The Last Templar

Did anyone else watch The Last Templar on NBC? It was shown as a four-hour miniseries on Sunday and Monday nights. I'd read the book by Raymond Khoury when it came out a couple of years ago, since I'm a total Templar freak, and I remembered enjoying it, but I'd forgotten most of the details, so a movie version sounded good to me.

What I did remember was the exciting opening scene in which four men, dressed like Knights Templar, ride through the streets of New York to an art museum where priceless treasures from the Vatican are on display. The men ride their horses up the museum steps, behead a police officer then commit Grand Theft Artifacts. The opening scene was surely written with a movie in mind, esp. since Khoury was a screenwriter before he became a novelist, and the movie opener didn't disappoint.

What I didn't remember was Tess, the female protagonist played by Mira Sorvino, being so annoying. I really didn't remember the book Tess grabbing a crozier from the museum exhibit, jumping on a police horse in her cocktail dress and 4-inch stillettos and chasing the robbers into Central Park. I re-read the opening of the book and nope, that didn't happen. Excuse my snark, but it's like the screenwriters thought the character wasn't interesting enough as written so they turned her into a cross between Carrie Bradshaw and Indiana Jones. I shouldn't be surprised since Hollywood often dumbs down female characters. I don't think the problem was with Mira Sorvino's performance, she just didn't have much to work with. Neither did Scott Foley as a bland FBI agent, and I know he can do action; I watch him on The Unit all the time.

The plot wasn't much changed and the story is fairly interesting, and if you hadn't read the book you might have enjoyed it. Anyone else have an opinion?

Linda

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today is the beginning of the Chinese new year. The holiday, known as the Spring Festival, begins on the first day of the first lunar month and ends on the 15th day, called Lantern Festival. This is a major holiday for the Chinese and is also celebrated in places with large ethnic Chinese populations like California. It's also celebrated in other Asian nations that have been influenced by China, like Vietnam where the holiday is known as Tet (yes, as in Tet Offensive).

Chinese New Year is celebrated with dragon dances and fireworks.

Red is the color associated with the holiday because of the belief that red chases away evil spirits and bad fortune.

In Chinese astrology, 2009 is the Year of the Ox and it is a Yin Earth year. Since the ox is described as calm and steady, dare we hope for a less volatile year than the last one which was a Year of the Rat? I do hope so.

My friend Teresa tells me that on Chinese New Year's eve you are supposed to eat fish so you'll float into the new year on a sea of prosperity. On New Year's Day you're supposed to wear new clothes so you can start the year with a clean slate. I like these ideas, just wish I'd had a chance to plan ahead a little more. Actually, Teresa had told me some of this before the end of 2008 so I had clam chowder on New Year's Eve to ensure prosperity in 2009. Hope it worked.

Linda

Wikipedia has lots of information on the holiday and on Chinese astrology. The photos are from my trip to Portland's Chinese Garden last March. (Note: link to Teresa's blog added at 10:40AM)

Astrology: Aquarius plus Mercury Retrograde

First, let me apologize to my Sagittarius and Capricorn friends for neglecting them these last two months. Since my back problems started in September, my blog posts have dwindled to about three per month. I'm in physical therapy now and slowly getting better, but I'm still not supposed to sit for more than twenty minutes at a time, which makes it a little hard to focus on much of anything. I'll try to do better in the blogging department, but with no guarantees.

January 20 saw the sun move into Aquarius as well as the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States: Barack Hussein Obama. An auspicious occasion for all, but not without its glitches. Even the president can't avoid the consequences of Mercury Retrograde as we saw when the oath was taken late (after 12 Noon) and the words were garbled. Liz Rose wrote a good post about this at Huffington Post entitled Even Obama Must Contend With Mercury Retrograde. She concludes that this is a "a poor time to communicate and make initial decisions but a great time to review, reconsider and redo." Mercury goes direct on Feb. 8. Personally, I can't wait.

Now back to Aquarius, the eleventh sign of the Zodiac, and one of only two symbolized by a human: the water bearer. A masculine, fixed, air sign, Aquarius was originally thought to be ruled by Saturn (along with the sign Capricorn) but modern astrologers assign it to Uranus, and I think it's a good fit. The dual rulership means that Aquarians can be very forward thinking, even visionary (Uranus plus air sign), but may yet be rigid in their opinions (Saturn plus fixed sign). That doesn't mean we'll find balance here. Some Aquarians are reformers who change the status quo (Abraham Lincoln, for instance) while others, like Ronald Reagan, are unabashed conservatives. Uranus is given to extremes and the same can be true of Aquarius. The Saturn Uranus combination doesn't necessarily make for an easy partnership.

Aquarians are caught between innovation and practicality. How this works out in the individual is represented by other aspects in the chart. For instance, Mercury in Capricorn or strong aspects from Saturn can keep the Aquarian down to earth while Mercury in Pisces or strong aspects from Neptune can send him soaring to the stars. Linda Goodman describes the typical Aquarian as "half Albert Schweitzer, half Mickey Mouse".

In any case, being a fixed air sign means Aquarians can be quite fixed in their ideas and impatient with others who disagree or fail to follow their rapid thought processes. They can also be quite outspoken. My husband's favorite mantra is "I never apologize for speaking the truth". Of course, that's the truth as he sees it. :)

For more information on Aquarius, go to http://www.astrology.com/allaboutyou/sunsigns/aquarius.html

Is there an Aquarian in your life?

Linda