Movie 1: The Omen (2006)

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I watched the original movie close to nine years ago. It scared the hell out of me. From what I remember, the old version is a lot better than the new one. The kid who played Damien in the old version was really good. The new version wins only when it comes to special effects.I didn’t really watch the movie from beginning to end, actually; I only watched parts of it. I wonder if it would have been more terrified if I watched it properly. I know The Omen used to be scary because I really believed that it would happen, that one day the Antichrist would rise and terrorize Christians. (Although I wasn’t well-versed in the Book of Revelation at all, I picked up bits here and there – enough to arrive at such conclusion. Certainly enough to avoid reading Revelation for the longest time.)

And now I no longer really believe in any of that. I no longer see the movie as a preview of what will eventually happen, and that’s why I’m not scared.

Book 3: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (1986)

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Isn’t there an anime by the exact same title? This was written in 1986, though, so I’ll give the author the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the anime is based on this story. I’ve never seen it, so I wouldn’t know.On the scale of 1 to 10, I’ll give this book a 5. There is a point to it, but it’s not interesting enough. It’s not that well-written either. The main characters are so-so, and it’s pretty obvious from the beginning that Sophie and Howl will eventually wind up together. I kind of blanked out toward the end cause I just wanted to get the book over with.

Book 2: Every Boy’s Got One by Meg Cabot (2005)

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This book reminds me as to why I gave up on Meg Cabot a long time ago. Jane Harris, the main character, is annoying as hell. She’s in her thirties and she sounds like a fifteen-year-old. Is being a cartoonist a reason to sound like an idiot? Which full-grown woman has all that spare time to constantly write in her diary anyway? She keeps jabbering and jabbering until I feel like slapping her.

The sad thing is, her narrative is the best part of the book. Everything else is in the form of e-mails, notes, and pure randomness – which is so annoying I started to skip them after a while. Before I completely abandoned the book, that is.

I already have with me another book by Meg Cabot, though, so maybe – maybe - I’ll give her another chance. At least this one doesn’t seem to have an annoying format.

Book 1: The Gospel of Judas edited by Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst (2006)

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I already skimmed over this book when it first came out and made it to the news. It didn’t really strike me as especially blasphemous when I first read it. Even now, what I see is simply Judas’(s) side of the story. By “betraying” Jesus, he was doing him and all the Christians a favor. After all, Jesus died to give the world a second chance.

That was actually the view I already held long before I came across this gospel. I used to sympathize with Judas because he was essentially the scapegoat. Jesus’ death had been planned, predicted, expected, and such. If there was any specific human being to blame for the crucifixion, it was Adam. Or maybe Eve.