plasticmadness

Fãs Cegos e uma Vitória Falsa

2013-05-11T23:58:40Z

Queria falar um pouco sobre as reações de alguns socialistas ao plano do Brasil de importar seis mil médicos formados na Cuba.

Primeiro, deixe-me descrever a situação. O interior do Brasil não é bem desenvolvido. Em muitas cidades pequenas faltam serviços básicos. Coisas básicas como ruas pavimentadas, bancos, remédios, saneamento básico, conseguem estar em falta. Frequentemente as escolas não são boas. Como você pode imaginar essas vilas não são lugares atraentes para um profissional de classe média morar. Entre as várias coisas que podem faltar estão médicos.

Ler mais…

2013-05-10T02:35:02Z

How fandom and ideology blinded the Brazilian left from seeing the blatant exploitation of Cuba’s doctors.

Read the full article here.

Holy crap, Guam is real?!

2013-04-11T01:20:26Z

(Reposted from my fiction blog.)

I discovered something remarkable today. More than remarkable really. I mean, I literally fell out of my chair (granted I was sitting on the edge of it already, but still).

Guam is an actual place.

All these years I’ve been tossing around this Guam shtick. Make jokes about it, talking about my secret volcano headquarters there, how we’ve recruited the “Easter Island guys” to defend it (alien weaponry in their hats, though weakened since all the brims fell off, but still bad ass), using it as an interjection and/or greeting, and so on.

But, lo and behold, there, in the South Pacific (nearish Easter Island – quite a coincidence!), is an island named Guam. To add insult to injury, it’s part of the United States, a country in which I was born and lived for 4 decades.

I’m wondering now what the Guamites (Guamese? Guamians?) think – or would think, if they aren’t already aware of it – of my fixation and how I’ve expressed it. Offended? Appreciative? Bored? Will they hunt me down and rough me up, demand an apology and get me to stop? Send an Easter Island Guy to take me out?

Por uma lei proibindo membros de igrejas de serem candidatos.

2013-04-01T00:58:06Z

Precisamos de uma lei proibindo membros da igreja e serem candidatos.
Minha revolta quanto à presença de membros de igrejas no legislativo (“bancada evangélica”), executivo e judiciário não tem fim. Me preocupa muito o “boom” evangélico no congresso nacional e o ganho de espaço político de religiosos como, por exemplo, a quase-vitória de Russomanno em SP, e agora o tal Marco Feliciano… Será que é constitucional fazer um PL proibindo pastores, padres, freiras, pajés, rabinos, pais de santo e/ou membros de qualquer igreja de se candidatarem ao legislativo, executivo e de ocuparem cargos no judiciário? Membros de igrejas deveriam ser compulsoriamente banidos de serem candidatos ou ocuparem qualquer cargo na esfera dos três poderes, sob risco de comprometer a laicidade do estado, que aliás já está quase indo a óbito. O máximo de religiosidade que um Estado poderia se permitir é a bagagem religiosa individual de cada parlamentar, coisa que vem de casa, de educação, de criação familiar.

A CANDIDATURA DE MEMBROS DA IGREJA A QUALQUER CARGO EM QUALQUER ESFERA DOS TRÊS PODERES DEVERIA SER PROIBIDA, PONTO FINAL.

The Bitch is Back!

2013-03-11T00:33:43Z

With.. Your Song
As I promised, here is the video of Elton John saying goodbye and playing Your Song in the Porto Alegre , Brazil, Concert.

Elton John Concert – Porto Alegre, 05/03/13

2013-03-07T03:35:48Z

Bellow are pictures of Elton John Concert’s last night.

Elton John is awesome, polite, lovely, sweet, professional, educated, a classy showman, a gentleman who knows how to treat his audience. I was delighted by his presence and by his live performance. I almost cried when he played “The One” solo, and “Your song”.

His sparkling blue outfit was spectacular and I really wish I could use it for my friend’s wedding because it is just as good as any party gown.

I recorded a huge video of him playing “Your Song” and signing autographs but the video is too huge and needs some shrinkage before uploading.
Also, I’m uploading a ton of photos to Flickr!

Footnote that has nothing to do with the show: Hugo Chavez finally died and pardon my cruelness but I couldn’t care less because he was a leftist moron who only spoke shit and, as a leader, did as much shit as he spoke; and Chorão, a brazilian musician from a very popular band (whose popularity, if measured in ‘USA band scale of popularity’ would be “Green Day”, that is, he was really popular) was found dead in his apartment today also!

Bancada Evangélica lidera comitê de direitos humanos

2013-03-02T03:46:28Z

Sempre que eu penso que nada pior pode surgir das entranhas podres da política brasileira, lá vem mais um petardo ainda maior e mais nauseabundo. Dessa vez a bomba é a seguinte: os seres evangélicos abjetos que ocupam um lugar no congresso nacional e que se auto-denominam “bancada evangélica” vão liderar a comissão de direitos humanos da câmara. Sim, esses são os mesmos seres que alegam ser os bastiões da moral e guardiões dos bons costumes. É, bons costumes, sabe? Como por exemplo propagar o ódio a gays, negros, aborto, mulheres, sexo, contracepção, qualquer outra religião que não seja a deles próprios, enfim, todas essas coisas erradas e imorais. De fato, no Brasil nada é tão ruim que não possa piorar. Brasil é que nem usuário de crack: um caso perdido.

Bancada Evangélica Deve Presidir Comissão de Direitos Humanos

There and that and that and there

2013-03-01T03:21:44Z

One of the things I find most interesting about Portuguese is the two versions of “that” is uses. It’s interesting for a couple reasons. First, because it indicates a different way of thinking about locations, and second, because of how it’s carried over into other areas, beyond demonstrative pronouns.

First let me explain the two versions of “that” and how they’re used. I’ll stick to the masculine versions to keep things simple, just know that feminine versions exist.

Now, of course, in English we have “this” and “that”. This is used for something you have in your hand, or at least nearby (this mug [in my hand], this car [we're in]), while that is used for things further away or nearer the person we’re talking to (that mountain [on the horizon], that wombat [gnawing on your leg]).

Portuguese speakers differentiate between “that wombat [gnawing on your leg]” and “that mountain [on the horizon]“. For things near the person being addressed they use esse, while for things distant from you and the person you’re talking to aquele is used. It’s interesting to note that the word for this este, which is very similar to esse (nearby “that”). For physical locations, it’s easy to know which to use, but when referring to more abstract things it can be a tough to know.

This “near/far” distinction carries over into concept of there-ness. For a there next to the person you’re speaking to, aí is used, while lá is used to indicate a place neither of you is particularly near to.

The only parallel I can think of in English is when w

First let me explain the two versions of “that” and how they’re used. I’ll stick to the masculine versions to keep things simple, just know that feminine versions exist.

Of course, in English we have this and that and this is used for something you have in your hand, or at least nearby (this mug [in my hand], this car [we're in]), while that is used for things further away or nearer the person we’re talking to (that mountain [on the horizon], that wombat [gnawing on your leg]).

Portuguese speakers differentiate between “that wombat [gnawing on your leg]” and “that mountain [on the horizon]“. For things near the person being addressed they use esse, while for things distant from you and the person you’re talking to aquele is used. It’s interesting to note that the word for this este, which is very similar to esse (nearby-the-person-you-are-addressing that). For physical locations, it’s easy to know which to use, but when referring to more abstract things it can be a tough to know.

The only parallel I can think of in English is when we add “over” to “there” (or “over there” to “that”). If you tell an English speaker, “It’s over there”, she is not going to look for ‘it’ near you or herself.

Naturally the border between “aí” and “lá is not a sharp one, and worse still, another word for “there” exists. “Ali” is used for a there that’s still nearby the person you’re speaking to. As an example:

“The pillow is there (aí - at home where you are), there (ali, near you) on the couch.”

Versus:

“The bleach is there (aí - at home where you are), there (lá, away from you) in the laundry room.”

Not great sentences, but in informal or colloquial speech you will hear this sort of thing often enough.

e add “over” to “there” (or “over there” to “that”). If you tell an English speaker, “It’s over there”, she is not going to look for ‘it’ near you or herself.

“The pillow is there (aí – at home where you are), there (ali, near you) on the couch.”

Versus:

“The bleach is there (aí – at home where you are), there (lá, away from you) in the laundry room.”

Not great sentences, but in informal or colloquial speech you will hear this sort of thing often enough.

A política brasileira é um caso perdido.

2013-02-03T23:41:33Z

Por exemplo: vocês lembram do Lindberg Farias, líder estudantil dos cara-pintadas há 20 anos, que ajudou o impeachment do então presidente Collor? Pois é, hoje ele é farinha do mesmo saco político que o Collor (são da mesma base aliada). Por isso que eu não acredito que a política brasileira tenha jamais a remota chance de se redimir, se reformar. A mesma coisa aconteceu com a geração de 64 (vide Zé Dirceu). A geração de 64 se tornou farinha daquele mesmo saco o qual eles combatiam (falavam de censura mas manipulam a mídia e se fazem de perseguidos políticos quando na realidade são o partido da situação, e a única censura que existe vem por parte deles, porque ninguém pode falar mal deles). A geração de 64 falhou. A geração de cara-pintadas falhou. A das diretas já falhou. Não existe uma história de sucesso na alegada democracia da política brasileira. Não vai existir, nunca. E isso que eu nem comecei a falar da bancada evangélica… a nova direita, a pior de todas.

Duas tragédias, duas medidas.

2013-01-29T00:08:21Z

Duas tragédias aconteceram num período de menos de 24 horas no RS. Dois incendios. Um foi numa boate frequentada por jovens universitários de classe média e alta. Outro foi uma favela de maioria negra e parda cheia de traficantes. No primeiro mais de 230 morreram. No segundo ninguém morreu. Porque ninguém da mídia está falando do incêndio na favela em Porto Alegre (vou encurtar): preconceito, e ninguém morreu, ponto final. Agora, meu pronunciamento pessoal longo: eu não estou preocupada com o incêndio na favela porque eu tenho certeza que as autoridades vao provideciar moradia nova e dar assistência, e ninguém morreu. A prefeitura já queria remover e reeestruturar aquela área antes mesmo do incêndio, entãoi vai que agora deslacha né? Além disso, essas duas tragédias mostram varias faces e verdades sobre nossa sociedade e nosso governo. Sobre a sociedade.. mostra que e a mídia e a sociedade se importa mais com a juventude branca de classe média do que com os pardos favelados (é duro mas é verdade nua e crua) e o sobre o governo… bom, as duas tragédias mostram que nosso governo é bastante solícito quando a solução do problema é meramente assistencialista (construir casas, achar abrigo), porque essas medidas são fáceis e (triste, mas verdade) são populistas e dão voto. Agora, quando é pra resolver catástrofes complexas e cuja cadeia de responsabilidade recai *nos próprios governantes e autoridades competentes*, aí todo mundo quer tirar o seu da reta, e tomar providências e achar culpados fica bem mais dífícil, burocrático e improvável. Por isso que eu me preocupo mais com a tragédia de Santa Maria. Os favelados de POA que perderam a casa hoje podem subir de nível e ser os universitários do futuro, e vão entrar numa casa noturna pra comemorar e também vão morrer queimados. Na realidade esses favelados também provavelmente frequentam casas noturnas igualmente negligenciadas e estão correndo risco de ser queimados. Mas depois a prefeitura não vai ter como trazer eles de volta com medidas assistenciais populistas emergenciais… Enfim, são problemas diferentes que mostram aspectos ruins da nossa sociedade e governo, mas acho que o de Santa Maria é bem mais complicado e grave.

WordPress app for iPad

2013-01-03T02:46:05Z

Hi!
I’m testing the official wordpress app for iPad. Let’s see how this comes out. Still looking for app that posts through multiple blogging platforms, like livescribe. I must say I’m frustrated that Disq.us has such a shitty and limited app that mostly fits the iPhone screen only…

Happy New Year

2013-01-01T18:38:54Z

Only wanted to wish whoever it pleases a happy new year, whatever that means and however shit won’t change anyway.

The Climb

2012-12-19T14:35:29Z

(Reposted from my writing site.)

For years and years I climbed the mountain: up and up, on and on. Never once had I seen its peak. Even on the clearest of days looking up was no different from looking down. My starting place was as lost in the distance as my destination. If I looked out over the plain I’d left to begin my climb, I thought I could see the ground. It was a dark shadow under the sky, but the horizon was indistinct. A bland blurriness where land and sky met. I could not even recall exactly how long I’d been climbing.

I had tried to keep track of course, to estimate how far I’d come along the slope and upwards. But what was the point? At the end, if I ever got there, I would have a few numbers in my head that, while surely impressive, were merely trivia.

I think the air thinned as I’d climbed, but I could have been fooling myself. I was older, more tired. If it was thinning with elevation the rate was miniscule. I was just as unsure about the plant life. It seemed more scraggly, more weathered, less dense, but maybe that was just the monotony. I still found enough berries to eat, wood to make an occasional fire to roast an occasional animal I’d managed to snare. My diet was as dull as the horizon, but I never starved.

While I could not say how far I’d come, or even how long I’d been climbing, my more recent memories were fine. I could give a reasonable, if dull, account of the last couple decades. It had been a few years since anything interesting had occurred – that being my last encounter with a living person. A woman who’d claimed she was coming down. Not for having given up, but from the top. From having reached her goal. (Or maybe not, who was I to say her aim had been so low.) She was mad and I, so unused even to sane conversation, had struggled simply to understand her.

Mad or not, the encounter with her had buoyed me. For several months before that I’d been morose over the last person I’d seen. A dead man, who had killed himself with a sharp rock his temple. One could hardly blame him.

Madness was not ideal, but it was better than braining myself.

Happy Thanksgiving

2012-11-30T00:15:58Z

Last weekend we held a small thanksgiving feast – prepared by my lovely hubby Cary – and even though we don’t celebarte thanksgiving in Brazil, we even had Black Friday. We had turkey, blueberry pie, special gravy, mashed potatoes and yummy stuffing!!

We found out that there’s peanut butter in the public market here, which is just a couple blocks down our place, so my husband is very happy as you can imagine

My sweetie feline Mistofelis had a bad diarrhea but I’m so glad he’s competely recovered!!

I’m watching American Horror Story: Asylum. I must confess I hate psych ward – but I’m LOVING AHS Asylum. Psychiatric hospital were and still are a place for the nightmares. Hardly any other theme has more potential for horror and suspense. I’m liking AHS better than the Walking Dead. The Walking Dead is lost within its slow story and uninteresting characters – issues that could have been solved in a three lines dialogue are lasting for the entire season. Killing Lori was a mistake, Michonne is annoying and poorly written, Merle is a pain in the ass. None of the character’s behavior has any logic or makes any sense. They really should review certain things in case there s next season.

My reading is uber slow and I’m so behind my new year resolution of reading 10 books in 2010. Aprox. 12hrs of work per day and I get home and pass out in bed. There’s french class I’d like to dedicate to a little more. I’d like to excersice, do something else. I read medical periodics but that does not count as reading. I’m pretty tired to be honest.

007 Skyfall – plus ordinary life updates

2012-10-28T00:53:51Z

…is one of the best 007 films ever, if not the best (I’m still thrilled by having just watched it 2 hours ago, and my previous favorite was Casino Royale). The opening sequence graphics are stunning, the theme is a classic Bond style masterpiece in Adele’s great voice. Javier Bardem’s character is really outstanding and almost outshines Daniel Craig, as good as Craig is himself! Loved the references and jokes about old Bond movies, the final sequence at the Skyfall mansion is memorable, the finale was a surprise, dark but very, very good!
I cannot wait to see this film again!

************

In todays trip to the mall we happened to notice they’re selling Windows 8 Pro for just 269 Brazilian Reais (1 Real = 50 US$ cents), so it is, as we say about very cheap things here in Brazil, “Banana Price” close to what former Windows versions were priced (600+ Brazilian Reais at least)! I’m waiting however. Don’t wanna be the first to find out the first bugs!

*************

We’re also following the new season of The Walking Dead and it all looks good so far. Good to see most characters growing some balls and doing some killing instead of just whining around! Lori however is still a growing pain in the ass!

************
A few weeks ago a tragedy happened in my life. My smartphone suffered sudden death by drowning in the toilet. I was smartphoneless for about 10 days. That was good for me to confess and accept the sad truth: I am a smartphone addict. Using a stupidphone almost drove me nuts. I have an iPad but it’s Wi-Fi only so it wouldn’t always do the tricks. So there I was having an espresso with my husband but I couldn’t check-in on Foursquare or tweet about how awesome the coffee was, of post a tweaked picture of my espresso to Instagram. I could not update my Facebook status and see people liking my espresso and commenting about my irrelevant and mondane drink!! I also couldn’t keep in contact with my friends by instantly sending them endless messages about some personal, stressing but not less mondane issue, that in the “old times” (or 12 years ago) would have to wait until we met in person or made an expensive cell phone call (mind that talking on cell phones was not and is still not cheap).
So, here it is the saddest part of the addiction: I was so afraid of being smartphoneless again that I actually acquired myself not only one, but two new phones… you know, a spare one in case some bad accident happens again (one can never be too careful!!). It was 10 endless days until the two phones finally arrived, together, in my mailbox. One cannot imagine the joy and relief I felt when I held my 2 new babies (Sony XPERIA S LT26i running on Droid Ice Cream Sandwich and Sony Ericsson XPERIA Mini Pro SK17i on Gingerbread)! As embarrassed as I feel for being so ridiculously addicted to my gadgets, I really hope I won’t lose them again any time soon!
As gadget addicted as I am, I’m still “old style” with typing (not to say clumsy) and prefer qwerty keyboards to touchscreen keyboards, hence my latest acquisition is a Bamboo stylus. I’m having a much better relationship with my touchscreens now that I have a stylus!

LIST OF PLACES TO BE VISITED, THINGS TO BE DONE, BASED ON MUSIC…

2012-10-12T19:05:21Z

4. Nowhere Fast – that’s from Streets of Fire original soundtrack (that one may seem easy, but try doing that with current traffic jams and without getting a speed ticket!)

5. Hidden Place – Bjork (ooh yes, that one is easy, just needs to be in the very right moment!)

6. Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd (advantage: it’s a state, plenty of counties at your choice!)

7. Graceland – Paul Simon (…hey if even poorboys and pilgrims with families are going to Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee…)

List of Places to be Visited and Things to Be Done Before you Die, Based on Music

2012-10-10T02:47:35Z

Blogworthy? Not sure. However…

1. Take the “A” Train (Duke Ellington)
2. Float down the Liffey (nevermind I can’t swim. I already floated down the dead sea, but that would require Radiohead to re-write the song) (Radiohead)
3. Get to Oceanside (and lay your muscles wide…) (The Decemberists)
… (neverending list!)

Update

2012-08-26T23:26:21Z

I’ve been sort of absent lately, but there’s nothing going on other than going from home to work and then back home after the day is already over. Nothing worth talking about.

Uncharted 3 For PS3 (and others)

2012-06-22T17:58:09Z

I’m so disappointed with certain aspects of most PS3 games (that we own. Yes, we still used the PS2.)
Mostly we’ve been playing (solo and co-op) Uncharted 3 and (solo) Child of Eden. I’m extremely pissed off at the fact that in most couch co-op modes it’s not possible to save a game. PS3 auto-saves it, says the manual. But no, it doesn’t. Once you ran out of lives it’s game over and back to the beginning, and you have to re-do everything you did the last fucking hour all over again – which really makes me rethink playing these games again, since I really could be doing something more useful of my time. How – and why – do these folks are so tech wise and creative to make up all these funky 3D imagery with cinema quality sound, and yet they can’t make the game savable? WEAK.

P.S.: do NOT under any circumstances buy PS3 controllers of the brand “Integris” or “Integris Brasil”. I lack words to describe their ultimate crappiness. Don’t buy ANYTHING from Integris. Buy the original, please.

Review of “Battleship” (2012)

2012-06-11T14:44:00Z

So, right, I watched this. (For free – I’m not crazy.) Utterly ridiculous – as most alien invasion movies are. For those that are not aware, it’s based on the 2-player board game of the same name. It’s important to note that this is one of the simplest board games ever. It consists of blindly “shooting” at your opponent’s navy by calling out positions on a grid. Keep this fact in mind for later.

Now, I’ll tell you straight away that the first 20 minutes can simply be skipped. This span of the movie is one of the more tedious attempts at character development ever. And hello, no one is watching an alien invasion movie based on one of the simplest board games ever for the characters. If they needed to pad for time, I would have liked some insight into the aliens’ motives. (I can hardly believe I am asking such a thing of this movie, but there it is.) Anyhow, skip the beginning, as you’ll easily figure out the two-dimensional characters’ simplistic motivations and relationships by watching the action parts of the movie.

After the blah-blah, the aliens land. One ship breaks up and smashes up a bit of China. The rest land near Hawaii and toss up a giant shield that not even Liam Neeson can get through, leaving only 3 human naval vessels (none of which are battleships) inside. Apparently the alien ship that crashed had all their communication equipment on it, so now they need to invade Hawaii to use some radio telescopes there to contact a (human) satellite to contact their home planet to tell them to send more ships to help invade earth. Yes, that’s right, humans have a modest-sized satellite that can contact other star systems, but aliens who can cross interstellar space don’t have the same technology on all their ships, only the one.

Moving on… oh, yeah, speaking of moving. The alien space ships – SPACE SHIPS – move by hopping in/on the water. I am not making this up. They look like Megatron trying to do the breast stroke. They never fly again, nor do they submerge again once they’ve surfaced near the beginning of the movie. They conveniently stay on the 2-dimensional surface of the ocean and fight the human naval ships pretty much like other, albeit spastic, human naval ships. Handy, eh?

Remember the point from the first paragraph I told you to keep in mind? Good. This is carried over into the film – aside from eyesight neither the human nor alien ships can detect one another. Now, clearly, we can expect that star-hopping aliens would be able to jam human radar and what not. However no explanation whatsoever is given as to why the aliens can’t track the human ships. Worse still, the humans cheat! The tricksy bastards use TSUNAMI DETECTION BUOYS to track the hopping alien ships. And with enough accuracy to shoot missiles at them and eventually hit them. I shit you not. (To be fair, it was a Japanese sailor who figured this out, so that’s probably why it worked. The only semi-intelligent characters in the movie are Caucasian females or Japanese males. Lucky for the aliens there wasn’t a female Japanese character or they would have been screwed right off the bat.)

So, now that the makers of this movie have crippled the aliens in ways only justifiable in the context of slavish devotion to a 70 year old game a 6 year old can play and that the humans are cheating, you have to start to wonder if perhaps the kids from “Super 8″ should get subbed in for the US Navy, since clearly there’s hardly a challenge in it for the military. But wait! The aliens have spiffy, flying, spinning, fiery, metal-chewing ball thingies that eat ships, helicopters and highways for lunch. Probably adolescent filmmakers too. So, with all the puny human ships now turned into scrap metal, what’s a bunch of socially dysfunctional heroes to do? You guessed it: grab a bunch of naval veterans, un-museum-ify the USS Missouri, and use this 70 year old battleship to fight the last alien STARship. And here you were worried there wasn’t going to be a battleship in this.

So, anyhow, now we have some serious action. The nine 20-inch guns of the Missouri pound the crap out of an alien vessel made out of trans-uranic elements no earthling (Japanese or otherwise) can identify. Also, the loser captain of the museum ship and the Japanese guy shoot out the windows of the alien ship using large rifles. They do this because the aliens, as it turns out, are invading a planet that is so bright they’re functionally blind on it without sun glasses. Seriously, my 90 year old grandmother could beat these guys at this point. Still, the heavily damaged last alien ship manages to spit out 3 of the spiffy, flying, spinning, fiery, metal-chewing ball thingies just as the Missouri shoots its last round off at the radio telescopes on Hawaii (to prevent the ETs from phoning home). Fortunately, the last alien ship was damaged enough that the giant shield is down and Liam Neeson is able to save the Missouri and our heroes with some of his aircraft carrier’s fighter jets. It’s worth pointing out that Liam knows his jets are so bad-ass that rather than launching all of them to help fend off an ALIEN INVASION, he only sends a few. It’s like he knew the movie was almost over or something and was trying to save jet fuel.

So, anyhow, what’s good about this movie? Nice action sequences. Good effects. Thus, I would say you should only see this movie under the following circumstances: 1) you don’t have to pay for it, 2) you can easily skip the first 20 minutes or so, and 3) you can ignore the idiocies enough to enjoy big metal human sea ships and big metal hopping alien sea ships knocking the crap out of each other.