I was challenged...

Wask sent me some homework to do...or a challenge as he said.
He asked why I have a blog and apparently I should ask a few more people (7 or 9) to answer the same question. And they should pass the challenge on the the next bunch of guys with blogs..


The Shade and Brush began when people started complaining that they couldn't read in Portuguese.
I also wanted to go back to the days when I had a graphic journal, I wanted to do a drawing a day and post it on the net, hence the name. It happens that I'm not that disciplined. I didn't post any drawing because I didn't do any. Or I did but I wasn't that proud of my drawing skills so I just chucked them in the bin.
Another reason to blog is that quite often I have to tell the same story to a lot of people back home.
If I write the news on my blog, people can say "Oh I read your blog yesterday" and I know that I don't need to tell the story again.

There are few habitués that visit this blog, they used to read Pastilha Elástica, my first blog.
I can't remember why I started blogging, I think I just wanted to add some text to my photos. Explain a bit what was going on...


And I leave the challenge to Dave, Celia, Zaka, Sodona Leide, Tiagum, Nuno Foros and jcachorro.

Thanks Vasco, for being a fan of my photos :D

Grace Solero, The High Society, Sons of Albion @ Metro, London

Grace Solero 4
Originally uploaded by Joana Saramago

The High Society live at Blow Up Metro - London - 01
Originally uploaded by Joana Saramago

This wednesday I went to a gig in Metro - London.
I first saw Grace Solero playing with her band. I met Grace over the weekend. In fact I had lunch at her place!
Grace has a great voice and you can se that she just sings naturally.
Her voice reminds of Skunk Anansie's.


The second band was very funny to watch.
They are called The High Society and their singer clearly wants to be the next Marilyn Manson but on the British Rock&Roll side.
He posed the whole time. The band is actually really good and they have lots of fun on stage.

The third band, the main band, were the Sons of Albion. Logan Plant, son of Robert, is the singer and he has a great voice as well.
The guitarist and the drummer are portuguese but I didn't have the chance to meet them. Some other time maybe.

Vasco was also there taking some pics and I'm very curious to see them. I bet they0re much better than mine.
This time I'm not that proud of my photos. I need a better lens.

Brighton

Last saturday evening, I went to pick up Dave at the station.
When I got there I called him and asked where he was. "I'm outside of the station... oh wait I can see you." he said. In fact we were 2,5m apart, it wasn't that difficult to find me.
And then the cheeky bast*** said "Whenever I want to find you I just have to look for the bad hat. You always have bad hats"...
Yeah Dave, they are bad. But not a bad as yours HAHHAHAH :D


And in the morning we headed to Brighton.

Brighton is lovely, at least that part by the beach.
I loved walking on the pebbles, I even got my feet wet, even though my shoes were on. I was taking photos of the old pier when suddenly a tiny tiny wave came to remind me that I was too close to the water...

I had to post this

Last weekend I travelled with Pat to Portugal, we chatted non-stop for the whole flight and I played a bit with my laptop's photo booth's effects.

private property, copyrighted images

From time to time I do an internet search for my name.
A few years ago, there were a lot more entries, genuine entries.
When my photos "Prazeres" were shown in a few places in Portugal, some newspapers published small articles about the show.
But that was a few years ago.
Today I decided to look for my name again. Since my last search 3 more people have "taken" photos from my galleries to put on their blogs. And they quoted my name, I don't know how many more have done so without quoting.

Anyway.
If you are reading this because I asked you to remove the photo from your blog, please do so.
If you didn't ask, you're not getting it.




Changing the subject, the weather here today is shit.
I've seen heavy rain, hail showers and sleet.
The winter has just started. shouldn't it be SPRING now???
Sunny and warm?
the shops are full of bikinis and beach towels...

6 months ago...

A long, long, long time ago, I went to a party with some friends here in London.
I only got to see the photos yesterday.
Thanks Saskia for taking your camera!
As promised back then, I'm posting a pic now.
:D

friends

After a hectic hell of a week, I went to meet my friends from the office at bar Ha Ha just down the road.
It was A.'s leaving do.
It's sad to see such a good friend leave. I hope he is happier in his next job and that he is most valued for his qualities there. He's a kind, generous, talented and hard-working guy. I wish him all the best!
I really do!

sweet tooth

I woke up yesterday with a desire for "fatias douradas" a snack my grannie sometimes does for us. "Fatias douradas" are deep fried, battered slices of bread, sprinkled with sugar and sometimes cinnamon.
Another thing that I could've eaten was a "fartura". Something like a big "churro", also sprikled with sugar and cinnamon.
So I new that I wanted something with eggs, sugar (loads) and cinnamon.
:D
So I did rice pudding.
YUMMY!

I'm meeting A LOT of portuguese people today in Stockwell to watch the Benfica-Sporting game.
I know nothing about football and usually it is a very boring thing to watch but I bare Benfica in my heart.