A long needed blog post

I should have written lot's of things on this blog that I've been delaying for a long time... And accumulating issues. Here's a short summary, so I can throw this behind my back:

Activism

ANSOL, the Portuguese FSFE sister association "Associação Nacional para o Software Livre" (National Association for Free Software) is being revitalized, and I am now its direction's Vice-President for the years 2011-2012. If you wondered why I seemed with even less time this last few months, this is probably one of the reasons for it. We've been doing lot's of things, lately organizing the Portuguese event for Software Freedom Day or participating in a Public Consultation on which Open Formats should the country's computer systems use. Today isn't really a "good news" day regarding Free Software in Portugal, since the two parties now in the Government changed their minds since last year (when they were opposition) and decided to reject a proposal that would make the country spend 50% less in Software Licenses by using Free Software.

Music

I've been more silent in 2011, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working. In fact several cool things happened: in March I've released a new album, for the first time in vinyl. A release party was held, here's a small fan-made video of the show:

In August, the latest Merankorii album, "Alain", was released in both cassette tape or tape + CD editions. Here's one of its tracks:

Merankorii - Intermezzo by A Beard of Snails Records

And for December there are also news - some things I'm not yet well sure to publicly state, but one is for sure: I'll be playing live in Lisbon at the 20th, and you're invited to go. Feel free to RSVP in one of the several places where the concert is announced:

• Reverbnation
• MySpace
• Last.fm
• Facebook

I've also participated in various compilations, but let me highlight two of them, because not only (in one case) it has Merankorii, but because both feature new tracks from Kokori, my industrial duo, that spent the year writing what's going to be, eventually, the best album ever: Necktar 2017 Volume 3 and Icaro I. Here's Kokori's track on Icaro I:

What Else? Well... lot's of things, really ;-), but I guess this blog post is already long enough for a "catch up". I intend to do more of these, but this is not a promise ;-)