Snow...

Last Sunday it snowed in my hometown! For those of you who are saying "So what, it's Winter, normally it snows!" True but the last time it snowed in Rio Maior was about 20 years ago and it only lasted a couple of hours. With this intensity it has been more than 50 years ago and if you take into account that to see some snow Portuguese have to go to our highest mountain (called Serra da Estrela) or up north near our frontier with Spain, you can start to understand why so many Portuguese acted as little kids and went out to the streets in their PJ's and play with the first flocks or phone nearly everyone they knew (something I'm sure our telecommunications companies thanked a lot as I imagine Sunday mornings must be slow and uninteresting for the point of view of profits ;)

So here goes some photos...

Hamas

Today I was surprised at breakfast that it seemed Hamas was going to gain the elections in Palestina, which is just ore of the most frightening news I have heard lately. I still remember that when the first Gulf War started I was scared that the 3 World War could start, and this fear still lived with me for a while.

Eventually I started to think that the world had learnt it's less and would not allow that easily that a conflict of that scale would occur. Yes, there were always going to be regional conflicts, always atrocities happening with the world too coward, cynic and selfish to intervene and has much as I hate this attitude, I became less scared of a 3 World War, mainly because most wars and atrocities were being started/committed by unscrupulous, greedy people who manipulate desperate people and brainwash them so they became radicals willing to die and kill innocent people in name of a God or cause (where the hatred for USA is so useful to gain power and money)...

But now we have reached the unthinkable: terrorists reaching power, democratically elected! That was the worst thing that could happen for a free Palestine and peace in that region, because terrorist acts can never be justifiable... I shiver at the idea of were radicalism has reached and at may be expecting for us in a near future...

Don't get up!

So here I'm after a very bad day. I had a flat tire for the second time in less than 1 year, but this time I wasn't able to change it, as mechanics think women have men's physical strength ;) This creates a huge problem because most men can't resist the opportunity to make fun and show off! Except if you are drop dead gorgeous, and then they do really lame and pathetic figures in hope of gaining much more than a simple thanks! For those who know me, know that I prefer to be stuck or to pay than to have to stand hearing a man saying ''It had to be a women" or "Women can't do anything"!

In the end it was a man who helped me and changed the tire, and old friend of the family, but I had to wait for 1 hour and a quarter in my car. And just to think that what happened was the fault of a man who just couldn't wait to enter the parking lot although he could see I was doing the maneuver and I was nearly ending it!

Ipod

Talking about Ipods, it seems that Apple is investigating a new Ipod that will be able to record AM/FM stations, if they will allow to set the time to start to record and stop it then I think I'll wait a little bit longer to buy a Ipod, because being able to do podcasting that easily of my favorite radio program so I can hear them at any time of the day is fantastic!

Blind / Deaf

On Sunday while I was driving I was also remembering the conversation I just had about getting blind, I was told that blind can still hear those who they love! I said yes and as long as I could learn Braille and be able to still read, because I couldn't imagine living without ever be able to read again.

But has I was hearing The Good Fellows I remembered an editorial that I had read a few weeks before, about musicians who where deaf or becoming dead and how now Ipods posed new threats to normal people has them mean much more hours of hearing music with headphones and has they reach a volume higher than recommended, there is the danger that people can become deaf. The editorial was warning it's readers to be careful has the idea of having a new album on your hands and only be able to appreciate its design is a frightening thought...

I can't agree more, the thought that was crossing my mind as I was hearing the Guerolito's songs was that becoming deaf would be worse for me than becoming blind. I would never be able to see the world, its beauty, the people I love most, and their smiles and has much as that would hurt, I still could feel... But not being able to hear the voices of those I love most, not being able to listen to music, seems to horrible because although you can still see the physical reactions of those you love most or feel the vibrations of music it is never the same, at least music would lose most of it's feeling, like the one we feel when we hear the sound of a electric guitar or a violin or one of those voices/lyrics that reaches deeply our soul!

Guerolito

Last Sunday I was hearing my favorite radio program: "The good fellows" the only ones who have said that Guero is a good album, that Beck isn't completely lost has some critics have been writing (basically those who first said Guero was Odelay 2 without even hearing the album and then where surprised that it wasn't so and just concluded that it meant he had lost himself, perhaps because he didn't do what they're expecting a commercial album, although Odelay has never been a commercial album).

In the end what may be the truth is that they can't understand why a musician who has the opportunity to make easy money doesn't sell himself and does exactly what he likes music with passion, with soul, not caring about what others say about his music . For me albums of true musicians (that is, those who don't sell themselves) are gifts for the world to express and share their own inner worlds. Beck has always been one of these musicians and that seems to bother some people...

This all to say I had read just a week before a bad review for Guerolito and The Good Fellows passed lots of songs of this album of remixes (saying they had been hearing this album the whole week) and they seemed rather interesting not bad has the review stated.

Changes...

Life has some weird twists, I can’t say much more but for now who ever wonders why I may be more absent than usual, it’s just that from next week onwards I’ll be doing two jobs ;) As soon as I get out of my job I’ll have to give a hand to my father everyday, so I kind of think that by every Friday I’ll be kaput ;) At least for a month

On the bright side I’ll have to be more times with a computer that has access to internet instead of only intranet which means no more excuses about having to switch on my laptop and going downstairs to the office and do so ;) So maybe in the end I won’t be as absent as it may seem…

Now I have to be off for my chauffer job of every Friday and fetch one of my sisters ;)

Pride & Prejudice

Pride & Prejudice

One of the biggest love stories I've ever read, unfortunately as love and life are never quite so...

Mr. Darcy has been changed from the BBC series to an actor with blue eyes, not those amazing brown eyes which made all women fall in love with the character... And Lizzie is no longer one who has a hidden beauty, a beauty that starts slowly to reveal itself to Mr. Darcy as he begins to fall in love with her, as love should be, those we love are always beautifull not because they are physically perfect but because their inner beauty outshines all and they became more beautifull the more you love them...

But only a blind man or woman can say that this actress has a hidden beauty, it's everything but hidden and that takes a lot of the magic Jane Austen created...

Even though I intend to see the movie, so I can take my conclusions based on other than the trailer of the movie ;)

Best of 2005 - Just a few ideas

Ok, a little bit late I admit, but these last months haven’t been easy and sometimes writing is put behind and forgotten...

My list doesn’t have an order, it’s kind of unfair to say this one was better than the other when the music stiles can’t even be compared most of the times!

So here goes my favorite CD’s of the year (although there has been a lot I haven’t heard still):

Devendra Banhart – Cripple Crow, happy, beautiful, soul touching, sad, just absolutely beautiful!

Beck: Guero – A very misunderstood disc in my opinion, yes it is too long, yes it could have come in two CD’s but we are in a time when the few who actually by CD’s, as soon as they unwrap them they rip them to their computer and then straight head to their mp3 players. That is were small tiny little countries as Portugal, were most people can’t afford a computer, nevermind a mp3 player, are in disadvantage, specially when most of our population doesn’t even know who Beck is! And after all, after having his album freely available in the internet, weeks before it’s release, Beck tried to give a gift to his fans. I enjoy a lot of Guero’s songs, it allows us another perspective in his genius, a look to his roots and his influences, specially the latino ones. In the end, people just said it was Odelay 2, without even listening to it, and it’s far from Odelay 2, it’s more of all Beck’s album number 2 and much more. But who cares what critics say? They spoke so badly of Sea Change and it was an amazing album!

White Stripes: Get Behind me satan – It’s White Stripes and oh boy that guitar ;)

Animal Collective : Feels (I biggest regret of 2005 in terms of concerts)

Ryan Adams: Love is Hell – Not a 2005 but the best gift I received in 2005




Concerts of the year (those that I actually went to):

Devendra Banhart at Aula Magna, Lisbon – My best concert of the year

LCD Soundsystem at Sudoeste, Portugal

Josh Rouse at Sudoeste, Portugal

Wraygunn where ever I saw them, but the last time was really amazing, because I have never been so close to a band ;)

Clã at Rio Maior, Portugal (a pity my hometown doesn’t know good music)

Black Car, Yellow Car – Not a concert, but a DJ set and I can say sincerely it was the best I went to this year (and it wasn’t only because it was the only DJ set I remember going to this year ;)


Franz Ferdinand at Lisbon Soundz – End of tour but I had been waiting 1 year for them as I wasn’t lucky enough to see them in 2004 (being in Copenhagen made it impossible)

Gomo at Clinic – Just a pity it was so short



Best Concert of 2005 that I was not there (at least from what I heard):

Beck at Ilha do Ermal, Portugal – To the organization thanks a lot for putting him on a Sunday night after a very famous hip-hop Portuguese group who has mainly fans of 14 years old or less (no wonder if you hear their music), how don’t have enough good taste to appreciate something really meaningful and great, and on top of all about 4 to 5 hours by car from Lisbon where I had to work the following day! Thanks to Antena3, the best radio in the world, that transmitted the concert live for everybody! It must have been a hell of a great concert as one of the radio guys said he didn’t appreciate Beck and that the concert would not be a great deal (that was before the concert). But when he saw, what I only heard, Beck trying to play songs from his new album and suddenly realizing that hardly anybody from his audience knew who he was, just turned the whole concert, playing his most well known songs, to warm up the crowd, having a hell of a presence on stage, making his audience surrender to him and his music… Yet another great concert by Beck! I only hope his next visit will be to Coliseu dos Recreios, Lisbon, so he can remember how much his Portuguese fans love him!



Best DVD of 2005:

Blues by Martin Scorcesse, specially the first episode until now – I’m actually seeing the documentaries on national TV on Thursdays nights (that’s why I look like a zombie every Friday)



Best Movies of 2005 (a disaster as I only remember seeing two films this year):

Finding Neverland (I think it was only released in Portugal in the begging of 2005)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Corpse Bride – I still haven’t seen it but I now it is the best animated movie of 2005 and after my choices above it’s easy to see Johnny Depp his my favorite actor and Tim Burton one of my favorite directors


Some have been left behind, some haven’t been heard or seen still, some because I was unable, some because dicks speak louder than passion for music, and some because cash and time are too little for so much ;)