Monday 4 December 2006

Odd bits in the midst of vestibular-itis

Mood: Relieved (Fuvest 1st fase finally over!...aaaaand room finally cleaned up! I can see my desk again!!! - seriously, it was worse than JKR's...)

Song: The Puppy Song - Harry Nilsson (aa well as the whole of Sgt. Pepper's, which I sang in my head throughout the 5 hours of Fuvest!) aaaaand ANYTHING by Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and the Hot Club de France gang...

Book: The Dragon Book of Verse (as stolen from school - hey! everybody does it!) - the only break I've had from vestibular reading...


Quintette du Hot Club de France

Quote: "The lady in the tutti-frutti hat!" - been watching Carmen Miranda movies...

Film: when was tha last time I even went to the cinema...? Or out at all for that matter?!



Random spouts of creativity from my v. limited free time these last months:

"Ode à Terrinha"

Cocada, algodão doce, pipoca...
Pamonha, pamonha, pamonha!
Street vendors.
Stopped buying off of them when I reached tween-hood.
(The all-consuming worry of becoming Bridget Jones a tad too early -
and coming from a former-anemic!
Pity.)

(It should go on about the "jeitinho brasileiro", but I have no idea how to go on...)



Top 5 cinematic wardrobes I wish I had

Star War's Padmé Amidala
The Mexican's Sam (colourful!)
Almost Famous' Penny Lane (worn-even-in-summer-green-coat anyone?)
Annie Hall's...well, Annie Hall
Breakfast at Tiffany's Holly Golightly (although you could say that about all Audrey movies...the dress from My Fair Lady, the dress from Sabrina, etcaetera etcaetera...)

Honourable mentions:
The Secret Garden's Mary Lennox ("Black, black, or black?")
Lola Rennt's Lola (comfortable for running...dream-hair!)
Kindom of Heaven's Sybilla (worth just for the eye make-up)
Anything taking place in the 20s (gotta love the flappers!)

Suggestions welcome...



News tid-bits:


Aljazeera in English!: Would it cost our cable companies to actually look beyond (US)American television? Brazil is americanized enough, thank you v. much!

Madrid Fashion Week goes pro-health: One of these days, I'm writing a full-on manifesto anti-ana'n'mia (who the hell gives pet-names to serious mental diseases?!). In the past couple of weeks, we've had two deaths from anorexia in Brazil alone (both models, of course), and the subject is now topic-of-the-moment in media circles - not that it won't all be forgotten by Christmas. Now, apparently, it's become fashionable even to surgically remove ribs in order to slim-down. Honestly people, if not even the very models who are supposed to sell the social standard can survive being Twiggy, what in the bloody hell makes you think you will?!

KKK still alive and well - only wish I could say it was all good for laughs: 'Nuf said.

Proof that (US)Americans really are idiots: Laughs for any of you fellow IBers out there (no offense to any of you USAmericans out there who realize that your educational system is crap). Since when exactly is any of the things pointed out in this article a bad thing?! And, remind me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember hearing anything about the oh-so-dangerously-subversive Earth Charter in my 2 years of IB. (I recommend following the links for a few further laughs...)

Saturday 23 September 2006

Cynisme...

Mood: mock intellectual...whatever the hell that's supposed to mean...

Song: Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks

Book: Le Comte de Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (almost finished! )

Quote: "Life seems nothing more than a quick succession of busy nothings." (prolly Jane Austen, since it is taken from the film of Mansfield Park...however, since its been a while since I read it, I'd have to check of that)

Film: Les Amants Réguliers...nouvelle Nouvelle Vague (I do believe Louis Garrel might be my new cinematic crush...)

Il n'y a que le cynisme... You may create these romanticised, nostalgic ideas about living among parisian students in '68, or the bohemians at the turn-of-the-century. Yet somehow I can't help but feel it was all just bullshit. Dreams of an artiste...delusions...what are the chances? More importantly, what is the point? Spending all your time getting stoned, doing absolutely nothing with your life. Revolution? The idea died before it was ever born.

I can't say it was only this film that spurred on this rant (I actually enjoyed it...even though Nouvelle Vague has never been much of a favourite). This is no more than a thought I've been mulling over time and time again, marvelling at my own hypocrisy. On the one hand, the attractiveness of being (seen as) the youthful idealist; on the other, the desperation in search of independance and (apparent) maturity.

("If you’re not a liberal before you’re thirty, you lack a heart; if you're still a liberal after thirty then you lack brains." last heard in The Edukators, but been around for longer...origin unknown...)

Must clean this up soon...terrible post, terrible writing, but v. late and tired.

EDIT: Have just realized I have in fact rambled on this subject yonks ago...and much more elloquently rambled too...

Ps. Why didn't I even mention Sandi Thom's I Wish I was a Punk Rocker (with Flowers in my Hair)? So appropriate...

Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
In 77 and 69, revolution was in the air
I was born too late, into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

When the head of state didn't play guitar,
Not everybody drove a car,
When music really mattered and when radio was king.
When accountants didn't have control,
And the media couldn't buy your soul,
And computers were still scary and we didn’t know everything.

Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
In 77 and 69, revolution was in the air
I was born too late, into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

When popstars still remained a myth,
And ignorance could still be bliss,
And when God Saved the Queen she turned a whiter shade of pale.
When mum and dad were in their teens,
And anarchy was still a dream,
And the only way to stay in touch was a letter in the mail.

Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
In 77 and 69, revolution was in the air
I was born too late, into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

When record shops were on top,
And vinyl was all that they stocked ,
And the super info highway was still drifting out in space.
Kids were wearing hand me downs,
And playing games meant kick arounds,
And footballers still had long hair and dirt across their face.

Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
In 77 and 69, revolution was in the air
I was born too late, into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

I was born too late, into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

Pps. Lovely little piece of philosophising spurred by Louis Garrel's aimaisse regulière...(don't ask me if that is an actual French word, I think I just made it up...)

Sunday 3 September 2006

Entre Vexames Futebolísticos e Maracutaias Govenamentais, Sonhos de Vestibulando...

Mood: no time to say hello, goodbye...

Song: Eduardo e Monica - Legião Urbana (Admito - sou uma P.I.M.B.A.)

Film: Fiddler on the Roof ("L'Chaim!"); The Dreamers (I really was born in the wrong age - even my teacher says so; by that I mean they're idealism and addiction to the Seventh Art - contrary to common belief, this movie is not all about sex and orgies!)

Book: Anything realated to Fuvest...

Quote: Chamada no Fantástico: "Rio de Janeiro. Polícia apreende paus de madeira, canos de ferro e explosivos em um ônibus da torcida do Palmeiras. Ninguém foi preso."

"Combate à ética" Lula, entrevista JN 10/08

"Un toque al día, la llave de la allegría." Y Tu Mama También

Paraphrasing Spike Lee on his 4-hour documentary on post Katrina New Orleans and Dubya's total lack of interest: "Let's go Clockwork Orange on Bush!"

Engraçado como só alguns meses depois de sair da escola, eu já me acostumei a falar e escrever em português...finalmente estou fiando abrasileirada. Pior pra vocês então, por que estes posts só vão ficar cada vez mais muiltilingual...

Luckily, I didn't write for a long time after the "vexame" of the World Cup. So, I'll just keep it to this: Go Dunga!!

Maracutaias no governo: ainda estou trabalhando no meu projeto pessoal de maior prazer: informar o povo em quem não votar. Mas é tanto nome que vai demorar ainda pra sair. Por enquanto, fique de olho neste espaço.

Operarios_Tarsila
Operários
- Tarsila do Amaral

Racismo positivo uma ova! ("Contra o mito de uma 'nação bicolor'," Veja 12/08 - vou tentar pegar um scan) E sem hate-mail por favor! Eu sou voluntária da Educafro, mas eu não acredito em deixar estudantes mal-qualificados a ingressarem na faculdade só para sair uns meses depois por que seu analfabetismo fucional atrapalhou os estudos. O governo só está inventando uma saída fácil e eleitoreira para um problema que eles mesmos causaram!

Saudades...*snif!* a.k.a. "The Burocratic Odessey ex-pupils have to go through to visit the school they've attended they're entire lives only a couple of months after leaving it."

Ps. Fuvest: fudeu!