El Camino – The Black Keys (review)

The American band formed by Dan Auerbach, vocals and guitar, and Patrick Carney, on drums, was born in Akron, Ohio in the year of 2001. Lately, the Black Keys have given a lot to talk about, especially since the release of their last two albums.

Their debut album, The Big Come Up, was released on May of 2002 and the song "I'll Be Your Man" was the theme song for the series Hung and also appeared on Rescue Me. The next album came on April 2003 and it was called Thickfreakness. They won some mainstream success because the song “Set You Free" featured in the film School of Rock and, by this time, the band was already being compared to other great blues-rock bands, like The White Stripes. On September of 2004, appears Rubber Factory, with very popular songs among the tv and the cinema: "When the Lights Go Out" was used in the film Black Snake Moan, the song "10 AM Automatic" was featured in an American Express commercial, in the movie Live Free or Die, in the soundtrack for MLB '06: The Show and in the movie The Go-Getter (which also features the song "Keep Me"), "Grown So Ugly" was in the movie Cloverfield, the track "Girl Is on My Mind" was used for both Sony Ericsson and Victoria's Secret commercials and finally "Stack Shot Billy" was performed on Late Show with David Letterman. The next two albums, Magic Potion and Attack & Release came in 2006 and 2008, respectively. By now, The Black Keys were becoming more popular when they released the album Brothers, on May 2010, that gave them three Grammy Awards.

On December 6 of 2011 comes out their new album, El Camino, and it has been well received by the public and the critics. The album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee and it draws influences from popular genres from the 50s, 60s and 70s like soul, rockabilly and rock and roll. Also there are more uptempo and riff-driven songs, in contrast to some of the slower and quieter tracks from the previous album.

The album has 11 songs and its cover and the full tracklist are presented below.

1. Lonely Boy
2. Dead and Gone 3. Gold on the Ceiling
4. Little Black Submarines
5. Money Maker
6. Run Right Back
7. Sister
8. Hell of a Season
9. Stop Stop
10. Nova Baby
11. Mind Eraser

For now, if you got curious, listen to the first two singles from this album: "Lonely Boy" and "Gold on the Ceiling".

So, if you didn’t know of the existence of this band and if you appreciate garage/blues/indie rock, go check the work of this American duo that you’ll surely love. Also, you can visit their website, here.

 Hope you like it,

Expect me ;)

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.