DID I MENTION I MISS TRAVELLING?

More of my new year's travels around Itaúnas and Vitória. You can catch the first post here.

Much love,
V.

A brief history of (my) hair

At first, I had beautiful fluffy long brown hair (June 2012).

I had purple tips for like, three days in July 2013 (N. dyed them for me when I visited her in Melbourne <3), but then I was back to normal hair. I felt bored. I felt like I needed change. Actually I felt tremendously lost and didn't know where to go with my life or what kind of future I'd have, so just to feel like I could decide something I decided to bleach my hair tips and dye them salmony-pink (September 2013).

It got completely blond about a month in. So I went acqua blue (October 2013). 

That also faded away fairly quickly, leaving me with violet... (November 2013).

 

(yeah my "friend" took a photo of me out of the blue, nice guy). Then acqua again in December, then it faded  while I was at the beach for new years and I just had fugly damaged bleached hair. Thus I cut it all off on January 8th, which is actually one year after I took a plane back home after the exchange programme. COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT. Was I leaving my past behind and getting ready for a new life, letting go of that feeling that life-not-in-Paris couldn't possibly be good? Perhaps.

Or perhaps I was just tired of all the split ends and frizzy hair. We'll never know. All I know is that, even if sometimes I miss having long hair (especially to perk it up in milk braids and all), I look waaaaaaaay better with short hair, PLUS I spend less than ever with hair products. I used to think that I could never cut my long hair off because, believe it or not, I thought I was ugly and it was the only beautiful thing about me, it was kinda like a shield or a security blanket. NOW I THINK I'M BEAUTIFUL. Confidence. I haz it. You go, you. I'd like to state that I cannot stand self-deprecation. All my friends make bad comments about how they look, even when there's seriously nothing wrong with them - so I promptly cut in with compliments and rational comments to try and make them see how crazy they are for thinking "their shins are too thin" (whut).  Eventually they started doing it with each other and some peeps started calling us the "support group" <3 <3 <3 SPREAD THE LOVE, EVERYONE. YOU'RE ALL LOVELY. Oprah, where do I sign?

A pleasant evening to you,

V.

Adventures

On the early morning of January 2nd, 2014, me and my friends decided to see the sunrise over at Itaúnas dunes. It may seem like the coolest adventure ever, but we were actually scared to death of getting raped on the pitch-black road there and then we were eaten alive by mosquitoes when we got there. Then the sun came out and it was all worth it <3 These are some photos I took with a disposable camera. Good times! I miss travelling so, SO much. I wonder when my next trip will be! N. is having the time of her life roadtripping the hell outta Australia right now, I miss her so much ahaha. I hope she's having tones of adventures with her bf :))
ps: after spending the whole night out and then watching the sunrise, we got to our tents utterly tired (we were camping). I entered the tent and lay there for a whole 10 mins before my tentmate came in and spotted a GINOURMOUS SPIDER in there. We got out screaming like mad people, my hair got stuck in the tent zip, I cried, it was 6am and we woke everyone else up in the camping site, including the hippies who permanently lived there. One of them came our way asking if we needed help and we said there was a huge spider in our tent, he totes thought we were exaggerating (we were not) and picked up one of the tent sticks (you know, the ones that allow it to stand up straight in a tent shape) and went inside our tent. When he spotted the spider he yelled and started manically hitting it until it died. One of his hippie friends came by and said "you can't hurt the animals, dude" (reaaaallly slowly) and the one who helped us said "it's just sleeping!". Yeah, right.

A pleasant night to you,
V.

Movie Night #6

Am I terribly old fashioned?

A couple weeks ago I watched Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008). It's based on a 1938 book I read in 2011, with the same name. I absolutely loved reading it, it was fast paced and the story was interesting - it's about a governess, Guinevere, who can't hold down a job. She keeps getting fired, she's poor and she's homeless. She manages to steal a card from a lady who needed someone at her home from the employment office and shows up in the address saying she was sent from the employment office - and instead of kids, she finds Delysia, a young cabaret singer with tons of lovers - one whose beautiful apartment she lives in, one who's the son of a West End producer and who she's hoping will give her the main role on a musical; and her musical partner at the cabaret, Ned the Pie Maker (I used to love that show! so sad it only had one season!), who is the only one who tryuly loves her but doesn't have a penny. Guinevere is then hired as Delysia's personal manager or something, and accompanies her to various social gatherings trying to avoid that her lovers discover about each other. Guinevere ends up discovering there's a lot more to her than she thought, and although I guess it's just chick lit I do feel like it's different with two strong, feminine main characters who go after what they want and work hard for it haha. The movie changes the plot a bit but was still cool, and actually had a happier ending than the book. It was interesting reading about the military "trials" (when the army and air force practice fighting before a war? I don't know how to explain it) in London, as the book was published in 1938, a year before World War II broke out - I didn't know people knew there was gonna be a war so long before it actually started and then practiced for it!

 :(( so sad. 

Lately

Woah! sorry about disappearing. I'm sure y'all know how it is, both me and N. were going crazy with exams to study for and essays to write. Now it's all over <3 N. is travelling with her boyfriend and I miss her so much! I'm sure she's having tons of fun though, so it's ok! She worked really hard this semester and deserves the time off.
So, in the last couple weeks I spent most of the time at home studying with my cats taking naps and nibbling on my toes. Mia (that's the name of the black and white one up there) sometimes forgets to put her tongue back in her mouth, it's SO cute! Did the cat get your tongue?



On Thursday it was my last exam and, for some of my friends, their last day of being an undergrad. I still have one semester to go, it was really sad knowing that we won't have classes together anymore and will no longer see each other that often. So after our last exam, as a celebration of some sort, I bought us bem casados (a Brazilian pastry made with dulce de leche usually given away as souvenirs after weddings, it means "well married") but named them bem formados ("well graduated")! It was a hit!

On Friday I worked from home and then joined some friends at São Paulo's historical center to watch the game. Did you know that people don't have to work full hours here when there's a game where Brazil is playing in the world cup? hahah. That was actually the first world cup game I watched, I really don't care for soccer... but I must admit that just feeling the energy other people send out while watching the game was pretty cool. They get so worked up, it's hilarious!

Then on Saturday morning I participated on a ~photoshoot~ with my friends/partners with whom I'm opening an online store! The photos are gonna go on our hot site before the actual store comes out. I'm really excited about this project and I'll talk more about it soon, if I can :)) I'm really rooting for it to work out, opening firms in Brazil is so complicated and expensive :((

After seeing the fish on the way to the location, we met this cute moustachioed cat on the way back to the metro! 

On Saturday night I invited my uni friends for a slumber party at my place. We ordered pizza, had tons of wine, some beer, and talked a lot about  a lot of nonsense, and then decided to sleep all in the same bed (we were 6 people haha). That didn't go so well, but it was so cute! After they left this morning I spent some time in the backyard reading drinking some leftover beer and my cats apparently enjoyed it as well! Drunk cats <3

A pleasant beginning of the week to you,

V.

Graffiti me, graffiti you

A couple weeks ago someone told me São Paulo wanted to be the graffiti world capital and I was like "WHUT we barely have any", but then I started noticing and it's actually everywhere! I really like discovering things, along with long walks on the beach, travelling and cats, and this is totes my dating site profile. I mean, seriously though, that it's always cool finding out things about the city you live in or about people you know. (Unless it's something like, they're murderers, or something, then it's not pleasant at all). I don't particularly like graffiti, but I guess it's better than a blank wall.




Me and my friends went to Tulipa Ruiz's concert yesterday night, even though we're all swallowed in school work and probs shouldn't be going out. Tulipa is so great! She has a great great singing voice, and is really fun onstage.




After the concert we went to a bar called informally "The Priest's Ass", because it's behind a church haha. I really liked the décor, specially the little beach painting you can see on the pic above! It left us all in a very tranquil mood and less desperate about uni. Unfortunately today I'm back to my desperate state.



Anyway, we might not really be the world capital of graffiti, but some dude decorated his trash picking vehicle with graffiti (yes, no name for it - if you're reading this and it's not familiar to you, good for you, chances are you don't live in a country with great inequality like Brazil! Yay! This is a little cart people with no other means of living go around with trying to collect something from trash that's hopefully worth some bucks) along with a really scary doll sticking out its tongue. He should totes be on Pimp my Ride - Terrible Reality edition.

A pleasant week to you,
V.

How should a person be?

Hello, children. Today's book is called How Should a Person Be?, by Sheila Heti.

I first heard about this book in an interview with Lena Dunham, I think. It had been on my "to read" list ever since, but it was just non-existent in Brazil (I mean, I couldn't find it for sale anywhere). Fortunately, my new internship allows me to download almost all the books in existence bwahahah <3 Anyway, when I first saw the description, I was like, "ew, a self-help book", but then it totes wasn't. Actually, this book does not offer any answers of any kind. To be completely honest, I think I finished reading it feeling more messed up than ever. Thus, the subtitle "a novel from life" fits it quite well.

I had the pleasure of highlighting some of my favourite excerpts from the book, and I hope by reading them you'll feel a deep desire to read the book as well. I personally have never felt so connected to anyone as I did to the main character (whose name I can't remember! Go me!). Which I guess is sad. It reminds me of when my psychologist asked me to list 10 boys I'd like to date and like 7 of them were fictional (like Link from the Legend of Zelda, Goku from Dragonball Z and Kyo from a manga called Fruits Basket). "Hopeless", was what her facial expression said.

You can admire anyone for being themselves. It's hard not to, when everyone's so good at it. But when you think of them all together like that, how can you choose? How can you say, I'd rather be responsible like Misha than irresponsible like Margaux? Responsibility looks so good on Misha, and irresponsibility looks so good on Margaux. How could I know which would look best on me?


I had spent so much time trying to make the play I was writing - and my life, and my self - into an object of beauty. It was exhausting and all that I knew.

my paintings look so good when I'm wearing your special glasses. Thank you.

It has long been known to me that certain objects want you as much as you want them. These are the ones that become important, the objects you hold dear. The others fade from your life entirely. You wanted them, but they did not want you in return.

Standing alone at the bar, I wondered if I could love the boy I noticed at the end of it - the one with curly brown hair, who was like a washed-out, more neutral version of the first boy I loved. When he stepped out into the front steps, I thought, if he has gone out there to smoke, I will love him. But when I got outside, though I could see a cigarette dangling from his lips, I did not love him.

If they can just remember this - It is their everlasting switching that is the dangerous thing, not what they choose - they might discover themselves saved. The problem is the puer ever anticipates loss, disappointment, and suffering - which they foresee at the end of every experience, so they cut themselves off at the beginning, retreating almost at once in order to protect themselves. In this way, they never give themselves to life - living in constant dread of the end. Reason, in this case, has taken too much from life. They must give themselves completely to the experience! One thinks sometimes how much more alive such people would be if they suffered! If they can't be happy, let them at least be unhappy - really, really unhappy for once, and then they might truly become human.

May the Lord have mercy on me for I am a fucking idiot. But I live in a culture of fucking idiots. I cannot be saved if not everyone is saved. if everyone around me talks nothing but shit, how can I hold myself aloof? My fate is not separate from everyone's fate. if one man or woman can stand up and call themselves saved, that means we all are. And I know I'm not, so no one is. 

Recently, Margaux had been trying to reassure me that I had a good brain. My brain had not worried me when I was younger, but over the past year I had become convinced that I did no think as well as other people. No, that was putting it gently - that I didn't know how to think at all. Other people knew how to think, I thought, had opinions on things, a point of view. I did not.

Why are you all reading? I don't understand this reading business when there's so much fucking to be done.

I untangle myself from the sheets and get up and go to the mirror to start my day. I produce a haughty, superior expression to intimidate myself into thinking I'm cool, cooler than I am. I make my eyes as world-weary as possible, like a fashion model's, I think, You're a charlatan. You love everything you were ever given. 

 Hope you have a lovely week! Have you figured out how should a person be?

V. 

Movie Night #5

"He's my high school nemesis" 

The other night I came around this quirky movie from New Zealand. It's with the guy from Flight of the Conchords! If you like that show, you should probably watch Eagle vs. Shark (2007), they have the same kind of humour. In fact, I'd say this movie is a mix of Wes Anderson and Flight of the Conchords. I really like the props they used, all the prints, tapestries, costumes! <3 <3 <3 There are some stop motion bits in the middle. mostly involving apples.




Nancy: What do you parents do?
Shark: They're dead.
Eagle: DEAD. Good one Nancy.
Nancy: I'm sorry hon.
Shark: No problem.
Eagle: She's an orphan. Like Oliver Twist.

Eagle: Lily is like... the best female Fight Man player I've ever seen. And she's a dancer.
Shark: No I'm not.
Eagle: Oh. I thought you said that once.



Eagle: I gotta dump you. My life is just too complicated right now. I guess that what I'm trying to say is that I need to be alone. I'm too busy... with the revenge mission and everything. Sorry.



Shark: You know... life is full of habits. but in between the habits, there're some very lovely bits.

green, yellow and blue

I gave my mom some daisies for mother's day, about a month ago. They've died. So I figured, WHY NOT MAKE SOME POT POURRI? I guess I don't really know what that means, so I just tied a bunch of branches together with a cute ribbon. Is this pot pourri?




Anyway, I hung the bouquet in my bathroom, in the hopes it might smell less bad after I poo. Not that my poop smells that bad, it smells like regular poop I guess, but it's always nice having some perfumed dead flowers in the area. Also, I missed the World Cup's opening while doing this. I was so sure it started at 4pm!!! Oh well.

Boogieing down all night long

For the last couple years I had been hearing about this nightclub at são paulo's historic center in an abandoned building, sorta like a squat. The actual thing ended up being way cooler than my expectations! That night they played a type of Colombian music called cumbia, which is very fun to dance to. There were also lots of other rooms playing different music styles, one with a live band even, and some "sitting rooms" with bathtubs as couches!

I hadn't been to a nightclub in 8594379573495 months, indeed I think since visiting N. in Melbourne in July last year. Almost a year! So I danced the night away and hopped on the first train in the morning, really tired from all the dancing. I fell asleed and woke up with some creepy dude touching my thigh asking me to wake him up before we got to Jabaquara station (??). I was like, "dude, wtf, don't do that to people in the metro" and he started chitchatting with me "oh, were you at a party?" and I said (sarcastically)(it was 5am) "no, I was working" and he said "oh, what do you do?" and I refused answering because he was obvz a retard or something, but he thought I was playing a game and his best guess was that I was a transvestite. I was like "YES DUDE, THAT'S WHAT I AM, IT'S MY JOB". He then asked me if he could add me on facebook. I said no and left, thankfully that was my station hahaha. Good times!

To many more weird anecdotes!

A pleasant day to you,

V. 

Contemporary Brazilian Music: part II

And so we move on to my final suggestions of cool music going on down here!

3) Banda Uó



Banda Uó is the crème de la crème of Brazilian tecnobrega (or, in english, technotacky) - they're fun to listen to at parties and such, even though they don't really fit in with my music taste. The problem isn't even the tacky part, it's because of techno. EW.

2) O Terno



O Terno is kind of a mix of 80s rock with samba, or something... I can't quite describe it. Sometimes I don't like the way the singer sounds though, but I still listen to them.

1) Charlie & os Marretas



Charlie & os Marretas is pretty much my fave Brazilian band at the moment, I went to their concert a couple weeks ago and they're just so fun! I know some of the bandmates, in fact I remember once hitting on their keyboard player very hard (I was a bit drunk) and he just ignored me completely at a house party. To my surprise, the day of the concert when the curtains opened I was standing directly in front of him hahah. Good times! They're very funky, and just nice guys in general. Their video is pretty cool too, I've totes learned the dance moves.

A pleasant weekend to ya!
V.

*You can catch the first post here, in case you missed it!

YAYoi Kusama (wow, my titles are so funny).

On Saturday I had the pleasure of visiting Yayoi Kusama's exhibit at the Tomie Ohtake Institute here in São Paulo. It was so fun/crazy seeing what she sees: polka dots everywhere (although she doesn't see that aaaalll the time, just sometimes). I'm not sure if I'd be that bothered if it were me, really! She was also a very hip young lady in her pre-hot-pink-wig-wearing-time, hanging out with Andy Warhol and all. I didn't like her paintings as much as I liked her installations, like the one under here, called "Sea of Dicks", or something. As you can see, I tried to become one with the environment.

But the other installations were pretty cool too.

I don't have that much else to add, except that I had a great time with J., who is visiting (he's been living abroad in the last 4 years). I had a huge fight with him a couple years ago, and we finally made up this year - so, yay! [Insert Oprah-like sentence about the power of love and absolution and friendship.]

Hope you've been having fun too!

V.

Contemporary Brazilian Music: Part I

I've finally started paying attention to contemporary music here in Brazil after I came back from the exchange program. In Europe, it seemed like everyone knew more about Brazilian music than I did (I really only knew the most famous ones and soap operas' soundtracks haha) so I thought it was high time I got to know my culture. I made a little selection of 7 (contemporary) bands that I've been listening to since I started, well, looking for them I guess. From the oldest music videos to the newest ones!

7) Filarmônica de Pasárgada

I like the band's name because it's based on a really good modernist poem called "Vou-me embora para Pasárgada", by Manuel Bandeira. They met at the uni I go to, so I guess I also kinda like them for that haha. They play classical instruments and I think it's really cute <3

6) Trupe Chá de Boldo

Trupe Chá de Boldo has become one of my favourite bands as of late. Their songs are really funny, although I guess you'd have to speak Portuguese to get it haha. At least it sounds good regadless if you speak the language or not! They have a really interesting aesthetic sense, and when I saw them live earlier this year they were super charming - the band is gigantic and they could barely fit the stage.

5) Bárbara Eugenia

This girl sounds a bit more like Tropicalia music, I think! I like her style too, even though I must confess I haven't listened that much to her. Am going to look into her music more :))

4) Garotas Suecas



Garotas Suecas have been around for a really long time. I remember hearing classmates mumbling about their concerts when I was 17, so they've existed at least for 5 years ahah. It's not really my style, but I can appreciate their talent.

Stay tuned for part II!
A pleasant day,
V.

Movie Night #4

"Are you a regular, or a goofy?"

Tonight's movie is Electrick Children (2012), which I had never heard of before yesterday when it was suggested to me by Netflix. AM I GLAD I TOOK NETFLIX'S ADVICE. I totes consider this movie my favourite movie ever now. It's the story of a 15 year-old Mormon girl who unawarely listens to a blue tape containing a rock song called "Don't leave me hanging on the telephone", by the Nerve, and suddenly suffers an immaculte conception and finds herself pregnant. That plot only would already have made me fall in love with the movie, but then it gets better: her father, a reverend (priest?) says she will have to marry a neighbohood kid the next day, so she runs away from home to LAS VEGAS in order to find the person who sang on the blue tape and impregnated her. I mean, WHAT? She then goes all Felicity on us and tapes her journal on the same machine that led her to the situation in the first place. She meets all these people, including Macaulay Culkin's younger brother, and sets on her quest of finding the father of her child.
One of the best things in the movie is the way she so naïvely talks about things: she's never talked on a "cellular phone" before, neither has she had PIZZA NOR HAMBURGERS. What a sad existence. She also says to the tape recorder about Macaulay Culkin's brother: "Clide is... perhaps.. the spawn of Satan." HAHAHA. Now that's a sentence I shall incorporate on my day-to-day conversations.
Also, I don't know much about mormons, but do they really give out peace signs as promises of good intentions or something?

Watch this movie if:
* you're into prairie clothing (I guess my fashion taste is pretty similar to Mormon's taste in clothing)
* you're into shiny tacky las vegas neons
* you're into weird plots
* you're into beautiful scenary such as Utah's rock formations (not sure if that's how you say it in English)
* you're into cute mormon décor like the hanging flowers of the wedding scene <3

Don't watch this movie if:
* Don't be silly. One cannot not watch this movie. Don't watch this if you want to lead a sad, sad existence, as if you could never eat pizza or hamburgers.
* I guess perhaps if you're mormon.

A pleasant day to ya,
V.

Une année studieuse

Last week I finished reading Anne Wiazemsky's autobiography, "Une année studieuse". I must confess that when I bought the book I had no idea who she was, nor that it was an autobiography haha, I think I read something about it online and put it on my "To read" list and now here we are. The book covers one year in Anne's life, a young student who is studying for her BAC (which is sort of France's SATs, I guess) while picking plums in France's provence during the summer months, at a friend's house. Then we find out she had acted in a movie the previous semester, one called Au Hasard Balthazar, directed by Robert Bresson, and that she had then met several famous people, like Jean-Luc Godard - to which she feels she has been continuously rude in their 2 or 3 encounters in Paris. Thus she sends him a letter saying how much she admires his work, specially Masculin Féminin and Pierrot le Fou, and apologized for always being so rude. Who'd have thought that not only he did he forgive her but that he also would come to pick her up in southern France because he had been in love with her since seeing Au Hasard Balthazar in the movies?

"Oui, je souhaitais ce mariage et en même temps, j'eus soudain une étrange intuition: "Je veux vivre le plus longtemps possible avec toi. Mais je sais que ce n'est pas pour toute la vie, que j'aurai d'autres amours et d'autres vies", lui dis-je dans un souci d'honnêteté."

The story goes on for the year following their encounter, when she starts studying philosophy and Jean-Luc goes on shooting films. My favourite part was definitely reading how Jean-Luc was while filming, how did he feel about the way things had to be, how did he treat actors and crew, etc. And also, of course, reading about all their friendships to Famous Intellectuals of the time, like Cournot and Truffaut.. She mentions Sartre's work all the time, which was cool because I love reading his books too (not that I actually understand what he's trying to mean though). Also, it goes on in 67, so we see how things are hitting up to what one day would be May 68.

"Puis, je me glissai nue dans le lit, bien décidée à ne pas le réveiller. Satisfaite, je m'apprêtais à sombrer dans un profond sommeil quand je sentis une main étrangère se poser sur mon épaule et une voix, qui n'était pas celle de Jean-Luc, marmonner: "C'est toi, Sabine?" Mon effroi fut tel que je crus que mon coeur s'arrêtait de battre. Je connaissais cette voix, je l'avais souvent entendue au cinéma et au théâtre, c'était celle de Jean-Pierre Cassel qui occupait avec sa femme la chambre voisine de la nôtre. Je demeurai quelques secondes paralysée à l'idée qu'il se réveille complètement et me découvre dans son lit. Mais heureusement Jean-Pierre Cassel me tourna le dos et se rendormit. En une seconde, je fus devout. J'attrapai mon linge, ma mini-robe, mon pull et mes sandales qui traînaient éparpillés sur le plancher et me retrouvai, toujours nue, dans le couloir de l'hôtel. Un peu de lumière filtrait sous la porte de la chambre voisine et j'y entrai précipitamment. Jean-Luc lisait sagement dans le lit et de stupéfaction lâcha son livre quand il me découvrit, collée contre la porte, nue, avec mes vêtements serrés sur ma poitrine."

The whole book reads as fiction though (I'm not sure if all biographies are like this, but it was a pleasant surprise) and we're inside Anne's head all the time, while she ponders if she's really in love with Jean-Luc, if he's not gonna fall back in love with Anna Karina, if she should pursue higher education, etc. I liked seeing how she fluctuates around loving him to death or wanting to be free, because I think that if I ever fall in love with someone (never have) I'd be scared of growing too dependent on them as well. And how awesome would it be to date Jean-Luc Godard in Paris in the 60s??? I felt so nostalgic about Paris that I decided to download an app called Fake GPS and set my location to my old apartment there, and then turned Tinder on and started talking in French to all these hot french guys. Still not sure if that's too crazy or not, but hey, at least I'm practicing my French! (They do get disappointed when they find out I'm not going to have sex with them though haha).

Anyway, it's a great book and I totes recomend it if you like:
1. the 60s
2. Paris (or France in general)
3. Godard
4. all the options above.

A pleasant day to you,
V.

Movie Night #3

"shut the fuck up shut the fuck up shut the fuck upppppppppp"

Tonight's movie is Magnolia (1999), featuring a gross misogynist Tom Cruise who says stuff like "Respect the cock!". N told me about this film months ago, but I never got to finish it because it's 3 hours long. I'm glad to finally know where the famous sentences "What am  I doing? I'm silently judging you" and "Ladies & Germs!" come from! However I didn't leave the movie theatre (so to speak, since I watched it on my laptop) light-hearted: the movie is pretty sad. I guess everyone has regrets in life, which is a fucking bummer. "We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us." It's a really good movie though, and both of us recommend it! One of these nights when you have some free hours and a desire to mope around over your disappointments in life, we mean. 

Ramona

On Friday we celebrated my friend M's 22nd birthday at a nice restaurant called Ramona, located in the heart of São Paulo's old town, or historic center, I don't know how to call it in English - we just call it "center" here. It's funny how our friendship went back and forth during the last five years we've known each other from uni! I guess I've always been a little mistrusting of people before I met N., but since I met her a couple years ago my approach towards people changed a lot, specially girl friends, which I sincerely thought I could never have.  Crazy right? These days I get along way better with girls than with boys (as my sad love live can attest to), and I wouldn't be able to live without them (I mean, of course I would, but it wouldn't be the best life ever). Just spreading some girl love <3 <3 <3
Anyway, since I was talking about the restaurant, I really like its décor. It's full of these crazy stairs and vintage furniture, but I think my fave part is the mirrored-brick wall you can a bit in the back of the second pic! The ambiance is really great too, full of hipsters, and great service. I didn't eat anything but my espresso was pretty decent haha. I'm totes bringing N there when she comes to são paulo :))

Z and her adventures

Recently, my good bud Z left Melbourne for bigger and better things (of course). She won't be back until 2016, unless she is able to find a way to renew her visa or finds out that London sucks and wants to come back. She's currently travelling at the moment, seeing, eating, drinking, absorbing and experiencing all these amazing things in Europe but will eventually settle down in the land of bangers and mash.

As a goodbye present, S (the third installment of the trio) and I got us Rocky Horror tickets and made her a journal/adventure book. We named it The Extraodinary European Expedition (vol.1) and filled the pages with activities and prompts to help her write. We came up with things like "how many drinks did you have today?"; "draw your dinner here"; "what are you thinking at the moment?"; "continue: Dear N.,"; "what's your plan for today?". We even got educational: "what is the number for the police in the country you're in at the moment?" And musical: we had Amsterdam - Coldplay; Norway - Beach House; Ni**as in Paris - Kanye; Polish Girl - Neon Indian; Postcards from Italy - Beirut; Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd on our playlist.

We even stuck the Oyster travel card on the front of the book, covering the BY:__________ part. We thought it'd be a cute surprise to give her a chance to make it hers.

We had fun. Probably not as much fun as Z will have filling the book out, but I'm looking forward to the day I see this soon-to-be tattered, weathered and ripped book make its way back home.

N.

Au revoir Simone + Cibo Matto

On Sunday it was mother's day here in Brazil, but it also was Au Revoir Simone and Cibo Matto's gig at Cine Joia. I really thought I wasn't gonna be able to go because I wanted to visit my grandma (after all, she did have 8 children, including my mother) and she lives an hour away, but then I woke up after what was supposed to have been my prom (I didn't graduate because the exchange programme in Paris set me back one year) and I just couldn't get out of bed. My mom had never seen me hungover before, it was so embarassing! I blame my chepastake ways, I paid $$$ for the prom ticket and I thought I should enjoy food and drinks as much as I could (I even saw some people stealing the centerpieces hahah). Anyway, on Sunday I woke up vowing never to taste a drop of alcohol again, and my family left for my grandma's city leaving me dying in bed here in São Paulo. I slept until 5pm and studied a little, ate some papaya and felt strong enough to see the concert after all haha. Au Revoir Simone were so cute! 3 beautiful girls who dress really well. Cibo Matto were unbelievable though, it's so weird seeing a petite Japanese woman rapping hahaha. and they danced so well! Don't Honda's electronic instruments (mixing plate? I don't know what's that) look like a robot from a cheap sci-fi movie? So many cables! and they kept on speaking Portuguese, Cibo Matto even sang a whole Brazilian song. In love <3 <3 <3

A pleasant beginning of the week to you,

V.

Stuff

  

I won't lie. I have a ton of stuff. It's like, everywhere you look at around my bedroom, it's stuff, stuff, stuff. Sometimes it's useless stuff, like a huge plastic pineapple hanging from the ceiling. A lot of it's clothes! I'm a big time shopaholic, seriously, it's a problem. Specially since I started a new internship in February and got myself a credit card of my own (meaning I wouldn't have to ask my parents if I could buy a little dress or little shoes online), I've been FUCKING POOR. Like, my credit card bill totaled more than my wages last month haha. I can't help it though, it seems like money you spend on the internet is like magic money, that comes out of keyboard cat's mouth into my pockets after travelling through a ton of "what's in my bag?" videos on youtube. 

I guess I should really come down to earth and realize what a huge idiot I am for thinking like that haha.There's seriously no more room in my bedroom for any new stuff, there's barely room for my cats to play around in :(( (in the last pic you can see Mia and Meowth, my new babies!). It's just such a mess all the time, even when I tidy up when guests come over they still say mean comments like "OMG YOU'RE LIVING IN A BLACK HOLE" and I go like "BUT I'VE LITERALLY JUST CLEANED UP, IT WAS WAY WORSE" - I really need to get my shit together hahaha.

Tartbreaker

Not long ago a boy took me out for a picnic by the river. I'm pretty sure I came up with the idea (there's probably never a time I don't want to picnic), but he totally initiated it. He even brought hot water in a flask so we could have tea ! And PoP went my tart.

So anyway, I decided to make mini lemon meringue tarts for him because, you know, I fucking love them.

 Little cups of happiness

Since I made them fresh in the morning before he picked me up, I was too pressed for time to make my own pastry. Instead I bought frozen shortcrust pastry sheets from the supermarket... and they still worked out great. All is good in the world.

Little Lemon Tartbreakers
(adapted from http://www.weekendnotes.com/mini-lemon-meringue-pies/)
Makes six

Lemon Curd
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons lemon rind
1 teaspoon lemon rind
5 tablespoons lemon juice
50g butter, chopped

Meringue
3 egg whites
95g caster sugar

Method
People usually make the pastry first because it needs time to sit in the fridge and to be rolled out. I left this last because I was using frozen sheets and figured it wouldn't take long, whilst the lemon curd required a bit more work.

I started off ruining my lemon curd by making scrambled eggs: I mixed all my ingredients over heat. Please don't do it. Mix the egg, egg yolk, sugar, lemon rind and lemon juice together in a stovepot before you turn on the heat (I know, you're all smarter than this... but that was a detail I clearly missed). Once it's throughly mixed through, put your stovepot over medium heat and add the butter. Make sure you're constantly whisking to remove any lumps, to stop the egg from cooking and to make sure that the butter is completely mixed through. The website suggested 8 minutes, but it took me much longer than that; the curd needs to be thickened that it coats the back of a spoon. Be patient my dears, and just whisk away.

Once this is done, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. I then strained the curd through a sieve to remove any lumps and placed the result in a bowl. Put some Glad wrap (Saran wrap/plastic wrap ?) over it and place it in the fridge until chilled.

Now, onto the pastry. I simply traced out circles from a drinking glass on shortcrust pastry sheets and popped them into a cupcake tin. Just follow the Shape of Your Tart. I only needed 1 1/2 sheets to make 6. Note: I found a glass that had a circumference that was about half a centimetre wider than the cupcake tins, placed them flat over the holes, and let gravity push them into the tin. This allowed the pastry to stretch into the mould, rather than forcing it. I tried forcing it and my pastry just buckled and make creases everywhere. Just, no.

Bake according to instructions on the package. 

Once the curd is completely cool (note: completely!), pour them into the cases. If it's still warm it will make the pastry soggy and will start leaking a syrupy liquid. Don't Go Breaking Your Tart at this stage. You're close to the end !

Lemon baths

For the meringue, whisk the egg whites on high until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, whisking constantly until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Place them into icing bags and pipe away! I placed these bad boys in the oven (200C) for about 7.6 minutes and then used a blow torch to brown the meringue (7.6 minutes ? I don't know, I just Listened to My Tart). If you don't have a blow torch I suggest you leave the tarts in the oven for 10 minutes or so. We don't want no salmonella!

Bam! And it's done.

Once done, dust some icing sugar and sprinkle fine lemon rinds over your beehives.

And you know what? He ate three in front of me. Three.*^

Have a great weekend,
N. 


*I may have pushed him.
^The tarts might not even have been that nice but he was probably being nice. Who knows ? But go on, try the recipe and win his tart (: (Yes, that almost sounds dirty.)

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

I guess I was part of a pretty cool event last weekend. You may not know this about me, but I'm a huge nerd - like, full on anime-quoting, manga-referencing and sci-fi-geeking. I think it all goes back to having studied in a high school whose student body was mostly formed by Asians. So, anyway, when I heard there was gonna be a Star Wars Night Run on May 4th I was like "OMG SIGN ME UP RIGHT NOW", which my mom was more than happy to do (and pay for hur hur) since she's always trying to get me to exercise with her. In the running kit we got storm trooper masks and I guess they had a huge army of storm troopers running in mind, but seriously, who can run 6 km with a plastic mask on? I wouldn't have worn it anyway, since this was finally the opportunity for me to borrow my brother's Yoda backpack (one that emulates the scene in episode IV where Luke is learning how to be a Jedi at that swamp planet and runs around with Yoda on his back!), and went as Luke Skywalker ahah. They hired people to dress up as some of the movie characters to cheer the runners along the way, and they were holding signs saying "run, darth vader, run!" and "Do or do not, there is no try" hahaha. 

The best was definitely the run's location, though: it was on a famous viaduct here in São Paulo called the Minhocão (the Big Worm, in English). It's considered one of the ugliest parts in the city; as you can see in the second pic it's like it was placed in the middle of a bunch of buildings and the people who lived on the first floors basically lost all of their privacy. (Also, doesn't it look like the world is gonna end and people are running away? ahah). The buildings around it are all falling apart now, since the region lost a lot of its value after the viaduct's construction - I must confess that everytime I drive by them I always take a peek inside the buildings, so this run was almost like a dream come true for me and my voyeur ways haha. I had to stop to take the last pic because the person had placed a tiny Darth Vader toy along with her plants, how cool is that? 

Sundays are the worst

Sundays are the worst. I always feel like I wasted my whole weekend (WHERE DID TIME GO???) and didn't do any of the things I had/wanted to do, like studying or watching movies or reading magazines. It's also always a time when I get really nostalgic, usually because I spent the whole day without much more social interaction than yelling at one of my cats for peeing on me again - so I had the whole day all to myself to think about all the things that are wrong with my life, hahah. That does not summarize to getting peed on, unfortunately. 

So it's really good to have things around me that remind me that good times are coming, or that there are good things in life in general. Usually it's something that reminds me of N. A care package of hers just came in the mail last week (or was it the one before that?), loaded with love <3 and cute gifts, of course! She gave me the red dress in the first pic, it's so beautiful - and the tights in the third pic I picked up in Melbourne when I visited her last year. The best in her care packages are always her cards though <3 HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE SOMEONE WHO SENDS YOU A CARD LIKE THAT???

Thanks for always cheering me up, N., even from so far away :))

David Bowie's exhibit

A couple weeks ago it was the David Bowie's exhibit's last day here in São Paulo. I had already seen it in London August last year with mine and N.'s dear friend A., so I thought "why not relive those joyous moments?" and made my way to the Museum of Image and Sound with my mom (who was the only person willing to stand in line with me for FOUR hours. Yes, that's right. You have to be a big David Bowie fan to endure that).

Of course, she didn't really stay in line with me for four hours, as she quicky found a bench she could sit down on. On the back you can see the David Bowie studio, where I recorded a karaoke version of "Ground Control" hahah. (Also, you can note how the light changes from the first pic to the second one: the day was over by the time we managed to go into the museum).

David Bowie: what a man. He called this outfit "ultraviolence in Liberty fabrics", how awesome is that? (He's a big fan of The Clockwork Orange). My mom kept on making comments about how people actually wondered wether he was a boy or a girl at the time (so I guess "Rebel"s lyrics are autobiographical haha). I guess I just love how he sends out a message that everyone can be whoever they want to be. So can I be David Bowie, please?

Indeed, he was so many people throughout the years. I wonder how he feels about that. I always think about how actors have to really become a character to make it believable to the audiance, can you believe how hard it'd be to actually be a character 24/7? How does one decide what their new them is gonna be like? And how do you know what you really are like after you're done with a character, how do you know what's your true self like? Anyway, ignore my musings about David Bowie's possible identity crisis ahaha.

 

Like I said, I had already seen the original exhibit in London. It was SO MUCH better than the one here :(( the V&A one actually covered Bowie's whole life, not only his music career, and generally had more than costumes and pictures of him. Sigh. 

At least I got to be in a real recording studio pretending I was Bowie, something I didn't do in London! yay <3 My love for him goes way back, in fact I even forced my friends to be in a remake of his video for Dancing in the Street with Mick Jagger (I was Mick Jagger though).

I'm not gonna post the videos of our remake because I really don't think J. (the friend I made play David Bowie's part) would really appreciate that being on the internet, but here are some stills you can enjoy (I think that for a one-night project made by three 18 year-olds, it's pretty good hahaha). I wish I still had friends who'd be willing to play with me like this, people seem so self-conscious nowadays (both J. and K., the friend who taped it, are living abroad now) :(( Anyway, we were dancing in the middle of São Paulo's Korean neighbourhood, so I guess that doesn't apeal to a lot of people (we did go karaoking after the shoot though, who doesn't like that?). Sometimes I think that I really need to get new friends!

A pleasant end of Sunday to you,
V.

Jealousy: Life Aquatic

If there's one thing I don't miss about living in Paris it's having to worry about what I'd wear to go buy muësli trois chocolats (very good chocolate-y cereal) at the nearest Franprix every Sunday morning. However,a couple months after moving back home I got myself a Jalouse subscription for my birthday, as in a way to keep practicing my French and also to drool all over their pretty editorials and what seem to be the coolest/most hipster events/people ever. If only I could still stroll out in my best clothes on a crisp Sunday morning to buy triple chocolate cereal, sigh.

Photos Édouard Plongeon

Réalisation Marie Gilbert

in Jalouse n.167, February 2014

There are actually two new numbers that have come out after this one, but I'm so behind with school work that I've just finished reading the February one :(( I guess the other two ones will be waiting for me right after I hand in my thesis project (only its project, not the actual thing) on May 2nd! 

Seriously though, can I dress in blue strawberry pants, cute hats and lobster brooches everyday for the rest of my life? 

A pleasant day to you,

V.

Movie Night #2

 Feeling lonely? I'll lend you a cat!

 

Rent-a-neko, 2012

I had little doubt I'd like this movie when I came across it online. IT'S JUST SO CUTE. It's the story of a young Japanese woman whose grandma, her only company, dies - and she's left behind with this weird gift of attracting cats. Since she knows that you can't feel lonely if you have cats around, she makes it her job (literally) to rent cats to lonely people. WHERE DO I SIGN UP? (for both the job and renting kitties). 

 

To find new clients, she walks around a lake with a megaphone yelling "feeling lonely? I'll lend you a cat!" with 6 cats in the back of her wagon. Lonely people respond to her call and, after she inspects their houses to see if they aren't just some creeps after cats, she lends them a cat that suits them.

 

At the end of their interview, she charges them only 1,000 yen. If you're not familiar with Japanese currencies, know that this is worth today less than 10 dollars! So her clients, always very thankful for her to have relieved them of their loneliness, ask her "oh, but how will you get by?" and she answers "why, do I look like I'm having trouble getting by?" and they'd go like, "yeah" (rude). So she always makes up a different day job that makes her millions of yen everyday, like a stock trader, a fortune teller or a commercial jungle writer (in all of which she's aided by her kitties, of course.)

 

The movie is also a great way to become familiar with Japanese culture. For example, her main dream is to find a husband (jeez). One thing I don't get about the movie though, is that she thinks of herself as this super weird person who can't deal with other people, when in reality she's just really kind and adorable to everyone. Also, a notion of Japanese people's problems: one of her clients is really sad because his daughter said he smells worse than her dog, hahaha. Oh, and there's also her transvestite neighbor who is always telling her how weird and ugly she is, and how she'll never find a husband. DUDE YOU'RE AN UGLY UGLY MAN-WOMAN. STOP TELLING HER LIES. RUDE.

OK, maybe I went a little overboard with my screenshots? It's just that this movie is so cuteeeee. Check out her flowery playsuit + polka-dotted red shirt combo, so pretty <3 Anyway, if you think you'd like a movie about cats, loneliness and filling up holes (not in a dirty way), I totes recommend this to ya.

A pleasant day to you,

V.