Personal

Music

I am really eclectic when it comes to music. Below is the kind of stuff I like.

My favorite band is by far the Ramones. What about you? Do you like Ramones or you just don't know it? Pure and simple rock. What could be better than that? I also like other punk rock bands like the Sex Pistols, the New York Dolls, Velvet Underground and the Clash. Brazilian punk rock? Yes, that exists! If you are interested try bands like "Tequila Baby", "Camisa de Venus", "Garotos Podres", "Ratos de Porao" and the first two albuns of "Raimundos".

I can understand if you don't like punk rock, although I can't understand if you like rap or techno instead :-). I also like "non-punk" rock. Bands like Beatles, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Deep Purpple, KISS, Metallica, Nirvana, Oasis, Red Hot Chili Peppers are great. For brazilian rock I can recomend "Legião Urbana", "Raul Seixas", "Ultraje a Rigor", "Barão Vermelho" and "Capital Inicial", for instance. The greatest Brazilian band currently active, in my opinion is "Pato Fu". If you are really psychodelic you could try listening to "Mutantes". Some people say the Beatles psychodelic phase was somehow influenced by the "Mutantes", but I am not sure about that.

More good music: Bob Dylan, David Bowie, MC5, Alanis Morissette, Elvis Costello, ... list to be continued.

Good Brazilian singers: Elis Regina, Marisa Monte, Rita Lee, Cassia Eller, Ana Carolina, Chico Buarque, Lenine, Gilberto Gil, Tim Maia, ...

Classic brazilian "bossa nova": Tom Jobin, Toquinho, Chico Buarque, João Gilberto, ...

Brazilian "samba" and "pagode": Zeca Pagodinho, "Demonios da Garoa", Beth Carvalho, Bezerra da Silva, ...

Well, I told you I was eclectic.

Movies

The best directors for me are Stanley Kubrick and Quentin Tarantino. Any movie by these guys is great. My favorites are "Full Metal Jacket" by Kubrick and "Pulp Fiction" by Tarantino. When I was quite younger my favorite director used to be Steven Spielberg. Movies like Gremlins were among the best of my childhood.

Other excelent movies are: "Matrix", "Star Wars" episodes III, IV, V and VI, "Fight Club", "Memento", "La Vita e Bella", "Braveheart", ...

The scottish movie "Trainspotting" is quite interesting, but be warned it is somewhat disturbing.

Great brazilian movies: "Cidade de Deus" (City of God), "Carandiru", "Lisbela e o Prisioneiro" (Lisbela and the Priosioner), ...

Literature

My favorite authors: Rubem Fonseca, Luis Fernando Verissimo, Michael Crichton and Carl Sagan.

I have to read Shakespeare, Dante and a lot of other classics when I find time, so I can say something about them.

Good books: "The demon-haunted world", by Carl Sagan might change your beliefs. "Please Kill Me" by Legs McNeil and Gilian McCain (eds) could be a textbook on a course called Punk Rock 101.

Thats what came to my mind right now, but check out more books I recommend here if you are interested.

Sports

I bet you can guess what is my favorite sport. Football (or soccer, if you are American), of course. My team is SC Internacional. Internacional is currently the Libertadores Cup Champions and FIFA World Club Champions, having defeated FC Barcelona in the december 17th 2006 final.

The Saci, mascot of Internacional

The sympathetic character above is the Saci. He is the most popular character of Brazilian folklore and was chosen as the mascot of Sport Club Internacional.

Now that I am in Europe, I have been trying to ski, and now and then I watch ice hockey on TV.

Games

I enjoy videogames like the Civilization series, but I prefer games like chess, Risk, quiz games or maybe a friendly poker night. Board games and poker provide a more healthy and friendly interaction than any multiplayer videogame, I think.