Travel report: US - Miami

Place: Miami, Miami Beach (they are 2 different cities)
Time:  August 2013
Hotel: Double Tree - Hilton ***** (Bloody yeah!!!)
Company: a group of Russian teachers and students and me

Practising English, flirting with strangers, being scared while riding buses and metro, relaxing in jacuzzi and swimming pool - that`s what Miami was:) All that for 2 great weeks!


The thing is we didn`t expect the appartments at all! I mean, we expected sharing a small room with strangers somewhere near the ocean and things like that. Nobody told us we`re given this! Five stars appartments in Hilton!!! With a jacuzzi inside the room!!! With a swimming pool and a jacuzzi one floor below!!! For students! Yeah!!!

Alligators like eating cans:)

I was seriously amazed by these automatic cash desks!

View from the upper floors: the closer one is our pool, the farther is of the neighbouring one.

These ones belong to our neighbours, I guess:) 

View from our appartment: the magnificient Miami storm sky!

Here we used to take our bus to Miami Beach every morning to be in time for classes.

Miami Beach

Yeah, I love Miami sky!

Lincoln Road Gallery Walk

Art Deco. Remember this. The style is called Art Deco.

Jerry`s Famous Deli - a nice place to have a dinner in. Cheap and tasty! Warning: big portions!

Ocean Drive in the evening

Other localities

At the front of the bus you (hardly) can see transportable holders for 2 bikes!

And here under the seats are special fastening for wheelchairs. The seats can be removed and a chair can be promptly fasten. By the way, this is the bus driver who does it. 

First time at Shake Shack waiting for my first for so many years burger! The buzzing device was a surprize! "I scream. You scream. We All Scream For... Frozen Custard!" 

EC Miami School

Amazing EC staff! Special thanks to Mark and Allie!

 Fake cameras in the coridor will keep you safe:))

Welcome sign 

That was a bad idea to walk in Miami in the evening, we were really scared of the absence of... somebody in the streets and quickly decided to come back...

Trip to Dadeland Shopping center for my Lenovo tablet:) People, where are you??) (Saturday, 12 am)

The Camera tree. 

Miami Beach

Sherlock Season 3 episode 3 failures

1) The Spectacles

For not a single moment I believed that the spectacles might be a device. Honestly. I was deeply dissapointed, that Sherlock thought so (it was written that he thought so). For the God sake, he told himself, that the files can`t be kept on a computer because it can be hacked! What hard drive are you talking about then?! "Sherlock" is not a sci-fi movie, and there isn`t any technology like that by now, except for the Google Glass, but it looks like a Bluetooth headset put on in a wrong way! 

2) The Guards

At the first meeteing Sherlock and John were searched for the guns. At the second one neither Sherlock nor John were searched. You saw the result, a quite logical one. Some say, that`s because Magnussen considered them both harmless, but can`t he, such a smart disgusting buisnessman, do something just to be sure?

Well... I still consider Episode 3 the best of the season, really:) Nevertheless, the idea of working with fans this way, taking into account their ideas and mocking at the same time, was pleasant, a real delight! If you ask me, Sherlock BBC is still my favorite TV show ever. Just because it is that unpredictable and crazy, but witty and charming. Doctor Who is Doctor Who - it has the same features, both series are outstanding. But... 

Doctor Who has about 3 generations of people grown watching and loving it. In 2010 I turned on my TV knowing nothing about what I was going to see. And noone knew. (Well, almost noone, you understand). So I was among the first ones. The earliest explorers, you may call us. And it is amazingly thrilling to have the feelings remain the same. 


Thank you.

Sherlock. Season 3 episode 2 failures

1) The Case

Would you come to a detective  in the evening and torture him with your case, being aware that he is drunk? I wouldn`t. Why she leaded him to the "crime scene"? For what? For him to lose conscious there? And where was Mrs. Hudson? Why she didn`t show the door to the nurse once she saw her? The case really wasn`t a life and death question, she even didn`t look frightened that much. The scene was so long and doubtful that cause disappointment. There`s enough humor in the series.

2) Her Majesty's Household Guards

I doubt that it is allowed to common people to walk in the building where the guards live. The first two soldiers ought to have noticed him, I can`t find any reason why not.

3) The Wound

If you can easily feel a paper cut, how thin the blade must have been for the guard not to feel it? Show me, please!

4) The Case (again)

The case was just too easy for Sherlock to solve it that long. Even I began to suspect the photographer even before this scene.

5) Drunk Sherlock

Hmm... On the one hand, I don`t remember any connection between Sherlock and booze. On the other, he smoked and took drugs (in original), what he doesn`t do now, so we reach balance this way. But: Sherlock began to resemble Sheldon too much. It must be Sheldon who resembles Sherlock, not vice versa. Actually, they are quite similar... but Sherlock doesn`t have stupid habits, caused by psychological disease, which Sheldon has (and a lot). So he shouldn`t gain Sheldon`s manner of behavior. My thought: Please, don`t make him Sheldon! DON`T MAKE A SITCOM OUT OF "SHERLOCK"!

(Actually, they don`t seem to. Prepare a shock blanket for the episode 3;))

Sherlock. Season 3 episode 1 failures

Well, I needed two days to recover...

Fine. The episode was a delight! For fans especially:) The last version of "how he did it" seems to be generally convincing, as it explains the little girl, Molly`s involvement, the necessity of John to stand where he was. But for one thing: the sniper. So, there are particularly 3 points that I didn't like about the episode:

1) "There`s always an "off" switch. Terrorists could get all sorts of problems if there isn`t an "off" switch."

Bullshit. Terrorists could get all sorts of problems if there WAS an "off" switch.  A way to prevent the blow - yes, but would you place it on the bomb or on the control panel in your suitcase instead? Or hide it the way no one could guess where it is? "No, let`s just put an "off" switch, no one knows bombs have ones!"

 












Look for the one when you happen to deal with a bomb:)

2) Blowing up the Westminster? Really? Did you watch American blockbusters a lot?

We all love stories about secret tube lines under the main governmental buildings, but are really bombs in the "car" and some in the tunnels to the surface enough to blow up the building that way? Don`t be ridiculous!

Unless... Unless you mock the tradition:) Well, then.

UPD Sorry, didn`t know it is actually V for Vendetta (2005) reference, sorry

3) THE SNIPER 

In the s02e03 we see clearly that the sniper folded up his gun and walks away calmly after the fall. The same sniper who has come earlier, unfolded it and aimed at John. Now they tell us, that "Mycroft's men interfered before he could take a shot. He was invited to reconsider." meaning, his sniper simply shoot the Moriarty`s one (we are shown the target of his). How on Earth would he have walked away if he was shot "before he could take a shot"?

 




 








And if not shot, but blackmailed or something... is it really so simple to convince Moriarty`s people in something?

Well, the episode was not without flaws. "Everyone`s a critic" Right you are!

Let me think about... Now You See Me

Usually rather popular things are thought to have no hidden meaning or rather good things are not popular enough.  I`m going to take sometimes some of them for a discussion.

The Eighteenth - "Look closer". Monologue about the "Now You See Me" movie.

Well, recently I decided to go to the cinema mostly not in order to watch something particular, but just for a company. So, "Now You See Me" was chosen, being the least disappointing among the others. And so it was, but…

Generally speaking, "Now You See Me" resembles quite many movies of this kind, like it consists of their parts, but used them wrong. Just look how it was made here and there.

1. “Now You See Me” VS. “Ocean`s Eleven”

The "Ocean`s Eleven" is not about magicians, but anyway those professionals were not less smart. What does "Ocean`s" present to us? A challenge, an aim for the challenge, the real aim of the challenge, which the main character tends to hide, preparations for the show and the show itself. 

What about "Now You See Me"?

 The first thing we see is the show. It is fascinating, but the following explanation is not satisfying at all. A former magician, whose job is to deprive other magicians of their jobs, explained just the depository and the money things. What is more, explanation of disappearance of the money in France is very doubtful!  

1) How did they make the self-ignitable paper ignite when they wanted to?
2) Why wasn`t the ticket for the show burnt with all of the self-ignitable money, as it was made of an ordinary paper?
3) Finally, considering the point, that drivers in vans are generally complete dummies, where the hell was the security check, when the bloody well-made fake money arrived at the bank?!

Questions like those make the whole story quite improbable.
(Also the 3D projection and light tricks are also improbable.)

Secondly, the reason why the whole story took place seemed to be avoided at all. The Four Horsemen themselves recall it occasionally. To put it more precisely, they recall that they know neither whom they are working for, nor why! The fairy-tale about The Eye is so lame, that I felt, that even the screen writer didn`t know where it went and hide the ending behind mirrors, steam and bright light. 

2. "Now You See Me" VS. "The Prestige"

The greatest thing about "The Prestige" is that the ending is unexpected at all! There were some clues from the beginning of the movie, of course, but you had no idea that everything could turn that way. 

What about "Now You See Me"?

Of course there`s hardly a person who can say he had clues about every little trick in the movie (if he doesn`t lie, of course:)). But, speaking about the plot itself, it is predictable to death. The FBI workers are dummies, the smart guys can`t be caught, one, who died occasionally, can`t be dead (I knew that Jack Wilder was alive), and, finally, the one, who seemed to be tricked most of all, appeared to be the main swindler himself (I began to suspect him in the end). The impression was ruined from the beginning, when we were shown tricks of Henley Reeves (who just couldn`t die there, in no way), Jack Wilder (whom I didn`t believe, because he, being so bad at tricks, couldn`t be chosen) and Merritt McKinney (hypnotists are not magicians at all!)

The very best and the only great moment in the movie was the first trick by J. Daniel Atlas. And that`s not because I like him or something (I`ve seen him only in The Social Network and wasn`t truly amazed), but because that`s the only moment we see a real connection with the audience. You take part in the trick - you choose a card, and finally it`s the one you`ve chosen! Besides, that`s the only trick that remains unexplained:) That`s the moment I`m going to remember.

3. "Now You See Me" VS. “The Illusionist”

The main line of The Illusionist is the love line. It goes through the whole story, and is the main aim of the magician and all of his tricks. 

What about "Now You See Me"?

Even though magic tricks are said to be living true magic, making people believe,  it is hardly the real reason why. The magicians seem only to care about fame, money and some kind of justice. They chase some kind of The Eye, hoping to get some benefits, a fortune probably or a paradise for magician or... God, we`ll never know that!

The love lines in the story are simple, lame and dull. A tension between a magician and former assistant in two dialogs, an office romance, caused by rivalry that couldn`t end in another way but with a kiss - that`s all we got. Well, that`s not the main point of the story (,- the screen writer thought...). 

To conclude that all, neither of the characters were appealing, besides the one of Jesse Eisenberg and the one of Isla Fisher (mostly because she is extremely nice), nor the action was really fascinating. Speaking about Thaddeus Bradley, his character seemed to be a little jealous of magicians, and so he took revenge of them. His only motivation was the money, of course, even though he tried to say something about morality, that he saves the world from all those cheaters. But every magician knows well, that the spectators who watch the show usually want to be cheated on themselves.


I don`t think the movie is worth watching unless you`re a fan of particular actors or like any kind of unmasking, revealing the truth. But be sure, that you won`t get enough.

Let me think about... Django Unchained

Usually rather popular things are thought to have no hidden meaning or rather good things are not popular enough.  I`m going to take sometimes some of them for a discussion.

 The Seventeenth - "It`s All About Slavery!" - Monologue about the "Django Unchained" movie.

"Django" appeared to become the rare movie I was waiting for and chanced to watch it in a movie theatre. Moreover, it became the first movie I watched with subtitles in the movie theatre. And, you know, it was a little unbelievable experience.

I went to watch it with my friend. She is not a Tarantino lover, actually, nevertheless she liked the movie. So... we had some points to think about. Some points, that you may also want to know or think about.

1. "Nigger" is not a funny word.
You may be surprized, but the Russians laughed each time they heared it during the movie. I heared that from bloggers, from my classmate, who laughed himself... I`m sorry about that and don`t understand. "Nigger" was used as a common word for black slaves at those times. Perhaps the actors, who was recorded for the dubbing-in made it sound ridiculous, I don`t know. But that wasn`t a part of the humorous side of the picture.

2. Strange metal collars.
I`ve never seen such ones eather. But serfing the Internet, I found alike. So, they did existed. It seems to me, that they were made different to devise one slaves from the others. Mmm... may be also not to let them lie on smth.

Other examples are here:
http://usslave.blogspot.ru/2011/02/tortures-by-iron-collars-chains-fetters.html
http://usslave.blogspot.ru/2012/05/fabrice-monteiros-amazing-images-of.html

3. A woman among the other trackers.

Right, the one with hat, who followed Django with her eyes in the middle of the movie and was shot in the saloon when standing near the window, and flew into the window. Have you noticed how Quentin noted her? That`s because she is his favorite stunt woman. Her name is Zoe Bell. She is famous for being a stunt woman for Xena (Lucy Lawless) in "Xena: Warrior Princess", for the Bride (Uma Turman) in Kill Bill, also played in his "Death Proof". Documentary "Double Dare" is partly about her. Favotite actress, favorite stunt woman, favorite actor now... so typical of Quentin:)

4. Why did Django kill Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly?
It may sound strange, but that appeared to be a mystery for us. The lady almost had nothing to be blamed for in contrast to her brother and the others. So, is it because he intended to kill all of the white in the house? Is it because she had a disgussting affare with her brother? (Yes, she had. The point was shown quited blurred, though.) Too my mind, it seems to be too cruel even for a former black slave.

 Or "Where is my Oscar?!"

I don`t want to write about bloopers. Bloopers in Tarantino movies were caused by his blind desire to make everything perfect and cool:) So, there are some:))