Who is controlling this space?

Got this test from puta de vida and was happy to know that I am controlling the Trip and not controlled by Tripping!

12.5 %

My weblog owns 12.5 % of me.
Does your weblog own you?

1 Year and 1 Week of tripping out of my space

On Monday, July 21, 2003 I started this blog with this statement:

Tripping is living...
When you travel to the unknown your senses seem to become sharper, ready to capture the novelty.
Tripping out of my Space is a space where I will be sharing with all of you my thoughts and opinions generated during travels in mind and space.

A year has passed by and I forgot to mention Tripping's 1st anniversary.
It's ok, it wont be mad at me, it totally accepts whatever comes from me, as if it was me!

It has been a year and a week that I wrote the above and I still believe on it, however there is more in life than just novelty, there is the load that you accumulate and are not able to discharge to replace it with the new.
Some loads stays forever even if it has left you.
Now I am learning how to let it go when in fact I would give everything to have it back again... life contradictions or maybe life addictions!

I know if I succeed, I will be rewarded and the new load will erase the pain of loosing and bring the joy of discovery again!
I am trying and I will get there.

Always tripping, always living!

RAV4 - I would luv to go for a ride

Relax, you just arrived!

Flying from Hong Kong to San Francisco may seem an eternity, around 12 hours sitting in a confined and crowded area but one thing is amazing, believe it or not, you arrive before leaving!
Even so, while you are racing against time, you risk to get bored by the view, no matter how blue the sky may look:
 
 
All of the sudden, a slight move outside excites you, something has changed the view, there is some action out there:

 
And yes, finally you can see land and the local clocks indicate one hour before you left, 11 hours ago!
 
 
There is a lot of action outside now, and the so steady wings are now moving like crazy, no more reasons to be bored and soon you’ll be out here for the grands vacances! 
 
 
Of course I forgot the fact that I was arriving in the USA and I should have counted to spent the next 3 or 4 hours in a more boredom of controls that the flight itself, facts of life, welcome to the secured zone of this great nation!
After 4 hours of observing behaviors in the American customs that made me think that they were freshly transferred from Guatanamo or Irak, I was finally cleared and released to go.
God was I ready to release tensions, party and have some fun!
Here we go California:
Let’s go for a nice meal in a nice restaurant, was my plans until I saw the warning posted in this upper class restaurant:
 

What? They are telling me that they sell food that may cause cancer?
Oh don’t worry – clarified the waiter – it is just a general public advise, imposed by the Californian law in order to protect the restaurant in case some wako customer sues us for that reason. Any way everybody body knows that most of the food now contains some kind of chemicals that might be harmful to health….
Oh my god, talking about defending yourself against the American legal system… scary! 
 
Ok the, lets put that meal on hold and lets go for a drink, I really need to relax and get into the holiday mood. As we sit at the counter of this bar, my attention was diverted to this sign, posted right on my face:
 
 
Oh no, this is really too much, I just want relax and have a drink now, seriously, can we have some fun here?!
I better have a smoke and try to relax, I really just landed…
Oh no this is a bar and guess what:
 

Oh well, at least I gave to admit that this is a good decision!
Matter as well go out and relax and have that smoke, I am sorry but this is too much and I really need it!
I get out of the bar and finally was going to lit up when I looked closer to the wall next to me:
 
 
Oh my God, is the big brother after me!
Give me a break
 
Luckily all this stress only happened at the beginning; afterwards I found my own means to avoid it.
Welcome to California, it is much more than this!
 

Reinvent Yourself… as I’ve had enough

The first part of this statement was Madonna’s message of her concert, the second part is what I perceived she is thinking but omitted to us.

Two nights before the concert in Madison Square - NYC, 18/06/04, Madonna gave an interview to 20-20. The interview from me was the beginning of my turn-off as she greatly disappointed me for three reasons:
· She did not stand for what she has done in the past, basically saying that all was a marketing product. She said that she not always believed on the messages she was passing to the public… oh well too bad, cause she lost a bit of her credibility;
· She wanted to show a mature and grown up image but she failed to do so as her answers were vague and lacking of meaningful contents;
· She over emphasized her new believes and almost used the interview for their promotion, being to religious and not as fun and daring as I used to expect from Madonna.
One thing I still liked on her, was the fearless and politically incorrectness when she was asked about the Iraq war. She openly said that Saddam and Bush were basically the same type of people and seeked the same objectives: power and money over lives. When the reporter told her that the interview was being broadcasted alive and that she saw people having a lot of trouble for saying less than what Madonna has just said, Madonna just answered something like “oh well”. It was Ok, but I was expecting a bit more dare from her.

It was with shadowed image that I went on to watch Madonna alive in Madison Square NYC.

First the struggle to get the tickets was insane as in the official website they were sold out in the very first few days. My friends in NYC said that they are bought by agents who then re-sell them with some additional cost. Anyway we got them and here we went.
Upon arrival at Madison Square, the security was tight but in the middle of the confusion, I end up passing through without being searched… duuhhh and this is NYC.

The arena was packed and the atmosphere was great, they were a lot of Madonna’s look alike and the show start well before the concert. The organization was excellent and there was plenty of booze to warm up before the concert.

Almost 1 hour after it was scheduled, the show began.
It promised since the very beginning to be a great concert and it was if I have not seen her on the Girlie Show.
The stage was composed with 1 gigantic screen in the middle, with two other medium sized screens on each side. Madonna took advantage of video and these screens who end up playing a major role in the concert. In my opinion she used and even abused a bit too much of video projected in these screens. A lot of songs were started as video performances and special light effects, then she would add on the dancers on stage and after a long time she would then show up and join the dancers. I know that she needed to do this to rest and change cloths without interrupting the concert but in the girlie show she did better as she had a big and excellent group of dancers, who not only danced well but had great bodies (common we have to admit that this was one of the highs of Madonna’s concerts). This time the videos and special effects took over from the dancers, leaving them almost all the time with the secondary role.

Madonna was political but not for too long, I still had the impression that she could have been even more. The American Dream song was for me one of the highs momentums of the concert, it illustrated with videos of war and special effects, the dancers were dressed up as different national customs and I really enjoyed the afghan women with the burke covering her face and micro wearing a micro skirt, showing her long sexy legs. The song ends with a picture of Saddam together with Bush being covered by blood.

As she tried to do during her 20-20 interview, she wanted to show some maturity, she invoked John Lennon and sang “Imagine”. It was a nice moment where she was claiming no religions and then soon after she appears on stage with a t-shirt saying “Kabalists do it better” – oh well, I guess she was reinventing herself from Italians do it better, except the “it” here was completely different.

Another new thing in this concert was that Madonna sang a few songs, playing electric guitar as if it was a rock and roll concert in the 70’s. She was sitting down during the ballads accompanied by guitar. It was another trick to disguise the fatigue, but it was well done and I do not blame her for doing it!

Naturally Madonna this time mentioned her husband, was not sexually provocative and all that because she is a mother and moved on. Too bad but that’s life.

I also found that she didn’t interact with the public like she used to do. Back in the girlie show, she provoked and teased the public, this time she just said a few times :You guys are great, you are the best”… that didn’t convince me but it was New York and that’s the way it is too, being what I call commercially nice!

At the end, for my surprise (has to do with the post I published before I went on holiday) she sang Holiday. I almost felt that she was doing it for me, as if she was noticing my slight disappointment at the end and through this one for me to remember that I had a holiday to go for!

And then she filled the big screens with the message “Reinvent Yourself” and left… she never came back for an encore and that was the last sad surprise.

The best was that the holidays were just about to start and New York was outside waiting!

For all the above reasons, from 1 to 10, I give this concert a 7!

I do hope she will be in Lisbon, Portugal deserves it and yes, inspite of all my criticism it was worth!

Returning to the Storm…

I hate endings and I hate it even more when it’s the end of a wonderful thing.
I knew it would happen, it happens all the time after the end….
I just came back... “back to life, back to reality” ... the holidays were very, very exciting, intense and diverse, as if I have traveled the whole world. I guess in a way, I did brush through it with a bit of help of Madonna in her so not reinvented concert and a lot of help of the Portuguese Soccer Team and the Portuguese’s reactions worldwide.
It was great to go back and revisit family and friends and is always interesting to meet new people.
If the entire holidays were a blast, the last four days were divine, thanks a lot my friend!
I have loads to post… when the syndrome post holiday goes away.

Meanwhile, just not to help the mood, I just got this welcome warning:
According to weather forecast issued by Central Weather Bureau (CWB), Typhoon KOMPASU will sweep Taiwan tonight, and the typhoon's fringe will be expected to begin lashing east part of Taiwan at first.



Oh well, I could always see it as Mother Nature’s welcome back to Taiwan!

I will be back… after the storm

01 July - Dia do Canada

No dia de hoje o Canada, costuma vestir-se nas suas cores nacionais, de vermelho e branco. Este ano as cores tem outro significado, o vermelho saiu a rua mas este ano saiu acompanhado de verde.
O euro vive-se aqui com uma paixao, quase como se o atlantico nao existisse e tivessemos ai mesmo ao lado.
Inndependentemente do resultado de domingo, parabens a equipa portuguesa pelo que fez sentir aos portugueses em todo o mundo!

PS. Happy Canada Day - Bonne Fetes Canada

24 Junho - Festa ''Nacional'' do Quebec / Festa Verde-Vermelho

O dia 24 Junho, dia de S.Joao Baptista, é o tambem o dia do Quebéc, designado pelos apologistas da sua independencia, como o dia Nacional do Quebéc.
Habitualmente, neste dia a provincia cobre-se de azul e branco, e os valores separatistas emergem e tornam-se bastante visiveis.
2004 ficara marcado na historia dia Nacional do Quebéc em Montreal, como o unico ano em que cidade se vestiu de verde e vermelho.
Nao sei porque, mas deu-me a sensacao de estar em Portugal, em pleno Euro:

Reinventam-se Ferias - Holiday, Celebrate!

Cada vez que estou para partir, o espaco mental e’ invadido por uma musica qualquer que acaba por se transformar no hino mental dessa partida, desta vez e’:

Holiday
Holiday Celebrate
Holiday Celebrate

If we took a holiday
Took some time to celebrate
Just one day out of life
It would be, it would be so nice

Everybody spread the word
We're gonna have a celebration
All across the world
In every nation
It's time for the good times
Forget about the bad times, oh yeah
One day to come together
To release the pressure
We need a holiday…

Talvez porque daqui a 3 dias estarei em Nova York, mais concretamente no Madison Square Garden, para um encontro intimo com a Nossa Senhora.
Intimo, porque os espectaculos desta miuda, teem uma capacidade incrivel de nos fazer vibrar, como se fosse para cada um de nos.

Em 1993, tive oportunidade de a ver em Montreal, Canada no espetaculo mais espectacular que eu ja tive a oportunidade de assistir, o "Girlie Show". Nessa altura era assim:


Com uma capacidade de se reinventar que nem um camaleao, Madonna continua a fazer aquilo que faz de melhor, provocar e mexer com mentes adormecidas, oferecendo um espectaculo de danca sempre ousado, sempre reinventado:




Tenho que partir, mas prometo que irei compartilhar convosco parte daquilo que vir e sentir.

Boas Ferias!
…
You can turn this world around
And bring back all of those happy days
Put your troubles down
It's time to celebrate
Let love shine
And we will find
A way to come together
And make things better
We need a holiday

Holiday Celebrate
Holiday Celebrate

Holiday Celebrate
Holiday Celebrate

Holiday, Celebration
Come together in every nation

Art Promotion in Tainan

Se Hong Kong vibra com o ritmo acelerado caracteristico dos dias de hoje, Tainan (cidade do sul da Formosa) ve passar a vida de uma forma lenta, preservando e arrastando o passado para o presente.
Enquanto que a populacao de Hong Kong se pode enquadrar numa filosofia "yuppie", a populacao de Tainan enquadra-se numa filosofia "hippie".

Assim, a promocao de arte em Tainan, fazendo-se de igual modo de forma intensa como em Hong Kong, e' no entanto feita de uma forma mais integrada com o meio ambiente:

O teatro ambulante chines, quase em vias de extinsao ainda precorre as cidades da Formosa:



O casario velho da cidade, ou e' recuperado ou quando as condicoes nao o permitem, e' transformado em arte 'a uma escala real, sendo assim ressucitado e fazendo de novo parte do presente:

Tripping in Hong Kong – Art Promotion (VI)

Hong Kong dispoem de optimas infrastruturas para a promocao de arte nas suas variedissimas formas. O edifio Hong Kong Cultural Center , situado na peninsula de Kowloon, em Tsim Tsa Tsui, e' palco para variadissimos espectaculos, vindos de toda a parte do mundo incluindo Portugal. Em 2003, a fadista Misia mostrou e bem a Hong Kong, como se sente o fado em Portugal.




















O edificio Fringe Club , situa-se na ilha de Hong Kong, no distrito Central. O edificio de estilo colonial aloja e promove arte contemporanea desde esposicao de fotografia e pintura a espectaculos de teatro, musica e cinema.
E' um espaco onde a arte convive de perto com os seus frequentadores, pois as esposicoes espalham-se pelo bar bastante animado e restaurante com um terraco magnifico que permite literalmente "jantar fora" em pleno centro da cidade.

10 de Junho - Parabens Portugal!

PORTUGAL FOI A RAZÃO
PORQUE UM DIA MORREU O MEU IRMÃO
MAS TAMBÉM É CORAÇÃO
A BATER NESTA CANÇÃO
NÃO SEI BEM DE QUEM EU NASCI
NÃO DESCOBRI NEM PAI NEM MÃE
SÓ SEI QUE JÁ NASCI AQUI
E FOI AQUI QUE EU FUI ALGUÉM.
DIGO TUDO QUANTO EU SOU
SEREI CRIANÇA OU MALMEQUER
TENHO APENAS O QUE EU DOU
ESTE LUGAR QUE NINGUÉM QUER
NESTE PAÍS ONDE EU ESTOU
SEREI AQUILO QUE EU FIZER
ESTE POVO A QUE ME DOU
NÃO É HOMEM NEM MULHER
PORTUGAL É QUERER DAR A MÃO
SERMOS AMIGOS, TERMOS PÃO
PORTUGAL É TER A VONTADE
DE ACABAR COM A SAUDADE
PORTUGAL JÁ TEM IDADE
PARA O POVO ENTENDER LIBERDADE
PORTUGAL É UMA NAÇÃO
ONDE VIVE O MEU IRMÃO
PORTUGAL AI MEU AMOR
CORAÇÃO DESTA MINHA CANÇÃO
BATE, BATE CORAÇÃO
PARA TERMOS A VIDA MELHOR


TÍTULO: PORTUGAL NO CORAÇÃO
MÚSICA: FERNANDO TORDO
LETRA: JOSÉ CARLOS ARY DOS SANTOS
DIRECÇÃO DE ORQUESTRA: JOSÉ CALVÁRIO
INTÉRPRETE: OS AMIGOS

Nota: Informacao emprestada daqui.

Nao ha mesmo coincidencias

Todas as coisas na vida acontecem por determinadas causas para provocarem determinadas consequencias que causarao outras coisas e assim sucessivamente e por isso nao ha mesmo consequencias.

Na Formosa bem como quase no mundo inteiro, somos invadidos pela standardizacao dos “franchisings”. Cada vez se tornara mais dificil saborear os gostos locais, pois a pouco e pouco, em qualquer lugar saberemos o que nos espera, o igual a todos os outros lados.
Esta invasao de standardizacao, destroi a pouco e pouco a identidade e as caracteristicas locais e impossibilita a (co-)existencia dos pequenos comerciantes locais que deixam de poder competir com estes monstros multinacionais.

Nos ultimos 20 anos a Formosa foi invadida de uma forma sem escurpulos por esses franchizings, influenciando de uma forma negativa os habitos e costumes dos Taiwanenses.

Mas aqui, como em todo o lado, os pequenos nao desistem e engendram formas pacificas de combate aos invasores.
Bem ‘a maneira de Taiwan, fazem a sua guerra ‘a injusta competicao:

Nao ha mesmo coincidemcias…hehehehe











PS.Por falar na inexistencia de coincidencias, ha dias um blog amigo, Vivendo a Vida recomendou-me a leitura do livro “The Celestine Prophecy” de James Redfield.
Trata-se de uma interpretacao simples do porque e para que de cada um de nos estar aqui agora.
Este site tambem vos dara uma introducao ao livro, com links que defendem, criticam ou sao contra o seu conteudo e/ou forma.
Fica a sugestao e porque nao ha coincidencias, escutem-se a vos mesmos e escolhem a vossa decisao!

Tripping in Hong Kong – Exbicionismo de Arquitectura Contemporanea (V)

Hong Kong e' um dos centros financeiros mais dinamicos do mundo.
O centro financeiro de Hong Kong estende-se principalmente por 3 distritos da cidade de Hong Kong (Wanchai, Admiralty, Central) situados na costa norte da ilha de Hong Kong. Nestes 3 distritos situam-se as sedes dos bancos e de empresas multinacionais bem como alguns centros comerciais.
Cada edificio nasce competindo vaidosamente com os ja existentes, transformando esta parte da ilha de Hong Kong num verdadeiro expositor de arquitectura a escala real, estando representados os maiores nomes desta arte.
O design embora nos pareca perdominante com linhas ocidentais, sao na mior parte baseados em estudos de feng shui, afim de trazer a boa fortuna para os ocupantes.

Jardine House

A titulo de curiosidade as origens da empresa Jardine, data dos tempos da guerra do Opium e por isso nao goza de grandes simpatias pela parte do governo da Republica Popular da China. Foi notorio, em Junho de 1997, durante a ocasiao de transferencia de poderes de Hong Kong, a China emitiu um selo comemorativo com uma vista da costa norte da ilha de Hong Kong onde a imagem deste edificio tinha sido simplesmente apagada.

Lippo Centre


City Bank Tower


Bank of China




Cheung Kong Center


The Centre


International Financial Center – IFC2
Para alem de se construirem torres em sitios nao convencionais, controiem-se em tempo record. O IFC, com 88 andares, teve uma duracao de construcao de 2.5 anos:

IFC2 - 2 anos depois do inicio da obra – Jan.03


IFC2 - Maio 04