Category Archives: My articles / researches

Tribute to Christopher Lee

I do not go ape-shit crazy over every famous legend, that passes away… But, Christopher Lee deserves a mention.

christopher leeWho is Christopher Lee?
– He is one of a kind.
He was born in 1922, in England and has died due to heart failure at the age of 93.
– He has been given credit for 281 acting jobs (movies and series).
– Out of all these films around 90% of the time he acted as a villain.
– He participated during World War II, where he served his country in the Royal Air Force and in British Intelligence.
– He is a very tall man; 1.96m.
– One of his movies is still to be released next year.

What is he mostly known for?
– Christopher Lee, is Saruman in Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit.
– Christopher Lee has portrayed three different characters in the Sherlock Holmes Series: Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft – Holmes and Sir Henry Baskerville.
– Christopher Lee has been Dracula several times.
– Christopher Lee is the voice of Count Dooku in Star Wars.
– Christopher Lee is also a singer and he has released his last mini-album at the age of 92.

Memories I will treasure forever:

From the Hobbit: The Battle of 5 Armies
Saruman: “Leave Sauron to me”



Christopher Lee singing “My Way”. Elvis’ cover version turned into heavy metal

The Loudest Silent Conversation

There’s this video going around at the moment on social media, and it made me think. Does true love ever dies? If, we part ways with the best love we have ever had, what happens then?

This is the story of two artists; Marina and Ulay who broke up in the 1970s. As a tribute to their relationship back then, they went to the opposite side of the Wall of China, and walked towards each other for one last hug… one last embrace. After 30 years of being apart, Ulay makes his way into Marina’s life during one of her art performances. Watch what happens then….

…It makes you think, don’t you think?

Lindemann – Praise Abort (Song review)

Rammstein’s vocalist; Til Lindemann has just release a new song under the name ‘Lindemann’ which is a project he is working on with Peter Tagtgren from Hypocrisy. The name of the song is very controversial, but wait until you watch the music video.

If I had to write what I think about this song, I would say that it is very clever. To me, he is criticising the world and the society we live in as well as the mentality people have.

1. The way Til discusses abort in this song, he is almost comparing abort to a contraceptive method. Because people care about pleasure, and they don’t care about the consequences. And since pleasure comes before pain and before owning to your mistakes, he ponders on the idea, that people would rather turn gay than have more children as the latter ruins lives. Of course this is an exaggeration, but it is the plain truth.

2. Sex without condoms is more natural, more animalistic and more fun, so better get on with it. The pigs in the video, imply that these people are pigs. This is a common name-calling to people who are dirty, or greedy.

3. The hatred in the lyrics shows what people are all about. We hate and we complain.

4. At the end of the video, Till shows love and affection towards the piglet. This to me shows, that the character in the video is just there to show the truth about humans and their behaviour, and that this is totally separate from the views the singer has on this topic.

5. Till Lindemann actually has children, he is divorced. He raised his eldest daughter for 7 years by himself after which her mother decided to take more of an active role in her life.

The Song:

Thoughts and Comments?

Jonathan Rhys Meyers: Know his Story!

It bothers me to the extend of vomiting, or in the worst case scenario, to the extend that I want to kick someone in the face, when people write about Jonathan Rhys Meyers. It seems, no news is good news for them, unless they catch him with a bottle of vodka in his hands.

Turns out the actor has been seen in London two days ago buying alcohol, while wearing what would appear as ‘normal clothes’. If they saw another person in broad daylight drinking in the street, it would have been al-right. But if it’s Jonathan, then it’s wrong. First and foremost, famous actors, are normal people like us; they can make mistakes and fall off the wagon. Secondly, the media is not helping him get any better by pointing fingers at him.

Jonathan happens to be my all-time favourite actor. He’s talented, he can sing, and he can act. His accent is to die for. But what also really amused me is what has led him into becoming who he is. I would think, most of you wouldn’t even know what he went through growing up.

BrieflyThe Story of Jonathan Rhys Meyers

I’d start by telling you, that his surname was O’Keeffe but when his parents separated, he took his mother’s maiden name. They moved from Dublin to Cork were they lived in poverty at one of the council flats. His mother Mary, drank most of her money away, and Jonathan used to steal from her dole money to make sure that he and his brother had something to eat at the end of the day. He later lived with another family, until he was spotted by a modelling agency. This is what led him to the career he’s most known for now. When he made enough money, he bought a bungalow in Cork for his mother. This is what stole my heart. No matter what he went through in his childhood, he went back to his roots; to his mother, and tried to give her a better life; to save her.

Almost 10 years ago, his adoptive father; his saviour; was convicted of abusing a homeless boy and sent to prison. Soon after his mother passed away.

I think all that has happened to him in his life, has made him what he is; his personality is extreme and compulsive. He works a lot, he trains a lot, he drinks a lot. There’s no in between, no normal for him. Just like he went from poverty to riches.

Jonathan-Rhys-Meyers-lg

My point is, don’t judge a person without knowing their story. Help out while you can. If I had a way to reach out to him I would, but I am just one of his many fans. A nobody.

Do you close your eyes when you sneeze?

Have you ever wondered, why is it so difficult to keep your eyes open when you sneeze?

I for one, cannot for the life of me not close my eyes when I sneeze. Although it doesn’t make a difference, it bothers me that I am not in control of my body…

The reason why the eyes close when one sneeze are not a defense mechanism to keep away any projectile germs from the eyes. When one sneezes, the force itself sends the bacteria away from the face. Science!

To this day, no particular purposes were found to explain this… It’s just a reflex. One can compare they eyes closing to the same reason a leg kicks out when your knee is tapped…. Magic!
In fact, it’s not only the eye lids which react to a sneeze, but some people even experience urine leakages involuntarily.

sneeze

Some fun facts

  • Back in the days they thought that the soul was made of air and was trapped inside the head. When one sneezes, they feared that the soul would escape.
  • In the middle ages, when one sneezes everyone used to be so frightened. This was a time when any ilness, minor or major used to lead to death. It was during this time that people started saying ‘God bless you’ as an attempt to protect the sneezer from death or illness

P.S. No, your eyes will not pop out if you leave them open while you sneeze!. ;p

Throwing Shade; A sensual music video

Have you seen the sexy video coming from Honeytrap featuring Emily Bee?

I was very sceptic to watch this, as I thought it will as always be objectifying women, or men in order to get tons of views and become popular.

To my surprise, the video is very sensual; focusing on the colour red.. which is the colour of love, passion, sensitivity, lust and anger. It is a colour that stimulates people, increases blood pressure and has high visibility. Red is courageous and also it evokes erotic feelings; red lips, red nails, red light district…. The Lady in Red. This video takes advantage of the colour, and it energises us to watch, and listen… and to stay alert!

The play with the colours, the fruits and the honey, is what drew me in… how simplicity can still be so sensual. We almost forget this, in a life so fast, when people are so upfront on what they want. Nakedness is not always a turn-on. I for one, love the teasing and playfulness more. The sexual connotations in this music video is also enhanced by the lyrics of the song.

See for yourself…

Pretty Little Liars – Charles

Hold and behold, what amazing season finale we had on Tuesday night (or in my case, since I’m in Europe… yesterday!).

I am still quite speechless about what I have seen, and I will most definitely have to rewatch the episode once more in the days to come. The episode was intense, I felt breathless a couple of times. I was so worried that one of the girls or one of their boyfriends is A!

girls

So, you can imagine my relief when I figured out the anagram…. Charles! And not just Charles… He’s a DiLaurentis! At one point while I was watching one of the earliest seasons of Pretty Little Liars, I was quite convinced that Alison had a twin; but it never gone through my mind that Jason could have a twin. The story was all the time about Alison, and Jason was never really the focus of the plot.

charles#

So…. my thoughts on the episode itself and the future epsiodes:

  • If Jason has a twin… Spencer has another brother…
  • We have met Charles before… but where?
  • A’s doll house… what’s up with that?
  • How long have the girls been stuck there? It looks like they new their way around the house by end of the episode… Does that suggest that within that 45 minutes, days have gone by?
  • Mona is blonde (yuck!) and alive
  • Andrew Campbell, is he in favour of the girls or against?
  • Emily and Alison… will there still be sparks between them?

girls2

GermanWings Plane Wreck Aftermath

Today the online news-feeds are all filled with photos of this horrible plane crash. I have also read about theories on what could have happened, and this is some of what I came across, which might be interest to you, and a quick recap of all things going on:

Both Mr. Hollande (France) and Ms. Merkel (German) were scene on the accident scene.

planewreck merkel and hollande

The before and after of the plane:

planewreck

…And the debris

planewreck3

planewreck4

planewreck2
The black-box / cockpit voice recorder is recovered

planewreck1

GermanWings plane crash; 150 dead

Today I will dedicate my blog post as a remembrance for those 150 people who are presumed to have lost their lives this morning in a plane crash aboard GermanWings Flight 4U9525. The passenger list is said to include two babies and 16 students who were on a school trip. The crash happened in a remote snowy area in the French alps. The plane left Barcelona to its destination being Düsseldorf in Germany.

germanwings-crash-france-map

A little under an hour since its departure, the officials received a call of distress.

5cc3108b-1949-410e-9368-0af129841d84
A rescue helicopter from the French Security Civil flies over the French Alps during a rescue operation after the crash of an Airbus A320, near Seyne-les-Alpes. (Reuters)

Since the weather conditions are considered to be drastic, with local storms, snow is above 1,800 metres and relatively low clouds, it is proving to be very difficult to land in the area with helicopters. French police explain that due to the difficult terrain, it is expected to take days to retrieve the bodies and debris.

During the conference, GermanWIngs CEO stated that the pilot has worked with the company for over 10 years and has over 6,000 flight hours under his belt. He continued saying that the crash itself lasted just 8 minutes. The crashed plane; A320 is 24 years old and has been serving with GermanWings since 1991, according to online database airfleets.net.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she will head to the crash site.

GermanWings is a low-cost airline based in Cologne, and is part of the services offered by Lufthansa. 

Tattoos of Famous Paintings

As part of my on going research to find my next tattoo, I’ve indulged into researching tattoos of famous paintings, starting with my favourite painters/artists of course. Art has been a part of my life for years, and whenever I am on holiday, I do my best to visit art museums to learn more about this subject. My favourite museum to date is of course in Amsterdam since Van Gogh is my number 1 artist 🙂

Here’s some tattoos I come across, in no particular order:

  • Banksy

art_banksy art_banksy2

  • Hokusai

Art_The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” by Hokusai

  • Pablo Picasso

art_“War and Peace,” by Pablo Picasso

  • Salvador Dali

art_“The Elephants,” by Salvador Dalí

  • Michelangelo

art_“The Creation of Adam,” by Michelangelo

  • Van Gogh 

art_“The Scream,” Edvard Munsch  art_van gogh starry night