London

I've never seen such impressive place; history and culture in every corner. So many rise and falls, it was like opening my high school history books and watching the pictures jump out in living colours.

During the tour we took, I caught myself wondering about my country: "We are so young in comparison to Europe, the Europe which had done so many bad things in the past until becoming what it is; a mirror to the under development countries". I could not help but thinking that the mistakes we (Brazil) do today are necessary steps towards development and social equality, since as well as Europe did, we will learn with it (hopefully).

Well, that was Karen's bachellorete party; one day in London. During the day we made a crash tour visiting all the important spots; on the very afternoon we watched Harry Potter (very appropriated indeed;)) and on the evening we went to a club to help Karen saying goodbye to her "not yet married" status ;)

Pictures here.

"Pobre Brasileiro!!!"

Eu já gostava dele pelo carisma, mas agora ganhou definitivamente minha admiracao. Um grito que tenho certeza tá estrangulado na garganta de muitos. Deem uma lida no que o Edu Falaschi, vocalista do Angra e Almah, escreveu na página inicial do seu site.

Quando falei da faísca que se acendeu no post "O Brasil cheira a orégano" é a isso que me refiro. Pessoas formadoras de opiniao contribuindo, nao so em forma de desabafo, mas construtivamente em rumo de mudanca! Nos facamos ouvir!!! O cara tá de parabéns, pra quem vive falando de atitute no mundo metal sem sequer entender o significado taí a resposta:

http://www.edufalaschi.com.br/

Arlinger Fest

Before:

As I said before, this summer is being special even though the weather insists to behave as autumn. The accreditation party of my Professor was nice; barbecue, drinks and even a live band. When I saw the live band my first thought and probably Karen's also was to play some songs with them. Well, that's exactly what happened, at the end we were playing three songs with and that was a nice warm up for the Arlinger Fest. After the performance, Karen willing to conciliate her image of serious PhD student with a Pop/Rock singer hurried to say to our Professor:

"This is just for hobby, you know..."

To which he answered:

"I hope so!!!" Followed by his typical laugh :)

The show:

After some more weeks of normal activities then came the Arlinger! In the words of my good friend Alex: "If you are coming just to drink a few beers better don't come!" (in the best German way to say something :)) I was already afraid because I am not actually used to drink much and this party is basically a drinking party. The Arlinger Fest is a party occurring at each two years in the street called Arlinger and its neighbourhood. Everyone decorates their houses and there are some other attractions going on, like small bands, fireworks and etc... Alex told me he misused the occasion to make his own version in his garage, where there is always a theme as background and lots of beers, cocktails and food, including delicious home made sausages done by his grandpa. This year in special, the theme was the 80's, and the ChubbyBunnies (Karen and I) were the live band attraction.
Everything set, lights, fog, Karen with her typical 80's dress and I with a nice wig :) After some introductory words from Alex the show began and the ChubbyBunnies put the house down with a rock version of Material Girl!! Of course I always putting some metal elements when possible. Was very funny and we did it quite well, specially Karen, but the people were a little bit cold, maybe they were not drunk enough :)

Set-List:

Material girl - Madonna
Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson
Since you've been gone - Kelly Clarkson
Underneath your clothes - Shakira
No, no never - Texas Lighting
What a feeling - Flash Dance

Encore:

Girl from Ipanema - Tom jobin
Bring me back to life - Evanescence

After:

Time to drink! After some beers, caipirinha and tequila I was surprisingly still ok. Maybe because I ate a lot. Actually, maybe not completely ok, since I was playing soccer with balloons with Christine for quite a while and laughing a lot in between.

Mistake:

By this time, only Alex, Hens (organizers), Karen, Christine and I were still partying. I was still drinking beer and Hens a mixing of beer with grape fruit.

I told Hens:

"Hey Hens, this is drink for girls!"

Well, this was not a happy joke... Because of that, he made me and the rest drink another round of Tequila, since we were supposed to drink man stuff... :~)

O Brasil cheira a orégano

Os meus argumentos de defesa a favor do Brasil tao cada vez mais escassos, e apesar de ter um bom nível de sentimento patriótico, como já disse antes, paixao sem razao é um troco perigoso, seja em qualquer esfera (coisa que eu ja ha muito nao mais me permito).

Recentemente um amigo estava a me visitar e perguntou sobre os atuais escandalos de corrupcao no Brasil e o papel do atual governo nessa estória, já que vez por outra esses estampam matérias em jornais e revistas por aqui. Eu tentando passar uma imagem otimista da situacao, expliquei que o fato de tais escandalos estarem aflorando de forma frequente, significa a intolerencia do atual governo contra essas práticas seculares de mau uso do poder. Em outras palavras, tudo o que está se vendo agora sempre ocorreu em maior ou menor grau em outras instancias, mas agora em especial, se percebe um esforco sistemático e em larga escala contra a corrupcao. O castelo de areia sob o qual a respota foi construída convenceu, mas nao a mim e tenho certeza nao aos brasileiros em geral.

Mas nao posso negar que mesmo que tudo acabe em pizza, o que já está acontencendo na verdade, uma faísca na direcao certa se acendeu e nao poderia haver momento melhor pra acolher essa faísca com carinho. Li uma reportagem recentemente sobre um caso interessante protagonizado pelo Roberto Justus e um dos participantes do programa "Aprendiz". Aparentemente, uma tenda foi montada em Sao Paulo sem o alvará da prefeitura por uma das equipes participantes do programa, e quando levantada a possibilidade de fiscalizacao, o participante em questao teria se mostrado preparado com uma nota de 100 reais para o suborno. Confrontado momentos mais tarde pelo Roberto Justus sobre o ato lamenável, ele se defendeu usando mais ou menos o seguinte argumento: "A gente sabe como eh Brasil né...", no qual o Roberto Justus rebateu: "É, mas o Brasil tá mudando...".

Quando falo de corrupcao cultural (em outros posts) eh exatamente a isso que me refiro. Mas por outro lado, como se pode querer fazer o certo se todo dia o que os líderes mostram eh o errado?! Precisamos de mais bons exemplos. Precisamos saber e nao apenas acreditar ou ter fé, precisamos saber que a justica funciona e pune imparcialmente e com rigor os infratores. Se o tal participante soubesse disso ele nao teria sequer cogitado a possibilidade de suborno, mas infelizmente só podemos acreditar por enquanto.

Espero o desfecho do caso Renan Calheiros, mas o cheiro de orégano já chegou por aqui.