Martin Scorsese presents Vinyl.

It is not the most praised movie of Martin Scorsese not the most well-regarded, regardless of such notion, Casino is according to my experience a masterpiece and one of his best films thus far, my stance on Casino is clear, I consider it better than Raging Bull (even though Robert De Niro won his only major Academy Award thanks to his majestic performance) and it is even better than Goodfellas that is considered one of the finest in movie history (Joe Pesci won his only Oscar as well due to his performance as a crazy-cum-aggressive mobster). In my opinion, Casino was not rewarded as it should have been, based on a true story it brings as likewise the best performance ever by Sharon Stone, a movie star who is possessed of an IQ of a genius, yet she is more famous for being the erotic muse of 1990s thanks to her performance on Basic Instinct (peculiar is to realize that she was only the tenth or eleventh option to star it as she was not so famous back then. Indeed, she did it because no other famous actress was brave enough to appear on it. As a matter of fact, the number one option was Michelle Pfeiffer who refused to be on Basic Instinct after reading the script and envisage so many sizzling scenes). Sharon Stone became famous due to her performance on Basic Instinct, yet Casino proves her career could have been less brittle, Sharon Stone did render her best performance winning a Golden Globe award hence. She was also nominated to an Academy Award (Susan Sarandon was the winner that year because of her performance on Dead Man Walking). Regrettably, Sharon Stone has not been able to repeat such outstanding performance as the one she rendered on Casino, she is still reminded far more than because that movie Basic Instinct than for her great role on Casino alongside Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci all of them directed by Martin Scorsese with a script signed by Nicolas Pileggi author of the book of the same title and also the author of the book which inspired Goodfellas

Casino Martin Scorsese

Casino Martin Scorsese

                                           

However, there are more people who think like me (I am sure there are plenty of fans who love Casino and movie reviewers that deem it unfairly treated) Cameron Diaz did want to rearrange her career so that achieve what Sharon Stone was able to do thanks her performance on Casino and she was able to get the female part on movie Gangs of New York, even though it is a bona fide movie is no as special as Casino 

Casino Sharon Stone

Gangs of New York is a strange case inside movie history, with a superb cast (Daniel Day Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio and the beforementioned Cameron Diaz) it was going to be a classic movie contingent upon the fact it recreated the foundational myth of New York City, yet the result was cold nonetheless, it received 10 nominations to Academy Awards winning not a single one of them. What is more, 9/11 made it to be postponed. Finally, a late fire in Cinecitta (Italy), the place of the shooting made Gangs of New York somehow accursed. The same year that was supposed to envisage Martin Scorsese and its team obliterating any competition, yet they were emptied-handed (at least Daniel Day Lewis won a Bafta and Scorsese the Golden Globe award) that year as I have mentioned some happenings took place that are worth to be remembered, in that edition, year 2003, Pedro Almodovar received an Academy Award for best screenplay something to point out as he does not write in English. Likewise, he received a nomination as best director even though Spanish film Academy did not choose his movie "Talk to her" to represent Spain in the category of best foreign film something that made him to maintain himself aloof from Spanish movie Academy. By contrast, that year saw how Academy Awards reconciled itself with Roman Polansky to whom they give an Oscar (The Pianist) albeit he could not enter into USA thereby he recorded a video instead as he is still an outlaw as far a United States is concerned.

Gangs of New York Martin Scorsese

Like Cameron Diaz another famous person was dazzled by the story on Casino movie therefore he called Martin Scorsese on to offer him a new exciting project. I am talking about Mick Jagger, leader of The Rolling Stones who met Marty in a party in 1970s and to whom he has paid homage in many occasions as the Stones is his favourite rock band (poster on Taxi Driver, two songs in Mean Streets, two songs in The Departed, song on Casino likewise...).

The Departed Martin Scorsese

Mean Streets Martin Scorsese

Similarly, Martin Scorsese directed The Rolling Stones in one of the best musical movies ever recorded, Shine a Light, a live concert in Beacon Theatre in New York City which was introduced by former US president Bill Clinton, it counted with other artists such as Christina Aguilera, Jack White and Buddy Guy therein. However, even though it was more than a decade since Casino was produced the project had not been born yet. Mick Jagger did want the same portrait Martin Scorsese had been produced on Casino but this time with music industry. Nobody had used rock music as Scorsese on movies thus Martin Scorsese was the perfect person to carry out the project.

Martin Scorsese and The Rolling Stones

Shine a light Martin Scorsese

Shine a light Martin Scorsese

Until 1970s musicians were mistreated in economic terms no matter how great, good or many records they could sell, yet from that decade to this new century in which Internet has renewed the face of music industry with new technologies such as Napster, Spotify or downloading... Record companies were able to produce millions, music producers were even more famous than musicians themselves to whom they give plenty of wealth. Rock, punk, dance music... several musical styles were born and developed in 1970s. Martin Scorsese started his filming career in a professional level in that decade and it was on those days in which The Rolling Stones produced their best records just when Brian Jones died and Mick Taylor was hired as new guitarist. The aim of this television series Vinyl is to show the magical aura this age represents. First episode shot by Martin Scorsese himself has been lauded by everybody. 

Vinyl Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger

Main protagonist of Vinyl is Bobby Cannavale who appeared on Boardwalk Empire television series whose pilot was shot as well by Martin Scorsese (Marty has assured he is to direct new chapters of Vinyl on second season if it works accordingly). Regarding the female cast, we ought to talk about Olivia Wilde, with Irish background, she has double nationality both Irish and American and she adopted her current surname to pay homage to Irish writer Oscar Wilde, her real name is Olivia Jane Cockburn.

Vinyl Olivia Wilde

Vinyl has already been watched by many in North America and the truth is its plot is promising, Bobby Cannavale is the main owner of a record company and Olivia Wilde is her partner, Vinyl is expected to be a portrait of music industry of 1970s and the groups of the same epoch, that age is deemed magical by many from an artistic point of view. Now you can watch a trailer of Vinyl, television series. HBO is the channel responsible to broadcast it

VINYL TRAILER 

                                         

Vinyl

Vinyl

Will Martin Scorsese be able to achieve the same amount of success he has obtained with other movies? Will Mick Jagger be satisfied with his coveted project? Do rate, share and comment Original Version Vinyl

Vinyl

Literary criticism.

This post is an introduction to a series I am to publish that are about some criticism movements that have been taking place on literature history. It is utterly interesting and with sheer delightment I announce the following points to discussion. These are some of the movements which are to be talked about.

Literary Criticism

1. New Historicism
2. Post estructuralism
3. Feminist movement
4. New Colonialism

Write you very soon. Do share, rate and comment. 

The Summer of Natalie Davis.

After publishing my first book Ser un Tusitala  my intention is to publish a fictional tale both in Spanish and English, the title of this book is to be The Summer of Natalie Davis. The main protagonist is a young girl from Manhattan, New York City whose name is given after American actress Natalie Portman.

The summer of Natalie Davis

Her surname is Davis, after seeing model Hannah Davis being chosen as the cover for Sports Illustrated on the programme of Jimmy Fallon and because she thinks she could be a great one she decides thereby to become a supermodel. 

The Summer of Natalie Davis

She is very young and has plenty of ambition, yet her dad who is a lawyer denies it. Consequently, her mum decides to send her to a rural place in Spain in order to be with her mum (grandma of Natalie) during a summer in which she lives unforgettable experiences. Meanwhile, the mother of Natalie Davis convinces her husband of allowing Natalie Davis try modelling. You can read an extract of this novel following the link. Natalie Davis 

Letter to Rolling Stone magazine regarding Keith Richards

As a diehard fan of the Rolling Stones and Rolling Stone magazine I must point out (even though it can be late) that the late Rolling Stone magazine number 1246 is too polite with Keith Richards, he does not need it nor The Rolling Stones. Does not sound Trouble (the best track from his latest solo album Crosseyed heart) like many other Rolling Stones songs? Is Paul McCartney doing worse than the Stones as Kiz may imply? Does not sound his anecdotes already told a zillion times before? There are far too many new artists and emergent stars who deserve a cover more than Keith Richards again let alone when he is talking about the same stuff one more time. 

Keith Richards All down the line 1246 issue

Letter to Rolling Stone magazine

Keith Richards Trouble

Donald Trump on Playboy Magazine

If you want to know deep facts regarding the life, career and persona of Donald Trump in detail you must read this analysis I wrote Donald Trump about Donald Trump, yet this post is not to be boring at all contingent upon the fact I discovered Trump is one of the few men who have been on the cover of Playboy Magazine, I have therefore decided to write these lines with that historical cover.

Donald Trump Playboy Cover

Times have changed so dramatically that Playboy Magazine does not longer feature naked women on the magazine. Still, the front-runner of the Republican party is Donald Trump who at 69, with no political career nor experience and against everybody both inside Republican and Democratic party is the front-runner, has been leading polls since August and has resulted victorious in the following states, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, Vermont, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii thus far, if you want to know further details (really interesting indeed) follow this link Donald Trump if not, you at least would have discovered the Playboy cover of Donald Trump one of the first and perhaps only man to appear on it. What do you think?. Lastly, it has been reported ancestors of Donald Trump changed the now renowned surname as in the past it was Drumpf as the family came from Germany. Is Donald Trump to be the next president of United States? Do rate, share and comment. Why US elections are always on Tuesday?You can discover it following this link US Elections

Oscar Mistakes 2.

Some time ago I did write an article about mistakes made by the Academy Awards inside the history of Oscars Oscar Mistakes I focused the story on filmmakers and actors mainly. Notwithstanding, the piece of writing I penned was not wrong at all because and thanks to a research carried out by Hollywood Reporter magazine current members of the Academy have revisited 5 movies that did win the major category at Oscars, yet they should have not resulted the winners, these 5 movies were awarded with the prestigious prize of best motion picture and are history. Nonetheless, if these people would vote today everything had been different. In fact, those members assure the following changes should take place. Henceforth, Brokeback Mountain would had been the best movie of 2006 instead of Crash. Saving Private Ryan would be the winner of 1999 getting rid of Shakespeare in love thus. The Shawshank Redemption would beat Forrest Gump in 1995. My left foot would be now the best picture of 1990 not Driving Miss Daisy. All the president´s men would be now the best picture of 1977 beating Rocky similarly. If there are mistakes on Best Director and best actor category there are even more in the best motion picture category. All in all, it is with great delight that I announce that the beforementioned article I wrote with other other two have been published in a book of my own named Ser un Tusitala available worldwide Ser un Tusitala Hope you love it!!!

Ser un Tusitala Book

Ser un Tusitala Barnes and Noble 

Ser un Tusitala Indigo

Ser un Tusitala on Amazon

Black Market Clothing

I got a free Sunday in which I discovered an amazing shop in Toronto, Black Market Clothing, it was similar to those shops in Camden, London in the sense it looked like an old fancy building and the shop was located downstairs. Not only the clothes were cheap they were very original. There were plenty of T-shirts with imaginative designs and slogans. Jeans from top brands such as Lee or Levis. As I am from Europe these Northamerican brands are specially expensive thereby I bought a military jacket with the Canadian flag on, some stylish Levis jeans and a T-shirt that depicts Homer Simpson and his beloved friend Barney as if they both were inside Pulp Fiction movie, the funny fact is they carry glasses of beer instead of guns though, something you can discover thanks to the following pictures.  Black Market Clothing

Levis Jeans and a funny T-shirt on Chinatown Toronto after buying on Black Market Clothing

On the nearby Alexandra Park, Toronto (Alexandra was the wife of Edward VII) with a Canadian military jacket on from Black Market Clothing Toronto

If you are tired of buying in big malls and you do not have a huge budget try Black Market Clothing Toronto as you will be positevely surprised Black Market Clothing is situated on 256a Queen W. Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Halcombe Norilsk Publishes his First Book: "Ser un Tusitala"

Halcombe Norilsk has published his first book titled Ser un Tusitala. It is written in Spanish as yet but the intention is to publish a new book written directly in English. The cover of this book can be seen below. 

Ser un Tusitala is a compilation of some stories written in the last four years, improved and updated to the book. 

Ser un Tusitala 

Book Ser un Tusitala is available worldwide both in paper and ebook, you can find it on Amazon, Google Books, Casa del Libro or you can ask your local bookstore. It is published by a label that belongs to Penguin Random House.

Do share and comment.

Ser un Tusitala

Ser un Tusitala on Amazon

Ser un Tusitala on Barnes and Noble

Book Ser un Tusitala

Anguish, Angustia, Nerimas

It was the year 2004 and I found myself enrolled in a course to learn how to write a screenplay, the best was going to be shoot and one I had penned was selected to be so, I read it in front of the other classmates in the middle of one lesson and the teacher chose it. As there was a shortage of money and no plenty of ways to make it the screenplay must not be too complicated. The story I wrote it was only an introduction to a character it had not even born yet, nevertheless, the short movie does exist today and that story has never been fulfilled. No a single actor was known to me thereby I called on one my friends David Escribano to star it as I believed he was brave enough to do it and the only person around me who was going to be fearless something that was true in practice. A peculiar thing was that back then I would be watching plenty of movie classics starred by Marlon Brando, I saw many of them and a particular one called "A streetcar named desire" inspired me in such a way that I told David Escribano to wear a white T-shirt to pay homage to him. What is more, I even bought it myself but that T-shirt was never in my customs again as it was converted into rags to clean dust. Anyhow, some months later Marlon Brando did pass away. Coincidence? 

Marlon Brando 
(I was inspired by his famous character in the movie Streetcar named desire based on a play by Tennessee Williams, Marlon Brando died after the short movie was concluded) 

Short movie Angustia (Spanish) Anguish (English) Nerimas (Lithuanian) was shot in two dissimilar places. Firstly, it was attempted to in a particular house in Zaragoza, (There are two versions on Youtube of this short movie, one of them can be watched later on, the original one contains a song from a famous Spanish rock band, there is also a deluxe version on DVD format as you can see below, only 5 copies were provided thus if you have one you must keep it safely as in 100 years' time it will be most valued than gold, water and oil combined) the second day it was recorded in a rural place in Moncayo (an Aragonese natural park). The teacher was a professional who had been working with Bigas Luna, a famous Spanish filmmaker now dead.

(Deluxe version of Angustia DVD with a picture of my first dog (dead in 2004) it is mentioned too on the credits a woman who appears some seconds acting like the older face of the female protagonist)

Personally, it was far too much harder to edit it than shooting and even writing, even though I was not directly in charge of directing it on the credits it is said so, the teacher was the main director, after all, we were merely students. We edited it at class and I wrote it on my home. We have to praise all the actors, David Escribano for instance, is an engineer lacking artistic skills but he does what it takes. He is the bad guy of the story, isn´t he? Main female protagonist was an outstanding girl named Elena who was fluent in French and had somehow tried something in the world of acting something which was visible, she is the one who renders a great performance, I told her she ought to learn from Julianne Moore because at that time the latest movies of her were interesting as this actress was nominated twice in the same edition of Academy Awards in such good movies as "Far from Heaven" and "The Hours", Julianne Moore was everywhere back then with superb works in both flicks. Even so, she has not been able to win the Oscar until recently. Beauty of Elena is notable as the beauty of her nemesis a wonderful Lithuanian girl named Neringa (both names Elena and Neringa were omitted on purpose on the first version of this story written in Spanish just in case but I think now it is fair to remember them you can read the original version now Original version)  Prettiness aside, both girls were amazing, a blonde one and a brunette, more than perfect as a result. Neringa told us about her days working as a fashion model, her height was imposing I think she was 180 centimetres (5'11 feet), she came to us like an angel in the sense a roommate of our friend Jorge left the house and the first person to answer the vacant notice was her. Just when I was thinking about who could do her role I entered the house and there she was, like an utterance from the gods!!! As a matter of fact, Neringa was so skilled that she abandoned Zaragoza subsequently in order to study in Madrid, she started something related to politics, she had a perfect command of Spanish and she explained us how was the Lithuanian for Angustia, Nerimas, something you would have guessed reading the title post although in Spanish Angustia is also a personal name. A funny anecdote to tell of was when Elena and I were working the script, Elena was so professional an exceptional that everything was easy with her, she acted perfectly, was brilliant indeed. We went to see Neringa to choose some clothes for her to act, it was funny because she had Dior clothes to wear on it, yet her role was to act like a housemaid. Nonetheless, everything is no perfect as the other actor involved (even though he was a fantastic guy and pretty funny) he did not make a good impression as an actor in the sense he was extremely nervous (but there are people who like his performance regardless) he was too worried to act adroitly. Short movie Angustia, Anguish in English, Nerimas in Lithuanian was shot in 2004 and I remember that the first day it coincided with the wedding between current Kings of Spain, the second day it was shot in a rural place in Moncayo mountain, that day was good fun, it was a great experience and it is always wonderful to see how a story you have envisaged in your imagination and wrote thereafter remains in images forever. However, the filmmaker (the teacher on this particular occasion) chooses what does he want hence it is impossible to see a piece of writing just as you have imagined it. The best thing on this short movie? Treatment of the song "Mañana será igual" (tomorrow it will be the same) from legendary Spanish rock band Barricada (barricade), it is a wonderful song, yet this band does not usually play it live. I sent several emails to members of this rock band telling them I was going to use their song, one person from the band answered me saying thanks and talking in the name of the musicians (Youtube and musical companies know for sure how to exploit the intellectual property) this song ends the short movie. Personally, I feel a little bit embarrassed but if the male protagonist does love it and the rest do not mind me writing about it as some love the story let´s see short movie Anguish, Angustia, Nerimas!!! based on a trilogy written by Halcombe. I take advantage and I extend my deeply gratitude to those who appear on this short movie. Lastly, I must admit I paid the intellectual fees to exploit the story, something I had forgotten until recently. Enjoy!!!  

Angustia Anguish Nerimas

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Eating at City Kitchen Restaurant and Bar Toronto

After being in several restaurants and adjusting ourselves to the state of Ontario and the country Canada we finally found the place that was going to be our daily eating destination, City Kitchen, Restaurant and bar downtown Toronto, we had to work everyday on Eaton Centre, in the heart of the most populous city of Canada, dinner was already assigned in other restaurant near our hotel and after met a nice waitress who explained to us the distinctive features of baseball and North American football and being allowed to watch the European basketball final between Lithuania and Spain we chose City Kitchen as our favourite place and the experience was very positive as you can guess reading the following.

City Kitchen Toronto

 Being from a rural place of Spain means food is very important more than in the city where everybody is in a rush. What is more, it is very easy to end up eating fast food in North America something that pundits do not recommend and I am not used to it, this is one of the positive reasons to having eaten in City Kitchen everyday as the menu is really diverse, assorted with numerous dishes, indeed, I really believe I tried something different almost everyday and I even tried almost everything, we were 60 days more or less working in Toronto thus I think I can assure it. All the workers labouring at City Kitchen are very nice, albeit we must point out our predilect waitress Linda who always makes sure you eat properly and everything is accordingly 

Lovely Linda always makes sure you eat properly at City Kitchen restaurant Toronto

Those days it was an unusual craziness for baseball as the local team Toronto Blue Jays had made an incredible season beating records and reaching the last stage of its baseball division, known as Baseball World series but the staff is so diligent that they respected our preferences allowing us to watch European soccer instead. The building is really fancy and the ambience is great on City Kitchen, there are young waitresses, some good bartenders from Ireland and even the managers treat you well. In fact, they gave us free drinks sometimes. Furthermore, prices are no so high as you are in downtown Toronto (fourth biggest city in North America only behind Los Angeles, New York City and Mexico City) close to financial centre of Canada everything can be overly expensive. Among other dishes one should highlight the variety of salads, omelets or meats. For instance, a delicious dessert that has the name of Niagara falls made of chocolate is a must. Still, a good bet is the French toast.

City Kitchen Toronto French Toast

 The Grand Grilled Salmon is a good mixture of fish, vegetables and rice. Fruit medley is tasty likewise as mixes fruit with honey, oat cereal and yogurt. To sum up, if you are visiting Toronto (you will be at Eaton Centre for sure) try eating at City Kitchen Restaurant and Bar Toronto as it is a good experience and if Linda serves you even more!! City Kitchen Restaurant and Bar is on 220 Yonge Street, Downtown Toronto.