The Coronas live in the O2 in Dublin ( 14th Dec. 2012)

As you know, we go to gigs frequently and I'm not hesitant at all to state that this has been the best concert we have been to this year, maybe because we have become one of the Coronas biggest fans! It was their first biggest concert in Ireland and we were part of it! Danny's face (the lead singer) said it all, he was over the moon!! 14,000 people filled the O2 arena, this is something that not all the groups can achieve in their first big concert in their home country!! They are so humble and so talented! We were standing very close to the stage, we didn't stop moving or singing along, we couldn't!! There were 2 supporting bands before them, we missed the first one Roisin but were lucky to see the talented Irish musician Ryan Sheridan! What an energy! It was the first time I have seen him and he really made us move! The Coronas came up at around 21.15 and left at around 23.00. They played their hits of their album "Closer to you" but they also played some hits we all wanted to here such us: "San Diego","Heroes of ghosts ,"listen dear" and "Someone else's hands". They interacted with the audience all the time , there were a few moments of silence when Danny just stared at the public with a smile from ear to ear enjoying the moment. We all started cheering!!. We were lucky to meet Danny O'reilly (The Coronas lead singer) at the Dublin National Concert Hall this year when they played a couple of songs with the RTE orchestra at a concert we went to, when they finished, Danny and his girlfriend seat to see the rest of the concert and of course we didn't lose the chance to have a photo taken with him! He was so approachable and friendly,  we couldn't say a word, just look like stupid teens to have the photo taken!! I hope fame doesn't change him and I do hope they grow internationally. They are so great live!! If you ever have the chance to see them, don't miss the opportunity! Since we saw them for the first time at the Aviva at the Script concert, we haven't stopped following them whenever they play in Dublin , there we are! Our goal is to go and see them in a country they have not become famous yet to sing along!!

Not my cup of tea: Chris Brown concert at the O2, Dublin (3th December 2012)

As you know, I always write about cultural activities I do, the problem I have is when I do not enjoy a concert, show or movie that much and I don't feel like writing about it. This was the case with Chris Brown concert at the O2 that we went to on the third of December. Those who know me, are aware that I 'm very open and I like a lot of different type of music and artists, which in my opinion is a good thing, you are not the biggest fan of any of them but just you enjoy their music at some extent. I knew a few songs of Chris Brown that I enjoy, specially the ones with a much quicker pace and rhythm  but I did not know him so well, anyway I bought the tickets to go and see him and I had high expectations due to his international fame (not only due to hitting Rihanna which I did not love , by the way..). Wel,l first thing I did not love was the audience, full of drunk youngsters, I felt old lol, out of place , I just wanted to see the show but I had to watch out that a drunken fake-tanned teen did not fall over us. I did not feel comfortable, so not a great start. Even at the entrance, when queueing a few of them were not allowed in because of the state they were in. Anyway, not Chris Browns' fault , I thought. Then we went in and there was a dj playing hip-hop music that I did not enjoy that much. This was 19.45 and Chris Brown did not show up until 20.45. Impressive start. Chris Brown can definitely dance and sing, no doubt about that and I have no complaints in that broad sense. However, when I go to a concert, I'm waiting to be carried away by the music and feel it and with this concert, this only happened with 3 songs, which were the ones i knew (lol maybe , this was the reason), among them "beautiful people" and "turn up the music" and "don't wake me up". I did not get him as an artist, he was going from very slow melody songs (I love youuuuuu) to very quick ones and in-between songs a DJ playing dance music. Weird.. !! Specially when you like best the dj in-between than him lol. He did not interact with the public much, at the very end he said something like " Dublin I love you and for those who flew from UK, I fucking love you", then he threw the micro on stage and left (Wow, so caring towards the audience lol). I was open-mouthed! To put it in a nutshell, he only sang for a bit longer than an hour ; on top of that, we were there waiting for another hour listening to a horrible dj prior he came to the stage and then, when he started singing, we were actually bored, not moved by most of the songs he sang.. going from slow to quick melodies (At one point I even asked Andres to leave..). For those who are Chris Brown biggest fans, I'm sorry, but I found him a bit "bipolar", I don't understand his style. Don't get me wrong, I still listen to the songs I like from him but I'll not go to see him in concert again. To compare him with a similar artist that we also saw at concert in Dublin a couple of years ago: Ne-yo, I have to say that Ne-yo is far way better than him, he enjoyed his concert very much even though we did not know many of his songs but he engaged with the audience and dancers and we enjoyed it very much. Well!! Again I have to admit that the 3 songs that we enjoyed, we enjoyed them very much and the teen fans seemed to like the other songs, too. This is only our opinion about this gig, maybe I have to go back to my teens times and get drunk (like most of the audience was..) to be able to enjoy it!

The Twilight Saga: Breakdown part 2 (2012). Not convinced..

I have just seen that in rottentomatoes the audience gave it an 88%, I'm a fan of the saga myself but to me this movie was the worst of all the films of Twiglight, I kind of agree more with the critics that give it a 46%. I found it funny at times when I'm not sure the intention was to be funny, it's was just an effortless attempt to portray the same vampire characters! They even look tired themselves to be in another film. The love scenes between the 2 main protagonist were a bit far too cheesy; the scene with the vampires coming from different parts of the world, when they show the Irish ones, some part of the audience ( even ourselves) started laughing because of course they were so prototype (of course, with ginger hair ..), like the rest of the other vampires they showed. I can't say I didn't like the film at all because actually I was surprised by how the scene of the fighting among all the vampires ended (you will, too once you see it) and I like seeing again , specially , Jacob, Taylor Lautner ( I know, I could be his old sister lol) and the rest of the good-looking vampires. Last but not least, for those who are thinking that this was the last film of the series.. dream on!! I do not think so!! Can't wait to see the next week with Jacob dating Bella's daughter, what a soap-opera lol!! Don't get me wrong, I still have a teen side of me and I don't regret having seen this film but if you are not a fan of the saga, don't go, it's not a good movie, dialogues are not clever and the plot lacks action and even a bit of creativity..., it's only for people like me that wanted to see them on the screen again ..

Theatre play review: "Picture of Dorian Gray" (2012)

Those who know me will not be surprised by my choice to see this remarkable novel of my favorite writer: Oscar Wilde at the old Abbey Theatre in Dublin city centre. It's not easy to represent this novel as a theatre play, so much to tell and to portray in only a couple of hours but they managed to do that in a superb way. The desire to be beautiful and young forever will become true. Only the painting of Dorian Gray will age and show all the sins of Gray's goal to leave only for pleasure at any cost under the influence of Lord Henry. Best performances for me , British actor Tom Canton playing Dorian Gray & Jasper's Britton magnificent interpretation of Lord Henry ( it's unbelievable how he portrays the different stages of aging). They said the most intelligent lines of the book, words of thoughts of the true way of thinking of  Oscar Wilde, a man ahead of his time who will be misunderstood. Some of the best quotes are in this novel, just to have the pleasure to see Dorian Gray becoming alive on stage expressing such wise timeless words, makes it all worth it! I don't want to give you many more details so that you go and see it , if you get the chance. What? You have not seen or read any of Oscar Wilde's work!!?!! It will change your life , a small representation of some of the remarkable lines of Dorian Gray:

"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful." 

There's no shame in pleasure. Man just wants to be happy. But society wants him to be good. And when he's good, he's rarely happy. But when he's happy, he's always good. 

  

I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones.

I never talk during music--at least, during good music. If one hears bad music, it is one's duty to drown it in conversation.

Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed.

We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities...

Recommended concert: David Garret (Nuremberg,2012)

I got the tickets for my husband as he's a big fan of this highly talented German-American violinist: David Garret (real name: David Bongartz)to see him at concert in Nuremberg (yeah we flew from Ireland just to see him!). Tickets were not cheap since he's very well-known in Germany and his concerts are usually sold-out due to their uniqueness and mixture of music styles, mainly classical and rock music blended by the Frankfurt Philharmonic orchestra, a pianist, 2 guitarists  a drummer all leaded by the violinist David Garret among beautiful female dancers and a giant screen in the back playing images of Garret's performances and even short stories in between the songs (al introduced by Garret's himself). Among some of the stories, David told us was that he was amazed to find his dvds in the black market in Bangkok LOL. To me, it was a great experience just making my husband so happy, he was totally carried away by the melodies, checking with his binoculars the way David G. played his violin. I have nothing bad to say about this concert, pure raw talent in an experience I have not had before. Even not being a big fan of him, I cannot deny the excellence of his performance (it made me overcome my fear of being surrounded by such a big crowd!). He has it all: great looks (he used to be a model), talent and originality in his versions of classical songs. He didn't stop smiling throughout the show, you could tell that he was really enjoying every moment of his performance, so was the audience (by the way, Nuremberg Arena, was packed!!! We were lucky to be in the second row, Andrés did not need the glasses!). One lucky fan was taken to the stage where Garret played a song seating close to her, amazingly enough she remained calm and did not even touch D. Garret, my respect to her!. Some of the highlights for me were the song of Pulp Fiction, the end with his version of Beatles's song "Let it be", Highway to Hell, "Cry me a river", "We will Rock you", "He's a pirate", "Smells like Teen spirit" and his performance of James Bond's soundtrack where he was playing James Bond in a video in the background. Last but not least, yeah you could tell that he knows that he's very talented and loves himself (and music), specially due to the facial expressions he did but no surprises there, I'd also be like him if I was so talented! What a pity that he only goes on tour mostly around Italy, , USA, Australia and some parts of Asia, the rest of the world is missing his concerts! An unforgettable concert for us, the first time I have seen my husband's tears out of joy when listening to the music live. Thank you Garret!!! I leave you with one of my favorite songs:







here you can find his official page with tour dates and videos:

http://www.david-garrett.com/videos/

Some French cinema recommendation: Rust and Bone (2012) (De rouille et d'os)

From the moment I saw this film was French and that it had the superb actress Marion Cotillard, I knew two things : That it was not going to be a conventional film and that the 85% score in Rottentomatoes was not a coincidence, the film had to be a good one! Well , I was not wrong at all, it was not a conventional film and Marion Cotillard plays an excellent role! Gee , the way she transforms herself is unbelievable! I don't want to tell you much, as usual , it's a drama film about 2 hard lives that mingle and learn to struggle together: A legless previous whale instructor, Stephanie (amazing some of the scenes where you cannot see her legs) and an ex-boxer father of 1, Matthias Schoenaerts,  trying to find his path. Some of the highlights for me, some of the photographic moments (beautiful) of the whales in the water and Stephanie (Marion Cottillard); the scene about Stephanie swimming in the sea for the first time after the accident; the scene about Ali's ( Matthias Schoenaerts) son in the ice and some of the lines : "Do you want to fuck?" (you will understand when you see it); "Are you OP?" ETC, ETC.

Last thing from me, make sure you are not depressed when you go and see this film, it's VERY DRAMATIC but definitely worth it!!

Recommended: Bram Stoker Festival (Dublin, 2012)

This year we have had the pleasure to be pioneers and participate in the first Bram Stoker festival in Dublin celebrating the life and legacy of  a brilliant Gothic Irish author , the creator of Dracula: Bram Stoker. There were different cultural activities throughout the city of Dublin from theatre plays, street live performances, to exhibitions, outdoors cinema (Nosferatu) in the heart of temple bar and tours. Most of the activities were free events but you had to registered well in advanced. I got tickets for 2 of the free events. the first one being the Stocker's Dublin revealed tour created by the well-known Dublin Historian Pat Liddy which brought us some specific details of the 19th Victorian's Bram Stocker Dublin. Although it was very cold, we enjoyed it very much the 2 hours of walking around Dublin that ended up in a small little church behind Dublin castle where Pat read  a few chapters of Dracula inside the church with Andrés and myself with make-up as vampires lol very surreal! Even Pat mentioned several times that we were a bit scary since we were the only 2 who took the vampire them seriously, the rest had no make-up or any fancy dresses on lol. In this tour we learned about another church which has mommies (we still have to go and see it!) , he also talked about the friendship that Oscar Wilde and Stocker had, one of the first stories about vampires  was "Sheridan Le Fanu's" which was about a lesbian vampire, Carmilla (so it was not Dracula as many people think). Pat also told us about the origins of Halloween which is in fact a Celtic tradition and not American, as many think, it was the Christian festivity of the dead.

The other event we were lucky to get tickets to, was the street theatre performance "Imaging Bram Stoker: Spraoi Spectacle  which took place in one of the yards of the Dublin Castle. To me, this was my favorite event, they recreated with a lot of style and imagination the Dublin of the 19th century inspired by the Victorian horror touch of Stoker. We were welcomed by Vampires in the Castle, by a ghostly man reading a book in the moon, a music band of vampires, a giant skeleton and the very own Dracula surrounded by beautiful female vampires dressed in white with a very scary and sensual look. The whole performance lasted 45 minutes, time flew and the actors interacted with the public. Have to say that although it was a familiar activity and there were plenty of kids (all dressed-up as it was a requirement to attend the show in a fancy dress), some of the little ones were a bit scared.

I do hope there will be many more Bram Stocker's festivals for the years to come, being Dracula one of the most sold books and not so celebrated in Ireland, he really deserves to have his own festival for so many vampire lovers out there.

Here the link to the festival and a few photos:

http://www.bramstokerfestival.com/events.php?x=s

2 very bad movies I have seen recently in the cinema.. avoid them

A bit embarrassed to admit that I have seen the following 2 movies I'm going to mention but I have to keep loyal to my new year's resolution to write about all the films we see throughout the year (good or bad) in the cinema; take this post as a warning so that you don't waste your time seeing any of the 2 following films:

cheap American comedy with Adam Sandler " That's my boy ". Really I just want to forget I went to see it.. not many comments, if I could rate it with a minus, it would be a minus 100 ... :-(

The other not great film but I have to say at least I found it a bit better (only a bit) is : " For a good time, Call ..". I knew it was not going to be great but it happened to be the only one showing at 19.00 yesterday and I didn't want to be waiting for one hour and half to see " Rust and bone" (I'm going to see it today, by the way). Well the conclusion is I should have waited lol. another movie to forget.. (have to say though that the cinema was packed.. i think some other people had the same problem as me, they wanted to go to the cinema at 19.00..)

No worries people as you know I'm a member of the cinema and I can go as many times as I want due to having the membership, so this is why sometimes i make the wrong choice to see a bad film... You are warned , now..

For James Bond lovers not for me: Skyfall (2012)

Taking into account that I'm not a James Bond's fan and that I went to see Skyfall because my husband wanted to see it, do not expect from this short and humble review that I'm going to say that it was the best movie of the year. What I liked most about it was Adelle's song "Skyfall", Spanish great actor intervention , Javier Bardem because he is great playing the bad guy and I cannot deny that, and I also loved the landscapes (specially the parts set in Scotland) and London's surroundings. I was hoping that on this movie, finally , Javier could get rid of James Bond but no, no surprises not even super villain Silva (Javier's role) could kill the invincible Bond, James Bond (of course he repeats this line again..). I was bored.. same stuff as usual..., self promotion of James Bond, expensive cars, chasing and fighting, beautiful women and not very clever dialogues and gee so long (143 mins!!) !!!. And come on the laptops shown on the movie, are VAIO (sony)??? they didn't even have Macs???!!! I wes even apple found James Bond obsolete, too modern for the film. I wonder how much  money they got from Sony to promote their slows laptops (I had a vaio and I know what I'm talking about.. slowest computer ever!!). How many more of these movies are going to be released? seriously!!  Have to say that of course my husband loved the film and like him, I'm sure many James Bond's fans will love it,too so if you are a fan of Bond, don't miss it! As I explained at the very beginning, this is the opinion of someone who does not understand James Bond's character..,what message is he trying to portray? That having a good body, money,cars and sleeping with beautiful stranger women is what makes you better than the rest ?? Come onnnnn!! Welcome to the reality of regular people with regular cars , with a regular salaries and who may be in love with a woman who is not super hot but may have something else to offer and maybe a brain, too?!

Movie Recommended: Ruby Sparks (2012)

Do not miss this romantic drama-comedy by the same directors of Little Miss Sunshine , it's a different witty film about a famous young novelist,Calvin who starts dreaming of a girl that will become the protagonist of his next novel. All starts when he is in trouble to get inspiration to produce his next best seller until one day his psychiatrist recommends him to write about someone who loves his dog , Scotty. The writer will dream that night again of Ruby and this time she meets his dog and shows affection for him even drawing a portrait of his little cute lazy dog Scotty. From that moment on ,Calvin will become obsessed with this girl so much, that one day miraculously she shows up in his apartment ! From that moment on they start a magical relationship. Some of the highlights for me, the moment Ruby shows up in his apartment and he cannot believe it LOL; when she starts talking in French; when they meet Calvin's family; when Ruby starts having moods changes lol ETC ETC .  Their love story is so beautiful, specially at the beginning, it will become complicated later like all relationships. Don't want to tell you much more but believe me you will like this one. American young actor Paul Dano that also belongs to Little Miss Sunshine cast , plays an excellent role and American actress Zoe Kanan also portrays beautifully the delicate sweet Ruby. Even Antonio Banderas has a small role in this film, not very stellar but funny. So if you were looking for a good movie to watch, don't miss this one!!! If you want other opinions about this film, rottentomatoes page give it a score of 81% to me it's a 90%!!!

One of best movies I have seen lately: "Untouchable" (2012) by Belén Delgado

And this French comedy-drama has made our day, long time I haven't seen a film that has touched my heart and made me laugh at the same time like this one, even at the end I cried , so many feelings in 113 minutes. What is most appealing is that it's based on a true story and that the relationship that both protagonists: Quadriplegic millionaire Philippe & cheeky Driss have is so special that you enjoying watching them together. What witty dialogues , accompanied by very cleverly chosen soundtrack in the wonderful city of Paris. I don't want to tell you much , just that please see it in the original version with subtitles , avoid dubbed versions of it. Some of the highlights for me, the scenes when they go paragliding, When the classical band try to convince Driss so that he gets to like classical music, the very beginning of the film and of course I loved the end. The words that would describe better this movie are: inspirational, funny & beautiful.  I'm very glad i have chosen to see this one , something different for a change. Thanx Colette for the recommendation!

Recommended book: " A street Cat named Bob"

Today I have finished reading this beautiful warmhearted true story about the relationship of a cat called Bob and his companion: James Bowen. What really made me want to read this book was the first time I saw on you tube how James and Bob were busking in London streets, there was something special about them, and Bob just looks like my cat Pepe , and in a way our cat also changed our lives for the best, he's our most loyal companion taking into account that my husband and I also live very far from our families and only have each other ando now Pepe, too.

You can certainly understand the relationship they have after reading the book, there is no fiction or fancy anecdotes , it's a touching story that to my mind, should inspire many drug-addicts or people living on the streets who have lost hope, there is always a door open to change, you just need to find it and don't give up. Street cat Bob really changed Jame's life as he describes in the book, they just met at the time when James needed help to overcome his addiction to heroine. The fact that he needed to take care of him because he was hurt when he found him and since them Bob wanted to give back the love and caring that James gave him. James said that Bob changed his life but I think they both belong together and both lives changed when they met. This book has helped me to understand a bit better how people living on the streets feel, invisible to society ,as James described and how in this case, Bob made him "visible" again to passers-by on the streets of London. I even learned a few tips about cats and how tough it can be when people judge you just from your appearance ; I definitely was not aware of the whole process to become sellers of "Big issues" , it's really a business behind which helps people with few opportunities and "big issues" sellers need to buy the magazines in advanced before they sell them. If you ask me if I would recommend this book, hell yeah please do buy it and read it, I'm actually a bit sad that I cannot read more about James and Bob lives ( I didn't want it to end..)! I could definitely see some similarities in relation to how my ginger Irish cat, Pepe behaves sometimes  and I loved that!; I could also picture some of the scenes, I was even scared about Jame's and Bob's safety in some of "the lines" ( specially the bulldog story..), I do hope your life has improved after this book being n.1 best seller in U.k. , with their own facebook fanpage http://www.facebook.com/StreetCatBob?fref=ts (with almost 8.000 fans, my cat Pepe has only 62 lol http://www.facebook.com/PepeHernandezDelgado) and twitter https://twitter.com/StreetCatBob (with more than 10.000 followers)! By the way, as I was finishing reading the book, my cat was all the time with me, it looks like he really wanted to know the end lol. Last but not least, I want to dedicate this humble review to James and Bob whom I expect to meet one day in London and of course, if you two come to Ireland one day, let me know. James please go on leaving your life as you are now, even if your family is in Australia, you will always have Bob and now thousand of fans who want the best for you both.

I leave you with a photo of my cat the day I got the book anda video of James and Bob (there are many more on youtube if you want to have a look)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl2nBSqpsRA

Concert Review: The Best of Symphonic ROCK (5th of October)

Yesterday we had the pleasure to see live the RTE National Symphony orchestra playing classics of Rock-pop. It's the first time I have listened to something like this, a full orchestra playing Bon Jovi "Living on a Prayer" (one of my favorite tunes); "fix you" by Coldplay, Tina Turner "Simply the Best" and Queen's famous hits: " We are the champions" " we will rock you" " Bohemian Rhapsody" among other hits, what a joyful feeling to listen to the harmony of so many instruments together at the same time played by around 100 musicians. The anecdote of the night was one woman in the audience who was 99 old and didn't stop dancing! The presenter draw our attention to her and she even said a few words, so cute, when I "grow up" I want to be like that woman! I have lost count of how many times I have seen performed the RTE orchestra and I don't get tired of saying that if you haven't seen them yet, don't miss the opportunity! They usually play in the National Concert Hall in Dublin and tickets are not expensive, the cheapest (depending on the concert) can start from 10 euros. Thank you RTE orchestra one more time for making us smile , sing and dance along, specially with the last Abba's song " Dancing Queen".

For those curious ones below you can see the programme:

Aaron Copland " Fanfare for the Common Man"
Robbie Williams "Let me entertain you"
Procol Harum " Whiter Shade of Pale
Eryc Clapton "Layla"
Coldplay "Fix you"
Meatloaf" Bat Out of Hell"
The Beatles " Can't buy me Love"
Bon Jovi "Living on a Prayer"
John Miles " Music"

Interval

Survivor "Eye of the tiger"
Bette Midler " Wind Beneath My wings"
Michael Jackson " Thriller"
Deep Purple " Smoke on the Water"
Simon and Garfunkel " Bridge over Troubled Water"


Good old Rock and Roll Medley

Tina Turner " Simply the best"

Queen " We are the Champions", "We will Rock you","Bohemian Rhapsody"

as a bonus they ended up with Abba

Movie Recommended: "Taken 2" by Belén Delgado

We happened to be lucky and we could watch on TV "Taken" (the first movie) a day before going to see "Taken 2", just by chance, as I was doing zapping, I saw they were showing it and couldn't stop watching! You definitely need to have seen Taken 1 to enjoy fully Taken 2. I'd love to have a father like Bryan Mills, a retired CIA agent unstoppable who would do anything for his family (he actually kills a whole Albanian mafia living in Paris in Taken 1 to rescue his daughter, the French people should build a statue of him lol). What a feeling to receive a call from your father telling you " Liten to me carefully, Kim, you are going to be taken"  and on Taken 2, she receives a similar call because, of course, the whole Albanian Mafia that he killed on Taken 1 had a family, a family that wanted revenge and I have the feeling that it would be a Taken 3 lol (if there is a taken 3 and I'm the daughter I wouldn't answer the phone..). Mcgiver is a beginner in comparison with Bryan's skills( played by fab Irish actor Liam Neelson). Not sure if this film is for everyone taste, though, I just like Liam Neeson, the way he talks, the way he acts, punches, runs .. I think he is class and I'm fascinated by the role he plays. If you ask me which one is better Taken 1 or 2, I'll probably answer the first one but still we liked a lot Taken 2. But remember that you need to have seen Taken 1 since there are flashbacks about the first movie in this one and you will not understand it if you haven't seen Taken (1). I finish off with one of my favorite lines of this film " Can you shoot" ; No: then drive!" So what are you waiting for? Go to the cinema !! Have just recommended you 2 great action films (Looper in my previous post and now Taken 2!)