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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Trip Recommendation: Fuerteventura

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can see more photos on my flickr account:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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



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

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

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

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