Feel bad. Have been indulging in too much excesses. Overeating. That exceedingly bloated feeling has finally left me after a span of 36 hours. And other things as well.
Kept waking up in the middle of the night recently. Scratching around non-stop. Or maybe sleeping on an exceedingly full stomach is extremely uncomfortable.
Sin. Temptation. These are things very real.
Sat down with cousins to chat. Usual stuff. V-day pressures. Girls. Army life. School.
Got a lecture from my dearest Uncle at reunion dinner about the harsh facts of life. Work for a while, gain some experience - but go into sales. He speaks from a long life of working experience. Being a sales person is the only way to security. Either that or be a top scientist. The only 2 ways to survive.
That's what my dad told me too.
And I told Uncle about being a journalist and being in media and what I thought I'd do. And he repeated himself again. My dear uncle. He hath all our interests at heart.
CONSTANTINE
Watched that Keanu movie yesterday with ol' Vanz. He was late rushing last minute as usual.
Its an unfortunately shallow movie for something of religious subject matter. The only little hint of in-depth character struggle is Constantine being unable to make sense of why he had a second chance to live, but that had little development.
"God has a purpose." For everyone, not just those who can see demons.
Throughout the movie I get a feeling of the whole sense of human helplessness in the scheme of things. The book of Job comes to mind, of how we are mere conduits of a wager between God and Satan.
Some things Constantine says are consistent, of how we are born fallen. For dramatisation purposes the demons do actually cross over from hell, which is why there is a need for exorcism, holy water, relics, psychics and all that stuff.
Something very dangerously misleading in the movie is that concept of balance, as suggested by the black guy in charge of the Satanic bar. He claims to be neutral and merely maintaining the 'balance'.
As if God didn't own everything in the universe.
This is a concept that is something like 'ying' and 'yang' inaccurately and dangerously weaved into our metaphysical understanding of the universe according to the doctrines of Christianity.
There is constant battle on earth no doubt, but unlike the Constantine story plot which is bounded in time and allows for a possibility for evil to triumph the battle in reality is already won, and not by ourselves.
Oh yes, and I'm sure most people got the salvation by faith and not through works part figured out quite early, with Constantine demanding that he had bought himself back to heaven with the demons he has sent back to hell.
I am still trying to figure out what Gabriel was supposed to mean in the show, and she's either comic relief or a satirical poke at the formal religious establishment's authority.
The movie could have done better with deeper insights into Constantine's struggle but hey, fighting demons with relics makes for more popular appeal.
An overall superficially and inwardly inaccurate portrayal of what Christianity is about for the most part, with little in depth exploration of issues and hardly any questions or thoughts provoked.
On the whole, typical Hollywood mass-produced fodder.
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