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I watched Paranoid Park (2007) on 2008–06–15.

I was looking for a slow paced movie, and I got it, but it failed my expectations regarding its capability to drag me in, out of Lisbon/Portugal to Portland/Canada, for some 90 minutes . It was boring.

Paranoid Park is a skate park, near Portland’s industrial district. The viewer is presented with way too much amateur skate action, as an excuse to build the main character, one androgynous Alex (actor Gabe Nevins), son of separating parents, living with his oncle, and dating a sex wanting – but not quite getting – cold gray eyes blonde (Jennifer/actress Taylor Momsen). Alex main attachment is to a stakeboard.

Alex’s clearest line of character is his apathy. He is apathetic at school, to his mother and to the chance of having sex, which is very odd for a teenager. It seems that Gus Van Sant, the director, intended to show apathy as a possible effect of todays’ high pressure on youngsters, but not even the story’s main event – the accidental and peculiar death of a security guard – shakes Alex much.

I disliked the slow motion scenes, the narrative technique – with regular bits of flash forwards, then backing – and the time it took to get to the guard’s death, that could have plummeted the movie.

I enjoyed some photography, some music, and some comedy related to Alex’s apathy.

I spent 90 minutes trying to complete one lap at Machwerk 1967, driving Alain Prost’s 1985 F1 Maclaren Tag Porsche, for rFactor, with a Logitech G25 steering wheel, but I didn’t succeed…

Machwerk’s twisty bumpy road surface, half regular asphalt, half granite cubes, with two railroad crossings (!), isn’t F1 friendly at all - more for rally cars –, but the 1000 horse power 1985 Maclaren Porsche, makes it extra hard, with a delicate response at low revs and a power explosion from them on.

I always drive with no aids, except for minimal traction control, so there is plenty of wheel spinning opportunities, which easily throw the car’s tail away. Regarding the turbo powered F1s from the 1980s, drivers described their handling as “point and shoot”…

A fast lap around Machwerk should take 6 minutes. All it takes is a proper setup. Will I ever do it?

I watched Dan in real life (2007) on 2008–06–08.

These days I tend to prefer movies where guns aren’t fired, where people talk without swearing every other minute (Californication), and where everyone isn’t a billionaire with a private jet… Simply put, it is easier to fictionalize starting from an extraordinary context, than to fictionalize with both feet on daily Earth, like this movie dares to do…

Dan Burns (actor Steve Carrell in real life) challenges extraordinary with his quasi ordinary life of a widower writer, playing mr. right, father of three girls, afraid of allowing them new levels of freedom, with arguments ranging from “you can’t drive the car” to “you can’t date the boy”.

Dan drives an old Mercedes turbo diesel van, writes to a local newspaper and the only women in his life are his daughters, since his wife’s death. Marie (actress Juliette Binoche), will be Dan’s catalyst to a new life and to old feelings, as long as they can both deal with one surprising coincidence, to be revealed at a family reunion…

The movie shakes at the Burns family reunion: there are so many Burns (Mitch, Jane, Cara, Lily…) that not all the characters get the chance to be developed, so they just “hang” there, until the end, like strange bodies. Despite the overcrowdness, Dan and Marie will get quality time at the bathroom, and the movie escapes nearly unscattered. Well done!

Na minha perspectiva, tornou-se mais frequente o serviço “Caixa Directa”, da CGD, estar não disponível, do que o contrário. É pertubador encontrar o serviço de banking online do maior banco português com limitações tão recorrentes.

Este apontamento foi escrito entre as 10:00 e as 11:00 de 2008–03–26, em Lisboa. Durante esse período não consegui fazer login em https://caixadirecta.cgd.pt/, porque a mensagem de “autenticação em curso, por favor aguarde…” foi uma barreira intransponível, ao cabo de muitas tentativas.

Que limitações são recorrentes?

(1) problemas de falta de reacção, provavelmente causados pelo sub-dimensionamento da infraestrutura, que impedem, em tempo útil, operações de login, de pagamento de serviços e até de consulta de saldos.
Esta limitação poderia, em teoria, ter origem no ISP (Internet Service Provider) do cliente, mas eu consigo fazer acesso à Internet via FCCN e via um operador comercial, ambos com o mesmo resultado final, por trajectos de rede muito distintos.

(2) horários limitados, que impedem a utilização plena em certos períodos da madrugada.

(3) falta de resposta a pedidos de apoio/contacto, por e-mail. Por exemplo, tenho mensagens não respondidas relativas a um problema – que entretanto deixou de verificar-se – que impedia o pagamento de serviços à entidade 20160 (Jogos da Santa Casa), e relativas a detalhes de movimentos.
Quanto a esta terceira limitação, parece ser uma lamentável novidade de 2008 porque, até 2007, o suporte via e-mail era muito bom: respostas rápidas e claras, por pessoas aparentemente empenhadas.

O que se passa?

Michael Gannotti on Sharepoint+
http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blogs/mikeg/default.aspx
Found while I was looking for information on CRM systems.
I am yet to read this blog. It is not directly related to what I was looking for, but it seems interesting, so I bookmarked it – as if a reason is needed to bookmark a resource .

Viscom Software VideoCap Pro v3 ActiveX Control
http://www.viscomsoft.com/products/videocappro/
Found while I was looking for a solution on how to capture overlayed video.
Interesting site, but this is not one solution. The same goes for Hypernsap and SnagIt: neither can handle my overlayed television window.

Wikipedia article on hardware overlays
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenshot#Hardware_overlays
It explains why is it so hard to develop a solution to capture overlayed video.

Daily tech
http://technorati.com/
A great source for updated tech content.

Dossiers do portal do cidadão
http://www.portaldocidadao.pt/PORTAL/pt/dossiers/?sourceDOS=dossiers
Portugal is an example on e-Government. This site guides citizens towards solutions.

Contactos de todas as conservatórias e cartórios notariais em Portugal
http://www.mj.gov.pt/sections/contactos-e-horarios/conservatorias-e/
Yet another example of e-Government. This site publishes the contacts (phone, fax, e-mail) of all “conservatórias e cartórios” in Portugal. These are the places where registrations of properties are kept, so they can be checked, updated and certified for misc purposes.
I found it while looking on how to e-mail a certain “conservatória”.

One recent step back in online Portuguese Government services is the recent requirement to provide the property’s “registration number”/”número de inscrição”, while requesting its “certidão de teor” (a document that identifies the registered owners’ across time). Previously, the citizen could just provide the property’s address – it was simpler and more natural.

Playback (free) music and audio gear monthly magazine
http://magazine.playbackmag.net/playback/200710/
Somehow I received an e-mail about this great publication. Worth reading.

Best and worst stocks since 2008–03–10
http://seekingalpha.com/article/68589-best-and-worst-performing-stocks-since-the-march-10-bottom
The stock markets keep tumbling. Some say that there is value in many stocks, at the current levels.
I follow GE, HUM, SNDK, MSFT, GOOG, CNET, PFE and GSK and indeed find all them at attractive technical levels, like historically low Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratios, and/or developing new products/services that should represent improved revenue streams. Should I buy?
While trying to answer this 1B U$D question, I found seekingalpha.com and enjoyed it!

Ameritrade’s research
http://research.tdameritrade.com/public/markets/overview/overview.asp
Visual tools and a nice stream of updated news on the stock markets.

CNBC’s stock picks
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23611392/site/14081545
Yet another very interesting site for following what’s going on the stock markets.
Since I am now following Humana (HUM), I bookmarked this page.
I enjoy the videos.

Steve’s BPCA blog
http://bpcablog.blogspot.com/
Interesting personal blog, with nice unbiased links.

Digital Inspiration
http://www.labnol.org/
Lovely site. I am bookmarking this one with the “daily” category, meaning that I should visit it that regularly.

Code Gear IDE
http://www.codegear.com/products/radstudio
Not exactly affordable, but you can download a trial and check if it is worth your money.

Shon Harris’ CISSP Certification Package
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000WUQRA/
One great aid for CISSP certification, 1440 minutes long .

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427470/

Interesting, different movie, about a man who has memory problems, after a terrible car accident.
This man ends up involved in a plot to rob the local bank.

The opening sequence, with night music and fireflies on stellar skies, sets the mood for something different, like a teen horror flick, but then the set changes to something close to Fargo – small town, simple people, icy roads, cold snowy days… and unexpected events.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the main role of Chris Pratt. He has sadness on his eyes and that might be the reason why he is/was a very good choice for his character. I also enjoyed Jeff Daniels as “Lewis”, the blind man! Matthew Goode is a convincing bad dude, as “Gary Spargo”. No other actor/actress has the chance to develop a credible character, but everyone does a very professional job, on the few minutes they get.

My rating: 6.5/10

The Lookout (2007) (DVD)
[buy, via amazon.com]

The Lookout (2007) (Blue-Ray)
[buy, via amazon.co.uk]

Check the official trailer:

These days I rarely sim race or play computer games at all… when I do it, I do it with FSONE 2006, a free mod for rFactor.

It is simply wonderful! I just love it! For those who can understand the physical side of sim racing, just try the Limerock track. This is a relatively short circuit, where the A.I. cars lap below 00:37 seconds. There are two types of tarmac and a famous up/downhill section that can make the car jump, if you approach the preceding corner with a knife stabbing the throttle foot to the pedal, and lots of fingers crossed…
Racing the computer here is fast and very furious. In order to keep pace with 100% strong adversaries, one needs to be in great shape.

Here are some screenshots:

Above, me driving (flying?) the 2006’s Renault F1, at Limerock, USA.

Above, a section from one track where real F1s will never race: Mount Panorama, Australia, where top speeds exceed 300 kph…

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407887/

Not as good as I expected.

Bang bang overload, secret informers recycling, infiltrated people all over the place, intel powered by cell phone messaging, and a highly conservative – but effective – cast, at least for the three main roles: DiCaprio as Costigan – the cop who loses his previous identity, in order to go dark in the Mafia –, Nicholson as Costello – the local mafioso supremo, but a FBI informer – and Damon, as Sullivan, the criminal infiltrated as a cop…

The first hour is very much Scorsese on rails. I am sorry, but I slept for a moment.

The movie’s second half feels solid and modern. I’ll remember…
(1) When Costigan chases Sullivan: a brilliant night scene, with smoky alleys, mirrors and shadows, conditioning the outcome of the pursuit, and the viewers’ immersion. It is hard to achieve a better blend of artistry and raw “hide and seek”.
(2) The sole sex scene manages to push “the right buttons”, in a very short time and showing nothing – an achievement considering all the available meat these days.

The script itself is not original nor exceptional. There is the crystal clear boss: Nicholson/Costello. There is the obvious hero (DiCaprio/Costigan); and his alter-ego, although you never really hate him (Damon/Sullivan). A classical triangle.

The final chapters are way too explosive. So much shooting…

My rating: 7/10

The Departed (2006)
[buy, via amazon.com]

The Departed (2006)
[buy, via amazon.co.uk]

Check the official trailer:

Descobri uma extensão do Firefox, que integra uma ferramenta de blog no browser.
Comecei a escrever este post, NÃO a partir do meu habitual BlogJet , mas a partir dessa extensão, que se chama ScribeFire.

As únicas perguntas de configuração do blog são as credenciais (login/password) e a “server API URL”.

Assim as possibilidades de configuração são extremamente limitadas, como (1) não poder escolher-se o porto de comunicações e (2) não poder indicar-se o destino de binários.
As hiperligações também não são automáticas, sendo estes últimos pontos desvantagens, relativamente ao software que tenho utilizado.

Uma VANTAGEM é a inclusão de imagens, por simples copy/paste… mas é uma vantagem com restrições: acontece que a imagem copiada para o clipboard é despejada para uma directoria temporária (c:\temp, no meu caso) e depois uploaded para o blog system, sem qualquer alteração da sua origem; isto quer dizer, que o HTML vai referir um endereço do estilo “file://c:/temp/file.jpg”, que não tem validade futura, nem a partir de qualquer localização externa ao sistema de ficheiros local…

Carregando o post produzido pelo ScribeFire via BlogJet, este último trata de corrigi-lo e fazer o upload para a localização configurada para binários, pelo que acontece simbiose: sozinho, o BlogJet não permite o copy/paste directo de imagens, para posts, obrigando ao passo extra de as guardar explicitamente em ficheiro.

Por exemplo, eis a imagem de satélite de accuweather.com, para Portugal, para hoje (era dia 20070808), colhida de uma página aberta num dos tabs, no momento em que escrevia.

Instalar ScribeFire (ou fazer right-click, guardar o ficheiro .xpi no sistema de ficheiros local, depois fazer file/open a partir do Firefox).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433387/

The movie’s first minutes picture a military night operation, mostly seen from the night-vision goggles of American soldiers. The other battling side is Middle East insurgents.

Jim Davis (Christian Bale) is one of the U.S. soldiers – he will find unemployment when back at home.

Davis’ unemployment days are “harsh times”. Mike Alonzo (Freddy Rodríguez of Six Feet Under fame) is in similar situation: no job and unsuccessfully (not) looking for one. Alonzo’s big difference is that he never killed a person, while Jim is portrayed as a killing machine, mentally disturbed with hallucinations of his deeds.

The duo spends the time smoking pot and cruising unfriendly neighborhoods. Other diversions include drinking, throwing Alonzo’s résumé out of the car’s window, efforts to sell an illegal gun, and fake phone calls to convince Alonzo’s girl that he did try to find a job, during the day.

It reads like the poorest grounds for a good movie, but the characters are solid and the action effectively develops to involving scenes. It doesn’t end well, but “Harsh Times” manages to teleport the viewer to a context of “everything goes” world, where people aren’t quite sure of what is most important: personal relations, money or jobs.

My rating: 7.5/10

Buy it via: amazon.com [Americas] ; amazon.co.uk [Europe]

Check the official trailer:

Here is an interview, with Freddy Rodríguez, about Harsh Times: