Gondolin

for the record

2010-02-25T13:22:00.004-08:00

I made up this joke while in college. A friend of mine recently thought it was funny (perhaps a first for the joke), so I thought I'd record it.

What noise did the photon make when it hit the atom?
"Planck!"

Installing Windows 7 on an ASUS EeePC

2009-11-27T20:25:00.017-08:00

[Disclaimer: this clearly is not the typical Gondolin post (though one could argue that nowadays the typical post is empty - let's not even get into that); I'm posting it here because I want to share the info and I can't think of an easier place to write it to.

Dear usual readers, feel free to ignore this entirely]

I recently installed Windows 7 on my wife's netbook, an ASUS EeePC 1000HE (if you landed here looking for instructions on how to do it, see for instance this guide). Five minutes after I proudly handed it over to her, considering my task done, she noticed that the special function keys (the overloaded Fn keys that one can use for various tasks such as increasing, decreasing or muting the system volume, changing brightness, etc) were not working. I naively assumed that fixing it would be a simple task. It took me 4 hours! So I decided to try to save people's time by posting a how-to.

If you go to the ASUS download page, you can easily enough find and download drivers for your EeePC netbook. Just type the model name on the upper left hand search box, fill in the model name (in my case, "1000HE"), select the OS and it will show you links for a bunch of things. Windows 7 installation picked up most things by itself (Video, LAN, Audio), so I didn't bother to get specific drivers for them. I did download and install the "Hotkey Service Utility" (under ATK), the "Touchpad Driver" (under Touchpad) plus the "ASUS Instant Key Utility" and "ASUS Update Utility" (both under Utilities). The latter installer refuses to run and quits with a confusing error message: "WARNING ASUSUpdate only support Eee PC Product and please install the ASUS ACPI Driver First".

The symptom one would typically experience after installing the other three utilities and restarting the system is a mysterious error message popping up after logon saying "ASUS ACPI service Can't get WMI ASUSManagement Object".

The fact that ASUS Update refuses to install is unfortunate; in fact, it seems ASUS created a chicken-and-egg problem. It turns out that ASUS Update doesn't want to be installed because the BIOS version doesn't match its requirements. The error message after login is caused by the same reason. However, the easiest way to update the BIOS would be by running ASUS Update.

There are other ways of flashing your BIOS, but they are poorly documented. I had to search for hours and try multiple different things until I arrived at the following (reasonably simple) solution.

How to update an ASUS EeePC BIOS

1. Get an USB drive. It can be quite small, you will need less than 1MB in it
2. Format the USB drive using the FAT filesystem (aka FAT16). This is important. Do not use FAT32; otherwise the EZ Flash utility will freeze (specifically, it hangs saying that it's reading the file). You can do this by going to Windows Explorer, right clicking on your USB drive, selecting Format and choosing FAT. Quick format is turned on by default and should work just fine
3. Download the latest BIOS version for your netbook from the ASUS website. You don't need to do incremental steps; you can go directly for the latest version (which is the highest numbered update (in my case, it was version 1104))
4. Copy the ROM file to the USB drive
5. Rename the file to ModelName.ROM. In my case, I had to rename it to 1000HE.ROM
6. Turn the netbook off
7. Make sure the USB drive is connected to one of the netbook's USB ports (prior to turning it on)
8. Make sure you have your power adapter plugged in (because you really don't want to run out of battery in the middle of a BIOS update)
9. Turn the netbook on
10. On the initial screen, press ALT+F2 to run the EZ Flash utility
11. If it finds the pendrive, it will say so. Otherwise it will keep on an infinite loop looking for it
12. If it finds the file with the name it's expecting, it will say so. Otherwise it will complain
13. EZ Flash will then read the file and perform a bunch of operations. In my case, these took less than 5 minutes. When it's done, it will instruct you to reboot. Do it!
14. You're all set. :)

After you went through this, once you boot Windows it will stop displaying the error message and it will allow you to install the ASUS Update utility.

i feel old

2009-08-14T14:31:00.002-07:00

Today my sister mentioned a blog post I wrote 7 years ago. Seven years! That's 25% of my life so far, and 10% of my life expectancy.

How long will this blog live for? It was about to die, but right now I feel like I should keep it.

the socks problem

2009-04-22T09:32:00.007-07:00

I have the habit of leaving my clean clothes on the dryer until they run out or until I need to dry some more, case in which I transfer everything to a large basket. I rarely spend the time to put them away. When I need some socks I go to the dryer and try to find a matching pair. This process is often more difficult than I'd expect and it has bothered me for years.

So today I decided to compute the probabilities involved and the expected number of draws until I find a matching pair.

I draw one sock at a time uniformly at random until I have a matching pair. If I have 10 pairs of socks (all of them different), the probabilities of drawing a sock exactly at the k-th draw are as follows:

p(1 draw) = 0 (can't have a pair with only one sock)
p(2 draws) = (1 / 19) (I have 1 sock in my hands and I can draw any of the other 19 socks)
p(3 draws) = (1 - p(2)) * (2 / 18) (To get here, I can't have drawn a pair in the previous two draws; and now I have 2 socks and I can draw any of the other 18 socks)
...
p(10 draws) = (1 - p(2) - p(3) - ... - p(9)) * (9 / 11)
p(11 draws) = (1 - p(2) - p(3) - ... - p(9) - p(10)) * (10 / 10) (To get here, I can't have drawn a pair in the previous ten draws; I've also got all possible socks so anything that I draw at this point will match one of them, so the probability of finding a match here is 1)

The expected number of draws to find a matching pair is:
1 * p(1) + 2 * p(2) + 3 * p(3) + ... + 10 * p(10) + 11 * p(11)

That gives around 5.7 draws.

Ok, I don't feel as bad now. I still feel the universe is playing tricks on me, but at least they're subtle enough to keep my paranoia at bay.

Bonus: a graph showing the probabilities of finding a match on the k-th try.

go humans go?

2009-03-26T00:20:00.006-07:00

Walking home an hour ago, I saw a similar advertisement on top of some random building here in Seattle. Having discussed the economic crisis and the apparent lack of purpose of many things in life over dinner with some friends, I felt like defacing it. Given my absolute lack of spraying and urban climbing skills, I didn't do it. Not incurring the risk of end up in jail was a nice bonus. But I hate to see an idea wasted, so here it is. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, Microsoft Paint and the generosity of Gary Soup (who published the original under the Creative Commons license on Flickr), here's my virtual manifest:

Watchmen

2009-03-09T00:09:00.002-07:00

I saw Watchmen at the IMax theater last Saturday. I felt bad for Alan Moore. I know he's a crazy dude, but... If I had written it I'd be pretty pissed off.

Good: scenarios, special effects, sound track, Rorschach, Comedian
Ok: Nite Owl (could be more dorky), Dr Manhattan (could have less feelings)
Bad: Ozymandias (not smart enough), Silk Spectre (not annoying enough)
Horrible: plot and continuity (it should suffice to say that the ending sequence was a complete screw up; it's not nearly as powerful as the original - maybe I'll write more once everyone saw it)

free, free palestine

2009-01-03T19:55:00.002-08:00

Today a few hundred people here in Seattle protested against the Israeli attack on Gaza.

War sucks. Humanity should know better.

Little Joy in Seattle

2008-12-13T12:26:00.006-08:00

Last Thursday I watched a couple songs by the Dead Trees and went to the bar to get a beer. We were standing there chatting and Rodrigo Amarante passes by, completely unnoticed. No fan crowd after him, just another guy at the bar. The four of us, all Brazilians, recognized him instantly. A bit afraid at first, we finally gathered courage to ask him to pose for a photo. He was very friendly and sat there talking to us for half an hour, just before their show. He told us that they've been on the road for quite a while, crossing the country in a van, carrying their own equipment, booking their own hotels, doing their thing like a small band. Amarante also mentioned Little Joy's plans to play in Brazil, and said that sometime in 2009 Los Hermanos will get together for a concert, and after that they'll go to a studio to record their next album.

Yay! The best Brazilian band is getting back together soon!

Uhm, the concert? Yes, that was pretty good too.

Edit: adicionando uma versão em Português e mostrando a nossa foto no El Corazón aqui em Seattle

Quinta passada eu assisti duas músicas do Dead Trees e fui pro bar pegar uma cerveja. A gente tava ali de pé conversando e o Rodrigo Amarante passa do nosso lado, totalmente despercebido. Nós quatro, todos brasileiros, reconhecemos o cara na hora. Vencemos o medo e tomamos coragem pra ir pedir uma foto com ele. Ele foi muito amigável e sentou ali conversando com a gente por meia hora, logo antes do show deles. Ele falou que eles estão na estrada faz um bom tempo, cruzando o país numa van, carregando o próprio equipamento, reservando hotéis, dando uma de banda pequena mesmo. O Amarante também falou dos planos do Little Joy de tocar no Brasil, e falou que em 2009 Los Hermanos vão se reunir pra um show e em seguida vão pro estúdio gravar o próximo álbum.

Uhu! A melhor banda brasileira volta logo!

Ah, o show do Little Joy? É, foi muito bom também.

Little Joy

2008-11-16T16:31:00.001-08:00

Little Joy is the best thing that happened to music this year. Rodrigo Amarante (Los Hermanos) and Fabrizio Moretti (Strokes) got together to write a delightfully unpretentious album about love. Check it out!

Congratulations, Mr. Obama

2008-11-04T20:27:00.001-08:00

The world welcomes you in hopes of a brighter future.

Death Magnetic

2008-10-09T11:18:00.001-07:00

Believe it or not, Metallica's last album is actually good. Oh boy, it was about time they remembered how to do it.

Beautiful

2008-10-06T10:37:00.001-07:00

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/10/earth_from_above_comes_to_nyc.html

I'm a PC

2008-10-04T13:47:00.001-07:00

And this is addictive: http://andimapc.com/.

Such Great Heights

2008-09-30T19:43:00.001-07:00

I am thinking it's a sign
That the freckles in our eyes
Are mirror images and
When we kiss they're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate
That God himself did make us into
Corresponding shapes like puzzles pieces
From the clay
True, it may seem like a stretch
But it's thoughts like this
That catch my troubled head
When you're away, when I am missing you to death
When you were out there on the road
For several weeks of shows
And when you scan the radio
I hope this song will guide you home
They will see us waving from such great heights
"Come down now," they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
"Come down now," but we'll stay

(...)

(this is a song by The Postal Service that inevitably makes me think of the woman I love)

you've got to love the Music Genome Project

2008-09-11T00:20:00.001-07:00

While exploring Pandora, I somewhat randomly clicked on a button on the iPhone version of the app. Then it said:

Why this song is playing:

"We're playing the track because it features electric rock instrumentation, punk influences, extensive vamping, major key tonality, electric rhythm guitars and many other similarities identified in the Music Genome Project."

I couldn't resist clicking next:

"electronica roots, a laid back male vocal, vocal samples, a repetitive verse, a repetitive chorus, use of modal harmonies, dry snare, emphasis on instrumental performance, a tight kick sound, inventive instrumental arrangements, a slow moving bass line, use of strings, subtle use of pianos, mellow piano timbre, thin ambient synth textures (...)"

One more:

"subtle use of vocal harmony, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, solo strings (...)"

Wow! I really like all those things but I had never thought of the individual elements that attract me in a song. Great job!

IE8 Beta 2 released

2008-08-27T14:15:00.001-07:00

You can already download IE8 Beta 2, now featuring InPrivate Browsing. Excerpt from the site:

Sometimes you don’t want to leave any trace of specific web browsing activity, such as when checking e-mail at an Internet café or shopping for a gift on a family PC. InPrivate Browsing in Internet Explorer 8 helps prevent your browsing history, temporary Internet files, form data, cookies, and usernames and passwords from being retained by the browser, leaving no evidence of your browsing or search history.

Pretty awesome, huh?

Oasis

2008-08-27T01:15:00.002-07:00

I just came back from their concert here in Seattle. Good show, nothing really special to note. I was surprised to see them ending their set with "I am the Walrus", but it seems they do that.

Along the same lines as the Radiohead "review", my personal impression of Oasis is that they're not unique and they're not different, but they excel at being a normal rock band. And that's quite an accomplishment, since that's pretty much what a lot of other bands try (and fail) to do.

Lucid Dreams

2008-08-24T22:26:00.001-07:00

Franz Ferdinand's latest single, Lucid Dreams, is pretty good.

Radiohead

2008-08-21T10:09:00.002-07:00

I must admit I never cared much for them - I always thought of the band as a sad bunch, the Fake-Plastic-Trees guys. Sometimes I even found them slightly irritating.

Yesterday I spent 4 hours in various traffic jams to see them live. It was raining and cold and my expectations were low. I wasn't too happy when I got there and saw the show had already started.

I stood there, looking at the strange green lights playing on stage and the thousands and thousands of heads looking, listening. And I figured there must have been something going on. What attracts this crowd?

After listening to a few songs, I felt I understood the big picture, the high-altitude view. Radiohead is about us. It's about a dysfunctional world, about a non-harmonic society that somehow fits together and keeps moving on. It's sad, of course, but it's also very true.

Yesterday, for the first time I really appreciated their work. Great band. Great concert.

no sunlight, no sunlight

2008-08-19T22:45:00.003-07:00

I had the weirdest reaction to the clouds that appeared in the Monday morning sky. I welcomed them. After a good few weeks of summer, warm temperature, blue skies and all, I found myself mysteriously missing the clouds. That's particularly strange for one who couldn't bear the permanently clouded cold weather of Seattle last winter.

On Monday I felt invigorated by the darker skies. How can that be?

Meme

2008-07-21T00:08:00.001-07:00

What better way of celebrating my newly declared personal blog than answering and spreading out a meme?

I got this from Daniela Palazzo. The idea is to write about things you'd like to do before dying. There're 5 rules (free translation of the original post in Portuguese):

Write a list with 8 things you'd like to do before you die
Invite 8 friends to do the same
Leave a comment on the blog of the inviter
Leave a comment on the blogs of your invitees
Mention the rules

My list (no particular order here):

Be a millionaire
Start my own school to help the unprivileged
Skydive
Have at least one child
Learn one more language
Plant a tree
Learn how to play another musical instrument
Visit at least 30 countries

I invite the following bloggers to answer this meme: Raquel Hirai, Rodrigo Hermann, André Lima, Nara e Eduardo, Ricardo Araújo, Raquel Recuero and Scott Adams.

I feel like I could...

2008-07-15T17:42:00.004-07:00

like I could... TAKE ON THE BLOG!

Yes, that's right. It was about time I kicked all the slackers and admitted this is in fact a personal blog. So, there you go. Less nonsense, same URL.

(actually, I should let you know that André has his own blog; Renato, go make your own. Resistance is futile.)

Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

2008-07-15T14:48:00.004-07:00

See the violence inherent in the system!

latest addiction

2008-06-09T16:08:00.001-07:00

65daysofstatic's 2006 album, one time for all time, is really, really good.

Sasquatch 2008

2008-06-01T13:13:00.001-07:00

Best music: R.E.M. - mixing songs from their latest album (which is great) and classic hits, they kept the crowd happy and fascinated, despite the cold rain and the wind. Memorable presentation.

Best performance: Flaming Lips. The amount of stuff these guys bring to the stage is unbelievable. This years' presentation included an UFO, a plastic transparent ball with Wayne Coyne in it, lots of teletubbies, four giant costumes (astronaut, alien, sun, butterfly), confetti cannons, hundreds of balls and a bunch of naked women.

Funniest moment: Flight of the Conchords. I heard a lot about these guys before, but I haven't seen their TV show. They are hilarious! Impossible not to laugh at lyrics such as "The Humans Are Dead"'s: "We used poisonous gasses / And we poisoned their asses"

Worst disappointment: The Cure. I remember telling a friend that I had to see them live before they die. Turns out I was wrong. These guys should have retired a long time ago. I don't like any of their new songs, and they even messed up with their hit songs. It's sad to see such a great band decline like this.

Worst music and performance: Mars Volta. The singer must have been high on cocaine or crack. The fucker was running around like crazy and threw a cymbal and a fan at the crowd. And their music is just extremely annoying.

Other cool stuff: Modest Mouse, The New Pornographers, Ozomatli, Death Cab for Cutie, 65daysofstatic, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, The Hives.

Dream Theater

2008-05-08T23:56:00.001-07:00

I saw them live last Monday. In one word: wow! They all seem to be playing effortlessly - the music just flows from their hands. And, yes, John Petrucci is one of the best guitar players ever.

cheese

2008-04-27T22:51:00.001-07:00

Tonight, after dinner, I went to the market nearby my apartment to buy cheese. I like cheese in the grilled sandwiches that I sometimes make in the morning. While walking back home with a 12 slice pack of American cheese and nothing else in my hands, I smelled the after-rain air and felt that life is immensely simple.

Street Kings

2008-04-20T23:21:00.001-07:00

Street Kings was a slightly above average cop movie - but just slightly.

Morning

2008-04-04T19:40:00.001-07:00

Not yet awake, I read my girlfriend's message from half a world away. She says to hold on buying the airplane tickets, she doesn't know if she'll come in July. I let the cellphone go at the unpleasant thought and crawl back in bed. Another few minutes of blissful ignorance.

The alarm rings again. The efficiency of bitwise operations and doubts about why she's not coming stir my mind and I rise from bed. I wash my face - I usually like the warm water, but this time I'm too stressed out to enjoy it for more than a few seconds. That's not how anyone should start their day.

I think of having a cup of coffee and feel slightly better. I go to the kitchen and repeat the same mechanical procedure of every morning. Clean up the coffee machine, replace the filter and fill it with water and coffee. I like the smell of coffee. I turn the machine on and come back to my room.

I turn the computer on. While I wait for it to start, I wonder how one would find permanent happiness. Avoiding love doesn't seem to make me happy, but falling in love has its pitfalls too. I think about how I'm extremely sensitive to news concerning her. Can I find true peace of mind? I feel like talking about it with my good friend, but then she might be busy and oh well... We've had that talk before, and we both know that the Buddhists have a point. Desire and attachment may lead to suffering. So, there I have it. I knew it, I chose it.

I type in my password, wait for the numerous useless applications finish starting up. I try to call her, the line is busy, or so my VoIP application says. I feel frustrated, I see the gray sky outside. I grab my coffee and sit down to write.

I call her again. This time it works. She's at work, waiting for a late patient. She tells me her father isn't too happy about the long distance relationship, about his little girl coming to a foreign country to spend time with a stranger. Sort of understandable, I guess, but not ideal. What's ideal, anyways? She's a bit upset about the situation, but wants to come. We want to see each other. We need to see each other. She says she'll come. Life is good again.

A half drunk cup of coffee is left on my desk. No need to finish it, I'm fully awake now. The day has begun.

The Cribs, Ra Ra Riot

2008-04-02T08:30:00.001-07:00

I went to see The Cribs last Monday here in Seattle. It turned out they were too stoned to perform well and I didn't enjoy their show.

However, the night wasn't a complete waste. One of the bands that opened for them surprised me quite a bit. Ra Ra Riot is just beginning, but they show a lot of potential. They added a violin and a cello to the usual vocals-guitar-bass-drums combination, and the result was pretty good. Keep an eye out for them - I predict they'll be big.

Coachella is off

2008-03-18T18:49:00.001-07:00

Even our local, less celebrated music festival - Sasquatch - has a better line-up this year. I'm going there instead - it's just a few hours away from Seattle, cheaper and got better bands this time.

New Addiction

2008-03-12T09:09:00.001-07:00

The Earthsea cycle, by Ursula K. Le Guin. After reading the first volume, the rest of the collection automatically made its way to the top of my reading queue. I'm on the 3rd book already and making fast progress. I'll write a review once I finish the series.

fit lyrics

2008-03-12T09:06:00.001-07:00

"Over the hills and far away,
he swears he will return one day.
Far from the mountains and the seas,
back in her arms he swears he'll be."

Two Step

2008-02-28T06:45:00.001-08:00

I planned to write something about how life is happening so fast that the whole universe is just a blur right now, but I need to catch my breath first. I'll borrow Dave Matthews' words for the moment:

Hey, my love, you came to me like wine comes to this mouth
Grown tired of water all the time
You quench my heart and you quench my mind
Celebrate we will
Because life is short but sweet for certain
We're climbing two by two
To be sure these days continue
These things we cannot change...

Brazil

2008-02-15T09:43:00.001-08:00

I start my journey tonight. I'll be in São Paulo on the 17th, and in Pelotas from the 18th to the 21st. I hope to see some of you there during that time. The rest of my trip is half-planned and highly unpredictable. Yay!

Perl sucks

2008-02-05T14:22:00.001-08:00

Seriously. Perl is utterly inelegant.

movies

2008-01-29T10:45:00.001-08:00

Atonement was good. Maybe too sad, I haven't decided yet.

Rambo was perfectly cheesy. The 80's are all back in that movie. Excellent!

short movie reviews

2008-01-25T00:56:00.001-08:00

I'll try to mention all the movies I watch on the theater this year here in this blog. Let's see how that goes.

Juno was really, really good. I - like a lot of my friends who saw it - wish life was witty like that.

There Will Be Blood was overrated. The acting is impressive and the music was well used, but... It was kinda long and made me feel bad about humanity.

I Am Legend was not nearly as good as it could've been. I have no idea how they managed to make his loneliness in a deserted NYC uninspiring, but it definitely was. I normally love those scenes, but it didn't work this time. Bummer.

Coachella's lineup is out

2008-01-22T19:26:00.001-08:00

At a first glance, this year's lineup doesn't look very exciting. However, last year I discovered a number of good bands because of the festival so I'm just downloading everything to my Zune to see what I can find this time around. I'll give them scores and post it here, as follows.

0 - Horrible. Must stay away from their stage. They suck so much that you don't want to risk being photographed nearby.

1- Bad. You should rather go to the beer garden.

2 - Watchable. If it's not too crowded and the sun is not too hot, go sit on the grass around their stage.

3 - Enjoyable. Worth staying up for one hour - and you may find your feet and hands moving to the rhythm of their songs.

4 - Fun! This band is worth elbowing your way to a good spot, maybe even scheduling ahead to be there early enough.

5 - Must see. This takes precedence over all conflicting shows and would even make you watch a bad show before just to reserve your spot. If there are two 5's at the same time, murderous thoughts about the organizers are morally acceptable.

Friday (April 25th)

American Bang: 3 (good honest rock n' roll)

Modeselektor: 2 (not terribly exciting techno)

Rogue Wave: 2.5 (average indie band, 0.5 extra for their awesome "Zune ad song" - Lake Michigan)

Porter: 1.5 (I feel I could change my mind on this, but at the moment they annoy me)

The Bees: 2 (these guys remind of Wilco)

Professor Murder: 1 (they try to be different and fail)

Black Lips: 2

Cut Copy: 3 (good slow beat!)

Architecture in Helsinki: 2 (interesting music, bad show)

Dan Deacon: 1 (some could say original, I say annoying!)

Vampire Weekend: 3 (tap tap tap - yay for happy music!)

Jens Lekman: 1 (waaay tooo slooow)

Adam Freeland: 1 (undanceable techno)

Minus the Bear: 2

(I'll keep updating this post as I listen to them)

simplify, simplify!

2008-01-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

There's great beauty and wisdom in simplicity.

I hate Sunday nights

2007-12-30T19:41:00.001-08:00

heroes is going downhill

2007-12-13T12:48:00.001-08:00

ATTENTION! SPOILERS AHEAD!

The second season was worse than the first. The final episode was disappointing - I can see the director saying "we must end the season NOW, let's DO it". The villain cliche at the end was a bit too much - "I'm back! Mwahahah!". And the use of Clair's or Adam's blood to resurrect people sadly reminds of aunt May's multiple fiascos. And Peter Petrelli is getting closer and closer of being the new Superman - he's ultra powerful and super dumb.

Shame, I really liked that show.

name needed

2007-12-08T13:16:00.001-08:00

So it happens that I needed a bit more life in my living room, and for that effect I bought an orchid. She's doing well (yes, I know that a flower should be an it, but it's such a feminine thing that I'll transgress my grammar and call her a she), as you can see here.

I'm hoping for the best in our relationship - she not only survived the first two weeks, but she's also flourishing more - a believable demonstration of happiness.

The next step is to name her, and I could indeed use some suggestions. Can you think of any good names for my orchid?

absurdistan

2007-12-05T09:28:00.001-08:00

I didn't finish yet, but I had to mention this scene before I forget. Three Russian men are fighting in front of the American consulate in St. Petersburg. After the two bouncers repeatedly try to beat the fat rich guy and fail at it, they all fall to the curb, where one of the security guys says:

"You remind us of our country's dignity. They can punch Russia over and over again, but she will never fall. Maybe she'll slide down to the pavement as we have... you know, for a drink... But she will never fall."

thiago's 2007 concerts list

2007-12-01T19:20:00.001-08:00

I've been to more concerts this year than in the rest of my entire life. Music festivals help a lot to increase the count, friends like Rodrigo too. Here's a list, so I won't forget (and you'll think I'm cooler):

Seattle, WA
- Camera Obscura
- The Shins
- Bloc Party
- LCD Soundsystem
- !!!
- Menomena
- Klaxons
- Stanley Jordan
- Arcade Fire
- Arctic Monkeys
- Magic Numbers
- Simian Mobile Disco
- Diplo
- Digitalism
- Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
- Bonde do Role
- Crystal Method
- Nightwish
- The Hives
- Benny Benassi
Redmond, WA
- Wilco
The Gorge (George, WA)
- Dave Matthews Band
Auburn, WA
- Rush
Coachella (Indio, CA)
- Tokyo Police Club
- Of Montreal
- Arctic Monkeys
- Felix da Housecat
- Benny Benassi
- Interpol
- Bjork
- Fields
- The Cribs
- Regina Spektor
- MSTRKRFT
- Kings of Leon
- Arcade Fire
- Red Hot Chilli Peppers
- Tiesto
- Fair to Midland
- Tapes 'n Tapes
- Explosions in the Sky
- Kaiser Chiefs
- Placebo
- Paul van Dyk
- Manu Chao
- Rage Against the Machine
Lollapalooza (Chicago, IL)
- Ted Leo and the Parmacists
- Jack's Mannequin
- Against Me!
- Silversun Pickups
- The Black Keys
- LCD Soundsystem
- Daft Punk
- Silverchair
- Motion City Soundtrack
- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
- Regina Spektor
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Muse
- Blue October
- Iggy and the Stooges
- My Morning Jacket
- Pearl Jam
Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA)
- Andrew Bird
- Apples in Stereo
- Art Brut
- Gogol Bordello
- Kings of Leon

Update (answering Moon's question): 55 different bands.

Update 2 (added a few that I forgot on the first post): 60 bands.

distance

2007-11-30T09:51:00.001-08:00

Distance is a numerical description of how far apart objects are at any given moment in time. In physics or everyday discussion, distance may refer to a physical length, a period of time, or an estimation based on other criteria (e.g. "two counties over"). In mathematics, distance must meet more rigorous criteria.

Math is hard: 11253km is rigorous indeed.

Then again, navegar é preciso; viver não é preciso.

back

2007-11-28T09:49:00.001-08:00

Interesting. Looks like no one really went to the other blog I created. Even for a market as small as 7 readers, the brand appears to make a difference.

Alright then guys, you win. I'll keep posting here for now. I'm still using Windows Live Writer - which integrates surprisingly well (ok, maybe not that surprisingly) with Blogger. I guess to ask to transfer the posts from one blog to another would be a bit too much. Alright. Cool. The dude abides.

Stay tuned. Upcoming: the new Zune, my life with a plant and more of the same usual random s*it.

Crappy movies

2007-11-20T01:33:00.001-08:00

First, Beowulf. What a disappointment. I'm going to let Gaiman off the hook for this one, and assume he had diarrhea or something when he spewed out this piece of crap. It's hard to believe the same guy who wrote Sandman would come up with such crappy dialog (yeah, I know this is based on the book, but it diverges enough, and the crappiest dialog is exactly at those points). And, also, please can the "entire movie in 3d idea" for another five years, when you (hopefully) might have decent skeletal animations. At least it had some moments bad enough for people to laugh at (like the Austinpowerism on the nude scenes). Well, I didn't have too high expectations for this one. I went to the theater knowing I was wasting 10 bucks.

Then we come to "No Country for Old Men". Overrated, overhyped, overacted crawling-pace piece of shit. Typical Oscar movie, with characters whose sole purpose is to show off how oscar-worthy the actor is, entire scenes that are completely pointless except to show "crazy face #12", or "sad face #17". Dialog that, in an effort to pass naturality, just sounds like something noone would ever say in real life. Stereotypes and cliches abound (just because they're dramatic cliches, doesn't mean they're any better than action movie cliches). I sat through this one until the end, just because I didn't walk out of Mystic River, and I really couldn't decide which one is worse. If you're gonna do Oscar-whoring, have some dignity and at least do a good movie. Darjeeling Limited does its fair share of statuet prostitution, but in the end is still a fairly watchable (perhaps good) movie. "No Country For Old Men" just made me go home with $10 less on my account, and 2 hours less on my life.

yet another internet experiment

2007-11-08T20:40:00.000-08:00

I decided to ride the new live services wave that is giving away @live.com accounts and created one account for me. It comes with a bunch of stuff, including a blog. So I created a new personal blog to experiment with. Check out Thiago's space.

This is what video games are all about

2007-11-06T11:11:00.001-08:00

I'm not going to link anything on this post. If you want to know what I'm talking about, do yourself a favor and just play the games.

First, a post that is a few years late. Katamari is simply great. Graphics are for suckers, you don't need anything more than a few polygons and brick-like objects to make a great game -- just raw creativity, and the balls to release a game that's "just fun" in an age of "ultra-graphic epic adventures with twisting storylines". Somehow, Katamari brings back the early 80's arcade philosophy of concept games -- you come up with some innovative game mechanics, and develop your game around it. Everything -- graphics, storyline, controls, objectives -- is simplistic and fun. Slap on some completely insane dialog, a J-pop soundtrack that's as weird as possible, and you get the most innovative game since the first videogame crisis...

UNTIL NOW. Which leads us to...

Forget about the other games on the Orange Box. Portal alone is worth your 60 bucks. There will be cake at the end. It is quite similar to Katamari -- it's a concept game, simplistic, fun, and has a completely insane character giving you missions. But... the concept in which it's based is much more filled with possibility. By playing the game, you're really "thinking in portals". The physics engine is perfect, gives you almost absolute freedom, and every experiment you do with portals and gravity comes out as a whole new way to beat the levels. The physics insanity comes packed with dialog (or rather monologue) insanity. Your only interaction during the game is with an increasingly insane passive-aggressive UI. Imagine 343 Guilty Spark + HAL9000, and add lots and lots of passive-aggressiveness, and you're getting close to it. Four hours of increasing insanity, physics-bending action and humor, and then, at the end, the cake: the credits song. Best credits song ever. All in all, this game is the best at everything it does: the physics engine is fantastic, the gameplay is fun, every line of monologue is comedy gold, and you get cake at the end.

I really hope these two gems are a sign of a new golden age of video games. I love the visuals on Gears of War, the action in Halo, or the art in Bioshock -- but it's nice to see new life in an area that was almost forgotten -- Pure unadulterated FUN.

Oh, did I mention the cake?

blog action day

2007-10-15T23:28:00.000-07:00

Having 27 minutes left in my timezone for the blog action day, I decided to spend a few seconds mentioning the best reason I have - being fond of objectiveness and rationality - to recycle: recycling is energy efficient. The energy consumption ratios are: 0.05 for aluminium, 0.3 for plastic and 0.6 for paper.

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling)

my radio

2007-10-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

I've created an Internet radio on last.fm featuring the music content I usually listen to. Check it out.

Lollapalooza vs Coachella (2007)

2007-08-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

Coachella and Lollapalooza are two of the biggest music festivals in the US, spanning 3 days, more than 100 bands and focusing largely in alternative rock n' roll, a good amount of electronic music and a hint of hip hop. This year I attended both, so I thought I'd share my experiences.

Location

Coachella is set in the middle of a California desert, in a city named Indio, a few miles from Palm Springs and two hours by car from LA. No matter whether you camp (which I did) or you settle in a nearby hotel, there's nothing interesting around besides the festival. Also, being in a desert means two things: you'll need lots of liquid and the shows can go on longer (from noon to midnight) - there's no one to complain about the noise.

Lollapalooza is located at the Grand Park, the very center of Chicago downtown. From there, if you look East you'll see lake Michigan. If you look any other direction you'll see skyscrappers - impresssive ones. As I noted earlier, Chicago is a cool city, so there's stuff to do before and after the shows - which end around 10pm.

Crowd

In both festivals, the crowd is mainly composed of young people, most of them between their early twenties and early thirties. Everyone is either a music lover or friends with them, which is great. Coachella has a more mixed crowd (geography-wise), since no one really lives there. Lollapalooza's public (in my unscientific 10 people sample) comes mainly from Chicago - which is not a bad thing, since they seemed to be very friendly and open to conversation.

Organization

At Coachella there was a lot more pushing and trouble walking around. People at Lolla would excuse themselves through the crowd, and hardly push anyone. On top of that, there was beer everywhere, in contrast with an enclosed, crowded beer garden at Coachella. The physical disposition of the stages at Lolla is worse, though - they are placed along a strip - with the two big ones at the two opposite extremes, meaning you'd have to walk a lot to move between two mainstream concerts.

Music

Last, but not least, music.

Even having won in every other aspect, Lollapalooza lost here. Lollapalooza had amazing headlines - Daft Punk (think of lights and triangles in sync with electronic music), Muse (ending with Knights of Cydonia, thousands of people yelling "no one is going to take me alive") and Pearl Jam (with Vedder singing "Hey, Bush, leave the kids alone") - and a bunch of ok shows.

Coachella's headlines weren't so great (Bjork was for Bjork fans and RHCP was for RHCP fans), even though RAtM was perfect - fast and furious, exactly as they're supposed to be. Coachella really blew me away with their amazing selection of alternative music: Kaiser Chiefs (starting their show with an energetic "we're the world famous Kaiser Chiefs!"), Explosions in the Sky (ignoring the sun and dazzling the crowd with their guitars) and Arcade Fire (one of the best shows in my life - you should've seen the smiles on everyone's faces when they played "No Cars Go", closing a brilliant presentation - pure good music).

Overall

Coachella won because of the new music. As a music fan, I'm always happy to see new bands rising and showing how it's possible to create and inovate. Lolla was a close second, though. If you love music and you have the oportunity, I definitely recommend you to try both at some point in your life.

Wilco at Marymoor Park

2007-08-22T00:57:00.000-07:00

[someone in the front of the audience yells something]
Jeff Tweedy: Who's an asshole?
[someone yells again]
Jeff Tweedy: Bush is an asshole? Ok.
Jeff Tweedy: Grass is green.

Chicago

2007-08-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

I went to Chicago because of Lollapalooza (another post coming soon). I wasn't expecting much of the city, but I ended up positively surprised. They seem to have achieved a good balance between small and big town. The natural landscape - including the (now clean) Chicago River and the Great Lakes - combined with the work of a number of famous architects results in a very pleasant combination.

People were nice, open to conversation, crime is gone, and they have their own (great) pizza style - Chicago's deep dish.

(upcoming posts - so that I don't forget: Lollapalooza vs Coachella; EB games sucks; Stardust)

shower ideas (1)

2007-08-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

I usually have great ideas while in the shower. I don't quite know why, I just think the water improves my overall thinking process. Ideas and decisions become much more clear in the water. Weird, perhaps, but true.

Here's one, for a more positive attitude towards life: most of your problems can actually be solved. Whining and complaining may be a good stress relief, but it usually doesn't solve anything. You solve problems. Stop sitting there and go make your life better.

recently on theater

2007-07-10T06:14:00.000-07:00

Ratatouille is fun, but I expected more from the director, who directed The Incredibles. The plot is also fundamentally flawed: rats are disgusting, food should not be. A rat cooking is not the most exciting thing.

Live Free or Die Hard is excellent. In a plot more absurd than ever, Bruce Willis comes back to save the world from evil hackers. He's totally inept with technology and completely reckless. Shootings, explosions, jumping cares, you name it. Who cares for physics in an action movie anyway?

Transformers is cool. I can barely remember my childhood days watching it, so they didn't have a lot to spoil. Bumblebee is not a beetle anymore, but I guess that didn't make a huge difference. The movie is filled with cliche, which I found funny - "now it's between you and me, Megatron!" And the girl, Megan Fox, is heartbreakingly beautiful.

Ocean's 13 is better than 12 and worse than 11. The scenes with Brad Pitt and George Clooney reprovingly looking at each other are worth the movie.

Live Earth is live now

2007-07-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

Live Earth is an initiative by Microsoft Live, sponsoring shows throughout the entire planet with the objective of raising attention to environmental issues. All the shows are being streamed via the website. I just checked out Australia and Japan presentations and the quality is quite good.

the Flower and the Storm

2007-06-12T06:28:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, a very delicate flower grew alone between some rocks. It was a little flower, but its sadness was immense - it didn't want to be alone. So, one day, a terrible windstorm came nearby. The flower asked: "Storm, will you take me with you"? The storm kept approaching. The flower said again: "Storm, will you take me away from those rocks"? The storm then saw the flower, and reckoned it was a beautiful flower, and was afraid of destroying it. The storm slowed down, and when its first breezes touched the flower, the flower said: "take me"! The storm twisted around the flower, turning and turning, fascinated. It then saw the flower would never resist, and tried to go away. In its effort, it took a petal off. The flower stood there, shaking and hurt, watching the storm to grow darker in the horizon.

déjà vu

2007-06-02T23:53:00.000-07:00

He went to a French restaurant with his two friends, a Brazilian couple. She ordered a steak, his friend got the duck and he got the rabbit. They shared a bottle of red wine, ate and had some dessert. They walked half a block north to the next intersection, found the "Russia House" and climbed the stairs. They sat at the old wooden chairs, looking to the streets through the round windows. He's got a "shot" of Vodka, which turned out to be a martini glass full of it. He drank it, his friends drank their stuff and everyone left. He walked, searching on his phone for "clubs". On his right there was some movement, and the phone agreed. He walked in there, showed his ID, browsed around the bar for Her and gave up. He pushed some people around and ordered a Long Island. They returned a wrong credit card and he was still sober enough to recognize it. He got his card, walked around once again and decided to go home. Took the wrong right. Followed some people around a traffic circle. Followed other people towards a bar. Showed his ID, entered the bar. The bar looked strangely familiar, he made a note to write about déjà vu. He intuitively found the restroom, which was positioned similarly to that of the other bar. He saw those two girls he saw earlier and figured they must have walked to the same place. Then he sat down for another drink and saw the same waitress. And the realization finally came: he went back to the same bar. Realizing he was too drunk to do anything other than sleeping, he drank some water and stumbled towards the exit. Asked where the subway station was. Walked there. Sat on the escalators. Got out of the metro, where some Virginian people asked for a bar. Joined them, and after much effort got a tequila before 3am. Stumbled back home, grabbed his laptop and wrote something. Slept sitting there, woke up two hours later. Finished his tale only the next day.

NYC 3

2007-05-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is full of, well, modern "art". While I appreciate the abstractions that still resemble something real (like Picasso or Miró), the "nonobjective painting" annoys me. However, their huge three-paneled water lilies redeemed them entirely. If you want to cool me down, just make me look at Monet's later life paintings.

Little Italy and Chinatown didn't quite impress me. The first at least looks good and has a lot of restaurants that look nice; the latter is too dirty and too crowded for me to really appreciate it (and I like São Paulo's equivalent for it (Liberdade) much better). However, I didn't spend a lot of time there and might have missed a lot of stuff.

I watched The Phantom of the Opera on Brodway and enjoyed it. Although the music sounds more impressive on a CD, it was still pretty good live. And the scenarios are very well done, the best I've seen on a theater so far.

The subway is dirty but overall efficient; the city's rythm is crazy (even worse than São Paulo); there's an impressive number of beautiful women on the streets; there's food for all tastes and budgets; the traffic sucks; the nightlife is very intense (and yes, you can find places to party until dawn).

The city felt like a mix of Paris and São Paulo - no one treats you very kindly, it's beautiful, huge, fast and there's always something going on. If you like cities, NYC is a must see.

NYC 2

2007-05-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

The American Museum of Natural History is just too cool. In three hours I barely had time to see "Cosmic Explosions" and skip through the dinosaurs and the biodiversity hall. One could easily spend multiple days trying to absorb that much information.

The Grand Central Station makes one want to take the train there everyday; the New York Public Library is the most impressive library I've ever seen; the Statue of Liberty is no big deal; the Manhattan skyline is beautiful, specially when seen from the south of the island.

NYC 1

2007-05-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

The Central Park is huge, nice and clean. There was a bunch of people there enjoying the spring, sitting on the grass, tanning, strolling, biking, skating, playing frisbees, eating hot dogs or ice cream cones. It's easy to get lost (I thought I was going south and ended up on Fifth Ave (east)), it's easy to enjoy.

The Guggenheim Museum is interesting. I'm not a big fan of modern art, but I can expend some time trying to figure out the value of some of their so called art. I noticed it's not random, there's a certain pattern to it. I guess that's something already, huh? Besides that, they have a cool post-impressionism section and a few Picassos.

The Empire State building is crowded. Never, ever go there on a weekend. I had to endure 90 minutes waiting in line to get up there, plus some more 45 minutes to get down to the street level. The night view is cool, NYC is beautiful from up there, but I (and everyone else leaving the elevator) was very glad to get out of it.

The Times Square is a place for tourists. A huge crowd from all parts of the world occupies the street, leaving little room for one to walk. The lights are quite impressive and it works pretty well as a symbol of the modern city life, but it gets old quickly. I am told that New Yorkers tend to avoid it.

to the East!

2007-05-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

I'll be flying from Seattle to New York in 3 hours. I'll spend 5 days there, then 4 more in Washington DC. I've never been to any of them, so let's see. Laptop and camera in the bag; pictures and comments in a few days.

Be Safe

2007-05-23T00:06:00.000-07:00

The Cribs have released a new album - "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever". I listened to it twice already and I like it.

I found these "lyrics" really interesting. This song (which sounds more like a reading than like a song) is called "Be Safe":

"One of those fucking awful black days when nothing is pleasing and everything that happens is an excuse for anger. An outlet for emotions stockpiled, an arsenal, an armour. These are the days when I hate the world, hate the rich, hate the happy, hate the complacent, the TV watchers, beer drinkers, the satisfied ones. Because I know I can be all of those little hateful things and then I hate myself for realising that. There's no preventative, directive or safe approach for living. We each know our own fate. We know from our youth how to be treated, how we'll be received, how we shall end. These things don't change. You can change your clothes, change your hairstyle, your friends, cities, continents but sooner or later your own self will always catch up. Always it waits in the wings. Ideas swirl but don't stick. They appear but then run off like rain on the windshield. One of those rainy day car rides my head implodes, the atmosphere in this car a mirror of my skull. Wet, damp, windows dripping and misted with cold. Walls of grey. Nothing good on the radio. Not a thought in my head.

Lets take life and slow it down incredibly slow, frame by frame with two minutes that take ten years to live out. Yeah, lets do that.

Telephone poles like praying mantras against the sky, metal arms outstretched. So much land travelled so little sense made of it. It doesn't mean a thing all this land laid out behind us. I'd like to take off into these woods and get good and lost for a while. I'm disgusted with petty concerns; parking tickets, breakfast specials. Does someone just have to carry this weight? Abstract typography, methane inconvenience, linear gospel, Nashville sales lady, and torturous lice, mad Elizabeth. Chemotherapy bullshit.

The light within you shines like a diamond mine, like an unarmed walrus, like a dead man face down on the highway. Like a snake eating its own tail, steam turbine, frog farm, two full closets burst open in disarray, soap bubbles in the sun, hospital death bed, red convertible, shopping list, blowjob, deaths head, devils dancing, bleached white buildings, memories, movements, the movie unfeeling, unreeling, about to begin.

I've seen your hallway, you're a darn call away, I've hear your stairs creak. I can fix my mind on your yes, and on your no. I'll film you face today in the sparkling canals, all red, yellow, blue, green brilliance and silver Dutch reflection. Racing thoughts, racing thoughts. All too real, you're moving so fast now I cant hold your image. This image I have of your face by the window, me standing beside you arm on your shoulder. A catalogue of images, flashing glimpses then gone again.

Every clear afternoon now I'll picture you up in the air twisting your heel, your knees up around me, my face in your hair. You scream so well, your smile so loud it still rings in my ears.

Imitation. Distant, tired of longing. Clean white teeth. Stay the course. Hold the wheel. Steer on to freedom. Open all the boxes.

Open all the boxes.

Open all the boxes.

Open all the boxes.

Times Square midday: newspaper buildings, news headlines going around, you watch as they go, and hope that some good comes. Those tree shadows in the park they're all whistling chasing leaves. Around six pm, shadows across cobblestones, girl in front of a bathroom mirror she slowly and carefully and paints her face green and mask like. A portrait. A green stripe. Long shot through apartment window, a monologue on top but no girl in shot. The light within you shines like a diamond mine, like an unarmed walrus, like a dead man face down on the highway. Like a snake eating its own tail steam turbine, frog farm, two full closets burst open in disarray, soap bubbles in the sun, hospital death bed, red convertible, shopping list, blowjob, deaths head, devils dancing, bleached white buildings, memories, movements. The movie unreeling, about to begin.

That was great
Yeah? Mine were alright. Wasn't my best one but who cares?
That's the spirit... "

etc

2007-05-21T07:14:00.000-07:00

- Shrek the Third is decent, but not as good as the previous ones. I give it a 7.

- the White Stripes' newest single (Icky Thumps) sounds promising.

- Brandon Flowers (The Killers) lost his voice on their last show in Denver (allegedly due to a bronchitis crisis); 8 hours previous to the scheduled time they also postponed Seattle's presentation by one week, meaning two things: (1) I won't see them (because I will be out of town next week) and (2) neither hundreds of other alternative music fans will (because the new time conflicts with Sasquatch). Bleh.

Starcraft 2

2007-05-18T08:21:00.000-07:00

www.starcraft2.com currently redirects the user to www.blizzard.com, which shows a list of all games published by Blizzard along with their year of release. The list ends with a big question mark. Guess what? Yeah, baby. We will be saving the universe once again. En Taro Adun!

(19-May-07) Update: Blizzard has officially announced Stacraft II. The above mentioned website now contains a variety of media material, including screenshots, artwork and videos. My initial impression was disappointment - after so long, I was expecting a lot more innovation. The screenshots showed a new 3D engine and pretty much the same game. Still hopeful, I went to watch the cinematic trailer. Those 4 minutes changed my opinion entirely; after watching it I was cheering in front of my PC. Blizzard did a perfect job of reminding me that the original formula was fantastic, and that keeping it could only lead to another great game.

Hell, it's about time.

Elevator

2007-05-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

Tension, suspense, drama... and lots of ennui in the thrilling debut of Weekend Productions.

deserted cities thoughts

2007-05-13T10:02:00.000-07:00

I watched "28 Weeks Later" yesterday. As its prequel, it features amazing takes of these post-apocalyptic, deserted, abandoned cities. Vanilla Sky's scene where Tom Cruise finds himself alone in the middle of Times Square also comes to mind. I find these scenes terribly appealing.

When I was younger and more rebellious, I liked those because they represented a start from scratch, a new chance to do things "right". Today my beliefs in "right" or "wrong" are less radical, and I see that having everyone else killed is likely not a best bet. Still, the empty streets have a deep impact on me. I figured why: it's about humanity.

Have you ever wondered what is humanity's goal, what is it we really care about as species? It's survival. And being all alone on the remains of the civilization is all about that. The survivors carry the immense responsibility of keeping mankind alive. They carry not only the genes, but also part of the knowledge we accumulated over thousands of years. If left alone, would you be able to help rebuild the planet? Would you truthfully teach our past history and myths? Would you build bridges or electricity generators? Would you cook, sew, medicate, repair, create, govern? Which values would you choose, which culture would you create?

These thoughts appeal to my innermost humanity, they make me feel responsible for and part of a greater entity. Each of us carry all the human generations in ourselves, and that's what should guide us and keep us together. "Humanity" is the ultimate moral value.

coachella magic tunnel

2007-05-07T23:05:00.000-07:00

AdSense added...

2007-05-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

... for the sake of experiment. Let us know if you hate it.

coachella!

2007-04-26T01:09:00.000-07:00

Backpack is ready: tent, sleeping bag, soft clothes for the desert, a white towel, a spreadsheet with the list of all bands and a bunch of mp3 to make choices on the flight to LA. Yay!

Against the war

2007-04-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

Answering my sister's requests, the result of a lazy Sunday afternoon: my friend and I went to see a "protest" against the war here in Seattle. When we finally got there, most people were already gone. The scattered crowd which remained there was enough for a somewhat funny video. Comments in Portuguese.

camera by me; video and sound edition by Hermann; comments by both of us

Google Offers Free Wireless

2007-04-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

Haha!

Farewell

2007-03-19T00:09:00.000-07:00

(free translation of Cecília Meireles' poem: Despedida. Suggestions for improvements are welcome.

to a friend who reminds me of her)

For me, and for you, and for all that
that is where others will never be,
I leave the angry sea and the peaceful sky:
I want loneliness.

My path has no signs nor landscapes.
And how do you know it? - they will ask me.
- By not having words, by not having images.
Not a single enemy and not a single brother.

What do you look for? - Everything. What do you want? - Nothing.
I travel alone with my heart.
I don't walk lost, but unfound.
I carry my way on my hand.

The memory flew off my face.
Flew my love, my imagination.
Maybe I'll die before the horizon.
Memory, love and the rest where to be found?

I leave my body here, between the sun and the earth.
(I kiss you, body of mine, all delusion!
Sad banner of a strange war...)

I want loneliness.

2007-03-12T00:09:00.000-07:00

Zodiac sucks.

300 rocks.

Pratchett's notes on physics

2007-03-06T11:12:00.000-08:00

I'm currently reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld. The mere fact that I hadn't done so in 25 years is an unforgivable character flaw. Anyway, aside from all other objects of his sarcasm, he seems to have a special warm place in his heart for advanced physics... So, here are a couple quotes from the books I've already read, to share the wisdom.

"While I'm still confused and uncertain, it's on a much higher plane, d'you see, and at least I know I'm bewildered about the really fundamental and important facts of the universe." Treatle nodded. "I hadn't looked at it like that," he said, "But you're absolutely right. He's really pushed back the boundaries of ignorance." They both savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things.
[Terry Pratchett - Equal Rites]

The only thing known to go faster than ordinary light is monarchy, according to the philosopher Ly Tin Weedle. He reasoned like this: you can't have more than one king, and tradition demands that there is no gap between kings, so when a king dies the succession must therefore pass to the heir instantaneously. Presumably, he said, there must be some elementary particles -- kingons, or possibly queons -- that do this job, but of course succession sometimes fails if, in mid-flight, they strike an anti-particle, or republicon. His ambitious plans to use his discovery to send messages, involving the careful torturing of a small king in order to modulate the signal, were never fully expanded because, at that point, the bar closed.
[Terry Pratchett - Mort]

IM making a difference

2007-03-02T20:47:00.000-08:00

new layout

2007-02-21T22:26:00.000-08:00

I'm experimenting a new layout here. If you read this blog every once in a while, would you be so kind as to leave a comment saying whether you like this better than the other (or that you don't care)?

changes

2007-02-20T23:34:00.000-08:00

Gondolin was converted to English, since Renato, André and I were already writing in English. If you see reminiscences of Portuguese somewhere in the template, please let us know. No, we're not translating old posts to English - arbitrary estimates say that only about 7.2 people read this blog regularly.

We also got rid of the Haloscan comments. They started to put ads even in the RSS feeds and I finally got sick of them.

On the Radio

2007-02-20T23:11:00.000-08:00

Regina Spektor, proving simple can be very good:

No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again

Coachella

2007-01-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

From Wikipedia:

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (also commonly referred to as simply Coachella) is now a three-day annual music festival (2-day until its 2007 edition) held at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California. The event features many genres of music including alternative rock, hip hop, and electronica.

I already got my concert tickets, airplane tickets and a tent. Yay!

Carioca

2007-01-23T08:37:00.000-08:00

I've just bought Chico Buarque's latest album Carioca and I must confess I'm kinda disappointed with both the lyrics and the music. Anyway, I know that may change as I get more used to the new stuff --- that's what happened with As Cidades, for example.

Below, the lyrics of my favourite song from the new album:

Ela Faz Cinema
(Chico Buarque, 2006)

Quando ela chora
Não sei se é dos olhos para fora
Não sei do que ri
Eu não sei se ela agora
Está fora de si
Ou se é o estilo de uma grande dama
Quando me encara e desata os cabelos
Não sei se ela está mesmo aqui
Quando se joga na minha cama
Ela faz cinema
Ela faz cinema
Ela é a tal
Sei que ela pode ser mil
Mas não existe outra igual

Quando ela mente
Não sei se ela deveras sente
O que mente para mim
Serei eu meramente
Mais um personagem efêmero
Da sua trama
Quando vestida de preto
Dá-me um beijo seco
Prevejo meu fim
E a cada vez que o perdão
Me clama
Ela faz cinema
Ela faz cinema
Ela é demais
Talvez nem me queira bem
Porém faz um bem que ninguém
Me faz

Eu não sei
Se ela sabe o que fez
Quando fez o meu peito
Cantar outra vez
Quando ela jura
Não sei por que deus ela jura
Que tem coração
E quando o meu coração
Se inflama
Ela faz cinema
Ela faz cinema
Ela é assim
Nunca será de ninguém
Porém eu não sei viver sem
E fim

PS: I've decided to post to this weblog in English too, so I can practice my writing a little bit... Corrections and suggestions are welcome.

etc

2007-01-21T18:18:00.000-08:00

Long Islands are not your friends, specially if they come in groups.

The Pan's Labyrinth is finally being shown here. I liked it a lot, even though I feel I may have missed some of the references.

Children of Men is also pretty good. It's specially interesting to see how our projected fears are now leading to a quite different dystopia then what we saw in the last century in 1984 or Brave New World.

cold

2007-01-17T15:31:00.000-08:00

Back to Seattle (coming from two warm weeks in Brazil), having fun with the snow and ice:

1) After one of the worst days of snow here, traffic to get back home is awful. To take advantage of the carpool lane, two friends come to my office so we can go together in my car. On their way out, someone asks:
"Does your friend have a 4x4?"
"No, he has courage"

2) In the morning, the radio plays the weather forecast music; the DJ starts the program yelling:
"Global warming my ASS!"

3) http://youtube.com/watch?v=BQuwyURdymc

Tic

2006-12-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

It's not just because she's my sister that I loved her voice. Text by Rodrigo Vianna.

updates

2006-12-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

I moved from Redmond to Seattle. Commute is worse, but every other aspect of my life is better. I wasn't born to live in the country; I need skyscrapers, people on the sidewalks and night life.
Snowboarding is fun, but painful.
Babel, Iñárritu's latest movie, deserves all the attention it's getting at the Golden Globe. Two words: intense and intelligent.

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey

2006-11-22T17:33:00.000-08:00

Dreamfall can hardly be called a game: it's an interactive story. I spent more time watching the cutscenes than actually taking any actions. That said, the story is truly amazing. It talks of a beautiful girl who can move between two worlds (a somewhat futuristic Earth and a fantasy world, Arcadia) through dreams. The art and the soundtrack are also quite impressive.

The game is the first part of a duology. I can't wait for the second part.

And what do you think of the climate around here?

2006-11-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

Yay for rain records.

Update: Oh, and for those who think we're still far from that 15-inch absolute record... We're taking care of that.

Windows Vista viral campaign

2006-11-15T00:26:00.000-08:00

This is the best Microsoft ad I've ever seen.

quickies

2006-11-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

Ha, probably I need a better translation for the Portuguese "rápidas".

Full Metal Alchemist - After a long time away from the Japanese Animes, I found out a quite amazing one. The 51 episodes are addictive and the final movie is a wonderful piece of fantasy. Thumbs up.

The Name of the Rose - Either my expectations were too high or the English translation wasn't that good. It's an "ok" book. Raquel (who loves that book) now can kill me.

iWoz - Steve Wozniak's (first PC's engineer and Apple's co-founder) autobiography. It's interesting to see how he struggles to explain "what it takes to change the world" and fails at that. In the end I felt it's all about talent (genes, education?), timing (sheer luck?) and passion ("The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing"). I liked the book, though. Wozniak seems to be a happy dude.

2006-10-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

I want to be extraordinary.

The Dresden Dolls

2006-10-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I randomly ended up in their concert here in Seattle. Randomness is my friend.

They are original.

Qui-Gon Jinn

2006-10-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

It will be a hard life. One without remorse, without regret, without reward. A path will be placed before you - the choice is yours alone. Do what you think you cannot do. It will be a hard life, but you will find out who you are.

The Departed

2006-10-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

This movie is excellent. IMHO, the best of 2006 so far.

I had a weird dream

2006-10-08T14:52:00.000-07:00

If I believed in dreams, I would think someone is trying to tell me something here.

I was walking on the sidewalks of my old university after having dropped a friend somewhere in the campus. It was a sunny day. I was heading towards my office and there was a steep hill on my way. I went for it with great energy and after three or four steps couldn't go any further. I took a deep breath and tried to continue walking. I fell. I tried to stand up and fell again. I couldn't figure out what was going on, and sat there on the ground, puzzled. An old car came by, and as it approached I recognized three Microsoft coworkers in it. They asked me:

- Where are you going?
- To the office.
- But that's not the right direction. You should go the opposite way.
- Ahn... Oh yeah, you're right. I was just going back the way I came, I wasn't thinking.
- We can give you a ride.
- That's very convenient, thanks.
Then a Chinese girl in the car asked me what I was doing there.
- I don't know, I just fell there.
- Oh, I thought you were enjoying the sun, taking the right kind of light for your skin.
- Huh?
- You know, the one that matches your bathroom color. Or the color of your sword.
- The color of my sword? I don't even have a sword!

And then I woke up.

If I believed in dreams, I would probably buy a sword.

parallel blog

2006-10-05T02:10:00.000-07:00

http://vistaonamacbook.spaces.live.com/blog/

Sugestão de filme

2006-10-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

Uma sugestão de filme bacana, a meu ver sem grandes pretensões: Valentín. Meio drama, quase comédia, de tão simpático me lembrou um pouco O Fabuloso Destino de Amélie Poulain -- este, um dos meus filmes favoritos. Vale a pena. :c)

2006-10-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

Don't panic.

2006-09-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Dream on.