Letters from Iwo Jima

the day got a bit better: i went to see Clint Eastwood's 'Letters from Iwo Jima' that has been nominated for an Oscar Award (or more, I don't know). in a few hours it will turn out whether it got rewarded or not. it's a good film it definitely deserves an Oscar. though i don't know the rest of the competitors so i'd rather say nothing... anyhow, i liked it. it's about Japanese soldiers who have to defend the Island Iwo Jima against the several times larger American forces. it's about the Japanese mentality, the cruelty of a war and about people who die for the same meaningless reason but u can see how people are different in the way they handle death.

after the projection there was a party with free cocktails, snacks, sushi, cakes and other things. they were fine but the staff kind of forced us to eat and drink as much as we could... and when we left appr. 15 people from the staff wished us goodnight. i felt like a celebrity. i was in fact walking on a red carpit...

Flowers

a boring sunday. i'm not in the mood... i bought flowers to cheers myself up.nice isn't it?
anyway, a few shots of whisky would have made it better...

Friday's Szakcsi-Lakatos gig was stunning. solo-play in the first half and Mozart's Piano Concerto in D Major K. 537 “Coronation” with the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok in the second half. the music was fantastic and the concert hall's acoustics was awesome too. when the audience started singing 'Tavaszi Szel' in the end it was heavenly and misterious too. very good experience.

Benkó Dixieland Band - Living legends

"...One Of The Best Bands Of The World..."
(Ronald Reagan)

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last night's gig was not less memorable than the Juhasz Trio gig. in fact, u can't compare the two gigs, since the former was a club night taking place every week near Raday Street whereas the latter was a proper concert. hence the nature of the performance, yesterday's was a completely different experience: they were playing more freely, sometimes making jokes and not rarely drinking a bit more. :)

this is Sándor Benkó on the clarinet, the band leader

Ivan the Great. on the trombone, beer cans and vocal :)

Zsolti the bassist. i remember a few years ago 'Daddy' (Benkó is only called like this by Ivan :) ) had to remind him constantly to bring more feelings into his play and 'strip' the bass. well, he has no more got to do so, Zsolti's play was absolutely driven by the music and emotions. sometime he also played for the audience, spinning the instruments a few times.

the wind section:
Ivan again.

This artistic photo, and all the others are thanks to Gege who was messing around there all night long with his camera and pissing the audience off. okay okay, he wasn't. the audience was kind and let him taking photos everywhere. after the gig one old guy asked us if we were taking photos for the promo stuff for the Jubileum Concert. hehe... us, professionals. in fact, not a bad idea :)

Vilmos, the pianist. He was fantastic in Duke Ellington's Take The A Train. Such sensitive accords and runs.
new guy behind the drums, don't know him. wasn't bad, but nothing special
for further info on the band visit their official website

Normafa

yesterday we went for a walk with my friend Gege. the Photo Artist. :) he looks serious, doesn't he?
the place where we went to is called Normafa. it's a very nice hilly area in Budapest, quite popular among locals. it provides a fabulous view on Budapest and is a good starting point for tours in the 'mountains' in Buda. there's also a ski track.this is the Ski House in Normafa. well, u can imagine how big this 'ski paradise' is. and the snow, it's fantastic! we even wanted to ask what time the ski track closes. in the end we changed our mind cos we didn't want to get kicked in the ass for being too cheeky :)

and another lovely thing: the Pioneer Railway, which is actually still in use. look at that pretty red vehicle! but which one do i mean? :)

Great gig - Juhász Trio

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Oh what a great gig. Juhasz Trio was playing tonight in the Future's House (the previous Millenáris). This is the second time I can say: this was the best gig i've been to for a long time. good, because i'm seeing better and better gigs. the band:

before going there i read a review about them saying that Borlay, the drummer and Papesch, the bassist are playing a much more dynamic music whereas Juhasz, the guitarist and teamleader is a melancholic player, hence their co-operation may be problematic. well, i've never heard a band more harmonic, playing more together.

Gábor Juhász the 'master'


fantastic solos, some mistery, beautiful accords and tunes.

and i've never heard a band with such fabulous individual perfomances. indeed, Borlay's and Papesch's play was as great and full of ideas as the band's music and the songs themselves. i especially enjoyed Borlay's drum-play with his surprising but absolutely apt rythms

and above of this: they enjoyed playing for us too.

Moja Poziomko

:*

Yamato

today's programme was the launch of the new Toyota Auris in Hungary. nice car, nicer than the previous Corolla, and they managed to shoot an impressive video about this new car. but why most of the people visited the show: Yamato, the world-famous drummers. and i must say they served well for their fame, they presented a breath-taking perfromance, the audience was both astonished and cheered. this was owed to their brilliant sense of humour - and i presume the knowledge of the human behaviour. what's more, u could see that they liked what they were doing and they wanted to deliver us experience, and they did, indeed.

Horvath & Horvath Co.

More pics

i know, i know, i'm being boring. but this is my blog so who cares... i found some more pics about Kinga.

impressions

busy days are coming: i just started working in a bank, and the uni's not gonna be easier than the previous semester was. for now, i'm trying to have some rest at home, kind of getting ready for the big rush. i wish she was here. i feel a bit bored. or it's just the lack of excitement... my home is still strange without my dog too. today i visited Osiris, Kinga's son. he's a huge fellow always messing around, but lovely as Kinga was.

Good bye London!

Good bye London, again. Memorable moments, lots of fun, the happiness of seeing Poziomka, crazy arguments with flatmates and a bit of my old life in london.
and i need to get used to being on my own again.

on one of the last days i visited Horniman Museum and Gardens in Forrest Hill. i'm not in the mood of putting many comments, let the pics speak instead of me. - i love this little building and that gardens are so neat even in January

the main aim of my visit was to see the aquarium in Horniman Museum. i didn't have to be disappointed. jellyfishes: i was trying to capture this little fish for so long. and i'm not perferctly satisfied with the result. but i find funny this mini swordfishJust like my stay came to an end, another day was over in Covent Garden. packing...

Manners

You can be a Szechenyi Professzor (some kind of academic rank) but this does not mean that you have manners, as the following example shows. I received this email from one of my professors after I had made my third inquiry about my results which is his duty to announce without any request. One can never be so busy that (s)he cannot find time to paraphrase a grammatically/formally correct sentence. Hence I regard this as a lack of respect and therefore I feel entitled to publish this private letter.

>BÁLINT ,
>
>MAGA , EGY 5 ÖST, A KAP.
>REGARDS,
>BEÍRÁS HÉTFŐ,
>
>JAN 22 . 1 H , FSZ 27.
>
>***** ISTVÁN
>
>SZÉCHENYI PROFESSZOR
>VILÁGGAZDASÁG TSZK, BUDAPESTI CORVINUS EGYETEM

in English:
">BALINT,
>
>YOU, GET, A, FIVE, AN
>REGARDS (originally in English)
>REGISTERING ON MONDAY,
>
>JAN 22 . 1 H , GROUNDFLOOR 27.
>
>ISTVAN *****
>
>SZECHENYI PROFESSOR,
>DEPARTMENT OF GLOBAL BUSINESS, CORVINUS UNIVERSITY OF BUDAPEST"