Ilha das Flores (best documentary/short film ever)
For years and years I've been searching for the subtitles!! Subtitles that would enable me to share with the world this piece of art. Ilha das Flores ("Isle of Flowers") is a Brazilian short film/documentary by Jorge Furtado, shot in 1989 in my hometown Porto Alegre.
The film got many awards over the years. According to IMdB votes, it's the best Brazilian short movie and best Brazilian documentary ever made, and it's the global #15 and #11 (respectively). According to wikipedia, "chosen by European critics as one of the 100 most important short films of the century".
So, today I finally found them - the subtitles :D
Enough said, just enjoy 13min of your time and watch it. And maybe you want to watch it again. And again. Reflect about it. I also would really invite you to post your comments and thoughts here...
Today I got a nice e-mail from Glenn, one of the "CS roadtrip crew" from Amsterdam to Italy. It happened less than 3 weeks ago but it seems such a long time ago. He recorded a beautiful video of our trip... it's so cool to look back and remember, and this was only 2 out of 17 days trip!
Kraków, Warsaw and Berlin... I arrived Friday night in Kraków, curious and prepared to stay at Bartek's flat, together with 16 other couchsurfers. The weekend was just amazing, really great experience, very different from other CS experiences I had had so far. The best part was that the group there was made of very interesting people, who were partying together, visiting Kraków and surroundings together, cooking together, and of course, sleeping together...
I have many reflections about couchsurfing, and I'll soon dedicate an exclusive blog post to write about this way of living, this mindset...
After the weekend in Kraków, I hitchhiked easily to Warsaw, even at below zero temperature, where I met with couchsurfers and also my 21-year old brother, Gabriel. He has been traveling around, finishing up his 1,5 year in Barcelona (lucky eh!), before going back to Brazil. After New-Years, I realized that over the last 10 years, I spent new-years eve in 7 different countries!!! (Brazil, Canada, Romania, Lithuania, Denmark, China and now, Poland). I must confess, there is NO PLACE IN THE WORLD better than Brazil for new-years eve. That's my first resolution of 2009: be in Brazil for next reveillon!
I love Poland and this time I had a different experience, meeting more local people and exploring my "local" places. Plan B is my favorite hang-out place in Warsaw, together with Cafe Kulturalna!
After being so successful hitchhiking from Krakow, I expected a challenging but doable ride to Berlin (about 600km). Besides the days being extremely short in the winter (gets dark at 4pm), I underestimated the weather and I was definitely unprepared for it. As I started, I managed pretty ok (only 30min waiting) to leave Warsaw when the wind started. Bloody freezing wind, at -8C, it was getting harder. I managed another ride and I was about 2/5 of my journey when the day became darker and the snow started falling. Quickly the snow became heavy snow and I was unable to stay on the road. I came to a gas station where I had some protection from the wind, but I only found local traffic. Bad, bad, bad. 3pm and it was dark. At 3.30pm I gave up. At 4pm I got a ride (my "consolation" award) to the nearest train station, and I continued to Berlin by train. Lost this time, but lesson learnt! (until next time... ;-))
Marco "Loko" Bezerra was waiting for me in Berlin. We know each other since we're 12, studying at the Military School in Porto Alegre until the age of 17. Great teenagehood times, great fun. We haven't seen each other for 5,5 years, since I moved to São Paulo. Now he lives in Berlin with his wife and works for a major advertising agency. Great stuff he is doing. It was actually very easy to connect with him and share some stories, not only from old times, but how we see things today, how we changed but kept some things in common, such as our concern about our country the desire to come back and create a positive impact. As Marco said, "it's not enough to clean our own shit anymore. We have to clean the shit of 10 other people if we want to leave a place for our kids". I also met some kaospilots in Berlin, visited The Hub and walked around Berlin, completely white after a good night of snow, the temperature was also quite cold, -10C.
On the way to Denmark, by bus, the temperature slowly going up, the sun disappearing and no signs of snow in Aarhus, The temperature has been always above zero!!
Now I'm back, finally settled after a few days of rest, school restarted and I already met everybody... time to plan my final project and my final semester at the Kaospilots...
In total, I did about 4,000km on car, train, bus, hitchhiking and flying, and spent an average of 25 euro per day (too many "parties" although almost no alcohol).
I watched a video a few days ago and I got totally blown-away. First of all the creativity, the imagination that allowed someone to come up with such a simple concept. Second, at the end, an amount of thoughts came to my mind and today I can't look at stones with the same way I used to!
First watch it yourself, it's the German animation video "Das Rad" (The Wheel), from 2002. It's only 8 minutes long:
What is my perspective of time? Is it real? What is time afterall? When we think a fly has a lifespan of 24-48 hours, who does't think "what a stupid short life!". How stupid short life is OURS, compared to our brothers from the movie... For sure short, too short to think it's important at all, but not stupid, to think it's not relevant. It's all we have!
Today as I get closer to my thirties, I realize that instead of thinking of time I rather think of timing, instead of hours, moments, instead of days, experiences... and stop worrying too much with the moss in my head! :P
An interesting debate will be broadcast through BBC this weekend (17th and 18th of June), as part of their series on global issues called BBC World Debate. This debate was filmed during the GRI's Conference on Sustainability and Transparency last Friday in Amsterdam. It was a fair and straight forward debate, I must admit, and I hope you like it :)
(and you might see me on the second row... ;-))
If you prefer to listen to the full non-edited version, you can go to the GRI website and download the podcast - Friday morning Arena debate.
Showing Times (check your local time...): Saturday 17th May: 0710 GMT, 1510 GMT and 1910 GMT; Sunday 18th May at 0010, 0710, 1510 and 1910 GMT.
How Accountable is Business?
The World Debate asks whether companies, already forced to report on their finances, should also have to reveal details of their impact on the environment and society? How transparent do we expect companies to be and can we trust them to come clean? Can openness and profitability go hand in hand?
Speakers
Alessandro Carlucci – CEO Natura Natura Cosméticos S.A. is a leading player in sales of cosmetics, fragrances, and toilet products in Brazil. It was founded 40 years ago and is based near Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Gerd Leipold - Executive director of Greenpeace International
Maud Olofsson - Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Enterprise and Energy.
Sir Michael Rake - Chairman of BT Former Chairman of KPMG International.
Alex Sink - Chief Financial Officer of the Florida Department of Financial Services Chief Financial Officer of the Florida Department of Financial Services and (Former President of Bank of America) Florida's Chief Financial Officer, responsible for monitoring the state's fiscal health and managing more than $74 billion in tax revenue coming in and out of state government annually.
Bruno Prior - Director, Summerleaze Summerleaze is a UK based renewable energy company. His company is a renewable electricity generator primarily from landfill gas, but with an increasing emphasis on anaerobic digestion.
Today I found on YouTube a video-clip of one of my favourite quotes, and it translates amazingly well what I feel today being in China for almost one month and a half... hope you enjoy it and feel inspired :D
In Portuguese:
"... Hoje entendo bem meu pai. Um homem precisa viajar. Por sua conta, não por meio de histórias, imagens, livros ou tv. Precisa viajar por si, com seus olhos e pés, para entender o que é seu. Para um dia plantar as suas próprias árvores e dar-lhes valor. Conhecer o frio para desfrutar do calor. E o oposto. Sentir a distância e o desabrigo para estar bem sob o próprio teto. Um homem precisa viajar para lugares que não conhece para quebrar essa arrogância que nos faz ver o mundo como o imaginamos, e não simplesmente como é ou pode ser; que nos faz professores e doutores do que não vimos, quando deveríamos ser alunos, e simplesmente ir ver". (do livro Mar sem fim, de Amyr Klink)
In English:
"Today I undertand well my father. A man needs to travel. By himself, not through stories, images, books or TV. He needs to travel on his own, with his eyes and feet, to understand what is his own. So that one day he plants his own trees and treasure them. He needs to get to know the cold in order to enjoy the warmth. And the oposite. Feel the distance and the lack of protection in order to feel good under his own roof. A man needs to travel to places he does not know to brake this arrogance that make us see the world as we imagine it, instead of simply as it is or can be; that make us professors and doctors of what we haven't seen, when we should be students, and simply go and see it."
(excerpt from the book Endless Sea (available on Amazon.com), written by Brazilian adventurer Amyr Klink)
Last week Dame Anita Roddick passed away. She was the founder of The Body Shop almost 30 years ago, and a great inspiration for me. She still is and will continue to be...
