Swing into spring

Here comes the sun!

Spring finally arrived in Poland. After four months spent in the dark and cold, the sun came, melt most of the snow away, uncovered the green and brought beautiful, warm wheather. It was so beautiful yesterday that for the first time in a long, long period I left house voluntarily and went for a walk with my fiancee and my camera. We sat on a bench and charged our solar batteries for a while, we opened our windows wide when we got back home, and we basked in the smell of fresh earth. It was amazing.

So amazing that I just couldn’t sit inside for too long – in the afternoon I grabbed my camera again and just got out. My plan was to shoot some photos of the early spring, see my friend Lucy, buy a printer/scanner/copier and go see the new Polanski movie.

The plan was realized in 50% plus – Lucy was not in town and it was already too dark for taking photos, but I bought the machine, visited my parents briefly and did see the movie.

“The Ghost Writer” is not, as some people said, his greatest achievement and the most important movie in his career, but it was good – it’s less a thriller or action movie, and more psychological, very much in the usual Planski’s style. Additionally, it’s great to realize that there are still movies that can surprise me.

And today, since my Multisport card arrived on Friday, I’m oficially launching the swimming season! The biking season is getting closer too – I can’t wait to switch from bus and car (no matter how I love my little Panda) to my two-wheeler…

PS. More photos on how winter caved before inevitable spring – here.

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Bollywood Bargain: Two movies for the price of one!

"Fanaa"

So we watched another Bollywood movie. After “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham” we fell in love with the convention, but somehow we haven’t watched anything since. Then we saw “Slumdog Millionaire” and for some time we were a little discouraged to watch anything Bolly again.

But that phase has passed and now we’re back to exploring Indian cinema. We started with the movie “Fanaa”, known in the English-speaking world as “Destroyed in Love” and starring known from KKKG Kajol (unfortunately, with no Shahrukh Khan …). We chose that film because my fiancee works with blind children, and Kajol’s character in this movie is blind, so she was curious how will that work in a Bollywood movie.

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Valentine’s Day

"Valentine's Day"

Yes, I know it’s tomorrow :)

But we celebrated it today, with a movie called “Valentine’s Day”. My Only Right Girl said she’s taking me for a movie of my choice, but instead of taking her on some post-apocalyptic thriller with Denzel Washington or action packed adventures of Sherlock Holmes I decided we should see that movie.

Girls from my previous job told me about it last Thursday and said it seems to be something like “She’s Just Not That Into You” or “Love Actually”, or some other movie like that – several simultaneous love stories about different people. Then I saw the trailer, and despite it containing the worst fucking song ever (“I Got A Feeling” by Black Eye Peas), I decided it could be fun, and I was sure my fiancee would love it, especially because of half of “Grey’s Anatomy”‘s cast starring in it.

We saw it today then, and we liked it. As far as multi-threaded mosaic movies go (like Altman movies, or “Magnolia”, or “Play By Heart”, or “Traffic”), this was pretty mediocre, but as a romantic comedy (in this area I just can’t believe anything better than “Four Weddings And A Funeral” will ever appear) it was pretty good – it was positive, had some tear jerking moments and even more funny ones. It had maybe a little too many stories, too many characters and, in the beginning, we felt overwhelmed and a little lost, and in the end it felt just too long – we were just waiting for the film to end.

But over all, it was a Valentine’s Day well spent :)

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There was a country…

The breakup of Yugoslavia

Something’s happening to me.

For the major part of my life I was pretty oblivious about what’s happening around me, in the Real World, near of far. Then something happened, and I can’t be quite sure, what – was it the fact that I started working and became a Citizen? Or that I started reading newspapers (both printed and on the Web) and thus learning about what’s going on around? Or is that the influence of my fiancée? Or many people that I met over last two-three years? I don’t know. Maybe it’s the combination of all the above, maybe something else entirely, but my sensitivity is changing. Developing, I dare say.

Milena visited our Toastmasters club two weeks ago, after having left in August for some political course in Venice (she’s Bulgarian and she graduated Political Sciences on Jagiellonian University), and told us about her trip – also as part of her political studies – to Kosovo she’d taken some two months ago. We started talking about the situation there and in all the Balkans and I realized I don’t really know much about it. It all happened when I was seven through eleven – the History was taking place lest than 1000 kilometers away, and the tragedies of Yugoslavian wars lasted for four years – and I didn’t really know anything.

Of course, with TVs and radios blazing in my house all the time the names just had to find some way into my brain, but I never grasped what was really happening, but the talk with Milena fueled my need to learn some modern, European history. She recommended that I watched the six part BBC documentary “The Death of Yugoslavia”, entirely available on YouTube. And I just did…

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