Thirsty in Barcelona? Have a Blue Margarita!!!!

Hi everyone,
I've just come back from Barcelona. It was a weekend out (not really, because I had to read tons of paper on the plane to catch up with all the articles I still have to write until the end of the week) due to the fact that a brazilian friend of mine was there visiting his sister. I was amazed about how different Barcelona is from Madrid: instead of a noisy and busy metropole I've found a cosy and chill environment, and it was really fun to have two private guides/catalan dictionaires in the city (thanks, Renata and Guillermo)!
I'll still write some tips about the city, but this first post is dedicated to Renata, her work and the place where she makes some money. =) She's in fact a graphic designer and she has created the Margarita Blue website, which is a nice bar in the city centre where she works as barwoman few times a week. We went there Friday night and it was full of people dining (at Barcelona's dine time, around 11 PM), drinking colourful cocktails or just chilling out with the great lounge music. The place has a kitsch and luxurious déco with mirrors and lights and the website can reproduce it beautifully. Marvelous place, marvelous website to present it!

World Cup on 2014!

Well, FIFA has confirmed that the Soccer World Cup will take place in Brazil on 2014.

In honour to this great new, here it is a TV ad from Guaraná Antarctica (my favourite soft drink EVER) picturing Diego Maradona and a bad dream that he had once...

Have a nice week you all!

One Giant Leap

"When Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman joined forces to create the project 1 Giant Leap, they embarked upon a global journey that included Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, India, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, America and Europe, equipped solely with a digital video camera, a laptop and a vision - to capture and weave together a unique fusion of sound, image and spoken word from some of the world's most happening musicians, authors, scientists and thinkers and to explore 'The Unity in the Diversity'."

(taken from their website)

Have you ever seen this DVD? I received it as a gift and it was a marvelous discovery of music, sounds, people, thoughts from all over the world. Nice and unexpensive way of travelling to exotic countries through music!!!!

Next destination: USA

Do you know "frevo"?

Having to carry an umbrella these days made me think about an other use of this banal object: it is, actually, a very important accessory used at a folkloric dance from Recife, which is called "frevo". The word "frevo" is said to come from "frever", a working class dialectal way of pronouncing the Portuguese word ferver (to boil). And I assure you, dancing like this in a 30°C environment can make you boil!

So, enjoy the examples (the first video is the "traditional" style and clothing, that we can see during Carnival. The second one is a concept more modern, you can see that the guy uses a regular umbrella instead of the little one and carries less elaborated clothing):






Well, I know how to "frever", do you want to learn it??? =)

Jack Soul Brasileiro

Just a cool soundtrack for the weekend... This is a very cool song by a brazilian singer (Lenine. He was actually born in Recife, where I come from) which is very famous also in France. Last year he did a major tour in Europe and one of the concerts in Paris was filmed and released as a DVD called In Cité. A must have!!!!!

Enjoy it, and have a nice university break!

Still talking about my country

I found this television ad that shows a little bit of Pernambuco's attractions: the beaches and the Carnival. And the soundtrack is the regional's anthem sung as a frevo (which is a kind of music typic from Carnival)!!!