Beautiful Horizons

Carnaval

Mr. Trend has been blogging the hell out of Carnaval in Brazil this year, but I have to confess that the subject doesn't interest me that much. As Trend notes, the Rio version has become very commercial and it appears that someone is always determined to gin up controversy.

Full disclosure: I have never actually been in Brazil during Carnaval, but returned just before it started in 2006. That was an interesting experience as I was able to see some of the preparations for the neighborhood blocos (small local celebrations) that are not commercial, but in my mind, much more interesting.

I appreciate the fact that Trend points out that there is much more to it in the entire country than simply Rio. Credit should be given to the Wikipedia entry for giving fair mention to some of the others.

My criticisms notwithstanding, I do have some cousins who have appeared with a samba school, and the idea of appearing with one someday does elicit a brief frisson of interest.

My Future Home

How I wish I were there now:

Espirito Santo is an unusual, but very interesting state. While it has the misfortune of being wedged between three massively popular states (Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Minas Gerais) that dwarf it not only in size, but also in terms of the sheer volume of sights, activity and history, the state nonetheless has a great deal to offer.

It is the only state in Brazil, which, to my knowledge, the capital city, Vitória is not the largest city in the state;  nearby Vila Velha is. While the beaches near the major cities are good, I like Itaunas and of course, thebeach near my future home, Barra do Jucu. To the left in the photo is the mouth of the Rio Jucu, near a nature reserve where cattle egrets come to roost at sunset. I plan to spend a lot of time on a kayak in that river.

Don't like the beach? The state has a beautiful mountain range featuring such beautiful parks as Pedra Azul and lovely towns such as Santa Teresa , Domingos Martins and Venda Nova do Imigrante.

Check it out.

What Mr. Trend Said

Here. Every last word.

In noting some of the comments from people, it's remarkable how ignorant  some people are. The reliably tendentious and in this case, clueless Big Tent Democrat in the comments to this post at TalkLeft makes the following comment:

I think it is not going to be a particularly successful Olympics in Rio imo. I do not believe that holding a World Cup in 2014 will leave Brazil in a great position to do what is necessary for an Olympics in 2016. There is a huge crime problem in Rio.

Not content to trash Rio, (notwithstanding the fact that two of us point out to him that Rio successfully staged the Pan Am Games two years ago), he then proceeds to trash South Africa making this comment:

I think the World Cup is going to be a mess next year.

I think the Olympics in Rio are likely to be a mess too.

Hell, I think the World Cup in Rio is going to be a mess.

Think Seoul, but worse.

And he bases this on what? In addition to reminding him about the Pan Am Games, I also point out that South Africa staged a successful Confederations Cup three months ago. Surely he must remember that. Brazil almost lost to the US. One wonders if he has ever even been to Rio.

If he's concerned about the safety, I’ve been to Rio some seven times. I have used the subway and the buses there with no problems. Last time I was there I saw numerous people on the subway with Ipods and without problems.

On New Years Eve 1999-2000, we walked from our cousin’s place in Botafogo through the Rebouças tunnel to Copacabana and back for the New Year’s celebration. There was not one arrest made tha night. I have walked from Botafogo to Flamengo, from Jardim Botanico to Lagoa Rodrigo Freitas. I have ridden the tram from Santa Teresa to Lapa.

I have found by using good judgment and good sense I have had no problems. Indeed, many of the homicides taking place in Rio are the result of police killing civilians.

He also - without a scintilla of proof, remarkably so for an attorney - claims that Chicago didn't invest enough in bribery.

If ignorance is bliss, he must be an incredibly happy man.In any event he never responded to the facts regarding thee Confederations Cup and the Pan Am Games in 2007.

As for the question of benefits to the host city, yes it can work out quite well. Barcelona (pdf file) is the greatest proof of that.

The Washing of 46th Street

The Brazilian community here in New York apparently is trying to make the washing of 46th street to be a tradition along the lines of the washing of the steps of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim in Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, Brazil.

Details can be found here. It would great if some non-Brazilians showed up.

Marta

As Mr. Trend notes, this is a very good profile of Marta, Brazil's soccer goddess.

I've always been a firm believer that what is most important is not where you are, but where uou came from. The article notes rather vaguely that she grew up in the town of Dois Riachos in "northeast Brazil."

Here is where Dois Riachos is: The middle of the sertao in Alagoas.She's come from the sort of place they refer to in Brazil as so remote, the wind turns around to come back. This just makes her story all the more remarkable.

Coming to Their Senses?

Von at Obsidian Wings points me to this update on the excommunication of the doctors who performed the abortion on the 9 year old rape victim in Brazil and her mother, but he is mistaken if he thinks it means that the excommunications have been rescinded. This may clarify things:

[Archbishop Rino] Fisichella stressed that abortion is always "bad." But he said the quick proclamation of excommunication "unfortunately hurts the credibility of our teaching, which appears in the eyes of many as insensitive, incomprehensible and lacking mercy."

The Vatican teaches that anyone performing or helping someone to have an abortion is automatically excommunicated from the church, and the Vatican prelate underlined that abortion is "always condemned by moral law as an intrinsically evil act."

"There wasn't any need, we contend, for so much urgency and publicity in declaring something that happens automatically," Fisichella wrote.

Writing as if he were addressing the girl, Fisichella said: "There are others who merit excommunication and our pardon, not those who have allowed you to live and have helped you to regain hope and trust."

It appears that the objection is to the public aspect of it, although one gets the impression from the article that Archbishop Fisichella is disturbed as well by the utter lack of compassion on behalf of the Archbishop of Recife as well as the fact that he publicly proclaimed that the rapist stepfather would not be excommunicated, because according to him, abortion is worse than rape.

There remains the possibility that less reactionary more compassionate minds will prevail. After all, the excommunication of a Holocaust denier was rescinded . . .

Stay tuned.

Fun Things You Learn on Wikipedia

When I went to Italy a couple of years ago I was impressed that so many of the airports were named after atists, explorers and inventors: Marconi in Bologna, Verdi in Parma, da Vinci in Rome, Marco Polo in Venice, Galileo in Pisa and Vespucci in Florence.

Brazil seems to be moving in that direction, having changed the name of Rio de Janeiro's international airport to Tom Jobim International Airport, but I was especially pleased to learn that the new airport in Maceió, the capital of the Northeast state of Alagoas, is Zumbi dos Palmares International Airport. It's a belated honor for a man who played such an important and tragic role in Brazil's colonial history.

Salgueiro Wins

The samba school Salgueiro had a solid victory in Rio de Janeiro's Carnaval competition with a near perfect score of 399 out of a possible 400. It's their nonth win overall and the first since 1993.

It's nice to see a school other than Beija-Flor or Mangueira win.

Bad Move, Lula

If you are Brazilian, you pull for the Brazilian team wholeheartedly. You complain about individual players and/or the coaches when they let you down. What you never do is compare them negatively to Argentina's team. Apparently that lesson is lost on Lula:

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sparked another footballing controversy on Friday after praising the fighting spirit of Argentina’s players and especially forward Lionel Messi.

Brazil coach Dunga said he would prefer Lula to be more supportive and national team goalkeeper Julio Cesar suggested the president should live in Argentina.

Lula, who upset striker Ronaldo on the eve of the 2006 World Cup by asking if he was fat, told reporters that when Brazil’s forwards lose the ball they expect the defence to clear up after them while Argentina’s players, such as Messi, chase back.

The problem with being the Brazilian team's coach are the other 180 million other coaches.

Film Review - The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

The Year My Parents Went On Vacation

Young Mauro's parents are leftists in Brazil in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 1970. It was a year of lows and highs in Brazil; the principal high being Brazil's win in the World Cup, making it the first nation to win the World Cup for the third time and the principal low being the rule of Emílio Garrastazu Médici, whose leadership of the nation was without question the most brutal of the twenty-five year military dictatorship that the nation endured.

This was not a good time to be a leftist in Brazil: it was dangerous as the implementation of Institutional Act 5, which unleashed a series of brutal, repressive actions against dissent involving torture and disappearances,  was complete.  Mauro is an eleven-year-old boy whose parents decide to leave him with his paternal grandfather in Bom Retiro, a a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Sao Paulo while they flee for their lives. What they don't know is that in a tragic coincidence, his grandfather has died that same day. The community rallies around Mauro, especially Shlomo, the Polish, Orthodox Jewish immigrant who lives next door and all are enriched by the experience.

You'll be enriched by this film as well. The director, Cao Hamburger, knows the value of understatement in his actors. Michel Joelsas as Mauro gives what may be one of the best performances by a child actor since Brigitte Fossey in Forbidden Games.