If you are a male, escape these traps in Tinder!!!

Dating apps, if we like it or not, they have become a pivotal part of the current dating life all over the world for single people wanted to meet other people, have dates, fun or something serious.

As a single middle aged man who has used dating apps for several years in different countries and continents in the world, and I have gone to hundreds of dates where I have had from great fun to awful experiences, I wanted to share my experience for those of you who might be a bit naive due to young age or having started to use these dating apps recently. The title of the article refers to Tinder as the most famous dating app worldwide, but you can apply the same principle to any other like Bumble, Hinge or whatever you might be using to try to find company.

So here are my top list of 13 kind of female profiles to avoid and not waste your previous time too much if you want to avoid losing money, getting scammed or a huge amount of drama and headaches:

1. The girl who shows half naked in her pics but only want a serious thing.

I think people should understand that actions have consequences in life, and the way that you present yourself matters. You will find a huge amount of profiles, specially with young girls, where the pics leave very little to the imagination. Scanty clothes, tiny biknis, lingerie, suggestive erotic poses, the whole array. Then you must think, “oh ok this girl is up for fun right” and then if you start chatting, she will say that only serious things. Really, I would recommend to avoid these like a plague. First cause probably she is telling that to you while fucking another hot dude, she is using her looks to get free dinners and cocktails that you are going to pay and she is showing herself half naked for any user out there, not just for you. Situation can be become evern worse if you start dating one of these girls and you become “her official paparazzi” where she asks you to take tones of pics of herself to post for anybody to see in her social media. Do you understand that the same pics you take for her are the ones she will use to send to the next guy she is banging after she breaks up with you? Please, avoid them. There is something worse than a slut, and that is an hypocrite slut.

2. The girl who does not do ONS

“I do not do one night stands”…the infamous female shield sentence we all have read millions of times. For starters, be assured that is not true, she does or has done in the past. Now probably she wants you as a provider while she is or was happily jumping on dicks of other hot guys. Take into account that this excuse is also perfect to hook you up in invite to dinner and drinks and activities for several days with the promise that you will have some action.
Remember one thing, girls make guys wait for sex when they are not so interested in them. Personally, I have a rule that if in 2 dates maximum no intimate advances have happened, then is not worthy to be pursued. Sex is not something that needs to happen in 5 minutes, but is something that separates dating from just friendship. And I guess you are not in Tinder to make friends, cause for that you can go with your mates to watch football, drink beer and talk videogames. Also remember that for having a second or third night, there has to be a first. So just joke with the ladies, tell things like if you have that stupid rule of no sex in first day etc then you have a rule that no sex in the second date. That usually blows their mind :) Make also clear in a polite way that you are a man, not a child, and intimacy when chemistry clicks is expected in adult dating. If they continue refusing any idea of hot intimacy, let them go. I mean, why would you make efforts to sleep with somebody who would not share a similar desire for you?

3. The girls who want money and sugar daddies

Up to you if you want to pay for fun, but I personally do not like that, as I find that it diminishes my value as a man with a lot to offer. Besides, don’t you prefer to have fun with a girl who is into fun for enjoying and not for trying to finish asap and run with your money?
Our current feminist toxic society is relentlessly brainstorming our brains with the idea that women are the victims and men are evil sexual predators. Funnily enough the most famous documentary about scamming in Tinder, “The Tinder Swindler” is about a man. Nobody does documentaries about the millions of women who try to scam the money out of naive men in so many different ways. Asking gifts, asking to be invited, asking money for sex. You might remember also that soliciting (asking money for sexual activities) is not allowed in Tinder and in most of the dating apps, so it is an illegal activity that you should not endorse, but quite the opposite, you should report those profiles.
My advice, when you encounter these profiles, and you will encounter them cause they are everywhere, just report or delete. If you are not into this of course, and you should not be if you consider yourself a man of a certain value. Do not try to convince them to have a normal date. These girls only have money in their brains. Just delete and focus your effort on normal girls. Remember, wanting intimacy and sex is not a crime in dating, even when we men are getting constantly insulted for being men. Other things like trying to scam money, insult or use violence are bad things, but sharing pleasure in a mutual way is not. So do not be ashamed of being a man, but also do not have patience with prostitutes and scammers flooding the dating apps.

4. The girl who wants a husband and a family

Well, you are using a dating app where the idea is to meet people, have fun and see how things develop. But you will find a lot of these ladies that are only about serious things, and put comments like “do not play games” or “do not waste my time”. Personally, I would not waste too much time with them. Or they are desperate middle aged women who just want a man to “support them” (translate into wanting your money for the rest of their lives), or they think that they are a princess and special to be born and you are into this world to fulfill their desires.
Any person with common sense would understand that a long relation takes time and sharing experiences (including sexual experiences) to identify if getting into a serious monogamous relationship is feasible. Do not be stupid to lose your freedom just to bend to the wishes of any desperate woman online. Remember that from their side, they will have no moral remorse when they break up with you, ignore you or ghost you, according to their own benefit.
This becomes even more funny when you have women on their 40s telling you the line that they want a family and children. Remember, they have had more than 20 years of adult life to achieve that if they wanted first, so what did they do for more than 2 decades? Choosing bad partners? Having random fun and sucking dick with no commitment until age hit them? You are not responsible to fix the life of any woman.
On these lines, I would not recommend either to be involved in a serious relation with a divorced woman with small children. Usually they are great fun to fuck around, but remember that you will never be the first priority in their life. Any weekend plan can be suddenly cancelled if a child is sick, not mentioning that you will end up meeting the child and then paying meals not only for her but also for children that are not yours. Plus they usually will never allow you to discipline them as “you are not the father”. So do not fall into that trap either.

5. The girl who is a princess and wants princess treatment and hates 50/50

These girls can be defined more easily as goldiggers. They are not princesses, they do not have royal blood and they are no special. They also go to the WC every day same like you. They are just trying to use their hot looks and their big boobs to take advantage of you as much as they want. Be invited to dinners, clubs, parties and not pay a single cent.
I am not telling that you need to be stingy in a date, but choose carefully in the first 1 or 2 dates the place where you meet and the intentions of a girl. I ‘d personally would not spend much money on a first date for a total strange woman that has not given me anything, has not showed me any value or what kind of person or interest has for me. If a woman says that you need to put a lot of effort to spend a lot of money in first dates with her, then I would run away. In theory when you match in a dating app, interest should be mutual. Of course you as a man are gonna have to lead, ask first most of the times and choose what plan to do, but once again, do not make too huge efforts. Something like a couple of beers or a picnic in a park or a beach is enough if the girl is a normal sweet girl. There will be time later if she has shown you that she is nice and you have had good sex if you wanna make the effort to invite her to some weekend escape or dinner. So do not be stupid with your energies and your money so she can just post some fancy pic in her Instagram of a nice beach club or dinner where she did not pay a cent for or spent more time on the phone chatting with other guys than talking to you

6. The girl who only answers with “Yes”, “No” or emoticons

Yes, women are lazy and they usually have a bigger array of potential guys to meet. But in theory when you match somebody, should be with some kind of mutual desire to get to know each other.
Do not accept the chats where she answers with an emoticon or a single word. For me, after 2 or 3 of those answers with 0 effort, is time to unmatch. They are just there having you as the back up plan number 10, or waiting if you offer some expensive dinner or tickets to a concert. She is not making any effort even to communicate like a normal person with you, so stop with the interrogator mode and move on. Any girl who is really interested in you will answer with full sentences and will make the effort to ask you some questions to get to know you before you arrange a real date.

7. The girl who is always too busy to meet

But we know that nobody is really so busy right? Specially nowadays when girls have their mobile phones glued to their hands 20/7 and they can send messages even from the toilet.
You got a match, you started a conversation in whatsapp, she lives in the same city far from you but week after week, every time you propose to meet, she is busy. She seems to have 0 free time after work, she has plans with friends, she has a trip…
You see where this is going right? Stop communicating with her. She has very little interest in meeting, so I think that after a couple of delays or cancellations, is time to strike out. Be polite, say that it ‘d be wonderful to meet but that you cannot be asking every week and ignore her. Sometimes the lack of attention might work out in your favor and she will come back to you weeks later proposing to meet. And if not, it was never meant to be so do not waste your time for nothing. She is probably banging other guys while giving you excuses.

8 The girl who shares with you unrequested private information of the fun she had with other men

When I have some steamy conversations with a girl, I want to know what hot fun she would like to do with me. I would not care less about other people, unless it would be that she wants to bring other cute girl for a threesome. But from time to time you will find these girls that out of nowhere they will share info of guys they went recently on dates, that invited them to do something, that had sex with them…withouth having been asked.
For me personally, this is a red flat and a lack of respect, with the only intention to create jealousy and drama. Would you jeopardize the chance to meet a cute girl telling her unrequested info about the other girl you fucked the day before? It is not classy. So when a woman starts to be disrespectful, just stop her asap. And if she does not apologize, then tell her to fuck off.

9. The crazy yoga/tantra/positive energies lady

Oh yeah, they are around these kind of ladies. Putting in their profiles all kind of shit about the energy of the universe, the positive energy only, their love for yoga, the tantra sex and shit like that. Do not get confused, behind that fake facade of love and harmony there are usually women not mentally stable with a perturbed mind, who are unkind and narcissitic and will snap and scream at you the moment you share an opinion different from them. Put on the same basket the extreme feminists or the ladies with extreme left political views. If you are not a submissive simp puppet guy and you have your own opinions, better run away from them. Besides, tantric sex is boring as hell…

10. The girl with the shopping list about the 100 requirements for the guy she wants to date

The girl would date you, but only if you are taller than 1.85, sporty, rich, generous (translate generous to give your money, not to share your french fries), have great humor (but only if you are a hot guy with humor, ugly guys with humor or short guys with humor not welcomed), etc etc etc.
Once again, I would personally run away from these profiles where they act like a queen on the throne choosing what slave they want. The principle of dating apps is meeting people and sharing an effort an interest in each other. We are not perfect and we do not need to be. I do not know why a woman who has never met me should judge me just cause I am short while she is wearing make up, using filters in the pics that sometimes get ridiculous, push up bras, heels, lie about their age, post pictures taken 10 years ago with 15 kgs less… so once again, avoid these profiles. Let them live in their dream of the perfect guy that never exists.

11. The fat girl who acts like she is proud to be fat

I do not want to sound too harsh, cause there are all kind of body types in the world. But in most cases, when a girl is fat, is because she is eating too much and not exercising enough. Fine, there are guys who might like fat girls, although most men would like a nice figure. What I find funny is the fat girls who try to disguise it as “I am chubby” or that in literally every picture they appear eating. Please bitch, if you are fat, at least do not even show it proudly in every photo eating cakes…

12. The girl who is super sporty and only dates sporty guys

Sports are great for the body and mind. I practice and I have practiced sports. That does not mean that a compulsory requirement for dating a girl is that she must like playing football table or doing indoor cycling 5 times a week like me. But you will see these profiles where the girl really wants a guy to go to run with her, if not, she will not date you. Once again, do not sacrifice your own independency and hobbies for her. You are the driver of your own lifestyle and if a woman comes, is to add value, not to have your will bent to their wishes

13. The girl who will snap and insult you gratuitously out of nowhere

At this point of the article, I think that is clear that my opinion is that you should not tolerate disrespectful behaviour from women in dating apps. This includes sentences passive agressive like “go to fuck a prostitute if you want free fun”, trying to diminish your value as a man (like if sex would not be free and mutual when both persons want it, which happens millions of times in millions of dates everywhere in the world).

I have experienced women getting super nasty and insulting just for the simple fact that I did not want the same they wanted. It might be I was on holidays so I just wanted some casual fun date and they wanted a super serious thing, and started to snap at me and insult me. Even prostitutes and sugar babies that got frustrated when they saw that there was no money to milk coming their way.
Once again, my advice is, if you notice she is being dramatic, insulting or disrespectful, stop it immediately. Unlatch, block, report but do not stay in the chat counter-arguing with a mentally unstable women. There are many other more normal women you can spend your time, efforts and energy with. Do not get sucked in their drama, cause many ladies feed on drama. Also, refrain from insulting back, even if you would have a right to do so after being disrespected. What might happen is that the crazy bitch will report you, and a couple of reports in Tinder ban your account with no explanation or chance to defend yourself. So just report or delete and move on to chat with more sane women.

13. The girl who wants you to entertain her during holidays
I lived several years in Bangkok, being Thailand the most touristic country in the world, so of course the capital would attract a fair amount of female single tourists checking Tinder while on holidays.
Sometimes, if you are lucky, this can be fun, as it is kind of understood that is just casual holiday fun. But be aware of the many traps with the female tourists. Many of them will want to use you as a “tourist guide”, meaning to show them cool places, restaurants etc where obviously most likely you will end up paying for everything. Remember you are in Tinder to date, not to work for free as a guide and not to pay the travel expenses of girls. So my advice is do not invest too much money in advance and try to meet asap. Those girls are really flaky, they can agree on a plan with you and then they might have 20 other dudes chatting and offering better plans, so the risk that they ghost you or cancel you or never show up in an agreed date is very high. I had situations where I spent hours crossing Bangkokg, showering and preparing myself to be ghosted with no remorse. So be careful with those profiles that want the “guide”, they are just usually jiggling which of the 50 guys they are chatting with offer them the best deal. In general I would avoid also any other profile that says that are in Tinder “to learn languages” or that try to sell you any kind of service. Tinder is not Linkedin. Tinder is an app for dating. If they want to use it for work, there are other platforms, and if they want to learn languages, you can teach all the dirty vocabulary in bed, if not they can go to many other language exchange apps.

What happens in Japanese rom-com animes that will never happen in real life

Last months I have got really into watching Japanese rom-com animes, becoming a new hobby.
Their easy availability in streaming platforms, my passion and love for aspects of Japanese culture and its language, the beautiful drawings from the original mangas that most of this series come from, and very funny and touching scripts with a very clever use of cliffhangers that makes you evoke feelings of love, doubt, rejection and a time in life where everything was brighter and new to experience has caught my attention.

However, when I think objectively about many patterns repeated in most of the series and in most of the MCs characters, I often have to chuckle to myself. Yes, we know that they are not based on real life and it is fiction, but still some of the actions and topics in these series, when you think a few seconds objectively, are something that really would go under the basket of “things that are never gonna happen to you in your life”, at least from a male perspective.

So for my own amusement and entertainment, I am going to create a list of things that happen in Japanese rom-com anime that you will likely never see them happening in your life, not matter if in your teenage years or as an adult. All with humor and sarcasms, of course :) Here we go:

1. The hottest girl in school is not gonna end up with the loner antisocial loser

Yes, we need to state the obvious. In most of the rom-com series, the plot spins around one or several of the hottest and most popular chicks at school or workplace falling in love, pursuing and creating all kind of situations to spend time with the main male character who tends to be an antisocial guy with no friends, no social skills, nerdy tastes of videogames and 0 experience with girls. Let’s get real, a lot of these scripts are made to fulfill the fantasies of wankers but in real life, you know that girl would end up hooking with the handsome sporty guy or the bad boy from school and will never make an effort to spend time with the nerd. Sorry to break your dreams mate.

2. Japanese teenagers live alone most of the time and have amazing cooking skills

Another recurrent topic that you need to laugh at. Magically, people of 16, 17 or 18 years old invite their classmates to their house and the family is never there, they live alone or spend a lot of time alone and even most surprisingly, usually one of the main characters has amazing cooking skills that would place them as competitors in Masterchef :) I remember my teenage years in Spain where my parents would never literally leave the house alone and we were too poor to pay a hotel. The only place to hook up intimately with a girl would be to try to find a secluded spot in a dark park or go to park somewhere for those who own a car… But if you are Japanese, do not worry, you have your bachelor den always ready for you :)

3. You randomly meet your crush anywhere in the city

I do not know if you are aware that Japanese cities are some of the biggest and most populated in the world. For example Tokyo and sorrounding areas account for 37 million population. If you would try to meet a friend in the centre of Tokyo with no phone and no way to contact to agree a meeting, most probably you would never ever cross paths in all your life. However, these high schoolers meet by chance their love interests everywhere outside the school. It can be at a library, a cofee shop, a convenience store, a super crowded festival, in the middle of Akihabara district… The city is in your pocket when is about creating some drama situations

4. Japanese people must be very weak because they faint all the time when sick

No good rom-com series skips an episode when one of the main characters is sick and their love interest shows up to take care of them with medicines, cooking and affection. The funny thing is that what is an usual cold or a flu is depicted as almost a life threatening sickness. The characters feint, daydream, forget everything that happens, they cannot even stand up straight… You would think that they have a terminal illness. Magically the power of love makes them recover back to life in no time.

5. Boys are so self controlled and not dominated by their hormones

Most of the rom-com characters are in teenage years, with little or 0 sexual experience. Usually they have never held hands with a girl or kissed or even hold a long conversation with girls. In many scenes, the hottest girl of school insinuates sexually, sits on their lap, openly ask the to lose the virginity with them, kiss them, touch them… and these boys nervously always rejects them. Like, can you imagine in real life when you are in the most horny period of your life, where just touching a hand can provoke you an erection, with the hottest chick in town half naked sitting stranding you, asking to be taken…and you would graciously reject it? Yeah, that might happen, when the pigs fly…

6. Believe it or not, girls do not go half naked to school.

Gosh, if you would see many of the outfits of the main female characters in high school, you would think that they go to record an adult movie scene instead of learning maths. Mini skirts that hardly cover the panties, huge cleaveage showing, sexy stockings… But no my dear wankers, actually most Japanese schools have very strick rules for dress code, with the skirt having to cover most of the legs, not mentioning that things like earrings or even dying your hair color is not permitted. We will leave the sexy maid and college uniforms for other private moments…

7. When there is a festival, something is about to happen

Yeah, every time there is an episode about Christmas party, a fireworks festival or the culture/sports festival at school, be ready because some major development and confession might happens. I guess that you need to wait one or two years to confess until these big events take place. The girl usually needs to wear a yukata of course, and eat a lot of food from the stalls. If not, love will not be fed.

8. Boys do not understand anything

Yeah yeah, it is true many of us could have been sometimes oblivious to understanding when a girl liked us. It is true that sometimes we men can be very thick in these things. But everything has a limit, I mean, when you have a girl who hugs you, kisses you, finds any excuse to spend time alone with you, asks you if you like her, gets jealous for any interaction you might do with other girls, shows almost naked just for you, calls you on the phone or texts you for hours… I might imagine that even the most inexperienced stupid boy in the world might think that the girl likes him, instead of “no no no no, this cannot be possible, she is thinking only of me as a friend”. I think that literally they could insert their penis inside them and for the first 2 minutes these characters would still think that is a big misunderstanding and self deprecate themselves.

A hidden gem in Lisbon: The Palace of the Marquesses of Fronteira

Lisbon, the vibrant Portuguese capital, is full of amazing locations to explore, from lovely beaches to amazing art museums, cafes, restaurants or parks.

One of the most beautiful places that I discovered by chance living here, that a bit located outside the usual tourist path, is the amazing Palace of the Marquesses of Fronteira.

 

The palace and its gardens were built in the XVII century, and still nowadays is populated by the descendants of the original Marquis of Fronteira and his family, so some of the palace rooms are restricted to private family use.

The location is not easy to reach but not super complicated. The best is to take the metro blue line to the zoological garden, and then from there to walk around 15/20 minutes to the palace, that is located on the edge of the Monsanto Park.

Entrance is not cheap. You have to purchase a guided tour with designated hours per language spoken during the tour, and it costs 17 euro per adult including the garden visit that can be done freely without guide. There is also the possibility to visit only the garden for 8 euro entrance.

I found it a bit expensive, specially cause I am not a great fan of guided tours and I prefer to explore palaces and museums on my own, but well, the experience to visit every beautiful room of the palace is nice, and you can admire beautiful pieces of art in the family collection, which highlight probably is an original painting by El Greco.

However, I think the real highlight of the place is its amazingly beautiful garden and the fountain with the decoration of the classic white and blue Portuguese tiles. You feel transported to a fairy tale, and it turns into one of the most photogenic and instagrammable locations in Lisbon. Specially recommended as this is a real hidden gem and is not massively visited by tourists, so you have the chance to take pics and visit with no stress of big crowds around.

For more information, visit: https://fronteira-alorna.pt/en/fronteira-palace/

Other hidden gem in Lisbon: https://www.freemagazine.fi/a-hidden-gem-in-lisbon-lisbon-city-museum-palacio-pimenta/

Luxembourg, that hidden gem of an European destination

Luxembourg had been on my radar as a potential destination to visit for a couple of years, basically cause I am running out of new exciting places to discover in Europe and partially because connections from Madrid airport, my hometown, were pretty ok with Ryan Air (yes, I do not like flying with them at all, but as far as they take you to your destination point, I can bare with them).

So Last December, as I gathered a few free days from work, I decided to spend a long weekend with a friend there. We found a hotel not far from the centre with a very nice ratio of quality price, The Double Tree by Hilton, which I gladly recommend as staff was friendly and the double room was really amazing and spacious, feeling more like a suite than a normal double room, and for a very good price considering that Luxembourg is not a cheap country.

Mind to explain first that I would not recommend Luxembourg for staying more than 3-4 days maximum. It gave me a similar vibe to other beautiful European cities that I visited in the past like Tallinn or Bratislava, where you feel amazing when you discover it for the first 2 days, but then can turn boring when you walk the same streets and areas again and again. Luxembourg is small and the offer of places and things to do is limited, but it is still super charming for a short stay.

Another big plus bonus that has is that during our stay, the public transportation around the city and suburb areas was totally free. This makes much more comfortable to have a hotel a few kilometers outside the centre, move around or even explore outside the city centre, and will save quite a few bucks from your wallet, so I was impressed with how comfortable is designed to move around.

As I explained, we visited during December pre Christmas time, and undoubtedly one of the highlights of the visit was to wander around the beautiful Christmas markets. You will find a few scattered around the city centre easily just walking around, and the atmosphere is very nice and chilled. You have a nice variety of bratwurst, sandwiches, fries and other delicatessens to fill your stomach and you can also try different tastes of hot red mulled wine with different flavors, I really loved the one mixed with amaretto. Even in our last evening, close to a skate rink, the Christmas market turned into a kind of improvised rave party with a DJ blasting music and people standing on the benches dancing. I never imagined that a Christmas market could give such a party fun vibe, so even in the middle of the cold winter, the spirits are held high!

Also as commented before, Luxembourg is not a cheap country, nonetheless has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world due to its strong financial system, but you do not need to go broke there. There are plenty of ok options for breakfasts at many cafes, and food in the Christmas markets is not very pricey. A different story is if you want to pamper in higher tier restaurants, where you will have to pay the price. I would say that is expensive but still not crazy for tourists. And on top of that, most of the staff in restoration speak English, French and German, so you should get along ok communicating around.

And you will wonder, so what is worthy to visit there? Well, you have of course some highlights, the Ducal Grand Palace is beautiful to observe from outside, although we did not get to go inside, and the Notre Dame Cathedral is also very nice to step in and savour his beautiful quiet atmosphere and the colorful windows, but probably the best area and more beautiful to see is to wander around La Chemin de la Corniche with outstanding views to the lower Grund neighborhood and the Alzette river.
Once you are there, it is almost compulsory to buy a ticket to immerse in the Bock Casemates, belonging to UNESCO humanity patrimony list, an intrinsic network of subterranean tunnels that acted as defense fortress built in the XVII century. A delight to take amazing photos of the city view, get to know more of the history of the city and country and surely will add some nice memories to your Instagram portfolio.

Heading down to the Grund neighbor is also fantastic for a relaxed walk around, with a perfect mix of beautiful buildings, nature with ducks and birds swimming and flying around, and a lot of idyllic romantic little corners where couples might think of stealing a kiss.

But Luxembourg also offers some nice destinations if you want to go a bit farther away from the city centre. Apart from what it was explained with the free network of transportation that allows you easily to move by bus and train, Uber is also available there, though I would recommend to use it only if really needed, cause the prices are quite high compared to the fees in other European cities.

For those destinations outside the centre, we selected to visit the American Cemetery and Memorial, dedicated to the fallen lives of more than 5000 American soldiers who never came back home during the grueling fights of World War II in this area, stablished in December 1944 and containing the remain of, among others, the famous American General George S. Patton. It was an impressive view taken from a scene from war movies to walk solemnly around there on a rainy day, giving you a small impression of the magnitude of what happened in Europe in mid 20 century.

As my friend and I are very interested in history, we also visited taking advantage of the free trains and buses the National Museum of Military History, and this one I would definitely consider it as a total hidden gem to be visited in Europe, probably due to the distance from the city as you have to travel around 1 hour from central Luxeumbourg to reach it, located in a population called Dikrech.

The entrance fee is fair, I do not remember the exact price but I do not think it was higher than 10 euro per person, and it is totally worthy. Among the 100.000 war utensils exhibited, you will find live size dioramas of how was life during the war time, a lot of real size tanks, artillery, trucks and other war vehicles, and a huge display of all kind of weapons, medical utensils, etc. For the lovers of military history or history in general, this museum is a treat, and it was mostly empty, so you can explore it at your own pace with no stress and take as many pictures as you want. The museum also counts with a small shop and with a dedicated adjacent area to more modern display of Luxembourg military forces in recent years, but obviously the most interesting parts are all the sections dedicated to II World War.

So resuming, would I recommend visiting Luxembourg? Absolutely yes, but a stay of more than 3 days could feel like too much. But if you want to visit for a long weekend and then hop to other destinations around in neighboring countries like Germany or France, I think you should not miss it. It is clean, felt quite safe, it is beautiful to walk, it has some great lovely views, it will not break your wallet if you plan carefully your budget, easy to use transportation and your will learn a bit more about a very important crossroad place in European history. So give it a go!

My renewed strong love for romance Japanese anime (Part 1)

As a middle age man, I would had laugh if last year somebody would have told me that I ‘d be totally hooked to romance anime series. But here I am, discovering new series in my 40s one after another, and totally hooked into them!
I guess a few factors help to that: my interest and love for Japan, its culture and its movies and series in general and also, as many of these series happen during high school years, a sweet memory of probably the best times of my life, where responsibilities were not so big as we thought and we were shaping our personalities while having a blast discovering the world, the people and friends around us, and what was love, shyness and fear of rejection.
I wanted to share with you readers the list of what I have been watching in the last few months with my honest opinions, in case might help you to discover any new unwatched awesome series!!! Here they are, in no particular ranking apart from being listed from the most recent watched first and on.

(Also I have tried to be careful with spoilers, but there are some around, so just please be warned ahead)

MY DRESS UP DARLING

Sono Bisuku Dōru wa Koi o Suru in Japanese, which literally translates to something like “The Bisque Doll Falls in Love”, a series with currently 2 seasons adapted from the manga by Shinichi Fukuda.

The main character of the series is teenager Wakana Gojo, a good shy boy who lives and works with his grandfather sharing his passion for the family business of crafting traditional Japanese Hina Dolls.  Though Gojo is very talented in handicraft, he lacks social skills and experiences in the real world, keeping to himself and not interacting much with fellow students. That is until he meets the co-protagonist Marin Kitagawa, a stunning beautiful, lively and straightforward blonde amateurish model girl who loves Cosplaying (and wearing her school uniform mini skirt really really short….) 

Marin immediately digs into Gojo’s abilities and they create a friendship and partnership, with Gojo helping her to craft the customs for her Cosplay ideas, while romantic feelings between them start to be developed and Gojo starts to experience more things together with her, coming out of his shelf.

What to say about this one?! One of my favorites series already and a surprise as I was not planning to watch it until I saw some recommendations online. Marin ‘s character is absolutely lovable, having a perfect balance of mischievous naughtiness, kindness, straightforward communication but at the same time also a golden heart, shyness and insecurities. Her appearances both when just herself or when cosplaying are captivating, and it does really embody the female sweetness and beauty that would make most of us have fallen totally for her in high school.

The chemistry between main characters is great, and though the romance advances slowly with baby steps, mainly due to Dojo’s inability to read Marin’s clear feelings towards him, as everybody surrounding them absolutely think they are made one for the other, the journey is precious to follow. I like the touches of naughtiness and sexual innuendos (Marin can be straightforward talking about sexual matters and not shy in wearing very daring outfits, it is implied that Gojo marturbates thinking about her, we have a steamed scene in a love hotel where Marin provokes him an erection and the scene does not end up in their first kiss just by the interruption of a phone call… but those touches are very well measured, showing after all that they are still just young teenagers (age around 15) that need to feel comfortable with how things advance. It is lovely to see how they care for each other in their own way, and how they complement each other to grow into better persons, even having different personalities.

The touches of humor are nice, and I also like that the other characters at high school are not mean and they show respect for Gojo as soon as they start interacting with him. The people who surround them in the Cosplay hobby are also nice, and we can see a crush/love interest towards Gojo by another female character, Juju, but it is not deeply explored in the first 2 seasons.

That is maybe the weak point of the series, as the main storyline with the 2 main characters feels amazing, but sometimes I felt like there was just a very shallow exploration of the interactions and feelings with other external secondary characters. With exception of Gojo’s grandfather, a character that anchors very nicely parts of the story and who seems to understand silently what is happening around and enjoys to see how Gojo is maturing into a man seeing and experiencing the world.

So far a 3rd season of the anime has not been confirmed, and that would be a pity, cause following the story of those two is an incredible experience. The manga series finished already all its volumes (it seems that a bit in a rush as the author was having some health issues), and without making big spoilers, I know that they will go into the right direction and I am quite satisfied when I saw the ending arc, so give a chance to the first 2 animated seasons if you have not watched, and if you want more, the complete volumes of the manga series should fulfill you to the fullest

 

CALL OF THE NIGHT

This one I honestly just picked it up a bit randomly from Netflix when I saw it at the home page, and my feelings are a bit mixed about it.

Its title in Japanese is Yofukashi no Uta and is based and serialized from a manga by author Kotoyama.

The plot spins around young high school student Ko Yamori, who adventures into the night unsatisfied with his life in general and with assisting school, and meets alluring female vampire Nazuna Nanakusa.

What should have been just a quick taste of his blood turn into a friendship and strange relation developing between both, as Ko wants to be turned into a vampire and the only way to obtain that is falling in love with Nazuna, which would seem easy except that Ko has no idea what love feelings are and Nazuna is not really the romantic type.

The couple meet at night and then get sorrounded by an interesting cast of secondary characters, some friends from high school and a cast of other female vampires that are often on the verge of killing Ko or becoming their friends and confidents.

A story that mixes teenage love with vampires should sound very interesting, and well, the series is quite enjoyable at moments, specially due to the humor and the multiple layers of Nazuna, who can be wild, strong and hyper sexual, but at the same time is nerdy, funny and inmature. So from the female side, we are covered to have a lovable character, although the part of the story starting so “transactional” with her pretty much craving the tasty blood of Ko is not up to the most romantic set up.

Ko for me does not totally click as main character. I just find him a bit dull and empty, there is never really a satisfactory explanation in season 1 of why he thinks that his life is so empty, and although he grows his personality chapter by chapter, I cannot totally emphatize with him.

Might be that only 1 anime season is not enough to see the development of the characters, and do not get me wrong, there are some very interesting moments there like the fight among Nazuna and a rival vampire, or the sweet kisses that she surprisingly delivers to Ko in a couple of moments, being specially sweet the one at the end of season 1, but so far this is a couple that, different to other series, I do not feel deeply touched with their interactions nor rooting for them to be together. The visuals and art are quite stunning, so if you like anything vampire related, still sure give it a go. It is not bad, but it has not captivated me so far…

THE DANGERS IN MY HEART

I have become an absolute fan of this anime, and with a lot of good reasons. The series, that is actually available in Netflix, has 2 seasons so far and is based on the Japanese manga Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu also abbreviated as Bokuyaba by author Norio Sakurai

Its plot resembles in quite many ways the main features of the one commented at the start of the article, My Dress Up Girl, in the sense of portraying a socially awkward and isolated main character, Kyotaro Ichikawa, who starts to interact and forge a friendship and romantic relation with popular school beauty and also aspiring model and actress Anna Yamada.

Ichikawa is a really creepy fellow at the start of the show, with a lot of internal self loath and with dark thoughts of physical harm towards the ones around him, including Anna. This creepiness might have put off a lot of potential fans who could not digest the first couple of episodes where characters might seem quite stupid or mad.

However, if you give the series a chance and pass through those first couple of episodes, what you will find is one of the most wonderful rom-com animes ever made so far. Ichikawa shows that behind his lack of confidence, is actually quite a smart, caring and protective guy, and Yamada is just the impersonation of cuteness: she is loving, sensitive, sweet, not (very) narcissistic, full of positive energy and with an insatiable appetite for snacks.

It is a wonderful story between those two lovebirds, and again same as in My Dress Up Darling, we follow their amazing path as they support each other to grow as better young people. But the level of understanding of each other is probably even deeper here, and the attention to details in scenes is amazing. There are so many small cute funny moments thrown here and there, some of them might need a rewatch and you might not realize the care of the creators in building this amazing story, but they are there. I can highlight a few like Yamada not letting the hands go and screaming Ichikawa’s name when introducing him to her agent during a work photoshoot, Yamada holding a small gift that Ichikawa gave her telling the handsome guy hitting on her that she loves another and her hands are full, Yamada fishing for Ichikawa to compliment her as cute, her little jealous moments, Ichikawa growing in confidence screaming that Yamada is only hers or finding the inner strenght to give her an awesome gift in White Day and be able to express how beautiful she looks, Ichikawa’s speech during the graduation ceremony at school where he beats his inner ghosts and shows the great man he could truly become… so many big and small amazing moments of character development.

But here you see more depth also in the relations with the secondary characters and friends with special mention to Ichikawa’s older sister, a character that also grows in our hearts while the show advances and that supports in a very sweet way his little brother, and in a way, after every episode you just end up craving for the next one, like an addiction of emotions you cannot control. Yamada might be one of the cutest, if not the cutest, female character ever portrayed in a romcom, and the emo shy Ichikawa gains the hearts of the viewers taking small but decisive steps to become a better person and be worthy enough to consider himself a love partner for Yamada. It is a great work in his development physical and emotional through the show, where he is able to show that by being able to enjoy life also in the moments that is not with Yamada, he is worthy to enjoy her love too.

I also like that, again similar to My Dress Up Darling, sexual innuendos and dirty jokes are part of the dialogues, as it should be with effervescent teenagers, being realistic but also tasteful without feeling too lewd. A minus in the series, and I think many fans would agree on this, is that we see the story mostly through Ichikawa’s point of view, and would have been lovely to explore also a bit more Yamada’s side of things, which we catch glimpses by her actions and reactions, but we never get the allowance to explore her thoughts from her point of view.

What else can I say? If you have not seen the 2 seasons yet, go for it. I am just hoping that we will be rewarded with more seasons in the anime, while the manga is about to wrap up with a final volume that should be published soon. Let’s hope that these 2 find the happiness they have fought so hard for during every episode!

TORADORA!

One of the most famous anime rom-coms in history, and a very polarizing one for many fans, Toradora! came to my attention after I saw it mentioned restlessly in forums and by anime fans.

Adaptation of the manga by Yuyuko Takemiya, Toradora! narrates the evolving relation of the main character, Ryuji, a good behaved shy guy with obsession for cleaning and with great cooking skills who was abandoned by his father and takes care of his mother, with Taiga Aisaka, a small ball of energy prompted to violent attacks, but with a golden heart inside.

A kind of love entanglement develops with the series, as Ryuji is initially interested in Minori, the best friend of Taiga, a sporty cheerful beautiful girl who seems to be singing to herself all the time, while Taiga seems interested in Yusaku. Though a bit part of the plot is about Taiga and Ryuji trying to help each other to get a relation with their love interests, through the show and through the interactions they have is clearly developed a love relationship between them. Apart from this, there is a third girl, beautiful but narcissistic model Ami, who also joins the school and is interested in Ryuji.

As I said, I understand that many people could develop and kind of love/hate relation with the series. The relation between Taiga and Ryuji is not healthy at many moments and Taiga ‘s outburts of violent and diminishing behaviour could be a turn off. But if you go through that and understand that is a protection facade, the character of Taiga is really sweet, and I find exhilarating her nickname known all over the school as the table top tiger.

The script is awesome in many moments and will leave you some scenes forever in your mind, like Taiga screaming and caring after Ryuji suffers an accident at the pool. I never fully understood nor loved the character of Minori, and although you get here and there details that her personality is not at all shallow and there is an internal debate in her hart, I think that we never get to fully understand her, like if her character might have had much more potential… In fact, the character that I love how develops the most is Ami, who after losing her facade of narcissistic rude bitch, actually grows a lot showing to be the more mature and having a caring and loving hidden side. Probably in my opinion she would be the best suited to be a girlfriend in the real world. Some other subplots and scenes are also amazing, like the fight between Taiga and Sumire, and there are a lot of great touches of humor all over the show.

However, I also understand that the end of the series, although somehow is fresh, surprising and touching, leaves a bittersweet taste to the fans. All the arc of escaping from home feels a bit too forced to me, though it leads to maybe the most beautiful scene in the series with the first kisses between Taiga and Ryuji at the grandparents ‘ place where they spend a night together, a delicate and sweet scene where we also see the sweet and vulnerable side of Taiga. But her sudden disappearance at the end until the final surprising encounter in the classroom… it kind of feels refreshing compared to how many other series wrap up, but at the same time it feels somehow unsatisfying, and we wonder if Taiga is really the right partner you d like to be with, as sometimes feels like interacting with her is walking across a minefield.

I know, after having read online what happens after the series, that the two get a nice happy ending together, but still, as I said, though I did enjoy the show a lot and is a delightful rollercoaster of emotions, and though Taiga ‘s energy can be really captivating, some moments and actions in the show feel a bit off. In any case, it is undeniably one of the best romance anime series ever produced, and although it was broadcasted already quite a few years ago, it has not lost at all its freshness and appeal. A must see if you are into Japanese romance anime or, same like me, you are starting to explore this wonderful universe!

HI SCORE GIRL

Hai Sukoa Gāru in Japanese, the series is based on the manga by Rensuke Oshikiri, and oh boy! For a fan of retrovideogames who lived his pre-teenage years in the popular arcade saloons, this series will always take a special place in my heart.

The story follows a young gamer, Haruo, whose life is pretty much obsessed with videogames both playing with home consoles or at any arcade machine that crosses his path. His life will be transformed when he crosses path with Akira, a silent female classmate (so silent that she never speaks a word all over the 2 seasons of the series) and amazing videogame player, one of the few able to beat Haruo’s ability.

Haruo’s hate for the new challenger will be transforming through the series into a very special and sweet love relation with Akira, with a second female student, Koharu, getting dragged also in the gamer life pursuing her non correspondent love of Haruo.

The series is pretty much amazing, and displays so many anecdotes, historical facts, winks and tricks based on real life from a lot of the most iconic videogames in the 90s that is pretty much impossible not to love it for anyone calling him/herself a gamer. Haruo’s character although at first can be annoying gains the hearts of the viewers as inside him there is a big good naive heart, and it is really amazing how the writers were able to perform so beautiful interactions between them with Akira not muttering a single word. It is even more memorable that in several scenes of the game, the characters are able to express their feelings and the emotions just by how they interact during the games that play together.

The final theme song also by the way got stuck in my head for weeks, a beautiful lullaby that you cannot get rid of. Also, the secondary characters such as Haruo’s mother or Akira’s older sister Makoto are pretty memorable and funny, and round up this beautiful story.

If I can put a weak point, i would just say that I would have truly loved a kiss between them both main characters, though their feelings were clearly expressed in the final airport scene of the series If you like romcom anime, give it a try, though the art and drawing style can feel a bit more childish and not so beautiful like other anime, it is super charming. And if you are a retro video games lover, this series is really a must see!

MY LOVE STORY

I watched it not expecting anything much, just surfing around anything new to kill time a night in Netflix, and My Love Story grew into me immediately. The series counts so far with just 1 season with 24 episodes, being its title in Japanese Ore Monogatari!!; lit. “My Story!!”, created by Kazune Kawahara.

It follows the story of Takeo, a young student with a huge physical frame, hyper talented for any sport activity and with a golden heart, but with no filter in his words and little knowledge of love. He is inseparable of Makoto, his very handsome, shy and book lover friend who seems quite uninterested in girls attention.

Quickly in the series Takeo will help and meet Rinko, a beautiful young student who loves baking cakes and sweets, and with the help of Makoto, Takeo will realize about her love and they will start dating.

Opposite to other series, here there is no suspense about the declarations of feelings and gets resolved pretty early on. So the series is nicely following Takeo and Rinko growing as a couple, as well as Takeo growing as a person and helping others around him all the time. There are a lot of nice details here, like Takeo’s good actions often do not get the credit he deserves, but is lovely to see how Rinko is able to see him through and through while others would get deceptive first impressions due to his physique.

I also love how, although Rinko appears to be like the super sweet innocent anime girl, she actually takes a lot of initiate in meeting Takeo, showing her feelings and also in provoking more physical advances and kisses due to Takeo’s too much innocent heart. And some of the fans might have got nervous towards the end of season 2 when a competitor tries to steal Rinko’s heart. A very nice arc in the way how we see that Takeo would sacrifice anything for Rinko’s happiness, even his relation.

On top of that, I must say that one of the most memorable love actions in the series is not done by the main couple, but by one of Takeo’s friend, Kurihara, who climbs a huge Christmas tree risking his life to grab a decorative start to show to his love interest, Nanako, that he is worthy of her love interests.

A very lovely series, and though Takeo would not be your typical main character in this kind of romcom, he really gains your sympathy with his actions and his huge heart while Rinko is just an overload of cuteness but with the right amount of spicy behavior to cheer things up.

A gem of an anime: Blue Box

I have always loved Japanese anime since my childhood years when series like Dragonball blew my mind and I think all the minds of my friends and school kids around the world, trying to imitate Goku doing the famous kamehameha movement. Mazinger Z, Dodge Danpei, Dragon Quest... so many amazing memories from those years in front of the TV screen.

The anime genre also had some great jewels in sports/romance in those years, I fondly remember Attacker You! or Attack Nro 1 that were nicely mixing love with volleyball sport.

I did not come back to the romance genre in many years, though I have seen in my adulthood many other great anime series like Attack on Titan or The Seven Deadly Sins. I was a bit bored at home wanting to watch something new, so I chose a Japanese series I had no idea what was about: Blue Box.

The series, that is currently available for its 1st season in Netflix, is based on the manga books series Ao no Hako by Kouji Miura, and follows the life of Taiki, a high school Japanese student who loves training and competing in badminton, while having a secret crush on fellow student Chinatsu, the start of the basketball school team. Adding to this, there is Hina, a cute chilhood friend of Taiki, start in the gymnastics team, with a funny straightforward personality and a love for Taiki and starts in secret but she has the nerve to declare to him.

When I watched the first episode, at first I thought, oh gosh this is so slow and lame, just for female teenage watchers, but the show captivated me quickly. The dialogues and situations are very nicely written and developed, slowly but steadily, the main characters are very likeable, the art is beautifully transferred from the book pages to the animation, and apart from the classic themes of love, shyness, misunderstandings and uncomfortable situations of the teenage years, there are also great moral values in the way of overcoming loss, trying to push the limits, working hard every day to give a better version of yourself, and friendship.

The secondary characters sorrounding Taiki’s life, like Hayru, an older player that pushes him to train harder, Kyo, who in the shadows seems to be the first to understand the situations or the funny and I think sometimes underrated Nishida, who has a gold heart even when often blurbs silly comments, are very well balanced. And Chinatsu is lovely from her voice, her actions, and her slowly shift of attention to Taiki. In a way it feels that even if we see the relationship form from the eyes of Taiki, she was already there interested from the first episode, something that Taiki himself does not realize most of the times.

Maybe what hit me hard and deep in this show is the memories that brings of some of the best years in life, when all is new and exciting and the world is full of potential possibilities: being the last one to notice small gestures that your friends notice, dreaming what the girl you like is gonna wear for a date next day, how just holding hands or close physical contact can make your heart race… that beautiful time that will never come back, but that we somehow can live again following Taiki and Chinatsu’s love story.

The show builds up slowly, do not expect here declarations of love from the first episode, but is a visual delight and you really feel like you cannot wait to watch the next one. For the moment Netflix has aired only Season 01, although for what I could see online, there is a Season 02 programmed for this 2026, while the original manga has advanced more in the story. I recommend both the manga books and the series, as the adaptation is fantastic and if you like Japanese anime, sports and a good love/romance evolving, surely you will enjoy this, no matters if you are a young teenager of a man in his mid forties like me. Give it a shot, it is one of the gems recently released for anime fans!

A hidden Gem of a museum in Lisbon: Museum of Contemporary Art MAC

Belem is probably the most visited neighborhood in Lisbon due to holding some amazing touristic treasures such as the Jeronimos Monastery, which is probably the number 1 sightseeing highlight of the Portuguese capital, or the archfamous Belem Tower.

However, it might be unknown for many art and cultural lovers that a few steps away from the Jeronimos Monastery, inside the Cultural Centre of Belem, there is an amazing museum not very crowded and totally worthy a visit: The Museum of Contemporary Art of Lisbon MAC.
This Museum was actually known with a different name till 2023, The Berardo Collection, initiated by Jose Berardo, a Portuguese business man and obviously an avid art collector. Berardo unfortunately could not pay a huge debt to the Portuguese government, that seized his collection, and a part of it is exhibited today in the Museum.

The ticket for entrance costs 15 euro which is not cheap but not a bad price for the quality of the exhibitions, and if you are a resident in Portugal, you can visit it for free on Sundays until 2pm.

The staff at the museum is quite friendly and encourages you to do the tour from the upper floors to the lower floors in chronological order. Once you advance, you will find artworks from some of the most famous contemporary artists that belonged to movements such as minimalist, pop art, surrealism or cubism, such as Modigliani, Dali, Picasso, Pollock, Malevich, Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein, to name a few.

While the upper floors are more dedicated to paintings and some sculptures, the lower floors have some huge art installations, maybe too modern for my taste, but I enjoyed a lot some of the pop art rooms, specially the ones with works from Warhol and Lichtenstein.

The day that I visited, there were only a few more people roaming around, so you can really enjoy the corridors in relatively peace, and when you finish the tour, the museum also counts with a very cosy cafe/shop, even having a nice outdoors terrace, so you can enjoy a snack or a coffee almost sighting directly the Jeronimos Monastery in a beautiful park where there are ducks wandering around. Pretty idillic.

If you have enough time in Lisbon and you are an art enthusiasm, or you already visited the other main attractions, give it a try, although it does not have the fame of other museums in Lisbon such as MAAT, it is quite a hidden treasure to explore in Belem area!

For other great places to visit in Lisbon, check:
https://www.freemagazine.fi/a-hidden-gem-in-lisbon-lisbon-city-museum-palacio-pimenta/

A small cosy art museum in Lisbon: Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro Museum

Among the fantastic array of bigger and smaller museums and art centers that Lisbon has to offer, you can find one for almost all tastes. But once you have visited the most famous ones that dedicate bigger budget to their collections and to advertising, such as the Gubelkian Museum or the MAAT, you might feel hungry to discover some small “hidden gem” of a place in the charming Portuguese capital:

As an art aficionado that I am, today I directed my steps to the small and cosy Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro Museum, a house-museum dedicated to the Portuguese painter with the same name that lived between 1846 and 1905 and left a big legacy in multiple artistic areas: comic, painting, illustration and ceramic design.

A beautiful display of his work with representations from his drawings, his comic characters and his ceramic design is found in this museum that consist of 2 houses separated by a patio, accessing by a beautiful alley covered by plants with very nice cat design ceramics on its walls.

The Rafael Bordalo museum is very easy to reach as it is a short walk away from Campo Grande metro station, and in the same area there are some other interesting museums such as the Lisbon City Museum Palacio Pimenta that we dedicated a separated article to in the past: https://www.freemagazine.fi/a-hidden-gem-in-lisbon-lisbon-city-museum-palacio-pimenta/

It can be visited relatively quick, as it is small, with the main building divided in 2 floors and an adjacent workshop where I saw some activities taking place, while on the building in the opposite site there is the library and the ceramic works. You can clear the visit in 30 minutes, but the price is quite fair for just 3 euro, so it is really worthy if you are in the Campo Grande area. Give it a try!

Official website of the museum: https://museubordalopinheiro.pt/en/welcome-to-museu-bordalo-pinheiro/

A gem of a game: Unbound: Worlds Apart

I must confess that I get a special kick when I find a physical copy of a videogame in a physical shop whose title I had no idea about before…and then I truly enjoy it when I start playing it.

My favorite genres are shoot em ups, beat em ups, platforms and adventure, so anything new that was not under my radar and that I find sitting on a shelf with a reasonable price catches my eye to investigate more online about it and see if worthy to purchase.

That was the case last weekend when I was exploring some CEX videogame shops on the other side of the Tagus river in Lisbon (sadly the offer for videogame shops in the Portuguese capital is quite limited compared to my hometown Madrid, but still, something can be found here and there with effort and patience).

The last particular CEX I visited was by far the more interesting one, specially about Ps4 catalogue there, my favorite desktop console to play nowadays (I have a wide array of retro and portable consoles in my collection, but desktop consoles were always my favorite from my teenage years with Atari 2600, Megadrive, etc and besides, I can connect my Ps4 to a projector that gives me almost a home cinema at home to play, so I always prefer purchasing Ps4 more than Switch).

As said, the Ps4 offer was surprisingly nice, I have the feeling that some Ps4 collector had sold them a few titles recently, and you could find a few unusual games among the typical Battlefields, Assasins Creeds etc that populate most of the shelves in most of the videogame shops around the world.

Unbound: Worlds Apart caught my eye due to its beautiful cover and well looking screenshots. Initially I did not plan purchasing it, but after I exited the shop to use my electronic vaper and I saw some gameplay and more information about it, decided to go for it, as seems like a title quite scarce to find physically nowadays.

I started playing it at home 1 week ago, and I must have logged around 8-9 hours of gameplay. I must say that I am really liking it. The game art is super beautiful, colorful and with great taste in all the areas I explore so far. The music is fantastic, and the game mechanic is really refreshing: in a nutshell it mixes platforms with puzzles, as it adds a button to the main character (a cute kid magician whose village has been attacked) that opens a parallel universe with different elements on screen than the main universe he is passing through. In that way, you need to combine and think about what actions to take in both universes to go through the obstacles.

It does feel a bit like a boss rush game, but instead of having to kill hard enemies often, you need to pass through mini puzzles and challenges in the landscape using your brains and measuring your actions about how and when effectively open the parallel dimension and use its elements in the UI to your benefit.

This might sound complicated, but once you start playing, it gets very naturally adapted and learnt as the main game mechanic. And the difficulty balance is so far quite well measured. A few puzzles and areas might feel a bit frustrating, but after a few trials you will be able to advance and go on. It feels challenging but not to the point of feeling like you are going to be stuck for long without discovering more areas in the map. Besides, the game also includes fast travelling among checkpoints, which helps to keep the pace without the feeling to be repetitive. And every area has a distinctive art and change in skills in the parallel universe you open, so it adds variety and I have not felt bored at all while playing it.

I would say that Unbound: Worlds Apart might be considered like an unrated hidden gem, as has not got so much mainstream attention as might deserve. But give it a try online, or if you happen to cross paths with a physical copy, go for it, as I have the feeling that might be a title that is gonna increase its value in the next years as a true hidden gem of platform marvel.

A must see in Lisbon: Bansky Museum

Bansky, the probably most famous street artist in the world, has been for decades a symbol for many anti-system beliefs around the world. His enigmatic persona, as nobody knows who is the person behind the artist, his recognizable trademark in his street art, where he uses the environment as part of many of his works, his anticapitalist message, his mockery of the art establishment… Indeed Bansky is a figure to be studied in detail, and some of his works are now super famous…and super expensive.

However, due to the nature of his work, scattered in different countries and cities, and that many of the graffitis have been simply destroyed or stolen from their original locations, it is pretty much impossible to have any exhibition where art lovers could contemplate a big chunk of his production.

With that idea, Bansky Museum opened in Lisbon recently in January 2025, as as the Portuguese capital is my recent new home due to work, I decided to pay a visit on this sunny Sunday.

The museum is very nicely located at the heart of the city, just a short walk away from Saldanha metro station, so there should not be any problem for visitors to find it.

What you will find is 2 floors where the visitors can immerse in his work, with real size graffiti reproductions, smaller pictures and drawings and some video displays that show you some memorable moments in the life of Bansky. I got mesmerized watching in the TV the part where they sold in New York his authentic work in a street market…and almost nobody bought anything. Once again, Bansky has a laugh at the art establishment and the capitalism rules.

Photos are allowed to be taken all over the exhibition, and almost needless to say that the place is honey to take some great memories for your Instagram and social media. The staff is friendly and there is explanations of most of the art works written in Portuguese and in English, so you can learn more and feel quite free roaming inside its walls.

One thing that I must say that I did not like so much is that while Bansky spirit embodies a lot of anticapitalist ideas, the entrance to the museum costs 13 euro for adults, not cheap. And at the end of the visit to the museum there is the museum shop where you can buy a lot of memorabilia…but again not at a cheap price. I found funny that there was a painting by Bansky criticizing how assistants to a music festival buy t-shirts for 30 dollars…just close to the museum shop where the items costs also quite a lot…

All in all, if you are an art lover and 13 euro ticket is not gonna break your wallet, this place is super recommended if you live or you are planning visiting Lisbon. It will not take a lot of your time, a visit can be enjoyed in 1 hour or less, the displays are stunning and it is an unique opportunity to see most of Bansky’s iconic works or discover some new ones you did not know about, all gathered in one place.

For more amazing places to visit in Lisbon, check:
https://www.freemagazine.fi/a-must-see-in-lisbon-carmo-archeological-museum/

(R&A Film Festival Finland) HIFF’s National Competition awards one with a trip to Thessaloniki

Multiple awards will be handed out among the filmmakers selected for this year’s R&A Shorts: National Competition. The winner of the AGORA prize, which is being handed out for the first time, will win the opportunity to participate in the AGORA Short Film Lab workshop in Thessaloniki in November.

R&A Shorts: National Competition will once again shine a light on exceptional Finnish short film talent as part of September’s Love & Anarchy Film Festival ( 18–28 September). This year the competition, which has been held since 2018, received a record-breaking 188 film submissions. The 29 films that were selected will be presented in 6 screenings, categorised by themes. The Jury and the audience will select their favourite films, which will be rewarded during the awards ceremony at the festival centre in Bio Rex, on Thursday 25 September.

Many incredible awards will be handed out to winners, including a new addition, the AGORA award, sponsored by the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the Finnish Film Foundation. The winner of the AGORA award will be granted the opportunity to participate in the AGORA Short Film Lab, held at the Thessaloniki Film Festival industry event in November. The AGORA will be awarded to a director who has yet to direct a full-length feature film.

This year’s judges will include writer and activist Maryan Abdulkarim, the contest’s first international judge and Agora representative Angeliki Vergou, as well as Leena Närekangas, executive director of Elävän kuvan keskus ELKE ry, the cultural association that runs Cinema Orion.

The best Finnish short film will receive the R&A Shorts main award, a cash prize (2000€) made possible by the Trade Union for Theatre and Media Finland, Teme. Sponsored by the Finnish Film Foundation, the New Wave award (1500€) will be awarded to a fresh talent whose short film paves the way for new voices in Finnish filmmaking. The award aims to support the career of a promising director and assist in the funding of their next project. The Moving People and Images award (1500€), given out since 2021, will be awarded to a director whose work pays particular attention to inclusivity and diversity. The award is sponsored by the Finnish Film Foundation. Filmmaker Erol Mintaş will act as an advisor to the panel of judges in picking the winner.

The winner of Best Student Film will be awarded accreditation to the 2026 Love & Anarchy Festival and to the industry event Finnish Film Affair, as well as music licensing from Audio Network. Student films are also in competition for other awards. In addition, all films in the National Competition will be competing for the Audience Award, which is a product prize worth 2000€, sponsored by Kinos Rentals.

The winner of the main prize in 2024 was Elina Talvensaari’s documentary How to Please, which later in 2025 won the Jussi award for Best Short Film.

All award-winning films will be screened at Love & Anarchy on Saturday, September 27 in the National Competition: Award Winners screening.

The films in competition will be shown in themed screenings at Love & Anarchy on September 19–23:

Within Memories
The screening showcases five stories about memories and remembering.
Memories Move Like Distant Islands (dir. Saarlotta Virri)
Memorabilia (dir. Roosa Vuokkola)
Akira (dir. Juho Kankaanpää)
Vieras (dir. Arman Zafari)
In My Hand (dir. Marja Helander, Liselotte Wajstedt)

Other Dimensions
Journey through the uncanny valley.
Astro TV (dir. Magdaleena Jakkila)
The Grapes of War (dir. Malakias)
IURIMA – A Tale of Three Fishermen (dir. PV Lehtinen)
Katastrofielokuvien loppukohtauksia (dir. Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen)
Tempest of My Eyes (dir. Elina Oikari)

Geography of Life
Cartographers of change – people in spaces and situations.
Confessions of Undecided Women (dir. Milja Härkönen)
Ocean Blvd (dir. Jade Kallio)
Juhlat (dir. Roope Lainevuo)
Break Room (dir. Laura Böök)

Side by Side
Relationships, people, nature.
Try Me <3 (dir. Susani Mahadura)
Dollhouse Elephant (dir. Jenny Jokela)
Lovetanssit (dir. Sara Maaria Peltonen)
Farewell to Snow – Snowplay (dir. Sanni Priha)
Pastori ja ruma joulukuusi (dir. Maarit Lalli)

Oh Humanity
A look at the entire spectrum of humanity.
Underdog (dir. Marjo Levlin)
Speeding, of course (dir. Anni Sairio, Joonatan Turkki)
Miss Paradise Beach (dir. Virva Kunttu, Vuokko Kunttu)
Invasive Species (dir. Risto-Pekka Blom)
My Name Is Hope (dir. Sherwan Haji)(

Chosen) Families
Families that love, hate, and hurt.
ÁHKUIN (dir. Radio-JusSunná / Sunna Nousuniemi & Guhtur Niillas Rita Duomis / Tuomas Kumpulainen)
A Night That Took Everything (dir. Nida Mehboob)
Drawn in Water (dir. Heta Jokinen)
Pantyhose (dir. Fabian Munsterhjelm)
The Lightning Rod (dir. Helmi Donner)

For more information visit: https://hiff.fi/en/

The End of the F***ing World – a hidden gem in Netflix

I have a totally subjective opinion and it is that in the last decade, the overall quality of TV shows is much better than the overall quality of movies. Bigger budget, better casting, nice scripts (if you can except the woke topics that flood many shows) and a consumption rythm that probably fits better the modern society, when people might not have the time, energy or focus for a 2 hour film, but will easily swallow a 25-30 minutes episode before hitting the sack.

I am finding very difficult in the last years to enjoy movies in Netflix, basically cause most of the good ones in its catalogue I already watched in the past, though there is always a nice new one here and there, but with TV shows, I ended up gladly surprised with the quality of 2 that I watched recently. One is Resident Alien, to which I will have to dedicate a separated post. The other is The end of the Fucking World.

The show has 2 seasons so far available in Netflix, and I hope that stays like that. It follows the adventures and misadventures of James and Alyssa, who start in the first season being 17 years old and on the second season they will mature a bit more to reach 21.

They are not your typical teenagers, and the series is not your typical politically correct series either. It is dark, strange at many moments, cruel but also funny and charming. Both James and Alyssa have serious psychological problems and traumas, and you will feel loving one of the characters in one scene and hating the same character 5 minutes later.

The first season is structured as a kind of “teenage Bonnie and Clyde run away on a road trip” and although the characters communicate weirdly (James ‘ favorite answer is Okay), they talk and act inapropiately and their moral compass turns 360 degrees with no polar star to show them the right way, after a few episodes you feel connected to them.

Great blame on this are the great interpretations by the 2 main actors, Jessica Barden as Alyssa is a jewel, and if you are male you cannot less than feel that she could be the kind of girl you would fall in love in high school just to make your life absolutely miserable. James is played Alex Lawther, whom you may recognize from an episode in Black Mirror, and although his role tends to be more passive and can get eclipsed by Alyssa’s energy, he is the perfect complement to the chemistry of the couple all over the show.

In season 02, and we try not to make spoilers, James’ character indeed seems to have matured, while Alyssa seems to be the one that took a bigger emotional toll from all the incidents that they go through in S01. I personally preferred the first season for being something more refreshing to watch, and probably for having more witty dialogues, but still season 02 is quite a nice epilogue and a wrap up for the adventures that the young couple suffers, and the ending at the last episode, although is not your typical romantic ending, feels in a way perfect, heart-touching and satisfying.

Without the need to have a huge budget, striking special effects or a very famous cast, I deeply enjoyed the show and I consider it one of the best I have watched in recent years. Besides, what it has all over its episodes is a superb and amazing soundtrack, kudos to the responsible person to select the songs, which makes up for a fantastic Spotify playlist once you have finished watching the first two seasons of the show.

If you are looking for a new series to watch, and you want something refreshingly different to most of the shows out there, give this one a chance. Dark, witty, sometimes funny but overall very magnetic!

A hidden gem in Madrid: The Royal Chapel of St. Anthony of La Florida

Madrid, the Spanish capital, is one of the most attractive cities in the world to visit. Its wide variety of offer in gastronomy, parks, historical sites, vibrant nightlife and museums make it a favorite destination for hordes of tourists through the year.

As the local people say (I am one of them), the only thing that Madrid lacks is the beach!

In its cultural offer, it shines to hold some of the best museums in the world, and the most famous one is probably The Prado Museum, with one of the best classic art collections you can ever see gathered in one place. One of its highlighted painters is Francisco de Goya, who could easily be considered in the top 10 of most influential painters all over history.

But what might be unknown for many visitors and art lovers, and even for some locals, is that you are able to admire Goya’s artwork for free in some other beautiful spots of the city, such as San Antonio de la Florida chapel.

The beautiful historical place was built in 1730s, and is very easy to reach as it is just a short walk apart from Principe Pio train/metro/bus commuting station, one of the most important transport hubs in the south of the city.

The entrance to the chapel is totally FREE of charge, and you should take the opportunity to enjoy this, as you will not find many places in the world where you can see original artwork from one of the most famous painters in history without having to pay an entrance ticket.

The chapel holds the remains of the painter himself, so it is a tomb on his own, but what this place is famous for and what delights the visitors are Goya’s original frescoes in the ceiling.

Mind that the building is not very big, and so your visit will probably not last more than 15-20 minutes, besides there is the not so nice point that authorities do not allow taking photos inside, so you can only photograph the exterior of the building.

In any case, if you are in Madrid or planning a visit, and want to visit some amazing spots that are a bit out of the beaten tourist path, this one should be on your list. Even when being a small area, it tends not to be packed with visitors (unless you are unlucky and some organized tour stops by at the exact time of your arrival), so it can be enjoyed in a relaxed way, and the sorroundings of the chapel are beautiful with parks with benches to relax and restaurants and terraces where to have a drink or a bite and enjoy the beautiful Madrid weather. And once again, entrance is FREE! So stop by there and admire Goya’s magic artworks!

Wanna explore more hidden gems in Madrid? Check:

A Hidden Gem in Madrid: Lazaro Galdeano Museum

A must see in Lisbon: Carmo Archeological Museum

All the area around Baixa Chaido in Lisbon is maybe the zone with the most transit of tourists in the beautiful Portuguese capital, and a short stroll away from the Baixa Chiado metro stop you can find the beautiful Carmo Archeological Museum.

The museum is placed itself in the ruins of the Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and its entrance is spectacular when you just face the ruins of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, that was partially destroyed in the famous 1755 Lisbon earthquake, and makes the scenery even more breathtaking than when you visit a normal church, as the whole roof is gone, so you feel like stepping in a kind of fantasy book building.

The entrance sadly is not free and a normal adult ticket will cost you 7 euro. Not a rip off, but taking into account that the whole tour of visiting the semi destroyed church plus the Archeological Museum that is hosted in the adjacent area can be all completed in 25-30 minutes, feels a bit expensive, and probably a price of 4-5 euro would have made it more fair.

The archeological museum part of the visit counts with some interesting pieces and the special highlight might be the tomb of King Ferdinand I, who reigned between 1367-1383, but for most of the visitors the main highlight will be to take some pictures outdoors, where there is a very interesting mix of ancient art with some newer and more modern statues.

The place therefore is a must see if you have never been in Lisbon and this is your first visit, as you will probably end up walking near its location one day or another, and you also have some cosy terraces and restaurants in the sorroundings. But if you live in Lisbon or you already visited it once, most probably is place that you do not feel like spending 7 euro again to enter, if you already got your nice Instagram photos in the open-air church area there.

For other amazing places to visit in Lisbon, check:

A Hidden Gem in Lisbon: Lisbon City Museum – Palacio Pimenta

The Sandman S02 – How woke stupidity can utterly destroys a TV show

I have to start the article saying that I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman‘s books, although not particularly of The Sandman saga, but I have enjoyed many other of his works, and in fact, I did enjoy Season 1 of the Netflix TV show The Sandman, even when already the modern trend of having to have a hyper super mega multiracial cast, changing masculine roles to feminine, etc etc is the sad bread in most of the last years productions. It is like if Dream himself has placed any rational man in an endless nightmare of bullshit.

Still, I had just finished watching the amazing “Resident Alien” show on the same platform (its Season 1 is superb, in Season 2 of course they needed to add the feminist woke topics to spoil it…) and I thought it was a good moment to watch the new Season of the Sandman
Oh boy, where to start? Basically Dream character is portrayed all over the season as a manipulative and control freak man by any female character he interacts with, and spends half of the show having to say sorry and show attrition for being a macho asshole. That could be the resume of Season 02 and I would not be exaggerating…

The show does not lack of scenes where The Dream of Endless is emasculated without mercy. Most talks with her sister Death are pointing to him having to change and fix his mistakes (of course is a black sister with a white brother, they are coming from the same family as the Targaryen, it seems). One of those huge mistakes is to have done nothing to save a previous lover, Nada, who has spent 10.000 years in hell. Except that the lady Nada freely chose to go to hell to face her own purgatory instead of staying with Dream…

If you fast forward in the story, Dream, facing dangers, is able to save the ex lover Nada, to come up with a scene where he just says sorry to her like a million times for a choice she did, and he is blamed over and over again for her own choice. Not only that, but she will approach him and slap him too… Would the scene in reverse be allowed? Of course not in a million years, but a woman not wanting to face the responsibilities and consequences of her own decisions, blaming her ex lover and executing physical violence on him was totally fine for the producers and screenwriters…

And the season goes along those lines episode after episode. Dream is also kind and the only character with enough patience to try to help his younger sister Delirium, a classic pixie maniac girl that would not be able to find her way in London underground to any station, and the character still ends up mad at him. Not only, when the sister realizes that in theory Dream is not alive anymore, she just walks nonchalantly home with her recovered pet not giving absolutely a fuck that her brother just died… A fantastic example of empathy, commiseration and love… Once again, men are disposable. She looked very much emotionally affected when a trans car chauffeur she knew for hardly 1 day was killed.

It must be that I am very blind, because although Dream is far from a charity angel in the series and punishes opponents, he usually does so only rightfully when they have tried to harm him or attack him first. Even when he spends most of the time trying to undo injustices, sacrificing his own life or safety for others, trying to be fair, protecting his guests and the inhabitants of his kingdom, etc, he just gets in return hate and recrimination by almost any female character that crosses his way. His death threat of course comes from the 3 female Furies manipulating another woman to go and destroy him and his realm but a kidnapping of a child that he never executed… It does totally feel like an ex wife getting fired up by a team of female feminist lawyers trying to suck all the assets and the child from his naive hard working ex husband after a divorce.

I hope at some point that screenwriters can come back to do sensible scripts and we can enjoy good stories where the maim aim is not only to portray every male character like a criminal against female population. Meanwhile, up to you if you want to enjoy this endless brainwashing.