a father's special day

This official historical date that pays tribute to fatherhood, inaugurated in the early 20th century, is celebrated worldwide on different dates. Today, march 19th, we can say Happy Fathers' Day! to all fathers from: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Macau, Liechtenstein, Honduras, Bolivia, Andorra and Antwerp (Belgium).

Although this day typically involves giving gifts, family activities and having special dinners, i have to say the only thing i did with my father was having a relaxed everyday dinner at home. Of course i also wished him a good day and a happy father's day, through a text message, when he was at work and gave him a special kiss when he got home!

We should keep things simple nowadays, fighting the materialism and give more importance to the symbolic aspect.
To be honest mothers' day and fathers' day are celebrated differently in our house, the main reason being that both of my grandfathers are no longer with us... so on mothers' day we try to bring all the mothers in the family together, but on fathers' day to avoid the pain and the tears that come from memories we keep it very light and plain.

The most important thing is to tell your father, not only on this day but on every day of your life, that you will always love him.

i love you dad!

defining you

«It's not about who you are. It’s about who you hate.»

a peculiar quote i found on the web (more precisely on twitter) and that got me thinking about life... what really define us? what makes us different from the others?

being a woman

March 8 represents a global celebration of women as the world commemorates the International Women's Day.

We have to see this day as a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements, and demonstrate respect, appreciation and love towards women all around us - mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, girlfriends, fiancés, wives, colleagues, friends...

I'm very proud to be a woman, especially when i live in a society where women have the same rights as men: the right to vote & the right to work. And we have to realize that this was only possible because strong women from our past fought for justice and equality, and struggled for our rights, despite facing many cultural and religious restrictions.

interesting historical facts:
_ 19 September 1893, New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the right to vote;
_ 19 March 1911, the very first International Women's Day was instigated by Clara Zetkin, a german jewish socialist - meetings were organized everywhere and while men stayed at home with their children for a change, their wives (the typical housewives) went to the meetings;
_ 1913, International Women's Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for International Women's Day ever since;
_ 1975, International Women's Day was given official recognition by the United Nations;
_ International Women's Day is marked by a national holiday in Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Bulgaria, Armenia, Macedonia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, China and Vietnam.

But one thing we have to be aware is that all around the world there are still women that aren't respected. They suffer domestic violence, discrimination and intimidation, and many of them face poverty and social exclusion as well.
Everywhere women are brutalized, kidnapped and trafficked for the sexual commerce!

STOP the TRAFFIK Start freedom!
«...people shouldn't be bought & sold.»

"Women Without Men"
an independent film (2009) by Shirin Neshat;
official selection at the Venice Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival

more information @ http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

a night with a single man

19:10h

on this last rainy friday evening i went, with a friend, to a little cafe to have a snack before a cinema session.
The Vertigo Cafe, located in one of the oldest neighbourhoods in town, recovers the old idea of coffee house as a cozy and comfortable place, where the hours are likely to be forgotten... inspired by the cuban cafe, the small interior is decorated with antiques and has, displayed on the walls, old photos from the 30's and 40's.

In addition to the varied menu which features delicious meals (soups, salads, sandwiches, quiches, toasts,...) made with organic products, at your disposal and preference are 17 different types of teas, perfect for that cold and nostalgic afternoons.

price: the average for person is 15€
address: Travessa do Carmo nº4, Lisboa
open from 10:00h until 02:00h - monday to saturday
open from 10:00h to 00:00h on sundays

21:45h

later we went to one of the city oldest film theaters, with only 2 auditoriums, to watch a screen projection of the 2009 film
'A Single Man'.
Based on the 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood, this film «is a romantic tale of love interrupted, the isolation that is an inherent part of the human condition, and ultimately the importance of the seemingly smaller moments in life». After his premiere on September 2009, this movie went on the film festival circuit, winning several awards and multiple nominations.

the story:

Los Angeles, November 30, 1962
George Falconer, a 52 year old english college professor, is struggling to find meaning is his life after the death of his long time partner. As we follow him through a single day, we witness his memories and his thoughts along with a series of events and encounters that will lead him to decide if there is a reason to live. His relationship and conversations with the characters Charlotte or Charley - is closest and best friend, a 48 year old beauty with romantic problems, who is wrestling with her own questions about the future; and Kenny Potter - one of his young students, who is coming to terms with his true nature and stalks him; will help him realize if life is really worth living.

about the film:
written, directed and produced to the screen by fashion designer Tom Ford
cast - Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode and Ginnifer Goodwin
the movie trailer & official website

00:35h

after watching that beautiful, emotional and visually enthralling film we went to a bar, Magnetic, to meet with some friends. Ending the night catching up with friends, even if only for a few hours, it makes you feel really good, specially if you add amazingly delicious waffles with ice cream and hot chocolate on top!

adress: Avenida Conde Valbom, 18A, Lisboa
open from 10:00h to 02:00h
reservations: 00351 213 571 519

against discrimination

«Se eu fosse seropositivo...? If I was HIV positive...?»

A campaign aimed to draw attention to discrimination against a disease, that has infected around 35thousand people in Portugal and millions around the whole world, was launched this month across the country.
40 public figures, including actors, athletes, musicians and some political leaders, among others, came foward against discrimination. "How would you react if a public figure that you recognize and admire for her or his work, talent or charisma was HIV positive?", this is the question asked on the campaign promoted by 2 associations that support HIV/AIDS patients - SER+ (Portuguese Association for the Prevention and to Challenge AIDS) and GAT (Portuguese Group of Activists on Treatment of HIV/AIDS).
This project is a response to cases of discrimination reported in the media. The purpose is to start debating this subject, ask and answer questions that are still considered taboo, and inform people about several things, being one of them the modes of AIDS transmission.
This campaign will be present on several radio stations, television channels, social networks, newspapers and magazines, ATM machines, on the MTV website, street posters/billboards, and also in all the theaters. There's also an intention to launch an anti-discrimination center, which will have a telephone support line to everyone who feel discriminated for being HIV positive.

Say No! to discrimination and express your solidarity.
more information about this campaign @
http://www.seeufosseseropositivo.com/

other websites on the subject:
http://www.worldaidsday.org/
http://www.avert.org/
portuguese HIV commercial videos:
5 Reasons Not to Wear Condoms - Just Use It
Still Believe that Angels are Sexless? - Test Yourself for HIV/AIDS

a sunday afternoon at the market

Every first weekend of each month, the garden 'Jardim da Estrela' is open all day to receive the Crafts & Design market. Since September 2006 this local initiative promotes, in this beautiful and natural place, the design and urban contemporary crafts through products created 100% from scratch.

This sunday i decided to take a walk after lunch and visit this beautiful garden in the middle of the city of Lisbon. This weekend the fair was on her 37th edition and the main theme was "Love Garden" - dedicated to Valentine's day that is a week away.
Walking through the stands you could see the originality and creativity in the amazing works of the very talented participants. For those in the mood for love the fair provided a huge variety of pieces that could be offered as a gift to someone special...
The heavy sky and the light rain didn't help the fair dealers, but at least presented a graceful ambience to the nostalgic day, while the families enjoyed the afternoon walk and the lunch at the small coffee garden.

more information @
http://crafts-design-no-jardim-da-estrela.blogspot.com

discovered and uncovered

During the time we spend online with the entire planet we are able to get acess to tons of information, facts, products and other stuff. And the conclusion i take from that reality is: the World Wide Web is amazing! and that there is still a lot to be discovered...

In this post i share with you a compilation of some interesting websites and videos that i found on the web universe.

the art of parkour

a motion reel project concepted and illustrated by Serene Teh, a graphic design student from Singapore

@ http://vimeo.com/8332956

crazy deadline

a post-it stop motion project directed by Bang-yao Liu, a student from Savannah College of Art and Design

the video @

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpWM0FNPZSs&feature=related

the making of @

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArJYvaCCB3c

global photography

connecting through photos - a photography community with a great collection of photos

@ http://www.lomography.com/photos

colour lovers

Colour + Design. News, trends, articles, forums and much more

@ http://www.colourlovers.com/

i'm your Venus

1969 original version of the famous hit "Venus" by the dutch band Shocking Blue

the music video @

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2DBcbZc3ck

the power of social media

the power of music connects us all - a Grammy's campaign that brings together YouTube, Twitter and Flickr users.

@ http://www.wereallfans.com/

it's all about equal rights

Yesterday, January 8th, Portugal became the 6th country in Europe and the 8th in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

The portuguese parliament approved the law to legalize homosexual marriage, and now the draft law will be reviewed before the the final vote. After being approved, the new law, will have to be proclaimed and signed by the president. Although the law doesn't include adoption - the proposals to allow same-sex couples to adopt were rejected - most LGBT organizations in Portugal support the measure as an important step towards equality.

Some countries only recently started to consent, perform and recognize what the canadian parliament defined as “the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others”. The equality before the law was achieved first in the Netherlands (2001), then Belgium (2003), Spain and Canada (2005), South Africa (2006) and in Norway and Sweden (2009).

Currently several countries across the world are fighting for the same rights or at least better ones, as in others the universal human rights aren't even respected being homosexuality illegal. In those countries were homosexuality is a crime, punishments from minimal or large penalties, to life in prison and even the death penalty are executed!

«Love is not about gender...»

so let's fight for our rights and for equality!

2009 update

It's been a while since i wrote something here and i'm sorry for that! I could blame the absence of time, laziness or even lack of inspiration and motivation, but in the end i know it was a mix of them all and some other.

To put everyone up-to-date with what happened in the last 30 days i decided to do a little and quick resume of some topics in this post. So let's begin...

college work

December was a crazy month for college work! With deadlines to meet, classes to attend and research to do, 24hours a day seemed not to be enough. Thankfully i delivered all my paper works, to complete my graduation, on time. And now i'm waiting for my evaluations, while i complete another course i'm currently doing.

Christmas season

Crazy as always, this christmas season was, as usual, full of last minute gift shopping. This year i wasn't really into the holiday spirit because of all the pressure from college... but the beautiful city lightnings, the cold and raining days and the christmas carols that echoed across the streets of my neighbourhood helped me getting into the christmas essence on time.

As tradition, both christmas eve dinner and christmas day lunch were at my house, and behind the worries about everything that needed to be ready on time, the hapiness of having the family together was bigger than anything else.

the world of Avatar

On the weekend after Christmas i went to the cinema to see Avatar on the big screen. The fantastic and mythical world of Pandora blew my mind away: the imagination challenge, the creativity needed to compose this magical world and the achievement of a high visual impact, just made me wish being able to be inside and experience physically that fantasy world. But not everything on this movie, written and directed by James Cameron, was great, at least in my opinion - i wasn't fully satisfied with the argument and some details in the story weren't very coherent.

Either way you shouldn't waste the opportunity to see this huge production of the Hollywood cinema industry.

the trailer @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdxXPV9GNQ

welcoming the New Year

Beginning a new year with friends it's the best thing! So let's see: you're with people you care about and trust, you've a lot of fun and take a whole bunch of photos to remember it, and you can get drunk and do stupid things... what more could you possibly want?

This year, at new year's eve i got together with some close friends at an apartment in front of the beach. The night was great, although the weather was terrible: freezing cold, strong wind and raining hail. We saw the fireworks through the balcony and sometime around 3am we ventured to go down to the beach - crazy decision with that winter climate! But it was awesome as the rest of the night and the next day.

Too bad we had to, at some point, go back home and to a new year...

a Happy 2010 to everyone! with love*

the prodigy experience

Back in Portugal for the 8th time and 2nd time only this year, just 5 months after the last gig here, The Prodigy were received last night in Lisbon for an electrifying concert!

This english band formed in 1990 known for mixing up genres - electronic, punk, techno, dance and breakbeat - turning their music into a fusion of styles, presented the fans with a powerful show that turned the place into a giant rave.

With the tour setlist almost equally divided between old hits and new songs from the latest album Invaders Must Die, a combination of familiar singles like "Voodoo People" (1994, Music for the Jilted Generation) and "Smack My Bitch Up" (1997, The Fat of the Land), were played, putting everyone on the crowd jumping and screaming. But the chaotic and delirious energy and the frenetic dances continued while more recent themes like "Omen" and "Warrior's Dance", released in 2009, echoed across the whole room. The dynamic and strong beats turned the place into an intoxicating dance party, where you could feel the ecstasy and trance all around while people bounce, shout and dance.

As for the very expected return to stage, after a very noisy request, the band amused the public with four more songs, two of them being the very charged and disturbed "Take Me to the Hospital" (2009, Invaders Must Die) and the much recognized old smash "No Good (Start the Dance)" (1994).

The concert had an effective setlist, but i think there was still time and room for the missing "Spitfire" and "Hot Ride", both from the 2004 album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned.
I never had seen this band perform live before, so i can't compare to other shows... but in my opinion this was an awesome concert and in the end: i wanted more!

setlist
World's On Fire
Breathe
Omen
Poison
Warrior's Dance
Firestarter
Run With the Wolves
Voodoo People
Invaders Must Die
Diesel Power
Smack My Bitch Up
Encore:
Take Me to the Hospital
Out of Space
No Good (Start the Dance)
Their Law

band
Keith Flint - vocals and dancing
Maxim Reality - vocals and beatbox
Liam Howlett - keyboards and programming
Leo Crabtree – drums and percussion (live support on tour)
Rob Holliday – guitar (live support on tour)
Alex Roberts – guitar (live support on tour)

more information @ http://www.theprodigy.com/