Finished bottling my homebrew on Sunday and now am anxiously waiting for its maturation process which takes few weeks. Beer is just like wine, the longer you keep them stored the better they will taste.

Just to keep my blog updated, let me see, last weekend I went to Dublin for Ciara's 21st. 21st parties are usually a big deal here contrary to Brazil where we usually give more attention to the 15(girls debutant). Anyway, I took the train from Sligo which takes only 3 hours and it is something that I haven't done for ages. It was an enjoyable trip as I could have few beers and catch up some readings.

Not much news (yet) but this could completely change out of a sudden. I've been jamming wit few colleagues and Wally at his gaf(lol). Am looking forward to get a decent gear (amps and bass) but that will mean that I have to save some bucks first. I probably never mentioned that before but I do play bass and used to play in different bands back when I was in Rio. Luckily you will find few videos on youtube but don't ask me for them :-P

40th anniversary of Bloody sunday

Exactly 40 years ago 13 lives were taken during a peaceful protest in Derry. Some were hit on their back, no guns were found with them.


a wall that divides Nationalists and Loyalists in Belfast


a pic that I took in Belfast

for further info, go HERE

'My First Hardcore Song' by 8yr old Juliet OFFICIAL

isn't Juliet a true metal "dudette"

SOPA blackout!

If you are American or live in the U.S. please join me in this virtual protest against this law called Sopa.

A lot of websites shut down today to express their feelings about it and I can tell you that that law doesn't smell good at all. For example, say you have some copied content on your page. It can be your blog, it can be your website, whatever. This law is going to allow people to take some action and you can have your page closed down! There is much more to it so please take your time to have a look at the following sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/
http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/18/2715300/sopa-blackout-wikipedia-reddit-mozilla-google-protest
http://sopastrike.com/
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/SOPA/Blackoutpage

It is very important that we take some action on that before it is too late. The voting date is the 24rd of January, so in few days we will know what is the U.S. Congress decision.

Stay tuned!

A mais provável origem do nome Brasil :-)

Vc sabia que os Irish-celta podem ter descoberto o Brasil bem antes dos portugueses?

Talvez eu coloque uma versao pros demais poderem ler em inglês pois acho que é um assunto que pode interessar tanto os brasileiros como os irish.

Achei aqui um post que eu fiz em 2010 sobre uma provável explicacao pro nome do nosso país ser Brasil. Voce pode achar o post clicando AQUI.

O que eu acho disso tudo? Muito provável que os Irish tiveram no Brasil bem antes dos portugueses. Até pela geografia do país e o fato de ser uma ilha que fica num ponto mais a oeste da Europa. As navegacoes eram bem frequentes também...tudo um mistério que eu particularmente gosto muito.

Pois é, isso nao é nenhuma viagem minha e até mesmo esse filólogo Adelino José da Silva D´Azevedo acredita e fez um estudo sobre isso.

Semana passada eu comentei sobre esse assunto e o quanto as nossas escolas ignoram essa origem da palavra, dando a explicaçao que o nome Brasil veio de Pau-Brasil, etc.

Hoje um amigo meu me vem com esse link AQUI! Eu nao sei se já tinha compartilhado antes, mas tem mais explicações AQUI

Enfim, um prato cheio pra curiosos, historiadores, etimólogos, professores.

'Bout my taste of music and how that helped me to act like the Romans.

An old friend of mine gave me the idea of this post by accident.

Basically I've grew up listening to all sort of music. From my mother side there was all that type of MPB (Brazilian Pop Music) and few Brazilian Trad. From my father it was mainly trad Jazz(30's) and American Folk music. For some reason I was never keen to MPB but still showed some interest in Brazilian Trad. Specifically Forró. I've always listened to artists such as Alceu Valença, Zé Ramalho and Luiz Gonzaga. I think their regional songs sound more roots than stuff like Joao Gilberto, Chico Buarque, that kinda thing. I've also detested bossa nova. Still do, but there are few that I can cope with :-) Here in Ireland there is a good chance you will hear "bossa nova" in many places such as cocktail parties or fancy restaurants. Needless to say, Bossa nova is not genuinely Brazilian.

On the other hand, I remember when I was turning 8 or 9 and I was caught listening to songs that I've never thought would helped shaping my taste of music. Back then my sister Una like to play some records like Supertramp, Dire Straits, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springteen(yuck!) all day long, over and over. She also played Brazilian "rock" like Legiao Urbana and Capital Inicial but, it was the international rock that was always in love with. The more I couldn't understand what those guys were singing, the better. And believe me it was better this way :-). My interest in Rock increased along the years 'till I found bands like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Gn'R, Black Sabbath, etc. At that time then I was completely sure that rock was my cuppa :-)

Now, it is a good help being a Rock dude if you live in Ireland. Not too hard you will find rock pubs all around the country as well as DJs that play rock tracks at people's parties. Everytime we go to Dublin I know I will be up for few pints at Bruxelles or at the Gipsy Rose, which is still a "novelty" for me. Kazzy does like rock too which is even greater.

So I do appreciate these things. I do appreciate that there are many rock artists that I didn't care much when living in Brazil but now I kinda like them.

About MPB...well, thank God I am free from that thing. About Trad Brazilian I do like to play few forró tunes in some of our parties and even Kazzy does like it too.

Keep on rockin \m/

The wind that shakes the barley...

and destroy plants pots, blow the bins away and scares the sh*t out of my cats, lol. Welcome to Ireland, welcome to Co. Sligo :-P If you are still wondering what I am talking about it check that out: http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0103/weather.html

So, happy 2012 my dear reader!

Am back to work today, no more late nights, crazy parties, etc...damn it!

The last few weeks were pretty intense with two parties and one family gather together. I had a ball particularly on the new years eve party at Gill & Wally's here in Templeboy. Siobhan, her BF Risha and her daughter Clodagh came all over from Dublin to stay wit us and we also have the companion of John F. and his crazy kids. Needless to say how much I love crazy kids!

I've nothing better to do than wishing you an excellent 2012!