Le Grand-Duché de Luxembourg

Aaaand I'm back. I was away for a couple of weeks because I was on a business trip to Luxembourg. Or should I say ... Le Grand-Duché de Luxembourg. Yea ... that sounds better.

I was actually taken by surprise by the beauty of the city... the windy roads, the castles, the valleys, the peace and quiet ... ohh ... it's so peaceful ... so quiet ... maybe too much peace and quiet for some, but not for me.

The city can offer excitement as well. There are enough bars and restaurants to keep you entertained, and for the night-life you have the clubbing area which looks pretty good. There is also a very good cinema, and I will have to tell you how long story short I spent about 90 EUR (yea) to see Avatar for the second time in an upcoming post. A quick stop and a warm apple juice with cinnamon are just what the doctor ordered when it's a little cold outside...

Where Luxembourg does best though is location location location. You have sooo many places you can go to at your disposal, it's quite amazing. Germany, France or Belgium flip a coin and drive there in one or two hours. For example, one one Saturday I went skiing in France. I hadn't skied in about 7 years so it was a great experience with amazing snow and almost perfect weather. Good and quite cheap ... 35 EUR ski pass + equipment for the day.

Andreea joined me for the last weekend of the trip. Here she is enjoying the scenery:

Oh, and here is me enjoying the scenery ... it was a littttle coollldd:

On Monday we celebrated Andreea's 29th birthday. Happy Birthday again, my lovey lovey kisses and hearts :).

Andreea didn't miss the opportunity to take some great photos ... as for me and my business trip ... that's for another post ... stay tuned.

Sherlock Holmes and 2 Smoking Barrels

See that guy up there? That's Sherlock Holmes! ... What? You think that's plain old LAME? OK, then how about this guy ...

OK, OK, it looks like we are getting ... somewhere ... but that's still not a movie that an average young fellow would admire these days ... in comes Guy Ritchie ... who analysed the situation and finally thought that by all means if he would need to survive in the jungle of today's cinema, Sherlock must definitely look ... well ... like this:

See the resemblance? Well... don't bee TOO hard on yourselves, neither do I, but the point is that there's a movie in theaters called "Sherlock Holmes" which BLOWS S#IT UP! Does it have anything to do with the Sherlock Holmes from the first picture? Considering this guy knows more Karate than Mr. Miyagi the answer is pretty obvious.

One mystery remains ... Is the movie any good? ... I'd say yes, but it took me a couple of pipes and intensive use of my magnifying glass to find an answer ...

get it?

300 Million Dollars

First post for 2010, so... Happy New Year! I FINALLY got to see Avatar in IMAX, after hunting for tickets for a couple of weeks, and, well, it was all that I expected.

The lack of originality in the script of the movie is often overwhelming, but not as overwhelming as the special effects, which are sometimes simply amazing. Sure, it sometimes feels like you're watching an animation movie, but there are also moments, like the picture above, when the blue aliens look sooo real, it's freaky. The 3D is the best I've seen so far, no doubt about it.

Getting back to the script, it's not quite as bad as I was expecting it to be. Sure, you can always see the general direction where the action is heading, but I admire the lack of plot holes, and the depth they gave to the story, unlike for example Star Trek ... now that's a shallow script.

The highlight of the movie is, of course, Pandora. The world really comes alive on screen, with all the plants and trees and all the animals and everything. They really took their time with designing the place, and it shows.

So, the big question is, does it feel like 300 million dollars worth of movie? I think it does ...

Oh, and one more thing. All you (lame) downloaders out there, this movie is not for you. You need to experience this on the big screen with the 3D goggles on.

Happy New Year!