my weird way of thinkin'

Hi.

UPDATE: My cellphone has been unblocked by any given hacker I found while traveling on business to Recife.

It's amazing how slaves we can get when it comes to mobile network providers. I don't know how they work for you in your country, but here in Brazil we have 4 major mobile operators. 2 evil ones (Vivo and Claro), 1 is okay (TIM) and there's this one which is God on Earth (Oi).

I use Claro and so far the service is okay. But as they make me use only Claro (as my cellphone is blocked) I am really freaking pissed off. On Saturday I went to a Claro shop so I could unblock my phone. Surprise! I have to wait for a year after I bought the device so I can have it unblocked. I got as pissed as hell!

So I went straight to a Oi shop so I could have them unblocking my device and have a new Sim card. They say that Claro phones are almost impossible to unblock.

So here I am, chained to a company I don't like anymore, loving a company which can't have me (as I don't want to buy a new cellphone) because I'm freaking attached to the evil company for 9 months more.

How come can this shit happen? Can you f*cking believe it? So frustrating...

Thanks for reading,
Dan

Hi.

I've been thinking a lot lately (ha, that's not unusual - questioning is what I do best). Thinking about the power of media on what we think, on our decision to take one side or the other (election-time down in 'terra brasilis'), on our definitions of what's right or wrong, and specially, on what we take as traditional and customs.

There's this huge TV network here, called "Rede Globo" that holds about 70% of the market share and audience in Brazil. Some of you may have already heard about it because Globo sells its soap-operas and series throughout the globe (and they are right to do so, 'cause the soaps are really well produced).

Well, Brazil is part of a democracy that's not really a democracy. People say what they think, but before coming out of the mouth, words are filtered by the concepts and fears of the speaker. That's awful (and it's not a brazilian privilege, of course - all around the world people do that). The problem is that people here, as they're not educated (speaking of a 85% majority), not even well schooled. So, the biggest newspapers and tv channels take advantage of this educational problem our people suffer of, and decide - through their "fictional real life stories" - what's right or wrong, who's good or evil.

There's this guy called William Bonner (who's the chief-editor of 'Jornal Nacional' - the main newsprogram in Brazil) that once said to some reporters that he decides whether a specific news-story is going to be aired based on the following question: "Would Homer Simpson understand this story? If yes, then it's going to be broadcasted".

Oh boy! The guy - who's one of the most important journalists of the country - decides what's going to become known by the public by questioning if the majority of people is 'not that dumb' to watch it. We do have a serious problem here...

I wish we had more sources of information here. Only a small cut of the brazilian society has access to internet, only a even smaller portion has cable tv. So, only a tiny percentage of brazilians really can decided where they're getting their information and knowledge from. And, of course, not all of them give a shit. I do.

Media makes money by making people's minds. That's awful to say (specially because I'm an advertising professional - or used to be ... still debating over that), but the asset media cherishes is our mind. Mine is not for sale, I'm sorry.

I'm ashamed to say that good tv channels, magazines and newspapers (those who pass the real information on, not taking one side) are closing down because they don't have money to afford themselves and keep up the good work. Well-based news, intelligent articles, clever documentaries don't sell here. That's the horrible truth. Nudity (which I like, can't deny it, lol), dumb tv shows and pre-ordered news (by a political party or by a sector of industry, for instance) do sell as much as water in the Sahara.

I only hope that one day, brazilian people will think by ourselves, and so we will be able to decided what we think, not accepting what the media decides.

Sorry for venting for that long... I really got a little pissed off after watching and reading some stuff for the past month.

Thanks for reading,
Dan