Yeah, I know it's been a very long time since I last posted here, but truth is life's been incredibly busy, and I just haven't been finding time to come and post.
The Oscar is just around the bend, and I've been trying to watch all the nominated films. Out of the five best picture nominees, I've seen There Will Be Blood, Juno and Michael Clayton, and I plan on seeing No Country for Old Men and Atonement before the ceremony on Sunday. So far, my favorite is obviouly Juno (read below), but I know for sure There Will Be Blood, boring as hell, will win in the end.
Although I found There Will Be Blood incredibly dull, I recognize it's a beautifully crafted film, with unbelievable cinematography; and Daniel Day-Lewis, as usual, simply kicks major ass. He is, in all likelihood, the most versatile and talented actor alive, and if he doesn't win this Oscar, it'll be yet another irrefutable proof that the Oscar voters know shit.
I'm problably going to the cinema tonight, even though I start teaching a CAE course tomorrow morning. Thing is I've been meaning to watch American Gangster for months, and if I don't see it tonight there's this great chance I'm only going to see it when it comes out on DVD, and I don't want that. I am truly curious to see how Ridley Scott managed to get himself a bestselling book by one of the most acclaimed American journalists (Mark Jacobson), plus Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe, and not manage to have the film nominated for a single Oscar.
Well, I guess that's it. I'll post later my bets for the Oscar.
I've just arrived home from the cinema, and I've still got this stupid smile on my face.
I've just seen the best film of the year.
I remember I felt exactly the same thing when I finished watching Little Miss Sunshine last year, and I didn't think I'd see a movie that made me feel quite that way again in a long time, and it really took a while, but it just happened again.
Actually, I think I liked Juno (yeah, that's the film of the year!) even better than I did Miss Sunshine.
Stop whatever the hell you're doing right now and go see it.
Go, go, go, God damn it! Stop reading this freaking post right now and go already!
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Still here? Well, your loss.
Enjoy below the cutest song in the history of film-making in a long, long time...
If I was a flower growing wild and free All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee. And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves
If I was a flower growing wild and free All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee. And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves
All I want is you, will you be my bride Take me by the hand and stand by my side All I want is you, will you stay with me? Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.
If you were a river in the mountains tall, The rumble of your water would be my call. If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow
All I want is you, will you be my bride Take me by the hand and stand by my side All I want is you, will you stay with me? Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.
If you were a wink, I'd be a nod If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod. If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug
All I want is you, will you be my bride Take me by the hand and stand by my side All I want is you, will you stay with me? Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.
If you were the wood, I'd be the fire. If you were the love, I'd be the desire. If you were a castle, I'd be your moat, And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.
All I want is you, will you be my bride Take me by the hand and stand by my side All I want is you, will you stay with me? Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.
Carnaval is finally over, which means Brazilians will now forcefully have to resume their lives after some three months of idleness. Not this Brazilian here writing, however. This Brazilian here has been tired of 2008 for a while now, and is already looking forward to December, to vacations; but once that is not possible I go on counting my blessings.
Carnaval for me meant four full days for myself, and it was almost too much. I went to the cinema three times to see A Lenda do Tesouro Perdido 2, The Nanny Diaries and Michael Clayton (beautifully translated into Portuguese as Conduta de Risco), for which Russel Crowe got another best actor nomination for the Oscar. At home I saw three other movies: Ocean's 13, Perfect Stranger and The Guardian, the latter with Kevin Costner. I read very few pages of Book of the Dead and even fewer of one of the best books I've ever read, Se Ninguém Falar de Coisas Interessantes, which I've just started re-reading. So, I guess, Carnaval was culturally OK.
Now I really have to hit the sack since life goes back to normal tomorrow. Good luck, everyone.
I started the year with a whole lot of promises, by me dubbed 'resolutions', and I am reasonably pleased with myself now in hindsight for having been quite successful in keeping with most of them. I didn't start going to the gym yet, and I haven't taken up a healthy diet yet. Apart from that, I believe I did most of what I'd set off to do. I read two books, I went to the cinema three times (one short of the goal, but not bad at all), I was a good teacher, I started my French lessons (Je m'apelle Higor), I've been keeping an agenda etc. I haven't done it all yet, but it was a reasonably successful month.
Despite all this success, I have never been so tired. I worked 14 hours a day on average in January, totalling 70 hours a week. If you take into consideration that I worked two Saturdays, we easily reach the conclusion that I worked my ass off. Freaking tiresome month.
I'm holding my breath for February!
Just watched: "A Lenda do Tesouro Perdido 2". Really cool.
Still wading through: Book of the Dead, Patricia Cornwell. I'd rate it 7 now.
Mais um post em português, mais um sobre o Tricolor.
Ontem, como acontece sempre, fomos roubados escandalosamente. O árbitro Sálvio Spíndola, agora carinhosamente apelidado de "Sálvio" Corínthians, não se contentou em inverter a falta - pênalti! - do horroroso Carlão em cima do Dagoberto, mas também anulou um gol absolutamente legal e irretocável do Adriano. Até aí, nenhuma grande novidade, uma vez que é comum que árbitros apitem a favor do Corínthians, e, além disso, a arbitragem brasileira é horrorosa mesmo. O que me surpreendeu de verdade, no entanto, foi o fato de que o Sr. Corínthians já está "pré-escalado" para representar o Brasil na copa de 2014. Por quem? Será mesmo que o Sálvio Corínthians é o melhor árbitro brasileiro em atividade?
Continuando no tópico de reclamações em geral, precisei hoje ir ao Poupatempo pedir uma segunda via do meu RG. Pra quem não é de São Paulo, Poupatempo é um local que concentra uma grande variedade de serviços públicos do governo de São Paulo, teoricamente concentrados para facilitar a vida do cidadão. Abaixo está uma lista de "facilidades" que encontrei no meu dia no Poupatempo.
- Cheguei às 10 da manhã e saí às 15:30, após inacreditáveis cinco horas e meia em filas. Detalhe: saí SEM o RG, que só fica pronto na quarta-feira;
- Das mais de cinco horas de alegria que passei no local, só estive sentado por aproximadamente 30 minutos. Simplesmente não há cadeiras e bancos suficientes para a milhares de pessoas que frequentam o local;
- Deixei meu carro estacionado na rua, com um cartão de Zona Azul de 2 horas, achando que ia sobrar! Prêmio: multa e quatro (ou cinco?) pontos na minha carteira de motorista.
Encontro-me hoje emocionado com o carinho que o governo paulista tem por mim.
PS: Estou lendo "Book of the Dead", de Patricia Cornwell. Após 70 páginas, nota 5.
It didn't haunt me, really. It surprised me only. Good, positive surprise.
I talked to a friend today. A great friend. One of the nicest friends I've ever had, and one I miss(ed) to bits. Truth is I met this friend briefly a few months ago, but only today did we really talk to each other, and not even for that long, which is pretty sad, really.
Well, anyway. I just jotted this down because I wanted to remember this day in the future.
And these are the brave ones from the first IELTS group of the year. They're preparing for an international certificate, which is not necessarily the most fun thing in the world, but they have great sense of humor and they help me to make classes that are almost bearable. :-)
O primeiro post em português só poderia ser sobre uma das minhas cinco coisas favoritas na vida: meu São Paulo.
Fui hoje ao Morumbi pela primeira vez em 2008, e pra começar com o pé direito, vi uma vitória - 1x0 contra o horroroso Rio Preto. Foi pouco, e não vi o Imperador Adriano marcar pela primeira vez no Morumbi, mas foi o suficiente pra dar bons gritos de alegria e pra pôr o Tricolor na ponta do Paulista, junto com Ponte Preta e Marília. O gol foi do Souza, que começou na reserva e fez um excelente segundo tempo.
A próxima vítima é o Ituano, quarta-feira, às 21:45. Com TV.
Usually when I come here to put a post on the blog I know exactly what I want to say. Not today.
It's the end of the weekend, 11:37 p.m. on Sunday to be more precise, and I didn't do much. I had such a busy week last week, and I just know from experience this is going to be an even more intense one, what with the intensive courses starting, and a brand new IELTS course, individual students coming back, and me in charge of organizing everything. If there's one part of my job I really don't enjoy that much, it has got to be it: organizing, planning, making it happen. It just so happens to be the most important part of my job. Anyway...
So, as I was saying, I had a very busy week and still I don't feel I enjoyed my weekend to the fullest. I went to the cinema (to see O Suspeito, I don't remember the title in English), I read fifty more pages of this book I've been struggling to read (A Place Called Here), I played a lot of videogame, I slept enough. I don't know exactly what I expected to do, but it just feels I've done nothing. Ah, almost forgot! I worked a little, planning the TTC for this next week.
I guess I should plan some stuff to do next weekend, in order to start the other week a bit less frustrated.
Apparently I'm going to the gym tomorrow. Let's see how that one plays out.
I'm shocked at how many films I've seen this year already. Last weekend alone I saw 6; 5 on DVD and one at the cinema: Meu nome não é Johnny, which is, by the way, fantastic. I'm flabbergasted with Brazilian cinema, more and more each day.
Also I've finished The Kite Runner and started A Place Called Here, by Cecelia Ahern, author of PS: I Love You. This one is about a woman, Sandy Shortt, who specializes in finding missing people, and then, one day, goes missing herself. So far I think it's a moderately interesting book, but certainly, at least up to page 50, inferior to the others I've read by the same author, PS included.
As far as my new year resolutions are concerned, I've slipped a little. I drank some coke this week, I haven't started gym yet (I rescheduled my physical evaluation for next Friday) and I haven't done anything about learning to play the guitar yet. However, I cancelled my enrollment with Aliança Francesa and decided to have private French lessons, which means I'll start sooner: next Tuesday. That must count for something. :-)
I'll have to stop here. This has been a very tiring week, albeit a fun one. A new TTC started, the first one in 2008, and the girls in it are really fun. Yes, sir, that's it: a girls-only TTC, the first ever. Not coincidentally, we haven't had a single problem with punctuality so far, or any problem for that matter.
Escrito por Higor às 21h23
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