They are made of a special kind of aluminum, the same kind airplanes are made of!

Today I passed by a window shop with some nice sun glasses. I love sun glasses, but I never seem to wear them very much. I don’t know why, but I could spend lots of time in a shop trying one by one and not buying a single one, or decide to buy, wear it for a few days and then totally forget that I have it.

Anyway, so I saw these amazing sun glasses and I decided to enter the shop and have a look. This hot sales woman approached me and asked what kind of glasses I liked most, so I explained her. A few seconds later she came with one model that fitted me perfectly. When I asked about the price, the answer was not so good, and then I spoke to myself (yes, I do that!) that the price is insane and that I wouldn’t buy it. So I thanked the girl, told her it was a nice model but I was just looking and wasn’t interested in buying anything at the moment. As I was walking trough the exit door, the sales woman tried one more time: “Are you sure you don’t want the glasses? They are made of a special kind of aluminum, the same kind airplanes are made of!” No, thanks very much indeed, anyway!

Oscar 2008

Best actor: Daniel Day-Lewis - Irish

Best actress: Marion Cotillard - French

Best supporting actor: Javier Bardem - Spanish

Best supporting actress: Tilda Swinton - English

So what’s up with American actors? or should the question be: What’s up with the Academy for not voting in American actors?

The Michael Jackson Factor

Here I am in a mega store (fnac style) drinking a cappuccino. Guess what is playing? Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Apparently it’s its 25th Anniversary and it’s being re-released. At this exact moment ‘Beat it’ is playing and wherever I look I see someone shaking their body, or beating their feet on the floor following the song’s beat, or even singing. It’s amazing how a song can please so many (apparently) different people. I only notice such behavior when ‘The Beatles’ are playing on the radio. Apparently, MJ affects people in the same way. And you know what? Even I am singing the songs and following the rhythm with my feet! It’s really cool!

More than just a Toblerone bar

Yesterday I was wandering in the streets of Ipanema looking for a Toblerone bar, when I realized I was near the shop where one of my ex bosses works now. So I thought why not? I’ll drop by to say hello, it’s been a year (or maybe more) since I last saw him.

So there I was and at the moment he saw me, he smiled. You could see that his mood had just changed. He seemed really happy to see me, and well, I can’t describe what I felt, I guess I was happy to see him happy with my presence.

So we talked for almost half an hour and the ‘happy for the moment’ guy seemed a sad guy. Although he’s happy for his daughters (one has just found a great job and the other one is finishing college this year), you could see he was worried. He’s moving to São Paulo in two weeks time. He quit the job at the shop and he’s just waiting for the month to end, so he can pack up and go. He will move to his other wife’s (men, go figure them!) house with no job perspective at all. He told me he doesn’t have any saving accounts, so he’s pretty much fucked up if he doesn’t find a job in, let’s say, 2 months. And what if he doesn’t find anything? Will the other wife take care of him? Be patient and wait God knows how long, until he finds something? He has a 6 years old kid with this other woman. What impression will the kid have of his father who doesn’t work and stay at home all day long?

He’s around 50 and he has worked in the music business all his life. The future of the music industry is dark, and honestly, I don’t think he will find the job so easily. Things are difficult around here, you know what i mean? I’m worried for him. I’m worried because I know he’s a nice, honest guy, a guy who has worked hard all his life to maintain his 2 families, a guy who deserves all the best.

I wish you all the best my friend! Good luck with your new life in São Paulo!

What seemed a simple quest for a toblerone bar turned out to be a quite complex monday afternoon, which will stay in my mind for some time. What should I do to avoid this happening to me? My future is not clear in my mind, and the only thing that is clear enough is that I don’t want this shitty situation to happen to me.

Got yours?

I’ve just got mine, and you? have you got yours? No?? Come on! Hurry up!

Finally available on DVD for the first time, Iron Maiden is proud to announce the eagerly awaited release of the double disc DVD of “Live After Death”, the legendary recording of  four night stand at Long Beach Arena, California, in 1984.
In the stores February 5, 2008, the release will coincide with the start of the band’s Somewhere Back In Time World Tour on which they will recreate many of the aspects of this original and spectacular show.

Disc one contains the recording of this full 90 minute concert. Originally filmed on 35mm, the footage comes alive on DVD resulting in a visually stunning film that far outstrips the usual live video of the ’80s. The disc carries two sound options — the original concert audio specially mixed into 5.1 Surround Sound by Kevin Shirley, MAIDEN’s producer since 1999, plus the original stereo sound track by Martin Birch, the band’s producer from 1981 to 1993. Originally released on video in 1985, this has been largely unavailable for the past 20 years

Disc two has Part 2 of the “History Of Iron Maiden”, continuing on the MAIDEN story from “The Early Days” DVD, along with rare and unseen bonus footage in the form of “Behind The Iron Curtain”, “Rock In Rio ‘85″, and “‘Ello Texas”, all in all giving a total running time of well over three hours. Plus of course the photo galleries, relevant promo videos, artwork galleries, tour dates, tour program and other features which all combine to make MAIDEN DVDs a very special and utterly comprehensive treat for their fans.

Manager Rod Smallwood explained: “The original video of ‘Live After Death’ has not been readily available for a long time so its good that we finally got around to this. lt was one of the first full concerts to be filmed after the advent of video and of course the live album, recorded on a different night to the video, has long been considered to be one of the seminal metal live albums and has sold millions since. Fans have been begging us to do this DVD for some time now but we wanted to wait until we were able to recreate that whole tour to go with it and also to make it part of a series of DVDs that we are putting together around the band’s history. And of course we are making sure that now we have got to it we will be giving the fans everything we can find from that period!!”

Sign of age?

So I was in the mall yesterday and I was going downstairs while this girl was going upstairs, as she passed by me she smiled and nodded at me, so I automatically smiled and nodded back. Just a few seconds later I realized I know her. But from where? The more I thought, the more I remembered her, flashes of her face came to my mind, the kind of clothes she wears came to my mind, the way she talks and smiles came to my mind. The only things that didn’t come to my mind were her name and from where I know her. Am I aging?

Lost

Have you ever felt the future is the past, but you dont know how…?
A reflected dream of a captured time, is it really now, is it really happening?
…
Dont know why I feel this way, have I dreamt this time, this place?
…
All my hopes and expectations, looking for an explanation
Have I found my destination? I just cant take no more
…
Think Ive heard your voice before, think Ive said these words before
Something makes me feel I just might lose my mind
Am I still inside my dream? is this a new reality
Something makes me feel that I have lost my mind
…
I get up put on the light, dreading the oncoming night
Scared to fall asleep and dream the dream again
Nothing that I contemplate, nothing that I can compare
To letting loose the demons deep inside my head

Dread to think what might be stirring, that my dream is reoccurring
Got to keep away from drifting, saving me from myself
…
Lost in a dream of mirrors, lost in a paradox
Lost and time is spinning, lost a nightmare I retrace
Lost a hell that I revisit, lost another time and place
Lost a parallel existence, lost a nightmare I retrace

No need to say that I’m not on my best moment right now, right? Sometimes I think like disappearing just like the kid from this amazing film (based on a true story). But this isn’t a solution, is it?

Oh, btw, the extracts above are from one of my favorite songs called ‘Dream of Mirrors’.