Lisa Hannigan

I know it's been a while since I posted about songs. But I've been going back to my roots, my Celtic music, the one I used to danced to at festivals with my mum. Nothing anyone would want to listen so I waited to finally get something anyone can appreciate either it's the instrumental part or simply the lyrics...

Let's begin by telling you a little bit of where I came across the singer in the first place...

Ondine... A romantic Irish movie about a woman who got caught in a fishnet, a drunk fisherman who is divorced, has a beautiful daughter who turned out to be sick (saddest thing ever), and the mystery brought by the famous selkies. 

Side note: Selkies are said to live as seals in the sea but shed their skin (coat) to become human on land. The legend plays an important role in Scandinavian, Irish and Scottish mythology. Their myths are romantic tragedies, a common theme for land/sea romances, however, it is the Selkies who suffer rather than their human lovers and spouses. 

In the movie, the young woman fished out of the sea in Ireland, sings to the fish, and gives much luck to her fisherman... But like every romantic story, there's a pitch of sadness... And that is up to you to find more by watching the movie yourself.

I quite loved it, it brought me back "HOME".

And that is the backstory of where I came into listening to Lisa Hannigan. One of her song, the one right below, came at a good part... 

Lille- 

Sea Song- 

Fall- 

Snow-

Lisa Hannigan is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. Bright in every way, I fell in love with her songs, the way she writes, and how peaceful it is... Compare to everything else I may have on my Itunes, this is by far what I would listen if I want to fall asleep to "home" or read a book. 

Now, I don't expect everyone to love it, like it or even bare with it, but I just thought I would share what I have been in love for a couple of days now. 

Next time, you may have to deal with what I grew up with, and trust me it won't be as peaceful or English for that matter...  Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, and Breton are old languages which usually brings me back home no matter where I am... So until next time! 

" My music will tell you more about me than I ever will." 

~Bella

Darker or lighter...

Fifty Shades Darker

A two-hour long movie, the second after the phenomenal one, Fifty Shades of Grey...

Who remembers watching the first one? I don't mostly cause I didn't want to go see it as I have read all three books.

Comments from my dear mother, " I laughed at the entire movie, no erotic scenes except for one or two and again not erotic."
"The discussions between both parties were unsuccessful and boring."
"The blond wasn't around much, barely showed any presence or personality, nothing about the past."
" No foreplay, compare to the first which was the discovery, you could expect more in the second, but no..."
"Tons of questions, accidents? I believe it's plain idiotic."
" The trailer made us wait a year, saying that it was going to be fantastic, more sex, more than the first one... And no, just plain deception!"

My mother could go and on about the comments, the complaints, and sadly, she hasn't found anything good to say about the movie.

To me... I laughed at a few scenes, left at the end of the movie for personal issues, but still didn't miss the last scenes because I thought the actors were doing poorly. There was no chemistry, no feeling, no discussions. No real speeches, no talk, the whole movie was boring. Usually, when I go to the movies, I laugh at different times than Americans, while this time, we laughed at the same time. It was idiotic, nothing erotic, no sex scenes whatsoever. We both got disappointed, even my mother's friend, laughed out loud.

When books are made into movies, some will love it, others will just be disappointed. It's different for everyone, and this time, I preferred the novel instead of the movie. I've always tried to comprehend the way movie directors work, tried to think that movies cannot be the exact same as novels. You can't recreate each single phrase of a novel into a movie. It's nearly impossible to make it the same. When you read, it's one person reading not many, and the way you may read the story is our you are feeling throughout the words, the phrases, each expression, and emotion are created by yourself. A movie, on the contrary, has already some type of emotion, feelings. You cannot create your own as you watch the film, so I always try to watch it with an open mind, leaving the book on the side. Easy, you think, but no, it's harder than anything else. When you have read the books, watching it may be harder because you already know what will happen and then sometimes movies just don't get the same emotions as the novel. It's different... Then again, usually, they try to make the movie as perfect as possible. Sadly, this time, the movie was beyond idiotic leaving me speechless about how awful the movie was made. Nudity isn't something Americans let out too often in films, you won't see much in any films while in Europe having some nudity is part of the deal... So when I went to see Fifty Shades Darker, I expected not much nudity but enough to make a woman aroused, but no... Nothing, no nudity except a few little things, again barely anything... 
It's ironic to see that the movie is categorized in the Erotic category when there was barely any nudity or sex scenes, whatsoever. It's quite painful to watch, nothing pleasurable about it. 

I went online to read articles about the film, and at my biggest surprised many articles talked about the idea and the idiocy of how the movie turned out.  Some articles just said, "It's not terrible, just timid..."
Other articles like this one:  https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/02/fifty-shades-darker-a-spoilereview/516204/

Again, everyone is entitled to have their own opinion, leaving me to have my own as well... 
Fifty Shades Darker isn't a movie to go watch in the movie theater. It is disappointing and a waste of money. Wait until it's on a streaming website because you'll want to just get refunded for such an idiotic movie. 

"The result was a very bad movie, but one considerably less bad than the book it was based on." - Christopher Orr 

~Bella

At least you'll never be a vegetable- even artichokes have hearts....

Let me start off by saying that I love movies, but I've always had something special with Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain or commonly known as Amelie. A French romantic comedy that came out in 2001, more than 10 years ago about a young, innocent Parisian, Amelie (Audrey Tautou), who decides to help those around her while imagining a love story with the man she saw at the train station, Nino...

The first time I watched the movie it was in 2006 when my parents were getting a divorce. I was on the couch next to my mother in front of the TV, slowly falling in love with the movie! Since then I watch it at least three to four times a year, and I cry around the same scenes.

It's not just a movie to me, it's my story, obviously not the entire film but parts of it. Her personality reflects mine, innocent, sweet, caring, big dreamer who loves to help others but doesn't help herself. A guardian angel to some, and a matchmaker to others. 

I've made a short list of what she does in the movie, and what I do in my life.... 

- Young Amelie would eat her raspberries directly from each of her fingers. I've always done it, and I will continue because despite looking like a child playing around with food, it's amusing. 

- When Amelie goes to the movies, she looks behind her to see the reactions of other people. I tend to always be on the last row so I look at the people on the sides. It's funny to see all these different faces. 

- She manages to help those who surrounds her while I'm always present if you ever need something.

- Amelie has always lived in her own little world, asking herself questions about the world... I think I suffer from the same disease!


I'll stop here...
If you haven't seen the movie, it's a must watch! It's in French but some versions have English subtitles if you don't understand any French. The movie is well translated, so I really think you may learn something from this movie. I know I learned a lot especially about myself! It's not every day you can relate to a movie character! And I'm happy to say that people had confused me with the actress, Audrey Tautou while I was at the airport! :) It's still making me smile when I talk about it.

Amelie is a reflection of what an isolated young girl go through when she grows up. The idea behind the movie was to make people realize that changes are not always bad and that it is totally fine to ask questions! Being young and curious is considered normal while when grown-ups ask questions is it quite embarrassing... Amelie, on the other hand, doesn't fear the judgments of others and still ask questions just like a kid would do. The movie proves us that we can all help someone with a small gesture like crossing a blind man across the street!

" Luck is like the Tour de France. You wait, and it flashes past you. You have to catch it while you can."- Raymond Dufayel aka Glass Man. 

~Bella

"Non me somiglia pe' niente!"

Everyone watches movies, but how many of you have you heard of Johnny Stecchino or Johnny Toothpick?

I've watched Johnny Stecchino three weeks ago after looking for a mafia movie in Italian and I came across this one. A funny movie as you can assume, but an Italian comedy around the mafia and a farce. I've never laughed this much in a long time while watching a comedy! It grew under my skin, I cannot stop watching it, falling asleep on it, cannot get enough of it... 

The story takes place in Palermo where a mafia boss wants to kill a rat that came from New York. A kindhearted but a cute idiot who likes to steal bananas will be passed off for the snitch of New York hiding away from the mafia. 

Roberto Benigni plays the role of the snitch as well as the  kindhearted idiot. I must say he plays both roles well enough for us to believe he has a twin brother. Two personalities and two different jobs.  One in the mafia, the other a school bus driver who has a friend a disabled person.

My favorite scenes... I cannot reveal them, not unless you watch the movie. I will give away the best part of the movie...

What I find clever about this movie is that they have two plots, one who is based on drugs and mafia, while the other thinks everything surrounding him and stealing bananas, which then later on really believe that it's a horrible crime in Palermo. You could believe both stories because they are so well represented. The movie might be a little old as it from 1991 (Italy), it is a must watch movie! You cannot just let this movie pass you by. I only watch it in Italian but I'm sure subtitles in English exist or an English version if you don't understand Italian at all.

As one of my favorite actor, right after Robert DeNiro, I can only be impressed by how captivating his performance is in this movie, just like in everyone he is in.

Don't be fooled by the humor, every country as its own, so don't expect to laugh at it if you don't understand what's funny. Or you might end up like me, loving the movie and keeping a few quotes in your head. I can thank this movie, now I say "Santa Cleopatra" instead of "OMG"...

"My duty is to try to reach beauty. Cinema is emotion. When you laugh you cry." - Roberto Benigni

~Bella