If you want to pretend you're Pollock...

Just click here.

Maybe later on I'll regret saying this now but...

... I'm well happy Obama will be president! =)

More on Seinfeld + Lost

I just remembered I forgot to mention another major coincidence between Seinfeld and Lost: Downtown! (a.k.a. Juliet's song). Here is a clip from the episode that somewhat "revolves around" the song in Seinfeld:

FREE Omer Goldman

Movies everybody should see

This is a very personal list. Film students are supposed to make suggestions such as Citizen Kane and Un chien andalou, which are indeed fine and founding cinematic works of art. Nevertheless, if we are true to our core emotions and visual pleasure preferences, the list tends to be not so, let’s say, “academic”.

So here is mine, in no particular order of preference, with no explanations to why I chose them attached, in the fair (yet unplanned) amount of 25 titles. Some of these I might have even already mentioned before. Others I might forget and hence might mention later. If I have to give one reason why these movies are on my list, it would be that each of them is quite unique – these are movies that follow their own rules, if you know what I mean…

Anyway, here it goes: Psycho, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, Os Saltimbancos Trapalhões, The Graduate, Zelig, This is Spinal Tap, Vertigo, Annie Hall, Los Amantes del Círculo Polar, Magnolia, Gilda, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Pulp Fiction, Back to the Future I and II, The Godfather I and II, Kill Bill vols. I and II, Finding Nemo, Duck Soup, Modern Times, High Anxiety, Last Temptation of Christ.

Woody and his “love” for Barcelona – and I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it!

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is possibly Woody Allen’s best “European” film. Not that I hate the movies he’s made in London, but there is just something “off” about them. By trying to transplant the life style of New Yorkers directly to what he understands as Britishness, Allen looses a bit of his touch, since some situations seem simply inapplicable. In VCB that doesn’t happen because Allen humbly puts the focus on the views of two American tourist girls, and this “small” twist makes all the difference in the development of the plot.

Of course VCB is not one of his best films (to me that would be a very selective list, that would include gems such as The Purple Rose of Cairo), but it’s not on the “worst of” list either. Another good point of the movie is that it is “woman centric”: besides the tourists, there is also some room for other interesting female characters - the ones played by Penélope Cruz and Patricia Clarkson. Rebecca Hall (Vicky) and Scarlett Johansson (Cristina) give believable performances as well.

One might not agree with the way relationships are portrayed in the film, but still the least it can be said about it is that it is entertaining. However, perhaps the most important element is indeed Barcelona: after all the polemic BS (sorry for the language, but it is just the precise word for this case) some people gave about the film costing a lot to the local government, it is appeasing to see such a beautifully photographed homage to the capital of Catalonia. In this sense these local critics should just shut up, swallow their unkindness and pray for more directors like Allen to come to work here.

It also has one of the "coolest" movie posters seen lately.

Visa should pay me for this... but I'll post it anyway coz it's good fun!

Untitled II

Sorry that I abandoned this place for the last few days. I’ve been busy, but I shall gradually get back to my writing here. However, I’ve been so out of ideas that I cannot even come up with new titles! Hence the above and the bellow. It’s just that there’s lot going on, so I just feel… tired. One thing I can say though is that the thing I mentioned on my post on the 9^th of September went better than fine! Yay to me! Hehehe! For now, to cheer myself and you casual readers up, I’ll just leave you with a video from one of my favorite bands, The Pixies. This is not a song of their own, but still a great cover. See you all later.

Untitled 1

Good evening to you all. Tomorrow is an important day for me. It’s not that relevant to reveal why here, even because I think that the few readers of this blog already now the reason. Hopefully next time I post I’ll have a feeling of “mission accomplished”. For now, I’ll only say this (which is related to tomorrow): watch Monty Python’s stuff - the films, the musical or the series! It will put a smile on your faces, to say the least. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite sketches from Flying Circus: the one about the SPANISH INQUISITION! Good night!

More on food

After yesterday’s mouthwatering post, I decided to talk a bit about my likes and dislikes when it comes to gastronomy. First, I need to say I miss proper Brazilian cuisine. A lot! Even silly things that I simply cannot find here, such as chilled “água-de-côco”, to drink on the beach on the coconut itself, or in jars at restaurants. So whenever I’m home, I gain some weight from overeating what I missed out on the rest of the year.

There are certain things I don’t like much: still can’t put up with onions (though I know that they are essential to some dishes), I won’t eat too exotic meat (rabbit, for example, which is actually quite popular in Spain, but no way I’ll eat it), and I’m not that into too spicy foods. It’s too much for my tongue and stomach (which is by nature very delicate). I think it’s great that some people know what spices go on well with what, but what seems a bit too much for me is overusing chili, for instance, and then missing out completely the original taste of the food. It’s funny because I live with Mexicans, and while in one hand they complain that the chicken here “tastes like nothing”, on the other hand they don’t like the strong flavor of Roquefort cheese, which I love.

One good thing about living in Europe is that you learn more about international cuisines just by osmosis, especially in the UK, since they have restaurants from all over the world. I found out there that I do really like Mediterranean food, and also from the east side of the sea – the Greek cuisine is so rich and tasty, for instance! I also started enjoying foods that I didn’t back home (out of prejudice or laziness) such as Japanese food.

Another subject is the issue of dietary restrictions: I believe there are delicious vegetarian dishes out there, but I don’t think I could commit to it. I’m not that into meat, but every now and then I would like to enjoy a barbeque, for instance. As for veganism, how could I survive without cheese? I just love it! I know that behind it all there’s the issue of the way animals are treated. I wished I could afford to eat only organic meat, milk, fruits and vegetables, but so far it is just too expensive. Hopefully the agro-industrial companies will manage in the future to change this situation – for the sake of our planet and of us! Then, there are people who are allergic or have other restrictions, such as people who cannot eat gluten. Those have a hard-time, especially in places like Brazil, which is a shame. People tend to look at then as if they didn’t want to eat anything because they are picky, when actually there are cases of people with so severe allergies that they can even die by just accidentally touching a certain food.

About cooking: I enjoy cooking, as long as it isn’t just for me and that it isn’t everyday. Perhaps whenever I have children I’ll have the right stimulus and time to cook more often. It’s just that it’s even a bit depressing to spend at least one hour cooking a nice meal and then eating by yourself in ten minutes. Then you have all that food accumulated that either gets spoilt or too repetitive. So I confess that frozen and ready meals are a bit of a solution, a not very healthy and tasteless one though. I love watching cooking TV shows. I only wished I could afford more and did things better… I probably would if I had been stimulated to cook from my childhood. But, no regrets… I have my lifetime to learn how to make del dishes and hopefully share them with more people. For now, I take the chance that Barcelona has a good amount of nice restaurants and go on trying new things.

Mangiare!

Italy is definitely one of the best tourist destinations of the world – landscapes, arts and history, make your choice: the boot-shaped country offers everything. I don’t know if living there would actually be that nice, considering the news we hear, in terms of politics, job offers and the treatment foreigners receive… however, I’m pretty sure that for as long as it is possible, Italy will carry on being a holiday hotspot.

But oh, I digress! What I want to talk about is their fooood! Delicious! The pasta properly made tastes so much better! The ice-cream is just so… creamy! The coffee is something else – of course it doesn’t grow there, it’s about the way they make it. A true macchiato is an experience for the senses! And the pizza, Dio mio, che pizza! I will elaborate here because pizza is indeed one of my favorite dishes ever: it’s the simple combination of the cheese, the base and the toppings that do the magic.

Unlike most people think, pizza shouldn’t be that fattening of a dish – again, it depends on the way it is made and on the toppings. The bad thing about eating a proper Italian “mamma-mia” made pizza is that afterwards no other pizza is good enough anymore! It’s all about the simple way they hand make and shape the base, that once ready just remains thin, soft and tender – not that way too thick or crunchy thingy they generally sell elsewhere: those are actually just bread and crackers, in my opinion. Then, there is the fresh made tomato sauce, not just some canned artificial stuff. Add up the proper grated mozzarella and some traditional toppings (chocolate pizza?! Italians would probably faint just by hearing that). Last but not least: you bake it on a wood-fire oven. The result comes in a big individual portion, rather than having a “family sized” one to slice.

It all sounds like a complicated (and hence, expensive) process, but for instance, in a city like Genoa you can find a nice and filling margherita for about 3 € on corner pizzerias. After all, in its origins pizza was a dish made by and for the poor.

It has some nutrition values: it gives the carbohydrates from the base, and the cheese, if consumed with moderation, is also a nutritious element. Then there is a world of healthy toppings to choose from as well. I don’t like to complicate it a lot, so anchovies and capers are enough for me.

Lucky me that in Barcelona I can find a “proper” Italian place: Bella Napoli. Once/if I move somewhere else, I will be longing to go back to Italy more often – and God only knows if I’ll be able to afford it! Or maybe I’ll just open a pizza place myself and hire some proper napoletani to do the job!

For now, I’ll leave you with a video I found of Bella Napoli.

What Kate did

Kate Moss is a polemic public character. Anorexic, cokehead, she has been called names all her life. I don’t want to play devil’s advocate, and I don’t condone at all anorexia, nor drug addictions. Nonetheless, I don’t condone judging people, especially people you only “know” from the media.

When those snorting photos were on the covers of the tabloids, many people thought it would be the end of her long-lived modeling career. She did loose some contracts: I remember passing in front of Knightsbridge’s Burberry store just days after the scandal and they were taking down the massive outdoor photograph they had of her. However, some while and a rehab later, Kate was back in biz. A lot of people argued that one of the reasons for that was that it would have been hypocritical from the fashion professionals to just stop hiring such a known model for taking drugs. Since in the jet set world drug taking doesn’t seem to be a very uncommon thing, it would really have been hypocritical to just throw Kate to the bin because of that.

Personally, I am not that into fashion, and I don’t like the whole gossip media world either. I wouldn’t ever say that Kate Moss is my idol, but as someone who’s been misunderstood quite a few times in life, I would like to say a few of good things about her:

1- I think she does try to be a good mother to her daughter Lila Grace.

2- Perhaps she just has a skinny physique, I don’t think she makes that much effort to be slim, so maybe she really isn’t anorexic.

3- She has a very unique kind of beauty, which I think is important in the world of fashion. I mean, she has a funny nose, she doesn’t have much breasts, she isn’t as tall as the other models, she’s very angular and correct me if I’m wrong, but I think she’s even a bit cross-eyed. When she became famous, in the 90’s, she was known for being very different than the other models such as Claudia Schiffer (who I never thought that much of) or Linda Evangelista (to me, she looks like a horse). So Kate used to dress like a crazy teenager back then (which she was), but then, within the years, knowing herself and maturing, she mastered her style, and hell, does the woman dress well! Sarah Jessica Parker? Victoria Beckham? Oh please, they are desperate for attention bimbos! Kate is the one who does it well, even when it comes to designing clothes, like she did for Topshop.

4- She has an exquisite musical taste too. She even tried to sing a few times (not her forte, I agree with the critics), but taking into consideration the people she hangs out with, the places she goes to, and other projects of hers such as music videos (with people like Johnny Cash and The White Stripes), Kate has done more to music than the first lady of France (let’s not even start with that woman!).

5- To finish off with a comic relief: I know she went out with Peter Doherty, and that was a sick romance from day one. But the woman also went out with JOHNNY DEPP! ONE’S GOTTA RESPECT THAT! They were together for about 3 years, I think, and apparently even got engaged, so it was not just a summer love. I only wished I could say the same…

"What are you looking at?"

One feisty lady

One of the good aspects of living in Barcelona is the vast offer for good international gigs. I have been to some so far, though unfortunately I must say I missed some good ones simply because I couldn’t afford to go. I shall discuss some of the concerts I have been to in this blog, and today I will talk about the time I went to see the Canadian singer/song writer Leslie Feist.
Mostly known by her last name (and hence, the pun at the title), Feist is a breath of fresh air at today’s music industry, and her live performances confirm that even more: she really sings and plays, she’s got a great band to support her and she interacts well with the audience. She also adds up cool elements to her performance, such as some sort of shadows show: she has a couple of artists on the back of the stage playing around with lights and shades, paintings and colours, and using other devices that make the best side dish (for the lack of a better way to describe it) to her songs. And the songs are indeed the main dish! Feist has a beautiful, bittersweet and distinctive voice (though not very potent), that goes along perfectly with her melodies, which range from pop-girlish (such as in the case of One Evening) to a more rock-rhythm-aggressive (like in When I was a young girl).
Talking about other aspects of her career, her videos are generally very creative and involve a lot of fun dancing. It is the case of My Moon, My Man (to me, one of the best music videos ever made) and 1, 2, 3, 4. This last one became very popular because it was featured at an advert for IPod. Some criticism towards Feist is due to the fact that she sold the rights of some of her music to corporations like Apple and Lacoste. (Supposed) politics aside, even if Feist is accused of not being a real “indie” artist rather then just being another pop queen in disguise, that doesn’t take the merits of her music. As a matter of fact, I wished people like Madonna were doing for pop music what Feist is doing now. So what if she is one of the best riff makers of the world nowadays and that makes her a good musical source for the world of publicity? She is still a true artist, who writes and performs her own material with a lot of passion. She also seems to be a well fine and stylish lady, which are not necessarily bad things to say about anyone.
To finish off, one example of her music (you can find some more at YouTube), Sealion: she makes at the same time a remake, a homage and something new out of a Nina Simone song. This performance was for the infamous Jools Holland show, at the same day Radiohead, Dionne Warwirck and Mary J. Blige were also there (what I mix!). You can see Thom Yorke and Mary clapping along the song.

Coisas estranhas costumam acontecer comigo – mais ainda na Espanha

I
Um dia, meu celular toca e o seguinte diálogo se dá:
Eu: - Alô.
Mulher: - Quem é você?
Eu (ainda tentando ser educada): - Para quem você ligou?
Mulher: - Você conhece o Jorge?
Eu (pensando, “quem é Jorge?”): - Não conheço nenhum Jorge.
Mulher: - É que o seu número estava aqui no celular dele...
Eu: - Pode ter sido algum engano...
Mulher: - Não há engano nenhum!
Eu: -...
Mulher: - Escuta o que eu vou lhe dizer: fica longe do Jorge! Fica longe do meu marido!
Eu (agora com raiva mesmo): - Senhora, eu não conheço o seu marido, nem tenho interesse em nenhum homem casado!
Mulher: - Isso é o que todas dizem.
E bate o telefone na minha cara. Pelo menos nunca mais recebi ligações da louca. Acho que o tal de Jorge deve ter aprendido a se comportar.

II
Andando pelo centro de Barcelona, se aproxima de mim um efusivo grupo de gays rechonchudos. Um deles, provavelmente tentando me provocar, vira para mim e grita:
- ¡QUEREMOS POLLA!
No que eu respondo:
- ¡Yo también!
E eles caem na gargalhada, enquanto eu desço as escadas para pegar o metrô.

III
Voltando para casa do meu ex-trabalho, num domingo, quase ninguém na rua, me deparo com um senhor estranho, porém simpático, a quem eu jamais havia visto antes na minha vida. Ele me para e diz:
Señor: - Oi! Você quer pão?
Eu (surpresa): - Não, obrigada.
Señor: - É porque eu tenho sobrando.
Eu (tentando dialogar racionalmente com o doido): Mas é que eu já tenho pão em casa...
Señor: - Então leva para os seus amigos.
Eu: - Mas é que eles também já têm pão...
O senhor faz uma cara de triste, como que chateado porque não pôde repartir seu pão.
Eu: - Mas muito obrigada!
E vou embora!

***
Realmente, às vezes a vida é mais estranha que a ficção. Mas o bom é que depois eu rio relembrando desses acontecimentos pitorescos!

The truth upside down is (nearly) the truth as it is

Not to patronize anyone, but basically, mockumentaries are fake documentaries: they present themselves to the public as if they were the real thing, but they are all set ups, and mostly with the intention of making fun of the “realness” of the doc genre. The irony is that by doing that, they manage somehow to show reality in way that the real documentaries could never do. Examples of movies like that are Borat and This is Spinal Tap.

One of the best mockumentaries ever made is certainly Woody Allen’s Zelig (1983). It tells the very unrealistic, yet moving, tale of a “chameleon man” named Leonard Zelig. He suffered from a condition that allowed him to “adapt” to whatever circumstances he was facing, not only psychologically, but also physically. For instance, if he was amongst Native Americans, he would not only behave like them, but he would also look like them. The idea itself is very creative and original, but Allen goes beyond that and constructs a narrative that is both funny and cohesive, making Zelig one of his best films ever.

What is reality anyway? Isn’t it always a construction, either in our minds or fabricated by the Media? Even journalism, for example, that sells itself as if it was reality as it is, is actually always some sort of set up: choosing what to talk about, how to talk about it, how to edit, or even just by choosing where to focus the camera on, is already building up a certain way to see the world accordingly to specific interests. Mockumentaries, especially in cases like Zelig, turn the realistic order upside down, and by doing that they are able to show the other side of the coin.

It is true that Allen has had many ups and downs in his prolific career, but Zelig surely counts as one of his highest moments. He mixes archive footages, fake interviews and well acted misé-en-scenes that along with a very credible voice-over narration turn the unbelievable story into a commentary about the History of the World in the early twentieth century. It features Psychoanalysis, the Nazi regime, silly songs and dances about the human chameleon and even testimonies of people like Susan Sontag. The film manages to entertain and make us think at the same time. At the end, we are all a bit like Zelig, as Zelig has a bit of all of us.

To finish off, I’ll leave you with a very real picture from the day when there was only a glass wall between Woody and me.

Seinfeld X Lost

Those are my favourite TV shows ever. One might think at first that they are quite different, and indeed they are, but I do find some relations between them:

- They both play around with coincidence. Of course in Lost this aspect is part of the mythology of the series, whilst in Seinfeld it is a way to show how absurd life can get.

- At the time Lost was released, there was an advert for Seinfeld reruns that related both shows, including the “almost plane crash” from the last episode of the latter. The commercial used to be on YouTube, but apparently the network asked for it to be taken out.

- Jerry Seinfeld was once a special guest at Third Rock, and at some point of the episode he mentions that he likes Lost and would like to be on it. Oh well, maybe someday we’ll find out Locke and Seinfeld are somehow related?

- Daniel Dae Kim (Jin) was once in a Seinfeld episode.

- Jorge Garcia (Hurley) was actually found out by Lost producers when they watched an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm that featured him. For those of you who don’t know, Curb Your Enthusiasm is the show of Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld.

- Lloyd Braun was once a cookie character from Seinfeld. He was named after a friend of Larry David, who later on became the head of ABC. Braun was the one who came up with the idea of having a show about survivors of a plane crash and called up J.J. Abrams to develop it. Even though Lost turned out to be a big hit, Braun was fired for investing in such an expensive and risky project. Isn’t life ironic?

- Matthew Fox (Jack) was once a host at Saturday Night Life. At the opening speech, they joked about Michael Richards, having a SNL character dressing and behaving just like Kramer (though playing Michael Richards). It was around the time they got Richards on a tape saying racist slurs. He even suggests to Foxy that he could be a character on a Lost flashback.

The list could go on, but I think that’s enough for now. I better go watch now a rerun of whichever of them. This is my solace, since we won’t be getting any new episodes of Lost until January, and none of Seinfeld ever again. However, there is one last thing that bugs me: I know one of the many mysteries of Lost yet to be explained is the apparition of Walt at the last episode of season three. I don’t intend to come up with any theories, but there’s one thing that I want to be explained and it actually has a bit of a Seinfeld feel to it: the issue of Walt’s clothes! I mean, you can see he’s more grown up, by then he had been supposedly out of the island for a while (even if he teletransported or something, he would be coming from the future), yet he wears the same old clothes he used after the crash! Is that really just a mistake from the production team? Or there is indeed some mythological explanation for that? Or, were the writers just having a laugh and adding elements that would more likely belong to a show such as Seinfeld? I’m going with the last one.

Get some new clothes, "my boy"!

Three sisters & some heights

About a year ago I went to Haworth, Yorkshire, UK, where the Brontë sisters lived most of their lives. I was always into their literature and curious about their biographies, so going there and seeing the Parsonage (their home - their father was a clergyman) was really a dream come true. The tiny village is also quite charming, and in itself worth the trip. Getting there is a bit complicated, but I also enjoyed taking the old steam train.

It’s amazing to think of their stories, and the difficulties they went through to get their work recognized on the early Victorian days. Those include publishing their work under masculinised pen names and dying at a young age. In fact, with the exception of Charlotte, they died before their works were acclaimed by the public and critic. Under those circumstances, it’s even more amazing to think that later on they got millions of fans, that their work is still admired.

Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite books ever. I could go on and on trying to explain why, but to which its own, so I just suggest you read it, if you never did. If I can comment on some aspects though (ATTENTION, the rest of this paragraph is only for those who already read it), as time went by and I thought (and read) over and over about it, there are a couple of things that I think now that I didn’t when I first read it: A) why the hell all the actors who play Heathcliff in the movies are proper white brits? I know that shouldn’t be an issue since Laurence Olivier (for instance, who played the character on the 1939 version) was one of the greatest actors ever, but in the book Heathcliff’s “darkness” is always mentioned, and I think it is very relevant to the plot actually. So the best actor to play him nowadays probably would actually be someone like Naveen Andrews. Oh well, maybe one day someone will get it right! B) I agree with some literary critics who say that one of the reasons why Cathy and Heathcliff could never be together was because perhaps they were half-siblings. Some go as far as saying that that was a parallel to Emily’s relationship to her bother Branwell, but perhaps that is reading way too much into it.

That all said, shame on me for still having to read the Brontë sisters’ books in English – so far I only read translated versions. One more thing for my to do list.

This is what Heathcliff should look like - in different clothes, of course.

Parríiiii!

Uma das versões d'O Beijo, de Rodin, esta em bronze, em frente ao Orangerie.

Em dias como hoje (que não foi tão legal para mim), o bom é fazer que nem a Maria recomenda em A Noviça Rebelde e pensar em My Favourite Things. A dica vale para qualquer pessoa, e geralmente funciona de fato. Problemas para dormir? Comece a pensar em coisas felizes! Imagine o seu futuro ideal, ou lembre-se de momentos alegres do passado. Para mim, pensar em comidas gostosas também ajuda. Mas enfim, o título deste post é por conta da viagem que fiz há cerca de um mês à Paris. Já virou memória que põe um sorriso na minha cara!

Depois de quase cinco anos vivendo no velho mundo, finalmente criei vergonha na cara e fui à cidade-luz. Não fui antes por uma série de circunstâncias que não precisam ser explicadas aqui. Mas a espera valeu a pena! Pelo menos para mim... cada um que vá lá e crie as suas próprias impressões. Tem gente, por exemplo, que acha que como a cidade tem uma aura romântica (e de fato tem), é o tipo da viagem que só se deve fazer a dois. Bem, é verdade que um casal pode aproveitar para passear nos Jardins de Luxemburgo, jantar em bons restaurantes de mãos dadas e coisas assim, mas ir só também pode ser muito divertido. No meu caso, eu até preferi ir assim porque pude fazer a minha própria programação e ver as coisas ao meu ritmo. Falar alguma coisa de francês também ajuda (e olhe que o meu estava enferrujado há uns seis anos!), já que lá tem muita gente que tem até raiva de quem chega falando inglês. Eu recomendo também um bom livro-guia com mapinha (na minha opinião os Lonely Planet são os melhores) para ajudar a fazer a programação. Outra dica é comprar um passe de museus. Ele está a venda em qualquer ponto de informação para turistas e dá direito a entrar nos principais sem ter de fazer fila para comprar o ingresso. Além do mais, o valor geralmente também compensa.

Fique ciente de que não vai dar para ver tudo em poucos dias: são muitas atrações. Então é bom dar uma selecionada baseando-se nas preferências pessoais. Claro que não dá para perder a Torre Eiffel e alguma coisa do Louvre (que realmente é enorme, não dá para ver tudo de uma vez) – leia-se a Mona Lisa – mas faça uma lista de prioridades. Para mim, o melhor museu é o D’Orsay, mas talvez seja porque eu sempre fui fã do Impressionismo. Já de arrondissements, o meu favorito é o Quartier Latin. Coma um crepe preparado na hora (que nem é tão caro assim) ou se der para gastar um pouco mais, coma numa típica brasserie e prove a rica culinária francesa. Uma coisa a ser considerada também é o clima. Quando estive lá cheguei a pegar 38 graus! Um sol e calor incríveis. Porém, uma noite choveu bastante – o que me disseram que é bem típico da capital francesa. Vá preparado para essas mudanças bruscas.

O que eu achei mais diferente de Paris comparado ao resto do que já vi da Europa é que ao contrário de outros lugares, quase tudo é grande: os largos boulevars, os parques, os museus e monumentos, tudo é de tirar o fôlego. Por exemplo, eu imaginava o Big Ben enorme, mas quando o vi não achei lá essas coisas. Já a Torre Eiffel é de fato imponente. Para uma experiência completa, o bom é passear pelo menos uma vez de noite também, para ver a Torre iluminada e a luzes da cidade, especialmente na área do Champs-Elysée.

Voltei renovada da viagem, e já pensando como será da próxima vez que estiver lá (só Deus sabe quando), nas coisas em que deixei de fazer e nas outras que quero rever.

Inocência perdida

Esta é um “re-edição” de um dos e-mails que enviei aos meus amigos como uns 7 meses depois de ter chegado na Inglaterra. Na época, pensei até em fazer um blog, mas achava que enviando os e-mails para uma lista teria mais privacidade. Como o e-mail era longo demais, dei uma editada. Relendo agora, a impressão que eu tenho é de que realmente estava vivendo um dos períodos mais felizes da minha vida. Uma época de descobertas, de esperança – um tempo em que eu tinha muito mais energia para enfrentar às coisas. Eu gostaria muito de voltar a ter aquela “inocência”. Reler estas palavras ajuda um pouco, mas enfim, sei que não posso me prender ao passado, que tenho de seguir em frente.

(...) Quando eu era criança morria de inveja de quem morava em casa com escada e quem tinha banheira no banheiro. Hoje morando numa casa que tem escada e banheira (não é luxo, até as casas mais liseiras aqui têm) penso “Grande *¬”$£!”. Enfim, é um saco ficar subindo e descendo escada cada vez que se precisa de uma coisa e banho de banheira, francamente: você fica lá simplesmente boiando na própria mundiça!

(...) Vendo a capa da minha agenda da Tribo deste ano (sim, forcei a me mandarem esta “porcaria” daí) prestei mais atenção à foto de uma borboleta que tem nela. A gente sempre escuta aquele clichê da metamorfose, que um bicho feio vira uma coisa linda e tal. Mas reparando melhor, percebi (oh, como sou inteligente, hehehe) que fora as asas, no meio o bicho ainda se parece muito com qualquer inseto nojento. Não, não estou dizendo que uma vez feia, para sempre feia. Só quero dizer que a gente pode se aperfeiçoar em muita coisa, mas tem umas que são próprias da nossa natureza, jamais vão mudar, e a gente tem de conviver com isso. Bem, pelo menos acho que dá pra gente criar asas.

(...) Eu lá sabia que a Carly Simon tinha um filho com o James Taylor, que se chama Ben Taylor, igualzinho a um professor meu aqui! Aliás, estava lendo outro dia que ela fez aquela música You’re so vain (e vai mais na letra: “you think this song is about you...”) pro Warren Beatty, que no começo dos anos 70 parece que foi amante dela. E não é sobre ele mesmo não a musga não, muié? Oxe! Quer esculhambar, esculhamba direito! Quer bem dizer que era só sobre ela mesmo!

(...) Finalmente tive a chance de assistir Gilda na telona. Muito bom! Cada vez que assisto vejo mais coisas diferentes. Se tivesse feito a minha mona aqui, teria muito mais bibliografia e estaria em contato com mais pessoas que poderiam me ajudar. Mas o que está feito está feito, não acho que vá voltar a escrever sobre o mesmo assunto.

(...) Na Páscoa aqui estranhamente o feriado é na sexta e na... segunda! Parece que os ingleses transferem sempre pra segunda quando feriado cai em dia de fim-de-semana. Nessa acho que eles acabam tendo mais feriado do que nós! Primeiro de maio por exemplo acabou transferido pra segunda seguinte. Foi tudo tranqüilo por aqui, nas 3 semanas de “folga” que eles dão aos estudantes universitários quando chega a primavera. Aliás, tudo tem estado relativamente tranqüilo: o estágio já passou, filmamos uns lances, continuo no trabalho e é sempre bom ganhar bombons, cartão e flores quando não se espera! Pena que em breve as aulas acabam, fico só na tese e muitos dos amigos que fiz voltam aos seus respectivos países! Mas não hei de ficar tão só!

(...) Tinha me esquecido de comentar sobre o museu britânico, da época em que mandei o boletas sobre a minha primeira viagem a Londres. Enfim, lá vai a minha impressão: como esses ingleses roubaram do resto do mundo! Comentei isso com a Karmela, minha chapa grega, e ela nem ficou tão irada. Ela me disse: “Mas estando aqui mais gente de todo lugar do mundo tem chance de ver essas coisas”. É, pode ser. Mas que tem coisa demais roubada, ah tem! Curiosidade: não vi nenhuma, NENHUMA, imagem roubada do Egito que tivesse o povo desenhado fazendo aquela posição “aí dentro” com uma das mãos e um “aí fora” com a outra. Acho que vocês estão entendendo a imagem que eu estou explicando. Acho então que essa imagem é criação do Chavez mesmo, hehehe. Eles têm outras poses nos desenhos. Fiquei só pensando também, nos meus pensamentos loucos, como seria legal se de repente uma daquelas varias múmias se levantasse! O povo ia morrer de medo, mas que ia ser divertido, ah ia, hehehe!

(...) Uma das coisas que fiz recentemente foi ajudar “de gratis” com um Festival local de cinema mudo. O tema era a I Guerra Mundial e afins. Muitos dos filmes evocavam a glória do então enorme império britânico. Entendo que esses filmes foram exibidos como registro histórico, o que é importante, até porque a colonização aconteceu mesmo e não têm máquina do tempo que mude isso. Mas isso não significa que os ingleses de hoje devam se orgulhar disso, ou sei lá, que tenham saudades desse tempo. Pois o que me invocou justamente foi que muita gente, ao final da exibição dessas porcarias patrióticas do então Mega Império, aplaudiu loucamente! Só eu fiquei lá de braços cruzados! E só não sei se eles aplaudiram porque de fato eles têm orgulho e saudade desses tempos ou se é porque eles são ingleses mesmo e não seria “educado” deixar de aplaudir.

(..) Quanto a Eternal, é uma das historias de amor mais bonitas que vi recentemente! Vai ver as pessoas têm mesmo uma ligação extraordinária, maior até do que as memórias que uma tem da outra! E a Kate Winslet se garante. Muita gente esculhamba a pobi por causa de Titanic, mas se esquece que ela já fez coisas como Heavenly Creatures.

(...) Daí chego no centro da cidade e pego o metro pra área onde o Beto (primo da mamy) mora, Blackheath. A estação dele é North Greenwich, a que fica em cima do Millenium Dome, o tal do circo branco gigante, considerado um dos maiores elefantes brancos deste país. Mas enfim, chego, a estação é chiquérrima, saio para esperá-lo que ele disse que viria me pegar de carro. Daí enquanto espero começo a ouvir tocar umas musicas dos Beatles, como se fosse ao vivo, na voz de Sir Paul! Toca Sgt Peppers (não o álbum todo, só a música mesmo), Lady Madonna e outras coisas. E Live and Let Die, que e só dele. Então eu penso: “Será? Ele? O Paul, metros de distância de mim? Como? Não parece ser show, não tem barulho de multidão. Não pode ser...”. Mas depois eu fui checar na internet: ERA ELE! PAUL ESTEVE HÁ POUCOS METROS DE MIM! Isso porque ele alugou o Millenium Dome por essas últimas 3 semanas para ensaiar pra Mega turnê mundial dele que vai começar em breve! É por essas e outras, como ouvir um doidinho tocando por uns trocados no meio do metro Wild Horses, e apertar a mão do Ken Loach que eu fico feliz por estar onde estou!

(...) Então fui até Notting Hill, andar pelo mercado de Portobello e tudo mais. É uma gracinha o bairro, mas se não tivessem feito um filme que tinha o nome dele, nem seria tão fashion assim. É um lugar como qualquer outro, com suas gentes e lendas. Podia então bem ser “Um Lugar Chamado José Walter”, hehehe!

(...) Brighton! Pensei que como já estava em Londres, podia ir só mais um pouco ao sul pra uma cidade litorânea, matar saudade do mar. A maior parte das praias deste país e de pedrinha e mal tem ondas, mar cinza e tals. E no dia estava chovendo. Mesmo assim, valeu a pena. O pier de lá tem varias coisas, e achei a cidade um charme, mas como estava só e carregando uma bolsa pesada, não me demorei muito por lá. Mas do pouco que passei, fiquei uma meia hora só olhando pro mar, como se eu nunca tivesse visto antes! E fácil achar que isso é bobagem quando se está em Fortaleza e se pode ver o mar a qualquer hora, mas não é o mesmo quando se passa mais de 4 meses sem vê-lo. Já ouvi gente que diz se sentir agoniada quando vê aquele mundão de água – geralmente gente que não nasceu e cresceu no litoral. Pois pra mim, o mar da uma sensação de liberdade (um clichê verdadeiro!) que nada mais dá. E como a Jen disse no final de Dawson’s (putz, a que nível eu cheguei, hehehe!) o mar nos força a sonhar!

(...) blá, provavelmente já tem gente por demais no mundo escrevendo historinhas de viagens!

E eu adiciono agora, em 2008: Ou não...