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 some news that made me jump from the chair, and I still can't stop laughing and dreaming, even 10 hours later... so I decided to write about it!
I applied last November to the BP-sponsored Expedition Antarctica, where 50 students from all around the world will gather in Ushuaia and travel to Antarctica, over one week, from 25th of March until 5th of April. The goal is to explore and "see" the changes and challenges to our planet happening, and together "act" upon it. Well, not that I need to see Antarctica to believe we are in deep s**t, and yes, probably BP is also contributing to it (not alone, of course), but the opportunity to visit the most remote continent in the world (which only reminds my inspiration Amyr Klink), and connect with (potentially) 50 other people like me is what makes me jump from the chair.
I didn't get in when the final results were announced, in December. The e-mail from today was an invitation for a few extra participants... "In discussion with advisers such as Peter Senge, we have decided to extend a number of invitations to candidates who have demonstrated particular credentials in the area of youth or student networks, or organisations dedicated to exploring innovation and change especially related to climate, energy and inter-related issues."
I also found out that Max Oliva is one of the participants, which means a great start!! :D
Peter Senge is advising on the project, which is led by polar explorer Robert Swan.
Since I stopped drinking coffee six months ago, I started to enjoy more and more drinking tea (especially my dear chimarrão). While in Warsaw I saw a quote from Kakuzo Okakura, and I wrote in my travel journal:
"There is a subtle charm in the taste of tea which makes it irresistible and capable of idealisation. Western humourists were not slow to mingle the fragrance of their thought with its aroma. It has not the arrogance of wine, the self-consciousness of coffee, nor the simpering innocence of cocoa."
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).
