The Movie's Hot, Really Hot

I just came back from the movie theater, where I went to see the new Bond, James Bond. I've never been a die-hard fan of the franchise, but even though I've never been wildly anticipating the next installment in the series, I've usually enjoyed the movies.
When I first saw the preview for Casino Royale, I thought it looked good. And now that I've finally seen the film, all I can say is: wow!
With a plot that's, for once (at least in the recent past), not only intelligible but also plausible, the movie takes you on a rollercoaster from beginning (incredible "jump chase") to end (I won't say anything), and all the time you're rooting for Bond, James Bond, to kick ass. More ass. And talking about Bond, Daniel Craig is superb. I loved Pierce Brosnan, but I didn't cry "heresy" when I saw the secret agent's new face. I thought I should wait until I had seen the movie before praising or condemning Craig. And just in case you didn't see this coming, I loved him. I think he does a terrific job in bringing Double Oh to life, and he deserves all the accolades he's been getting.
The Bond girl, on the other hand… Well… She does a good job, and I'm sure Nash here undoubtedly thinks she's gorgeous, but I completely disagree. I was less than impressed with her in Kingdom of Heaven, and so I remain. But she does the job, and since -and now that I think about it- I've never been too fond of any Bond girl in the past (except for Sophie Marceau), I shouldn't be surprised this one doesn't cut it either.
Still, it's a great movie, and its almost two and half hours fly by so fast you'll be amazed it was actually that long. So do yourselves a favor, and go see it as soon as you can. Hey! Even the car is almost as cool as mine!

Shun the Nonbelievers

Last night I watched Scoop, Woody Allen's second movie with Scarlett Johansson. It's kinda funny, cause up until this year, I had only seen a WA film, the quite forgettable Bullets Over Broadway. However, I went to the movies (The Bijou, not The Rave) in January to check out Match Point (I mean, it had Scarlett Johansson, come on), and I really liked it. So I ended up renting Mighty Aphrodite (que en inglés rima pero en español no) shortly after that, and even though it was cute and entertaining, I didn't like it anywhere near as much as I did Match Point. But on Friday I decided I needed more Woody Allen, and… Okay, that's not completely true. On Friday, I decided I wanted more Scarlett Johansson, and then I came across Scoop at the Blockbuster near my apartment. Since I had really liked Allen's and Johansson's first collaboration, I went ahead and rented it. And truth is, I really enjoyed it. It's a fun, upbeat, vastly entertaining movie. You're never quite sure what's going to happen next, and the dialogue is quite funny. Woody Allen ends up being a bit too annoying at the end, because he keeps doing the same thing over and over again; but Hugh Jackman is good, and Scarlett Johansson is fantastic. Besides being a really good actress and ridiculously gorgeous (remember: Sexiest Woman Alive), the fact that she spends the whole movie wearing these big, round glasses only makes her all the more attractive. So yeah, go ahead and rent it. If nothing else, you can always drool at her beautiful face. But there's more to the movie than that, I promise!

A Thing of Beauty

Por segunda y probable-
mente última vez, voy a hablar de coches. Siguiendo con mi predilección nipona, nuestra invitada de hoy es de origen japonés. Y hablo en femenino porque en inglés, como bien saben los consumidores de literatura en este idioma, a los barcos, coches, y naves espaciales se les hace referencia con el pronombre she. Y qué preciosidad más hermosa que la máquina en la foto: el Honda Civic 2007. Y el coche en la fotografía tiene nombre y apellidos. La belleza en cuestión se llama Sanyan Storm. Y sí: eso es el parking de mi apartamento ayer, a las seis de la tarde :)

The Day The Music Died

A long, not so long time ago… Fifteen years ago, to be more precise, the great Freddie Mercury left us all alone.

He was born on September 5, 1946, so he would have celebrated his 60^th birthday a couple of months ago. I’m not one for funerals and tributes myself, and when I go to Paris (if I go back to Paris some day), I don’t think I’m gonna leave flowers at Jim Morisson’s tomb. But Mercury was… greater than life itself. He definitely was a great vocalist, and I’m not the only one who thinks he’s still the best and most complete rock’n’roll singer ever. What a voice, and what a passion beneath every word he sung. Try to hear from beginning to end, let’s say, In My Defence, or Somebody To Love, and you will know what I’m talking about.

But he was much more than that. He was also an extraordinary piano player, and maybe one of the five best composers of the past century. I mean, from out of his mind the world has been able to enjoy immortal hymns such as We Are The Champions and Bohemian Rhapsody. And he was capable of writing songs in very different styles of music just as if he had invented them. Rockabilly in Crazy Little Thing Called Love, hard rock like Death On Two Legs, love ballads as Love Of My Life, epic themes as The Show Must Go On or even carefree cabaret songs like Seaside Rendezvous. But, above all other things, he essentially was a frontman. The greatest showman the 20^th century left us.

All hail one of the greatest artists of all times. And God save the Queen.

PS. - The Great Moment On Screen posted yesterday, that now has disappeared completely (f*#+'@ YouTube, goddammit!) and I'm placing here again, doesn’t need being introduced. You all enjoy one of the most revolutionary video clips ever. And the song isn’t bad too. Hard as I try, I always hear it through the end with my eyes moistened.

PS. – I had also always been looking forward for using the title of this post on something. “The Day the Music Died” is such a beautiful and strong sentence that I couldn’t help myself. For all of you who doesn’t know what it makes reference to, please listen to the marvellous song by Don McLean, the no-presentations-needed American Pie. And then look at the link explaining all the lyrics and cultural references. Ahhh… I love music, don’t you?

Mars Attacks!

Quince días después de mi último post, y ya iba siendo hora, reaparezco por la Soleada Jhanna para demostrar mi alegría porque, sí, aún queda vida en Marte. Veronica Mars, esa gran serie de la que todo el mundo ya ha oído hablar maravillas por aquí, se resiste a desaparecer. Hace más de un mes nuestro querido máximo blogueador del reino, finn5fel, escribió un post acerca de la inminente cancelación del show. Los directivos de la CW habían amenazado muy seriamente con recortar la tercera temporada en que está inmersa esta serie, y reducirla a trece míseros episodios si no mejoraba sus resultados de audiencia de forma considerable.
Según esta otra noticia, no es que lo haya hecho. Al menos de una manera clara. Pero los directivos de la cadena han ampliado el plazo a siete episodios mas. En fin, que tendremos una temporada de veinte episodios, si la cosa no vuelve a cambiar. Si Veronica Mars no llega a ver su cuarto año de emisión, al menos su creador, Rob Thomas, tendrá una cantidad de episodios suficiente como para cerrar decentemente la serie. Cosa que esperemos no tenga que verse obligado a hacer. One must dream.

Children of the Rock

I went to the movies on Sunday. The event: the Horrorfest, which Chattanooga was one of the 35 cities in the country hosting. The deal was: 8 horror movies released only during the weekend of Friday 17th- Sunday 19th. You could get a pass for the 8 movies, or just go see the ones you wanted. Since I was in Nashville Friday and Saturday, I only had Sunday to go to The Rave. And not all 8 movies were showing every day. Instead, they had 2, 3 and 3, or something similar to that. Anyway, I went to see Wicked Little Things, with my expectations low and my skepticism high, but lo and behold, I found the movie tremendously entertaining (and the main character tremendously hot, by the way). And it's surprising that I actually liked the movie, especially when you take into account that it pretty much includes every single horror-movie cliché you could possibly think of. (Except, mercifully, for the Indian cemetery --this time it's a mine.) The hot girl, the creepy kids, the haunted place, the hick that's in the know (he even limps!), the evil land developer, the fake plastic spider, the horny teenagers making out in the car before meeting their untimely death, the scary dolls, the car that's stuck, the heroine walking around at night with only a long t-shirt and even longer legs, the guy that fidgets with the car keys before starting the engine, the old pictures and press clippings, the family new in town... Everything you could possibly conceive of is in the movie. But I guess it's because of its decidedly B-series flavor that the movie embraces and revels in that the film is good. Instead of being pretentious and allegedly innovative, it's just an honest scary movie that doesn't overstay its welcome (clocking in at 1:35 minutes it'd be kinda hard to do so). So I don't know about the other seven movies, but this one is worth seeing, enjoying, and, on a couple of occassions, laughing at. Enjoy!

Work in Progress 04

Well, I ended up getting rid of as many white spaces in the background as I could part with, and I'm much happier with how it looks now. Still, the scanned version doesn't really capture it, but I guess it'll have to do. So there you go. This Work in Progress series ends here. It's okay to cry. I'll miss it too.