My Last Days in Australia

This is long overdue, but I finally got over my lazy ass to post about my last few days in Sydney. It was a mix of some very dull moments and some very interesting ones. I guess there are basically three very interesting things to talk about from these last few days in Sydney: first and shortest of all, if you are ever in Sydney and are a fan of chocolate (specifically, Lindt chocolate!!) go to Darling Harbour and look for the Lindt Café!!!! It's in one of the most pleasant spots in Sydney (Darling Harbour), and the chocolate is, of course, amazing!!! You can actually have a Lindt-chocolate Milkshake (not at all overpriced, by the way), and I'll tell you it's the best chocolate milkshake I've ever had. They also have all sorts of other delicious chocolaty things worth a try, by do not forget to try the milkshake!!!! I wish I'd taken a photo... :-(

The second thing worth mentioning was the Powerhouse Museum. It's supposed to be "The Hippest Museum in Sydney" and, even though I haven't been to any other, my guess is that it is. It's a pretty unusual museum with expos on fashion, music, Aussie history, science... whatever you want, they probably do it!! It's pretty cool, albeit a bit too busy; I saw expos on the history of design, australian music, history of the steam engine, evolution of artificial inteligence and success stories of aussie "inventiveness". All of them pretty cool, even with a layman's introduction to the Turing Test (which was pretty surprising, pic on the right)... they even had an expo on Lady Di, but it cost something like $4 to get in and I already had my share for the day...

The third, and coolest of all, was the walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach, two of the three big Sydney beaches (the third being Manli, which I'd already been to the first time around). If you're ever in Sydney, drop anything else for this walk!!! (well, maybe not the Opera House and Circular Quay area, but you know what I mean...) It's awesome!!!! It's a pretty long walk, though... and after a certain point you kinda get sick of it, it all gets a little repetitive... so, if you're not up for the whole mileage of the walk, just do the first half, it's definitely the better half!!! Bondi is a pretty nice beach, even if a little touristy and crowded... too many surfists!!!! Right next to the beach, at the very beginning of the scenic walk, there's one of the coolest pools ever, basically in the ocean (hopefully you can get it from the photos!!). Pretty cool, hey???
Basically the walk is a pathway right by the ocean. Maybe the photos will give you a good idea of what I mean. Well, just don't miss it.

What I Read in Oz

Tou de volta em casa, então vou voltar a postar em inglês...

I'm back home! After a wonderful month in Australia (hopefully you've seen the photos), I'm back in Campinas and eager to post about the books I read while I was there. Well, I don't know about you guys but I need a book when I'm traveling: there's just so many different situations when you feel like reading something good that I'm sure I'll be constantly regretting it if I don't bring any good book with me. With that in mind, I bought a book before leaving Brasil: Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce. I'd tried Joyce before (Finnegan's Wake, if you are curious), with very little success. But, I don't know why, I thought this would be easier. Well, it sure is easier, but not quite easy enough. The thing is, a good travel-book has to be "easy-reading" too, in the sense that it shouldn't require too much concentration to get through: definitely I'd made a bad choice this time. Consequently, my first couple of weeks in Australia were pretty much bookless. When I got to Adelaide though, I got a pretty cool gift from my dear hostess, a book called Down Under, by Bill Bryson. Bryson has one of the best jobs ever: he basically goes on a trip and then writes a book about it. And he is a pretty good writer too, very funny, very enticing. He also does his homework pretty well, talking a lot about Australia's history, fairly superficial but interesting opinions/analysis of its current situation, some unusual (but really interesting) destinations. It's the perfect companion for a guy who is backpacking through Australia and I wished I'd bought it before I went; I might've changed some of my plans based on his experiences: I think I'd probably put visiting the Outback higher up on my priority list. I quite enjoyed the book, and may even buy some of his other books, just gotta figure out what's my next destination.... :-)
By the time I was flying back here, I'd almost finished the book so I knew that I'd need something to get me through the endless flight back home. So, everything kinda fell into place when I was walking around Sydney, the day before my flight, and I wandered into this cheap bookstore after seeing Slam, the new book by Nick Hornby on the window. Nick Hornby, for those that don't know it yet, is one of my favorite author's, having written such gems as High Fidelity, About a Boy, Fever Pitch and A Long Way Down. I just had to buy it.
First of all, a word of warning is in place: this is a book about a teenager written for teenagers. Even though its topic is pretty serious (teenage pregnancy), I am, by no means, its target audience. Having said that, I found it a pretty enjoyable harmless reading; it's not brilliant and it's not up to the standard of his previous books (always keeping in mind, I'm not the intended audience here). I don't know if it's already been too long since I was a teenager, but Sam is a really annoyingly silly, Tony Hawk-crazed, very "teenagy" guy, whereas Alicia is this centered, well-balanced, unbelievably pretty girl. He is in fact so childish that you just get pissed off most of the time reading the book (since its told from his perspective, knowing what he thinks sometimes is just irritating). But it is a pretty interesting book about a pretty rough subject, with intricate , well-developed characters (Sam and Alicia, for example, change quite a lot throughout the book). And it feels quite realistic too. It was an enjoyable book overall, just below his previous work because of the whole "teenage-book" thing.

Written to the sound of A.C. Newman, Badly Drawn Boy, Elliot Smith and Jeff Buckley...

Por que voce vai comer McDonald's quando vier pra Australia

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A Australia tem umas coisas interessantes, monetariamente falando: algumas coisas sao estranhamente caras aqui. Comer eh razoavelmente caro. Beber (alcoolicos ou nao-alcoolicos) eh impossivelmente caro. Mas o McDonald's, Deus o abencoe, eh barato. :-)

Vamos fazer algumas comparacoes de precos: a primeira coisa a dizer eh que, antes de vir pra cah, eu paguei R$1,78 para cada AU$ (dolar australiano)... ou seja, a proporcao eh mais ou menos de 9/5. Vamos lah entao:

• Voce nao consegue comprar uma cerveja, equivalente a um chopp medio no Brasil, por menos do que AU$5,00 em bares/boates. As vezes, em algum Happy Hour, vc consegue algo melhor; mas, via de regra eh entre AU$5,50 e AU$7,00.
• Um cafe (espresso) custa entre AU$2,50 e AU$3,00
• Uma garrafa de agua de 600ml numa loja de conveniencias custa uns AU$3,00 (o mesmo que uma coca ou sprite)
• Voce nao consegue pedir um prato, de qq tipo, por menos do que AU$10,00
• Uma bola de sorvete nao custa menos do que AU$4,00
• Um sundae da McDonald's custa +-AU$2,50

Agora, sabe quanto custa a promocao (pequena) do BigMac (ou McChicken, Quarteirao, etc.)??? AUS$5,45!!!!! Pqp, eh barato demais!!!! +AU$0,50 pra promocao media ou +AU1,00 pra promocao grande... eh imbativel!!! O unico jeito de comer por menos que isso (e ficar satisfeito) eh cozinhar... entao, a conclusao eh de que se voce vai fazer mochilao pela Australia sozinho (oq tira completamente o, jah quase inexistente numa viagem como essa, tesao de cozinhar), voce vai comer muito McDonald's...

Mudando completamente de assunto, Havaianas realmente eh um sucesso mundial!!! Voce as encontra em todo lugar aqui na Australia pra vender pelo "justo" preco de AU$25,00!!! E eles tem varias "havaianas alternativas" tambem, inclusive que alegam serem marcas brasileiras (das quais eu nunca ouvi falar)... rpz, o publicitario que bolou esse reposicionamento da Havaianas para produto cult eh um genio!!!!

Mais uns dias em Cairns e a volta para Sydney

ra minha sorte, o tempo abriu e os meus ultimos tres dias em Cairns foram maravilhosos: a balada continuou boa soh q durante o dia tinha muito sol, lagoa (na verdade uma piscina bem grande) e, na sexta-feira, eu peguei um barco pra conhecer a Grande Barreira de Corais. Bem, na verdade eu tinha ido jah a Barreira na terca-feira com John, pra Fitzroy Island, mas nao acho que aquilo contou muito nao: o tempo tava horrivel, nao dava pra ver nada, a gente nao teve muita orientacao... enfim, nao considerei muito aquela primeira ida. Dessa vez, no entanto, a Barreira foi tudo que prometeu: eu fiz inclusive um mergulho guiado, o que foi fantastico!!!! Agora, com certeza, vou fazer o curso quando voltar aih pro Brasil!!!!!



Meus primeiros diasem Cairns foram broxantes: o tempo tava uma merda, eu tinha acabado de me despedir de uma galera massa que tinha continuado a excursao pra Alice Springs (meio do deserto da Australia, oq tinha me deixado com uma pontinha de inveja). Oq salvou um pouco eh q a balada em Cairns eh boa, especialmente um lugar para mochileiros chamado Wool Shed. Mas, p

De Adelaide para Cairns

Aproveitei mais uns dias em Adelaide, o tempo tava maravilhoso, sol brilhando, praia todo dia, andei de caiaque no sabado, fomos pra uns barzinhos de noite (nao tenho foto de nada disso, por isso tou contando meio as pressas :-) )... domingo seis horas da manha tava de pe pra pegar o aviao as 8:00... por volta das 11 pousei em Cairns, extremo nordeste da Australia, a cidade mais turistica com acesso a Grande Barreira de Corais. Como o tempo em Adelaide tava maravilhoso eu, por algum motivo idiota, achei que isso se estenderia a Cairns: ledo engano... encontrei um tempo mega-chuvoso, bem feio por aqui... aparentemente a estacao chuvosa acabou de comecar e deve durar pelo verao inteiro... fazer oq, ne?? Fiquei meio em duvida sobre oq fazer... curso de mergulho, soh snorkelling, mergulho guiado (nao precisa do curso, um instrutor fica com vc o tempo todo)... conheci entao um brother ingles que fez rafting por aqui e ia viajar amanha pra Fitzroy Island, uma das ilhas que fica na barreira... viagem de um dia mesmo, pega o barco de manha cedo e volta a tarde... a ideia de rafting me pareceu interessante, nunca tive a vergonha na cara de ir em Brotas depois de sete anos de Campinas.... gostei da ideia e comprei o pacote: vou fazer rafting daqui a uns 30 mins., passarei a tarde no rio. Amanha de manha pego o mesmo barco que ele e vou pra Fitzroy Island... chegando lah decido oq fazer: se quero soh fazer snorkelling, pagar pelo mergulho guiado, fazer umas trilhas na ilha, ficar relaxando na praia, lendo... seja oq for, vai ser massa... dah pra alugar umas cameras a prova d'agua pra tirar fotos do mergulho!!!!! Acho q vou rachar o aluguel com John (o brother ingles): vem a camera (10 Megapixels!!) e um cartao de memoria de 2Gb... ou seja, com um pouco de sorte (o sol tem q aparecer pelo menos um pouco), amanha vou colocar uma cacetada de fotos por aqui... :-)

A proposito, John fez Bungy Jump ontem... aqui eh um dos pontos mais populares pra isso na Australia... eu pensei bastante na ideia, mas nao tenho coragem nao... fica pra proxima...

E, como eu havia prometido anteriormente, algumas fotos da balsa de Manli Beach pra Sydney no por-do-sol... bjos e abracos!!!!!


Sim, eu tou em pelo menos uma dela... :-)




E a grande campea....

Fim-de-semana em Sydney

Voltando pro início da viagem, depois de sair Wollongong eu passei o fim-de-semana em Sydney com Carla e Barbara. Eu e Carla não tínhamos nada reservado pra Sydney e Barbara, como já falei, tava lá pela empresa. Ela tinha um quarto de hotel reservado e descobriu que o quarto dela tinha duas camas de casal; o que ela fez? Chamou a gente pra ficar no quarto!!! Uhuuuu!!! Hotel 4 estrelas, e de graça!!!! Saímos então pra jantar num restaurante tailandês muito massa, o preferido do cara que escreveu pro Lonely Planet. Infelizmente não tenho fotos dessa noite, tão nas máquinas delas, então vou postar as fotos do dia seguinte: café da manhã num café irlandês, Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Jardim Botânico, Rocks Market...

Eu sei que a foto não tá das melhores, mas é a única que eu tinha... comemos "Scones", recém-saídos do forno... delícia, com um pouco de manteiga e geléia e chá irlandês. Não tem jeito, eu não sou um cara pra chá... por mais que todo mundo diga "que delícia de chá!!!", eu não entendo o fascínio...

Depois disso, fizemos o passeio turístico obrigatório pela cidade... pena que nesse dia o tempo tava meio chuvoso... mas ainda assim tirei boas fotos...


No domingo, as meninas tinham que ir embora, então fomos à Opera House pela manhã, e depois eu fui pra praia de Manli, encontrar com Amanda (a brasileira que eu conheci no avião e que vai morar os próximos meses em Sydney). O tempo estava bem melhor, assim como as fotos!!! O tour da Opera House é super legal, vale a pena ver como ela é por dentro, mas não deu pra tirar fotos das partes interessantes... mas tenho mais do que suficiente de fora pra compensar!!!

Pra ir pra Manli você pega uma balsa em Circular Quay, ao lado da Opera House e da ponte e tem uma vista linda da cidade... por exemplo, um ângulo alternativo da Opera House...


Aqui, estamos eu e Amanda em Manli...



Eu ainda tenho um monte de fotos desse domingo pra postar, especialmente porque eu peguei a balsa de volta pra Sydney bem na hora do pôr-do-sol e as fotos ficaram lindas!!!! Mas eu tou com preguiça de escolher o que colocar online então vou deixar pra próxima vez pra não fazer mal-feito... beijos e abraços pra todos!!!

Adelaide

Sydney, eu passei o fim-de-semana por lá, com Car Eu vou dar um mega-pulo na narração da viagem pra poder falar do que está acontecendo agora: Adelaide. Basicamente, depois de chegar emla e Barbara, fiz uma viagem de ônibus "turística" de três dias entre Sydney e Melbourne, conheci um monte de gente massa, reencontrei Alysia e Lorraine (duas amigas minhas da Alemanha) em Melbourne, passei uns 4 dias por lá, aluguei um carro com dois amigos que conheci no ônibus e viemos dirigindo até Adelaide (chegamos na terça-feira). Eu ainda vou postar detalhes e fotos de todas essas etapas, mas como tou ansioso pra falar de ontem (quarta-feira), vou pular tudo isso temporariamente e falar um pouco de Adelaide. A cidade é menor do que Melbourne e Sydney, mas mantém o mesmo tipo de estrutura geral: um centro muito massa e bem estruturado, ótimo transporte público, e todo mundo morando em subúrbios bastante afastados: até parece filme americano dos anos 70, bem estilo Wonder Years. É meio pé-no-saco isso, porque você basicamente tem que pegar carro/ônibus pra fazer qualquer coisa, mas aparentemente morar no centro é proibitivamente caro.
Bem, chegamos em Adelaide na terça por volta das 18hr. Dan e Elske (meus companheiros de viagem, inglês e holandesa) ficaram num hostel e eu encontrei com Nerissa, mais uma amiga minha da Alemanha, pra poder explorar a hospitalidade dela. Voltamos pra casa dela, conheci os pais dela, e saímos pra jantar numa região da cidade muito massa, meio afastada do centro, na beira da praia: Glenelg. A praia é super bonita e a gente chegou bem a tempo de pegar o pôr-do-sol (horário de verão...) e comer uma comida tailandesa muito gostosa.



Ontem (quarta-feira), eu fui conhecer de fato a cidade, biblioteca, museus, prédio do parlamento, a universidade... tudo bem bonito, na região norte da cidade, que aparentemente é a parte mais bonita mesmo da cidade. Depois, o ponto alto do dia: show do Muse!!!!!!! Uma das coisas que me deixa mais puto de morar no Brasil é que basicamente ninguém vai fazer show aí. Só mega-bandas como U2 ou Rolling Stones se dão ao luxo de passar no pobre do Brasil em suas mega-turnês mundiais... e mesmo assim é sempre pra tocar em estádios e tal... seria difícil uma banda como Muse, boa pra caralho mas não tão famosa como um U2 da vida, ir para o Brasil... eu assisti ao show deles num lugar muito massa, estilo Credicard Hall... eu não conhecia muita coisa deles, mas ainda assim achei o show muito do caralho, muito impressionante... só música foda, uma produção fantástica, enfim, valeu cada centavo... assim que eu conseguir, vou postar dos vídeos que gravei do show no YouTube e atualizo esse post pra apontar pra lá!!!!!

De Wollongong para Sydney

Continuando com a minha saga Australiana... Vamos viajar de Wollongong para Sydney!!! Eu conheci uma americana (Barbara) e uma espanhola (Carla) na conferência [ambas na foto acima]: Barbara estava lá a trabalho, pela empresa onde trabalhar; Carla estava apresentando um artigo, como eu. Barbara tava com um carro alugado e ia pra Sydney sexta à tarde, e eu e Carla pulamos no barco e pegamos a carona dela. Tem uma estrada massa de Wollongong para Sydney, que vai margeando a praia e fomos por ela: a estrada é muito massa, pena que o tempo não tava dos melhores. Algumas fotos da estrada... é, eu sei que não apareço em nenhuma... eu provavelmente apareço nas fotos das máquinas delas, mas ainda preciso pegá-las...

Multilingual - Algumas Fotos, Some Photos!!!!

Eu sou o pior blogger da historia, eu sei... mas finalmente eu vou atualizar meu blog semi-abandonado... e dessa vez com fotos!!!! Ah, e com post multi-lingual!!!

So, I am the worst blogger ever... but I'm finally posting a fewe photos of my first few days here in Australia, let's see what you guys think!!!!


OK, minha viagem comecou com um longo voo de Buenos Aires ate Auckland... infelizmente,, eu soh conheci o aeroporto de Auckland, mas logico q eu tirei algumas fotos!!!!

So my trip started off with a pretty long flight from Buenos Aires to Auckland, of which I only got to see the airport... but of course that didn't stop me from getting a few pictures in NZ-soil!!!

Aqui estamos eu e Amanda (paulista muito gente boa q sentou do meu lado no voo e virou minha amiga, vai morar seis meses em Sydney pra aprender ingles) no terminal principal do aeroporto, pagando mico de turista... mas era um terminal tao legal q eu nao resisti... :-)

This is me and Amanda, a very nice brazilian girl I met on the flight over to Sydney.... she's gonna live there for 6 months doing a language course... she's in a house right in Manli Beach... tough life, hey!?!?

Essa foi minha primeira vista (apesar de bem ruizinha, tirada do aviao e tals) de Sydney!!!! La estao a Opera House e a Harbour Bridge... mas nao se preocupem porque melhores fotos virao!!!! :-)

So this is my first (kinda crappy) view from Sydney. The Opera House, The Harbour Bridge... you know the drill... but no worries, better shots are coming!!!!


Depois de pousar fui direto pra Wollongong.... agora tou percebendo q nao tirei muitas fotos de lah, nao quanto deveria... mas essa foto do campus da universidade eh bem legal, mostra o quanto era agradavel lah, eu passei bastante tempo deitado por essas gramas aih... :-)

So, apparently I didn't take nearly as many pics in Wollongong (where the conference actually took place) as I should've... but still there are some nice ones... this one is from the uni campus, which is unbelievably nice... I spent some nice times just lying around in this grass... :-)

Chegada na Australia, primeiro dia em Wollongong

Aviso: Acentos nao funcionam por aqui, entao vai ser sem mesmo...

Quando falam que a Australia eh longe, eles nao estao brincando. A viagem demora, demora, demora... aih demoramais um pouquinho e voce pousa na Nova Zelandia. Aih voce sai do aviao, passa pela checagem de passaportes de novo, tira um monte foto "pagacao-de-mico" pra depois provar pra todo mundo que esteve na Nova Zelandia (e q eu nao vou poder mostrar agora pq ainda nao sei direito como vou transferir as fotos pra esse computador tosco que eu tou usando aqui), decola de novo uma hora depois e, depois de mais tres horas, voce chega em Sydney.
Sobrevoar Sydney eh aquela emocao: a Opera House, a ponte, a sensacao de que finalmente vc estah chegando... eh tudo muito massa! Eu pousei entao por volta das 11 da manha do dia 30/10, horario local. Depois de fazer a imigricao sem maiores problemas (a galera, apesar de detalhista e tal, eh muito amigavel) e me despedir da Amanda, uma brasileira gente boa que veio sentada do meu lado no aviao e vai passar seis meses estudando em Sydney (e q vcs poderiam conhecer se eu conseguisse colocar nossa fotos pagando mico no aeroporto de Auckland aqui), mochila nas costas, peguei meu trem pra Wollongong pra parte "profissional" da viagem.
Cheguei 3 horas da tarde em Wollongong e mais 20 min. andando, cheguei no albergue: muito bom, arrumadinho, serve tambem de moradia pra uma galera da Universidade de Wollongong. Por volta das 4 sai pra explorar a cidade, andar na praia, essas coisas... a praia daquie eh basicamente identica as praias do Brasil, mas a agua eh fria pra caralho. Os australianos realmente curtem esportes, andar na praia, etc... a cidade eh super agradavel, bem q Campinas podia ser assim... pra quem conhece, parece Barao Geraldo, soh q mais seguro, mais limpo, mais arejado, casas sem muro e com a praia a no maximo 5 minutos de distancia... ou seja, nao parece nem um pouquinho com Barao Geraldo...
Outra peculiaridade: as moscas aqui sao um pe no saco. Pra todo lugar que voce anda tem mosca pousando em voce... e elas sao bem mais corajosas que as brasileiras, voce tem que realmente tentar bater nelas pra elas voarem... mas daqui a pouco elas pousam de novo de qualquer jeito... eu sei oq voce tah pensando: eu tava precisando de um banho. Nao que isso nao fosse verdade, mas mesmo depois de cheiroso, continuou assim... aih eu percebi que nas camisas das pessoas andando dah pra ver sempre 5, 6 moscas pousadas... bizarro, ne???
Bem, alem disso, as pessoas sao muito, muito amigaveis mesmo... todo mundo fala com voce, te trata bem... muito massa mesmo. Dei sorte e no meu quarto tem um brother que trabalha na universidade e ja me disse que vai me levar (de carro) pra conferencia... hehehehehhe o dfoda eh que quando eu disse q era brasileiro ele insistiu ate a morte pra eu aparecer num jogo de futebol deles aqui amanha a noite... coitados, imagina soh a decepcao deles... :-)

bjos a todos, espero poder colocar fotos nos meus posts aqui em breve...
Rafa

Switching to Portuguese for a little while...

While I'm here in Australia I'll post mostly in portuguese, because I want my mom to be able to understand... I hope all my (imaginary) non-portuguese-speaking readers can enjoy the photos... :-)

Australia!!

Yeah baby, I'm going to Australia!!!!! I can finally say that, short of a lightning bolt falling on my ass, I'm flying to Australia this Sunday. I just got news today that my visa application got accepted, I've had my ticket for a couple of weeks now, now it's just a matter of waiting a few days and BAM!!!!, Australia it is!!! Naturally I have quite a few plans already: there is this conference I have to attend and there's some people I'm visiting. Let's see what I already have:

• I land in Sydney Tuesday, the 30th of October. Go straight to Wollongong, where ProvSec 2007 (the conference I'm attending) is taking place.
• The conference is actually on the 1st and 2nd of November, so that will give one day to explore the town and see what's up. Then there's a couple of days of working and then, on the 3rd, I'm back in Sydney.
• now the doubts begin: I'll outline what now is "Plan A" and then talk about my douts... I should spend the weekend in Sydney and then monday morning catch a bus tour to Melbourne: that takes 3 days and I should be in Melbourne wednesday evening, 11/07. Below there is a Google Map of the bus route (both this part and the part from Melbourne to Adelaide).
  

View Larger Map

• Then I should be in Melbourne 'till the weekend, a good 4 days to get to know the city. Here I should meet some nice friends from Winterkurs '06 who I haven't seen in quite a while and who'll be kind enough to put a roof over my head!!! :-)
• Then it's time to be off to Adelaide. I'd like to do a roadtrip (still following the route on the map above), people say this road by the sea (the Great Ocean Road) is awesome and I 'm one to love roadtrips... but I'm still to find some company and I don't think I'm up for it alone... so I might just take another bus tour here... well, anyway I should be in Adelaide around the 14th... and count on the hospitality of yet another WK'06 friend to put up with me! :-)
  
• once again, should stay there 'til the weekend and this time I'll go across the country to Cairns (all the way up on the northeast), see the Great Barrier Reef. I'm still thinking about how long I should be there, don't know if I should take diving classes or just snorkel around (the problem is that diving classes would cost me around 2 days of the trip... that's A LOT)...
• After Cairns, probably around the 25th, I fly back to Sydney. Then I still have 3 days to kill over there before I catch my flight back home, on the 29th...
  

So, does that sound like a plan or what?!!? :-) I'll be sure to take a shitload of pictures and try and post here as often as possible... so, is there anything fundamentally amazing I'm missing here??? Anywhere I should go??? Anything "not-so-interesting" I'm wasting my time on??

Hairspray [Movie]

I've already seen a few movies I'd like to talk a little about since I last posted. Let's see if I get to talk about all of them this time. First of all, there's Hairspray. This movie musical is just sheer, old-fashioned fun. The best part is that it isn't that silly kind of comedy... it's actually a really sarcastic (thus, funny) criticism of a big part of american society. It takes place in the '60s, the beginning of the end of all the segregation between black and white people. Basically it follows Tracy's story, a chubby teenager that dreams of being a dancer on a "cool kids" TV show in Baltimore. As in any musical, the soundtrack is of utter importance, and this one gives a lot of fuel to the movie: funny, bright, cheerful songs about some dire times; songs about pride of being black and/or fat (the two groups of people that fight against discrimination in the movie). When you're first introduced to the nicest kids in town they sing:

[The nicest kids in town] throw off their coats
And leave the squares behind
And then they shake it, shake it, shake it
Like they're losing their mind
You'll never see them frown
'Cause they're the nicest kids in town
...
Nice white kids
Who like to lead the way
And once a month
We have our "negro day!"
...
So every afternoon
Drop everything
(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, bee-ba)

Who needs to read and write
When you can dance and sing?
(bop-bee-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, bee-ba)

Forget about your algebra
And calculus
You can always do your homework
On the morning bus
Can't tell a verb from a noun
They're the nicest kids in town

When I heard that song I immediately got excited and thought: OK, this is gonna be good. And good it was. This song sets the tone for most of what's to come; not so subtle, very sarcastic critique of a society about to be swept by a big wave of change. Just great!!! I couldn't not mention one particular song, , that goes something like:

...
but i won't ask you to be color blind
'Cause if you pick the fruit
Then girl, you're sure to find...

The blacker the berry
The sweeter the juice
I could say it ain't so
But darlin', what's the use?

The darker the chocolate
The richer the taste
And that's where it's at...
...now run and tell that!!
...

Come on, that's just awesome!!! :-) Besides all the great music and sarcasm, the cast is really good too. The girl they found to play Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) is perfect: just about with the right "chubbyness", charisma, smile, voice and dancing skills (for the part, that is)... and what can one say about John Travolta playing her 300 hundred-pound mom?? Just brilliant!!!! It's not often you get such a plain fun movie addressing such important topics... I don't know how they did it, but it's an amazing mix of great music, great cast and relevant storytelling... unless you're seriously prejudiced against movie musicals you should try and watch this.

Blue [Album], by Joni Mitchell

I guess the most obvious thing to say about Blue (and believe me, quite a lot of people have said it already) is that the songs in this Joni Mitchell masterpiece are as comfortable in a pop music record as they would be in a poetry book (and a really good one, in case you were wondering). Always present in any decent list of the greatest albums of the century, Blue is usually the best rated by a female solo artist. This is a true singer-songwriter masterpiece: simple, beautiful arrangements, confessional lyrics, a brilliant, distinguished voice... The story goes that Joni wrote most of the album while traveling through Europe, taking a break from the biz after her first few records made her a pretty famous singer. She sings of love ("My Old Man"), infactuation ("Carey", "A Case of You"), hopeless romanticism vs. a more pessimistic view ("The Last Time a Saw Richard"), the blues (well, "Blue", "River"), homesickness ("California", I guess "River" fits here too) and the pain of giving a child up for adoption ("Little Green", which she actually did, by the way, when she was 20 something years old)... this is very personal, very beautiful work of art... she's said that, around this time in her life (1971) she had basically no defenses and thought that she should always show herself to the world as she truly is... and it shows...

Interestingly enough, the first song I ever heard from this album was River, and the only thing I knew about Joni Mitchell then was that Alanis Morissette considered Joni (one of) her biggest influence, musically speaking... there was this TV show I liked, called Ally McBeal, and it was always filled with good music (specially Barry White!!), and in this particular episode Ally asks Robert Downey Jr.'s character to sing a song for her (it's near christmas, I think) and he sits at the piano and sings "River" beautifully... it was a beautiful scene and I just had to find more about that amazingly sad and melancholic song... the second big contact I had with songs from Blue was through Legião Urbana's rendition of "The Last Time I Saw Richard" (Legião Urbana is a brazilian rock band, by the way... gone since mid-'90s, but probably the best we've ever had), which just struck me as so amazing and Dylan-esque I was really surprised when I found out it was Joni's. Guess I should have taken the hint and gone and bought the bloody record, but I didn't: not until Rolling Stone put it as number 30 in their "500 greatest album of the century" edition, the highest ranked album by a woman; it wasn't only the position in itself, but the review was quite enticing (for my taste). So I finally got the album and gave it a good listen with the lyrics at hand (the lyrics are really important here, in case you haven't picked that up yet): simply amazing.

The title track, "Blue", is one of the greatest of the record, in my opinion... it shows every important trait of the album: sadness, melancholy, truthfulness, emotion and simplicity: it's basically her, her music and her sadness.

Blue, songs are like tattoos
You know I've been to sea before
Crown and anchor me
Or let me sail away
Hey blue, here is a song for you
Ink on a pin
Underneath the skin
An empty space to fill in
Well there're so many sinking now
You've got to keep thinking
You can make it through these waves
Acid, booze, and ass
Needles, guns, and grass
Lots of laughs, lots of laughs
Everybody's saying that hell's the hippest way to go
Well I don't think so
But I'm gonna take a look around it though
Blue, I love you


Blue, here is a shell for you
Inside you'll hear a sigh
A foggy lullaby
There is your song from me

Other song that always catches my eye is "The Last Time I Saw Richard"... just beautiful.

"The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in '68
and he told me 'all romantics meet the same fate someday
cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe'...
'You laugh', he said, 'you think you're immune, go look at your eyes
They're full of moon
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you
All those pretty lies, pretty lies
When you gonna realise they're only pretty lies?
Only pretty lies, just pretty lies'
...
Richard got married to a figure skater
And he bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolator
And he drinks at home now most nights with the TV on
And all the house lights left up bright
I'm gonna blow this damn candle out
I don't want nobody comin' over to my table
I got nothing to talk to anybody about
All good dreamers pass this way some day
Hidin' behind bottles in dark cafes
Dark cafes
Only a dark cocoon before I get my gorgeous wings
And fly away
Only a phase, these dark cafe days

Can her optimism/romanticism beat Richard's pessimism?? By the way, I found the version by Legião Urbana on YouTube:

My birthday

Sunday was my birthday!!! Yeah, a little older now... what can you do?? My parents came to visit and saturday we had a little celebration at a very good bar here in Campinas. It's a pity it was a long weekend, so many people were away and couldn't be there (well, not such a pity, since that's gonna be enough reason to do some more partying!!!). Here are a few photos from the occasion: http://picasaweb.google.com/rafael.castro/MeuAniversRio2007. I'd really like to thank everybody that remembered the day and sent me messages, gifts, nice happy thoughts, anything at all!!! It was a really great weekend and I hope that eventually I get to celebrate with everybody, in person!!

Donnie Darko, Mad World & Gary Jules

Donnie Darko is probably one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen. The time-traveling, sci-fi tale of a guy and his giant, slightly-psychotic, imaginary bunny friend (if that's even a worthy depiction) is an instant classic of cult movies. If you haven't seen it, you should. But, even if you don't like the movie, you gotta love Gary Jules' cover of Tears for Fears' Mad World. I didn't really pay attention to the soundtrack when I first watched the movie, I didn't use to be big on soundtracks. But so many people told me how great it was, I just had to go back and give it a listen: it's awesome, and this particular song is just unbelievably beautiful. Gary Jules' voice is amazing, and simplicity of his version of the song just adds to the whole sentiment of the song: when he sings

"And I find it kinda funny,
I find it kinda sad,
The dreams in which I'm dying
are the best I've ever had."

he really sounds like the type of guy who would feel like that... it's great. So, after some digging around I found out he releases his albums through CD Baby, which is just great. So you can buy the (DRM-Free) mp3's, you can stream his stuff from the website or you can buy the actual CD. Being in CD Baby means that most of the money actually goes to him, which is kind of reassuring, specially after all the news about the RIAA going on lately. If you still don't know the song, watch the video below. If you like it, check out these albums at CD Baby, you can listen most of them for free and see whether Mad World was just luck. :-)

Tropa de Elite [Movie]

I have only one thing to say about Tropa de Elite: Fuckin' Awesome!!!!! I don't remember the last time I was this blown away; I seriously think it's the best movie of the year so far, and a definite candidate to hold the crown all the way through. It tells the story of a captain of Rio de Janeiro's special ops division who's having a baby and wants to quit the force but first has to find and train a worthy successor. It's raw realism in depicting the urban war in Rio is shocking, and to know that it's actually based on a (n apparently very badly written) novel by a former captain of the special ops just enhances it's effect. The cast is amazing, and Wagner Moura, I'd say along with Lázaro Ramos, Selton Melo, Rodrigo Santoro, is definitely firming his position as one of the most important actors of his generation. The movie is violent, funny and real, it's a slap in the face of many, many people.
By now everybody's seen Cidade de Deus (City of God) and the comparison is unavoidable: I honestly don't know which is the better one: it'll take a few days and another go at Tropa de Elite before I can make up my mind. Tropa de Elite is that good.

Another point for not living in the US

Just a quick note on a story from the NY Times on how Bush says interrogation methods aren't torture. The fun part is that he won't disclose exactly which interrogation methods he's talking about, all people know is that the CIA is authorized to use them. Conforting, isn't it? I loved this quote in particular from Bush's press secretary:

“I’ve had the awful responsibility to have to work with The New York Times and other news organizations on stories that involve the release of classified information,” Mr. Fratto said. “And I could tell you that every time I’ve dealt with any of these stories, I have felt that we have chipped away at the safety and security of America with the publication of this kind of information.”

RIAA and trials for online music sharing

I was talking to a friend of mine a couple of days ago how we thought the world (well, at least the western world) had reached a peak of freedom maybe a decade or so ago and that now everything is going down the drain. The Patriot Act and the DMCA (not to mention Bush's reelection) have literally made me not want to live in the US for as long as I can foresee. Software patents (hell, patents in general) already spread to Europe. In Germany it's now against the law to host or write any program that could possibly be used to hack another computer (yeah, that's right, anything that could possibly be used, how the hell are you supposed to define that?? How the hell are you supposed to be a network security engineer when all the programs you use on a daily basis (to defend from attacks) have suddenly become illegal?!?!). And now, the RIAA won their first trial case against mrs. Thomas.
Let me paint you a picture: Jammie Thomas, a middle-age mom, was accused by the RIAA of sharing music files back in early 2005 through KaZaA (everybody remembers that spyware-infested program, don't you?). She is an avid music fan. She owns literally hundreds of CD's and DVD's. No real evidence of her distributing any of the music was presented; she was found guilty on ground that making the songs available was already copyright infringement. The "evidence" presented against her were a username that coincided with her e-mail address, the IP address used to share the files (which, as anyone that knows anything about how the Internet works knows could be forged and is by no means evidence of identity; heck, if it were why the hell would we need half of the cryptographic protocols we study?!?!? I'd go back to Salvador and sell coconuts at the beach....). By the end of the trial she was ordered to pay US$9.250,00 per song (out of a possible US$150.000,00, so one might say that she actually got lucky)!! She was charged with sharing 24 individual songs, so that amounts to US$220.000,00.
It's easy to have sympathy for her, right?! After all she's a mom, a formerly good customer who spent thousands of dollars on products by the same guys who sued her; she was convicted for sharing 24 songs... how many "illegal" songs have you listened to in the last few years?? Downloaded, shared?? She is supposed to pay US$220.000,00 in damages, it'd probably take hr quite a few years to even see that kind of money, let alone being able to pay it up. But take all that sentimental bullshit aside: if it were a single 25-year-old millionaire who got sued for
the exact same crime, it would still be very wrong to get this outcome.
I know customers don't usually care about the practices of the companies whose product they buy. Later on, they bitch and complain when they see something unfair: "Oh My God, how could they do that?? Sue a mother for US$220.000,00 because she shared 20 something songs..." They could and did because it's cheap for them and it's a win-win situation: at the very least they scared a whole lot of people from sharing music on the web. And what if they lost?? So what, lawyers come cheap to giant industry conglomerates, they are expensive for us, who have to defend ourselves. So, what I'd like to see happening is a boycott on music sold by members of the RIAA. Music in the US nowadays is mostly shit anyways, but they still have some good stuff on their catalogs; don't buy it. Buy independent music that is just as good (or even better). Put your money to good use and try to stand up for something: not the legality or morality of sharing music, but the immorality of their scare-tactics.

• More information on the case here, here and here.
• List of Record Labels members of the RIAA.
  

Paying what you want for music

Maybe you haven't heard about it yet, but Radiohead is releasing their next album, In Rainbows, in a few days and people can pay whatever they want for it. Yeah, that's right: you can download the album from their website for whatever price you feel is fair (of course there's some sort of "base price" or "transaction fee"). Magnatune, an online music store for independent artists, has been doing something similar to that for quite a while: their suggested price for albums is 8 bucks, but you can pay anything between 5 and 18 bucks... and, the best part is that, according to their statistics, people pay around 9 dollar on average... cool, isn't it? But that's a very small scale label/online store with basically no famous/mainstream artist (which doesn't keep them from being really good, check this out for example)... I have no idea what's gonna happen when Radiohead (arguably one of the biggest bands in the world for over a decade now) tries it... but it's gonna be mighty interesting to see.
I think everybody agrees that the model we have today (and that's been there for quite a few decades now) is dying... file-sharing, cheaper equipment, near-zero distribution costs (through the net, that is)... the future certainly looks grim for big record companies... but is pay-what-you-feel-like a plausible option?? Is it best fit for big, famous acts like Radiohead, or independent artists like the ones in Magnatune's catalog?? The next few weeks will tell us a great deal about it all... by the way, the most you can pay for Radiohead's new album is 99 pounds... interesting to know they put a limit there...

Wonder Years of the '00s??

I grew up on a regular dose of Wonder Years, the amazing TV series that let us all follow Kevin Arnold's life and cheer for him and Wendy to end up together. I still get a shiver every time I hear Joe Cocker's version of With a Little Help from My Friends (in fact, I stopped writing for a few seconds to look for it and am currently listening to it as write this post). I really loved this show and I think many/most people my age also loved growing up in the '80s/'90s with that beautiful image of the '70s that Wonder Years gave us. But, most of all, it was Kevin's problems and mishaps that caught us the most: his life, were it not for the silly limits of time and space was exactly like ours (or like we wished ours was like, sometimes). Wonder Years was a huge success, spanning 6 years and basically becoming one of those shows that'll always be in people's memory. A few years later, around 1995 a show called My So-Called Life introduced a 13 year old girl called Claire Danes to the world. I won't say MSCL was as amazing as Wonder Years, but it was a close call; it was more raw and in tune with the not-so-'70s-like world of the '90s, drunk teenagers, gay classmates, quite a different feeling towards parents than what Kevin & co. had. It only lasted for 13 episodes, so I guess there's no frame of comparison in terms of success between the two shows, but I really liked MSCL too and it felt, to me, as the Wonder Years of the '90s. Now, there's a chance we're seeing the soon-to-be Wonder Years of the '00s: Aliens in America.
The show premiered yesterday really, so this is a very premature statement; even so, I really liked what I saw and I'm confident this is gonna be one of the most successful new shows of the year (not that I know what else is out there...). It's about this really geeky kid, Justin, who's obviously picked on on a daily basis at school. His mom has the great(!!) idea of hosting a foreign exchange student in order to boost his popularity in school, thinking that they'll get a blond, great-looking athlete of a kid. Instead, they get a pakistani muslim kid, probably the only thing that could make Justin even less popular. It's probably not going to be as attaching as Wonder Years was, specially because we're meeting a Justin who's already 16 years old, unlike the little kid Kevin Arnold was when Wonder Years started. But I really liked the writing and acting on the show; and I loved the sense of humor of the show, the one thing lacking from MSCL (the show was a little too melodramatic). There is a 4-minute preview of the show up on YouTube (what isn't up on YouTube?!?!?), so check it out and see if you can find some way of watching the pilot. It's really worth it.

São Paulo x Boca Juniors

Wow, two posts on one day?!?!?! Yeah, you could say I'm procrastinating... yesterday we went to the Morumbi to watch the football match between São Paulo and Boca Juniors (Argentina): it wasn't really for anything important (one of the South American cup, not the important one (Copa Libertadores da América), the other much less important one(Copa Sulamericana) ). But it doesn't matter what it's for: playing Argentina is always good and beating Argentina is specially satisfying. And beat them we did!! I took a few pictures, it's a pity we didn't take any with everybody in it... but this is how the stadium looked like, pretty packed for a game that had nothing special to it... probably because São Paulo is in such a great phase that people just want to come see them play... guess it's gonna be a pity next year I'll only get to see them when they come to Belo Horizonte and beat Cruzeiro or Atlético Mineiro... and I'll have to pretend not to be supporting São Paulo, after all I don't wanna get beat up or anything... :-)

Records of the Month, September - Pt. 1 [Music]

The month is coming to an end and I suddenly I realized that much of the stuff I've been listening to lately, according to last.fm, I didn't use to just a few months ago... so I started wondering how much new music I listen to, say every month, and that gave me the idea of doing this little sum up of what's the new stuff I've heard to this month... let's just hope I can remember everything:

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, by Spoon
I think that in the last couple of days, from every 5 songs I listen to, one is from this amazing record. I first got to know Spoon through their previous album, Gimme Fiction and, as much as
I liked that record, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is miles ahead. First of all, I love records that you can hear without ever feeling like skipping a track. Don't Make Me a Target is a great opener, catchy but by no means representative of all that is to come. After that, you get an avalanche of perfectly handcrafted songs all very different from each other, the best sort of Indie Rock you're bound to find out there... from the tension buildup of The Ghost of You Lingers, through the funky Don't You Evah, to the catchy-pop-sing-along The Underdog, it all just shows these guys are good, very good indeed... this is a very serious candidate for best album of the year in my opinion, and certainly already has a place in my Top 5!

Samba Meu, by Maria Rita

Maria Rita is one of the best things to have happened in Brazilian music for a while now. This is her third record, and the first one to depart from the sort of jazz-band-formation that was the staple of "Maria Rita" and "Segundo". In this album she sings exclusively sambas, by mostly unknown composers and she's done an amazing job of finding really talented people to write songs for her. Her voice is sweet as always, it's a delight to hear. She's certainly amongst the most talented Brazilian singers out there, and it's specially gratifying to notice that they are all rediscovering samba in full strength (Marisa Monte also released a samba-only CD last year that, interestingly enough, had a track composed by Adriana Calcanhotto; Ana Carolina always has sambas in her CD's, and her last outing with Seu Jorge is full of them).
I actually bought this CD "by accident": I didn't know it was coming out and was, as I often do, just roaming around FNAC, drooling over all the stuff I couldn't afford (yet!!!!), as I saw the CD. Naturally, being a big fan and all, I bought it right away and wasn't disappointed. It didn't take much to win me over, I admit, as I love samba, and I'd have a hard time judging whether this album is brilliant or just "very good". I guess it's very good. I say that because the fairest comparison I could make is with Marisa Monte's Universo Ao Meu Redor, and I gotta pick Marisa's record over Maria's... I guess all the songs in Samba Meu sound too much alike, I'd have a hard time picking out more than 3 or 4 that individually caught my attention (keep in mind this is just a first evaluation, as I listen to it over and over, that might change), whereas with Universo Ao Meu Redor, I instantly fell in love with 3 or so songs, and could tell most of the other apart easily... songs just sound more distinctive than in Samba Meu and, for me, that's very important... but, on the other hand, you could actually say it's a good thing if they all sound alike because they all sound good!!! :-)
Here's her talking a little bit about the record (in Portuguese), and singing one of the songs as sambas are meant to be sung!!!




Some other interesting videos from YouTube:

• Rodrigo Bittencourt, the original composer of Samba Meu, showing off a pretty raw version of the song.
• Samba Meu, now in Maria Rita's version
  
• O Homem Falou
• Num Corpo Só
• Trajetória

I actually intended to write about quite a few more records I listened to this month, but I don't wanna make some giante post that nobody's gonna be brave enough to read, so I'm gonna stop right here and come back for more some other day.

Knocked Up [Movie]

This weekend I went to the movies to see the surprise hit of the season, Knocked Up. With the atrocious translation to portuguese of the title (something like "Somewhat Pregnant"... what the hell does that mean anyway??!! You're either pregnant or not!! It's not like being somewhat hungry...) and all, it was pretty hard to convince anyone to come with me at all, but I guess since we were late and there was almost nothing else to watch I got lucky and everybody settled for Knocked Up. I really didn't know what to expect: on the one hand, something told me, perhaps how silly that guy looks, this was going to be a pretty silly comedy; on the other hand, it was a huge hit (yeah, even with critics) and was rated 7.9 in IMDb, which is unbelievably high for a comedy. So we went and I think that even my grumpy-hate-silly-comedies friend liked it (yeah, Nanda, that's you!!!). First of all, it's not that silly at all, it actually gets somewhat serious approaching the end... I won't name names, but there was some crying going on around me!! :-) Basically, the story is about this amazingly beautiful girl, who just got her break as an on-camera reporter and goes out to celebrate. She meets this very charming, curly-haired guy and, well, after a few drinks gets pregnant. Most of the jokes are about their (very different) worlds clashing, and you get some pretty good laughs off it all. Of course, he's gonna grow more mature and all that shit, and that's when the movie gets more serious. I shouldn't tell more about the story, don't wanna ruin it for anyone, but Paul Rudd's characters (the girl's brother-in -law) is just awesome, and some of the best scenes of the movie are due to him. It's definitely an unusual, worthwhile comedy, written and directed by the same guy from 40 Year Old Virgin, and with two of the four main actors. Keep an eye out for Superbad, already out on the US but far from it here, it's by quite a few of the same guys!!!! Who knows, may be we're seeing a (well overdue!!!) renewal of the whole comedy scene...

Closer [Movie]

A couple of days ago I put a quote here, saying it was from one of the best-written movies of the decade, a movie that I love!! The movie is Closer, and it's written by Patrick Marber, adapted from his own play (also called... yeah, you guessed it, Closer!!). I was blogging about it 'cause I finally bought the DVD last week, and watched it over again... it's an awesome movie, anyone who hasn't seen it should definitely give it a shot. I've already mentioned the script, it's a character-driven impressively well-written drama, with dialogues that will leave you wondering for quite some times... it's really raw, with people so fucked-up you're left wondering whether you know people like that, or who knows if you're a little bit like them too... another great quote from the movie is

Dan: I want Anna back.
Larry: She's made her choice.
Dan: I owe you an apology. I fell in love with her. My intention was not to make you suffer.
Larry: So where's the apology? Ya cunt.
Dan: I apologize. If you love her you'll let her go so she can be happy.
Larry: She doesn't want to be happy.
Dan: Everybody wants to be happy.
Larry: Depressives don't. They want to be unhappy to confirm they're depressed. If they were happy they couldn't be depressed anymore. They'd have to go out into the world and live. Which can be depressing.


Then there's the direction. Mike Nichols is a genious. I mean, he actually has more bad movies ('80s and '90s) than really good ones (his first few movies, and Closer); but he's still an amazing director... The performances he gets from each of the four main actors in this movie is unique: I've never seen any of them nearly as immersed and convincing as in Closer. Specially Clive Owen and Natalie Portman, nominated for the supporting actor/actress Oscars (why the hell "supporting", I mean if there's a main character, it's definitely Alice), for whom I cheered a hell of a lot, but not enough to turn the head of the Oscar-voters... Portman's performance is specially meaningful because she is a great actress that needs good directing... she's given us great performances (such as this one, V for Vendetta, Garden State) but anyone who's seen the new Star Wars trilogy (and who hasn't, right?) knows that she needs good directing and that George Lucas is no good for that.
All in all, a movie that is so well-written, brilliantly directed and enacted couldn't go wrong. It certainly is sort of disturbing, really raw at times, but is a worthwhile experience, a peek into a very pessimistic view of relationships and how unexplainable and unavoidable people's behavior is sometimes...

Little pearl of a quote...

Dan: Didn't fancy my sandwiches?
Alice: Don't eat fish.
Dan: Why not?
Alice: Fish piss in the sea.
Dan: So do children.
Alice: Don't eat children either.

This is a quote from a movie that I just love... probably one of the Top 5 best-written movies of the decade... anyone knows what it is?? Come on, I even left the names of the characters there... just don't Google on it 'cause it's not fair!!! :-)
I'll probably post about it on the next couple of days, but if anyone knows what's the name of the movie, comment on it...

Movies on Sunday

Yesterday, being a Sunday and all, I woke up pretty late, had a lazy lunch and watched a movie, The Good Shepherd... later on, after some goofing around, I went to the movies and watched I Pronounce You Chuck and Larry... it was a pretty eclectic Sunday, movie-wise... pitty none of them was particularly good... The good Shepherd is a loooong drama about the "birth" of CIA, so it starts right before the US gets into WWII (when Matt Damon's character is recruited) and goes until the Kennedy era... it's a solid movie. Robert DeNiro is actually a really good director, and the cast is good too... but the movie is just too damn slow and confusing... I'll admit: I didn't get the ending at all... of course I won't discuss it here, if you want to know about it, you too have to go through the 3-hour-process of finding out, but if anybody out there got it, please let me know... I have quite a few questions I wish someone could answer...
As to I Pronounce You... what can I say??? Well, If you've seen any Adam Sandler movie at al you know the drill (except for 50 First Dates, I love that movie!!!!) it's pretty much same ol' same ol'... pretty funnyy at times, dull some other times... stupid ending (that Goddamn "Dead Poets Society"-effect again!), but good enough for a Sunday night overall... if you like that sort of silly movies, that is...