Contrary to popular beliefs, we Catholics aren’t a bunch of followers like the Pipe Piper story. Contrary to what the internet led you to believe, we are not going to starve ourselves to death to protest the movie. It is just another day, another movie.The last movie I watched in a cinema was The Fantastic Four. Before that, it was The Incredibles. So, yeah, all movies are dictated by the kids. I won’t spend  so much money, getting stressed out in cinemas popping pop-corn, drinking coke, worry if my toddler is suddenly going to scream and embarass me or my two older kids are going to kick each other and accidentally kick the head of the front row patron instead.
Movie review!!!! – this is a just a reasonably watchable, run-of-the-mill pseudo thriller-drama thingy that DRAGS and BORES for the first half, wakes up a little when McKellen comes into the show, and ends on a slightly higher note that comes two hours too late to make the movie memorable.
If anyone tries to tell me that like the book, it’s the best movie ever made, I’ll throw the book at him, and then make him eat EVERY SINGLE PAGE without any water to wash it down, AND stuff my ticket stub up his nostrils.
(stolen from here)
With the above movie review, I know I won’t have to wonder anymore. I shall just wait patiently for Unka Ho. Just like Passion of Christ, I only watched it one Good Friday, a year later.
(from here on, it is religious stuffs, caution : may bore you so you are excused to jump to the comment section, poof!)
So, if you are a Christian, and especially a Catholic Christian, are you going out of your way to see what’s the hype about? I think at this moment, it is good for us to examine our conscience. Let’s reflect silently and see how we can uphold the glory of God.  I would like to share a few things here:
Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. 15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 16Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 17Their teaching will spread like gangrene. (2Tim2)
In fact, both letters of St. Paul to Timothy have so much impact on me these days and I would like to urge every one of us to reflect on it. (sorry, I am still without my contact lenses and have difficulties finding all the chapters and verses right now LOL) Let me sum up what I feel is so true. St. Paul has urged the followers of Christ not to argue with each other because our arguments will only cause the unbelievers to lose faith. St. Paul also said that when it comes to the end times (end of the world), people will start leaning towards fables and myths and old wives tales.
(in the below quotes, it is St. Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, writing to Timothy, a young man. St, Paul was in prison and he was instructing Timothy on how to carry on. These are the letters written to Timothy. But it also applies to us Christians as we are also bear the responsibility of building the Kingdom.)
1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
6If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. (1Tim4)
Finally, let us realise that The Da Vinci Code does make an impact on us Christians, no matter how we try to brush it off.  People can choose to laugh at our Lord and us too. Are we going to join them in standing by the side, hiding the fact that it is our Lord that is being potrayed in this fiction of a movie? Or are we going to speak the truth? We are called to be peaceful, kind and loving. But then, that doesn’t mean that we should take everything lying down.
6For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.  8So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord,  (2Tim1)
So, are you going to the cinema? Who wants to sponsor me ticket? Preferably with a male social escort, puhleez. The ‘no-string-attached, paid by the hour kind’. One lover’s seat, please. LOL.
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7:02 am on May 18th, 2006 1
First in line… no.. I will check it out this weekend, probably a matinee. I like the book (more like audio cd) It was captivating and they have Tom Hank as Robert Langdon’s character. When listening to the CDs, I picture the character to be more like Harrison Ford(at first), but he is a little too old, then I thought maybe Dennis Quaid would fit the profile. Sophie Nuevu –>Emmanuelle Béart
But they have some other lady playing the role.
9:16 am on May 18th, 2006 2
i think i’ll go and buy the pirated copy today. just to see what all the hoo hah is about.
9:35 am on May 18th, 2006 3
I am going to watch the opening tonight with hubby!! He has been pestering me to go because unlike me, he has not read the book.lol
All I got to say to those peeps who are protesting is…. “have faith in your GOd. For Christ, enduring the mockery of the cross was the essence of his mission. And for a true Christian, enduring suffering patiently is the essence of obedience. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account†(Matthew 5:11). “
9:47 am on May 18th, 2006 4
I’m not a religious freak! Say what u want, I believe what I believe! U wanna date, Lilian? Ask my good friend, Bro. Paul of Xavier’s! I’m sure it will be very interesting!! Ha ha ha!
9:50 am on May 18th, 2006 5
I have been thinking about it…should go/not. I think I will go lar…just to see how influential it is. Will pray before watching.
10:15 am on May 18th, 2006 6
Hubby is taking a leave tomorrow and asked me to book tickets for it. Didn’t know that he is that eager, anyway for us some parts of the book get us keen to dig more, love the way the author put everything together…while the rest is purely entertainment.
10:43 am on May 18th, 2006 7
Well, I will treat the movie as a one of the greatest comedy of all time due to the fiction and lies it will potray to people.
Word of advise, Be strong in your faith and do not doubt for a second in your faith that has been founded on the blood of the martyrs and saints who died because of their belief that Christ Died and Rose from the Dead and the salvific role he played in his Divine Ministry on earth and you will all have a good laugh at this great comedy that Dan Brown has written.
Those who choose to believe in the movie and the book, I will only say, I weep for you and for your soul and will pray for you all who doubt in the Divinity of Christ and the Salvation History of the Catholic Church. Alas for those who are Catholic and choose to believe in this work of fiction, woe indeed is the blame to your parents and teachers for failing to educate you in the Faith of the Church….I think I write too much already..hahaha..I better continue in own blog…hahaha..Thanks Aunty…you gave me an idea on what to write about in my blog today
Will I watch it? Like I said above..most definitely..I would love a good comedy
11:19 am on May 18th, 2006 8
yep – am catholic and i’ll be watching it
at the end of the day, it’s only fictional entertainment!
11:23 am on May 18th, 2006 9
I do hope you will remember what you have written here laksa
11:35 am on May 18th, 2006 10
Very good post! Thanks for spreading the word that we are not like rats following the Pied Piper…a lot of ppl think we are. The book got me thru a very long flight fr London to KL – I couldn’t put it down! However, I do have friends who are quite frightened to read it (??!!)
To me, at the end of the day, if your faith is strong, there’s nothing you can read/watch/listen that will shake it. Like you said, the movie coming out is just another day -ho-hum.
11:44 am on May 18th, 2006 11
Omigawd! Another sermon, Archie-bishop? Wanna see comedy, go see “Life of Brian”. Just a movie/book lah! If so easily influenced, minds must be ultra-weak! Won’t last long anyway (Re. Parable of Sower). More dangerous are those people going round trying to talk u into joining their brand of Xtianity!
11:53 am on May 18th, 2006 12
HAHAHAHA… STP…what to do..some people have very weak mind like sponge and they also have very weak stand on their original opinion…so have to blast them kau kau on how ridiculous those people who believe that Da Vinci Code can actually be the truth until they have no choice but have to admit that its a work of fiction hehehehehe
1:07 pm on May 18th, 2006 13
Definitely! Bought tickets for Friday night show liao….4 seats from front..bwahahahaha
2:26 pm on May 18th, 2006 14
che-cheh _ i almost went out to see just now but my kids refused to tag along, so didn’t go cos dunwan to go alone. the plan was to get my hubby takes care of the toddler cos he took annual leave to watch Barcelona last nite.
QV – Yalor, the TV, papers, books, movies are all channelling all these confusing things about Jesus into our living room mah. We must think of the one lost sheep/coin hor?
STP – Wow, Parable of the Sower! *proceed to add fertiliser*
kittycat – yeah, I read that everywhere, people implying that we Catholics got our brain programme in church so it pissed me off.
QV – I shall be the witness.
Laksa – You are? Wow, that’s a revelation!
2:36 pm on May 18th, 2006 15
QV – Yeah, there is nothing sadder than Catholics themselves who openly, publicly bend fingers out. (Chinese saying – bend fingers out mean favouring others instead of the family, in this case, Christians) I like Jesus’s words of, “Either you are with me or against me” (well, something like that)
mama23beas – I don’t know if I ever got the chance to go off alone, minus toddler to watch it. He got sked shit during Fantastic 4 ‘cos the cars got damaged (he loves cars, he said car pain-pain) and now he freaked out about movies. Hope you enjoy it and tell me from you POV. I am sure it will be interesting to hear from all sectors and not just us Christians.
mythoughts – I think we should know what exactly it is so that we can defend the Word. I am reading Angels and Demons now btw.
STP – PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE arrange a date! He is my sons’ headmaster. The coolest man, evar. He taught them baking too. And was very emphatic to me when I raised some issues about teenagers’ self-esteem. Plus he seems so humourous and yet, so stern. Plus, he got the looks. *swoons* Especially when he is wearing his robe. Now, I need to go for confession. “Oh Lord, I have sinned, I have lustful thoughts for a Bro.” LOL, ignore me, ok?
helen – I know you are very firm on this ‘trust your God’ but we have to remember the weak in faith. Those are whom we ought to think of.
ahpek – Tell me the story ok? I want to hear what you have to say.
kc – LOL, have you seen how dumb Tom Hanks look with that middle parting and those hairs hanging so limp? It is a turn off from the character I read in the book.
2:40 pm on May 18th, 2006 16
You’ll be confused by the movie if you haven’t read the book.
3:30 pm on May 18th, 2006 17
Not really. It’s this book that jump started my Christianity journey. LOL
12:23 am on May 19th, 2006 18
My mum’s watched it (on Wed) and she said it wasn’t very nice.
12:51 am on May 19th, 2006 19
anastasia – Good la, let it potong stim a little bit or else people are going crazy
helen – My hubby is still struggling through. Hope it turns out like you!
ST – Yeah, even with the book, I had to search the internet for all the paintings to understand them.
9:40 am on May 19th, 2006 20
BPaul’s always talking about his baking class. Tot he said it’s for those not-so-acdemically inclined students? (Oops!) He very open-minded one for a brother! Always eavesdropped when I cracked dirty jokes to the others (Wouldn’t tell him cos he’s supposedly “holy man”) and laughed the loudest…and jotted them down in his notebook!!! Date with him?….Easy lah, Ah Lian (Oops! Somehow that doesn’t sound quite right!). U call him and say that this Sacred Heart teacher from Sibu who calls himself “suituapui” says hello (He’ll probably tell u my real name, but DON’T TELL WUCHING!)…and then u can date him! DISCLAIMER: I will not be responsible should he break his vow of chastity/celibacy.
9:53 am on May 19th, 2006 21
STP – LOL, first my two sons took the baking class as ko-korrikulum. BTW, my eldest baked a butter cake all by himself last weekend when I was in KL. Clever anot?
I really respect Bro. Paul’s mission of getting those not so academic inclined kids to do something useful lor. His kitchen very, very equip wan, bigger than the standard bakery.
As for him, my kids told me he always crack dirty jokes (must have learnt from you). And you know what? He get to see free show ‘cos many women (and men) too would stand naked at the City Bayview hotel full glass window during their assembly! So, I guess he must be very strong in faith. Hahaha.
10:30 am on May 19th, 2006 22
I agree with QV, and I know that my faith is strong and I’m treating this (and the book) as mere fiction. And yes, despite what our parish priest said [I didnt wasnt in mass for this sermon but I was told of it], I’m still gonna watch the movie! Mmmwuuuaahahahaha!!
11:17 am on May 19th, 2006 23
Ha ha ha! He no salary one. yunno! Think he also took vow of poverty! Only got a little allowance! Rather sad…for a principal! I’m sure ur invitation to a movie (YOU PAY, OF COURSE!) will be gladly accepted!
4:33 pm on May 19th, 2006 24
I watched it ! For me, it’s just a movie.
I haven’t finished reading the book, due to my laziness.
Maybe because I’m not Christian, that’s why, some parts of the story (in the movie) are very hard for me to “swallow”.
7:12 pm on May 19th, 2006 25
aiyo stp! i already know ur real name liao lor!