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

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)

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

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!!

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!

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!

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)

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!

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)

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:

1. 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.
2. 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..!!
3. 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.
4. Dont leave Venice without eating sweets or cakes in one of the pasticceria (pastry shops)!
5. 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!
6. 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.
7. 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!
8. 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!
9. 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.
10. Fly to Venice (Trevisso) with ryanair or to Bologna (2 hours by train to Venice).
11. 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!