Moving towards tomorrow

"In silence and movement you can show the reflection of people".

          - Marcel Marceau, french actor

Taxi (pt.3)

Less know worldwide... and yet another Taxi. A portuguese band from the 1970's and 1980's, which is definately not forgotten.

And a classic song about a portuguese made chewing gum, Chiclete... how long has it been since we repeated it with our childish voices ?...

"E como tudo o que é coisa que promete
A gente vê como uma Chiclete
Que se prova, mastiga, deita fora, se demora...

Chi... clete... ah ah ah ah ah ah ah... Chiclete !

E nesta altura e com muita inquietação
Faço um reparo, quero abrir uma excepção
Um cacetete nunca será não Chiclete

P'ra que tudo continue sem parar
Fundamental levar a vida a dançar
Nesta vida que tanto promete, Chiclete

Chi... clete... ah ah ah ah ah ah ah... Chiclete !

E como tudo o que é coisa que promete
A gente vê como uma Chiclete
Que se prova, mastiga, deita fora, se demora...

Como esta música é produto acabado
Da sociedade de consumo imediato
Como tudo o que se promente nesta vida, Chiclete...

Chi... clete... ah ah ah ah ah ah ah... Chiclete !

Chiclete... Chiclete...
Chiclete... Chiclete...
Chiclete... (prova!)
Chiclete... (mastiga!)
Chiclete... (deita fora!)
Chiclete... (se demora!)"

          - Taxi, in "Chiclete"

Taxi (pt.2)

You won't be able to go to a cinema theatre and watch this film but chances are you can watch it on DVD. Taxi, by Luc Besson, features Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon and Jennifer Esposito as the heroes and Giselle Bundchen and Ana Cristina de Oliveira as the (well sculptured) villains.

I was extremely (also pleasently) surprised in finding two portuguese speaking models/actresses and that made me dig a little bit more into the fashion world and present you with some more names... Alessandra Ambrosio, Ana Beatriz Barros, Diana Pereira, Fernanda Tavares, Isabel Figueira, Isabelli Fontana, Marisa Cruz... they all look gorgeous in the catwalk... or sidewalk (just me trying to squeeze this to fit the post title)...

Oh well.
Watch the film... I'm sure you'll like it, considering the villains or not.

Taxi (pt.1)

One of the most famous cars ever built is the London Taxi. It was voted by people (at #36 on USA's Channel 4; see the whole list) numerous times as a favourite and it's definately a classic.

Don't miss all the information on all the vehicles that graced the London streets throughout the times. Just go to London Taxi Cab website and you can get loads of information on various models. The model you probably know best is the Austin FX-4.

Actually, the story of this taxicab is inextricably linked with both BMC and Rover. Many will be aware that the first car to be adopted by the Public Carriage Office as the standard London cab, the FX3, was an Austin product, as was its replacement the FX4 (the FX and FX2 were development models). But it is less well known that Alec Issigonis was working on a replacement for the FX4 in 1968; that a later 1970s taxi project dubbed FX5 was to be based on the Rover SD1; and that in the 1980s, the FX4 almost gave way to a design that was part Range Rover, part Land Rover... and part Morris Ital.

A word from Pre

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."

          - Steve Prefontaine

Bill Bowerman's swoosh

One bright early morning in 1971, high above the McKenzie River outside of Eugene (Oregon, USA), Bill and his wife Barbara sat down for breakfast. Staring at but not eating the waffles that lay before him, Bowerman was in the midst of an athletic epiphany. He saw the future of running shoes, the opportunity to improve training techniques, he saw improved traction and faster times.

Soon he was pouring rubber into Barbara's waffle iron, creating the modern running outsole. This was no accident. Nor was it luck. Bowerman was always looking for ways to give his runners an edge.

Bill was always the one person who had no trouble whatsoever staying focused on the performance mandate of athletic product. He always had the purity of conviction when it came to an athlete's needs:

- What's that piece of rubber on the side of the shoe there? - he would ask knowingly.
- Uh, that's the Swoosh, Bill, our company's logo.
- Well, take it off. It weighs too damn much.

Again, purity of conviction.

In June 1999, Bowerman stepped down as a member of the Nike Board of Directors, a post he held since 1968. In honor of his contributions to the sport of running and to the development of this company, Nike established the Bowerman Foundation. Nike is contributing a $1 million matching-funds program to the foundation, which will renovate youth track-and-field facilities around the world through 2005. Along with this track restoration project, Nike saluted Bowerman and his unique spirit with a line of high-performance track-and-field footwear - the Bowerman Series.

As a coach, Bowerman taught his athletes to seek the competitive advantage at every turn. This guiding principle served his athletes and Nike well. At Bowerman's retirement ceremony, Knight said, "Above all, I think Bill considered himself a professor of competitive response. Those are lessons you learn for all of life."

Six months after his retirement in 1999, Bill Bowerman died in his sleep on Christmas Eve in his home in Fossil, Oregon. He was 88 years old. Just like the old man to run off without telling anyone.

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

In 1990, my favourite band released a great album, extremely well produced and composed, maybe not as spontaneous and their previous efforts. The album name's initials were explicit, but the words aren't. When I wrote what's below, that's what came into my mind... explicit actions/intentions disclosed through softer/dissimulated words...

"This time, it's going to happen
I'm going to drink your breath
I'll look into your eyes, semi-opened
I'll you follow close, stay in your path
And more than this,
As you taste my kiss
No sadness... although we know
There might be no tomorrow

Unpassionate as this will seem
This is not me letting you escape
It reminds me of where we've been
As I breathe down your neck, your face
And more than this
As you're the one I miss
There's no sadness here, no sorrow
We know nothing would even happen tomorrow"

          - Hyug Badox in "One Changing Moment"