Monthly Archives: February 2009

Arnaldo Antunes – Rocker and a Poet

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Arnaldo Antunes (born on September 2, 1960), is a writer and composer from Brazil. He began as a member of the band Aguilar e Banda Performática in the late 1970s. For most of the 1980s he was a member of the famous rock band Titãs. After 1992 he had six solo albums. Since 1992 he has been an award winning poet, but he was first published in 1983. He is noted abroad for collaborations with Marisa Monte. Later on in 2002, he took part in a collaboration effort between Marisa Monte and Carlinhos Brown, in which they dubbed themselves Os Tribalistas (The Tribalists). The CD was a major success, starting with the single Já Sei Namorar.

Essa Mulher

Sem Você
 

Volte Para Seu Lar, Socorro, Seu Olhar, Não Vou Me Adaptar, and the first song I ever heard of his, Fora de Si.

Cities with the most single women

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I was at the bar with some of my male Brazilian friends last night when the subject arose briefly of which Brazilian city holds the title of the place with the most single women. Fast forward one day and I may have the answer. As with most studies, interest levitates towards the most recent research and it seems much of the information found below comes from the census of the year 2000 done by FVG (Getulio Vargas Foundation).

Breaking it all down

“According to the cities researched, the ranking of singles can be organized geographically in the following way: in first place, Salvador (with 45% of the population over 18 years old, 53% of which are women compared to 47% men), next up is Brasilia (41% over 18, of which 51% are men and 49% are women), Belo Horizonte (40% over 18, with 52% men and 48% women), Fortaleza (38% over 18, with 51% women and 49% men), Recife (36%), Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (both at 33%), and closing out the list, tied with 30%, the Southern region of the country, with Curitiba and Porto Alegre.

From what I gather, in laymens terms, that means of all women in Salvador (for example), 53% of them are single. I am not sure why the latter cities did not include percentages of men versus women, as the other cities did. Additionally, I am not certain as to why Recife gets a low percentage here and yet a high number later on (see where it says ’12 women to every man’).

As far as gender, the Brazilian reality is pretty democratic: 48% of the women are single, while the male counterpart is around 52%. In terms of age, singleness is higher among the younger segments of the population: 44% between ages 18 and 24 years old, 30% between ages 25 and 34 years old, 14% between ages 35 and 44 years old, 7% between ages 45 and 54 years old and 5% over the age of 54 years old. The division based on economic class shows a predominance within the middle segments of society. Singles encompass 10% of the upper-class, 33% of the middle class, 44% of the lower class and 13% of…the D class. 

The classes were divided into A, B, C and D without explaining any details of where the cut-off lies. I can only assume class D refers to the destitute and/or homeless, although how they could be counted doesn’t quite ‘add up’ in my mind. (See comments for more on the breakdown) 

The study also researched the leisure habits of single consumers.  The preferred habits of these men and women are as follows: listen to music (89%), watch films on DVD (70%), spend time in shopping centers (54%), take a walk (50%), go to the beach (48%), cook for friends (45%), go to shows (40%), have a barbeque (34%), dine out (33%), frequent nightclubs (31%), go on a bicycle ride (29%), travel on the weekend and frequent (sports)clubs (20%), watch soccer matches in a stadium (17%), go to the gym (14%), go to expositions in museums (11%), fish or go to concerts (9%), practice radical sports (5%) and surf (5%).” – Source (in PT)

Here it is, the breakdown of where they go and yes thats right, where to find them. The difference between “going to shows” and “going to concerts” was not expressed in the study.

Looking for a girlfriend?

“Searching for a girlfriend? According to the study, your chances are higher in Recife (PE), where there are 12 women for each man. And that female friend of yours thats always complaining of a lack of suitors? Suggest that she takes a look in Novo Progresso (PA) or in Álvaro de Carvalho (SP) – which are at the top of the ranking for the highest proportion of men versus women and also the highest level of single men in Brazil.” – Source (in PT)

Solitary in Bahia

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The study by FGV listed the Brazilian municipalities with the highest concentration of single women. Of the top 10 ranking cities, eight are located in Bahia. In the capital, Salvador, 51% of the adult female population is unaccompanied. The academics suggest two motives for explaining the phenomenon.  The first is that, while in Brazil the option to be solitary is a phenomenon which is concentrated within the higher classes. In Bahia, cultural aspects among the upper-class make possible the lack of necesity for a traditional ‘bread-winner’. Due to matriarquial tradition within the state, especially influenced by candomblé, women frequently compose domiciles run by the women themselves. “It’s common to find various generations of women within one family living under the same roof”, stated the sociologist Maria Gabriela Ita, from the Universidade Federal da Bahia. “The local culture serves as a means to foster survival without the need for a partner to sustain the household and thus guarantees them the option to remain single”, she says. Migration is another factor that contributed to the high level of single females in Bahia. Among the eight municipalities in the state with the highest numbers of single women, seven are in the interior. They are poor cities, which present an elevated index of populational evasion, notably of the male kind. Traditionally, the men leave their native cities in search of better work opportunities. In the ranking of the ten Brazilian cities with the least concentration of single women, seven are situated in the state of Mato Grosso. There, the opposite phenomenom has occured: the cities of Mato Grosso, through sustaining a prosperous argricultural industry where the principal economic activity is soy, they become poles of attraction for migrants. More work, more men. And, of course, less single women.” – Source (in PT)
Perhaps the research here was done at either an earlier or later time than the other previous sections of this article (as Salvador gets a 51% here while towards the beginning of the article, it gets a 53%).

The importance of Brazilian coffee

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Two lions escaped from the Zoo

During the escape, each one took a different route. One of the lions went into the jungle while the other went to the center of the city. A team from the zoo tried to find the lions in order to bring them back but after searching high and low, they gave up.

After one month, to the general surprise of everyone, the lion that returned was the one which went into the jungle. He returned skinny, hungry and weak. The zookeepers put him back in his cell where he stayed put.

Eight months passed and no one remembered the other lion anymore, the one which went to the center of the city, when one day, he was recaptured and sent back to the zoo. Only he came back fat and strong. 

The two lions had hardly had more than two seconds together when the lion who went to the jungle asked his buddy,

“How’d you manage to stay in the city this whole time and still come back so healthy? I went to the jungle and didn’t find anything to eat…”

The other lion started to explain, ”Well, I got some courage and hid myself in a government office. Each day, I would eat one public official and no one seemed to notice.”

“So why did you come back here? Did you eat all the public officials?”, asked the first lion.

“Nothing like that. There’s always more than enough of them…but I ended up making a huge mistake. I ate the General Director, two Superintendants, five assistants, three coordinators, ten advisors, two section bosses, fifteen division bosses, various secretaries, dozens of public officials and no one seemed to be the wiser!

…but the day I ate the person who made the cafezinho, I ruined everything!”

 

Dois leões fugiram do Jardim Zoológico.

Na fuga, cada um tomou um rumo diferente.
Um dos leões foi para as matas e o outro foi para o centro da cidade. Procuraram os leões por todo o lado, mas ninguém os encontrou.
Depois de um mês, para surpresa geral, o leão que voltou foi justamente o que fugira para as matas. Voltou magro, faminto, alquebrado.
Assim, o leão foi reconduzido a sua jaula.

Passaram-se oito meses e ninguém mais se lembrou do leão que fugira para o centro da cidade, quando um dia, o bicho foi recapturado. E voltou ao Jardim Zoológico gordo, sadio, vendendo saúde.

Mal ficaram juntos de novo, o leão que fugira para a floresta perguntou ao colega:

Como é que conseguiste ficar na cidade esse tempo todo e ainda voltar com saúde? Eu, que fugi para para a mata, tive que voltar, porque quase não encontrava o que comer .. !!!

O outro leão então explicou:
- Enchi-me de coragem e fui esconder-me numa repartição pública. Cada dia comia um funcionário e ninguém dava por falta dele.

- E por que voltaste então para cá? Tinham acabado os funcionários?
- Nada disso. Funcionário público é coisa que nunca se acaba. É que eu cometi um erro gravíssimo. Tinha comido o diretor geral, dois superintendentes, cinco adjuntos, três coordenadores, dez assessores, doze chefes de seção, quinze chefes de divisão, várias secretárias, dezenas de funcionários e ninguém deu por falta deles!
Mas, no dia em que eu comi o que servia o cafezinho…
Estraguei tudo!!!

Boi Bumbá Festival in the Amazon

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“The Boi Bumbá (deriving from the Bumba-Meu Boi, see photo below) festival presents myths, tales and legends using characters, parade carts and giant puppets followed by the words of a master of ceremonies who describes in detail every bit of the action.

It is an incredible musical and theatrical experience, a religious procession, a tribal ritual, a giant puppet show, a fairy tale of powerful villains and brave heroes, a folk art presentation, a major party for the audience and an energizing choreography of the galera (gah-le-rah), all at once. The characters in the performance come from the Boi Bumbá tale. There are two teams called Bois (plural of Boi). Each one tells the same story in all three nights of the festival, amounting to 6 different performances of the same show. But every night is different because legends, rituals, dances, puppets, garments, alegorias, they all change and create the show anew.

There are many similar festivities in Brazil, but Parintins (in the state of Amazonas) is the home of the biggest and most impressive of all. It is both an artistic display and a dispute between two different teams: Bois Caprichoso (cah-pree-show-zol) and Garantido (gah-run-tee-dow). Boi is the Portuguese word for ox, and it is also the main character of the drama that unfolds every night in an arena closely watched by 35,000 people. After the 3-hour show of each Boi, the city has food, drinks and party for everybody. The main square, countless bars and every little corner near the Bumbódromo accommodate a crowd still full of energy to mimic the dance and songs of their favorite Boi.”  - More here…

Other videos (also in Portuguese, although of the Bumba-Meu Boi) can be found here. Part 1 and Part 2.

Half the population sees double

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“CANDIDO GODOI, Brazil – High atop a hill behind his family’s home, Derli Grimm knelt and took a sip from a thin black tube leading from a natural spring.

Like so many in this farming town, populated almost entirely by German-speaking immigrants, Grimm, 19, believes that something in the water — a mysterious mineral, perhaps — is responsible for the town’s unusual concentration of twins.

”It can’t all be explained by genetics,” said Grimm, himself a twin.

Geneticists would like to disagree with him, but even they have no complete explanation for the 38 pairs of twins among about 80 families living within an area of 1.5 square miles.

The mystery has persisted for decades, attracting international attention and inspiring books and investigations by geneticists. It is one reason locals are in no hurry to try to prove their water theory. They are too busy posing for journalists and marketing themselves to tourists as the “twins capital of the world.”

Some researchers have suggested the darker possibility that Josef Mengele, the Nazi physician known as the Angel of Death, was involved. Mengele, locals say, roamed this region of southern Brazil, posing as a veterinarian, in the 1960s, about the time the twins explosion began.”

- Source (click for the rest of the story)

AA & Gol interline agreement

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GOL to interline with American Airlines

February 20, 2009
Brazilian low-fare carrier GOL has announced that it has signed an interline agreement with American Airlines. The agreement will allow American Airlines’ passengers to purchase tickets to all destinations served by GOL in Brazil and South America.

By selecting the country (Brazil) and then the type (National), you can see where Gol flies in Brazil here.

Paradise Lost – Trindade & Martim Vaz

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Everyone knows Brazil holds claim to some of the greatest real estate in the world, but little is ever said of its lesser known treasures (or should I say ‘buried treasures’, as most of the mass of the islands written about below are underwater). Here’s to a paradise lost, discoveries and dictators, sailors and shipwrecks…

Trindade & Martim Vaz

The islands of Trindade (occasionally called Trinidad) and Martim Vaz (also called Martin Vaz) are located about 740 miles east of Vitória in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, belong to the State of Espírito Santo of Brazil. They are considered part of the area of the state capital, Vitória. The islands are uninhabited, except for a garrison of the Brazilian Navy, 32 strong. The group consists of Ilha Trindade, by far the largest island, and Ilhas de Martim Vaz, 29 miles further east.

The islands are of volcanic origin and have rugged terrain. They are largely barren, except for the southern part of Ilha Trindade. They were discovered in 1502 by Portuguese explorer João da Nova and stayed Portuguese until they became part of Brazil at its independence. From 1890 to 1896, Trindade was occupied by the United Kingdom until an accord with Brazil was reached. During the period of British occupation, Trindade was known as “South Trinidad”.

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Source

History (of the islands and the would-be American Dictator)

Many visitors have been to Martim Vaz, the most famous of whom was the English astronomer Edmund Halley (of Halley’s Comet fame), who took possession of the island on behalf of the British Monarchy in 1700. Captain La Pérouse stopped there at the outset of his 1785 voyage to the Pacific.

In 1893 the American James Harden-Hickey claimed the island and declared himself as James I, Prince of Trinidad. According to James Harden-Hickey’s plans, Trinidad, after being recognized as an independent country, would become a military dictatorship and have him as dictator. He designed postage stamps, a national flag, and a coat of arms; established a chivalric order, the “Cross of Trinidad”; bought a schooner to transport colonists; appointed M. le Comte de la Boissiere as Secretary of State; opened a consular office at 217 West 36th Street in New York; and even issued government bonds to finance construction of infrastructure on the island. Despite his plans, his idea was ridiculed or ignored by the world.

In July 1895, the British again tried to take possession of this strategic position in the Atlantic. The British planned to use the island as a cable station. However, Brazilian diplomatic efforts, along with Portuguese support, reinstated Trindade Island to Brazilian sovereignty.

In order to clearly demonstrate sovereignty over the island, now part of the State of Espírito Santo and the municipality of Vitória, a landmark was built on January 24, 1897. Nowadays, Brazilian presence is marked by a permanent Brazilian Navy base on the main island.

Further Information (ie, what you’ll want to see and know)

Photos – For a ton of great shots of Trindade, go here to SkyScraper City (there’s a second page too).

Article – For a very well-done story (including photos) on the chance opportunity for a writer to accompany the Brazilian Navy on a mission to the island, go here to Lost Art. Aside from writing about the island itself, certain tales are told of murder and shipwrecks and of the burying of the entire wealth of a nation.

Biography – For the very interesting story of the life of the would-be dictator (and nephew to another more well-known dictator…Napoleon Bonaparte), James Harden-Hickey, go here to Wikipedia.

Love and Its Timing – Carlos Drummond

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Love and Its Timing
by Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Translation by Adam 

The mature are privileged to love
stretched out in the narrowest of beds
which becomes larger and grassier
touching lightly, in each pore, bodily sky

That is love: the unexpected reward,
the subterraneous and glittering prize
the reading of ciphered lightning
which, deciphered, nothing more exists

worth the pain and the terrestrial price
except for the golden minute in the watch
tiny, trembling in the twilight hours

Love is what is learned close to limit
after one files away all kinds of science
inherited, heard of. Love begins late.