Last Saturday I went to pick up my daughter at a children’s party. When she got into the car, I noticed that she was radiant. More than usual. And when inquired of the reason of such enthusiasm, she replied “The party theme was Star Wars, and I met Leia. When I grow up, I want to be just like her”. I didn’t quite understand if she wanted to be a princess, control the Force, fall in love with a scoundrel or be kidnapped by a giant slime with a sickly lust for females of other species. But deep down I…

By invitation of Royal Salute, in July I travelled to South Korea to try their brand new core range – read all about the experience here. And I was surprised. With both, whiskies and country. It’s funny how South Korea – despite the oceans and continent dividing us – is very similar to Brazil. They have almost everything we have here. But things are a little bit different. For example, there is chicken, meat, fish. But the spice is distinct. Beans are scarcer. But almost virtually every meal has something with kimchi. In our superstition, number thirteen is unlucky. There,…

I’ve always been passionate about books. I like to read almost everything, even though I have some preferences. I prefer prose to poetry, and I have a certain tendency for fiction. But I also appreciate a poem or some biography, as long as it is written with care. I’m ok with watching a bad movie every once in a while. They don’t last long. But life is too short for subliterature. My interest in reading awakened when I was still a child, when I heard fairy tales told by my father. Like any child, I was fascinated by fantastic stories…

Do you know what the Little Mermaid, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have in common? No, it’s not an irritating protagonist, although this might be true. It is the monomyth, also known as the hero’s journey. It is a narrative structure widely used in fiction and, of course, myths such as that of Perseus. If you look carefully, these stories – and a lot of others – have exactly the same framework. The term ‘monomyth’ was first described by Joseph Campbell in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”. Campbell borrowed the term from one of the…

Smartphones were perhaps the best invention of the last fifteen years. Not because they are practical and versatile devices, or because they contain all the knowledge of the world, literally by the touch of our fingers. And not because they help us save precious minutes in a world which greatest commodity is precisely time. No, the most important function is to disguise my social phobia. The smarphone is a shield. A real invisible force field. When you look down and slide your opposing thumbs over the black screen, everything is forgiven. There is no remorse in silence, even in the…

I’ve just bought a pair of earphones. Another pair, in fact, as my last, amazing ones met their fate when they hit the ground. They lasted less than two years and cost more than a bottle of Prosecco for New Year’s Eve. Annoyed, I decided to buy a cheaper pair, but still something that looked good. An international website selling ‘replicas’ solved my dilemma – a beautiful pair of aviator style headphones. Had it not been for a vowel of difference, the brand would have been one of the best in electronics – Buse. My Buse headphones were almost identical…

Reincarnation. Transmigration. Metempsychosis. The harsh concept of life after death. The belief that, somehow, part of our ephemeral being will continue to exist even after our last breath. The key concept in many religions, and obviously vividly present in the Brazilian’s beautiful religious syncretism. I myself have my doubts, to tell you the truth. Once a woman stopped me on the street and said that I was the reincarnation of Winston Churchill. I smiled, because of course, that was almost a compliment. I didn’t believe her though. Listen, Lady. I’m only a reincarnation of Churchill is as far as I…

Easy Rider, starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper is probably the best-known motorbike film in the world.  Despite not having much of a story, the film celebrates the sex, drugs and rock n’roll cliché perfectly.  Of course, with so much rock, pot and sex, no one will ever remember the script anyway.  The film was the icon of a generation and defined a genre and everything that goes with it – hair blowing in the wind, leather jackets and chains around the neck. However, nothing comes close to representing the Easy Rider style like a certain brand of motorbikes.  One…

There are films I always stop to watch, when I come across them on television.  It’s as if my brain goes onto autopilot and comfortably surrenders to the sense of familiarity.  There’s nothing I can do about it.  It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen each one, the outside world can wait.  Examples are Casino Royale, Fight Club, Pride and Prejudice, The Green Mile, Gladiator, As Good as it gets, Lethal Weapon, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Bourne Supremacy, Inception, Gattaca, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Mission Impossible 4.  It’s strange because they have nothing in common, other than…

If you’re an engineer or a meteorologist, you probably know the Chaos Theory. If you’re not, I’ll explain. The Chaos Theory suggests that in complex systems, where there are a large number of variables, the sensitivity makes a certain result unpredictable in the long term, due to action and repetition – although there is a recurrence of these variables. If you don’t understand, let me give you an example of a simple object – the umbrella. Deciding whether or not to take an umbrella when you go out depends on many factors: the temperature, the amount of clouds in the…