MI 4: Ghost Protocol – Watch it in Theatres while You Can!

The pic above captures the excitement of Mission Impossible 4 which my wife and I had the pleasure of watching at Markaz Al Bajha Cinema.  Non-stop action from beginning to end.  My favorite parts were the scenes filmed in Dubai with Cruise on Burj Khalifa (Burj being Arabic for “Tower”), the tallest building in the world.  Tom Cruise did all the scenes himself without the aid of a stunt double. Cool as cool gets!  Cruise may have pretty nutty religious beliefs, but his acting is rock solid and there’s never a dull moment in MI4.

If you haven’t seen it, here is the trailer (which basically gives the whole movie away):                                                                        

This pic captures one of the funny lines/moments in the movie.  Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is told by one of his team members, Benji, when explaining how to use the gloves to scale Burj Khalifa, “Now remember, blue is glue.” Ethan then asks, “And what is red?” “Dead“, Benji replies.

I’ll try not to give anything away but here’s the official synopsis of the film, “The IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization’s name.”

The car in the move is sweet, which has a few people saying that MI4 is nothing but the world’s most expensive car ad.  It’s a lot more than that though.

Read about some of the cool “trivia” on MI4 here at IMDb.

It’s currently playing at both Al Bajha Cinema at Markaz Al Bajha mall in Al Hail (7pm, 9pm & 11:55pm) (Tel:2454-0855) and at Al Shatti Cinema in Qurum (4:30pm, 9:15pm & 11:45pm) (Al Shatti Cinema film enquiry: 24831358)                                                                             

Looking Back at 2011

As a lover of lists and news bulletins, I always enjoy the year-end reviews that one can find in just about every newspaper, magazine or news program at the end of each year or the beginning of a new one.  Normally I would choose to write my own on New Years Eve or New Years Day but I’ve been “crazy-busy” with marking the past few days.  On top of that, I was stuck in a line-up at the Muscat Opera House for hours as they began selling group and package tickets at 9am on the 1st day of the year! (Worthy of a post on its own!)

The Week (a popular free weekly English paper read by thousands in Oman) did a great year-end review of 2011 on Dec. 28th. (Read their year-end review for Oman by clicking here.)

Hi weekly (another free weekly English publication in Oman)  also had a fabulous year end issue that was published Dec. 30th.  Of the two, I have to say that Hi weekly’s is the best as they include a number of fascinating lists such as: “Our 12 Best Local Stories“, “12 Thoughts for the Year Ahead“, “12 Reasons to Storm the Cinemas in 2012” for movie lovers (such as myself!) out there, “12 Things to Do and Have in 2012“, “11 Buzz Words of 2011” (great list!),  “Last Farewell” (small writeup about famous/infamous people who died in 2012), “2011 Top Images“, 10 “Around the World Events“, “The Year in Numbers“, a 2-page article on “The Year in Review” and finally, “Top Sports Images of 2011“.  Fabulous edition that I “hi”ly recommend (Get it! “Hi weekly” “highly recommend”…) if you haven’t already done so.  On a sidenote, I really wish Hi Weekly would consider going online as the Week has!

Every person probably has their own list of “the biggest events that shaped the year” depending on where you live, your worldview, interests, hobbies and beliefs.  Here is the list of moments or events that stood out in my mind that will forever define 2011 for me.

• Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary! 🙂 (Jan. 22nd)
• My son’s 1st birthday! (Feb. 26th)
• The Arab Spring Revolts (of course!).  I remember that they got out of control in Sohar but am thankful that the minor incidents in Oman were nothing of the scale seen in other Arab countries.
• Earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Feb. 28th
• Earthquake, tsunami and meltdown fear in Japan March 11th and onward
• Marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton (April 29th)
• Raid on Osama bin Laden’s “secret hideout” (that showed collusion or incompetence on Pakistan’s part), his execution and the bizarre “sea burial”
• IMF chief Dominique Strauss Kahn’s arrest (May 17th) and the he-said-she-said cycle as well as so many other sex scandals around the world
• South Sudan became the world’s newest nation in early July.
• Norway shooting by lone madman (July 22nd) leaves more than 90 dead.
• Somalia’s drought that put millions in need and at the same time Somalia continues to be the centre of pirating activities
• The best and longest vacation I ever remember having.
• The worship-like reports of Steve Jobs that came out after his death Oct. 5th as if he was some beacon of light or saint on the earth. (Unforgettable!)
• The opening of Royal Opera House Muscat that really put Muscat on the map in terms of music and arts!
• The capture and brutal killing of Gaddafi (Oct 20th)
• Wife and I visit our newly constructed home outside Manila for the 1st time!
• The riots and utter hooliganism in London in early August
• World population is said to have reached 7 billion in October.
• The 1st time ever attending a ballet at an Opera House
• US troops leave Iraq after an expensive (in money and lives) 8 years.
• Death of Kim Jong-Il on Dec. 19th (Unforgettable to me as someone who lived 9.5 years in South Korea.  This family dynasty is as evil as they get.  No one seems to care about the hundreds of thousands of political and religious (mostly Christian) prisoners in WWII-like concentration camps.  That nation is the world’s largest cult with people worshipping first the grandfather, then the son and now the grandson.)
• The threat to close down the Strait of Hormuz by Iran (like the situation in North Korea) is something to keep your eye on that has the possibility of effecting the world in 2012.
• The slaughter of the Syrian people by the Assad regime is in the thousands and continues into the New Year with no real action from the Arab League.  One of my greatest prayers for 2012 is the fall of the current Syrian regime.
• Typhoon Sendong kills over 1,000 on Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines. Just before Christmas. Heart-breaking.
• The 1st time ever attending an opera. (Carmen on Dec. 21st)
• The first time we had friends over for Christmas dinner and my wife and sister-in-law’s first time (successfully!) preparing turkey!

2011 has been quite a year!  To see the disasters, want and misery around the world makes me all the more thankful to God that we are still breathing, have shelter over our heads and I have a job that God uses to provide for us daily.  What are some other events that stood out to you in 2011?