Diving Girls

by Jo Mazelis

I believe the sole purpose of the cover photo of this book by Jo Mazelis is to induce a male reader to buy this book. Or at least to borrow it from the library. In any case, the trick worked on me. Some of the stories are mildly disturbing, all are remarkable and none is like another. My favourites here are Flock, Too Perfect, The Diving Girls and Siriol. This last reads as a pure fiction, but apparently (as I just learned) both “Siriol, She-Devil of Naked Madness” and “Loelia, World’s Most Tattooed Lady” are the paintings by Peter Blake (who is never named in the story). A work of the master.

The Commitments

a film by Alan Parker

A novel by Roddy Doyle, music by Wilson Pickett, directed by Alan Parker. What else could you wish for? I think The Commitments is the funniest — and the rudest — of all Parker’s movies. I suppose the only place you could look for ruder dialogue is the novel itself. The whole audition sequence is simply brilliant.

“What d’yeh play?” “I used to play football at school.” “I mean what instrument?” “I don’t.” “So what are yeh doin’ here?” “Well, I saw everybody else linin’ up, so... I thought yeh were sellin’ drugs.” “What’s your name, pal?” “Joseph Fagan. Joey ‘The Lips’ Fagan.” “And I’m Jimmy ‘The Bollix’ Rabbitte.” “I earned me name for me horn playin’. What did you earn yours for?”

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 3-D

a film by Carlos Saldanha

Yesterday, we went to see Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs with kids. I think Ice Age 2 was awful and feared that Ice Age 3 will be even worse, if that is possible at all. It turned out much better than I expected. It probably makes the best use of ‘3-D’ effect in animation I’ve seen so far. On more than one occasion, the plot gets too ridiculous to be funny, even for a sequel. But the dialogue is quite good, and the whole thing is very entertaining for both kids and adults alike. The new character, Buck the crazy weasel (Simon Pegg), is the best.

Arco Iris @ Harston

The Harston and Newton Primary School Fête today featured vintage cars, children fancy dress competition, bouncy slide, tug of war, barbeque, beer and Pimm’s — in other words, everything that one normally expects of English village fête on a nice Summer day. Except of one (but very loud) thing: Arco Iris. It was a low-key affair, by Arco Iris standards: only 16 people turned up. But then, it was rather an achievement, since by this Thursday there were only ten people on the list. There was nobody for a mid surdo, so I decided to give it a go. In the end, I got to play high surdo today. (Luckily, I was not only one on high surdo, otherwise I would be lost. The main rule here is: “Look for those who seem to know what they do, and copy them”.)

So... I think it went rather smoothly, considering that it was my first gig with Arco Iris. I am looking forward for more of that. Watch this space.



P.S. A dialogue at the drinks stall.

“A pint of beer, please.”
“Sure. One Pimm’s here!”
“I did not ask for a Pimm’s. Do I look like a bloody Pimm’s drinker?”
“Sorry, mate. It’s your hat.”

Balancê

by Sara Tavares

This was the first song and video of Sara Tavares I ever heard, and I loved it instantly — I think I ordered the album the very same day. The music is both catchy and gentle, even understated. It was not until last year when I saw the other side of Sara Tavares. We were on holidays in Figueira da Foz last August and, by some coincidence, she was playing in Casino da Figueira da Foz on 21 August. The concert started at 11 pm and went until 1 am or so. I thought I knew what to expect — I did expect it to be good. I did not expect it to be awesome. As the encore, the band played another (reggae!) version of Balancê. Somehow it was completely different song. There was no understatement any longer. Everybody was standing and swaying and singing and dancing. I had never seen so many happy people before.

como vi dançar no zimbabwé quero também contigo gingar ué uma dança nova, mistura de semba com samba, de mambo com rumba tua mão na minha e a minha na tua balancê, balança swinga para lá, swinga para cá balancê, balança maria josé swing no pé se não, chega p’ra lá somos livres para celebrar somos livres para nos libertar como crianças brincando, crianças sorrindo crianças sendo crianças como crianças brincando, crianças sorrindo crianças. balancê, balança swinga para lá, swinga para cá balancê, balança maria josé swing no pé se não, chega p’ra lá adoro quando te deixas levar assim fechas os olhos e danças só para mim uma dança tua mistura de não vem que não tem com um sorriso porém que me diz que o teu desdém é só a manha de alguém que diz que vai, mas que vem me engana que eu gosto

Balanço

by Deodato Siquir

Early evening of 9 May 2008, as I was rather aimlessly wandering around Berlin, a dark-haired lady stepped in front of me and addressed me in English. Without much ado, she asked: “Are you free tonight?” As a matter of fact, I was. Not that she left me any time to respond. “Because, you see,” the leaflet was thrusted in my hand so I would see, “there is a jazz concert tonight, and I’d love you to come.” Wow. Was it written on my face that I would be interested? “It is not far from here,” she said, waving her hand somewhere in the behind-my-back direction. (Incidentally, the building just behind my back was Beate Uhse Erotik-Museum. But no, the gig actually was in Quasimodo, Berlin’s oldest jazz club.) “See you tonight at 10.”

That’s how I found myself at the concert of Deodato Siquir & Balanço which was a part of the Copenhagen in Berlin (!) Jazz Festival. “So, you did it after all.” The brunette sounded pleasantly surprised. Apparently, she did a great job: the cellar of Quasimodo was full. And deservedly so.

Balanço is the name of the band as well as Deodato Siquir’s debut album (good thing I bought it then and there: it does not seem to be available at Amazon), and the wonderful salsa-like title song.

Eu quero ver você mexer e sentir se mais pra qui pois o balanço chegou estás a ouvir mon ami é pra ti! Gostava de ver você mexer e sentir se mais pra qui pois o balanço chegou estás a ouvir mon ami é pra ti! Foi sim foi o senhor Quem me mandou trazer pra ti Pra te animar um pouquinho... Pra começar te animar balançar com calor A marrabenta não está má pois ela vai te convencer a descolar da parede e mexer teu pézinho pra dançar Segura a barona não deixa a cair Segura a maninha não deixa a cair Segura a menina não deixa a cair Segura a maninha...

America Brasil

by Seu Jorge

A fantastic record by Seu Jorge. No bossa nova here!