The Artist (review)

Finally filled up some courage and watched The Artist (the entire movie), and I must say that I was expecting a lot worst, even though the first 10/15 minutes are very boring and almost frustrating.
By this time we start to like George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) a very funny and talented mute actor for who everything was going great until the rising of the voice cinema in the late 20's. Then the rising star Peppy Miller(Bérénice Bejo) takes George's space leaving him with some bad moments. A word for an also very talented dog a Jack Russel called Uggie that is amazing.
If you can pass the first 15 minutes I believe you will enjoy the movie.
I'll just leave with the trailer and a funny scene from Uggie.

Expect me ;)

Oscars 2012 (winners)

As you may know the Oscars weren't that surprising this year, my "prediction" has been confirmed, check out the 2012 winners:

Best Cinematography: Robert Richardson, "Hugo"
Best Art Direction: Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schavo, "Hugo"
Best Costume Design: Mark Bridges, "The Artist"
Best Makeup: Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, "The Iron Lady"
Best Foreign Language Film: "A Separation"
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
Best Editing: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Best Sound Editing: Phillip Stockton and Eugene Gearty, "Hugo"
Best Sound Mixing: Tom Fleischman and John Midgley, "Hugo"
Best Documentary: "Undefeated"
Best Animated Feature: "Rango"
Best Visual Effects: "Hugo"
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Best Original Score: Ludovic Bource, "The Artist"
Best Original Song: Bret McKenzie, "Man or Muppet"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Best Live Action Short: "The Shore"
Best Documentary Short: "Saving Face"
Best Animated Short: "The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore"
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Best Picture: "The Artist"

Oscars 2012 (nominees)

I'll just leave you with the nominees for tomorrow's oscars show.  Give me your predictions in comment box. My bet: The Artist, Meryl Streep,Michel Hazanavicius,Jean Dujardin.

Who will win?

Here is the full nominees list:
Best Picture
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"The Help"
"Moneyball"
"War Horse"
"The Tree of Life"

Best Actor
Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

Best Actress
Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis, "The Help"
Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte, "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Max Von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain, "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"

Best Director
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"
Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"

Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
JC Chandor, "Margin Call"
Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation"
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, "Bridesmaids"

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
John Logan, "Hugo"
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, "The Ides of March"
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, "Moneyball"
Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughn, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

Best Animated Feature
"A Cat In Paris"
"Chico & Rita"
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
"Puss in Boots"
"Rango"

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)

Original Score
"The Adventures of Tintin," John Williams
"The Artist," Ludovic Bource
"Hugo," Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse," John Williams

Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet," The Muppets; Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio," Rio; Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Achievement in Art Direction
"The Artist"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Cinematography
"The Artist"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Costume Design
"Anonymous"
"The Artist"
"Hugo"
"Jane Eyre"
"W.E."

Best Documentary Feature
"Hell and Back Again"
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
"Pina"
"Undefeated"

Best Documentary Short Subject
"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement?"
"God Is the Bigger Elvis"
"Incident in New Baghdad"
"Saving Face"
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom"

Best Achievement in Film Editing
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"

Best Achievement in Makeup
"Albert Nobbs"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"The Iron Lady"

Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Best Live Action Short Film
"Pentecost"
"Raju"
"The Shore"
"Time Freak"
"Tuba Atlantic"

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
"Drive"
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
"Hugo"
"Moneyball"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"War Horse"

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
"Hugo"
"Real Steel"
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"

Jack Russel Terrier

It may seems a little odd a dog post in my blog, but this one has an explanation. This Saturday I'm choosing a Jack Russel puppy. I've always loved such dogs, since the TV series Frasier, and the movie Mask, with Jim Carrey. Always heard about the intelligence and loyalty of this dogs, and I dreamed about one since then. Despite my mom's fear of his electric stamina I'm really thrilled. Here are some notes on Wikipedia about them:

"Originating in the early 19th century from dogs bred and used by Reverend John Russell, it has similar origins to the modern Fox terrier. The Jack Russell is an energetic breed which relies on a high level of exercise and stimulation, and is relatively free from serious health complaints. It has gone through several changes over the years, through different use and breed standards set by kennel clubs. Recognition for the breed by kennel clubs has been opposed by the breed's parent societies – which resulted in the breeding and recognition of the Parson Russell terrier. Jack Russells have appeared many times in film, television and print with several historical dogs of note."

For last I will just leave you with pictures from the dogs from Mask and Frasier, and a presentation video.

Frasier dog

Mask dog

Hope you enjoy it,

expect me ;)

A Song of Ice and Fire

Hi there, it's been a while since I post and I'm sorry for that, the holidays together with exams at college stoled a lot of my time.
Today I'm here to talk to you about the series of epic fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire, written by George R.R. Martin. Many of you (as I), only heard about this when the Game of Thrones series when HBO aired it. But there are novels of course, Role Playing Games, board games, cards games all about this. I've seen the entire show on HBO and read the first 5 books and I can tell you they are really addicted. Cant recall the last time I became so addicted to a book, probably only with Harry Potter's series.
This story as Wikipedia says "takes place in a fictional world, primarily on a continent called Westeros but also on a large landmass to the east, known as Essos. There are three story lines that become increasingly interwoven: the chronicling of a dynastic civil war for control of Westeros among several competing families; the rising threat of the Others, who dwell beyond an immense wall of ice that forms Westeros' northern border; and the ambition of Daenerys Targaryen, the exiled daughter of a king who was murdered in another civil war fifteen years before, to return to Westeros and claim her rightful throne."
This last part is what really fascinates me, G. Martin created so many characters without losing focus resulting in a book with various storylines and takes you several pages to evolve, and that gets you addicted to the book, you really can't stop reading them until you finish. Another great thing (but sad tho) is that G Martin is not afraid to kill some of the main characters (SPOIL: as happened to Stark in the very 1st season, to many people one of the best characters in the story, including me).
For last I give you some Wikipedia facts that show you the greatness of this books:
"The "Ice and Fire" series has been translated into more than 20 languages. The fourth and fifth volumes reached the top of The New York Times bestseller lists in 2005 and 2011. Overall, the series has sold more than seven million copies in the USA and more than 15 million copies worldwide."

Finally I'll just leave you with the official amazing trailer and song:

Enjoy the post, expect me ;)

Arduino...WOW

Today, I'm here to talk to you about a fascinating technology..Arduino! What is Arduino? Arduino is an open source  single-board microcontroller, descendant of the open-source Wiring platform, designed to make the process of using electronics in multidisciplinary projects more accessible. It's amazing the uncountable things you can do with it, the limit is your imagination.
The best way to describe an Arduino is with a few examples:
Want to have a coffee pot tweet when the coffee is ready? Arduino.
Want to have plushie steaks glow? Arduino.
How about getting an alert on your phone when there’s physical mail in your mailbox? Arduino.
Want to have a Professor X Steampunk wheelchair that speaks and dispenses booze? Arduino.
Want to make a set of quiz buzzers for an event out of Staples Easy Buttons? Arduino.
Want to make a light-up arm cannon from Metroid for your son? Arduino.
Want to make your own heart rate monitor for cycling that logs to a memory card? Arduino.
Want to make a robot that draws on the ground, or rides around in the snow? Arduino.

That's great but how does this work?
The hardware part it's simply an open hardware design for the Arduino board with an Atmel AVR processor and on-board input/output support. As you can see in the image.

The software consists of a standard programming language compiler and the boot loader that runs on the board.

The project started in Ivrea, Italy, when a college teacher wanted to build more pratical projects that he could show to his students, to encourage them in his classes. Founders Massimo Banzi and David Cuartielles named the project after Arduin of Ivrea, the main historical character of the town. "Arduino" is an Italian masculine first name, meaning "strong friend". The English version of the name is "Hardwin".

I'll just leave you with some videos of Arduino projects, google it, you will find everything you need to get your projects running.

Oh Land's album Sun of a Gun review

Just discovered a "new" artist this week on the radio. I really liked the song, so I googled the lyrics (who didn't sometime in life?) and ended up finding the group Oh Land, the music was by the way "White Nights": I'll linked you down to the Youtube video as usual in this blog.
As I really liked the song, went down to the store and bought their album "Sun of a Gun", and I was really surprised by the quality of the entire album. It sure has one of two songs more commercial and more catchy than the others, but it's very regular the entire album, really recommend you to give it a try.
I'll leave you with "White Nights", here you can feel Nanna's (vocalist) nordic accent, wich gives the music a really classy touch, watch out for when she says "pillow", it's almost magical...

Now, I'll leave you with the song that named the album "Sun of a Gun", a really nice one of course

Listening to it you feel like kidnapped to a new colorfull world, of fantasy, fairylistic with ocasional introspective smooth paths. After all, the songs that accompanied us in dreams were born in Oh Land...