Soccer players interviews: What a uselessness!

The amount of programs on Brazilian TV in which soccer is the one single subject discussed is unbelievable!

Besides the live broadcasts of a considerable amount of matches (played here or abroad), there is a profusion of shows where former athletes, journalists, commentators and some sort of "sporting pundits" talk (a lot) and (often) argue about the game, as if it was the most important stuff in the whole world.

It's not easy to find good information about other sports on local traditional media. People who loathe soccer, like me (but love basketball, volleyball, tennis, judo, skateboarding...), usually have a hard time watching Brazilian channels - even on pay-TV.

And why are there so many interviews with soccer players? I frankly can not see what is their point. What are those conversations for? Don't get me wrong, pal. I'm not saying that all soccer players are complete morons (even though some of them, definitely, are); I'm complaining because those interviews are repetitive, full of commonplaces and obviousness. Most of the players sound the same when they are talking!

Youtuber Lilly Singh made a hilarious video that may be kind of helpful now, I think. She is mocking interviews with athletes in general, in the North American context, but it's pretty similar to Brazil and its soccer players. Check it out:



As she said, at the moment of the interview, "every player literally turns into Captain Obvious and says nothing of value". But I agree with her: Athletes have other fantastic skills and "not everyone can be a great speaker and take great shots".

Before I forget: TV reporters also could improve their questions, couldn't they? 

"Fundamentalist atheist"?

This morning, on my Twitter account, I wrote about a topic that upsets me a little: Is there such a thing as "fundamentalist atheists"? With some small changes, here's what I posted on Twitter * :

I usually get kinda confused when I hear or read the expression "fundamentalist atheist".

OK, fine, I must admit that atheist people (like me) can be obnoxious, condescending, wannabe intellectuals and a little bit authoritarian sometimes. BUT, definitely,  we're not fundamentalists.

In my opinion, fundamentalist atheist sounds like a contradiction in terms because, strictly speaking, we, atheists, don't follow a so-called holy book that would be the fundament of our beliefs and thoughts.

So, if you want to criticize, irritate or simply offend atheists (no problem; it's part of the democratic coexistence), I suggest calling us "sectarian", or "intolerant", or "narrow-minded". (How about "pompous fucking bastards"?)

"Fundamentalist", however, is quite inaccurate in this case, I think.

_______________

* I posted a thread of tweets, of course!

Dear Madonna, that is not samba at all!

Everybody loves Madonna, don't they? Also called the "Queen of Pop", she became a show business icon during the two last decades of the 20th century. Even though she's not on the top of the best-selling singers' list currently, it's hard to not keep in mind her former renown, as well as her hits.

Speaking of her most popular songs, a few days ago I turned on the radio and La Isla Bonita was playing. I started to sing along when suddenly I realized that there was a substantial mistake in the lyrics. (Once that track was released in 1987, I took thirty years to notice the error. What a moron!).

She sings: 

"And when the samba played

The sun would set so high
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby"

Wait a second... What? The whole tune has nothing to do with samba! We can hear Cuban drums and something like Caribbean tones, a Spanish acoustic guitar... However, the famous Brazilian beat is not on the menu. So why the hell did Madonna come up with the word samba? 

My guess: Many Americans (even nowadays) think that cha-cha, mambo, rumba, samba and other Latin rhythms are the same stuff; Latin America, in their opinion, has indistinguishable cultural traits from country to country - thus, who would care about the difference between salsa and merengue, or between cumbia and conga?

Well, I care. 

As a Latin American (as a Brazilian, to be more specific), I'm able to say: La Isla Bonita, despite its enchantment, is not samba at all!

Never read the comments, you fool!

My mantra from now on: Don't read the comments on social media. Don't read the comments on social media. Don't read the comments on social media. Don't read the comments... Off course, I'll never make comments again as well.

An admirable Brazilian song

Every single music lover knows: Samba is the most authentic genre of Brazilian music. Originated from African rhythms, samba is the cultural portrait of my country to many people. Though I personally prefer hard rock and heavy metal, that contagious Brazil's beat also appeals to me.

Last month (in my other blog) I spoke briefly of a Brazilian song - Pra que discutir com madame? - that I really enjoy (Besta Quadrada, the other blog, is written in Portuguese; if you want to visit it, click here). Pra que discutir com madame? was composed by Haroldo Barbosa and Janet de Almeida in 1956. Years later, singer and acoustic guitarist João Gilberto recorded it, making it known abroad.

How about listening to the song?

  

A few days ago, I came across with a nice translation of the song lyric in the musician João Macdowell's blog.

Check it out (I put the translation lines and the original Portuguese lyrics side by side):

WHY SHOULD I ARGUE WITH MADAM? (PRA QUE DISCUTIR COM MADAME?)                                           

Madam says the reason the race does not improve, (Madame diz que a raça não melhora,)

That life just gets worse because of Samba (Que a vida piora por causa do samba)

Madam says that Samba is full of sin (Madame diz que o samba é pecado)

That poor Samba should disappear. (Que o samba, coitado, devia acabar)

Madam says that samba has cachaça, (Madame diz que o samba tem cachaça,)

mixing races, mixing colors, (mistura de raça, mistura de cor,)

Madam says that democratic Samba (Madame diz que o samba democrata)

is just cheap music, it’s worthless. (É música barata sem nenhum valor)

                                        
                                         [Chorus:]

Let’s put an end to the Samba, (Vamos acabar com o samba,)

Madam doesn’t like to see the Samba (Madame não gosta que ninguém sambe)

She keeps on saying Samba is a shame (Vive dizendo que samba é vexame)

Why should I argue with Madam? (Pra que discutir com madame?)

Carnival is near, and this year I’m in the contest  (No Carnaval que vem também concorro)

My gang from the favela is coming down, singing opera. (Meu bloco de morro vai cantar ópera)

and in the sweaty alleys, when it’s hot, loud and packed, (E na avenida entre mil apertos)

every single voice will sing a concert. (Vocês vão ver gente cantando concerto)

Madam is a little bit nuts (Madame tem um parafuso a menos)

She spits out so much poison, My God, what a shame (Só fala veneno, Meu Deus, que horror)

Brazilian democratic Samba (O samba brasileiro democrata)

Roots of Brazil, we have pride and we know our worth. (Brasileiro na batata é que tem valor)

Come to think of it, I would've translated the last line a little bit differently... Anyway. Macdowell claims that "the lyrics present a very straight forward version of the narrative of cultural conflicts and coexistence of contrasting systems of value that permeates Brazilian culture. There is a rich discourse about the nature of this cultural tension that is exposed through the song". I totally agree with him.

Furthermore, the tune is simply irresistible, mainly when the song is played by a complete group of sambistas, like these guys below, joined to the marvelous singer Teresa Cristina. Enjoy yourself!

Long live the paper books!

"Book Age is over!". "It's the end of Gutenberg's Galaxy'". "Nobody reads paper books nowadays". "In the future, there will be only reading on digital devices".

How many times have you heard/read claims like these?

I've been thinking a lot about reading, mainly printed books reading (after all, it's a pivotal part of my current job). Some weeks ago, I was searching for a few images of people with books in their hands and I found beautiful pictures in a BBC report (signed by Fionna Macdonald), Striking photos of readers around the world. 

The article highlights On Reading, a photographer Steve McCurry's book, which gathers pictures that were taken over past 40 years; some of them, according to Macdonald, are "glimpses of people absorbed in the written word, many unaware they were being photographed".

Take a look at this:

The photo was taken at a museum (Umbria, Italy). I think the enormous skeleton legs belong to the sculpture named Calamita Cosmica, created by Gino De Dominicis. But the woman doesn't seem interested in it. Maybe she's an employee of the museum. Maybe she's seen that sculpture hundreds and hundreds of times and - meh - it isn't so fascinating anymore. Who knows? What is she reading? A catalogue? The picture whets our curiosity (it's irresistible, isn't it?).

And what about this one?

It was taken in 2013. The kid is a member of the Suri Tribe (Tulget, Omo Valley, Ethiopia). It looks like he's at school. Why is he alone? Is he doing a difficult task or just reading for fun?

The next one is odd and thrilling:

What is this facility? Looks like a power plant. The photo (taken in 1991, in Kuwait, i.e. after or even during the Gulf War) shows a man, surrounded by rubble, focused on a simple book!

We couldn't forget my country, could we?

This stunning library is the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura (Royal Portuguese Cabinet for Reading), founded in 1837 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and still working today.

Journalist/blogger Maria Popova, going into the German writer Hermann Hesse's essay The Magic of the Book, wrote:

"The question of what books do and what they are for is, of course, an abiding one. For Kafka, books were “the axe for the frozen sea within us”; for Carl Sagan, “proof that humans are capable of working magic”; for James Baldwin, a way to change our destiny; for Neil Gaiman, the vehicle for the deepest human truths; for Polish Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska, our ultimate frontier of freedom. Falling closest to Galileo, who saw reading as a way of having superhuman powers, Hesse considers the historical role of the written word: 

'With all peoples the word and writing are holy and magical; naming and writing were originally magical operations, magical conquests of nature through the spirit, and everywhere the gift of writing was thought to be of divine origin. With most peoples, writing and reading were secret and holy arts reserved for the priesthood alone.

[…]

Today all this is apparently completely changed. Today, so it seems, the world of writing and of the intellect is open to everyone… Today, so it seems, being able to read and write is little more than being able to breathe… Writing and the book have apparently been divested of every special dignity, every enchantment, every magic… From a liberal, democratic point of view, this is progress and is accepted as a matter of course; from other points of view, however, it is a devaluation and vulgarization of the spirit'.

All those authors and I are on the same page.

One more thing: Paper books are not a thing of the past. They are still required. Long live the paper books!

An idol called Paula

March 11 1962: Maria Paula Gonçalves da Silva was born in Osvaldo Cruz, Brazil. Nicknamed Magic Paula (relating to former american point/shooting guard Earvin "Magic" Johnson), she is one of the greatest basketball players of all times - and one of my idols! (In 2002, I got her handwritten signature on this book shown above; it was wonderful!).

One of these days, I'll write about her and why she's so outstanding to me.

#CoupDetatInBrazil

There's something really, really out of order when the country's hero (in the opinion of part of the population, not mine, let me set straight it) is a biased judge.

We've had enough of Adam Sandler's movies, OK?

In Brazil, free-to-air television channels are despicable. So, if you don't want to kill yourself while you're watching TV, you'll have to pay.

However, brazilian pay-TV leaves a lot to be desired. It's inflexible and kinda expensive (mainly if you consider the average wage of brazilian workers). Even being a badly paid civil servant, I'm a subscriber. Then you may ask me: And what about the shows, programs, movies? Are they satisfactory at least?

Well...  Let's only talk about movies, right? (Doing so, I guess I'm gonna be able to stay calm...).

Last week, for instance, Paranormal activity: The marked ones and Kick-Ass were scheduled in three channels! Both flicks are fine, but they - like lots of others - have been repeated excessively! Of course, it's just a nasty way to force us to purchase another TV package (with HBO included, for instance, that will cost us more), or to buy on-demand contents (like NOW). That's why pay-TV companies hate Netflix!

In other hand - and speaking of overly repeated movies -, why, why, WHY those channels adore Adam Sandler so much???

Whenever you turn on the TV you see a Sandler's stuff on the air. And some of his films - pardon my French - are a gigantic amount of crap. Do you disagree? Fine. But, please, answer me: Who can put up with things like Jack and Jill, Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, Little Nick or (for Zeus' sake!) You don't mess with the Zohan?

Hey, pay-TV companies, since you're not gonna stop repeating movies, could you choose comedies truly funny at least?

Carnaval? Hell no!!!

What is the first thing you remember when it comes to Brazil? Let me guess: the national soccer team? The statue of Christ the Redeemer? Its endless political scandals and violent cities?

Many people may say CARNAVAL (or Brazilian Carnival, if you insist...). You've already heard about it, for sure. A enormous street festival, samba-schools parades, five or more days of fun, craziness and senselessness all around the country... Sounds good, no? Wrong!!! (But I must admit, I can't complain about the days off, hehehe...).

It's not a matter of age; even when I was younger, I couldn't stand Carnaval too - except the costume thing (some outfits are pretty cool). Everybody acts as if they had to be cheerful and full of effervescent enthusiasm all the time. It's so hollow, if you think about it. We have to deal with traffic jams in the main roads and highways, crowded beaches, tiresome media broadcasts, with the same lame event being shown over and over. Besides, brazilian women often suffer sexual harassment during Carnaval. It's horrible.

If someone, singing and dancing in a bloco, invites me: "Join us!", I reply: "Thank you but I'm out".

Carnaval? Hell no!!!

We should read - and listen to - Raduan Nassar

Last year, brazilian writer Raduan Nassar was honored with Camões Prize, the biggest premium to authors from Portuguese speaking countries community. Many people consider him the most important brazilian novelist alive. But all these credentials haven't prevented current brazilian federal government to disrespect him.

The prize was received by Nassar last Friday (2. 17. 2017), during a ceremony at Lasar Segall Museum, in São Paulo. In his speech, the writer spoke out on Brazil's present situation ("We've lived in dark times".), as well as denounced the wrongdoings of Michel Temer's administration ("The mentioned facts configure, by extension, a repressive government as a whole: against workers, against judicious retirements, against federal universities of gratuitous education [..]. Government linked, by the way, to neoliberalism, with its scandalous concentration of wealth, which has been worsening the poor people's life of the whole world"). The full speech can be found here (in Portuguese)

Shortly after, the government official, Culture Minister Roberto Freire, discourteous, rather than just pretending that he had nothing to do with those issues, talked shit, having a row with the ceremony guests.

Why are politicians so arrogant, generally so full of their own "importance"?

Raduan Nassar, 81 years-old, is a recluse man who retired from literary life in 1984 and nobody knows why. Since then, he's become a full-time farmer whose public appearances are quite rare. So, when this man is receiving a remarkable literary distinction I think he's entitled to say whatever he wants to! His work is much more important to my country than the current government, which has arisen from a stealthy coup d'etat, backed by media companies and some members of the judiciary.

Hands talk a lot in Brazilian Portuguese

Terminator (model T-800, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) is about to leave a gas station convenience store (taking goods out) when the clerk, worried and a little bit angry, tell him: "Hey, are you gonna pay for that?". And the robotic tough guy replies: "Talk to the hand!".

I don't know about you, but the first time I've heard that expression (check out its meaning here) was in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Nobody talks to hands, of course, but we can talk with our hands (and I'm not referring to sign language).

Some gestures are rapidly understood in many countries because they have the same meaning, regardless the nationality or slight cultural differences (well, at least in the West). A few nods are immediately comprehensible as soon as someone make them. Thumb up is a positive thing in any place, I guess, and all of us know that a index finger in front of someone's puckered mouth is asking for silence.

However, some gestures of certain countries are so peculiar that it's necessary explain them. Take a look at this enjoyable Babbel's video about 7 common brazilian gesticulations (I make them - except the last one - all the time, it's true!).

Poor one single book readers!

How many books do you read a year? (Hey, relax. It's just a rhetorical question, okay?).

To tell you the truth, books are not in vogue these days -  come to think of it, they've never been popular before. Ordinary people couldn't afford to buy them. (Just consider the situation in the 1800s or even in the first half of the 20th century, not to mention that a book could cost more than 40 sheep in the Middle Age!).

Things seem different now in many ways. Books have become cheaper than ever and the literacy rates have been increasing globally, which doesn't necessarily mean that we live in a sort of "Readers Era" or something like that. We do not. Definitely. In the USA, for instance, only 5 hours and 42 minutes are spent with reading per week per person. Here in Brazil, it's even worse: 5 hours and 12 minutes. Moreover, each american has read 5.5 books on average a year (brazilians have been reading 4.96). It's disappointing, don't you think?

As if it weren't already bad enough, many people are one-single-book readers. They think it's a big, huge deal - "wow, we've been reading the Book!" - but, in my opinion, it closes their minds and becomes them more bigoted, more intolerant.

As the actor Billy Connoly once said, "Never trust people who've only got one fucking book".

Coconut Water: The Drink of the Gods

Forget ambrosia. The real drink of the gods is coconut water. It's absolutely perfect. One ice cold coconut (like those in the image above) costs R$ 4,50 (nearly $1.50) here in Belo Horizonte. And trust me: It's worth the price. Every single drop. 

Let me explain, right?

Yesterday I was at a friend of mine's bar and drank like a goddamn fish, intermixing glasses of beer with shots of cachaça (a strong brazilian beverage made from sugar cane). I got really sloshed (by the way, I get kinda swine whenever I get drunk, hehehe...). It was hard to get out of the bed this morning. My head was spinning; my throat was drier than the Mars surface. Everybody knows that there's no medicine for hangover. However, coconut water works miracles, dude! I bought two of those wonderful tropical palm fruits and a couple of minutes later I was a brand new man.

Blessed coconut water, you saved the day again!

Being black in Brazil

First of all, shall we read some lines of Adão Ventura?

"Come shine or come storm,

my body is enclosed

by this black skin".

Ventura was a brazilian poet. He lived many years here in Belo Horizonte (my hometown) and passed away in 2004. It's funny that his poetry - brave, simple, straightforward - remains unknown for the most in my country. Unfortunately. 

Let's read the rest of the poem:

"Come shine or come storm,

my body is fenced

by these high walls

- corrals

where is still coagulated

the blood of slaves

Come shine

or come storm,

my body is enclosed

by this black skin".

Several Adão Ventura's poems often remind me that Brazil is not a racial democracy, as many people think (inside and outside the country). Brazilian racial democracy is a myth! Just take a look at our parliament. Although more than 50% of Brazil's population are black there are less than 5% african-brazilians in the Congress. The same "standard" is repeated on entertaiment industry, fashion, advertising. And what about the wage gap between whites and blacks? What about police brutality against black people?

I'm proud to be a black brazilian guy. But I must recognize too: We have serious issues with racism here, even though some people pretend not see them.

Blog sucks. (Wait a second, maybe not...)

Who reads blogs nowadays? Are blogs an old-fashioned stuff?

It doesn't sound a good idea... I mean, we have Twitter, Facebook, Instagram... all those social media look like much more interesting, right? So, why am I insisting on writing in the blogosphere? Loneliness is the first answer that I can think. But it would be incomplete.

Some people get along with a large number of individuals whose mindsets are quite heterogeneous; others are excellent, pleasant talkers. They are able to express themselves through harmless chit-chats or even through weighty discussions. But it's not my case.

I need to write. I need to write my thoughts and feelings in order to communicate myself with other people. Once social media aren't working for me maybe a blog relieves the discomfort of my inability to converse. Furthermore, this blog will help to improve my English (I hope).

Won't anybody read this? It's highly probable. But I don't have anything better to do...

Is there anybody there?

I'm just trying to escape from the boundaries of my native tongue. Can you help me?