Amar e' / To love is... part II

Life should not be a drama and people should not be martyrs and miuda did a good job in reminding me of that and complemented my thoughts about the concept of love:

"Entender o outro, é Amar!
É difícil... mas quando conseguido não pode, ou não deve, causar-nos dor!!!"
by miuda

"To understand the other one, is to love!
That's a difficult task... but when achieved it can't or it shouldn't cause pain!!!"
by miuda

2004 Asian Cup Soccer Tournament

After the Euro 2004, it seems that 2004 Asian Cup Soccer tournament does not have little media's interest.
But anyway, it is happening right now in China, as I poublish this post.
The final is tomorrow: China vs Japan and it promisses more than just a sport competition!!!

PHOTO: AFP
A Chinese paramilitary policeman watches whilst a fan enjoys herself at China's semifinal game against Iran during the 2004 Asian Cup Soccer tournament at the Workers Stadium in Beijing. Authorities said yesterday that they are taking no chances that the grudge Asian Cup final between China and Japan will turn nasty, drafting in more than 1,000 extra police to keep order.
From territorial claims, to war atrocities and outrage over sex orgies, tensions between China and Japan are never far from bubbling to the surface.
When China and Japan meet in the final of Asia's most prestigious football tournament in Beijing tomorrow, there will be more at stake than lifting the silverware -- national pride will be in play.

Amar e'... / To love is...

Amar e’ ficar contente com a felicidade da pessoa que se ama.
Mesmo que essa felicidade nos provoque dor!

To Love is to feel joy with the happiness of the loved one,
Even when that happiness causes us pain!

Taiwan's Aboriginals promote Tourism

PHOTO: CHANG TSUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Young people from a Tao Aboriginal dance group perform a traditional dance during a press conference in Taitung City (Taiwan) yesterday, called to promote tourism in their homeland, the island of Lanyu (Taiwan), southeast of Taitung City.

For those who don't know, there are 12 different tribes of aboriginal people in Taiwan. These tribes are the natives of this island.
Some 360,000 indigenous people, the original inhabitants of Taiwan, still live here; they can be distinguished into 12 different tribes, namely the Saisiyat, the Atayal, the Amis, the Bunun, the Puyuma, the Rukai, the Paiwan, the Tao, the Sao,the Taroko,the Kemalan and the Zou.
The mysterious customs and traditions of the aborigines, Taiwan's indigenous people, such as the Harvest Festival (Smatto), the Worship of Hunting (Mabuasu), spiritual rituals, totemism, and snake worship, give an extra dimension to Taiwan's culture. The aboriginal tribes of Taiwan form the most northern branch of the Austronesian language group, and ethnically belong to the Malay race.

Mini monks made in Japan

PHOTO: AP
Young children, their heads shaved, pose for a portrait just after they attended a ceremony to enter the Buddhist priesthood at Higashi Hongwanji temple in Kyoto, western Japan, yesterday. Seventy-one boys and girls, all aged 9, were issued black robes following the ceremony, conducted by head priest the Reverand Choken Otani.

Lost in Translation?

The other night I was browsing Tainan (a charming southern Taiwanese city), looking for a bar to cheer up my mood.
I bumped into this bar and wondered if it was the right place to go...


I wonder if this is another lost in translation case or if there are really people in this world that can associate fun with a cemetery.
Oh well, good to know that there is always something for everybody but this one is definitely not for me!

Dance not war

PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
A dance troupe from Brazil performs a traditional war dance called Capoeria that integrates dance, martial arts and traditional instruments at a press conference in Taipei last 28/07/04, to introduce the 2004 Olympia Earth Games. The games, which started on 30/07/04 and will run until Aug. 8 in Puhsin, Taoyuan County, are jointly organized by the National Cultural Association and other groups.

É tão curto o amor, tão longo o esquecimento.

Poema de Pablo Nerura, emprestado do Resistente Existencial:

Posso escrever os versos mais tristes esta noite.
Escrever, por exemplo: "A noite está estrelada,
e tiritam, azuis, os astros lá ao longe".
O vento da noite gira no céu e canta.

Posso escrever os versos mais tristes esta noite.
Eu amei-a e por vezes ela também me amou.
Em noites como esta tive-a em meus braços.
Beijei-a tantas vezes sob o céu infinito.

Ela amou-me, por vezes eu também a amava.
Como não ter amado os seus grandes olhos fixos.
Posso escrever os versos mais tristes esta noite.
Pensar que não a tenho. Sentir que já a perdi.

Ouvir a noite imensa, mais imensa sem ela.
E o verso cai na alma como no pasto o orvalho.
Importa lá que o meu amor não pudesse guardá-la.
A noite está estrelada e ela não está comigo.

Isso é tudo. Ao longe alguém canta. Ao longe.
A minha alma não se contenta com havê-la perdido.
Como para chegá-la a mim o meu olhar procura-a.
O meu coração procura-a, ela não está comigo.

A mesma noite que faz branquejar as mesmas árvores.
Nós dois, os de então, já não somos os mesmos.
Já não a amo, é verdade, mas tanto que a amei.
Esta voz buscava o vento para tocar-lhe o ouvido.

De outro. Será de outro. Como antes dos meus beijos.
A voz, o corpo claro. Os seus olhos infinitos.
Já não a amo, é verdade, mas talvez a ame ainda.
É tão curto o amor, tão longo o esquecimento.

Porque em noites como esta tive-a em meus braços,
a minha alma não se contenta por havê-la perdido.
Embora seja a última dor que ela me causa,
e estes sejam os últimos versos que lhe escrevo.

Pablo Neruda


free translation of Pablo Neruda's poem:

I can write the saddest poems tonight
Write, for example: “The night is bright with stars,
And far away, the blue asteroids twinkles”.
The night wind spins in the sky and sings.

I can write the saddest poems tonight,
I loved her and sometimes she also loved me.
In nights like this one, I had her in my arms.
I kissed her so many times under the infinite sky.

She loved me, sometimes I also loved her.
How could I not have loved her big motionless eyes.
I can write the saddest poems tonight,
Thinking that I don’t have her. Feeling that I already lost her.

Listening to the immense night, even more immense without her.
And the verse falls in the soul as the moist on the ground.
Who cares if my love couldn’t kept her,
The night is bright with stars and she is not with me.

That’s all. Far away somebody sings. Far away.
My soul doesn’t rest, how could I have lost her.
Like to reach for her, my sights seeks for her
My heart looks for her, she is not with me.

The same night whitenings the same trees,
Both of two, the ones from before, are no longer the same.
I no longer love her, it’s true, but I loved her immensely
This voice used the wind to call her attention.

Somebody else’s. It will be somebody else’s. The kisses as before they were mine.
The voice, the body of course. Her infinitive eyes.
I no longer love her, it’s true, but maybe I still love her.
Love is so short and forgetting it takes so long.

Because, in nights like this one, I had her in my arms,
My soul does not rest for loosing her.
Even if this is the last time she hurts me
And these are the last verses that I write her.

Sometimes...

... I feel lost…


... but I believe if I look around and pay attention to the signs, I will see the way and something will redirect me.

Is it the ducks that are showing me the way in a steady pace, trespassing the door to other side?


Or is it the red dragon that flies free in the sky?
Or perhaps, it's his shadow, down to earth, showing me the path ahead to turn into a new corner of this life's road?


I don't yet, but i will end up finding the answer!

Before and After with Adelaide Ferreira

Before:
Adelaide Ferreira - Dava Tudo

After:
Adelaide Ferreira - Papel Principal

"The Main Role" by Adelaide Ferreira
The night is over
The game is over
For me here
You will be out of my mind
When I wake up

The movie is over
The drama is over
The pain is gone
You have always been
A bad actor

You played the hero
In the main role
But you acted and lied so badly

The one who lost
Was you and only you, never me
At the end
Today the main role is mine and only mine


"Papel Principal" de Adelaide Ferreira
A noite acabou
O jogo acabou
Para mim aqui
Quando acordar
Já te esqueci

O filme acabou
O drama acabou
Acabou-se a dor
Tu sempre foste
Um mau actor

Fizeste de herói
No papel principal
Mas representaste e mentiste tão mal

Quem perdeu
Foste tu só tu e nunca eu
Afinal
Hoje o papel principal é meu e só meu

Quem perdeu
Foste tu só tu e nunca eu
Afinal
Hoje o papel principal é meu

Move on...

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