One of the high points of my little trip to Lisbon was no doubt going to a David Fonseca gig. For those who never heard of him, he's an amazing singer songwriter who deserves worldwide superstardom. He is gorgeous and he probably has the best voice in the whole world ... ever. I mean it. Ok, he's probably tied with Chris Cornell in my scale, but still on top.

So I was fortunate enough to have a gig coinciding with my holiday. And I didn't miss it. And as always, I took photos.

It was very good. Specially because the setting (a shopping centre????) was weird, full of tables and snack bars around... it had it all against it, so it was just awesome how it turned out to be so good after all.

Later in an autograph session he told me he might bring his concert to London. If it's true, you will hear it from yours truly, I promise...

I don't like planes anymore. They're the fastest way to come and go, but until I can afford first class, I decided I hate them and their long waits, weird schedules, and unconfortable seats. And though I'm always excited when I'm going somewhere, enough to ignore all the pain of travelling by plane, the way back is always excruciating.

Of course it's also because during my holiday, I hardly stood still for a sec, and sleeping was the last thing on my mind. And because I obviously leave packing 'till the very last second, so the night before departure is the one with less sleeping hours. So i'm tired even before I begin the journey home. And I'm carrying heavy stuff. And a heavy heart.

But I'm back now! Back to my little corner, my work and my routine. Back to blogging regularly again. And I have the pleasure to announce I joined another blog. In Portuguese, about being Portuguese away from home. I'm honoured to join a very interesting group of people spread around the world. The blog is here portugalnomundo.blogspot.com, please go and check it out.

I was on the radio yesterday! Had a fantastic time, met really cool people and was interviewed about pap-L. I'll write more about it when I'm back home, but needless to say the child in me is still giggling.

On another note, it's finally sunny around here. The rain seems to be gone, so I'm up for going around with my camera and see if I can get some nice shots!

So I did go for a haircut this afternoon. You might ask why do I waste my precious time in Lisbon going to the hairdresser. Well, first of all, it was raining. My friends are all at work. In Lisbon it's cheaper.

But also, this guy that cuts my hair is a bit of a genius, and I trust him.

I got there and as usual, he asked me how I wanted it. Of course I never really know what to say - I have a hard time when it comes to picture how my hair should look like, and even worse time trying to explain it in words.

So my answer was "not too short". And then I asked him to work his magic an do whatever he he thinks makes my face look better.~

I love to watch him work, he's related to Edward Scissor Hands for sure. He's fast and crazy, cutting here, chopping there like he's doing some weird sculpture. My hair is all over, and the bits being cut off just fly around like projectiles, it's hard to believe it's going to look anything normal in the end.

But it does, it looks very cool indeed. But I feel slightly offended... the hair is all in my face. His idea of what makes my face look better is to cover it. Well, maybe he's right.

See? Something here is wrong. Just wrong. It's Monday, all my friends are working, and I can't even go ouside, because the sky is falling on my head.

I think I'm going to go for a haircut. Or to a shopping centre. Or for a haircut in a shopping centre.

Friday night was .... well, violent, in the sense that shooters and extreme fatigue don't really mix very well. Specially if it is a long and diverse set of shooters, with the usual B52 and Kalashnikov (see recipe here). I chose one called e-mail, and although it didn't taste of spam, it wasn't very nice either. I can also report that the one called Missile was predictably strong.

The best of the night was, of course, being with my friends again. They are what I miss the most from Lisbon, and it's such a feeling of joy and almost relief when I'm back among them. I do love London, and I've met wonderful people there, and made good friends. But when I'm back with this crowd I realise Lisbon is still home.

After yesterday's celebrations, my body dictated today wasn't a day for drinks. We focused on food and shopping then! Saturday night ended in a coffee house rather than a pub, having warm things like hot-chocolate and cinnamon crepes.

The week ahead has much in store, so I guess I'll have a nice quiet restful Sunday. Or maybe not...

Hello everybody! I'm in Lisbon as of this morning, and still haven't slept, as I had sooo much to do yesterday. Ok, I did sleep on the two hour flight, but obviously not enough. And now I should be preparing to go to bed, but obviously, I'm not.

It's friday night in Lisbon, my friends! The day will not end very soon, so I just need to pretend I'm not utterly exausted and move on! I know I can do it, because I already have once... Last time I was in Lisbon, I also didn't sleep the night before the flight. And once I arrived, it was the day of my friend Isabel's Hen Night, so it was non stop fun till about... 8am.

I hope I'll be in bed before 8 this time, though... but we'll see! I'll keep you posted!

I've recently discovered that two of my friends from uni, Vanda and Patrícia are fellow bloggers and cat-lovers, and I want to invite everybody to visit their blogs: Gato Blitz and Sebastião Preto Carvão

I appologise to my English speaking readers, but again these are portuguese only. Of course in Patricia's case, you can just go in to look at the pictures of her beautiful creations... Handmade with colourful fabrics, her cats and dolls are really sweet and amazing. I'm impressed!

The nice people of Gomma and Linkage linked to my website. How kind of them!

I wish i was more of a film critic, so I could say clever things about all the films I watch. But in the end, all I can usually say is wether I liked it or not, and even then, my mind can be drastically changed once I distance myself from it.

So about Elizabethtown, I can tell you this: I liked it very much. It's full of lovely warm characters, and as with any Cameron Crowe film, the soundtrack takes a predominant role.

The whole road-trip thing reminded me of a film I watched last week : Jim Jarmush's also excellent Broken Flowers. This one is made of substantially colder, though not less interesting, characters and way more awkward and unconfortable situations, but the soundtrack is equally important.

My friend and client Roberto Rubalcava just updated his fashion photography porfolio (designed by pap-L) with some great new shots. Worth a visit!

Am I having a music filled year or what?

Yesterday I got to see dEUS live in Shepherd's Bush, and a fine rock concert it was!
Specially considering that:
1. We only have two albums of these guys and so most of the songs were new to me,
2. The floor at the S.B. Empire kind of slopes up towards the stage, which combined with the fact that I'm not particularly tall, and the stage is quite low made me stuggle a lot to see anything.
3. I was ill and feeling even worse because of the very strong air conditioning in the room.

Despite all that, I did enjoy it a lot! So no wonder my throat still hurts and I'm coughing like crazy today, but if that's the price to pay for a such a nice night out... bring it on!

As usual, here are some photos!

Well, not really big... But a magazine in Japan has published some of my photos!!

How come? My dear friend Sebastien-Philippe Fortin, who moved from Montreal to Tokyo and is now Art Director at Player Magazine, invited me to contribute with some images to the November issue, dedicated to Britain.

You can download the .pdf here.

When we moved to London four years ago, on Halloween night, I realised brits are really spoilt with so much fireworks. Our flat was on the 14th floor, and we could see fireworks all arounf London for over a week, with the big Halloween/Guy Fawkes/Diwali combo.

Yesterday, against all common sense as I was feeling rather ill, I went to Alexandra Palace for the Guy Fawkes big fireworks display. But four years later, I can't really get excited about it anymore. What used to be such an event looks to me now just another seasonal decoration. London will do that to you. But this time, I was excited about something else... I had my new camera and wanted to test it on the pretty lights in the sky.

Usually, photos are a good way of recording exactly what we see. (Well, obvioulsy not that exact, but quite close). But fireworks are a totally different thing. What comes out in the photos is not what we see. Instead of travelling dots, we get luminous lines, that the shakiness of the hand turns into calligraphic doodles. It's a bit like magic and it made the whole thing even nicer for me. One eye on the actual fireworks (i still do love a proper show) and one eye on the camera.

So here's the result, enjoy!

I'm proud to present to the world (again, not to the whole world, to the portuguese speaking world only...) a new website by pap-L: Há Vida em Markl.

Portuguese comedian Nuno Markl's blog has a new home and it's finally online. It's a very personal site, crafted from his own drawings to recreate the look and feel of his crazy and hilarious cartoons. It is still work in progress, as more stuff is to be added in a near future, so please, send your comments and suggestions.

I hope you enjoy it!

Yesterday was a sad day... I took my first Lemsip of the season.

Yes, I've got a cold and feel miserable about it. I think I'm not even that sick, just incredibly annoyed. You see, I always had an very good immune system, and used to fly though winters without any serious sneezing. But now...

Last year I had the worst flu I can remember in years, the kind of lying-on-the-couch-all-day-watching-non-stop-charmed-just-because-you-don't-feel-strong-enough-to-reach-for-the-remote flu. Of course, I blame London, and this horrible lack of a decent sunny Summer.

November is too early for this, though! That's why I delayed the intake of that worderous miracle powder that is Lemsip. As I saw it, it was admiting defeat. But yesterday, I had no option. That's it, I officially have a cold. Winter wins, I lose.

I must say i found it very amusing when I saw some accusations of liking Yanni flying around in the previous post's comments. As I see it, you should never be ashamed to admit you like something.

Of course, this attitude always brought me some problems, as trying to be cool instead of admiting openly I was a geek, and proud of it, would have been a better strategy for making friends in highschool... Oh well, that's over now, and being a geek is very fashionable these days.

As for my position on the Yanni debate, I'm an ignorant on this matter... I have no idea how Yanni sounds. Trying to educate myself on this character, I looked it up on Google. And at the risk of being incredibly close-minded and prejudiced, the home page of his website was as far as I went. Just by looking at him, I can see where this is going, so I'm going to give it a miss this time. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.