.  But, I learned how to deal with that... it helps if you have work to do.  Then you HAVE to be perky...

But, you think in your mind that it is now morning and that is that.  You are going through a normal day and basically ignore the fact that you didn't sleep and that it's 2 am back home.  DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT!  And it helps that there is a time change.  By the time that first day is done, it is time for bed in the host country and still afternoon back home so the overnighter you just pulled is ultimatly not that bad.  Certainly, staying active helps the most- if you can be active and move around, you will stay awake.  And then - you are on schedule!  Now, the minute you sleep in late within the first 2 weeks in the host country you will feel the jet lag, but for short trips it is helpful to just force yourself into the new time schedule.

My most recent worry about long flights was when I flew to China from DC.  It was very odd - I started obsessing over the length of the flight and what I was going to do for 13 hours.  I think that began when I booked the flight on United.  

Ok - I'm such an airline snob.  And United is NOT my favorite airline.  Their service ON the flight is great, but the customer service on the ground - SUCKS.  The airplanes themselves - SUCK (for the most part).  

And so, I was obsessing over what I was going to do.  It got to the point that I was worried that I was not going to adjust in China because I basically wasn't thinking of my trip (culture-wise) beyond the flight.  (it was fine - Shanghai is like NYC/Amman and Beijing is like... hmmm - maybe Budapest? sort-of...)  

Which, my fears were acknowledged when... 1. got to the airport to find my flight to Chicago (to connect to direct to Shanghai) was canceled and they put me on the next day's flight.  Which is stupid for them to do for people flying international and something I was NOT going to go along with considering I was only in Shanghai for 2 days anyways and so if I arrived a day late, I would miss ALL my meetings!!  (F--- got AMEX to get me on a direct flight to Beijing and transfer to Shanghai)  I NEVER got any email/phone call, etc about the cancellation... what if I DIDN'T live in the area?!  2. The plane was from the late 90s or something and going there, the cabin switched between too hot and too cold and there was just the films on a schedule to choose from.  Coming back - the plane was SOOOOOOOO cold and I got sick on the flight.  I don't do well with cold and I could feel myself getting more and more stuffed up as time went along...

My long flights (outside US only and over 6 hours):

Japan - 1995 - 14 hours total (2 to Vancouver, 12 to Tokyo) (I think) (Air Canada)

UK - 2001 - 7/8 hours (Virgin Atlantic)

Slovenia - 2002 - 8 to Switzerland/1 to Slovenia (Swiss)

Hungary/Poland - 2006 - 8-ish hours (+ 12 hr train ride in between) (Luftansa/LOT)

Jordan/Dubai - 2007- 13/14 hours to/from Dubai, 3 hours between Jordan and Dubai (Emirates)

UK - 2007- 7/8 hours (Vigrin Atlantic)

Spain - 2007 - 7/8 hours (Iberia)

Italy - 2007 - 8/10 hours (to Amsterdam and then Italy) (KLM & Altalia)

China - 2008 - 13/15 hours (13 direct and 2 hrs to Shanghai) (United &... Shanghai Air?)

Jordan - 2008 - 12/15 hours (going - 7 to Paris + 5 (?) to Amman; coming - 13 to NYC, 1 to DC) (Delta - not the new planes :()

Next week... 2009- UK - 7/8 hours (British Airways)

That last flight to Jordan kinda' sucked - it was Delta and they are changing out their fleet, but we got the old planes.  Well - going there it was Air France so - yay!  Coming back - it was Delta and there were NO individual screans!!!  Seriously?  For a 13 hour flight?  WHYYYYYYYY?

I am looking forward to flying BA - I usually hear good stuff about them.  My favorite airlines have been KLM, Emirates and Swiss.  My least favorite have been United, Virgin Atlantic and Iberia.

Monday swimming

So, between my arriving at 6:35, getting the monthly pass and waiting for a lane to open up- I only got about 25 minutes of swimming in:

200 warm-up

**** can't remember ******

6 x 50 (kick down, swim back) on :60

200 (IM down, free back)

50 eggbeater (side, side, front, back)

200 warm down

Anyways, not a lot, but at least something!  I am still sore from last week.  And I need to start with the Wii, My Fitness Training (I'll write a review later - for now... FABULOUS!).

So, the pool lanes always have 2 people in them, swimming as a split lane.  I understand why they don't do circle swimming - the group is for the most part older persons and everyone seems to be on different swim work outs.  But, today I waited about 10-15 minutes for a lane to open up!  

It reminded me of London (but opposite)- I got a monthly pass for the neighborhood gym and pool.  So, I was thinking that most people would just be working out and not swimming... I mean, I have never really heard of lots of Brits swimming before.  So, I get there and 1 - there is both and indoor pool.  Yay!  I VERY MUCH prefer outdoor pools- better ventilation and temperature control, etc.  So, I think that I may be one of the faster swimmers because I have been swimming since I was 5 and, while I hadn't swam in about 1 1/2 years, I wasn't horribly out of shape.  So, I choose a lane and get in.  So - the Brits are in VERY good shape!  My goodness - those guys totally were fast and very serious about their swimming!  They had great form and really did some good workouts, from what I could tell.  I was a bit embarrassed that I was passed up by others and very impressed that they were so good!  And, after that, I only went a few more times to the pool before stopping completely.