Summer update

sollerudstranda_w200
Originally uploaded by sitima.

Hey all:)

Small update before I go on vacation next week.

Life is good, work is at full speed, Sofie is now 2,5 months and developing great and me and Heidi look forward to go on vacation.

Some highlights:
- "Surprise" is that I have a beach 10 min walk from my house (see pic), funny that when living in Lisbon I never got the chance of living next to the sea. This is the second place I live in Oslo where I have a beach near by. Another bonus is that its 25 degrees in Oslo.
- Becoming "Scandinavian", when I go home now all I think is to sit in my balcony and get some Sun;) You Portuguese understand me when I say this is kind of weird. My Portuguese side still makes me bring a very cold "bejeca"
- Enjoying my PSP, great to see videos while going to work. Still waiting for FIFA to arrive.
- going to Mallorca on the second of July:)
- Will be in Lisbon one week after, will stay for a week. My mom will freak out when she meets Sofie:). Also going to a wedding of a big "animal", going to be fun.

Cheers and happy Summer, I'll try to send some pics from Mallorca and Lisbon.

PSP - Its here! I have it!

psp
Originally uploaded by sitima.

Me so happy!

Now I just need to wait for FIFA Soccer and my 1gb memory card to be delivered and I have a mean portable Video/Game machine:) boys and their toys...

When Google takes over human interaction

bart
Originally uploaded by sitima.

Funny thing... when asking a question on an online forum I got the smart ass comment "Why don't you search it on Google???" together with the picture. And I thought that if you go to a community of a specific subject and ask a question related to that subject you should expect... hummmm... an answer:)

Portugal Day

Portugal Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Portugal Day (Dia de Portugal) or in the full extent Dia de Portugal, de Camoes e das Comunidades Portuguesas (Portugal, Camoes, and the Portuguese communities Day) marks the date of Luis de Camoes death in June 10th 1580 and it is Portugal's national holiday. Camoes wrote The Lusiad, Portugal's national epic.

Portuguese discoveries brought fame and fortune to Portugal and a national idea of union and common aim, becoming a symbol of the greatness of the nation. Camoes lived most of his life as an adventurer, lost an eye in Ceuta, wrote the Portuguese epic in his voyages and saved himself and his book from a shipreck in Conchinchina (today's Vietnam). Thus, he became a Portuguese symbol, and in the year of his death, Portugal started to be ruled by Spanish kings. Sixty years later, in December 1st 1640, the country regained a national-born king. No one knows where and when Camoes was born, thus the date of his death is the only date that is actually known, gained importance as a symbol of Portugal.

During the Estado Novo regime in the 20th century, Camoes was used as a symbol for the Portuguese race. In 1944, in the ceremony of the inauguration of the National Stadium, Salazar refers to the June 10th as the Race Day. It was believed that the Portuguese had a single and common ancestry and it served fascist purposes. Because of that, the June 10th celebrations were stopped after the Carnation revolution in 1974, although some celebrations continued without official recognition. After 1974, the celebration started having different purposes, especially celebrating the Portuguese emigres around the world (Comunidades Portuguesas, Portuguese communities)."

Small Ads from the UK

Small Ads from the UK a piece of humor for the day:)

Trust more with Nasal Spray

USATODAY.com - Trust via chemistry? Study says it's possible A study shows that you can now increase your self confidence but using a Nasal Spray! The study concludes that Oxytocin, a hormone used to stimulate contractions during labor, also appears to be a trust-builder when inhaled.

Antonio Damasio, a Portuguese neurologist, is cited in the article and its interesting to see some of his comments on how this could be used for good and bad...

Czech Dream - Brilliant

Czech Dream

Prague, Czech Republic, 31 May, 2003 - its a few minutes before 10 a.m. and there are more than 3000 people jostling on a remote parking place. Many of them are clutching plastic bags in their hands; some of them are armed with trolley bags. Assistants are handing out plastic cups and the moderator on the illuminated stage urges the people to have a drink from the near-by water tankers. The 'hyper-anthem' of CZECH DREAM rings out once again from the speakers: 'Try to see as a child, many things will seem wild...' Suddenly the managers of the hypermarket rush out on the stage, greet their customers and briskly cut the glittering ribbon. The escort remove the metal barriers and the crowd starts moving. They still have 300 metres to reach the hypermarket. People start running... A moment later, the fastest of them are struck dumb: the hypermarket that they have reached is nothing but a huge film decoration... Documentary hyper-comedy CZECH DREAM is a feature film about a hypermarket that has never existed.

CZECH DREAM documents the largest consumer hoax the Czech Republic has ever seen. Filip Remunda and Vit Klusak, two of Eastern Europe's most promising young documentary filmmakers, set out to explore the psychological and manipulative powers of consumerism by creating an ad campaign for something that didn't exist.

CZECH DREAM - the Hypermarket for a better life!

The campaign (designed by a renowned advertising agency) involved television and radio spots, 400 illuminated billboards, 200,000 flyers promoting CZECH DREAM brand products, an advertising song, a website, and advertisements in newspapers and magazines.

For two weeks, the streets of Prague were saturated with advertising for the fake hypermarket. The ads proclaimed: Don't Go, Don't Rush, Don't Spend drawing over 4,000 people to turn up on the 'opening day'. On the 31 May 2003, they arrived at a green field where, instead of a hypermarket, they found just the dream hypermarket's facade (10m high and 100m wide)."

See the info about Czech Dream I suggest you see the trailer.

Heineken goes Super Mario :)

A new viral campaign from Heineken is under way, they cloned Super Mario game to get people into their site. Really interesting to see how established brands are investing in creative (?) online campaigns. See it here: Heineken Super Mario clone.