Friday, April 1, 2011

Confusíãon

In a moment of sleep deprivation-induced weakness, I dropped by Blue State Coffee (mum's the word!) for a caffeine fix this afternoon. And I have to admit that they serve an excellent caffè freddo—for $3, you get a potent shot of espresso shaken with ice and enough syrup to induce a healthy dose of guilt.

After downing the icy shot, I headed back to my room to watch, as an assignment for Portuguese class, Posthumous Memories (Memórias Póstumas), the 2001 movie based on Brazilian author Joaquim Machado de Assis' novel The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas. Fortunately, I was able to find a copy of the movie online; unfortunately, it comes with Spanish subtitles, which are similar enough to the spoken Portuguese to be distracting, especially for the bilingual viewer.

"A imaginação foi a companheira de toda a minha existência, viva, rápida, inquieta, alguma vez tímida e amiga de empacar, as mais delas capaz de engolir campanhas e campanhas, correndo."
- J. Machado de Assis, Dom Casmurro