Today I saw a reference to Don Colbert, a doctor who has written a whole series of books claiming to hold biblical insights into 21st century health issues. Apparently, the Bible provides help with treating Diabetes, ADD, Menopause, and Cancer.

Now, I can obviously respect people who look to the timeless principles of the Bible to provide guidance in their lives, but unless Dr. Colbert is advocating casting out demons and rubbing mud in people's eyes, I really don't see how the Bible can be applied to medical issues. And you may call me a heretic, but I think it's okay for Christians to believe that doctors today may know more about medicine than the authors of the Bible did.

In addition to all these "Bible Cure" books, Dr. Colbert has also published What Would Jesus Eat? (which I have had the misfortune of actually seeing on display in a bookstore). It seems to me that anyone who cares about what Jesus ingested is perhaps missing the point. In fact, I recall Jesus saying something once about what goes into a man's mouth.

I didn't think the movie was either horrible or wonderful. It was simply okay.

Most of the cast were actually good with their roles, except for Tom Hanks. I think the choice of Hanks for Robert Langdon was a bad one. He played Langdon very stiffly, and it was odd to me that he didn't seem all that excitable when considering the fact that he might find the Holy Grail. The impression of Langdon I got from the book was a man who had a little bit more of a sense of humor who was a lot more into the hunt than Hanks came across.

The direction by Ron Howard was so-so. It got the job done. If I hadn't read the book, I would have been confused by some of the flashback scenes, and he managed to make the car-chase scene through Paris absolutely unexciting and unbelievable.

I thought the plot itself moved along well but didn't have enough intensity. The ideas were explained well, and actually, I thought the moviemakers did a good job of covering some of Dan Brown's mistakes by having some of the characters question Leigh Teabing's assertions. The movie definitely didn't feel agenda-based. It wasn't trying to prove a thesis of any sort. It was about characters who get caught up in uncovering a bunch of clues. A hunt. And putting Brown's story on film made the whole idea come across as even more preposterous than I expected.

I thought the adaptation was a good one, and it managed to avoid some of the more awkward and unbelievable parts of the book (no, Sophie didn't threaten to bend Madonna on the Rocks, which in real-life can't be bent because it's painted on wood -- she just ran instead). The scene at the Roslin church was a little bit weird, but I can see how it worked better for movie purposes, I guess.

All in all, I'd say it pretty much played like a summer blockbuster usually does - not much impact, but was a good enough way to kill a couple of hours.

Simpsons neologism of the day for Tuesday, May 23, 2006:
Beginulate

Frink: "Let the commencement… beginulate!"

What do Burger King, MySpace, and Jack Bauer have in common? Last night, a commercial during the season finale of 24 came on advertising free downloads of 24 by visiting Burger King's MySpace page. Huh?

Another good weekend, and some actual relaxation time this time!

On Friday a bunch of us went out to celebrate Jon's birthday, kind of spontaneous-like. We ate at El Torito. I'm telling you, that place is yummy. Photos are here in the album called Jon's Birthday.

Saturday I had bridesmaid duties and went shopping with all the girls again. Crazily enough, we went to one store to try on one dress, but all of us passed by another dress we all liked, tried it on, and agreed that we found a winner! It looks just like the picture below, only the dress we bought is black with silver-blackish beading. Of course, a couple of us will need alterations in the chest area because the neckline is rather low. We'll be having them sew the opening up a bit, and then I'll probably have some chiffon added to help cover up a little bit more.

I'm glad we were able to find it so easily, and it's very much a dress I can wear again to other occasions. :)

Saturday night Ric and I went out to coffee with Judi. That's always a fun time. She still has a very funny pottymouth.

Sunday we accidentally slept in and missed church for the second week in a row. Ric always wakes up early and then comes in to wake me up, lays down, and falls back asleep again. Oops. So in the afternoon I went to see the Da Vinci Code, which was insanity down at the theater, and went shopping. Got some great discount deals at Ann Taylor Loft. Who says they can't afford to shop there? I bought shirts for $10 and $15 a piece in the sale section! That night we did laundry at Ric's folks' house and watched the Fox and the Hound with them. Reviews to follow! It was nice to have Sunday with a little bit of time for myself. Lately I've been stretching myself a bit thin, or at least my backache has made it feel worse than it really is.

Speaking of my back, I'm going back in for a consult to try and get another epidural. The back is pretty much back to the way it was, and as a result the pain on the right side of my back is forcing me to overcompensate with my left side, and so I've developed some hip problems in my left side. I'll be trying out the elliptical machine at the fitness center to see if that will help stabilize my hip. I might need to do that until I get an epidural to help out the back pain. I swear. Doctors always look at me and say, you're 27, you shouldn't have these problems! I always say, "I know, but they started at 21, so let's see if we can start fixing them!"

I had forgetten to share this video my bro showed me. It's basically a stampede of people that rushed into the Nintendo booth once it opened. If you look carefully, for a second you can see the PS3 area which is practically empty.

So somehow I got three days in a row off this week. I'm going to enjoy them because now that I'm a Lead I probably won't have a whole lot of time off in the near future. Tomorrow my friends Jon, Justin, Chris, Anthony, and I are all going to California Adventure and then Disneyland. Insanity should ensue. Hopefully we won't get kicked out of the park or something :)