SBSeg 2007

Well, I arrived in Rio last saturday to attend SBSeg 2007, the national conference on computer security. It encompasses a few different events, amongst them the one that interests me the most, the Workshop on Cryptographic Algorithms and Protocols (WCAP). Being a Workshop, there is no actual presentation of original work, so if you are publishing something it's probably on SBSeg, not on WCAP. But usually a handful of quite impressive lecturers come to speak at WCAP, and it is always a nice opportunity to hear what they have to say. It's pretty hard trying to keep yourself up-to-date without being able to attend almost any conference at all because they are so damn far away, so it's nice for a change that something actually goes on around here. So, this year, we were supposed to have five speakers: Carlile Lavor (UNICAMP), Paulo Barreto (USP), Michel Abdalla (ENS, Paris), Benoît Libert (UCL, Belgium) and Claude Crépeau (McGill University, Canada). The main topics were pairing-based cryptography (Michel and Benoît) and quantum computing/post-quantum cryptography (Carlile, Paulo and Claude). Unfortunately the very competent people of the travel agency that made the arrangements for the international speakers never mentioned to prof. Crépeau that he'd need a visa to come to Brasil, so he never made it here, which is a real pitty because I feel his talk would've been really good. On the first day we had lectures by profs. Carlile, on the basics of quantum computing, and Paulo Barreto, on a few of the available options for doing cryptography in a way suposed to be resilient to quantum computers (after all, the two main "hard problems" underlying most of modern cryptography, namely factoring and the discrete log problem, can be solved easily in quantum computers). That was really interesting too and it seems to provide quite a few interesting research opportunities. The next day we had lectures by Benoît Libert, once again by Paulo (filling in for Crépeau) and Michel. Benoît and Michel both did pretty interesting suveys of the most significant results in provably-secure pairing-based cryptographic protocols (which is sort of the theme of my master thesis, so that was specially cool for me). The last day had more talks on pairing-based protocols and more results, most of which I wasn't aware of. But I'd say the best part of the conference wasn't the lectures in themselves (even though, I finally can say that I sort of understand what the hell quantum computing is all about), but the people you meet and the opportunity to discuss various things with such well-known and respected researchers. That was really amazing, and I gotta admit it felt a little frustrating to not be going for a PhD right away, because this would've been a great chance to work something out... but, I mean, who's in a hurry?!?! Of course I'd get hesitant being here and being so into it all, but I'm still pretty sure I made the right choice by working next year, specially since I had the opportunity of working somewhere I'd always dreamt about... but I gotta admit the prospect of going somewhere like ENS and working in such an amazing crypto group kinda made it all a pretty hard decision.

The Simpsons [Movie]

OK, The Simpsons used to be the one exception to the rule about never dubbing stuff: I don't know where the hell they found the guy, but whoever did Homer in portuguese was just freakin' hilarious, far better than the original guy!!! I didn't quite understand why, but they got someone new to do it for the movie and it's not the same. That aside, the movie is pretty good, maybe like a good Simpsons episode, not one of the best though... I don't know why the hell these cartoon scriptwriters can't live without that dull part of the movie where everything kinda gets screwed up for the main character and he's forced to realize how wrong he was the whole time, repent and live happily ever after (in this particular case, all this happens in Alaska, which doesn't help shaking off the whole dullness of the moment)... and if they really need it, why does it have to be so mind-numbingly boring?!?!!? Those lonely walks, sad song on the background... it's like wasting 10 minutes of the damn movie... and Simpsons is no exception to that rule... it starts off great, maybe for the first 40 minutes or so it's the funniest thing... then, it kinda gets stuck for 15-20 minutes, and almost manages to recover (but not quite) by the end... sorry, but in my book South Park did far better than the Simpsons on the big screen... (even though, South Park too had the whole repent scene, but it takes like a minute or so...)
It's still pretty funny, much better than your average comedy... but after "18 year in the making", I kinda expected better from these guys...

Just to finish off on a good note, here's a pretty cool version of the title song... you reckon this guy

Poses, by Rufus Wainwright [Album]

Rufus Wainwright is yet another great artist I discovered thanks to Nick Hornby: after reading his 31 Songs (and, of course, listening to all 31 of the songs), my Top 5 emerged naturally, and One Man Guy was amongst them. I'd never heard of Rufus, but now I just had to find a way to know more of his songs... Poses is the album that has "One Man Guy", and it's one hell of an album. First of all he has a beautiful voice, which is of course of utter importance. All the songs in this album are so beautifully arranged, ranging from a flurry of instruments and voices in "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" to the simplicity of One Man Guy, with her sister harmonizing with him in a way that , in the words of Hornby, "will make you believe that God exists". He was really good to pick the songs he'd cover: One Man Guy (originally by his dad, Loudon Wainwright III), and Across the Universe (by the Beatles). Both are really good in his rendition, but the whole harmonizing in One Man Guy is really amazingly beautiful... and the lyrics... well, he has that sort of intelligent sarcasm that's just captivating... in Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk he sings:

"Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
there are just a couple of my cravings
everything it seems I like's a little bit stronger
a little bit thicker
a little bit harmful for me
...
and then there's those other things
which for several reasons we won't mention
everything about them is a little bit stranger
a little bit harder
a little bit deadly"

For those of you unaware of it, Rufus is gay. Which actually makes him covering One Man Guy even the more interesting...

"People will know when they see this show
The kind of a guy I am
They'll recognize just what I stand for and what I just can't stand
...
And they'll recognize I'm a one man guy
Always was through and through"

Which at first seems like an ode to faithfulness... but then he sings...

"I'm gonna bathe and shave
And dress myself and eat solo every night
Unplug the phone, sleep alone
Stay away out of sight
Sure it's kind of lonely
Yeah it's sort of sick
Being your own one and only
Is a dirty selfish trick"

Beautiful (OK, it's much better on the record than in this live version)... this is one great album that is both lyrically and musically brilliant... let me just finish with some quotes from Greek Song...

"You who were born with the sun above your shoulders
You turn me on you turn me on
You have to know
You who were born where the sun she keeps her distance
You turn me on you turn me on
But so does she
...
You who were born where you shiver and you shudder
You turn me on the girl is gone so come on
Lets go"

From Russia with Love [Movie]

So this is my first (guest) post on Demian's blog. As my Hesse-inspired friend wrote, we've started a James Bond marathon (a marabond if you will). From Russia with Love (1963) might be considered one of the best Bond films but I wasn't terribly enthusiastic after watching the movie.

Yes, I do agree that the plot is better devised and enacted than Dr. No's. And yes, Daniela Bianchi, the Bond girl, is definitely a better actress than... oh wait, Ursula Andress (Dr. No's Bond girl) shouldn't even be considered an actress, so no comparison here. Apart from this, I don't know... Dr. No was the first film of the series, so there's an inherent charm to it. We forgive everything because it was the first, it started an era, it created an industry. It defined Bond. However, I didn't end up with the same fondness for From Russia with Love. I found the action scenes choreographically (is this a word?) poor, I didn't like the oh-so-stereotypical portrait of Turkey and the gypsies (should I say travellers?), I didn't like the casting, and I was quite fed up with those cliché Bond lines that seemed too excessive, including the ending scene. But then again, I might have been in the wrong mood.

Of course there are good things about the movies, and the second in particular: the opening scene that's a distinctive feature of James Bond's movies, the gadgets we all love, the spy story that captivates so many of us... and, ha!, the famous hand petting the cat that Mike Myers perfectly mimics in Austin Powers. Ok, I admit I don't have much to write. It was an ok film and I'm tired of writing about it. Let's wait for the next movie.

One interesting note: Tatiana Romanova's (Daniela Bianchi's character) voice was dubbed by another woman.

One odd note: while I was watching the film I wondered if Margaret Mead had the opportunity of watching the first Bond movies, or reading the novels. Weird thought.

Who knew they could do that??

Does anybody have her phone number?

Dr. No [Movie]

I am starting, together with a couple of friends, a James Bond Marathon. We intend to watch all 007 seven movies in the next couple of weeks... I just hope I can survive it. I haven't really seen any of the 007's before Pierce Brosnan came along in Goldeneye, so this should be very educational. We started yesterday with Dr. No, the first time ever on the big screen a martini was asked "shaken, not stirred". This was in 1962, with an appallingly young Sean Connery accompanied by a bunch of hotties that are probably grandmas nowadays... but, what the hell, they looked pretty good in 62, I must say... specially that Taro chick and, of course, Ursula Andress... OK, but what about the movie? Well, it's kind hard to analyze it... it's a pretty good movie, that's for sure. And even though by now you've seen it all about a hundred times, you still gotta give credit where credit is due... Sean Connery is awesome, more cynical than I thought possible... all the girls are incredibly bad actresses, except maybe for Moneypenny... I mean, horrible actresses... but Connery more than makes up for it, he certainly takes over anytime he's onscreen (nothing like, for instance, that 007 movie with Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry where I would constantly find myself wondering "Bond, who?")...
The whole movie feels 45 years old many times, you're hard pressed not to laugh when "The Dragon" appears... Dr. No is not really the scariest of villains, I guess that somewhere along the next couple of movies they learned that, even though the big villain (Dr. No in this one) should be surrounded in mystery (and he is), you need a very nasty-looking goon to be on the movie from the beginning and antagonize Bond... and the closest they get to that is a pretty lame attempt (whose name I shouldn't say to avoid the risk of spoiling it for you guys)... but it's almost all there, everything that made Bond the icon it is, the women (I remember him sleeping with at least 3 different chicks, not counting the ones that wanted to but he unfortunately didn't have the time to do...), the weird villains, the world-domination plans, the not-killing-Bond-until-he-finds-a-way-to-escape, everything Mike Myers so brilliantly makes fun of in Austin Powers... but it's certainly a worthwhile movie, it's pretty cool to see where it all started and how good it was since the beginning... let's just see if I actually last the whole 21 movies... wish me luck!!! :-)

Smells Like Teen Spirit, by Tori Amos [Music]

So, what do you make of Tori's version of this classic?? Is it another victim of what I like to call the "Caetano Veloso" syndrome, when people think that just by taking a song and then singing it slowly and "with feeling" it suddenly becomes more poetic and meaningful (not that Smells Like Teen Spirit even needed this on the first place)?? Or is it actually good??

Yamandu Costa + João Bosco

I guess my next post on brazilian music could be about João Bosco...