12 December 2015

Mistake in "Miracle on 34th Street"

In the Best Christmas movie list it's in the very firsts positions because there is no Christmas without Miracle On 34th Street and the 1994 version with an outstanding Richard Attenborough is amazing. Everything seems perfect: location, light, sound, actors, direction, and the script is a bit expected but really good.
Except for one thing, one little particular that is completely crazy for how much simple it is.
The name of Santa Claus.

There is no Christmas without Christmas movies

There is a scene at around the 23rd minute in which the little star sits on Santa Claus' knees and ask to him his name. This is his answers:
Well, I have lots of names. Uh, Kriss kringle, Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas. If you were in holland, I'd be sinterklaas, or in italy, le befana.
What? Almost everybody knows that in Italy we call Santa Claus with the name of "Babbo Natale" while "Befana" is the name of the old lady that comes during the night of the 5th January to bring carbon to bad children or sweets and candies to good children. Befana is the character that we Italians have invented to give a pagan meaning to the Christian holiday called Epiphany, when the Three Wise Men went to the Jesus' grotto following the comet to bring their gifts to the new King.

I'm old, please, understand me...

The question is always the same, exactly as it was in "Maria Antoinette" by Sofia Coppola, where in a scene there was a first shot of a pair of Converse shoes. Converse shoes in a movie based in the eighteenth century?

What??????

And the question is: how is this possible? A movie has been watched by thousands of people before it's been released and possible that nobody has asked to himself: what are the name of Santa Claus? Or, is it possible that nobody has seen this pair of shoes?
It's crazy, isn't it?




10 December 2015

The best christmas gift idea? Only £60 for a good portable projector

Are you looking for a gift that will surprise your loved one? The Day is coming and I am looking for the best christmas gift idea for boyfriend or for dad, but I have no idea. How to find the Best Gift for Christmas? Any christmas gift idea? What about a sweater or a shirt? I don't know the size. What about a travel? Well, they don't travel. And I could continue forever, but the fact is: this is the perfect gift for Christmas, a portable projector to have a projector screen on your room. Cheaply.

The Scrooge inside you says you don't have to spend money for nothing

I was looking for a christmas gift idea for myself
A couple of weeks ago I wanted to buy my personal Christmas gift in advance and I went to Amazon. I have always liked the idea behind a projector: the opportunity to have your own theatre at home. Moreover, now we have all of these tv services on streaming such as Now tv, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video etc., so we really have the chance to turn on the projector, prepare the popcorn and watch a movie as if we were in a cinema. Problem: Projectors usually cost a lot. Solution that I have just found out: there are the Portable Projectors. They are smaller and cheaper. What? Really?

Yes, you've read well: £59,99 for having a cinema in your room (the price can change)

Searching a lot on Amazon and I found this pico projector, the GM60
Searching searching, I found on Amazon the Stoga GM60 for a price around 60 or 70 pounds. Could I avoid to buy it? Of course not even though my first thought was: “Ok, I have wasted my money”. Surprisingly, after a couple of weeks of intensive use at my office and at home I think it’s perfect! Of course, it’s perfect if you’re not looking for a perfect image or a perfect quality!

How is the GM60? Is it really worthy?
Let’s start with a test drive of this projector. The GM60 has a lot of ports to input the video signal. On the left we have the SDcard, two usb, the HDMI, the AV and the audio port. On the back there is also a VGA port if you want to connect an old computer. The design is fine and the dimensions are actually small: 15 for 18 centimetres and you can put it inside your bag with no problem. Do you have George Martins’ A game of thrones book? Well, dimensions and weight are the same. From a distance of 225 centimetres we have a screen of 160x100. Not bad, not bad.

These are the specifications. Can you read them?

How the GM60 (or XPRE450) works: give power to the LED!In my video (open Youtube) you can see how it works. The projector has got a LED light and maybe this is the reason why its price is so low and the first thing you will notice will be a noisy rumor that comes from it. It’s the sound of fan and it’s something like…. uuuuuhhmmmm... it’s noisy but when you start a video the audio will cover this noise, so, it’s not a big problem. But the most important thing in a projector is the ability to watch something and it is fine even with all lights of the room completely turned on. This means that even if you like to watch a movie with some lights around you this will be possible with this projector.

The projector can read almost all formats but with the HDMI you can connect a lot of other devices

The media player to see videos, pictures and documents and to listen to music
The GM60 has also a basic media center inside that allows you to decide which port you want to open so, PC-RGB, HDMI, AV, USB or the SDCARD. Here you can decide what kind of media you want to stream, if a movie, a song, a photo or a text if you want to see a document on the screen. At the HDMI I have connected a tv Dongle such as the Haier Android Smart TV and it works perfectly: a smart tv on your wall, better, a smart wall. So, if you want you can connect other devices such as the Kindle Fire TV Stick or Chromecast or the Apple tv or the NOW TV Box set, whatever you like.
I have used this projector since its arrival for hours and I really think it could be perfect for Christmas or for Saint Valentine, for example. You can give a diamond ring, of course, or you can give this projector and transform your room in a magic theatre maybe with a dinner in bed. That’s amazing, isn’t it.

Not bad, uh?

Different name, same products, maybe
The latest tendency is to release the same product with different names by different companies. This is why you could find the Stoga GM60, the Crenova XPE450, the Elephas or the Tronfy but it seems the same product. Of course, I have got only the Stoga's one, but looking at the others I see the same design and the same box. So, I guess it's the same product.

Yes, this seems an advertised post but it isn't (unfortunately). I am really happy of this product (exactly as I was disappointed by other projectors or supposed to be) and I think this could be the perfect Christmas gift for a boy, a girl, a dad, a child, whoever you like. Do you want to watch a test video made by me? Click below here:



Do you like it? Buy it here at Amazon: Portable projector Is it or not the best christmas gift idea?

15 January 2015

About the alternative finale of How I Met Your Mother

About the alternative finale of How I Met Your Mother. Netflix has released the first eight season of How I Met your Mother or How I meet your mother as somebody use to call it. Anyway, thanks to Netflix thousands of people are following the story of Ted Mosby and his friends while the research of the Big Love. I mean, legally, because a lot of people have watched How I Met Your Mother streaming every episodes from a lot of websites, but you know, now we got it on Netflix (here you find the Season 9). So, who is The Mother?


SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER


Probably you know that there are two finales. One is the final episode of the nineth season, but after a revolution by the fans, the author decided to prepare an alternative finale. Well, I must say I prefer the original one! I'm going to write about them so if you haven't watched it please get out of this website, unless you don't care about spoiler.

Someone seems to miss here... or not?

THE OFFICIAL FINAL EPISODE. OH MY GOSH!
Let me begin by saying about the official final episode. I watched it with my heart inside my throat. It's really emotional, every word, every scene are like a knife on my thoughts. We've spent 9 years following their adventures, crying when Ted was abandoned on the altair, clapping when Barney was arrested just to declare his love to her stripper fiancée, and I could continue more and more.
The last episode is amazing. The bench on the railway station, the old woman, the yellow umbrella, the letters on it, the story of the relationship between Ted and the mother, between Barney and Robin, between Marshall and Lily inasmuch as Ted finishes his story with the illness of his wife and her death. I had already read something about it (fucking websites and forums!!!) but watching it was very sad. However I couldn't believe it could finish on that way and infact the authors decided to keep it up!
We are 6 years after the Mother's death (I can't even know of her role name because I don't remember it) and we see the daughter and the son of Ted that say to him about going to Robin for marry her. Because what's been clear from his story is how he has always loved her and not the mother.
The last scene could be perfect for a movie with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan: Ted with the blue unicorn under the Robin's palace.

To my mind, this one is the perfect conclusion for the story. Ted has always been in love with her and the 'Mother' was only a part of the story. A big part indeed, but just a part. I don't remember her name because of she's never been a part of the story and the story is about the relationship and the love between Ted and Robin.

This is... ehm, this must be the only one possible Mother!


THE ALTERNATIVE FINAL EPISODE
Now I go to the alternative final episode. This one finishes with Ted and the Mother under the yellow umbrella. Yes, the message about how the life is difficult but it's always worthy to be lived is good, but it's not enough. We wanted more, we wanted Ted and Robin together, since the first episode. Because they are perfect together.

This is why I like the original episode. This is why I must say this is the best sitcom ever (even better than 'Friends'). This is why I'm sad about its ending.

Crying crying crying... is it possible to cry in a comic tv serie?
AND YOU?
Which is your favourite Mother? Do you agree with the original episode or with the alternative? Do you think that even if the Mother is the one Ted ends up to be married for only few years before her death or the real Mother is the only woman he has always loved since the first episode?



GIFTS FOR REAL FANS
I'm watching HIMYM for the second time on Netflix and I'm surprised how many funny and clever things I didn't notice the first time. As a real fans there are tons of gadgets and gifts but I guess the best ones are:
HIMYM, all seasons, from 1 to 9. The elegant box
• Barney Stinson's Ducky Tie
• The Bro Code
Yellow Umbrella with "Right Place - Right Time" Logo
• The unofficial guide above on the right...