Start Trek into darkness: movie review

Before going to see the Great Gatsby I wen to watch Star Trek into darkness and here is what I think about it. It's great and you should go watch it.

I am not a trekkie by far but this J.J. Abrams flavoured versions are really well made. There is no previous knowledge of Star Trek required as the trilogy is depicting a parallel reality to the one we've seen in the TV show. The actors casted for the main characters are brilliant as they do not try to over play a part that has already been made memorable by more experienced and versed actors than them, so I congratulate the casting team for picking Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto for the roles of Kirk and Spok respectively.

Star Trek into darkness is entertaining, well scripted and with really good special effects: a must for anyone who likes to see movies because it's fun. In this second episode of the trilogy the friendship between Spok and Kirk strengthens without any cheesy scene; also the balance of strengths and skills of those main characters start to create an explosive mix, that is ideal to trigger strong emotions, express quick wit and delight with spectacular scenes.

I particularly loved how the trailer sets you off a trail that is very different from the story you're going to see in the movie. So, if you haven't done so watch the first Star Trek by J.J. Abrams and then dive into the darkness. No parachutes needed: there is Kirk to save the day.

The Great Gatsby: movie review

Let's start from the last movie I have watched: The Great Gatsby.

I was lured in the theater with the promise of a fashionable and luxurious movie, with incredible casting, story and also costumes and choreography. I was disappointed to see a depressing vision of a great novel, with some Baz Luhrman sparkles sprinkled here and there.

The Great Gatsby was nothing as thrilling as Moulin Rouge. With a ginormous marketing budget The Great Gatsby was cleverly advertised as a shiny, twisted and thumping adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. As much as I think this movie is anyway worth seeing, for the good performances of the actors and for the great locations, costumes etc, it was nowhere close to exciting.

Since the start the movie was permeated by a feeling of despair: those who didn't read the book were feeling that this movie would end ba9dly. Also Lana Del Ray's song Young and Beautiful didn't help setting a very positive mood (mind you, I find the song beautiful. The problem is the book doesn't deliver this sensation until the very end; almost for all its length Gatsby is depicted as a poor, pitiable being whether the book wraps the character in a cloud of religious admiration for a character of great positive energy. The script on which The Great Gatsby is based doesn't develop the character of Gatsby enough thus not causing any emotional reaction to a deeper audience. Sorry Baz, this was a fail. Not epic though, not epic.

Oblivion: movie review

Sometimes you just wish you could get back 2 hours and 4 minutes of your life.

Wait? Oblivion was "only" 124 minutes long?

Time is relative indeed then as it felt to me like it lasted 3 hours!

I spent €4.50 only on top of my CineWorld card to watch Oblivion in IMAX and I am glad I did so, because if I had watched it on a regular screen it would have been even more unbearable.

The makers of Oblivion created a shameless purpuree of sci-fi movies that has no shade of originality nor beauty of execution. Watching Oblivion is like watching a mosaic of, Matrix, the Island, Armageddon, Wall-e (yes, I found some similarities there as well) and who knows what else. As a friend of mine put it " the only bearable part was the cute russian girl", and since I am not really interested in that, you can guess the 2 hours and 4 minutes ride wasn't worth it.

In fact, although I am a Tom Cruise fan, or at least I was at the time of Cocktail and Far & Away I couldn't help to notice the desperate attempts to move the audience with random introduction of kids in the picture or with very obvious turns of plot.

I suggest you not to watch this movie, unless you are someone who gets some sort of pleasure from wasting time watching bad movies, because this is one of them.
Too negative review?

 The score was great, it's a pity though that I will have to associate it with those images...

Argo: movie review

I saw Argo only last week and I really liked it. I have a thing for the 70's and their filter photography, at some points it really felt like being in an Instagram shot movie, yellowish filter, long hair and beard, geek glasses.

Argo is a good movie but I don't know really how it got to win best picture... no wait I know! The best picture almost never wins best picture, that's how films like The Graduate in '67 or Brokeback Mountain in 2005 lost in front of what I consider inferior movies. More than the story, that in any case is brilliant and a great example of how sniffing in previously classified material can lead to very curious discoveries, I liked the photography and the soundtrack. The music was edgy and catchy.

For some reason Argo reminded me of Michele Placido's 2005 Romanzo Criminale, another deep dive in flare pants and printed shirts, uncertain future... but certainly Argo has less fire power than Romanzo Criminale. In my humble opinion the 70s (early 80s) are still unexplored territory for Hollywood and I sense there are going to be more movies made in that decade. What do you think?

Totò Peppino and the Hussy: movie review

Did you know this movie?

I did but I had never watched it until last week, with my boyfriend I decided to introduce him to the world of Totò. Totò whose real full name was Antonio Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno De Curtis di Bisanzio Gagliardi (quite long, uh?) was a hugely popular comedian in Italy, working between theatre and cinema during both the fascist years and the post-war boom. With his wit, neapolitan accent and great intuition for good stories Totò is a true star in Italy.

What about the movie?

Totò Peppino and the Hussy is funny! No rocket science there as the movie plays on many, maybe too many italian stereotypes but it does so without getting vulgar and with a good rhythm. Basically this is a true italian cinema classic that you should watch if you like Buster Keaton's movies.

Here is a famous scene of the movie where Totò and Peppino address an Italian officer thinking that he doesn't speak italian: here again the divide between south and north of the country explained in a very funny and I'd say cute way.

Zero Dark Thirty: Movie Review

I don't usually watch action movies, or spy movies, or anything that simply looks to realistic... that's why I accepted to watch Zero Dark  Thirty!

Summarizing: Zero Dark Thirty is a movie about X-Files own Dana Scully's daughter - played by an overly serious Jessica Chastain - chasing Osama Bin Laden right in Pakistan and, surprise surprise: finding him. I hope I didn't spoil anything this time... what? you didn't you know that Osama was killed?... Ooops.

Anyway, regardless of the flood of comments and declarations from outraged journalists and enthusiastic critics I can say I really liked ZDT and I recommend watching it if like me you like good scripts and also a clever use of environmental sounds and soundtrack. There isn't much action in the movie, except for the last thirty minutes, which are though intense and very heartfelt, something Kathryn Bigelow has mastered with sound effects and a clever use of digital modeling.

The story of the attack to OBL's compound is indeed quite interesting and mysterious: the movie confirms the mission wasn't to capture but to kill whoever was in the house and so causing the outrage of the entire international and also U.S. community that would have wanted to see the U.S. government capable of capturing and processing Osama Bin Laden in front of an international court. If like me you're very keen to learn about history through incomplete and not 100% backed-up fiction, please please go see this movie.

Django Unchained: movie review

http://cf.badassdigest.com/

Django Unchained is definitely the last movie I saw in the cinema, but I must say I still have to get my head around it so this review is not going to be super helpful to you, but it's going to be for me.

The first thing I remember after watching it was the urge to watch another western movie: mind you, I don't like westerns at all but this one was funny, with good and bad feelings, well directed and entertaining. Maybe other famous westerns are exactly like this or better, but I don't know this so I base my considerations on a movie by Tarantino which is a western, but... not really.

If you are a Tarantino fan, please go ahead and watch it because this is going to improve your opinion of his work even more: the storyline of the movie is simple yet catchy, the acting is good - Jamie Foxx is magnetic - the writing is fun, music is a classic and ... I personally liked the costumes a lot, see picture below for example: hilarious!

http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/

Despite what some critics and people said I don't think it's so violent, once again Tarantino uses violence to defy the concept of violence itself, making it ridiculous and using it as a tool to deliver a message that is way more complex and deep. The ex-dentist bounty hunter, played by an amazing Christoph Waltz is a figure of extremes as Tarantino himself. Christoph Waltz plays an extra violent person with an extra soft heart. The only thing weird for me was Tarantino's own cameo in the movie; his acting was very poor and although I understand that it's fun to see him on the screen and I should take his appearance ironically I would like to remind him that even Alfred Hitchcock didn't appear in all of his movies. 

If you don't mind blood splatters, display of unconditional hate and love go see Django Unchained and always remember not to contradict your dentist, ever.

Life of Pi: movie review

In the past month I have watched a great and good deal of movies but I haven't written about them all because... I didn't find sufficient drive to do so. Life of Pi though is different as it deserves not only a review, but a good review. Before starting to write this I need to say, I'm an Ang Lee's fan. Since I first saw his Eat Drink Man Woman I knew I wasn't seeing the work of a common director. Everything Ang Lee's touches becomes poetry and this is especially true for Life of Pi.

http://hhdwallpapes.com/

I strongly encourage you to see it if you haven't yet done so or are undecided. 

Life of Pi is a delight for the eyes, the mind and the soul. There are movies that make me realize I am seeing something that isn't real, that I am simply and consciously lowering my cognitive defenses to let the story sink in me. This didn't happen with Ang Lee's latest movie: the story, the acting and the directorship gracefully took me by hand and immersed me into an epic story of life, death, hope, despair, fear and ultimately joy. Life of Pi is the story of a boy who becomes a man, discovering his strengths and weaknesses while drifting on a lifeboat in the middle of the pacific ocean. Ang Lee and his crew didn't simply make a movie based on Yann Martel's novel, but painted on  their own white canvas an original version of the same feelings the readers and writer attributed to the book.

Before you go I wanted to tell you though I went to watch it in 3D but it didn't impress me as much as Avatar in terms of depth of view, so I wouldn't do it again. I think the most value aspect of this movie aren't in the high definition or spectacular photography, but are the story and the way it's told.

If you have seen this movie already instead ...

Spoiler

I think he was the tiger...

The Hobbit, an unexpected journey: movie review

This the movie review you've all been waiting to read before your Christmas holidays and New Year, so I am going to make it short and sweet so you can go back to your loved ones and spend a great holiday season after getting a second opinion on the movie you'd like see.

• Should you go to see The Hobbit? Yes
• Should you expect it to be epic? ...somewhat
• Should you expect it to be LOTR kinda-epic? No

I have seen the Hobbit last week and I enjoyed it, yet I was surprised to sit in my comfy chair at the cinema and discover that I wouldn't see Smaug and the end of the tale that night. "What? a trilogy out of the Hobbit?" "Yes and no, there is also stuff from the Silmarillion in it" "Bah".

This looks like a desperate attempt to replicate the success of the Lord of The Rings especially from a box-office point of view. Having each viewer pay $30 for the whole story sounds more juicy than having to produce one, well summarised, epic movie with a gross revenue per viewer of less than $10.

It's easy to make an epic movie in 3 hours or more, not to mention 9 (think of Ben-Hur!) but is no easy task to make a movie so memorable that will stay forever in the history of cinema in less than 2 or 3 hours like, say 2001 Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick). I'd define the script and direction of the Hobbit as syncopated, slow and fast at irregular intervals. Also there were parts of the movie that in other occasions would and should have been cut, and maybe kept in the extended versions for the geeks to see in their living room. I am referring to:

• The conversation between Galadriel, Saruman and Gandalf. Long, superfluos, confusionary and also weak.
• The song of the dwarves during the dinner. Again superfluous to the level of boring and especially not very touching... don't know if this is the work of Howard Shore or someone else, but it was icky that's sure.
• The riddle scene. Way too long and slow.
• The white ogre storyline. Why is that even there?

There were also good things about the movie that made up for the painful exit from the Shire and the awkwardly good looking dwarves. I didn't know there could be such interesting dwarves...

• The beginning of the story was told very well. The whole connection between Bilbo's party, Frodo and the dwarves quest was made very simple and well summarized.
• The movie preserved the witty tone of the novel, although it tried sometimes to make it more serious than it was intended by Tolkien himself.
• Photography was amazing and I haven't seen the high frame per second version in IMAX 3D!
• Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen are really good and you can feel the lightness of the story in respect to the Lord of the Rings when they approach the idea of the quest.

In summary, the Hobbit an unexpected journey is a good movie, way too long that depicts the Shire as a place that is very hard to leave, almost as much as Russia was before the fall of the wall. Go see it to make yourself an opinion, but if you don't want to spend three times the money to know how it ends, consider the idea of renting it on Netflix once all three of them are out or better, buy the book on Amazon.

The master: movie review

It must be the effect of reading "So you want to be a producer" by Lawrence Turman, but I am becoming increasingly critical of the movies I see, especially those that require a little bit more brain power than what "Home alone" asks for.

Last week I headed to the cinema with the intention to watch Argo, the new spy movie by Ben Affleck, but due to my friends and my usual laziness we ended up missing the show and settling for another movie at a time that suited us all: The Master. I entered the projection room with no high expectation about the movie; I hadn't seen the trailer, I hadn't heard about it. I was an empty canvas ready to be painted with the colors and shapes of the movie. At the end of the 144 minutes I wasn't an empty canvas anymore: I was a bag of stones!

from: http://blogs.villagevoice.com

I rarely look at my watch when I am at the cinema, but The Master managed to make me beg for it to finish. Don't get me wrong, the acting was excellent, so it was  photography and also direction. The writing was the problem: fragmented, confusionary, a weird hybrid between an attempt to make a compelling movie out of a  documentary-like script. Ah and also: it was  agonizing. Yes, agonizing, because watching Philip Seymour Hoffman sing a sad, incomprehensible tune after 2 hours of confusionary story-line, made me want to jump out of my chair and run for air. 

I think this is my fiercest movie review ever as I haven't felt like this since... Bounce, which was equally unbearable yet not as brilliantly acted. Joaquin Phoenix plays the role of Freddie Quell brilliantly: from the smirk on his face to the furious up-and-down between "wood & glass". I really think that the reason why I didn't like this movie stays in the writing of Alan Young whom I didn't know at all and for which IMDB records only this entry. Unfortunately I cannot get those 144 minutes back, but ehi: at least now I know that I don't like this kind of movies. If you want a suggestion from me, I can tell you that if you like to be driven in the story by skillful storytelling rather than actively search for meanings and connections all the time this is not the film for you, or at least avoid paying 10 bucks or more and just rent it if you really are curious. I bet there are documentaries that explain the history of Scientology way better.

StartApps

This is my second blogpost of the week and the theme is still all around development. I know what some of you may be thinking: I thought this was a stream of consciousness, lifestyle, movie, psychology, design blog and now it's all about coding. Well, the issue is that the readers of this blog that think like that are wrong: this is an online journal of my explorations: a mirror into whatever is rushing through my mind being it deep or shallow.

This blogpost is about Apps, or better, about making apps. "There's an App for everything" Steve Jobs wanted us to think and so the smartphone generation thinks of functionality not in web terms, or software terms but as apps. "Oh I could create an App that does this and that and I would become so rich!". If I only had a penny for all the times I heard that and for all the times I thought that I would certainly be better off.

Reality is: not everybody can develop and people with only ideas will be always dependent on people who have the making skills. The recent history in the greatest start-ups is full of those pairings and also of stories where the pairing didn't work: Jobs and Wozniak joined to create Apple Inc. whether the Winklevoss twins never managed to get Zuckerberg to do their coding bidding.

Things are changing now though: there are many solutions online that allow people like me to develop apps and that's what I am going to do in the next weeks. I have got ideas and a good familiarity with personal computers and computer programming vocabulary. Will this be enough?

May the MIT App Inventor be with me.

The month ahead

And I missed another post. The end of February is getting closer and so is my 28 days challenge regarding one post per day. I am pretty satisfied with the outcome given the traffic I received and also the themes I allowed myself to touch during this experiment. I love writing so I hope to keep on doing this regularly, although maybe not everyday, as I like to keep the quality of my posts high and not completely random and depending on my time and mood.

A friend of mine asked me to post something about ideas for 30 days challenges. Although a lot of inspiration can be taken from the original Matt Cutts blog I will go about my challenges as follows:

March: be a vegetarian for one month! This is going to be tough as I love meat but it will truly provide another perspective to my body and diet.
April: I always wanted to write a novel but never managed to get through the first 20 pages. It's time to challenge myself to a 1000 words per day challenge to write my novel.
May: Watch 10 movies from IMDB top 250 movies list.

That's all for now. Let me know if you have any other cool idea :)

About eyebrows

It's a while I have been posting about quite serious stuff, mostly related to psychology and lifestyle. During a party I just left (by the way it was a great party) a friend and I started talking about eyebrows because she had just noticed I had changed mines. I love doing my own eyebrows!

I must say I developed my own theory and thing about eyebrows and this obsession dates back to when I started watching any movie, photo or documentary featuring Audrey Hepburn. It's hard to believe, all this time I haven't devoted a single post to my favorite actress of all time, but here we go with a post devoted to the more general subject of eyebrows, their importance and how Audrey inspired mines.

When I was a teenager I was fascinated with the look of Audrey Hepburn: she wasn't only naturally beautiful, she was well groomed and this made her beauty stunning and undeniable. While trying to reproduce her look, mostly because the shape of my face "kinda" resembles hers, I found tons of documentation about her eyebrows. The ones I liked the most were the ones she was "wearing" while playing the character of Sabrina. They are a quite bulky set of eyebrows called "seagull" eyebrows because they are shaped to mimic the wings of a seagull. Inspired by her picture I noticed something I managed to apply to myself. I am quite lucky to have a shape of face and also an "eyebrow arch" similar to hers, but I am sure any of you ladies can find an actress you like and understand from her pictures the way to best emphasize your strengths. For me it was key to understand:

• You can shape the eyebrow as you want, using perspective. When you do your eyebrows you are sculpting them to become the shape you want. You need to act from a frontal perspective, where you can also somewhat disregard your natural eyebrow line.
• Make it look long. You don't need to have Audrey Hepburn natural long eyebrows to have such a emphasis on the side of the eye. Her eye-line is quite Asian, and it's emphasized by an horizontal eyebrow shape where you can draw an imaginative line from the tip of the eyebrow to her ears.
• Take hair from the bottom. By doing so you raise the eyebrows and give space to your eyes to shine and take the place they deserve in your look.

Finally the last tip regards the shape itself. It's important to be aware that the shape of the eyebrows is fundamental to ones expression and way he/she is perceived by others. Eyebrows are often times the only thing a cartoonist would need to make a character expressive and believable, you need to be careful what shape you choose. You don't want to be constantly perceived as haughty, by choosing harsh and inward inclined eyebrows, neither you want to look constantly sad with downward ones.

Control the way people perceive you, control your... eyebrows!

Matrix and the self-image

I recall learning about someone's self-image when I first saw the Matrix. In the movie, Neo realizes thanks to Morpheus that he looks like that in the Matrix because of his self-image, and more precisely the residual self-image. From Wikipedia.org

It's the concept that individuals tend to think of themselves as projecting a certain physical appearance, or certain position of social entitlement, or lack thereof

While cycling back home I started thinking about what to write and as I always do I just decide to pick whatever I have been thinking during the day or more recently (during the week). With a little bit of research around the subject I found that self-image is tightly related to a the more generic concept of self-schema: the beliefs and ideas people have about themselves.
As Luigi Pirandello put it in his 1936 novel One, No one and One Hundred Thousand, each person is never him/herself except when alone. Without any scientific support Pirandello acknowledged the presence of multiple self-schemas in each individual, leading to internal conflicts and external miss-perceptions.

We have different visions of ourselves, different projections that kick-in every time we are interacting with more than one person at a time. When interacting with more than one person, say two people with whom we behave very differently our multiple self-schemas may clash with each other causing internal conflict. This theory explains why we feel uncomfortable when interacting with two people that know us from two very different environments, it's the uncomfortable and subtle feeling of helplessness when your friends meet your family. Are you going to be the friend or the daughter in that case?

This subject always fascinates me as I am sometimes aware of the conflicts I experience when dealing with so many different people for whom I am someone completely different, a great advantage I'd say.

Casablanca: movie review

Writing a movie review about Casablanca only 70 years after its release doesn't seem that bad. After all tonight was the first time I had ever seen it and only now I fully understand the evocative power many other film critics attribute to this movie.

farm4

Casablanca was released in 1942 and is a heartbreaking love story, set in an exotic city and in difficult times. Despite someone now used to much faster and direct movies might say that this is a boring, old movie I found it quite funny and well paced. The photography is really good, the soft focus stressed on Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid and Humphrey Bogart is incredibly appropriate and gives a dreamlike tone to the most dramatic last scenes. The cast as a whole is really good as well, every single character is at the same time a caricature and a denial of national stereotypes. Watching a movie like this right now in 2012 is somewhat magic, as it can transport you back in time, where things were so much different than they are right now.

Smoking and drinking. There's lots of cigarettes and drinks in Casablanca, a quantity and use that would never make it to Hollywood movies nowadays.

Women. Ingrid Bergman in this movie is just beautiful, haughty, divine. Despite the apparent strength of the character the woman played by her looks now almost weak; very dependent and clueless without the support of a strong willing man next to her. This conclusion is superficial though, because the character of Ilsa is also quite strong in my opinion. It must be hard to be divided between two loves, and it must be awful to know the time to choose will eventually arrive and destroy you. Her character is so open, caring and also daring that any viewer inevitably sympathizes with her on an emotional level.

The score. Besides the abuse of La Marseillaise the overall music is good, especially for "It Had to Be You" by Isham Jones.

Ultimately, if you are not into black and white movies you should change your mind just to see Casablanca and realize how much glamor the old b&w can give to a story. 

Oh and this quote is priceless "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."

Miss Piggy: icon of style

Yesterday I saw the latest Muppets movie and I couldn't help to think: "Miss Piggy is so cool !!!". I have never been a great Muppets fan; this show never quite made in Italy. Yet I knew the characters so it was easy to follow. I am now sitting in a pub with a bunch of French people and trying to deliver my thought: I love Miss Piggy. It's such a cool role model, with a definite strong personality... and it's so stylish! Her mix of French and English is simply great not to mention the hair: so cool!

Although I cannot write a more compelling movie review right now but I strongly suggest watching The Muppets. It's genuinely fun, entertaining and most importantly sweet.

Sorry for the low quality post. But remember one thing: don't even think of kissing the frog. It's hers....

Under-wear, Under-scrutiny

Tonight I was on the verge of writing a blogpost by myself about different types of underwear, but my flatmate chimed in, concerned I would provide too a harsh set of comments. 

This idea was triggered by a "vision" occurred to me in the swimming pool changing room where after seeing a woman's underwear I realized: I am biased against certain types of lingerie and the different people and occasions to wear them

The following table illustrates mine and Maiga's ideas about a specific kind of underwear and the people wearing them. Enjoy and let me know what you think. Also, don't take it personally if you see yourself in those categories. 

If you can't judge a book by its cover, why should you judge someone by his/her underwear?

Women

Men

	Maria	Maiga
Super Hero	Acceptable until age 15 and only to be in the mood for movies. An absolute don't if worn in other occasions or in public! Cute but then again it depends on the superhero and age. Flash and Spiderman win over Green Lantern.	It depends on the age and the super hero.The choice of Superwoman can be empowering whether the choice of Spiderman or a spider web could be an alert. I wouldn't think less of a man with super hero underwear; it's rather cute. I'd definitely sleep with one who chooses He-man
Lace	Personally I don't like it that much, but definitely great in combination and also for those who can wear them with pride. Please avoid wearing them when the body doesn't really allow it. Definitely a surprise... or maybe not really.	All women, regardless of age and fit are allowed to use these. For example if I saw a 60+ overweight woman wearing these in the changing room I'd think "Good for her, she's having an affair". Not a turn on, it would raise some questions.
Animal Print	Many animal species are extinguishing, why place the human kind in the graph by starting to kill me? I dread animal printed stuff, and underwear doesn't make any difference... uhhh, and reptile one is the worst. Same thing as above and from a certain point of view, it's even creepier for men.	All animal underwear can be sexy and fun just like old kitsch things can be. Zebra, leopard and tiger seem neutral to me. I'd personally not choose any farm animal print such as a cow or any texture fabric emulating porcupines. Acceptable. Same comment as for women; personally I'd find dalmatian pattern rather childish and reptiles patterns completely off putting.
Minimal	Minimal underwear is very practical. It can be used as elastic for emergency repairs, as a sling and ultimately as bracelet. Definitely not wearable by me. Its manufacturing is with no doubt much more challenging because of more demanding requirements.	Not very hygienic, pretty uncomfortable, completely necessary and justifiable for certain occasions. The key is to ensure that the continuous use doesn't exceed, say, 5 hours. It is realistically less flattering as there is, hopefully, more to cover.
Boxers	Very roomy and comfortable. I agree with Maiga, if you got lucky last night don't brag about it. Baggy boxers are the worst, also it's ok to play with colors but not too much on patterns. No smileys and other cartoonish stuff.	Typical boyfriend look. If you're in a serious relationship or just got a lucky night, don't brag. Different from the female boxer version. Any color, any pattern, but if he's going to wear them they should fit perfectly.
Nothing	With no doubt very open and ventilated. Dangerous in winter.	Even less hygienic than the minimalist. It depends on the setting. Right after workout I'd think she/he forgot a clean change. Saturday night out of the house... I'm no one to judge :)

Everyday sliding doors

Sliding doors is a great movie. Beware, I am not saying it's an academy award movie, but it's a smart movie, introducing the large masses to complex subjects of physics like parallel universes: multiverse.

The multiverse (or meta-universe, metaverse) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes (including the historical universe we consistently experience) that together comprise everything that exists and can exist: the entirety of space, time, matter, and energy as well as the physical laws and constants that describe them. The term was coined in 1895 by the American philosopher and psychologist William James.[1] The various universes within the multiverse are sometimes called parallel universes.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse

Fiction has sourced from physics theory as science-fiction novels shaped the present by simply influencing the minds and imagination of those reading that one day would create technologies resembling those illustrated in the books.

I was joking on the phone with a friend of mine, about the fact I cannot join a party tonight. That universe in which I can join the party, is another reality, a parallel universe in which I am some where else because I took a different path. This silly conversation had me thinking: how many parallel universe can there be? If I want to play smart I would say "infinite" is the most correct guess, as so many variables can determine as many different realities and universes. If I try to reduce this number though, and really try to think hard about the different realities I am living side by side this number might be significantly reduced.

I thought about life crossroads. The very moments in which I took an important decision, or I made a choice, took an action that shaped the future. With this exercise I can imagine up to 4 or 5 parallel universes. One in which I'd be a stock exchange broker as once I wished to be many years ago, one in which I would be unemployed and depressed back in Italy or maybe another one where I could be living in London working for a product/interior design studio rather than here Ireland.

The real value of such an exercise is the aquired awareness of the thousands possibilities and the weight of choices in one's life. How many parallel realities are you carrying in your life's backpack?

War Horse: movie review.

146 minutes of horse love, horse talking, horse riding, horse bearing: too much.

Last week I went to see War Horse... but I had gone to the theatre to see the Artist which was sold out. War Horse was there, staring at us and we went for the so acclaimed movie, with handsome protagonist and animal love and tenderness.

Can you imagine 146 minutes of horse talk and adventure? I couldn't, but now I know how it feels. Don't get me wrong War Horse is a good movie, there is good acting, good direction and also a good score. It's just that talking about one horse, despite the many stories intersecting, for this duration is a little forced. It was indeed touching at moments, but you could feel that people's emotions and reactions were skilfully manipulated by expert story tellers and this is hard to get unnoticed by people like me, who always like to dissect audience's reaction.

The thing that put me off the most was the final scene. I wasn't the first to notice a resemblance between the tones of Gone with the Wind and War Horse. Not that there is anything bad about it, both stories have this historical aftertaste and it's not difficult to spot similarities. Yet the last scene of War Horse, with the rising music and the orange filter placed upon the image strikes me for lack of novelty and also as a desperate move to fire emotions. Can you spot the differences?

In honesty War Horse is a good movie, nothing astounding, which I think could be great for kids. Oh wait, in Ireland it was rated PG12: What?

The science and art of comfortable travel.

I like travelling. But I like it when it's comfortable. While waiting here to board on my flight to Chicago I realized I now enjoy travelling more than I used to, because I grew to be very organized. Watching "Up in the air" with George Clooney last year taught me a lot. And I am not kidding. You need to have system: for the pockets you place the documents into, the way you pass security control, to pick the fastest queue. I like carrying backpacks rather than more fashionable bags. I know I don't look as cool as other girls carrying fancy bags and wearing fashionable clothes, but I am comfortable and huber fast in any step of the process. Tips and things I learnt over time:
1. Wear your favourite comfy clothes. You don't need to travel in pajamas but be casual with style. Feeling you look quite good will give you confidence for the whole trip while staying relaxed.
2. Stick to one pocket, bag section per item. Don't start changing place to your passport or mobile phone. Each of them has a place and always place them back where they belong. You'll be glad you did this when you'll se the next bunch of tourists frantically looking for their boarding pass in every possible place.
3. Smile and enjoy. You're meeting new people and together you're going to share a lot of time in a moderately large space. If you're not grumpy you'll attract good people to spend the flight with.
4.Take good care of yourself. Carrying snacks and candies may seem silly but it's useful and will help you when you feel most tired.

That's all. I might still be a newbie in comparison to Clooney in that movie but I am definitely on my way to reach him up there...