" A vivih que son doh diah"

Un poco de comedia: Si vas a Estados Unidos por favor tráeme ..by Andrés Hernández

2012-02-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

No he podido resistirme a publicar este email que Andresillo mandó a su primo cuando le dijo que iba a Estados Unidos que si querían algo, una lección para todos y para mi una pieza literaria contemporánea:

Primo, pues como se va para los USA, le encargo unas cositas. Luego me las manda a Dublin, tan querido mi primito!!!. La lista es:

Una nevera de las que hacen hielo en forma de la estatua de la libertad
Una olla pitadora que frite huevitos en forma de Obama. El man me cae bien.
Me trae porfis una camiseta que diga: Que chimba es colombia, pero que sea made in USA.
Una sudadera que tenga ventilador entre las huevitas para el verano de españa cuando visite a la suegrita de malaga. Me cae como pedrada en ojo tuerto.
Una chaqueta de cuero, pero que no sea made in china... Que sea americana de verdad... Nada de maquilas colombianas que me emberraco.
Una aspiradora de esas que sueltan vapor y se mueven solas por la casa, que incluyan el gato que se monte en la aspiradora pa sacarlos en el youtube
Ya sé que en Colombia hay tambien parrillas pa hacer arepas, pero las parrillas de estados unidos son mas vacanas... Y una chocolatera, que las de colombia son mas bien malas.
Si puede, me trae un tamalito de los que hace doña amparo, la que vive en el barrio latino de nueva york. La cucha es super famosa, pero no sé dónde vive. Eso la busca con el GPS que también le encargo.

Oiga chino, no se preocupe por el sobrepeso de la maleta, que se hace el loco en el aeropuerto y no pasa nada... Que no se lo cobran si dice que va pa Colombia. Si le da dificultad para cargar las maletas, se trae de paso un robot carga maletas que yo se lo pago aquí... Pero cuidao pues primito... Requerde que nada diga made in china... Que sea made in USA. Difícil de encontrar pero que los hay, los hay.

Un abrazo del primito y saludos a la familia -

Movie Recommendation: Chronicle (2012)

2012-02-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

What motivated me to watch this movie in the cinema was my love for superheroes and the good criticism I read about it online, such as for example 85% in rotten tomatoes given by critics and 82% given by the audience. Just by watching the trailer you can see that it's a different approach to the super hero topic, it's more a contemporary super hero that you can relate to. This film doesn't have very famous actors, not expensive effects and not a complicated plot but it has a story that will make you feel different things. I'm still not sure of the moral of the film, to be honest, but to me it was more like the danger to give a superhero power to a depressive teenager in an unfair world. To be honest, if I were him and I had a father that beat me up, like he had and was not accepted in high-school, I may have ended up like he did. I'm not going to give you a lot of details. Only that you will fly with the 3 protagonists, you will suffer, smile, you will want to have some superpowers yourself ( I want to be invisible!) and you will remember Dane Dehaan's eyes! It's a film for super heroe's lovers like me that want to see something different, you will feel entertained and you will be carried away by the way the camera takes different shots , specially at the beginning of the film. One discovery for me cute Alex Russell (Give me your number, man! ) and Dane Dehaan's interpretation of the role blew me away. Very happy to have chosen this film !

y Escribo sobre este show de danza de salsa:" Ensalsáte" ( January,2012, Manizales, Colombia)

2012-01-18T09:16:00.000-08:00

Only Spanish version about the salsa show, English speakers see the video, it says it all! Great show for salsa lovers!
Hace semanas que tengo pendiente escribir sobre este magnífico show de salsa "Ensalsáte,salsa y bailes del mundo" que tuve el placer de ver con Andresillo en el teatro Fundadores de Manizales,Colombia por 60.000 pesos cada uno. En plenas ferias de Manizales, Andresillo me dio el capricho de llevarme al teatro a ver desde la segunda fila de butacas la evolución de la música Salsa y de la fusión que tiene con otros estilos de música alrededor del mundo.

El show fue llevado a cabo por la fundación salsa viva que consta de cuatro escuelas de baile diferentes colombianas con un total de 70 bailarines: Salsa Viva, Pioneros del Ritmo,Tango Vivo y United CRew. Cada una especializada en un estilo distinto aunque todas dominan el baile de la salsa. Tengo que decir que el show de "Ensalsate", me recordó mucho a un mismo tipo de show que hay sobre la evolución de la música irlandesa llamado "River Dance" donde la idea es la misma, muestra las diferentes influencias de danzas de diferentes estilos y paises.

La alegria, colorido del vestuario y dinamismo y rapidez de las coreografias de baile harán que las dos horas que dura el show pasen volando y por supuesto, no podrás dejar de mover los pies desde tu asiento o a veces incluso cantar!

En el show podrás ver la combinación en el mismo escenario de la salsa con el tango, la rumba, e flamenco, cha-cha-chá, bugalú , tab, hip-hop y salsa caleña. Mi favorito fue definitivamente la fusión entre el tango y la salsa, con hip-hop (incluso salieron saltando a la vez con una comba) y la salsa caleña con ese movimiento de pies prodigioso y con una rapidez vertiginosa! Después de ver este show ya quiero ir a Cali!!!

Lo que menos me convenció fue el baile flamenco, el que conozco bien, aunque hicieron un gran esfuerzo era un poco forzado y exagerado con la figura del torero, le faltaba el poder andaluz!

Para amantes de la danza y de la salsa en particular , ver este show debe ser una obligación!! Que energia y positivismo que transmitían! No dejaron de sonreir y bailar en ningún momento! Por mi parte conocí la salsa caleña y el Bugalú que desconocía y enriquecí mi bagaje cultural viendo la fusión de los diferentes bailes del mundo con la salsa! Viva el ritmo latino! Y yo que pensaba que sabia bailar salsa... hasta que vi este show..

Mis propósitos para el 2012, este año que empieza escrito por Belén Delgado

2012-01-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

No quería dejar pasar más días sin escribir mis propósitos para el 2012 aunque todavía no los tenga muy claros jeje. Bueno escribiré de los que estoy segura:

Este año tenemos que ahorrar más , viajar menos e ir a menos eventos culturales de alto costo (pongámoslo así para poder ir a los que estén bien de precio jaja) - Este propósito va a ser muy difícil de conseguir pero bueno aquí lo dejo por escrito para cuando se me olvido lo releo!
Voy a hacer otro curso en el instituto de fotografía de Irlanda para mejorar mis fotos.
Voy a aprender a hacer fotos con poca luz (bien sea en un curso o leyendo).
Voy a hacer todo lo posible para estar al lado de mi marido , como siempre hago y hacerle muy feliz.
No me voy a estresar mucho en el trabajo.
Voy a ir más al gimnasio, que me vale un pastón y tengo que amortizarlo!
Si las cosas van mal, cogemos maleta y nos vamos de año sabático a Fuerteventura!
Voy a ir a Munich a ver a mis amigos que tanto quiero que siguen por allí.
Si encuentro a otro roedor en mi casa, en vez de pensar que es una rata y que se van a reproducir por montones, pienso que puede ser un hamster sirio que se le ha escapado al vecino y en vez de envenenarlo, pido rescate por él (historia real, un día os la cuento jaja).
Seguiré escribiendo sobre todas las películas que vea en el cine en mi blog.
Hacer un proyecto fotográfico , sino varios, tengo algo en mente pero todavía no está decidido.
Escribir más en español en mi blog.
Seguir saltando y llevar a cabo mi proyecto de hacer una página web (web designers que me quieran ayudar, please let me knoW ! Sería algo sencillo).
Seguir en contacto con la gente que quiero que está repartida por el mundo!
Ir pronto a Córdoba para ver a mi familia y amigos!

Yo creo que ya está bien de momento, no? ¿ Cuales son tus propósitos para este año ?

Primera película de este año:" El escritor de Telenovelas" (2011)

2012-01-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

No podía empezar el año sin ir al cine y esta vez en Manizales (Colombia) y como no una película colombiana "El escritor de telenovelas". Esta original comedia dirigida por el director bogotano Felipe Dotheé y que como no, transcurre en Bogotá, me ha sorprendido gratamente. El protagonista de la misma que hace el papel del escritor de telenovelas es Mijail Mulkay Bordon , es de origen cubano y encarna muy bien su personaje que se debate entre la realidad y la ficción de la telenovela que él mismo está escribiendo. Entre risas, en realidad la película es una crítica a los personajes de las telenovelas, a veces tan exagerados donde no falta la mala , malísima que hace la vida imposible a los protagonistas; la empleada de servicio que ni pincha ni corta y no puede opinar y nunca dejará de ser empleada de servicio; el galán sin sentimientos que hace de casanova; otra protagonista que hace de infeliz, otro de traicionero, otra de loba seductora, etc, etc. En esta película los personajes de la telenovela se revelan contra el escritor exigiéndoles unos papeles más humanos y no siempre enfocados a favorecer al público y teniendo también en cuentas sus propios sentimientos. Es una película entretenida y graciosa para todo aquel que conozca el mundo de las telenovelas latinoamericanas. No os cuento más para que vayáis a verla, está ahora mismo en los cines en Colombia! El resto tendrá que conseguirla por internet.

An overview of my 2011 by Belén Delgado from ColombiA

2011-12-31T12:17:00.000-08:00

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,biutiful,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 fullfiled 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 nieec 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 relantionship 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

2011-12-29T13:58:00.000-08:00

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)

2011-12-24T04:05:00.001-08:00

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)

2011-12-11T07:43:00.000-08:00

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)

2011-12-06T12:26:00.000-08:00

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"

2011-11-28T12:30:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-11-20T13:51:00.000-08:00

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)

2011-11-20T02:15:00.000-08:00

“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

2011-11-20T02:08:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

“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

2011-11-13T02:12:00.000-08:00

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)

2011-11-06T03:24:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-05T04:37:00.001-07:00

One of the most beautiful and cleanest voices I have heard on a stage live in my life. You cannot tell that George is in his late 40ies , no supporting band ,just him and the symphonic orchestra for 2 hours and a half. An experienced talented singer, with a more than 30 years of a career in music. There was not a place left in the huge O2 arena in Dublin, I started counting how many people could be in there and i stopped because at one point it was impossible to keep count! Thousands! A mature audience, I´d say I felt really young in there lol (I should go to this type of concerts more often). Our seats were not the best, to be honest 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 effects, no big expenses just the magnificent symphonic orchestra with more than 30 musicians, 4 back singers and elegant George in a black suit with his black glasses that never took off. There was one big screen at the back where they played beautiful images going with the melody and sometimes they put George singing, who is looking great probably thanx to Bottox but he is also in good shape and made some moves that reminded me of the young George in his 80ies video "faith" with his guitar. I was only a kid when i listened to George Michael for the very first time, my sister Marta was a big fan of him and I grew up listening to his songs and watching his videos. The symphonic orchestra tour is a tour where you can see the evolution of a great singer, he has really grown and has had a switched in his music from pop to a more jazz-chill out type of music. It was just a pleasure to listen to. The concert was divided in 2 parts with a 15 min break 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 favourite songs) etc and in the second part the audience got really excited when he sang a mix of some of his most famous 80ies songs starting with wham song: I´m your man; I want your sex; amazing; etc but for me one of the moments i´ll never forget and the most euphoric moment of the concert was when he sang: "Freedom" and the whole audience followed with our hands and singing the lyrics! I really felt free there!! George was so nice to us even a woman from the audience threw a letter to him on stage and he read it loud, It was to congratulate on of her friends who had her birthday, then he made the whole audience sing along happy birthday to her and he sang along. Imagine!! 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 while he sang. He was so nice, the audience cheered and cheered, we didn´t want it to end and he came back to stage twice, even sang a short gospel song! He´s just a genius!

I could write more and more but the conclusion would be the same: George Michael : The voice. If you have the chance to see him live, believe me , it´s worth spending every penny since it´s not cheap at all. Unfortunately I had a crazy Os 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 nite, the 80ies mix part:

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.

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

2011-11-05T02:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-31T14:28:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-10-30T09:24:00.001-07:00

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..

2011-10-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

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..

2011-10-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-10-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-10-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-10-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-09-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-09-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

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) -

2011-09-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

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 !

2011-09-10T02:36:00.000-07:00

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??

Good to have a laugh: The Inbetweeners (2011)

2011-09-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

British comedy movie based on the Channel 4 tv series of the same name created in 2008 " The Inbetweeners". I did not know the series and after seeing the film i really feel like watching it lol (you can see some chapters on youtube) Yeah, i admit, i like this type of high-school comedy like American Pie, so what? I'm very open-minded!. Although they are all British and I'm not usually into British humour, they really connect with the audience (It wasn't only us the ones laughing!), at least with the Irish audience. No wonder why the tv series got so many awards, among them a British Academy Television Award voted by the public in 2010. I'm not going to tell you the plot, just that it's about 4 nerdy friends that go to Creta for holidays and all their adventures trying to flirt and enjoy their time there. I didn't have high expectations and i knew it was only going to be entertaining but i actually got fond of the movie characters and i laughed more than expected! The best moments: When actor Blake Harrison ,playing Neil, starts dancing "papapapa Americano" at the disco and the rest follow LOL! Priceless! / When they see the apartments were they have to stay /When Simon breaks up with his girlfriend../ when Will ends up having a white pennis marked on his back (lol) and many more that i'm not going to tell you!! Once is clear the image they show from Creta is not very good, a very touristy place full of drunken youths.

If you want to have a look at the series web page is located here::

http://www.e4.com/inbetweeners/cast.html

And don't miss the trailer of the movie, yeah it looks very stupid because it's a stupid movie but entertaining! I specially found funny too they way they talk, since i'm not used to the posh British accent anymore lol

Definitely Recommended :Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

2011-09-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

I have been gladly surprised by this film! Being honest I only knew it was a film about chimpanzees doing a type of revolution in the XXIth century, well it had some of that but the story behind it is a bit more, it will touch your heart. I thought it was a remake of the 70'ies movie but i didn't see much of that either, which was also suprising! Not sure now who i liked it better either little scissors (the protagonist chimpanzee) or gorgeous looking James Franco who plays the role of a scientist doing research on chimpanzees to be able to cure Alzheimer. Both of them are so lovable and cute!! Actor John Lithgow plays Wills' father , my respects to him, he really shows the lows and downs of such a horrible degenerative disease such as Alzheimer. You really get into the chimpanzees way of thinking and behaving and in the end you just want them to win! I ain't telling you more details if you promise me that you are going to see it! If you watch it and you don't like it you can come and kick my arse, i allow you but i'm sure this will not happen! Just to give you an overview of what the critics think: IT was scored with a 7.9 on the internet movie data base web page and 88% (audience and 82% critics )on the rotten tomatoes web page, my personal score would be : 90%! Can't wait to see the second part!

I leave you with the trailer:

Recommended: "The skin i live in (La piel en la que habito)" by Almodovar

2011-08-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

What a joy! Watching an Almodovar movie one day after work, it has made my day! I'll start by saying : CLASS!!! Aesthetic, artistic, original, fresh, sensual, action, thriller,exaggerated Spanish culture, superb acting, beautiful soundtrack with a delicate touch, great photography. This time, I'm not even going to read what critics have written about this film because i fucking, loved it and I don't care!!

Every time I watch an Almodovar film , I like him more and more ,maybe because i know him better, I love his typical characters in his movies and themes like : A relationship between a mum and his son/daughter ; sex and nudity treated in a natural and aesthetic way and also in an abrupt way , when he wants. High heels, make-up, tits, arses , pussies, a gun, some blood, dramatic and complicated relationship, true Spanish swearing ,annoying secondary female and or male characters with short but funny dialogues, aesthetic scenes decorated in a very original way all combined with the perfect soundtrack!

A must in Almodovar films, actress: Marisa Paredes and a mature Antonio Banderas, who also started his career with Almodovar and beautiful actress Elena Anaya, make the perfect combination. Some short but memorable lines: "yoga you can do it everywhere, at home, at prison.."; "what dress do you like? the stripped one?no; then this one: no.. etc" and of course the most touching and impacting moment : " I'm vicente" (soy vicente..).

Best actress for me: Elena Anaya.

Best song: The fab orchestra at the wedding with the black singer.

Most artistic moments: When Elena who plays Vera, starts drawing in the wall and when she starts ripping off her dresses and it's all on the floor (it looked like a painting to me..).

Best moment of the film: The end and all the Spanish touches (breakfast of toast with oil: cutting a Spanish ham, cooking "croquetas"..).

Best line: "He just wanted to have a cunt" (excuse my language..i'm just quoting..) and "I'm Vicente " (Of course)

Recommended? Yeah if you really know and understand Almodovar's way of filming, if it's your first Almodovar experience , then I'm not sure, to me when it finished I was really excited and happy!

Romantic movie: One Day (2011) uhm, Recommended? Not sure

2011-08-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

Gee I still have mixed feelings after having seen this film today, i was not very convinced while i was watching it and i was kind of regretting not having gone to see the new Almodovar's movie uhm, but something kept me in there, i didn't want to leave maybe because i had high expectations and i wanted to like it. I have to agree with the critics that the days in the movie go too fast and you don't get into the story. After a long time of not very convincing acting and dialogues, the last 30 minutes of the film really got me engaged and this is what made me doubt, whether if i liked it or not. The plot is basically about a complicated love story of 2 "friends" that lasts for 20 years and shows how tough and unexpected life can be and basically you have to seize the moment (I agree with the Carpe Diem attitude, by the way, although it's not always possible). Anyway, I'm happy i haven't read the best seller book before watching the film because i'm sure the book is much more powerful. To me, the idea of the love story is beautiful and the settings: Edinburgh, London and Paris (3 cities , I personally love).

Just after the film ended, we talked about buying the book and read it together, so only after we finish the book , i'll judge again this film or maybe watch it again uhm. So I have just bought it online! I can't wait to start reading it!

One thing is for sure the male protagonist Jim Sturgess is so cute!!! Not very good acting skills but who cares, he is still so cute! The main actress playing Emma, Anne Hatheway didn't blow me away either, sorry.

So , in a nutshell, go and see this film and judge for yourself but only if you really wanted to see it like me but don't expect much, just seat back and wait for the last 30 minutes lol.

By the way, the kiss from the poster of the movie, you wait for it a long time, i think it's part of the last 30 mins lol I'm maybe too passionate and wanted kisses and hugs from the beginning!! Come on!!!!!

Tomorrow more, I think Almodovar's movie is the one on the list!!

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

2011-08-27T04:33:00.000-07:00

I have heard many times already from different people from different nationalities that there is not much to do in Dublin and after more than 6 years living here and going to different cultural events regularly, I think I'm going to start sharing with you my little researches before I decide where to go or what to do, you usually find out after I have done things, so I'm going to try to inspire those people that still think that there is not much to do here, which is totally WRONG.

First of all,not to set up wrong expectations, there are some free events but you usually need some cash for the events I'll be writing about, you need to invest money and time on culture, so spare some euros & hours every week and give it a go!

My first post, I'm going to start with GENERAL TIPS to have an active life full of events (not suitable for people with 5 kids or one kid/baby giving more work than 5..sorry..):

1. Be organized ,I have already started planning on the google calendar what is coming this September, yes, rule number one start using google calendar to remember events that are coming (if you have a gmail account, you have one)! I'm going to do the research for you, so you save that part of going through different web pages and reading newsletters that I'm subscribed to.

2. If you attend one event and you like it, usually they have a newsletter where you can subscribe to and if there are similar events, they will email you. It's a good idea to create an email account only to receive this cultural newsletters. To give you an example, as I'm a big fan of the theatre & musicals,I'm subscribed to the major theaters in Dublin: Gate Theater, Gaiety Theater & Docklands Theater (the most modern one and my fav,also close to my place lol), Olimpia Theater & Abbey Theater. Of course a newsletter you should all receive should be: The one from ticketmaster! Specially if you like going to big gigs from time to time. Upps I almost forgot about the National Concert Hall newsletter where they offer mainly classical music concert (not always though) for a very affordable price (sometimes starting from 10 euros)

3. Of course check your newsletters inbox at least once a week, otherwise it doesn't make sense if you check it one month after the events have taken place! Yeah, you need to dedicate some time to go to the right events, people who seat on their bums at home without checking any information, will not find an event unless they find it in front of their eyes.

4. There is a lot of information out there when you walk around the streets, be vigilant, check the walls, posters and ads, even if you pass by a theater, have a look at the coming events! Same in the cinema. So for those fo you who go by car everywhere, leave it at home from time to time and WALK AROUND!!!

5. What? You are not still a member of the cinemaworld unlimited card, what are you waiting for??!! hello??? Unlimited cinema visits for less than 20 euros a month! Come on! If you go once it's almost 9 euros! With the card, your life will be full of stories to tell about all the movies you will see. Who can live without a new film on their lives every week? I can't!!! o.k. if you can, that's your choice.

6. Don't take me wrong, it's o.k. to go to pubs from time to time but please, if you do, choose the ones that at least have good live music, which, luckily is very easy to find in Dublin, start by going to the "Celt pub" in Talbot street and see the cute family that usually play there from Friday's to Sundays from 21.00, it's really worth it to have a pint with a free live concert!

7. If you have a hobby that you love, like me for example, photography, google it from time to time with the name of your town/city and the month and you should be able to find something linked to it either a course, festival or exhibition and of course if they have a facebook page, join it and you will get all the updates straight away (same for the theaters and deals)

8. If you are a food lover, look for other people with the same addiction to good food, talk about different restaurants you have been to, this way you will not always be going to the same places, for example i can start by recommending a very good Portuguese restaurant that actually a work colleague recommended to me (thanx Allan!), it's called "Nando's" , not suitable for vegetarians, since their main speciality is grilled chicken uhm!! delicious!!! It's located in Drum-Drum outside the shopping centre but they are opening to more branches in Dublin soon.

Another choice is to gather with your food-lovers friends and have a nice meal all together at their homes! Francesco if you read this, we need to do organize another meal soon!

9. As this is the first article,i'm not going to reveal all the secrets (so hold on!), so I 'll leave you with the last one I discovered a couple of months ago , Citydeal and similar pages ('i'm subscribed to 3 of them lol), where they offer events with discount starting from 35 to 50%). It's free to join and you can really find good stuff, you have to be patient and keep an eye because there are some uninteresting deals but perseverance is the key!

More to come soon and special edition for September 2011! After my posts you will be surprised of how much Dublin and suroundigs have to offer, so read them carefully !

French Romantic movie recommended: "Beautiful lies" with Audrey Tautotu

2011-08-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

I saw this film 2 weeks ago and I wanted to write about it briefly since then, unfortunately I don't think it's still in the cinema but if you have the chance to see this French romantic comedy, don't miss it! It's a bit of a soap opera with a very funny touch, great to have a good time! Even me that couldn't understand much of what they were saying and I had to read the subtitles all the time (I'm sure for those who understand French,it's even funnier!), famous actress Audrey Tautou,some may remember her from the beautiful film of "Amelie" , and not so famous Nataly Baye (maybe she is very famous and I didn't know her upps) ,playing her mum, really did the trick. They both play a very good role, specially Nataly, I'd say. The big mess which can come out of a love letter sent to the wrong recipient and all the different situations will make you laugh for sure.I loved the end " Are you sure you wrote this letter?" lol. It's not a very complicated plot and it may not be the film of your life but to me, if I go to the cinema and i come out of the screen smiling, it means that my time was well invested! Of course, if you are not into romantic comedies and don't want to read subtitles, then stay homeeeee. Last but not least, yeah, I admit it, French can also make some good movies from time to time, not always though lol.

Next film on my list : The Rise of the planet of the apes!

Recommended song: Called out in the dark (new single from Snow Patrol!)

2011-08-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

I have listened to this song a couple of times on the radio in the car and today i have decided that it was about time to know the name of the song! Not only i found that out but i have also found this karoke-like video and now i can sing along!! yeahhhhhh!! i know,i know that i can't sing but dont worry only y neighbours can hear me,no complaints so far lol I hope you enjoy this song from this alternative rock band from Northern Ireland :Snow Patrol (Gee all the music talent is in this country!!!) isn't it nice??!!!! I think i need to see them in concertttttt, this will be my goal next year!

Captain America (2011) " too American for me..geeee"

2011-08-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

One more time my opinion goes against the critics and audience that score this film with a 79%, maybe I expected too much,not sure. One of my motivations to see this film was the gorgeous looking Chris Evans but guess what?I couldn't even enjoy this because from the beginning of the movie Chris head is "attached" (you can see that it was done with a computer) to a small skinny guy and this look does not go away when he becomes Captain America..,similar feeling I had when I saw Brad Pitt as an ugly old baby in "the curious case of Benjamin Button"(another movie that I hate deeply!!), there are some cinematographic scenes that cannot simply be erased. Well appart from Captain's American's looks all this patriotism with the American flags & cheesy moments did not convince us, yeah i write "us" because Andres agrees with me. Yeah, it has some cool effects and some cool moves but it's way to long with a poor plot behind, i should have gone to see somethingelse... This year, i'm getting disappointed with the super heroes movies, what is going on?? it's them or it's me?? Well, not that bad this weekend out of 4 , i loved 3 of the films , only this one did not win me over! Sorry Captain America's lovers..

Mr Popper Penguin's (2011)

2011-08-14T03:10:00.000-07:00

As a unconditional fan of Jim Carrey I had to go and see this film & I my expectations were fulfilled, I'm glad Ben Stiller's dropped out and Mr Popper was eventually played by Jim. It's a family oriented film, the penguins are so cute in it and the story is simple but touching. Jim plays a very busy business man, divorced and with a distant relationship with his son and daughter. One day he receives a gift from his father: A penguin. This will change his life and his relationship with his family and even at work! How would a penguin survive in Manhattan?!!It was great to see Angela Lansbury (the famous 80'ies icon Jessica Fletcher in "Murder she wrote", i didn't know she was still alive!!) on a movie after so long. Not sure if I can recommend this film to everyone, to Jim Carrey's fans, yeah and to parents that want to take their kids to see a cute film, yeah, to the rest I'm not sure. The rotten tomatoes page gives it a 59% score (the audience) and 47% (the critics), I agree with the audience score, a 60 is o.k. We enjoyed the film, we boh liked it and it made me laughed a couple of times and i found it sweet , too. Who doesn't love penguins??!!! I kept thinking of my nephew who actually love penguins and was waiting to see this film, I would have liked to see it with him.. I'm sure he would have loved it! Gee nothing to do with the film but Jim is getting older!!! I only hope he keeps on doing films, I like to see him at least once a year!Jim you rock, thanx for not disappointing me, i hate wasting time in the cinema!

Movie recommended: Bridesmaids (2011) HAHAHAHAH

2011-08-14T02:29:00.000-07:00

This film wasn't actually on my movie "wish list" but I'm very happy that we went to see it on our Cinema marathon day! Just what i needed laugh out loud again lol but this time even louder than with "horrible bosses". It's incredible how movie scripts can have jokes in them that you haven't seen before. If you want to seat back & be entertained this is the film for you! Do not expect a deep plot or an unpredictable end but just expect to see funny scenes with very funny girls. To me,my favorite actresses were: Christen Wiig & Melissa MacCarthy. This group of bridesmaids with very different personalities will make you laugh, I assure you. Some of my fav bits: The scene in the car with Christen playing Annie andRose Byrne, playing Helen when they were trying to get the cop's attention; One of the first scenes with the same 2 girls saying the speeches for the bride to be (hilarious!). The scenes on the plane to Vegas with the different girls were very funny ,too and of course the scenes at the shower party, I would have reacted like Annie did LOL and of course the scenes were they were trying on the bride maids dresses, Melisa MacCarthy was just HILARIOUS lol, I could actually go on writing about funny moments and this does not happen often with funny films!! Another nice surprise I got from this movie was to listen and see after so long to the 80ies group Wilson Philips and their song " hold on"! gee im old that i know them!!

Don't think much about it because it has been in the cinema for 3 weeks now!

Beautiful song for a rainy August day in Dublin

2011-08-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

She is called Adele and the song is called "rolling in the deep" , she reminds me a bit of the legendary Amy Winehouse..,well only the song , they don't have any other similarities! The power of good music that makes you forget that it's summer and it's raining cats and dogs and all the noe's arch! And yeah Andres is playing violin at the same time so...!! GREAT!

Laugh out loud in the Laughter Lounge in Dublin!

2011-08-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

I couldn't have a better idea that celebrating my birthday in the Irish Comedy club called " Laughter Lounge", it helped me to cope with the pain of being one year older and not younger lol Believe me even though I'm a very cheerful person ,it's not easy to make me laugh and a whole audience from different countries at the same time, so loud! After Saturday night, I proved myself that after 6 years, I'm really integrated in the Irish culture, I know the tv programmes the played jokes about (4 weddings, super nanny, ross Kemp and the gangs..), the famous people, life style and way of talking! It was 10 of us, only one of us was Irish , the rest were concentrated to understand lol There were 3 comedians and the presenter who was also a comedian (Gar Murran).

Out of the three, We enjoy mostly 2 of them , the first one not so much for one simple reason, he was from the North of Ireland and had a very rural tough accent and it was very local..,maybe he was good, i'll never know lol we couldn't understand him very well. The other 2 were just hilarious!!! The second one (Can't remember his name..) played a lot of jokes about t.v. and music,he played the guitar and even sang, he imitated u2 in a funny way and current music talent lol (uhhhh!!). I liked his jokes about super nanny and when he grew up being raised with a wooden spoon instead of a naughty chair and that he would use it with the bunch of little bastards that are in super nanny programme lol. He also talked about the amount of money American couples spend on 4 weddings and that once he went to a wedding and somebody asked him about it and he said : 8 for the overall presentation, 5 for the dress lol He also played a lot of jokes about toilet wet tissue and how cool he was because he bought a flashy yellow vest to laugh at people and it worked (people listening to him ,when he stop traffic in the vest lol). In between the acts the fab hilarious Irish comedian : Gar Murran , picked on the audience improvising jokes, I was lucky that he didn't hear that it was my birthday, believe me LOL, he picked on 2 hen partys (one with 14 guests and the other with 10) and one stag party, with them he found jokes for the whole night and me and Raquel specially, who were on the second row laughed very loud every time he came to the stage. Gar also told jokes about facebook, me being a facebook addict i laughed out loud again , he spoke about old school mates sending you invitations in facebook or people who don't greet you and what to do and consequences (if you ignore them, invitations keep coming lol). He aslo joked about relationship break ups by texts and the difference between men and women when looking at pictures (women looking at them for hours and thinking of the situation, when it was etc and men dont even remembering when the pic was taken!So true!) I had a chance to congratulate Gar on the show just after it such a nice guy! fresh, natural and spontaneous!

Well going back to the comedians, the last one who was actually the star of the show , the other 2 comedians were guests, was Dubliner Willie White from Ballymoon. I had a chance to see him a couple of years ago in another comedy night at the international pub and gee he is fucking funny and excuse my language! He played jokes mainly about knackers lifestyle in a very exaggerated way, believe me everybody was crying when laughing, the 10 of us agreed that he was the best. His jokes about the burberry's t-shirt he had on when he said: "you will be wondering ,what the heck is a guy from Ballymoon like me wearing a brandname t-shirt, it's either robbed or counterfeit" " well ,it's actually both" (LOL). He also said that he used to sell drugs and that he ,himself, was his worse costumer. He had a strong northern accent but i could understand him perfectly and I would pay again to see him, he can make anybody laugh, of course you have to be used to Dubliner's north accent to understand him otherwise, it can be tough!

So what are you waiting for? If you live in Dublin and you ahven't been to any of the laughter lounge shows, book online and go! it starts at 20.30 and it finishes at around 23.30, laughing non-stop. you need to book in advanced via the webpage, you cannot buy the tickets at the doors ,specially because it's usually fully booked. The place is very nice, they have it very well organized: cloakroom for one euro, cocktails for 7,50 euros (mojitos!), wine,beer and you can pre-order fingerfood or have some nachos on the night. If oyu go don't forget to have a picture taken in the free photo booth, they will be posted in their facebook page for free and you can tag yourselves (I share with you the one we took of ourselves!!). And no I'm not working for them or anything!

I leave you with a video of Gar:

http://www.myspace.com/video/garmurran/stand-up-comedy-laughter-lounge-dublin-part-one/52022098

and willie white:

Beginners (2011)

2011-08-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

And yeah i have managed to finally see this movie! How can i describe it: I loved the colours, the images, the dialogues, the game with in and out of focus with the camera, the drama, the protagonists, the dog and of course the story as a whole! It's about life and death, about relationships that go through different stages in different times. It's about changes throughout history, it's about overcoming fears, about love & magic that some people have and it's also about looking for happiness! I cried with Ewan Mcgregor but I also felt happiness, i really got into his unique love story with cute Anna (played by French actress Melanie Laurent) and into his relationship with his mum when he was a kid and into his relationship with his dad when he came out of the closet at 75 years old. Ewan's dad is played by Christopher Plummer, he is damm good, he plays such a good role. I loved the way the story was told going back and forth in time and showing pictures of the past and sometimes even only colours. If you want to feel and a movie that makes you think, this is the right one. While watching this movie I thought of so many things of my life.., it was so real..

The movie is now in the cinema, at least in Ireland, it's not a commercial one and maybe not for everybody ,it's more for sensitive people who like stories being told in a different way.

Manchester : Lively city with plenty of bars & restaurants

2011-08-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Well many people would be surprised of what Manchester has to offer, it's not all about football and rough areas, it's a city with a big contrast between modern and old English architecture. It's very mixed with different nationalities, people wear and do what they want and nobody cares and they live together, sometimes it was even hard to see British people around! I loved their hairstyles, so different! Same about their clothing style , very edgy and different,not everybody cup of tea but i found it so 80ies/70 ies, they are like in another era!. I wish i could have had a long conversation with one of the locals about the city but we could not understand a word when they were talking, same there when we talked they could not understand us either lol I think we are ready to go to Liverpool now (another city with a tough accent to understand!). We got many recommendations from people of bars & restaurants to go to and areas like : Castlefield with its canals dating form the Roman era where all the city of Manchester started. This is was my fab part, just before getting there you could see the big tall Hilton tower where there is a bar on the top, again my vertigo did not let me go in there, anyway i would not pay 20 pounds for a cocktail there thanx. It was beautiful to see the contrast of the Hilton tower with the Roman architecture. There were many nice terrace bars along the canal where you could have grilled food and/or a drink (I recommend " a daiquiri" o "pi~na colada") , our fav place is called: "Bohemia Bar & grill", which is very busy over the weekend but it's worth waiting. Yeah there were cafeterias & grill bars everywhere and I love grills and coffee!! They also put almonds and olives in most of the bars we went to, i felt like home!! They were really tasty and it was loud inside bars, yeah people talking loud very loud! I loved that! There were restaurants from all around the world, probably due to its multiculturalism.

Our hotel was located only 5 mins away from the station on London road, ideal location just minutes away from piccadilly gardens (centre),it's called "Mc Donald Manchester", Chinatown (a bit smelly place but interesting,anyway), the gay quarter (ideal to have a fun crazy night with all sort of people in shapes and colours lol) and a bit further the beautiful Townhall, National Gallery (St Peter's square) ,the shopping area on Market street, the cathedral and Printworks (go inside, i almost miss it!). A bit further away is Castlefield, you can get there by tram or even on foot (30 mins from piccadilly station / return ticket 2,60 pounds) where you can find the canals & bars i talked about and also the Science museum (free entry). If you are into modern architecture and art, you should go to Harbour city by tram and get to Media city, this part was the most modern of them all (it reminded me of the Docklands area in Dublin) and it also has the Lowry art galley with a theatre,cinema and library (We were lucky to see an Andy Warhol exhibition called "The divas", fab! i totally recommend it for Warhol's lovers like me!). Crossing the river you have the Manchester United stadium and the Imperial war museum. As you can see , you will not get bored in Manchester. Yeah there are rough areas in the city but you don't need to go there as a tourist and yeah it's not the cleanest of the cities (specially piccadilly garden..) but it has other things you can't imagine. We stayed there for 3 nights and we had a great time, i recommend it for a weekend break,maybe not to study English ..but for a break, yeah!!! and remember they have pounds so nothing is cheap..you need a good budget! And yeah ,we could not find the tv set for Shameless but we saw a couple who looked like the protagonist of the famous t.v. serie lol

Last but not least i wanted to leave you with some recommendations we got in case they are useful to you:

Nice places
Room(great cocktails)-top of king street
Grinch –great lunch
Northern Quarter bars
Canal Street-Velvet (gay area)

Deansgate
Goucho Grill(behind Kendals)
Living Room
Hilton Tower –cloud 23
Panache
Good atmosphere
LAVA bar
Cocktail bar at Selfridges

Science Museum
Coronation street set

Triangle –shops
Shoes Moda en Pelle for girls

AVOID :
Deansgate locks
Printworks
Market Street-pickpockets

Bye,Bye Amy Winehouse

2011-07-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2011-07-10T05:49:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-07-10T05:15:00.000-07:00

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.

Swedish House Mafia - Save The World

2011-07-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

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!!

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

2011-07-03T01:57:00.000-07:00

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!

Memorable songs in my life: Sabor de Amor (Danza invisible)

2011-06-28T12:43:00.001-07:00

Pues nada , otra canci'on memorable para el recuerdo! Labios de fresa sabor de amor, pulpa de la fruta de la pasi'on!! Temazo!! Cuantas veces habr'e bailado yo esta canci'on en la feria de C'ordoba o de pubs por ahi en mi ciudad! Para aquellos que recuerden esta canci'on tanto como yo, os la dedico! feliz semana!

Y por supuesto que me decis del estilazo de la moda de la 'epoca o de los peinados? Ah! y si no habias nacido cuando sonaba esta canci'on, ni me lo comentes que me har'as sentir vieja y soy una chavalita!!!

Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera, Masterpieces of the Jaques and Natasha Gelman Collection

2011-06-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

A small private collection but worthy of the 5 euros that cost the ticket at the exhibition in the Irish museum of modern art. To me it was the first time that i had the opportunity to see paintings & drawings from Frida and Diego. Both had different styles, both of them were very talented. Specially through Frida's paintings & drawings you could see what she was going through at that moment in her complicated love story with the famous Mexican painter : Diego Rivera. You could also see via Frida's paintings painful moments in her life such has the miscarriage she had (this can be seen in one of her surrealist drawings). Frida's peculiar appearance with her moustache , "unibrow" and colorful ethnic dresses was appealing enough but what was even more appealing was her unique way of painting, I personally liked the self-portraits she did with the assistance of a mirror from her own bed after she had a tram accident and she was immobile for 3 months. She said that she painted herself because she was the subject that she knew best. One good example of this self-portraits is "Diego en mi pensamiento" (Diego in my thoughts) or the self-portraits with monkeys from 1943 where the connection between nature and animals ,this one inspired by her monkey pet Fulang-Chang which was a gift from Rivera in way replacing the child that she could never have which will frustrate her throughout her life. Another remarkable painting of the Gelman collection is" Love Embrace the Universe, the earth, Diego,me and Sir Xolotl", This painting has been interpreted as Frida's acceptance of the numerous infidelities of Diego. Although the exhibition had Diego Rivera's paintings, i was more interested in Frida's ones that's why i haven't written much about Diego's paintings, there were 2 that come to my mind now: " Portrait of Natasha Gelman and Calla lily vendor" both of them had beautiful lily flowers in them. The exhibition had paintings on the ground floor , accompanied by Frida's and Diegos biography on the walls and on the first floor you could see Frida's unique drawings, full of symbolism and on the basement you had some photos and books. The exhibition has finished today in Dublin, you may be lucky to see some of Frida's pieces of art somewhere else in the world!

Mel gibson back in the game with "The Beaver"(2011) - I recommend it!

2011-06-23T11:59:00.001-07:00

On a Thursday like today, I wanted to disconnect and I went to see a U.s. drama-comedy movie " the Beaver". Rotten Tomaotes audience scored it with 69% and critics 63%, i would give it a score of 75%. My respects to Jodie Foster in her role as an actress and as a director of this movie, at the same time! This film has some photographic moments that i have in my mind like the one when good-looking Porter Black (played by Anton Yelchin - cuteeee !) looks through the hole in his room (beautiful!). I didn't know what to expect from this film and i didn't even know what it was about so i let surprise myself! To me, it looked as if Mel Gibson was playing very well the role of an alcoholic, depressive ,executive family man, did it have some similarities so his life,maybe???

Whatever was the reason why he played so well the role, congrats to him, he won me over!! To put it in a nutshell and not to tell you the whole story, this film is about a depressed executive husband with 2 kids. He is mentally ill, has tried it all (pills, different therapies etc. )and nothing worked for him until one day he fins a beaver puppet which will be his means of communication with everybody from that moment on. The Beaver takes control of his life, sometimes you even forget that it is Mel Gibson talking because the Beaver becomes alive! Jodie Foster plays Mel Gibson's wife. She is very in-love with him and she is even able to sleep with her husband with the Beaver puppet on her husband left hand! Gee! You really have to love somebody to do that lol.

I found the plot very original and very real at the same time, there are many people out there who have a depression and do not know how to get out of it, you can have a very good job, a very good house and money and still don't be happy with your life. Others pretend to have a perfect life and ignore the problems but mind is powerful and when one gets out of one's mind all can get out of control ! However, when you have people who really love you by your side there is always a way out! I hope that even Mel Gibson has learned something after having done this film, gee and i thought his career was over, well he is back in the game!
!!

I felt i had something in common with some of the characters of this film, i think it's easy to identify yourself with some aspects. I walked out of the cinema a bit sad because I was a bit emotional in some parts of the film but I felt happy at the same time because i invested well my time watching a movie which made me believe in the story and actually it also has some funny moments (i loved the part of Mel Gibson having a tuxedo for the puppet to go out for dinner with his wife !). People watch out !!! no puppets close to your husbandsssssssssss!!!!!

Where is Wally record attempt in Merrion Square Dublin! The whole Story!

2011-06-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

As my oldest sister said when she saw the pictures of the event " Que familia mas loca tengo!" (what a crazy family i have!). Well it was not only Andres,Raquel,my mum and me the ones who were nuts dressed in a wally suit , there were 3563 more people who also found the idea of breaking a world record in Merrion square on the 18th of June in Dublin, appealing! It was the most positive, funny and happy-go-lucky experiences i have had in my entire life! This will be something i'll never forget, we made history (even if the record was beaten again the next day lol)! People from all ages and generations who did not know each other hug and sang in the rain to the rhythm of Gene Kelly "singing in the rain". The event organizers kept us dancing with "jump around", Beyonce, Queen "we are the champions", YMCA and even the Beatles. We arrived there at 17.00 pm to be one of the first wallies and hell yeah, we were because the Irish take their time and most people arrived close to 18.00 and we were already dancing and taking photos for an hour!

The official photo was to be taken at 18.30 and just at 18.00 it started raining like hell, i felt sorry for my mum and for Raquel who was already sick , at the beginning they let us open our umbrellas but then they said " close your umbrellas" and my mum didn't want to lol i had to convince her after a while, then they said no rain jackets and this was tougher to achieve lol, then the organizer said if you see any outsider (not wally) boo them and everybody was "boooooooo". In the end i have yo thank my mum because it has been easy to spot ourselves in all the photos i have found on the net and different newspaper, every time a blue jacket was in the first row, i was by it lol thank you mum!! Even the rain didn't ruin the day, people were so happy doing the different poses they told us to do for the photo shoot: doing some waiving, then only kids looking up and adults looking down,then only kids shouting wally , then men and last women (we were the winners!).

The event organizer was a funny guy telling jokes all the time, he had the brilliant idea of keeping our wallies outfits to do more wally events so this will not be the last time you see me as wally in Dublin! The organizer said : Imagine if the next time Obama comes , we all come dressed as wally, what a nightmare for the FBI or the CIA! lol actually yes!! what a great idea lol And at one point we all had to sent a text message to the same guy ,we wrote a random message and then they gave us the phone number, i guess this guy's phone should have been blocked.

One thing i did not understand is that they gave 2 different dates to attempt the record in Dublin one on the 18th of June and the other on the 19th, it would have been better one day with all the people in it, right? it would have been doubled! On Saturday we were 3567 beating Corks record holder of 2500 wallies and on Sunday the record was broken again with more than 3800 wallies!

All around the media it was very confusing, they talked about Sunday attempt and pictures and videos of Saturday were posted, actually i would say that there was much more coverage on Saturday. It was easy to spot because on Sunday it did not rain and hell yeah when we were there it rained cats and dogs!!! My poor mum lived the true Irish experience!! I have to say that i'm really proud of her,not any 66-old mum would be standing for an hour and a half surrounded by thousands of wallies and in the rain! She also had a good time ! Even if you don't believe me , i have a bit of fobia of crowded places, so the way i handled so many people was , being in the first row and not looking back!!

It was very well organized and at the end of it , we could get out easily, there were many volunteers helping and it has been easy to find photos of the event posted by the championship of world performers. One thing i'm disappointed of is the rip-off of the Irish times when they said that they would put a poster of the record, they only put a cropped photo of Sunday event and no mention of Cork attempt or Saturday..,after all the propaganda..boooo Irish times...

Well I leave you now with some photos of the event, for those who did not want to spend 12 euros on the outfit or for those who did not manage to register, i'm sorry for you.. this is truly an unforgettable experience..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2005471/Wheres-Wally-Street-Performance-World-Championships-attempt-break-Guiness-World-record.html?fb_ref=LikeButtonTop&fb_source=profile_oneline

A summary of all our dances in the rain !! If you look for the blue jacket dancing "singing in the rain" ,totally worth it!

on the tv in Brasil:

http://terratv.terra.com.br/videos/Noticias/Mundo/4201-369233/Multidao-se-veste-de-Wally-e-bate-recorde-na-Irlanda.htm

Dancing we are the champions:

and more photos in case you haven't had enough:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/5846708140/in/set-72157626991634240/

Gracias mam'a, Raquel y Andresillo por seguirme la corriente en mis locuras!

Recetas de mi madre: Alb'ondigas! uhm!! Si hay hambre no leer esto ahora..

2011-06-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Pues nada otra recetilla en los 'ultimos d'ias de visita de mi madre, que conste que cocina porque ella quiere que yo soy muy apa~n'a y me hago cualquier cosilla!

Esta es una de mis recetas favoritas y aviso que aunque se tengan los ingredientes justos y se sigan las instrucciones, nunca van a quedar como le quedan a mi madre..(lo siento!)

Empecemos con los ingredientes:

Carne de pavo picada (una bandeja)

Medio lim'on

Pan de molde blanco (dos o tres rodajas, quit'andoles la corteza)

Leche

Perejil

Un huevo

una Cebolla

Vino blanco

ajo picado (de bote)

Sal

Aceite

Una hoja de laurel

Harina (una cucharada)

y pi~nones (para la salsa)

y un vasito de chupito (sin alcohol chicos,que es s'olo para darle forma a las albondigas!) junto con una cuchara

Tomate frito

Manos a la obra:

En un bol de cristal ponemos la carne de pavo con el zumo de medio lim'on, sal,ajo picado y la dejamos reposar unos 10 minutos.

Batimos un huevo en otro bol y lo a~nadimos al otro bol grande con la carne. Preparamos las 3 rebanadas de pan sin corteza y lo remojamos bien con la leche que necesite para que se quede h'umedo y lo a~nadimos bien al otro bol con la carne y el huevo y se remueve bien todo con un tenedor para que se mezcle bien la masa.

Preparamos la harina , cojemos un vaso de chupito y se va a~nadiendo un dedo de harina al vaso lo cual nos servir'a para hacer las bolas de las albondigas. Se va a~nadiendo la masa que teniamos en el bol de la carne y con una cuchara grande vamos cogiendo poco a poco y lo vamos metiendo en el vaso de chupito para hacer la bolas. Para hacer la primera bola al meter la masa y mezclarla con la harina se tapa con la otra mano y se mueve de arriba a abajo para que se haga una bola. Una vez que tenga forma la sacamos del baso y le damos m'as forma con la mano y las vamos poniendo en un plato grande. As'i iremos haciendo todas las albondigas hasta que se acabe la masa. Advierto que es un trabajo ard'uo y lleva tiempo y la masa parece no acabarse nunca! Pero el resultado final lo merece!

Una vez que est'an todas las bolas en el plato ,nos disponemos a poner en una sart'en intermedia al menos dos dedos de aceite para que cubran las albondigas de manera parcial y se puedan freir bien. Le vamos dando vueltas en la sart'en hasta que se doren y se van sacando a un plato. Una vez que est'en todas fritas, nos dispondremos a ir haciendo la salsa.

Salsa:

En una cazuela ponemos el aceite mismo que hemos usado para freir las alb'ondigas , sin pasarse! Picamos media cebolla y la vamos friendo en el aceite. Cuando la cebolla est'a blandita , a~nadimos una cucharada de harina y lo removemos con una cuchara de palo. Cuando se dora se a~nade un poco de agua (un vasito), un chorre'on de vino blanco (o dos seg'un gusto !),una hoja de laurel y un poco de tomate frito. Se remueve todo y lo bates con una batidora y vamos incorporando las albondigas y a~nadimos un pu~nao de pi~nones. Cubrimos con agua todas las albondigas , se a~nade sal y se deja cocer a fuego lento de 10 a 15 minutos , se van removiendo y se comprueba que no se peguen porque con la harina tienden a pegarse a la cazuela.

Ahora me ha dado hambre..,os dejo con una foto de las 'ultimas alb'ondigas que ha hecho mi madre en Dubl'in, ya me dir'eis como os salen!

Hispanohablantes: Perdonad que no ponga bien los acentos, ni tampoco la letra

Recetillas de mi madre : Pollo al chilindr'on

2011-06-19T13:28:00.001-07:00

Yo no suelo escribir sobre recetas pero al haber tenido a mi madre en casa unos dias, no me pude resistir. Esta receta no es que la haya creado mi madre,ni nada pero es un plato que ella suele hacer y me lo ha recordado al venir a mi casa a Dublin: Pollo al chilindr'on (uhm! me lo tuvo que hacer dos veces!).

Ingredientes:

Un pimiento rojo

Una bandeja de pechugas o de muslos/alitas (seg'un la preferencia)

Aceite, sal,perejil

un lim'on

una cebolla

1. Se rehoga el pollo en lim'on, ajo picado, sal y perejil y se deja unos 10 minutos.

2. Se pica una cebolla muy fina y se pone en una olla con un chorre'on de aceite y se pone a freir a fuego lento.

3. Mientras tanto vamos cortando un pimiento rojo.

4. Se colocan las pechugas de pollo con la cebolla antes de que se doren y se deja cocinar.

5. Se a~nade un vaso de vino blanco y los pimientos.

6. Se a~nade por 'ultimo un chorre'on de tomate frito

7. Se deja cocinar ,dandole vueltas de vez en cuando , se echa un vasito de agua y se deja cocinar a fuego lento hasta que se vea que la carne est'a hecha.

8. Seg'un preferencia se le puede a~nadir un pu~nao de pi~nones y un poquit'in m'as de sal!

Y ya est'a!!

Seg'un mi madre este plato sabe mejor al d'ia siguiente , no s'e si lo dice para hacerme sentir mejor porque ser'a mi comida de ma~nana o porque realmente es cierto jaja

RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Summer concert : The joy of music!

2011-06-18T02:58:00.000-07:00

What a marvelous evening! One mexican Tenor: Jesus Leon, the well-known Irish soprano: Celine Byrne accompanied by the majestic Irish RTE national Symphony Orchestra (I was trying to count how many musicians were there but it was impossible, i stop counting after number 50..) in the National Concert Hall in Dublin! What a combination! The beautiful and powerful voice of the soprano Celine singing in Italian, Portuguese , French and even in Spanish! Isn't it fantastic? An Irish soprano singing in Spanish with Andalucian accent? She pronounced the Spanish "j" stronger than me! (in the South of Spain that sound is specially deep and it's not easy to learn how to pronounce it for foreigners and Celine did a pretty good job!). Can you imagine? An Irish soprano singing a Spanish Zarzuela " Canci'on espa~nola del ni~no judio" (Luna) saying: "de Espa~na vengo, de Espa~na soy" (I'm coming from Spain , I'm Spanish). It was funny the way she pronounced the "r" "morrrrenaaaa" lol. The best moments of the evening for me where when Celine and Jesus sang together in Spanish : Caballero " Duo y Jota" at the end he told her in Spanish "vente, vente (come with me,come with me) and Celine said " no, my Mexican tenor (in a cutting tone)", the whole audience in the auditorium, which by the way it was totally packed, laughed. At that moment, my mum and I knew where he was from, we were trying to guess all the time with no luck since we thought he was from Peru due to his Indian looking.

Since yesterday night i can't stop singing " Nessun Dorma from Turandot" , to me this was one of the moments to remember from the night, I felt joy, I disconnected from the world, not only me but the whole audience, i kept looking at the faces of the people of the second row where we were seated and everybody had a smile on their faces. We were lucky to have the tenor, the soprano and the conductor of the orchestra just in front of us. Another moment I liked was the singing of "Granada" which brought me back to the South of Spain.

It was also impressive to see the RTE orchestra playing "William Tell" Overture! "ta,ta,taran,taran,tan,tan!!! tiiii, ti, to tiiii"

Celine's sweet and strong voice gave us the goose pimples! She even sang one part of a song without opening her mouth, only with her throat and controlling her breathing. Tears came to our eyes when she sang " Un bei di vedremo" from Madame Butterfly. It was also very original to see a Brasilian piece sang by her surrounded only by 8 cellos called: Bachianas Brasileiras N.5 (Villa Lobos).

This was the full programme for the evening:

Rossini : il barbieri di Sevilla, Overture

Puccini: Un bel di vedremo from Madame Butterfly

Britten: Soir'ees musicales

Puccini: Nessun dorma from Turandot

Puccini: Vogliatemi bene from Madame butterfl

Rossini: William Tell, Overture

Villalobos: Bachianas Brasileiras N.5 Soprano and an orchestra of cellos

Rossini: Il signor Bruschino Overture

Lara: Granada

Luna: Cancion espa~nola from el ni~no judio

Caballero: Duo y jota from el duo de la Africana

At the end of the 2-hour concert the whole audience was clapping so receptively that Celine sang another song with the orchestra and in the end She and Jesus end up with a piece from La Traviatta called " Brindisi" ,what an amazing way of finishing off the evening! 20 more minutes of delight! We didn't want it to end!

I'm very happy to have bought these concert tickets for my mother, i think this will be one of the things she will remember in her life and me , too. Dubliners , if you haven't seen the RTE orchestra yet, i think this is the second time i recommend you to go and see them!!! and if you have the chance to see Celine Byrne in Ireland, don't miss it either, she will take you to another world with her voice and her smile! Evenings like this make me think that I'd not be able to survive without music, even if i can't play a single instrument, i have the ability to enjoy so many types of music , this makes me grow as a person !

See below a couple of videos i have found of the soprano and of the tenor, unfortunately i couldn't find any video of both of them singing together but at least you will get an idea of what we felt when we listen to them live:

Johnstown House, hotel & Spa in County Meath (Ireland)

2011-06-08T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hey friends, I wanted to recommend you this hotel & Spa where we have been to last bank holiday weekend. Ideally, take the advantage of an offer to go , otherwise it may be a bit expensive since it has 4 stars. We went with an offer I got online and for only 70 euros, we had a bottle of wine on arrival, breakfast included, stay in the hotel for 2 people and we could use the spa facilities: swimming pool,steaming room, sauna, jacuzzi and rest area. You could also get spa treatments from 50 euros but we didn't go for those. Unfortunately, without an offer it can get much more expensive so check first on their web page (google it people!! google it!)

You will need a car and a gps to find Johnstown house since it's in the middle of the countryside in County Meath and it's not on common maps!! The closest town was Trim and Maynooth (I recommend a trip to Trim which is 30 mins away by car)!

If you need a break to rest and you can't get way from the Irish rainy weather, this is the place to be! Facilities , service and staff are top quality. Buffet breakfast was average but you have all you need to recharge batteries!! Here you are some pictures of the place,judge for yourself! No pictures of the room , i'm afraid but they are just like the ones on the website the hotel has! elegant, cozy with a big double bed, big bathroom, a kettle and a big tv with international channel!! and no i dont get any money from the hotel!!!

Movie Recommendation: Julia's Eyes (Los ojos de Julia)! Go and see it!

2011-05-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Don't miss the opportunity to see this Spanish thriller in Dublin: " Los ojos de Julia" by Guillermo Morales and the main protagonist the well-known actress Belen Rueda (what a beautiful name,lol). You will need to read the subtitles because it's in Spanish but don't be put off because of this! If you are like me that many times couldn't even look at the screen, then you will need a translator to know what is going on but for me, unfortunately, I didn't need any and neither Andres jumping on the seat nor the intense music didn't help me not to get scared! There are some parts at the end where i had mixed feelings because i found them funny and im not sure if i was supposed to laugh lol, there was an Irish guy in front of me that started laughing because of my laugh. When you see it check the scene of the 2 hot teas , Belen and her carer and when she asked for sugar, that's the one when I started laughing lol. I also found a bit funny the appearance of the girl "Lia", you cannot see her face but only her legs and gee her legs looked very diabolic to me. Belen plays the role of Julia and her twin sister Sara. She plays it brilliantly (as usual,she is a very good actress!), it really looks as if she was blind!

I don't want to tell you anything about the plot just go and see it. Even if you don't love the film (i heard some bad criticism before going to see it from some people), i'm sure that you will be entertained! Last comment to finish i loved how the English subtitles used some euphemisms to translate Spanish swearwords like "joder" (meaning fuck!) when they translated as " jesus Christ" lol just the same !! I was so happy to be able to watch this Spanish movie, i miss so much being able to watch Spanish cinema..something different from the usual stuff! After this movie ended i still had chills and was scared of the light going off in the car park or somebody behind me chasing me , maybe because my name is like the actress: Belen.

What are you waiting for??? Dont think this Spanish will last long in the cinema, it's in Parnell now! GO and run!!

Blow up the Liffey Bridges - Theatre (review)

2011-05-22T03:32:00.000-07:00

To be honest i was not in the mood to write a about this comedy just after it finished last Wednesday at the Docklands theatre in Dublin. I needed some time to think about it, Was it that bad? why i didn't laugh all the way as promised? Well after 4 days i haven't changed my mind. They even wrote that Ronan Keating may show up for a performance, he could have.. honestly to save the day..at least someone who could sing could have come up on stage! We were very disappointed due to different reasons, let me start. Firstly, they could have exploited much more the differences between North and South Dublin , instead this "comedy" had a very poor plot with no so clever dialogues and very poor singing. Secondly, i didn't know it was supposed to be a musical , too was their bad singing supposed to be funny?? because it was annoying!!. To be fair out of the 8 actors only 2 were kind of o.k., the rest specially the girl who pretended to be a Northsider and her mum , gee somebody should have thrown them a bucket of water! When I wrote "pretended to be" was exactly because of that these 2 could not imitate well the Northside accent and it was replaced by annoying shouting and swearing, you could tell that they were from the South side,no doubt about that. I think that out of the 2 hours we were at the theater i only laughed once when the Southsider guy playing the assistant of the exaggerated posh Southsider actress told her to "fuck off" lol i actually wanted to tell her the same because she was fking annoying!!

To be fair the Southsiders played a better role maybe because they were just playing them selves on stage lol not sure. I'm just glad we went with a city deal offer because tickets were not cheap and i felt sorry for the guys who actually paid the exact fare and the theater was almost full.

If you ask me if the rest of the audience liked it, well it's simple to see if a theatre play is successful or not, just check the way people applaude when the play is over. In this case , i felt like people were clapping just for the sake of it and of course for a very short amount of time and with low intensity and only once! They didn't go back to stage and believe me Irish audience is an enthusiastic one ,if they like something they shout , applaude heavily ,anything! It was even embarrasing when some of the actors/actresses ended up singing a song sometimes people clapped sometimes only one person clapped and when it was awful nobody clapped lol. I'm still confuse of the message whoever did the script of this comedy was and yeah the producers were supposed to be good because they had a smash hit with a play called "one night in Istanbul", well maybe next time these producers should choose better with more imagination to write the scripts and better actors!!!

Yeah I have watched Eurovision contest 2011, so what?

2011-05-14T12:59:00.001-07:00

More than 1100 songs have been performed in the history of Eurovision. This year, great show and hosting from Dusseldorf presented by Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers and Stefan Raab with a big budget. Anke as funny as usual (I used to watch her show when I lived in Germany), same for Raab, he even played the guitar and sang last year winning song(if i remember well he represented Germany once in Eurovision years ago..).

Almost 2 hours of performances with 25 countries.

Eurovision has gone mad!Most of the countries sang in English: Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina ,Russia,Germany,Romania, Austria, Azerbaijan , Stonia (I liked this song),Slovenia (a bit rockish style, too),Iceland,Denmark, Georgia, Ukrania ,Sweden,Switzerland, Moldovia ,Hungary... The French sang in Italian, Lithuanians sang in French and Italians sang in English,too. What's going on Europe? What's up with the amount of different languages that we have? Shouldn't we use them and promote them in our own Eurovision contest?

Only Serbia, Spain and Greece sang in their own languages! Well done in this respect!

Brief comments on the performances, let's start with the first 3 classified:

The winner song is from Azerbaijan, to be honest i dont even know where it is..do you? the song didn't have any special for me and i kept thinking what was the song like since i didn't remember it! In my opinion Italy should have won, specially when they had Rafaella Carra for the votations! I haven't seen her for so long!! she still looks the same!

Italian jazz style song was very original but in my opinion they should have sang in Italian , which is a beautiful language! (second place!)

Swedish male singer very good looking but the song didn't convince me. (They got on third place!)

Greek sang in Greek but the song was horrible, however it got many votes (i wonder why??!!)

French guy sang very well but a horrible hair cut, he will not get a job as a hair gel TV advertiser.. and opera style is not really Eurovision material..

Russian singer looked like John travolta in Grease but in blonde, the song was catchy !

I loved U.k. song from consolidated band blue but I didnt like it on the Eurovision performance. The background while they were singing, a bit egocentric with their photos behind them. Hated the dresses and seeing themselves dancing in the screens again behind them ..uff

Moldova kind of ska song very original, loved the Simpson Marge hair style and the fairy with a trompet in pink although she was stealing a bit the protagonism of the singer lol

Slovenian's song was a bit Britney Spears/ Cristina Aguilera like ,she is very beautiful and has a strong voice but the song wasn't amazing..just o.k.. she still managed to get a good amount of points. I kept hearing Andres, "oh she is beautiful".

Lena, German singer very arrogant, didn't get the 5 dancers dressed like spermatozoids ! I'm glad she didn't win, specially due to the bad comments German tv made about Spanish song previous to the contest, o.k. it was crap but they are no-one to criticize it and their song was not that good as they thought, ad of course in English! Why they don't sing in German??!!! At least the Spanish singer sang in her own language, a crappy song but in Spanish lol.

Romanian group, hotel FM very pleasant song and looked like nice smiley guys.

I actually liked Stonia's song, too and they got very few votes, not sure if they were the last ones on the classification but close.

Who chose Austria's song to qualify..she is a cheap version of Witney Houston.. very boring..buu, her hair style looked as if she was wearing a helmet!

Spanish song, dont get the palm theme, horrible stupid song..gee, not surprise that we are in the 4 or 3 bottom countries (i stop looking at Spain classification at one point..)

Ukraine original performance with an artist drawing with sand diff siluettes .. beautiful! She reminded me of the Evanescence group. THey also got a lot of points! well done Ukraine!

Dannish rock style song, i didn't love it.. his hairstyle reminded me of my manager's, nothing bad about that, only a comment lol

The contest finished with Georgia's performance with kind of rock style song imitating Linkin Park, not my cup of tea to be honest... but the female singer was good.

Worse songs: Iceland, Greece, Spanish, Switzerland, Austria, Georgia and Serbia

Final votes:

Macedonia gave the first 4 points for SPain ,at that point i thought, o.k. at least we are not gonna have 0 points! and France gave Spain 12 points! (I was surprised about this..to be honest..

The voting was very exciting, Ireland even got to be on the 4th place at one point, polemical Irish twins: "Jedward", who ended up in the 8th place. It has been talked about disappointment for Ireland but I think They did very well, even if they have many detractors, no doubt that they passionate, energetic, committed and their vocals were not that bad, at all!. It was hard to tell who was going to win! At one point I thought it was going to be Denmark, then Ukraine and then Azerbaijan started to get many more points than the rest. You could also comment live on the Eurovision facebook page (very entertaining lol i know i'm a freak!) and it was funny to see what people around Europe said about the different songs lol.

Denmark and U.k.gave 12 points to Ireland (Ireland only gave 6 points to u.k. lol), Poland only gave 1 point to Ireland (I was surprised about this..) and of course Portugal gave Spain 12 points (Thanx Portugal, you are deaf! but thanx!).

It had been a very entertaining show ,i only hope next year Spain chooses better our representative.. maybe we should sing in English too?? lol!! just kidding!!

Some of my favorite moments in video:

Check out the energetic performance of the Irish twins John and Edward! Even when Ireland voted for other countries, the Irish host was wearing a Jedward "wig" lol, love Irish!!

Free online photo editor for photography lovers like me!

2011-05-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

I dont need to write much,i only wanted to share with you one free online photo editor that i have just discovered! It's great! you can edit your pictures and save them on your computer! Pixl even has a blog where you can learn new features they have to edit photos like the night vision one or the hope effect. You have it available in different language, have a look!

http://pixlr.com/ (here is the homepage)

and if you want to go to the photo editor directly from your browser go to:

http://pixlr.com/editor/

Once you have edited the photos you can upload them directly to flickr,picassa,facebook or your computer! isn't it great? Here you have one example of one photo i have just edited.

Enjoy it!

Movie Recommendation for superhero lovers: Thor (2011)

2011-05-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

Class movie directed by Kenneth Branagh ! First time i have seen a film directed by him ,I only knew him and respected him as an actor, now I respect and admire him as a director! This film has mainly been made for 3D screens but we saw it in 2D because my eyes can't stand 3d movies, don't ask me why.Spite of this, we enjoyed the great effects, quick movements of cameras, iced villains and most importantly the gorgeous looking and my lover-platonic-to-be Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, playing the warrior Thor. GEE not even this time again Natalie Portman (she is in all movies this year..give me a break!!) could steal his protagonism, gee where has Chris been all these years??!! He reminded me a bit of Brad Pitt in his young times (only the face,of course..). Well but not only Chris was good, the film is entertaining, thrilling, exciting and even funny, sometimes. There is nothing i didn't like about it. WARNING: Please go and see it in the cinema, do not waste your time uploading it on your computer, this film is definitely to be seen on a big screen with popcorns!!

I'm not going to tell you much only that i loved the end and that i missed the small part when they give some info about the second part of this film, it happens when the credits are on the screen and people are just leaving, so stay a bit longer!! Some of my favorite parts were when Thor goes to earth and does not know how to behave himself and when his loyal friends go to pick him up on earth. And of course his brother, his father played by Anthony Hopkins and the iced villains! This film is one of those that makes you feel good at the end of it.

Of course you have to be into this type of superhero/comic style movie, otherwise do not go!

Thanx Andres for making me to go this film, i would not have gone on my own! I wanted to see Hanna, this is the next one on my list!

Aruba : Things to see and new experiences!

2011-05-08T04:16:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are wondering where Aruba is , it's located only 27 kms from Venezuela and it belongs to the known "ABC islands" : Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, in the southern warm and beautiful blue Caribbean Sea. I'll start giving you some tips and my opinion of our trip to the island. How to get there? From Ireland there are several options, the easiest are either to go from London or from Amsterdam. From London it's usually cheaper. We flew with Martinair from Amsterdam since it suited better the dates we wanted to travel. Martinair is cheaper than the Dutch company KLM. The plane was very old, not enough space, you had to pay to see movies and meals were not abundant/nor snacks. I had to put up with a huge obese Arubian woman by my side so my 10 hour flight from Aruba to Amsterdam were not very comfy.

Aruba has its own small airport with all commodities. Our luggage came on time from Dublin , so no complaints. No issues on the border, nothing. We took the bus to go to the hotel on time and in the hotel, Holiday Inn, thanx to my husband charm we got one of the best rooms with a very nice Sea view! About Holiday inn i have to say that i'm very pleased with the service they offer to be a all-inclusive resort. My only complaints are about the phenomenon of the queueing to book sunbeds (people there from 5.30 a.m.!!) and to book for restaurants at 8.00 a.m. I think i woke up earlier every day in Aruba than here to go to work! (never later than 6.30 a.m.). Due to the intensive heat in Aruba it can reach up to 35 degrees (humid temperature), you cannot afford not to have shadow on the beach (So leave the jackets in your country!)! Only stupid tourists all burned due to the sun did that, we even saw a woman with a bandage due to the sun-burns. You cannot play with the sun in these days!! Going back to the queueing issue, i know it's the same in most of the resorts, so nothing specific from Holiday Inn. It's a good hotel more family type, not very romantic for couples. A very busy hotel and a bit loud some times but being in the Caribbean loud music cannot be an issue! Last afivce about Holiday Inn try to avoid eating in the buffet "Coral restaurant", food is much nicer in the "sea breeze restaurant" or on the Italian one (of course you will need to book for dinner but for lunch , See bree breeze is o.k. to go without reservation)

We were in the area of Palm Beach, the most tourist one ,specially with U.s. tourists which meant that all was very expensive. Even the shops and restaurants were built in a very American style, I felt like in U.s.a. ,specially when they did not have the local currency: Arubian florins and asked us to pay in $ !! In the end we ended up exchanging our Florins to be able to get by!

Yeah, depending on what part of the island you are going to stay, exchanging Arubian Florins is not going to bring you much, I'd advise you to take $, otherwise the mess will start when you pay in one currency and they give you another one! 1 euros = 2 Florins.

We thought that being the island a former Spanish and Dutch colony , it would have a Spanish and/or Dutch influence. Well in relation to the Spanish, there is actually influence, most of the natives speak Spanish! English and their own language Papimento. In relation to architecture , we didnt see any Spanish or Dutch influence, only a fake mill on Palm beach imitating the Dutch ones. There are many chalets in different colours and many American influenced buildings/restaurants.

Most beautiful beaches for me were: Baby beach (hard to find, you need to go by car) and Eagle beach. Palm beach is very nice if you want to have an infrastructure for toursits with plenty of sunbeds/water sports and small bars on the beach. It depends on what you are looking for.

Landscapes have a vulcanic vegetation : Cactus everywhere and beautiful divi divi trees ,which look like big Bonsais! I was fascinated by them specially!

Where to go on the island and hoe:

Best option is to rent a jeep. If there is no budget for a jeep, you can rent a car for 65 $ a day (this was the cheapest we found) but you will not be able to go through all the roads of the national park.

Dont miss : National Arikok park , natural bridge, the caves, Californian Lighthouse (go to see the sunset there and have dinner in the restaurant!)Eagle and Baby beach (good for snorkling!). For shopping or Casinos (There are plenty of them) you can go to Palm Beach or the capital: Oranjestadt. Do not expect good value shops , most of them are very expensive brands like Louis Vutton ! It was hard for me to find small typical pottery from the area!

To eat: There are loads of grills to eat meat but also diff restaurants from around the worldfor those who are not brave enough to taste some of the local dishes like turtle soup or iguanas (They told it tastes like chicken, I was actually eating chicken all the time so i hope they dont give me iguana instead!). I have to say that it was not easy to find places with local food where we stayed and they also told us that it was forbidden to cook the iguanas. (shame on them!)

Dont forget: Plug adaptor (like the one for U.s.a or Canada, will do) , Sun cream with very high protection (sun is very powerful there!), Mosquito repellent! (specially at night!), bring a good camera with you to take nice pictures of the sunset! (one of the most beautiful i have seen!), look for a hotel with internet (it's not easy to find internet connection, if you dont have it in your hotel), bring your driving licence ! (forget about renting a bike, as i wanted to, there are no bikers and it's a bit dangerous, traffic can get heavy on the island!).

My First time..

I had never seen iguanas before and I was fascinated by them ,running loose ! They only came out in the heat or at night and were not dangerous at all.

First time i was on a jeep on a dessert-like landscape! First time for Andres driving one, too! He did a good job, the American tourists that were in our jeep also agree, very nice couple celebrating their anniversary: Bob and Melanie.

First time i tasted the Daiquiri cocktail , tasty!! and sweet!!

First time i actually drank water on a Caribbean island, in Aruba it's safe to drink running water everywhere, it was fab!

First time i lay-down on a sun bed inside a swimming pool, i loved it! but i actually got a bit sun burn due to this.. it was so comfy..

First time I flew with Martinair, dont think it's going to happen again if i can avoid it..

First time on Curacao island, only at the airport but it looked very nice, similar to Aruba with the divi divi trees!

First time i saw Divi-divi trees!! spent time looking for one i saw on a book and we found it on eagle beach! fab!

First time i have heard Papimento language (couldn't understand a thing!) and first time i have met locals from Aruba, very nice people!!!

First time i see so many Italians on Aruba!! I didn't know it was so popular in Italy!! Even Berlusconi has a house there! From the rest of Europe there were only Dutch.

Aruba has also many offers for people who want to have a good time, drinking, there are drinking tours on boats and special buses from the island.

It's a very safe island, we could leave the bags on the bags on the beach and nothing happened, we didnt feel unsafe any time.

We had a great time, specially enjoyed the sunsets, beaches and jeep tour around the islands with the agency palm tours. If you want to see my best photos of the islands visit the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belendelgado/sets/72157626665373512/with/5696806860/

As a conclusion, the island reminded me a bit of Lanzarote due to the vulcanic landscapes and although i liked the island, i dont think i'll be going back, it's definitely too expensive and to me, i prefer more authentic islands with true natives. I love Caribbean, who doesnt? but in the future, we will go to the Colombian Caribbean, it's half price, also safe and more authentic!!

Your Highness (2011) - Very funny movie!!! It will raise your spirit!

2011-04-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

Again not my choice to see this movie, it was actually Andres the one interested, i had little expectations to be entertained and even to laugh. How wrong was I, I actually laughed louder than Andres LOL,LOL!! Rotten tomatoes audience scored it with 51, to me i would have scored it at least with 70! Within this range of funny American movies, one more time the director of Pineapple Express,David Gordon Green, did the trick! I didn't expect some of the best hilarious moments of the film like the one with the little fairies or the trophy of my favorite personage of the movie: Thadeous, a trophy of his first victory in a fight in the quest to rescue "Belladonna". Nathalie Portman is also in this film and yeah, she is everywhere this year lol , male audience will be happy when she bathes in a lake,naked (not sure if it was her real body, uhm.., i know it's pure envy !!) . The female protagonist of another great movie: "500 days of summer", Zooey Deschanel, plays the role of the kidnapped bride of the gorgeous looking : James Franco, Fabious. Both are hilarious! I liked every single character in this film! It's a good parody of all those chivalry ,adventurous films with some very original flashes. It has also some thrilling moments and it has a plot, indeed, and thread to follow, it's not one of those films like "scary movie", where there is no connection and it's full of stupidity. Of course, needless to say that you have to watch this film in English! Sit back, relax and have some fun!! If you don't laugh with this film at least once..you are a very serious,serious person who needs to laugh more!! Laughing is a good therapy and i do recommend this film in order to achieve some good entertaining moments!!

The Roommate (2011)

2011-04-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

And you are wondering now, why did Belen go to see this thriller set in a college? well,the answer is simple: it was the only movie starting at that time when we were at the cinema, there is no other special reason. We didn't even know what was about. Rotten tomatoes critics give this film a score of 4 but the audience gave it a much higher score of 39%. To be honest it was entertaining to see women in there thirties playing college girls lol. The psycho room mate is called Rebeca, gee im glad im out of college now. There is even one scene in memory of hitchock's movie "Psycho" , the famous scene of the shower with the knife;teens who may have seen this film,may not have noticed but oldies like me, get good things even out of these predictable, not-engaging, predictable American films. Other good things were the good-looking guys: the ex boyfriend of the protagonist, who only lasts 15 mins in the film, i think, he gets killed too quickly (damm it!) and then the current boyfriend, who had a bit too many wrinkles to play a college boy but i didn't mind that lol. There are a couple of lesbian scenes , so guys in the audience were entertained by this, too. So ,no don't see this movie.. i said i'd write about any film i see so that's why im writing this , take is also as a warning!! stay away from Rebeca!!!

Liberad al pato Willix con X de Mixta - No te lo pierdas!

2011-04-15T11:22:00.001-07:00

Ja ja el mejor!! Liberad al pato Willix, que lo hace por mantener a su familia!! genial!! echarle un vistacillo!! GRacias Martire por compartir este link conmigo ,genial jaja

2 Irish movies : "Rewind" and "Snap"

2011-04-12T12:10:00.000-07:00

I have the purpose this year of writing about any movie I see ,whether i like them or not so here i am writing about 2 Irish movies i have seen recently. I was not convinced by any of them but one was actually much worse than the other, here you are:

Starting with : " Rewind" geeee, what an Irish soap opera!! and of course you could predict what was going to happen. Some positive aspects of it: I liked their Irish accent and the work they do with the photography is great, playing with being out and on focus all the time. It reminded me a bit of Almodovar. Let's say it was an o.k. film but i'd have loved to have chosen a different one!! When it ended , we weren' t sure whether we liked it or not..,you know this kind of feeling. But now after thinking of the other Irish movie we went to see (see below) i think this one was actually much better.

Going on with another Irish film: "Snap" geeeeeee, this one i could only cope with it for 20 mins..,we actually left the cinema (Yeah ,this is the worse movie i have seen this year so far..). First bad sign was that there were no more people watching it ,only us, then 7 more people came and at least 3 of us eft, so only 4 people were brave enough to staty, i wonder if they managed to stay until the end. What i saw was a woman swearing all the time talking about a child that was kidnapped, they were trying to make it alternative with the camera again being out of focus but to me it was disturbing and not well done (with the other Irish movie: REwind, it was very well done). AFter 20 mins of swearing and flashbacks of a kidnapped baby, we decided to leave geeeeeeeee, what's going on with Irish movies lately??? No wonder that Irish people don't actually go and see them!! Believe me that i usually go and see Irish movies and i have seen some good ones, only with these 2 i have not been lucky..

Recommended movie: Source Code (2011)

2011-04-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Rotten tomatoes termometer scores this movie with an 87% (audience score) and i couldn't agree more (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/source_code/)! What a good thriller, from the beginning to end, i didn't want to move from my seat! Yeah, it may not be that original since it inspired in "back to the future" and the 90ies movie "Groundhog Day" where the protagonist wakes up and it's always the same day. In "Source code", the soldier Colter Stevens,played by Jake Gyllenhaal, has only 8 minutes to change the future and find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. I wasn't a big fan of Jake Gyllenhaal but i'm now, my respect, he played an excellent believable role and yeah, he also looks good in the movie! I happened to be in Chicago last year because of work, well i only saw the airport and i saw the city from the plane,only, and it looked beautiful, in this movie you can see the skyscrapers of Chicago. I want to go there again!!! But this time , get actually out of the airport!

Going back to the movie, people who know me well know that "back to the future" is one of my favorite 80ies movies and since then, the topic of travelling in time has always interested me. In Source code, they do not go too deep into time travel but they dealt with it in a very thrilling way and it makes you wonder if there will be a source code once. After the film ended i was thinking what would i change if i had 8 minutes to to go back and the past and then i thought that i would go back and tell my father how much i loved him.. What would you do with 8 minutes? so, go and see this film! You won't regret it!

Spanish Flamenco guitar concert, National Concert Hall (Dublin)

2011-04-04T13:04:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, 2nd of April, we were delighted by the sound of the Spanish guitar played by Spanish musician, Juan Martin, who comes from Malaga, Andalucia (my region). Such talent playing flamenco can only come from the South of Spain! His fingers moved so quickly that it made it look so easy, gee! Juan spoke in perfect English between each song and explained when he played at the 90 th birthday of the famous painter Picasso, who is also from Malaga and who asked him to improvise at his birthday. There was another Spanish "cantaora" (singer) from Malaga with a very clean and neat flamenco voice and 3 more musicians, one playing typical instruments from Marroco and the other two played flauta and clarinete. It was beautiful to see the mixture of the Arabic music along with classical flamenco guitar: Rumbas, bulerias and alegrias. There were 2 dancers, as well, one female who was o.k. , i wouldn't say great but o.k. but the male dancer, geeeeee he didn't feel the music, he reminded me of a Spanish comedian #chiquito de la calzada#, in the way he walked lol the Irish audience didn't notice his lack of skills but we did because we are used to seeing flamenco shows. Anyway, this male dancer, can't even remember his name, didn't make us forget talented Juan who deserved all the applauses he got! I felt back in my region, Andalucia for 3 hours ! thanx National Concert Hall!

The Eagle (2011) - BORING BUUU!! DO NOT GO!

2011-03-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

BORING,bad acting and not a strong plot to follow. If i was golden eagle , i would have also left, out of boredom!! GEEEEE!!Chaning Tatum,if you read this, yes you are very hot but please LEARN TO ACT! Some of his lines made us laugh when they were supposed to be dramatic lol at least in "Step up" you could dance! Cute British actor James Bell, played a better role but still doesn't help. I'd have loved to see him dancing like in Billy Elliot (he's still good-looking but I think he lost his dancing skills..some time ago..), at least it would have been somehing good out of it. In the middle of the movie we thought of leaving but in the end we decided to stay..wrong choice..it didn't improve.., gee a whole movie to see how they get back a piece of metal that belonged to his father legion..WHO CARESSSSSSSSSSSS??!!!

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME !!! geeeee

The Rite (2011)

2011-03-27T05:01:00.000-07:00

Anthony Hopkins is such a great actor that again , he didn't disappoint us, he is specially good playing the evil roles..and i this movie he is an exorcist priest (hell, yeah!!). I have to say that exorcist's movies are not my kind of movie that I usually watch but this time, Andres chose it so I made the effort. I have to say that the parts, I could actually look at the screen (was not looking most of it lol), were very well done. It's actually an interesting topic and the mixture of devil, and church is actually scary! The movie is set in Rome, it was beautiful to see Rome again and gee, get ready to see the devil inside Hopkins!! He really convinced my left eye when i opened it once lol the other was still closed! The film is not so scary as the original film of the exorcist, there are a couple of moments when you even laugh but gee, the rest you are just waiting to see what happens. It's a film with good actors in it, good story and for brave-hearts who like to suffer in the cinema .. I, personally prefer feeling other kind of emotions but I recommend it for exorcists lovers, you will definitely be entertained!!! Last but not least, you will learn Italian as all the devil possessed are Italians and even Hopkins spoke in Italian in the movie!NOt sure about the message they tried to convey there: The Americans "the saviours" and the Italians the evil ones!

I'm also glad because i have discovered another hot Irish young actor: Colin O'Donoghue,from count Louth, he is beautiful ,if all priests looked like him, i'd go more often to Church!

Last but not least, for those who are thinking of downloading this film (hackrs buuuu!!..) don't!! You have to see it in the cinema and of course in the original version!

Kylie Minogue Concert, 23 March 2011,O2 Dublin

2011-03-27T04:22:00.001-07:00

No need to say that Kylie has a great show on her tour "Les Folies". Surrounded by acrobatic, fit dancers, great back singers, different changes of colorful clothing. Full of positive energy and a lively atmosphere! Kylie was so nice to us, she talked a lot to the audience, brought a couple of fans to the stage and even was brave enough to sing a part of one of one of her songs "it's in your eyes", imitating the Irish accent! The only piece of criticism i have is that as Kylie is so short , even though she was wearing high-heels, sometimes when she moved to the other side of the stage, we couldn't see her! The Stage was designed for the people who were seating,not for the standing audience. Before Kylie came to stage there was a poor quality girl band, dont even remember their name and after that there was a d.j. playing for an hour..it was eternal because we all wanted to see Kylie!! The concert started at 8 and it ended up at around 23.30 if I remember well. Some of my favorite tunes were of course, the last 2, "In a night like this" and "all the lovers", which was performed with the magnificent human fountain full of dancers and Kylie in the middle! Amazing! I also liked "get out of my way" and the song "looking for an angel"and "closer" that she sang on top oa black male dancer dressed like an angel and they were both hanging in the air!or some 80ies hits like "Better the devil you know" which all the audience sang along! It's unbelievably in good shape Kylie is and so happy/go/lucky! She smiled and danced all the way through! I have to say that her back singers helped her a lot ,they have strong voices and to be honest some times we weren't sure if she was actually singing or not but fair play to her because she has an excellent show that we didn't want it to end!

Last but not least, Kylie's show is clearly aimed at the gay community, it's done in an exuberant way, it has different influences, clearly from Paris' Moulin Rouge's shows, Arabic influences, pop-dance and circus flavor due to the acrobatics in the air. She clearly chose carefully her gorgeous-looking male dancers! Gee!! There is something for any one! It's not vulgar or tasteless ,it's done in style and with a big budget!

I'm happy I got to see Kylie after being so sick, I thought i would never had a chance to see her live , it seems that she never had cancer, she looks totally healthy! Thanx Kylie for sharing your show with us!

This video is not a good quality but you can see how the concert ended and get an idea..it was the best of the night!

Adjustment Bureau (2011) -> DO not waste your time!!

2011-03-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Those who know me know that I'm a big fan of Matt Demon since Talented Mr Ripley and I have to admit that I had high expectations before going to see "Adjustment Bureau". A work colleague tried to warn me, telling me that the film didn't blow him away..,i should have listen to him ! Allan, you were damm right!Why am i so stubborn?!! The plot didn't convince me at all: Some guys that were supposed to design a plan of your life in notebooks and the only thing that distinguish them from regular people was that they were always wearing a hat (This reminds me a bit of Momo and the grey gentlemen..,not very original..i insist)and that water does not let them predict what is going to happen (wow!! 10 points there!) COME ON!! be more creative, man!!! And what about the cheesy end??!!! they should both have been reset! The only thing i liked was the paranoia with the doors going from one place to the other, i'd love to have one of those doors to be able to see my family! And can someone explain to me what was the stupid point of the 2 protagonists not being able to be together??!! BULLSHIT!!! so you can't be a senator in the USA and be in love or a successful dancer and be in love??!! What is the moral of the story , that successful people do not have time to be in love?

I should have spent my precious free time watching another film. What's going on now? it seems that after watching so many Oscar nominated and good films now there are none..ARGGG

A Hall Pass (2011) - good movie to have a laugh!

2011-03-20T07:59:00.001-07:00

I needed a stupid humorous American movie to have a laugh and disconnect and this is what i got,lol (Thanx, Hollywood!!). Some laughs were actually very loud, Andres laughed suspiciously loud, i think he could relate to the 2 male protagonists in some of the scenes, as many males in the audience, who i would say laughed much more loudly than the female watchers like me! This movie it's about 2 married men that get a week off their matrimonies where they can do whatever they want to, this week is called "hall pass" ( a dream that many married men would love to come true..). In this week, many things will happen, some of my favorite scenes were the ones with the short lunatic guy on the car trying to kill them both ,when Owen nilson (Rick) passed away in the gym, when Owen and Jason tried to flirt using their written sentences like the one referring to Dublin LOL.

I truly recommend this comedy, do not expect a deep story or a shocking end, it's just good to have fun!

Happy Saint Patrick's Festival 2011!

2011-03-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

With this cartoon ,I want to say to you all: Happy Saint Patrick! For those of you who may not know it yet, there is an Irish legend that says that Saint Patrick took all of snakes out of Ireland.. but it's proven that there were no snakes on post-glacial ireland, they never crossed the open ocean. If I was a snake , i wouldn't come to live in Ireland either, too cold for my liking and too wet lol Anyway, the excuse of this post was to wish you all happy Paddy's day!! For those of you who have to work today and tomorrow, we will still have the weekend since the st patrick's festival lasts until the 20th of March! Enough time to drink a pint of Guiness!!! Have a good craic wherever you are!

A Musical to remember: Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde (March 2011)

2011-03-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

I went to see this musical for 2 reasons> 1. "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" is a novel my husband likes very much and 2. I went to see the lead singer of the 80ies band"wet,wet,wet" in a musical (being a musical lover!no wonder here!).I was also curious to see how a dramatic, thrilling and a philosophical novel could be shown in a musical. I was nicely surprised by the quality of it: Modern settings and quick changes of stages (no idea how they did it, things were moving on their own!), big cast of singers who also could act very well! My favorite was of course, the Scottish "wet,wet,wet" lead singer: Marti Pellow playing Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde! What a lively guy and what a strong voice, i got goose pimple when he hit some high notes!! And what acting skills he has,too! Geee he was scary when he drank the potion and became Mr Hyde (We thought it may have been a powerful redbull lol,he is in a good shape to be 45 years old)! His hair went loose and his look and way of talking changed dramatically! Of course he was much more appealing being Mr Hyde than boring moral Mr Jekyll! Definitely "bad" people are more attractive! The prostitute "Lucy"was the best female singer for me and for most of the audience ,i'd say since she got the most applauses, along with Marti. MR Jekyll fiancee's had also a sweet voice but maybe as she played the moral and boring woman of the Victorian society, i wasn't impressed by her. I have to say that the musical has been adapted and it was more a soap opera style and even funny sometimes but it respected the original plot of duality in the personalities and the distinction between the good side and bad side of people. I specially like the scene when he sang along with his bad side being reflected in the screen! If you have a chance to see this broadway hit, do not miss it,it's a nice mixture of classical British 19th century theatre and excellent music accompanied by a live orchestra. You could feel that they love what they do and at the end when the whole Docklands audience stand up applauding loudly, you could see happiness in Marti's face and the whole cast! It was worth it the 61 euros I paid! I finish this humble review with a sentence that says a lot: If someone banishes all evil to the unconscious mind in an attempt to be wholly and completely good, it can result in the development of a Mr Hyde-type aspect to that person's character (taken from Sanford, John A. Evil The Shadow Side of Reality. Crossroad (1981))"

Spencer Tunick: Naked Art!

2011-03-12T02:33:00.000-08:00

Surely you have heard of an American photographer who takes pictures of nude people around the world, his name is Spencer Tunick. I have just seen one documentary of him that i recommend "naked state", there he speaks about himself who paradoxically enough he doesnt feel comfortable nude! Spencer goes to big musical festivals to find volunteers for his naked people pictures because music is what brings the biggest amount of people together in one place! There he starts asking people ,if they want to pose for him. Spencer was in Dublin in 2008, one good friend of mine, Virginia, posed for him (she asked me to go with her but im not brave enough to be on a beach in Ireland naked in such a high temperature, Virginia you are my hero!). What is great about the photographs of Spencer is the anonymity of the naked people posing, Spencer always tells them not to look at the camera in big group shots of naked people. Spencer also has pieces of art of single naked people, in this case , he decides whether he or she has to look at him or not. On his web page ,you can contact him if you want to be a volunteer and you have to enter your approximate skin tone. I leave you with one picture of his stay in Dublin of one my favorite buildings in the docklands area, I wonder how he managed to have those naked people in the different balconies!

His last picture has been taken in Mexico! Will you be brave enough to pose for him surrounded by nude strangers?

http://www.spencertunick.com/

Carnaval in Venice (2011)

2011-03-12T01:13:00.000-08:00

What can I tell you about our trip to the Carnaval in Venice? To see the traditional Venecian carnaval masks, you need to head to San Marco square where you can find most of them, if you walk around the city you may see some bit the biggest concentration of them all are in San Marco. On our way to San Marco we saw some masks, we thought were good until we actually saw some of the elaborated masks, gee you can tell it's a big deal for them and their aim is to win the mask competition! It's serious for them! Not like some tourists you can see that tried to be dressed in a Venecian style but didn't manage! Of course we were true tourists and had our masks on, i bought one of my masks on eBay because I thought it was going to be tough to find masks in Venice on the last days of Carnaval, gee how wrong i was! There are stands of masks everywhere on the streets and you can buy one from 8 to 11 euros! Of course, they are fakes but they do the trick!If you are more demanding you can go into a shop (they are all open) and find a real one from 30 to more than hundred euros.

If you ask me if it was worth it to go to see Venice in Carnival, my answer is Yes!! it's something unique you can only see there surrounded by the canals but I would say it's something to do once in your life time! I wouldn't tak a small kid there as some did struggling with their trolleys among the mass of people ,so leave the kids at home!

Forget about going on a Gondola ,they charge from 80 euros onwards ! If you really want to go on a gondola trip you can do so for only 50 cents! They are a bit longer than the gondolas and they are used by the Venetians to cross small distances, they are called "traghetto", they have specific timetables, look for them on the internet. We didn't manage to go on one because we preferred to get most of the day taking pictures of all the masks we found on the way. More info on traghetti can be found here:
http://www.travelsignposts.com/Venice/gondola.php

Some tips:

Don't stay in Venice since it can get very expensive, you can get easily to Venice on a tren (Destination: Venecia St. Lucia) for an affordable price. So consider to stay in cities close to Venice like : Mestre, Marghera,Dolo, Mirano or any other small town in the Veneto region. We stayed for example with our friend in Vicenza, an hour and a half in a regional train but in a Eurostar train it takes only 30 mins and you pay 13 euros for one way.
If you are going to Venice for the Carnival and you are going to stay in another town, due to the amount of people from Italy and other tourists that actually go there by train, I would advise you to buy with enough time in advanced a return ticket on a Eurostar train, they are the only one with booked seats , otherwise you will need to "fight your way" to find a place in a regional train (from 16.00 pm the station is overcrowded!), we felt like in India..,it's not very well organized and it can get messy, it took us 2 hours running around the station to find actually a train and then once we managed to get in, we were stuck in one for an hour ,with no air conditioning and surrounded by people everywhere..,my friend tried to warn me to leave Venice at an earlier time..I should have listened to him. Even when we stopped in one station, one guy tried to get into the train by the window..!!
If you want to have a good meal in Venice ,with wine,dessert and coffee for 30 euros per person, I truly recommend a palce called : Hosteria al Vecio Bragosso, in the strada nuova 4386 s.s. apostoli, check their web page: http://www.alveciobragosso.com/ristorante-venezia.htm , it was my second time in Venice and my second time there and gee i love it! I recommend: Frittura mista (fish like in the south of Spain!uhm!) and scalopini borgonzola (delicate pork meat with mushrooms! uhm!) and to drink : Prosecco and as a dessert : tiramisu and cafe macciatone! This restaurant is not in the tourist area and you will need to ask to get there, we always get lost to find it lol.
Dont leave Venice without eating sweets or cakes in one of the pasticceria (pastry shops)!
Take a good camera with you, otherwise you will regret not having good pictures, it's unbelievable how people pose for you when they see a nikon or canon slrs professional camera! I was impressed by the amount of tourists that had nikons and/or canons, gee! It was funny ,too when the masks posed for us all the time, they may have thought we were professional photographers, don't know lol but they did not pose when they saw a small regular digital camera!
Get ready to be surrounded by a crowd of people and that in some small bridges ,you will find Italian policemen telling you to walk quickly and not to stop and go in the direction that they say.
One place to go before you die, it has to be Venice! A city that changes with the weather, when i was there first time it was foggy and without people, it was in February 3 years ago, it had a dull touch! however ,when it's sunny, the city changes completely! The colours, the walls, all!
Dont expect to see a perfect painted city, Venice is a city that is humid and it's charm comes from the painting falling off the walls and its old bridges and small narrow streets!
If you go for Carnival, please do not wear a tacky fancy dress that do not match with the style and elegance of this carnaval, some tourists did actually wore some horrible fancy dressed that destroyed the atmosphere! and!! do not expect to get drunk and crazy, Venice has a different approach and there are no clubs or pubs to dance. There is a big stage where some music at some times of the days will be played but again as I said it's not clubbing oriented.
Fly to Venice (Trevisso) with ryanair or to Bologna (2 hours by train to Venice).
If you want to see the city in a quiet atmosphere , do like me and go in February! The weather may not be good but you will be able to stop on every corner/bridge without having loads of tourists on your pics!

Oscars 2011, humble review (winners and red carpet moments)

2011-02-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

What do you think of the oscar winners?? I very much agree with Natalie's Portman oscar for the best actress (I hate her, she even looked beautiful in that violet dress with her 7-month pregnant belly!), I'm also delighted regarding Colin Firth's oscar and the Kings' speech and of course, even though Christian Bale was wearing a horrible beard, he truly deserved his oscar for his supporting actor role in the fighter!! Even though Geoffrey Rush also played an excellent role in the King's speech! Very glad for inception, as well, great movie !

I 'm a bit disappointed because "Biutiful" did not win the oscar for the best foreign film, it truly deserved it! and not sure either why "The Network" won any oscar at all..it's not a movie to win an oscar.., not sure about Melissa Leo's role in the Fighter.. (although i loved the movie,not her role particularly)I actually prefer Amy Adams' role in it! She should have won the oscar, then!

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Oscar-Winners-Complete-2011-Academy-Award-Results-23382.html

I can't finish without commenting on some Red Carpet moments: What about Gwyneth Paltrow's dress? She looked beautiful! Hally Barry wore one of my favorite dresses of the night! And What was that horrible dress that Kate Blanchet was wearing??!! And why Justin Timberlake came with his mum??!!! Mark Wahlberg looked small in camera and with a huge head.., I hated Mila Kunis' dress and Scarlett Johansson hair was a mess and her dress matched with the carpet..gee..but she is still beautiful..so who cares?? lol

Ok no more bitching for now.. and i'd rather go to sleep! good night!

In this link you can see some of the red carpet moments:

http://www.moviefone.com/oscars-academy-awards/photos/red-carpet

No Strings Attached (2011)

2011-02-27T14:18:00.000-08:00

The exact reason why we went to see this movie was simple: We didn't want more drama/harsh true stories and wanted a predictable romantic movie with 2 hot protagonists: Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher. That way, Andres was happy and so was i! This is exactly what you get with this film: 2 of the current hottest young American actors on screen, no thinking involved, you could guess what was going to happen, and of course happy cheesy end but we were entertained with this story about "sex friends" (i couldn't resist saying all the time: oh geeee, he is hot! and andres was the same referring to Natalie P.!!. It has some funny moments, I liked the part of the "period mix cd" lol i found that very funny , "keep bleeding , keep bleeding love"'s song was on it LOL . I recommend this film if you want the same as me : Entertainment , a happy ending and get to see gorgeous Ashton for 2 hours in the screen... geee why i did become an actress??!! by the way both of them make a great match, i would be jelous if i was Demy Moore. Yeah sometimes one needs these type of North American Movies to chill out, it did the trick for me!

Concert REview: Lighthouse Family,Olympia theatre (Dublin)

2011-02-27T06:42:00.001-08:00

After 8 years break in their career, Lighthouse family announced their u.k. and Ireland tour and we were among the lucky fans to enjoy them live! Paul started shouting "Did you miss us?", they look so happy to be back on the stage and they were really amazed at the reaction of the public to every song, we were all overexcited!!

I'm going to be brief and you can see it for yourself with the below video, mid-90ies British group Lighthouse family concert last Saturday at the Olympia theater in Dublin. It was one of the most beautiful and melodic concerts i have been to! The atmosphere was great, the age average of the audience was high (in comparison to other concerts i have been to,i mean), i felt really young there lol this is the kind of concert i should go to feel good!!! But gee they shouted and sang like teenagers! I want to be like them when i grow up! What clean and relaxing voice the Nigerian origin singer Tunde Baiyewu has! He was very decent on stage and elegant in his blue suit, the concert was pure music with 7 different instruments and 2 back singers.Paul was hyperhappy , probably high since he couldn't stop moving his mouth and arms and loved to talk between each song lol (He talked about politics, about x-factor etc).

I love Lighthouse Family lyrics, they are full of meaning and feeling accompanied by soul/pop melody and we were lucky enough to be on the second row standing. Olympia is an old theater and the sound was not great but Tunde's voice did the trick and we didn't care much about any sound issues. They started the concert with "Lifted"Of course my favorite song was "High" ,very romantic since i used to send the lyrics of this song to my husband when he was in Germany and I was in ireland and we were appart. This song has a special meaning for us and it was a wonderful feeling to have Tunde singing it only for us (well ,for the whole audience but i to us, too !!). Other beautiful songs: "lost in space","postcards from heaven", "happy".

Again,another concert with just good music, no shows , dancers or decorations just pure music!!!

Upps!! sorry, i said i was going to be brief but i got into it!!! I leave you with our video of our favourite song: "High" (if you pay attention you will hear the whole audience and us singing along !!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BorANykCE7Y

Concert Review:Maroon 5 (Docklands Theatre,Dublin)

2011-02-27T04:59:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting for months to attend this concert and i have to say that it was worthwhile waiting!They had two support bands, we missed the first one because we were having a drink on the highest floor of the theater looking at the brilliant view of the dock! Luckily enough we went in to see the second support act singer from California: Sara Bareilles. We were blown away by her voice and talent, she played the piano and the guitar. Sometimes it's good to see famous bands to actually get to know the support act! As when we I saw blacked eyed peas for the first time, years ago and they were the support act of Justin T.! To be honest, we thought the support act, Sara was going to be sing much better than Maroon 5 live but noooooo, Adam Levine's voice and talent did not disappoint me at all!!! Loved the energy on stage, he was a healthy singer, not acting weirdly high on drugs or anything and GOD he is hot, too!! a bit skinny but hot!! He was a bit shy with the audience but it didn't matter because we all sang along! It was a simple gig, just them, playing good music! No show, no big screens, no dancers,no changes of clothing, just them! The acustic of the most modern theatre in Dublin played its part, the sound was amazing! Even us , who were at the highest circle of the theatre could hear the music perfectly like in a bubble! At the end of the 3 hours and half concert, i can say that i was a happy woman, music makes me alive and you could see that Maroon 5 enjoyed themselves on stage and love what they do! If you have a chance to see them on tour in Europe, don't miss it!! Among the songs i loved the most at the concert were: "Misery" " Harder to breathe" " she wil be loved", "hands all over" , "how","Sunday Morning" etc The only piece of criticism i can give, is that for those of us who where so far from the stage a big screen where we could see him closer, would have been nice! Thanx God i had a good zoom in my lumix camera! Poor Andres forgot his glasses and sometimes had to have a look at my camera to know what was going on lol but this didn't prevent him from singing along!

If you want to know more about them check their web page: http://www.maroon5.com/bio/

Here you are a couple of songs of Dublin's concert (Wake up call and she will be loved):

and if you want to listen to the wonderful Sara (here you are a little part of one of the songs she performed in Dublin):

Movie Recommendation: Falling Down (1993)

2011-02-22T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today I have felt like Michael Douglas in this great 90ies movie "Fallig Down"! what?you haven't seen it yet? what are you waiting for??!!!i guess all of us have felt once like Michael! GEEEEEEEEEE, one day you get fed up with everything and you become Michael Douglas!! "i fell more comfortable calling you rick,after all what we have went through together lol" " can anybody tell me what's wrong with this picture?" lol

Beautiful and Romantic Concert: As time goes by (Dublin)

2011-02-15T12:44:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure to see live the Irish RTE orchestra together with top Jazz singer: Matthew Ford. What a delightful combination of talented and clean singing voice and around 70 musicians. Frank Sinatra and Andy William came alive again!Matthew started the show saying that he was not going to sing the song "why you didn't bring me flowers (lol)", then part of the audience who didn't get flowers laughed loudly lol. My favorite love songs performed in the show were: Cry me A river (beautiful, they played it twice for us! the audience couldn't stop clapping!), Moon river, Sway, When I fall in love and that's Amore. The last one "That's Amore' they gave us the lyrics and we all sang along. We were lucky to be in the third row and sometimes I even blushed because the singer was so close singing romantic songs that it looked like he was singing to me lol and on top of that Andres was also singing and an old lady behind us was singing ,too.

National Concert hall was packed (only a few seats left), regarding the audience, I have to say that I felt very young ..i think all elderly population from Ireland was there!

Some of the instruments they had: Trumpets,violins,violas,piano,guitars, arpa ,saxo,drummer, chelo

If you live in Dublin and have a chance to see the Rte orchestra live, don't miss it, they are very professional and can play anything! They play regularly at the National Concert Hall, don't miss it! Regarding Mathew Ford what a voice mannnnnnnn , he was very nice and smile throughout the show and joking with us. What I like about this country, you can go to see a classical concert and still have a laugh. To put it in a nutshell , I'm happy to be versatile musically speaking! I can say that I had a beautiful St Valentin'es night! What about your day?

Web Page recommendation: Bookdepository

2011-02-15T12:28:00.000-08:00

I wanted to recommend you all a webpage i discovered by chance last week (and at the same time a good book!), they offer at the moment great discounts on books and the best feature is that postage is free around the world!! To give you an example I bought 3 books of digital photography by Scott Kelby for 23 euros (all of them) and if i wanted to buy one book only in a bookshop in Ireland (eason,for example),only one book (the same one i bought) costed me 19 euros! I also checked other pages online like eBay and the same three books costed me 30 euros + 10 postage =40 euros (almost double!), similar price in Amazon! The books I bought are brand new and I have received them within 5 working days!

If you want to have a look check: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/?a_aid=bworm

This webpage is also specially good for those who need books in English and do not live in an English speaking country.

Never Let Me go (2010) ...

2011-02-13T13:28:00.000-08:00

Gee..I do let you go indeed!! in one word: BORING!!! I didn't get the moral of the story and i didn't even get into the story at all,not convincing,not a good idea behind the script.. I wonder if they have respected the real plot of the novel from Kazuo Ishiguro that it's based on, not very motivated now to read it,anyway. Not very impressed by Keira Knightley's performance either, she is very pretty but she cannot act. In my opinion, only the British actress Carey Mulligan did her part but this didn't win me over. Don't waste your time going to see this film.. HONESTLY! If anyone liked this film please explain to me the reason why..

Movie Recommendation: The Fighter( 2010) :Now in the cinema!

2011-02-12T17:18:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a great year for the cinematographic culture! What a great role played Christian Bale as an ex-boxer called Dicky addict to crack (Message to Bale: I love every single one of your films, since when I was only 15 and I watched over and over again Spielberg's film "the empire of the sun") ! The way Bale walks, the way he talks and even the way he looks ,gee how many kilos did he lose for this role?? and what about his bold-like style? he really looks like a drug-addict, he reminded me of some jonkies i have seen on the street (in a truck-suit and wearing gold chains with an ill and pale look). To me, he is the star of this movie, well, him and the whole "knacker-like" family lol .Don't get me wrong, Mark Wahlberg also plays well but to me, Christian steals his protagonism in this film which,by the way, is based on a true story, very inspirational, I think . It's inevitable the comparison of this movie to Rocky, having the boxing background but the message of this film is very different. It's a film about real people,the role family plays in some people's lives, drugs, love and perseverance to get your goals. Even though it's a drama, you will also have a laugh with Dicky and his family! Only one piece of advice, if you are not into violent scenes of boxing, just look away as i did when it was too much, i think i'm getting more sensitive with the years, I used to be able to handle violence (Tarantino's Reservoir dogs movie was one of my favorite films! lol) but things have changed..,anyway, i left the cinema with a smile on my face because i liked it as a whole and loved the end!

Next film on my list : "Don't let me go" let's see if the luck continues..so far out of 7 films I have seen in the cinema this year only one didn't meet my expectations, not going even to mention it..bua, well let's say 2 because Hereafter didn't meet them either but at least it was an o.k. film

Recommended Spanish movie: Biutiful (2010) (in cinemas now!)

2011-02-09T13:05:00.000-08:00

<" Papa? C'omo se escribe "biutiful"? hijo, as'i como suena "b-i-u-t-i-f-u-l"> a harsh film directed by Mexican Alejandro Gonzalez I., among other of his great movies you can find "babel" or "Amores Perros". The main protagonist of "Biutiful" does not need an introduction : Javier Bardem, there is no role too strong for him, he can impersonate any character and, Jesus!! Uxbals role is not an easy one to play,Bardem to me you are one of the best actors IN THE WORLD! (Oscar from me to you!!Not surprised that you got the award for the best actor in Cannes!). There is one famous idiom that sas "Reality can be stranger and tougher than fiction", this film is a good example of it. I wish it was fiction but when you see it, you know it tackles a reality that some people hide and others do not want to see. "Biutiful" is about the mafia of illegal immigrants in Barcelona, what lies behind, corruption (involving the police), money that costs lives of innocent people that only want to make a living to send money back to their countries r even to survive.

This film does not make a good propaganda of Barcelona and actually it doesn't even look like Barcelona at all ( I agree , Filip with you on this)! it's an underworld of explotation and misery that can be seen in many places in Europe. In these surroundings lives Uxbal, a man between the Good and the Bad who also has to support his 2 kids and bipolar wife. If you go and see this film, bring some tissues with you, I remember one scene i couldn't stop crying and it was when his older daughter asked him if he was o.k... gee and i didn't have any tissue with me (also when Uxbal found "Lilly" in the basement with the other 24..)!! f.c.k.!! and there was absolute silence throughout the movie..you couldn't hear a sound. When it ended i felt like buying all the cds to immigrants on the streets (i needed to go to Barcelona or Madrid for that, we don't have this in Ireland) and I even met a Chinese guy on our way home and i felt like giving him a hug. I suffered with Bardem all the way.., his little son also played an excellent part. Loved the end.. father and daughter.. and then him and his father.. (by the way, his father was a hottie!!who is this actor??where does he live ??lol). and what do you tell me about Bardem's wife in the movie? geeee, fucking nuts!! poor kids!! And what about the nightclub in Barcelona that they show? gee tits everywhere!! I have one question to those of you who have seen it: "what was the story with Uxbal talking to the dead?" did he really have a gift???"

I think it's a pity not to speak Spanish to be able to enjoy this film fully, reading subtitles in English is not the same but still is worth going,people!! Only make sure you are very happy that day and that you don't want to go out later or anything!

This film will change a part inside you,it will leave a mark , it has a clear message to deliver "please stop explotation, everybody has the right to have dignity in life no matter the race!!"

Next movie on my list: The Fighter! Can't wait to see it!

Hereafter (2010)

2011-02-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

And I should have checked before that Clint Eastwood was the film director of this movie, oh gee it was very slow! I wanted to come from the hereafter to take some action, some spirit killing someone alive or something!! gee!! The most exciting part for me was the beginning and I could predict what was going to happen with the twin boy, Jason, and i hate predictable films. I have mixed fillings about this film,still not sure whether i liked it or not (Andres has the same problem).On top of that, I had a freaky seating next to me in the cinema who didn't stop eating popcorn and made very weird noises while chewing (i wanted to send him to afterlife too lol) I think if Bardem's film "Biutiful" wouldn't have been sold out, I would have invested better my time watching this film rather than "Hereafter". I'd classify it as an o.k . movie to watch on t.v.. Nothing special for me, not even Matt Damon's role convinced me. Sorry Clint.. I also hated the cheesy end..

I hope to find tickets next time to see Beautiful!!! Next one on the list!