Passport To Europe

These days, I’m following a morning ritual that puts a nice smile on face and a greedy envy in my heart. I simply wake up at 10:30 in the morning, and after my regular “bathroom routine”, I set behind the TV, channel on the Travel Channel, and a bowl of cereal/plate of waffle on my hand. On 11AM, They air a show called “Passport To Europe” that is featuring a lucky bitch named Samantha Brown that goes everywhere in Europe and dine in the best places out there. I die a little bit inside every time she goes to Italy or France, especially. And for your pleasure and mine, I have made a top ten list about the places I’d like to visit around Europe, in no particular order.

• Tuscany, Italy
• Paris, France
• Bavaria, Germany
• Brussels, Belgium
• English Countryside, England
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Milan, Italy
• Cannes, France
• Stratford-Upon-Avon, England
• Geneva, Switzerland

Here’s a question: If I am set to travel to all the places in my list in one trip, alone. How much will it cost me (along with expenses and living costs)?

Review: Atonement

Before divulging deeper into the review, I need to inform you that I have read the novel prior watching the movie, and because of that, I had high expectation of the movie because the book was simply beautiful in every way. Not only the movie met my expectation but it also managed to exceed it. It’s some kind of miracle to find a motion picture that is written, directed and acted to perfection. Atonement swept me up on waves of humor, heartbreak and ravishing romance I have never witnessed in a long time. Christopher Hampton who wrote the screenplay of the film did an amazing job in capturing the essence of the characters and the evoking emotions from the novel. And the director Joe Wright polished his adaptation skills once again after his successful acclimatization of Pride and Prejudice in 2005. The performance is utterly magnificent. James McAvoy and Keira Knightley had vividly sprung the characters of Robbie Turner and Cecilia Tallis to life, and both have demonstrated their merit in leading roles. Of course, it was Saoirse Ronan and Romola Garai (who played the role of Briony Tallis at 13 and 18 years of age, respectively) that stole the show with their splendid performance. The cinematography is so beautifully captured, especially the Dunkirk scene where Robbie surveys the evacuation site in one breathtaking shot. The ending, which, both happy and tragic, is as wrenching as it is genuinely satisfying with a surprising twist that will leave the audience in tears.

Atonement is simply the best movie I have seen in 2007. No two-hour film could ever capture all the riches of McEwan’s masterly novel, but Wright and Hampton’s Atonement comes beautifully close, while adding sensual delights all its own. This movie is a must and a worthy contender in every award it is nominated in.

The Bottom Line

A+

Puppies

I took this picture when I passed the pet store in the mall today. Even though I’m not a dog person (nor a cat person either), I think they looked darn cute. Come to think of it, I’m not even an animal person at all. My last pet was actually a golden fish named “Alicia” but unfortunately she died in less than three weeks because I kept giving her too much food until she bloated. I was 12 when I had her.

Resurrection!

I cannot believe that I have been away from my blog for more than a month. I certainly have never done that before. As a matter of fact, I have never missed a full month of blogging until now. I won’t bore you with what I have been doing in the past month because if I told you what I have been doing, I’m going to have to kill you. I’m simply going to resume blogging as quietly as possible.