NightWalker with Alice Braga

The singer Thiago Pethit released the song Nightwalker (Album: "Berlim, Texas" - 2010). The clip was directed by Vera Egito and Renata Chebel and it counts with Alice Braga, who wonder in the street at night as a night walker. One of the inspiration for this video of the "Eu te amo" (1981) by Arnald Jabour starring Sonia Braga, Alice's aunt and Brazilian famous actress.

MICMACs a tire-larigot - by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Writers: Jean-Pierre Jeunet (scenario), Guillaume Laurant (scenario), and 1 more credit »
Stars:Dany Boon, André Dussollier and Nicolas Marié
 

A man and his friends come up with an intricate and original plan to destroy two big weapons manufacturers.


First it was a mine that exploded in the middle of the Moroccan desert. Years later, it was a stray bullet that lodged in his brain... Bazil doesn't have much luck with weapons. The first made him an orphan, the second holds him on the brink of sudden, instant death.


Released from the hospital after his accident, Bazil is homeless. Luckily, our inspired and gentle-natured dreamer is quickly taken in by a motley crew of junkyard dealers living in a veritable Ali Baba's cave. The groups talents and aspirations are as surprising as they are diverse: Remington, Calculator, Buster, Slammer, Elastic Girl, Tiny Pete and Mama Chow.

Then one day, walking by two huge buildings, Bazil recognizes the logos of the weapons manufacturers that caused all of his misfortune. He sets out to take revenge, with the help of his faithful gang of wacky friends. Underdogs battling heartless industrial giants, our gang relive the battle of David and Goliath, with all the imagination and fantasy of Buster Keaton...

or

"Avid movie-watcher and video store clerk Bazil has had his life all but ruined by weapons of war. His father was killed by a landmine in Morocco and one fateful night a stray bullet from a nearby shootout embeds itself in his skull, leaving him on the verge of instantaneous death. Losing his job and his home, Bazil wanders the streets until he meets Slammer, a pardoned convict who introduces him to a band of eccentric junkyard dealers including Calculator, a math expert and statistician, Buster, a record-holder in human cannonball feats, Tiny Pete, an artistic craftsman of automatons, and Elastic Girl, a sassy contortionist. When chance reveals to Bazil the two weapons manufacturers responsible for building the instruments of his destruction, he constructs a complex scheme for revenge that his newfound family is all too happy to help set in motion." (written by the massve twins)

If you liked Amelie Pulin, that's a great suggestion!!!

Official site: http://micmacs.substance001.com/

R.E.M. - UBerlin

R.E.M. – Uberlin Lyrics

Hey now, take your pills and

Hey now, make your breakfast

Hey now, comb your hair and off to work

Crash land, no illusions, no collision, no intrusion

My imagination runs away

I know, I know, I know what I am chasing

I know, I know, I know that this is changing me

I am flying on a star into a meteor tonight

I am flying on a star, star, star

I will make it through the day

And then the day becomes the night

I will make it through the night

Hey now, take the U-Bahn, five stops, change the station

Hey now, don’t forget that change will save you

Hey now, count a thousand-million people, that’s astounding

Chasing through the city with their stars on bright

I know, I know, I know what I am chasing

I know, I know, I know that this is changing me

I am flying on a star into a meteor tonight

I am flying on a star, star, star

I will make it through the day

And then the day becomes the night

I will make it through the night

I don’t mind repeating, I am not complete

I have never been the gifted type

Hey, man, tell me something, are you off to somewhere?

Do you want to go with me tonight?

I know, I know, I know that this is changing

We walk the streets to feel the ground I’m chasing: ÜBerlin

I am flying on a star into a meteor tonight

I am flying on a star, star, star

I will make it through the day

And then the day and then the day becomes the night

I will make it through the night

Milk & Sugar and Vaya con Dios - Hey Nah Nah Nah

ESCHER, til next time!

    

It is 3:41am now in Rio de Janeiro. I am just back from a get together and I cant sleep. So, I decided to post abot my day. Today, I decided to spend the day at Center. Center is Rio's Downtown, where everyone works during the week and no one goes during the weekends. For my surprise, I met more than 300 people there, like me, trying to attend to the ESCHER's exhibition. The guard told me that I would have to wait for 1 hour and 30 minutes in line in order to go inside. Hum! Soon enough, I met some co-workers that pulled the Brazilian way, the jeitinho brasileiro as we can here. She pretented she was pregnant and he pretended he was a happy father to be. Well done! The couple skiped the huge line and I stood there with my flat belly.

I decided to buy a chocolate bread and talked to the cashier. He told I should have known it would be crowed coz "Its Escher". Ok, I am sorry! I did not kow. I gave up and take some pictures in front of the murals and have random fun, as the one below:

Maurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972), usually referred to as M.C. Escher was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations.

In front of the CCBB, Brazilian's Bank Cultural Center, there were some musicians making crazy stuff.

I love celo, but I could stand only for 20 minutes. No more. Too crazy, alternative, non-sense sound for me. The cool stuff was the video which had a imagetic movimentation according to the notes played.

Afterwards, I went to the Post Office Cultural Center and checked out the pictures below.

I did not think they were too good, but it is a nice moviment. The theme was "Rio through my window". The center incentivates artists to paint and expose a piece with an especific theme: 

 

4am now. I will call it a day!

Next time, ESCHER!

Rio receives Rio's Voices

There is a big VA VA VA here in Rio de Janeiro right now. Rio's actors are here to release the movie (once showed in this blog, check here!). Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, Jamie Foxx , Will.I.AM, Rodrigo Santoro, Carlinhos Brown (Brazilian singer), Jemine.

Anne Hathaway is a charm. She tietou (gave too much attention) to Bebel Gilberto. She said she thought that the sceneries in the movies were a licenca poetica (or a figure of speech) used by Carlos Saldanha to make the movie more beautiful, but she realized Rio is THAT AWESOME! Anne had caipirinha with cachaca, mentioned she has made lots of "old friends" here and that she feels like a local. I think she is/was overwhelmed. Jamie Foxx just commented that he knew Rio from the adult website. Come one, Jamie, get clever, get worldly! There is much more about Rio than teats.

Carlinhos Brown

Rodrigo Santoro

Anne Hathaway

Bebel Gilberto & Carlos Brown

Carlos Saldanha (director)

Jesse Eisenberg, Jamie Foxx & Rodrigo Santoro.

Singer Taio Cruz, actor Jermaine Clement & rapper Will.I.Am

Sergio Mendes (composer)

This is the first trailer for Rio, a new animated feature film from Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age, Robots, Horton Hears a Who!). The movie is directed by Carlos Saldanha and will be released in April, 2011 (USA).

Set in the magnificent city of Rio de Janeiro and the lush rainforest of Brazil, the comedy-adventure centers on Blu, a rare macaw who thinks he is the last of his kind. When Blu discovers there’s another - and that she’s a she - he leaves the comforts of his cage in small town Minnesota and heads to Rio. But it’s far from love at first sight between the domesticated and flight-challenged Blu and the fiercely independent, high-flying female, Jewel. Unexpectedly thrown together, they embark on an adventure of a lifetime, where they learn about friendship, love, courage, and being open to life’s many wonders. ‘Rio’ brings together a menagerie of vivid characters, a heart-warming story, colorful backdrops, energizing Latin and contemporary music, and family-friendly song and dance,
 

Sand animation by Kseniya Simonova

Kseniya Simonova won the Ucranian Got Talent-Tens Competition by doing a sand animation of the Germany invasion during the World War II. It is worth checking out this 8 minutes video!

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

This one of my book tips to you!!
I know that sometimes I read stuff that apparently has nothign to do with art, but in my opinion it has to do with the art of being an artist or at least it is about something you should know.

The last book I read is Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh - the CEO od ZAPPOS.
Zappos is an e-commerce website that orginally sold only shoes and now it sells thousands of items.

The visionary CEO of Zappos explains how an emphasis on corporate culture can lead to unprecedented success. Pay new employees $2000 to quit. Make customer service the entire company, not just a department. Focus on company culture as the #1 priority. Apply research from the science of happiness to running a business. Help employees grow both personally and professionally. Seek to change the world. Oh, and make money too. Sound crazy? It's all standard operating procedure at Zappos.com, the online retailer that's doing over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales every year. In 1999, Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay) sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined Zappos as an adviser and investor, and eventually became CEO. In 2009, Zappos was listed as one of Fortune magazine's top 25 companies to work for, and was acquired by Amazon later that year in a deal valued at over $1.2 billion on the day of closing. In his first book, Tony shares the different business lessons he learned in life, from a lemonade stand and pizza business through LinkExchange, Zappos, and more. Ultimately, he shows how using happiness as a framework can produce profits, passion, and purpose both in business and in life.

Company's core value:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Get inspired and copy/paste some values to your own design business, you culture house, your studio, you environment and be happy!

The book was divided in the topics below

•Part One - Customer service and experience rules

•Part Two - Creating a culture and living the core values at work and play

•Part Three - Building a pipeline, hire at entry level and give them what they need to move up the chain

•Part Four - Delivering happiness to customers and employees

  Check out some videos aboiut Tony Hsieh and Zappos culture!









ZAPPOS 2010 COMMERCIAL CAMPAIGN









Ops, ARE YOU HAPPY? TONY TEACHES YOU!!!





ABOUT TONY HSIEH

In 1999, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay) sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined Zappos.com as an advisor and investor, and eventually became CEO, where he helped Zappos.com grow from almost no sales to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Companies to Work For” list. In November 2009, Zappos.com was acquired by Amazon.com in a deal valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing.


Tony’s first book, Delivering Happiness, was published on June 7, 2010, and outlines his path from starting a worm farm to life at Zappos.com. Tony shows how a very different kind of corporate culture is a powerful model for achieving success and happiness. Delivering Happiness debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list and remained on the list for 27 consecutive weeks.

He currently lives in Las Vegas and sort of has a cat.

The book website here!

http://www.deliveringhappiness.com/

Request a FEE Culture book here!
http://www.zapposinsights.com/main/culture-book/

Check a FUNNY video about Tony Hsieh's background!
HERE 

Zappos SlideShare Presentation!
http://jaygoldman.com/2009/03/tony-hsieh-zappos-ceo-at-sxsw09/


Get a FREE version of the TRIBAL LEADERSHIP here!
http://www.zappos.com/tribal.zhtml


This is a good choice of book for you to understand about a corporate culture, what motivates people, the happiness science and about enterpreneuship.

                                                 Good reading!

Sad times!!!

I am sorry I have not being writting a lot lately. I have a new job which does not allow access to Blogger. Sucks!!! So, I need to find another time to write my posts and prepare my readings.

It is 9:22pm now in Rio de Janeiro. I was checking some news about Japan's disasater. It is really sad!
I have a friend in Nagoya. she communicated by Facebook. I guess lots of people are using networking midias to contact eachother and send informations!

While looking at the pictures below from THE HUFFINGTON POST, please, send positive thoughts to the japanese people! They deserve. They are so brave.

Peace & Bravery

WASTE LAND with Vik Muniz

Synopsis (as per the official site)
Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives. Director Lucy Walker (DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, BLINDSIGHT and COUNTDOWN TO ZERO) and co-directors João Jardim and Karen Harley have great access to the entire process and, in the end, offer stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.

Vik Muniz
Vik Muniz was born into a working-class family in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1961. As a young man he was shot in the leg whilst trying to break up a fight. He received compensation for his injuries and used this money to fund a trip to New York City, where he has lived and worked since the late 1980s. He began his career as a sculptor but gradually became more interested in photographic reproductions of his work, eventually turning his attention exclusively to photography. He incorporates a multiplicity of unlikely materials into this photographic process. Often working in series, Vik has used dirt, diamonds, sugar, string, chocolate syrup and garbage to create bold, witty and often deceiving images drawn from the pages of photojournalism and art history. His work has been met with both commercial success and critical acclaim, and has been exhibited worldwide. His solo show at MAM in Rio de Janeiro was second only to Picasso in attendance records; it was here that Vik first exhibited his “Pictures of Garbage Series” in Brazil.

WASTE LAND Official Trailer from Almega Projects on Vimeo.

I was sad that the WASTE LAND did not win the Oscars. I guess that Inside Job, about the 2008-2009 global crisis, was more pertinent to Americans at this moment, but Waste Land is definitly a better doc and more moving.

I will write about Vik Muniz's garbage art shorlty, beleive it!!! He is great. A little while ago I had the opportunity to visit his exhibition at Casa de Cultura Laura Alvim in Ipanema beach. It was amazing to see his non-garbage art like a bed with an erection, haha!

Portable Samba by Carlos Machado

Hi readers, as you know I am in the middle of the Colombian Artists Series and also the Brazilian Carnaval Series, which I hope you are enjoying. But I could not forget to mention Carlos Machado's portable samba songs.

1. um coração só não faz canção
2. palavra escrita
3. samba portátil
4. oração
5. borboletar
6. às vezes
7. desculpas
8. parei aqui
9. as pessoas são você
10. por que haveria?
11. pensei em te trazer flores
12. abatimento cardíaco
13. canção de amor
14. canção triste
15. violência


Immediate download of 15-track album of your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire HERE!

Carnaval in Rio - Brazil (#1)

Photo by Alan Betensley

As a carioca, I am obliged to provide you some interesting and true inside tips for Carnaval. If you are coming to the lovely city of Rio de Janeiro (Cidade Maravilhosa) during Carnaval, please, prepare yourself mentally. This is a forever changing experience. I am warning you!

***

So, let me know a little bit more about Carnaval. Rhythm, participation, and costumes vary from one region of Brazil to another. In the southeastern cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, huge organized parades are led by samba schools. Those official parades are meant to be watched by the public, while minor parades ("blocos") allowing public participation can be found in other cities. The northeastern cities of Salvador, Porto Seguro and Recife have organized groups parading through streets, and public interacts directly with them. This carnival is heavily influenced by African-Brazilian culture. Crowds follow the trio elétricos floats through the city streets. Also in northeast, Olinda carnival features unique characteristics, part influenced by Venice Carnival mixed with cultural depictions of local folklore.

Carnival is the most famous holiday in Brazil and has become an event of huge proportions. The country stops completely for almost a week and festivities are intense, day and night, mainly in coastal cities. The consumption of beer accounts for 80% of annual consumption and tourism receives 70% of annual visitors, more than a million visitors. The government distributes condoms and launches awareness campaigns at this time to prevent the spread of AIDS.

Samba schools are very large groups of performers, financed by respected organizations (as well as illegal gambling groups), who work year round in preparation for Carnival. Samba Schools perform in the Sambadrome, which runs four entire nights. They are part of an official competition, divided into seven divisions, in which a single school is declared the winner, according to costume, flow, theme, and band music quality and performance. Some samba schools also hold street parties in their neighborhoods, through which they parade along with their followers.

Hum, ok, when is it? To put it short, Carnaval is 47 days before Easter.



Tip # = If it rains, it sucks badly! Pray for the days to be shiny and yellow!

Tip # = If you have never being to the official parade at Sapucai, you should! This is one of those items listed in those books: 100 things would should do before you die! Contact your travel agent and make it happen! I found this interesting slide show with some pictures deom Carnaval 2010. Hope you get an idea of it:



What is the name of those things that parade at Sapucai? They are called Samba Schools or Escolas de Samba.

How much time is each Samba School allowed to dance on the Sapucai runway? Well, there are parades on Sunday and Monday from 65 to 82 minutes. Nothing more, nothing less or they lose points. You will just run or samba in the same place if you have to in order for that time to be accomplished.

How many judges are there? About 50 trained judges.
What the hell do they judge? Organization, discipline, technic, samba-enredo (the song), harmony, costumes, ensemble, percursion, allegory are among the items judged.

Samba School Unidos da Tijuca

How many schools are there? Well, you know I am talking only about Rio de Janeiro, dont you? So, the special group (which are the bigger samba schools WHERE YOU SHOULD PARADE IF YOU CONSIDER IT) has 12 schools and the access group has 11 schools.

Special Group:
> Sao Clemente
Site: www.saoclemente.com.br
> Imperatriz Leopoldinense
Site: imperatrizleopoldinense.com.br
> Portela
Site: www.gresportela.com.br
>Unidos da Tijuca
Site: unidosdatijuca.com.br
> Unidos de Vila Isabel
Site: www.gresunidosdevilaisabel.com.br
> Mangueira
Site: www.mangueira.com.br
> Uniao da Ilha do Governador
Site: www.gresuniaodailha.com.br
> Salgueiro
Site: www.salgueiro.com.br
> Mocidade
Site: www.gresmocidade.com.br
> Grande Rio
Site: academicosdogranderio.com.br
> Porto da Pedra
Site: www.unidosdoportodapedra.com.br
> Beija-Flor
Site: www.beija-flor.com.br

Access Group
Alegria da Zona Sul
Renascer de Jacarepaguá
Unidos do Viradouro
Acadêmicos de Santa Cruz
Império da Tijuca
Inocentes de Belford Roxo
Acadêmicos do Cubango
Estácio de Sá
Império Serrano
Acadêmicos da Rocinha
Caprichosos de Pilares

What are the times of the parades? 9pm; 10:05pm; 11:10pm; 12:15pm; 1:20am and 2:25am.

Wow, those are late hours for us, lazy foreigners. Are you Brazilians crazy? Oh, hum, yes, we are. Just drink tons of water, use shoes (no sandals, pls), rest a lot before and after and sleep during your beach tan!

So, do you have any tips on how I do it? Of course, we are here for this, dude! In my opinion, you should parade in the first school of the day and then pay to sit in the vip area, a balcony or a numbered chair in Sapucai in order for you to watch the other schools after you parade . It's worth it!

The map below shows the samba runway (Sapucai) and the sectors. The parade starts on the left and it finishes on the right side of the picture (next to the 13 sector). I have bought numbered chairs in this sector before and it was great. It is just in front of the mass area, the bleachers, so you get their vibrations, screams, claps, but you enjoy a safe, organized (WITH BATHROOMS AND FOOD) in a "calm" area. I would not buy tickets on the sector 3, as the samba schools are preparing to enter at this point, you might not see the best parts of the parade.

Tip # = Copacabana just has the international fame. If you want to see a clean (or cleaner) place and beautiful people go to Ipanema or Leblon. You won't regret this advise, principally, this time of the year. Copacabana is known to have a great mixture of people: poor, middle class, gay, transvestite, black, white, yellow, every kind of ideology, which is really good in a normal basis.

Tip # = There is a new rule going on. You are not allowed to pee in public on the streets. There were already 500 people arrested this year. So, my tip to you is to pay R$3,00 for a beer and pee in a bar peacefully. There are public bathrooms (aka Johnny on the spots) - as above - but as you can imagine they can get quite stinky and dirty.


Tip # = You should to go Lapa. There some cool places to visit there like Rio Scenaruim and Lapa 40 Graus.

Tip # = If you are one of those lucky people with money and want to meet the rich Brazilians, dont waste your time and just go to the Copacabana Palace Carnaval Ball! You will not regret it!

To be continued...

** post written by the "Nega Maluca"