If I Were A Woman...

I would be Keira Knightley at the Coco Mademoiselle ads. I might be exaggerating here but this girl is the reincarnation of classic Hollywood. Her jaw-line, her thinness, the beautiful and expressive eyes, the smile - all of them combine with a vivacity that instantly remits me to the Hepburns, especially Kate's Tracy Lord.
[Song: Let It Die - Feist]

Today's Sins

First: I'm not talking about sex.

By the Christians phylosophy everything is temptation and the world is in full-time work on tempting you. Since human beings are inclined to sin we often fail to resist it. Let's pretend I'm a Christian.

Today I went to Salvador's newest mall, Salvador Shopping. I was supposed to go to UFBA to drop college but an afternoon in a capitalism heaven seemed more exciting, so I went. [Sin number 1.]

Once there I at first felt a bit intimidated by the place's portliness and brightness, but very soon it was replaced by São Paulo reminiscences, when dad lived there and we'd spend hours at the Villa-Lobos Mall; especially because Salvador's has a Saraiva Mega Store that reminded me of the São Paulo's Livraria Cultura one - a place where you'd be mesmerized by its impressive stock and shocked by the ungentle prices.

Still the temption runned there everywhere and there I was smelling its exquisite smell and hearing its exciting voice. Did I resist? I left the store with the Audrey Hepburn volume from the Taschen Movie Icons collection, Björk's Live Vespertine and Paula Toller's latest album SóNós - she's the vocalist of a Brazillian very popular pop band called Kid Abelha; the album is lovely and has a Rufus Wainwright cover. [Sin number 2.]

It was after the moment I stepped out of the place that I felt it again: the feeling I'm meaning to describe. The orgasmic sensation that comes right after you do something you shouldn't but you wanted. This feeling was firstly noticed in May when Purki and Red came to Salvador and we shopped; everytime I shop I feel half-queasy half-excited as if some kind of drug had just be injected into my veins. I of course ran desperately in the pursuit of a place to smoke.

After I had lunch and had ideas for an arcticle I kept strolling and got into a sportive store looking for shoes. Then I realized how delicious shopping soundtrack Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Trip The Light Fantastic is; If I Can't Dance helped me to choose a marvelous white Converse All Star. [Sin number 3 - can I blame Sophie for that one?]

And then later I returned to Saraiva and bought Roberta Sá's new album! Two!!! One for me and other for Nalim [from theCC]. [Sin number 4 - filled with a stupid feeling of selfless balance since I was buying something to someone else.]

So then I decided to leave - actually run away from the temptation den. But uhg on my way out I spotted a cute red Converse and... [Sin number 5.]

In the taxi back home the guilty that comes after the pleasure I described above hit me and well, considering I'm at this moment a Christian I deserve punishment. How many Our Fathers should I say and how much should I be kneeled down the corn?

[Song: If I Can't Dance - Sophie Ellis-Bextor]

Bitchy Talk

When I set the ho to be the third interview I wished to do a happy birthday post to me by having him on my month. But then he disappeared due to [he says] school [but I’m sure he got drunk and neglected me] and I got sick and depressed… water under the bridge. Hence the Bitchy Talk had this hiatus filled with a feeling that the ho had to be my third guest, even if my birthday month is now – as he said - ages ago.

José Roberto Solís Mayén is one of the most fascinating human beings that I’ve ever had the luck to meet. It’s true that we never actually met, but I never felt that was entirely paramount for me to know that in him lies one of my role models. For that matter, when it dawned on me that I no longer had excuses for procrastinating his interview, I dried up. He knows everything about me and I know everything he tells me, and sometimes others I just catch on the gazillion kilometers of space between us; because of that I didn’t know exactly what to ask without sounding rambling. Until I asked Marce for some tips of what I could ask him, I realized this was not an interview for ME, but for whoever happened to read it. In my biased-but-honest opinion, the more people know about him the better the world will be.

We started calling ourselves “ho” after the genius Gwen Stefani line “take a chance you stupid ho”. “What You Waiting For” is a song that deals with inner strength and the struggle to connect with it; but it doesn’t deal with it in the corny Mariah Carey way, but with a feature that is very strong in us: self-deprecation. The ability of laughing at ourselves at the most adverse circumstances is something that should be experienced by everyone; when I realized [by having him calling me “ho”] he had the self-depreciation attached to a charming and adorable wit I knew he was to be the best of my friends.

In here you’ll find not nostalgic blablabla about the way we were [yes, we’re that old], but only a portion of how genius the ho, aka Jose, is. Enjoy.

[kks = ]
[Ms Walters = Lucas]

)( Lucas Potter Jones )( One Day It'll Happen: tell us what you are listening to.

a better version of myself [ho]: I'm listening to Love Profusion by G-d. Actually my Ipod's on Madonna shuffle.

LPJ: tell us about your relationship with LP.

ho: well, you know I never listen to full albums right?
LPJ: yup, you’re a sinner.

ho: and American Life was no exception; but I remember clearly during Easter 04, I took my CD to a the beach and fell asleep listening to it and I woke up to LP and I fell in love with it; it became my second fave song in the album, then I saw the video and had multiple orgasms. It was also my top song of that year.

LPJ: I remember that. And what's not hot about Madonna in flowery dress and beautiful CGI landscapes?

ho: the fact that it's the same as the Estée Lauder perfume ad. That was both one of her laziest, yet still breathtaking moments.

LPJ: lol, you tore my dreams on LP's video.

ho: robots don't dream.

LPJ: I must say I’m nervous myself.

ho: how come? Am I allowed to ask stuff? Lol

LPJ: yes you are… because I’m afraid this will become a trip to our memory lane [even if I never remember the way to mine]. At some point we'll be remembered our early days like old hags.

ho: uh oh. So you'll realize we're older than we look, and dumber than we seem.

LPJ: but I'll try to be professional.

ho: ok do so Barb.

LPJ: ’cept for the fact I’ll do you by the end of interview.

ho: u.u I don’t sleep with my interviewer. After Larry King gave me crabs I promised myself I’d never do that again.

LPJ: there's beladonna in the drink I gave you...

ho: stop the kking Ms Walters.

LPJ: … anyways. Was Madonna somehow a turning point in your life?

ho: actually I don't remember a life before her. And that's not as pathetic as it sounds. What I mean is, I grew up in a house where my mom's trademark album was the immaculate collection. when I have flashbacks of that era, the soundtrack is usually Material Girl or Papa Don't Preach. So in a way, I never found Madonna, she found me.

LPJ: But is there a moment in your life that she and her art were like paramount in some decision or such?

ho: well, you know I'm a very art driven person, but to this day I've yet to find something that has such an effect on me to turn my world around.

LPJ: everyone's aware of your other, I should probably say main passion: cinema.

ho: *nods*

LPJ: do you think Madonna and cinema will ever work?

ho: I think for me they have, just maybe not in the way people expect it. When I saw Evita for the first time I was dazzled, but for example the other day a friend was trashing Madge while we listened to Mazzy Star and I revealed to him that if it hadn’t been for Swept Away I’d probably have no idea who Mazzy Star were. She may not be such a good actress, but the way she's able to pull the strings behind the camera and infuse everything with all her knowledge still has an impact in the way people should see her films. And she's also a top showwoman. I’d take a hundred confession tours in a row before having to see another Hilary-Swank-as-a-man movie.

LPJ: hello, me too! Let’s form a club.

ho: we have one. The putinhas something club.

LPJ: which movie, when you think of the first movie you ever saw, comes instantly to your mind?

ho: hmmm, tough one. I have a very vivid memory of going to the theater with my grandma and great-uncle to watch Disney's Treasure Island, but I saw Bambi a gazillion times at home; and I’ve asked my dad and he tells me the first movie he took me to see was a Spanish cartoon and that I wouldn’t stop singing the songs for months after it.

LPJ: lol, which happens to be?

ho: I can never remember the name.

LPJ: your blog's name is one of my favorite things in life. *blushes*

ho: awww I never knew that before.

LPJ: resume in few words the power of pop culture in your life.

ho: well, it's like a drug to me. I can't imagine life without pop culture, yet sometimes I feel there are greater things in life that should interest me most, then again, as I like to say, everything's connected: pop culture has led me to paths that have changed who I am and what I think.

LPJ: same here. Especially because pop culture unashamedly [thank G-d] sucks from every other culture.

ho: yeah I know! But some people are too blind to realize that.

LPJ: was there ever a time that irked u? People being blind for things u like?

ho: not really, you know I have this weird thing: I want people to realize that the things I like are good, but when everyone likes what I like, it's like a turn off, I enjoy having things that I feel are entirely mine. Say Moulin Rouge! for example, I adore it to death, but when I listen to certain people saying it's their fave movie and knowing the kinds of things these people like and their complete ignorance of everything the film draws from, makes me feel like it's unworthy of my snob love towards it. lol

LPJ: lol we're ego sluts. Talking bout Moulin Rouge!,tell us the feelings you had during your very first screening.

ho: I went to the Honduran premiere.

LPJ: oh gawd there was no such thing in crappy Brasil.

ho: and I knew the songs by heart, cause I had the soundtrack months before, and to me in a way it was like the images had to live up to the sounds I’d heard. And boy did they do! To date, my first screening of Moulin Rouge! was the most electrifying experience I’ve had in a theater!

LPJ: did you cry at any moment?

ho: you know I never cry, but my eyes were watery from the moment it began, at first from excitement and then with utter sadness. But mostly I had a silly smile all through it.

LPJ: what about the corny-but-surprisingly-beautiful heart-shaped fireworks in I Will Always Love You in the Elephant Love Medley? How did you feel about it?

ho: I’m still waiting for them to appear whenever I kiss someone I’m madly in love with. hehehe

LPJ: that’s the cutest answer I always had to that question.

ho: *blushes*

LPJ: those fireworks were the moment I started to cry and you know I’m a whimper. Hosie, name three people that you think have influenced you deeply throughout your life.

ho: in what way?

LPJ: in any way.

ho: I’ll go with my dad, his mom and Madge.

LPJ: tell us about all of them dumbass.

ho: ok, you see my dad is the smartest guy I know. From an early age he taught me about books, films, music (I owe my love of Bossa to him). But I think his major influence on me has been his selfless ability to let me make my own choices; when I fuck up, he’s there to back me up though. My grandma taught me about the finer things in life. She introduced me to Fellini, caviar and champagne. And Madge, well she's like oxygen to me; she opened my eyes to Kabbalah and political consciousness in a way. I kinda feel guilty now for not saying my mom lol. But well, my mom's implicit with Madge I guess.

LPJ: lol, we and our mom troubles. Let’s leave them outta here; you can cry, I cannot.

ho: we both know you will, I won’t. lol

LPJ: … shut up!

ho: u.u

LPJ: what do you most hate about people?

ho: ignorance, and I don’t mean poor people who don’t go to school, but people who have the chance and still have such narrow visions as not to want and explore everything the world offers to them. I hate people that never try new things, I also hate people who talk in the movies. lol

LPJ: yaaaaaaaay, you’re me!

ho: I am. lol

LPJ: I also hate people who eat popcorn in theatres, they’re always too loud.

ho: then you hate me. I’m obsessed with candy corn. lol

LPJ: ew. That’s why you’re fat. u.u

ho: but just on blockbusters and chick flicks. I’m not fat. u.u

LPJ: I know you’re anorexic like me now. What do u most love about people?

ho: I love their ability to surprise me on any level. If it’s my family, I love when I learn old stories that are new to me. With my friends I love their ability to give me hope when everything looks so bad. And with artists I love their way of pushing boundaries and showing me more can be done and more should be done. I also love when people smile at me, a stranger's smile injects me with fuzzy energy every time.

LPJ: lol you slut.

ho: lol I don’t mean it in a sexual way, since I’m counting girls as well.

LPJ: slut anyway.

ho: I know but shhh…

LPJ: before we started we hurried to get a Kylie wallpaper. What’s the importance of Miss Minogue in your life?

ho: simply put, nobody puts a smile on my face like Kylie.

LPJ: I’m aware you have OCD. Is there some kind of secret in your life?

ho: my OCD is mostly gone.

LPJ: ohh tell me about it.

ho: I still have my little quirks, like cleaning my house like a madman.

LPJ: Bree.

ho: but what kind of secret do you mean?

LPJ: like something in your life u never reveal to anyone.

ho: if you're expecting a The Crying Game twist, I’m sorry to disappoint you, not really. I haven’t killed anyone, I haven’t fathered children in foreign countries and I wasn’t involved in Watergate. So I guess no secrets here. That doesn’t mean everyone knows me though, I’m a very private person.

LPJ: ahh-ha! I just found out your as old as the Watergate.

ho: reincarnation sweetheart.

LPJ: where do you think you want to live your whole life?

ho: I don’t really care about the place, as long as I’m with somebody I love (if it happens in NYC or Florence even better hehehe), but u know I thought life here would be hell for example, and now when I’m not here I miss the people and the places.

LPJ: it’s more about how we feel about ourselves than what the place has to offer. Do you agree?

ho: totally. Like I say, if I’m with good company I can enjoy hell.

LPJ: is there anything you think you could never learn?

ho: the forgetting part in forgive and forget. Also to ride a bike or a skateboard, I’m waaaaay too old to learn that now.

LPJ: I’ll teach you.

ho: u.u like Phoebe.

LPJ: well hosie, I’m afraid were close to a wrap.

ho: u.u I never cried.

LPJ: well I deeply never expected you to… But before it, choose an image that you think that describes you like no other.

ho: tough one [what happened during the ho's deliberative break]
Remember that part where Holly Golightly is looking into Tiffany's?

LPJ: I do

ho: that's me, I'm Holly Golightly looking into what I consider heaven, without getting the chance to ever make it mine. You see, like Holly all of my life I’ve dreamt of an absolutely perfect place where I’m going to be happy. But this place is so flawless in my dreams, that probably I’m scared of finding it and being disappointed; so like holly, I move in life avoiding emotional attachments because they make me vulnerable. But deep inside I’m dying to have someone kiss me under the rain, tell me everything will be ok and finally giving the cat a name.

LPJ: I don’t have to say that that’s beautifully heartbreaking.

ho: u.u don’t cry Barb!

More on the ho.
More Bitchy Talk.

Depression Movies #1: A Rouge Holiday With Saudade

When on Friday I saw on IMDb that it was Audrey Hepburn's birthday I instantly decided to homage her by doing a Hepburn marathon as soon as I got home from college; but I was so tired when I arrived that it'd be hard to watch three movies in a row, so I had to pick one. Many would choose Breakfast At Tiffany's on the first hand, but even though I love it to death, differently from the other titles I have, I've seen it like a million times. So I chose Roman Holiday: Audrey's first hit in Hollywood, Audrey's first and only Oscar [I don't count the honorary ones].
On this second screening of this Paramount classic I wondered how would be like if Audrey had the chance to work with Woody Allen. I did it because this woman's sense of naturalness in her acting is so vibrant that even if you see her in some flamboyant and hardly-to-happen situations like in Roman Holiday, you still feel like they're the most common thing to happen.
Well, in it Audrey plays the young Princess Ann who for political duties is touring around Europe. In her stop in Rome she's clearly tired and bored, like any young person would be, and decides to flee so she can see the vivid Roman nightlife. So, things happen and she ends up spending the whole following day with a sly and mischievous American journalist [a marvelous and absolutely charming Gregory Peck] who, realizing he's in the company of such royalty intends to do a bombastic sensationalist report on her. Like many other classics this movie has become pop culture icon and was imitated by many other movies and medias [even Sabrina, the teenage witch]; so for me it's an amusement to watch and try to remember where else I've seen those scenes.
Despite tiny flaws, [we hardly feel Princess Ann and Joe Bradley's affair grow, you simply know it's going to happen and it simply does] superficially this is a movie at cinema's basic premise: entertaining; but of course there's more to it than this. As you follow their adventures on Rome's beautiful and historic landmarks you experience a young woman maturing in front of your eyes. Ann goes from an innocent girl crashed by her larger-than-life duties to a woman finally aware of her importance to her country; and she gets to it by living - even for only one day - her life as she pleases and doing the expected things from a normal adolescent [even if Ann's age is never specified]. That becomes clear when she enters a beauty salon and cuts her hair, as an act of desire for independence, and it makes us wonder if the young should really mature as early as nowadays, missing that way things that will mold them for the rest of their lives.
Audrey Hepburn seems at each moment to be in perfect knowledge of it and owns Ann with sublime and subtle acting [what's that scene when she finds out Joe and Irving are journalists!]. During the shootings Gregory Peck raved on Hepburn's acting abilities and said she should and would win an Oscar for her portrayal of Ann. And well she did, beating established and genius stars like Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr [as the mysterious and mesmerizing Karen Holmes from From Here To Eternity].

All the colors, music and vibrant life in Moulin Rouge! disguises a deep and sorrowful love story. We all know the ending is beyond sad, but few people realize that it's the culmination of elements that have been explicited since the begining. The fact that Satine's death is revealed on the first ten minutes of the picture is a warning that this is no sappy musical we're watching. For me, this is one of the most heartbreaking and dark movies ever made; I decided to watch it last night due to life synchrony and I was aware it'd be a tearjerking experience.
The contrast between the pop culture carnival and the dark melodrama from the screenplay is delivered by Baz Luhrmann in a glitzy and so glamourous way that you can't help having your jaw dropped, your eyes watered, your body chilled; the kitsch and all over-the-place sets and costumes get wonderfully joyous when you hear all those wonderful songs glued perfectly like the soundtrack of our lives. I mean, if your life were a musical it'd be filled with the songs you listen to everyday; so it's pure amazement to watch Moulin Rouge and sing-along those songs as if you were listening to a mixtape.
Then there's that Kidman woman razzle-dazzling us all with her milky skin and violent red hair combined with that gorgeous blue cinematography. For me Kidman is on the top of her game here; this is my favorite performance of her so far, because she does absolutely everyhting here: she sings, dances, comes down from a trapeze, does comedy, romance and drama all in her first ten onscreen minutes. After that her Satine brings a rollercoaster of emotions and a charisma so hard to find [and still those old sons of bitches gave the Bald Man to that hateful bitch Berry]. Later, when that naughty Christian boy [the always hot and perfect Ewan McGregor] sings her that song, that song we all claim as ours, it's impossible for us not to root for their love.
Oh, and there's Kylie Minogue! It took me millenia to find out that the Green Fairy is her, but now everytime I see it I longer for the moment she pops out of the absinth bottle and turns The Sound Of Music into a sexy and horny thing. She being in such project makes me love Baz even more, meaning he's tuned up to every aspect of the cult, including the underrated G-ds like Minogue. Kylie's cameo in it is one of those pleaseant surprises I love in movies and one of the various others in Moulin Rouge. I abso-fucking-lutely love when Christian and Satine fly to the top of the roof on Your Song and the Singin' In The Rain reference; or the heart-shapped fireworks on I Will Always Love You [not to mention the whole Elephant Love Medley]; and oh man, talk about Material Girl in Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friends.
So in the end, Baz's pop culture collage feels like a musical should make you feel but better, simply because it turns the world in a more happy and beauitful place despite its darkness. And since I'm a sucker for cathartic experiences, this movie is for me the one I need to watch whenever I'm melancholic or romantically crushed; and here stays the tip.

Ages ago I was talking with the ho about how Almodóvar makes his actresses look so hot and desireable even when they're not beautiful; a great example is Rossy De Palma. Last year he turned Penélope Cruz into a real woman again, dropping behind the American startlet image Hollywood imposed to her. So, last night as I watched Hable Con Ella for the second time I got this idea to my mind again. The way Rosario Flores looks masculine and manly is just the cover of a huge feminility she exhales whenever she's onscreen.
But for me, in this 2002 masterpiece Pedro goes mostly about a Portuguese word that is hard to be translated to other languages: saudade. Basically it is like when you miss someone in a way your mind stays caught up into nostalgia. And in this movie it's portrayed in a heartbreaking yet quirky fashion that only Almodóvar can do. Marco missed so much his troubled wife that he cried whenever he lived something sublime and emotional. Why? Because he didn't have her next to him to share it. That's saudade my friends.Another thing that hooked me on this second screening was all the cute flirts he does with Brasil. You all know Caetano sings Cucurrucucú Paloma in it; before that, on the first bullfighting scene the song played is Por Toda A Minha Vida by Elis Regina and Tom Jobim; later Marco cites a Jobim song to Lydia [How Insensitive]; and among the guides written by Marco, there's one from Brasil.

Hable Con Ella by the end turns out to be a beautiful essay about solitude pinched with saudade, where Almodóvar shines his adorable style homaging the art of Cinema [this time the silent era] and using polemic plotlines; but for me this is a movie that has such a hopeful and lightful end that it reassured on me the power of good-bye; but also incited my current desire for love, and I'm not talking about sex.

[Song: Lamb - Gorecki]

Depression Movies

Since it's only early May and I'm already broke to the point of prohibiting myself of leaving the house on the weekends until the end of the month, and to that you add the depression due to the romantic wave gotten on the last holiday [Brasil's Labor Day, last Tuesday], which is worst than a flu - since there's no real pain, - I decided to occupy my weekends with movies; after all they're part guilty on my monetary destruction [$211 to be specific - yup, I have no self-control].

By my accounts I have 57 titles in my cinemateca, aside the borrowed ones which I've got no idea which are, therefore I'll have a lot to watch. Last night I started with the wonderful classic Roman Holiday in homage to Audrey "G-d" Hepburn's bday. Still haven't decided which will be tonight's, but *turns O'Ren Ishii's voice on* "I promise right here and now" no movie won't be reviewd.

[Song: The Dull Flame Of Desire - Björk]

Top 5 Favorite Songs In Movies

My passion for films and music is well known and the marriage of these two is so obviously well succeeded that there is no need for me to ramble. This list [because I have nothing else to do but doing lists] is about those sequences in a film that a song defines a scene, no lines or explanations are required, just the scenes and the music.

Honorable mentions:

Two of the films from this list has more than one song moments that I completely adore. However I had to choose one of them to make it to the final list; that doesn't stop me from mentioning them anyway. Others are amazing and sometimes over-adored scenes, that even though I now think are too hyped I could not not mention.

- "The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice [Closer]

Absolutely everyone loves this, maybe simply by the fact that Rice's song is beyond marvelous. I like it for other few reasons; one is that the song is played at the begining of the film and at the end: in the same movie the same song plays different and important roles to the story.

In the begining when we have a short-pink-haired Natalie Portman walking among the crowd in London streets and towards her comes forever-hot Jude Law, this song plays as a prelude, a "set the mood" song. It works perfectly because the song is haunting enough to tell us that that is a dark movie we are starting to watch. That first line completely chills me to the bone.

In the end, when the characters do all those things they do and we just get shocked about their behaviors, maybe because human beings really play those games, the song works as a line, as the film's itself line. Although I know the readers of this blog have seen this film, I really cannot go further on details about this, because who knows a wandering [and completely lost] blogger decides to read this and I spoil the whole pleasure in watching this film and feeling this song's job in it. But you all know what I mean, right?

- "The Man That Got Away" by Judy Garland [A Star Is Born]

I first listened to this song on the Gilmore Girls' 5th Season episode "So... Good Talk". Did I die when Luke knocked on Lorelai's door and kissed her as a sealing of their return as a couple while Judy Garland sang this song on Lorelai's TV? Do I really have to answer?

When I finally watched 1954 George Cuckor's version of "A Star Is Born" with Judy Garland, all I could wait for was to see the scene that had the song that made me cry over and over for no apparent reason, just for the sake of drama-queening. When I finally heard those trumpets on the film as Norman Maine [James Mason] enters the Jazz bar Esther was playing with her band that night, I felt the chills; but when I finally had the pleasure to see Judy's performance I died, I cried my insides out!

First thing that came to my mind after it was over: "AGAIN!"

- "Crazy For You" by Madonna [13 Going On 30]

Okay, Jennifer Garner, the 80's and Madonna... do the math.

What I most love about the final scene of this movie [when the song's chorus is played with this amazing additional string section] is that it's simply beautiful! It doesn't have any deeper meaning than it's Jenna's favorite song; I could say it was because she trully always loved Matt and bla-bla-bla, but it isn't really what this film is about. It's just about being cute and make us cry and smile with its lovely happy ending. And Madonna's song makes the closure perfect.

- "Come-On-A-My House" by Della Reese - dubbed by Madonna [Swept Away]

It's not like I had to manage to add this woman more than once on the list. I really abso-fucking-lutely love the scene where Adriano Gianinni's character tell a now-tamed Amber to sing and dance for him. The thing starts hilariously with Madonna in a high pitch voice but even that managed to make her Master Esposito get a boner.

Okay, it's better if you watch it.

It could be the island's mood or the temperature abrupt variations from day to night, but yeah Peppe we do understand your delirium: sizzling hot!

- "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell [Bridget Jones's Diary]

Would there ever be another song to describe that infamous fight scene between hotties Daniel Cleaver [Hugh Grant] and Mark Darcy [Colin Firth]? I mean, Bridge is our hero man! She went from self conscious-30-years-old-single-therefore-depressed girl to two-hot-men-fighting-over-me!!

- "Without You" by Renée Zewellger [Bridget Jones's Diary]

This is one of the most hilarious parts of the movie. There she is, our hero drunk as pig at a Christmas party at her office singing Mariah Carey's Without You with her horrible drunk untuned voice, completely making a fool of herself because she was clearly singing it for Daniel Cleaver, her love interest. What's left for us then? Laugh!!

Who saw that would never imagine Renée could do what she did in Chicago.

Top 5:

5. "Fade Into You" by Mazzi Star [Swept Away]

Guy Ritchie and Madonna's second collaboration [the first is that outrageous and amazing music video] isn't well regarded among general public nor the critics. I agree that the film has some flaws like the boring edition in the begining [before the main characters become castaways] and some jokes are too According To Jim-esque for my taste; but generally I like the movie and find it very underrated. Madge's performance is mostly funny and cute, her comedy timing is great and as Amber she's adorable.

However, there is a scene that defines for me the best moment in the film. When Peppe and Amber embrace their attraction and live their love in that paradisiacal island, we are swayed by the lovely Fade Into You. But there are two things I adore about this sequence: the first is Alex Barber's breathtaking cinematography, he captured the scenario in a so beautiful way you feel like you're there; the second thing is that Fade Into You's lyrics match perfectly with the film's moment and is like a watershed in the character's fates. Mazzi Star's lyrics go about giving yourself away for a stranger, letting go of prejudices and giving a leap of faith on the unknown; exactly what the lovers were doing in that island and decided to keep on doing when they returned to "civilization". Right after the song ends, they are found.

4. "Just The Way You Are" by Maggie Gyllenhaal [Happy Endings]

After the whole [Jake] Gyllenhaal fuss in 2005 I totally overlooked this family, and despite all the buzz Maggie is getting herself this year I deliberately ignored her. Until I saw Happy Endings. Dan Ross's movie is beyond cute, not only because you simply love all the whackiness of its characters [especially Maggie's and Lisa Kudrow's], but also because it never judges their behaviors therefore we feel free to identify ourselves with them. That way we completely fall in love with each character, understanding their actions, fears and embracing their dramas. [I wanna marry Jason Ritter even if he has "Raise Your Voice" and "Freddy Vs Jason" on his past.]

So the moment Maggie's character sings that song you can't help loving everything about her [and Maggie herself by default for giving life to Jude in a so loveable way]. The song tells perfectly what you feel about the characters and how the film dealed with them; and that way you just feel hopeful to get your happy ending.

3. "Vogue" by Madonna [The Devil Wears Prada]

Madonna and Shep Petibone wrote this pop classic inspired by the dancing style that was in fashion at underground gay clubs in the late 1980's; the rest is history.

In 2006 David Frankel in his orgasmic movie The Devil Wears Prada takes Madonna's classical hit and puts it as the soundtrack of a sequence that shows all these marvelous couture outfits dressed by Anne Hathaway. Even though we all know that song must have been played in a million fashion catwalks since its release, that time it was there for the whole world to see how Madonna's song is as fresh and new as those clothes.

A funny thing about that scene is that Madonna's song is about people who feel better about themselves imitating great Hollywood stars on the dancefloor, and Andy Sachs goes through a change of behavior, personality and self-confidence with all those Chanel suits and Jimmy Choo-es. Does all that sound kind of superficial and frivolous? Yeah, but who gives a fuck?! Sometimes we must unwind and just be happy with trivial things.

Besides, who would resist Madonna and Dolce & Gabbana clothes?!

2. "All By Myself" by Celine Dion [Bridget Jones's Diary]

Okay, kilos and kilos of calories + wine + Bridget Jones = LAUGHS!!

The opening scene from modern masterpiece Bridget Jones's Diary is a masterpiece itself. Seriously, who never felt so shitty about himself that drank the night away at home and listened to depressive music until faint? Okay, I haven't but I felt similar; never got drunk and overchocolated but yes, I dubbed a corny song in a dramatic way that completely fit into my current state. The scene is so ridicule that it's genius how screenwriters Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis manage to make us laugh at the fact that we ourselves had done that.

Uhg... to know/remember what I'm talking about, rewatch that marvelous scene.

1. a) "Moon River" by Audrey Hepurn [Breakfast At Tiffany's]

This song is perfection. I first ever heard it back in 1997 when my father played a Louis Armstrong record that had it. Back then I knew nothing about the fact it was written for a movie nor anything of English so I just felt amazed by its tender melody.

Years later [2005] I found it among my mp3s, this time sung by Frank Sinatra. And I was in a moment of discovering classic cinema. The ho instantly told me it was from one of the greatest movies ever made, Breakfast At Tiffany's and I NEEDED to see it. Then I finally saw the lovely scene where Holly is sat by the window singing the song Henry Mancini wrote especially for Audrey's vocal range and in Paul/Fred's eyes were imprinted the fascination for that outstanding, charismatic and intriguing person. The music she was playing had such a sorrowful tone, so filled with what we Portuguese speakers would call saudade that contrasted with the fun, eccentric and hyperactive woman he had experienced till then. That depth on Holly's persona is enough to make him fall in love with her.

What does happen with us at that exact moment? We completely feel the same.

b) "Moon River" by Nacho Pérez [La Mala Educación]

The reason I absolutely love this song in this movie is that it brings us exactly the opposite feeling that BAT brings us.

In Almodóvar's 2004 film the scene that features this song is one that we see a young priest playing a guitar while a pretty and innocent boy sings Moon River [in Spanish] at a riverbank. Then we see a close shot on the priest and he has the exact same look that George Peppard's character in the 1961 film has. But opposite to him there's no grown runaway girl from the south, there's a ten-year-old boy.

What does happen with us at that exact moment? That's it! Pedro Almodóvar completely changed the effect the song brings upon us. Instead of a sympathy to a growing relationship, we feel completely shocked and scared about what is to happen. The lovely song that makes we all fall in love suddenly becomes something we feel afraid of. Therefore, there's no way in not loving this music moment.

Lover-ly

"The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated."

- Eliza Doolittle

After Professor Henry Higgins throws away the ring and Eliza thinks he will beat her, she dramatically bends over the fireplace and soils her hands with ashes. And there she is, the outstanding lady who had just drawn the attention and admiration from everyone at the Embassy Ball breaking down the faux, revealing her origins: Eliza Doolittle was not a lady, she was a flower girl.

In British/European societies the differences between classes are very well defined and rarely changed; no matter if you worked your whole life to become a well succeeded nouveau riche you will always be inferior to the aristocratic minds of the high society [even the Escaladers tend to adhere to that mentality].

My point in all this cinematical/sociological blabbering is our roles as inhabitant of this global web. Here we have Audrey Hepburn giving life to one of the most charismatic and deep characters ever created. [I don't care if she was dubbed on the musical numbers or if she never performed it on the stage; it's Audrey Hepburn everyone thinks about whenever they hear the words My Fair Lady/Eliza Doolitttle.] When she was the flower-gal she simply survived, living through the days just to keep herself alive; after being educated by Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering she is a woman aware of her role on society. Is she?

When Eliza soils her hands, still dressed on her "princess costume" she realizes she doesn't know who she is, so she flees to find out who is the real persona inside her, she goes out to find herself; when she returns to her original place no one can recognize her, after all what such a lady as herself could be doing among a group of beggars? We let the outside-world define who we are and what we ought to do; all Eliza knew was that she was a "good gal" who sold flowers on the streets; that was her duty, that was her role on the play. But when she's offered a new position and she learns how to behave in that place she can't decide if she's worthy of all that, because everyone always told her she wasn't.

My Fair Lady's plot happens in the 1920's and back then human relations were still stiff and rigid like that. In another movie that portrays that same era, Robert Altman's Gosford Park, in a particular scene all the servents declare they have come from a long lineage of servants, their parents were, their grandparents were as well and so will be their kids; just today my father was telling that back in the 60's the prostitutes weren't allowed to frequent downtown because they would be tarnishing the town's morality. But nowadays, things are different, right? Society has evolved and permitted people to define themselves for themselves.

I wouldn't say so. We are still told what to do, what to be, how to behave, who to worship and follow, what to say, what to believe and the beat goes on. In Kabbalah we are taugh that we are the responsibles for every little thing [good or bad] that happens in our lives; so why do we still let ourselves be governed?

When Eliza Doolittle said that the difference between a lady and a flower girl was the way she is treated, she wasn't placing the blame on everyone else for her grace or disgrace. At that moment she was realizing that people would always judge her and always draw itineraries for her life; but it's only when you look inside yourself and assume who you are and take control of your own life is when you will be treated like a lady. At the moment she knew she was a lady because she wanted and chose to be so.

So once again I go about this: it's all about choices...

[Song: Wouldn't It Be Lover-ly? - Audrey Hepburn]

Film Tagged

It took me way too long again to do this. My answers aren't as cool as Jose's but well he tagged me for this.

1. Popcorn or candy?

None… I realized I get completely annoyed by all the noise people do with they’re eating on the theatre. There you go chewing with your mouth open while you talk to the hag beside in the middle of the film and then open your candy bags and there goes the important scene everyone missed due to your carnival. Uhg… yeah, I’m ultra bitchy especially when people decide to ruin my movie experience.

So, all I have during a film is a liter of Coke or Pepsi.

2. Name a movie you've been meaning to see forever.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. First there's the Tom Cruise factor; every movie he attempts to really act I hate it, he just can’t do it. Then there’s the fact that the first person who told me to watch it has as favorite summer flicks all those stupid animations about animals, and since I’m a film snob… yeah I judge people by their movie taste.

3. You are given the power to recall one Oscar: Who loses theirs and to whom?

I love Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday; it’s one of my favorite comedies ever! But seriously, who else knows about it unless the cinephiles and Oscar-philes? So I’d get my time-traveling broomstick, go back to 1950, take the little naked man from Holliday’s hand and give it to Miss Davis and Miss Swanson because those were legendary performances.

I’d also step back in two years, kick Jamie Foxx’s ass and give the Oscar to Leo DiCaprio that really acted not mimed.

And OMG, the Three 6 Mafia wouldn’t ever even be nominated!!

4. Steal one costume from a movie for your wardrobe. Which will it be?

EVERYTHING from The Devil Wears Prada.

That’s all!

5. Your favorite film franchise is...

The Harry Potter movies. I love the books and I love the film adaptations; even though I find the first two rather dull I love them all; Cuarón's is my favorite. Uhg, I love Daniel Radcliff and Emma Watson.

6. Invite five movie people over for dinner. Who are they? Why'd you invite them? What do you feed them?

Definitely Audrey Hepburn and Meryl Streep would be my guests of honor, just because they’re my favorite actresses. Then we’d have Madge, Gwyneth Paltrow and Lindsay Lohan [my guilty pleasure] to sing to us.

And no ho of course I wouldn’t give them vatapá! It’d be an Italian night with good red wine and Parmegiana steak.

7. What is the appropriate punishment for people who answer cell phones in the movie theater?

OOOOOOFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!!!

8. Choose a female bodyguard: Ripley from Aliens. Mystique from X-Men. Sarah Connor from Terminator 2. The Bride from Kill Bill. Mace from Strange Days.

The Bride, of course! And she must wear that yellow wardrobe all the time.

9. What's the scariest thing you've ever seen in a movie?

I know it’s tacky to say that, but I still didn’t have the courage to watch The Exorcist for a second time.

10. Your favorite genre (excluding comedy and drama) is?

Musicals and Classics, period.

11. You are given the power to greenlight movies at a major studio for one year. How do you wield this power?

I would stop any film about the WW2 or soldiers; Spielberg, Clint Eastwood and Paul Haggis would be put on the fridge [sorry ho but I had to copy this one]. Dakota Fanning would act a real kid and they’d give Anna Faris other roles than the dumb woman.

There would be more musicals and no films about animals; Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley and Uma Thurman would be my main stars and Jane Fonda would be my vice-president.

12. Bonnie or Clyde?

Uhh… are you talking about Beyoncé and Jay-Z?

13. Who are you tagging to answer this survey?

Gabriel and Alais, of course.

And oh, if my new blog-add, André, read this he might do it as well.

[Song: So Now Goodbye - Kylie Minogue]