While the snow falls outside, i close my eyes and think about my homeland.
I see a warm winter day, sun is shining and i am siting among good friends, we are having a really good conversation, while we share a good bottle of wine, "Pôpa Doce".
I am not a wine expert, but this wine is something special, it has been like a month ago since i tasted this "nectar", but i still can recall the amazing taste.This is the first sweet red wine produced in the Douro region, to all of you that are thinking about visiting Portugal, maybe you should start to plan a visit to the magic Douro region and maybe a visit to the place where they created this magic taste. I am going there for sure soon, cause i know that there are other magic nectars to be tasted :)
For now i will keep my eyes closed, and i will dream of sunshine and great wine.
1st December, the snow falls slowly outside, the first snow of this winter, marking the start of another christmas,what a fantastic day!
In Portugal is Restoration of Independence's day, so another reason to make this day a special day.
But there is something else... something that makes this 1st of December different from all the others 1st of Decembers that we have know and that we will come to know.
Today KarpeDiem is coming out with their new album "Suspenso no Ar". KarpeDiem is a Portuguese rock band, one of the few rock bands that keep, i will not say the old Rock, but the real Rock alive. Rock melodies and poetic texts, that leave us speakers of the "Camões language" suspended in the air. I had the privilege to be a little part of this adventure, when i was asked by them to illustrate something for the new CD.
I made 4 different sketches, and i know they decided to use the "birds", but i don't know how and where, i am waiting anxious for the exemplar they sended to me.
But the how and where they used my art is not the point, the point is that i would love to be there today, for their "premiere" concert, and i cant. But from here, from the cold north i send you guys a really warm hug, and the wishes of a fantastic night.
Please Keep on Rocking!
Once upon a time, a city.
A city with high buildings painted in many different colours, a city with a tree that was as high as the skyscrapers. In that city there were no cars, everyone arrived or left by air balloon, the sky was always blue, even when it snowed or rained, and the night never came.
On the top of the tree lived a whole village of small people, they never came down, they toke care of the tree, the tree gave the Skyscraper People air, and the Skyscraper People gave the little people food. This was a city in harmonie.
One day a strange fat man arrived by balloon. He had a high hat, a big moustache and with him e brought two really big leather cases. He called upon the people of the city and told them a sweet story about the capitalist world where he came from, a world where everyone was rich and living the dream, and that he wanted to bring this world to them. Then he told them to open the two leather cases, and inside them was paper - many little pieces of paper that the fat man called money. "With enough of this you can get whatever you want!" he said. But the Skyscraper people and the Little people didn't understand and told him that they were not interested, but that he was welcome to stay as long as he wished, that he could eat their food and refresh himself under the big tree, and then they left. And so did the fat man.
Not many days had passed, when the little people saw in the sky something that was not an air balloon. Hundreds of machines came by air and ground, making the city tremble. On the top of one of those machines was the fat man. He said that he knew about the weapons hidden under the big tree, and that he would not allow terrorism in the world. So he took the Skyscraper People that opposed his as his slaves and with his machines he felled the big tree and killed the little people. Then right away he started digging. Deep he went but no weapons were found. He kept digging for days and then something happened, a jitter of black thick liquid flew into the sky. The fat man and the capitalists all started laughing and for the first time night fell over the city.
This is for my fellow Portuguese, i am not going to be writing a all story about corruption and bad politicians, i just want to say to all Portugal that it is time to do something.
Is time to make a exorcism, change is needed, do not only talk about it, do not simply share all kind of messages and pictures on Facebook, it is time to do something for real, we need a revolution and please don't make it with "Cravos" we need a real one this time. The Devil is not a imaginary figure from some religious book, the Devil is right on top of the chain, using and abusing you, but he is not stronger than us, we gave him his strength and we can take it back if we unite.
Fight Portugal!
Fight for a better Future!
And not the less fight for a better Past!!
Aficion! Tradition or cruelty?
This has been a really hot topic nowadays, specially in countries like Portugal, Spain and France where a lot of people are fighting to end bullfights and other are fighting to keep it. Well i had to make a sketch out of it and here is Oscar the bull. But i dont want to blend on this fight, so this sketch takes no parties!
I can explain why i dont want to blend; my problem is that rationally i understand the activists that are against bullfights, but my heart tells me another thing. You see i was born and educated in a place where people vibrate when the see a bull and a man in the arena, i am not going to try to defend that by using stupid arguments as "tradition" and so on, tradition is a fantastic thing, but some are obsolet and dont make sense in our days, so there is no argument i can use to defend it. But sometimes i ask a question to myself; "Where lays the bar that defines cruelty? " a bull is a magnific animal and bullfights are cruel, but i just think that sometimes we kind of decide that somethings are wrong and some that still wrong are ok. Tell me what is the diference between a bull and a rabbit or a grouse that are hunted every year for a sport sake? Or even the chicken that we love to eat in our burgers, that had a miserable life in a cage, being overfeed to only one propose, to be eaten in the end? and i could go on now for pages and pages of "acceptable" animal cruelty, but i dont have the time or energy for that, the point is how funny is that we close our eyes to so many things that are wrong, in many cases cause they give us some kind of profit.
The bull at least had a nice life until the day he had to go to the arena.
If they stop bullfights all over the world i am not going to oppose them, to be honest i can see the right in it, but then i hope they stop a whole lot of other things that we accepted as right!
Peace!!
Being a portuguese outside Portugal is not easy sometimes!
When i meet someone new, you know small talk and all that, questions here and there and of course being a portuguese in a country where everyone is blond and white as bleach (some are orange, because of the solarium) a really normal question that always pops up is ; "Where're you from?" and when i answer they all go like this : "OOOOOHHHH Yeah Portugal!" and i think, "Nice, they know my country." but then after the exclamation always comes one name- Ronaldo.
"Yes Ronaldo, but Portugal is not just Ronaldo you know?" and they say, "Oh yes i know, there was Figo too."
And i give up and talk a little bit of football with them. I think it is amazing, a land that was owner of half the world, kings od the sea, european paradise, surf dreamland, amazing food, beautiful and kind people, Sunshine almost all year round, blá blá blá.... and all they know is Ronaldo. Come on!
Next time they ask me where i come from, i am going to answer "I am from Ronaldo." maybe then they will go; "OOOOOOHHHH Yeah Ronaldo!- Portugal amazing country!"
Peace!
