What would you do?
A lot of posts this week! But this one, like the free hugs campaign (if you haven't seen it yet, I strongly suggest you'd stop reading this crap and go see it. It will add more to your day), deserves to be posted. European cinema is usually very good. Sometimes too dark, sometimes too boring, sometimes too deep for my few brain cells to process. But again, usually, very good. And this movie was a fantastic example of what an american movie can almost never accomplish. It was very European - in the sense of being a movie with not much action, but based on people and dialogue - and, let me say, it was fantastic. 
The movie is called "El Metodo", and it was translated as "What would you do?" in portuguese. It's a spanish movie, and it is the story of 7 people that are competing for a job in a big company. When they arrive in the company, they are told to go into a room to fill in a form. And then, the test begins.
It's a really intelligent and interesting movie. Also very unsual, since they pretty much stay in the room. But really, very very good. It's when you see a movie done like that that you realize sometimes you don't need the bombs, the fireworks, all the big production. All you need is good actors, a good script and a director that doesn't depend on loads of money from the studio to make something great.
hug me!
Hey
I saw a video on youtube today, and it was, honestly, one of the nicest, most touching things I've ever seen. Fine, sometimes I get touched by a lot of idiotic things. Like "Friends'". But this is really great. I don't really know the story behind it, and I'm sure the editing counts in tricking me into loving this. But it was still beautiful.
Basically, it is a Free Hugs campaign. A guy, not particulary pretty, or short, or tall, or not particulary anything, stands with a sig that says "Free Hugs". At first, no one hugs him, and then gradually they all join in. It's simple, no? When I googled it, there was a lot of websites about it, including www.free-hugs.com. Turns out this is a worldwide campaign, that even includes Brazil. I once read th
at you can measure happiness by how many hugs you give (and receive) in a day. And that in the US (was it in the US?) people go to group therapy just to hug each other. So, for these reasons and for many more, I think this campaign is, at the very least, a good start. It's not any guy that will stand in the middle of the street with a "Free Hugs" sign, not getting paid for it and not having second intentions about it. But it should be more people that go and hug him. After all, it's just a hug. And at the same time, it can be so much more. It can be all you need.
So, watch it. Free Hugs. A tiny bit of joy on what is sometimes a boring, lonely and grey little day.
Kisses and, of course, hugs!!!!
Steady going nowhere
This is just a desperate attempt, a cry for help. This is just my last chance to beg for a better future. Or maybe not better. But one that is more unknown, and, exactly for that, is less bad. Because getting worse than this would be hard - especially concerning ethics. This is not a journalistic approach, it's just desperation. On Sunday we have the elections. President, Governors (is this right in english?), and federal and state representatives will be voted on Sunday, October first. And how does it look? Bad, very bad.
Our president is an idiot, if you don't mind my judgment here. And not only is he an idiot, but he is corrupt, very very much so. Fine, some people have said in Brazil, there is always corruption, there is always dishonesty in politics. It may be true. But the level we have reached is just absurd. It's just too much. The scandals are so frequent, and so public, that after a certain point, people don't care anymore. Even because the people involved usually get away with everything. "Oh, another one". And that's all.
The president swears to God he didn't know, no matter how many people close to him (many many assistants, the coordinator of his campaign, a lot of ministers) he has had to fire because they were involved in one scandal or another. He knows nothing, and he leans on the poor, miserable people, who he feeds a bag of rice and a bag of beans a month, and they give him their vote, their hope, their future. They trust him, him who cries and swears he is innocent, he who refers to his country's situation as the "filet mignon". Well, if this is the fillet mignon, we have a big problem. And it becomes even bigger when he says something like "politics has to be corrupt". Not exactly quoting with the correct words, but something of this sort. you have to get your hands dirty to be able to work, or something of that sort.
And do you wanna know what's so bad? What's so bad is that he is going to win, in the first round. He will get more than 50% of the votes. The guy that always says wrong things, the guy that praises Fidel, Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales while they all ignore him. The guy that either has no control over his own Government or the biggest, most ambitious and most uncareful thief we have ever known in our political history. How? How the hell can this work? The federal and state representatives are another joke. Big Brothers, failed celebrities, we got them all. Even politicians who were arrested, investigated for real, serious crimes, they are all running for congress. And you know what? They will all be elected. Every single one of them.
So, this is the situation now. And this is the reason I plead with the Go
ds, with whoever is listening, to please, please, change something in this country. Change something because this cannot go on for another four years. They steal from everywhere they can, even ambulances. Some of the highest ranked people in the government are involved in unsolved murder cases. They are taking over the government steadily, they are present in every structure. our country is always a promise, since the 60's. We are always the country that will happen, the country that is emerging. Only from where I am looking, we seem to be sinking. Steady and slowly, sinking in the web of lies and deceit we are fed daily by our chosen governants.
By the way, here is a link on the NY times (for those who are english only) explaining the last scandal, as well as one from the Financial Times.
Fraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanz!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a lot of concerts on my top 5 list. Almost all of them, I think. But this one is very very
close to being number one. It was just... fantastic. Or, as the newspapers have called it, "historical". I saw Franz Ferdinand in France last year, but I can honestly say it does not compare to it. In fact, I don't think I can compare it at all. It was almost like it was a different band. The energy they transmitted in this concert now, and the energy the crowd gave back was inconcievable - and what a crowd. I have never felt so sick in a concert in my life. So hot, so many people, and the sweat... eww. I have never been so sick after a concert either (fever and all, just pathetic), but it was completely worth it. Being there for that concert is worth 2 sick days - 3, actually.
Getting back to the concert itself, the band was amazing. I just wish I could do something that makes me that happy doing it, that makes me so excited about my job. The "energy flow" - that sounds so stupidly hippie, but well, how else can I say it, the vibe? - was incredible. Every song they played, we screamed harder. "Do you want to" was chaos, "walk away" was a clear sign that we indeed love the band, "michael" and "take me out" almost brought the stage down; "outsiders", with something around 20 people onstage playing drums and "this fire", the last song, was truly something epic. Us, them, everybody was so ecstatic. There wasn't a dull moment. From the first note they played, til they walked off stage, we were all so fantastically smitten. The sound was bad, indeed, but really, after they started, it didn't really matter. They were there, and playing, and so well! The excitment brought by the near cancellation of the show - because of a dispute between the people who organized it and São Paulo's city hall, I won't even comment on how ridiculous it was - just made it so much better. Because we almost lost it, we recognized it much more. And maybe they did too. Their smiles, their faces while they p
layed, and just how they acted the entire concert - you could see that the crowd wasn't alone in being so happy. So, after giving away the keyboard, their shoes, throwing wine at each other, Alex Kapranos taking his shirt off - and he is not the sort of atlethic guy that does that - and making us go completely crazy for one hour and a half, Franz Ferdinand scored an almost perfect ten. As always, a few songs missing. But all in all, it was worth all the wait, and all the concern that it wasn't gonna happen. The "night of our lives".
beijos
ps: the pictures do it no justice. at all.
To read or not to read
So, I am reading this book, which features a collection of texts by one author (german, of course), obviously translated into portuguese - since reading in german is not very close to the top on my "i'm almost there" list. But anyway, I am only through maybe half of the book, but it's too intriguing not to say anything about it. In the introduction, you get the feeling that the book will not be normal, or will not be easy. The author has discussed, so far, the stupidity that reading is. This is a really absurd theory to me, but it does make some sense. When you read, you are just using other people's thoughts. True, in a way. As he continues, he says that most of what is written is useless, as it is just recycling classic ideas to put your name in it. And that the time people use to read compusively they should use to think instead. Hmm.
First, who is worth reading? Who decides that? He, of course, names himself as worth reading. And the thought of not reading a lot to me makes no sense. But it was a new idea, one that I had never considered before (hence the post here). Should we read less and think more? Of course, that doesn't mean not reading at all - since other people's ideas are al
ways helpful, and there are many, many, maaaany people smarter than you in the world; and their ideas will help you develop your own. But still.... the book is annoying me a bit, I don't know. He argues well, but I guess I am too stubborn to stop reading - may it be gossip magazines or Dostoievski. But I recognize his point - should we really be reading all this? Or do we just wanna show off? Do we in fact read too much or too little? So, what do you think? Who is right? Me, or a great and widely known philosopher? Beijos
Paris and the US
hey! Today, just 2 cartoons from the media soup. Both of them quite obvious, but excellent anyway. Why? Simply because 1)there are things worth commenting in the world, and 2)there are some opinions that shared by more people in the world, so let's just help the cartunist spread the word . First, Paris Hilton in her latest appearence - being arrested for a DUI - but then again, isn't she always drunk? But anyway, thank you Miss Hilton, as always, entretaining. And, one of the best cartoons made to mark the fifth anniversary of September 11. Number one from the NY post, and number 2 by Bob Englehart, from The Hartford Courant (I have nooo idea what that is, but the cartoon is great. Simple and clear). I hope you like them. Beijos. 
Short and Sweet
"Dontcha wish your boyfriend was short like me?"And with that sentence, the guy won the crowd. Or at least the ones young enough to see that he was in fact making a short cover of the pussycat dolls. On the piano. And that was the Jamie Cullum concert.
I never expected the concert to go as it did. I thought nobody would know the songs, I thought he was going to be quietly seated in his piano. Big, big mistake of mine. People knew the songs, they sang along as he told them to - more than most concerts I´ve been to - they got up from their seats and danced. It was truly a great pop concert, with a little bit of jazz in it. But the best thing of the concert was Jamie Cullum: you can see how passionate he is about the stuff just by the way he sings, and does everything else.
Jamie Cullum started the concert jumping around, knocking down his seat, taking half of his clothes off. Then he calmed down, sat down, played some more romantic tunes. And then he started all over again, trying to play some brazilian music for his brazilian girlfriend - if he can find beauty in the london skyes for her (fiiinally, I understand the point of that song!!!), I guess h
e can do anything for her. To sum up, great, great concert. I suppose the security people were very unhappy with him, since he went into the crowd (for a Bowie cover), and well, basically, he disappeared. And I suppose it is quite hard to protect someone you can´t actually see, since he is indeed very, very short (1,63 m) - shorter than my mother, which says enough. But the more unpleased the security people were, the happier we were - may not have been totally spontaneous or real, but, at the time, it all felt real and great. From the ballads to the cover, passing by his great cute pop songs - and leaving out my favourites that he did not play - the concert makes my top 5. Sweet guy, passionate, beautiful music, and a cooperative audience - all you really need, no?
A lot of posts this week! But this one, like the free hugs campaign (if you haven't seen it yet, I strongly suggest you'd stop reading this crap and go see it. It will add more to your day), deserves to be posted. 
