Twitter rolls out new features
Posted: November 10, 2011 Filed under: Nuno Barreto | Tags: twitter Leave a comment »These new features were announced a while back, and frankly I think it took a while for them to come out.
New Features
One of the new additions is that the ‘@’ tab now displays not only your @replies, but also your re-tweets and your new followers.
The other one is the the new ‘Activity’ tab shows what the people you follow have been up to. Who they are following , and what they’re re-tweeting and “favoriting”.
In my opinion these changes will help the stalking side of twitter, which since twitter is all about stalking people with the same interests it can be a good thing I guess.
You can follow me @nbarreto6
Great Actors = Great Movies (Robert Carlyle)
Posted: October 25, 2011 Filed under: Nuno Barreto | Tags: movies Leave a comment »Great Actors are not only those who are on the big blockbuster year after year. Some go a bit under the radar, but still manage to spread their talent. Either by playing a small but memorable part in a big movie, or a big part in an independent film they keep us coming back for more.
Robert Carlyle (Glasgow, Scotland 1961)
Robert Carlyle
Summer (2008)
In Summer Robert Carlyle plays Shaun, a man that is forced to relive his troubled past. Shaun was kid with learning disabilities whose life was put on a downward spiral due to the lack of effort from his educators. Long after destroying his life, and his best friend’s Daz, Shaun is put in the position of having to pick up the pieces due to Daz’s terminal illness.
Carlyle his masterful in playing this broken man, a man that has learned his lesson, and is on a path to redemption.
Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003)
If you are interested in knowing more about Hitler’s path to power this is the movie for you. The movie follows the life of Hitler from his childhood until he reaches the top of the German political hierarchy, just before the beginning of the second world war.
Carlyle plays the adult Hitler brilliantly giving us a sense that Hitler was brilliant albeit sick man.
Trainspotting (1996)
Trainspotting is about an addict trying to free himself from drugs, and his friends not helping all that much. The movie is very explicit, and in my opinion a great anti-drug movie. Carlyle plays Begbie who though a supporting character is probably the most memorable in the picture. Begbie is a fight addict that doesn’t do drugs, this is one of my favorite movie characters of all-time due in no small part to Mr.Carlyle’s performance.
I hope you check out these movies, as well as his other work. Have a good time!
Favorite NBA Players (Vol. II)
Posted: October 23, 2011 Filed under: Nuno Barreto | Tags: NBA Leave a comment »I know Kobe is awesome, Lebron is amazing and Howard is a beast. I am not here to talk about that kind of favorite player, I am here to talk about the kind of player you like because you see something really specific in them that appeals to you. You maybe even see something of yourself in them, whether it’s something in their game that is similar to yours (obviously much better, or you would be in the NBA yourself ), or just their personality.
On Volume I I talked about a PG(Curry) and a SG (Redick). Now i will be talking about a SF.
Gordon Hayward
During his early days as basketball player Hayward was forced to develop his ball-handling skills due to his small stature. This was of great benefit to him later in his career as he grew to be the size of a Small-Forward with above average technical ability.
In college Hayward played for the Butler Bulldogs, where he had two successful seasons. He his best remembered for talking the bulldogs to the NCAA championship game in his sophomore season.Despite a hard-fought performance by the bulldogs they went on to lose by 2 points against the Duke Blue Devils, in a game that will be forever remembered by Hayward’s half-court shot that almost went in.
What if?
Gordon was selected by the Utah Jazz with the ninth pick in the NBA Draft. In his first season on the NBA he had his ups and downs, but he showed flashes of brilliance, such as a 22 point performance against the Lakers, that make me believe he will have a long and successful career in the NBA.
What is your opinion of this kid? Will he be any good?
Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
Posted: August 14, 2011 Filed under: Nuno Barreto | Tags: entrepreneurship Leave a comment »Delivering Happiness is an entrepreneurship book written by the CEO of Zappos Tony Hsieh. In this book Hsieh tracks down is entrepreneur adventures. From his worm farm which he unsuccessfully tried to get rich of to the billion dollar business of Zappos, he is able to capture the drive and hard work needed to make a business profitable.
The book is particularly good at highlighting the many roadblocks you’ll find on the path to make your company work, and that you should do everything you can to make your business work. Had this not been Hsieh mindset Zappos a billion dollar company probably wouldn’t exist right now.
Hsieh also focuses a lot on company culture, which in his opinion should be the bases of a company. In Zappos case they have 10 core values which you can read about here.
This is the first entrepreneurship book I have read, and I have to say I didn’t expect it to be as easy to read as it was. I would expect a “business book” to be at least a bit boring at times, but the biographical form in which the book is presented and Tony Hsieh’s sense of humor make this a very enjoyable read.
In the end I recommend Delivering Happiness to everyone who is interested in starting a business, or is just interested in the culture of a star-up company.
Tip: Make Your Own Landscape Backgrounds
Posted: July 23, 2011 Filed under: Nuno Barreto | Tags: backgrounds 2 Comments »Step 1:
Go to Vimeo and select a video with a beautiful landscape. ( You can use other video sites, but Vimeo has great video quality)
Example:
Step 2:
Turn on the HD feature, and Maximize the video.
Step 3:
Forward to the point in the video you wish to capture, pause the video and hit the Print Screen button.
I forwarded it to the second 13.
Step 4:
Paste the image to paint and use the Selection Tool to select only the image part (Not the black Bars).
Step 5:
Copy the selection, paste it on another project and save it.
Step 6:
Admire the Picture:
Now you have a cool background to use on your PC.
I hope you enjoyed this Tip, use it well.
What About Community and Fringe (Emmy Frustrations)
Posted: July 14, 2011 Filed under: Nuno Barreto | Tags: emmy Leave a comment »First of all I haven’t watched a lot of the shows, but I have watched enough to form my opinion. That’s what this is just an opinion. I will focus on the two shows that I am really pissed didn’t get even one nomination.
Community
Community is the most outrageous funny comedy I have ever seen, the writers don’t use the same old formula which makes watching Community a fresh experience every time. How many shows can say that with as much confidence as Community?
Certainly not The Big Bang Theory. I love me some geek jokes, but they have been pushing the same buttons for a long time. Glee I am not going to comment, because I know the show is not made for me. Has for Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, and 30 Rock thumb up. I have never seen the American version of “The Office”.
I also believe Donald Glover should have the nomination for Best Supporting Actor. To me he is the funniest of the group, and if you have seen his work outside of Community you know he is going to be a star.
I think there are more nominations the show should have, but I am not going to push it.
Fringe
Fringe is the perfect mix of a procedural story, with a continuous story line. The cases are always awesome, and the parallel universe story-line is very clever. Why didn’t it get picked?
Probably it’s the sci-fi stigma, but I can’t say for sure. The only show I have seen is Game of Thrones, and I tried Dexter which didn’t really grab me. I am looking forward to watch Mad Men, and Boardwalk Empire though.
Anyway the series didn’t get the Emmy, the bigger problem is that John Noble(Walter) didn’t get it either. I don’t believe there are 6 actors doing a better job than him this season. He portrayed different versions of himself with differences so subtle that you always knew they were there, but you had to look really hard to find them. His character was the comic relief, and one of the more emotional forces of the show at the same time. I don’t think anyone could have done it better than him.
Also Anna Torv(Olivia) was brilliant (as was the whole cast), but if Mr. Noble didn’t get it…
Do you have any complaints for the Emmy fellows?
Great NPR Tiny Desk Concerts
Posted: July 11, 2011 Filed under: Nuno Barreto | Tags: indie music 1 Comment »NPR has been doing a series of intimate concerts they call “Tiny Desk Concerts”. Here are some of my favorites:
The Civil Wars
The indie-folk duo of Joy Williams and John Paul White.
The Swell Season
The folk duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová.
Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros
The folk rock band of…a lot of talented people. 
There are a lot more amazing concerts, and I am sure I will talk about them in the future. For now you can explore these yourself, and find great music at:
NPR Tiny Desk Concerts WebSite
NPR Music YouTube Channel
Tell me your favorites in the comments.
Cheers!
Jon Scheyer: Overcoming the odds
Posted: July 8, 2011 Filed under: Nuno Barreto | Tags: jon scheyer Leave a comment »Every College Basketball fan knows Jon Scheyer as the hard-working point guard that lead the 2010 Duke Blue Devils championship team. In a year that few gave credit to the Dukies, they managed to reach the championship game against the overachiever Butler Bulldogs which they won by 2 points.
High School
In High School he is most famous for his amazing feat of scoring 21 points in 75 seconds, but he was already known as a team player despite his amazing scoring ability. He led Glenbrook North High School to the state championship in 2005, he also was Mr.Basketbal of Illinois in 2006 and McDonald’s All-American.
College
In 2006 Scheyer joined a young duke team which allowed him to play significant starter minutes at shooting guard, whereas in his sophomore season he became one of the best sixth men in the country. Late in his Junior season Scheyer switched to the Point Guard reinvigorating a struggling Duke team instantly, but not enough to win the biggest prize…not that year anyway.
In his senior year Scheyer led the Blue Devils to the National Championship with great players such has Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler, and Brian Zoubek. During that year Scheyer became the first duke player to record 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 250 3-pointers, and 200 steals.
Pro
After going undrafted Scheyer joined the Miami Heat summer league, which was a great opportunity for him. The Heat were struggling at the PG spot, and with all the other stars the PG only needed to take care of the ball and shoot 3′s. It was perfect, but unfortunately he suffered a very bad eye injury during his second summer league game.
Fortunately Scheyer overcame the odds and was able to return mid-season (wearing goggles) to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the D-League, where he was able to put some very good performances. He finished the year with averages of 13.1 points, 4.0 assists, and 4.0 rebounds. Although that is not his most impressive accomplishment, his greatest accomplishment was making me watch several D-League games LIVE (they are on around 1 a.m in Portugal).
Next season Scheyer will play Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli League and the EuroLeague. I truly believe Scheyer will be a top player in Europe, and I hope one day he will fulfill his dream of playing in the NBA.
Now I have to find a way to watch his games
