leaving on a jet plane

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aer lingus, aviation, Dublin, flying, Hamburg, holidays, miscellaneous, random, transportation, travel

“My bags are packed and I’m ready to go”, well not quite I still have an hour before the taxi comes and whisks me off to the airport.

The first time I flew on my own I was five years old and my sister was seven. We were unaccompanied minors and on way to visit our grandmother and aunt in Germany for the summer. I remember being all excited and anticipatory, not really knowing what to expect or what would happen. It was the first year that Are Lingus flew directly from Dublin to Hamburg, if memory serves the first flight ever, and there was a bit of a buzz about the whole thing.

I had been to Germany before but it was always with my parents and we did sometimes drive, so flying on my own, well with my big sister, felt grown-up and very special. The only down side was that we both had to wear a bright orange plastic purse around our necks containing our passports, tickets and all the other vital travel documents.

I was never a quite child, I was always chatting to strangers and quickly made friends with the beautiful Aer Lingus stewardess who was looking after us. My sister and I got sweets and colouring books, a few toys and we spent an enjoyable time up in the air. What we didn’t know was that my mother was having a panic attack back in Dublin.

As soon as we had taken off, the airport attendees in Hamburg went on strike and we were re-routed to Holland. I loved the adventure of the whole event, we got to stay in a VIP lounge in Amsterdam and drive around in a little buggy, while everyone around us was frantically trying to get us to our relatives in Hamburg.

I can’t remember exactly how long the whole thing took, but it was dark outside when we finally arrived. I know that both my aunt and mum were very relieved when my sister and I ran into the wide open waiting arms, legs and blond hair flying, and in my case an stream of excited chatter following in our wake.

Today I am quite use to flying, but I still love the anticipation of going away,  however nothing can quite compare to that very first trip. What made me grin this morning was that my sister told me Hamburg is back on strike, so I am sort of wondering where I’ll end up, a possible adventure on the horizon. The only downside is that I have to be back on Monday morning to teach.

Films 2013, a preview

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entertainment, Films, films 2013, hollywood, movies, preview 2013

Like last year 2013 brings  a lot of big block busters movies filled with comic book super hero’s, sequels and 80s remakes. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Tom Cruise are back in the mix, saving the world and killing all the bad guy. Even Stephanie Meyers can leave us alone after her schmalzy “Twilight Saga” has finally come to an end and gives us a parasitic alien in the form of Saoirse Ronan. Sometimes it really does feel like Hollywood has run out of ideas and just regurgitates what has already proven to be box-office gold. But that isn’t always a bad thing, as you’ll know what you’re getting for your Euros when you buy a ticket.

Here is a quick rundown of some of the big films coming out throughout the year, but as we know in films, timelines are fluid so see the months as guidelines not craved in stone.

January starts of with a big bang and Arni in “The Last Stand”. Schwarzenegger is the disgraced LAPD officer Ray Owens who is serving out his time in the sleepy little town Summerton Junction. When drug lord Cortez (Eduardo Noriega) shows up all hell breaks lose and Schwarzenegger is back to his good old standard of killing people with big guns. Maybe not a film for the Oscars but if you like action movies and are an Schwarzenegger fan “The last Stand” won’t disappoint, even if the plot is a little weak and the acting a little wooden.

Other Films like “Lincoln”, “The Sessions” and “Django Unchained” have already been winning prices and if you want to know more about them just follow the links.

February is filled with lots of light-hearted comedy in Films like “This is 40”, “Parental Guidance”, “I give it a Year” and “Wreck-it Ralph”. But there is a good balance with dramas like Oscar nominee “Flight” and Bafta nominee “Hitchcock”.

However the biggest blockbuster could possibly be action film “A Good Day to Die Hard”. Bruce Willis returns as John McClane and this time it’s his son Jack (Jai Courtney) who needs help. When he discovers that his son is actually a CIA agent trying to prevent the Russians from blowing up the world with nuclear weapons the father and son team up and try and save the day.

March is a month of science fiction and fantasy with “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” tracking down evil hags and killing them. “GI Joe” makes a return to cinemas and  Percy Jackson, Poseidon’s son, is also back in “Percey Jackson: Sea of Monsters”. Nicholas Hoult is “Jack the Giant Slayer” and Saoirse Ronan plays “The Host” to a parasitic alien.

The one to watch is probably “Elysium”. With Director Neil Blomkamp (District-9) at its helm this si-fi thriller looks promising. In the year 2159 the human population is split in two, the very wealthy who live on the man made space station Elisium and the rest who live in the slums of earth. Matt Damon plays the hero Max who is trying to bring equality back. Jodie Foster is his adversary Secretary Delacourt who will stop at nothing to keep the wealthy rich.

April, this is where things start to get a little hazy but it looks like we’ll be seeing a remake of C Stephen Kings “Carrie” return to the big screen.  Chloe Grace Moretz (Hit Girl from Kick Ass) replaces Sissy Spacek as Carrie, a shy high school kid who discovers her telekinetic powers and unless some supernatural nastiness on her peers.  And it could be that this is the month that we see Tom Cruise again in his upcoming film “Oblivion”.

May could be the mega month of releases with “Iron Man 3”, “Start Trek 2”, “Hangover Part 2”, “Fast Six” (Fast and the Furious franchise) and the “Lone” Ranger all hoping to lure us into the cinema.

Although the “Lone Ranger” is a new project for Walt Disney Pictures it does reunite Jonny Depp and his Pirates Director Gore Verbinski.  Depp is Tonto who tells the tales of John Ried (Armie Hammer) or the Lone Rangers as he’s better known.

But May is also said to be the month that the long awaited “Great Gatsby “ finally graces our screens.  With Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby and Toby Maguire as Nick Carraway it looks like it could have been worth the wait.

June brings back the “Man of Steel”. This time round it’s handsome Henry Cavill (Cold Light of Day) who is clad in the blue tights and red panties but that isn’t his only support, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner and Laurance Fishburne all make an appearance.

Brad Pitt may prove all doubters wrong that the project “World War Z” was filmable after all, when we see him staring in the Paramount production.

And Hugh Jackman has let his hair grow again for his staring role in “The Wolverine”. This time around it’s off to Japan, who knows maybe those claws will prove useful when making sushi.

But Will Smith is also back in M Night Shyamalan’s “After Earth”. This action Si-fi  film is only directed by Shyamalan so hopefully it will be better than “The Last Airbender”

July reunites Stephan Spielberg with science fiction in his film “Robopocalypse”. The film is based on the book by Daniel H Wilson and seems quite similar to “I, Robot”.

But again Hollywood gives us sequels with “Grown-ups 2” “The Smurfs 2”and “Dispicable Me 2”, and “Jurassic Park” will be stomping its way back into Cinemas in 3D on it’s 25^th (yes really) birthday.

“Dirty Dancing” is being re-made and said to be released in June. But after the disastrous “Total Recall”, “Fame” and “Footloose” reboots of the last few years maybe this isn’t such a wise idea. After all can anyone really replace Patrick Swayze as Jonny and Jennifer Grey as Baby? Some films should just be left alone!

August gives us the return of the retired, extremely dangerous crowd in “RED 2”, who knows maybe like “The Expendables” this will be better second time round. But “300:Battle of Artemisia” will at least give us scantily clad men with eight packs to watch, even I they do yell a lot! And even “Sin City: a Dame to Kill For” and “Robocop” seem to be on the list of films to come out in the middle of Summer.

As for the rest of the films that are coming out this year things seem to be even less planable. But some of the other 2013 big blockbusters that will be beckoning you to take a seat and nibble some pop-corn are:

“Oz the Great and Powerful” (March)

“Kick Ass “ (July?)

“The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” (possibly August)

“Monster University”

“Enders Game” (October)

“Thor: The Dark World” (November)

“The Hunger games: Catching Fire” (possibly in November)

“The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug” (December)