printemps érable

J'y crois!

Soyons ensemble, en paix...

músicas para amar

Em função de meu casamento, dei início no mês passado a uma divertida pesquisa sobre o tema. Aliada a meu noivo, DJ de Montreal, juntamos preferências pessoais a sugestões recebidas de amigos - ligados à música, ou não, para compôr um setlist para embalar a hora H.

Inspiração + experiência e ‘voilà’! 
(o resultado dessa brincadeira pode ser conferido aqui em cima, no link)

surprises for good

After to be struck for someone who I thought could be my (new) friend, but won't - definitely... I'm positively surprise with other people's attention and affection with me. Ultimately, help comes from who we least expect it...

Even far from my close friends, I had acquired my new ones. True ones.

Life it's not a bed of roses, but there is always a person even better and more important than others who simply don't care of us. Though luck! Now I now who can I rely on... This is more important than everything else.

___________________________________________________________

This episode made me remember Julia Roberts in 'My Best Friend's Wedding', the movie... I never thought one day i'll think of me playing the Cameron Dias role, but that is it!

Good surprises at the end.

chá (de panela)

Adoraria fazer uma reuniãozinha básica, um encontro comemorativo com todas as minhas amigas...

Saudades! ♥

biting the own tail

Irritability, stupidity, coarseness... It's a shot in the own foot.

Dogs do that, irrationally! (ok, but they are animals!)

That's nonsense... Take it easy!

too bad!

I can't get stressed nor topsy-turvy...

Sergio Mendes, mas que nada... salve Jorge!

Excuse me, but I have to confess that each time I heard somebody glorofies Sergio Mendes by his Jorge Ben(Jor)’s hits, I became a little upset. It hurts me the fact that abroad EVERYBODY knows him, while the other, the true musical composition and playing of “Mas que nada”, is completelly forgotten and ignored outside Brazil. Unfortunately...

Damn it! Jorge Ben is a classic, a knighthood. Besides this song, there are many others wich can enshrine him. A simple exemple, in 2008, Rolling Stone Magazine in Brazil built a list of their 100 most important Artists of Music, take a look here to see who is top 5. I’m not jocking: Jorge Ben(Jor) is there.

Actually I do NOT have anything against Sergio Mendes. On the contrary, I’m very glad about his partnership with Black Eyed Peas (that I could check live and totally free on Ipanema sandy at reveillon 2007). He is a good artist and they did a nice job together, which has promoted a lot our music... It's awesome! I just hate to feel people leave behind another (black) marvel artist of Brazilian Music, and, sincerely, I don’t understand why (and how) this (could) happend!

There is no party in Brazil where at least one song of Jorge Bem(Jor) plays and EVERYBODY dance. It’s great. I have already been in a place where with only one CD of him, we dance all night long (poor Jorge Ben, who became rough at that moment!). Furthermore, he is kind... In 2001, when I worked at Planeta Atlântida, I knew him personally and he was so gentle (my mother won a photo of us, inclusively!).

I think he is blessed by Saint George (and His dragon), as in Brazil we are used to do this link... "Salve Jorge"! By the way, today is a special occasion for this post: Jorge Ben(Jor) is turning 70 years old. To celebrate? I'll listen his music, of course...  Here, some of my playlist (all old and original versions, which I prefer):

Ponta de lança africano (Umbabarauma);
Zumbi;
Balança Pema;
Menina mulher da pele preta;
O telefone;
Minha teisomia, uma arma pra te conquistar;
Que pena; 
Ela é minha menina;
Os Alquimistas estão chegando;
Santa Clara clareaou;
Por causa de você, menina;
Bebete Vambora;
Cadê Teresa, among other tunes...

This is my tribute (my particular way to do people get to know him and more about our music... after all, who doesn't know Jorge Ben, doesn't know Brasilian music at all!). Read the complete Rolling Stone article about this 70-years old artist online.

the docility with which they follow the sun...

Today, World Down Syndrome Day: 

to these special people, my support!

spring time

Inspiring weather. 

Lovely days!

Spring time, almost there... 

Here we go ♥

more popcorn, please!

I'm really touched by Quebec cinema.

First of all, it was "Les Invasions Barbares" (2003), followed by its forerunner "Le Déclin de l'Empire Américain" (1986) and later by "L'Âge des Ténèbres" (2007), known as Denys Arcand's trilogy. Nausea feelings while watching them drew my attention to this interesting cinema.

However, I was far from getting into that... Only nowadays I can really affirm I felt in love with it.

Robert Lapage's "La Face Cachée de la Lune" (2003), and more recently Jean Phillipe Pearson's "Le Bonheur des Autres" (2011), Philippe Falardeau's "Monsieur Lazhar" (2011) and finally: Jean-Claude Lord's "Parlez-nous d'Amour" (1976), they were all fateful to crush on it.

Actually there are still some titles I'm very interested as "Québec sur Ordonnance (2007, Paul Arcand), "Jésus de Montréal" (1989, Denys Arcand), "Incendies" (2010, Denis Villeneuve), "Le vendeur" (2011, Sébastien Pilote), "Starbuck" (2011, Ken Scott), C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005) and "Café de Flore" (2011) by Jean-Marc Vallée, "J'ai tué ma mère" (2009) and "Les Amours Imaginaires" (2010) both by Xavier Dolan, and so on...

Yesterday I was in delight watching their Le soirée des Justras, the Quebec Oscar. More than its winners, I was involved by the idiom, their culture, all proximity of being here, and also the similarity between them and our RS cinema... everything fascinates me! I could made out they love for movies, and mainly that they have a promising (prometeur - in French) and strong film business here, an excellent cinema trade... Not cold - not at all! 

Hmmm, I like it! Thanks, Pat, for introducing me all the magic of your cinema. 

parlez-nous d'amour

C'est un excellent classique du cinéma québecois. Remarquable.

Le film raconte l'histoire d'une émission fictive de la télé des années 70, présentée par le charismatique Jeannot, interprété par le vrai animateur Jacques Boulanger. Pouvoir, intérêts, glamour,  promiscuité, insatisfaction et vraissemblance... Il a touts les ingrédients nécessaires pour une bonne trame de l'époque. 

Et, en plus, c'est sur les coulisses du média. J'adore ça!

Regardez un petit extrait ici.

my plea for the Day:

Stop violence against women!

Sexual, physical, verbal or moral - It must end.

Let's start by basic rules: No means NO and yes means YES - wherever we go,  however we dress. Simply as that. Why does society teach us "don't get raped", instead of "DON'T RAPE(!)" for men? [Indignation.] 

Here we go... No to any kind of sexual abuse.

Another atrocity:

Do you believe that female genital mutilation  is still practiced in 28 countries in western, eastern, and north-eastern Africa, in parts of the Middle East, and within some immigrant communities in Europe, North America, and Australasia?! Unfortunately. Typically carried out on girls from a few days old to puberty, FGM is usual performed with no anesthesia, and all this paining process most part of time results in epidermoid cysts, recurrent urinary and vaginal infections, chronic pain, obstetrical complications and fatal hemorrhaging,  

The Human Rights with supported by United Nations have concentrated efforts to stop  this crime against women. By the way, February 6th is the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. Excellent initiative which since 1979 makes  officially opposition to this complex cultural issue.

Numbers of World Health Organization.

Socially we have overpassed many issues, and that is awesome... Nowadays women and men are ALMOST in the same level, professionally speaking. Of course we still suffer some equality problems, which may include some kind of intimidation at work. However, it is at home where could live our worst enemy. That is is where the danger lies...

Lamentably, thousands of women around the world stand this cruel situation. I sincerely believe that is the most difficult to deal with, once the aggressor is who we love (and was also supposed to love us!). Just to make things clear: violence IS NOT affection, and the person who does it IS NOT good (even less IDEAL) for us.

Here I suggest a site for who needs help, or want just to get to know more about the issue. Anyway, here it is my way to “celebrate” this occasion so important for us: appealing for peace... (!) After all, world peace begins at home.   

   

indo...

... pelos inspirantes caminhos de Caio Fernando Abreu.

il y a cinq mois...

Et, depuis lors, tout a changé.

À partir de ce moment-là, nos vies sont plus fleuries et aussi pleines de bonheur.

À la fin, c'est à quoi ça sert, l'amour... (en paraphrasant Édith Piaf)

o pulo da gata neste carnaval

Este ano, pela primeira vez, estou passando em branco - literalmente: MUITA neve pra todo o lado. Nada de bloco, confete ou marchinha. Afff! 

[sinto falta, admito]

Fantasia? Bom, isso a gente dá um jeitinho sempre... na cama! 

(a minha foi de enfermeira, gatíssima)

a piece from here

Once 'Tropa de Elite 2' wont be there, I sincerely hope that 'Monsieur Lazhar' (Canada - Quebec) win next week the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award - Oscar 2012. It's awesome, really touching. I suggest: watch it!

*Of course, I'm also supporting Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown for Rio's Original Soundtrack (''Real in Rio'). Terrific!

different strokes for different folks

Everytime I feel their sarcastic smile, criticizing me because my inexperience in walking on ice or snow, I remember of them, wiping-out in waves of the rough Ipanema sea...

I slid, I fall, I laugh, I get up and restart again (nice and slowly). Hilarious!

I'ts all about practice... Everything is new now, but I'm getting used to.

Wait for that. Soon!

dutch machine

Despite of a school bus, in Holland is like that: kids pedal to go study!

Yes, a (different kind of) bicycle is their transport. What a good idea!

I love that... Everything related to their means of transportation.

(It's a good thing that in Montreal the spirit is the same! I'm really glad to be here - witing for summer, to finally ride a bike...)

pour l'amour

Inspired by their Valentine's Day...

“I can be alone without Yoko, but I just have no wish to be. There’s no reason on earth why I should be alone without Yoko. There’s nothing more important than our relationship, nothing. And we dig being together all the time. Both of us could survive apart but what for? I’m not going to sacrifice love, real love, for any whore or any friend or any business, because in the end you’re alone at night and neither of us want to be. And you can’t fill a bed with groupies. It doesn’t work. I don’t want to be a swinger. I’ve been through it all and nothing works better than to have someone you love hold you.”

John Lennon

com jeitinho

so far

If there is NO space between us, how can I stand be as distant?

My body asks for you! (its basic necessity now...)

Saudade.

j'y crois

Yes, I do.

Unconditionally.

 There are models of a life as a couple who inspire me a lot.

Friday the 13th

My black cat and me,

(not very superstitious...) 
  
we wish all you guys 

so much good luck today!

love is...

In Canada: a 2% milk fat.

He likes 3.25% butterfat (or coffee creams 10%), while I prefer  1%, or even the skimmed one.

So, that's our compromise.

Hooray!

killing it

EVERY time I see people breaking spaghetti before putting it in boiling water, or even when, already cooked, they cut it on their plates, this hurts me so deeply! I admit.

My (Italian ancestry obligates me to start a) campaign: DO NOT do that! Please, use the spoon in order to help you to roll up it around the fork.

It's not difficult! Furthermore, it's the protocol.

cool

Music, dancing, beer/wine, among other things - besides of love, of course.

Sincerely, we don't need anything else... neither no one.

It's great that we can party in couple at home! (just the two of us ♥)

the end

Final de ano, sabe como é... Festas, votos, resoluções, sentimentos - tudo junto misturado! 

E, nesse clima, a gente acaba arriscando, querendo saber do futuro, o que nos aguarda, o que vem pela frente. Normal.

Confesso que nunca quis saber desta data, mas o motivo sempre me interessou. Quando e do que eu vou morrer?

Numa dessa brincadeiras virtuais, veio o resultado (ali, na imagem que ilustra este post).

O ano nao poderia ser outro: 69! Fiquei satisfeita... Vou morrer velhinha: 87 anos de praia(!), feliz da vida, curtindo até o final, com certeza - com meus netinhos! (no trem fantasma, como diz meu epitáfio).

Confira a sua lápide aqui.

every Jack to his trade

While some learn how to  ride a bike or swim, others try not to slid on ice or snow. Me, who was born in a tropical country, I admit I’d never thought about that: the winter life, and its particularities (even being from the south of Brazil - where, in July or/and in August, the temperature is around 5°C - could for our Equatorial pattern).

Once living in a place where 0°C is normal in the Autumn (imagine the low winter marks…), I start to get know many things which before were completely left put in the cold - and seems inclusively a little bizarre to me… However, I’m now very interested in this kind of curiosities, everything that concerns my new (freezing) reality.

Joseph-Armand Bombardier, for example, had been a unknown name until this week, when a classmate presented a research about his life. Well, he was an important (Canadian - further: a Quebecer) man: he invented the ski-doo, which should be called ‘ski-dog’ (yes, with a G!), blame of a brochure typo…   

Locomotion as well as transportation are severely difficult on icy grounds. The snowmobiles he designed have been so utile next to the poles. With his creations, he turned life easier for millions of people - Santa Claus included. Time and distances changed after that.

Experiences… for one, jet skies; for others ski-doos. Necessity.

nouveauté

À Montréal:

   de la neige 

+ de la bonne humeur 

_________________________

= des gens qui viennent d'arriver

*Je suis contente (comme un enfant), je confesse. 

cater to me

No shave November!
(maybe all year long... why not?!)

I love it! ♥

there

Not alone: the best one in the world.

___________________________________________________________

Bed-in 

In Montreal.

As John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 42 years ago...

Just wanting love and peace.

The ideal.

enfin

La première neige on n'oublie jamais!

Je suis contente!

Je me sens comme un enfant... je confesse.

partout

Non, il n'est pas le Jésus de Montréal (en fait, il joue Martin dans ce film là...). Cependant, c'est comme s'il l'était, étant donné qu'il est une figure si omniprésent! - au moins, pour le cinéma québecois.

Dehors d'ici, il est connu pour ces rôles (homonymes: Rémy!) en "Le Déclin de l'Empire Américain" (1986) et, principalment, en "Les Invasions Barbares" (2003), tous réalisés par Denys Arcand.

Rémy Girard est une entité. Genre. Il est partout, en s'agitssant de le septième art «made in Quebec», ou même à la télé.

Sont 88 titres, selon IMDb. Grosse liste. Puis plusieurs pric Gémeaux et Génies. Une belle carrière.

___________________________________________________________

Il me fait penser un peu à notre Sônia Braga au sommet des années 70. Ou même comme il sera (probablement) l'avenir de Wagner Moura, Selton Mello, João Miguel ou Dira Paes pour le cinéma au Brésil. 

Tant mieux, car on sera très bien representés.

together, being only one

Somehow (or other), many things change when you, finally, find your better half. Being a couple requests from both a different behaviour. Inevitably. However, you are going to do that with pleasure, from your all heart, freely ('cause, when involved, it happens naturally, without any requirement - and with NO doubts!). Everything joins, fits, matchs… thoughts, wishs, needs, feelings.

Nobody's alone anymore: now it's "two-in-one"! A great union of part(ie)s and sides. At the same time, (and on the other hand), there is a consolidation of individual qualitys of both of you which fortifies the relationship once even the differences prove you get along perfectly. Thus, stronger, you can go far, wherever you want, besides being able to face anything.  

Together, during a (french) kiss you can experience it more intensely, or… why not while making love?! - the best thing to do by pairs, the intimatest one! Simple as that: there isn’t better place to be in the whole world than with your love, inside him (or vice versa), embraced, inseparable. This completes me.  

Ça c'est fort!

*Illustration: "Love is possible", by Brunobig Carneiro.

tous les jours

L'utilisation du ordinateur portable est une orgie! 

On fait des positions bizarres... entre autres plus intéressants, après... en couple, sans lui.

(dont la publication est malheureusement interdite)

another river

... another (point of) view.

Another city.

Another story...

Another life!

too late

Past ghosts appear always at the wrong moment.

While single, they used to leave us in peace. On the other hand, when you are with someone else, they haunt.

Why they come? I have the impression that it's purposeful, maybe not even by them, but by circumstances... My theory: it's just to put us to the test, assessing our feelings, and focus.

Anyway, if they passed a long haul away, absent of our lives, things have changed since then. So, I wonder: Is it worth allow for them, making it real (again)?

I don't think so. After all, they had they time to make it happen before. Now, it's other's turn.

I'm not pushing my luck, putting it all on the line - not at all!

pour un monde meilleur

La paix et l'amour... 

C'est beau.
Ce qui ne va pas très bien c'est la mauvaise odeur.

(degueulasse!)

running

Landscape is changing. Autumn arrived.

Fields have closed due to the end of the season, while I keep running (trying to make up for lost time!).

Time flies... Impressive!

bonded!

Going too far? Too fast?

On the other hand, when it's (so) good, why not profit, get the most out of?!

Being distants, it's hard... Two nights, maximun! Phew, it's enough.

Easy. Excellent. Ripe. Infatuated.

 

close

Actually, much more... ♥

marching

Although I' haven't totally understood yet their cause, I'm convinced that Zombie Walk is an interesting movement. 

(Maybe also influenced by Occupy Montreal) Many people went downtown yesterday. They attended the parade with weird costumes and so much make-up. Big style!

Cool! (or « bizarre! »)

getting shocks

Not because I am an eletric girl... It's static!

Because of the cold temperature, depending on the fabric of clothes, any charge that is built up (when rubbing something), becomes a static shock! 

It happens all the time, with everybody. 

On metro, Ouch! It really hurts sometimes... (even when joing hands - sh*t!)

the folly of love

Which was the biggest one that you have committed?

Probably most part of people will answer something as a huge and extreme change, or even a real madness - indeed. Me, on the other hand, I prefer the little simple things to prove that I've a crush on him.

I sincerely believe that it is possible demonstrate all love I feel through routine acts. As time goes by, inclusively, those are exactly the details which couples used to forget... putting them aside as long as they get along.

Making your partner a sandwich, for example, with all ingredients he likes (and had gone so far so as to buy them!), doing that with all your heart... I'm pretty sure as much as he is going to be pleased, he'll fall in love! - day by day, more and more.

However, if he doesn't, you can try to please him with other "easy" kindness. He is supposed to be charmed by every single thing you do... (at least in the first three months of relationship) and return you both this care and affection.

On the contrary, for sure you can make different things, in order to amaze him... take a extreme resolution maybe, but I don't think it's necessary a so heavy work when love is reciprocal, when both are involved. When we give someone more than other deserve, it's not fair with ourselves.     

Simple as that. It's the law of attraction: it's giving that we receive - and it MUST works. After all, life should be a two-way street. If not, it doesn't worth...

des citrouilles

Partout:

simples assim ♥

O que será (À flor da pele)

Será!

São Nicolau, Dalai Lama, Chico Buarque... todos juntos, em mim.

recordar é viver

Dia das Crianças, e em prol da causa, eu escolho Emília para me representar! (coloquei esta imagem como minha foto de perfil do Facebook, inclusive).

Brasileiríssima, alegre, levada, mas inevitavelmente em retalhos - essa sou eu! (embora seja inevitável não lembrar de minha prima Gisela ao ver a carinha sapeca desta boneca...)

going together

"Plim!"

When it happens, it's fast, easy... It works. Simple.

With no doubt, just the desire to be together, in peace - making love, no war.

Only being anywhere is enough to be fine. At bed, a parc, a bar, at home.

Chez moi ou toi.... doing nothing, making everything. 

This is us, a loving couple.

un délit?

Parc Lafontaine

Un petit gamin fait pipi près d'un arbre.

(Il n'est pas carnaval, c'est l'été des indiens, mais... quand même) Est-il un hors-la-loi?  

Au Brésil, oui, il le serait - n'importe quand. 

Bon, je ne suis pas d'accord avec le mamans que laissent ses enfants pisser partout (surtout les garçons!), mais, quand il faut, il faut...  C'est comme ça, ici ou là-bas!