Man on Fire (2004)

“Forgiveness is between them and God. It’s my job to arrange the meeting”

A very powerful movie on the theme of revenge.
Creasey is a washed out ex-marine that has lost his will to live and has given up hope that God will ever forgive him for his killings.
He reluctantly accepts a job as a body guard to the little girl Pita in Mexico City. A body guard is needed due to the frequent kidnappings and to satisfy an insurance policy requirement.
Pita is an irresistibly friendly little girl and Creasy finds him self becoming very attached to her. In a way Pita shows him that there is reason for caring and living.
When Pita is later kidnapped, Creasy swears to find her and kill “…anyone who was involved, anyone who profited from it, anyone who opens their eyes at him”.
Cue one-man-army suicide mission where Creasy works his way up from low level gangsters towards the man responsible for the organised kidnappings in Mexico City.
Dakota Fanning (Pita) puts on a very convincing performance which is impressive especially due to her young age. Washington is very good at convincing the audience of his cold blooded nature and ruthlessness.
Rating: 4/5
“Creasey’s art is death… he’s about to paint his masterpiece”

Latin rhythms: Monica Vasconcelos and Nois

The other day we were invited to “a concert in a church” by some friends. To our pleasant surprise, it was Monica Vasconcelos and the group Nois (us) performing.
We were swept away by Monica’s smooth voice and passionate performance. The beauty of her voice is only rivalled by her own beauty.
As a guest, Monica had invited “Chinga” who turned out to be an exceptional guitar player. His two solos, accompanied by light percussion, were possibly the highlight of the concert.
The concert was performed at the Union Chapel, Islington, London and there was even a small bar where you could get a double scotch to go with the Jazz.
Make sure to check out some of the albums by Monica Vasconcelos and Nois.

Don’t try this at home

I managed to swallow some descaler liquid the other day. Active ingridients sulphamic acid and citric acid.
I was descaling the hot water kettle in the morning and decided to leave the descaler product working during the day while being at work.
When coming back home I had obviously forgotten all about the descaler and put the kettler on.
I soaked some rice noodles in the acid water and I made some nice miso soup from it.
The noodles tasted a bit funny (sour) but it wasn’t until I had a few sips of the soup I suspected something was very wrong.
The soup was very sour and soon my lips and tounge had a tingling sensation. While thinking why on earth the food would all taste so sour it struck me that I had left the descaler in the kettle.
I summoned the pack quikly to see whether it provided any warning texts. Right after “keep away from children” it said “seek medical advice if swallowed“.
It was a bit late so instead of seeking medical advise I drank a couple of pints of milk and decided to weather it out. A quick search on the internet for “swallow descaler” led me to the helpful page of Emergency treatment of self-poisoning or overdose. The page assured me that diluted commercial descaler shouldn’t be lethal.
Woke up in the middle of the night due to a rumble in my tommy. Had a couple of bowls of Crunchy Nut with some more milk which seemed to settle it a bit.
Couple of days later and all seems fine. Bit worried about possible complications: “Oesophageal stricture and pyloric stenosis can occur after 14–21 days”. Any doctors around? What’s that when it’s at home?