Et Bob… c’est ton oncle

There are people who go to the cinema for the movies. I go for the Orange adverts.

Maybe that’s stretching it a bit too far, but I’m always looking forward to a new one. Yesterday I saw the latest ad, with Macaulay Culkin – it’s quite funny, although I don’t think it’s one of the best – but then the best are incredibly brilliant.

So here they are, most of them.

First, the “greats”:

Patrick Swayze as “the silent hunter”. Pure genius.

Darth Vader. Impossible not to love it…

I don’t care about Orange’s service or tariffs or anything else. If I hadn’t had an Orange SIM already, I would have switched to them just to join the power of the Orange Side.

Michael Madsen – recent entry that deserves a place among the greats. “Hello, Sarah…” I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen it, I know perfectly well what’s going to happen, but I still laugh at the ending:

Steven Seagal’s ad is also very good. Lots of action in this one! Romantic comedy? Lol…

And Sean Astin’s epic romantic comedy…

And the others, in no particular order:
Verne Troyer, John Cleese, Daryl Hannah, Mena Suvari, Roy Scheider, Carrie Fisher, Spike Lee, Val Kilmer…

If you go to the movies a lot, you start learning the lines – at some point I think I knew all the lines for Patrick Swayze’s and Lord Vader’s… But give me mr Dresden and the phone box killer a hundred times rather than something like this!!! Yeah, nice ad, but try to watch it a few times and you’ll want to kill yourself. Or Svetlana.

Backstreet’s back, alright

The moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived…the new Backstreet Boys album is out!!!

Ok, I’ve never cared about BSB, but I’m sure Snowball will be happy, and this can only be a good thing for the world.

“You can’t hide from the Grim Reaper. Especially when he’s got a gun.”

Today I stumbled upon this article: 

“Set around a series of galleries in an old monastery, the museum allows death, in the form of human skulls, to stare you in the face from every angle. [...] In glass cabinets, hanging from walls, peeking out at you from round corners, deathly creations are everywhere. [...] You can also find depictions of skeletons playing basketball, or drunken skeletons engaged in a poker game.“

Weird enough to make me curious about this “Mexican Day of the Dead“. I always like to read about different cultures and customs, and I found the Wikipedia entry a very interesting read. But while I thought I knew nothing about it, I kept having a feeling that the Day of the Dead celebration was not new to me. It was odd, because I have never been to Mexico, let alone celebrated the festival of the dead. Maybe a movie? A previous life? Hmm…

…Why was I sure I knew this guy??? Or at least someone who looked a lot like him…

Then I realized:

… GRIM FANDANGO!!!!!

(from Wiki:) “The story unfolds in four episodes, each set a year apart on the Day of the Dead, November 2. It is from this festival that much of the game’s imagery is drawn — most of the game’s characters look like skeletal calaca figures.”

No wonder those calaca things looked familiar!

Released in 1998, Grim Fandango would be Lucasarts’ last truly great adventure game. It had everything: it was fun, touching, with a great storyline, unforgettable characters, witty dialogue and plenty of STYLE. 

There were so many memorable moments, it would be hard to choose just one scene, one line, one character - although Manny Calavera is up there with Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe – only funnier.

“Manuel? Are you… in love with her?”

“Love? Love is for the living, Sal. I’m only after her for one reason… she’s my ticket out of here.”

Eat your heart out, Bogey!

It’s been almost ten years now since its release, but Grim Fandango has lost none of its appeal. Even the graphics - that now are nothing special from a technical point of view – work well, thanks also to the flawless art direction, in giving the game its unique atmosphere. Seeing someone sprout is always a powerful view.

And the voices? Perfect.

“Oh Manny… so cynical… What happened to you, Manny, that caused you to lose your sense of hope, your love of life?”

“I died.”

I’ve no doubt I wasn’t the only one who felt a bit sad when it ended. But, as with a good book, I am not sure I want to “live” it again. After all, Manny, Glottis, Meche, they all will be doing something else now. Enjoying the trip.

“Hairspray” at the Shaftesbury Theatre

Some people believe that a musical should make you think about Life, the Universe, and Everything; others that it should not make you think for a couple of hours.

While belonging to those whose view is “anything goes, as long as it’s good”, I have a preference for “happy” musicals. Despite this, I had my doubts I’d like this Hairspray: I’ve never liked Grease, and it looked like the two, apart from the fact that both take their names from hair styling products, had a lot in common. Well, saying that I liked it would be an understatement, I loved it and I want to see it again!!!

Leanne Jones is a star, a true force of nature. The programme says Hairspray is her professional debut… what a debut! She sings, dances and seems to transmit her energy to everybody around her. Not that the others would need it – they have plenty of their own. Ben James-Ellis, for example, looked like he was trying to “outjump” everyone in the dance parts. He is a newcomer too, but I remember seeing him on TV – the only episode of “Any dream will do” I watched was the one where he got eliminated. I don’t know if he would have made a good Joseph (and, frankly, I don’t care, since the thing I liked the best about Joseph when I saw it in London were the inflatable sheep – I really don’t feel the need to see the show again), but he is very good here. His Link is instantly likeable – not sure if it’s Ben’s fault – actually I’m not even sure that it is a fault at all, why should it be?

Michael Ball is simply brilliant, from the moment he comes on stage – the faces he does while he’s ironing and the girls are watching TV are priceless – to his her… his sparkling final appearance. Although I can’t believe that his fans wouldn’t know it’s

Ring Update – My precioussssss!

Saw Die Walküre again on Sunday; the main reason, for me, to see the same production again after such a short time was seeing Placido Domingo as Siegmund, and I’m very glad I did. I cannot say it was a life-changing experience, though; partly, I guess, because I knew what to expect - I know every note of his Proms performance of 2 years ago, where he sounded absolutely beautiful -, partly because I couldn’t see much from where I was sitting (I was happy, at first, that I would see Stephen Milling both singing and acting, but this time if he had only been miming I wouldn’t have noticed!)

And I bought thisssss:

It’s supposed to be Solti, but the box is so beautiful it made me forget that… I don’t have a way to play records anymore.

That’s not an unsolvable problem. Slightly more worrying is that it smells as if 50 years of dust have slowly become an integral part of it (maybe because that’s what actually happened): getting close to it needs courage; touching it, for now, is out of the question.
But hey, it was cheaper than the book.

4 x 4

Another 4! The 4th consecutive time.
And Tevez and Rooney have started to play as if they had been in the same team for ages…

Boro scored only once, despite the fact that United had no goalkeeper:

“Where’s he gone?”
“No idea…”

Obviously the referee hasn’t noticed, and Giggs wonders if he should tell him:

I love watching Ryan Giggs play, but on Saturday he never came on. Though I think I know the reason.

Spiderman at HMV, Spiderpig in Trafalgar Square

When I read that Assassin’s Creed would be presented at the London Games Festival, I thought I would go: after months (years?) of news, screenshots and videos, I wanted to see the game being actually played live. So, shortly before 3 on Friday I made my way to HMV in Oxford Street.

I was wondering whether I would be able to see anything: Jade Raymond was going to present it, so maybe I would find a crowd already there, waiting to see her rather than the game.

I shouldn’t have worried: she wasn’t there. There was only Spiderman. Signing autographs.

No sign of Assassin’s Creed, apart from some empty boxes, and a sign announcing

Book without end

Not really, but it is not short either…

I can’t say whether it is as good as The Pillars of the Earth, because I don’t remember much of that one… But I really enjoyed this World without End and, as I expected, couldn’t put it down until the last page. But give me a huge well written novel with 14th-century Britain, cathedrals, plagues, knights and co. and I’m happy.

When I saw this I thought “…!!!!!! All this time I thought Kingsbridge wasn’t real!!!”

But it is not. I mean, it is real, but “Ken Follett’s 1989 novel, The Pillars of the Earth, is set in a fictional city of Kingsbridge that has nothing to do with the real one.” I was already planning the trip…

All work and no play…

Back by popular demand

Don Giovanni curtain call, sometime last June at Covent Garden.

I’ve just noticed there both the men and the women are showing their tits smiles in this photo; Don Giovanni is also showing his tongue to the posh guys dressed up as Raouls in the first box and Donn’Anna is about to fall into the pit:

With Erwin Schrott as the Don, Anna Netrebko as Donn’Anna and Kyle Ketelsen as Cousin Itt.