Cloistered in...

I hoped I wouldn't fall into the same trap again, but here I am, with piles of reading to do, having put off this post (and having a life in general) for weeks because of it, and still procrastinating nonetheless...bugger!

Mood: 80s nostalgia (and considering that I was born in '88...)

Song: You're the Best Around - Joe Esposito, and anything from the Flashdance soundtrack...

Film: Karate Kid (in love with Ralph Macchio)

Book: anything to do with journalism...or political theory...can't even remember the last time I read a novel!!

Quote: "Journalism is literature in a hurry."
Visto nas ruas de SP: "Sem caminhoneiro, o Brasil pára." (paráfrase do original, já que este faltava com gramática básica - isto é pra quem cansou de ouvir no cursinho sobre como o rodoviarismo fudeu o Brasil)

Having watched only four minor Oscar-nom movies (Dammit Chris! Where are you when I need you?), I managed to keep myself awake to witness fully the greatest bullshit-fest of the entertainment industry. And oh! what enjoyably un-PC bullshit it is indeed! (As we have decided today in Ethics class that we hate political correctness.) Verdict: finally making justice (though not necessarily deserving), giving in to the obvious for the most, but overall, one of the fairest awardings in recent years.

To crown my month-long cinematic drought (bloody uni!), I decided to really make a splash: an out-of-the-blue decision to finally go to the HSBC Belas Artes Noitão, having given up trying to convince any of you folks to join me in a 3-movie marathon in the wee-hours of the morning, with free breakfast to top it off. And for those of you who sustain the illusion that there are only a handful of freaks such as myself who would inflict a sleepless night for the love of the 7th Art, think again. I had to face a half-hour queue for tickets, and got stuck with the smallest projection room because all others were taken! Still, good to know I'm not alone...

As for big news, I have only one thing to say: "Oh! the woes of not having on-campus living quarters..."

For those of you who have been bugging me for news of life as a pucana...

Well, my part of the uni isn't so much on-campus as an alley next to campus. To most of you, spoilt by the First World standard of educational facilities with your fancy laptops and central heating, it might seem a little dodgy when you realize we are a 70-odd class stuck in a small room with tiny brazilian-style school desks, a botched up ceiling with potential holes here and there, and two fans to share between us all. Still, we make do.

As for classes, I have yet to figure out what most of them are actually about - but, then again, I was looking for more philosophy and less applied journalism (that's what interships are for!), so I guess I got the winning hand after all.

Six weeks in, and I have also found my "special place" on-campus (admit it, you all have one!). Granted, it's not exclusive...a favourite study-hangout really for most pucanos. Nevertheless, the cloister (Catholic school so, to be expected) is the perfect place for cloistering yourself up in your studies, sitting under an arch, not a care in the world. And it works! (which is made all the more special when talking about such a master procrastinator as yours truly)

This is where I'll be buggering off then as, despite being completely knackered, I still have a lot to catch up with...oh bother!

Ps. since I finally managed to complete this list in my head, I have to record it somewhere, so:
Top 5 guitarists:
Django Reinhardt
Jimi Hendrix
Jeff Buckley
Stanley Jordan
Frank Zappa

Pps. Interesting musings on our future...found in the most unlikely of places: O futuro é já, Marie Claire, ed. Jan/2007

Ppps. It's times like these when you get a serious case of nostalgia...
I miss you guys soooo much!!!

La cinéphile est retournée!

Come on! Not that difficult to understand what that means...

Mood: relieved...

Song: Singing in the Rain - if you don't know where this is from you deserve a good spanking you blasphemer you!! Anyways, I've been caught in the rain so many times these past fews days it's only appropriate

Film: Gosford Park, must watch again! (one of those movies where you will always discover something new no matter how many times you watch it...)

Book: O último voo do flamingo - Mia Couto (é, assim mesmo sem o acento grave...portuga de Moçambique...)

Quote: "While my eyes go looking for flying saucers in the sky...", Caetano Veloso in London, London

Anyways, yup, finally have some free time, which means catching up on 4 months-worth of cinema, as well as all the Award-season movies that bloody producers make a point of releasing all at once...(we had one hell of a dry-spout mid-2006; why not realease some good movies then?!) Damn Hollywood! Granted, most of the movies I've watched so far were non-Hollywood, which is always a treat...go Mexico!

As for insightful rants, nothing interesting. Cursinho smothered my creativity, and it will take me a while to develop it back...*snif*

Only thing I have is this: "We've been kicking other peoples asses for so long I figured it's time we got ours kicked." (Elias in Platoon). Following on from the last time I quoted this, I just realized somthing: the best way to get rid of American intervention is to have them lose a civil war in the continent. They certainly won't be getting in the way of the Chinese or North Koreans for a while, they refused to help anybody else who asked (such as the Rwandans) after the fiasco that was the Somali intervention, hopefully they've learn't their lesson about messing with the Muslim world now...

All we latinoamericanos have to do now is give them a good excuse to get off our backs before Castro kicks the bucket. That is, I'm hoping here that there are enough of us who are anti-chavistas to keep Mr. "Delusions-of-Bolivar-grandeur" from causing any serious fuck-ups. Well, if not, chances are he'll fall on his face all by his onesies, so we won't have to worry anyway...

Zero elloquence, but as I've said, my levels of creativity are nil recently, so it'll make do for now...(on the other hand, I've suddenly developped an urge to "read" Vogue...must find a cure fast!)

On an extra note: bloody USP only realeases their resultson the 7th, meaning that until then I'll have paid two installments on PUC, with only a 65% guaratee of getting it back if I get in to public uni! Argh! *nails being bitten off*

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?!

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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...)

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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...

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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...)

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...)

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.

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!