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.