Aprenda Stand Up Comedy

Learn Stand-up Comedy Fast

By Steve Roye

Learn Stand-up Comedy Fast?

Yes, it is possible to learn stand-up comedy very quickly if you are a funny person in everyday life and you can embrace a few concepts that go against antiquated and ineffective “joke writing” techniques being taught today.

Let’s take a look at some of the ancient and mostly useless strategies that most people try to use when they make the decision to learn stand-up comedy, along with a fresh approach that can help you master the comedy stage very quickly.

Useless Strategy: Jokes that read funny on paper will be funny on stage.

We write much differently than we talk. Also, mere words and sentences on paper lack the presence of body language, voice inflection and tone impact that the spoken word must have to generate big laughs on stage.

Better Strategy: Use paper only as a tool to structure and format what it is that you want to talk about in your stand-up comedy act—the way you speak naturally, not the way you write a memo.

Useless Strategy: Special stand-up comedy techniques must be employed to get the big laughs on the comedy stage.

This too is false. If you are a naturally funny person, then you already use stand-up comedy “techniques” that work for you in everyday life.

Being able to merely identify a particular technique ( exaggeration, etc.) does absolutely nothing to help the aspiring funny person apply those techniques.

Better Strategy: Don’t focus on any particular joke “technique”. Focus on identifying what you would like to talk about on stage and “react” to what you have to say naturally – the way you would if you were talking to a group of friends.

Useless Strategy: Anyone can learn stand-up comedy and become funny on stage.

Once again, this is false. Short of getting a brain transplant, it is impossible for someone to learn stand-up comedy techniques and somehow “magically become” funny.

The good news is that most people have all the sense of humor they need to perform at a high level on the stand-up comedy stage. The key is to capture and structure that already developed sense of humor for the stage (which is not difficult at all).

Better Strategy: Have the courage to be yourself and to use and apply the sense of humor that you already developed and use effectively on a daily basis.

If you seriously want to learn stand-up comedy fast, here’s the very first thing you should do:

1. Transcribe just 3 minutes of your favorite comedian.

2. Note that the transcribed comedy material does not usually “read” funny and does not look like it’s “written” to be read from a piece of paper.

3. Make a note of the number of laughs for each transcribed minute and when they occurred in the transcription.

4. Make a note of the number of words used before a laugh occurs.

5. Make a note of the simplicity of the topic or topics being talked about.

This will reveal a basic blueprint that you can use to learn stand-up comedy structure very quickly. You can then apply this structure to anything that you want to talk about on the comedy stage from your own unique point of view.

Final Thoughts

Trying to fabricate jokes from a blank piece of paper that will make an audience roar with laughter can literally takes years to master. Fortunately, there are now revolutionary methods available to help people learn stand-up comedy rapidly by passing the “write jokes from thin air” approach

How to behave abroad

NEW YORK

When in China, don't give a clock as a gift. It symbolizes death. When in Greece, don't make the OK sign, thumb and forefinger touching in a circle. It is an offensive gesture. When in India; don't give a Hindu a gift made of cowhide. It is sacrilegious.

Knowing how to behave abroad can save people from some major social gaffes. However, etiquette writers and experts disagree over how far people should go in complying with foreign habits and customs that can create great discomfort to the uninitiated.

Some visitors follow a rule of thumb. They weigh how much displeasing their host matters to them against their degree of personal discomfort.

'During our briefings, we help people develop respect for the country they are going to live in,' said Claire Stewart, who works for an organization which teaches manners to people being transferred overseas by their companies or universities.

Letitia Baldridge, an authority on manners in the United States and the author of a book on the subject, said:

'Good manners are not elite, artificial or snobbish ways of behaving. Manners are a combination of common sense and consideration for others. It's 75 per cent common sense and 25 per cent thinking about others.'

Ms Baldridge, who began her career as social secretary to an ambassador and his wife at the US embassy in Paris, now teaches manners to international executives and charges thousands of dollars a session.

Her advice covers every aspect of social behavior, including smoking manners, flag etiquette for banquets, writing letters of apology, and the proper form for business cards.

Everywhere, it has become extremely complicated to be polite. Not only are customs different but in many countries standards of behavior have changed in recent years.

A young British banker recently found himself at a house party in Sydney. After a barbecue, the hosts invited everyone to climb into a large bath tub to relax. The hosts' rule was that to participate you had to take your clothes off.

'I had the option of not going in, but you feel a bit of a fool if everybody else in there is naked,' said the banker, who decided to take the plunge. To make matters worse, he was attending the house party with his boss. The hot-tub session, during which business was discussed, lasted three hours.

'Even though it felt quite good, an Englishman's reserve scarcely allows him to feel comfortable in these circumstances,' he said. 'Coming out is just as embarrassing. I was all wrinkly.'

Mrs Stewart said she believed that the banker had done the right thing, although he had an option. He could 'have had the sangfroid to decline with grace without' making the Australians feel stupid,' she said.

In a business situation, 'short of doing something unethical,' the best advice is usually 'to go along with whatever the foreign custom is,' she added.

Alexander Moorrees, a young American investment banker in London, was invited by some

British friends to spend a weekend at their home in the country. The weather was below freezing. The manor house to which he had been invited had no central heating and the bedrooms had no fireplaces. 'I kept waking up every hour to make sure I was still breathing,' said Mr Moorrees. 'I was worried I was going to die of hypothermia.'

Finally, at 3 a.m., fearing for his health, he took all his blankets, went down to the main living room, built a fire in the large fireplace, and went to sleep in front of it. He has not been invited back.

He could have followed Ms Baldridge's rule No. 2 when visiting a foreign country:

'Become familiar with the dress code in that country.' If so, he might have added long Johns and a ski mask to his wardrobe.

The top 4 things you've taught me about dating

Esta é uma postagem original de um blog de uma americana, que pedia conselhos sobre como arrumar um namorado, agora que ela conseguiu, ela decide escrever este post abaixo, agradecendo a todos que a ajudaram e a ensinaram coisas.

I’m awful at goodbyes (as you can probably tell from all of my posts about ex-boyfriends!), but alas, the time has come for me to leave Single-ish and move on! Oh now don’t cry, you’ll ruin your smoky eye. But before I go, I would like to thank you ALL for your comments and advice. So, without further ado, here are the top four things you, my lovely, loyal readers, have taught ME about love and dating.

I don’t need to change for a guy

It sounds sooooo obvious, but when your relationships keep falling apart, it can be easy to think that you are the common denominator in dysfunction. A little self-examination has led me to wonder if I need a major personality overhaul. No, says LoveIsMerelyAMadness:

“Don't change your sense of humor to make guys like you."

Simple and true. Plus, it’s exhausting to try and be someone you aren’t. I’d rather be exhausted from laughing with a guy who truly gets me! This is who I am, love it or leave it:

I need to let go of my exes already!

I should remember these sage words: “It's called a breakup because why? It's broken,” pointed out reader Spazzette. “Unless the reason you broke up has changed, you've already decided he didn't work for you once. Why not save your time and energy for a potentially way more awesome new guy?”

Yes! Thank you for helping me take off the rose-colored glasses when looking at my past relationships.

Don’t expect the total package right up front.

Am I perfect? Um, no, I think we’ve made that clear over the last couple years. So, maybe I should be cutting boys the same slack I hope to receive from them, per the advice of Sciencegirl474:

“Don't change who you are and don't ditch this guy because he went a little too far in a text,” she says. “Just make it clear what it is you actually like and want from a relationship and find a guy who cares about you enough to make an effort to make it all happen. You won't find someone who gets everything 100% right from the beginning.”

Listen to your intuition

No, I’m not talking about the voice that’s telling you to send 20 drunken texts to your ex-boyfriend. That voice is not a friend. The one you should be listening to is your kind, healthy self that guides you to the life you really want. User LoLove helped me realize this:

“Do what FEELS right. Take risks, even if they turn out awkward or wasted...in the big picture hardly anything is ever wasted if we learn from it or get at least some knowledge or experience from it, right?”

Smoky-eyes – specially in blue and green, olhos esfumaçados com sombras principalmente verde e azul.

Overhaul – inspeção

Major – principal maior

Sage – sábias

Way more – muito mais

To cut somebody some slack = to give someone additional freedom

10 tips to learn English

1. Speak without Fear

The biggest problem most people face in learning a new language is their own fear. They worry that they won’t say things correctly or that they will look stupid so they don’t talk at all. Don’t do this. The fastest way to learn anything is to do it –again and again , until you get it right. Like anything, learning English requires practice. Don’t let a little fear stop you from getting what you want.

2. Use all of your Resources

Even if you study English at a language school, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn outside of class. Using as many different sources, methods and tools as possible, will allow you to learn faster. There are many different ways you can improve your English, so don’t limit yourself to only one or two. The internet is a fantastic resource for virtually anything, but, for the language learner, it's perfect.

3. Surround Yourself with English

The absolute best way to learn English is to surround yourself with it. Take notes in English, put English books around your room, listen to English language radiobroadcasts, watch English news, movies and television. Speak English with your friends whenever you can. The more English material that you have around you, the faster you will learn and the more likely it is that you will begin “thinking in English.” .

4. Listen to Native Speakers as Much as Possible

There are some good English teachers that have had to learn English as a second language before they could teach it. However, there are several reasons why many of the best schools prefer to hire native English speakers. One of the reasons is that native speakers have a natural flow to their speech that students of Englishshould try to imitate. The closer students can get to this rhythm or flow, the more convincing and comfortable they will become.

5. Watch English Films and Television

This is not only a fun way to learn but it is also very effective. By watching English films (especially those with English subtitles) you can expand your vocabulary andhear the flow of speech from the actors. If you listen to the news you can also hear different accents.

6. Listen to English Music

Music can be a very effective method of learning English. In fact, it is often used as a way of improving comprehension. The best way to learn though, is to get thelyrics to the songs you are listening to and try to read them as the artist sings. There are several good internet sites where one can find the words for most songs. This way you can practice your listening and reading at the same time. And if you like to sing, fine.

7. Study As Often As Possible!

Only by studying things like grammar and vocabulary and doing exercises, can you really improve your knowledge of any language.

8. Do Exercises and Take Tests

Many people think that exercises and tests aren't much fun. However, by completing exercises and taking tests you can really improve your English. One of the best reasons for doing lots of exercises and tests is that they give you a benchmark to compare your future results with. Often, it is by comparing your score on a test you took yesterday with one you took a month or six months ago that you realize just how much you have learned. If you never test yourself, you will never know how much you are progressing.

9. Record Yourself

Nobody likes to hear their own voice on tape but like tests, it is good to compare your tapes from time to time. You may be so impressed with the progress you are making that you may not mind the sound of your voice as much.

10. Listen to English

By this, we mean, speak on the phone or listen to radio broadcasts, audiobooks or CDs in English. This is different than watching the television or films because you can’t see the person that is speaking to you. Many learners of English say that speaking on the phone is one of the most difficult things that they do and the only way to improve is to practice.

Steve Jobs

Acompanhe duas vezes o vídeo. Depois ouça e faça a leitura ao mesmo tempo, o texto transcrito está abaixo do vídeo. Depois estude o texto e seus aspectos linguísticos. No final existe uma lista com algumas palavras ou expressões utilizadas por Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry.

Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much."

_____________________________________________

Vocabulário:
Commencement – dia da formatura ou colação de grau

Drop-in - to visit or go to a place for only a brief period of time, often unexpectedly

Unwed – single ; not married

Relent – ceder por compaixão

Tuition – ensino instrução

Stumble into - meter-se em alguma coisa sem querer.

Turn out – tornou-se

Serif – serifa – traço fino projetando-se dos ângulos de uma letra.

Subtle – delicado – sutil

Gut- gíria Intuição – (intestino ao pé da letra)

Falling out – briga

Danilo Gentili - Jornal THE GUARDIAN

Brazil's stand-up comics lead social revolution against powerful elites

Danilo Gentili, a highly controversial but also wildly popular Brazilian comedian, is blazing a trail for stand-up comedy in South America’s largest nation.

One evening last October, Danilo Gentili took to a stage in Brazil's capital, Brasilia, and turned his satirical sights on the woman who weeks later would be elected Brazil's first female president, Dilma Rousseff. He cracked a joke about how the former Marxist guerrilla was tortured during the country's repressive 21-year military dictatorship.

"Vote for Dilma because she was tortured?" he quipped. "Fuck that. Did I ask her to be?"

"Seriously," he went on, drawing nervous giggles from the packed audience. "A president has to be smart. If she was caught and tortured, it's because she was an idiot." It was the edgiest moment in an 80-minute monologue – attempting to poke fun at a woman who had been brutally tortured by the dictatorship. But Gentili, 32, a highly controversial but also wildly popular comedian who is blazing a trail for stand-up comedy in South America's largest nation, is a man who enjoys living on the edge.

And in a country with a reputation for deference to celebrity and authority, he and the hundreds of fellow stand-ups filling bars and clubs across Brazil represent an increasingly influential break with the past.

Brazil has a rich history of political satire and humour in literature, theatre, art and on television. But never before has it enjoyed such a vibrant stand-up scene, with artists who feel so free to speak their minds. Gentili, for example, the son of a typewriter repair man from the industrial outskirts of São Paulo, has more than two million followers on Twitter. His business partner and fellow comedian Rafinha Bastos was recently named the world's most influential Twitterer, ahead of Barack Obama, Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

Last week Bastos had more than 3.1 million followers. Next year, the rise of Brazil's stand-up scene will be cemented by the launch of the US Comedy Central channel here. The local content will be led by a stand-up show hosted by Gentili. "They realised that there is the public, there is the market and there are now enough comedians to sustain the genre," he said of the channel's arrival in Brazil.

Less than 30 years ago, under the military regime, Gentili's public swipes at politicians would have got him arrested or expelled. "Or dead," he says drily. But the new, self-confident Brazil, one of the world's fastest-emerging economic powers, is a different place. And a new generation is falling in love with stand-up performers. "It could never have happened [during the dictatorship," said Gentili. "Probably in the first two minutes of the show the army would have moved into the theatre and there would have been no more show."

More recently, he believes, such jokes would have meant career suicide in a country where comedians have traditionally made their livings from television shows controlled by a powerful elite. "There is still resistance [from] people who think certain things shouldn't be joked about," Said Nigel Goodman, a Rio-born comedian. "[But] today we have career options that don't involve mainstream television."

The 25-year-old gave up a career in law to dedicate himself to stand-up and performs frequently in cities such as Rio, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Curitiba. "Stand-up is a totally independent movement," said Gentili, who counts Ricky Gervais and the Monty Python team among his comedy heroes.

"We earn money this way. If people get on TV they'll earn more money, even better. But if they don't, fuck it. This will keep happening. So they don't owe allegiance to anyone." Brazil's social media boom also provides the country's stand-up artists with a considerable degree of protection; politicians might dislike their jokes – but they challenge them at their peril. Many trace the origins of Brazil's stand-up movement to São Paulo's Bar Beverly Hills, where a legion of young comedians cut their teeth during open-mic sessions that began in 2004.

"It's like a postgrad course in humour," said 29-year-old comedian and actor Robson Nunes, one of the organisers. "To get good you have to pass through the Beverly Hills stage. If a joke doesn't work, the audience is cruel." It was at the Beverly Hills club that Gentili hatched a plan to open Brazil's first club dedicated entirely to stand-up.

"From the very first show there… we said: 'Damn, there needs to be a comedy club in Brazil'," said Gentili, who last year realised his dream, opening the Comedians Comedy Club, a swanky 300-seater bar at the heart of São Paulo's answer to Soho, Rua Augusta.

Brazil's stand-up boom is no longer restricted to south-eastern metropolises such as Rio and São Paulo. Recife, Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre have their own local scenes, while the Amazon region is also producing talented artists, among them Murilo Couto who hails from the riverside city of Belém in the north. "We've had comedians from Recife, Belém and Roraima state [in the Amazon], a Portuguese comedian, they come from all over," said Nunes, an Afro-Brazilian who addresses issues of race and identity in his shows.

Nor is it all about politics. "Everyone has their own line," said ), a 31-year-old comedian from Campinas. "Some comedians talk about relationships, others politics, others football. That's the fun in stand-up. It's natural."

Gentili, too, isn't just tied to talking about corrupt politicians and their peccadilloes. His next live show and DVD explores the comic side of daily life in Brazil.

But don't expect it to be any less controversial. "Anywhere in the world people understand that the role of the comedian is to crack jokes. One day they'll understand it in Brazil, too, I hope," he said.

Push – forçar (a barra)

Blaze a trail – abrindo o caminho

Turn on - canalizou centralizou para cima de Dilma

Sights - pontos de vista

Crack a joke – contar piada

Quipped – deu um sorrisinho, gracejar

Drawing – arrancando 

Edgiest – edge – extremo, mais extremo

to poke fun at - ridicularizar

live on the edge viver no limite

speak their minds - dizer o q vem a mente (deles)

speak my mind – dizer o que vem à minha mente

outskirts – arredor e região

cement – consolidado

swipes – alfinetadas ataque verbal

drily – diz secamente, sem titubear, sem papas na língua

allegiance – obediência submissão

at their peril – por conta própria, pondo suas contas em risco

trace to – rastro , reconhecem a origem

cut their teeth - adquirir experiência

swanky |fancy - sofisticado

hail from – vem da ... (cidade) - origem

nor is it all about – nem tudo é sobre política...

peccadilloes – minor sins – pecados, falhas de segunda importância

Caffeine

Puxar o saco!

Are You Training People to Suck Up to You? (Você está treinando o pessoal para puxar seu saco ?)

Almost every company — and every leader — claims to want employees to honestly express their opinions. Almost everyone claims to hate “suck-ups” who just provide hollow praise to their bosses.

It’s a puzzling situation. If everyone hates suck-ups so much, why does so much sucking-up go on? The simple answer is that people tend to create an environment where others learn to suck up to them.

You’re probably thinking, “The Goldsmiths are making a good point. I see other leaders encouraging suck-ups all the time. Of course I find this to be disgusting!” It’s incredibly easy to see other leaders encouraging suck-ups. And it’s incredibly difficult to realize that you (without meaning to) may be doing the same thing.

In teaching classes, we’ve often ask leaders, “How many of you own a dog that you love?” Invariably these leaders smile, wave their hands in the air, and share the names of their ever-faithful mutts.

Next we ask, “What family member gets the most unqualified positive recognition at home?” The possible answers are:

A.) my husband, wife or partner; B.) my kids; or C.) my dog.

More than 80 percent of the time the clear winner is … the dog!

We then ask these same leaders if they actually love their dogs more than the other members of their families. The invariably say no (although some appear to be lying).

The next question is, “Then why is the dog the family member who gets the most unqualified positive recognition?”

The answers always sound the same: “The dog never talks back!” “The dog never criticizes me!” “The dog is always happy to see me!” “The dog gives me unconditional love!”

In other words, the dog is a suck-up.

Here is a simple test that may help you avoid encouraging suck-ups in your own work environment. Rank-order your direct reports (or, if you don’t have direct reports, use co-workers) in three ways:

How much does this person like me? (You may not know the real answer, but it doesn’t matter. How much do you think this person likes you?)

What is this person’s contribution to our company and our customers?

How much positive personal recognition do I give to this person?

If you’re honest with yourself, in some cases you may find that your recognition is more highly correlated with No. 1 (liking) than No. 2 (contribution).

You may be falling into a trap that you despise in others: creating an environment where people learn to suck up to you.

Think of your own experience in observing suck-ups. The ones that we all hate are obvious or embarrassing about it. These people’s problem is not that they suck up — it’s that they’re bad at it. Subtle suck-ups who don’t obviously look like they are sucking up do much better. They’re much more skilled in their tactics.

Challenge yourself as a leader or co-worker. Make sure that when you give recognition, you’re giving it for the right reason. Don’t assume that you’re too enlightened to fall into the “encouraging suck-ups” trap. Anyone can make this mistake.

VOCABULÁRIO extra...

Suck-up = substantivo = Puxa-saco = Suck-up – someone who flatters in order to get a better position or benefit

Como verbo = Try to gain favour by cringing or flattering = puxar o saco

Hollow – oco, vazio, insincero

To suck at = Você é muito ruim, péssimo, uma droga no Hockey =You Suck at hockey …

Você é muito ruim, péssimo, uma droga quando canta, You suck at singing …

You are really bad at something

Mutts – cão vira lata

Kiss my ass – I don’t care

Kick your ass – beat someone

Life sucks --- it’s hard to live – A vida é uma droga

piss me off ... to be pissed off" = to be angry about something – me encher o saco

não me enche o saco = don’t piss me off | Stop busting my balls / Stop Bugging me!

Encher a cara - swilling beer down

I'm completely dumbfounded!

(estou totalmente de cara) estar de cara, estar pasmo, ficar bobo de ver

Se dar mal - expressão.

To get burned - SE DAR MAL

no passado - I GOT BURNED, só muda o got.

Outro jeito de dizer isso, se dar mal, por ter sido enganado, roubado, passado para trás, trapaceado

To rip off = trapacear

I got ripped off = Eu fui trapaceado

Ou, se foi você quem trapaceou alguém

I ripped 'my friend' off - eu trapaceei meu amigo.

Ou Eu o trapaceei - I ripped HIM off

____________________HER off - Eu a trapaceei

___________________THEM off - Eu os trapaceei

Enfim, você muda o pronome objeto na sentença

E se quiser dizer 'me ferrei'

então= I got fucked up

se ferrar, então = to get fucked up

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Dizer que vale a pena!

Dizer: Vale a pena!
Embora possa parecer complicado, saiba que não é! É muito simples, veja só:
Se a idéia for dizer apenas 'vale a pena!' então diga 'it’s worth it!'. Observe o uso obrigatório do ‘it’ no final da expressão em inglês. Ou seja, nada de dizer ‘it’s worth!’, você tem que dizer ‘it’s worth it!’.

Caso você queira dizer que ‘vale a pena FAZER alguma coisa’ então use a expressão ‘it’s worth DOING something’. Com exemplos fica bem melhor, não é mesmo?

Você já leu o livro Inglês na Ponta da Língua? Não!? Então, vale a pena ler!
Have you read the book Inglês na Ponta da Língua? No!? So, it’s worth reading it!

Note que neste caso você precisa colocar aquele famoso -ing ao verbo após a expressão ‘it’s worth...’. Compliquei!? Sorry, não era minha intenção! Deixa-me colocar em termos mais claros!
• Vale a pena LER! = It’s worth READING it!
• Vale a pena FALAR com a Bianca! = It’s worth TALKING to Bianca!
• Vale a pena IR lá! = It’s worth GOING there!
• Vale a pena TENTAR! = It’s worth TRYING it!
Notou o uso do -ing após os verbos read, talk, go and try? Então, foi isto o que eu quis dizer! Simples, né?
Em inglês, você pode dizer que algo vale a pena também de outra maneira. Por exemplo,
Vale a pena FALAR com a Bianca!

Pode ser dito de duas formas em inglês:
It’s worth TALKING to Bianca!
Bianca’s worth TALKING to!

Outros exemplos:
• It’s worth reading Inglês na ponta da Língua.
• Inglês na ponta da Língua is worth reading.
• It’s worth visiting Calcedonia.
• Calcedonia is worth visiting.
Para fazer a negativa, pera aí, para dizer ‘não vale a pena...’ use a expressão ‘it’s not worth...’

Fonte: Inglês na Ponta da Língua

Ladrão pego pelo IPHONE

iPhone Thieves' Nabbed by iGotYa! App That Snaps Their Photos

NYTIMES

iPhone thieves better watch out. iGotYa app is on the market, and it's helping theft victims catch those who dare to leave their hands empty.

A 31-year-old Queens woman is the latest to benefit from iGotYa technology. After a man swiped her iPhone Monday evening, she received an email from the app's servers. It contained a photo of the suspect and his exact coordinates.

His face is now plastered all over the Internet.

Available only from Cyndia, the iGotYa app utilizes the iPhone's front-facing camera.

It takes a picture of whoever inputs the wrong password when unlocking the phone. The app then emails the picture and GPS coordinates to the phone's owner.

Evidence can then be turned over to police.

VOCABULÁRIO

to Nab – apanhar prender

to Swipe – roubar furtar

those who dare - aqueles que ousam

to leave their hands empty - sair de mãos vazias, livres, ilesos

plaster – gesso, engessar, 'estampada'

turn over – entregue (à autoridades)

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