My week in review…

After a week of doing next to nothing and feeling awful, because I was sick – sinus inflammation is a bitch, my headaches were insane – this week I decided that I really had to be productive.

A few weeks ago we got an e-mail from my university indicating the possibility of doing an Erasmus+ for Doctorate students. The list of countries though was a little less than desirable, it included every single place except the European Union – bummer, since in my field is where most of the labs are. Still, after talking things over with my advisor, we decided to put 2 places and just wait for the application call. Tuesday night we got an e-mail again saying that we have until February 5th to deliver an acceptance letter and a short essay… they gave us 9 days!!!

So, in my feeble attempt not to panic, I started redacting the letters for the 2 directors of the 2 centers I had pre-pre selected, my advisor looked them over, and off they went! Thank God for emails… I don’t know how people did this in the old days.

Given that the 2 places are in opposite sides of the world, and both very far away from Spain, I panicked a bit, because the likelihood of any of them accepting me with such short time to process, it’s very low – even though it would only be for the next school year, especially when you factor in the time difference between places. My heart dropped a bit a second after I sent the emails, because I got an answer right away, a “I’m sorry, I’m away at the moment” automatic kind of message…

I decided to go about my day as usual, thinking that it would probably be a good few days before anyone decided (if they decided) to respond. I was already in bed, late the same day, when I got an email from the Big Wig that was away (apparently we wasn’t away anymore), and he was super nice and even though he did not say “yes, sure”, he did say he was going to talk to the PI’s from the lines I was interested in and asked what would they have to provide to make it happen.

Yeah… I was totally fangirling about the email, even though he was likely to respond some time, it’s still exhilarating when you get an email from a Scientist you admire and respect so much!

Again, mails sent, I tried to keep it out of my mind because it’s not that big of a deal: if they accept me and everything, I still have to apply and nothing garanties me that they will give me the scholarship for the mobility program, so yeah, relax!

Relax did not come easy on Thursday, given that my undergrad lost the confidence or just plainly forgot how to do a bunch of protocols. I reckon it’s my fault, because I nicely asked him before each one if he thought/remember how to do them by himself… each time the answer was NO! Come on man, are you kidding me?! He spent 4 months in that lab and he had the audacity to tell me he did not remember how to do something he did a bunch of… kill me now!

Friday finally came, a good day, because FRIDAY! (I don’t know why I sound excited about this day when I am bound to work all weekend) Still, Friday was my undergrad last day! YUUUPPPIIII!!!! Very nice indeed, since I won’t have another one, which means that I’m on my own and doing my kind of schedules again, without having to worry about a kid anymore.

Time went by quickly, due to the little amount of stuff I had to do Friday and around lunchtime I told him “it’s done, over”. I decided to take him to my advisor’s office, so he could say goodbye to her, and that’s when she drops a tiny bit of information: “Oh, he asked if he could stay on, keep coming to the lab, but I forgot to talk to you!”.

I looked at him, how the hell did he not mention it to me and talked to my PI, are you kidding me?!

Knowing full well that if he did stay on, he would work under me, he shared my office for 4 months and it never occurs to him to say “hey, I was thinking that maybe I could stay on”… really people?!

Not expecting this at all! Obvious we told him that we would talk about it between the 2 of us and would tell him something, obvious I said to my advisor that sure, but not if he staying on will mean I get behind. So we’ll see… but, hell!

So… Saturday! I had to go to work, but decided to sleep a bit and go later because, well, sleep! Obvious something had to go wrong and I woke up to an email from the Big Wig I talked about earlier with a bit of “not so good” news… the PI which I was interested to work with (because it relates so much with my thesis) is moving to another lab sometime this year, which means that he won’t be able to host me…

Bummer, still, he told me to get in direct contact with both PIs he recommended to see what can be done and now I don’t even know how to start… I’m totally blocked! It would help if somebody from the other lab I wrote to replied… but no! I really want to work with this guy and I’m kind of happy because he’s moving somewhere I really want to go… I just can’t do it on Erasmus, but hey, everything is not lost!

Flash and Arrow and damn… I was surprised this week.

It’s always incredible when a 22/24 episode per season show can still pull the rug out from under you on the middle of the season. Be warned, they will be spoilers!

Lets start with The Flash and that amazing episode. The villain was intriguing, Cisco and Caitlin were hilarious and sweet and funny (as usual). But Wells, oh man, Harrison Wells!!! We had all figured it out a while back that he was the man on the yellow suit, but now he’s not only gazing at his suit, he’s speeding. Oh yeah people, Wells is running (Flash running) and leaving behind a red lighting. But something is wrong though, he’s not able to maintain the speed and in fact, for a moment there, he’s not even able to stand up. This beg the question, is he really the “Reverse Flash” we saw a couple of episodes ago? Or they are in fact the same person at different moments in time?!

Damn it, it looks like The Flash writers really know what they’re doing. Perfect moments come whenever Joe and Barry share the same space, their relationship is just magic – and Joe might just be my favourite character on this show. Even Iris was pretty OK this week.

Now lets move on to Arrow and Team Arrow shines one more. For me this episode really brought Roy and Laurel up.

It’s so amazing to see Roy be a man, something he’s not often allowed the chance to be, being the youngest of them all, but here he helps Laurel come to her own, he stands up for Thea and wow, his fight choreographies are just the best.

Laurel Lance, wow, and I never thought I would say this, but wow. They are doing it so right. They are showing how not like her sister she is, but how she deserves a chance to prove that she’s capable. I’m glad she gets her ass kicked and is almost shot, and falls when she tries to jump, and that suit, ugly as hell, but hey, by the end of the episode I couldn’t help but like her a bit more (which in all honesty, was not hard at all).

Felicity finally came around, realizing that the heroes fight for those they love who are still alive and goes to help not only Team Arrow, but Ray Palmer as well. I did not like that closeness between them when she was patching his wounds, though I admit, Ray Palmer is really growing on me (and I would totally watch his would be spin-off).

Oliver is standing! Oh yeah! Did Tatsu really just treated him with traditional medicine and penicillin? And could have happen that as made Maseo leave his wife? Was he somewhat responsible for their child’s death? Just trying to guess here.

Well done Thea, though I do not approve of her relationship with her father, I did like to see her standing her ground and lecturing him, it was nice for a change to see how grown up she’s gotten. And what about that last scene, hey?! So her DJ/Wannabe Boyfriend is a member of the League?! I did not see that one coming!

The fighting on this episode was insanely good. Between the Arsenal/Black Canary team up and the flashbacks to Hong Kong with Maseo and Tatsu and Oliver fighting, and Tatsu and Maseo killing those League members like it was nothing… brutal! Amazing!

Fantastic Four: first trailer is out!

Here it is! The reboot of the Fantastic Four finally got a trailer.

Staring Miles Teller as Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic, Kate Mara as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and directed by Josh Trank, seems a lot more serious than the old version.

I have to be honest, it looks great and all, and I will be running to watch it at the theatre, but it’s weird. I think they are all too young to play these roles and I don’t know if the serious tone will do well for this franchise. Let’s wait and see.

David Tennant is coming to MARVEL!

On Netflix at least! David was casted was the villain Killgrave (Purple Man) on the upcoming Netflix show Marvel’s AKA Jessica Jones, opposite the marvelous Krysten Ritter.

This will be the second Marvel/Netflix show to air, following Marvel’s Daredevil, which will start in April.

Emma Watson will be Belle!

What a great piece of news. Anything that can shine a so deserved spotlight on the amazing Emma Watson is worth reporting.

Disney has found its newest princess! Emma Watson will be Belle in the Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. And as the new princess reports, it will be a musical. The movie is set to come out in 2016 and will be directed by Bill Condon, no other actors have been attached to the project yet.

Arrow: Left Behind

Arrow is back and let me take a moment to wipe all the tears away (and now my headache just got bigger). Left behind is an incredible well chosen title… Oliver is gone and everyone is feeling a little left behind… Caution, there will be spoilers.

With Oliver gone for 3 days, Team Arrow does its best to keep the baddies of the streets, with Diggle wearing the Arrow’s costume and being a rather bad bowman. Still, Roy and Diggle raise to the challenge and do their best, while Felicity commands the troops from the Arrow cave, all the while maintaining that Ollie will be back, he has always came back before. The boys though, are not so sure and John tries to warn her that she should ready herself, that maybe this time things did not went Oliver’s way, but she’s having none of it.

It’s not until Malcolm gets there (for the second time) with the sword that killed Ollie, with his blood all over it, that she crumbles and admits that he is gone. Then, unable to process her grief, she tells off Ray on his plans for the ATOM suit, saying that she can’t lose another friend, and allows the bad guys to run off with a bunch of evidences, which will allow most of the people they had put away for the last 8 months go free, because she was afraid to lose Diggle and Roy too. This leads her to conclude that there is no “it” without Oliver, she’s DONE.

Roy is broken by the lost of his friend and mentor, and Diggle is as lost as Felicity, not knowing where to go from there. Meanwhile Laurel deals the only way she can, she puts on her sister’s Canary costume and off to the street she goes, after the bad guys that were released for lack of evidences.

Meanwhile, in the flashbacks to Hong Kong, we learn that Oliver went against Waller’s orders and helped Maseo in getting Tatsu back. And this is the reason he’s alive, Maseo takes him to Tatsu in order for her to save him (as to how, I assume we are going to learn next week). So, take a deep breath people, Oliver Queen is ALIVE!

• This was probably the first episode (ever) that I did not find Laurel insufferable. The fact that she consoled Diggle and stayed strong, made me like her a bit.

• David Ramsey and Emily Bett Rickards owed this episode!

• I loved that Thea is worried about her brother (finally), but poor girl, she can put together that her ex boyfriend is Arsenal, but can’t get to the conclusion that her brother, that is always with Roy, is in fact the Arrow?!

• Where is the hallowed ground where they fight their battles? Because they can get there in next to no time, but the weather is totally different.

• So, are Malcolm and Thea going on the run? Or is she putting her foot down?!

X-Men: Apocalypse! Meet the new (old) mutants!

The casting is out. After some time of speculation over who was going to play Jean, Storm and Cyclops in the new X-Men: Apocalypse, that will be set up in the 80’s, director Bryan Singer took twitter to announce the results.

https://twitter.com/BryanSinger/status/558437540831567872

So, here we have it. Sophie Turner (a.k.a. Sansa from GoT) will be playing the fierce and powerful Jean Grey. I can see it, I think Sophie is amazing – playing Sansa and dealing with all the s**t from people all of these years must have prepared her for this. And besides, I can see a little (very faint but there) of Famke Janssen in there.

Alexandra Shipp will take the role of Ororo Munroe or Storm, filling in the shoes that once belonged (and technically in the future still do) to Halle Berry. No objections about this, I am not familiar with her work.

Finally Tye Sheridan will be young Scott Summers or Cyclops. Again, I do not know his work and can only guess that he’s extraordinary. That said, he looks nothing like James Marsden, and although of similar age to Sophie, he looks younger than her. I do hope that it somehow works in terms of chemistry between the two actors.

Broadchurch S02E03 (or, I can’t believe they went there!)

I have said a few times how much I loved the first season of Broadchurch, not I’ll tell you what, I’m liking this one even more. The intricacies of different plots together with the intricacies of the different characters is making the show infinitely more appealing to me.

Just a few notes on the most recent episode:

• Lee or Claire? When the episode begun I had no doubt (like Hardy) that Lee was responsible for the girls deaths in Sandbrook. But then, well, Claire went with him pretty easily, then he called her to tell her that he would stay away (it didn’t ring super dangerous to me), then after being a dick to Hardy he went ahead and gave him a few folders of his own investigation into Sandbrook, because he did not do it. Meanwhile, Claire does her best to frame Lee, changes her version of the events of that night, and for one so scared, her behaviour shure looks weird. One thing I think was true: Lee probably got involved with the older cousin, but I don’t think he was the one to kill them. Also, there’s someone else involved, someone who sent a bluebell to Claire.

• Are freaking serious Beth? So Ellie helps her to the house, helps her get ready to have the baby, bonds with her daughter and then she kicks her out? Still blaming her for not knowing? The shoe is really going to drop when she finds out where her husband is every single day.

• The lawyers. Bishop’s son is in jail – this was probably the case that Jocelyn refused some time earlier – as to why, we do not know. Meanwhile Jocelyn’s mother is in a facility that she obviously can’t afford, and was it just me or does Jocelyn herself have some kind of medical condition?! And what is her relation to Maggie?

• And finally, OMG, I can’t believe they went there (so to speak). Poor Ellie, this week was all about her sex life. First she goes on a girls-night.out with Claire and ends up sleeping with a random stranger (while begging him to say that he loves her… sad). Then she finally gets to court, has to detail all about her sex life with her husband and then, on top of it all, is accused of maintaining an affair with Alec Hardy (can you believe it?!)!!! Poor woman, I guess no one heard her when she was shouting at him saying that she hoped he crashed the car and had an heart attack while crashing it…

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt… =D

Have you seen the trailer for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt?! No?! GO WATCH IT! I admit that when I saw the title I thought “no way I’m going to want to watch this” and then I swallowed my words and I can’t wait for the show to come out.

Originally created for NBC, the Tina Fey and Robert Carlock show was sold to Netflix, where it will air coming March 6 (all 13 episodes on the same day!). And bonus good news?! Second season is already ordered =D.

‘Blue Monday’, a cold, Jane Austen and Galavant

Oh yes, today is the gloomiest day of the year. When I got to work at 8 a.m. I saw this and thought: “nonsense, today is great, my baby niece turns 7!”.

By 10 a.m. I was pretty sure that all the predictions were right. The cold that was threatening me for over 2 days finally hit me, so hard that I can’t stay away from a tissue for longer than 15 minutes and that’s the maximum amount of time I can look (without loosing focus) into my computer screen.

By this time I knew that most of the work I did yesterday was in vain. By 12 p.m. I was counting the minutes so I could leave and come home, which I eventually did around 2 p.m., announcing at the same time that I’m in no condition to go to work tomorrow – to which my advisor told me “oh yes, stay at home, please do”.

The rest of the day went by in the darkness of my room (bright light hurts my eyes), watching a Jane Austen movie I had here – Northanger Abbey (which I loved) and then discovering the amazingness of Galavant.

Tomorrow I’ll stay home, hopefully I’ll feel good enough to do some work, I still have one movie and 2 BBC miniseries by Jane Austen that I need to catch up on…