If Facebook existed years ago LOL

Check out this link ,it's very funny, just imagine what would be the status of facebook if God had it or Julius Cesar or Darwin? have a look and judge for yourself!


http://www.hotsynch.com/funny/fb.html?ref=nf

(if the link doesnt work ,copy it in a browser!it's funny!)

The Social Network (2010)/ Movie about the origin of Facebook

I always have a constant desire for knowledge and in addition, a vivid facebook user like me, couldn't resist the temptation of going to watch "The social Network", a film about who and how the idea of facebook came out. The social netwrok page of facebook has already made history with 500 million users around 207 different countries in only 6 years. Only a genius, young, programmer mind could create it, this mind belongs to Mark Zuckerberg. It may be that the original grasp of the idea of facebook was not originally from him but he already had some inclinations towards networking at the university when he hacked into the university databases and grabbed pictures of different students to compare which one was hottest (some applications in facebook, still do this with celebrities). After this act, by the way, Mark was penalized for breaching the privacy of the Harvard university data (Can we trust him protecting our privacy in facebook with such records lol ?) and he said they should thank him for discovering the flaws of the privacy system Harvard.


It's funny to see how Mark came up with the idea of the relationship status and how the initial idea of "the facebook" was to meet other students and help to socialize for people like Mark, a bit shy and introvert according to what the movie showed.

Some people may criticise what Mark did to reached the top but no-one can deny his talent and ingenious mind, which has captivated millions of users, making him also the youngest billionaire in the world.

I'd say that the main protagonists of the film , like Jessen Eisenberg who has an impressive resemblance with the real Mark Z! his friend, Andrew Garfield , who in the end you feel sorry for.. and the cheeky "enterpreneur" Justin Timberlake roles were all very convincing! In a nutshell ,if you are really interested in the phenomenon of facebook and want to know a bit more about its short history, go and see the movie! don't expect to be blown away by it but at least to walk away knowing somethingelse that you didn't before watching the movie.

See you in my next humble review!

Pyjama girls (2010) / Las Chicas Pijama (2010)

Spanish versión only /

Cualquier extranjero/a que haya vivido en Dublín por cierto tiempo, se ha tenido que preguntar al menos una vez que hay detr'as de las chicas en pijama con sus botas de esas de "pelo" de cabra que se pueden ver ocasionalmente en ciertos barrios dublineses por la calle ,de compras en el Pennys o en el Tesco o en el Dublin bus en la parte de arriba. Pues bien, nuestras dudas se han terminado con el film documental de 70 minutos de Maya Derrington. Dos chicas pijama muy buenas amigas que residen en el barrio de clase obrera Ballyfermot, nos llevan a su mundo del pijama. El documental tiene subt'itulos debido a la dificultad para entender a las j'ovenes protagonistas del mismo. Tengo que decir que tenia grandes expectativas antes de verlo, las cuales no fueron cumplidas porque me di cuenta de que la mayoría de las cosas que mostraban, ya las conocia, como por ejemplo que dichas chicas vienen de barrios marginales, de familias conflictivas donde el padre o la madre es drogadicto o alcoholico y viven de las pagas que les da el gobierno. Estas chicas del pijama no suelen ser buenas estudiantes, hacen la rata y tiene como hobby ir en el Dublin bus buscando pelea a cualquiera que les mire fijamente por cualquier motivo , o sino se van a la puerta del Tesco a ver gente o al Pennys de compras. Me hace gracia el lenguaje que utilizan como "ma" (para mum) o "da" (para father). Ellas explican en el documental que la gente les tiene envidia porque es m'as practico salir en pijama! que no es para nada poco higiénico y que para ellas su barrio es como una extensi'on de su "flat" (casa t'ipicamente de proteccion social) y por eso pueden salir por ah'i en pijama, que no entienden porque la gente les mira.

El documental refleja como estas adolescentes tienen pocas expectativas en la vida, beben, fuman salen con adolescentes que en muchas ocasiones las dejan en embarazo y tambi'en muestran como también muchas veces sus tías o abuelas acaban cuidando de ellas por la ausencia de sus padres o bien por que han fallecido o porque est'an en prision. Es una parte de la sociedad Irlandesa que est'a presente y el gobierno no hace mucho por ayudarles, a parte de darles un flat donde vivir,no les incentivan para salir de ese mundo. Del documental me parece entra~nable la hermana peque~na de Lauren, que pena que tampoco vaya a tener un gran futuro.., la verdad es que tengo algo en com'un con las chicas del pijama ,me encantan los pijamas de 6 euros del pennys!! pero todavia no me los pongo para salir a la calle, puede que algún dia lo pruebe para ver que se siente! Al final del documental se entiende un poco mejor su perspectiva del mundo pero como decía al principio, es algo que no me sorprendi'o despu'es de los a~nos que llevo aquí.

Trip recommendation> Brussels, Gent and Brugges

Recently I travelled to Belgium for the very first time and I was nicely surprised! I organized the 4/day trip myself online. My itinerary was:

First day in Brussels arriving very early in the morning, we stayed at a very peculiar Bed and B in the city centre. I found accommodation in Brussels very expensive. We managed to 'see the old town, the mini,mini 50 cms Maneken Pis statue and all its streets surrounded by chocolate wafers and sweets. I couldn't resist to the delicious and inviting smell and i had a wafre with chocolate sauce! From there we went to the famous Tin-Tin shop and there is also a nice graffiti on the way of the Belgian comic character. On the Belgian corner shop we bought some original souvenirs! and from there to the beautiful Grand Place which reminded me of the Marienplatz in Munich but more impressive!At night we went to the numerous Mariscos restaurants where the typical mussels were on offer. I was amazed at the similar plates of Paella served at the Rue of Bouchers Beenhouv, you can't leave Belgium without eating Mussels either!. It's also worth it to walk around and see the different chocolateries! dont miss a visit to the EU parliament!

Second day in 45 minutes we arrived in one of the frequently scheduled trains to Gent. I bough online the ticket which allowed me to take any train going to Gent with the printed ticket to the Station of Gent-Sint-Pieters. Tickets to travel throughout Belgium for a reasonable price can be found at: www.b-rail.be. It's very convenient! Of Gent I loved everything! its buildings,its variety of bars (go to Flamingos bar!) and original shops,its canals ,its boats, taking long strolls around the city,its Castle,its bridges, The adoration of the Lamb of Van Eyck in the cathedral,its tram and even its bikes which are everywhere (watch out! you maybe run over by one bike,they go very fast!!) hotels prices in Gent are more affordable and of better quality. I stayed at a nice hotel very close to the train station,to save me time when i went to Brugges. We decided to stay for 2 nights in Gent and the next morning we took a train to Brugge (train schedules can always be found on the internet on the page i have given you before).I almost forgot! to travel by tram, get an 8 euro ticket for one zone ,from the station you can get tram 21 and 22 to go to the city centre.

Our third day we went to the famous city of Brugges, first i saw at the train station was the they were selling the Irish movie I watched a couple of years ago: "In Bruges", which I watched again after having seen the city and i actually liked it even more! At the station ,we bought a map of the city and it took us around 20 minutes walking to go to the city centre. We met a very nice Argentinian girl who was our travel companion in Brugges. About Brugges what can I say? its narrow and fairy/tale houses,its horses carriages,its canals,its love lake,its swans and its boats! the only thing i didn't like was the amount of tourists in Brugges and I also found some restaurants very expensive. Hotels were much more expensive in Brugge and you dont need more than a day to see this city, so im glad we chose Gent which is actually much bigger than Brugges and there are more things to do than In Brugges.

Last but not least, people in Belgium working in the tourist areas, speak many languages or at least the ones we encountered! even Spanish! so it's not hard to get by in Belgium eiher with French,English,German , Flemish or if you are lucky like us Spanish!

On our last day we walked around Gent before heading off to Brussels to take our plane in the evening!

Farewell to a land of beautiful buildings, delicious chocolates and with a clear European charm! I definitely recommend this trip for a long weekend break!ah! dont forget to bring coins to go to public toilets in Belgium, in most places you have to pay from 30 cents to 50!so dont drink a lot of liquid! i had to pay even in Mcdonalds to go!

Best place in Dublin to eat a nice creppe: Cafe Crepe

A long time ago i wanted to write a few lines about this little cozy coffee shop and creperie in Dublin: "Cafe Crepe" located in in the city centre in 15 South Leinster Street just on the way to the national gallery and by the French Institute. For a very reasonable price you can have a nice sweet creppe like my favorite one with chocolate sauce and cream or a nice salted crepe with salada and crisps. Coffee also tastes very good (I recommend a capuccino!), you can have nice breakfast there for 8euros per person. The thin and tasteful crepes are the closest you can get to a true French crepe, they are not so thick like in other places in Dublin like lemon jelly where crepes are nice but not French at all. By the picture i have just taken today, you can tell that my crêpe was very well cooked and delicious!! im not exaggerating! To finish just to let you know that this cafeteria usually closes very early at around 5 or 6 sometimes, so you´d rather go early! Bon appetite!

My favorite places: Canada

One place you have to go and see is definitely Canada! I happened to have a good friend there who was my guide for most of my trip. I travelled around the states of Ontario and Quebec.

My first 2 days I was on my own in the modern city of Toronto! I was fascinated by the skyscrapers in the downtown where I stayed at, the beautiful harbour , the Ontario lake and the islands and I have to say that although there were some homeless in the street, i felt pretty safe. There was one square that reminded me of the Picadilly Circus in London and even the tour double-deck buses were red! Toronto has very good means of transportation> tram,bus and subway. Although the private coach company (airport express) from the international Pearson airport was a bit expensive, i'd advise you to buy a return ticket for 36 dollars which is valid for 90 days and takes you to downtown in only 25 minutes.

I wish i had had more time to spend in Toronto to be able to go on a cruise to the islands or to the Museum of Contemporary art and to do some shopping in the Eaton centre! Toronto is a expensive city and all around Canada taxes are not included in the prices you pay for clothing,food or bills in bars or restaurants, so always take that into account.

I spent half a day in the Niagara Falls, next time I'll stay overnight there since there is so much to do with the Niagara city entertainment shows and funny museums! It's worth it to stay! you can go by bus form Toronto like I did on a budget company that goes there daily for only 15 $ one way. Once you get ot the Niagara City coach station, it's a 40 minute walk to the falls or you can take a transit bus or taxi. I felt adventurous and walked all the way but I would advice you to take the transit bus not to lose any time! You can also go to the Niagara falls from Toronto on a tour bus but they charge you minimun 50 $ and you dont have a lot of free time to hang out.

After coming back from the falls, on my third day from Toronto I travelled by rail canada train (I bought the tickets on their web page), the ticket was a bit expensive but it was a nice way to see Canada for longer than 4 hours until I got to Ottawa.

Ottawa is a cozy traditional city with an impressive parliament which reminds me of the Big Ben and lovely castle just above the river.

By car we got to the beautiful mountain landscaping full of wild woods and lakes in the bilingual area of Tremblant in Quebec. It has it all, you can have a swim in the lakes in the summer and in winter yo can go skying in the multiple skiing resorts with lovely cafeterias and restaurants. Hidden in the mountains you have an amazing shop of Tommy Hillfiger where discounts up to 50 % can be found all year long! These discounts are only offered in this place because Tommy has a house in the area.

Last but not least, I spent my last day in the European-American style city of Montreal. I would have need at least other 2 days to be able to enjoy the city more, i only could appreciate the charm of the old city of Montreal, the harbour with its great atmosphere and inviting cafeterias. It was amazing to see the mixture of skyscrapers and Georgian style buildings. Montreal even has a replica of the French Cathedral of Notredame, they are very similar indeed!

Dont leave the state of Quebec without having maple sirope and poutine! 2 of the specialities of the area!Canada is a very ethnically and culturally mixed country and specially in the state of Quebec inhabitants speak more French than English and street signs are in both languages.

Ah! i almost forgot the cheapest airline that goes to Canada is airtransat, it's actually good value and they fly to the main cities!

I have to thank my friend Cristina and their family for the wonderful tour around Canada! i hope to be back soon!

Around Ireland: Inis Mór island (Aran Islands)

Our search of the deep true Irish culture continued and we are just back from a magical place called: Inishmore (in Irish: Inis Mór). As we have been living in Ireland for more than 5 years now, we know that in order to travel around Ireland you have to be very well prepared to confront the changeable weather: waterproof trousers and jacket,rain boots, a couple of torches and a couple of fleeces.

To get to the island you can go either by ferry for 40 minutes or like we did, by a small aircraft for 8-people on a 10-minute flight only. The aircraft flies very low and it´s very nice to see the islands from the sky, I truly recommend it (you pay 45 euros for a return ticket) you can check: http://www.aerarannislands.ie/index.php?page=group-rates. A shuttle bus will take you to the Connemara airport from Galway in only 30 minutes. Inismore is the biggest of the 3 beautiful Aran island on the Atlantic ocean. According to what the locals told us it has around 900 inhabitants and everybody knows each other, the most popular hobby is : gossip which spreads quickly! There is no crime at all there so no police is needed, there are no petrol stations, nor big shops or other common places we take for granted in this globalized world. There is only one small bank, 3 schools and when you get sick they come to pick you up by helicopter. The means of transports around the island is mainly by: pony carriages, bikes and for the oldest tourists there are around 3 small vans that take them in a tour around the island for 2 hours (10 euros each). No map will help you on this island since there are no street names and only a few signs and all in gaelic! People from the island are extremely nice and helpful and their main language is Irish, which unfortunately it´s only spoken in a few places in Ireland. There are no big luxurious hotels to stay on the island, only bed and breakfasts from the locals. Without knowing it, i booked a room for 2 in the most beautiful spot of the island, "The Man of Aran cottage" whose owner Joe and wife Maury treat you like one member of their family, we had long conversations with them while having a homemade Irish breakfast in the morning with the products from their own garden. They have been for 18 years in the business and take care of every detail. We were lucky we got the cottage number 5 just in front of the ocean, you pay 45 euros per person but it´s well worth it (they can make you a discount if you are a group)!The reservation is done by email and then you pay at the end of your stay. You can find them here: http://www.manofarancottage.com/about.html.
We rented our bike in town and cycled all the way to the cottage with our rucksacks, i have to say that if somebody would have told me that it was going to take me an hour to get there, i may have chosen another means of transport but it was an experience for me, to be honest! Just 5 mins before arriving we saw one tourist lying on the road because she was hit by a car, being her an American tourist going in the wrong direction with the bike,she was taken quickly to the mainland. There are only a few cars on the island but on the Aran islands , it´s like in the U.k. and cars go on the left and some tourists are unaware and a beautiful trip can end up badly.
I could be writing for hours about Inis Mór but I’m going to sum it up now:
@ Beautiful colours of landscapes and sky free of pollution where you can see the stars at night!
@Perfect place to get away from hectic life
@go to the local pub, Joe ,to listen to live music and have a wonderful meal, i recommend the cheese cake with Baileys
@have a coffee on the Man of Aran small shop in town
@choose a bed and breakfast a bit far away from town
@Don´t miss the fort of Dún Aonghasa and its beautiful cliffs, our cottage was only 10 minutes away from this site
@if you want to rent a bike do it directly in the main shop in town, 10 euros per day
@if you need to leave your bags , you can leave them at the tourist office
@don´t miss the smallest church in Europe and the beautiful cemetery with celtic crosses just in front of the ocean (both of them very close to the airport)
@choose carefully the time of the year when you want to go there, for us September has been very nice, they told us that many bed and breakfasts close from October to January (the lowest temperature being 7 degrees and the hottest 20 degrees,so leave the bikini at home!)

Locals like the American pub , we went there and we actually didnt´like the food, the Joe´s pub was much nicer, don’t waste tour time there.

@leave your umbrella at home and bring better what I recommended at the top of this post , all the American tourists in shorts got a bit wet.

To me it has been one of the most beautiful wedding anniversaries i have had with my beloved husband, he was so happy cycling and talking to the locals that only to see this it was well worth it!We have definitely a different view of Ireland, the more we get to know it , the more we like it!

Around Ireland: Sligo - Green Landscapes and tradition

Our aim is to see the most of Ireland by train as it´s one of our favourite means of transport. It took us around 3 hours to get there from Dublin , all green landscapes with cows and sheep. I noticed more cows in these area than in the Galway one.I dont know how many pics i took of them, i find cows so cute!

A couple of weeks ago we where in Sligo, capital of the county of Sligo in the Republic of Ireland, it has a population of around 1800 people. Sligo had a big influence in the poems of the Irish poet " Yeats", who spent many childhood summers in there. Yeats statue can be found just outside the beautiful building of the Ulster Bank at the heart of the town.

We stayed at the Glasshouse hotel which plays an important part mingling in the Sligo town with the traditional country style Irish buildings and the modernity of this innovative hotel full of glass just above the Garavogue river, much cleaner and nicer than the Dublin Liffey river. I totally recommend this four star hotel to have a nice weekend break, the lay-out of the room was very nice and modern with free internet and tv, breakfast was not great but you can´t have it all!For me, it has been the nicest hotel we have been to in Ireland. It´s located just at the heart of the city centre and it has a pub with a nice atmosphere at night, if the weather is good you can even have a nice drink by the river. If you travel around Ireland for a weekend break, it´s important ot go to a nice hotel in case the weather is crap and you dont want to leave the hotel!

Sligo it´s very different from Dublin, it´s a ver y traditional Irish place , quiet and clean, you could go nicely for a walk. Just a few kms away you can go to do some surfing to the Strandhill beach, if you are brave enough to surf in the Irish sea. There are a few coaches going there departing from the city centre.

Sligo is very small and you can see it in a couple of hours, we fnid a bit hard to find a place for lunch, being used to have so much variety of places in Dublin, in Sligo there are not so many restaurants, we ended up in an Italian restaurant, I think we were the only non-Irish there and sometimes we felt being stared at by the locals lol!

We felt very comfi in Sligo and we promised to be back again!

Memorable songs in my life: Taylor Dayne | Tell It To My Heart

Does this song ring a bell? i used to love it when i was a kid! the video is so 80ies! Happy Sunday everyone-

My favourite cities : Berlín

I have been to Berlin a couple of times and I wanted to write some recommendations for those who haven´t been there yet. If you are thinking of what to do Next Years Eve and you are not afraid of minus temperatures and snow, I totally recommend the experience of going to Berlin to celebrate in the big outdoors party in the Brandenburg Tor. Entrance is free ,you may not be able to be in the first row of the main stage due to the popularity of this event and amount of attendees but there are big screens and music for around of 2 kms or longer and you can have a really good time. It´s very welll organized, if one part is very crowded, you have to keep on walking for a few metres to the next entrance until there is enough room for everybody. I took my Spanish tradition of eating 12 grapes to Berlin and i bought them in advanced at a little fruit shop at the Alexanderplatz station. The only thing that stopped us from staying longer at the outdoor party was that we didnt have proper snow boots but the atmosphere was great, you could by German sausages, cocktails and watch the fireworks surrounded by people from different ages and nationalities. On that night the underground is operative all night long so we coudl even go back to the hotel by underground.

In case you decide to go, don´t do like us and book your hotel well in advanced, otherwise prices can bve very high. The hotel where we stayed in ,has beven one of my favourite ones, so far but you would need to have a good budget. It was call "Park plaza, wallstreet Berlin", it´s a very modern and original hotel Andywarhol style ! breakfast was fab and it was well located. If you are on a shorter bduget, youth hostels in Berlin have usually a very nice buffet breakfast and you can experienced the graffiti life-side of the city! in the one i was in when i was erasmus the entrance looked like what we call in Spanish "ocupa house" and the "recepcionist" was totally high on cannabis!

Berlin has an excellent transporation system, if you are going for at least 3 days you should buy a 3-day ticket to be able to go by tram,underground,S-bahn and bus.

Don´t miss:

-East Side Gallery to see the wall of Berlin in a very artistic way!
-Museum of the wall in Checkpoint Charlie - you will need to be in the mood of reading in French,English or German , different true stories of waht people did to cross from East to West
-Ampelmann shops- unique trafficlights men wearing a hat has many shops around town
-Museum Insel- if you have time for more museums, don´t miss the museum for Egypt
-Reichstag - Pariliament- you have to queue for long but it´s totally worth it, i loved the parliment visit
-Gedächniss Kirche - old bombed church surrounded by modern Berlin
-Der sieger- golden Angel in a very high column, beautiful area , where the famous Love Parade used to take place
-Brandenburg Tor-
-Central train station and Alexandre-platz
-Berliner Dom- one of my favourite buildings...

and many more in a city full of contrast between the modern world and a piece of history ,still very present!

Fame (musical) Dublin, Docklands theatre 21.08.2010

Para mí es díficil no comparar después de haber visto grandes producciones de musicales como " We will Rock you" en Londres con cantantes con gran experiencia y profesionalidad y con un gran preosupuesto para la puesta en escena : Decorados, efectos, música y vestuario (sobre todo porque la entrada nos costó casi igual.!). Cuando entramos al teatro, lo primero que me fijé era que entre el público habia muchos niños con sus padres, lo cual me recordó cuando fuimos al musical de Annie que no me entusiasmó mucho (fue una intución inicial..). He de decir, que la versión irlandesa que vimos ayer de la famosa serie de los 80 " Fame " me entretuvo, es la mejor manera de describirlo, lo pasé bien ,sobre todo cuando cantaron la banda sonora de Fame en un par de ocasiones("remember,remember"), a mi memoria volvieron las caras de los personajes originales, a los que me era difícil identificar porque les cambiaron los nombres en el musical aunque respetaron el estilo individual de cada personaje: El talentosos bailarín y no tan brillante estudiante: Leroy, la latina con tremenda voz: Coco, el profesor tradicional de música,Benjamin y el alumno tímido que tocaba muy bien el piano: Bruno. Para aquellos que se criaron con la serie, si váis al teatro a ver esta misma versión ,id preparados a que va a ser una versión adaptada y hecha al estilo : "High school musical" o "Glee" ,de alguna manera la esencia de la serie original se pierde. A mí, al ser fan de Glee no me molestó, pero puede que a fervientes seguidores de Fame,no les guste este cambio. En relación a los cantantes, en general, todos cantan bien, sólo la que hace de profesora de baile , nos pareció un poco gritona y no era tan exigente como la profesora original de la serie. Destacan la que hace de Coco, llamada Carmen, el chico que hace de Leroy y la chica de color gordita, el chico divertido moreno y la que tiene el papel principal también morena: Jessica Cervi y la orquesta que acompañaba al musical era muy buena, también la gran acústica del nuevo teatro de Docklands ayudaba. Mi parte favorita fue el final cuando todos acompañábamos al cast con palmas (yo no podia evitar cantar..).

Una escena que quedará para el recuerdo es cuando salieron todos como vestidos de flamenco y empezaron a bailar mezclando el estilo de salsa, con ritmo mejicano y flamenco a lo irlandés. Uy madre, no sabian ni mover las manos y zapateaban como si fuera flamenco cuando la música era como salsa, en cierto modo me hicieron reir jaja

Pues eso si quieres pasar un buen rato viendo un musical estilo high-school, te la recomiendo pero si no te va las canciones estilo "cheesy" (pastelosas),yo me quedaría con el recuerdo de la serie y me ahorraria la entrada! Yo, como dije al principio me lo pasé muy bien y no me arrepiento ,ya que sabia que era una versión irlandesa sin un gran preosupuesto, con gente muy joven sacados de un casting, con talento pero no con amplia experiencia como pueda ser un gran musical de Londres o Nueva York.

ah! en una de las fotos veréis las palomitas que me comí ya que en Dublín en los teatros se puede comer palomitas como en los cines o helados! me encanta esa parte, por cierto :-)