🇬🇧 9 movies about music

Today I selected some movies about music. Part are biographies. Other suggestions are fiction.

• The dirt
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• Clara Schurman
• The Doors
• Rocketman
• Amadeus
• A star is born
• Burlesque
• Show bar

Add your suggestions commenting this post.

Nycka, the nomad.

🇬🇧 3 movies to love cats

There are various movies with dogs having important positions and causing strong emotions. I don't know many movies with cats being as lovely and intelligent as they are, so, I listed 3 and in 2 of them the cats are not in a central position. If you know others, tell me.
• Shrek
• Garfield
• Alice in Wonderland

Nycka, the nomad

🇬🇧 6 movies for travellers

Some movies are interesting and inspiring for travellers and nomads. Biographies are nice to inspire us to know the places that person lived, the places that inspired some artist, etc. But other movies are also interesting, considering the beauties of some places, the story or other possibilities.
Some movies for those in need of inspiration to a new trip are:
• Whale Rider
• Under the Tuscan Sun
• My life in ruins
• The tourist
• L'Ora Legale (Italy from a point of view different of the one presented in "Under the Tuscan Sun)
• Loving, Vincent

Have you ever started a trip inspired by some movie? Did you move for another country inspired by some movie? Share your experience through the comments.

Nycka, the nomad

🇬🇧 Brazil that foreigners don't know: Pequi

Brazil is a very large country and it have different climates and vegetation. Each region have rich culinary options worthy the experience.
This post is about pequi, a fruit typical from the Brazilian cerrado. The most common uses are in the "galinhada" (rice with chicken and pequi) and the "arroz com pequi" (rice with pequi and "carne de sol", a salted bovine meat). Both options can be eaten with a green salad for dinner.
You will easily find them visiting cities as Uberaba, Uberlandia, Montes Claros and Goiania. It's also possible to find them in Brasilia.
To eat the fruit I recommend you to take it with your hands and eat, taking care because it's a bit like a small mango, with a big seed inside and it's better not to break the seed or you'll end the night at the hospital with a lot of thin thorns inside your mouth. The seed is hard, don't be afraid. This is an advice just for you don't force it and concentrate in the delicious yellow eatable part of the fruit.
Enjoy it! When you taste it, take a pic and share on Instagram with the tag #nyckastip and your opinion on the experience.

Nycka, the nomad

🇬🇧 Cultural nomads and world peace

The expression "world peace", per se, sounds an utopia. This post is to show you why I believe it's not.
We live in the creativity era and I started talking about this many years ago. The more the artificial intelligence is developed, the less the society will need men to do jobs requiring physical force (excluding sports as many sports require some creativity). Services with low level of education will be abolished as machines will make them quickly and at a lower cost.
The cultural nomad is someone who develops oneself to be open minded, creative, to respect diversity and in ones journey also develop self awareness. The cultural nomadism is different from other models of migration because the reason that guides the nomads to move to a new place are cultural. They want to learn about other cultures. To be open to this is to respect diversity. You know your value and you know the other have value too.
This mindset shows the value of qualities human beings have and machines cannot develop. And it's only through the development of these qualities that human beings can survive in this fast-changing world. As cultural nomadism can accelerate the process of self-development, when the person already have the will to develop herself, I believe this is the best path for global peace.
Of course each individual can choose another path. One can believe all I'm writing is bullshit and continue, for example, working as a waiter who won't finish the high school. My belief is that waiter profile will be replaced by machines quickly, as some fast food chains are already doing. The only waiters who will survive will be the ones on luxury businesses, as human contact for them is important. But for these businesses the professional must have a high cultural level and the university helps people to develop a different mindset.
Yes, considering all these points, social differences can become bigger. This time because of a simple personal choice. According to Darwin's theory on the evolution of all living beings, sooner or later only those who made the choice for cultural richness and open mind to accept diversity will survive.

Nycka, the nomad

🇬🇧 Unlimited culture

Some people see differences between popular culture, erudite culture, subcultures, etc.
For me, culture is knowledge, knowledge is richness and to know how a cachaça is produced or how to harmonise alcoholic beverages in an event are as important as to read the biography of Goethe or to know what inspires a composer like Tuomas Holopainen to create songs for his metal band. To visit Italy to see how a "nonna" (grandma) prepares pasta for her family is as important as to dialogue with a famous chef of contemporary cuisine. To know the history of an old Japanese whose parents came to Brazil after war to try a more prosper life is as rich as to visit the Louvre Museum. And so on.
I am a nomad for whom culture is never too much.
Recently I saw that movie "Visages, Villages" from Agnes Varda and my approach to culture is sometimes like her, talking with people to know their stories.
This blog shares parts of my story. Or my stories if we consider I had many lives in many places.
This blog is also to know other cultural nomads and cultural tourists from the whole world, to exchange experiences and when our routes coincide, to meet each other to have a coffee and to dialogue in person.
Join the tribe. Follow my social media profiles.

Nycka, the nomad.

🇬🇧 Cultural nomads x digital nomads

Are they different? Yes, I think they are.
The bigger point in common is both are comfortable to live in different places.
Among the differences we can consider motivation or focus as the bigger ones. The digital nomad possibly focus on his bank account. The cultural nomad wants to enrich his culture. The financial results are part of the game but they alone are not so interesting. As I mentioned as an example in a previous post, I already gave up to celebrate my birthday in Maldives because no one could help me to discover cultural interesting places, foods or events of that country. This is the spirit!
The cultural nomad plays as if each new home would have a positive effect in his self-development. As the kind of wood used to mature some alcoholic beverages have some effect to their taste.

Nycka, the nomad.

🇬🇧 Cultural nomadism - a lifestyle

We can move from a place to another for various reasons. One of them is to know better other cultures, to become a global citizen. Other is also cultural, when you move from a place with very limited cultural options to another with more resources on the matter. I experienced both. Culture was and is my fuel.

I was born in a middle-sized city in Brazil, called Montes Claros. Once I read a quote from Plato about global citizenship and I desired to be a global citizen. I loved to read, to listen to some music and to see movies - the cultural options more accessible in that city.

Some months after I move to Uberlândia - other middle-sized city, bigger than Montes Claros -, I started using the internet. It was 1999. Through Napster (do you remember it?) I discovered music (and advertising videos) from the whole world! I had a teacher who worked renting movies, that time, and she had movies which were not american blockbusters. Can you imagine my happiness walking through those corridors full of movies never exhibited in my native town? If you have this lifestyle you can.

One year and a half after to conclude my bachelor degree I gave a step further and moved to Porto Alegre. One of the biggest cities in the south of Brazil. The other cities are in the southeast, in the state of Minas Gerais. Porto Alegre is the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The first apartment I lived there was just a few meters distant from a kind of pub where local bands and foreign metal bands used to play. I had a lot of fun there and I met many bands from various countries. I must say my main goal in Porto Alegre was to have access to theatre and to international shows. I didn't enjoy theatre there, maybe because I was too enchanted with all those bands I didn't knew (and many others I loved!). During the time I was there I also knew a bit about the local culture, traditions and local music. I learned to drink chimarrão! Some day I'll learn to prepare it! It's a kind of tea without sugar, worthy trying!

Four years later I came to Curitiba. Here I enjoyed theatre, opera, international shows, cinema (blockbusters, classics and cult movies), museums, I had more time and will to read a lot (in Porto Alegre my rhythm diminished)... I'm almost a specialist in Brazilian culture, and I'm considering next destinations, probably abroad.

During all this time I also practiced cultural tourism, traveling to other places for cultural reasons during some days.

One of my recent birthdays I planned to celebrate in Maldives, but as I couldn't find information on local culture, even asking the hotel manager, I gave up. Beautiful beaches I can find in Brazil, with rich local gastronomy and culture. Have you ever visited the state of Pernambuco? Or Bahia? Fabulous food on both! Splendid beaches and rich local culture too! Recife, Olinda, Cabralia and Salvador are some places you'll find this marvelous combination of great food, rich culture and beautiful beaches. Eat "bolo de rolo" in Pernambuco and "bobó de camarão" in Bahia.

Now you know a bit about my experiences as a nomad, share yours with me. If you're not a nomad, tell me about the place you live, the local culture, local food and natural beauties.

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Nycka, the Nomad

🇬🇧 My first experiences on cultural trips

First time I spent (or invested) my money to travel it was to know the Carnival in Janauba, a small brazilian city, a few hours by car from Montes Claros, where I was born. I was 21 then, and my dear friend and colleague Danilo was from that city. Brazilian actor Jackson Antunes, who was called "the brazilian Charles Bronson" when he gained space on national TV, was also born in Janauba.
I remember my grandmother was terrified because my brother, 5 years younger, would travel with me and share the same room. If I had the mind of today, I would go alone just to terrify her more.
The party was good. Very different from many famous carnivals as Rio, Salvador or Venice, but it was nice.
My second experience was to follow brazilian band Shaman, when Andre Mattos left Angra to sing with this band, during the first shows of the Ritual tour. I saw the show in Uberlandia, where I lived, at a pub. The show was my suggestion to David, the owner, one day I met him in front of the pub while I was reading about a workshop with Kiko Loureiro the pub was organising. David mentioned the show Angra did there some months before "without the singer" (as the band was with a new singer: Edu Falaschi). I noticed David appreciated the voice of Andre Mattos as well as I did and I told him to invite Shaman to play there.
After Uberlandia I went to Sao Jose do Rio Preto and to Belo Horizonte to see the band again and again.
Then I moved to Porto Alegre, living a few meters distant from Bar Opiniao, a place where many international metal bands used to play, as well as local artists. I enjoyed the foreigners but I must admit my time in Porto Alegre could be spent to enjoy more the local culture, which is very rich. I'll be back there, sooner or later, to do this and share with you.
Follow the blog and my social media profiles to read more on cultural opportunities to travel and self development.

Nycka, the nomad

🇬🇧 Shake your life

It is interesting to tour in the same city we already live. This help us to keep a curious eye on everything and it can help us to defeat prejudices.
This week I was lunching in a restaurant and close to me there were a couple of old people. She told the waitress they live in a distant part of the city and use to go to the restaurants close to home, but, as that day was her birthday, he invited her to go to that restaurant instead. They had already visited the restaurant once, for the birthday party of a friend, some years before. The old lady was enchanted with the environment and the food. I must say I also liked the place.
To try a new restaurant; to go to other park to walk with our dogs; see a movie in a cinema you don't use to go... Start doing things differently! Shake your life! It's easy!

Nycka, the nomad.

🇬🇧 The importance to exercise with your dog

A dog is a social being. Although some breeds are very calm, even them need to exercise and to meet other dogs. Observe how happy they are when they meet other dogs anywhere.
I believe to have a dog is like to have a child. Children need to play with others and to learn from these experiences. Dogs also must to meet other dogs to be healthy and happy. They recognise themselves as dogs while meeting other dogs.
Even when you have more than one dog and enough space for them to play in your garden, it's important to offer for them and for yourself this experience of going out together at least once a day. Don't miss this compromise!

Nycka, the nomad.

🇬🇧 Cats, dogs and holidays

What do you do to make your pets happier during the holidays?
I think if you plan to travel, you include them, looking for hotels where they're accepted as well as yourself. Don't you?
If you stay home and organise a party or a meeting with family and friends, do you ask them to bring their pets the same way they'd bring their children? Or do you left the dog alone in the garden or the cat closed in some room not to disturb the guests?
Here, at my house, it's easier I ask someone to get out than to isolate my pets because they bother someone.
Think and tell me what you'll do during next holidays with your cats, dogs or both.

Nycka, the nomad.

🇬🇧 Fruits and vegetables for picky eaters

When we think about well being we think about to eat well, to have a balanced diet. I think this must start when we're children, but some of us did not have the healthy example at home, so, it's never too late to change.

I was a picky eater when I was a child. My regular meals were rice, beans, potatoes and meat or chicken. Currently I love vegetables, but I'm still picky to eat fruits. If you give me a watermelon to eat I'll refuse. The taste is good, so, I'd love the juice of that fruit, but all that seeds discourage me to eat it.

How did I change?

I started trying chinese food when I was 22, soon after to move from my hometown to study at the university in another. In the city where I was born there weren't chinese restaurants. Soy sauce is helpful to change the taste of the vegetables, so, I loved Yakissoba (that chinese pasta with vegetables and meat). The same time, at home one of my roommates used to prepare some good soufflés with vegetables. Every week the day she cooked she prepared some soufflé and I liked. As I like to cook (but only when my creativity can participate), later I started trying to prepare vegetables trying new flavours. Some years ago I tried to be vegetarian and, avoiding a soy-based diet, I chose to try all the vegetables I could. And my diet became richer and colourful.

For fruits my path is to eat them the way I exclude what displeases me. To have the benefits of watermelon, I drink the juice or try an ice cream. To eat banana I fry it and eat it with sugar. Or I can prepare a cake or a smoothie with yogurt or milk, banana and something more to add some colour.

It's like with friendship. Some friends are great to go out with; others are as fans of cinema as I am, so we often see some movie together, other ones like the same kind of music and we go to some shows together, and so on. The same way, there are fruits and vegetables we like to eat raw, other ones we prefer cooked, baked, fried or as juices, smoothies, ice creams. Some we need something to change its taste or colour. Other we appreciate the colour and taste. And somewhat we find the balance for our bodies. I recommend you to visit a good nutritionist instead of follow these crazy diets we often see as the trend of the moment. Currently, some of them are about to cut gluten, lactose or carbohydrates. I prefer to cut nothing and be open to try new flavours, new mixes of ingredients, new experiences.

Nycka, the Nomad

🇬🇧 About restaurants and other places to eat

To be fair, I must consider some points when talking about some restaurant or any other place to eat.

The main points I'll consider are:

• The environment. What kind of people did I see there? What kind of neighbourhood have the place? And other related points.
• The size of the place and its capacity to receive people.
• The address. Where the restaurant is.
• Access. If it's easy to go there? Is there easy parking? Is it easy to go with a cab?
• Hygiene.
• Service. Does the waiters and other professionals serve me with sympathy, agility and other desirable qualities? Does the place offer the option to pack the food to take home? Does it offer delivery service? Does it accept dogs and cats? What do the restaurant offer for the pets if they're accepted? Is the space reserved to pet owners as good as the other spaces in the restaurant?
• The menu. Variety, originality, quality, etc.
• Prices.
• Distinguishability. The unique qualities of the business.
• Positive and negative points considering everything related to the experience.
• Cultural, social, financial and environmental values.
• Pet friendly businesses able to provide an excellent experience for tutor and pets gain a bonus.

Nycka, the Nomad

🇬🇧 About hotels and other places to stay

To be fair, I must consider some points when talking about some hotel or any other place where to stay during our travels.

The main points I'll consider are:

• The environment. What kind of people did I see there? What kind of neighbourhood have the place? And other related points.
• The size of the hotel and its capacity to receive people.
• The address. Where the hotel is.
• Access. If it's easy to go there? Is there easy parking? Is it easy to go with a cab? Do they offer transportation between the local airport and the hotel for the guests? Is this service free or charged, if they offer it?
• Hygiene.
• Service. Does the professionals serve me with sympathy, agility and other desirable qualities? Does the hotel offer some way for the guest tell the team not to enter the room when the guest doesn't want to be disturbed? Does the team respect this message? Does the hotel accept dogs and cats? Is there some limitations related to the pets? What do the hotel offer for the pets if they're accepted?
• The food and drink options. Variety, originality, quality, etc.
• Prices.
• Distinguishability. The unique qualities of the hotel.
• Positive and negative points considering everything related to the experience.
• Cultural value, social value, environmental value and financial value.
• Pet friendly business able to really help the traveler and the pets gain extra bonuses.

Nycka, the Nomad