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Movie of the Week: Paradise: Love

Glad my first feelings are right. When I was choosing what to see from Indie Lisboa 13 and after read a couple of plots I though Paradise Love by Ulrich Seidl would be worth see. But, I couldn’t make it to the movies and only saw it yesterday night in my cosy sofa.

The story focuses on a group of Austrian middle-aged women “Sugar Mamas” seeking for love in Kenya, where love is itself a business, a money source to many young men who accept to get involved with the European tourists solely to get money. All the characters are fictional although at some part we might begin to mistake it with reality. It has freshness.

Paradise Love is a clever movie, with some Freud quotes, so you better be prepared for the psychological double-meaning in every small dialogs. The subjects are race, sex, overweight, aging, Africa versus Europe “This is Africa, just love”. Paradise Love left high expectations to see the other two parts of the trilogy Paradise. I might go back on Ulrich Seidl previous documentaries too.  7/10

Movie of the Week: Shut Up and Play the Hits

“Shut Up and Play the Hits”, is a musical documentary about the end of LCD Soundsystem shot in 2012. The story is more or less the band’s last show in New York City and the time before and after that moment. It is remarkable especially when you can feel how good people they all are, the great vibe during the concert, the strength of NYC lights, and imagine how James Murphy and the band are in their real lives.

James Murphy’s interview, for this documentary, says all and nothing. I didn’t imagine him that wise. When I started listening to LCD I was in the university, in 2005. That time “Tribulations” and “Daft Punk is playing at My House” were real cool songs and it was forbidden not to add them to any playlist. I did it a lot, every Friday, in my two hour’s show for the university radio.  After came “Sound of Silver” in 2007, probably their most sold album with hits “ North American Scum”, “New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” – BTW it ends the film so well, you can actually see I teenager crying among white balloons and the guitar down in a stage already empty of human warmth – and the last album, “This is Happening” in 2010, which I review as a more-of-the-same album, with trivial lyrics and beats without artistic content, definitely not what we were used to listen from these guys.

Then in 2011, Murphy announces the end of LCD Soundsystem and this film came one year after. Things to point out:

1. The interview Murphy gives to a journalist (don’t know who he was and the producers didn’t write his name on the screen ewww) answering all evasive but at the same very sensitive.
2.  The part where Reggie Watts appear on stage is very cool.
3.  North American Scum and Yeah Yeah Yeah best tracks live.
4.  NY I Love You But Your Bringing Me Down, aka the perfect final with white balloons, gave me goose bumps.

Movie of the Week – III Movies of João Salaviza

Cinema. There’s a new generation of young Portuguese directors playing the game, Gonçalo Tocha (É na Terra não na Lua), Miguel Gomes (Tabu) and João Salaviza (Arena and Rafa), that after a couple of awards in Berlin and Cannes have achieved a gorgeous reputation among cinema critics.

Midas Films just launched a DVD with Salaviza’s three short movies and its available in French and English as well, so exportable. In an interview for a Portuguese radio show the young director shared his witty thoughs about his work “my flat mates say my emotional intelligence is all focused on cinema”. He grow up in Lisbon and the pictures he captures in his movies are true, in a way that they exist just like they are in reality, with the same people around, same color, same essentia.

 “Arena”, 2009, won Golden Palm in Cannes, is a short movie and tells a story of Mauro. He’s arrested and lives with an electronic bracelet at his home. He likes to tattoo people. It’s mid-day, the sun is hot and strong, and three kids of the area come near Mauro’s window.

In “Cerro Negro”, 2011, Anajara comes back from its work in the jingle-jangle morning. She cannot leave Iuri at school. Seventy kilometers from home Allison waits his wife and son. It’s the visiting day in Santarém’s prison.

The plot of Rafa, 2012, Golden Bear in Berlin, is about a child named Rafa. At 6AM he found out his mother was detained at the police station. He leaves his home in the Southbank of Tejo River, crosses the bridge with a friend in a motorbike and arrives to inner Lisbon.

Salaviza’s technique and photography are remarkable, and also the ends - everyone can give a future to his characters. He's working on a new film to be lanched in 2013, a film with more than 60 minutes, shot in Lisbon, because he is a big-city man.  3.5/5

James Blake – “Overgrown”

The second album of the 24 years old London producer starts like this: “I don't want you to know / I took it with me / But when things are thrown away like they are daily / Time passes in the constant state / So if that is how it is/ I don't wanna be a star / But a stone on the shore / Long door, frame the wall / When everything's overgrown”, from its song album-title Overgrown, which is much better than his debut “ James Blake” that offered only one single heard outside of England “there’s a limit to your love” - it's not even good.

Criticism like this one is arrogance. “Retrogade” is a new approach of Blake to dub step sound and minimal electronic, the powerful explosion of the chorus, the ups and downs beats with his whispering voice, resulted in a perfect single.  In “Take a Fall for Me”, Blake invited rapper RZA from Wu-Tang Clan and it turned out to be a cool rap track. “Dlm” and “Our Love Comes Back” are both depressing but “Digital Lion”, in turn, makes you step into your dancing shoes, also “Voyeur”.

Blake is something special. Great show in Coachella 2013, in the stage there were drums in the middle, James Blake himself on the right side (piano, PC, sampler and vocals) and on the left side a synthesizer, drum machine, music sequencer and sometimes a guitar.  Nevertheless, the tracks don’t sound the same live as they do recorded. I’d love to see Blake in a different stage. I saw him once in Optimus Alive 2011, but again the stage was unfamiliar, and the afternoon time wasn’t helping, only hundreds watching - a pity. 

He isn't a rock start but he does a good job exploring new electronic beats, so here's a  4/5.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - “Push the Sky Away”

“Push the Sky Away” is one of the best albums of 2013. What a record! Nick Cave expresses better than ever his writing skills: the whole album is a poem. Amazing piece of work with Warren Ellis (violin, viola), who co-produces seven of the nine album’s songs.

“Jubilee Street”, a dark song, “push the sky away” full of hope, acceptance ( push the limits away), “Higgs Bosom Blues”, a trip to Geneva that ends with Miley Cyrus flooding in a swimming pool in Taluca Lake, “Mermaids” and “Wide Lovely Eyes”. The album is a fairy tale (mermaids, water, skies), humans versus mermaids, not from this earth. 5/5

Upcoming show in Oporto, Optimus Primavera Sound 2013 May 30th

Movie of the week – “Band of Outsiders”

Without a doubt Godard had found the formula for what I call a true cinema with his nouvelle vague histories. In Godard’s “Band of Outsiders” two friends (Arthur and Franz) try to robber a parisien madame and her money they think come from unpaid taxes. Odile (Anna Karina) is helping them, a young girl they met at English class. The part where they actually met her is genius, their teacher is reading Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in French for a translation assignment. The three speak poor English. Odile doesn’t love the cinema nor the theater – funny and ironic the way Godard plays with the emotions between people and the cinema – she prefers “la nature”. She is in love with Arthur but he is unreadable and Franz is in love with her.

Best scene – Dance in the café; Worst scene – Arthur assaults Olive, putting the blame of their failed plan on her.

My first incursion into Godard’s movies was“Vivre sa Vie” (1962), then “À Boute de Suffle” (1960), “Le Mépris” (1963), “Pierrot Le Fou” (1965) and at last “Band of Outsiders” (1964), wholly random choices and what impresses me the most is that he directed nearly a movie per year and all of them quality, wary, superior master-pieces. I just couldn't stop watching, I was emotionally engaged. As a woman, I look different to his approach, especially the scripts. Even before I read Godard used Anna Karina as an object of creation for his films, he had been aggressive to her, though I really didn’t mind to check if it is only gossip or an accurate fact, even then I had the opinion about his conception of women characters: naïve, curious, emotional, beautiful, and free, for it bothers me seeing this kind of violence in his movies. 4/5

Movie of the week – “The Iron Lady”

In the month where the citizens of the world woke up by the sound of Margaret Thatcher’s death it’s mandatory to watch / re-watch her autobiographic movie "The Iron Lady", directed by Phyllida Lloyd, praised for her work in opera and the movies Mamma Mia! and Abba. There’re those who might know her career enough: her politics ideology and the way she had run England over 11 years ( 1979 – 1990), but this movie is a great opportunity to see first an amazing actress Meryl Streep, who won the oscar in 2012 for the role, second London’s street frames and the parliament in the 80’s marked by the end of Cold War.

Also, the script is fairly-good: Maggie the grocer’s daughter who became Secretary of State for Education, Leader of the Conservative Party and the first and only woman Prime Minister in the country’s history.

Though not all measures were popular, quite normal as far as politics concerns - she was harshly criticized during Falklands War - the movie articulates her foremost politics and sociological memoirs. Maggie’s weaknesses and strengths are revealed in a strong movie as the character itself, with roundtrips from youth to mental illness. 4/5.

DEVENDRA BANHART - MALA, 2013

Devendra Banhart,Venezuelan American singer-songwriter and visual artist who had played in Portugal a couple of times -  Optimus Alive and Festival Para Gente Sentada -, is back with a new album "Mala". The single (video below) is a delightfull folk-rock song, an easy-going melodie that could enter in Silver Linning Playbook's soundtrack. In "Mala" Devendra breaks up with its freak-folk past and achieves, after 8 albums, musical maturity. 3.5/5

Shows:

Casa da Música - 2 de Agosto 

CCB - 3 de Agosto

Weekend

In its seventh edition, Dias da Música em Belém, in CCB (Centro Cultural de Belém) addresses the Romantic Impulse in two aspects: the historical and popular music. From Beethoven to Rachmaninoff, Chopin to John Lennon, Berlioz to the French chanson d'amour, the festival proposes a musical journey into the roots of Romanticism and detects the persistence of romantic feeling, erudite or ordinary, until today. It aims to deliver answers  to what is romanticism today, for us and if we can still be romantic in the XXI century. 

More informations:

http://www.ccb.pt/

INDIE LISBOA 2013

Independent Film Festival Indie Lisboa is back, under the slogan "Hollywood is running out of ideas",  from April 18th to 28th you can see a wide range of  non commercialised movies, well at least it's the main ideology but we all know that it's hard to make a medium and profitable film festival for niches, that's probably why there's a premiere of Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers, next thursday 25th, and I intent to be there. Unfortunately today I will miss the opening ceremony with No by Pablo Larraín, for the plot the movie promises a good approach on Chile's history and culture. "An ad executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile's 1988 referendum.", says IMDB.

Festivals 2013: the shows you can't miss

Coachella, South by Southwest (US) Primavera Sound (Spain), Glastonbury (England) are, beyond question, the greatest music festivals in the world. One week after Coachella, which reminds me a bit of Woodstock fever, here’s a list of the best 2013 music festivals we've got in Portugal and the live shows you really can’t miss. 

• Optimus Primavera Sound May 30th - June 01st - Porto

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
James Blake
Blur
My Bloody Valentine
Savages

• Optimus Alive July 12,13,14 - Oeiras

Tame Impala
Alt-J
Django Django
Dead Combo
Twin Shadow

•  Super Bock Super Rock July 18,19,20 - Meco

Toy
Arctic Monkeys
Johnny Marr
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Gary Clark Jr

• Festival Paredes de Coura August 13,14,15,16,17 - Paredes de Coura

Toy
The Kills
Palma Violets
Alabama Shakes

Playlist

Casa das Histórias - Paula Rego

Casa das Histórias is a museum in Cascais which is an homage to the works of Portuguese painter Paula Rego (Lisbon 1935 -) and her husband future artist Victor Willing. Designed by Eduardo Souto de Moura it opened in 2009 and includes a collection of painting, drawings and engraving.

 

“The collection has been put together thanks to the generous donation made by Paula Rego of all of her etchings, amounting to 257 in total, along with a set of 278 drawings, most of which have never been seen before.”    

Paula Rego (today an English citizen as well) was influenced by aesthetic surrealism in the 1960 (Juan Miró) but in 1990 her career took a boost with the change of style following Rego's appointment to be the first 'Associate Artist' of the National Gallery, London, which ended up in a series of works which came to characterise the popular perception of Rego's style, comprising strong clear drawing, with depictions of equally strong women in sometimes disturbing situations.

 

This antithesis of what is considered feminine behaviour, and many other works in which there appears to be either the threat of female violence or its actual manifestation, has associated Rego with feminism, and she has acknowledged reading Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex at a young age and this making a deep impression on her.

Let's say you’re visiting Lisbon is definitely worth seeing. Bonus: free entrance, beautiful café with balcony inside the garden that surrounds the artistic building. Below some paintings you might see there.

 http://www.casadashistoriaspaularego.com/

 

 

Serge Gainsbourg and B.B (1967)

Walden conclusion

I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favour in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the licence of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, you work need not to be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. Henry D. Thoreau, in Walden, p 288.

While I'm finishing read Walden I've found online some nature pictures that are true inspirations.

 

Edition by rollip

Syria

My fav picture in a long time. Thanks to Stringer from Reuters

 

Conversa Sentimental

 No velho parque deserto e gelado

Duas formas passaram há bocado.

Com os olhos mortos e os lábios moles,
Mal se ouvem, a custo, as suas vozes.

No velho parque deserto e gelado
Dois espectros evocaram o passado.

— Recordas-te do nosso êxtase antigo?
— Por que razão acha que ainda consigo?

— Bate, ao ouvires meu nome, o coração?
Vês ainda a minha alma em sonhos? — Não.

— Ah! bons tempos de prazer indizível
Unindo as nossas bocas! — É possível.

— Como era azul, o céu, e grande a esperança!
— Mas é prò negro céu que hoje se lança.

Lá caminhavam pelas aveias loucas
E só a noite ouviu as suas bocas.

Paul Verlaine, in "Festas Galantes"
*Obrigada Fernando Pinto do Amaral pela tradução

 //

(Colloque sentimental se situe à la fin de Fêtes Galantes)

Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé,

Deux formes ont tout à l'heure passé.

Leurs yeux sont morts et leurs lèvres sont molles,

Et l'on entend à peine leurs paroles.

Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé,

Deux spectres ont évoqué le passé.

- Te souvient-il de notre extase ancienne ?

- Pourquoi voulez-vous donc qu'il m'en souvienne ?

- Ton cœur bat-il toujours à mon seul nom ?

Toujours vois-tu mon âme en rêve ? - Non.

- Ah ! les beaux jours de bonheur indicible

Où nous joignions nos bouches ! - C'est possible.

- Qu'il était bleu, le ciel, et grand, l'espoir !

- L'espoir a fui, vaincu, vers le ciel noir.

Tels ils marchaient dans les avoines folles,

Et la nuit seule entendit leurs paroles.

 

Oh nature!

they are too pure to have a market value; they contain no muck. how much more beautiful than our lives, how much more transparent than our characters, are they! we never learned meanness of them. T.

As Pinturas do Meu Irmão Júlio (Manoel de Oliveira, 1965) *

*My first experience with Manuel de Oliveira's movies. I really loved the approach and the mix of painting, music and poetry (sensitive).

Les Caffés you shound't miss

Caffé Nero in Notting Hill - Through its big glass windows you can view all Portobello Road, hectic saturdays and vintage music stores nearby. Worth stopping by for a coffee if you're in London.

Always

Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot - Bonnie & Clyde (86 remix) from Ji-Yun Jung on Vimeo.


Vous avez lu l'histoire de Jesse James ?
Comment il vecut, comment il est mort ?
Ca vous a plus hein ? Vous en demandez encore
Eh bien, écoutez l'histoire de Bonnie and Clyde

Alors voilà, Clyde a une petite amie
Elle est belle et son prénom c'est Bonnie
A eux deux ils forment le gang Barrow
Leurs noms : Bonnie Parker et Clyde Barrow

Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde

Moi lorsque j'ai connu Clyde autrefois
C'était un gars loyal, honnête et droit
Il faut croire que c'est la société
Qui m'a définitivement abimée

Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde

Qu'est-ce qu'on a pas écrit sur elle et moi
On prétend que nous tuons de sang froid
C'est pas drôle mais on est bien obligé
De faire taire celui qui se met à gueuler

Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde

Chaque fois qu'un policeman se fait buter
Qu'un garage ou qu'une banque se fait braquer
Pour la police, ça ne fait pas de mystère
C'est signé Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker

Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde

Maintenant chaque fois qu'on essaie de se ranger
De s'installer tranquille dans un meublé
Dans les trois jours, voilà le tac tac tac
Des mitraillettes qui reviennent à l'attaque

Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde

Un de ces quatre, nous tomberons ensemble
Moi je m'en fous; c'est pour Bonnie que je tremble
Quelle importance qu'ils me fassent la peau
Moi Bonnie, je tremble pour Clyde Barrow

Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde

De toute façon, ils ne pouvaient plus s'en sortir
La seule solution c'était mourir
Mais plus d'un les a suivis en enfer
Quand sont morts Barrow et Bonnie Parker

Bonnie and Clyde

When you're seventeen

Sometimes I just wonder, where would I be today if I had made European Studies in the Uni? When you're seventeen the ideia of choosing a path in your life is absolute idealism. Years go by and then you realise how ridiculous it was thinking that bachelor's or master's or whatever they want to call it today would make a difference in your professional life.

Because you change with life: your tastes change, your friends change, your aims change... it's the process of becoming mature. So, what difference does it make?

Teatro Nacional D. Maria II – First Shakespearean plays

If you fancy theatre, then Teatro Nacional D. Maria II is a place you shouldn’t miss. It’s sited in historical Pedro IV Square, or Rossio, its popular name, right in Lisbon’s Pombaline Downtown. The first inauguration was on April 13, 1846. It was D. Maria 27th birthday celebrations and to her homage the queen’s name became part of the theatre’s officinal designation.


It was the historical drama play “ O Magriço e os Doze de Ingalterra”, by Jacinto Aguiar de Loureiro, that debuted on stage. However the history of Teatro Nacional D. Maria II starts earlier. 

Following the revolution of September 9, 1836, Passos Manuel takes over the government and one of his measures was to rethink Portuguese theater in a global context, a job he delegated to write and politician Almeida Garrett. Here’s the “manifesto”: "without loss of time, a plan for the foundation and organization of a national theater, which, being a school of good taste, contribute to civilization and moral improvement of the Portuguese nation." By that decree, Almeida Garrett was commissioned to create the Inspection General of Theatres and Shows and National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts General, establish premiums dramaturgy, regular copyright and build a National Theatre "that could decently represent national dramas ". 

The romantic atmosphere at this time in Europe determines the urgency to find a model and dramaturgy national repertoire, thus the appearance of a theater (and its repertoire) wasn’t only cultural but a national issue, closely linked to the independence of the nation, coming out of trouble times after the French invasion and the fighting liberals.
Between 1836 - the legal creation theater date - and 1846 - the inauguration’s year - the existing and decrepit theatre in Rua dos Condes served as interim. And, after much controversy, the final location were the ruins of the palace Estaus, former headquarters of the Inquisition, destroyed by a fire in 1839. Also, the choice of an Italian architect, Fortunato Lodi, to design and run the theater wasn’t exempt from criticism and only in 1842 Almeida Garrett started the work.

During a long period of time, the National Theatre was managed by companies of artists to empower its management. After the establishment of the Republic, the theatre was renamed Teatro Nacional de Almeida Garret. Rosas e Brasão was the most epic theater group in charge, between 1881 and 1898, as they made the first creations of Shakespeare's plays in Portugal.

In 1964, the National Theatre was the scene of a huge fire that spared only the outer walls and the entrance of the building. The place was completely rebuilt and reopened in 1978. Today it respects the original neoclassical style.
In March 2004, Teatro Nacional D.Maria II (TNDM II) turned into a public limited company and at present it has its own governing body, under supervision of the Ministries of Finance and Culture. In 2007, TNDM II was integrated in the business sector of the state.
In addition to this, there’s inside tours every Monday mornings with insights about theater, history and architecture. The shows are from Wednesday to Saturday. On Thursday tickets have discount.

Portuguese Fado

Once upon a time in the streets of Lisbon (XIX Century) people started to sing about their fate, then it invaded bars and restaurants: a singer (man or woman) and a Portuguese guitar (12 chords) that’s what compose this music. They use to say about Fado and its meaning that is unforgettable world music. In so many ways, its melancholic lyrics and melodies encompasses a sense of navigation and a journey in the sea.  Imagine going back to 1500 when the great great navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil, and to 1498 when Vasco da Gama, discovered maritime route to India (the first person to sail directly from Europe to India), Fado reminds golden times. Fado is emotional for it is brave, outrageous, and blue. Its organic production is made to touch everyone’s heart, apart from social class stereotypes.

Amália Rodrigues had the most known voice. She travelled the world singing Fado, the club Mocambo was among those many places, in 1954.

Amália’s sadness, love and despised love (artistic temperament) nourished her success.

Carlos Coelho da Silva is the Portuguese director of biographical movie Amália, here you can go through her life, from childhood to the early days of Gloria, but ever biography has its flaws, and some pointed out that dates weren’t that accurate. Despise that the movie is worth seeing, a lot of Lisbon is shown, the Lisbon of the 50’s – the rich and the working class arrived from the countryside , in search of a better life,  even if that meant to be selling fruits to the sailors of Tejo River and tourists, likewise Amália did.

There’s two songs of Amália: one, an ode to Lisbon light, the other to saudade, a word that has no translation in English. It describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. 

Sunday Picture

Patti Smith vs Karen O

I was just listening to the realease of new Yeah Yeah Yeahs' album and I came across Patti Smith and Karen O are physically and musically alike. I've never heard Karen O speaking about her influences but there's no need for that. New song:

Sacrilege from Mosquito (2013)

Patti Smith was probably the best female rock n' roller artist in the XX Century ( don't disagree or I kill you with my arguments) and Karen O is pure girl power. Yet Yeah Yeah Yeahs' lyrics needed more element to be as good as Patti's. This first single of Mosquito doesn't sound that brilliant, but let's wait for the entire album to come out. Remember Show Your Bones from 2006? So so so heartbreaking.

Patti Smith used more sophisticated words, like a poet she was, she is... she will always be an alleluia.

Gloria from Horses (1975)

Rediscovering Poetry - Edgar Allan Poe

Alone

From childhood's hour I have not been

As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view. 

Edmund Dulac (1882 - 1953)

This poem is sad though full of life and I found this illustration of Edmund Dulac which is so magnetic and matches so well, rather than the vast majority of Poe's illustrations, often too much darkeness - Note this grey blue sky. What makes you feel? Fear? Sadness? Anguish? Solitude? Why do the cloud took the form of a demon in Poe's view?

  

Times they are changing

Running

I read on NYT that exercising four times a week is better than six. That’s a really nice article for gym addicts - bodybuilders.

I’ve underlined some parts for you:

“The women working out twice a week had become as powerful and aerobically fit as those who had worked out six times a week” but “the women exercising four times per week were now expending  for more energy, overall, than the women in either of the other two groups”. Doctor Hunt says that less may be more.

Cheer up spring isn't all that far away  for us in the north hemisphere, then we’ll have time to practice outdoor activities.

Besides Yoga I run (above the picture of my current favourite runing landscapes - Parque Tejo, sited in north west Lisbon), I try to go at least once per week, saturdays and perhaps more often from now on, not that I’m a big runner, only keep on running for one hour, while I listen to good music and here’s three energetic songs for my next saturday's playlist, how about yours?

1 – Le Tigre – Deception

2 - !!! – Pardon my freedom

3 – Kaiser Chiefs - OMG

Gym and Yoga

Yoga can relax your body and soul, unlike gym.

I’ve always been a gym enthusiastic but come on it’s not proper relaxing…you do it because you got this urgency to be all shape and toned or the most common reason lose weight. Baby, wake up, it’s fantasy, actually you might put a few pounds as your muscle and lean mass grow, replacing fat.

After one and a half year of daily gym and intensive workout (running, bicycle for cardio and body-combat, body-pump aerobic exercise) I ended up with a hard body and very gym fan knows how difficult is the moment of stepping into that door (If your friends say know don’t believe it please, it’s so untrue) and that’s when I turn to other kind of workout.

Yoga gives you an extra and the feeling “I’ve paid I must go” fades away. It starts with breathing exercises (shoes off), inhale and exhale…so good. At some point teacher tells us to hold our breaths for one minute or more if we can, then breathe freely and again 1, 2, 3, 4 hold…exhale… and by this time you feel like a reborn person.

Yoga masters say breathing is crucial to become a better learner. Therefore they advise you to do a training course. Poses are also something to improve. Do you think you can cross your legs easily, with your back straights? Well once you buy a monthly pass that you can be amongst the clumpiest in the room. Nevertheless always do your best to achieve any of the hundreds poses Yoga teaches you and get in touch with your chakras – energy centers of the body.

The pose I want to do most is sirsasana, will write about it once I get enough mind power and body balance, my teacher always points that our body has no limits; one can be cosy and peaceful in this pose for over 10 minutes. I share my class with 60 years old men and they can do it like walking, in Yoga age doesn’t matter but mind focus. Be thoughtless. Now tell me is this all very zen for you?  Be my guest to share your thoughts on Yoga.