Wednesday 27 July 2011

Bye,Bye Amy Winehouse


A woman carrying a surname with the word "Wine" in it and whose major hit was a song saying "don't want to go to Rehab, no,no,no,no" couldn't end up in any other way as she did. I actually feel very sorry for her death, it's a pity that she could not overcome her addiction to drugs and alcohol and take avantage of her major unique talented career as a singer. Whether you are/were a fan of her or not, it is undeniable that there will not be another one like her. Only with 27 years of life ,she has won her place in the history of music with her 6 deserved music awards. I have to admit that i'm not a big fan of her but this does not mean that i cannot appreciate talent, her voice and style was unique and that's why i'm writing a few lines about her. I only hope that her death wakes some people up that may be suffering the same addiction that she had, her performances should be part of rehabilitation programs to assist other people and even be part of teenager education in high-schools.

I was actually seeing different performances of her in different times and i could not find a single one when she i could tell that she was sober or that she had not taken any drugs recently. So at one point I decided to stop watching her singing live in youtube and i moved to listening to her voice in the recorded songs in a cd and only then, i could really listen carefully to the actual lyrics of her songs to the end and enjoy her music. I was not able to enjoy her performances seeing her in that state, specially one of the last ones she did in Serbia where she could not even stand or sing, I felt even more sorry for her and her family , how come nobody stop that show and took her to a hospital? was it al about money and business? and what about the last "performance" in the i-tunes festival where she didn't even sing a word? Now he is on the number one of the charts, who is earning money with this?

Maybe Amy would not have been Amy being sober and with a regular haircut and wearing jeans, her addiction was part of her celebrity personality. One thing is true, as we say in Spanish " who plays with fires , ends up getting burned" & this is exactly what happened to Amy, you cannot play with drugs and live long and prosper.... , don't take me wrong, i'm not judging her, i'm no-one to judge, i'm just thinking loud about life and its consequences.

Who would say that 3 weeks ago when I was listening to the radio and they were talking about Amy saying that she was going to end up if she didn't get help that this was actually going to be the thing that happened. And who would say that on the news headlines on the same day would be the death of Amy Winehouse along with the death of 86 people in Norway killed by an evil psycho with a smiley face.

2 different tragedies, both unexpected and both of them were caused by 2 sources of evil: one : "drugs" and another one "an uncontrolled psycho mind". Life is full of coincidences and unexpected events.. so this is my final thought, good night all. All my respect to Amy Winehouse and family, big loss for the music industry. I leave you with one of my favorite songs " back to black":

http://youtu.be/w1evzhSast8

Horrible bosses (2011): Good movie to laugh out loud


Well actually the movie i went to see yesterday was "the Guard", I usually give films 20 minutes from the start to know whether i'll like them or not and if I dont like them then, i walk out and go to see another film. Yeah, you guess is right, this is what happened with this Irish movie"The Guard", i didn't feel engaged, too many local jokes i couldn't understand and not interested in the plot, at all. So I went to the other screen where "Horrible bosses" had just started, it was almost full but i managed to seat on the second row, first time i see a film so close, gee I could see even the hair nose of the actors! So let's get to the point, if you want to have a good time with a black comedy film similar to "Hang-over" (not so good but similar style), go to see this film. No wonder why this film is on the top box-office list of USA with 11.9 million $ earned so far, I guess many people can identify themselves with some characteristics of their own bosses with the ones from the movie (I say "some" because the bosses portrayed in the film have very exaggerated personalities).

I actually laughed out loud many times and believe me ,it's not easy to make me laugh after a hardworking day.

Many funny moments that I can think of now such as the pictures Jennifer Anniston showed actor Charlie Day,playing Dale, of their encounter in the doctor surgery lol or the scene of Dale with Nick (played by handsome Jason Bateman) and the cocaine or the one with Dale again and mean intolerable boss played by Kevin Spacey and the allergic attack LOL, LOL.I got what i wanted : To disconnect and have a good time with a film that i didn't have to think much. Very simple plot: 3 friends that have 3 nasty bosses played by: Collin Farrel, Kevin Spacey and sexual harraser boss Jennifer Anniston and they plan how to get rid of them.

The audience of the web page "rotten tomatoes" scores this film with 89 and critics with 69 ,i actually agree more with the critics and I'd give it a 69 or 70%, I didn't have high expectations and i knew what type of movie i was going to watch, gladly surprised by some of the performances like the ones with Charlie Day, he was my favorite and I didn't know him before this film. Short appearance of Jamie Foxx is also remarkable even the last scene of the movie LOL.



If you are not into this type of American movie with stupid jokes and an easy plot to follow , don't go but I'm happy I walked out of the other film and went to see this one! Next film on my list : The Beginners.

Sunday 10 July 2011

"Coppelia" classical ballet performed by the Birmingham Royal Ballet in Dublin

I can define this brilliant piece of comic ballet in some words: aesthetic, magical, melodious music in perfect synch with quick and delicate ballet moves from all dancers. This performance really touched us, we enjoyed all three acts of it and couldn't stop applauding like the rest of the audience at the end of it at the Docklands Theater. What a marvelous feeling to be able to enjoy ballet with no words, only music played by a live orchestra, dance and gestures surrounded by 3 different beautiful settings. I have to say that after having seeing the Russian ballet 2 years ago i thought that the Birmingham ballet could not do it any better. Well i was wrong, it was a totally different experience seeing Coppelia, for me it was the first time that i have seen comedy mixed with ballet, a comedy without words which i find even better and more enjoyable. All the bailarinas were so delicate, specially the main dancer ,her moves in the second act when she plays the doll Coppelia, she really looked like a doll!! and the sweet old inventor,Doctor Coppelius, even though he didn't dance, he was fab making all of us laugh, he was very excited when he saw the whole audience standing in ovation only when he was alone on the stage. I'd say that my favorite act would be the second one when all the bailarinas go into the inventor's house and they find the doll Coppelia, the setting was very well done, with attention to detail and all the dancers playing different dolls really seemed like real dolls!

Last but not least, once again i wondered what is the story with the male dancers "attributes", what do they all wear under the tights??!!! Sorry not a very cultural comment but i couldn't help mentioning it. So yeah one thing appart from music, ballet and feeling joy is seeing a group of males in tights jumping in the air!! They looked like birds!! So delicate and light!! Where are those men on the planet???
If you have the chance of seeing Coppelia around the world, don't miss it, you will have a smile on your face all the way!! and the music is beautifullllll!!!

Here you can see a small piece of my favorite act that i have found on you tube:

x-Men First Class (2011)


As my new year resolution was to write about all the movies i see in the cinema this year, whether i loved them or not ,here i am because honestly, i don't feel like writing about this one. I have to say that maybe i had too high expectations about this film and this could be the source of my problem with this film, it was an "o.k. , entertaining movie ,with very good effects but in my opinion, the plot was poor and i didn't get involved in the story. I had time to go to the toilet 3 times and I even fall asleep one small part! Too long! Some of the highlights for me were: Cute James Mcavoy, just seeing him acting was a pleasure for me.. and seeing Kevin Bacon playing the villain, gee he is old now (since Footloose a big difference!) but he is very good at this role,it suited him!!! I liked the fact that in the film German and even French were spoken, Kevin Bacon had a very good German accent! Some scenes i liked the scene of the German coin going into one of the villain's head, it was very well done! Another highlight for me was getting to know actor Michael Fassbender, he reminded me a lot of one of my favorite actors: Christian Bale. I know many of you will disagree with me, specially guys who love fights and effects, i actually like a lot the X-men series but i just think this film was not good enough.

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Swedish House Mafia - Save The World


I have seen this music video this morning before going to work and i liked it, I thought i would share it with you, wouldn't it be nice if a bunch of cute dogs like the ones in the video saved the world???!!! It's simple enough but i liked it, as i said i'm very versatile musically speaking!! Here is the proof!



Recommended group: The Coronas, pure Irish talent!


Those who know me know how versatile i am in relation to music, in general, i like almost all type of music and I can appreciate what is good (also what is bad lol), so I wanted to share with you my last discovery, the Irish group: The Coronas! I don't need to write much, only that they are a very talented pop-rock group, if you live in Ireland and have a chance to see them, don't miss it! They are great live, I can confirm it! Their debut was in 2007 and I have been lucky enough to see them at the aviva stadium with the Script last weekend. They are performing again in Ireland on the 22 of July in Marlay park, tickets are available in ticketmaster! So if you don't know them yet, you will from now on, just check this video (They played this song at the aviva Stadium and everybody was singing along, i felt embarrassed because i didn't even know the group!! gee shame on me!!):




Since December 2010 waiting to see the Script in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin! Finally!


I waited for so many months for this moment, being able to see one of my favorite groups, The Script, live in the impressive Aviva Stadium. The atmosphere was great, people of different styles and ages, all dancing and singing in the Aviva Arena. It's was an amazing feeling to see the whole stadium doing the "wave" before the script came to the stage. Very well organized, with security and staff everywhere, it was easy to get something to eat or drink. There were more than 50.000 people, I would say (Aviva stadium has capacity for 52.000 thousand), this is a great success for them ,taking into account that their debut album was launched only in 2008 and they playing with U2 as a support band last year, if i remember well. Now they are on tour around the world and they deserve their success! They sang beautifully for 2 hours ,you could tell that they were very excited and proud to be in their home country singing in front of such a receptive audience, people were singing along loudly, Andres and I tried to sing along but we didn't know all the lyrics lol so we had to pretend we were singing in our own language "English-pitinglish",you know the kind of "uoooo, lalalal washi wushu!! " We were supposed to be seated but everybody stood up to sing and dance so no chance to be seated there!! I'd say that my favorite moments were when they sang " the man who can't be moved" " break even","we cry","nothing","science and faith","if you even come back","before the worst" uhm all of them really!!! They are so good live!! I'm so happy i could be part of this!! What? do you know them yet??!!! have a look at the below video:




And the coronas, great band!!!


My only piece of criticism would be that they say that the show will start at 18.00 ,we were there at 17.00, first ones in the queue ,we came almost out of breath from the other concert, we went to on that day (Glee) and the show it didn't start until 18.35 and it was the first support band: The Coronas, amazing Irish band, by the way, i didn't know them and now i'm a fan,cute singer ,too lol well, my criticism is that after the coronas, they played some music and then when we thought that the script was coming another support band came! a famous one ,actually "Tinie Tempah" und uff ,i don't care if they are famous and all that, they sounded horribly bad, we didn't like them and they were playing for a while, then they stop and there was some music for a long time. So to sum up the script didn't come to the stage until 21.00 p.m.!!!!! I had to drink a coffee and a coke,eat chips and a hot-dog to be able to wait for them so long!! This is what fame does to people, you need to wait for ages and then they have not only one but 2 support bands! Anyway, the Script were very nice to the audience ,they even gave a guitar to one girl in the audience and a kiss on the lips!! GEEEE WHY I WASNT ON THE FIRST ROW THIS TIME!!

Sunday 3 July 2011

Glee on Tour in Dublin, O2 2nd July: Positive Energy and Happiness! thanx Glee!






Yeah in one word: Glee-tastic!! As a big fan of the American musical serie: "Glee", I have to admit that i felt very excited when I saw them all on stage for the first time live! They are exactly like on the serie: Excellent singers, dancers, energetic and cheerful! It's so weird when you see them, you feel like you have known them forever, you know how they look like, their names, their personalities, their singing and dancing styles.. I literally felt like a teenager! No wonder why this tv series have got so many awards, among those a Golden Globe Award. This is why i like going to music concerts of different styles, they all make you feel different things and you really manage to disconnect. Well Glee concert lasted 90 minutes and to me it went so fast..I could have been listening to them all day long! They mixed the singing with some part of the serie with glee teacher: Will and glee coach: Sue presenting some of the songs, specially because they are not on tour with them. In relation to the rest of the cast, all glee club was there but Quinn, played by actress Dianna Agron. They whole glee club started the concert singing the popular "Don't stop believing" ! wow! what a start! It was not allowed to tape any videos so i can't really show you a good part of the concert. Some of the highlights moments for me were: Britney singing "slave for you", she sings and looks much better than Britney! Yeah i hate her she is even prettier in person than on t.v., i couldn't find any faults and believe me i was looking for them all the time lol. Little Rachel sings beautifully , she is very tiny and compact but with a powerful voice ! Kurt played by Christopher Paul Cofer also has a very beautiful voice, he sings like a girl but it's powerful indeed! He also showed his dancing skills dancing "I'm a single lady" by Beyonce. He stole the show! He also said some funny lines, as for example when he proposed on stage to gorgeous looking Blane (played by Darren Chris) to join the glee club after going to the stage with a sack saying that he had Irish Leprechaun inside. Talking of Blane, the group that he leads in Glee"The warblers" also sang 3 songs in a very harmonious and melodic way, loved it! Another memorable song was when Rachel sang on her own "Firework" by Katy Perry. Tina also sang a song on her own "True Colors", it was fab! I also liked a lot when all the glee club came in the t-shirts with their faults written in them , like in one of the episodes and sang " born this way" by Lady Ga-Ga. They even threw some t-shirts at the audience but i was very far away to get any! So many moments to remember, I could be writing here for hours!!! No need to see that the O2 in Dublin was packed, there was not an empty seat and it was 14.00 p.m. !! There were people of all ages, isn't it great? Music bring people together!

Last but not least, my favorite character in Glee, Finn Hudson, looks as good as imagined him, he is so cute and friendly! And yes he can sing and he even played the drums when he sang "Jessie's Girl", we even have a photo together lol (I know,i know i'm too old for him but teacher Will was not around..!)

They ended up the show singing "Somebody to love" by Queen, what a great ending for a wonderful concert. We enjoyed ourselves a lot, looking forward to seeing them again on tour next year! If you haven't had a chance to see them and you are a fan of the series, don't miss it next time!

Do you want to feel with a very aesthetic movie?" Les jeunes amants" - The Young Lovers(2021)

  Year:  2021 Genre:  Romantic/Drama Critics point of view & My own:  Pages specialized in cinema reviews like IDMB give it a score of ...