Angola

"That dance that old men do"

I like that! :)

LINK to photos in fb
Pastinha's Garden of Capoeira Angola FB

Wednesdays

Are so boring! There's no training. I can't believe I'm at this point in the capoeira life that I'm breathing into a blog just to say that there's no training on Wednesdays and I can't wait for tomorrow night when there is. Argh.

Mais Cor

have i earned it.

Tipong if you can't handle the pressure you can leave nyahaha.
The more realistic outlook is actually you're going to the Batizado not to prove anything. You're there to learn, to experience. After all that's what you're paying for, right?
I'm pushing myself in all the wrong directions. I realized that if I chill enjoy and focus on actually learning something, I might even be able to apply it. I'm at the mindset that... di lalayo ang capoeira sa akin.
And I think belt or no belt.. it's just THERE.
It's set in na di sha aalis. It's the attitude, the outlook in life, the philosophy you're living, the learning and the comings and goings.
Whatever I do it's probably a capoeira moment.
I attribute things to capoeira, it's more permanent than a tattoo kasi it's burned into a mindset I'm living in.

Littlepig

Zip Up and Hide Inside

Shamani found her curled up cushy under a rock, literally.
"You realize that even if you don't answer back I'm still capable of tracking you down by regular means." Rive mumbled back something and stayed curled. The mushy grass underneath seemed comfortable enough for a cozy siesta. But that was beside the point right now.
"Stomach ache, emo moment? what?"
"I don't want to go back. I wanna stay here." Emo moment.
Shammy gave her the exasperated 'tsk' with matching hands on hips. Kicking the prone body in smoky, slightly ripped up clothes would help dust off her friend.
"Look, ok. You can't stay. We agreed on this. Everyone else is home already, and I have more cases to deal with tomorrow, I have an early meeting and other things." Saturating her with real life was really not a good idea at the moment but Shamani was touching the fringes of frustration. There better be a good reason for this.
"I'm all out of cute." Rive mumbled so contritely she didn't know what to make out of it. She didn't look like she was going to be moving either. She was just there. "I'm safer here, I don't want to go back."
"Ok" Shamani bit down. "What happened." She didn't want to point out this minute about how many bugs her friend could have in her hair now. Looking at the area she was in, the bugs probably got dusted off along with the rest of the vicinity. Rive was that easy to find since the rock she was under was the only patch of green in the middle of desolation.
"It took a lot of self level heading to handle last night," Rive began. "I was more nervous and annoyed than anything. But I realize that giving the nice couple 1000 for scratching their car and dealing with them was a better alternative than having to deal with the swearing Indian dude. I thought he hit me. I didn't notice I hit the other car. I was trying to skivvy off from paying 1000, come on. Buffering is just... what? 300? Then I'm thinking that it's better to have dealt with them instead, giving them that amount rather than the mysterious other leg of what could have happened if I would have had to deal with the other guy."
Shamani nodded encouragingly.
"She gave me back 200 cause she felt sorry for me. It was taking all my cute to talk my way out of the whole thing. At least for 800 they wouldn't feel so bad, right? At least they have enough for a carwash and wax too right."
Shamani mmm-hmm'd appropriately in the normal tandem of understanding the story.
"So why are you still feeling so bad?" she asked. Get this over with.
"I'm not sure. Shell-shocked as always, wondering how far cute and charming gets you. How it's easier to understand logic, explain logic rather than understand vibe the ebb you emanate... that you can't really explain." Rive was mumbo-jumbo-ing.
"Well, you're ok now."
"I guess. Still feel bad and weird and let-down."
"That you used cute and it only got so far as 200 bucks instead of, what 500?"
"If it was the other way around, it might seem rather fair."
"Yes."
"And I do wish that if their kids got in the same situation, I suppose karma dictates that other people would be as kind as they were to me, right?"
"Right."
Rive stood up and Shamani took them home, for now.

Eeet iz aaaaht

What do you see?

I had this picture for a while now thinking of why I had this picture of my coffee in a mug... with coffee dregs in it. I slapped something on it and now it's evocative.
I wanted to say something about how an artist views the mundane and unnoticed and thinks hey, it's God-given, creative and natural. It's art, to one, to another. To me, it was just my coffee dregs in a cup. Here's how the artful BS would go:
"The swills around my leftover cup of coffee describes the last dregs of energy I'm getting from it." I would insert some laments and coffee-and-energy related phrases but I think you get the idea...
No...? Well. Just because someone tells you their unerring belief in anything, it's an opinion that you don't have to share. The Louvre features a smorgasborg of art, generally accepted art... but it's not like you love each and every bit of all of them by all the artists featured. At one point, you'll back off from a disturbing piece that another would rave about.
How does art make you feel? What emotions are stirred? How do you see yourself in art? Why is it art?

Stereo Mood

dot com
Love the site and love the selections.

Then this song reminded me of another song, bang bang.
I think it's the clarity and the lyrics that got me. I just had to put this down... why? Beats me. :)

Artist(Band): CIBELLE
Song: Green Grass
Album: The Shine Of Dried Electric Leaves
Release: 2006-5-2

Lay your head where my heart used to be
Hold the earth above me
Lay down in the green grass
Remember when you loved me

Come closer don't be shy
Stand beneath a rainy sky
The moon is over the rise
Think of me as a train goes by

Clear the thistles and brambles
Whistle 'Didn't He Ramble'
Now there's a bubble of me
And it's floating in thee

Stand in the shade of me
Things are now made of me
The weather vane will say
It smells like rain today

God took the stars and he tossed them
Can't tell the birds from the blossoms
You'll never be free of me
He'll make a tree from me

Don't say good bye to me
Describe the sky to me
And if the sky falls, mark my words
We'll catch mocking birds

Lay your head where my heart used to be
Hold the earth above me
Lay down in the green grass
Remember when you loved me
Remember when you loved me
Remember when you loved me

Idle Time

Following a comment from prof on our interesting talks haha... It left me to think about how I come in everyday to work and do the things I do.
Even in a lull between projects, the team is not idle in so far as just sitting around doing nothing. We are all actively stimulated in the form of internet browsing, chatting, playing yes (yes, facebook and the like). Always learning, always developing new concepts and different innovations in a small scale.

There is always something new out there, something to learn from. Don't waste your day with an idle mind... that's a sure fire recipe to burn yourself out. I'm a fan of routine with its guise of certainty and reliability. We all need that. is there such a thing as a varying routine? haha

Anyway... just to share the things I was surprised to learn today:

Trend--
I credit this link to Joem as it was shown to him by a friend of his. It's a good watch, if you don't mind too much romping scenes.

"We All Want to Be Young"
Quoting the site: "The movie "We All Want to Be Young" is the outcome of several studies developed by BOX1824 in the past 5 years. BOX1824 is a Brazilian research company specialized in behavioral sciences and consumer trends.
This movie has an open license by Creative Commons.
Written and directed by Lena Maciel, Lucas Liedke and Rony Rodrigues.
Zeppelin Films
box1824.com.br

I like that it targets the future trends in the way that the older 40 and up people have been just trying to grasp the idea of information sharing. Something as facebook and twitter now would never have been a jargon that I would describe to my yaya. Nevertheless, I do talk to her about people I haven't seen for a long time and just reconnected through facebook. I get my sister to show her pictures, video and such about my dog Yoji. It's interesting to see that all this information is just accepted without having to know how, why this kind of info is suddenly available through computers. Another item of appliance that can't be described, really, and going back further, the TV and so on.
From the video you can see where things are headed for the kid demography of today. Now to develop that idea to toys and concepts that go beyond yoyo's.

Angola Essay by Contra Mestre Pererê

A Primer for beginner students

I found this one from the Capoeira forum. Actually the intro in the forum just wanted some traffic to their site... check it out and learn a little bit more of Angola. To be honest with you it's a long read with that font and background color. Just sayin'. I haven't finished reading it myself. This is partly why I decided to post this here, as I've since decided to stuff things like this in one place.

Inspiration:

A few weeks ago someone tagged this lady's art: Cristina María Gandaia Fazzito, I just had to add her just to hit the LIKE button. Here's her work with Capoeira Art.
Amazing. Stuff I only wish I had the time and materials to do. Pure capture, I really love the details she put with minute details as gestures, and the expression on the body. As such, with great respect to her drawings as well :) I will always find it a happier art world with more girls who draw rather than the surprising stereotype that only guys can draw and make it to the professional art world. I've seen girls draw, and it's a privilege to draw really well.

An ongoing facebook experiment is going long with having your childhood's favorite cartoon character as your profile picture. This led to someone showing a picture of the cartoon "Fire and Ice". I know I've seen this... but for the life of me I can't remember what the story was, what happened, who the characters are and whatnot. Oh yes, will do download of course haha. It's just fun to know that one of the artists involved in the production is a favorite: Frank Frazetta. :)

Another thing I learned today, random: my 100 peso Divisoria ruffle scarfie looks good on the trenchcoat hahaha. I'm using it like a necktie :P