A good laugh: 21 jump street (2012)

Last 2 movies I have seen recently are based on revivals of 80ies movies or tv series, maybe because the 80ies years were very rich in terms of music, tv and movies (one of my favorite eras, I have to admit). This funny action comedy film is based on a tv series of the same name "21 jump street" from 1987 which made Johnny Depp famous back then.  Johnny even appears in the film in a short scene playing an undercover cop (role he used to play in the series) and says a line referring to being an undercover cop for too long now. The main protagonists of this hilarious film are Jonah hill , you may remember him from other remarkable American comedies such us Superbad & and Knocked-up, who plays a bit of a nerdy cop and his co-star in the film is the gorgeous Channing Tatum who is improving little by little his acting skills, which are not great but in this film he will make you laugh.  The film also shows the generational gap when the undercover cops go back to high-school trying to be teenagers again. What was cool when they were teens , it was not cool anymore and even the teens slang changed. Some highlights of the film the different stages of the drug they were investigating, to me when the blonde teenager takes the drug and they show how it impacted her, i couldn't stop laughing lol ;some other moments such us the scene with Johnny Depp or when Channing hits the black teenager (and the impact it has in the film) and the role played by Deray Davis as ill-tempered chief of the undercover police force "Jump street 21" (loved the swearing lol). In a nutshell, if you want to go to the cinema, not to see a complicated story but to be entertained and have a laugh. Go! Just see if you like this type of American humour, very simple and direct, anyone can understand it. I have to say that Andrés laughed much louder than me but I enjoyed , as well. Rotten tomatoes audience gives it a 90% and critics 85% so judge for yourself!

See a trailer of the original series:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092312/

By the way , don't miss Channing as a teenager with that horrible hair lol

11 años sin tí ..

Parece que fue ayer la última vez que te vi, queria dedicarte unas líneas que espero que puedas leer desde donde te encuentres. 11 años sin tí , papá, pero contigo al mismo tiempo, te tengo presente en cada día de mi vida, cada momento difícil pienso que me habrías aconsejado y cada momento feliz también pienso como lo habrías vivido, si estuvieras a mi lado. Sigo con la esperanza de volverte a ver en ese mundo alternativo donde resides juntos con mis abuelos y mi tio luis. Papá, mejor que no estés por aquí viendo la crisis que está habiendo en nuestro país , la verdad.., te habrías enfadado bastante. Ya no existen políticos como tú que te interesabas por la gente e invertías tu humilde sueldo de abogado en la política. Aquí tengo a mamá conmigo, de visita, muy bien tenerla de compañía aunque sólo sea por unos días, te manda saludos. Desde que te fuiste, yo también me fui y no regresé. Lo demás que tengo para contarte, me lo reservo para cuando nos veamos.Te queremos y nos acordamos de ti, no nos olvides.

The best Opera I have seen in my life: "Madame Butterfly" (Dublin,Board Gais Energy Theatre 2012)

On the 15th of March 2012 my opinion about Opera changed, there is one before and after "Madame Butterfly" for me. I have had the chance to see different Operas live before because my husband loves Opera but I did not find anything in it that really got me. I'm not an expert in the field, of course, to some extent I felt like the famous scene in the movie "Pretty woman", when Julia Roberts go to the opera for the first time in her life and start crying and clapping at the end; that was actually me at the end of Madame butterfly, I couldn't stop crying and clapping! The protagonist playing Madame Butterfly "Cio-Cio-San", is a French singer called: Anne Sophie Duprels, she got so much into the role that she was also crying with the full theatre audience at the end who were applauding with standing ovation! At the same time when the Mexican tenor, Rafael Rojas, playing Madame's butterfly's American husband ,Pikerton, came to the stage at the end some of us booed him not because of his performance but more due to his role being so unfair to Madame Butterfly. First time I have seen people booing a tenor at the opera due to the role they perform! For me the best performers were : Anna Taylor, playing Madame's butterfly servant, Suzuki and Anne Sophie Duprels, playing Madame butterfly. When both of them sang connected with all of us, their expressions , their voices and moves, superb! To tell you a bit of the story of Madame butterfly, it's a small soap opera where an American lieutenant, Pikerton takes advantage of the elasticity of the marriage contracts in Japan under which under a short absence of the husband, it means a divorce. He knew this from the starts and marriage broker, Goro, finds a beautiful geisha "Madame Butterfly" to get married to him. At the beginning of the first act, the wedding takes place (it's a beautiful moment with the whole family singing along) with the American husband only seeing the beauty of the Geisha and thinks of the wedding night and where at the same time, delicate Cio-Cio-San sees his husband to be like the man of his dreams whom she will love forever. On the second act, Madame Butterfly waits for almost three years for his husband who abandoned her to marry an American woman back in the U.s.a. Cio-Cio-San who is desperately in love with his husband , she has been faithfully waiting for him and almost running out of money with her loyal servant, Suzuki, and her son with the hope of having him back one day. The opera is full of poetry in the songs , songs for love and despair. To me the most beautiful part comes in the second act with the waiting of Madame Butterfly and the tragic end when she realizes that her husband is married to another woman and she has nothing to offer to her son, having to give him away.

No need to say that seeing this opera live played by the group Opera North at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre  in Dublin on the fourth row just in fron of the orchestra, has changed my perception of opera forever and i have even bought my first opera cd!! I can't stop listening to Madame's Butterfly! This is definitely one of the things to do before you die "seeing Madame's Butterfly" live!! Money doesn't matter (I can't tell you , it's not cheap)! It's a memory I'll keep and I had the joy to enjoyed it with my mum and husband.Thanx Puccini!!

See a video of the opera I saw with the same company : Opera north

Totally recommended: "The Artist" (2012) humble review by Belén Delgado

A controversial film due to his detractors and lovers :"The Artist", to be honest, I was a bit reluctant to see a silent movie until my husband went to see it and told me that he loved it (We usually agree on our movie taste , so that's why it made me think!). Then, I started hearing different opinions about the film and I thought, "uhm I need to make my own opinion of it , I have to see it", i kept postponing it from one day to the other until last Sunday. What an experience! Beautiful! The main male protagonist playing famous silent movie actor George Valentin, is just excellent in his role, he had the power of transmitting different emotions via his facial expressions and moves! No talking! He only says two words at the very end of the film "With pleasure". The actress playing Peppy Miller is also another highlight of the film, she is sweet and very expressive through her eyes and smile. George and Peppy were great but the best actor for me was actually the George's dog: Uggie!! He is so cute and loyal!! He should have got another oscar, too! The story of the film is simple: How a successful silent movie actor starts losing fame due to the introduction of talking movies. In between  a love story is born among the 2 protagonists and there is also a friendship between Uggie (the dog) and George. To me, the best that you get out of this film is to be able to live the experience of watching a silent film going back to 1927 in the XXIth century and realize how hard it must have been to be an a very good actor at that time. I's twice harder to connect with the public without being able to talk and this film manages to do that, at least it connected with me. It's one of these films that I'll remember because it had something special and unique, the uniqueness of being silent in this era. Last but not least, go on a day off to see this film, otherwise if you are very tired, you may fall asleep since you have to read and concentrate and remember it's a silent film! What?? That you haven't seen it yet???!!! What are you waiting for!! Even the French can do something good from time to time lol (Sorry my French friends, it's a joke!!).

Moment of music Joy: Brian Byrne & RTE Orchestra at the National Concert Hall, Dublin (2012)

I wanted to share a night full of music with my mum who is visting from Spain & my husband,so what a better way than going to a concert at the National Concert Hall in Dublin?. I was checking the coming performances and I chose the one from Saturday night ( the10th of March), mainly due to the fact that one of our favorite groups were part of the repertoire of the night: The Coronas. I did not know the director of the orchestra for the night, Brian Byrne (I know I'm an ignorant, he is quite a well-known composer and director), nor I did the rest of the artists of the night: Claire Martin (vocals) & Nigel Hitchcock (saxophone). The magic of the night was a blend of different styles of music, all in a few hours, surrounded by at least 70 members of the RTE orchestra. All started with some classical touches composed by Brian Byrne: Queen's Fanfare and then opening title of Albert Nobbs, Fantasy store & Hubert/ Albert Fix Boiler. This was followed by a colorful and happy Polka and a Waltz played mainly by one violinist and a flute player along with the orchestra, you felt like dancing on the stage! The end of the first interval came with a saxophone concerto played by magnificent Nigel Hitchcock! I can assure you that I had not seen anything like him before in my life, what ability to play saxo so quickly and in tune! Among the performances,the brilliant director, composer and also musician: Brian Byrne, played some Irish jokes about the orchestra and even some cousins that he said that had in the audience and made us all laugh. Brian was able to direct the orchestra and to play piano in a superb way at the same time, of course without stopping smiling!

After a short 10 to 15 break, we became excited because it was the time to see "The Coronas" live with the RTE orchestra, what a moment! The singer, Danny was excited to play with them, you could see it on his face, he is so humble and transparent! They played 3 songs "Closer To you", "Mark my words" and Danny's version of "Lakes of Pontchartrain (see the below video to listen to it)", to me the last one was my favorite, Danny has such a clean and different voice from anybodyelse that every song he sings it 's made unique. When he was not singing he was looking back at the orchestra, it must have been a beautiful moment to see 18 violinist playing along their songs. We enjoyed it with them, so much! The director introduced them saying that he knows that they will be "the U2 of the XXIth century" due to their talent, I'm also sure they will be!! Well, after the Coronas finished another big surprise was awaiting for us, at least for me, getting to know and listen to UK Jazz singer Claire Martin was the surprise of the night. What a voice and talent!! She made me feel every note of every song she sang! Beautiful! The songs she sang: "Get Happy","Windmills of your mind"."How about me","I get along without you ver well",I keep going back to Joes""God give me strength" (I loved this one!). Such a beautiful night ended with Jazz with the Saxo Nigel and Bryan Byrne  playing piano improvising with the rest of the orchestra! What a way of ending the concert!

Yesterday night will be a night to remember , not only because of all that I have explained above but also because we had the chance to meet personally &  had a photo taken with Danny (The Coronas' singer!)!! Yes!! He was seated among the public with his girlfriend after his performance and some fans like us couldn't avoid asking Danny for a photo! My husband said: "We are your fans, Can I take a photo of you with my wife?". Danny said"Sure, Nice to meet you guys, thanx " (Gee , he is much taller and handsome than I expected!! What a pity he has a beautiful blonde girlfriend (check my photo, she is in the background) and that I also have a beautiful husband, otherwise..). I wanted to tell Danny so many things but I was lost for words,I really felt like a teenager again!!! Although I look horrible I want to share the photo with you!

Thanx National concert hall for making us all happy !! We all enjoyed the night!! This was my "Mother's day present and I'm very pleased to see that she enjoyed a different concert from the ones she usually goes to.

Movie Recommended: The Best Exotic Marigold hotel (2012)

From the time I saw the trailer of this movie I wanted to see it, I knew I was going to like it and I was not wrong. The main story of this film is about a bunch of British pensioners who are sold a "luxurious" holiday package in India, hotel owned by Sonny played by the Indian actor Dev Patel, known by the fab film "Slumdog Millionaire". They did not know each other but they will become close due to their common experiences in India. Of course the hotel photos they saw back in the U.k. were a bit photoshopped and did not look like the real hotel where they will be the first guests in months. As usual, I do not want to tell you  much so that you can enjoy it and laugh, as I did, each character of this film has its own individuality and personality. I loved each one of them, specially the one played by Judy Dench & Maggie Smith. One of my favorite moments: "If I can't pronounce it , I don't eat it" (This also happens to me lol) and the moment when actor Tom Wilkinson meets again the love of his life. To me, that I have not been to India yet, I think this film shows it with a lot of respect, a mixture of colors, people and flavors. Last anecdote, there is one scene when a group of Indians start singing and dancing on the streets and I could see myself there with Andres dancing along with them non-stop. Lol! Go and don't miss it! It's hilarious but also touching! Next movie on my list with a bit of delay: The Artist!