Breviário das coisas breves

(Quase) Tudo fechado.

[* Actualizado e corrigido]

«An upcoming television show explains why real life lightsabers are a physical impossibility, before building the next best thing. It's like Mythbusters but, surprisingly, made with even more awesome.
According to Variety, the show, Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible, will feature Dr. Michio Kaku looking at the reality behind Star Wars' favored weapon of choice. After explaining that light can't be formed into a solid blade, Jedi-style, he then goes to work looking for alternatives, including plasma swords and carbon nano-tubes, with the help of experts in the field.»
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Etiquetas: Postas

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Etiquetas: Sons

Agir, alcançar, comunicar, criar, desenhar, descobrir, escrever, experimentar, instruir, investigar, navegar, proteger, realizar, representar, rir. Saber ouvir e, porque não?, olhar para o umbigo. Trabalhar. E esperar que tudo corra bem...

O Royal Albert Hall por dentro e por fora. O Hyde Park de um lado ao outro. Oxford Street e Carnaby Street e Picadilly Circus e Leicester Square à noite. O Big Ben e o Parlamento e o London Eye e a Tower Bridge à pressa. Covent Garden e a Abbey Road para a fotografia. O Now 74 em primeiro e a SuBo em segundo. O David Byrne e a Nico e os Grizzly Bear e os Wild Beasts na bagagem. Um curso intensivo de Londres e um concerto surpreendente em tão boa companhia. Assim, vale a pena.
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Etiquetas: Notas de viagem

será que podem baixar o volume do Natal?

todos os cromos são parvos.

Etiquetas: Imagens

«É tempo de optar: independentemente do que viermos a fazer (só se vacina quem quer!), há dois tipos de atitudes: a que é lógica, científica, lúcida e isenta, ou a que é sensacionalista, mal informada e não fundamentada (...)»

(Mário Cordeiro)

Bom, depois de inoculado, «dói-me o joelho, dói-me parte do antebraço, dói-me a parte interna de uma perna e parte amiga da barriga». Mas isso acho que não é da vacina...

Etiquetas: Imagens

sendo assim, 'tá bem... vamos lá à África do Sul.

«(...) Perhaps. But Larsson is very much of our own time, setting himself to confront questions such as immigration, “gender”, white-collar crime, and, above all, the Internet. The plot of his first volume does involve a sort of excursion into antiquity — into the book of Leviticus, to be exact — but this is only for the purpose of encrypting a “Bible code”. And he is quite deliberately unromantic, giving us shopping lists, street directions, menus, and other details — often with their Swedish names — in full. The villains are evil, all right, but very stupid and self-thwartingly prone to spend more time (this always irritates me) telling their victims what they will do to them than actually doing it. There is much sex but absolutely no love, a great deal of violence but zero heroism. Reciprocal gestures are generally indicated by cliché: if a Larsson character wants to show assent he or she will “nod”; if he or she wants to manifest distress, then it will usually be by biting the lower lip. The passionate world of the sagas and the myths is a very long way away. Bleakness is all. That could even be the secret—the emotionless efficiency of Swedish technology, paradoxically combined with the wicked allure of the pitiless elfin avenger, plus a dash of paranoia surrounding the author’s demise. If Larsson had died as a brave martyr to a cause, it would have been strangely out of keeping; it’s actually more satisfying that he succumbed to the natural causes that are symptoms of modern life.»

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Etiquetas: Imagens, Sons

«Looks fucking gorgeous. Reads okay. I've gotta stop writing for insanely talented artists, because the script never lives up to the artwork. Time to start working with total no-talents, so that my story gets to outshine the art.»
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Etiquetas: Leituras

(via Attu)

Etiquetas: Fitas

Etiquetas: Sons

«Okay, alright, thank you, alright… now we can chat a bit. Okay, um, this is really weird. You know, vultures, I’ve seen a lot of vultures since I’ve entered the Texas border, a lot of vultures. The interesting thing about vultures is that, well, the reason they spend so much time in the air is because they’re so light because they eat so infrequently. So they’re mostly feathers, so a lot of times you’ll see them doing this and you’ll think “Oh, he’s probably going to land soon and eat,” but a lot of times he’s thinking to himself “How the fuck am I gonna get down there?” Now here’s the sad part and imagine if you had to make the same choice yourself. After dining, and frankly most vultures that are injured, this is according to the Bird Rescue… most vultures that are injured were injured while dining. That’s kinda sad… to be hit by a car while you’re eating, but the problem is that once they’ve landed and they’d eaten a lot, they eat so much cause they eat so infrequently, they eat so much that they can’t take off without throwing up. I know, that’s tough… so what a choice, you know, you just had a big meal and you have to lose the whole damn thing just to get back up in the sky again. I think of that all the time when I’m having hard times.

Here’s another interesting thing about them, the gas company has started using them to spot gas leaks in the field, because, well… think about it. They think it’s a dead animal but it’s just a gas leak, you know, so they gather… anyway, I find it interesting anyway. Okay, enough about me. Okay, uh, one last thing… you know during World War II, they made, this is in Germany… they made a soup, like an alphabet soup, only instead of the alphabet it was swastikas and they called it pastika soup and apparently it was very popular in Berlin. I’m sorry about that one too.

Okay, here’s something really interesting, I found interesting anyway. You know, rats don’t eat because they are hungry… they’re just grinding down their teeth, and if you don’t believe that, well… my dad found a rat in a room, a concrete room where there was absolutely nothing to eat, not even a rock… and he’d been in there for two weeks and hadn’t had nothing to eat. What happened with his lower teeth is they’d grown through the roof of his mouth and had come out through the top of his head and his uppers had gone down through his chin and they looked like a little goatee. I know, I know… it’s hard to find people that are as interested in these things as I am.

(...)»

É no limiar da loucura, entre a fantasia e a normalidade, que se contam os contos alternativos que se partilham neste novo espectáculo - o de um capuchinho vermelho no limiar do proibido, o de um país de maravilhas deste lado de um espelho estilhaçado, os dos seus próprios monstros na ponta da língua. Talvez demore a arrancar, talvez não seja a mais imediata das peças do GTT, mas é difícil não nos deixarmos levar pelas estórias confessadas em palco. Sobretudo, quando os figurinos (timburtonianos) e a banda-sonora (belíssima, de Adriano Filipe) sublinham de forma tão eloquente as inquietações do texto (denso aqui, hilariante ali) de João Silva.
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Etiquetas: Palcos

«Eu acho que os portugueses têm que ter ânimo. E vão concerteza ter... ânimo. Portanto eu estou confiante no ânimo dos portugueses», disse o Senhor Presidente, ainda há pouco, nas notícias, para animar o caso Face Oculta.
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Etiquetas: Ouvido na rua

Foi muito bom ouvir António Câmara, da YDreams. Foi muito bom ouvir Carlos Coelho, da Ivity. Foi muito mau assistir ao debate transformado em embate irracional, idiota e infantil entre Nuno Gonçalves e Rita Redshoes e Carlos Coelho e uma plateia cheia de marketeers e managers, músicos e fãs. Se brands like bands, pelos vistos bands don't like brands...

(@ Attu world)
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Etiquetas: Imagens

ou «What's Wrong With "Surrogates?"»

António Sérgio, o dever da homenagem.

Etiquetas: Imagens

Etiquetas: Imagens, Leituras

«It's different when you actually feel the pain.»

E mais uma vez, voltamos ao mesmo: uma boa premissa, um conceito curioso e um universo bem explorado, aliados a efeitos visuais topo-de-gama e a uma estrela de série A, não fazem por si só um bom filme. Para isso é preciso muito mais do que um funcionário bem comportado por trás da câmara e um actor/personagem em formato o-que-é-que-eu-ando-aqui-a-fazer. Por isso é que, mais do que a adaptação de uma graphic novel de culto, há alturas em que este Surrogates mais parece a adaptação de um jogo de computador oco e deslavado. Talvez seja o excesso de personagens sem densidade ou interesse (é que nem o suposto vilão se safa), talvez sejam os twists que de tão óbvios se anulam, talvez seja a falta de algo que entusiasme ou algo a que nos possamos prender ou com que nos possamos realmente preocupar... Enfim, safa-se o início e o ar caricatural de um futuro desenhado a régua e esquadro, o que faz com que o filme, não sendo empolgante por aí além, também não seja completamente desinteressante.
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Etiquetas: Fitas

Etiquetas: Diferenças, Fitas

«1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.»

(Kurt Vonnegut)

Depois de fazer o amor, é favor fazer o relatório.

Jesus contra o Beatle.

@ love all this
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Etiquetas: Imagens

«“I am happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin,” said Martin.
“I don’t play the banjo but I’m thrilled to be hosting the Oscars – it’s the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Baldwin.»

A SIC tem a Lua Vermelha. A TVI tem o Destino Imortal. A PJ tem a Face Oculta...

Etiquetas: Fitas

«Dear Sirs/Ma'ams,

I am Joss Whedon, the mastermind behind Titan A.E., Parenthood (not the movie) (or the new series) (or the one where 'hood' was capitalized 'cause it was a pun), and myriad other legendary tales. I have heard through the 'grapevine' that the Terminator franchise is for sale, and I am prepared to make a pre-emptive bid RIGHT NOW to wrap this dealio up. This is not a joke, this is not a scam, this is not available on TV. I will write a check TODAY for $10,000, and viola! Terminator off your hands.

No, you didn't miscount. That's four — FOUR! — zeroes after that one. That's to show you I mean business. And I mean show business. Nikki Finke says the Terminator concept is played. Well, here's what I have to say to Nikki Finke: you are a fine journalist and please don't ever notice me. The Terminator story is as formative and important in our culture — and my pretend play — as any I can think of. It's far from over. And before you Terminator-Owners (I have trouble remembering names) rush to cash that sweet cheque, let me give you a taste of what I could do with that franchise:

1) Terminator... of the Rings! Yeah, what if he time-travelled TOO far... back to when there was dragons and wizards? (I think it was the Dark Ages.) Hasta La Vista, Boramir! Cool, huh? "Now you gonna be Gandalf the Red!" RRRRIP! But then he totally helps, because he's a cyborg and he doesn't give a s#&% about the ring — it has no power over him! And he can carry it AND Frodo AND Sam AND f@%& up some orcs while he's doing it. This stuff just comes to me. I mean it. (I will also offer $10,000 for the Lord of the Rings franchise).

2) More Glau. Hey. There's a reason they're called "Summer" movies.

3) Can you say... musical? Well don't. Even I know that's an awful idea.

4) Christian Bale's John Connor will get a throat lozenge. This will also help his Batwork (ten grand for that franchise too, btw.)

5) More porn. John Connor never told Kyle Reese this, but his main objective in going to the past was to get some. What if there's a lot of future-babies that have to be made? Cue wah-wah pedal guitar — and dollar signs!

6) The movies will stop getting less cool.

Okay. There's more — this brain don't quit! (though it has occasionally been fired) — but I think you get my drift. I really believe the Terminator franchise has only begun to plumb the depths of questioning the human condition during awesome stunts, and I'd like to shepherd it through the next phase. The money is there, but more importantly, the heart is there. But more importantly, money. Think about it. End this bloody bidding war before it begins, and put the Terminator in the hands of someone who watched the first one more than any other movie in college, including "Song of Norway" (no current franchise offer).

Sincerely, Joss Whedon.»
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Etiquetas: Postas

Etiquetas: Leituras

«Aos 90 anos, como é que vê a si próprio, qual é o retrato que faz da sua vida? Vê-se como um sábio?
- Ah não! Ao longo da minha existência, fiz os possíveis para me divertir ou, se quiser, para não me aborrecer [risos]. Foi por isso que trabalhei, porque se não o fizesse aborrecer-me-ia imenso. Escrevi apenas para passar o tempo. E não dou qualquer importância a isso.»

(Claude Lévi-Strauss)

Ao lado de Leal Pancada, jaz a Sra. Sardinha Coelho.

«- Então ele continua ressentido? – disse ela, olhando carinhosamente para o Berman no outro lado da sala. – Mas ele tem razão, eu devia dar-me por culpada. Não por ter podido ficar com o papel ou ser uma boa actriz, nunca haveria de conseguir. Se me sinto culpada, acho que é por o ter deixado viver o seu sonho quando para mim não havia sonho nenhum. Estava só a dar-me ares para ter a oportunidade de alguns melhoramentos. Sabia perfeitamente que nunca viria a ser uma estrela de cinema. É muito difícil; e se formos inteligentes, é demasiado humilhante. Não tenho complexos de inferioridade para tanto: as pessoas julgam que uma estrela de cinema tem que ter necessariamente um ego gigantesco; na realidade, é essencial não ter ego nenhum. Não é que me importasse de ser rica e famosa. Isso faz parte dos meus planos, e um dia destes hei-de lá chegar; mas quando isso acontecer, quero arrastar o meu ego atrás de mim. Quero continuar a ser eu quando acordar uma bela manhã para ir tomar o pequeno-almoço ao Tiffany’s. Estás a precisar de um copo – disse ela, reparando nas minhas mãos vazias. – Rusty! Eras capaz de trazer uma bebida ao meu amigo?
Ela continuava abraçada ao gato.»
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Etiquetas: Leituras

«Morreu o radialista António Sérgio».