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...

Marvel Movies

OK, so yesterday I wanted to watch a movie and have some pizza, so I went to the video store. The thing is I stumped my foot really bad, and walking around the video store forever (as I usually do) really hurt. So after a few minutes of not finding anything good I hadn't seen yet, I saw The Ghost Rider... I know, I said something good, right?? But, let's face it: I'd have to watch it eventually anyways, so I just thought "what the hell, I'll take it!" I had very low expectations for this movie (as would any sane person), but even then it was bad. It's an ugly movie, the effects kinda suck, the action scenes look like cartoon (which is sort of what they are), and it is stupid as hell. I mean, I won't even go over the shred of a script that it has, it's just not worth the trouble... but I gotta mention one quote, so you know just how stupid it is... at one point of the movie, Johnny Blaze (who sold hist soul to the Devil and thus got the whole plot of the movie going by being turned into the Ghost Rider) says: "He may have my soul, but he doesn't have my spirit." Come on!!! That's just embarrassing...
So, even though I wanted to blog on this stupid, stupid movie, I didn't think it deserved a whole post of its own. So I decided to do a quick and dirty retrospective of Marvel Comics-based movies which became really huge business in the last few years... OK, even though movies and cartoons based on Marvel characters have been made before, only in 1998 did things begin to get serious with Blade. I mean, I don't even think they themselves took stuff like Nick Fury or Captain America seriously... but Blade rocks, and it showed everybody that the house of X-Men, Hulk and Spider-Man could maybe compete head to head with the house of Superman and Batman (which was going through a really rough period in the '90s too, with the whole Batman & Robin fiasco...) Well, a couple of years after Blade, in 2000, we got to watch X-Men, and, well, the rest is history... two more X-Men, two more Blade, three Spider-Man, two Fantastic Four, Hulk, Daredevil, Elektra and this Ghost Rider thing afterwords, Marvel Comics actually got enough money to start its own studio and, from now on, is gonna make movies about their characters by itself (well, at least the characters that aren't already sold to other studios as most of the aforementioned). So, if they steer away from fiascos like Ghost Rider, Marvel is bound to become a pretty strong force in the movie-making business, with as of yet unexploited characters such as Iron Man, Hulk (let's face it Ang Lee, your Hulk sucks), Captain America, Avengers, Dr. Strange, and many many more...
So, to end this (already pretty big) post, my rank of Marvel movies so far:

1. Spider-Man 2
2. Spider-Man and X-Men 3
3. X-Men 2
4. X-Men
5. Blade (1, 2 and 3)
6. Spider-Man 3
   
7. Fantastic Four
   
8. Daredevil
9. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
   
10. Hulk
11. Elektra, The Ghost Rider
    

And I'd say my threshold is Daredevil: anything below that isn't worth the price of admission.

Bourne [Movies]

So, last Tuesday I finally watched The Bourne Ultimatum. I'd heard wonders about it, which includes it getting 10/10 from Set magazine (the biggest movie magazine in Brasil, albeit a not very good one) and it being rated 8.5 in IMDb as the 20th best movie ever to include "action" in its genre (the list includes movies such as The Matrix, Fight Club, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, Apocalipse Now, The 7 Samurai and The Good, the Bad and th Ugly). So I had my hopes very high for this one, specially since the first two Bourne's were pretty cool. A couple weeks ago I re-watched both The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy, just to be sure the whole "Bourne dilemma" was fresh in my mind. And there I went. First of all: God bless Paul Greengrass, he really is an amazing director (well, at least for action/thrillers). He really has a unique style, the camera is always moving, and very nervously so. And the best thing is he perfected that technique in the third part of the trilogy: what was a little sloppy and annoying in Supremacy (I mean, it was pretty hard to understand any of the fights), was perfectly done in Ultimatum. Second, you have to praise the cast, specially Matt Damon; his presence holds the whole thing together. And I even liked Julia Stiles in this one!!! All the fight scenes are really impressive and raw, and the fight between Bourne and Desh is as good as any I've seen, reminding me a little bit from the very beginning of Casino Royale (but in full color). In the end it's movie about Bourne's quest for knowledge of himself, and when he finally gets it (in series of pretty shocking flashbacks), he must fight to cope with it all. Besides being one of the best "action/thriller" movies I've seen, it's a great movie period. It's so seldom you see a true trilogy that actually makes sense and finishes on a top note that it's refreshing. And in a year as weak as this one has been, it's probably on my Top 5 list so far.

Back in Campinas

Well, after two weeks of "almost vacations", I'm back in Campinas. These were two pretty cool weeks, the first in Rio for a congress (as I posted before) and last week in Salvador for some well-deserved (well, at least much-expected) rest. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have, but Rio is as beautiful as ever, take my word for it. We stayed in a pretty cool hotel, in Leme (right next to Copacabana). Actually, Brasil's national volley team was also there. It had a pool on the top floor, with an awesome view!!! Check it out...


(I know I'm kinda blocking the view, but you can get the idea... :-) )
So, Rio was really great, partying in Lapa, going to the beach, actually doing some work and attending some great lectures... just fantastic!!
Then saturday, september 1st, I went to Salvador for the week. This first weekend we had great weather, I spent the whole day on the beach, just drinking and relaxing... terrible way to spend a week, hey!?!? :-) Unfortunately it rained a lot during the week, so all my beaching was restricted to these first couple of days... I did get a pretty cool picture of the sunset, though... check it out...


I actually took that one with my cell phone... and I used to wonder why the hell people would want cameras on their phones... well, there you go! That's in Itapuã, by the way... so if you ever listen to "Tarde em Itapuã" (An afternoon in Itapuã, that is), you now have an idea of what Vinícius de Moraes was talking about... ;-)
The whole week was pretty nice too, saw lots and lots of people I hadn't seen in a while, did some beer drinking, watched a pretty good old movie (On the Waterfront, more on that on a later post), and some bbq-ing... that was pretty cool too, specially for all these people from school I hadn't seen in a year or so...