Monday, December 19, 2005

Storm Person

The sun receded and now the last of the autumn (perhaps the first of the winter?) rain is falling. I don't know how unusual it is, but as a matter of fact, I really am a "storm person".

I woke up and opened my curtains to see the rain falling. I like to hear the wind roaring against the walls and the heavy drops falling on the roof. I love to see the dark clouds moving across the sky.

There is a picture, taken by my parents when I was 2 or 3 years old, in which I am on a completely dark shore, smiling at the gathering storm and the heavy waves. It appears that I and the storm have had this romance for a long time.

Does it mean something about me? I wonder what would the Jungian say about it. Any online psychologist available?

Friday, December 16, 2005

O Fantasma da Ópera

No último fim de semana, fui assistir ao musical O Fantasma da Ópera, em cartaz no Teatro Abril, em São Paulo.

Não é o caso de poupar elogios ao espetáculo: a atuação, a história e sua dinâmica são muito boas; os efeitos especiais são convincentes e impressionam. Obviamente, o que há de mais emocionante ali é a música. Imerso na melodia de O Fantasma da Ópera, não é possível permanecer alheio: os sentimentos dos personagens são compartilhados com os espectadores, e as tensões do enredo significativamente se potencializam. É interessante esse poder intrusivo da música, que se enraiza sem pedir licença nos sentimentos de quem a ouve.

Saindo do teatro, não me restavam dúvidas: dentre todas as minhas inaptidões, a que mais me incomoda é a total falta de talento musical.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

É aquela época do ano...

Em que as pessoas que procuram por informações sobre o "Nacimento de Jesus" (sic) começam a cair em massa aqui no blog... Caras pessoas, procurem pelo nascimento, e vocês encontrarão resultados mais relevantes.

E mais: no melhor estilo abyssus abyssum invocat, o fato de eu comentar sobre isso por aqui deve subir ainda mais o pagerank do Gondolin pra essa aberração da língua portuguesa, e aumentar o fenômeno. Pelo menos estou sendo educativo...

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

kaiho

According to this Wikipedia article, there is a Finnish word whose meaning translates almost exactly with saudade: kaiho.

Monday, December 05, 2005

now in English; Vancouver; the usual randomness

1) As part of my struggle to improve my English, from now on I'll write in it here. Critics and suggestions are most welcome. I beg your pardon for the not-so-high quality of the texts, but hopefully it'll get better with time.

2) Answering the requests of lots of people, here are my impressions of the three cities I visited on my trip to Canada: Vancouver, Whistler and Victoria.

Vancouver is a large city, so it has lots of different regions and it's kind of hard to summarize. Downtown Vancouver is rich and beautiful, specially the modern, all glass buildings near the shore. High mountains over the horizon and the dark Pacific water compose an amazing view. The brightly lit stores and buildings add a contemporary feel to the city, and it is hard not to like it. However, there's a lot of problems that I wasn't expecting from the supposed third-best-place-to-live-in-the-whole-world. The traffic is a mess, the drivers are aggressive, there is trash over the streets and sidewalks (a way less than in Brazil, but enough to spoil the clean image that I had of it) and there are poor people (including many beggars) and poor zones in the city. I must admit that I was expecting more of the city.

Whistler is a small town at the bottom of two big mountains: Whistler and Blackcomb. Very nice place, everything is neat and well-kept. The mountains are great for skiing, although I didn't do it.

Finally, Victoria. It stays on the south of the Vancouver island, somewhat isolated of the continental Canada. The isolation isn't only geographical. The architecture and the overall feel of the city is totally European. There are some nice buildings and a great museum for local reference (the Royal British Columbia Museum).

3) Ironically enough, just after I decided writing in English here, while seating watching the rain I felt a very particular sensation. Those drops reminded me of the silence which remains on Sundays, when the anonymous crowd leaves the old city center of Sao Paulo quite empty, and you can sit and watch life passing by. For that particular feel, there is no word in any other language than Portuguese. As you all know, eu tive saudade.

Friday, December 02, 2005

OneNote

Have you seen this software? Pretty cool, I really like it. And Microsoft is giving prizes for people who download and use it.