Stop 4 A Minute by David Fonseca

Here is the latest music video by the Portuguese artist David Fonseca. His work has always called my attention, ever since I heard his first songs with the Silence 4. He has a solo career as a singer/songwriter, plays various instruments, studied cinema and worked as a photographer. Also of note was his participation in the project Humanos.

Random Stuff

First of all, I'm happy to share Felicia Day's news on Facebook yesterday:

PREVIEW: Felicia Day Brings ‘The Guild’ To Comics 

As a fan of the series, I know I'll end up buying the comics for sure, further increasing my to-read book list.

I also felt like showing a video from Penguin's YouTube channel, originally prepared by the UK branch of Dorling Kindersley Books on the future of publishing: 

And now another video, this one I learned about at Pharyngula, and I almost "rolled on the floor laughing" when I first saw it:

Will be checking NonStampCollector's YouTube channel later!

Alice in Wonderland

I should start by saying I (at least to this day) like all things Tim Burton and I also have very good memories of all those classic Disney films as Alice in Wonderland. So, even having never read Lewis Carroll's original story, I couldn't help myself but go watch Tim Burton's 3D take on the Wonderland. I wasn't disappointed. It is visually compelling, entertaining, and has a very good argument.

SPOILER ALERT

This is a sequel to Alice's first trip to the (after all called) Underland. She's now 19-years-old, has been having the same dream about that trip since she was a little girl and believes to be dreaming once more. As had happened for the first time, Alice meets the usual characters: the White Rabbit, Absolem the Blue Caterpillar, Chessur the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and the March hare, etc... and eventually comes to meet the Red Queen again playing cricket. While she can't remember her first trip almost to the end, Alice comes to find out this dream seems quite real and that she has an important part to play on the destiny of this land. She saves Underland, allowing the crown to be returned to the White Queen and the exile of the mad Red Queen and then decides to leave to her own world. She comes back a different Alice (the old Alice, as Absolem would put it) much more decided and sure of herself, says no to a marriage proposal, sends some advices and warnings to all those trying to control her life, and sets of to follow her deceased father's footsteps working with her "almost father-in-law to be".

NO MORE SPOILERS ALERT

Alice in Wonderland is a good film from almost any point of view, congratulations Mr. Tim Burton. The visual effects are marvellous, the 3D in well achieved and it all adds to what could otherwise be only just a sequel. The argument is also very nice, clear but still maintaining some of the mystery behind the land and its characters. The one thing I can criticize is the haste in the last scene, when Alice talks to the oppressing people in the party, and the unnatural lack of answers to what she says. The story progresses at a very nice pace and kept my attention for the whole 108 minutes film. And last, but not even the slightest least, there is the acting issue. Johnny Depp's Hatter is astonishing and another unique character creation out of the renowned genius. Helena Bonham Carter is as amazing as I'm used to, she becomes the perfect big-headed lunatic Red Queen. There are others that can't be forgotten, Alan Rickman does great voicing the smoking caterpillar Absolem, and then there are those characters that we still owe Lewis Carroll a lot for coming up with them as the Cheshire Cat that is still uncanny or the March Hare who can always get a good laugh out of me. I also enjoyed Anne Hathaway's White Queen with her eccentric marionette pose. Mia Wasikowska ended up being the least sparkling character in the Underland, though I can't say she did bad. How could she call attention to her being the normal little girl, as special as Alice may be, in a land of impossible wonders?

I do recommend this film to all who enjoy fantasy, specially those who have seen and liked the Disney animation from 1951 and mostly for Tim Burton's, Johnny Depp's and Helena Bonham Carter's fans.

Ratings(1-10):
   Style - 8
   Creativity - 8
   Entertainment - 8
   Relevance - 5
   Overall - 8

Wandering

Date: 05/11/2007

Camera: Casio EX-Z70

Photoshop: edited contrast, levels and added frame

This is a path by the river Odra in Wrocław, Poland, near the student resident I stayed during my 6-months Erasmus Program in 2007. Of all photos I've taken myself, this is definitely a favourite. I was in a dark, thinking mood.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-men: Utopia HC

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-men: Utopia is probably one of the best built Marvel HC collections I've read. It includes Utopia by Matt Fraction and Dark Reign: The Cabal, Dark X-men: The Beginning and two numbers of X-men Legacy. 

Even for one who knew nothing about the "Dark Reign", this was a very good start, being a great take on the theme, showing the X-men's role and Norman Osborn's scheme to take care of the mutants. It allows the reader to peek into Osborn's mind, to understand his behaviour and his plans for the humanity he somewhat and somehow leads. I was amazed by Emma Frost's part on the whole creation of the Dark X-men, her secrets from everyone, even the reader, her aims and preparations, and with how it all connects with Cyclops' program for the mutants he leads. 

Matt Fraction's Utopia is, in my opinion, the best written and the most engaging part of the book and Dark X-men: The Beginning was probably the least integrated part (unavoidably, given it consists of small takes on the recruiting of different characters), although still very important to understand some motivations behind those mutants that seem to follow Osborn and to see how he comes to surround himself with so many powerful people. 

I recommend this for any X-men fan and for all that enjoy reading about the Dark Reign arc, mainly for those who are curious to understand how the mutants came to be where, who and how they are now.

Ratings(1-10):
   Style - 6
   Creativity - 8
   Entertainment - 7
   Relevance - 4
   Overall - 7

I'm now planning to follow the Avengers and the X-men as much as possible, and I'll keep an eye on what Matt Fractions writes, he seems to know what he's doing quite well. And I expect this new turn on the X-men's destiny doesn't come to be another "history repeats itself" moment. I've read Mighty Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Premiere to get me started on the Avengers though I didn't enjoy it as much as Utopia.

New blogs and new books

While surfing the web earlier today, I came across 2 blogs I plan on following hereafter.

One of them is Pharyngula, a science blog consisting of "evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal" as stated by the author, PZ Myers, a biologist, associate professor and a "militant atheist". The first post I read, Sunday Sacrilege: It rhymes with reflex, convinced me to keep an eye on the blog and to share it in my own. I seem to have some views in common with him, but he does look much more assertive than me (and perhaps even radical) defending those views. But even though he may have a somewhat radical speech, it still amazes and disgusts me that people send him porn by mail trying to offend him.

The other one, Thoughts Arguments and Rants, I'll have more to say after I read for a while longer. I have already downloaded his paper/post on Easy Knowledge and Other Epistemic Virtues and plan to read it this week.

I have also ordered a 18 of books from Amazon.co.uk, 12 of them for myself, from Marvel comics to Seven Days in the Art World, Utilitarianism by Mill and Bentham and even The Book With No Name.

For now, I'm reading and really liking a Portuguese translation of Camus' The Outsider.

Ethereal labyrinth

Ethereal labyrinth by ~Feantur on deviantART

A reminiscence from the past, when I used to experiment with fractal software. I had just read this tutorial on disk fractals by Joel Faber. This was one of my favourites, made me quite proud of myself by then even though it is not nearly as elaborated as I would like it to be (alas, I was/am just a beginner). 

(don't ask me about this: UGGBEUVJTU2W)

O Décimo Terceiro Poder by Madalena Santos

I decided to read this book not only because I know the author personally, but also because it seemed the kind of fictional historic and political novel I have become fan of.

The book follows a part of Neferlöen's life, the 15-year-old adopted daughter of the ruler of one of the so called Terras de Corza (portuguese for Lands of Corza), the king of Levionda. She comes to play a major part in the changes happening in those lands, related to the formation of a new Power (as the different states are called) and to the attacks of an organized group of mercenaries of whom all we know in the beginning is that they wear black and have a typical tattoo on their chest. 

Neferlöen is a well developed character, I found myself capable of befriending her halfway through the book and considering how her problems might be solved or guessing what she would do now and then. The geopolitical context is also very interesting, created from scratch, middle-age like, where nobles fight for power and catapults are state of the art. A striking difference with our middle-age is that women's rights in some of the Powers are already somewhat understood and respected. 

My main issue with the book was the writing. Madalena Santos was 15 years old when she wrote O Décimo Terceiro Poder, and it shows on the grammatical formality of her writing, mainly during the first half of the book, where sometimes I felt I was reading a text composed for a Portuguese examination. By the end of the book this is fairly less notorious and does leave me interested in her later books.

O Décimo Terceiro Poder is a quick read, but, nonetheless, the story, characters and political emphasis were enticing. I believe the book exists only in Portuguese, so I recommend this for Portuguese speaking readers that enjoy fiction/fantasy and politics.

Ratings(1-10):
   Style - 3
   Creativity - 6
   Entertainment - 7
   Relevance - 3
   Overall - 5

Fractal Art

Today I decided to talk about fractal art. I came across some examples of this at deviantART some years ago and, knowing absolutely nothing about it, it piqued my curiosity. For those who, as myself at that time, don't know what I'm talking about, I'll tell you what I found out about it in the web.

Fractals are objects or quantities that display self-similarity, meaning that in all scales it has the same type of structure. To put it simple, the parts of the fractal closely resemble the whole. Perhaps the most typical example of the fractal structure in nature would be snowflakes and broccoli. You can see examples with pictures at webecoist. This has a probably obvious mathematical interest, and the functions behind fractals have been studied at least since the 17th century. (for a more elaborated definition and historical review you can check Wikipedia or just google it and look for maths websites for a technical explanation).

The development of computer graphics allowed for fractal functions to have a visible translation and that led to what is now called fractal art. The objects created based on these functions, using them to define shapes and colours, are not only visually appealing, but also "technically engaging", as the viewer will feel curious and try to understand the pattern that led to it. Fractals have been represented as images, animations or music and recently 3D software brought new possibilities.

At deviantART (but I hope it has been happening at other art communities) fractal art has grown to have its own place and value recognized, and there are dedicated artists achieving true marvels using software as Apophysis or Ultra Fractal. Two of my favourite examples are Pasternak's 070509 (above) and Microcosm by trystianity (to the right). I have seen a lot of really good works by these and other authors, and I'll keep sharing them if I have their consent. I've tried both Apophysis and Ultra Fractal some time ago, and I might share some here when I feel like it, but if you feel curious about what a layman can do with them, you can check my gallery.
I just found out about Electric Sheep, a project to create a collaborative abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves. The idea is to have fractals as your screensaver and then voting on your favourites, which will influence the time they are alive and reproducing, generating new ones subject to mutations and cross-overs, in a biologically inspired system. The name was inspired by Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, that I plan to read this year.

Introduction

Hello!

I decided to start this to post some ideas, opinions and mainly to talk about any subject I consider interesting enough. I don't want to create a strict purpose for the blog. My initial idea is to write book and film reviews, share some things I find on the internet as for example other blogs, videos, photos or music and I might even comment on my travelling experiences, if I find anything captivating.

Feel free to comment, talk about the same subjects or bring up some stuff related to what I posted.

Thanks for reading.