Cazuza e essa merda de inclusão digital

Ah, as maravilhas da inclusão digital e das redes sociais. A total banalização da estupidez. Até isso tá ficando banalizado hoje em dia, pra vc ver só…

O papo começou porque Mark Wahlberg comparou Justin Bieber ao rapper Tupac. Aí vagabundo reclama aqui, compara Tupac com os Beatles ali, concorda, discorda e tal e aí vc vai vendo que neguinho quer mesmo é opinar. Argumento mesmo é difícil encontrar.

Até que um vira e me diz que ele “não respeita idolatria a esses produtos da mídia”, porque isso é estúpido e completa, falando sobre Cazuza: “Daí eu pergunto: Como eu posso idolatrar um cara que era um merda como pessoa, não tinha amor a vida, usava todo tipo de droga, trepava com homens, mulheres, animais e etc...”

(Pausa Dramática)

Esse tipo de posicionamento é muitíssimo mais comum do que se imagina. É a reprodução do discurso moralizante acéfalo e que não se sustenta a uma simples pergunta: E dai?

Como se pode condenar a idolatria aos ícones da música e usar o mesmo princípio no sentido reverso pra se mostrar avesso a um?

Azar que o cara era drogado, rebelde, viado, brigava com a família, fazia merda, morreu com AIDS... isso pouco importa. Celebrar um artista em sua expressão artística é apreciar o fato de que, no caso do Cazuza, de todo esse comportamento resultou uma sensibilidade artística impressionante, através da qual ele expressava de maneira positiva e extremamente inteligente as inquietações de sua alma libertária e contestadora.

Mais do que assumir o moralismo, é importante entender as características pessoais dele no contexto de sua criação artística e apreciar o resultado. Isso torna sua apreciação muitíssimo mais rica e significante.

Apreciar a arte sozinha e isolada é fazer dela um anteparo para seu próprio entendimento, interpretações e experiências (prerrogativa fundamental de qualquer expressão artística, afinal tão mais rica é uma obra de arte quanto mais profundos forem seus níveis de significação e conexões que ela permitir o observador estabelecer) e é muito válido. No entanto, quando se insere o fator artista e seu contexto, se adentra um nível e ela passa a ser entendida também a partir da mensagem que se propôs a ser enviada, o contexto em que ela foi concebida e a profundidade da sua expressão emocional. Ela se torna muito mais tocante e significativa.

Em suma, existem duas formas de você ler a letra de “O tempo não pára”. Parabéns para você que conhece a história de Cazuza. Emocione-se com ela.

#04 - Ritwik

Nationality: Indian
A song: Akon – Right now (na na na)

Facebook Profile: doensn't have it

Yes, that’s it. He claims not to have a surname, what can I do?! Accept and that’s it.

It was a sunny afternoon, around noon to be more specific. What day?! Doesn’t matter, it used to happen everyday.  I was in the kitchen, preparing myself to cook my poor, unimaginative and regular food.  Washing my plate in the sink with my back to the door, I hear the click while it opened. Less than a second later, the expected greeting: “Bro!”

Shivers started to come down my spine: “(Oh, my God, here it comes…) Hey Ritwik, how’s it going?!”. When you tell Ritwik something like that it’s like you’re opening the cage for the little Eddie Murphy that lives within this annoying little bastard:

“I’m fine… and hungry. Oh… what are you cooking?! Smells good! (=)) Can I have a taste? Oh… noodles again. You should eat some fruit (¬¬)! I don’t know what to cook yet. Maybe some noodles as well. Can I borrow some of yours? “I got my first six string/ Bought it at the five and dime”. I love that song (the same he’d been singing for the past 3 months). Oh... I need to go to Tesco tonight. Are you coming? Need to buy sum stuff. Bro... do you have lecture today?! I saw some of your course mates this morning (grrrrrrr). And you know...”

“Ritwit, stop talkin’.”

This is Ritwik: a verbal machine gun, locked, loaded and ready to communicate (in the monologue mode, of course).

Ritwik is a PHD student, so he’s not new here in Brunel when I came in. He already knew how things used to work and end up as a Student Mentor. In his first year, he met Abdus and they became friends, that’s how he turned out to be the Abdus Fan Club’s founder and leader, as mentioned here. And it is very interesting to see that friendship and admiration he holds for Abdus.

Stronger than that, just his insane preference for Chinese women.  Seriously, you come to him with Jenna Jameson (the international pornstar) totally naked and horny in one hand. In the other you have a Chinese toaster: “Hey Ritwik, pick one!”  Now you draw your own conclusions.

Part of the “Monopoly dudes” (and the inventor of this title), Ritwik had a barrier he needed to cross. He was NEVER able to win the fucking game. Sometimes for not understanding its rationale, sometimes for doing bad deals, some other just for lack of luck. Poor bastard. However, in the last and definitive round, the last of the “Monopoly Dudes” game, guess who won. And more, guess who was the last one standing against him… If your answers were the obvious “Ritwik” and  “Leo”, you’re right. But don’t go thinking that you’re a genius, because it was SO fucking obvious!

Enjoy the ride, my friend!

#03 – Abduselami Çifter (Abdus)

Nationality – Turkish

A song: Iron Maiden - The number of the beast

Facebook profile

Have you ever felt left off the conversation?! Like everyone around is laughing of commenting about something that you simply ignore for not having lived what everyone else had experienced together (something like Joey Tribbiani reading an Enciclopedia)? And, of course, I wouldn’t forget the part when you kindly smile, trying to fit in anyhow, but inside you’re feeling extremely stupid.

That was kind of it. “Is Abdus back?”; “When is Abdus coming back from Turkey”; “Oh… Remember when Abdus…”; “Oh… Abdus is the handsome dude”… And I was like: “Who the fuck is Abdus?!”

I confess that I was quite curious about this so-called Abdus. He might be a really great guy. He actually has his own one-man fan club (we’ll come back to that later, I promise). His always-postponed arrival was just feeding the expectations, but the guy seemed to be enjoying Turkey quite a lot.

But he finally came back and my first words to this guy was the predicted sentence: “Oh… So you’re the famous Abdus”. I should have tried something like “The Amazing Abdus”, since I had this Wizard idea in mind. You live, you learn. I’ll try next time.

Abdus has a great sense of justice and generosity inside of him and he is not afraid of showing that, especially when it comes to the ones he like. Hot blooded (it seems to be part of his Turkish DNA), if something is wrong or against his friends something stronger than him comes from inside and he will step up and say: “What the fuck is that”? And he stands for what he thinks is right; he does not hide underneath the excuse of “being reasonable”. No, he is the perfect excuse for the ones that likes to hide like this; he is the one where lies the hopes of the weak, the ones that are always expecting someone to take the word, to step ahead so they could feel ok in their comfort zone. This, my friends, is what is called virtue.

But ok… lets be fair with the guy, because he is not a nervous or tempered guy. He is really not. Extremely kind and friendly and willing to help you out the way he can.

Abdus is a PHD student with amazing drawing skills and remarkable imagination to tell stories. Comic books reader, this guy has an amazing story in his head, but it won’t ever go to the paper – work on that, man. Oh... how can I forget: a ROCK AND ROLL MAN! An island of good musical taste in this flood of R&B crap that was Saltash C!

In the end, waiting for the last Saltash C fellow was worthwhile. I’m really glad to call myself your friend, man!

#02 - Mohammad Tajik (MT)

Nationality: Iranian/Persian

A song: Pitbull – Hotel Motel 

Facebook profile

If Taylan was the first to knock at my door, Mohammad (later called MT) was the first to wave. There were me and my suitcases filled with everything you can imagine. While I was going inside the building for the first time, he was coming out.

MT is a kind, nice, intelligent and extremely studious man. He is the kind of person that appreciates the art of observation. He is not that much talkative (especially when he is sober), just says what is necessary, but he is noticing everything. No strong judgments, just observations. If you say something, he’ll be aware of it.

All of this changes when you put a glass or a can of beer in his hand. Girls, take care, because MT is coming for you all and you’ll never forget! Liquid nights with Taylan (those 2 are like husband and wife – just don’t ask me who is who) every fucking Wednesday and from inside my room I could hear those 2 coming back at 3am not even trying to be silent. The day after I knew I’d have so many stories to listen to. In the kitchen, during lunchtime, MT usually started with: “Man… OH MY GOD. Yesterday was amazing”. Of course the conversation would inevitably end up on how Taylan was stupid at some part of the night.

Part of the “Monopoly Dudes” (don’t ask me about this title, because I was not the one who invented it), MT is a strategic player and a cautious negotiator. But the surprising part was to see this guy playing football. Fast and restless, MT makes the willpower his biggest weapon. There is hope for the Iranian football in the future to come.

MT is a man of strong character, values and loyalty. He is a man of his word and you can always trust him and know that, if you’re his friend, he’ll be by your side, no matter what.

#01 - Taylan Bagsurer

Nationality: Turkish

A song: David Guetta feat. Akon - Sexy Bitch

Facebook profile

It was a Friday afternoon. The day, 18^th of September 2009, the place was Saltash C 05 and those were my first moments outside Brazil. Everything was still blurred, in the automatic mode and I was not quite aware of this huge change I was about to live. In Portuguese we use the expression “the coin had not fallen yet”. My bags and suitcases were on the floor and I was sitting on the bed, looking outside the window and wondering if I was going to sleep or not when someone knocked on my door: “Hello, I’m Taylan. I’m number 04”.

“Wait a minute… Tay what?!” I thought to myself. Is this a man or a country!? Weird names, for me not to remember next time… Nice start!”

Taylan was the first person to knock at my door and welcome me in this journey. A little bit of kindness is never inappropriate and I’m really glad that kindness works so naturally in some people, being Taylan one of those.

Huge and pure hearted man, friendly, generous and caring. If for some reason you are not around, he’ll be the first to knock at your door to check what’s going on. Helpful, joyful, but messy and extremely stupid. This guy was responsible for some of the funniest moments in this London journey.

His main weakness is women and blonde hair is his Kryptonite. He falls in love a lot and if he’s already stupid, when he is in love things get way worse, especially with a can of Stella Atrois in his hand.

Very good Monopoly player, always with a smile in his face and opened to have fun about himself and laugh about his messes. A light soul with so much to give to everyone around. And especially: a passionate Galatasaray fan. The Turkish words and expressions I’ve learned comes from his cursing during unsuccessful matches. =)

Once Taylan came to me and told me something that made me think and that’s a clear example on how you grow around real friends: “Leo, do you know what your problem is? You are too gentle and kind, even when you don’t want to be. Sometimes you don’t need to be. You just tell them to fuck off and that’s it.”

Arkadaşım teşekkür ederim

Friends will be friends

Final Lap. Anxiety starts to take control, confusion of feelings sets the tone fof these days and here we go running against time to finish what we’ve started almost a year ago.

It’s amazing how things can go fast. A year goes in a blink of an eye and in the end what stands are the whole set of memories that will be part of who you are for the rest of your life.

When people ask me to describe myself, I normally ask them to look at people around me, my friends, since a lot of who I am comes from what they made me. Everyone that came into my life have an influence (and this works for you too, my lovely reader) in this current and ever changing shape of my identity. So if you are my friend, like it or not, you’re responsible for this.

This blog was created back in October last year to tell my friends and family in Brazil how things were going here in London. But now, my dear Portuguese-only readers will excuse me because Tudo UK’s last posts will be dedicated to the ones that made all of this possible, pleasant and memorable. The ones that helped me to deliver a new Leo to Brazil. Open hearted, friendly and optimistic as usual, but now with new stories to tell, friends to care about and open minded to accept and enjoy the differences. 

Here we go.

Acabou de acontecer

Aqui no prédio funciona assim: são 10 apartamentos por andar. Os andares têm formato de retângulo, com as escadas em uma extremidade e a cozinha na outra. nos outros dois lados do retângulo estão posicionados os quartos 5 a 5. Cada andar deste edifício está sendo ocupado pelos remanescentes do Conjunto Saltash, que fora desocupado para manutenção dos sistemas de aquecimento já visando ao próximo ano. Portanto, no meu andar, só a galera conhecida. Well, isto posto, vamos à conversa.

Saio do meu quarto para fazer o "Cachorro-Quente Nosso de cada dia nos dai hoje". Separei o pão, peguei a panela e precisei ir ao corredor oposto pra pegar as salsichas da geladeira da dispensa. Abro a porta da cozinha e adentro o corredor, quando ouço a porta de número 30 se abrir. A um passo de chegar na porta, nem pensei: BOO!!! Um BOO alto, seco pra deixar o cara meio tonto e com um ataque do coração.

Um passo depois, a revelação: um chinês alto para os padrões asiáticos, forte e com uma cara de quem tinha acabado de se cagar todo. O cara só conseguiu responder: Uh! Olhos esbugalhados, o que para um chinês chega a ser um feito, e mãos tremendo. Um sujeito que eu NUNCA vi na vida.

Pronto, fudeu! - pensei. É agora que eu tomo um Bruce Lee Special Combo Alfa com direito a Duplo Twist Carpado e os caralho… (Pequeno parêntese: é interessante como na iminência da merda, o sujeito é capaz de pensar em todo o enredo de um filme, do início ao fim, escalar o elenco, cogitar alternativas de final para cada personagem e pensar na seqüência numa fração de segundos e o detalhe é que, nesse filme, você sempre acaba entrando na porrada)

Nesse nano segundo infinito, minha presença de espírito escolheu agir casualmente, como se nada tivesse acontecido. Aja normalmente foi a resposta que minha programação escolheu.

"Opa… acho que não fomos apresentados ainda. Meu nome é Leo. Vc é novo por aqui, né?"

O maluco responde: Uh!

Ih, caralho… Traumatizei o maluco. Quebrei o brinquedo. Já tinha ouvido pra não confiar na qualidade das mercadorias chinesas, mas não achei que fosse uma idéia tão generalista. Segundos tensos:

- Uh! I'm Jack!

(Outro parêntesis: isso é um lance interessante também. Chinês quando vem pra terras do Ocidente, escolhe nome ocidental para ser mais facilmente entendido quando se apresenta. Tem um aqui que se chama Hong Xie, mas se apresenta como Eric. Então, tudo dentro do esperado.)

Puta que pariu… o cara tá vivo, fala e não vai me dar uma porrada. Ótimo.

Papo vai, papo vem, tensão aliviada em ambos os lados, o cara me pergunta de onde eu sou. Respondo: I'm from Brazil.

Expressão intrigada. Bom… de repente é algo errado com minha pronúncia. O cara acabou de chegar por aqui e ainda tá pegando o ritmo. Vamos novamente: "I'm from Brazil."

"Telemar: O número que você procura está indisponível ou fora da área de cobertura. Tente novamente mais tarde - too - too - too"

Ih caraio… "B-R-A-Z-I-L? Don't you know Brazil??" Chinês balança a cabeça contrariado. A essa altura, já tava achando o susto mais do que merecido.

Expliquei pra ele que o Brasil é o maior país da América do Sul (falei America e o puto fez cara de "Ah… agora sim" - mas que filho da puta…) Falei que o Brasileiro é um povo descendente da milenar civilização de Bundalelê e que nosso profeta supremo é o Grandioso Sacanagi (detalhe: fiz o cara repetir Sacanagi umas 3 vezes até acertar a pronúncia - ehehehe) e que é por isso que em nossa bandeira está escrita a expressão Puta que Pariu, que é um canto que o brasileiro entoa em devoção ao Grandioso Sacanagi.

Fiquei de ajudá-lo a falar Puta que Pariu nos próximos dias. Vamos ver como ele se sai.

Antes de sair de Londres, eu ainda vou tomar o Bruce Lee Special. To até vendo.