Procura-se pessoas de fino trato para acompanhar-me ao show do Skatalites. Parece que gente que gosta de ska tá cada vez mais raro.
É dia 17 de Maio no SESC Pompéia.
Preço de esmola para uma banda desse cacife (foi a primeira banda grande do Bob Marley e os caras inventaram o ska!):
R$30,00 Inteira
R$15,00 Estudante
Enfim, encontrei entre tantos xarás patrícios (Flaubert, Eiffel, Mahler) um que parece me fazer jus. Meu nome é definitivamente oitocentista. Além dos citados (escritor, engenheiro e compositor) Gustavo Adolfo, rei da Suécia, Gustave Klimt e Gustave Doré, ambos pintores.
Mas eis que encontro um réptil de 6 metros que, como se Moby Dick tivesse sido escrita por Conrad, come dezenas de aldeões africanos por ano. Um monstro assassino. De tantos, o que eu mais me identifiquei.
A cold-blooded serial killer is on the loose. His name is Gustave. He's 20 feet long (6 meters), weighs 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms), and stands accused of devouring hundreds of people. Writer Michael McRae and photographer Bobby Model travel to war-torn Burundi to confront the man-eater.
Like Captain Ahab, the self-taught naturalist is preoccupied with one monster in particular: Gustave, the largest, most fabled crocodile in all of Africa, a demonic Loch Ness Monster of incredible proportions and, according to legend, appetite. Gustave is reputed to have devoured hundreds of villagers, snatching them from the banks of the Rusizi and the northeastern shores of Lake Tanganyika. Faye estimates that the massive croc measures 20 feet (6 meters) long, weighs one ton (907 kilograms), and is 60 years old (wild crocs, on average, live to age 45). Trained herpetologists agree that Gustave could be that large and that he is certainly one of the most infamous man-eaters of all time. But Faye's assertion that Gustave kills for sport knocking off villager after villager like some killing machine leaves skeptics clearing their throats.
According to local people many have tried to kill him and failed. Animal conservation agencies are saying he should be protected and Mr Faye agrees saying killing him should be "out of the question". "It would be a great shame as he is a phenomenon we want to study scientifically." However, catching Gustave has proved difficult so far.
"I have made a trap to try to catch him: 10 metres long, two metres wide and 1.50 metres high. It is gigantic, 40 men were needed to transport it," Mr Faye says. "We placed it into the Ruzizi, put bait inside and spent the whole night in the river with cameras. "But it was a total failure. The crocodile was parading outside the cage, teasing us, and we were unable to catch it. "We wanted to catch it to make a report which will be shown around the world and make Gustave and Burundi famous," he said.
But for now Burundi's killer crocodile remains free.
Hoje assisti um filme sobre o Vietnã e fiquei pensando como aqueles soldados ouviam boas músicas enquanto se matavam pela selva. Troggs, Doors, Animals, Motown, Beatles. Dá pra fazer um podcast só com músicas para se ouvir a bordo de um Huey sobre plantações de arroz. Qualquer dia o farei.
Daí fiquei pensando sobre os soldados no Iraque. Conheço uma meia dúzia de gente que está pelo Iraque - americanos e ingleses que conheci em Nerdland, TX - lutando uma guerra bisonha que, para o soldado raso, difere pouco em absurdo daquela dos anos 70. E não pude evitar de imaginar eles sendo explodidos e gritando despedaçados ao som de Simple Plan, Beyoncé, The Killers.
Que tristeza.
d-_-b: Edwin Starr - War!
(Em tempo, se eu fosse para o Iraque, meu helicóptero tocaria Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs e Radiohead)
If it's not you moaning, then it's someone else,
Jumping down my throat, every chance you get,
If it's not you crying, then it's probably me
You're the little dog messing up my tree -
