I'm the (Wo)Man Who Loves You

All I can see is black and white
And white and pink with blades of blue
That lay between the words I think on a page
I was meaning to send to
You I couldn't tell if it'd bring my heart
The way I wanted when I started
Writing this letter to you

But if I could you know I would
Just hold your hand and you'd understand
I'm the man who loves you

All I can be is a busy sea
Of spinning wheels and hands that feel for
Stones to throw and feet that run but
Come back home
It made no difference
Ever known, it made no difference
Ever known to me

But if I could you know I would
Just hold your hand and you'd understand
I'm the man who loves you

All I can see is black and white
And white and pink with blades of blue
That lay between the words I think on a page
I was meaning to send to
You I couldn't tell if it'd bring my heart
The way I wanted when I started
Writing this letter to you

But if I could you know I would
Just hold your hand and you'd understand

If I could you know I would
Just hold your hand and you'd understand

If I could you know I would
Just hold your hand and you'd understand

I'm the man who loves you
I'm the man who loves you
I'm the man who loves you
I'm the man who loves you

"In My Time Of Need"

Will you comfort me, in my time of need?
Can you take away the pain of a hurtful deeds?
Cause when we need it most, there's no rain at all
And the dust just settles right there on the feed

Will you say to me a little rains gonna come
When the sky can't offer none to me
Cause I will come for you
When my days are through
And I'll let your smile just off and carry me

Cause when the calm comes down
I take the truck on into town
And buy whatever we can't seem to grow
I work these hands to bleed cause I got mouths to feed
And I got 15 dollars hid above the stove

Will you say to me a little rains gonna come
When the sky can't offer none to me
Cause I will come for you
When my days are through
And I'll let your smile just off and carry me

Cause it ain't like it was on back in those days
When everyone would offer up a hand
These old bones are worn
I've grown tired some
And I know my time is surely gonna come

Will you comfort me in my time of need
Can you take away the pain of hurtful deeds
Cause I will comfort you when my days are through
And I'll let your smile just off and carry me

Lord we married young and stayed where we came from
And gave those children everything we had
Will you stay with me, in my time of need?
Though it seems we had such little time for us

Will you say to me a little rains gonna come
When the sky can't offer none to me
Cause I will come for you
When my days are through
And I'll let your smile just off and carry me

Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker

Lisboa Soundz

Thank God Rock n’ Roll exists, at least for some hours we may forget our tedious lives… Last year I missed Franz Ferdinand and this year I have the chance of seeing them and Mogwai for the first time, can anything could life be any better for a few hours this night? ;)

Auf Achse - Franz Ferdinand

You see her, you can't touch her
You hear her, you can't hold her
You want her, you can't have her
You want to, but she won't let you
You see her, you can't touch her
You hear her, you can't hold her
You want her, you can't have her
You want to, but she won't let you

She's not so special so look what you've done, boy
She's not so special so look what you've done, boy
She's not so special so look what you've done, boy
She's not so special so look what you've done

Now you wish she'd never come back here again
Oh, never come back here again

You see her, you can't touch her
You hear her, you can't hold her
You want her, you can't have her
You want to, but she won't let you

You see her, you can't touch her
You hear her, you can't hold her
You want her, you can't have her
You want to, but she won't let you

She's not so special so look what you've done, boy
She's not so special so look what you've done, boy
She's not so special so look what you've done, boy
She's not so special so look what you've done

Now I'm nailed above you
Gushing from my side
It's with your sins that you have killed me
Thinking of your sins I die
Thinking how you'd let them touch you
How you'd never realise
That I'm ripped and hang forsaken
Knowing never will I rise
AgainYou still see her

Oh, you hear her
You want her
Oh, you want to
You see her
You still hear her
You want her
You still want to

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - 5 STARS

As much as I love to go to the movies, the truth is that I don’t really go too regularly. Rio Maior doesn’t have a movie theater and the closest ones have only very mainstream movies, most that are not worth the cost of gas and of the ticket. Then company isn’t something I’ve very often, I suppose it’s one of the few disadvantages of not having a boyfriend.

In Lisbon I face once again the problem of not having any company to go, but as soon as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory started showing in our movie theaters in Lisbon I went straight away to see the movie, all by myself (something I really loath). But after all it’s the 4th partnership between Tim Burton (one of my favorite directors) and Johnny Depp (my favorite actor ever since I saw Edward Scissorhands and I absolutely loved Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepyhollow (for me one of Tim Burton’s masterpieces) and now Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

You will be astonished visually with all the magnificent sets of the movie; Johnny Depp is amazing, as usual, it’s impossible not to love Will Wonka, despite of the fact that he really doesn’t like people and doesn’t worry about what happens to the misbehaved children, although they deserve their punishments and they are quite hilarious ;) After all if it weren’t for those scenes we wouldn’t have the chance of seeing the little Oompas dancing and singing quite psycadelic songs.

I’ve never had the chance of reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but it’s a most read in my list. From what I’ve read Tim Burton was very faithful to the original book, except that he added some background to Will Wonka so we could better understand the character. You can see that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s minds ran wild, they left their imagination guide them, with imagination as the limit. For me it’s a Oscar nominee film, unfortunately I think neither Johnny Depp neither Tim Burton will finally receive it, but then Hollywood never could see true talent and genius…

Citizen Cane

Johnny Depp, Hollywood's hottest eccentric, meets his match playing Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.' How sweet is that?
By Sean Smith
Newsweek

July 4 issue - Playing Willy Wonka is not for the timid. It requires courage, imagination and flawless fashion sense. "I like these heels," Johnny Depp says, pulling up his pant cuff to reveal a sleek boot emblazoned with a swirly W. "I wanted Wonka to be this long, string-beany kind of figure, and give him these unbelievable cha-cha heels." It's late September, on a soundstage outside London, and Depp is taking a break in the inventing room of Wonka's factory. Nearby, director Tim Burton sets up for the scene in which gum-smacking Violet Beauregarde will meet a violet end. "This is our fourth movie together," Depp says. "I'm so honored that he asked me to play Wonka. I just hope I'm in the right arena here. My first concern is always, 'Jesus, I don't want to let Tim down'." Or the rest of the world, for that matter.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is a movie that divides people even before they've seen it. Stand in any theater lobby near the film's poster—with Depp in his merlot velvet coat and top hat—and the passing comments soon take on a consistent rhythm. For every person who cheers "I can't wait!" another jeers "How dare they?" The 1971 film version of Roald Dahl's classic children's book, starring Gene Wilder, was not a box-office hit, but through television and video it has become a Gen-X fave. On the other hand, the Wilder movie was not quite faithful to Dahl's book, which has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide, and it was made on the cheap by a food company eager to use it as a tool to sell candy bars. "People want to pit the two movies against each other and turn this into 'Celebrity Deathmatch'," says an exasperated Burton. "Like we're wiping out three generations of childhood memories. It's not like we're burning DVDs of the old movie. Anybody who loves it can watch it."

Dahl himself, who died in 1990, did not love the old movie. There were changes to his screenplay that he didn't approve of, but mainly, says his widow, Liccy Dahl, "there was a falling-out over the casting. Roald was desperate for Wonka to be played by an English comedian named Spike Milligan. You may not be old enough to know who Spike Milligan was, but he was an amazing, incredible man." The filmmakers humored Dahl—"'lip service' I think you call it in L.A.," Liccy says—and auditioned Milligan, but cast Wilder instead. The author never quite forgave that slight. After Dahl's death, Liccy took over his estate, and has exercised exacting control over film adaptations of his work. When Warner Bros. first approached her eight or nine years ago about making a new film version of "Charlie," she turned them down. "I'm always a little bit worried about remakes," Liccy says. "I wasn't convinced it was the right thing to do." Armed with script, director and star approval, she put the studio through its paces for years.

For the uninitiated, "Charlie" is the story of Charlie Bucket—a boy with a loving family so poor that they live on cabbage soup—who, along with four other kids, wins a tour of a chocolate factory belonging to the famed, reclusive genius Willy Wonka. Inside is a wondrous new world, with a chocolate river and mysterious little people called Oompa-Loompas. That's not to say that life is sweet. The four other children—Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet and Mike Teavee—are punished in thrillingly bizarre ways for (respectively) gluttony, greed, gum-chewing and obsessive TV-watching. Charlie, meanwhile, is not handsome or rich or smart, but simply honorable. "The whole point of Charlie is that he's not really that special," Burton says. "He's like most of us, who no one would remember from school."

Burton is a visionary in the plain, old dictionary definition of the word: he actually has a vision. His movies—"Batman," "Edward Scissorhands" and "Sleepy Hollow," among them—are utterly distinctive, not just because they're often paeans to eccentric, deeply sensitive loners, but because they're so visually rich and minutely imagined. When Burton took "Charlie" on, he wanted to remain as faithful to Dahl's book as possible (with a few tweaks, of course), and ordered up a new screenplay from John August, who'd just written his film "Big Fish." "I have always been obsessed by 'Charlie'," August says. "In the third grade I actually wrote a fan letter to Dahl, and I got a postcard back from him. I still have it."

Now all Team Charlie needed was a star. Depp had met Liccy Dahl years earlier at a fund-raising dinner held at the country home of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. (Depp had been invited at the last minute by a Warner Bros. executive. "We twisted some arms to get his security check done in two days," says Liccy. "Actually, I wasn't certain they would let him in. He had a slight reputation, you know.") Liccy had also been intrigued by the thought of casting Daniel Day-Lewis or Kevin Spacey. But Depp had a long history with Burton and, after years of being a critical darling but a box-office deadbeat, had suddenly become bankable after "Pirates of the Caribbean." "It was the first time I didn't have to talk a studio into him," Burton says. "It was like he'd landed on the planet for the first time! He's been doing f---ing great work for years, but ... whatever. I guess it's all box office for them." To offer Depp the part, Burton invited him to dinner without telling him why. "I think I let him finish half a sentence," Depp says, laughing, "and I just went, 'I'm in. I'm there.' I hadn't even seen a script."

Now for the tricky part: how was Depp going to play Wonka? No matter what one thinks of the 1971 film, Wilder played the candy man with an avuncular weirdness and a real warmth. Depp, never one to imitate, had to take a different path. First, he and Burton chose to give Wonka a backstory, making him the son of a dentist, who—because he never got to eat sweets—became estranged from his father and obsessed with candy. Over the years, Wonka has become not just reclusive, but almost autistic in his inability to connect with others. "He's not a father figure—he's a mess," Burton says. "There are lots of people who are geniuses in one area, but have complete deficiencies in other areas of their lives."

To build the character, Depp began thinking about the kind of folks who host game shows and children's TV programs. "Not like Captain Kangaroo, but like that guy on the local cable station in Podunk, Idaho," Depp says. "Wonka had sheltered himself from the outside world, and television would have been a good friend to him." Depp also decided to make Wonka a perfectionist and a germ-a-phobe. As for his look, that flawless pale skin, perfect pageboy and slightly feminine air have had some people wondering whether Depp found inspiration in Michael Jackson. "That never crossed my mind," he says. "I never thought about it once, honestly. But it's interesting, people's perceptions."

The trailers for "Charlie" have already given audiences a sense that Depp's Wonka may be a love-it-or-hate-it proposition. That should please Depp, an actor who's beloved precisely because he's a sworn enemy of the obvious and expected. But will audiences be able to warm to a character who, by design, doesn't really warm to anyone? "I remember getting notes on the script that said, 'We have to find a connection between Charlie and Willy Wonka'," Burton says. "No, that's the whole point. Willy Wonka doesn't like children or parents—or people." He laughs. "His journey is from disconnection to connection."

Warner Bros. is betting about $150 million that that journey will connect with families. There's no doubt that the movie's got plenty of eye candy to keep everyone entertained—the first 30 minutes of the film alone are as gorgeous, pointedly funny and transporting as anything Burton's directed. Liccy Dahl is thrilled with the film and says her late husband "would have adored it." She's happy with Depp's performance, too, although she admits she doesn't quite understand the actor's sex appeal. "Women just adore him, don't they?" she says. "I have to be honest, I think he's a little too pretty. Terribly nice, but he's no Robert Mitchum."

In the end, kids will decide the film's fate. If Freddie Highmore, who plays Charlie, is any indication, they'll have no trouble selling tickets. "People say 'Do you like chocolate?' and I say 'It's fantastic!'" says the 13-year-old, who also starred with Depp in "Finding Neverland." "But I think Johnny's even more fantastic than chocolate."
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
© 2005 MSNBC.com

Depp Dish - Newsweek

"Johnny holds forth on Wonka, Bugs Bunny and why being weird works."


SMITH: You've been in the Bahamas shooting two sequels to "Pirates of the Caribbean." How's that going?

DEPP: You know, quite a bit of traveling and a lot of swashbuckling. But it's good for a man to buckle his swash every now and then.

When you made the first "Pirates," your performance worried studio executives. That happened again when Warner Bros. first saw you as Willy Wonka. What gives?
At the beginning of the shoot we weren't getting phone calls from the studio that said, "We're freaked out." And that freaked me out. It's important to try something new each time out of the gate. So I'm kind of glad they were freaked out.

What was the hardest part about figuring out how you were going to play such an iconic character?
Early on, the hardest part was trying to erase any memory I had of the 1971 film with Gene Wilder. And then you go, "Christ, I can't erase it, so I'll just have to make a very, very sharp left turn."

You and director Tim Burton have made several movies together. Did you assume he'd ask you to play Wonka?
I was stunned. Tim and I have had this long relationship, and he's fought some brave and noble battles [to cast Depp in his movies], but I didn't think they would ever come to me for a project this size. I was ecstatic, man. I was doing Snoopy dances.

But after the success of "Pirates," why wouldn't the studio want you for this?

That didn't even cross my mind. I just don't think in those terms, you know? I'm so used to living the way I've been living—I do what I do, and people get it or they don't. All the little films I've done that were perceived by Hollywood as these obscure, weird things, I always thought could appeal to a larger audience. I mean, box office is such a mystery to me that I can't... you know... I have enough —trouble doing my own gig.

Still, it must have felt good to have your work seen and loved by so many people.

I had never experienced anything like that—where you meet a 75-year-old woman who had seen "Pirates" and somehow related to the character, and then five minutes later you meet a 6-year-old who says, "Oh, you're Captain Jack!" What a rush. What a gift. That's the challenge with Wonka, too—to be, in a sense, like Bugs Bunny. I find it magical that a 3-year-old can be mesmerized by Bugs, but so can a 40-year-old or an 80-year-old. It's a great challenge to see if you can appeal to that huge an age range.

Years ago, when you first became famous on the TV show "21 Jump Street," Hollywood wanted to make you into the next pretty-boy star, and you rebelled.

I was not a dummy. That show put me on the map, and I realized the opportunity that I had been given, but I couldn't... I just couldn't be what they wanted me to be. It ran against every cell in my body. It was killing me. I had to say, "F—- it. I'm going to go in this direction, and if I fail, I fail."

Since you and Tim have been friends for so many years, I'd imagine that the two of you must be able to complete each other's sentences.

Oh, yeah. Tim will say, "And then we went, and there was that, you know, whatever, so what could I do?" And I go, "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean." [Laughs]

When you're working together, do you ever think, "This is too weird, even for us"?

Definitely. Things get weirder and weirder, then one of you says, "Let's try that!" And then you look at each other and go, "I don't know, man, maybe not."

Did your kids come to the "Charlie" set?

They went crazy. They tried on the hat and the glasses and wanted to play with the candy cane. They loved seeing the giant chocolate waterfall. Every day it felt like walking onto the set of "The Wizard of Oz."

Has the studio talked to you about doing "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator"?

No, but it should be done. There's a lot more fun stuff in there, and I'm certainly game.

© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

© 2005 MSNBC.com

One of my favorite directors, the great genius called Tim Burton! Isn’t it obvious in this photo? All geniuses have a little of a mad man in themselves, as well as a child ;)

I know it’s an obsession but who can resist to this jaw line, those lips, especially with a smile on them, those auburn eyes, so much madness and with so good damn style? ;)

The mad man responsible for the rather psycadelic music of the movie: Danny Elfman, but Oompas wouldn’t have worked as true Oompas without it.

Freddie Highmore, a young actor to definitely follow his career, at least from what I’ve seen in Finding Neverland and now Charlie and the Charlie Factory.

Once again Portugal is suffering the mistakes of year after year of neglect, not only by the owners of abandoned propreties but in a big part due to the incompetence of government after government! Our land is completely dry (we've hardly had rain since last August, the last time Portugal had sucha severe draught was about 60 years ago)!

Too little for so many fires...

Impotence and exhausting, just 2 of the strongest feelings living in the heart of every fireman of Portugal...

Houses have been burnt...

and lives have been lost... It's just a pity that those who have set the fires didn't burn alive instead of poor innocent people who were just trying to save their lifes even when it was impossible to save their most precious belongings (even if your house is not worth your life, but seeing it burning down and not being able to do anything must feel like you are losing everything)...

Although my house has loads of houses in my neighbourhood it still beats Lisbon in a bit of green just next door with birds singing everyday and stealing food from mine ;)

Mitsy has already recovered from her drastic haircut, as you can see she is once again all fluffy ;)

Paredes de Coura

The best summer festival this year in Portugal, just ended in the beautiful Paredes de Coura (http://www.paredesdecoura.com) if you don’t believe it just take a look at the bands that performed there:

Monday (15th August): Sons and Daughters, Trailer Trash, Zig Zag Warriors

Tuesday (16th August): MXPX, Death from Above 1979 (the newspapers said it was an excellent concert), !!! (considered the best of the night), Kaiser Chiefs (the vocalist did so much exercise ;) that he twisted an ankle and continued the rest of the concert dancing but full of pain), The Bravery and Foo Fighters

Wednesday (17th August): The Future Heads, Hot Hot Heat, The Arcade Fire (some considered it the best concert of the whole festival some were expecting another thing, because many times a single doesn’t resume a band), The Roots, QOTSA and Pixies (for many fans the concert of the festival)

Thursday (18th August): The National, Killing Joke, Juliette and the Licks, Vincent Gallo and the great Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (I suppose from what I’ve heard the best concert of the day)

And me? I had to work, so I missed some more great bands this year…

But next weekend I’m going to have Franz Ferdinand and Bunnyranch so let’s rock n’ roll!!! And on the 20th of November Sigur Rós and Jonh Cale on the 5th of October!

Damaia...

Last Thursday I was told I’ve to leave Amadora’s bank agency to go to Damaia’s one (2 train station stops before Amadora) for all I can guess, 1 month and some days… All would be fair and well if the part of Damaia I’m going to wasn’t worse than the area that I was in Amadora. I keep on saying that they just don’t send me to Cova da Moura (kind of a Bronx in NYC) because, naturally, there are no banks operating in that neighborhood…

Oh, well… The good news are that I’ve finally managed to find a room in Sete Rios, the area I really wanted to live, for reasons only I know ;) But it’s a great area, quiet, full of families, students and old people, hardly any insecurity, the train, subway and buses, less than a 5 minute walk away and in my favorite subway line (the blue one). I’m moving in on the 1st of September and I’m going to live with a teacher and a nurse.

So this week I can finally start to find some information on Spanish classes and swimming pools, although I think I’ll wait a while before enrolling either as hope is the last to die and I would rather prefer to live in Montijo or Oeiras and have there my classes ;) Well better saying I would really prefer to keep on living in Sete Rios, but if I get to work in Oeiras or Montijo gas would make that option impossible to afford…

No posts for so long...

Yeah, I know it’s been a long time and now I’ve hardly anytime to say all that has happened!
Last weekend I was in Sudoeste, the biggest summer festival in Portugal (although not with the best set line this year, as the fact that I saw nearly all the concerts in the secondary stage and not the main stage proves)! Well as I didn’t take any photos here goes the link to my favorite blog http://eunaovoulermais.blogspot.com

I was able to see some great concerts, but as they were mainly in the secondary stage I found them too short :( Anyway, LCD Soundsystem, Peaches, Josh Rouse, Devendra Bahart, Wraygunn, The Kills are all highly recommended so if you have a chance to see them don’t miss them! And Peaches is my kind of woman Hell to Man and their Pussy Sexuality that can’t Handle a True Woman and let’s Rock n’ Roll ;)

Now the down part of my life, I’ve just ended two months of training at CGD (the biggest retail bank in Portugal) and unfortunately the more I get to see how an agency works and how difficult it is to climb the institutional ladder the more depressed I get… At the bright side, at least I know I was right; the last place in earth I want to work in my field is in a bank! If you want a job that makes more stupid everyday, working in a bank agency is the right choice, for the next months I’ll have to endure 7 hours standing per day doing stupid, tedious tasks, where the most interesting part of the job is helping and listening to customers (mainly old people that don’t know how to do certain operations at the ATM’s or actualizing their extract little books – Portuguese know what I’m talking of). Then if I’m lucky I’ll start to open and close bank accounts and if I’m even unluckier I’ll do cashier work and pay from my own pocket every time I’m short of money at the end of the day…

What’s worse is that as I see the other tasks that the other people perform in the agency I fell more desperate as basically they only do prints of information they have available in the intranet, already prepared centrally, ready to print and send the customers prints with their current address and identification numbers so that the regions decide whether or not to approve a certain operation. Can you imagine 45 years of doing prints for the rest of your life, no effort made, specially intellectually, somebody has already thought and decided for you, so your main task is selling banking products to customers, for laughable rewards and on top of all I get to earn in the first 2 years some meager 800 euros per month while living in Lisbon and wasting at least 300 euros in accommodation (and that doesn’t include food and transportation, never mind entertainment or education or sports). So I won’t be able to do big savings, I’m doing the sacrifice of working for working for a job I despise…

I still don’t have a place to live in Lisbon, maybe only for October, and if I waited for my employer to tell me where I was going to stay, not even then I would know as the told me this week to basically fuck off and that they couldn’t see what was the problem of me not knowing where I was going to work in the next months, so that I could find a room in the area. Basically I found a room for October and if they send me too far I will tell them to fuck off as I’m a human being not a bloody number or piece of shit that they can trample. You know what’s worse they told me there were no vacancies close to my hometown and the following day I find out that there was at least one!

So please light up some candles and pray for me, so that I can land with a job in P&G or Diageo, otherwise… ;)