Its cause of these things!

Yes, a few backstage photos. Not all the pictures I take are for artistic and commercial purposes of course, sometimes it's just for the fun of it. But I never get to show them to anyone... so why not use this blog to share some of them? I think it's a supercallifragilisticexpialidocious idea!

Starting with something scary. Has anyone actually seen what a worm looks like? Until a few days ago I thought they were just hundreds of rings, I never even thought about their eyes and mouth. Fortunately, I found a baby one in my backyard and had with me my supercallifr... my wonderful macro lens! So here's what I got:















(You can click to make it bigger.) Scary stuff. Looks like it was taken from an "Aliens" movie.

On other news, today was the practice day for the pilots of the Redbull Air Race, which will take place tomorrow and Saturday, in Porto. Thousands of people are expected to show up, and I will certainly be one of them. Despite the fascination of having planes flying at 200kmh just above my head and slaloming by the Douro river, the challenge of photo-shooting such an event is my greatest invitation. And today, the pilots were practising - and so was I.

I have shot and covered a few sport events - but no one was ever this HARD. It's almost impossible for me to shoot (correctly) an event such as this one, at least not with the equipment I have. The planes are too fast, too close, and too unpredictable. I wanted to take close ranged photos of them and I was totally unable too, they were just a motion blur! And I was shooting at speeds as high as 1/1000 of a second. It was incredible.

Even at 4 frames per second at 1/1000s, I didn't manage to get any close shot. It's well beyond my possibilities, so I just put my camera away and enjoyed the rest of the show. Here are two shots, so you'll know what Im talking about:

















The rush is amazing, a bit scary too. So I guess this is it for today.

Lets play doctors!

Sometimes I just can't believe in the incompetence of people.

I went to see a (new) doctor today, since my family doctor is on vacations, and, like in most hospitals in Portugal, I waited a few hours to get an appointement with this new doctor. Well, I'm used to it, so I didn't mind (much). Because I would finally know what's wrong, right?

I walked in her office, and she asked what brought me there. I quickly explained my situation, and she said "Well, that might just be a tumor". I stared, and asked her to at least take a look! She analyzed me for what, 10 seconds? Afterwards she said "Yeah, maybe. Just go on and do some Eco's and Xrays, and show them to your real doctor when she gets back". And she told me the session was over.

I asked her "well I already knew it could be a tumor, but can you at least tell me what YOU think it is, a bad tumor, a good tumor, what?" And she gave me this look like she was thinking "How am I supposed to know?". SHE'S A FUCKIN DOCTOR!! She said absolutely nothing. Zero. Gave me a piece of paper and sent me away.

Afterwards I had to pay to see a private doctor who actually was able to give me a REAL diagnostic, and the session DID took more that a minute and a half. God damn it, what's wrong with these new doctors? They simply don't care, at all. That woman really pissed me off.
I'm more relaxed now, hurray for money-sucking doctors whose money makes them care.

Sétimo Manifesto

[Portuguese only, sorry]

Estava por aqui a escarafunchar os meus antigos textos, quando me apercebi que perdi a maioria. Sei que devo ter apagado grande parte deles, mas ainda consegui recuperar três dos muitos que escrevi nos anos anteriores (os únicos que chegaram de facto a ser publicados). Durante 2003-2005 escrevi uma série de Sete Manifestos, sete peças distintas de literatura de variados formatos, com a intenção de, bem, já não sei. Mas decidi partilhar um, o último da série. O formato foi completamente novo para mim e, na minha opinião, funcionou muito bem.

Sétimo Manifesto

"chego a casa as duas da manha depois de um dia cheio de trabalho abro a porta devagarinho para nao te acordar fecho a porta ainda mais devagarinho sacudo o guarda-chuva mas deixo-o la fora para nao te dar que limpar limpo os sapatos bem limpos no tapete que compraste la em berlim e empurro-os para um canto e vou para a cozinha encharcado preencher o vazio que sinto ca dentro e abro o frigorifico e ainda nao ha nada para comer e nos armarios tambem nao lentamente tiro a roupa molhada e deito-me no sofa a ver televisao um dois tres quatro cinco seis canais e nada que valha a pena desligo a televisao e oiço a chuva a cair e levanto-me para abrir a janela e deixo o pobre do gato entrar cá para dentro vejo um dois tres quatro cinco seis relampagos e fico na janela mais tempo do que queria mesmo sabendo que amanha celebras os teus magníficos trinta e cinco anos de idade mas desculpa se nao me importo ja sabes que te digo que te amo todos os anos e que te beijo na suave e pequenina testa aquando escorres uma lagrima azul e abres os braços esperançada e eu nao te ligo nenhuma e que volto para a cama ponho o despertador para as sete da manha e nao dou de comer ao animal e nao te dou um beijo de boa noite nem te ajudo a carregar as compras que ainda deixaste na cozinha e vens para a minha beira poes o braço a minha volta e tentas dormir sossegada sabendo que estou contigo - nao eu nao estou contigo e tu sabes bem disso e nao me importo se e o teu aniversario estou cansado de trabalhar no cafe todos os dias a mesma coisa clientes a queixarem-se do pingo estar morno ou do cafe sem açucar e a contar a vida toda desde o alpendre que caiu e os quatrocentos escudos que vai custar a reparar a mulher do joaquim que fugiu com a roberta e todas a noite fecho o cafe caminho pelo passeio onde violinos choram lagrimas musicais e as dez milhas que faço ate casa sao gastas apenas a pensar em ti no que eu te fiz no que eu te faço e no que eu te quero fazer porque novamente nao foste as compras ficaste a ver a telenovela mexicana mesmo quando o comando da televisao esta avariado e te deitas no sofa a olhar para aquela porcaria e no dia seguinte a mesma rotina e feita mas ja nao ha açucar e assim nao posso tomar cafe mas caminho para o trabalho as dez milhas como sempre a pensar em ti, no que te fiz no que te faço e no que te quero fazer - ainda nao compraste açucar e afinal o alpendre do almeida vai custar seiscentos escudos e a mulher do joaquim morreu atropelada mas eu julgo que tenha sido suicidio apos um duro filicidio e quando chego a casa sacudo o guarda chuva descalço-me devagarinho e caminho para nao te acordar vou para a cozinha ainda nao ha açucar mas sabes que mais nao me importo.

nao existes. e mesmo assim eu odeio-te."

ricardo magalhães, 2005 - a última peça escrita até hoje.

Lost... and found!

Those who know me are fully aware of my terrible lack of orientation. I can't really tell where's North and where's South, I can't even find my own car in the parking lot most of the times, and whenever I'm stuck on a new street or city I get highly confused and never get out of there.

Everytime I had to go somewhere, I spent more than an hour visiting the place in Google Earth, taking notes, lots of notes, and still I managed to get confused. But those days are over! I got myself a GPS, and I shall find my way and purpose in life!

Well, maybe not the purpose, but certainly the way... It's a bit awkward having a woman telling me when and where to go, but hey, that's life. Maybe I'll improve my general orientation, but don't worry, I will still be the same old distracted folk you always knew and loved.

(The GPS voice's name is Catarina by the way, and she has a sexy metalic voice :D)

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FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

Teenage Wristband

I can't stop listening to The Twilight Singers, especially at night. It's the perfect company for a warm night, no matter what your mood is. Since a dear friend of mine introduced me to them, I fell in love with the music style Greg Dulli produces to this twilight package.

Some songs have that teenage rock feeling into them, which I typically hate. But I don't care, they rock, and they're good company when the moon rises.

And I just found out Greg has another band, featuring Mark Lanegan (from Screaming Trees) as the second member! That's promising, must get my hands in that one as soon as possible! The band is Saturnalia. Can't wait to hear it.

Just watch this freakin video, you'll know what I'm saying.

Complaint file #28735

I'm sick of this. Today was just a louzy fuckin' day and the last few days have been and felt like shit. Sometimes I just feel like telling people to shove their own words in their own big fat round asses. But apparently that's imoral...

I'm a very patient person, and I still like to think I'm a decent guy who doesn't deserve most of the crap I have to take. I love people, I would go to the very end of the world for many loved ones and pretty much everyone worth a sacrifice. But sometimes it just feels fucking ungrateful, I don't know why I still feel like I should continue to put up with it.

Morrissey had it right: "In my life, why do I give valuabe time, to people I'd much rather kick in the eye".

And thank god for Pink Floyd, for listening to my ramblings. I'll be just fine tomorrow.

Movies

I've been going to the movies a lot lately, mostly because I'm bored most of the times. Just like I am bored right now, so that's why I'm making this blog entry ;D.

The Simpsons - Not just a long episode of the series, it managed to really become a "movie"! Extremely funny since the very beggining to the very end, it didn't dissapoint at all. One of the greatest animations I've seen, for sure. You can really tell that all the jokes have been given a lot of thought, and they work really damn well. It was a really good surprise, highly recommended.

Hostile 2 - Blargh. Haven't seen such a bad movie in a long time. I honestly thought Hostel was different from the other terror movies, but I didn't see the first one. It's bloody awful! I bet it's the same story as the first one, only with different characters. A lot of hot chicks, summer vacations, they die, yada yada, it would be a nice horror movie in 1990. Fuckin bad movie, it was a waste of money.

Evan Almighty - I really enjoyed Bruce Almighty a few years ago, Carrey did a great job in it. It wasn't a superb movie and definitely not the best movie of the year, but I liked it. And since I've come to love Steve Carell, I was excited about this sequel! The director was the same, so I was expecting more of Bruce Almighty with Carell's charisma. Well, I was wrong. The movie is actually quite poor. Steve does a good job, the man is impossible not to adore. But the plot is weak, the funny parts are rather rare and frankly, rather poor also. It's more of a family movie than the typical comedy, so I'm sure it's gonna be a good movie when you're watching it on TV with your family...

Disturbia - After I saw the trailer I got really curious, it didn't seem like the typical teenage horror movie (*points to Hostel 2 review....*) and I enjoyed the boys' work in Transformers. First of all the movie is quite long, which wouldn't really be a bad thing... if, some action actually happened in the first 2/3 of the movie. 75% of the film is mostly talking and get-to-know-us scenes, which, altough not boring, are not what you expected and paid for! Only the last half hour is in fact, what you want to see. And even that is not so "disturbia" after all... you expected more by the end of it, but in general it's not a bad movie, I actually enjoyed it.

Die Hard 4 - Terrible plot! Must be the worst freakin excuse for a plot I've ever seen in a Die Hard! Remeber "Hackers"? How easy it was to hack whatever you want, from wherever you want, and causing pure chaos just like that? Die Hard 4 has the same premiss. Only we're not in the 90's! Despite that, the action scenes are good, which make the movie worth seeing for the fans. The humour is weak for a Die Hard, and it's ridicusly exagerated. For the fans, only.

Ratatouille - A lot of paint over this animation for the last months. Every single review was good for this latest Pixar animation, and of course I got curious. The movie is about a rat with excellent cooking skills, who wants to practice his art in a restaurant in Paris. And believe it or not, this actually works... greatly. I've never seen such a convincing animation before. You get to watch it mainly in a first person (first rat, actually) style, which makes you really get inside the story. You ARE the rat! It's a wonderful movie, full of rich humourous scenes which makes you eager for the next one. Not only I laughed a lot, but I also smiled a lot like all those children in the room. One hell of an experience, without a doubt one of the best animation movies this year, if not the best.

Shrek III - Just another Shrek. (I'm lazy now. Bye)

Opsye...

I'm listening to way too much music. For the past five or six weeks, the first thing I do when I wake up is set-up the playlist. I have breakfast listening to music on the living room's DVD; I have lunch still listening to music.

When I decide to stay home during the afternoon, no matter what I do, music is always playing. If I decide to go out, I keep listening to my playlist on the car, on the train, on the bus, wherever.

If I'm walking on the city, or just waiting for someone, I naturally plug the earphones.

When I get home, more music. I go to bed everyday at 3am, stopping the laptop's music... but then I fall asleep listening to my mp3 player. I fall asleep to music, and I wake up with music.

All this would be fine if music hadn't such an impact on me. I live my world based on what music makes me feel; so that creates lies, hope, false hope, expectations, pretty much anything one could feel. It's... driving me a little bit crazy. When I have nothing to do, I just keep searching for more music, or read and learn everything I can about my favorites. Silence bothers me for the first time, 'cause there's NO FUCKIN' MUSIC PLAYING!

It's a miserable drug, which sometimes resembles a painkiller, but lately is just feels like it grows emotions I'm definitely not used to have. The worst part?

Tomorrow I'll listen even more. I just can't wait for it.

Hello, my name is Richard. And I'm addicted to music.
The fucking thing keeps calling my name.