How I Met Your Mother

So I can say that after 7 seasons, my favourite series is still How I Met Your Mother. It’s hilarious and I know that I can and have watched episodes over and over again, without getting bored. 

The characters form a group of 5 friends, that have everything to make you a fan. From the sweet maternal Lily to the “Casanova” Barney, passing by the optimist Marshall, the  ex Canadian pop star turned now tv anchor Robin and the helpless romantic Ted that tries to find love in New York. So honestly if you haven’t seen this yet, just go! Because you are missing on one of the most amazing fun tv shows that are still airing. 😀

*Spoilers Alert*

Ok, so let’s start! First of all, they have had their share of crazy and insane experiments and I couldn’t pick just one as a favourite. I loved all. The fails and finally successful marriage of Lily and Marshall and the moment where they finally know that they are pregnant; every time that Barney used one of his strange yet effective methods to get a girl and his relationship with Robin; and of course the socially and awkward moments with Ted and his recurring way of doing big romantic gestures, like stealing a blue french horn for Robin.

And even though this is a comedy series, it feels authentic, because they put in real life moments, like the death of Marshall’s father, the moment where Ted his left at the altar and the difficulty of Lily to get pregnant and of Robin to get the job of her dreams.

Now going to the romantic stuff. I’m so for “ship” Barney/Robin, so I’m really crossing my fingers for both of them to end up together. I think that Quinn, just makes Barney not be truly himself… and there is a reason why he still hasn’t told her that they used to date. Still the writers say that this is not going to be a smooth wedding. But like they say hope is the last one to die. So I’m for Barney/Robin or Robin/Ted! I mean Robin though that she was pregnant and then she wasn’t, but made her change her perspective of having children, and we can’t deny that Barney is still in love with her… and now they have the idea of getting married, we will see…

They also said that they are wrapping some loose ends this season, so I suppose everyone is sharing my tought… the Pineapple 🙂

Whatever happens, I know that this season is going to be awesome like the others. After all, we are talking about freaking HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER!! So I lay all my hopes in their hands and I’m super excited to meet Lily and Marshall’s baby!

Oh, yeah and finaaallyyy meet Ted’s wife. I can’t even wait! The new season starts September 24. Just 3 weeks left!!

Tell me what were your favorite moments and I leave you here with season 8 preview!

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words

The Pillars of the Earth

The Pillars of the Earth is a mini-series (8 episodes) based on a thousand page novel by Ken Follett. I would say that I watched   these series not only because they became very popular and were well refered, but also because I was very impressed and excited with the cast. I would have wished to see more of Donald Sutherland, but the outstanding performances of actors like Ian McShane and Eddie Redmayne paid for it. But now on to the review…

The story takes place in medieval England in a violent time known as the Anarchy. Trough the episodes we get to know Tom, the Builder (Rufus Sewell) and his family that travel from town to town to try to find work, restoring or building churches. He’s shown to us as vigorous and very visionary man, that with the help of a  so-called witch that eventually becomes his lover Ellen (Natalia Wörner) and her son Jack (Eddie Redmayn) he finally finds the chance to fulfill is dream and his promise to his late wife to build an impressive cathedral that will live trough the years.

While this happen, there’s a war building up in a slow pace at first, between princess Maud, the daughter of the previous king and her uncle, King Stephen. Also in between all of this is shown to us the plans and blackmail made by  the ambitious, murderous, self-flagellating Bishop Waleran.

Even though the story lines play out over several decades, I did not find it hard to keep track off what was happening and it gave me the chance to really know the characters and have a steady opinion about everyone. Also it was fun to see Jonathan, the baby of Tom and Agnes Builder grow up into a nice sweet boy, wich was a nice contrast to the what was happening in the stories; also seeing the difference from the frightened even childish  “I can’t kill that man” Richard of Kingsbridge (brother of Aliena) to a stronger braver man and finally that the quiet and shy Jack turned out to be in the end I think even more visionary that is step-father, Tom.

These series follow the same style as Tudors and Merlin, with very similar sets as the towns and the castles and with the clear view how was  very difficult to survive on those times. The wardrobe and the different style of language, showed very well the characters social status and in the general I though that they did a very good job in making it feel authentic. Also I was very inspired by the cathedral itself and the greatness of it. I travel a lot and I have visited numerous of religious places, known by their beauty and majesty, so I did appreciated the work that was done there, because it really was an amazing set and the last scene of the whole series really was incredible.

They are also very graphic, like most historical series theses days with a lot of violence and sex. Still I wouldn’t keep that from stopping me to watch it, I would just be prepared for some blood shed and torture (specially to some of our favourite characters). I actually will dare to say, that even though it wasn’t easy to watch the violent scenes, they just made me feel more for some characters and really make me wish justice to the “bad guys” that inflicted pain on them.

Regardless of the series being predictable and never exactly mouth drop (except the last scene for the image), they were in the over all really good and I didn’t leave my screen for a whole day. As I haven’t read the book, I can’t really say if it was a good or bad adaptation, never the less I enjoyed very much and I do recommend to people who like epic medieval historical sort of things (a little like myself) 😉

I leave you here with the series preview… hope you enjoy!

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words