segunda-feira, 31 de outubro de 2011

Tiras

The new roommate

I recently moved in with my sister, she has a roommate that intrigued me and so I asked her to find out a bit more about him. Mica, his first roommate, told her the story.

“Zé Manel was found in December of 2008 on the Fanqueiros Street in Lisbon and was in the company of a friend that, like him, was naked. I looked at him, he still had hair (yes, he was not always bald) and I thought that I couldn’t let him freeze. So, I took him home, Vigário Street nº1, 1st left in Alfama. In the first day I gave him a bath because he was full of cement (apparently he was a bricklayer) and offered him some old clothes. I remember taping a toothpick in the corner of his mouth.

We got along well, we were two single guys with mustaches sharing a room in Alfama. There were no problems until I started to take girls there, if we got home too crazy without noticing him it was often to wake up with a scream capable of killing someone because there was a guy looking at us in the room.

After that I remember making a movie, it was unfortunately lost (you will now lose the game), where he spoke, gained that weird paint on his face and went bald. The video was of him presenting me as an artist (Mica is a clown). Then I started dating Telma and so she was the only one sleeping there but as the others she also thought Zé Manel was a voyeur and suggested he needed another place to live. As Zé Manel is very quiet I spoke to a colleague, Catarina, and she came to dinner to meet him. She is a bit strange and quiet and I felt the chemistry right away. At the end of the dinner and with my heart aching I said goodbye to the only roommate that never gave me advices without me asking.

Catarina moved so many times that not even she knows where he’s been. I didn’t see him for a while. From time to time I heard of him, but him, hurt, never asked about me. A long time passed and one day Telma and I moved. As fate, our new roommate was Catarina that obviously brought with her, her roommate. I was happy to see him and gave him new clothes, a pretend gold necklace and a straw hat. He was in the living room for a bit but then one day he went to the terrace and stood there for several months.

That’s all I remember. Kisses and a hug Zé Manel.”

But that wasn’t it, my sister told me the rest of the story.

Eventualy Catarina had to leave the house and left a bunch of stuff behind. After that, Telma and Mica moved out and Zé Manel was again welcomed inside by Inês. For a while he joined the bandwagon of Zé, Tony and Vasco who amused themselves giving frights to everyone including Miss Alzira, who so sweetly brought yogurt cake sometimes. Zé Manel slept in the “cafufo”, the little bedroom of the missing roommate.

He also spent some time on the back seat of Rita’s Range Rover, looking through the window searching, for what, we will never know (maybe his friend from Fanqueiros Street). Scaring little children and being the mockery of some.
Now he lives here, he’s a perfect doorman, greets the pizza guy, the gas man and also the curious next door neighbor that I think, still didn’t realize what he is.

Recently my sister gave him 3D glasses and... Chinese green horns.

quinta-feira, 27 de outubro de 2011

When?

The attic of the century

« Jean Blaise and his team opened the Lieu Unique on the 30th of December of 1999, during the "End of century" festival in Nantes. This opening was marked by the Grenier du siècle (The Attic of the century). A translucent double wall was designed to receive an important collection of objects given by the population. Put in cans, these objects are going to stay a whole century in this Attic, until its opening on the 1st of January of 2100 at 5pm. »

In 31st of December 1999 at midnight the attic was locked only to be open on the 1st of January of 2100. Inside are thousands of little and big cans containing 11855 items. This items were collect from anyone who desired and they were only asked to give a reason. A hair removal kit “hoping that in a hundred years women suffer less to be beautiful, a portrait of Hitler “for us not to forget”, nail clippings “to see if they do not grow after dead”, lots of books, a telephone, love letters, personal effects of a dead son, recipes and…

All this objects are marked and each one has a receipt given to the person who donated them, if they’re lucky they can pick them up when it opens, if not they can pass it to their children or whomever.

Tiras

quarta-feira, 26 de outubro de 2011

domingo, 23 de outubro de 2011

The little things

Lisboa fica deserta quando chove =)

Muscas

Yes, I know it's Jonas Brothers and I don't care.

=)

Rossio, Lisboa 2008

Sculpture by Robert Indiana.
"Robert Indiana, originally Robert Clark, was a seminal figure in the pop art movement. Born in New Castle, Indiana in 1928, he studied in both the United States and Europe before settling in New York in 1956. He has called himself a sign painter, incorporating symbols, signs, letters and words throughout his art. Indiana's work has been inspired by old trade names, traffic signs, automatic amusement machines and commercial stencils. He has created poems, paintings, sculptures, silk screens and posters." The first LOVE sculpture was completed in 1971 in New York city or Boston, I'm not sure.

Breaking news!

sábado, 22 de outubro de 2011

Muscas

Demolished in September, 2010


"This is a 25 minutes work about SPCC. SPCC was a participative squat in Lisbon. Five residents, thousands of guests. SPCC shared the "nomad base" philosophy. It was made by the residents, travellers, visitors, and has been destroyed after 8 month of fast growth.
I stayed around ten days in august 2010. I let you discover what we already miss."
Nicolas

The little things

photo by Daniel Miranda

quarta-feira, 19 de outubro de 2011

terça-feira, 18 de outubro de 2011

How to feel miserable as an artist

(or, what not to do, underline any that currently apply)

1. Constantly compare yourself to other artists.
2. Talk to your family about what you do and expect them to cheer you on.
3. Base the success of your entire career on one project.
4. Stick with what you know.
5. Undervalue your expertise.
6. Let money dictate what you do.
7. Bow to societal pressures.
8. Only do work that your family would love.
9. Do whatever the client/customer/gallery owner/patron/investor asks.
10. Set unachievable/overwhelming goals, to be accomplished by tomorrow.

Oh my sweet lollapalooza! ;)

domingo, 16 de outubro de 2011

The little things

photo by Daniel Miranda

I think they are in love and the baby cell phone is all grown up and went to college. Or grandpa telegraph just died, I can't decide.

sábado, 15 de outubro de 2011

There lived a king in some Middle Eastern land who was continuously torn between happiness and despondency. The slightest thing would cause him great upset or provoke an intense reaction, and his happiness would quickly turn into disappointment and despair. A time came when the king finally got tired of himself and of life, and he began to seek a way out.

He sent for a wise man who lived in his kingdom and who was reputed to be enlightened. When the wise man came, the king said to him, “I want to be like you. Can you give me something that will bring balance, serenity and wisdom into my life? I will pay any price that you ask.”

The wise man said, “I may be able to help you. But the price is so great that your entire kingdom would not be sufficient payment for it. Therefore it will be a gift to you if you will honor it.” The king gave his assurance, and the wise man left.

A few weeks later, he returned and handed the king an ornat box carved in jade. The king opened the box and found a simple gold ring inside. Some letters were inscribed on the ring. The inscription read: This, Too, Shall Pass. “What is the meaning of this?” Asked the king. The wise man said, “Wear this ring always. Whatever happens, before you call it good or bad, touch this ring and read the inscription. That way you will always be at peace.”
Farid ud-Din Attar, Sufi poetry

Green Acres

sexta-feira, 14 de outubro de 2011

The little things

yesterday, Rua Ivens, Lisbon

Being totally unbiased... =P

"I was born in 1983 and grew up in Portugal, between the two margins of the tagus. I was educated in law, but, according to some, recently lost my head. I intend to photograph the world and write things without any concern about  giving them a sense."

The word is not flat - a trip around the planet without airplanes
 
"In pre-Hellenic world earth was believed to be flat. It was mostly conceived of as a land surface, usually a circle, floating in the ocean. Some believed that the earth was a cylinder and remained stable because it had a flat circular top which made it possible to keep the same distance from all things. It were times in which the world's top touched the air and in which the ground had no limits. This belief was then demystified by Pythagoras and Aristotle, but in some parts of the world continued to be the main believe as to the shape of the planet, up until about the seventeenth century. There is a myth,an unlikely one though, that many Europeans still thought the earth to be flat during the great maritime expeditions. It is true that no one had yet completed a full trip around the world and that some people were still discussing how people woudn't just fall below the equator, but the truth is that only a few actually objected the idea of a spherical shape of the earth. Nowadays the question is not even mentioned, since we managed what was then unthinkable: to observe the planet from space. Yes, all this is very interesting and I am very pleased that at this point  of the text you are stil following me. I have heard, however, that the earth is held on the back of an invisible turtle, which in turn rests on another invisible turtle's back, and it is like that all the way to infinity. No one has actually attemped to prove or disprove this thesis. Thus we're still stuck in this imaginary doubt. Returning to the shape of the planet, I, being small and insignificant, decided to directly test the sphere shape thing. I left Lisbon and always head east (at times going back to see the sights, but returning then to the point I was at before). Also, I never get my feet off the earth's surface. Yes, no flights for this boy, whom, whenever flying, never actually knows how he got to his destination. If all goes well and if the images of earth from space are not made on a computer, I will be getting back to old Lisbon next year in some kind of boat. Perhaps in Patagonia it is possible to hear the invisible  turtle."

quarta-feira, 12 de outubro de 2011

Trophy hunting

Illustrated by David Revoy

"The intial true short story was about a girl who wonders how is it possible that her cat took a star fish home as a trophy if she lives 10 kilometers from the sea."
Larry is dead, the window is open. There's glass and water on the floor and Mary is sleeping. What happened?

Pixar Intro Parody

Webby Award for Best Animation and People's Choice Winner

produced by CollegeHumor.com

=D

terça-feira, 11 de outubro de 2011

Newman the Wise


1 Kings 3: 24-27

Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king.
He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”
Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

One of these, please.



1967 Chevrolet Camaro

quinta-feira, 6 de outubro de 2011

Muscas

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what your truly want to become. Everything is secondary." -  Steve Jobs