The weekend could be longer...

We had a great weekend, with Roberto's birthday on Saturday and some of our friends coming in - first time that we receive more than 4 people at once in our new house - and a film session on Sunday.

I will post the photos soon. Loads of nice photos (not all from my camera though) and some funny videos (by Guilherme).

We finally watched Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad), the "new City of God" as some are calling it. It depressed me. It's a good film, I'm a huge fan of Wagner Moura, and if you lived in Rio long enough you know that if can be fictional, but it is a true story. What depresses me is that it is clear that Brazil's problems are way too difficult and complex to solve, especially because there are fill people wanting to solve something. I feel really shit because I never even tried to get involved with politics or work with a charity or an ONG (Non-Governmental Organizations) and instead of staying in my country and trying to do something - anything - I just chose to run away and be as far away as possible, in a place where its problems are not my problems. I'm neither in Brazil nor here in the UK. I know some people might say that this is the Government problem, or the police or God's problem, but I do believe we don't do enough. The "Brazilian little way" wasn't made up out of nothing. Almost everybody I know kept something wasn't theirs, or stole "some little thing", or download music or video, or is in a country illegally. Some people will say that certain things are justifiable. Are they? You come to the UK illegally to work as a nightclub dancer (aka prostitute) because in Brazil you cannot earn the same amount as a lawyer. But how much is enough? £300 a night is a LOT of money; I wouldn't make this in London even as a Director, so let's face it: it's not because you don't have opportunities, it's because you like to be a - aham - dancer (or you are too damn expensive). Anyway, my point here, again, is that Brazil has too many problems, too many difficult to solve problems, some people with good will to solve, many people wanting things to be solved, but don't do much, and the list goes on. If I knew the magic formula, I would tell you, but we are all too busy trying to make a living or having fun while we are still alive to be bothered. It's just too depressing to not be able to raise my kids in Rio.

On another note, but still under the same kind of topic: we read on the papers that 2/3 of Radiohead fans chose not to pay a single penny for the band's album. For those who don't know, Radiohead gave the fans the option to pay as much as they thought the album was worth it. The average was £2 something. And I am sure it wasn't because they thought it wasn't worth it, but simply because people prefer not to pay anything at all. The journalist who wrote the article said exactly that: if restaurants gave him this option, he would pay 10 cents and eat until he drops dead. Radiohead is a famous band and they can book loads of gigs everywhere and make their living out of shows, but I wonder how new bands would survive with this system. I think that should be a fair price to pay. For me, it would be £5 for an album. I didn't buy Radiohead's new album, but I didn't download it for free. I did pay £35 to see The Cure live in London next year though. I'm sure it will worth every penny.