L' Infamme Une Femme Takes Temporary Leave. Vacation time, time to catch up with all the movies I never have time to watch. Here are some of the films I saw this week.

A Woman is a Woman

Yes, it's terribly passé and obnoxious, but I always like Godard.



It's really a shame this movie didn't make it to the Oscar.



In all truth, the third movie I watched was Looking for Nemo, but this poster is infinitely more beautiful, isn't it? The Corcovado Cowboy, also known as the Hairy Hungarian, bought a lovely painting appropriating this design last Saturday. We were walking around the busy Benedito Calixto antique fair and then had lunch at the Goethe Institut café. Side comment: I don't want to offend my German readers, but German food, at least of the kind one can find in Brazilian German restaurants, is really quite bland, isn't it? One would think that such a monumental culture would fare better in the pots and pans department.

My Liebeschaft with the Hairy Hungarian, born in Tübingen and raised in München, proceeds as the most peaceful interregnum in my ever tumultous love life. Salsicha alemã na feijoada dá certo! We developed pictures of our trip to S. Francisco Xavier and for the first time in ages, or at least, for the first time since I ditched the Giant Jalapeno for good, my face looked youthful and carefree. It is slightly bogus to leave my HH for two weeks.

Tomorrow I am flying to San Jose via Dallas. I have yet to call the pediatrician to ask what mild sedative I can use to drug the little mermie for the long trip. Yes, shocking, but I still remember the flight attendants of my San Francisco flight pointing at us and going tsk tsk after we landed, after Sofia barely missing bringing down the flight with the mess and fuss she made.

The plan is to stay one week with Sofia's grandparents in Prunedale, check out the California Rodeo (yeehaaw) and then spend the other week in Santa Cruz. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to going to Santa Cruz, visiting my favorite bookstores, walking in Capitola Village and stuffing myself with tofu mayo at the Staff of Life coffeshop.

I've decided not to take my laptop with me so I can buy a new one. I don't know if my mailbox at UOL accumulate all the spam I receive daily without bursting out at the seams. We'll see.

My real estate odyssey continues. After almost two months of bogurific negotiations with two owners I still haven't bought an apartment at the highly coveted Marquês de Valença building. It's unfuckingbelievable how jinxed my life has become as far my property-owning ambitions go. There are time when I really feel like throwing the towel and settle for renovating my own apartment with pergo white pine floors, pastilhas de vidrotil e outras viadices.

Persistence. The HH says. Deep sigh. Let's focus on merrier things.

You know what's really great about taking a vacation? The fact that you don't have to work and can jump headlong in the Lord of the Rings, that is, after you're done telling the 15 stories in Historinhas de Contar, which is one of the most delightful books I've ever had the pleasure of telling to my little Mermie.

While I am gone, make sure you visit my quasi-updated blogroll, to your left. Also, there are some new linguablogs on the block, I've heard.

Quote of the Day
"Aprende com a vida. Lança um olhar preênsil e carinhoso ao mundo em volta, aos seus contornos caprichosos, aos inconstantes matizes e cambiantes das suas cores, ao jogo palpitante dos seus claros-escuros. Se não percebes as cores da tua terra natal, não sentes os seus cheiros, não ouves nem distingues os seus sons não conseguirás recriar uma paisagem estrangeira. Se não observas como as pessoas trabalham, ao traduzir descrições correspondentes fatalmente cometerás erros porque não tens uma idéia clara disso. Se não observas as emoções das pessoas vivas, terás dificuldade de traduzir uma análise psicológica. Criarás uma névoa onde ela não existe no original. Colocarás um espelho turvo entre o autor e o leitor."

Nicolai Liubímov

Schoolboys face legal action over Harry Potter translation
Four Czech schoolboys could face legal action after they posted an unofficial translation of the new Harry Potter book on the internet.

Alegria e Júbilo. Tom Moore and Laura Rónai will be playing today at Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil. The series of concerts is called os Quatro Pontos Cardeais, and since today's theme is Alegria e Júbilo and I'm enjoying every minute of my vacation, estação São Bento here I come.

A Casa da Mãe Joana. "Livro resgata histórias de expressões e nomes que fazem parte do cotidiano do brasileiro.

O autor, o carioca Reinaldo Pimenta, 54 anos, advogado e professor de língua portuguesa, garimpa histórias há quatro anos em mais de 80 livros.

Ele sacia a curiosidade nas 256 páginas de A casa da mãe Joana. “Meu objetivo era fazer um livro divertido”, diz. Quem já parou para pensar, por exemplo, no porquê da expressão “cheio de nove horas”? Essas palavras, que viraram adjetivo para descrever uma pessoa afetada, têm como origem o horário em que as pessoas deviam se recolher, no século XIX. O regulamento policial advertia que, depois das nove horas, ninguém estaria isento de ser apalpado e revistado. Daí surgiu a descrição para um sujeito cheio de regras."

(Read article on the book and excerpt at Isto É, more on the book and other expressions at Observatório da Imprensa)