Absolute Franksy-ness: Impossible Missions (Dec 8-15)

I can’t be exactly sure, but things feel a lot more Christmasy this go around. It seems like I hear more music of a holiday variety and am seeing a lot more red and green themed decorations. It could be that I was so overwhelmed with life last year that I simply didn’t get a chance to step back and enjoy the time. Well, we’ve gotten pretty used to life here in Abu Dhabi which makes it a lot easier to savor those moments of Christmas cheer. The kids have been dutifully counting down with the help of their Star Wars advent calendar and Christmas tunes are on pretty heavy rotation on the iPod. Even the weather’s feeling a little cool which adds to the ambiance (and when I say cool, what I really mean is absolutely perfect).

Of course we had the ward Christmas party this week. Lucy did a bang-up job as the narrator and Miranda played Mary with a touching serenity. James was a cow of utmost bovinity. There were lots of carols, some great food and many good friends.

As part of the school break, the kids started a daily two week early morning regimen of Karate classes (thanks Grandpa and Grandma Frank). We’re not quite sure if this gift was primarily for the Kids or Julie, but everyone seems to be enjoying it. With all of the recent advancements, James has become quite determined to earn his yellow belt. He has been practicing lots and, if I do say so myself, his form is quite impressive.

This week, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol opened in the UAE. Being an action junkie and huge fan of the director, I, of course, dragged Julie to see it opening day. Julie made it quite clear to me that I couldn’t count it as an anniversary event though. It was a tremendous movie, one of the best shot and paced action movies that I’ve seen for some time, and the footage in Dubai was a lot of fun.

Hey, we've been there! Well not exactly there, but
we've definitely been in the general vicinity.

I remember watching the original Ghostbusters at the Oxford theatre in Halifax when it first opened, and there was a line said by the Rick Moranis character to the effect of, “I’ve got some fresh Nova Scotia lobster in the kitchen.” At the mention of Nova Scotia, the audience went wild. Our existence was being acknowledged by a Hollywood blockbuster and it felt great. But it was really a passing reference and the cheers soon subsided and we were able to enjoy the rest of the film without any difficulty.

Well, in Mission Impossible, Dubai gets more than a passing reference. From the moment Tom Cruise said the word “Dubai” until they left the UAE 40 minutes later, the crowd was cheering and clapping non-stop. I wondered how they could follow the movie with all of the noise, and then I realized I was one of the few members of the audience who was dependent on the soundtrack to get plot details. For almost everyone else, they had the Arabic subtitles to get them through. Now, once they left Dubai, I thought things might calm down a bit, and if they had gone to almost any country in the world, it might have happened, but the exigencies of the plot necessitated they go to Mumbai. Have I mentioned the how many people from India live here? Well, there were a lot of Indians in the audience too, so the cheering continued basically until the end credits. It was basically the most horrible movie watching experience of my life, but one I’m kinda glad I had.