Madonna

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do something I was wishing for for a few years: go to a Madonna concert.

Since I understood what she represented - especially for women and the gay community, I started to pay more attention on the way she is extreme and controversial about issues like religion and sexuality. The liberation, pleasure and individuality messages shot through overwhelming performances at the very least make us think about ourselves and society from a different angle.

The show itself is really impressive. The lights, clips, the dance and especially Madonna capture the audience's attention and keep everybody breathless, wondering how a 50 year old can possibly dance the way she does. The kind of bizarre moment happened in the Latin music section, which apparently was intended to be a tribute to the place hosting the show, but had nothing to do with Brazilian culture whatsoever. She won the audience back, though, by singing a song chosen by a fan and ending the show with a Brazilian t-shirt.

Great speeches from people who have a lot to say

On this first video, Al Gore, ex vice president of the US, says:
"We are borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Golf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that needs to change!"
Really worth it!




On the second, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, who never graduated from college himself, tells 3 interesting stories on the graduation ceremony of Stanford University students. Good stuff!

Australian personality #5 - Peter Garrett

Peter Garrett is the ex lead singer of the internationally famous rock back Midnight Oil (1973 - 2002) and current Labor Party Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment & Heritage, Arts.

While a rock star, he was always very committed to environmental causes and a strong critical of United States military and foreign policies.

As a politician, he continues involved in such causes, but is obviously quieter.

Some say he's not the same. Others say he's causing the biggest impact he could. Who am I to judge? Good luck, Garrett!

Australian Personality #4 – Shane Warne

In December, there were some important cricket matches happening, especially a tournament called the Ashes between Australia and England, which Australia won by far.

But these post in more about Shane Warne, one of the Australian cricket legends, who is retiring now. What makes him interesting (or many other cricket players) is that he is not the stereotype of an athlete. Cricket players are commonly fatter, drink a lot of beer, have many women and party a lot. Even not admiring most of these things, I find it interesting that people feel closer to cricket players than to other extremely disciplined and dedicated athletes.

Australian Personality # 3 - Julia Gillard

Julia Gillard is currently the deputy leader of the Australian Labour Party. She held various positions in government and is seen as the voters’ preferred labour leader, according Ipsos Mackay’s poll.

She is strongly supporting Kevin Rudd, the Labour Party Prime Minister candidate, who is challenging the liberal policies of Howard, the Prime Minister in the last 10 years. If Rudd wins and she is still the Deputy Leader, she will be the Deputy Prime Minister, which means she will act as Prime Minister when he is overseas or otherwise unavailable, a position never before held by a woman in Australia.

Julia is single, has no children, migrated to Australia when she was 5 and appears as one of the female leaders in the country.

Non Australian Personality - Master Jhow

I couldn’t help adding a non Australian personality to my blog – in the end of the day, he is the Master!

Yes! Jhow just arrived in Sydney. He’s also an intern in the city and will stay in my place for the first weeks, until he finds a flat to live. It was very nice to meet him, who is now the only physical linkage I have with my life in Brazil. It’s great to have people who know us well around!

Besides the great conversations, I don’t need to tell I was missing Jhow’s particular – and quite dangerous – way of walking the stairs, do I? But the surprise of this time was the Master’s new Portuguese sleeping fashion: little cows pajama. Jhow! Jhow! Jhow!

Australian Personality #2 – Mr. Smith

While in the beach, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Smith (picture below). Mr. Smith was in the beach in the end of the afternoon, walking around with his metal detector!?! My first (dumb) thought was that he was looking for land mines. As I was too curious not to talk to him, I approached him and we had a very pleasant conversation. He told me he was looking for coins, which people accidentally drop. He explained me everything about this market: all you need to do if by a metal detector, commonly sold in tools stores; in winter, you don't find as many coins; on the other hand, there is a lot of competition in summer; etc.



Besides making a living, Ms Smith is a very popular character in the beach, as everybody knows him and many people look for him when they lose their mobiles, watches, cameras and so on.

A true personality!

Australian Personality #1 - Steve Irwin

“Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the ‘Crocodile Hunter’, was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.”

That’s it. The Crocodile Hunter in dead. And in a very unique and coherent way, if I can say so.

He is definitely one of the internationally most known Australian citizens and its death caused different feelings in people around here. Some think he just used an extreme stereotyped image to make money; others say he’s a truly environmental conservationist, who called a lot of attention to its cause.