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Hollywood’s big night is right around the corner… after a couple of years of disappointing award shows I’m hopeful about this one. I’ve seen some of the movies (my goal is to watch all those nominated for best film before Sunday) and I’m actually liking the competition this year.
Though people deny it, I really believe there is some kind of crisis in Hollywood. And I’m not talking about economic issues, but rather those related creativity. There is some kind of drought when it comes to ideas. Just look around and pay attention to the movies playing on theatres, most of them are based on novels, comics, true stories or people that died for a common cause. You hardly see a movie these days that has no other background than a desk full of screenwriters trying to come up with an original idea.
But anyway, back to the Oscars. I’m hoping Slumdog Millionaire goes home with a couple of statues. I won’t reveal much, just in case you haven’t seen the movie, but the film basically tells the story of an Indian slumdog that takes part at the popular ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ show. Even though he’s illiterate and he’s never been to school, he’s able to answer all of the questions. Just watch it, you’ll really like it.
Another interesting movie would be The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt. The movie tells the story of a man who gets physically younger as he gets older. I know, it sounds weird, but that’s what the movie is about.
Milkwould be another interesting film that could go home with an Oscar. Sean Penn, one of my all time favorite actors, plays the role of a homosexual leader that was murdered due to his opinion and sexual orientation.
And well, I’m hoping either Kate Winslet or Meryl Streep will take an award home too. They deserve it.
We will soon find out. I will let you know how I (dis)liked the other movies and the award show.

P.S.: I’m still reading non-stop… goodness, I’d forgotten what a voracious reader I can be when I get hooked on a story… I’m buying Breaking Down tomorrow. It’s the last book from Meyer’s Twilight series.

I have been reading quite some lately. The weather keeps being awful and reading seems to be the best way to escape the stormy evenings we’ve been getting over here. I was given two books for Christmas. I took me a while to conclude Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It was at the time that I started getting continuous headaches, so my reading was slow. I ended up going to the optician only to find out I need glasses. That was the reason of my headaches, forcing my sight to be able to read while I was typing in front of the computer. Anyway. Eat, Pray, Love is a personal journey Elizabeth Gilbert makes not only to three different countries but also to the inner self. I really enjoyed reading her evolution till she found that stability she needed between pleasure and spirituality.

And right after that, I took the second book I’d been given. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. I wrote about the movie I’d seen a few months before. I was interested in reading the novel afterwards. And after a month sitting on my shelf, I finally started reading the novel last Saturday night. I finished it yesterday morning. I really enjoyed watching the movie, but the novel is way better (as novels usually are… most of the time, though I’ve seen movies that I actually liked better than the novel). I got so hooked on the story that for two and a half days all I was read. Read right after waking up, read on my lunch break, read after I got home from work, read after eating dinner and read till I eventually fell asleep in bed. It had been a long while since I got so hooked on a story. Well, the plot you know it from the movie. Teenage girl falls in love with a vampire. The vampire is not sure whether his attraction is strictly vampirish (he’s after her blood) or human as well (he actually likes her). The whole story moves around the idea of a woman and a man wanting to be together through those difficulties. I don’t want to write much more, if you’re interested in the story just read it.

The thing is Twilight is not just a novel but a whole series. There are actually four books. I’m done reading Twilight and last night I began reading New Moon. It looks very promosing. I will keep you posted with the next chapters of the book.

I’ve enjoyed listening to her music for quite some time now. First it was Bleeding love(I’m actually listening to at this very moment) and now another beautiful ballad called Better In Time.
I was helping out a friend yesterday with the costumes for this year’s Carnival parade (I’m so excited!) when her ‘jukebox’ played Better In Time. I had listened to the song before, but I didn’t recognize Leona Lewis’ voice at first.

I like the message she delivers on this song. If she’s optimistic about getting better in time, so am I. Time is the best cure for injuries.

It was early in the evening yesterday. I was waiting for a call from this girl I was interviewing for the paper. There was a box full of chocolates next to my desk. I quietly slid there and grabbed a piece. *Yummy*. Minutes later I couldn’t help asking my boss: “why is it that all these things that taste so good are so bad?”. She smiled and said… “there’s an old song that goes, everything that is good is either illegal, immoral or makes you gain wait”.
I kept thinking about what she said (I also ‘pecked’ a few more chocolates while thinking… but don’t tell anyone, please). Is it true that everything that we like is either immoral, illegal or makes us gain weight?
It was only today that I remembered listening to this country song that talks about good=bad=good things. It’s called ‘Bad For Me’ and it’s sung by Danielle Peck. I love this song and that makes me wonder, is that bad for me as well? I mean… a good song can also be bad? Don’t listen to me… I’ve been sitting here for too many hours today and I was just taking a little kit-kat.
But yes, just like the song says… “I like chocolate, but my hips sure don’t… I like wearing high-heels (I don’t but anyway, that’s how the song goes) but tomorrow my feet sure won’t… these are some of the things that I love that are bad for me”.
Anyway, I should get back to work… bad? good? bad?

O lo que es lo mismo, traducciones penosas.

Tengo que escribir sobre un par de cosas, pero mi ajetreo habitual me impide sentarme durante quince minutos seguidos para actualizar esta web. Sin embargo y debido a que hoy me duelen todos y cada uno de mis músculos, he decidido tomarme el día a la ligera y dedicar la tarde a una de mis más entretenidas aficiones: la lectura.

Y estaba comenzando a leer una novela que me han regalado los Reyes Magos, cuando me ha sorprendido ver una traducción literal que en español carece de sentido: Hasta luego, cocodrilo.

Raro, ¿no? Rarísimo.

En inglés decir See you later, alligator es muy habitual. Probablemente fue una de las primeras ‘frases hechas’ que aprendí en este idioma. Mi profesora de inglés siempre se despedía diciendo, See ya later, alligator! Yo me limitaba a decir un soso, goodbye, hasta que un día me respondió: No, si te digo see you later, alligator; tú debes responder In a while, crocodile. Dicho esto y aclarado el sentido de esta frase, no entiendo cómo el traductor de la novela ha podido traducir literalmente esta expresión. Es como decir… De perdidos al río… From lost to the river (Esto me trae recuerdos del instituto, por cierto). Cualquier anglosajón fliparía si le dijéramos From lost to the river, To the silly to the silly o algo del estilo. ¡Son frases que carecen de sentido si las traducimos literalmente!

Claro que, por otro lado, en España es habitual traducir frases o títulos de película/libros como a uno le plazca. El último ejemplo que se me ocurre es el de la comedia Four Christmases , protagonizado por Reese Witherspoon y Vince Vaughn. Sin querer entrar en detalles sobre lo muy mala que es la cinta, me limitaré a decir que el título del filme en español fue traducido como Como en casa en ningún sitio (!!!!!). Otra película cuyo cambio de título me llamó mucho la atención fue la comedia de Disney titulada Soñando, soñando triunfé patinando – el título original era Ice Princess (Princesa de hielo). De verdad, no lo entiendo. O traducen literalmente y en cuestiones en las que sería mejor buscar una expresión española de sentido similar o se inventan completamente la traducción.

En fin, sigo leyendo. A ver con qué me encuentro.

P.D.: Ya que estamos. Y aunque no esté relacionado con la traducción, desde aquí me gustaría hacer una petición: En vez de doblar las películas, me gustaría que las dejasen en VO con subtítulos. Gracias.

I don’t mean to sound very self-centered writing about my 25th birthday party/celebration, but it was so good and so special that I really do need to drop some lines here and share with you how my day, december 27th, went.

Growing up, when I was 12 or 13, I truly believed that I’d get married at 25 and then I thought I’d have my first child before hitting 30. Well, I turned 25 yesterday and I’m one of those single ladies Beyoncé talks about. I’ve learned something and that is that you can’t really plan every step/move/direction of your life. Some things you had in mind will go as you had planned and some won’t. I’ve learned that it’s better not to expect anything and enjoy the moment, the present time. Carpe diem.

So, anyway. For some reason I’ve always liked 25. It’s halfway. Halfway between 20 and 30 (duh!), halfway between the teenage you were and the adult you are. It’s definitely halfway.

I hadn’t celebrated my birthday in a long-long time. December 27th had been a weekday for quite some time, so there was no way I could celebrate it. And then, I didn’t have what I could call a core of friends I could really feel comfortable celebrating my birthday with. But like I said, I felt good about 25. And I wasn’t wrong… it has been my best celebration ever. I don’t think any other celebration will top this one… really.

It started pretty well. I had just left the movie theatre at 12.20am and my sister was with me. She looked at me and said, I’m so happy to be the first wishing you a Happy Birthday! I was happy she was the first too! After that, many text messages, phone calls, emails and chat conversations (even Facebook messages!!) arrived from beloved people. I’m so grateful to have these people in my life. Thank you for your birthday wishes, it really made my day . You can’t even imagine!

Then my family and I celebrated my birthday and waited till the evening to meet with some other friends and go out to dinner. Here begins the fun-embarrassing part of my birthday. Right before desserts, one of my friends got this type of board game they had created and gave me a dice that only had one dot on each side. So I had to throw the dice and move one pigeonhole at a time. So, each pigeonhole had a some-kind-of test I had to take… among other things, my friends made put some Mr. Bean ears on, imitate the Duchess of Alba (a rich, yet weird, Spanish woman), wear a bright green thong, wear a cowboy hat, sing happy birthday in Spanish & English with a mouth full of polvorón (typical Spanish sweet), call a random number and scream ‘it’s my birthday’ and drink many many shots… They were all cracking up and so was I. They took lots of pictures of their friend being as silly as she could and let me tell you, I felt so disinhibited that I didn’t really mind doing all those things in front of everyone at the restaurant. Many people thought it was my bachelorette party, so when they came to congratulate me and said it was just my birthday they flipped out.

We then went to some bars and the celebration continued. Overall, ¡t was a really really nice day. It was so beyond my expectations. I’m just so happy that I’m starting my 25th year of life so well. I hope it continues to be this way all year long.

Or vampires. Those attractive, yet dangerous, creatures that have been an inspiration to hundreds of writers, movie makers and artists. What is it about vampires that we find so attractive? I don’t know really, but even though I’ve never enjoyed these type of dark movies (such as Interview with the Vampire… didn’t really enjoy watching that one) there is one that has really captured me. Probably because it’s a chick flick and the whole vampire thing is nothing but an excuse.

I’m talking about Twilight, the American blockbuster that has just hit the Spanish theatres. I went to see it last Monday evening with a friend. It was a last minute call and I had already left work… she said, how about going to the movies? Sure, why not? I don’t go very often these days.

In my opinion, Twilight is the modern vampire version of Romeo And Juliet. It tells the story of two people that fall in love with each other but can’t really be together because of their differences. And these differences are not religious, racial or cultural ones… one of them is human and the other one is a vampire. A drop of blood near him could mean a deadly bite on the neck. A moment of excitement and pleasure could be translated into a no turning back state of ¿life? death… whatever.

I really enjoyed watching the film. I liked how innocent it was at times, how naive she was sometimes… I like the chemistry between them, how they didn’t care about their differences and were helplessly drawn to each other. I liked the soundtrack too.

After the movie was finished, my friend and I went out to dinner and commented on the movie and how, we somehow could relate it to another movie we both really enjoyed watching: The Phantom Of The Opera. I have to see that one again… there’s nothing like the Broadway show, but since I don’t think I’ll be visiting New York City in the next couple of months, the movie will do.

“The forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest”.

A hymn to us single girls . I had written a long-dead-boring entry about her other single ‘If I Were A Boy’… a song that has truly touched me and made me feel so identified with the message she delivers on that song…

I really like this song too. It’s so… makes me want to start dancing every time I listen to it! Though I could never follow her rhythm…

Oh and PS here, I do not need (and want) a ring right now… there was no pun intended on this post, just wanted to share this fabulous video (and song) with you.