Photo Chop Shop

There are a lot of examples of bad Photoshop work around, in fact there are sites dedicated to it. Normally it doesn't bother me but the other day I was browsing through the Oceanico Signature magazine and was appalled by the obvious cut-outs of their star players and unit owners placed in front of sundry landscapes. With different colour temperatures and opposing lighting angles, these stars had obviously not been present when the landscape was photographed.

Then I came across this, on a bus stop. I think Keira Knightley has done herself no favours with this image. She was great as a skinny, flat-chested tomboy in her many film roles. As a girl, it just doesn't work, and the photoshop guys have done her no favours.

But I'm rarely a fan of advertising...

Tough Choice

Many thanks to Miguel Lobo, who persuaded me to go with him to test drive some Porsches this week. It was AWESOME!!!

Among the models driven were:
Cayman S

and

Carrera 4S



Surprisingly, I preferred the Cayman. It feels lighter and more responsive. Maybe I would have preferred the 4S with more time to get used to its brutal power.

I don't suppose I will get many other opportunities, or ever have enough disposable income to buy one, but it was a morning well spent!

100% Turnout

As a responsible, upstanding citizen, I went and voted in last week's local elections. EU citizens can vote in their place of residence, so I can vote in the local council elections, though not in the Portuguese parliamentary elections, only in the UK.

Imagine my surprise when I was greeted by enthisiastic scrutineers and coordinators. Then I found out that foreigners have their own electoral roll, and in my parish I was the only person on that electoral roll! So they had a special list for me, not I think a separate scrutineer, though that could have been the reason for their enthusiasm. Imagine if I had gone and voted early in the morning - he could have had the rest of the day off...

Anyway, my electoral roll had 100% turnout. There can't have been many of those. Fortunately I put my ballots in a common box, otherwise everyone would have known how I voted.

Now I have to go and hassle my other expatriate neighbours. If they are to be entitled to complain about local services (which they do frequently) they should at least get out and vote to improve them.