A farewell to professor Snape

The new year doesn't seem to be a pleasant one. In the first days of 2016 died Lemmy Kilmister, then, David Bowie passed away. And two days ago, after only two weeks of the new year, we lost another great artist, Alan Rickman. As David Bowie, the actor lost his battle with cancer and died at age of 69. According to "The Telegraph", Rickman wasn't aware of the severity of the disease until just weeks ago. 

He'll be remembered not only by the older generation, but also by his younger audience who will always rememeber him as Professor Severus Snape in Harry Potter films. However, we shouldn't forget his brilliant roles in classics like Robin Hood, Die Hard and Love Actually.

The artists all over the world are now paying tribute to Alan Rickman, but what deserves more attention, is the reaction of Harry Potter cast who expressed their condolences via Twitter or Facebook. 

JK Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter books, said: "There are no words to express how shocked and devastated I am to hear of Alan Rickman’s death. He was a magnificent actor & a wonderful man".On the other hand, Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore, said: "Everybody loved Alan. He was always happy and fun and creative and very, very funny." Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry, said that Rickman was to him "one of the greatest actors I will ever work with" and also "one of the loyalest and most supportive people I’ve ever met in the film industry".

For me, Alan Rickman will always be Harry from "Love Actually", a lost man who ended up cheating on his wife; but also Professor Snape, who at the end of the book turns to be the most benevolent character who always makes me cry while revealing his feelings to Lily in front of Dumbledore. He will always be this good looking man with a deep characteristic and seductive voice. Rest in peace, Alan. 

 

'David Bowie's star will shine in the sky forever'

These words are Paul McCartney's reaction to David Bowie's sudden death. The artist passed away on 10.01.2016 in New York, two days after his birthday. According to Bowie's son, he lost an 18-month battle with liver cancer. Bowie was 69. Although his fans weren't aware of his disease Bowie, having accepted his bad condition, left them a videoclip to a song "Lazarus" in which we can see him laying on a hospital bed, which seems rather a deathbed, and then, walks into the wardrobe as if it was a coffin. The clip is very suggestive, especially when we consider Bowie's son's words that when making the clip, his father was aware that he wouldn't be able to beat the disease, and the song and the videoclip are his farewell to his fans. His last record, "Blackstar" contains many songs about dying that are now considered as an announcement of Bowie's death. As his videoclips were always ambiguous and misterious, Bowie's son predicts that now his fans will look for an explanation of his death in the videos. And as he warns, it's better not to start.

In my opinion, what we should do now, is not looking for answers, but pay a tribute to his music. 

I leave you with a videoclip to "Lazarus"

The Man in the High Castle

Hello everyone!
Today I will continue writing about new TV series and, as always, I will tell you if it's worth watching ;)
Have you heard about the new Amazon serie, "The Man in the High Castle"?
If not, you're lucky to get to know it with me ;)
According to a polish website about movies, which is called "Filmweb", "The Man in the High Castle" is a science-fiction thriller, created by Frank Spotnitz. The serie shows us the alternative vision of the world's history: United States of America are ruled by nazis who won the World War II. The serie is based on a novel written by Philip K. Dick. I have to say that to me the main idea seems pretty interesting and I couldn't wait to watch it. However, after the premiere of the first season I was quite dissapointed. Although I still think that the idea is really good I can't help feeling that the director and the crew also believed that with this brilliant idea, they don't have to do nothing more. In my opinion, the plot isn't captivating and the viewer is unable to relate to characters, who seem cold and unreal.
I don't think I'd watch the second season, but still, I think that if you wanna give it a try, you shouldn't hesitate after one bad review ;).

Christmas in Poland

So, I didn't really notice that I haven't written anything for a long time. As it is december, I have to say that I feel pretty obliged to write about christmas traditions in Poland. I will write down a list of some things that are essential in polish christmas ;)

1. I think I should start with typical Polish obsession about cleanliness: the most important part for Poles is to have their house or apartment sparkling clean. It is believed that if the house is clean inside and outside on christmas, it will remain clean throughout the whole next year. I don't know if it's true, but my mother definitely believes in this supestition ;)

2. The second most important thing on christmas: snow. When it's not snowing it is not real christmas! In my opinion, the weather is very important for the majority of Polish people and every year they spend a whole month waiting for the snow. Maybe it is like this because we all want to feel again like children and our christmas memories are always strongly connected to playing in the snow with other kids. It is well known, that we're all dreaming of a white christmas ;)

3. Twelve dishes. In Poland on Christmas Eve we always eat 12 dishes, most of them made of fish. Everyone does the same traditional dishes every year and everyone is waiting to eat them. What migt seem weird for some people is that Poles don't eat meat on Christmas Eve.

4. Opłatek:  a the traditional wafer that we break and exchanges good wishes for health, wealth and happiness in the New Year. This is supposed to be a deeply moving moment, but many people consider it as fake and weird tradition.

5. We leave an additional plate on the table, which is supposed to reuite us with those who cannot be with us. Although, it is also a plate for people who may come to our house on Chistmas Eve.

That's all for now. If I come up with something else I'll write about it in the next post. Merry Christmas everyone!

Traditional polish food

So my erasmus friend is coming from France tommorow. When I asked her what she wants to see in Poland, she answered me that the most interesting thing for her is polish food. As a result, my fridge is now full of some weird stuff like lard, sauerkraut, pickled cucumbers, mushrooms in vinegar, thin smoked pork sausages, bigos (a traditional polish dish made of sauerkraut, sausage and mushrooms) and, of course, vodka. When I saw all this food in my fridge I realised that I don't think that I'd be able to eat it with her. I haven't eaten bigos for years, and the last time I tried lard was when I was ten years old. I can barely remember the taste. But, who knows, maybe she'll like it? I can't wait to see her face when she tries mushrooms in vinegar, which is for me the most disgusting thing in the world!Maybe she'll like it, maybe not...but I think I'll also order a pizza, just in case ;)

Vikings

We have autumn now: the evenings seem to last forever and those who work or study can barely see the daylight. What can we do about it? The answer is simple: nothing. But we can use these long evenings to discover some new TV series. And I have another one to recommend you! It's called Vikings and as you can imagine, it's about vikings. No surprise here! It's an Irish-Canadian historical drama created for the TV channel History. It is inspired by the sagas of Ragnar Lothbrok, a great scandinavian heroe. In the serie we can watch Ragnar's vicissitudes which lead him from a simple farmer to a succesful earl who organises first raids to the west. I'm not a history expert, but I appreciate that the serie tells us something about a scandinavian way of life, their traditions, their mithology or a women's position in society (we can see Ragnar's wife, Lagherta, who is a brave shieldsmaiden who fights as well as men). In short, Vikings is worth seeing and I think it's a good way to get to know a little bit about the world.

Where you can find cheap and tasty food in Jeżyce?

I live in Poznań for 5 years now, but I moved to Jeżyce in June. I didn't know this district very well, so I started to go for long walks to get to know this quarter of town. During these walks, I noticed that there is a wide range of restaurants and pubs and, as I never say no to a hot meal, I started to visit these places one by one. As you can imagine, it was a very tasty experience, but also useful: now I know where to go to eat something cheap and good.

I will recommend you top 3 places that I really like:

1. Thanh Ha (ul. Szamarzewskiego)

Thanh Ha is a restaurant with vietnamese food run by a very friendly family from Vietnam. The menu is really big so the choice is quite difficult, but in the end, everything is really tasty so it doesn't matter what you choose, you'll be satsfied anyway. The prices are quite low: for a big meal with rice, cabbage salad, vegetable sauce and big portion of meat you'll pay between 14 and 17 zł.

2. Kraszkebab (ul. Kraszewskiego)

Here, you'll eat a speciality from Turkey: kebab. Many of you will say that you can buy kebab on every corner and it's a fast food that isn't worth to be recommended, and I'll agree with you. However, kebab from Kraszkebab is something different. The vegetables are always fresh, the cuality of meat is really high and you can complete your meal with banana or chilli sauce. For me, it is not just a kebab, but I don't think that I can explain it...you just have to try it!

3. Krowi placek (ul. Szamarzewskiego)

Finally, my favourite place! I know that the name of this place can repel some potential clients, but it's worth to come in and try their perfect burgers. Yes, I said burgers. But don't even try to compare them to Mc'Donalds burgers or KFC. Burgers from Krowi placek are special: as you eat them, you can notice the effort of the cook to make an original american burger. And in my opinion, he did succeed.