The greatest conspiracy of the past 2000 years is about to unravel…

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher.

Solving the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci…clues visible for all to see…and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion – an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

The Louvre curator has sacrificed his life to protect the Priory’s most sacred trust: the location of a vastly important religious relic, hidden for centuries.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears to work for Opus Dei – a clandestine, Vatican-sanctioned Catholic sect believed to have long plotted to seize the Priory’s secret.

Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory’s secret – and a stunning historical truth – will be lost forever.

Before anything else, a very Merry Christmas to one and all!

The Da Vinci Code reintroduces readers to Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist, who first appeared in Angels & Demons.

With the attention that the book has attracted over the years, it is more or less expected that a film version will come out soon enough.

After much speculation from fans and detractors alike, the movie adaptation of this novel will premier in May 2006.

The 28 December 2005-2 January 2006 Asian edition of Newsweek magazine contains a very nice feature article on the film as well as some gorgeous photographs of the cast and the sets.

I have taken the liberty of scanning in the images, as I want to share these with people who are waiting for the movie with bated breath (as I am).

The casting can be described as no less than powerhouse. I particularly loved how Silas was portrayed, at least in the stills.

Enjoy!

Sir Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing

Alfred Molina as Bishop Manuel Aringarosa

Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon and Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu, with the Mona Lisa‘s stand-in

Paul Bettany as Silas *fangirls*

Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu and Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon

Over the weekend, I finished reading Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella.

I was able to purchase a copy from PowerBooks while I was in Metro Manila last week.

Can You Keep A Secret? is Kinsella’s follow-up foray into the chick lit world sans Becky Bloomwood of the four-part Shopaholic series. The book’s heroine is marketing assistant Emma Corrigan, who has a few too many secrets to comfortably keep.

I must admit that I was disappointed with the book. It is not as humorous as the Shopaholic novels.

There are also too many parallels with the aforementioned series, such as:
1. A ditzy heroine who believes there is so much more in life awaiting her
2. A dark, brooding love interest who built his own company, is rich and is reputed to be a genius
3. A scandal through mass media that badly damages the heroine’s reputation and already flimsy pride
4. An irritating female co-worker occupying a nearby desk: Artemis for Emma and Clare for Becky
5. The heroine’s immediate supervisor whose name begins with the letter P: Paul for Emma and Philip for Becky
6. The heroine’s ability to quickly incur financial debts
7. The heroine is an only child
8. The presence of a sister figure who outshines the heroine: Kerry for Emma and Jessica for Becky

There are other similarities that I will probably recall later on, however, Can You Keep A Secret? is nonetheless fun enough on its own.

I am still awaiting the mass market paperback release of Kinsella’s new novel, The Undomestic Goddess. I have already seen the book and read its synopsis, but the edition was the large print paperback and it cost nearly a thousand pesos.

Here is the summary of Can You Keep A Secret? at Amazon.com:

When her plane en route from Glasgow to London experiences horrible turbulence, Emma Corrigan is convinced she is going to die.

She babbles all of her most intimate thoughts and secrets to the handsome American man sitting next to her. But the plane lands safely, and Emma bids him an awkward good-bye.

When she enters the office on Monday and learns the CEO of the company, Jack Harper, is in for a visit, Emma is horrified to learn Jack is actually the man in whom she confided on the flight. He knows everything, including that she hates her job and that she is not quite sure she loves her boyfriend.

But Jack does not fire her on the spot; instead, he quietly replaces the office coffeemaker she hates and gives her advice about her personal life, which she finds infuriating. So why can’t she stop thinking about him?

I have just finished watching the 1984 rebellious teen dance flick Footloose. I am still adrenaline-high from grooving along to 1980s hit songs such as Footloose and Holding Out For A Hero.

I found myself browsing for updates on one of next year’s most awaited movies, The Da Vinci Code. The film’s teaser-trailer is downloading as I write this.

The aforementioned international bestseller by Dan Brown has a prequel that, in my humble opinion, also deserves its own time on the silver screen: Angels & Demons.

The first Robert Langdon novel has just as much action and suspense as its successor. The setting is The Holy See itself, which vastly increases the intrigue factor.

Here are casting choices for my dream Angels & Demons movie:

Robert Langdon – Tom Hanks
He wins by default.

Vittoria Vetra – Angelina Jolie
The physicality and the outfit called for in her Tomb Raider character just about prepared her for this role.

Max Kohler – John Hurt
He has the depth and talent to give life to the tortured, genius Konig (“king”).

Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca – Benicio Del Toro
Charismatic and intelligent, with just the right mix of earthiness, sensitivity and underlying menace.

Cardinal Saverio Mortati – Paul Sorvino
This is a difficult one, but I will go for a seasoned actor with Italian roots.

Commander Olivetti – Robert De Niro
He may be a bit too short and a bit too old, but his earthy toughness would wonderfully complement Del Toro’s enigmatic chamberlain.

The Hassassin – Oded Fehr
Highly dangerous in more ways than one, with sex appeal to boot.

Gunther Glick – David Wenham
He has the range to go from bumbling (Carl in Van Helsing) tabloidish reporter to all-business (Faramir in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) Pulitzer aspirant.

Chinita Macri – Queen Latifah
I will give this role to my most adored African-American actress. She can very well pull off the no-nonsense, strong personality of the BBC camerawoman.

Finally, I will go for Alfonso Cuaron as director. His dark, deep vision suits the overall mood of Angels & Demons quite well.

The soundtrack will constitute mostly Gregorian chanting, in the likes of Gregorian: The Dark Side.

Here is the plot of Angels & Demons from the author’s official website:

When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol – seared into the chest of a murdered physicist – he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati…the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth.

The Illuminati has surfaced from the shadows to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy…the Catholic Church.

Langdon’s worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican’s holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces he has hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.

Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair…a secret location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.

An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war…

My parents and I are going to the town of Concepcion early tomorrow morning to visit my maternal grandparents.

They live in the barangay of Nino, which, all in all, is a good three hours away from Iloilo City. I am so looking forward to seeing Lolo and Lola again, after almost a year.

I am grateful that it rained tonight. This will make the roads far less dusty than usual, and that is a very good thing as we will be using an open-window jeepney for transport.

It is quite fun to travel long distances via jeepney because it really makes you appreciate and savor the entire concept of completing the journey from one place to the other.

Over the past 24 hours, I finished the second and third installments of Sophie Kinsella‘s Shopaholic series, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan and Shopaholic Ties the Knot.

These books were both fun romps, but I have to say that I still love Confessions of a Shopaholic best. It goes without saying that I plan to get the fourth book, Shopaholic and Sister, the next time I go to the mall.

Never mind that I go to the bookstore practically everyday, just to make sure that I get first dibs on Dan Brown‘s Digital Fortress the very moment it hits the shelves. It is left as the only Brown book I have yet to read.

In additio, have I mentioned that I have actually made a down payment on my reservation of the sixth Harry Potter book a week ago?

Here is a description of the second Shopaholic book from Amazon.com:

In this sequel to Kinsella’s bestselling Confessions of a Shopaholic, Becky Bloomwood, a personal finance “expert” with her own TV show, is more of a financial mess than ever: she can’t stop shopping, even though she can’t afford anything.

She’s even assigned her flatmate, Suze, to monitor her spending, but to no avail: Becky is full of cute rationalizations, like “Foreign money doesn’t count, so you can spend as much as you like,” and can’t stop herself from sneaking into posh boutiques.

Her work-obsessed boyfriend, Luke, runs a financial PR agency, and when he gets the green light to open an office in New York City, he brings Becky along.

Upon her arrival in the Big Apple, she euphorically discovers Barney’s, Saks, Sephora and sample sales but when wind of her shopping excesses gets back to the British press, she loses both her relationship and her TV job.