An overview of my 2011 by Belén Delgado from ColombiA

Quick overview of my 2011, thanx to the 111 articles I have written in my blog this year that helps me to remember! Let´s start with : 42 movies seen in the cinema in 2011 which means an average of 3.5 movies per month. Being the film "Blue valentine" the first one we have seen and ending with "New years eve", curiously enough, I did not like neither the first movie nor the last one i have seen this year!. Among my favorite movies of the year: Black swan,The fighter,beautiful,the skin i live in,in time,source code and the king´s speech.

It has also been a musical year, with the attendance of 12 concerts; among our favorite ones: Lighthouse family, glee, The coronas,maroon 5 ,kylie minogue and George michael.

We have also attended 10 shows in Dublin going from theatre, musicals,ballet and comedy club. Starting 2011 with "the lido show" in paris and ending in style with The nutcracker ballet at the convention centre. Great way of beginning and ending the year.

One of my new year resolution in 2011 was to travel around the world and yeah, i fulfilled this one taking into account that I only have 22 days of holidays per year( Otherwise, i would have travelled more lol): We started the year in beautiful Paris, then we went on with the Carnival of Venice ,verona and vicenza, then in April to the Caribe: Aruba; in May I wore my new flamenco outfit in :Cordoba. Then we travelled to the UK to Manchester;then to Trim (in Ireland)following with :Poland (herbert's wedding)in October to the Cannary island of Fuerteventura (paradise!) and we are ending this year and welcoming 2011 in Colombia!. In a nutshell : 8 different countries, 9 different trips.

Some Highlights of the year for me: where is wally wolrd guiness record in dublin with my mum dressed as wally,too!! My best friend wedding Herbert in Poland ; It has been a year of photography with at least 5.400 photos taken, all started when I bought my frist dslr camera nikon 3100,attending three diff photography courses and meeting my photography teacher Dave Mccane,he has inspired me all the way through!

It has been a year of jumps which has also inspired me to create a new blog collecting my jumps http://goaheadjumpjump.wordpress.com/ , this year i have discovered the technique of levitation. Going to the carnival of venice with my good friend Matteo,Helena and andresillo. My sister's marilis visit with my niece and nephew to Dublin. My first trip to a race course in Ireland; the Trip to Aruba and ending the year in Colombia seeing Andresillo so happy makes me happy too,i feel very welcome here,thanx! Last highlight of the year for me would be the ebay summer party at the gibson hotel and the xmas ebay party at the Guiness storehouse.

Of course, I only want to remember the highlights of the year, all the lowlights will be erased from my memory (such as : being robbed for the first time in Poland or stress at work), I happen to have a very strong relationship that helps me through in my life and I do hope in 2012 I´ll be able to overcome all the obstacles life has ready for us! One has to take the positive side of everything and this is my motto for 2012 , too!

New Years Eve (2011) - just cheesy!Last movie i have seen

i have fullfilled my 2011 new Years resolution of writting about all the movies i was going to see in the cinema! Well, it looks that this one has been the last film i have Seen this Year, it has an adecuate name for the occassion lol "New Years Eve".To sum it up,it's a bunch of different stories,all protagonized by very famous American actors and actresses and taking place at new Years Eve. I was not engaged in the film and it was so cheesy..! I did not have so many expectations, when you see so many known actors at once,you it can't be any good!Even Bon Jovi plays a small role, too. Best of the movie,Ashton Kutcher ,he is so handsome that nothingelse matters lol. let's say ,it's an ok movie if you have a hangover,then you may like it lol

I hope you have enjoyed my humble movie reviews throughout tris Year!

Not just a simple movie, recommended: Take Shelter (2011)

Almost end of the year and i have to go on with my new year resolution for 2011 when I said that I would write about every movie I see, specially good ones like this one: "Take Shelter". It's a film that will make you feel different things: fear, thrill, sympathy, sadness.., all in one. I can't tell you much , otherwise i'll destroy the originality of it. Just in a nutshell, it's a film with no famous actors , no big budget, no special effects just the power of the protagonists' mind that takes over his life. It's about how being a bit different can be misunderstood by society and confused with madness. The only thing I can tell you is that every time it rained in the movie, it was linked to the protagonists' bad dreams. One of the highlights of the movie for me is the part when he was chased by black birds in tribute to Hitchcock Movie "birds" and, of course i loved the end. It's not a film for everyone, only for those who want to see something different. "Take shelter" has not passed unnoticed by critics and it has received several awards from non-conventional films festivals such as Sundance festival or Cannes. Of course, my congrats to Michael Shannon, playing the main role, Curtis, his eyes conveyed a lot of feelings and you really believed in every single feeling he had in the film. So get ready! Take shelter every time Curtis dreams! The problems is that it's not so obvious in the film when this happens, it's not clear sometimes when it's supposed to be reality or a dream and the question is: Are they really dreams or are they apocalyptic messages trying to tell Curtis something? You will find out once you have watched it til the end!

Recommended movie: 50/ 50 (2011)

If you want to laugh and cry, this is the movie to go! Rotten tomatoes crititcs and audience agree on this one giving it a 93%! This does not happen very often! Great cute actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt that you may have seen in other great films such us "500 days of summer" and "Inception", is the protagonist of this film inspired by a true story. What I like about this film is that the people from the movie are just common people : spontaneous, natural, you can really relate to any of them. A delicate subject is dealt with in the film, Joseph playing Adam, is diagnosed with cancer and it shows how this impacts his life, his friendship to his best friend, played by funny actor Seth Rogen, to his mum, played by a mature Angelica Houston, to his girlfriend, to other patients, to his ill dad and even to the doctors. I do not want to tell you much, just that it's a beautiful and touching story, for those who have had a relative with cancer will for sure feel identify with any of the protagonists. It's unbelievable how such a sad topic can also make you laugh! The highlight of the film for me is absolutely Joseph Gordon's role, he is so lovable, it reminded me a bit of "500 days of summer" , when I also loved his role! He just plays so well his role that you believe every single word or smile, tear he gesticulates! When I was watching this film I remembered how people who have not had any contact with cancer, can be so tactless about it and ask all the time " how are you?" , yes, this may seem normal and polite but when someone has 50% chances of living, the question he or she does not want to hear is "how are you?" every day, specially being under the harsh treatment of chemotherapy.

Just pure Irish talent : The Coronas (Olympia theatre, Dublin 5th of December)

Yesterday night we had the pleasure to see one of the most curent successful pop-rock Irish bands: " The Coronas". Its four members are from Dublin, they recorded their first EP in 2004 at the famous venue "Vodoo Lounge" but it would not be until 2007 with their debut LP " Heroes and Ghosts" that they will become well-known. And you will be wondering how come a Spaniard and a Colombian happen to know this group? Well, we are big fans of music in general and try to attend concerts as much as we can, one of those concerts was " The Script" concert last summer in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, another well known Irish band. The Coronas was one of the supporting bands of " The Script" and we listened to them there for the very first time and since them, specially my husband, we are big fans. Going back to last night concert, I can describe it in a few words: Passion, Talent, Positive Energy, Happiness and great atmosphere! There were 2 supporting bands : " The Car Lovers girls" and "The Kayun tree", first band started playing at around 19.00 pm and we got to the Olympia at around 20.00 so we only could listen to one of their songs, not my style ,not too much to comment on , I can't judge either since we only listened to one song! But about " The Kayun Tree" , I can see that we loved them, they are a band from Galway a mix of "Scissors sisters, Calvin Harris and The Example", very lively, musical and energetic! First time we have seen them but it won't be last! I'll dedicate one post to them soon.

After "the Kayun Tree", "The Coronas" came at around 21.30 and wow, what an energy from the very beginning! THe lead singer, Danny did not stop jumping with his guitar! He smiled all the way through and his happiness could be seen on his face when the whole audience (Theatre was packed, it was a sold-out nite) sang along some of the most famous songs such as " Heroes and Ghosts", " San Diego" "Someone elses's Hands" (this is actually my favorite one!), "Won't leave you alone". Danny can sing, play guitar and piano, all perfect!! no faults!! And his voice is so unique!!. He was explaining the meaning of the songs, when he composed them such as for example another beautiful song composed in a rainy day: " Different Ending" and then he started playing it in the piano. The Coronas mixed the new songs with the old ones so no-one was disappointed there :-)

More info about the Coronas here:

http://thecoronas.net/index.php

You can follow them on twitter and on facebook.

The concert went so fast, we didn't want it to end, it really made my day, a very different Monday evening for me, these little things are the ones worth living working for! The audience had a mixture of people from different ages! The Coronas appeal to everybody!

A couple of Anecdotes:

1.I'm lucky that my husband sings very well because he was singing so loud Corona's songs that I could only hear him lol being lucky again because he did not know all the lyrics for the new Corona's album released only the 25th of September " Closer to You".

2.Another anecdote when I was getting my jacket to leave , the security guys took one young drunken lad outside the Olympia because he apparently hit someone, I was luck I could go back and get out of the narrow corridor since they were coming my way and the young guy was not very calm..

So , what are you waiting for??/ You haven't listened to the Coronas yet?? give it a go!!! and if oyu can see them live once, go!! They are stil at the Olympia theater until this Saturday (6 gigs in total) and I think you may still be able to find tickets ,best ones are standing, of course!

Breaking Down (Part 1)- Twilight Saga (2011) - "Jacob: if I only could be a wolf for a day lol"

Well after you have watched the rest of the movies from the Twilight Saga, even if you read that the critics say that it's not worth the money, you have to go and see it, why? Because it's the moment all Twilight fans have been waiting for " Bella and Edward getting married! The rest doesn't matter and of course, also it's worth it to see gorgeous looking Jacob, yeah i know, i could be his mum but i can't deny the fact that he is hot! Well , these were my main motivations to see this movie, well this and to see how bella becomes a vampire.I know simple,huh? I didn't have high expectations and, in fact, i still have mixed feelings, some parts we laughed because none of them are good actors and it was a bit of a soap-opera (specially the wedding), other times i was suffering with Bella's pregancy. Yeah I did not know that most of the movie was going to be Bella being pregnant and looking like a jonkie being de-hydrated and with bruises because her fetus was killing her from inside (not very romantic, believe me..,after this fil you don't want to sleep with a vampire, even if it's Edward). I had nightmares yesterday night thinking that i had a little demon inside.., they could have done much more with the film.., it lacked action for me and more vampire spirit!! Too cheesy some times! I wanted blood, eye-tooth, some killing , some vampire power!!Again , I don't agree with rotten.tomatoes audience score of 72% for this film, it's excessive, I'd give it a 50% and only because I wanted to see them again! One highlight for me: The very end! Of course i'll see Breaking Down part 2!! Hopefully is a bit more promising! Sorry if i'm not much help here, so if you are a Twilight fan like myself, go and see it and judge for yourself, if you have not watched other Twilight films, don't bother and stay at home. By the way, the honey moon scene of Edward in the water in full Moon, he needs to eat a bit more or go more to the gym, he looked so skinny !!

Movie Recommended: "In Time" (2011)! Loved it!! Go and see it!

Why do i always have to have an mad man eating popcorn like a possessed kid, non-stop seating by me?! Arg anyway, lets write about the film. If you are interested in time travelling theme and futuristic films as I am, this is an interesting movie with a new twist! In this film people stop aging at 25 and they earn their living with time instead of money. A world, where rich people live longer or become even immortal and poor people die due to the lack of time. Andres and I loved the film, I do not understand why rotten tomatoes has give it only a 58%! Come on! I can understand that the female protagonist Amanda Seyfried is not an excellent actress (she didn't play her role ver well, it's the only negative comment i can make about it) but Justin Timberlake is damm good!He plays his character of Will Salas, poor guy living in the ghetto ,a type of XXIth century Robin Hood role stealing time from the rich to give it to the poor! I'm not going to tell you more but I loved the similarities they make in the movie between money and time e.g. time loans instead of money loans and time shares instead of shares. Instead of police there are "time-keepers", they make sure people do not steal time from others, the lead time-keeper is fabulous Irish actor: Cillian Murphy, he plays the "bad cop" role in an excellent way, it's so believable! At the end of the film you really feel like looking at your arm to check how long do you have left to live! I was engaged the whole movie! If you want to be entertained , go and see it! Don't miss it (hurry up,not sure how long will it be in the cinema)! Yeah, Justin Timberlake can't sing, we all know that, but he is very convincing as an actor! 10 points for me to him and to his abs! (nice body!) To me the best time travelling movie after "Back to the future". Ah! Don't bother watching the trailer is the kind of trailer where they tell you half of the movie..i hate that arg! A highlight for me : Love the "century" guy who comes at the beginning of the film, OMG he is good looking lol.

Tercer salto literario de Andres Hernández:“Todo lo que podríamos haber sido tú y yo si no fuéramos tu y yo”(Albert Espinosa)

“Todo lo que podríamos haber sido tú y yo si no fuéramos tu y yo”(este post lo ha escrito Andresillo)

La segunda obra de Albert Espinosa se convirtió en uno de los libros más vendidos en España en los últimos meses. Su libro relata la historia de Marcos, un hombre genial quien acaba de perder su madre y está a punto de tomar la decisión de su vida. Inyectarse un medicamento revolucionario para suprimir el sueño y así vivir las 24 horas del día sin necesidad de descanso. Cuando se encuentra a punto de inyectarse, ve a lo lejos a una mujer que le llama la atención y la persigue hasta llegar a un teatro. Cuando la pierde de vista recibe la llamada de un viejo amigo policía que le informa sobre la aparición de un extraterrestre. A Marcos le encomiendan que utilice su don para descifrar las razones por las cuales el extraterrestre se encuentra en la tierra, para entender sus intenciones y sus orígenes.

Marcos es conducido por un chófer peruano con una sonrisa agradable y dientes de oro hasta las oficinas de la policía. Allí se encuentra con un hermoso adolescente que no tiene el aspecto de extraterrestre pero que posee el mismo don que Marcos. El don consiste en detectar los momentos de felicidad plena y de maldad obscura en la vida de los desconocidos; muy utilizado para el descubrimiento de crímenes que investiga su viejo amigo policía.

La historia concluye con la teoría (para mí un poco vaga y carente de fundamento) de la reencarnación en seis diferentes mundos, siendo la tierra el segundo mundo. El extraterrestre viene del cuarto mundo y decide regresar al segundo para reencontrarse con su amada de 109 años en Peñaranda España.

Su amada muere antes del encuentro con el extraterrestre tras vivir tres meses en una prisión donde lo torturan para descubrir la verdad. Al final el extraño al descubrir que su mujer ha muerto, decide dejar de respirar para seguir sus pasos al tercer mundo. En recompensa por la ayuda prestada a su escape, el extraterrestre le da a Marcos y a la chica deseada la respuesta de su relación en vidas anteriores y con sorpresa descubren que ella es la hija.

Este es el origen del título “todo lo que podríamos haber sido tu y yo si no fuéramos tú y yo”. ¿Qué podrían haber sido y no fueron? Supongo que amantes… pero el final lo deja a valoración del lector.

Su segunda obra es un culebrón sin mucho fundamento. Te envuelve, te llena de expectativas, luego decepciona la teoría de la reencarnación pero te revitaliza con el final inesperado. La idea del medicamento para suprimir el sueño y sus consecuencias me gustó bastante. No sé si podría recomendar este libro. A mí personalmente me gustó. La historia es un poco freaky (yo soy algo freaky también).

Me gustó porque después de leer y entender su mundo amarillo, entendí el motor que lo impulsó a escribir su segunda obra. Si son amantes de la literatura al estilo culebrón fantástico, definitivamente la recomiendo.

A beautiful song for a beautiful morning: Adele - Set Fire to the Rain Lyrics

For those of you who did not know the marvelous soul voice of this young British singer (she is only 23!): Adele, here you are one of my favorite songs out of her superb album "21", music to seat back ,chill-out and sing along. I hope to be able to see her live once ! Adele come to Ireland!

Segundo Salto Literario: Mundo Amarillo de Albert Espinosa/post escrito por Andrés Hernández

“El Mundo Amarillo” de Albert Espinosa - Este post lo ha escrito Andresillo,le presto mi blog para que escriba sobre sus libros jeje/

El Mundo Amarillo es el primer libro publicado por Espinosa, un guionista, actor y ahora escritor catalán con una gran sensibilidad y una habilidad para simpatizar con aquellos que lo leen. Es un libro sencillo que no pretende hacer parte del género de “libros de autoayuda”… Estos libros que venden el secreto para lograr la felicidad, para retener el amor, para lograr la perfección o hacerse rico.

El Mundo Amarillo Empieza con una lista de “23 descubrimientos” donde cuenta un poco sus anécdotas y lo aprendió durante su niñez que se vio obstaculizada por el cáncer. La manera de relatar sus vivencias deja siempre enseñanzas muy positivas dejando atrás el estereotipo de libros descriptivos de enfermedades terminales donde se siente malestar y repulsión al leerlas. Cada uno de sus descubrimientos deja una moraleja de vida y nos prepara para afrontar la muerte, ya que sin más preámbulos nos indica que la muerte es parte de la vida y como tal se debe también aprender a aceptar.

Uno de sus mensajes que más me marcó fue el hecho de entender que “toda pérdida conlleva a una ganancia”. Perder a un amigo, a un ser querido, a un perro, a un familiar no es más que un proceso de vida y como tal se debe asumir. Él por ejemplo perdió su pierna a los quince años. Se la amputaron porque el cáncer lo estaba carcomiendo en esa zona del cuerpo. Para afrontarlo con dignidad le hizo una gran fiesta de despedida a su pierna. Invitó a sus amigos que habían tenido contacto con ella, como una chica con la que hizo piececillos bajo la mesa, un amigo a quien le hizo unos cuantos goles jugando al fútbol. Pocas horas antes de la operación y amputación realizó su último baile de despedida con una enfermera. Fue un momento que me cautivó durante la lectura.

El mundo amarillo es su mundo de sentimientos descrito como un estadio más avanzado a la amistad y el amor. Los pertenecientes al mundo amarillo son aquellas personas con las que tropezamos en nuestras vidas y nos marcan por uno u otro motivo. Estos seres especiales los compara con algunos de sus compañeros de cuarto en el hospital con los que compartía dolores, tristezas, felicidades e incluso la muerte. A todos estos seres la vida les había condicionado con una fecha de caducidad cercana así que durante su estancia en el hospital, el autor vio y vivió la muerte de casi todos sus compañeros de cuarto. Estas experiencias de vida son el origen de la ternura y pureza para escribir.

El libro no tiene mucho valor como literatura (es mi humilde forma de verlo), pero ¿quién quiere aburrirse con un libro complicado de leer lleno de metáforas existencialistas sin sentido para llegar a la conclusión de que todos al fin y al cabo moriremos? No hay que ponerle mayor misterio…

Esta obra de arte, que es la vida de Albert Espinosa nos deja un buen mensaje a aquellos quienes gozamos de buena salud y a aquellos que están a punto de enfrentarse a este momento final de la vida. Es un buen libro para entretenerse en la playa. No es recomendable leerlo en un avión si se tiene miedo a volar porque la conclusión del libro se perderá entre los nervios del despegue y el aterrizaje.

My Trip Recommendation: Fuerteventura

Why Fuerteventura? Simple: Good weather all year; Good food; accommodation for an affordable price if you choose the right part of the island and season; long, unexploited white sandy beaches; beautiful dunes,mountains,sea and dessert landscapes; pure and clean sea water; safe and peaceful; loads of sports : surf, trekking, biking etc ; beautiful combination of colors for photography and last but not least cheap car rental to go all over the island.

Well After my introduction I don't need to tell much more lol. A few tips:

Transportation around the island is not great and taking a taxi or tours can get out of budget so my first piece of advice would be:

1. Car rental. Have this booked online is much cheaper than arranging it at the airport and full insurance is also covered online. The cheapest company is one called: "PayLess Car". I have rented with them on a couple of more occasions and I have not had any issues. We rented one regular chevrolet small car for 100 euros a week with full coverage and it was o.k., you don't really need a jeep , the roads are in very good state.

2. If you want to enjoy and see most of the island by car , you should be there at least 4 days although if I were you I'd go at least for a week, once you are there you understand why. It's the perfect place to rest.

3. Where to stay? Uhm. It really depends on what you want and on your budget. To me the best part of the island infrastructure-wise in conjunction with kms of white sandy beaches is definitely the South of the island, a region called : Morro Jable. There you have the touristy part with cafeterias,& shops and only a couple of kms away you have unexploited beaches and mountains. Accommodation in Morro Jable will be more expensive than other parts of the island and it's around 40 mins drive from the airport, so you will need a car to get there.

If you are into wind sports and want to see the most beautiful beaches, the North part of the island is the place to be but remember , you have to like the wind, since it can get very windy in there. This area is called: Corralejo. To me it was beautiful, it had the most beautiful beaches and dune/ desert landscapes but to be honest I'd not stay on this part just because i found it a bit uncomfi to have sand on my eyes when lying on the beach! Anyway, you cannot leave the island without going to see this part, it's just superb!

If your budget is more limited and you don't mind being very close to the airport in amore touristy area where is actually a bit tough to find a true Spanish bar (it's all oriented for tourism) and want to have you own bungalow then you should stay in the centre of the island. This is actually where we stayed (booked via booking.com - 7 nights with breakfast,dinner and our own bungalow for 516 euros - but you had to pay extra for tv ,safe ,internet usage and air-conditioning usage), mainly based on our budget and that we were going to rent a car to travel around so being on the centre was easier to go one day to the south and another day yo the north of the island etc. I'm not going to recommend you where we stayed, do not get me wrong, it was clean and the facilities were good but if we go back i'd rather go to the south of the island,only due to the fact that i have already seen the whole island and i'd stayed only on the south resting and tere you have everything. The problem with the centre locations such as Puerto el Rosario or el Castillo (where we stayed) it's that they are very touristy and over there you can see and hear the planes from the beaches and your room and the beaches are the worse ones,at least for me but the families seemed happy since they have some facilities for kids. So always based your decision on your budget and if you rent a car , it's o.k. you can stay anywhere and travel around!

Places not to be missed (We saw all the below during our 8/day stay):

If you want to see windmills and beautiful little towns go to: Antigua and then to Betancuria (beautiful little town!) , La Oliva,el Cotillo, Tefia and Pajara.

Beaches: Corralejo (North) , El Paso (South) and all alrround Morro Jable.

Landscapes: Dunnes in the Natural park of Corralejo; Mirador Morro Velosa (beautiful!), Embalse de las Peñas; Morro de la Cruz; El cotillo with the beautiful Cliffs and also very nice fish restaurants, Llanos de la Concepcion. And much more!!!

To eat: Don't leave Fuerteventura without having : Papas con Mojo, typical cheese, tomates,ensalada de aguacate, ropa vieja , gambas & fritura de pescado & a coffee called "Barraquito" (uhm!!) and as a dessert: Flan and mus de gofio. We were very lucky and found very good places without having any recommendation here some tips: "Bodegon Don Carmelo" in Betancuria (uhm, try paella, papas con mojo,ensalada de tomate con sirope de Palmera, Barraquito & mousse de Gofio)! and in the little town of Morro Jable there are plenty of fish restaurants that you can try.

The People: We met a lot of friendly people, all spoke different languages so you should not have any issues travelling around the island. We were asking how they felt living there and all agreed that it was a safe, quiet island with a good quality of life.

To Drink: Dark Rum is typical drink on the island, don't leave without trying it!

Shopping: Perfumes (cheaper than in duty free shops! but don't buy them on the most touristy parts of the islands, go to Puerto del Rosario), creams and some electronic devices are cheaper on the island!

On Fuerteventura you have a wide abanico of sport activities and you can even ride a camel or a donkey!

Best memories I'm taking with me of this trip: Photos jumping and levitating surrounded by beautiful landscapes and no people interfering! Semi-nudists beaches and people dont really caring about what you do or wear on the beach! Mixture of colors and beautiful volcanic landscapes! Bike friendly island and criminality free! Easy roads to follow with our humble map, we only got lost once (this is one achievement for us lol). The Rumanian waitress when we asked here what the Canary dish "ropa vieja" was and she said: "it's food"! People talking in German and English to us in the area of Castillo and having difficulty to find a true Spanish tapas bar! and Last but not least, people seemed stress-free and happy to live on the island! Andres reading out loud to me the 5 books he read on the holidays.

You can see more photos on my flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/people/belendelgado/

Brilliant comedy at the Laughter Lounge Comedy Club (5th.Nov,Dublin)

My second time going to the Laughter Lounge and this time with the big responsibility that team had fun since I organized the team nite out! Uff, What a relief ,i'm sure they enjoyed themselves, specially with the jokes the comedian moderator of the whole show, Kevin Gildea, played about me, being one of his "first row victims". It was interesting when he asked me "well, what do you do?" and I said: "Support specialist", then he said something like "ah, ok this is one of those fancy job titles that nobody knows what you do.. (he said it in a much elaborated way and clever but i can't remember ahaha, embarrassment made me forget about it!). My whole team laughed and even clapped,specially my colleagues,not so sure about my manager lol. He also played numerous jokes about the 2 empty chairs by me. I told him we were all from eBay to try to inspire him to pick on any other from my colleagues but he didn't care lol, well he actually did on one of my colleagues that started shouting that the second row were also from eBay and then he said "yeah we all know , Belen said that already and it's clear but go on". You are warned if Kevin is on the night, be careful where you seat lol, he really learned my name by heart! I didn't mind his jokes but some people from the audience got a bit annoyed ..,well it was only a bunch of drunken women celebrating a birthday who were actually a bit loud so i'm glad he made them be quiet! In the and we all sang happy birthday and did the hush sing to them, did not talk anymore lol

There were 3 more comedian guests, one American guy who lives in Dublin: Jim Elliot; another comedian from U.k. John Moloney and my favorite ones, the Irish comedian sketch group: Foils, Arms and Hogs.

Out of the three, I'd say that the audience enjoyed more John Moloney (I didn't since i couldn't understand his accent and jokes.. but the audience loved him) and the Irish comedian group. The American comedian was o.k., I would say he made me laugh a couple of times but he was not very clever starting the show talking about orange fake tan that some Irish women wear lol, well the guys and the foreign audience laughed. He was o.k. anyway.

I laughed a lot with the moderator, Kevin Gildea, he was a bit mean sometimes but i like his humour lol one has to learn to laugh at oneself! He was fab in his skinny jeans, doing the catwalk on the stage. He tortured mainly the first rows, there was one of the engineers of the spire in the public, a big group of British males as a part of a stag part and then, me..,we were his main victims in-between each act, i did not even dare to go to the toilet, too risky lol. He also played some funny jokes about cats (he could even imitate cat expressions lol),recession in Ireland and banks, he even criticized the Bank of Ireland and I loved that part LOL .

But the biggest surprise of the nite for me was the Irish group: Foils, Arms and Hogs. I was actually crying out of joy throughout the 4 sketches they played. So fresh, original and funny! The 4 sketches were one about : Iphone applications; second one about flirting in a pub, third one about a sand castle soap-opera (Dad I'm out of sand! Lol) and the last one about people who work on a computer all day. Sometimes they did not even talk and only with their powerful facial expressions made us laugh. In between each act they played one Bryan Adam's love song and one of the comedians, Sean dedicated it to one of the girls of the audience, poor girl lol so embarrassing. I have became a fan of them now, I'm so glad, I like knowing pure talent people and i have not seen such good comedians for a long time, they remind me a bit of a Spanish sketch comedian group called "tricicle". I totally recommend you to go and see them when they have another show, they also do shows in other venues throughout Ireland and even in England.

It was a great night and most importantly it was a night to chill-out and to enjoy it with my work colleagues and this was achieved!

What? You haven't been there yet??!! what are you waiting for!! When you go just choose carefully the day and check the comedians in advanced because this is always a lottery and if oyu don't like the comedians, you will not like the show!

I leave you with some of the pics taken in the free photobooth inside the Laughter Lounge and a video of one of the sketches of the Irish group : Folis ,Arms and Hogs:

My humble review of George Michael concert with the symphonic orchestra in the O2 in Dublin (3 Nov.2011) by Belén Delgado

Seeing Michael live on stage was very important to me, I was only a kid when I heard of George Michael for the very first time, my sister Marta was a big fan of him. I grew up listening to his songs and watching his videos dancing along with my sisters. Another dream come true, I got tickets to see him live in Dublin the O2! The symphonic orchestra tour is where you can see the evolution of George Michael. He has really grown professionally as an artist and his style of music has evolved from pop to a more jazz-chill out type of music. From wearing jeans and t-shirts to wearing an elegant black suit. There was not a single free place left in the huge O2 arena in Dublin. At some point, I tried to start counting how many people there could be in there but I stopped shortly after since it was impossible to keep count! There were thousands! It was also a very mature audience, I´d say I felt really young in there lol  (I should go to this type of concerts more often!). Unfortunately, our seats were not the best, on the very left side, side A row 26 but it didn´t matter to us because George´s voice could fill the whole O2 Arena. There were no dancers, no special effects, no big changes of stage decoration or wardrobe, just the magnificent symphonic orchestra with more than 30 musicians, 4 back singers & an elegant George wearing his black glasses that never took off . George's experience  & talent with a more than 30 years of a career in music, made all of us want more and the 2 hours and a half that the concert lasted flew by. There was one big screen at the back where they played beautiful images going with the melody and sometimes they zoomed George while he was singing. By the way, he looks great ,probably thanks to Botox but he is also in good shape ! He even made some dance moves that reminded me of the young George in his 80'es video "Faith". The concert was divided in 2 parts with a 15 min interval in the middle. In the first part he played mostly his newest songs such as "Cowboys and angels", "You have been loved" ,"Kissing a fool"(he said this was one of his favorite songs) etc and in the second part the audience got really excited when he sang a mix of some of his most famous 80'es songs starting with Wham's song: "I´m your man "and followed by "I want your sex"; "Amazing"; etc but to me one of the moments i´ll never forget was when he sang: "Freedom". The whole audience, including us, were moving our hands in the air and sang along! I really felt free there!! George was so nice to the public, even a woman from the audience threw a letter at him on stage and he read it out loud. It was to congratulate one of her friends who had her birthday. As a result, George made the whole audience sing along happy birthday and he sang along, too. Just Imagine for a second!! George Michael singing happy birthday to you! Another beautiful moment was when he sang "Love is a losing game" in tribute to Amy Winehouse. Photos of her were being displayed in the background while he was singing. We were getting close to the end of the concert but the audience cheered & cheered asking for more! We didn´t want it to come to an end . George came back to the stage twice and he even sang a short gospel song! He´s just a genius! He can sing anything!

Unfortunately I had a crazy O2 employee stopping us from taking good photos or even videos but there are plenty of videos on you tube , here you are the moment when he paid tribute to Amy, this time in Prague but it was the same in Dublin:


Here you are the other highlight of the night, the 80ies mix part:



I could write more and more about it but the conclusion would be the same: George Michael has a naturally & talented voice. If you ever have the chance to see him live, believe me , it´s worth spending every penny. Yes, it is not cheap but it is one of those moments that you will cherish for life.

George I hope you sing and sing for many years to come, you have even inspired my husband now to keep on learning playing violin with your songs. Thanks for a beautiful and unforgettable night.

Contagion (2011) - uff not worth it seeing it..

This movie was not on my list but at that time when we went to the cinema ,it was the only one starting at that time and with such a good cast of actors: Kate Winselt, MAtt Damon, Jude LAw ,Gwneth Paltrow,MArion Cottillard and Laurence Fishbourne, you may be fooled thinking it can actually be good. Rotten Tomatoes audience scored it with a 64%, I would score it with a 45%. ONe of the promotional lines of the movie is " do not talk to anyone, do not touch anyone" ... just as an introduction. Well, How can I put it, one more time North Americans save the world from infectation and of course the ones responsible for the virus spread is not them, never.., they are the savers bt not the spreaders. I´m a bit disappointed with Matt Damon, he used to be such a young ,fresh and different actor, to me he is not convincing anymore and gee he lost all his appeal for me. Out of all the actors,I owuld say that Kate Winselt was the one that really played a very good role and Jude Law did not play bad his role of a contemporary prophet. I didn´t enjoy this film at all,besides every time anyone cough in the cinema, you get paranoid you may get the virus lol so this is the only thing I got out of it. Do not spend your time going to see this one, it´s a movie that you can see if you are at home and have nothing better to do on a Sunday at 21.00 pm, luckily you fall asleep before it ends lol The only thing I liked was the last sequence of the end of it where they explain the origin of the virus. Another predictable American movie.

Primer Salto Literario por Andrés Hernández : "Dublinesca" De Enrique Vila-Matas

Este fue el primer salto a la literatura que di durante mis vacaciones en las Islas Canarias. Era el momento perfecto para empezar a leer un regalo que me hizo mi padre hace algún tiempo junto con otras cosillas que no vienen al caso.

Volviendo al primer salto literario, este libro maravilloso me dejó realmente conmocionado por la manera como relata la historia más que la historia en sí misma. Se trata de un viejo editor llamado Samuel Riba que se encuentra en el final de su vida y de su carrera. Sin dinero, olvidado por el mundo de los escritores, editores y artistas decide convertirse en un “hikikomori” (aquellos que sufren de un aislamiento social agudo tras los ordenadores, internet y video juegos online)… En un anacoreta, amargado, gruñón y malhumorado viejo solitario que tras haber dejado el alcohol y los encuentros sociales con el mundo del arte. La bebida la deja por razones de salud y no por su propio gusto.
Su amada y paciente mujer Celia es su piedra angular que lo mantiene vivo y bajo estrictas condiciones para evitar su recaída al alcoholismo. En el fondo ella siente mucha tristeza por él y por su manera de vivir tan desgraciada e inundada de autocompasión.

Un viaje a Lyon para dar una conferencia a la que nunca apareció porque se sintió mal atendido al no haber nadie a su espera en el aeropuerto lo hizo encerrarse en un cuarto de hotel. Allí en medio de su soledad se dedica por un momento a escribir una teoría literaria que luego el mismo destruye porque siempre ha odiado los pretensiosos que la escriben. A su regreso de aquel fatídico viaje donde da vida y por último asesina a su teoría literaria visita a sus padres, los cuales le interrogan sobre lo que ha acaecido durante su estancia en Lyon. Con rabia decide no contar lo que sucede pero se le ocurre inventarse un viaje a Dublín para dar un salto literario al mundo anglosajón y dejar a un lado las tendencias literarias francesas que empieza a repudiar por saturación.

Prepara el viaje y convence a sus amigos a acudir al día de “Bloomsday” haciéndolo acercarse de lleno a los literatos irlandeses como James Joyce y su obra Ulises, Beckett y Yates. En aquel viaje decide que debe encontrar aquel autor maravilloso que nunca pudo editar.

Después de este viaje regresa a Barcelona y decide que debe volver a Dublín en busca de este escritor genial que no logró conocer durante su carrera. Alquilan un viejo apartamento en Royal Canal, que fue uno de los sitios donde vivimos en Dublín mi mujer y yo. (Para hacerles una idea de este sitio, está lleno de pubs de mala muerte, las palomas caen del cielo electrocutadas cuando se posan en el cableado eléctrico y por supuesto no falta la población de mujeres en pijama que van de compras al supermercado Tesco).

En el cementerio de “Glasnevin” cercano una figura que le recuerda la imagen de Samuel Beckett cuando era joven, el cual descubre que era un chaval de la zona llamado Malachy Moore, a quien matan semanas después en circunstancias desconocidas. Por cuestiones del destino y de la vida, Ribas recae en el alcohol (muy fácilmente se caen en malos vicios en esta ciudad de perdición y pecado… No lo culpo) y termina acudiendo al entierro del chaval desconocido con aspecto de escritor después de que Celia decide abandonarlo para siempre. El funeral es entre otras el ritual para enterrar la era de Gutenberg, o sea la era de la imprenta la cual sería reemplazada por un libro online gigantesco llamado internet.
Tiene un final abierto y deja unas horas pensativo. Hace muchas referencias a autores, escritores y artistas que desconozco. Como les he dicho anteriormente, no soy un gran conocedor de la literatura, pero nunca es tarde para involucrarse un poco… Cuando el trabajo lo permite.
Frases que me inspiraron:

“Todo ser humano lleva dentro de sí una cierta cantidad de odio hacia sí mismo, es algo que tiene que ser transferido a otra persona, y a quien puedes transferirlo mejor es a la persona que amas”.

Esta frase es cruda y es muy real… Por eso el abuelo de Belén le decía a ella cuando era chica: “Quien bien te quiere te hará llorar”.

“No existen amistades sino momentos de amistad”.

Para terminar les comento: si son amantes de la literatura pura y dura, este libro les encantará. Como he dicho anteriormente, lo importante no es la historia sino la manera como la escribe que es bellísima. El personaje de Riba es para mi gusto detestable pero a la vez lo llegas a entender y a amar. Porque en el fondo, todos somos un poco como él.

Escrito y redactado por Andrés Hernández

Un salto a la Literatura Popular Española de Andrés Hernández

Esto de los blogs no es nada nuevo para mí. Es más, no sé cuántas veces he intentado empezar un blog pero luego lo olvido, pierdo la contraseña para actualizarlo y lo dejo como suelo dejar muchas cosas cuando pierdo el interés, siendo esta una de mis grandes debilidades. Siempre he sido caprichoso, lo sé… Y por eso me da por explorar mundos nuevos, situaciones nuevas, colores, matices, sentimientos de una manera tan intensa que me hace llegar al punto del repudio y rechazo. Cuando me colmo de tanto de lo mismo me aburro y lo dejo para explorar un poco de otra cosa que se me pasa por la cabeza. Raras veces persisto en algo y cuando lo hago es porque realmente me apasiona, como la obsesión de aprender a tocar el violín. Me encanta el hecho te tener un instrumento tan cerca el cual siento que es una extensión de mis extremidades, con las cuales saco notas musicales a veces melodiosas… A veces estridentes… Pero siempre con mucho sentimiento.

Para no hacer más larga esta introducción a la intromisión del blog de mi amada, todo empezó cuando le hice la propuesta indecente de usar su blog para escribir breves y esporádicos artículos sobre un pequeño salto a la literatura popular que di hace poco en Fuerteventura. Creo que desde que terminé la carrera y el máster en derecho internacional (el máster lo usé como excusa para aprender Alemán, lengua que me apasiona tanto como el violín) no leía tanto. Y es que lamentablemente el trabajo nos corta las alas para hacer volar la imaginación, para explorar ese mundo literario de tantas oportunidades, cuyo objetivo es trasladarnos a sitios maravillosos que sólo estos seres especiales llamados escritores nos pueden deleitar con el poder de la palabra. Como Belén siempre me dice, su objetivo del blog no es ni más ni menos para no olvidar los momentos felices que pasamos cuando algo nos impacta. Es para el futuro, para no olvidar lo que hemos visto, hecho, vivido, leído… Y todo se relaciona con una sola cosa: el arte en todas sus formas. Esta separata esporádica del blog de Belén no es más que para nosotros mismos y para el reencuentro futuro con nuestro pasado. Para dejar un legado y no olvidar que hemos vivido... Que nos hemos divertido muchísimo.

Escrito por Andrés Hernández G.

Very good Spanish movie: Mientras Duermes (2011)- Sleep Tight

Hace tiempo que tenia ganas de ir al cine a ver una película española ya que en Dublín no es tan fácil conseguir este simple propósito y es algo que echo de menos. Bueno, tuvimos la suerte de encontrar en nuestras vacaciones en Fuerteventura (por cierto, buen cine en la Caleta de Fuste)este excelente thriller títulado: "Mientras Duermes" , el que tan sólo fue estrenada el 14 de Octubre. Sabiendo que el protagonista es Luis Tosar,uno de los mejores actores españoles del momento, para mi, el que suele hacer de malo , malísimo, ya te da la pista de que no va a ser una película romática y de que él no va a ser el príncipe azul. No te voy a contar mucha para no estropear la emoción, sólo decirte que el argumento es sencillo, un tanto macabro pero no tan lejano de la realidad. Luis hace de portero de un edificio con llaves a todos los apartamentos, a simple vista parece un portero cualquiera pero no , es un portero que no es feliz y su obsesión en la vida es si él no es feliz, hacer infeliz a la gente que parece serlo. Te aseguro que la noche después de ver esta película,tanto Andrés como yo tuvimos pesadillas y ninguno de los dos nos atreviamos a mirar debajo de la cama jjajaja.Mis personajes favoritos de la película: el portero y la niña vecina, si ya sé me atraen los malos, suelen ser más interesantes jeje. Mi escena más miedosa, la de las cucarachas porque yo misma les tengo fobia aunque para otros puede ser una escena más pero es que yo veo una y salto por las paredes! Vamos que es una película que te marcará pero también la querrás olvidar para poder conciliar el sueño!! Y lo peor es que nosotros tenemos portero en nuestro edificio JAJAJA, yo por si acaso no le sonrio a partir de ahora para que no piense que soy feliz! Amantes del cine español, de una historia original, sin ciencia ficción , ni finales predecibles,no os perdáis esta película!Ah! no veáis el trailer que os cuenta media película!! Yo detesto los trailers que te cuentan casi todo, por eso no os lo he puesto, yo fui sin saber nada y así es más impactante!

Nutcracker ballet at the Convention Centre(October 2011)

We had the pleasure to see the ballet from Moscow performing this 2 acts ballet based on E.T.A. Hoffmann´s story "The nutcracker and the mouse king" at the Convention Centre in Dublin, 2 weeks ago. We were even luckier to be seated on the first row where we could hear even the noise of the dancer´s feet when dancing and moving around! Priceless! They did not have an expensive production, very simple one but just what it was needed, pure raw talent with no need of extra decorations. I have to say that this is my second favourite ballet so far after the Swan Lake both performed by Russian dancers, one thing is clear, Russians have a special gift to dance classic ballet. The audience of the nutcracker was full of families and the reason is simple, this ballet can also appeal the younger audience since it´s based on a kid´s story. It´s very appealing: The costumes ,colours and smilie faces of the dancers (by the way, with a majority of female dancers, even wearing wigs as men)who danced also mixed with a touch of comedy and of course to have as a setting the new and modern Convention Centre,is also a plus, soundwise. Even if you have never seen this ballet live,i´m sure that you have listened to some of the pieces belonging to the well-known composer: Tchaikovsky. All the dancers were very good but the ones that draw my attention specially were: The main dancer that you could see that was in his 40ies, playing the godfather, the one playing the harlequim and the main female dancer, what a delicacy and beauty in her moves (Andres couldn´t stop shouting "guapa, guapa" at the end of the performance. I´m not going to tell you anythingelse, I only want to recommend you to go and see it if you have the chance and if you want to introduce your kids to the world of ballet , this would be a great opportunity. For 2 hours you will be transported to another world and you will forget about everything and smile all the way! This is the main reason why i don´t mind spending money on culture!

IF you are still wondering what is this ballet about watch this video:

Melacanholia (2011) - Very Aesthetic, but not for everyone..

I still have mixed feelings about this non-conventional and unique film. One thing is undeniable, it´s different, it´s very aesthetic, it has a great photography and there is no other film with similar dialogues, scenes or plot. I´m still not sure about some parts of it, i think every person that sees this movie may have a different interpretation of it, which is actually a good thing because this means the film made you think after it ended and it´s the type of film that you will not forget so easily. Kirsten Dust plays an excellent role and her beauty and delicacy is a big part of it (love the scene when she imitate´s Ofelia in the water), she is the centre of the most beautiful photographic shots in the film. I´m a big fan of her since "Interview with the Vampire". You cannot leave aside the fact, that the director, Lars von Trier is Danish and he´s not a very conventional one, sometimes you feel like in a museum watching an exhibition of beautiful images and other times you get lost in the witty dialogues. So from all what i have written above, i can say that it was not a waste of time for me but i´m still not sure, i think i would have shorten the film, it was too long and at the end you just want the planet "Melancholia" to explode and kill them all to be able to go home lol (MAybe it as me because i was a bit sleepy and I had to concentrate to understand what was going on from the beginning to the end, not sure). I´d recommend you to go and judge for yourself, it´s not a film for everyone, either you will love it or you will hate it or even you may be like me that after 7 days of having watched this film, i´m still not sure whether i liked it or not. One thing I liked about the film: The beginning, very intriguing and beautiful and another thing i liked was the end. Not sure if i helped much with my humble review but this is the way this film made me feel.

The change-up (2011) - Do not waste your time..

Yeah another cinema day where i did not want to make any effort to understand a difficult story and i only wanted to be entertained. Well, I found the non-complicated story, the problem was that ,it was a mere copy of one of those 80ies movies where personalities were exchanged and one swapped the life of the other keeping the other´s body and then they try to get their lives back and I have seen already many of those. It had some funny moments (such as the scene with Jason B. and his twins in the kitchen) but only a few, the funniest ones came from Jason Bateman (he is by the way, one of my t.v. serie´s "platonic love" , when I was a teenager!) but i did not find it even entertain me, too simple, not a hint of originality. So no, do not waste your time if you wanted to go and see it, if you are one day at home and it´s that day on t.v. and you do not have anythingelse to do then have a go, otherwise it´s one of those American commercial forgettable movies that you can live without seeing it.

Crazy Stupid Love (2011): Good movie to have a laugh!

2 good reasons to see this movie: To see how funny Steve Carell is and to see Ryan Gosling´s Abs (he is just fab lol). The plot is about a married man,Carl (played by Steve) having a crisis in his marriage and having to start over again, in conjuction with 2 other love stories (3 different relationships, of 3 diff generations). Womanizer, Jacob (played by Ryan G.), pities Carl, when he sees him at a night club after his wife breaks up with him and he decides to help him to get a new style and to start dating women again and they actually become mates and at a later stage "almost family" lol (i ain´t telling no more..). Carl´s first attempt will be with Marisa Tomei LOL gee she is funny, too!! My fav moments from the movie are actually the ones in which she comes up LOL "she is an alcoholic " LOL ;the arshole scene at the school LOL or the scene with all fighting in the garden lol. Julianne Moore plays an excellent role as middle-aged woman having a crisis having an affair with Kevin Bacon,playing her work colleague ; the kid playing her son is very good too. So to sum up, if you have one of those days when you don´t want to think much and you only want to be entertained in the cinema with a very easy story to follow, this is the movie to watch, i can guarantee you that you will smile! We liked it! I´m a fan of Steve Carell, he always makes me laugh..so no surprises there!

Chucho Valdez and the Messengers concert (National Concert Hall, Dublin)

No doubt why the Cuban musician Chucho has won 4 grammy awards! To be honest I went to this concert because I got it as a birthday present, I did not have the pleasure to know this genious Cuban Jazz pianist before. So thank you very much to Allan,Francesco,Marta and Albert for this wonderful present! It was just what i needed after a long day at work! Not only Chucho but also the messengers (5 musicians) and his daughter made the night! What a positive energy full of improvisation, instruments with original melodies and rythms that i had not heard before, dance and clean singing. The whole audience was smiling and moving and at the end everybody stood up to dance and sing along, it was impossible to remain seated! What a joy! What an positive energetic Monday evening! Now I understand why this concert was on a Monday, to make a blue Monday special! Thank you Chucho ! I love what a good concert can make you feel!



See this video of what they are capable of doing and if you have the chance of seeing them on tour, don´t miss the opportunity! Even if you are not into Jazz,it´s something different, just art!! trust me!

Humble tirbute to a man I respect: Steve Jobs

It´s amazing how wikipedia gets updated so quickly, isn´t it? When your birth date and death date is in wikipedia, it´s a fact! Only a few people in history make a big impact in other´s people lives such as Steve Jobs did. To give you one example, I´m thinking of him right now that i´m forced to use my old vaio laptop which gets stucks every 10 minutes with this obsolete windows vista and this slow duo processor.Being this my second try of writting this post, first try : Computer froze and guess what? I lost the post! So here I´m again trying, I put the Mac sticker on the vaio to see if it makes it faster or more fashionable lol but it ain´t working arg! It´s simple, once you try Mac you never go back! Steve was the co-founder of Apple inc ,which curiously was created on the year I was born, is this a sign? How many people depend nowadays on iphones, ipads or Macs? I only want to thank Steven for making internet-addicts lives like me much easier! It´s easy to spend hours with an i-phone or mac which works so smoothly and which such a beautiful and light design! Unfortunately for you Steve, Cancer does not discriminate between rich and poor and even famous and rich people like you could not win the tough battle against pancreatic cancer. I wonder if you had time to enjoy life to the fullest, dying only at the age of 56 and working almost to the last minute, only resigning in August 2011! Sure whereever you are now, you will be inventing i-phone 6! Unbeliavable, huh? such original and trendy invetions having as an iconic advertisement campaign a bitten apple! What will be the symbology behind that? Uhm ..i´ll ask you one day if we meet!

Steve JObs 1955-2011 descanse en paz! R.i.p.

I leave you with this video of the beginning of Mac

´thriller Live , The Musical 2011- Yes we were there!(Docklands ,theatre dublin)

Many things have been said about Michael Jackson but one thing no-one can deny is that he was the biggest icon of pop and there is and there will not be anyone so talented like him. I have always admired him as an artist since my oldest sister played over and over again the vinilo record of "thriller" when i was a kid. Unfortunately I could not see Michael live in concert , so i took the chance to go and see the musical which gives tribute to Michael´s life " Thriller Live". We attended the 2.30 pm show because it was the one where i found the better seat. Paradoxically, the audience from the show was full of kids dressed like Michael Jackson. The show started with small Michael singing. There were 3 men and one female singer singing Michael´s songs and one talented little kid playing little Michael in the Jackson five. In general i have to say that i had very high expectations and although I had a very good time and I enjoyed specially the second part of the show, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of originality of the plot of the musical, they were reading stages of Michael´s life and then singing his songs. I could not avoid compare this musical to the one i saw a couple of years ago "we will rock you", where the originality of the plot ,the vocals of the singers and the effects blew us away. Well, the musical thriller was very simple, dancers were very good and out of the 5 singers that portraied Michael, only 1 was not good enough and none of them could dance and sing at the same time like Michael did, fair enough ,Michael is not easy to imitate and you can see this in this show where the dancers do the moves and the singers sing! There was one dancer who did very well the moonwalk! We were all so excited!! As I explained above i enjoyed more the second part ,maybe because i knew better Michael Jackson´s song that Jackson´s five ones. Some of the best moments where we could not sit down and stood up at the theater: Thriller; Moonwalk; Boogie; Billy Jean;beat it; we are the world and bad and form the Jackson five: a,b,c and i´ll be there! Last but not least, i´d like to mention that the female singer was the best imitating Michael´s voice, she was amazing and she looked fab. So no big effects, no big changes of stages and lights, just Michael´s music and dance! i felt Michael´s alive again and i´m sure he´ll always be alive in his songs. So if you are a Michael fan, go and see this musical!

Video promotion of the musical:

http://youtu.be/sHfZu0kRyGQ

¿Dónde está mi MAc matarile,rile,rile? Where is my MAC arg,arg,arg?

I Don´t need to add any comments..Below you can see what happened .. don´t miss my face it says it all..(worried about missing our flight, about getting a police report on time and about my other set of keys.) Yeah if your computer is stolen never leave without a police report, it´s the only proof you will have if criminals use it and your name is registered with the computer to commit any crime. We were lucky to have our Polish friends helping us ,translating all the time to them (you also need that report to claim something back from your travel insurance, never travel without one!), in addition thanx to Andrés charm we got the written report because the police explained to us that in Poland for this type of crime you are not entitled to take a written report with you (they keep records of it but you don´t take any evdence with you). There was also a nice witness (also in the photo) who stayed with us to testify, she was parking her car when she saw the 2 thieves breaking into the cars. As my husband always says " this was also part of the trip (todo hace parte del paseo!)". Lessons that we learned from this: Don´t take your computer anywhere (this is going to be tough for me..); even if you travel with people from the country your are visiting, don´t do what you would never do in your own country e.g. leave any bags in a car and last but not least keep back-up copies of anything you do on your computer and print at least a couple of pictures of your favourite trips!

Ah! In a situation like this remain calm, there is not much you can do and what you can actually do , needs to be done in a calm way!

¿Dónde está mi MAC matarile,rilerile ..? Where is my MAC arg,arg,arg?

I Don´t need to add any comments..Below you can see what happened .. don´t miss my face it says it all..(worried about missing our flight, about getting a police report on time and about my other set of keys.) Yeah if your computer is stolen never leave without a police report, it´s the only proof you will have if criminals use it and your name is registered with the computer to commit any crime. We were lucky to have our Polish friends helping us ,translating all the time to them (you also need that report to claim something back from your travel insurance, never travel without one!), in addition thanx to Andrés charm we got the written report because the police explained to us that in Poland for this type of crime you are not entitled to take a written report with you (they keep records of it but you don´t take any evdence with you). There was also a nice witness (also in the photo) who stayed with us to testify, she was parking her car when she saw the 2 thieves breaking into the cars. As my husband always says " this was also part of the trip (todo hace parte del paseo!)". Lessons that we learned from this: Don´t take your computer anywhere (this is going to be tough for me..); even if you travel with people from the country your are visiting, don´t do what you would never do in your own country e.g. leave any bags in a car and last but not least keep back-up copies of anything you do on your computer and print at least a couple of pictures of your favourite trips!

Friends with Benefits (2011) -

Uhm, you know that kind of movie that when you have seen the trailer you have seen it all? Yeah, the best moments were all in the trailer!! Predictable dialogues with lack of originality and wit and of course a cheesy ending! One guy in the audience even made as if he was vomiting loud as a protest of the cheesiness LOL and of course we laughed in agreement with him. O.k. I'm going to be honest with you, i didnt' expect it to be , the movie of my life, i actually wanted to see Justin Timberlake and Andres wanted to see Mila Kunis and yeah this is what you get,no more. Both of them semi-naked (even their arses are shown in the film)playing to be sex pals. They have good chemistry in camera and look great together. The cinema was full, full of couples like us, most of the guys probably forced to go but made the effort to see Mila. To sum up, this film is a promotion of both actors , of New York and Los Angeles, nothing else and of course when it ends you feel ugly and old (at least me lol). Let's say that it was an o.k. afternoon film that you can see while doing somethingelse without paying much attention. Sorry I'm not much help here but if i were you, i'd not pay a penny to see this film, just watch it on t.v. whenever is released!

September Volume: Humble Guide to help you find things to do apart from going to a pub in Dublin & surroundings !

As promised I was going to tell you in advanced what Dublin has to offer on a monthly basis! And guess what? September is full of cultural events! I'll start with the Dublin culture night on the 23rd of September - where all events are free! (only some venues you need to book in advanced, due to capacity). You can download the programme for free on their webpage and decide what is more of interest to you: music, art, literature, history. They also have a facebook page that you can follow you can get there from their webpage which is:

http://www.culturenight.ie/

If you are into musicals, there is the hit "Thriller live" musical at the Grandcanal Theatre from the 19th of September to the 24th and tickets are running fast! I have mine already! Of course you have to be a Michael Jackson fan to enjoy this musical since most of his hits will be sang there!

http://www.grandcanaltheatre.ie/listView.aspx?mid=2

For the ones who enjoy having some German Oktoberfest atmosphere at the Dublin Docklands area, there is a small representation of pure Bayern Beer tent with a genuine band from Bayern, sausages, Brezzel etc from the 22th of September to the 9th of October ! Entrance is free ,it can get very busy at weekends so i'd advise to go one day in the middle of the week after work.

More info here:

http://www.discoverireland.ie/Oktoberfest?gclid=CJnpgLiykqsCFQRJ3godvS9aBw

Again more beer events , this time Irish pure Guiness, with Guiness Arthur's day on the 22nd of September, good black beer mixed with good music! There will be some big gigs such as Stereophonics , Scissor Sisters or Calvin Harris, I'm actually now thinking whether i can go to one of them or not uhm.

More info here:

http://www.guinness.com/en-ie/arthursday/bandinfo.html

Wait ,wait there is more, 2 of my favourite festivals of the year also take place in September!

The first one " The fringe festival" full of alternative theater, performances and dance. More info to be found on their web page, tickets can be bought online, loads of events so take your time to go through the programme! It actually starts today (the 10th.09) and lasts until the 25.09.2011

http://www.fringefest.com/2011-programme?gclid=CLuzuse0kqsCFRJX4QodZ3m0wg

Last but not least the Ulster Bank theater festival where you can find more contemporay, classic and alternative theater plays,it starts just at the end of September on the 29th and lasts until the 16th of October

http://www.dublintheatrefestival.com/?gclid=CL_vkOS0kqsCFdRc4QodmVXCWA

If you are a theater lover like me you have to attend both of the festivals I have just mentioned above, there are plays from different price ranges and for every pocket! Don't forget my tips from the first post on how to organize your events, do some research and put them on your calendar to remember them!

Sure there are more events but i think you have enough of them on your list now, don't you think?? So who is still thinking that there is not much to do in Dublin??huh??