Blood and even more blood...

I haven’t been blogging much lately. I know. I've generally been very busy with work, the house, my social life. I’m not complaining though. It’s been fun. In an even weirder note, I've even enjoyed having to work over the weekend. It’s nice to be productive and creative on something that you don’t mind doing…


Anyway, starting with the most major news of the last weeks, I met the doctor of my heart! I can’t really remember his name but he’s a nice gentleman from the NHS that acted as my medical and cardiac consultant! He’s the kind of doctor of that age that took notes with an ink pen and my blood pressure with an old style manual monitor. It was adorable. And what made it even better where the wonderful news he brought me.

Apparently the diet worked! Shedding a bit more than 10% of my body weight and watching my diet decreased my cholesterol levels. They’re still higher than normal, but fell quite a lot. So, the bottom line is that I’m under surveillance and will go back in 2 and again in 4 months, but at the same time I won’t start any medications or other treatments. Hoorah! That's the first part of my news associated to my own blood.



In a way to celebrate these news, I took JJ to his ever first Ancient Greek tragedy called ‘Medea’ by Euripides in the National Theater, produced for the first time in 431 BC! The adaptation had somewhat brought Medea to contemporary times. I can’t say I was entirely thrilled with that (being a Greek snob) but I’m glad to say that JJ liked it. I quite enjoyed it too.

The actress playing the main role was simply amazing though. It’s not an easy role to play. She wants to plot her revenge over the husband that abandoned her, but at the same time to portray an inner conflict and struggle over her hatred and whether it’s the right thing to do. For such an ancient play the subjects analysed are quite modern; foreigners versus natives, men versus women, power abuse and the subjective sense of rightfulness. In all fairness however, the Ancient Greeks really knew how to put curses on one another.

Yes, as promised, more blood at the end...

Digital and real farmer...

My latest craze over my mobile phone is a game called ‘Hay Day’! I think I’ve been playing it nonstop for more than the last month. At first I can’t say I was overly impressed. I found the graphics and theme nice but I didn’t think I could get hooked. I had the impression that I’d be bored easily due to the lack of storyline since the only thing you have to do is produce, harvest and sell your farm's products. But after building and expanding my farm to accommodate new types of livestock and vegetables / fruit, I find myself been drawn to it and keep going back. 

 

I’m not sure which experience level I’ve reached and the moment. I’m still trying to keep up with my ship orders and farm expansions. I can’t say that I have the most beautiful farm, but it’s functional and I although there are some micro transactions in the game to speed things up and buy beautifications for your farm, I haven’t caved in to do it.

On another hand, I’ve been having a very good harvest this year in real life so far. I first planting some vegetables when I moved in with JJ in his old place, some years ago and I got intrigued and kept doing every year since. This year in my new house, it was no different. JJ built a very nice vegetable patch on the right hand side of the garden. There, after seeding the vegetables in pots indoors I’ve transferred some courgettes, beans, lettuces and tomatoes outside.

 

The vegetable patch can be seen here on the left at the back of the house.

That photo was quite early on.

The size of the courgette!

 

One courgette - two trays of lasagne! 

Green salad from the garden to your plate.

 

Green Beans

 

For the time being we’ve tried beans, courgettes and lettuces from the garden and they’ve been amazing. From a single beans plant we got so many pods! We also got some massive courgettes which we’ve used in lasagne twice so far! I can never get bored of lasagne! We’re trying to use whole-wheat pasta, low calorie sauces, cottage cheese instead of ricotta and various vegetables or soya mincemeat instead of the real thing. The output might sound a bit bland, but it’s amazing. Believe me.

 

The tomatoes are still to come



 

I can't say that I completely know what I'm doing while growing the vegetables or tomatoes. I'm just going along trying to keep them slug free, water them regularly and add some extra plant feed to them from time to time. I have lost some of the vegetables because I didn't pay attention to harvest them in time. But overall I'm happy with the results and doing a bit of gardening is quite therapeutic from time to time. 

Random Thoughts Day

I went to watch the ‘Only lovers left alive’ the other day. If you watch the trailer and you expect a vampire action movie, you will be gravely disappointed. The movie is not like that. It’s slow paced and to be honest, it doesn’t have lots to offer in terms of plot and character evolution. However, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it. The cinematography and especially the music of the film is exceptional. I’m a huge fan of Tilda Swindon and Tom Hiddleston proves to be a very talented actor as well, able to stand next to her. What the movie might lack in plot, it covers in acting and direction. I know it’s not a movie for everyone, it’s Jim Jarmusch after all, however, I’d recommend it for a different but interesting viewing.

 The month of March will be quite busy in my little casa. It starts with a small road trip to the National Park of Peak District. I’ve never been there before, but I’m hoping that it will be a nice hiking destination. I can’t say we’re that much into hiking. Our last trip was the white cliffs of Dover a couple of years ago, but I believe we’ll enjoy that little excursion. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, I’ll have pictures to share next week.  After that, for almost a week we’ll have our first formal guest staying with us for a week. That will be a first after our lodger left. Then, it’s the birthday of yours truly and my Half Marathon at the end of the month. In the meantime, we’ll be finishing getting connected to the main national gas network and having our front and back garden properly cleared from the last tenant’s garbage. I simply can’t wait to get a proper spot to plant vegetables for the new season.

On a different matter, I’m thinking of adopting a ‘coffee’ name. Something easy for people to understand and be able to write on a cup. I was thinking either Steve or Dave. I’ll run some tests and see what might come up.

Nick i a difficult name apparently

2013 in review

Today’s the last day of the year! 2013 is over and it’s been quite a year. There were quite a few milestones along the way. Apart from various smaller incidents that will not have a permanent effect, like having a lodger living with us for months, there’s been some ground breaking news.

My brother got married last June! It was a wonderful ceremony in the Greek island of Syros! The whole journey was wonderful. The island is amazing and seeing my family was great. The ceremony took place in an amazing chapel on the hill overlooking the bay and the reception in a restaurant and bar by the sea. I don’t think the event could have gone any better.

I can’t easily forget the amazing summer holidays I had with JJ! It was the first time I had all these consecutive days off visiting one single area. We went island hoping and forgot all about London and work in the most amazing environment! Paros and Mykonos are really beautiful and worth seeing, the food, the sea, the sun. I know it might get tiresome. We will need to visit other parts of the world, but Greece can be convenient and economic…

Buying a house happened soon after our return to the UK. The whole process was stressful to say the least! However, I can’t be happier. Our new place is a haven that I hope we’ll treasure for a long time. It’s still a work in progress, but even for now it looks and feels astonishing. And it’s all ours! We must have visited at least a dozen of houses. We knew more or less what we wanted and we managed to find it…

What I can’t exclude from this list is my progress in running. I managed to run every single month of 2013. I ran in events in Regent’s Park, Hyde Park and Wimbledon Common. I’ve even raised some money for the British Heart Foundation. I had ran 206.06 miles in 2011 and only 68.96 miles in 2012. But last year I ran 326.21 miles! I’m really happy for this. I feel that I’ve been doing something really good for myself!

We don’t really have any major plans for tonight. JJ is working tomorrow morning and he can’t have alcohol. I’m not that bothered about that anyway. I plan on cooking pastitsio for dinner and we’ll watch the fireworks on the television. The weather will not be that great and we've done the going to the city centre for NYE last year. It’s going to be cosy, nice and warm indoors. 

Artistic Weekend

Is there a weird time continuum between weekends and weekdays? How come every single time weekends seem to fly by in an instant? You blink and you miss them! Especially, when you’re having fun…

We visited ‘Tate Modern’ on Friday to see the latest Lichtenstein exhibition. For those interested in this form of modern art, the exhibition is highly recommended. Although I had seen some of his work before, I never saw a full collection of his work, displaying his evolution as an artist through the years. And in any case, paying a visit to Tate Modern is always a great way to spend your evening.

 It’s very interesting to see how artists play with various forms of art, mediums and materials. Roy (Lichtenstein) was mostly well known for his paintings that resemble comic books. However, he has done lots of other things as well, including installations and sculptures.

What I found intriguing was the fact that many of the pieces he created were not really his own ideas, but copies of other people’s works. Even his famous comic ‘strips’ were almost identical to actual comic books published at the time. I thought he was just influenced by them and I didn’t know they were direct copies! Apparently, he was intrigued by ‘DC Comics’ or other similar publications. Roy was a comic book geek after all!

At first I was disappointed. The fact that all these pieces were ‘stolen’ and there was no originality in them, made me feel cheated in a way. However, then I remembered that there is no real parthenogenesis in art. I don’t believe there is an artist not influenced by another artist or something he saw or heard somewhere. Even the ground breaking artists, let’s say for example Picasso, started from somewhere and then evolved into something else. During his early years he was influenced by his own father and even Paul Cezanne.

Then, I started seeing Roy’s paintings and works differently. Yes, he was copying other people’s work, but he did so in his own original way, making each piece he copied his own. What’s the difference between other artists, for example Hockney painting landscapes? The landscape was there; the painter saw it, liked it and painted it. The same applies for Lichtenstein. He saw for example the sculpture titled ‘Laocoon and his sons’; liked it and painted it. The result looks like this. Don’t you find it nice?

The rest of the weekend was also very nice. On Saturday we went for a walk and lunch in Chelsea. Almost every time we’re in the area, we visit the Saatchi gallery and this time was no different. There’s an amazing installation (I don’t know how to call it) in the basement that we always visit. Richard Wilson, the artist, filled a room with oil. As an idea it’s quite simple, but the result is very nice. It looks like this:

(Ignoring the smell), the mirroring effect of the oil and the way that affects the space of the room is breath taking.

So, in general my weekend was very nice. I had such a nice time that I completely ignored the continuously horrible weather and the fact that I had a very bad journey to work this morning! The tube train I was in had to be derailed and there were lots of delays! I didn’t have a very good start of the week but I didn’t mind that much. I didn’t even complain about it… :-)

Various Friday thoughts

I’m turning my blog into a weekly thing, but that’s not that such a bad thing, I assume. I’ve been having a terrible busy week, working all day and not really wanting to sit on my computer the few evenings I spent at home.

Last week ended with a bang since last Saturday was my name day! Most of you probably don’t even know what that is. In a nutshell, some Orthodox people are named after a Saint, Martyr etc. When it is that Saint’s day, everybody named after him or her celebrate! For example, everybody called George celebrates his name day on the 23rd of April, according to the Christian Orthodox calendar. It’s a bit like second class birthday. When younger if lucky, you might get presents or a party. When older, like me, it’s a nice opportunity to go out, meet friends etc. Not like we really need an excuse to go for drinks and food, but anyway.

 I got BALLOONS for my name day. :-)

in the background you can see some of the silly things I have on my dresser.

My Christian name is Nikitas, hence my name day last Saturday. It was Nikitas’ day. I don’t think he was a fully qualified Saint but a Martyr, but anyway. I didn’t go to the Church (I haven’t been in one for some time) but I took ‘JJ’ during the day for a shopping spree. I hadn’t done that in a long time too. We bought various stuff, from kitchenware to clothes, shoes etc. I didn’t go a lot over budget but I did buy some things that weren’t really necessities and charged my credit card. That’s a worry for another day though. I wanted to have some fun with my boy and we did. The day included shopping in the very busy area around Oxford Circus, lunch in Soho, coffee in Covent Garden and ended with dinner at a Lebanese restaurant and watching ‘Dredd 3D’ in the local cinema.

That was the only movie available at that time of the night. Overall, it wasn’t that bad (if you have low expectations). The plot is not that extraordinary and the story has some serious gaps in it. The acting of Dredd is not that great, although I liked his sidekick and the baddy. But for a Coca-Cola drinking with huge box of popcorn and 3D glasses with nice visual aids type of movie its fine.  
 

Decorations in a jeans' store

The rest of the week was also a bit eventful. There are lots of things happening at work at the moment, some of which kept me up during a couple of nights. But I really don’t want to go into that. They’re not bad things per se but there are lots of challenging /stressful / interesting things happening at the same time and I have lots of balls to juggle.

One of the things I bought

On the other hand, we spent one evening of the week with some South African friends of JJ and another with some Chinese friends of mine from university. Both groups of friends were visiting London at the same time and going out with them meant going for drinks and dinner on a school night that ended a bit late. However, I happily found out that my Chinese friends are getting married next year and we’re invited to a wedding in China! That would be so amazing! I haven’t been to the Far East and attending a wedding there would be so interesting! That trip needs some planning since I’d love to visit other places in or outside China with the opportunity of the wedding.  

I’ll probably try to keep this weekend a bit quiet. We have a Greek friend of mine staying for work at our place for a month, starting the following weekend, and it would be nice to just rest on our own in the house, not doing much. It’s supposed to be raining on Sunday anyway and I want to cook some nice homely food, tidy up my wardrobe and give some clothes to charity.

Have a great weekend!

Being a tourist and questionable art

Last weekend, I had my cousin visiting us. She's finishing her post graduate degree in the UK and she decided to come to London for a weekend to take a break from writing her thesis. It was her second weekend here, so she's done the most important touristy stuff, but of course not all. There is such a long list of things to do and places to visit in the city.

So, we watched a controversial football match on Friday evening. We lost from the Germans in the quarterfinals (damn). They were playing very well in general and they deserved to win I have to give them that. However that happy grin on Merkel’s face annoyed me at the end. I have to give it to our players though. They scored two goals and left the championship with their head high. Or at least that’s what I think. The Germans did score 4 goals.

Anyway, after all that drama, we got up on Saturday morning and we visited Greenwich. That area there is always a favourite of mine. I love LOVE old maps and everything to do with them. So, visiting the Greenwich observatory is always a favourite activity. Apart from that though we walked a lot around the area and visited the Marinetime museum. These are the pictures from that trip.

The view from Greenwich Observatory of an Olympic stadium and Canary Wharf

From there, we went to Tate Modern, which is another favourite gallery/museum of mine. We had booked tickets and we went to see Damien Hirst exhibition. For those of you who don’t know him, he’s the wealthiest living British artist. He’s done some amazing stuff in the past and some quite questionable works of art. When it comes to installations and modern stuff, I’m a bit sceptical. Let me explain what we saw during that exhibition.

There was a piece called: for the love of god. Damien took a human skull and had it drilled with various holes where he put diamonds in them. It is an actual skull and it is missing a tooth, but it is now very sparkly and ridiculously expensive. We’re talking about real big diamonds that literally cover the whole thing.

For the love of god

There was an installation where he put in a closed big container a chopped cow’s head, a couple of flies (I’m not sure about the number) and above the cow one of these blue electric lights that kill insects. The flies of course multiplied and were flying all over the place eating the cow. A number of them was being electrocuted and remained dead on the floor. So, the viewer saw a rotting cow’s head on the floor with blood around it, a numerous bodies of dead and other buzzing alive flies! It wasn’t a very pretty sight.

art?

In another room, he created the exact opposite environment. Instead of growing flies, he had butterflies. The room was extra warm and very bright. There were bowls filled with fruit and pots with flowers. There were cocoons on the walls, some of which were hatched. So, beautiful, big butterflies of various colours were flying all around or even landing on the amazed guests. It was a very pretty sight.

Damien’s probably has a certain urge to be economic. So, he used the materials he harvested from the previous ‘pieces’ I described. On the next room, he had a massive black round disc that he called ‘dark sun’ or something similar made from dead flies (nice). And there were a number of beautiful colourful paintings made from butterfly wings! He even created art by the extinguished cigarettes and old smoke packages!

Apart from all that there were the dead animals, some of which were cut in pieces and some weren’t. He kept them in big glass containers filled with formaldehyde (I assume). Damien said they reminded him of his child years when he used to watch dead animals all around him. I can’t argue with that. There was however a shark and to be honest I don’t know how many sharks exist in the Leeds area. Impressive were a couple of art pieces with diamonds placed in front of a mirror on small glass shelves….

Overall, I have to say I’m glad I went to the exhibition although I wasn’t fond of all his work. Art is supposed to be provocative and make you feel things, either good or bad. However, I did find some things completely uninteresting…

the entrance of Victoria & Albert museum

Movies

On Sunday I went with JJ to watch ‘Prometheus 3D’ in the cinema. JJ’s a big fun of the Alien(s) series, the first ones. How many are they supposed to be? 6? Including the Alien vs Predators? Anyway, he’s been looking forward to the movie, counting the days, the same way I used to do for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ sequels. The first reviews were really good and the emerged pictures intriguing. So, with high expectations, I bought a huge (diet) cola and some salty (always) popcorn, I went to watch it holding my 3D glasses.

The movie started really good. The photography, direction and casting are immaculate. The main actors are really good, especially the main protagonist. It’s the girl from the Swedish ‘girl with the dragon tattoo’. There’s something about her that I really like. Up to middle, the mystery surrounding the Prometheus’ expedition builds really well. The excitement of exploring the unknown environment built in very well and I couldn’t help but feel interested and involved.

However, the plot and action go downhill through there. I don’t want to give you any spoilers, but I am going to say that I was left a bit disappointed. Twists in the plot are predictable, characters are making really bad judgement calls and things are exaggerated beyond comprehension. JJ liked how Prometheus is linked to the first ‘Alien’ movie. I’m going to remember the nice visual effects of Prometheus but the story at the end was a bit lukewarm to say the least.

What I also wanted to comment was the trailer of the movie: ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’! Why was this make? Who thought of the concept of this movie? Why Abraham Lincoln? The movie’s probably based on a graphic novel or comic book.

You are probably going to hate me for saying this but I despise the movies where the American President is idolised and presented as a hero, a guy that gives these longs speeches on virtue, value and honour or behaves with heroic valour and saves the day! From the top of my head, the examples I’ll give you are ‘Air Force One’ and ‘Independence Day’. I know that from the names only I should expect this kind of things, but look at real life! Take for example George Bush junior. Can you imagine him saving anything?

Assemble

We went to the cinema last weekend to watch ‘Avengers: Assemble’! It’s called that in the ‘UK’ because of the original TV series ‘Avengers’ back from the sixties and the movie that followed.

Anyway, the movie’s very good for what it is. What you expect is what you get. You don’t expect to watch high quality cinematography, acting and intriguing plot. It’s an action filled movie with lots of explosions, high end visual effects and quick sequences. There are some funny moments in it with sharp dialogues and unexpected outbursts. It’s the perfect huge-cola-and-popcorn experience. Especially for someone like me who’s been enjoying Marvel comic books for decades, although I have to admit that I didn’t like many of the movies Marvel made in the past (like all Spiderman movies) .

Unfortunately watching a highly anticipated by fans movie like that has its drawbacks. The theatre was full, including a crying baby and a mildly snoring elder guy right behind ‘JJ’. Especially the crying baby (his parents) was really irritating! He or she was silent and calm during the commercials and trailers. However, the moment the first explosions happened and Hulk smashed stuff (that’s not a spoiler, you expect him to smash stuff) he/she went berserk crying and yelling! The father decided after a while (not immediately) to take the baby out of the theatre, only to return moments afterwards hoping that the baby would remain quiet or sleep. However, the baby would cry again and they would again open the door and go out.  That going in and out of the room must have happened around 4 times! What were they really thinking? That the baby would sleep during the amazingly loud and slightly scary for a baby movie? I can understand that they can get fed up and need a break and go see a movie, but having a child means responsibilities! Even with the distraction of the cries and the opening and closing of the door next to screen, I did manage to enjoy the movie. I will just need to get the DVD to watch some bits that I missed.

Tuesday the 13th

 According to Greek customs, the so called unlucky day of the calendar month is not Friday the 13th but Tuesday the 13th. There is of course a reason why this happens that is not lost in the past.  The story says that on a Tuesday, back in May 1453, the greatest city of them all, Constantinople, fell to the hands of the Ottoman Empire, the Turks. Losing that war meant the end of the Byzantine Empire and the start of almost 4 centuries occupation by the Turks, which is considered to be the darkest page of the Nation’s history. The occupation officially ended in 1821 with the Greek revolution!

However, I’m not superstitious and I don’t care about things like that. So, yesterday I went with Jeff to the ‘Duke of York’ theatre to see ‘All New People’ (after devouring an amazing meal at Yo-Sushi). That Zack Braff’s (Scrubs) latest play. Apart from starring in it, as expected, he’s written it too. To be honest I was a bit hesitant about it. I didn’t consider Zack to be an amazing actor and I feared that the play would be mostly fixated on him. Hopefully, I was wrong, not in everything, but in some stuff.

I was right when I thought that Zack is not that amazing actor. He’s not. He’s not bad either though. His co-stars however were the ones to steal the spotlight from him. Which bring us to the point where I was wrong. Although the story starts with Charlie (Zack Braff) and revolves around him, Charlie doesn’t have much to say apart from a small monologue near the end when he describes his story. The other three people that enter his life the day he decides to commit suicide (thus the play’s title), have a lot to share and do.

Generally the play is about life, its purpose, relationships and even the existence of god. Although these topics do seem a bit heavy, the play is a comedy with not that many dramatic moments. Braff’s writing style is inviting, modern and funny. There are some unavoidable stereotypes like the existence of the unintelligent bimbo / escort but they don’t spoil the fun. At some point I had to roll my eyes backwards but I also laughed and generally enjoyed the play. It’s not an experience not to miss but it offers a great night out. I’d give it a 7.5 out of 10.

Guests, the sequel

It’s been really fun having the girls over. They are the best guests ever. They’ve been really easy and they haven’t caused any troubles (knock on wood). They’ve been even helping at the household chores like washing dishes, tidying their stuff and going to the supermarket. These are things that some people take for granted but not all guest are so well behaved.

They’ve seen most of London attractions already and they’ve taken more than a 1000 pictures! I was thinking about what people did before the invention of the digital cameras! How did we cope having such a limitation of a few photos that might not even come up clean or nice? 

The other day we went to see the ‘Phantom of the Opera’. I don’t know why but I hadn’t seen it before. I do like theatre plays and I do occasionally watch musicals but I haven’t seen many Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber shows till now. Although I do appreciate that he has some talent, I tend to find him overdramatic.

For example, last year there was a TV show for girls to audition for the role of Dorothy of ‘Wizard of OZ’. It was a bit like X-Factor but the winner would get the main role on the West End show. Sir Andrew was a judge amongst other 2 people. You should have seen at least an episode! It was so tacky that it was really fun to watch! Sir Andrew was siting among the other two judges but not in the similar chairs as them! He had a throne for himself, a very tacky, over the top decorated one! The only thing missing was a tiara and a sceptre! Also, what was hilarious was the way the disqualified contestants left the stage! They took their Dorothy shoes off, gave them to Sir Andrew and said their goodbyes. Then, they would climb on a half-moon that would carry them over and out of the stage above the remaining girls! While sitting on the moon they would sing for the last time and cry their way out! So overdramatic!

Anyway, last Tuesday we went to see the ‘Phantom’! It was generally very good. The girls loved the experience. Even the girl who doesn’t know how to speak English could follow the story and enjoyed the singing and dancing! It was generally impressive how many different sets there were and how many costumes changed! Of course there were some moments I thought: ‘OK, this is going a bit too far’ but I had a really nice night out!

In general it’s been a bit tiring having guests to take out every day after work but it’s been great fun! During the weekend we’re renting a car so we’ll drive outside the city. We haven’t confirmed the destinations yet but there are many options to choose from.

‘The skin I live in’

I like European movies and by that I mostly mean non-Hollywood films where the action is slower, the scenes longer and the dialogs fewer. I like them for their honesty, their humour and even their lack of modesty. I generally prefer Spanish and French spoken movies of the last decades, mostly because they were easier to find even in the local Greek stores.

Another reason I love these movies is because some of them tend to present stories w

ith a homosexual element in a different way that American movies do. I can very clearly remember for example the first time I watched ‘Gazon maudit’ or ‘Segunda Piel’. The first movie I found funny and the second tantalising but both very interesting. I do recommend you find them and watch them.

Among my favourite directors and writers is Pedro Almodovar. I’ve seen most of his movies back to the time of ‘Women in the verge of a nervous breakdown’, ‘Kika’ or ‘Matador’. I was intrigued by his outrageous stories, peculiar characters and unrealistic situations. Of course not all of his movies are as good. However, I keep coming back to them without a second thought.

His latest movie called ‘The skin I live in’ and demonstrates a plastic surgeon (A. Banderas) with a test subject he holds captive in his house. There are many questions that are triggered. Who is the captive woman? Why does the surgeon hide her and what happened to his family? What’s wrong with her skin? What’s the role of the strictly looking housekeeper?

The story slowly unfolds by travelling back in time, mostly to the surgeon’s past and all stories are at the end answered. If you’ve ever watched another Almodovar movie, then the whole setting of the movie is somewhat familiar. Facial expressions and emotional loud music are two elements that are quickly eminent. The movie trailer demonstrates it to be a thriller, however it is not. There are of course moments of high intensity and the movie is indeed dark, but I wouldn’t say It’s a thriller.

Overall I have to say that I liked it, although I wasn’t amazed. I’d score it 3.5 out of five. I believe that the main characters, Banderas and Paredes who plays the housekeeper are excellent in their roles. I also enjoyed its photography and music. However, I fear that I had higher expectations and I was expecting a masterpiece that I didn’t see. I do recommend it though to those who want to see a different movie with some nice twists.

Would you return a cold soup?

I’ve always believed that I am a person avoiding confrontations. I get cold sweat and my heart beats very fast when I feel threatened or about to go into a row. Throughout my school years I only got into a fight once. When I say a fight, I mean the proper ‘let’s meet behind the Main building at the end of the day and I’ll show you’ kind of thing. I’m not even sure how that started. I only remember children cheering and forming a circle for us and a furious ‘Giorgos’ attacking me. At that moment I remember I froze. It took me a while to get my wits back and do something about the situation I was in. There’s no point to tell you how that fight ended.


Anyway, lately I’ve found myself in situations where I received bad service of some kind. The first one was at a hotel and the second in a restaurant. In both situations I did speak my mind.

Some time ago, I went with ‘JJ’ to do a half marathon in Edinburgh, you can read the story here. What I didn’t mention on that post was the very bad hotel we stayed in. Because of the run we knew that we’d spend more time than usual in the hotel room resting, so ‘JJ’ spent something extra to get us an ‘executive room’ in a good hotel. However, the hotel and the room were anything but. To name a few issues there was a huge mould stain on the ceiling, the taps in the bathroom were not working properly, the room was not properly cleaned and breakfast was exceptionally bad. I didn’t want to spoil our stay and the hotel was full, so I didn’t say anything before the check out. While JJ was paying the overpriced bill the manager asked us how our stay was.

At that moment, I couldn’t help myself and I did a very disappointing ‘huh’. When the manager asked me about our problems, I started listing a few. To be honest I had a list in my head already. I was then encouraged by him to send an email about the complaints I had. I did send an email, twice to be honest. A week after our stay I sent an email to the hotel group. A month after not receiving a reply, I sent a second one. Then I got an apology and an offer for a free night’s stay at the hotel. I haven’t replied to that yet, but I will refuse the offer.

In both emails I was very polite, simply stating facts and things that were done wrong. For example I mentioned the collapsed ceiling on the corridor leading to our room (huge black hole on the ceiling). The manager at check out simply said that it had happened a few days ago and there was nothing they could do. However, I suggested in my email that an apologising note mentioned that the problem was looked after would be nice at least. The only personal note was that I felt very disappointed from our stay (which I did) and that I would never recommend them to anyone else I know (which I won’t).


The second occasion was yesterday when I went out for dinner with ‘JJ’ in the city centre. I had picked a Japanese restaurant in Chinatown which online had amazing reviews. The place looked very simple with a bit old decoration that was stretched in small rooms through 3 floors. The menu offered some really interesting Japanese delicacies. The service was fast and the food was nice, even if it was a bit overpriced. I generally believe that the ingredients were of good quality and fresh. However, while finishing dinner ‘JJ’ found a wing in his salad. It was a small insect wing, probably from a butterfly. I wouldn’t like to think what else it could have been.

Even though ‘JJ’ told me not to say anything, once again I simply couldn’t. Like on the occasion with the hotel I didn’t get frustrated or angry at all. I simply showed the discovery to our waitress. She said a quick impersonal ‘sorry’, took the salad bowl and went to the kitchen. We then picked up the bill and went to the till by the exit door to leave. While waiting on the queue to pay, the waitress reappeared, said another ‘sorry’ and started talking in Japanese to the woman in the counter. To cut a story short, they took the salad off the bill and gave us a 20% discount which was of course well received. We did like the way they handled the situation. Although, I’m not sure if we are going back again soon.

In both situations ‘JJ’ wouldn’t have said a word. Most likely he’d write an online review and try to forget the whole thing. He’s closer to having a British culture and tactfulness than me. There’s an anecdote about a British couple receiving the worst service and food ever in a restaurant but when asked by the waiter, they simply said that ‘it was lovely, thank you’. According to stereotypes, British people are very patient and don’t want to cause a stir. In worst case scenarios they write complain letters.


I don’t know if these occasions say something bad about me, that I am too demanding or ill tempered. I don’t want to end up a grumpy old man that everybody avoids. However, I do believe that since I do try to be professional at my job, I’d like to receive the same service by others, especially from places that are expensive and pretend to be good. Is there something wrong with me? Doctor?
What do you normally do in similar occasions?

Pygmalion

Yesterday, it was theatre night. We went to see the Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion in Garrick Theatre. That’s the theatre play where the ‘My Fair Lady’ movie with Audrey Hepburn was based. That’s probably one of the very few Hepburn movies I’ve seen. I’m very ashamed, I know. Apparently, you can’t graduate and become a full grown ‘gay’ if you haven’t followed ‘Gay Cinema Icons 1.01’. But anyway…


In the latest adaptation, Rupert Everett plays the egocentric Professor of Phonetics Henry Higgins and Kara Tointon plays Eliza Doolittle. I was curious to see Rupert Everett act in a play. I liked some of the movies he’s done but I have the impression from recent interviews that he’s growing into a bitter old queen. Prof Higgins as a character is quite obnoxious and I have to say that Rupert was good in it. I have to admit that I liked more the rest of the cast, like Peter Eyre playing Professor Doolittle and Dame Diana Rigg playing Mrs. Higgins, Everett’s mother. I fear that Everett lacked sometimes the passion needed for the role, even the correct articulation. Even Kara Tointon who I didn’t know gave me a better impression. She’s known here from winning ‘Dancing with the Stars’ last year and playing in soap operas.



In any case, I did enjoy the play. The direction was nice and the script well adapted. The story is quite enjoyable and the clash between the sexes and the classes well presented. Overall, I recommend it as a pleasant night out.

Geeky Wednesday…

It’s no secret I’m a geek. I love my gadgets, my computer games, my comic books, fantasy novels, sci-fi movies and learning all sorts of technical stuff other (normal) people find boring. I simply have a thing for them. I am also the person my friends and relatives will come when it comes to finding answers to computer problems and issues. I’m not the best one there is and I do believe my knowledge in certain issues is limited, but in most cases I do know where to look for an answer (that’s the engineer in me).

By the way: what’s the difference between a ‘geek’ and a ‘nerd’? Which is worse?
I mentioned I am a geek and not a nerd because I do have a social life and I know how to behave with other human beings who haven’t watched ‘Star Wars’ a million times or aren’t a fan of ‘The big Bang theory’!

Anyway, this is my geek update.

This Christmas, I’ve purchased a new laptop. I got a Sony VAIO E series that is able to run games I couldn’t play before. So, I’ve recently restarted devoting some time to them again. Playing games is not such a high priority (as it used to be) and I do it only when I want to relax at home. I’m not addicted or anything. I still prefer spending time with friends and ‘JJ’ than sitting at home in front of a 15’’ screen.

Loving Strategy and RPG games, I bought ‘Starcraft II’, ‘Fallout 3’ and ‘Civilisation V’. I wasn’t disappointed by any of them. Starcraft II is amazing and lives up to the expectation of its predecessor. It took Blizzard 12 years to release the sequel to ‘Starcraft’, which is one of my favourite games, but it was worth it. It only has a single campaign, for humans, but there are quite a few battles to keep you happily occupied for a long time. The graphics, physics and tactics of the game are all very appealing. I can’t wait for the release of the rest of the campaigns.


’Fallout 3’ as well is extraordinary. The world it produces is massive and your character can evolve in so many different ways. There are many quests that can be completed in different ways, affecting the rest of the story, making the game very interesting. It looks a lot like ‘Oblivion’ since it uses the same graphic engine but the world is so different. ‘Civilisation V’ was a bit of a disappointment since I believe it’s not that good as the previous one. The graphics are nicer and some aspects have improved but in general I believe it has been simplified to appeal to console gamers. It can still offer some hours of fun but I’d prefer playing version ‘IV’ to ‘V’. I will now invest some time in ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ and maybe ‘Dead Space’.


On the fantasy book front, I’ve recently finished ‘A game of Thrones (A song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)’ by George R. R. Martin. This book was recommended to me by an acquaintance from a gay dating site a couple of years ago. (Yes, this is the topics I have when meeting someone new.) I had bought this book in autumn but I’ve now just managed to sit down and read it and I have to say I loved it. The characters are not single dimensional and the plot has quite a few interesting twists. I like fantasy books with a dark twist in them. I bought and read the book before learning about the US TV adaptation. If anyone has watched it, is it any good? Has it started yet?


I’m now reading the ‘The painted Man (Demon Trilogy)’ by Peter V. Brett aka ‘The Wicked Man’ in the States. I generally take a break between reading a book series not to get tired by the same heroes and stories. I’ll pick up the second book of the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ later. So, I’ve read the first 100 pages of ‘The Painted Man’ and I have to admit I like his way of writing. It’s a bit too soon to say though if the whole book is any good or not but for the moment, I quite enjoy it.