Saturday, July 26, 2008

To write a play

I mentioned in this post that Coelho Netto is a Brazilian playwright whose work I have been observing.
Anyway Netto wrote this one play called "Os misterios do sexo".
The translation of the title is "the mysteries of sex" and sex in this case refers to gender, not to the act of having sex.
The play is about a teenage boy whose genitalia was not obvious at birth. His mother then decided that he was a girl and raised him in such a way but as he reached puberty he started acting like a heterosexual teenage boy which unleaches all kinds of reactions in his family ( the play was written in the early 1900´s).
In a nutshell that´s it.
What has intrigued me is that Coelho Netto got the ideia from an article that ran in a Rio de Janeiro newspaper at the time.
Books on acting always tell you to know the reason a playwright wrote something and try to figure out the character from there. Is this really plausible?
I read this piece today. If a script followed such a method would it be reasonable to expect an actor, who happens to play one of the characters, to know what is intend? I think not.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Laaaaaaaaa ....

Elle est libre de tout ça.

Yeah, in French, but what a great song.



La
La lune est libre je crois,
qui rayonne au-dessus,
rayonne au-d'sus des toits.
La lune est libre,
bien plus libre qu'on ne le croit,
elle fluctue de çà et là,
les parties qu'on ne voit pas,
c'est pas grave ça reviendra
et quand elle est plongée
dans la froide obscurité,
donne l'impression qu'elle se noie,
bien vite reprend pied,
avec ses apparences instables
y en a qu'elle fait douter
bien plus fidèle qu'on ne le croit,
La lune est libre.

Réceptive et absorbante
de la lumière qu'elle renvoie,
Elle rayonne au-dessus des toits
et fluctue de çà et là.
Changeante, fascinante,
parfois même éblouissante.
C'est ainsi qu'on l'aperçoit
Disque parfait, disque lumineux
ne vous rappelle-t-elle pas l'hostie/le style ?
de ceux qui lèvent la tête
dans l'espoir de s'élever un peu.
Transitoire, unique, symbolique
de quelques visions imaginaires,
Elle en impressionne plus d'un
qui prennent peur et délirent.

Elle est au-dessus de tout ça,
Elle est au-dessus de tout ça,
Elle est libre de tout ça,
Elle est au-dessus de tout ça,
Elle est libre de tout ça,
Elle est au-dessus de tout ça,

La lune est libre je crois,
qui rayonne au-dessus,
rayonne au-d'sus des toits.
La lune est libre,
bien plus libre qu'on ne le croit,
elle fluctue de çà et là,
les parties qu'on ne voit pas,
c'est pas grave ça reviendra.

Disque parfait, disque lumineux
ne vous rappelle-t-elle pas l'hostie/le style ?
de ceux qui lèvent la tête
dans l'espoir de s'évader un peu.
Transitoire, unique, symbolique
de quelques visions imaginaires,
Elle en impressionne plus d'un
qui prennent peur et délirent.

Elle est libre de tout ça.
Elle est libre de tout ça.

Interview with the lead singer, in English, she is a cutie.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Every streetlight reveals a picture and a verse



These things they go away, replaced by everyday...

Monday, July 21, 2008

Ode to our foreign debt.

Overspending caused debt which plummeted Brazil into two decades of high inflation and then hyperinflation. Such overspending was excused at the time by invoking a manifest destiny kind of future for Brazil coated with myths and symbols.
Brasilia is a perfect example being that such symbolism was used to propagate its construction.
Well since symbolism is no match for reality interest rates rose over the loans to build the city as on those to sustain so many other grandiose projects which for the most part did not yield results that overall benefitted the citizenry but did result in debt which crippled the citizenry.
At present the foreign debt of Brazil has been payed and what hinders the economy is the national debt. In other words the cash payed on interest rates over the money that the government borrows to sustain a huge bloated state.
Many of the beneficiaries of this situation live in the buildings below.


Speaking of myths this clip is actually pretty cool.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Call me when you have no class

Roberto Campos explains the obvious to one that is clueless.


Clueless then goes on to do this.


Amazing. It´s as if Rodney Dangerfield were a top presidential aide.

Started out this morning feeling so polite

Sky rockets in flight


Annnnn Afternoon Delight.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Cough Cough

and then


As if you were doing something close to nothing.