Monday, December 29, 2014

THE INTERVIEW, R ( 1 hr & 52 min )

-

where: McDonald's Restaurant, Columbus Parkway, Benicia, CA
when: Sunday, December 28ht, 2014
show: 4:38 p.m.
costs: $5.99 YouTube rental fee + $5.18 for 2 Cheeseburgers ( I didn't eat the buns ), Side Salad w/ Southwest Ranch Dressing and Large Diet Lemonade/Sweet Tea = $11.17
auditorium: Dining lobby
seat: Table by the door with the nearby electrical outlet

2nd time


-

where: CONTRA COSTA STADIUM CINEMAS in Martinez, CA
when: Sunday, December 28ht, 2014
show: 7:35 p.m.
costs: $10.25 Ticket + $6.50 medium Buttered Popcorn + $3.00 small Raspberry Tea + $5.00 Benicia Bridge Toll Plaza Fee ( on my way back home to Vallejo, CA ) = $24.75
auditorium: 2
seat: 4th row ( counting from the front ), 8ht column ( counting from the left )

synopsis/overview: Dave Skylark ( James Franco ) is the host of a celebrity tabloid show that is a favorite of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un ( Randall Park ). When he lands an exclusive interview with the dictator, he and his producer, Aaron Rapaport ( Seth Rogen ), are recruited by the CIA to assassinate Kim.

noteworthy scenes: 1.) Little North Korean girl singing an anti-American song; 2.) Eminem interview; 3.) Rob Lowe interview; 4.) "You don't like that brown sugar"; 5.) An unexpected avid fan of the show; 6.) Matthew McConaughey's sex secret; 7.) Long distance 'phone call; 8.) "Damn! she was sexy"; 9.) "Ain't us"; 10.) Unexpected visitors at the door; 11.) "Take him out"; 12.) "Chub"; 13.) Lasik; 14.) "Money shot"; 15.) Sneeze; 16.) Airport tarmac; 17.) Butthole; 18.) Chewing gum; 19.) "Stripey dog"; 20.) Butt; 21.) Strip-search; 22.) One-on-one basketball game; 23.) Sexy North Korean girls; 24.) Death; 25.) Jew; 26.) "American idiot"; 27.) "Me, too"; 28.) Grocery store items; 29.) "Your nipples are so pink"; 30.) Munitions room; 31.) The interview; 32.) TV control room; 33.) Helicopter vs. battle tank; 34.) Goodbye kiss; 35.) Rescue; 36.) Book reading; and 37.) Dedication after the Ending Credits.

audience reaction: The movie, itself, is "stupid-funny". And the audience loved it! The first scene with the little North Korean girl singing an anti-American song and the scene wherein Kim Jong-un was being interviewed on TV garnered the most laughs!

recommendation: I liked this "stupid-funny" movie. Support Freedom of Speech and the Right to Peaceful Assembly by watching this movie on the Big Screen, if at all possible.

spoiler alert! If most North Koreans are starving and they eat dogs, why were there still dogs running around in the country? Why did she leave the machine gun behind? What happened to the two remaining assault vehicles? And how come there is no "Dennis Rodman" character in this movie?

fyi: What I love about being an American is that we, Americans, can laugh at our own selves; and we can also laugh with every one else when the rest of the world makes fun of us!

'Remember when North Korea released propaganda videos on YouTube about how it would totally annihilate the United States? Those videos were so poorly-done and so laughable that they inspired some of us to respond in kind--but in Hollywood-style, of course! Now, the North Koreans are pissed off because we just upstaged them in this! Oh, lighten up! Will you ...? Have some sense of humor and you, North Koreans, will get along just fine with us, Americans.

*************************************************

Here's an excerpt from http://www.vox.com/2014/12/29/7460277/north-korea-sony-icc

To listen to much of the Western media and The Interview's supporters, you would think that North Korea hacked Sony Pictures out of outrage over The Interview's depiction of Kim Jong Un's assassination — or that North Korea didn't actually launch the attack at all.

Whether or not North Korea was actually behind the massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures, the country's official state media has been going to great lengths to imply that North Korean hackers took down the movie company in retaliation for The Interview.

That should tell you something, because North Korean state media doesn't just sound off like that for no reason — and North Korea's self-made image as an irrational crazyman of a country is about as real as its smartphones. They were after something. There was a reason that North Korea saw all this attention and outrage as in its interest — even if it came at the cost of unknown forces (probably the US and/or China) shutting down North Korea's internet.

So what was North Korea after? Suki Kim suggests, in Slate, a very compelling theory: North Korea wants to distract from a landmark United Nations effort to refer North Korea's leadership to the International Criminal Court, which is nearing its final stages. The North Korean leadership is earnestly panicked about this threat and either launched or at least supported the Sony hack in a desperate — and wildly successful — attempt to make sure people paid attention to the hack and not the United Nations initiative.

word of advice: Don't dish it out if you can't take it.

tidbits: After watching the movie on YouTube, I started my blog but I needed a movie poster for it. So, I went on-line looking for one. That was when I found out that it was being shown locally at one particular theatre, CONTRA COSTA STADIUM CINEMAS, in Martinez, CA. It is one of only a select few theatres that are showing it after the Sony hack and after North Korea ( supposedly ) threatened to resort to drastic measures if the movie is shown in theatres here in the US. I don't know whether it was just a publicity stunt to draw attention to this low-budget movie which made 18 million dollars on-line and almost 3 million dollars in theatres, so far. But I really wanted to see this on the Big Screen to know how an audience would react to it.

So, instead of blogging about this movie right away, I drove on over to Martinez to see this movie again.

I walked into an auditorium that was 5/6th full of people! That many people showed up for this movie either because it is in a Limited Run or because they were not about to have a dictator from some 3rd world country deny them their Right to Freedom of Speech/Expression and the Right to Peaceful Assembly.

During the movie's "Kim Jong-un's" butt-naked scene, the girl seated to the right of me said, "Eeyew!" After the movie, I overheard a woman say that she couldn't wait for the sequel with Digby in it. And a man said that he laughed all throughout the movie.

*************************************************

A US Seal Team on Recon Patrol took the following photo with a high-powered camera, at the DMZ, of the North Koreans scrambling their jets to circle their sovereign airspace and protect it from a joint South Korean/American invasion after their nationwide Internet connection shut down.

Spy photo of North Korean Air Force fighter planes flying over their sovereign airspace. I found this spy photo on the Internet.
Ooooooh, I'm scared already---Not! Ha, ha, ha---Snort!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

From the Internet.

*

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS, R ( 2hr & 12 min )

-

where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, Vallejo, CA
when: Thursday, December 11th, 2014
show: 8:00 p.m. 3-D Advanced Screening
costs: $14.50 Ticket + $6.95 medium Buttered Popcorn + $4.60 20.0 oz VitaminWater Zero Lemonade = $26.05
auditorium: 5
seat: 3rd row ( counting from the front ), 9th column ( counting from the left )

-

2nd time

where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Tuesday, December 16th, 2014
show: 2:15 p.m. 3-D
costs: $9.75 Ticket + $1.00 upgrade on a free small Buttered Popcorn ( free movie watcher reward e-mail coupon ) + $4.75 medium Powerade Mountain Berry Blast = $15.50
auditorium: 10
seat: 4th row ( counting from the front ), 8ht column ( counting from the left )

synopsis/overview: Pharaoh's ( John Turturro ) adopted son, Moses ( Christian Bale ), grows up to become a leader who frees the Israelites from their cruel Egyptian bondage.

noteworthy scenes: 1.) "In the  battle, a leader will be saved. And his savior will lead"; 2.) "You have each other's, to keep each other safe"; 3.) The prophecy unfolds; 4.) "Because you're not my blood"; 5.) "A little venom is a good thing"; 6.) Viceroy's palace; 7.) "He who wrestles with God"; 8.) "You can stop living like a king, you're not one"; 9.) The truth; 10.) Killing a guard; 11.) The news; 12.) The confession; 13.) Exile; 14.) Assassins; 15.) Stone pillar; 16.) Watering hole; 17.) Wedding; 18.) Mount Horeb; 19.) Burning Bush; 20.) Famous uncle; 21.) Horses' stable; 22.) Persecution; 23.) Weapons training; 24.) Sabotage; 25.) The Plagues; 26.) "No Hebrew child died last night"; 27.) "We're not gonna be capturing anyone"; 28.) Mountain pass; 29.) Low tide; 30.) Landslide; 31.) Wall of water; 32.) The Ten Commandments and 33.) Oxen cart.

audience reaction: There wasn't much in the way of a reaction from either group of people.

recommendation: This movie was an epic disappointment to me. It's full of inaccuracies, an exercise in creative license stretched to the very limits! Faithful adherents of Judaism, Christianity and Islam would find this movie sacrilegious and even downright blasphemous! And I thought that the Russel Crowe movie, NOAH, was bad. This movie is definitely a rental, in my opinion.

spoiler alert! The white actors in this movie should have at least gotten a tan, a la George Hamilton, to allow themselves to blend-in with the natives. After all, they were supposed to be natives of Egypt, a country in North Africa.
Hollywood actor, George Hamilton, the forever-tanned guy. I found this picture on the Internet.
No such prophecy is written in the Bible.

The horse saddle and the stirrups were invented centuries later and independently of each other. The ancient Egyptian warriors went to battle mostly without helmets and without body armor--except for the pharaoh; but mercenaries who were in pharaoh's army wore helmets and body armor.

Ancient Egyptian females of lower classes walked around topless--I didn't see any of that in this movie, though. Darn it! Of course, there was one ( only one ) woman among the Hittites in this movie who was topless ( nice boobs, I might add )--and you had better not blink your eyes or be distracted in a crucial scene to catch a glimpse of it! Ha, ha, ha.

The wrong pharaoh is portrayed in this movie. Perhaps, due to the popularity of Cecil B. Demille's movie, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ( 1956 ), which has Yul Brynner portraying the role of Pharaoh Ramses II ( because he bears a facial resemblance to the pharaoh ), Ridley Scott thought it prudent not to buck the trend by having Joel Edgerton portray the very same wrong pharaoh in this movie, irrespective of the evidence offered-up by Archaeology and Ancient Egyptian chronology!

The late Yul Brynner. I found this on the Internet.
-
The really late Ramses II. I found this on the Internet. The addition of the cobra on Pharaoh Ramses II's headrest symbolizes a man of an awakened spiritual state, i.e. the 7th and final Chakra was opened. More than likely, though, he was not spiritually awakened or he would have known who The One True God was ( Exodus 5:2 ). The sculptor just added it on as an embellishment in the hope of currying favors from the pharaoh.
-

While we are on the subject of Chakras, to the Ancient Egyptians, the 6th ( i.e. Third Eye ) Chakra was represented by the Eye of Horus.

Eye of Horus. I found this on the Internet.
-

Moses saw an Egyptian guard mistreat an Israelite slave. This angered Moses to the point where he killed the Egyptian. But at least one slave knew of the murder and this made Moses afraid for his life so he escaped from Egypt before the pharaoh had a chance to have him arrested and put to death for murder ( Exodus 2:11-15 ).

Zipporah was black ( Numbers 12:1 ).

I don't know whether or not Ancient Egypt already traded with India back then. But those tiger skins at the pharaoh's feet seemed out-of-place to me, time-wise.

Here's a major creative license faux pas: The Bible says, "And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live." ( Exodus 33:20 KJV ) But the movie veered off from this on a really weird tangent. Not only that but, when Moses came upon the Burning Bush, the Bible says that God commanded him to take off his sandals for he was standing on hallowed ground ( Exodus 3:5 ). Yet, this movie's scene of the encounter had him lying on his back and covered in mud, instead! And God's messenger was never distinctly visible and independent of the Burning Bush ( Exodus 3:2 )!

Moses didn't confront pharaoh in a horses' stable in the cloak of night! He confronted the pharaoh in the royal court in front of other people.

I didn't know that there were explosives experts living in Ancient Egypt! I always thought that the Chinese were the ones who invented explosives.

Moses had a speech impediment, i.e. he was not oratorically-gifted ( Exodus 4:10-16 ). He was more of a thinker/writer ( he did write the 1st five books of the Bible, after all ) than he was a public speaker. And he didn't confront pharaoh all by himself; his older brother, Aaron ( a gifted speaker ), helped him ( Exodus 5:1-10:29 ).

Shouldn't that have been, "No Hebrew male child died last night"?

The Israelites were led by a pillar of cloud by day and by a pillar of fire by night ( Exodus 13:21 ).

The place where the Israelites crossed was full of reeds. The Hebrew term for this place is Yam Suph ( Sea of Reeds ). Earlier translations of this term mistakenly associated it with the Red Sea ( Exodus 13:18 ). And, unfortunately, it has stuck ever since. But there were a number of marshy bodies of freshwater in Egypt where reeds grew. Quite possibly, though, it was through a tributary that they crossed. Maybe, through sheer luck and determination, Archaeologists will someday pinpoint the actual location of the crossing.

By the way, the Red Sea, in ancient times, was called the "Edomites'" Sea for large swaths of its coastal area were controlled by the Edomites, enemies of the Israelites.  And Edom was associated with the color of red ( source: Internet ).

Moses was actually not in the water when the parted water came crashing down on the pharaoh's army ( Exodus 14:21-28 )!

After the pharaoh's army was drowned at sea, Moses' sister, Miriam, sang a victory song in praise of God ( Exodus 15:21 ).

God wrote the Ten Commandments, Moses didn't chisel them onto a pair of stone tablets ( Exodus 31:18 ).

The Ark of The Covenant was supposed to be carried on poles by four (?) Levite Priests, putting it in an oxen cart was against God's Command. And, unlike the plain-looking box shown in this movie, the true Ark was inlaid in gold and had two Cherubim on top across from each other ( Exodus 25:10-22 ).

This movie was not monitored by the American Humane Association ( I didn't see the notice in the Ending Credits ),  meaning that some animals may have been treated cruelly in the making of this movie.

FYI: The name, Moses, is of Egyptian origin.

Venom is only deadly if it somehow gets into your bloodstream.

Moses lived to be 120 years of age. Moses' first 40 years were spent in Egypt. His second 40 years were spent between Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia. And Moses' last 40 years were spent wandering in the desert with the 12 Tribes of Israel ( when God was in the process of "thinning-out the herd". ).

The Israelites were rebellious to God during their wanderings in the desert. They did so because they considered themselves the "Children of God" and acted like entitled and irresponsible spoiled brats instead of well-behaved children. So, God didn't "spare the rod" ( Proverbs 13:24 ) on them.

Moses' ancestor, Jacob, set up a stone pillar at a place he named, Bethel ( Genesis 35:14-15 ).

Moses' mother, Jochebed, was also his own grandaunt ( Exodus 6:20 ).

Moses was not circumcised at all ( Exodus 4:24-26 ), which made God want to kill him because he did not pass down the Abrahamic Circumcision Covenant to his own son, a covenant that was required of every Israelite male. But Moses' life was spared when his quick-thinking wife, Zipporah, zipped ( mnemonic aid ) the foreskin of their son's penis and touched it to Moses' "private part". ( The euphemism used for "private part" in this biblical passage is "feet"; and being that the standard of measurement used by the Ancient Egyptians is very similar to the British Standard Inch and Foot Measurements, then "feet" translates into 24 inches [ ahem! ] which is quite a considerable length--something must've gotten lost in the translation. )  Imagine this: You're just a little boy minding your own business who's playing with a toy when your mom comes over, pulls off your pants, grabs your penis, stretches your foreskin and then slices it off with a knife--without saying anything---Such a painful experience is guaranteed to leave an indelible scar in your mind at such an impressionable age in your life!  But I digress. So, Saint Paul ( the "Anti-Christ" ) probably had this "circumcision by proxy"  in mind when he argued that Gentile males didn't need to be circumcised to become Christians ( Romans 2:26-28 ) because Jesus Christ had offered His own circumcised penis on the cross as a sacrificial offering for the sake of the uncovenanted proselytes! But I digress, once more. Anyway ... this passage raises the point that the infant Moses was just days old when he was hidden for the next three months ( Exodus 2:2 ) due to the pharaoh's death edict ( Exodus 1:22 ); since every infant male Israelite was circumcised on its 8th day ( Genesis 17:12 ), Moses was not circumcised on that very day because his mother had hidden him.

And when the infant Moses was eventually presented to the pharaoh, his life was spared because the pharaoh was made to believe that the male infant before him was not an Israelite since it was uncircumcised.

( My dad had me circumcised just to be on the safe side. Ha, ha, ha. Read my blog on YEAR ONE [June, 2009] to know the particulars ).

Speaking of the infant Moses, he was floated down the Nile River in a reed basket ( Exodus 2:3 ) because the Ancient Egyptians held the superstitious belief that a reed boat would not be attacked by crocodiles. I learned this when I studied World Religions in college. ( This point seems to have been illustrated in the scene wherein the fishermen's wooden boat was attacked by a ravenous bask of Nile crocodiles. )

As an aside, when the pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile River to bathe, her female servants walked along the riverbank to check for crocodiles. ( Exodus 2:5 )

In the same way that Aaron's snake swallowed-up the Egyptian sorcerers' snakes ( Exodus 7:10-12 ), The Ten Plagues were Israel's God's challenge to the deities of Ancient Egypt's religion, proving them all powerless against the might of The One True God! ( source: World Religions class lecture )

Had the Ancient Egyptians not domesticated cats to keep rodents away from their granaries, there would probably have been an eleventh plague, the Bubonic Plague! And this would have caused the near-extinction of the Ancient Egyptians. And they had their Cat Goddess, Bastet, to thank for the inspiration to domesticate the wild cats!

Yes, the Jews' greatest prophet, Moses, was uncircumcised. But this in no way should be construed that Leonardo da Vinci was right to exercise creative license in his depiction of a young King David as an uncircumcised Israelite!

Leonardo da Vinci's King David. Whatever possessed Leo to depict Dave in such a way is beyond my limited sense of reasoning! Does this statue look--ahem!--"disproportionate" to you? ( This makes me wonder if Goliath was huge in some other way.  Ha, ha, ha. ) I found this on the Internet.

After Moses received the second set of stone Tablets, his face glowed. ( Exodus 34:29-35 ) And for the better part of his remaining life, he veiled his head. He exposed his head only at the times when it was necessary for him to speak to his people as a "mouthpiece" of God. Why did he cover his head whenever he did not speak for God? Simple, as I previously stated, Moses was never circumcised because he never had the chance to enter into the Circumcision Covenant with God which was established by his forebear, Abraham ( who was circumcised when he was practically 100 years old! [ Genesis 17:1 ] ). He was "circumcised" only by proxy. And since an uncovenanted person, in this crucial instance, could never speak for God, his veiling and unveiling of his own head before the Tribes of Israel was meant to be the symbolic act of retracting the Prepuce to expose the Glans Penis in imitation of a circumcised penis. Moses was then "equal" to any male Israelite in such an instance. Hence, Moses was a "covenanted" Israelite, worthy of representing God, whenever he would unveil his head to speak The Word of God to his people. Nonetheless, God did not allow Moses to become Israel's first High Priest because he killed a man and because he was not truly circumcised.

Moses and Aaron were not allowed to enter the promised land because Moses struck the rock in a fleeting lapse in judgment because of his impatience with the rebellious people. ( Numbers 20:10-12 )

The 1980 movie satire, WHOLLY MOSES!, has a funny scene about The Burning Bush.

Here's food for thought: The utensils used in the Tabernacle of God were fashioned after the very same utensils that were already in use in God's Heavenly Kingdom ( Exodus 25:8-9 ). This seems to suggest that God's Heavenly Kingdom is a physically-tangible place!

The Great Pyramid at Giza was thought at first to be the resting place for a pharaoh. But the "coffin" found inside of its "burial chamber" was empty and never showed any sign of being used at all for such a purpose. Now, some experts have suggested that it was actually a repository of Ancient Egypt's master sets of Weights, Measures and Volume vessels because the chamber had an air vent which kept it in a constant temperature no matter what the weather or climate outside of the pyramid might have been (www.celticnz.co.nz/Weights_Meaures_Volumes/Weights_Measures.html ).

The Bible states that the 12 Tribes of Israel settled in the land of Goshen, Egypt ( Genesis 47:27 ). There is Archaeological evidence to support it. Archaeologists ( on a TV show, I forget which one ) discovered a defaced statue thrown down into a field in Goshen. This statue's coat was multi-colored, a clear reference to Joseph's ( Genesis 37:3 ). More than likely, it was vandalized and thrown down into the field shortly after the Israelites had left Egypt on their exodus.

And there is more on the subject of Joseph:

The following is an excerpt from the webpage, http://www.s8int.com/joseph.html

>>>"(I)t is to Immanuel Velikovsky that the present work owes most. Velikovsky�s brilliant exposition of the contradictions inherent in ancient chronology is the key that has unlocked the secrets of antiquity. In Ages in Chaos (1952), he proposed a complete reconstruction of later Egyptian history, beginning with the Exodus, which he believed to date from the fall of the �Middle Kingdom�. It is largely under the inspiration of Ages in Chaos that the present work seeks to reconstruct the earlier part of Egyptian history. Velikovsky began with the Exodus. Velikovsky held that ... the Exodus, which touched directly on Egypt, was in fact a major landmark in Egyptian history. He demonstrated quite convincingly that this event was recorded by the Egyptians, and showed that modern scholars had missed the identification because they had fundamentally misunderstood ... the nature of the events described in the Book of Exodus.


The catastrophist position adopted by Velikovsky brought to light an enormous distortion in ancient chronology. These momentous events were effectively effaced from the history books because an erroneous and virtually arbitrary chronology, based on Eusebius� working of Manetho, had been accepted by modern scholarship. (The great irony here, of course, is that this distorted chronology had originally been designed to prove the Book of Genesis right!)
The histories of the other ancient lands, Velikovsky showed, had then been reconstructed in line with the distorted Egyptian chronology. This �modern� history of the ancient world had virtually no point of contact with the biblical and classical histories, and clashed repeatedly with them. 
The story of Joseph, one of the best-known and best-loved of the Old Testament, occupies almost a quarter of the Book of Genesis. That fact alone illustrates the importance of Joseph to Israel�s early history. He it was who brought the Twelve Tribes to Egypt, where in time they would grow to nationhood.
Yet the story outlined in Genesis reveals the importance of Joseph not only to the history of Israel, but also to the history of Egypt, and furthermore illustrates the thoroughly Egyptian background to the entire episode.
...In harmony with all this, though puzzling in its own way, is the astonishing amount of Egyptian influence now recognised as present in the Joseph narrative. The terms and idioms used are Egyptian through and through. Indeed such is the resemblance to Egyptian phraseology and custom that that some scholars now regard these chapters of Genesis as based on an Egyptian record.
One such commentator is the Israeli Egyptologist A.S. Yahuda, a man whose work we shall examine in greater detail at a later stage. Yahuda wondered at the superabundance of Egyptian terms, phrases, metaphors and loan-words present throughout Genesis, remarking on their comparative absence from later books of the Old Testament. Some examples provided by Yahuda are as follows:
� Jospeh�s appointment as vizier was the �kernel� of the story, according to Yahuda. For this office, a Hebrew word with a root which has the meaning �to do twice, to repeat, to double� is used. Yahuda explained that in the same way the Egyptian word sn.nw (�deputy�) was formed from sn, the word for �two�. In the same verse, pharaoh commands all to �bow the knee� before Joseph. The Hebrew word for �bow� is agreed by most authorities to have been taken from the Egyptian.
� Joseph was titled �father to pharaoh�, and, as Yahuda says, the Hebrew expression corresponds with the Egyptian itf, �father�, a common priestly title, and one borne by viziers. At the start of his conversation with Joseph, pharaoh says: �I have had a dream � I have heard that you understand a dream to interpret it� (Gen.41:15).
For �understand� the Hebrew uses the verb �to hear�. This term has proved very difficult for commentators, but, according to Yahuda, it corresponds entirely with the Egyptian use of sdm meaning �to hear� or �to understand�.
Another problem for commentators has been the sentence of Gen. 41:40, where pharaoh says literally to Joseph: �According to your mouth shall my people kiss�. The verb �to kiss� here has always seemed completely out of place. However, when we compare it with the Egyptian, �kiss� proves to be �a correct and thoroughly exact reproduction if what the narrator really meant to convey.
Here an expression is rendered in Hebrew from a metaphorical one used in polished speech among the Egyptians.�6 In polished speech the Egyptians spoke of sn, �kissing� the food, rather than the ordinary colloquial wnrn which meant �eating�.
� In the Joseph story pharaoh is addressed in the third person, eg. Gen. 41:34 �Let Pharaoh do this�. According to Yahuda this corresponds precisely to the court etiquette of Egypt. A characteristic term recurring in several passages of Genesis is �in the face of Pharaoh�, or �from the face of Pharaoh�, meaning �before pharaoh�.
This, says Yahuda, corresponds completely with Egyptian court custom, where one might not speak to his majesty �to his face�, but only �in the face of his majesty� (m hr hm-f).7 Again, in the Joseph narrative, the word �lord�, in reference either to pharaoh or Joseph, is given in the plural. This corresponds exactly with Egyptian usage where pharaoh, as well as being referred to as nb (�lord�), is also spoken of as nb.wy in the plural.
These instances are only a small sample of the evidence mustered by Yahuda, but they illustrate very clearly the profoundly Egyptian background to the whole story. Indeed, as we have said, so strong is the evidence that some commentators have suggested an Egyptian original of the narrative which Hebrew scribes more or less copied.
In short, when the Israelites came to write down the story of Joseph, they borrowed heavily on what the Egyptians themselves had written about him. None of this should surprise us. Genesis tells us quite clearly that Joseph was a major personality. He became the king�s vizier. He brought Asiatics into Egypt.
He presided over a social/political revolution. According to Genesis (47:22), the land of Egypt changed hands during his lifetime: Pharaoh became absolute master of the kingdom. But on top of all that Joseph was � most extraordinarily � a seer, a prophet, a visionary. Such a man, we would imagine, could not have been forgotten by the Egyptians.
Having stated all this, we now find that Joseph, coming just a few generations after the time of the Abraham migration, would have lived in roughly the same era as �The Wise� King Djoser and the wise seer Imhotep. It thus begins to look more and more clear that Joseph and Imhotep, the two great sages, were identical persons, and that Joseph�s wise king was �The Wise� Djoser....

.....There is little that can be added to the above assessment. Imhotep, plainly and simply, was the greatest of all Egypt�s wise men. As we have said, the close correlations between Imhotep and the biblical Joseph have not gone unnoticed by scholars. In recent years, an English historian named Tom Chetwynd revived the whole debate by argued strongly for identifying the two men.

Chetwynd held by the conventional view that Imhotep belonged in an �Old Kingdom� dated to the third millennium BC., and did not attempt to resolve the chronological difficulties inherent in this. Nevertheless, he demonstrated that the parallels between the two were sufficiently compelling to overrule the chronological problems.

In short, so powerful was the evidence that irrespective of what the chronology apparently said, the two men simply had to be one and the same."
Source: Excerpts from:THE GENESIS OF ISRAEL AND EGYPT Emmet Sweeney Copyright 2001 (2nd ed.)
imhotep
Joseph, a.k.a. Imhotep. Please go to the webpage to read Mr. Emmet Sweeney's thesis in its entirety. <<<
-

Which pharaoh would Israel's God choose to make humble, a vain-glorious pharaoh who was just a legend in his own mind and who took credit for the accomplishments of previous pharaohs or the most powerful pharaoh with the greatest empire of them all? In my World Religions Class, I learned that Pharaoh Ramses II was obsessed with self-aggrandizement. His plagiarisms and tall-tale exploits were meant to make himself look powerful and godlike among his people.  But there was an earlier pharaoh who fitted well the description of the pharaoh of the Exodus account.

When I learned that Ramses II was not so great of a pharaoh, I went back to the Bible and worked on its chronology. When I counted back the years and cross-referenced it with the Ancient Egyptian Dynasties, it was then that I came across the pharaoh who most likely challenged the God of the Israelites. A pharaoh who had the greatest empire, the vastest of armies and had the most number of chariots that the Ancient Egyptians had ever known. The ideal candidate for such a challenge. 

I tried to share my discovery with my friend, Hector, who has read the Bible many times. But he was set firm in his belief that Ramses II was the Exodus Pharaoh. He must be a fan of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS movie. ( To be honest, that movie is better than this movie. )

King James Bible
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD. ( Old Testament of The Bible, 1 Kings 6:1 )

If Solomon commenced the building of the Temple in 965 B.C., 480 years added to this date yields the year 1445 B.C. Moses was born in the reign of Thutmosis I ( reigned 1525 B.C. - 1512 B.C. ), who had a daughter named, Hatshepsut ( reigned 1503 B.C. - 1482 B.C. ), who was a co-regent with her stepson, Thutmosis III ( reigned 1504 B.C. - 1450 B.C. ). Thutmosis III died when he was about 78 years of age; Moses led the Exodus after he turned 80 years of age. From 1525 B.C. ( the start of Thutmosis I reign ) to 1445 B.C. ( the start[?]of the Exodus ) is an 80-year span, which coincides perfectly with the age of Moses at the time of his Divine Commission. Hatshepsut may have been a little child, herself, when she adopted Moses ( she died in her 40s ). Thutmosis III's firstborn son, Amenemhat, preceded him in death. ( source, Internet )

As I previously stated, Moses' name is of Egyptian origin and shares a similarity with the name, Thutmosis,  which suggests that they are of the same pharaonic line.

The two images below are of Thutmosis III which I found on the Internet:


Before the Exodus.
-
After the Exodus.
-

The Ipuwer Papyrus, displayed in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Netherlands, gives an independent and contemporary account of the Ten Plagues which devastated Egypt during the time of Moses.

The Deeds of the Hittite King Suppiluliuma 1st, written by one of his sons, mentions a hasty request from the newly-widowed Egyptian Queen Ankhesenamun for an alliance between the two rival nations through a royal marriage, brought on by the sudden death of the Egyptian King Tutankhamun ( a.k.a. King Tut, the "boy king" ). King Tutankhamun was the son of Amenhotep IV ( a.k.a. Akhenaten, the Sun-worshiping King ) and Queen Nefertiti. The chronology for this period doesn't coincide well with the Exodus account. But it does show a possibility that an antecedent historical alliance between the two rival nations may have well taken place during Ancient Egypt's state of national emergency after the 10th, and final, Plague and after pharaoh's army was destroyed by God in the Red Sea, i. e. Edomites' Sea or the Sea of Edom.

Check out this 1-hour & 12-minute video on YouTube entitled:

Egyptology vs the Bible - amazing evidence of biblical 

events

***************************************

Sometime back in the '80s, I had an out-of-body experience in which I thought it would be the perfect time for me to travel back in time to finally get to see Jesus Christ. 

I tried on a previous occasion to travel back to Jesus' area of ministry but ended-up someplace else in prehistoric time. Mind you, when you feel your astral self about to separate itself from your physical body, the excitement and anticipation at that moment will make you forget anything else that you may have had in mind to do. You have to remind yourself everyday, and constantly, about where you want to astral travel. And you will not always be successful at arriving at your destination because it takes effort and clear focus to reach your objective.

This second time around, I failed again to reach my objective. I found my astral self standing some distance up on a hill or mountain. Far below me, on the plain, I saw many people walking away into the horizon. Then, I sensed the presence of someone standing quietly to the left of me. This man had a staff in his hand and he, too, was looking at the people walking away. He had on what looked like a hooded robe made of a dark brown coarse material. I leaned forward and turned my head to the left to catch a glimpse of his face. But his face was covered in black cloth. It was then that I realized that I stood beside Moses.

I was immediately pulled back to my physical body. I was disappointed that I never got to see Jesus Christ even though I wanted so much to see him, to know what he looked like. Instead, I found myself in the presence of Moses. I didn't know what to make of it. Moses was the greatest of Israel's Prophets, that I knew. And it would be considered a great honor and privilege by any Jew to meet with Moses. But it simply was not him that I wanted so much to meet with. Besides, even though I may have Jewish blood on my mother's side ( Jewish-Christian Priestly lineage ) of the family it does not necessarily make me a Jew!

Then, I remembered what Jesus Christ once said in The New Testament of The Bible. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." ( Matthew 5:17, NIV )

"The Powers that be" made me see Moses first because of the Mosaic Law ( i.e. 10 Commandments, Worship System and Festival Observations ). It is a requirement. Without fulfilling the Law of Moses, I will never meet with the Savior Christ. My Christianity does not exempt me from observing the Mosaic Law! ( St. Paul, the Anti-Christ, preached just the opposite. [ Galatians 2:16 ] )

In 2002, I had a very lucid dream in which I was with Moses once more. But this time around, he stood to my right. And he finally spoke. He said, "This is the one." Then, I found myself standing before an angry crowd of Hispanic and Asiatic christians ( lower case "c" on purpose ). The gathered crowd objected to the appointment and gave their own individual opinions as to who should be "the one". I will not elaborate any further on this dream, for the time being, because it touches on a totally different subject which is set in a much-anticipated future time.

word of advice: If you search far enough and wide enough, and if you dig hard enough and deep enough, you'll inevitably find Archaeological evidence that will substantiate the accounts written in The Bible.

And if you have not done so already, please read the blog which immediately precedes this. The one that I did on THE PYRAMID. As there is a supernatural tie-in between the two.

tidbits: I was so bored watching this movie that I dozed off every so often, the reason why I decided to see it once again so that I could take notes.

God gave us Ten Commandments. But we just had to do Him one better by coming up with hundreds--if not thousands--more! Imagine that. 

2nd tidbits: Before seeing the movie for a second time, I went to the Selecta Pilipino Buffet Restaurant on Springs Road, here in Vallejo, for my High Fat/High Protein/Low Carb Kenyan-style lunch. I spent a total of $17.36, which included the cost for three lottery tickets.

If you have noticed, there are a few different font styles used above. It happened because I cut and pasted from different websites which had each their own respective dedicated font style in use.


Merry Christmas
and
Happy Hanukkah
!!!!!



*

Saturday, December 6, 2014

THE PYRAMID, R ( 1 hr & 28 min )

-

I went to see this yesterday, Friday, December 5th, 2014, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 12:45 p.m. 1st-show matinee in auditorium 14, 3rd row ( counting from the front ), 5th column ( counting from the left ). The price of admission was $7.00. And I bought a $4.75 Powerade Mountain Berry Blast at the concessions counter to accompany my $1.00 upgrade-to-a-medium on a free small Buttered Popcorn ( free e-mail coupon movie-watcher reward ).

Quickie Review: A five-man archaeology team discovers a new three-sided pyramid which predates the famous Pyramids at Giza. Before leaving due to the civil unrest in Cairo, they all decide to explore the strange pyramid. But they are totally unprepared for the horror that lays in wait for them.

The audience was entertained by this movie; although, at times, not for the right reasons. I didn't like it that much. You may want to wait for this to come out as a rental.

Here are some things wrong in this movie: If there is something lurking in the dark that can easily smash and rip to pieces your remote-controlled explorer, simple common sense would override your need to go exploring into the deep, dark and unknown labyrinthian threat. A species which has no other food source and which resorts to cannibalism for survival will eventually become extinct, with its last member dying slowly of starvation. And in such a situation where food is of a high premium, there would not be any "leftovers" left laying around; everything edible would surely be all consumed. You'd die soon after your heart is ripped out. That monster creature had a long snout and big ears, suggesting that it could readily smell and hear its prey even in the absence of light. If such creatures were entombed for millennia, their sense of vision would have atrophied; and their eyes would have even become vestigial, once passed down from one generation to the next if reproduction was even possible. And as if all these things were not enough, the sound volume was so high that I had to plug my ear canals with my index fingers during certain scenes. This is a movie in which you cannot root for any of the five main characters--two hot babes notwithstanding--because they are all stupid! But you may feel sorry for the soldier and the little boy characters.

*******************************************

What I am now about to share with you is a supernatural experience which happened either in the later part of 1994 or the earlier part of 1995 ( I have the exact date written somewhere in one of my journals ), about 15 years before I became a 1st-Stage Yogi. It happened at a point in my life when I still had many out-of-body experiences.

In this particular out-of-body experience, I flew to a crocodile farm somewhere in Australia. Once there, I walked the grounds with a tour guide. He showed me the muddy water-filled rectangular holes dug into the ground which served as enclosures for crocodiles that were grouped together according to their size. We walked down the dirt path, looking at each enclosure. And we soon happened upon a big crocodile resting on the path. As we got close enough to it, the crocodile "sprayed" me. And my guide said, "Oh, that's just its way of letting the other crocodiles know that they should stay away from you."

As I looked on, I said to myself, I wonder what it would be like to get eaten alive by crocodiles. Bad mistake---Be careful of your thoughts whenever you're outside of your own body!

Instantly, I was transported to Ancient Egypt. I was a Hebrew slave who wanted to save his infant son from being eaten alive by crocodiles, as ordered by the pharaoh during Moses' infancy. I was in the Nile River, surrounded by hungry crocodiles. When a crocodile got too close to me, I reflexively put my left hand up in defense. And it bit my left arm clean right off at just about the same time when another crocodile surfaced on my right side, turned its head sideways and bit my head off! I didn't feel any pain nor did I feel any pressure from all sides as the crocodiles jostled with each other to have a piece of me. But I could still "sense" my body being violently moved around in the brown-colored water. And although I couldn't see anymore, I could still sense the daylight in the same way that anyone whose eyes were shut would.

Then, I was in total darkness. It was quiet and calm. I was in a reed boat, I soon found out. There was a ferryman behind me. It spoke to me in a deep, guttural voice. It said, "I will take you down into the Pit of Ignorance." It was then that I sensed who it was. It was Anubis, himself, whom I learned about in my World Religions class in college.

Soon, a gigantic black(?) wall appeared in front of me, illumined by Anubis's torchlight. The wall was covered in huge Egyptian hieroglyphs written in gold(?). I was meant to read it. But, of course, I didn't know how to decipher such an esoteric message. I don't know any of this, I said in protest.

Anubis then said, "Deeper down, I will take you."

I don't belong here, I said. I'm leaving. With that, I started floating upward slowly.

The next thing I knew, I found myself in a pastoral setting: The kitchen of an American farmhouse painted in white with blue trim. Along its four walls was arraigned a linear series of cartoon-style farm animals either in picture frames or drawn on tiles ( I cannot remember which offhand, not without my journal notes ).

It was at that moment that I realized that what we ( i.e. American archaeologists? ) think we know of Ancient Egypt is but a summarized "caricature" of what actually was Ancient Egypt! Our knowledge of such a subject matter is entrenched in a pit of ignorance.

*

Friday, December 5, 2014

DR. CABBIE, NR ( 1 hr & 41 min )


-

I went to see this on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014, in Richmond, CA, at the CENTURY HILLTOP 16, for the 10:05 p.m. show in auditorium 11, 6th row ( counting from the front ), 5th column ( counting from the left ). The price of admission was $10.50. I bought a medium Powerade Zero Grape for $4.75 at the concessions counter to accompany my free small Kettle Corn Popcorn ( free e-mail coupon movie-watcher reward ). And I paid $5.00 at the Carquinez Bridge Toll Booth on my way back to Vallejo, CA.

Quickie Review: A newly-graduated doctor in India goes to Canada to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a good doctor. But "The Land of Golden Opportunity" closes its doors on his ambition due to legalities. Undeterred, he practices medicine in the back of his taxicab. Until the law catches wind of his illicit activities, jails him, and threatens him with deportation.

The audience liked this movie. I liked this movie, too. Go see this movie if you're into Rom/Com movies. Although you may have to wait for this to come out as a rental because the last Big Screen show for this movie was yesterday, Thursday, December 4th.

Yes, I saw this movie in the same auditorium as I did in the earlier movie, CHAAR SAHIBZAADE.

Here is this one thing that seemed out-of-place in this movie: The Stripper Pole in the roommates' apartment bedroom.

*********************************************

I should note that I know some people that came to this country who were white-collar professionals ( i.e. doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. ) in the Philippines but were reduced to working as blue-collar workers here in America. So, don't be too quick to judge any ( legal ) immigrant.

*

CHAAR SAHIBZAADE in 3-D, PG ( 2 hr & 0 min )

-

I went to see this on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014, in Richmond, CA, at the CENTURY HILLTOP 16, for the 7:15 p.m. show in auditorium 11, 6th row ( counting from the front ), 5th column ( counting from the left ). The price of admission was $14.00. And I bought a medium Powerade Zero Orange for $4.75 at the concessions counter to accompany my free small Buttered Popcorn ( a free e-mail coupon movie-watcher reward ).

Quickie Review: Early in the history of Sikhism, its adherents were in danger of losing their religion to the combined forces of the Moguls and the Hindus. But the martyrdom of four royal princes was the rallying cry that stemmed the tide of oppression and guaranteed the Sikhs their well-earned place in History.

I went to see this animation movie because I had never seen an animated movie from the Indian subcontinent before. And because my World Religions class in college didn't go into detail on the early history of Sikhism. Lastly, my Yogi is, himself, a Sikh; and seeing this movie is a way for me to show respect for him.

The audience like this movie. I liked it, too. There were some Chinese and white people in the audience, I might add. Go see this movie if you're interested in the early history of Sikhism.

Here's what I didn't like about this movie: The animation quality is not as high as what one would expect to see from a Hollywood animation movie. I should note that the characters' eyes were often expressionless or ominous-looking. Such eyes were perfect on the face of the evil bad-guy but were out-of-place in the other characters' faces, needless to say.


*

Monday, November 17, 2014

BIG HERO 6, PG ( 1 hr & 48 min )

-

I went to see the advanced 3-D screening of this movie here in Vallejo, CA, on Thursday, November 6th, 2014, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 7:00 p.m. show in auditorium 2, 4th row ( counting from the front ), 6th column ( counting from the left ). The price of admission was $11.25. And I also bought a medium Buttered Popcorn ( an upgrade from a free small Popcorn on my Cine-Mark E-mail Reward Coupon ) and a medium Powerade Mountain Berry Blast both for $7.25 at the concessions counter.

Quickie Review: In the near-future San Fransokyo, California, a new evil rears its fearsome head. And it is up to robotics whiz Hiro, his robot Baymax, and their four nerdy friends to turn themselves into high-tech superheroes to save the city.

The audience liked this movie. I liked it, too. Be sure to stay 'til after the Ending Credits to see a Bonus/Cameo Scene that sheds a different light on the background of one of the superhero characters.

Here are a couple of things that didn't make sense to me: The healthcare provider was so morbidly obese, which was in stark, and in ironical, contradiction to its role. And I question the adequacy of the martial art download since it was definitely not enough of a fight skill set.

************************************

I'm sorry that I wasn't able to blog on this sooner. But I have been very busy doing other things.

*

Monday, October 13, 2014

BANG BANG NR ( 2 hrs & 30 [?] mins )

-

I went to see this today, Monday, October 13th, 2014, in Richmond, CA, at the CENTURY 16 HILLTOP, for the 3:55 p.m. show in auditorium 3, 5th row ( counting from the front ), 5th column ( counting from the left ). The price of admission was $10.25. And I bought a medium Buttered Popcorn and a medium Powerade Zero Strawberry for the special price of $5.75 ( this week's on-line Century Cine-Mark Movie Watcher Reward ) at the concessions counter. On the way back home, I paid a $5.00 toll fee at the Carquinez Bridge.

Quickie Review: An international master thief ( Hrithik Roshan ) steals a diamond, dodges bullets, eludes capture and falls in love with a beautiful girl ( Katrina Kaif ) who leads quite a mundane life.

There was a young Indian couple and an elderly white couple in the audience with me. They seemed to have been entertained by this movie.

But I dozed off and on throughout the movie--only because I worked all night long at my job and hadn't had enough sleep the day before nor after I came home from work. The movie was entertaining enough for me, I would say. I especially liked the winter scenes in the city of Shimla, state of Himachal Pradesh, Northern India.

***********************************************

I used to drive all the way to Emeryville, CA, to see a Bollywood movie at the UA EMERY BAY STADIUM 10 in Emeryville, CA. But the theatre lost its lease months ago to a real estate developer. It was shortly after this that CENTURY 16 HILLTOP started showing Bollywood movies to fill-in the niche ( I'd like to think that my Yogi prayer was answered--ahem! ). Well, at least, I only have to travel approximately half the distance now ( 14 miles/22.5 kilometres ) just to go see a Bollywood movie. So, I really can't complain even though I honestly miss the old UA EMERY BAY STADIUM 10.

Here's the marquee of the CENTURY 16 HILLTOP in Richmond, CA
-
They have a couple of new and fancy soda fountain machines at this particular theatre. I've never seen this kind of soda fountain at any theatre before!
-
This is the theatre's facade. 'Looks nice and fancy.
-
This is the McDonald's Restaurant just a block away from the theatre at 3350 Klose Way.
-

***********************************************

I asked the box office clerk if I missed the matinee when I was charged $10.25 for adult admission. He told me that today was a holiday. Then, I realized that today was Columbus Day. No wonder there was a long line of patrons at the box office and a whole lot of cars in the parking lot when I arrived there!

As I ate away at my popcorn, I found out that the bottom inch of the bag was filled with butter! The concessions counter attendant put too much butter in my popcorn!

This McDonald's Restaurant has got to have the slowest Wi-Fi connection that I've ever used!

*


Tuesday, October 7, 2014

GONE GIRL, R ( 2 hr & 25 min )

-

I went to see this yesterday, Monday, October 6th, 2014, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 7:00 p.m. show in auditorium 7, 5th row ( counting from the front ), 9th column ( counting from the left ). The price of admission was $10.25. And I bought a medium Buttered Popcorn ( $6.95 ) and a 20.0 oz bottle of Dasani Water ( $3.85 ) at the concessions counter.

Quickie Review:  When Nick Dunne's ( Ben Affleck ) wife, Amy ( Rosamund Pike ), goes missing on the couple's 5th wedding anniversary, everyone starts to suspect that Nick killed his wife because of all the incriminating circumstantial evidence that eventually turn up one by one.

The audience liked this Suspense/Thriller ( plus Comedy, for some twisted humor? ) movie. I liked it, too. But no one gave this movie a "Hands Clapper" ending. Go see this if you're into suspense thrillers. ( A little spoiler here: The audience and I are agreed on the less-than-satisfactory ending--must've been why it didn't get a "Hands Clapper" ending! )

This movie might get nominated for an Oscar in at least two categories!

And this movie gives new meaning to the saying, "Trapped in a ( really ) BAD marriage!" You have to see it to know what I'm talking about here.

I actually put off seeing this movie right away because, for its genre, it seemed too long for my taste. But, as it turned out, this movie had me glued to the edge of my seat as I tried to figure out what really happened.

Here are what I couldn't figure out about a particular character: Why didn't this particular character use disposable gift cards ( handy for certain purchases ) instead of carrying all of that money around? And, as another character pointed out in the movie, how did this particular character come into possession of the box cutter? And why didn't the cops link the present case with an earlier similar case involving the same character?

On a different note, I still find Rosamund Pike attractive!


*

Saturday, September 27, 2014

THE EQUALIZER, R ( 2 hr & 12 min )

-

I went to see this for its advanced screening on Thursday, September 25th, 2014, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 9:00 p.m. show in auditorium 11, 4th row ( counting from the front ), 8th  column ( counting from the left ). The price of admission was $10.25. And I bought a small bag of Buttered Popcorn and a 16.9 oz bottle of Dasani Water at the concessions counter.

Quickie Review:  If there's a crime in the neighborhood, who're you gonna call? Equalizer ( I'm paraphrasing the opening line of the "Ghostbusters" theme song here )!

The audience liked this. I liked it enough--but only during the action scenes. I mean, come on, this is supposed to be an Action Movie. But some scenes are just too painfully slow that I couldn't help but constantly check the time on my Casio Electro-Luminescence watch! I believe that they could have cut-out certain slow scenes and that still would not have negatively affected the movie, as a whole. Go see this movie. But don't be surprised if some of your fellow movie-watching patrons decide to while the slow scenes away by talking or texting on their damn cellphones!

_

Thursday, September 18, 2014

CHEF, R ( 1 hr & 55 min )

-

I went to see this yesterday, Wednesday, September 17th, 2014, in Martinez, CA, at the CONTRA COSTA STADIUM CINEMAS, for the last show at 10:00 p.m., in auditorium 4, 4th row ( counting from the front ), 3rd seat ( counting from the left ). The price of admission was $10.25. I bought a $3.50 small cup of Raspberry Tea and a $6.00 medium bag of Buttered Popcorn at the concessions counter. And I paid a $5.00 toll to cross the Benicia Bridge on my way back home.

Quickie Review: A talented chef, Carl Casper ( Jon Favreau ), compromises his creative skill and culinary talents by working for an inflexible restaurant owner, Mr. Riva ( Dustin Hoffman ). Then, a fateful confrontation with the food critic, Ramsey Michel ( Oliver Platt ), sends the passionate chef over the edge for all the world to see in viral social media twits and posts. He is forced to begin his culinary life anew as a humbled food truck chef. And it is not long before viral social media twits and posts draw attention to him once again. And another confrontation with the food critic becomes inevitable.

As with the last movie that I posted on, I was the only one in the auditorium for this particular show. I liked this Comedy/Road Trip movie, though. And I highly recommend it. It would be a good "family movie" if not for its R rating ( rated R for Language and Cornstarch--yes, you read that right! )

The addition of Scarlett Johansson, as Molly, and Robert Downey, Jr., as Marvin, in the cast of characters brought IRON MAN to mind. I just couldn't ignore it.

I had been wanting to see this movie for a long time now but I kept putting it off because of pressing matters and prior commitments. But when I realized that this week is the last week for this movie's run in my area, I decided to go see it no matter what. And I'm glad that I did because I enjoyed watching this movie.

Be sure to stay for the Bonus Scenes during the Ending Credits.

But shouldn't all of the line cooks have worn some kind of hair restraint?


Lights out, everyone! Elvis has finally left the building. Ha, ha, ha.
-

I took this photo shortly after midnight just before I got in my car. I was the last movie patron to leave the theatre.  Woo-hoo!


**************************************************


A man walked into a fancy restaurant one cold winter night and ordered Soup du Jour.

Presently, a waiter set his soup before him. And he couldn't help but notice right away that there was a long piece of dark hair floating in his soup. Angry and understandably repulsed by such a sight, he told the Maitre D to bring out the chef so that he could berate the chef in front of all the other dining patrons.

The angry patron didn't have long to wait as a beautiful, hot and sexy brunette with an ample cleavage and flowing tresses walked up to his table and said, "I'm the chef. What seems to be the problem, Sir?"

Stunned by such beauty, the patron lied, "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. I just wanted to compliment you on this delicious soup, the best that I've ever had!" And he proceeded to eat his soup, spoonful after spoonful.

"Why, thank you, Sir! I'm really glad that you like the soup. It's the house's specialty, you know." Assured that the patron was satisfied, she sashayed back into the kitchen.

"Thank you, sis. I owe you one," said the dirty, smelly and sweaty bearded cook who was busily making another batch of soup.


*