Oepidus Rex and Myself

Guess who just bought theatre tickets for Rei Épido (Oepidus Rex) which premiered today and is already almost completely sold out by a mere 7,5€??

ME!

The play runs from today, February 18th through March 28th. Like most plays in Lisbon, it starts extremely late during the weekdays (9.30 p.m.) and I have a life, so I can’t go at that hour. Instead I have to attend the matinee on Sunday at 4 p.m..

Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining! No one is forcing me to do to the theatre (on the contrary I ADORE the stage) and I love to sit next to all those old ladies with nice perfumes and furs (they make me feel so young...!) and 30-something couples who also have a life and, therefore, cannot attend the theatre during weekdays.

This theatre, like many others in Lisbon, have a lower price for students or people under the age of 30. In S. Luiz Theatre, I pay 5 € per play and I get to sit on the second stall (I don’t know if this is the correct word. I am talking about the seats in front of the stage, the good ones)! Anther theatre I also like has 30-40% off on ticket prices for students and people under 30.

Ifyou're in Lisbon, I recommend this play. Reviews here, here and here. They are all in Portuguese, sorry.

Can’t wait for the 7th March – the first date with 7,5€ tickets available.

100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do

Have you ever been to a restaurant alone where the waiter said something like “Are you waiting for someone?” and felt like replying “Thank you so much for that sweet reminder that I came alone to a restaurant today, but NO, I CAME ALONE”?

Have you ever been to a restaurant where the waiter took “an empty plate from one guest while others are still eating the same course”? So have I.

Ever felt like the service wasn’t quite up to what you were expecting?

Well, I discovered this sweet entry in a blog called: “100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do”, by Bruce Buschel, in a blog from the The New York Times. Need I say anything else? Part One here and Part Two here.

A must read.

A Fact a Day Keeps Boredom Away

A friend of mine just e-mailed me this amazing website. It's called "Learn Something Everyday" and the name is pretty much self-explanatory.

The website presents one fact per day and they are really funny and informative. They have small windows with bright, eye-catching colours with funny pictures and the fact of the day. Today's fact is:

Worth visiting.

Genius in a Bottle

Genious in a bottle!

In Portuguese here.

In English here.

Personal Questionnaire on VF

Vanity Fair Magazine (VF) has this amazing Proust Questionnaire they publish on-line once a month. It’s a very nice questionnaire that VF asks one public figure every month – movie stars, actors, politicians, painters, writers, scientists… you name it. Go here for more information on the Questionnaire.

Now, they made it even cooler: you can answer the Questionnaire yourself! If done already and it was really funny to be able to answer the same questions that Carolina Herrera, Dustin Hoffman or Tony Curtis.

You can easily access it here. Enjoy!

Facial Photos

"Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for the pages of Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best. "

Vanity Fair, October, here

Trust me on this one

I have a new label (on the blog) called "Trust me on this one".

I'll use it for suggestions about things I really like and vividly recommend to you.

(Great) Free eBook!

This one promises: "100 New Yorkers of the 1970s", by Max Millard - free profiles of Isaac Asimov, George Plimpton, Tom Wolfe, among others.

A definite must-read!

I’ve started reading some of the profiles and they are truly amazing.

The book includes such profiles as

ISAAC ASIMOV - Author of 188 books

GEORGE BALANCHINE - Artistic director of the New York City Ballet

JULES FEIFFER - Screenwriter for “Popeye the Sailor”

GEORGE LANG - Owner of the Cafe des Artistes

Amazing people. Amazing stories. Amazing writing. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Go here for more informations, and here or here for the book itself.


p.s. - I hope it is as good as "Journalistas - 100 Years of the Best Writing and Reporting by Women Journalists" (this one not for free, though)

Licking the monitor

Oh My God!!! I know I use this expression a lot, but in this case, it is so true.

I could also say “eat your heart out” but, given the context, it wouldn’t be very appropriate - or it would, I don't know. Just go here (also in English here) and try not to lick the monitor.

The recipes look fabulous and the photos are heavenly delighful! One of the most delicious food/cooking blogs I've discovered recently! Seriously good!

Here's a little something to open your appetite.

Bon appetit!

P.S. - The photos are very artistic, right?

Leibovitz Love

One of the first photographers whose work I started admiring was Annie Leibovitz’s. Then Richard Avedon, Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and many others.

When I discovered that there was going to come out a book with Annie Liebovitz work – A Photographer's Life 1990-2005 – I was super excited about it. The book was receiving great reviews, everyone loved it, everyone was eagerly waiting for the book… and then I find out the price. 76 €. OH MY GOD!! My heart almost stopped. I mean, the book is huge and amazingly beautiful, but, seriously … 76 €? No thanks.

(A Photographer's Life 1990-2005)

So, yesterday, I went to FNAC, one of the favourite bookstores (they aren’t exactly a bookstore; it’s more a commercial establishment that sells books, CD, DVD, computers and related stuff) and discovered a book called “Annie Liebovitz At Work”. It was a true finding! The books comes with hundreds of Leibovitz’s photos, with texts written by her explaining the photo, the context, something funny about it. It is a very complete book and it only cost me 25 € (minus a discount that I had, I ended up paying 18 € for that masterpiece)

(Annie Leibovitz's At Work) (the masterpiece)

So, if you love her work and couldn’t afford “A Photographer’s Life 1990-2005”, my advice is: LEAVE YOUR HOUSE RIGHT NOW AND GO AND BUY “AT WORK”.

NOW.