Sense & Sensibility.

'I am afraid' replied Elinor, 'that the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.'

'On the contrary, nothing can be a stronger proof of it, Elinor; for if there had been any real impropriety in what I did, I should have been sensible of it at the time, for we always know when we are acting wrong, and with such a conviction I could have had no pleasure.'

I am having the pleasure of reading Jane Austen for the first time.

Widening the gap between the church and I.

"Pope 'Benedick' releases long-awaited document barring gays from the priesthood. Rules bar 'practicing' homosexuals, men with 'deep-seated' homosexual tendencies and those who support gay culture." [Towleroad]

Commenting on the document, the Vatican newspaper "said on Tuesday that homosexuality risked 'destabilizing people and society', had no social or moral value and could never match the importance of the relationship between a man and a woman." (...) "It said homosexuality was 'a sexual tendency and not an identity' and repeated the Church's stand against allowing gays to marry or to adopt children. It also called homosexuality 'an incomplete and immature part of human sexuality'." [Reuters]

"The pain inflicted by this pope on so many good and faithful people still shocks even me; and the radicalism of the new doctrine - demonizing gay people for who they are, not for anything they might do - still amazes. The notion that my relationship destabilizes society, and threatens my own family is impossible not to take as a vicious personal attack on people the hierarchy has no desire to understand, let alone love." [Andrew Sullivan]

Tiles: Portinari.

Tiled mural in the back of Pampulha's Little Church painted by Cândido Portinari, a Brazilian modernist painter.

Slow news day.

JOKES AND THE UNCONSCIOUS: "An id, an ego and a superego walk into a bar. The barman looks at them and says 'Fuck me, I must be dreaming'. That was one of Sigmund Freud's favorite jokes." Albino Neutrino

MEAN BUT FUNNY: World's ugliest dog and Carson Kressley.

REVERSE EVOLUTION: a great little movie via Farpas & Bitaites

Mangoes, Itamogi.

Dishonest, Reprehensible, Corrupt...

By Frank Rich (and no, he is NOT talking about Brazil)

"The more the president and vice president tell us that their mistakes were merely innocent byproducts of the same bad intelligence seen by everyone else in the world, the more we learn that this was not so. The web of half-truths and falsehoods used to sell the war did not happen by accident; it was woven by design and then foisted on the public by a P.R. operation built expressly for that purpose in the White House."

I hate umbrelas.

Mr. V in Belo Horizonte: it's the rainy season - it pours. Every. Fucking. Day.

Cartoon by stockadas.

I MET Leonardo in São Paulo last week and he now has a blog. I hope it's because of my good influence...

"THE News of the World exposes the bullying culture of Britain's elite armed forces with a secret video documenting a sickening catalogue of abuse."

CATCHING UP WITH REALITY: "The resilience of Brazil’s economy in the face of political scandal, high interest rates and the world’s strongest currency, may finally be coming to an end."

MADE IN BRAZIL Speedo Sundays.

AA Vacations/Rainbow: American Airlines gay vacations.

ENJOYING: 'Brokeback Mountain' soundtrack.

Igrejinha da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte.

Pampulha's Little Church is another example of Oscar Niemeyer's modernist architecture in Belo Horizonte. Pampulha is a neighborhood named after an artificial lake built in the 40's (BH is only 100 years old, built to be the capital of Minas Gerais) by Juscelino Kubitscheck, than mayor and later the president who built Brasilia (he was a visionary and probably the best president this country has had). Oscar Niemeyer designed several buildings around the lake as part of the project - including the art museum (built originally as a casino) and this church - that were a major influence on the modern brazilian architecture.

How do you say...

Deee-Lite?

UPDATE: Miss Penitentiary, the winner: "'This event is a day that makes us feel human again, instead of like animals, which is how society sees us".

NYTs' 100 Notable Books of the Year.

AND I'M STILL IN SHOCK: Janet Jackson still trying to shed the pounds. Via Pink.

*** Scotty The Blue Bunny as King Kong by Josh Gosfield ***

Maria Clara.

IF YOU wanted to sleep with him... [fwd by mr. ns]

HOT! Brazil to Crown Miss Penitentiary: "The sweltering heat inside the Carandiru women's detention center was only made worse by the dozens of hair dryers working overtime, but the 40 contestants from 10 prisons around São Paulo didn't seem to mind."

BEST IN GYM: "of all the machines at health clubs, which one is really the best, the latest fads aside?"

"I feel immensely grateful every moment of every day, for the incomprehensible mystery of being alive now on this planet in infinite time and space. But I'll be sure to start celebrating Thanksgiving Day when Native Americans do." Paul Krassner: A Turkey of a Holiday

Pattern: Wallpaper.

At Restaurante Graciliano in Belo Horizonte.

As the Poet used to say...

COMO DIZIA O POETA
by Vinicius de Moraes.
[listen to the song here]

Quem já passou
Por esta vida e não viveu
Pode ser mais, mas sabe menos do que eu
Porque a vida só se dá
Pra quem se deu
Pra quem amou, pra quem chorou
Pra quem sofreu, ai

If you've gone through life and didn't live it at its fullest, you might own a lot of things but you don't know as much as I do. Because life only reveals itself to those who surrender, to those who love, to those who cry and to those who suffer. [not a literal translation]

Blue, Itamogi.

THE AMAZING Madeleine Peyroux will be playing in BH this Friday - so you know where I will be at.

GAY PRIESTS - Vatican gay stance: 3-year test: "In an eagerly awaited document, the Vatican has reiterated its policy against gay priests, but has said it would allow those who have 'clearly overcome' homosexual tendencies to start the process of becoming a priest." It does not define 'overcome.'

AND, IN UNRELATED NEWS: The Pope wears Prada. Via Andrew Sullivan.

MEANWHILE IN BRAZIL... Lula Rating Falls to Record, Jeopardizing Re-Election: "Brazil's president could lose next year's election because of public dismay over a corruption scandal that has brought his approval ratings to record lows, a poll showed on Tuesday, adding to worries over a cabinet rift that has shaken investor confidence."

NO WORK AND NO PLAY: The New Yorker on the American and European workweeks. "In the American model, then, you work more hours and use the money you make to pay for the things you can’t do because you’re working, and this creates a demand for service jobs that wouldn’t otherwise exist."

IN THIS WEEK'S EPISODE OF 'LOST': "Ana Lucia wins the immunity challenge... but something has gone terribly awry! Ouch! But all the signs were there for a tribal merge. One tribe has been fairly decimated... there was the unexpected tribe switcheroo with Sawyer, Jin, and Michael joining the other tribe for a bit. Where will their loyalties lie when they return to camp? We even had the surprise double-elimination with the disappearance of Cindy and the Shannon "oops" moment ahead of the merge." Pop Culture Junkies

Instituto Tomie Ohtake.

Instituto Tomie Ohtake in São Paulo.

I heart SP.

Maybe, subconsciously, I was avoiding São Paulo because I knew it would be so much like New York - it's such a cliché to say it - and my feelings would be rocked.

I just got back from a week where I was so... fullfiled I even decided to forgo this space. And did not want to come back.

Let's see if I get inspired and write about it but most likely I will not. It was nothing in particular but everything just right.

I met people. Interesting people. People I was happy to hang out with. And there where places to go. Really cool places.

And - using another cliché - I felt alive.

Now, all I can think is that I want to move there.

Museu de ArteBeatriz MilhazesMy cousin Thalma

The Art Museum in Belo Horizonte was designed by Niemeyer in the 40's, originally as a casino. It's a great example of modern architecture. Right now they are showing Beatriz Milhazes - my favorite contemporary brazilian artist. My cousin Thalma, who lives in Conversano, Italy, is visiting and I'm so happy to see her again. Last time we were together I was at the hospital and can't really say I remember it. Better times are coming...

What Makes Someone French?

"That, in a nutshell, is what lies at the heart of the unrest that has swept France in the past two weeks: millions of French citizens, whether immigrants or the offspring of immigrants, feel rejected by traditional French society, which has resisted adjusting a vision of itself forged in fires of the French Revolution. The concept of French identity remains rooted deep in the country's centuries-old culture, and a significant portion of the population has yet to accept the increasingly multiethnic makeup of the nation. Put simply, being French, for many people, remains a baguette-and-beret affair."

10 Things to Love About Jake Gyllenhaal.

1. his body.
2. his sex appeal.
3. his style.
4. his sweetness.
5. his muscle.
6. his animal love.
7. his brains.
8. his confidence.
9. his pedigree.
10. his modesty.

My excuses for this post (yes, I do need them): it's friday, it's a holiday weekend (in Brazil), there's a lack of more interesting things to post about...

Via Pink "Seriously, there are more than a mere 10 Things" Is The New Blog I'll yield to the desires and whims of my hormones.

Who could blame her?

Missing American teenager found.

Her disappearance sparked international alarm - Interpol, FBI, etc.

Mykensie Martin, an exchange student from Oregon, was living with a host family in the little (country) town of Carmo do Paranaiba, in the central state of Minas Gerais, when she set out to Brasília for an event sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (!).

But she changed her mind and didn't tell anyone.

She turned up, one week later, at the beach in Salvador accompanied by a young Brazilian man.

In her statement, Mykensie said she "just wanted to tour Brazil".

Bleecker @ 11th St.

"Enfim, um beijo de verdade" Finally, a real kiss: MTV Brazil stages a gay kiss on public TV (MTV here is not a cable station).

And more on Gay Kisses: "In honor of Brokeback Mountain and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Radar Online ranks the best guy-on-guy onscreen kisses."

"Violence grips Brazil soccer scene: Several people have been killed in recent weeks in bloody confrontations between fanatical supporters of rival clubs."

BUY NOW: Vincent Gallo's Sperm - $1 Million but if the purchaser of the sperm chooses the option of natural insemination, there is an additional charge of $500,000.

Improper relationships.

Judith Miller agrees to leave the NYTimes.

"Fine, Judy didn’t screw Libby. Just the American public. Good riddance." Arianna Huffington

"But improper relationships aren’t just sexual ones. No one (except maybe their respective spouses) really cares if Judy and Scooter had a sexual entanglement.

We are far more concerned about their political entanglement. The kind where agendas intertwine, and fiction gets massaged into fact. Far worse than sexual entanglements, political ones fuck with your head."

Small portuguese love poem.

"Last night I dreamt
Of offering you saturn's ring
And almost died of fear
That it wouldn't fit your finger."

By Jorge de Sousa Braga via Farpas & Bitaites

Brazilian gay moviment groups protest - kissing in Brasília - against the no-show kiss. [SLIDE SHOW]

SOMEONE will die tonight: Super-Gigantor LOST Spoilage!!. "(The producers of LOST) are more afraid of Ain't It Cool News and, specifically, Hercules, the anonymous writer-spoiler for the Web site, who published the dead character's name (albeit behind many warnings, and in invisible text the reader had to highlight in order to see)." A 'Lost' Ship With Leaks - New York Times

When I was in NY last month, Mr. HO took Mr. DF and I to D'OR AHN ("a terrific example of why anyone who loves eating out has to love New York") for dinner and it was amazing. It got reviewed today by The New York Times : So Ambitious, So Impossibly Thin.

"Mr. Bush cannot fire Mr. Cheney, but he could do what other presidents have done to vice presidents: keep him too busy attending funerals and acting as the chairman of studies to do more harm." New York Times via Truthout

Everything you need to know about the NYC mayor election.