Day Of The Dead - 2001/2009

Yesterday when I got home I came across this new. DOTD, one of the best bands the Portuguese Hardcore scene has ever had decided to break up. In the past 8 years these guys fought for their ideals offering us authentic music comin' straight from the heart. It's a shame I could only attend 4 shows from these guys, but it sure was enough to get some of their live feeling. It has always been a pleasure for me not only to hear their music, but also to hear all the wise words the band had to say. We should all thank DOTD for having set a great example for the Portuguese Hardcore scene in the past 8 years. I'll leave you with some words from the band.

"Hello, boys and girls!Unfortunately, this time around we don't have the best of news.Day of the Dead has been going strong for the past eight years. It's been an amazing ride and we've lived and seen more than we had ever imagined when we first started practicing in Luis' basement.Lately, we've been talking about the direction we should take as a band and we've come to the conclusion that there's nothing left we want to do as DOTD.Our first wish for the band was to release a vinyl seven inch. Looking back on that naïve first wish and seeing what the years brought us, we can do nothing else but be totally grateful for everything we experienced.So this is it, what we always knew would happen but never really thought about that much: Day of the Dead is breaking up…It's a sad occasion but also a happy one. It's sad that we won't play together anymore, that we won't play anymore for all the friends we made throughout the world, but we're also happy that we finish on what we feel is a high note. We think our last record is the best we've ever made and it just sums up what DOTD is.We want to thank the labels, first and foremost, because they supported us immensely and put their money where most people's mouths are. Without these guys, we'd be nothing. Our apologies go out to them for breaking up but also our most heartfelt thanks.We also want to thank our friends. Again, we'd be nothing without you. Thanks for calling us on our bullshit whenever we made mistakes, thanks for your friendship and support, thanks for booking shows, feeding us and giving us places to sleep. You're hardcore, you keep this going.

We will play one last show in October. There will be more information about that as soon as possible. It will be the last time DOTD will play together. If you want to see us one last time, get your act together and be there. It will be a time to remember. (...) To everyone, thank you for making our life much more interesting…

Feelings are bullet-proof, you cannot destroy them…"

U-God - Dopium

Been playing on my mp3 for a while now. Even though the album is miles away from the feeling of "Golden Arms Redemption", you should give it a try.

Be back next Monday!

If my lungs and liver manage to survive.

Full Metal Jacket

Yesterday I went to bed around 4 am. The reason why? Well, RTP1 went heavy on their listing! While I was zapping for something nice, trying to avoid one of those shows to which you call to and then guess a word to win some money, Full Metal Jacket popped out. I almost had forgotten how good this movie is, but to be honest, after watching it for the second time, I do think that the movie promises a bit more than it can deliver.

Directed in 1987 by Stanley Kubrick, Full Metal Jacket is probably the best war movie about Vietnam up until today. The way I see it, we have two distinct parts in this movie. In the first half we are offered the chance to see the training of the Marines Corp. of the United States, being this part of movie the great responsible for the success of this title. Both R. Lee Ermey (the recruit’s instructor) and Vincent D’Onofrio (one of the recruits) give an awesome contribute to this movie, which eventually turns out to be a problem, as these two characters leave the screen at an early stage. The dehumanization brought by the training and the alienation of the human mind are brilliantly explored by Kubrick in this part of the movie, and so you can expect some of those close-up shots à la Kubrick recalling “The Clockwork Orange” and Jack Nicholson on “The Shinning” with the characters staring at the camera with that mad expression on their faces. By itself, this first half of Full Metal Jacket is the pure form of excellence.

In the second part of the movie the training ends and all the recruits achieve their goal of going to Vietnam. The previously mentioned characters leave the scene and the action is focused on another recruit – “Joker”, which is also well interpreted by Matthew Modine. It seems to me that this second half of the movie is the way Kubrick has found to give his own view on the way things were made in the Vietnam War. The message conveyed is that soldiers didn’t even know what they were fighting for, and there wasn’t the need of explaining the meaning of this war to anyone. We get insights on the way these marines lived back then in Vietnam, and also some good cinematic moments of the war itself. Not that this is a major threat to the quality of the movie, but I think that there are several moments that were not necessary to convey the message of anti-war that Kubrick probably had on his mind. Also, the terrific ways of portraying the dehumanization and the clever and horrific humor of the first half of the movie kind of cease to exist, decreasing the fun of watching it.

Don’t get deceived by this opinion on the second half of the movie. The overall result is really good, but not as good as the first half promises. Still, another must-see that I would recommend to everyone!

Resident Evil - Gamecube

The game was launched back in 2002, but only now, after buying a used Gamecube (big up to Miguel for the great deal!) to play some major classics, I got the chance to end this fantastic game. Without a doubt, this is the best game in the series. Expect nothing less than pure survival horror.
This Gamecube Resident Evil is a kind of a super remake of the good old first Resident Evil (1996) for Sega Saturn. Capcom improved the game in every single aspect and kept it as close as possible to the original storyline.

On contrary to the shitty versions (graphics are not all that matters) of Resident Evil for all those new generation consoles, here you still have that old-school gameplay. In this title you are not playing an action game as we were forced to from Resident Evil 4 onwards. Here you still have that feeling of not knowing what’s on the other side of each door, you still have to be smart when dealing with your items and you still have to take deep breaths along the game. Blasting zombies’ heads by itself just isn’t funny, and so Capcom invested a great deal of time on the traditional macabre puzzles. Seriously, there some mind-twisted enigmas to solve in this game, that really brought me to my knees!

The whole action takes place in a kind of a haunted mansion and its whereabouts. The scenarios are completely amazing with tons of details, and believe me, the screens I posted here do not make any kind of justice to the game as their quality is really low. The lighting and shadows effects look superb, and make you feel as if you were the one walking around the mansion. The soundtrack and all the sound effects are way better than those of 1996, and play a major part in setting the right feeling and environment throughout the entire game.

You will have to deal with several kinds of zombies (humans, snakes, sharks, plants, spiders, dogs, etc), which are now much more intelligent than the previous ones. The scaring tricks we are used to see in the movies are all here, from the oldest trick in the book of someone jumping out of a dark corner to grab your arm, to those complex camera angles that make you nervous when making a step forward. I must admit that I did jump out of my bed 2 or 3 times while playing at night!



A truly must have for everybody who’s into real good videogames. Pure Terror Cubed.

Comprei uma Garrafa de Casal Garcia

Para beber mais a Maria. Preparámos uma festa. Hoje é noite de folia. Sorry guys, this one has to be in portuguese. Me and my girl have activated the party mode for tonight ahah. Check out the tune that inspired this post - HERE. Classic!

Air Max Light

Got myself a new pair of kicks. Just do it!

Special thanks to my babe for the pics <3