Thursday, February 10, 2005

Brazilian Helmet

The other day I decided to re-design my old bike helmet! From a white old fashioned worn out piece to a shiny green, yellow and blue, Brazilian flag shaped. It didn’t work. I had great expectations for it. I bought the "blue painter's tape", the spray paint, everything that I could possibly need. After taping the whole helmet I started painting one color at a time, one per day; first, the yellow triangle in the middle, then the blue semicircle in the front edge, then finally the green in the back. The colors looked great but when it was time to take the tape out, ewwwww, a big mess!!! The finish sucks. A lot of the paint seems to have gone under the “Blue painter's tape"… I am soooo frustrated. I will definitely give another shot and try to retouch, however, my experience tells me when one tries to “retouch” usually makes a bigger mess, and I don’t mean only when painting, if you know what I mean… I am one of those who believe that perfection is achieved in one try, the first try…Well, it was time to get a new helmet anyway…

Monday, February 07, 2005

My new bike!!!!

Yesterday, I got my bike! It is not exactly new. It is a 2002 Gary Fisher Utopia. Well, it is new for me…and it is beautiful! My bike search was difficult. I went to all the possible cycling stores around Los Angeles and they all seem to be selling the same bikes, either Trek or Canondale. I know those two brands are possibly the best brands for road bikes and Mountain Bikes but when it comes to Hybrids, I have to say that I was a little disappointed comparing to my stolen Specialized. I think my former bike set the bar high… Not only that, the first bike I actually saw was the Gray Fisher which I ended up buying, and it also set the standards high for whatever was coming. I rode it for 2 minutes and I felt really comfortable on it. I might regret later if it gives me headaches but as for now I am proud of my choice. It is a TOTAL SHINY DISCO BIKE. You can actually check it clicking on the title of this blog!
Well, I just need to finalize the design of my helmet (Brazilian flag), which I am personally working on, so I can start training and getting acquainted to it.I will keep you posted on my riding experiences!!!

Million Dollar Baby

Last night when I left the theater I struggled to find the right word to define the film. Many adjectives came to my mind; annoying, bothersome, strong, until I came up with DISTURBING! It has been a while since I have felt this way when leaving the movies. Not even Fahrenheit 911 made me feel that sad and frustrated, even though MDB was just a fiction, whereas F911 a reality. It is great portrait of reality, boxing and trashy people. Some of those human beings exist in fact and once they are in your life, they will “crap” all over it. Some people seem to be immune to these kinds of people; with their great judge of characters, they maintain distance and “protect themselves”. In the other hand, some people are naturally attracted to freaking low life, low character, motherf%$@# ‘s.
Even though I don’t consider myself good judge of character, I am lucky and intuitive. I believe I am one of those who stay away of trouble very well…
Anyway, Hillary Swank, Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman are phenomenal in their holes. I am not surprised Hillary is winning all the awards. She is awesome! The writing is very efficient and it gets one involved with the characters which I believe is the formula for a successful film, being a drama, an adventure, a science fiction or a horror movie. I give this film an A-. Very worthy!!!