“The Blind Side” Movie

I just saw “The Blind Side” movie at the theatre and was amazed how great the movie was. One of the best movies of the year. The story was very touching, inspiring, and simply amazing. Sandra Bullock was phenomenal. One of her best performances ever. The entire cast was great.
The movie was based on a true story, which was told in an excellent way. It is very inspiring story, makes you do better in life and makes you to try to help more other people who are in need and to care about people more. Also it makes you realize that there are other great people out there in this beautiful World. I give 5 out of 5 stars and recommend everyone to see the movie.

My Blog was featured

One of the articles I wrote on my Blog got featured on Ruba.com. Ruba is apparently a visual travel guide and tour review site that helps travelers from around the world discover their next perfect trip. They were searching among thousands of articles about India and fell in love with my article “Sightseeing in Mumbai” that I wrote last year. I wrote actually many articles such as “Taj Mahal” and other articles about my experience in India and tried to capture every day of the 6 months I lived in India. Some of my colleagues just told me about the movie “Outsourcing”, which I haven’t seen yet, but apparently almost all of my own experiences working in India they could see in the movie. Anyway, it was good to be featured on one of the travel sites like Ruba, especially since I love to travel and have been travelling to almost all parts of this beautiful World.

I would like to finish today’s short blog by quoting St. Augustine, one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity: “The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

Happy 70th Birthday Tina Turner

Today, November 26th, 2009, the legendary Tina Turner is celebrating 70th birthday, and after 5 decades spanning career she is still Simply The Best. I was privileged to see her live in concert 7 times on her Tina! 50th Anniversary Tour. Miss Tina Turner is incredible and amazing. So much energy and positive attitude. 70 years young and still looks incredible. Tina Turner is living proof that if a person takes care of him or herself 70 is really nothing.

Tina Turner, you are my inspiration and I love you very much. I wish you a very Happy Birthday and lots of sweet little surprises to come along your way. I hope that your next 70 years will be as good as this one and much better. I hope to see you one more time live in concert, and I know you will not rest your dancing shoes until you are at least 90.

All the Best and see you again live in concert. Happy 70th Birthday.

Taj Mahal, India

During my stay of almost 6 months in India I had the amazing opportunity to visit some incredible places and I made sure to take the advantage of every opportunity available to experience as many different sides as possible of this immensely rich, varied, and stimulating land. From the moment you arrive you can see contrasts. They are very obvious. On a busy road in Bangalore or Delhi or anywhere in India, you could see a bullock cart, a heard of goats, a bicycle, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a hand painted truck, a monkey, the latest model Mercedes car, a wondering cow, air-conditioned bus, and sometimes even an elephant, and all somehow magically getting along together with remarkably few accidents.

One of my dreams came true when I saw Taj Mahal, which is located in Agra, approximately 4 hours drive from New Delhi – a trip worth taking. Taj Mahal was simply astonishing and amazing. Build 400 years ago and it looks like it was build yesterday. Trip to India is not complete without seeing Taj Mahal. We arrived around noon in Agra. It was raining heavily when we arrived and we were disappointed on the weather. However, just when we stepped out of the car and started walking towards Taj Mahal the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was like in a movie. The sun was so strong, over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the blue sky was like painted. All of us, my friends, the driver and our guide looked at each other with surprised face. I could not believe my eyes. Yes, it was extremely hot and we all were very sweaty but I didn’t care. One of my dreams was just about to become reality.

Apparently about 30 to 40 000 tourists come to visit Taj Mahal every day during high season. Months of July and August are the hottest and that’s why there are not so many tourists around, however, there were still well over a few thousands when we arrived.

Taj Mahal or a “dream in marble” is the most beautiful building of the world. It is made of white marble in the loving memory of the then Empress of India. When she became young, she attracted then Prince Khurram and both of them started loving each other very much. At the time she gave birth to their 14th child she fell seriously ill. It is said that at the time of her death, the Indian Empress Mumtaz Mahal expressed her last wish to the Royal Emperor Shah Jahan that he will build a beautiful and incomparable monument over here grave as a token of their worldly inseparable love.
After the death of Mumtaz Mahal – The Lady of the Taj – the Emperor could not bear this great loss of his dear wife and his health began to decline. For complete two years or so, he totally abstained himself from all kinds of pleasure and functions. The Empress dead body was moved to Agra on December 29th, 1631 and it was again buried temporarily. The Emperor announced a memorial to be built for his dear wife and invited the best architects of the world. So many designs were put before the Emperor, but ultimately the design of an architect named Ustad Isa Afandi from Turkey was selected and the constructions of the Taj started.

The white marble of the top highest quality was brought from Rajasthan, India. The other material such as Red stones, yellow and black marble, precious stones, gold and silver were received from various kings and chiefs of the empire and outside of India. Construction started 1631 and finished in the year 1648. The completion of Taj took 22 years to build and about 20 000 workers worked on it. Also other buildings such as Mosque were built as well. Just to build the entrance took another 5 years. Further the Mosque in the front and some other smaller buildings took another 5 years. Thus, in total, the Taj took 22 long years in its completion. It is said that 22 small domes on the main entrance gate of the Taj represent 22 years spent in the construction of the Taj.

Everything in Taj Mahal is symmetrical and built with hand. No paintings. All the writings in Arabic, all pictures and everything on the marble were made by hand. The Taj is perfect fusion of Indian and Persian architecture. The tomb for the Lady of Taj was build in the middle of the main building; however, since the 3rd son was into power and against Taj Mahal he killed his 3 brothers and imprisoned his father in order to take over the power. His father, the Emperor, started to build his own tomb across the river of Taj, but he never finished it. He spent 7 years imprisoned by his own son and when he died he got buried in Taj Mahal next to his wife. And that is the only thing in Taj Mahal that is not symmetrical. Taj Mahal – Taj apparently means “royal crown” and Mahal was the name of the Empress.

For every hour of the day and for every atmospheric condition the Taj Mahal has its own color values, from the soft dreaminess at dawn, and the dazzling whiteness at midday to its cold splendor in the moonlight, when the dome, thin of substance as the air, hangs among the starts like a great pearl. Yet none of these effects can equal those few fleeting moments when softly illuminated by the brief Indian after glow it assumes the enchanting tint of some pale and lively rose.

The guide actually demonstrated to us how the colors of Taj change depending on the weather conditions and light. It is truly amazing. I have never seen anything like that before. Simply amazing. This day I will remember forever. Taj Mahal – Symbol of Love.

Taj Mahal Entrance

Incredible Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal

Kylie Minogue Live in New York, October 12, 2009

Tonight was Kylie Minogue’s second sold-out show at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. It was a great show and worth waiting for. I saw Kylie live in concert for the first time in Frankfurt, Germany a few years ago on her European “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” Tour.

Kylie Minogue put a great show and exceeded everyone’s expectations. The show started at 8pm, and we were waiting in line since 4pm; although I met some people who were waiting the entire night to be in the front row. The show was great. Great performance. Great singing. Great dancers. Very well done and entertaining. All of my friends I came with had a big smile on their face when we were leaving the Ballroom and everyone liked the show.

Everyone in the crowd was singing with Kylie and screaming the lyrics, which annoyed the hell out of me. I wanted to hear Kylie, that’s why a came, but instead I had to listen to all those people around me. They were lauder than Kylie. In any case, I had lots of fun and Kylie concert was great. I cannot wait to see her once again, and I hope she will come back to New York very soon. Below are some pictures and the video from the New York show.

Just another day

This past week was very busy with work so I had barely time to go clubbing. However, I did manage to see Lady Gaga in one of the clubs in Soho. She looked very good and she was very nice. There is another busy week ahead, which is great. I love challenges and lots of things to do.

Junior’s Dancing Moments

Today my dear brother and his 2 year old son Junior surprised us with a visit at my parents’ house in Sweden. That was great to see my little nephew again. We had so much fun dancing, laughing, talking and playing with Junior.

My dear nephew copies everything what we adults do. If we are laud he wants to be laud too; if we sing he sings too, although he doesn’t even speak; if we laugh he just laughs too; he is so cute and adorable. We played some music for him today and he danced the entire time till he got tired. He laughed to him self. He noticed that when my dad sings he hits the table with his hand as a sign of happiness and that he enjoys the song and says “Opaa”. Well, my dear sweet nephew did the same thing. He was dancing with hands all up in the air and then in the middle he just hit the table said “Opaa” and continued dancing.

That was so cute. He continued dancing with his hands all up in the air and then he took his bottle and said “Cheers” and drank his drink. Wow, kids are so smart and adorable. Below is a small video of my 2 year old nephew dancing.

Olofstrom, Sweden

Last night I took an overnight flight to Copenhagen, Denmark. I arrived around 8am today and took a train from Copenhagen to Kristianstad, Sweden, where my parents picked me up. The flight was very quick, only 6 hours and 30 minutes on Scandinavian airlines (SAS) from Newark airport, New Jersey to Copenhagen, Denmark. The train ride from the Copenhagen airport to Kristianstad was also very pleasant and fast. It took only 1 hour and 45 minutes.

As always my parents picked me up at the train station and we drove to a small town where they live, Olofstrom, which is about 30 minutes drive from Kristianstad. It was so great to see my parents and I am so looking forward to spend some time with them. I usually come to visit them twice a year and spend about 3-4 days at a time. Usually when I come to visit my parents I don’t want to do anything else but just sit with my parents, talk and spend some good quality time with them.

In the afternoon my dear brother came after work to see me. He works in Olofstrom where my parents live, but he lives in Kristianstad, which is a little bigger town than Olofstrom and not that far away. We all then drove to my brother’s place to see his wife and his 2 year old son, who is my nephew and I call him Junior because he looks exactly the same as my brother.

Junior is so cute and adorable. He is a child who is so full of positive energy and always smiles, wants to play and he is very smart. It was so great to see him, to play with him and just to be around my family. We had a great time together. I took plenty of pictures and videos – memories for life. Now I have a small family project to edit all those pictures and videos and create a nice short family movie. I always do that and I like to edit movies.

What a wonderful day full of sweet memories and great laughter. After a few hours at my brother’s house we drove back to my parents’ house, where we eat dinner, watched some old comedy movies that I got for my parents. We laughed a lot and it was great to just sit back, relax and be with my parents.

Adorable Junior

Junior and Tom

My sweet Junior

About my blogging

I just saw the movie “Julie & Julia”, which was a wonderful movie, and Meryl Streep, the 2 time Oscar winning actress with 13 Oscar nominations (so far) was absolutely wonderful. It is just amazing to see how great of an actress Meryl Streep is. Absolutely amazing. She portrayed Julia Child exactly how she was, and in every single movie she is “the character” and gives her absolutely very best. I hope she wins another Oscar. Meryl Streep was fabulous, adorable and just amazing. I love her.

Anyway, I was thinking to write about something else today. By watching the movie about “Julie & Julia”, which is about Julie who writes a blog about her attempt to cook her way through Child’s seminal 1961 cookbook called “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in 365 days and covering 524 recipes. Julia Child is the one who actually inspired me. The way how Julia Child was and her way of passion not only to cooking but also to living. She was a person who was full of life and she loved being alive, and that for me is very inspirational.

The reason why I am writing about this is because I am also a person who is full of great positive energy, full of life and don’t like the negativity. That’s one of the reasons why I write my blog. I like to share nice, funny, positive and informative stories and thoughts from my life. If not for anything else, but just for me to read it again at the later point in life and to recall certain parts of my own life and to laugh again. Laughter is what is important and what will keep you going even if you don’t see any light in the tunnel.

So, I decided to write more about positive thinking, life and more about funny great inspirational stories. And whatever one might do or try in life there should be no excuses. That’s at least what Julia Child was saying. She said we should not apologize, because it would make it even worse. Just laugh at say “Bon Appetit!”

TV Series now days

I am just watching one of the new TV Series called “Drop Dead Diva”, which at the beginning I kind of liked, but then watching tonight’s show I got little disappointed. Can this show be more unrealistic? Anyway, I just miss the old good days with “Will & Grace”, “Friends”, “Sex and The City” and “Golden Girls”, when you could not wait for the next week to come to see the next show and even today I can watch them all over and over again and never get enough of them. I am wondering what’s next big hit. I am not seeing any in the near future. Currently it is only “Project Runway” I am following and looking forward for Thursday to come.