Up, close and personal

Yep. Morocco. My first time in Africa, as well. I went there with some friends via plane to Melilla (BTW, how expensive can such a flight be!) and rented a car to do a round trip. The itinerary was -more or less erratically- Nador-Fez-Volubilis-Meknes-Fez-Azrou-Taza-Debdou: basically, the north.

North Morocco is quite similar in landscapes to Andalusia. The best part to visit would be the west, where the ancient cities are. It would also be better to rent the car in Spain and cross via Ferry, as it is cheaper and leaves you in the interesting bit of the country, but they would not rent us a car for Morocco. Which I fully understand after seeing how they drive.

A warning to the traveller. In popular places, you will not be able to be left alone by the local "guides", guys who pursue you all the time, move you around the medina -whether you like it or not- and try to make you buy at their relatives' shops. They are unavoidable, so better pick one and go with it. But try your best to set your own pace even if it means forgetting about manners. The must sees are the mosques, the tanneries and the zocos.

Volubilis turned out to be an interesting surprise: a full roman village in the middle of the mountains. The conservation of the place was not too good, but they had the most amazing color mosaics almost everywhere! Too bad I did not had Augmented Reality googles to check how it was in the past. Not even an illustration in the ruins, either.

Food was mostly okay, but water was obviously not.

I'm back from my yearly weekend in Madrid (I hope to go back soon, though, many things to do, many things to do ...) Basically, I did the same I do every year, some shopping, walk the city, meet some friends and go to the theater. This year I watched Mamma Mia. I like musicals very much so it was only to be expected that I liked this one. However, it was better than I thought (not the best I've seen, though, but enjoyable, nevertheless). The only black point: translations of the songs to spanish was not that good, but it possibly could not have been done better. On the good side, the lead singer, Nina, has an amazing voice. She overacted a bit, but it did not matter. The best, though, were her friends, Marta Valverde and Paula Sebastian. Both women were amazing and extremely funny, not only in their renderings of Chiquitita, Dancing Queen, Take a chance on me, does your mother know and, of course, where they sing as Donna and the Dynamos, but practically every time they appeared on stage. Looking forward to their future works!



Mamma mia! in spanish

I watched this movie last wednesday and I liked it a lot. Visually, it is amazing how they can get such results without virtual reality. I particularly loved the butterfly effect at the end ('m not telling in case I spoil it for potential viewers). Emily manages to look fragile, scary and funny, while Victor is mostly unsure. Plus the rest of the characters are so well (er) characterized that they do not even have to open their mouths to realize what their personalities are. I also loved the fact that the land of the dead is far more colored than the Victorian UK. The storytelling leaves that bittersweet sensation afterwards that is so typical in Burton's movies, like Big Fish. The story seems to be based in a 16th Century Jewish folk tale, but it is definitely very Burton-like. The corpse bride reminds me of a Nightmare Before Xmas in the clash of different worlds implied in the plot, but it is far more serious and, in general, less crazy. Still, I can not decide which one I like more ...

Plus I'm seriously considering to re-watch Wallace and Grommit unless something comes fast on-screen. BTW, Helena Bonham Carter seems to be at ease with animation!

The brothers Grimm: Quite nice, well paced, fun and a bit stranger than Terry Gilliam has us used to, but nevertheless enjoyed the ride. The Grimms are a couple of con-artists that acquired some fame as ghost-hunters. However, luck goes tough when they have to face the very real danger of the mirror witch, who is kidnapping the kids of a small german village. I'd have given more lines to Monica Bellucci, noone like her to play the evil queen, but I liked the film.

Wallace & Gromitt: Shiny. Loved the rabbits and enjoyed the faces Gromitt put all the time. The giant vegetables were cool as well and I loved the homages to the Universal horror movies.

The dark: Not bad, but not that good either. A typical ghost story that drinks of welsh folk tales. Atmosphere and actors are okay (BTW, where did Maria Bello come from? She is everywhere these days!) Could have been better, but the storyline has many cracks. Sean Bean does not do much in the film and Paul Anderson only plays producer (as in the infamous Resident Evil 2).

Nothing particular this week, so I thought I'd upload an sketch instead. Yep, still stuck to Firefly ...

But not as good as the first by far. Swordfight is less thrilling and slower, characters are less defined and the bad guys are boring and histrionic. The final battle was dissappointing. No real plot, also. Do I have to tell you I did not like it? Save your 1.5 hours for something better ...

Even though the only Flockhart's performance I've liked thus far was Futurama's "When Aliens Attacks", I liked Darkness too much to not go watch Balaguerò Fragile. The film focuses on a children hospital, about to be abandoned, where only 8 kids remain because of room problems in the central one. Something in there is also trying to keep them inside, though. Callista is a nurse who lost a patient because of negligence and had a bad time trying to get over it. This is her very first job after the events and the hospital being haunted does not help much. However, she makes a friend in a sick, orphan kid who seems to know all about Charlotte, whomever is behind the strange phenomena. Curiously, this is not exactly a horror film. I liked Darkness better, but this one is okay, I guess.

So what did I do with my time this weekend? Dinner with friends ... check, scuba diving with lobsters ... check, lunch at seaside ... check. And, of course, travelling to Sitges to watch Serenity. I did not bring my browncoat, though, it was still hot :)


Guess where I am?

The arrival was ok and we had this big, big poster of the movie with River unleashed at the door. We had to wait there to enter, but things went pretty fluid and we had the chance to meet the big, bad shark. It's the 30th anniversary of Jaws, after all.


This is such a quiet and peaceful place ...

Then, we had to go through the tipically boring talks of organizers and producers before, finally, Whedon, Fillion and Glau walked the corridor. I was lucky enough to be at the corridor end of the first row, so I even watched Whedon jokingly pushing Fillion when they climbed the stairs (too bad he did not fell, I was just behind :P)


I was soooo slow ...

Unluckily, they only had 5 minutes talk and neither Fillion, nor Glau said anything. Maybe they had some activity with the journalists later, but we had no access to that. Finally, we managed to watch the film.

Serenity is pretty much what was expected: a brightly written story with shiny dialogues and good acting. The plot is well tied up and could be a closing to the series (though, of course, most of us expect it is not), plus it includes most whedonesque tricks to keep you holding your breath until very much the end of the story. It would have fit well in the series, though, as Firefly had film quality. The cast did well, even though usually cheerful Kaylee was a bit out of character, all touchy and gloomy (she explains pretty explicitly why after 5 minutes, much to the captain regret) and ditto for Inara, who spends most of her screen time scared and out of control (of course, that was to be expected, given the plot). The rest are their usual selves. Plus River is not used in excess. Not much to comment in order to avoid spoilers to people who have not seen the film. What are you waiting for, though? :D


The big event

I watched this movie last sunday and liked it a lot. Sceptic as I am with horror movies lately, this one is basically like Dog Soldiers, a well constructed, simple and grounded flick. It focuses on a group of friends adicted to risk sports who decide to explore a cave together. The idea is to keep it easy, but the cave is not as simple as it should be and there is something more in the depth with them. This is the most I can say without spoiling the argument for people interested in watching the film, I'm afraid. More details in here

Plus Josh Whedon's Serenity is on the screen since friday!! I'll have to wait to watch this one, but not for long. Got tickets for the screening in Sitges next Sunday :)

Only 8 days to go ...


River Tam


Zoe Warren

Ok, so I was planning to dive, but the sea did not agree. And the second option to go deep was ...




The karst at Sorbas!
Never mind that I've never been in a cave, because of the three path options (easy, medium, hard), only the hard one was available that afternoon. We did ask how hard it was, but I'm afraid the guide did not believe us when we said we might not be fit enough.

And, at the very beginning of the cave, the guide points out an ill looking entrance and a shallow opening in the ground and asks "which one do you prefer, the difficult or the die-hard one?" and everybody points at the ground. And there I was, believing all the time it was a joke ...




...but this is actually my entry point. Hard to believe I could move through that.

But this is what you get for risking your physical integrity in a reckless way: a crystal cave! Plus I only damaged my left knee and even kept strength to reach the car later :)

If you ever go to Almeria, pay the karst a visit.

Busy lately, so only 2 :(
On stranger tides (Tim Powers), a quite strange pirate story with voodoo and magic all mixed up. As usual, Powers blends the action with real historic characters like Blackbeard, Ponce de Leon or quite less known Ann Bonny (main character in one of Zoe -never read anything from this woman if you and I have any likeness- Valdes' books) and gives a magical explanation to some events (like the earthquake that erased Port Royal from the planet). Part of it looks like Monkey Island, in a more serious style. Not amazing, but okay.
Ilion (Dan Simmons). I dunno why I read this one. I have read Simmon's Hyperion 4-books saga and I did not like it at all until I read the last one. As usual, Simmons makes it impossible to understand at all what is happening and develops 3 or 4 apparently unconnected threads that are too brainy for me, with all those references to Shakespeare and such. Plus, I'm afraid I'm bond to read the next one :(

... but since I have to use planes, I'm doomed.

And there was I at Fiumiccino Airport, thinking that, for the first time in my life, I was not having delays neither in the go or return trip. Because, of course, they did not warn about it until it was time to move into a plane. One hour estimation. And when people protested, they seemed to be surprised and said something like "just one hour?". Yep, it could have been two or three days, go ahead, it's just MY time.

Of course, ALITALIA stands for: Always Late In Take-off All Luggage in Alger ...

So how do you make 2.5 equal to 5? Just take an Alitalia plane, kids!

I just found this pic in my hard drive from a trip to Mexico DF. Does not look like I'm at the Museum or Archaeology, does it? In fact, I was not even alone in the picture, but that is Photoshop 4U ...

So the summer is over and I did not really do much, or maybe I did, but I'll leave that for the time when I've got pictures available :P

For starters, a brief review of movies I watched this summer:

Sin City: cool, very much like the comic, panel by panel. In fact, exactly like the comic, which might be good, or not, depending on who you ask. I spent a good time. Half the people in the cinema walked away at the middle of the film, though. Too much violence for your average neighbour (unless you live in Malaga, that is).

The skeleton key: a flick on voodoo ... sorry, hoodoo. A young woman arrives to an ancient southern house to take care of the owner, who stopped speaking some months ago. Now, the house seems to be enchanted, but she does not believe in ghosts ... yet. Much more predictable that the script writer thought, but nice, anyway. Kate Hudson played okay and the environment was well captured.

The island: did not like it much. It was so obvious that you could state how it would go from the very first minute. I should have known when I realized in horror (too late) that it was directed by that Armageddon and Pearl Harbor guy. Anyway, I went there to see Ewan McGregor and that I did.

Plus I watched on DVD the two Bourne films. Quite good, both of them. Not so original, though, if you've read Van Hamme and Vance's XIII for the last decade or so, but fun to watch, anyway.

And now in buffer, Charlie and the chocolate factory, Dark Waters, Mr and Mrs Smith, and the Nightwatch!

See ya around!

In my humble opinion, Josh Whedon's Firefly is the best sci-fi series ever, but it only lasted half a season for reasons that escape my limited wits. Fortunately, Serenity, the movie is coming in september, 30. I'm not sure it will be released in Spain as well, but, hey, planes to NYC are fairly cheap, anyway! Meanwhile, this month Dark Horse has released Serenity#1 (comic series) in continuity with "Objects in space" and previous to the movie. Got the Mal cover, myself! And, while I wait, I can do some drawings on the crew ...

Maybe I was not expecting much of this film, but I sort of enjoyed the ride, even though the plot was not much. FX are okay (except Mr Fantastic) and most characters were correct (except, well, ... Mr Fantastic) Doom was a dissappointment, though. As much as I like the actor -and he played the script all right- I stick to the old Von Doom in comics, ruler of Latveria and all the stuff. This Tetsuo-like one was a bit out of character. Enjoyable movie, anyway.

Nope. Sorry, but I did not buy it. I still like the first film better. Right, no flashy FX there, but the script was faster and, somewhat, better paced. True, I get bored pretty easy, but why does Cruise have to be on screen in every plane of his last films? Like that Last Samurai thing, where he copycats the strategy of Leonidas in Greece (classic battle where every spartan got killed, BTW). Ok, Kingdom of Heaven was far worse, but we all know that Scott does one good/two bad with his movies! I think I stick to Minority Reports as Cruise's only film I really like.

BTW, where did the guy with the digital video camera in the beginning buy it? Everything stops to work, including cars and electricity,but it keeps recording even after it hits the floor ... Gimme two!

Not that they are my nieces or anything, but ain't them cute? :)

So just to prove that working on friday is not an obstacle to properly celebrate Beltane ...

The moon, as low as it will be in 16 years aprox

A bit of music in the dark

A fireless night is not the same!

Yep, been there, done that, bought the t-shirt

The end is nigh (Plus Javi is almost back and needs to read this final chapter) :D
I hope you enjoyed the ride!

Part 6

I've finally watched Batman Begins and it was as good as I expected. Not exactly the Yr1 saga, but close enough to be satisfying for comic readers. I'm not telling much because if you are reading this, you MUST see the film, but I'll point out my fav points:
-Christian Bale. Definitely, the best Batman and a superb Bruce Wayne. Ok, the guy is a personal weakness, but he is also a very good actor. And does he a scary Batman!!
-Alfred portrayed by Michael Caine. What can I say ...
-The progressive building of the Batman costume
-The Scarecrow's panic gas effects

A second part? Please?

Living peacefully (sort of) in Auckland ...
Part 5

1. Visit the Colosseum



2. Throw a coin in the Fontana di Trevi



3. Lose a hand into the Bocca de la Verita



4. Eat tons of gelatto di liquoritzia ;)

Mordor at last and arriving to Auckland :)
Part 4

I haven't done much lately -except for getting the OW Advanced diving license-, so here are a few recommendations.

-Six Strings Samurai: a weird movie involving rock&roll, katanas and the Red Elvises (the music group behind the soundtrack). Alternative future where the US were conqueered by the russians and only Las Vegas resists under the rule of its king: Elvis. When he dies, a new king is needed and rockers from all around the country go to Las Vegas. However, Death has its own agenda and is also on the way to Las Vegas. I won't tell anything else just in case you get to watch the film. But, on a side note, the main character is (quite obviously) Buddy Holly with a katana :D

-Kungfusion (Kung Fu Hustle): what can I say except watch it in chinese with subtitles. A nut kung fu movie with cool fights and lots of crazy stuff that made me laught from the very beginning. It's from the crew of Shaolin Soccer, but unrelated. The movie focuses on a city controlled by gangs and a very special building in the suburbs where neighbours are not exactly what they seem to be. Better not to tell anything else. It's a must see for Hong-Kong movies fans.

-Bleed like me (Garbage): The new album and, being a fan of the previous ones, of course I'm listening to this CD as well. And, as usual, it takes me a bit of time to get used to the songs, but I'll get to it. I recall that my first Garbage album was a gift from my friend Sarah, who lived in London by the time, so here in Spain Garbage was not that popular at the moment. Lucky me, I got the preview :) Thus far, I stick to Beautiful Garbage. But in a couple of weeks ... who knows?

Busy at work lately, not much fun. This is a sketch of Visby, in Gotland (Sweden), a very nice island full of Mignola-like churches and stone houses and, presumedly, the best sunset in the Baltic sea (it was nice, I'd say :))

Pelenor is my favorite part of RotK and I'm particularly fond of Theoden and Eowyn, so ...

Third part of my trip to New Zealand, this time on the West Coast of the South Island and moving up ...
Part 3

On the left corner, with a brand new weigth of 4.8 kg, wearing pink pajamas, the newcomer Lucia! And, on the right corner, somewhat slimer, but definitely taller, wearing white, the title holder Clara! It's cool to have two nieces :)

So here's the second part, in the south of the south island:
Part 2

Who said the Mediterranean was always warm? Brrrr ...
Diving in Nerja is not such a good idea in may, after all.
So do you see here an octopus? Cool, I thought it was just me ...

Amazingly, I can still waste more my time that you ever guessed. So here's the first part of my review of a trip to New Zealand some time ago. Spanish only, I'm afraid (C'mon, were you really interested in reading it, anyway? :D)
Part 1

So, finally, here is my new niece Lucia, a few hours after her birth! Isn't she a cutie?

My life is pretty boring lately, so there's not much to tell (or upload). Here's a fast watercolor skecth of Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider I did a while ago.


TRII was so much better than TRI ...!

I finally finished this book, that I kept putting aside now and then to read something else. Not that the book is boring or anything, simply that other readings caught my attention more. "Corazon de Ulises" is a book about a trip to Greece. I like everything I've read from Javier Reverte and this book is no exception, however I liked the Africa books better. I've been in Greece myself and the book seems too nostalgic and not as bright as Greece most times seemed to me, but that's the thing with travel books: if your experience in the country was different, the feelings do not fit. Anyway, I'd recommend the book, as well as any of Reverte, to anyone interested in travel.

Probably the most isolated place of the Earth ... except for those two fishes, that followed me everywhere, that is.

To get to Easter Island, I had to fly first to Santiago de Chile with Iberia (12 hours) and then take another plane (LanAir, 5 hours). But it was worth it!

So this is a new example of how sci-fi is doing good lately. Me, I like series than, rather than collecting more or less connected anecdotic adventures of the cast, go in a well defined direction, like Babylon 5, Whedon's short lived Firefly or the new version of Galactica. I'm afraid, I can't recall the old BG, but this one certainly is good. The story goes as follows.

Humans, living in 12 separate colonies, created intelligent robots -the cylons- to do the hard work. Obviously, these robots rebelled and fought their creators until a truce was set. Then, the cylons vanished for decades. Rather than fearing that they could be evolving -which, in fact, they were- humans lived carelessly for years. Eventually, the cylons return and unchain a simultaneous deadly attack on all 12 colonies. When humans try to counterattack, it turns out that cylons have broken their defenses and penetrated their computer networks -with the help of Number 6, a new human-looking cylon model who had not much trouble fooling Dr Gaius into letting her reprogram his defense code-. Some humans, though, escape devastation. Most of them are the crew of BG, which has no network because commander Adama hates security breaches. Realizing that they have not much to do against cylons, they decide to flee in search of a place where they can start anew. However, cylons -now believing to be God's hand to erase His previous error: humanity- still have an agenda and letting humans escape is not in it. Besides, there's limited water and food supply, political tension and at least 12 human-looking cylon models that are mixed with the surviving crew.

Good plot, nice characters and pretty spaceships :)

Battlestar Galactica site

Now that the arrival of another niece is nigh, a post about the one niece is called. Hey, Clara, cheers from auntie Cris! :)

So this is a quick watercolor sketch I did from Mexico, back when I travelled there last year. I definitely need to go back and see Merida asap!


A Mexico rough watercolor skectch

So I finally got to the Great Wall after all these years of playing TRII ...

El Ultimo Caton (M. Asensi) Not bad, but very, very predictable. It is clearly written as a movie script, but fairly well documented and easy to read.
It focuses on three very different persons charged by the Vatican with the task of finding a strange sect known as the staurofilax who are stealing all relics involving pieces of Jesus' cross. Their only clue is the dead body of a member of the sect who died in a plane crash and had several strange cross-like scars etched in the body. Soon, they will discover that the mystery is related to Dante's Divine Comedy and that they are bound to walk through the nine circles of the Purgatory before reaching their goal. My only regret is that I did not manage to sympathize
with the main characters. A 7.5/10 would do.

I've also re-read Terry Pratchett's Eric in the plane back from Tenerife, because of the circles of Hell, and all. I give it (again) a 9.5/10 as to most Pratchett's books. Some random quotes of the book:

"The trouble is that things never get better, they just stay the same, only more so."

"Rincewind had] looked Death in the face many times, or more precisely Death had looked him in the back of his rapidly-retreating head head many times..."

"The badge said: "My name is Urglefloggah, Spawn of the Pit and Loathly Guardian of the Dread Portal: How May I Help You?"

Plus, Prometheus' torture :)

Rincewind: "What's going on? What's happening to him?"
Azaremoth: "I don't know what he done, but when I first come here his punishment was to be chained to that rock and every day an eagle would come down and peck his liver out. Bit of an old favourite, that one."
Rincewind: "It doesn't look as though it's attacking him now."
Azaremoth: "Nah. That's all changed. Now it flies down every day and tells him about its hernia operation. Now it's effective, I'll grant you, but it's not what I'd call torture."

This is the last movie I've seen and I must say that I did not like it very much. Pretty booooring. Fights are okay, specially the first one with the drums, but we are so used to Matrix and Hong-Kong like combats that this is not enough for a film to be interesting anymore. The plot is a very simple and predictable love story with only a few surprises. I liked "Hero" more and found that one slow as well! I think I'll stick to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" a little longer.

Safe bet! I think I figured out all major Oscars this year, so I had already prepared a little sketch of the best animation film for the occasion. Isn't The Incredibles the best superhero film ever!

Has been, of course, Puss in Boots, who looks just like my Angora cat. No award for Shrek, but he has the cutest look!

All the way up the Piramide de la Luna (Moon Pyramid), with a nice view of the Calzada de los muertos (Road of the dead)!

Sunset at Xochicalco, Morelos. You won't see that smile at the office, though!

This book, by C. Ruiz Zafon, was an unexpected Xmas gift from my mom. It tells the story of a boy who finds a book of a completely unknown writer hidden in a secret library. He reads it that very same night and, after that, things start to become quite strange for him, as a wide and mostly weird variety of characters begin to move around the book. Almost 600 pages, interesting and easy to read, but no surprise -for me at least- in the storyline. I sort of figured everything out in the first few chapters and was expecting the unexpected until the very end, which, in fact, never happens. I'd give it a 6.5/10.

Ok, I've just seen possibly the funniest Kim Possible episode thus far: "Oh Boyz". I'm not telling anything, better go and watch it yourself. Just, on a quick note, Shego is possibly the most expressive cartoon character ever and Sr Senior Jr strongly reminds me of someone I know quite well ... :D

So this is what I've watched this weekend! I've read some Hellblazer comics now and then and as far as I go, I think that "Dangerous Habits" was a good storyline to make a movie both for the comic fans but also for the general public. Rather than a horror movie, though, this one is an action flick. The Hellblazer ambient was pretty well caught and Keanu Reeves did it okay (even though he was not as disgusting as Constantine sometimes is and he was basically a good guy -which Constantine obviously is not-) Gabriel and Papa Midnite were cool and even though Chas was a bit out of character, he fitted all right. All in all, I liked the movie a lot. Plus, there is yet no Weisz's movie I haven't liked! :)

So this is pretty much what I watched this weekend. I've liked all Eastwood's movies, specially those directed by him, but I think Million Dollar Baby has become my favorite one. It does not need excess to become a touching film and it caught me from the very beginning. Despite its more than 2 hours length, it has a fast pace and is well tied even though it has clearly 3 different parts. I'm not commenting much about the plot because I expect a lot of people will be watching this. However, I'll say that I don't think the film would have worked the same without Hillary Swank. Amazing that the first rol I watched her play was in that horrible Buffy movie! I'm fairly confident now that she is in for her second Oscar and, as in "Boys don't Cry", her work is worth it. Eastwood will more likely go for Best Movie, but I'm not so sure about the actor one, not that he doesn't deserve it, but who knows with Hollywood? I'd say this is a perfect movie: ten out of ten.

P.S. Well, I also watched Azumi on DVD. If you like swordfight and east movies, this film is definitely for you. Don't expect much of the plot, but there's action enough to compensate.

At least, in their summer, around February. This is a watercolor sketch of Piha beach, one of the most famous ones in the West Coast of Aoteaora, from my visit back in 2002. Too bad it's so far from Spain!!

Leaving aside the fact that I would not have chosen Gardner to play the rol (Patricia Velazquez or Claudia Black would have been more likely), I'd not say that the film was a dissapointment, but simply because it was what I expected. I mean, I did not like it. Elektra was too soft and most of the film she was out of character. How come a cold blooded assassin meets a random girl and becomes a mother all in 10 minutes time? No way. At the beginning of the film, Gardner does a great Elektra, anyway. Should have kept her in that line. But, of course, an american movie about a bad guy would not work, would it? Save your money or go watch again "The Incredibles", boys and girls!

I've loved every extra minute of the extended edition, even though I'd still missed some stuff. Maybe an EEE (Extra Extended Edition) in a future would do, as long as I can spare a couple of days to watch the three films in a row.
BTW, does Eowyn rules in Pelenor! Here goes a watercolor sketch I did on TTT

I'll post in this blog anything that comes up to me and has nothing to do with my work. So you know what to expect ... Or maybe you don't :)