Iron Maiden The Final Frontier

IRON MAIDEN are pleased to announce that their forthcoming new studio album will be called ‘THE FINAL FRONTIER‘, and is expected be released late summer of this year.

The announcement comes with news of a North American Tour with Very Special Guests Dream Theater to open in Dallas, Texas, on 9th June and finish in Washington D.C. on 20th July, making it Maiden’s most extensive North American tour in many years.

Following these shows in USA and Canada The Final Frontier World Tour will travel back to Europe for a few selected major festival and stadium shows with the band planning to continue to many other countries in 2011 (full currently confirmed dates below).

The full Live Nation North America press release for the North American Tour is posted here.

An exclusive pre-sale allowing members of the IRON MAIDEN fan club first access to tickets to the North American Maiden Shows will be made available two days prior to them being available to the public.

Tickets for the Canadian shows will go on sale to the public on Saturday 13th March at 10am PST (10am EST for Toronto and 12 noon EST Montreal).
Exclusive first access to the tickets will be available to IM fan club members on Wednesday 10th March at 10am PST through to Thursday 11th March at 6pm PST (EST for Toronto).
Regretfully due to technical reasons an exclusive Pre-Sale in Montreal is not possible.

Tickets for the US Shows will go on sale to the public on Saturday 20th March at 10am EST.
Exclusive first access to the tickets will be available to IM fan club members on Wednesday 17th March at 10am EST through to Thursday 18th March at 6pm EST

As IRON MAIDEN are actively dedicated to ensuring their fans always have access to the best possible tickets at the fairest possible price, without being subject to scalping for good seats, so many North American shows will operate, at least in part, a paperless ticket policy: More information on Ticketmaster Paperless Ticketing can be found here

To give IRON MAIDEN fan club members a privileged insight to their touring world, IMTV will return to www.ironmaiden.com to cover THE FINAL FRONTIER WORLD TOUR. This exclusive footage includes regular video from the live shows, touring, band interviews, insights into our crew and what they do and much much more. The website will also feature exclusive tour diaries, exclusive photographs and anything else that helps the fans get a real insight into the dynamics of a big tour.

In 1978, the world was a different place.

There was no Google yet. Or Yahoo. Or Twitter, for that matter.

In 1978, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was Grease. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster.

Remember, that was before there were DVDs. People were indeed watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter, the excitement, the novelty. And mostly all of that without 3D computer effects.

Do you know who won the Oscars that year? The academy award for the best movie went to The Deer Hunter. The Oscar for best foreign movie that year went to Get Out Your Handkerchiefs. The top actor was Jon Voight for his role as Luke Martin in Coming Home. The top actress was Jane Fonda for her role as Sally Hyde in Coming Home. The best director? Michael Cimino for The Deer Hunter.

In the year 1978, the time when you arrived on this planet, books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The number one US bestseller of the time wasChesapeake by James A. Michener. Oh, that’s many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you heard of it? Look at the cover!

In 1978… The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law. The Holy Crown of Hungary is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II. Richard Chase, the “Vampire of Sacramento”, is arrested. Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany Persona non grata. The control tower and some other facilities of New Tokyo International Airport, which was scheduled to open on March 31, are illegally occupied and damaged by terrorist attack by New Left activists, being forced to reschedule its opening date to May 20. Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds gets his 3,000th major league hit. Charles Chaplin’s coffin is found 10 miles from the cemetery it was stolen from, near Lake Geneva. A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University, wounding a security guard in the first Unabomber attack. Charon, a satellite of Pluto, is discovered. The U.S. scientific satellite Seasat is launched. Six men rob a Lufthansa cargo facility in New York City’s Kennedy airport. Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days of papacy. Two million demonstrate against the Shah in Iran. The first Susan B. Anthony dollar enters circulation. The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom. Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Otello makes its first appearance on Live from the Met, in a complete production of the opera starring Jon Vickers. This is the first complete television broadcast of the opera in the U.S. since the historic 1948 one. The video game of the day was Space Invaders.

That was the world you were born into. Since then, you and others have changed it.

The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to Isaac Bashevis Singer. The Nobel Peace prize went to Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat and Menachem Begin. The Nobel prize for physics went to Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson from Soviet Union and the United States for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics. The sensation this created was big. But it didn’t stop the planets from spinning, on and on, year by year. Years in which you would grow bigger, older, smarter, and, if you were lucky, sometimes wiser. Years in which you also lost some things. Possessions got misplaced. Memories faded. Friends parted ways. The best friends, you tried to hold on. This is what counts in life, isn’t it?

The 1970s were indeed a special decade. Women’s liberation continued. The hippie culture faded. There was an opposition to the Vietnam war, and nuclear weapons. The environmentalist movement began. Tom Wolfe coined the decade the “Me decade” due to a new self-awareness. Mao Zedong died and the market began to liberate in China. There was an oil crisis. After the first oil shock, gasoline was rationed in many countries. In Eastern Europe, Soviet-style command economies begin showing signs of stagnation. The Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, witness the kidnapping and murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian Arab terrorists. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The Who, Pink Floyd, The Eagles, Bee Gees, Abba and others play their music. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison all die at the age of 27. The space mission Apollo 13 nearly ends in disaster. Egypt signed the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. There was a revolution in Iran. The world sees its first general microprocessor. The C programming language makes its debut. Consumer video games show up on the scene. Microwave ovens become commercially available. Margaret Thatcher was victorious in the UK elections.

Do you remember the movie that was all the rage when you were 15?Sleepless in Seattle. Do you still remember the songs playing on the radio when you were 15? Maybe it was Informer by Snow. Were you in love? Who were you in love with, do you remember?

In 1978, 15 years earlier, a long time ago, the year when you were born, the song Shadow Dancing by Andy Gibb topped the US charts. Do you know the lyrics? Do you know the tune? Sing along.

You got me looking at that heaven in your eyes
I was chasing your direction
I was telling you no lies
And I was loving you
When the words you said
Baby, I lose my head
…

There’s a kid outside, shouting, playing. It doesn’t care about time. It doesn’t know about time. It shouts and it plays and thinks time is forever. You were once that kid.

When you were 9, the movie The Witches of Eastwick was playing. When you were 8, there was Labyrinth. When you were 7, there was a Disney movie out called The Great Mouse Detective. Does this ring a bell?

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… it’s 1978. There’s TV noise coming from the second floor. Someone turned up the volume way too high. The sun is burning from above. These were different times. The show playing on TV isThe Incredible Hulk. The sun goes down. Someone switches channels. There’s Tic Tac Dough on now. That’s the world you were born in.

Progress, year after year. Do you wonder where the world is heading towards? The technology available today would have blown your mind in 1978. Do you know what was invented in the year you were born? The Credit-card-sized Calculator. The Solar-powered Calculator. The Spreadsheet.

On Fourth Street in Louisville in 1978
Stranded in a honky-tonk, somwhere ‘tween dates
There was a little band playin’ as I sipped my beer
But I never thought that I’d hear what I’d hear
…

That’s from the song Son of Clayton Delaney by Tom T. Hall.

In 1978, a new character entered the world of comic books: Iron Cross. Bang! Boom! But that’s just fiction, right? In the real world, in 1978, Katie Holmes was born. And Devon Sawa. Nelly Furtado, too. And you, of course. Everyone an individual. Everyone special. Everyone taking a different path through life.
It’s 2010.

The world is a different place.

What path have you taken?

I really hope the explanation about the lost numbers given to us by the lost writers in the last episode, The Substitute, is not the final explanation. It can’t be something like “Jacob has a thing for numbers…” It seems a lazy, lazy explanation. There’s still a lot to explain about them. Like for example, why the hell Desmond had to push those buttons in the hatch? Why Hurley was told the numbers? And what about that Valenzetti equation that predicts the end of the world? See, still a lot to explain…

Compass Point Studio - Nassau, Bahamas

According to Kevin Shirley’s diary, a new Iron Maiden album is set to be released any time soon. He mentions that the band’s work is all done, but he still has some bits to do, which won’t take long. What I find intriguing is where the band decided to record the album. They chose no less than the Compass Point Studio in Nassau, Bahamas. The same studio where 17 years ago they recorded Piece of Mind (my favourite Maiden album), and then Powerslave in 1984, and then, once again, Somewhere In Time in 1986. Those are considered by many the top 3 Maiden albums ever recorded. So, why did they choose to record there again after so many years? Nostalgia? Probably…

There’s also a rumor that Kevin Shirley was producing the Download Festival 2007 gig they did on the “A Matter of Life and Death” tour to release as a DVD this year. I never quite understood why they didn’t release this back then. Maybe they just wanted to keep it safe to release in difficult times, which is not the case now. So, why release it now? But then, that’s just a rumor! hehe Anyway, That’s a DVD I wouldn’t hesitate to buy. That gig was phenomenal!

Here are some special treats from the Donington Download gig back in 2007:

Helloween Unarmed

I’ve read and heard really bad reviews about Helloween’s new album Unarmed. I can say that I understand those reviews but I disagree with them. The album was not made for ordinary people. It’s a 25th Anniversary album and It was made for the fans. And even if you are a Helloween fan, you still need to have a very open mind to like and even understand the album.

First of all, let me tell you why I like the album. I liked it because it was a brave album. The band had to have guts to release it. It just proves how creative they are and have always been. They took all some of their hits and re-recorded them in a variety of styles ranging from jazz to metal with bits of folk and blues, and they did it with help from some gifted musicians around the world.

Here’s a song by song review:

• Dr. Stein: Nice jazz version with a nice saxophone and even nicer bass line by Markus Grosskopf (I want to play like him when I grow up). 8/10
• Future World: Nice slow acoustic version. 7.5/10
• If I Could Fly: I’ve never been a fan of this song and when I saw that they had put it in the album, I just said: “oh no…” But I understand why they put it. It was a single and sold really well, so… This version is not better or worse than the original. They even sound very similar. 5/10
• Where The Rain Grows: The good melody of the original saves this one. The rendition made it much slower but the far more catchy verses and chorus still managed to make it enjoyable. 8/10
• The Keeper Trilogy: The “masterpiece” of this album, no contest. Very well orchestrated, subtle notes and harmonies from the originals are emphasized and make us rediscover the songs. This song itself makes the whole album worthy.  10/10
• Eagle Fly Free: Horrible. My favourite Helloween song was destroyed! What have they done to this?  ZERO!
• Perfect gentleman: Frankly, no difference here between the original and the cover. I think the two are interchangeable. One has a bit less electric guitars but that is it. 7/10
• Forever And One: Why is this song in the album in the first place? 2/10
• I Want Out: I liked it. I admit that the kid chorus is very catchy. In fact, it joined the spirit of ‘Another Brick In The wall’ from Pink Floyd and that seems appropriate since both songs have the same theme. The cover kept that rebellious atmosphere and it remained upbeat. Good job on this one. 8/10
• Fallen To Pieces: Again, why is this here? Isn’t it supposed to be a classics only album? The original song is not good and this one isn’t very different. 3/10
• A Tale That Wasn’t Right: Very good. Second best after the Trilogy. The orchestration sounds overwhelming by times and takes away a bit from the original simple nature of the song but generally it does a good job. Andi Deris, given his vocal range, deliveres a quite intense performance. 7.5/10

You can listen to a preview of all these songs here.

The band is currently undergoing a promo tour for this album. This promo tour consists of a pocket show with autograph signings. Thanks God for youtube and some nice Helloween fans that have made some bits of this promo tour available for us all to watch. Here they are:

Will Google Buzz substitute Facebook? Will it replace Twitter as people’s favourite miniblog tool? Well, we shall see…

I think that’s pretty much what Google wants. To make it a stronger tool, they will integrate it to Gmail, Google Maps and Picasa, as well as launch a business version of Google Buzz later this year. So, Faceboook and Twitter, you’d better watch out!

If you’re curious to know more about Google Buzz, watch the video below:

Once upon a time there was a show about ordinary people with super powers and at the time it was one of my favourite shows on TV. There were the good guys and the bad guys. The good guys didn’t know each other, but they were all mysteriously drawn together, in a mutual objective that was to stop an atomic bomb from exploding in New York. There was also that funny japanese dude called Hiro, who had the most amazing super power – freezing time and time travelling. Hiro had to save the cheerleader no matter what.

Four years later, this same show has changed completely.  We still have the same original characters, but their objectives, reasons and past actions seem to be lost in the middle of a very poor and badly written plot. The so called Heroes have lost and gained back their powers several times during the storyline, sometimes they’ve gained different super powers (wtf?). They’ve also died and come back to life, as well as been lost in time (several times) and brought back to the present. Very confusing, right? On top of that, every new episode we were introduced to these new characters who were not important at all, but they wanted us to fear them because they had these so cool super powers that could be used to do bad things. Whatever…

Can Heroes be saved? It’s indeed a difficult question. I guess it still can. But they should to it very fast!

What’s the first thing they should do? Well, they have to figure out who the bad guy is. Is it Sylar? Or is it the crazy dude from Prison Break with the forced scottish accent? My vote is on Sylar! I’m tired of this Sylar is good and then he’s bad again, thing. Sylar is the bad guy, he kicks everybody’s ass when he’s bad, period! Kill the other dude. But, if you think eveybody’s is tired of Sylar, kill him and keep t-bag. The thing is, we only need one big bad guy.

The second thing is to put the coolest character as the main character again. Yes, I’m talking about Hiro. It was all about him in the first season, right? So, bring him back! Seeing Peter Petrelli with his original super power would be cool too, since he is the only one who can fight equally with Sylar, but then this would only be necessary if you decide that Sylar has to live.

The third thing is a major objective that would make the characters get together again and fight for the same thing.

That’s it. It seems pretty simple, doesn’t it?

Carey Mulligan, write down this name! I’ve just watched An Education, and I was extremely surprised by her performance. That’s one of the best performance from an actress that I’ve seen in the past few years. I Can’t even remember the last time I felt this way by an actress. The film, which is the first screenplay written by Nick Hornby (another favourite of mine), is indeed very good and Carey’s performance makes it excellent. Of course she has help from a very good cast, which features among others Emma Thompson and Alfred Molina, but Carey herself makes the film very enjoyable to watch. I won’t be surprised if she wins the Oscar for best actress. It would be very deserving! Have I mentioned that she’s British and has a sexy accent? This definitely one of the many reasons why she is now one of my favourite actresses!

The film is set  in the early 1960’s,  and sixteen year old Jenny Mellor (Carey Mulligan) lives with her parents in the London suburb of Twickenham. On her father’s wishes, everything that Jenny does is in the sole pursuit of being accepted into Oxford, as he wants her to have a better life than his. Jenny is bright, pretty, hard working but also naturally gifted. The only problems her father may perceive in her life is her issue with learning Latin, and her dating a boy named Graham, who is nice but socially awkward. Jenny’s life changes after she meets David Goldman, a man over twice her age. David goes out of his way to show Jenny and her family that his interest in her is not improper and that he wants solely to expose her to cultural activities which she enjoys. Of course David’s intentions are others and in order to know about them, I recommend you to watch the film. You won’t regret.

I had the feeling something like this would happen. Someone leaked the first four minutes of the last season of Lost. In this sneak peek you will see the last scene from the last season (Juliet hitting the bomb, and what happens next). If you don’t like spoilers, do not watch the video below!

Now you can compare the scene you’ve just seen with this scene from the first season. There are some important and/but subtle differences. Can you notice?

So, what do you think?

I’m very excited about the return of Lost. I can’t wait to find out the mysteries of the famous island. However, since this will be the last season I know that they will probably not answer some of those mysteries. Here are the questions I want and feel that the writers must answer:

1. What is the significance of the numbers?

2. Why were they chosen to crash on the island, and what is their connection?

3. Why do some people appear as “ghosts”?

4. What is the Black Smoke?

5. Who is Jacob/Who is “The Man in Black”?

6. What’s the deal with the Temple?

7. Why do Widmore and Ben want the island?

8. What is the deal with Richard Alpert? And Desmond?

On the other hand, some mysteries  (imho) don’t need to be answered. Here they are:

1. Who, what, where, why with Libby?

2. Who does Kate end up with?

3. Who are Adam and Eve?

4. What happens to Rose and Bernard? (and Vincent?)

And you? Do you have a theory for any of these mysteries? Do you want to know any mystery that I didn’t list here? Which one?

Wow! It took me exactly one week, but I managed to deliver the new design as promised! I’m really happy with the final result and I hope you like it too. I’ve chosen to use a theme called Thesis Theme, which is now in its version 1.6. I chose it because it gives you the ability to tweak it as much as you want (you do not need much php and/or css knowledge. But if you do have, it gives you an extra help), plus it’s SEO friendly and it has a great options panel that makes your life so much easier. If you’re a blogger and want to change your looks, give it a try by checking it out here. If you’re not a blogger, but is really considering becoming one, check it out as well. You’ll see how easy and simple it is.

Exactly, shame on me! It’s January, 19th and it’s been more than 2 months since my last post! And I haven’t even finished my Manaus diary! You know what, I won’t finish it! I don’t think I did more exciting things than the ones I mentioned below. One thing worth mention is the fact that when I came back to Rio, I had a flight connection in Brasília. I had 2 hours to wait at the airport or take a taxi and do a city tour. And that’s what I did! My impressions? WOW! It’s so nice, so modern, so different! But I couldn’t understand how people live there. The streets are weird, there aren’t any sidewalks, no corners. All you can see are huge blocks of buildings, boulevards and highways. I wish I had time to get out of the taxi, walk around, explore, maybe stay there for a day in order to understand that place a little bit better.

During this time I was bitten by the travel bug. I went to Búzios twice. Búzios is an international paradise! It was discovered by Brigitte Bardot 50 years ago and since then it’s has grown into one of the main tourist attractions in Brazil. It’s a peninsula which has 26 beaches (and eache beach has a unique characteristic) and it’s known as the Brazilian Ibiza. It’s very, very expensive, but totally worthy it! I encourage you to google it and if you have some money, go there! You won’t regret it.

From December 21st until last Sunday I was in João Pessoa (and Recife for one day) visiting my father and the other side of my family like I do every year. This year was great! My little brothers are bigger, so they interact a lot more, which makes everything more exciting and fun. I did make news friendships as well, more specifically Jason and Zita. He’s Canadian and owns a restaurant at the beach. It’s called Palm Club and they serve international food, specialties are Thai and Indian food. I had the most amazing currys there! Zita is Hungarian and an international model and works for Chloé. They’re a funny couple. I loved chatting with them and specially beat them at Tennis! Well, to be hones with you, by the end of the month I was the one being beaten! lol

The day I spent in Recife was to know the restaurant where my sister works. It belongs to her boyfriend and they’re both chefs. The restaurant is called Varekai Bistrô. It has a singular design/decoration, which makes you extremely comfortable to be inside it. And the most important thing (the food, obviously) is really yummy! They also serve international food and every day the menu changes. In fact, they don’t change! It’s made according to the client’s taste. As you enter the restaurant, the chef talks to you, find out your likes and dislikes and that’s it. In a few minutes you start receiving food at your table. And dish after dish, you’re even more surprised on how good they are! I spent the whole day there, followed all the work since early in the morning until after the last client left and I can easily say that the every day routine is craaaazy! Have you ever wondered what chefs do or talk about when they close the restaurant after the last client has left? They sit down for a while, complain about how tired they are, how strange the guy/girl from table “x” was weird, do the maths to see how much money they made and then they make fun (saying how stupid they are) at tables that spend 400 bucks in one night!

I’ve just got an invitation from google to start using Google Wave. Didn’t think twice to accept it but to be honest with you I have no idea what google wave actually is. Well, I’ve seen the tutorial videos and everything but I still don’t understand how and why people will use it. And if they ever will… We already have email, instant messenger, twitter and facebook (and similars). Anybody out there knows the purpose of google wave? What is it so revolutionary about it?

I wonder if google has an evil plan to substitute gmail for google wave in the future.

Edit: Do you want a google wave invitation sent to your email? It’s easy to get! Just comment on this post telling why would you like to earn one. Btw, I have 8 invitations left. Hurry!

Sorry for taking more than a week to write about day 3 of my trip. I’ve been really lazy and I know this is not a an excuse for that. Day 3 was probably the most amazing day of the trip. Amazing because it was not an ordinary day, it was a day in which the unexpected happened. We woke up early to have an early breakfast in order to go on this boat trip. The boat trip goes down the Rio Negro (Black River) until the Rio Solimões / Rio Amazonas (Solimões River / Amazon River) where the waters meet. This phenomenon is called “meeting of the waters”, where the black water from Rio Negro meets the muddy water from Rio Solimões, and then it becomes Rio Amazonas. It’s called a phenomenon because the waters don’t actually mix, it’s exactly like oil and water! And the scientific explanation is the same: the waters have different densities.

Anyway, the boat left from the hotel harbor and took around 1 hour to finally arrived at the meeting of the waters. On the way we passed through a building bridge, which will connect nothing to nowhere. It’s being built thinking about a long term future. The city needs space to develop and the only space left is in the other side of the river. We also passed by some poor communities on the banks of the river, the old city center, the floating docks (amazing engineering job!), the municipal market, etc… I even saw floating gas stations! I’d never imagined there were such things! But then, if you think a little bit, where would the boats fill their tanks if they needed to? In the middle of the river, of course!

Arriving at the meeting of the waters, all you have to do is look at it, be amazed, take pictures and things like that. After some minutes the boat turns around and goes to a floating restaurant. And then, that’s wen things started to get exciting. We could see big black clouds in the sky. Rain was coming. And in Manaus we don’t have rains, we have storms! The kind of storm you only see in films! You know those films set in the jungle and then it suddenly starts to rain a lot? That’s the kind of rain we’re talking about! We were all hoping the rain to come soon while we were on the big boat because we were about to change boats in order to go to the floating restaurants, which was in another river. Changing boat would be necessary because the river was dry, the water was shallow and we were also going inside the jungle. You guys have no idea what the other boat was. It was in fact, a canoe! The same ones used by the indians! The only difference was that it had an engine instead of paddles. And guess what? The rain came! And of course, it came at the exact time we boarded the canoes! The canoe started to shake, the river was not calm at all, water was coming inside it. Most of the people in the canoe were afraid of the situation and thinking that we were going to sink. I wasn’t. Come one, think a little bit! The guys who pilot those canoes face this situation almost daily! So, sinking was not a possibility. I was finding everything really exciting! Everything was so different from my boring, pathetic life. By the time we arrived in the floating restaurant, the rain stopped. We ate, well, actually they ate and I just watched. Couldn’t try that food, no way! After lunch we went into the jungle to see some of the wild life. Amazing!

After that, back to the canoes (more rain!!!!), back to the big boat, back to hotel docks. I don’t know why, but the trip to go back seemed longer. Maybe it was because we were all tired, wet and really anxious to be back so that we could take off our wet clothes, take a shower and rest for a couple of hours.

At night my father received a phone call from a friend. They arranged dinner at a steakhouse. We went there, had a nice meal and I ate like a pig since I hadn’t had lunch. Then we went back to the hotel and I blacked out.

We woke up extremely early (thanks to the time zone) and so we went to have breakfast at the hotel. Gotta love hotel breakfasts! And this one is amazing, I ate like a pig! (just one quick note: the guarana juice is great!) After breakfast we decided to go downtown, the old part of the city where we were supposed to see the Amazonas Theater, the old customs building, the cathedral, the municipal market, the floating docks and anything else we could get to know on the way to these places.

The Amazonas Theater was our first stop, and what a magnificent place it is! It was built in the 1870s and all the pieces were brought from Europe, even the wood, which was extract here, taken to Europe for special treatment and then brought back in order to be used in the construction. After that we decided to go down the main road by foot! Big, big mistake when you’re traveling with children! After a few blocks down the road they were already complaining and screaming and crying, and wanted all the toys they were seeing in the shop windows! We only had time to see the cathedral and than we had to take the nearest taxi to go back to the hotel. And that was it, our downtown walk was totally spoilt.

Arriving at the hotel we went straight to the swimming pool so that the children could chill out and we could relax. After that it was lunch time and (again) the food was exotic, and (again) I ate pasta! Pasta is always a safe choice!

After lunch the children slept a little bit, I came back to my room, did some work, then did some walking around the hotel until it was time to go out again. We went to this really new mall that was opened a few months before and everybody had suggested it. I’s called Manauara Shopping Center and let me tell you one thing,I know a lot of malls in the main cities of Brazil and some in Europe, but this one is the nicest mall I have ever been to! It’s beautiful, elegant, really nice shops and everything! After getting to know it, we had dinner there and then back to the hotel.

And that was the end of our second day.

I woke up at 4:30 AM, left home at 5 and my flight took off at 6:45 AM. It was a 1h50min flight to Brasília, capital of Brasil, where I would meet my father, his wife and my little brothers. I had never been to Brasilia before and I still haven’t. I can’t consider knowing the airport as being really there! But from what I’ve seen from the airplane, Brasilia seems to be a very pleasant place to live. Really nice houses, wide streets, clean, and things like that. Anyway, we had breakfast at the Brasilia airport and waited around one hour and a half for our flight to Manaus.

The flight to Manaus was nice and took around 2h30min. The pilot had announced minutes before that the local temperature was 30 C. I thought: “Well, it’s doesn’t seem to be as hot as they say. I’m used to 40C temperatures in Rio!” But at the moment I put my feet outside the airport, I was like: “wow, It’s really hot!”. I didn’t do much besides breathing and I was already sweating. The taxi ride to the hotel was no longer than 20 minutes.

The hotel is amazing! It’s a huge old style house. Seems like a resort in the middle of the jungle. Anyway, we did the check-in, went to our rooms and there I found out why I was sweating so much. I saw a notice in the hotel room saying something like that: “Air humidity can reach 90%, please keep the windows closed to preserve the room furniture. If you still decide to open the windows, leave the air conditioning on, so it can help reduce the humidity.” After putting our things away, we went straight to the restaurant to have lunch. I knew I’d have problems eating here! You know, I’m not very fond of exotic, strange dishes and that was exactly what I found here, so I ate a traditional spaghetti with cheese sauce.

After lunch we went to Hotel’s zoo. The kids were amazed with the wild animals, specially with the Cheetah (even I was amazed w.i. the cheetah!) and the pink-faced monkey or whatever it is called. After that the children stayed in the recreation room, and the rest of us went to the hotel mall for a walk. It’s strange how prices are strange here. Somethings are much more expensive and others are so much cheaper. There doesn’t seem to be a logic. We found an ice-cream parlour and I found blue ice-cream there! Must take a picture and send it to the Sack Trick guys, hehe!

It was getting late and everybody was so tired from waking up at 4AM that our day was coming to an end, even though it wasn’t really late thanks to the time zone here (-2 from Rio – I bloody hate time zones!). The children decided to have pizza, and then my father decided to have pizza outside the hotel, and there we were wandering around Ponta Negra beach, which has some amazing high-class buildings and condos, but the sidewalk itself is completely empty and the kiosks (supposed to be restaurants, but really aren’t) look exactly the opposite form the buildings. Terrible contrast! They should put everything down and rebuilt again. Anyway, we managed to find a pizza place (one of the kiosks) and we were really suspicious of eating there, but we were so hungry, the children were so tired of walking and were complaining a lot that we ate there! We ordered one pizza only so it could go fast, we could eat and get the hell out of there asap. And for our surprise when the pizza arrived, it was really tasty! So everybody relaxed, we ordered a new one and in the end we were all trying local exotic guaranás (typical regional drink).

That’s the end of my first day here, in the city where I was born and lived the first year of my life. And now after 30 years, I’m finally back!

Yesterday morning I checked my mailbox and I saw a special Sedex (brazilian kind of Fedex) package. At that time I thought: “Hmm… has my credit card expired yet?” and then “Oh, the bank is sending me a new checkbook…”. But for my surprise it was neither of them. It was an American Express Gold Card. And my reaction was: “What the fuck is that? Do they think I’m rich?” Alongside the card there was a contract, a folder explaining all the advantages that the owner of an American Express card has and a telephone number which I have to call to unblock my card as soon as I’ve realized how good it is. So I read the folder, I checked the internet, did all possible researches that I could do. And you know what? I want it! The reason why I want it is simple: The Membership Rewards in which your points never expire. I’m tired of my Visa and Mastercard milage program, in which my points expire every two years. I’m not a big spender and I never manage to exchange my points for interesting things before they expire. And now I will, what I only have to do is concentrate all my expenses in the new card from now on.

As for the title of this post, I was trying to find the english way of saying the brazilain expression “Presente de Grego” (Greek Present) which means a present you really don’t want. And thanks to google, the expression in English is Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. I’m sure if I’m responsible enough and don’t go on a crazy spending spree, this won’t definitely be a greek bearing gift.

In the past few months I have lost contact with my old friends. Not because we have decided not to be friends any more, but because of our lives. I’ve been busy working hard, and so are they (or at least I think so). Our days off don’t match and on my day offs I only want to stay home, rest, watch some tv shows or movies that I’ve previously downloaded, or just go to the nearest starbucks for a cappuccino or hot chocolate. I believe they think the same. Also, some of them are in a relationship and this is another reason they kind of disappear, which they shouldn’t btw, but then this matter deserves another post in the future.

At the same time I’ve been surrounded by girl friends (not girlfriends! just girls who are my friend if you know what I mean). Who said friendship between men and women aren’t possible? Of course it is! Anyway, I’ve been hanging out with girls a lot. We have fun and we talk about everything. My only question is: if I’m good enough to be a good friend, why am I not good enough to be a boyfriend? The answer is a mystery. One of these friends told me it’s because I care too much, I look too much for it. Maybe she’s right, I don’t know. Sometimes I think they see me as the gay friend, do you know what I mean? The friend the girls count on to everything, ask for any kind of advise and stuff like that, and then they don’t want any kind of romantic attachment at all. Well, there’s just one very important detail here: I’m not gay!

Even at work I’m surrounded by women. I teach three classes in one course that are women-only! I’m the only guy there, believe it or not. I used to be very shy, still am. But I’ve improved a lot thanks to work. I’m not afraid of girls anymore, I can start a conversation, I can be in the same room with them, I can give them a ride home, I can have coffee with them. Hey, wait a second! Who am I lying to? Of course I’m still terrified about girls! If I see there’s a tiny possibility of asking a girl out on a date, I totally blow it. I have this gift of saying the wrong things at the wrong time, or not saying anything at any time at all.

Have I seen any long distance relationship that worked? No, I haven’t. Yes, I have. But it didn’t last long enough. But then what is long enough for me? and what is it for you? Do I believe in long distance relationships? Yes, of course! But then I’m just a silly naive romantic guy, maybe one of the last romantic guys on bloody Earth who believes in pretty much everything love related.

Have I been in a long distance relationship? Nope! Have I been interested in someone miles apart? Yes, more than once. Why did I do that? Probably because I’m just a silly naive romantic guy. (Yeah, I’m being repetitive. It’s on purpose!) Would a long distance relationship work for me? Maybe. In order for that to happen I’d have to have a fierce battle against my insecurity. I believe long distance relationships can work for mature people. And when I say mature people I don’t say old people, but people who have had enough experience, several relationships and know exactly what they want from their next relationship. And I’m not sure whether I fit this profile or not. Maybe not. However, I wouldn’t mind trying. Not at all. As I said before, I believe in it. If I had this kind of relationship I’d do everything to make it work. If it did, great! If it did not, well, it was worthy trying and I’d consider it a great life experience instead of a failure.

Are long distance relationships easier or more difficult? There’s no answer for that. It can be easier in some ways, more difficult in others…  Have you ever thought about this: having more time with friends and/or family, no arguments over toothpaste caps, the pleasure of seeing your sweetheart again after a long absence? Most important, being far apart gives you a chance to maintain your individuality. Doesn’t it seem great? In theory, hell yeah! What would make it more difficult in my opinion? Well, avoid jealousy and be trusting, be positive and determined all the time. Things I don’t believe human beings are capable of. At least not for a long time.

Why am I writing this? Because I met someone miles apart and I mentioned her in my last post. How are things between the two of us? Two weeks ago it was great. How are things now? I honestly don’t know. I wish it was still great, but some stuff happened. Stuff that make my theory of me being just a silly naive romantic guy even stronger.

It’s been ages since I last used a mail client. To tell you the truth I don’t even remember the last time I did. I have a vague idea of having used Eudora centuries ago and then using Outlook for a while and giving up because it was too complicated and somehow yahoo webmail seemed perfect. Then came Google and Gmail and the webmail world became a perfect world with it. But then there has always been the need to read a message you had received when you’re not connected, or the need to write emails in advance so that when you connect to the net, the emails are sent automatically and you saved some precious time. Recently I’ve had this need increased a lot because of work and decided that a mail client was desperately needed.

I’m a Mac user for almost a year now. And all Mac apps are known for being extremely easy to use. So I decided to give Apple Mail a try. And God, how not easy it was! Actually it is pretty easy, but only when you figure out that you should not follow all of Google’s set up instructions. Yeah, I’ll repeat: You should not use follow all of Google’s set up instructions for proper sync of Apple Mail 3.0 with Gmail IMAC servers. What should you do? I’ll explain you below:

So, do follow google’s instructions found here. But, do NOT follow the instructions on item 10.Check our recommended client settings, and adjust your client’s settings as needed. Again, do not follow this instruction! Apple Mail won’t understand it, and synch won’t work properly making your Gmail labels a mess!!! Now it’s time to the following:

After completing the IMAP setup steps for Apple Mail, instructing Mail is a few simple clicks away. Once your Gmail IMAP account is added to Mail, you’ll notice your [Gmail account] in the left sidebar.

1. Highlight ‘[Gmail] Sent Mail’ in the sidebar and select ‘Mailbox’ (menu bar) > ‘Use This Mailbox For’ > ‘Sent’.
2. Highlight ‘[Gmail] Drafts’ in the sidebar and select ‘Mailbox’ (menu bar) > ‘Use This Mailbox For’ > ‘Drafts’
3. Highlight ‘[Gmail] Trash’ in the sidebar and select ‘Mailbox’ (menu bar) > ‘Use This Mailbox For’ > ‘Trash’
4. Highlight ‘[Gmail] Spam’ in the sidebar and select ‘Mailbox’ (menu bar) > ‘Use This Mailbox For’ > ‘Junk’

And that’s it. I hope to have helped you!

Be seeing you…