Not to dampen anyone’s last remaining holiday cheer or weekend hours, but if you’re up for a reality check read I suggest taking a peek at this nicely written piece by Chris Wirth on Polo’s Bastards. With a certain amount of caution the author sets out on a tour of the Rocinha favela (one of Rio’s largest slums) in a group of five which includes him. Thinking it would be some sort of “poor people safari” he had his reservations and thought the people in living in the slums surely didn’t need another Third World outsider with their cameras coming around half teasingly. Setting most of his caution aside he let his curiosity seize control and went to experience the favelas tucked within the Rio’s lush green hills for himself by way of the tour. Although the almost uncontrollable drug, gang, and lack of public service problem remained like any other day when the author wasn’t on tour, he still found the spirit of the people in the community in good condition. I won’t go so far to tell you everything he discovered and how he felt as he departed from one of the world’s largest slums. I’ll only suggest you do a little of the reading on your own. For those wanting to tour Brazil who have not already you might learn something extra aside from the sun drenched beaches packed with bikini-clad women or beyond samba and mix-drinks with sugarcane you’ve only sipped at your local bar.
Glow Shrooms
Here’s the first of several Halloweeny posts on this All Hallows’ Eve.
I know there are some of you out there for whom this will be an inspiration to scamper out into the woods in search of the next great hallucinogen. But hold on, we don’t know yet if these mushrooms can kill you. And foodies, yes, I’m sure many of you are also dreaming of glow in the dark pizza, the hottest new thin to hit Chuck E Cheese since, well, that little machine that grabs toys with a metal grappling hook. Well, I just found this little blurb from Nat Geo to fascinating not to post about. What we’ve got here are bona fide glow in the dark mushrooms from Brazil. These bioluminescent fungi were collected from Ribeira Valley Tourist State Park near São Paulo, and are – amazingly – capable of producing light through a chemical reaction.
Shaking It In Rio
I wish I had a dollar for every “I’m a hopelessly square white guy who went to Brazil to learn how to dance” story I’ve read over the years. Honestly, from John Krich’s “Why Is This Country Dancing” to well, some other stories I know are out there to, um my own piece on the topic….hey, that’d be three bucks so far. But you get the point. Even if my Googling skills aren’t up to snuff this morning (it’s not even 6:30 yet!) I know I’ve read a gazillion stories just like this. They guy heads out into the pulsing streets, he feels insecure and clumsy, but after a few still caprinas and confrontations with the opposite sex, the guy learns how to feel the beat and the next thing you know he’s swiveling his hips like a newly minted uranium-enriching centrifuge.
And so it goes in this story from Slate. Not that it’s bad, mind you. It’s not. The guy, Mathew Polly, learns how to Samba and kind of gets the idea of Capoeira, and he certainly has a lot of fun, but the cliches fly around like moths in the light on a boat gong up the amazon (trust me, I know what I’m talking about), and it has a certain predictability to it. Still, I would never be one to dis a guy who wants to travel to Brazil and write about it. So why don’t you read the piece and decide for yourself if you like it.
Word for the Travel Wise (09/22/06)
Although this particular Zouk Nights dance group is located in Australia and not the birthplace of the sound, it would be still be pretty cool to learn the movements of the French Caribbean inspired dance. According to the Zouk Nights, Brazilian dancers started dancing to Zouk when Lambada music stopped being produced. So this is what I’m thinking – whether you are in Australia, Brazil or Martinique somewhere your body should be moving to the music. No excuses.
Today’s word is a Portuguese word used in Brazil:
noite – (noy-te) night
Easy Portuguese online offers a small dictionary of useful words, useful phrases, and a couple of short lessons to get you started. Most have audio clips including our word for the day found here. Portuguese Language dot net has excellent historical info on the language and numerous tools to help you get motivated and be successful at learning the 6th most spoken language. For Portuguese heard in Portugal you can download mp3 audio from BBC, which I’m sure there are several similarities between the two countries. Those interested in classroom study abroad can click here for more info at Franco Americano.
Past Portuguese words: xixi, bronzeador, lanchonete, esquerda, crianças
Arnold Loves Butts
Given the coming election in California and the likely re-election of Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger, I have to revisit a hilarious story from the LA Times (via Worldhum) about how the Governator got help from a tabloid publisher to suppress the release of a 1983 Playboy video starring the then-future governor in which he visits Brazil’s Carnival and engages in some on camera grab-ass (among other lewd and lascivious gestures).
The tabloid publisher, American Media, paid Thomas Wells $2,000 for a copy of the video and crafted an agreement whereby Wells would not discuss the existence of the tape. The tabloid’s interest in Schwarzenegger’s success was due to their ownership of two muscle magazines, Flex and Muscle & Fitness, for which they wanted Arnold to be their public face (and for which they made him executive editor of the two magazines and paid him a percentage of advertising revenue (which, if I remember correctly, was an extraordinary sum).
The best quote by far in the video: “You know something,” Schwarzenegger says “after watching the [dancers] shake it, I can absolutely understand why Brazil is totally devoted to my favorite body part: the ass.” Who said Arnold doesn’t have class?