Biffy Clyro - Golden Rule

One of my favorite bands. This is the kind of music I keep falling back to when I just feel like unwinding.
They'll be playing Lisbon this winter, and I'll be there. The only thing I didn't like about their concert in Paredes de Coura was the lack of an orchestra, as their most recent albums feature a lot of background support by one. But they got the energy, and most of all, the music.
Thought I'd start my vacations by sharing this with you.

That Mitchell and Web Look - Scarecrow

How can you compete with Scarecrow??? He's enchanted! :D

Car Stereo How to

This is the way I found my car on thursday... "stereoless"! And my driver's window was broken into a million pieces. Instead of posting a rant about that (even though the guys were complete idiots and could have stolen the stupid stereo without breaking anything), I decided to show you how to install a new car stereo. It might seem complicated, but it's a lot simpler than you may think.


Here's a picture of what you'll find at the start. On the left, you'll see two black connectors. Those are for the power supply and speaker connections. On the right you'll see the radio antena (the grey one). My radio cable is so short that I would have to disassemble the whole front panel in order to connect it properly... but I don't listen to radio anyway, so I did not connect that one. Could be solved with an extension cable.


The first thing you'll do is to put the radio fixation structure. You just push it in place and then bend these little metal pieces that it has down, so that it stays there. Give it a pull or two before continuing, to make sure that it's stuck... if it isn't, then bend some more (there are a lot of them, they are usually triangular shaped and you can easily see them if you zoom in the picture.


Next thing I did was prepare the stereo itself. Other stereos have this kind of complicated metal pieces and screws that you have to assemble so that the stereo's back won't be in direct contact with the car. It kind of makes sense since that's where the heat dissipation is done. The Sony guys made it simple by adding a rubber piece that will do all that, and you simply screw that on. Done. You might notice the connector on the stereo has nothing to do with the ones in the car, and that will take us to the next point.


Every stereo should comply with the standard connectors, and have an adapter in case it doesn't. In my case, the adapter had 2 connectors, and the car had 3... hmmm which ones to connect? Well the 1st connector in the car is a proprietary thing that isn't even the same size as the two in the adapter. Then it's just a question of counting pins in the the connectors. It's really simple.


Before you push the stereo in, connect the cables and check that it's working... after that, push it in until you ear a click: that click means that in order to take the radio out you must use two pieces of metal that come with the radio... don't worry, any robber will have a set of those, is just so that no ordinary people won't just yank it out.


Final step, put in a piece that covers the metal parts, and XARAM! you have now installed your own stereo. I know people that have paid 50, 60€ for this service. I did it in 10 minutes... it would have been 5 if I hadn't taken the pictures and paced myself so that I didn't screw it up.

An important note: I have to thank Vasco Nevoa. The first time I had to assemble a stereo, he helped me out, we almost beat it with a hammer so that it would fit. But I guess the best way to honer a teacher is to show that you learned the lesson. So thanks Vasco! Your time was not wasted :D

Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity of Huge

Heard a remixed version of this last night. They dropped most of the lyrics, and just stuck with the auto-tuned "Audacity of Huge" part. Anyway, I think the video is pretty cool. And it's a cool song.

Colbert Report - Barney Frank refuses to talk to a dinning table

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Barney Frank Refuses to Talk to Dining Room Table
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

The health-care debate has been going totally crazy. BUT FINALLY, a great reply by Barney Frank. Republicans have been disrupting town hall meetings and everything is being debated BUT health-care. It's amazing how Obama has to start every rally by stating "we do not want to kill your grandparents, that's absurd!". Anyway it's a very funny clip by Colbert :)

Daily Show - Cristopher McDougall

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Christopher McDougall
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

This is a great interview with a great writer that investigated the Tarahumara, a tribe of indians that run hundreds of miles, are totally healthy, have no crime, no wars, and are being exploited by drug lords. Really good interview :)

Sufjan Stevens - Chicago

Didn't get what was that great about Sufjan Stevens until I listened to this album. Love this song!

Lifesaver Bottle

Stole this from Rui Pires' blog. Amazing!

Comics

Ratchet - Dealocked

As I had stated after finishing the third one I dove right into the 4th installment of the Ratchet series. It was however, quite inferior to Up Your Arsenal (UPA). The reasons why:
- I said UPA was challenging, you had to jump and point your guns and that required precision... Deadlocked uses an auto-aim mechanism that is interesting, but takes the fun out of the shooting
- The guns are way more powerful! Too powerful in my opinion, as that makes the game easy!
- There is no more platforming, just arena after arena after arena
- There are parts where you ride machines (bikes, ships, etc...) and they suck! The controls are awful
- The story is really simple and not that interesting. The comedy is there, but UPA was so much funnier.

SO, being so much worse, why did I play it to the end? Two reasons:
- UPA was great, Deadlocked is good
- Deadlocked takes 7,5 hours to complete... it's quite short. I can imagine little kids crying over their lost money after they spent 50€ for 8 hours of entertainment. There is replay value, but I never ever ever replay!

Crank 2 - High Voltage

The slogan in the poster is "He was dead... but he got better". After a great start with Crank, they could have taken this second Crank movie two ways: they could try and make more of the same OR they could crank up the craziness and make it a festival of "No fucking way this is happening!". Thank god they went for the second one.
This is definitely not a movie to be taken seriously! I can't really find a way to describe it, as the amount of insane stuff that happens in the movie is huge. Some ideas were taken from the first movie: electricity has replaced adrenaline, public sex is back and a lot of secondary characters from the first appear in this second with a small flashback to remind the viewer who they are.
I give it a 7/10. Some actors are really nasty, but the majority are quite good at representing the stereotypes they are going for. I think it should be a little bit shorter. But it's a movie you'll enjoy a lot and have a lot of laughs (if you don't take it seriously!).

PS: the best definition I can get is GTA on steroids... heavy steroids...
PS2: I ear some of my friends crying about a Machete movie... fuck Machete, Chev Chelios is THE man

Daily Show - Glenn Beck's Operation

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Glenn Beck's Operation
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

Friendly Fires - Kiss of Life

What can I say. I'm a sucker for percussion! This is the new single for the re-edition of their 2008 album.
It drinks heavily from the 80s. There is also an MGMT feel to this song, even if I can't pinpoint exactly what it is. The song is addicting to say the least!

Hope you guys like it!

Florence + The Machine - Drumming Song

Watched this song the other day on MTV2, and decided to give the CD a try. I still think this is the best song in the album. I read that Florence was a BBC made artist, as in the BBC gave her so much airplay that she grew on people.
BBC or no BBC, I like this song and it's a song she can be proud of :)

Telecaster kit project - 5

First things first, I un-soldered the contacts I needed, ran the wires through the holes and soldered everything again. The 1st photo was taken after I had soldered the output jack and screwed it in. The 2nd one was taken after I had soldered the pickups and was ready for the final assembly. 3rd one was taken after all the pieces were in place and the last two after I put the strings on.
Now, it just needs one hell of a setup :) That will be step 6 of this project. And for you unbelievers out there, YES IT DOES MAKE NOISE WHEN YOU PLAY IT! :D

SlimRat for Linux

The image is not very good, but it illustrates the working of SlimRat. Basically, you copy a lot of rapidshare or other share service links, save them in a text file, and then type "slimrat --list [name of file]". Then you kick back and SlimRat will download and wait for you.
Instructions on how to install it on this BLOG.
There is a GUI, but I didn't even get to try it. The text version is so simple that I just used it. Just how all Linux apps (in this case, it's basically a perl script) should be.

Smarthome

(For the Portuguese crowd)
Há uns anos (penso que em 2006), um dos meus grandes amigos mudou-se para a Suiça. Uma das primeiras coisas que me disse de lá foi "Ricardo, em Portugal constroi-se como na pré-história. As casas aqui são uma maravilha". A verdade é que, o tempo continua a passar, e a metodologia de construção portuguesa continua.
Esta empresa, SMARTHOME, vem combater o marasmo da construção civil portuguesa. Os objectivos estão lá no site, mas para resumir, o que me parece ser o seu grande objectivo é automação da casa. Como está sublinhado e bem no site, ter uma casa inteligente não é ter estores eléctricos, é tê-los e não ter que ir lá carregar no botão, tratando a casa da gestão de temperatura e luminosidade. E isto é apenas um exemplo.
Voltando a 2006, participei num PT Challenge sobre a casa inteligente. Um dos pontos que focámos e que nos fez ficar com o 2º lugar foi a oportunidade de negócio existente na parte da construção, já que as casas de hoje não suportam sistemas inteligentes. Daí a necessidade de empresas como esta, que fazem a construção a pensar no futuro e não somente no lucro por m2 de terreno!
Numa nota mais pessoal, já tive o privilégio de trabalhar com o Nelson Ramos, um dos membros da empresa. É sem duvida uma pessoa séria, de confiança, e empreendedora. Faz-me ter total fé na empresa e nas garantias que dão. Vão enfrentar um mercado em baixa, mas em vez de o tentarem conquistar, vão cavar para eles próprios um novo nicho. O da construção inteligente!

Força com isso!

Ratchet & Clank - Up Your Arsenal

Read good stuff about this game and decided to give it a go. First thing I noticed was that it required skill! As in "unless you master the commands real well, you won't kill a single enemy".
Half an hour of frustration later, I was getting there.
The game is childish, with easy jokes and humor, but it builds up on that and you'll find yourself wanting to find out what is the next crazy thing that'll happen. Dr. Nefarious is one of the greatest villains ever (made me laugh a lot). Hey, and it's not every game that'll have you shooting bananas out of a gun to make a monkey solve puzzles by standing where you want him to!

The game is sold as a platformer, but it's more action than jumping around. And that's not bad, as you get a wide variety of weapons to use. And you'll really have to use the right one for the right kill. Most levels are easy, but one or two of them were just insane difficult.

It's a cool game: it challenges you, it makes you laugh and it entertains. This is the 3rd one in the series, and I'm looking forward to playing the 4th :)

Poseidon

Finally watched this movie. It isn't that great. But, it does have two things going for it: blunt deaths (people actually look like they are panicking and dying) and amazing special effects. 4/10. It's a survival horror where the terrifying thing is the water!

Kings of Leon - Notion

First time I heard, I didn't like it. Then it kind of grew on me. Pretty good song!

Telecaster Kit project - 4

After screwing in the neck, it was time to start working on the electronics. I based myself on the above schematic.
And because I didn't want to start experimenting on the guitar directly. After all it was possible that I'd have make several tries, and the less time the soldering iron was near the body, the happier I was.
I did get it to work on my first atempt. Then, my good friend Milheiro sugested that I test the pickups using another guitar's strings and an amplifier. And so we did. The pictures below are from our pickup testing!

The Boat That Rocked

I loved it. One of the greatest soundtracks ever, with all those great 60s songs that made music history. The cast is simply excellent! The movie is the sum of 3 parts: the historical (yes those pirate radios existed), the metaphoric (you'll get it when you see it) and the growth of a young guy by living with people who cherish music above their lives!
And you better believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I give it a 10/10.. probably a lot of you out there would disagree, but I really loved the movie.

Telecaster Kit project - 3

When I got the guitar, I tried to make the neck fit in the body of the guitar and it simply wouldn't. I thought that I'd probably have to spend a lot of time sanding the body, but I finally decided that it simply had to fit with no sanding.
So, a little brute force and some sweat and I got to screw the neck. As you can see on the 1st photo, there was a small gap that I didn't like... not that it made the guitar ugly, it was just that I kept thinking how that would affect the sound.
So, I sanded a little bit of the body, and got the neck to fit way better (2nd photo).
The 3rd one is the overall aspect, and the 4th the overall aspect with the pickguard.

Who would have thought that such a small step as bolting on the neck of a guitar would be so hard and sweaty... cause I really had to push the damn thing in!

Jorge Palma - Olá (Cá estamos nós outra vez) (live)

(For the Portuguese crowd).
Desde que fui ver um bom concerto de Jorge Palma ao Casino de Lisboa, fiquei curioso e fui dar uma ouvidela mais atenta ao ultimo album dele. Para lá dos singles, encontrei este "Olá". Acho que é uma musica muito bem construída, um crescendo constante... e há algo no tom relaxado do Jorge que simplesmente bate certo com a letra e a musica (ex: "olá! sempre apanhaste o tal comboio? eu já perdi 2 ou 3").
Sem duvida alguma um dos grandes nomes da musica portuguesa! Respect!

Taser Fever in the US

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Current Events - Tasers
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Tasers

The old lady thing is shocking... oh wait... great joke :P

Telecaster kit project - 2

The first thing I did when assembling the guitar was to put the tuners in place. Seemed the easiest part. Not so, as usual :P
The screws were so crappy that 2 of them got almost destroyed in the process of screwing the tuners in. Furthermore, two of the holes were not aligned with the rest, and the result is a visible flaw. It's not the end of the world, but I would still like to correct it.
I asked around... in order to fix this, I need to remove the screws (which will be close to impossible), cover the old holes and drill some new ones.
Plus, I was told that I should not have put the tuners in if I intended to shape the headstock.
But my first job will be to assemble the guitar as is, and make it playable. Only then will I concentrate on the finishing and other details.

Daily Show - French Finance Minister

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Christine Lagarde
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

This gives you an idea of how far Jon Stewart has taken the show. A very serious and interesting interview.

And just not to be too serious, the funniest toss ever from the Daily Show to the Colbert Report :) 52 seconds of pure laughter :D

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Daily/Colbert - Universal Health Care
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

A Swedish Swing Hip-Hop Jazz

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Movits! - Fel Del Av Garden
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Tasers

These guys are called "Movit" and they're a Swedish band that mixes Swing, Hip-Hop and Jazz. I don't love the song, but got to give them credit for trying something new.

The Gossip - Pop Goes the World

I hope this gets to be their next single. It's a pop song, but very very very cool :)

Aquatic Ape theory

Elaine Morgan gives a great presentation about the Aquatic Ape theory. She divides it into what the theory is and why it has value, and into why scientific community doesn't even consider it. Strongly recommend that you watch it.

There are two points she didn't go into that I think are also important:
- the way babies can be born in water, float to the surface to breath air and float around freely with 0 concern (she does speak about breathing control... in case you don't know, if you throw any primate into water they'll drown immediately, they'll try to breathe the water in)
- the way the fish and shellfish diet can be a decisive factor in brain development

I agree that there is no definitive proof, but there are too many hints to ignore. I don't think we were aquatic apes in the sense that we spent all day in water, but rather in the sense that we were in contact with water daily.
One documentary I saw went even further to suggest that the origin of man, of this aquatic ape, was Madagascar, as the isle was moving away from the main land and water was filling in. I don't know if geologists back this up, but it's an interesting concept, that throws the water element in the mix with the apes in the forests.

I'll go ahead and throw a theory of mine, which has 0 scientific value, it's an hypothesis:

I recently watched an episode of Mental, where a woman suffered from shark phobia... she couldn't even submerge her head under water inside a pool, for fear of sharks. It got me thinking about our crazy fear of sharks.
I went to wikipedia to read a bit about the topic. Believe it or not, the irrational fear is mainly attributed to the movie Jaws... they stated that the shark phobia increase was caused by the movie.
I just think it got people remembering sharks as predators. We've seen movies with killing whales, octopus, squids, crocodiles, but none spawned such fear... my crazy hypothesis is maybe the film worked so well because it appealed to our biology: maybe those were our predators in the aquatic days. Maybe this fear is genetically grafted in us as it happens with other species and their predators. Maybe our ancestors had to keep a look out for sharks. AND they wouldn't have to do that if they were on land...
... or maybe I've just created the theory about the land shark!?!?! hmmm I think not! :)