Dear List,

 

The initials ADA serve to indicate a programming language or various reputable institutions, such as the American Dental Association, American Diabetes Association, etc  This is why it never occurred to me to mention the carioca criminal faction ADA ("amigos dos amigos", "friend of the friends"), at times in rivalry, at other times in association, to the CV ("comando vermelho"). From an old site (2002) written by "opiumseed" I gathered the following*: The initials ADA, in Portuguese, were inspired by Mario Puzo's Don Corleone's lines, exchanged in a Sicilian bar, and referring to "a friend of the friends." At that time any  mention of the word "Mafia" ("safe haven") had been forbidden by Mussolini's "omertá" and so, "to be a friend of the friends" (ie ADA) was used to reveals who is a friend of the mob.

Having lived far away from Rio de Janeiro for more than thirty years, most of the action in it, at present, seems to take place in another planet ( not Van's Terra, though, or perhaps exactly Van's Terra, a place I don't want to believe that it exists - although it's imbricated with everything, here and nowhere, that takes place on Earth...) Successful movies about Rio's corrupt politics and policemen, drug traffic, poverty and violence may reach Europeans and Americans, such as "The Elite Squad," directed and produced by José Padilha and written by Bráulio Mantovani and distributed by Universal Pictures (Brazil) 20th Century Fox (United States)The Weinstein Company (Overseas)*

 

A girl's name ( Ada, Lolita...) may be used to name hurricanes, create a fashion, as a synonim of corruption. I wonder if "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (some say Shakespeare was also making a joke at the expense of the unsanitary rival Rose Theatre), that is, inspite of its subsequent uses and abuses of their titles, Nabokov's novels would rest exempt, like the essence of a rose, from posthumous charges of plagiarism (Maar's, in a way), deliberate ambiguity (hurricanes in Pale Fire, dresses in Ada), or some kind of prescience related to decay. Personally, I think that Nabokov's "Lolita" could only have "Lolita" for a title, with its dolours and lilting "L". Actual links to social turbulence and events only serve to reinforce the novel's uncanny force and Art.   
.............................................................................................

*"Vocês conhecem a ADA? Facção do tráfico de drogas (poder paralelo, crime organizado, chame como quiser) fundada pelo traficante Uê. A sigla está pixada em diversos muros da cidade, concorrendo com TC (Terceiro Comando) e CV (Comando Vermelho). ADA significa Amigo Dos Amigos e sempre me perguntei de onde eles tinham tirado esse nome. A primeira vez em que li o Poderoso Chefão de Mario Puzo não existia a ADA. Na atual releitura do livro, vi que "amigo dos amigos" era a forma como os Sicilianos se referiam a máfia, uma vez que a palavra máfia (que significa "lugar seguro") foi declarada impronunciável pela omertá (lei do silêncio) durante a ditadura de Mussolini.
"você é amigo dos amigos?"
Pergunta o dono do Café a Michael Corleone, durante seu exílio na Sicilia.
Depois falam que traficante não lê." .