Once (3 stars) - Once is an amateur shot, Oscar winning (2008) musical shot in Dublin. If you've ever visited Dublin you’ll easily recognise most of the spots where the film was shot. I think the film portrays life as a young immigrant in Dublin quite well. Apart from that though there aren't many other reasons to watch the movie. The music is kind of ok, but it's enough if hear the Oscar winning song on myspace. I found the plot a bit lame and quite anti-romantic, but then the movie wasn't plot oriented.

Ratatouille (4 stars) - A cute relaxing Pixar movie about a rat who likes cooking. Apart from the usual high standard Pixar got us used to, the story can be enjoyed by kids at a simple level, and by adults at a higher level.

My neighbour totoro (4.5 stars) - Brilliant anime. This is probably the equivalent of beauty and beast, or the lion king for Asians, everyone saw it. The movie is directed by Japan’s most famous animator Hayao Miyazaki (who also did Lupin III, Spirited). The movie is about 2 young sisters who find a strange new world, similar to Alice in Wonderland, with cute furry magical creatures. Great stuff!

Lost in translation (2.5 stars) - I had very high expectations for this movie, but was left disappointed by the story. I liked the portrayal of Japanese culture and customs in the film, which was very evident and consistent with what I read about Japan till now. The film is about culture shock, which admittedly is very difficult to capture on film. However, I think that this aspect was dampened by the subplot of potential romance between Scarlet Johansson and Bill Murray. This might be an Oscar worthy movie, but maybe not an enjoyable one.

The Dark Knight (5 stars) - I honestly can't remember the last time I gave 5 stars to a movie, but probably it was fight club. This movie is just fantastic. Class! Perfect! I can keep going on and on with superlatives, but I think you got the drift. If you're unsure about it because it's a batman movie, don't be. True batman can fly just a bit, but his super powers are very limited compared to other superheroes. This could have easily been a fast paced, high tech, highly polished action movie with no super powers. Not entirely unlike a James Bond on steroids. There are super cars, super bikes, great action sequences, plot twists, ethical dilemmas, what more can you pack in 2.5 hrs of film. Probably nothing!

I've added the pictures of the trip to Loch Dan.

The burger currency guideline from The Economist

I can't remember the last time I had 3 great weekends in a row. The temperature has gone over 15 degrees, which sounds a bit more like summer, so this might have something to do with it.

On Friday we went to watch a show from the Carlsberg Comedy Festival in the Iveagh Gardens. This year we saw Reggie Watts, The Reverend Obadiah Steppenwolf III, and Dave McSavage was the MC. Dave McSavage was probably the best comedian from the lot. I had very low expectations considering the myriad of negative comments (e.g. Dave McSavage is a terrible exuse for a human being. I feel sorry for his brother and cousin.) on his youtube videos, and his gig reviews. He's ok, but then the rest of comedians in the gig were not really up to it. At first Steppenwolf was quite difficult to understand, until a latecomer lady from the audience started harassing him. He absolutely butchered her with insults. It was quite funny for a while but then it got too aggressive and he was relentless. At the end of the gig he didn't even applaud the lady, and it seemed that he actually disliked the women. Reggie Watts is more of a talented musician then a comedian. He creates looped vocals live on stage and does it very well, appreciated though not very funny. It was quite refreshing to see something different though, especially after Steppenwolf.

Saturday morning was spent at work, then went to watch The Dark Knight in the evening. The film is such a treat that it totally made my day. More on the movie later, in the movie review post.

On Sunday we made good use of the good weather and went to Loch Dan in Wicklow. Trying to describe the walk is quite pointless, so I'll try to upload the pictures sometime in the future HERE. Well, it was a nice, pleasant, and relaxing walk. Finished off the day with some chicken madras from the Indian Restaurant across the road.

I was searching for some wildlife hotspots in Japan and came across these images of Nomura's jellyfish (via Pinktentacle). The photos were taken just 5m underwater.

These jelly fish seem to invade the Sea of Japan each Autumn. According to wikipedia, and some divers who saw the jellyfish, these monsters can grow larger than a man, and they're known to have killed people with their stings. Not something I'd like to experience firsthand.

Last Saturday we had a bit of a house party, formally to celebrate J's birthday, but really to have some good craic. I spent most of Saturday preparing food, assisted by my dearest house mates :) This was what we had on the menu (for my future reference):-

Main Dishes

• Goulash
• Rice salad (green peppers, eggs, sweetcorn, tomatoes, capers, salad cream)
• Potato salad (potatoes, parsley, salad cream)
• Vegetable Kebabs (Articoke hearts, feta cheese, olives, cheery tomato, peppers and cucumber)
• Spicy sausages and garlic bread (backups that weren't needed)

• Pistachios, Cashew nuts, Walnuts
• Cheese Platter (5 types of cheese Mexican, Brie, Blue Cheese, Cheddar, Mount [something])
• Tesco cheese crackers (They suck! Get Carr's next time)
• Dips and Breadsticks
• Nachos and spicy tomato dip
• Crisps
• Popcorn

• Coconut marshmallow balls (very popular)
• Fruit Salad (pineapple, grapes, cherries, strawberries, apples, oranges, banana, pears)

The party wasn't much of a wild house party. It was more of a sit down and eat sort of party, very much like the family parties back home. The food was good, which was the most important thing in the end. The idea of preparing goulash (Slovak mother-in-law-to-be recipe) , even in the middle of the Irish summer (= dottian winter), was a good one. It was a pity that M wasn't there to join (and cook some of his masterpiece dishes), since he just left for a holiday in Italy.

More pictures of the party here

P.S. Food ideas for next time - suggestions welcome.

• Stuffed Olives
• Brusketta
• Stuffed Mushrooms
• Broad Beans
• Couscous salad

Is it time for your 9 o'clock injection? - said to the husband who was misbehaving

i'm a bit of an antitalent for these things.....

From Globejotting

Maya Koizumi :)

Via Danny Choo

I've decided to remove all the extra RSS feed buttons of the blog and stick with only FeedBurner's one. I think (hope) that one of the reasons why the number of readers reported was not increasing, was because people were not subscribing through the feedburner feed, but through the blog’s main feed.

With this update I'd also want to take the opportunity to remind you that the blog other sections (travel and technology) have SEPARATE RSS feeds. Content posted in the technology section is NOT always posted in the main blog. So, if you're into tech and travel subscribe to those RSS feeds separately.

These are the feeds:-

Main Blog RSS Feed
   

Tech Section
   

Travel Section
   

Is it possible to top up a concert with My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and Anathema? Most probably not!

Venezuelan beauties are at it again. Miss Venezuela won Miss Universe, while the American representative fell in her dress, for the second year in a row.

After spending the last couple of weeks investigating fictious cults, the time has come to enjoy the sun, emmmm sorry clouds. On Saturday we went to Brittas bay to celebrate J's birthday. We walked along the beach for about 2 hours, just in time to avoid the heavy downpour.

On the way back home, we passed through Wicklow village to visit Wicklow Goal (historic prison), but we missed the last tour by 10 minutes. We strolled around the village for a while and discovered the pearl of Wicklow village - Carlos the Clipper! The Miss was also here for the weekend, which might explain my less than cheerful mood. Withdrawal symptoms!

With a bit more than a month to go for the Japan holiday, there’s a lot of planning to be made. Expect to see at least a couple of posts on the subject very soon.

After the great Tuska weekend I needed something to cheer up my mood. This video made it for just about 10 minutes.

Via Fail blog

I'm supposed to be writing a bit more here, but I'm kind of doing things instead. The biggest news I've got is that last Thursday I got our tickets to Japan. Yes, at last I'm going to Japan. That's by far the highlight of the month till now, probably until next weekend in Helsinki. It's Tuska time!

On a less positive note, yesterday Italy got knocked out of Euro 2008. No big surprise but still a bit disappointed considering that they lost on penalties. So now all my investment hopes are on Spain as Netherlands, Croatia and Romania are out too.