the daily view from Thru Other Eyes

Where'd the magic go?

July 18, 2009; Tuschinski Theater, Amsterdam @ 21.15

We went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at our favorite theater - Tuschinski. This magnificent theater was built in 1921 in a crazy yet fascinating mix of architectural styles; from Amsterdam school to Jugendstil, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. June 27's photo explained more about the theater and showed a picture of the grand ceiling chandelier. This is obviously the front facade where you can see some of the cool light fixtures and the detailing of the masonry work.

We were very disappointed with the film. Found it to be slow and at times downright boring. Perhaps it was just our filter but we also seemed to pick up on an awful lot of homo-eroticism going on between Professor Horace Slughorn and Harry and the professor and Tom Riddle. And all that character development and teenybopper love frustrations with Hermione and Ron Weasley and Harry and Ron's sister took up too much time. Still a fan of the series and will wait anxiously for the 7th film, even though I know what will happen having read the book.

I AM OPTIMUS PRIME!

June 27, 2009; Tuschinski Theater, Amsterdam @ 20.25

I AM OPTIMUS PRIME! We went this evening to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Yes, I love slick CGI action and sci-fi films and I don't care who knows it :P. We saw it at a very famous movie theater called Tuschinski. Built in the 20's it is an incredibly beautiful and unique building inside and out. Seeing as it just midnight, I gonna take the lazy way out tonight as I still want to do today's blurb on Iran for my weblog and FB. So here's a bit lifted directly from Wikipedia. Hey, if it's good enough for Sen McCain's briefing book - Wikipedia lifts on the country Georgia (remember?) - it's good enough for me. Or should that be a reason why it's not good enough for me?

"Tuschinski is a movie theater in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam, originally exploited by Abraham Icek Tuschinski, who had it built in 1921 at a cost of 4 million guilders [Note: +/- $2 mio today], in a spectacular mix of styles, as designed by Hijman Louis de Jong; Amsterdam School, Jugendstil, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The main auditorium is usually the one in which movies premiere in the Netherlands.

"The façade, in its own style of Art Deco with oriental influences, was designed to help people get a feeling that they were being led into an illusion. The main auditorium was originally not designed just as a movie theatre and still has a stage and organ, on which performances are still given.

"The theatre was not only special in terms of architecture and decoration, but also electrotechnically, with revolutionary heating and ventilation, which kept the temperature even throughout the building."

Oh yeah... this is a picture of the chandelier in the main theater. It is so expansive - the ceiling, the chandelier and the theater in general - that without a wide angle lens it is impossible to do it justice. But perhaps you can see some of the incredible jugenstijl/Art Niveau (not so good with the differences) touches. I really love seeing movies here.