Moving!

During the first two decades of my life, I lived in the same house. Then, I moved to Madrid and now I'm moving again, this time from the outskirts of Madrid to the city centre. However, despite all the excitement I just discovered how much I hate to move because whenever you think everything's packed, you'll discover another corner in the flat you haven't even touched yet. So many things in such a little place...

Maybe I should adopt George Clooney's style in Up in the Air and have nothing else but a little suitcase with all my life in it. As for the movie itself, I loved it, it was really witty and all, a bit predictable maybe but at least it was original. Thumbs up!

Seriously.

Yesterday I watched A Serious Man by the Coen brothers and it's no surprise that I absolutely loved it. The actors were fabulous, especially Michael Stuhlbarg whom I have never seen in any other movie I think...he was uncanny and he played perfectly his oh-so-recognizeably-Coen character. On the other hand, the conversations are so witty you basically can't stop laughing, unless you despise irony, which I don't.

The movie has all the ingredients a Coen movie does - good acting, excellent script, sarcasm, that typical atmosphere other filmmakers can never even imitate, that unsettling ending - and a new one: the film evolves around Jefferson Airplane's masterpiece, Somebody to Love - a song that's wonderful if you're listening to it on your iPod or at home but that eats itself under your skin if you listen to it in the cinema; believe me, you will struggle not to shout out loud the refrain for a very, very long time.

Yet again, the wonderful duo created a work of art, a masterpiece I would like to watch over and over again to experience the humour, the beauty, the genious of it. And again, those three little words come to mind: a must see.

Picture of the week.

Annie Leibovitz and Mikhail Baryshnikov for Louis Vuitton.

Prelude...to tragedy.

Back when I was a young teenager, I was crazy for a Finnish band called HIM. Their songs approached love from a different, darker, more painful and, oh yes, more sexual angle than any other song I heard before (of course, later I learnt that it was not just them but a whole genre... however, I still think they are the best) and I loved them to death.

But times change and most of the bands I listened to then belong to my past now but the first two albums by HIM are still with me... And the following song, from Razorblade Romance tells me more now than it did before. Listening to the lyrics as a more mature person I discovered their more profound meaning that still fits my emotions up to a certain level.

So, now I think I Love You (Prelude to Tragedy) is about a person who doesn't like easy love - who gets bored if he gets what he wants. Who believes that the more he has to fight for someone's love, the better. All this and an excellent musical background - how could I ever give up HIM...?

Crystal again.

Due to V Magazine's (plus-)size issue, the fashion world is all about weight issues again. While I think it is a good think to promote models who look more like an average woman, I think most efforts in fashion to end the reign of super skinny models is nothing else but the other side of the imaginary horse - instead of using stick thin girls, they opt for using overweight people. And I know nothing about the US but here in Europe none of the above says "average" to me, not to mention the health factor.

One refreshing exception is "the most successful plus-size model", Crystal Renn. She really has a figure that reminds me of an average woman and when I look at her I think she is completely normal - and healthy. This is the kind of body the industry should promote instead of trying to break one bad habit with an other one.

Save me.

This is one of my favourite songs from Queen. The lyrics - whether it fits my current emotional state or not - always breaks my heart.

La dama y la muerte.

Or, in English: The Lady and the Reaper. This is the title of a Spanish short movie and it will go to the Oscars - at least I hope so! It is witty, the music is incredible and even someone who doesn't particularly like animation films (I'm looking at myself...) can love it dearly.

This is just the trailer, if you have the opportunity to watch the whole film, I highly recommend it!

2010.

To loosely quote Oscar Wilde, doing nothing is only great when you have things to do and - just like all the time - he was perfectly right. This is why I stayed in bed the last two days, doing nothing but watching movies and reading (Al Pacino: In Conversation with Lawrence Grobel to be exact), instead of preparing for my upcoming exams... Or writing my thesis.

But, as I plan to end these days of laziness, I hereby wish you all a happy new year!