when it's all in a book

He smiled; the incisors were oddly canine; would he bite? she hoped.

Empire - Gore Vidal

I liked the portuguese version even more. It said: would he bite? she thought, full of hope.

Fashion week

I had a few models coming to my house for a fashion shooting (shooting? how dangerous). Yes, it was fabulous!

Strike a pose, girl!

Some were a little shy.

Some came in black and white (did you know there were black and white models? ;)

Others just peeked and looked beautiful.

As you can gather, the inspiration for blogging isn't very abundant, since marketing has been taking a lot of my time. But rest assured I will be back, with or without Californian Senator's accent.

phenomena

Ever seen a fish-fillet the shape of Portugal?

I have the pleasure to announce my ETSY SUMMER SALE! Yes, capitals an' all. Since it's Summer and it's (suposedly) hot I'm having a 25% discount cut off from my prices. Yes, it's a very nice discount.

So if you want to get pretty...

Scarf doesn't necessarily mean Winter. I'm working on this one right now, it shall be called Arabian Nights. This one, the Pink Delight and the Angel Wing scarves are all made in a light as a feather material and are perfect for Summer evenings or Autumn days. Promise!

LISTP - News bulletin

In case you're distracted, LISTP are the innitials of devil mood's blog.

Sunday lunch - light salad.

A bulletin to let you know what's going on.

Lettuce vertigo.

devil mood has taken a liking to beer. Except it's non-alcoholic and lemon-flavoured so she thinks it doesn't count. She's in it for sugar-free bubbles.

Reading glasses.

devil mood bought huge brown sunglasses. They're good for reading, when in the sun, of course. She's currently devouring this book. It seems that devouring is the correct term for when books are this good.

Finally, devil mood has learnt how to crochet and she realised it's much more fun than knitting. She found that she could do anything in crochet, it's no wonder people have their toilet seats covered in it, as disgusting as it might be. Crochet is cool.

Note: devil mood's a little concerned that people might think fame has gone to her head and now she's speaking of herself in the third person but she's asked us to assure you that it's nothing like that.

Some food porn just because. These have vegetables and cheese and you eat it with that greek specialty tzatziki. :) Over there, spinach tart with fennel. It's so good I could cry.

This is from the restaurant and also a metaphor for this blog. It's been feeling a bit abandoned lately.

This was me testing my mother's new camera. It's so good...and you can hear a dog barking when you click the photos lol.

Aren't the little things the cutest? Little glasses, little pieces of cheese, little beads. How about a tiny blog? Would that be possible?

notice anything odd?

Temperature forecast for tomorrow (maximum temperatures)

Frankfurt - 28º

Vienna - 29º

Paris- 23º

London - 20º

Madrid - 22º

Stockholm - 27º

Budapest - 29º

Moscow - 20º

Rome - 28º

Athens - 29º

Warsaw - 26º

Zagreb - 28º

Porto - 18º

Source: http://www.euronews.eu/

almost there

Only 18 days to go until the start of the Euro 2008. Am I excited? No. But the press certainly wants me to be. The TV keeps playing ads related to football and the championship, all the supermarkets want me to pile up merchandise, there are innumerous tv and radio shows about the subject. They want to tell me what the players eat for breakfast, what games they play on their playstation, what deodorants they wear...

Enough!

But, in the meantime, there are some ads that are really clever, like this one. A bus that is powered by positive energy.

Mystery resolved

I owed you an explanation for my strange green picture a couple of posts below. Perhaps you remember I have some kind of crystal in my window that reflects the light into the room. Sometimes it has some crazy effects. The other day the light was directed towards this letter opener that is a giraffe and it projected a colourful shadow into the wall. It reminded me of Lion King because all you could see was the silhouette of the giraffe. That's why it was called "the circle of life". It was hard to guess, wasn't it?

the circle of life

Do you know what this is? I very much doubt that, ladies and gentlemen.

But you can try and guess if you want.

Sorry I have been semi-absent. To tell you the truth I don't know exactly where I've been or what I've been up to but I didn't die so this isn't heaven yet.

I did one important thing: I ate cherries for the first time this year. And cherries are probably my favourite fruit, so it's a big deal. lol I forgot to ask for a wish though.

Do you suddenly feel like you've walked into a blog of a twelve year old? I've been feeling a little childlike lately, so forgive me in advance.

when metaphors come out and play

This afternoon I looked out of the window and saw a colourful bird (a real one, made with flesh, bones and feathers!) in a balcony near mine. I'm not an expert but it looked like a lovebird (like the ones of the image). It was singing a little and obviously not where it should be - ditch the metaphors now, this type of bird belongs in a cage!

I tried to attract it with grapes and leaving the windows open because I know it won't survive out there in the open, but no success. Now it's raining a fair bit and the bird is nowhere to be seen. I'm worried because the probability of it finding its way home seems close to zero. If someone doesn't catch it, that's it.

Poor birdie :(

And how odd that the bird looked like the imaginary birds I was writing about previously. Be careful with the metaphors you use.

On other notes, I have a spanish neighbour. Enough said. No, seriously, he's loud. He lives alone but he makes a lot of noise, he's always whistling and listening to REM. And he sings too.

Don't bee ridiculous!

This weekend I was in my balcony combing my hair after washing it. It was about 27 C so the hair was almost dry after a couple of minutes. I was enjoying the particular smell of hair when it's dried by the sun when I felt a tap on my knee. I looked and it was a bee. The tap sounded funny so I wondered if the bee had stung me, but then I realized I felt no pain, so...probably not.

I breathed in and out a couple of times, tried to shake my leg a little but the bee wouldn't move. To be more exact, the bee moved, it was moving the little paws and wings in a very frantic way that scared me. Something about my trousers was particularly exciting.

I shook my leg again but nothing. I started panicking. I don't like bees, my friends. In fact, I fear them. I run away from wasps like a 100m runner. I tapped on the window trying to get my mother to pay attention. I got up, trying not to move my leg - you can imagine I looked like a crippled woman. My mother started opening the shades slowly. But then the bee started crawling over my leg, very fast, it was in the middle of my thigh, crawling, crawling up....My mother looked at me. I gestured hysterically to my leg. "What's the matter with you?" "I have a bee!! It's in my leg! It's crawling up! HAA!"

My mother raised her foot to try to get the bee out. I screamed: "No, don't do that!! It will sting me! HA!!! Help me!"

She suggested I approached some flowers we had in pots so that the bee may fly to them. But it didn't work. The bee was already on my hip, dangerously nearby the end of the trousers and my actual flesh. My mother then grabbed a towel while I yelped in terror and the bee got into the towel and then disappeared while I ran inside the house in relief.

Women. The ones that go through child birth, period cramps, all kinds of needles and pains. But no bees.

south european syndrome

I have a crystal by my window and today it made this crazy comet form.

We've had a Spring week with 20º C and lots of sunshine and it's been unproductive like you wouldn't believe.

I've been sitting in the sun (carefully protected with sun-block and a hat) reading, doing the cross-words or simply listening to the birds singing or the cats that have been going wild in the neighbourhood.

There's an intense peaceful, blissful feeling when the sun is warming you, maybe it's the Vitamin D kicking in. It's not difficult to understand why north european workers are more productive than south europeans. I mean, can anyone really think and work when it's so warm and there's so much light and your soul just drifts in the breeze? No.

So writing has been put off, thinking has been put off, real life doesn't really exist when one is in the Sun.

maybe it's the crazy clouds

If you have a counter in your blog you probably take a peek at what people are looking for when they are lead to your page. On Statcounter it's called the "Keyword Analysis". And, boy, is this fun!

Unfortunately this information is deleted after a while and if you don't write it down you will lose some moments of pure bewilderment...Nevertheless, looking at my current archive here are some of ludicrous pearls:

1. "james lloyd the shoe rapist"

This is not the first time my blog has been researched by foot fetishists, ever since I wrote about a news-piece on a man that went crazy and started killing women with beautiful feet.

2. "how to make christmas for everyone"

Is it me or has Christmas passed already? You're a bit late, sir/lady.

3. "using pen in diff ways than writing"

Ok, this is getting a little out of hand!!!....

4. "fiona apple mugs"

It is my personal life goal to have a mug with Fiona Apple's face on it. Ok, the woman looks nice but that's it. Unless they meant mugshots...but I don't recall Fiona being arrested. I could be wrong.

5. "men are more stronger than woman"

I bet this was the work of a man! Of an illiterate man, for that matter.

6. "american politics suck"

I never said that! ...

Other trends on my keywords:

- Most of the people that come to my blog through search engines are obsessed with pride: "greek pride"; "portuguese pride tattoos" (maybe I should try one of these); "enfp pride" (should a person be proud to be an enfp? or perhaps they're trying to relate pride to this psychological profile);

- Another great majority of the people that drop by want to weigh love, to measure love, to assess love...so they ask tons of questions about love being stronger than: death, life, pride, me, ...Should I buy a scale? Or a thermometer?

- I once did a few blog quizzes with stupid names like "kissing purity test", "great leaders test", "movie quiz" etc...to this day people come here looking for that or similar things such as "teen purity test" - how teen can you be? 110%?

- I love when people tell Google to do things or ask questions. For example: "tell me if love is stronger than pride" haha it kills me! Google, does my bum look big in this?

- Someone came here after typing: "looking forward to seeing you soon" - why??? What did you expect to find here? But seriously, I am, I am looking forward to seeing you soon.

king's day humour (belated)

by Nik from LaNacion.com

Q - Man, weren't the Wise Men (Kings) only three?
A - Yes, but this year there is another king.
4th King - Why don't you shut up??

hehehe

the bottom

I hope you had a nice Christmas. Mine was pretty good. My photos were not particularly good though. Some are even a little crazy.

I'm looking forward to the New Year. Somehow these days after Christmas seem to be in the bottom of the Calendar and, when we get to the New Year, we're back on top, you know?

crazy portugal

Here's an important fact about portuguese people: they like to have their names written in the Guiness Book of Records and they'll do anything to get it.

So this Sunday, over 15000 people dressed up as Santa Claus and paraded through the streets. I don't know if they made it to the Guiness yet, but I do know that they think the important thing is to have been there. Because most of the them really like to be where the action is, so they'll dive into crowds and dress ridiculously because it's Christmas. And because it will make it to the book of records.

It was great for photographers though...

*photo by Polfoto*

you'll laugh

I did something incredible yesterday. No, you don't have to pace yourselves, it wasn't exciting but it felt really weird.

Here's what I did: I opened my CD case and got out a TAPE. One of those little plastic things with a thin film inside, remember? It has two wholes in the middle and you put it inside your stereo (if there's a place for it, of course). And guess what? It plays music!

It wasn't so long ago that I still recorded music that I borrowed in cassetes, tapes. I listened to a couple of these yesterday. I mixed a lot of bands there. When I didn't have much space, I'd only record the songs I thought were best from an album. Why does none of this make sense now? lol

So yesterday I listened to Nada Surf and Embrace and Monster Piece. Some of the songs were good, but completely lost in time for me - meaning I hadn't listened to them for years. I kept looking at the stereo when a new song came along trying to see what it was called (can you imagine?!); only later did I realize that I had to pick up the box of the tape and read what I had written with my pen. The sound was also very odd, after years of intense play and then non-play.

But it was interesting. Yes!

devil mood's secrets for surviving winter

(Keep in mind that I'm referring to portuguese Winter here; don't come to me for advice concerning snow and freezing temperatures, okay? I know nothing about that!)

1. Leg warmers!! Think Flashdance and Irene Cara. Essentials!!

2. Exercise every day for at least half an hour - the only way to have my feet warm without artificial means...

3. Make sure you exercise listening to songs that remind you of Summer - see Buena Vista Social Club, anything salsa or samba or, my favourite, the Baywatch theme song!

4. Drink big cups of boiling drinks - honestly, it helps you feel warmer for a second, or two...

5. Whenever it is sunny, insert yourself in a balcony or window and imagine you're lying in a beach somewhere in the Caribbean.

6. Do lots of online shopping, as it keeps you busy and contented, and if you don't go out, you might actually forget it's Winter after all!

7. Forget how unaesthetic frizzy hair is, as you'll never get rid of all those flying hairs with this kind of humidity! Just take your mane as it is...

8. Eat chocolate, chips, cookies...you need the extra fat!

9. How about some so-called reverse psychology? Think about that Summer day when it was so hot, you couldn't move, you couldn't think, you couldn't breathe, everything was glued together, the air was asphyxiating...Yes, I thought this would do the trick!

10. Think positive: in June, you'll be able to wear t-shirts again (if you're lucky)!

(Note: This is supposed to make you laugh, so do me a favour ;)

ridicule, moi?

Barbie: What's my name?
Ken: What?
Barbie: What am I doing here?
Ken: Uh?
Barbie: You have glasses, you're supposed to be smart. Answer my questions, will you?!
Ken (offended): Hey! You have glasses too.
Barbie: Do I?

Yesterday I bought a fashion magazine.

Whenever I do that I am perfectly aware that it will be a mistake. But I did it anyway. For charity. Well, almost...the woman in the kiosk had probably seen less than 10 costumers that day and I had to buy something.

I took a quick look through it and realized I had paid to look at publicity, as it usually is. But worse than that, I had paid to watch publicity where all the women have their mouths slightly open. Have you noticed that? Well, do the test! Take a magazine and count the number of women that appear with their mouths not entirely closed. I haven't actually counted but I looked frantically through the pages trying to find a smile and the biggest I got was similar to Mona Lisa's.

As we all know, it's hard to find a commercial that isn't highly charged with sexuality nowadays, be it perfume, cereal or herpes-medicine. It has become so common that we don't even notice it anymore. But ten or fifteen years ago most of the things we see on TV commercials would be outrageous. But is this mouth-open phenomenon sexy?

Now what does a picture like this tell you? Hello, I'm a zombie with huge sunglasses, I live in a dark basement, I only come out at night. Beauty patterns change throughout the years and we usually adapt our tastes to what is mainstream. That's why fashion magazines are so dangerous. No one feels great with themselves after looking at one. We all feel like we lack something fundamental...be it a handbag, a lipstick or breast implants. Everyone wants us to buy something because "obviously" we're not good enough with what we already have. And that is also why it's good to look at a magazine with a critical eye and find it utterly ridiculous!

I had planned to write this post even before I read Niall and Kristen's
posts today, but they're all in the same line. Niall wrote about a shopping
center and Kristen about
indulgence vs. renunciation. And I think we all agree.

Where, Oh, where is he going?

Ah, I missed some shocking news on football, I have to say. Everything was so boring lately. Thankfully, Mourinho came to rescue me and everyone else that was bored to tears.

He left Chelsea FC and is, for now, my partner in unemployment (ha ha). To be honest, I can't understand how he stayed for so long. He is not a Ferguson or Wenger, he could never stay in a club until 2010 no matter how much they paid himm. He is unconventional and eccentric (very Aquarius), he needs change.

Now the entertainment is finding out where he is going to go next. Hmmm...over here there are people wanting to start petitions to get him to manage the national team, especially now that Scolari has been behaving badly. I find it very unlikely at the moment, but just the mere thought of it - of Mourinho being out there, free as a bird, while we keep Scolari - is like when you go to a shoe shop and try beautiful, fantastic, comfortable and shiny new shoes and then you get back to wearing your used, rough, smelly, old ones. (I'm sorry, but it's true).

So, all I have to do now is wait and see - until then one can dream of the old days of 2003 and 2004, the glory, the ambition, victory :)

[You may not have a clue of what I'm talking about. It's okay.]