The Odyssey and Odds and Ends of the Week

My wife and I watched The Odyssey, and I thought that it was pretty good. It was directed by Christoher Nolan, and there were some scenes that were truly haunting and horrifying. The cyclops, for example, was a terrifying creature along with some of the other beings that Odysseus’s crew had to battle against. The situations that they were put in whether it is being chased by armored giants or turned into pigs were dark, grim and disturbing. It is interesting but also somewhat comical that a majority of the island-hopping adventure entails Odysseus and his crew landing on an island, discovering something awful or dangerous, and running for their lives back to their ships. The acting and script could have used some work though, as the use of modern terminology and dialogue take away from the story. Robert Pattinson did the best acting playing the villain, Antinous, but otherwise, I could not say that anyone else did a particularly memorable acting performance. As far as the casting controversy was concerned, in my opinion, it was overblown. These characters who were seen as controversial casting choices simply did not have enough screen time to be much of a factor in the movie. However, they also did not really add to the movie either, so it does make one wonder why they were cast for these roles. Overall, I cannot really recommend the movie, but I cannot say that it was bad either.

The rest of the week was mainly dedicated to our Church’s 112th anniversary. My wife and I woke up early for vow prayers. The anniversary worship service itself was good and fulfilling. We also paid off one of our credit cards, which is always a relief. I’ve been in and out of credit card debt, and having it is not fun, but life happens, and it just accumulates. We are also continuing to watch The Story of Yanxi Palace on Amazon. This series of the Chinese inner court back when they had the Forbidden City has been dramatic, romantic, sad, tragic and spicy. There is so much backstabbing, and we have reached a point where many of the more neutral characters have gone down a negative and evil path.

Like with The Odyssey, we are just navigating through life. The seas can be very tough, and we can stray from our destination. Things can easily go wrong, but even Odysseus found his way home.