NPR
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Arrest Record (after-thought)
(Crossdressing No Planalto, UOL)
A Primeira
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Monthly Archives: October 2010
“Apanhar” Takes a Beating
“Dictionaries do not always take note of the semantic extensions that the verb “apanhar” has acquired in Portuguese.
When walking on the street and going into a store in any Brazilian city, it’s hard not to hear enunciations every once in a while like “você vai apanhar!” (you are going to get hit!) or “você quer apanhar?” (do you want to get hit?), as they are frequently said loudly by parents and those responsible for small children whose behavior in public leaves a lot to be desired.
The verbal interaction between child and adult, in most instances, remains as a threat only because no one physically hits anyone, thankfully. Not even a slap! Until now, I never saw a child respond affirmatively to the question about if he or she wants to get hit or not! A real communicative skill sometimes is to remain in silence. The “question” functions as a threat that leads to nothing.” – Source (in PT)
My Take
At almost the same time that I was considering writing a post on the verb “apanhar”, I came across an article on the matter in the Brazilian magazine, Língua Portuguesa. I learned it is often said in jest or as the article above points out, as a mere threat. My ex-girlfriend, a paulistana, used to say it to me (in jest, of course!) and at the time I didn’t know what the word meant but I understood the gist. Using my Portuguese knowledge at the time, I decided it was or should be reflexive and would use it in such a manner (saying “vou te apanhar”), not realizing I was in effect ‘beating up’ the verb in my own way.
The verb has other meanings, which can be seen on Google Translate or in Portuguese at Wikcionário.
Brasileirinho – Choro Documentary
Tonight, I saw a musical documentary on choro music, something I had briefly read about here and there but never really had any true exposure to. I can say I have an appreciation for it now thanks to Brasileirinho, as the documentary is titled. Here’s the description from the official site…
“Brasileirinho is a 90-min musical documentary film about Choro, the first genuinely Brazilian urban music. It was back in the late 19th century in Rio de Janeiro when Brazilian musicians started to blend European melodies, Afro-Brazilian rhythms and the melancholic interpretation of the Brazilian Indians’ music to create Choro. Choro is credited as being the first musical expression of Brazil’s melting pot and had a prominent place in the development of Brazil’s cultural identity. Choro remained a major popular music style until the 1920s, leading directly into Samba and later to Bossa Nova. After a slight decline in popularity, Choro music has made a remarkable comeback over the past few decades.
The film remembers the history but shows, above all, a colorful picture of Choro’s vitality today. The guiding line of the film is the combo “Trio Madeira Brasil” composed of three of Brazil’s outstanding Choro musicians. During a “Roda de Choro”, a traditional Brazilian kind of private jam session, the Trio brings up a concert project. During these sessions or at their homes, some of the most interesting Choro musicians play and remember key events in the history of this Brazilian urban music. A look into a Choro workshop with over 450 participants of all ages illustrates the off-hand genuine Brazilian way to play. “Playing” interviews with well-known Samba and Bossa Nova artists like Zezé Gonzaga, Elza Soares and Guinga illustrate the reciprocal inspiration with Samba and Bossa Nova music. A final show of the “Trio Madeira Brasil” with their guests in one of Rio’s traditional music halls show once more the opulence of rhythms and melodies in Choro that has evolved over the past 130 years into a fascinating form of modern tropical sound.”
On the official site, there’s an interview with the filmmaker, Mika Kaurismäki where he talks about how he came up with the idea for the documentary. It turns out he is also behind another great Brazilian musical documentary.
“Question. When and how did you get the idea for the film? Can you remember when you heard Choro for the first time?
MK: I had made another documentary about Brazilian music, “Moro no Brasil” before this one. It happened that I was in Lausanne, Switzerland, I think it was in May 2003 at the Swiss premiere of “Moro no Brasil” and, after the film, there was this Q&A session. One gentleman – obviously a Choro fan – asked me why I didn’t have Choro in my film. I tried to explain that there is so much music in Brazil that it was impossible to include everything in one film. I said that I liked Choro very much, but “Moro no Brasil” was more about samba and that Choro deserved a film of its own. The gentleman said that he’d produce that film. And that was what actually happened; Marco Forster, who had never produced a film before, kept his word and we started to develop the film.”
More Info
The Famous “Depois” – Phrases
I love how certain words in other languages require one to ‘read between the lines’. To me, ‘depois’ (after) is one of those and Brazilians are famous for saying it. There’s what it means and then there’s what it probably means.
Imagine a situation where someone has offered me something or asked me to do something. If I respond with “depois eu faço” or in the case of food, “depois eu como”, what I’m most likely doing is being polite in my refusal or at least in the uncertainty that I will, in fact, do the thing in question.
There’s another way to use depois, which I feel like I’ve discussed here before (yet a search of my posts reveals nothing). After just doing a Google search for “depois eu que sou…” to come up with an example to use, I saw “depois eu que sou a bêbada!” This is basically a way to say “…and they call me a drunk!” (or “…and I’m the one that get’s called a drunk!”) One can presume that the conversation was about person A drinking but then it is found out that person B seems to drink a lot more so person A would say the phrase. Get it?
Post-edit: For more on this, see Danielle In Brazil‘s post.
Big Brother Brasil – All Cars To Be Tracked
The following article seems to have been written by a non-native English speaker, nonetheless, the real BBB is coming. Note: No one involved in the BBB story will be in the next edition of Playboy.
“Brazilian population will be forced very soon to have in their cars identification chips (RFID), besides GPS locators and blockers. According to several news, the brazilian government hurries to show until november of 2010 the GPS tracker that will be legally required to be in all new cars from February of 2011.
It is unclear how this will work but in this article of the Folha de Sao Paulo says the Denatran (Transit National Department) will oversee the center, and that it will be operated by Serpro (organ of government for data processing). This means that the brazilian government can access the location of any car registered in any country!
The article in the Folha de Sao Paulo also says:
To circumvent the criticisms of those who claim lack of privacy, which has led the discussion to the judicial arena, the Minister Marcio Fortes says there will be two options: the tracker and blocker. This will make the car stop in a given situation, for example if the thief stops at traffic lights, and will be mandatory. In the other hand, the GPS tracker will be contracted or not by the user.
The implications of this? Imagine this in the hands of a corrupt and totalitarian government, which decides to label as terrorists those who disagree with its actions? Brazilian should unite and reject this law, modeled on the American war on terror, using security as pretext for the removal of our freedoms and privacy.” – Source (where sources to write the story can also be found)
An Open Proposal to Brazil Bloggers
Ever since I started this blog, I’ve held to the idea that having one location for all Brazil bloggers to write would be a bankable operation. The problem is that everyone is too attached to their own ‘brand’ and when I think of someone asking me to give up my site to work exclusively for them, they better pay me well because until that happens, I’m more than happy to contribute as a writer/columnist for other brands, as it were, but I won’t be leaving my own site.
Usually when I propose this individually to other Brazil bloggers, they don’t respond at all to the proposal. Perhaps that is why I am finally after almost 3 years, saying it like this, as a post. There’s enough of us to constantly create good, interesting content to the point where the main page would be like a stream the reader can easily browse through. The group at Brasil Com Z are doing just what I propose (although they are actually Brazilians writing about living abroad), nonetheless, I think it’s a fantastic idea…as long as there was some sort of editorial oversight or system of checks put in place.
The only way to accomplish both so that each person can have their cake and eat it too, is with the creation of a new site, the approval of all parties involved to have their content replicated and someone to be in charge of it. So, here it is…I propose a collaboration in some sense or another. There’s enough of us doing a great job to attract legitimate advertising and make an example of what we can accomplish together, without resorting to having ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’, so to speak. We can start simple with just one good post per blogger per week (that’s around 10+ posts per week if everyone I have in mind participates).
Any thoughts, be you a reader or blogger?
Street Smart Brazil – Article 02 Is Up
As I mentioned last week, I’m the new columnist at Street Smart Brazil. Here’s my second article! The topic is telenovelas during the military dictatorship.
Thank you for reading!
PS – Comments are very welcome there, though I think you need to be logged in.
90 Days With Catra for Funk Followers
For those who like funk music, an artist named Catra (who I’m not familiar with) made a documentary where the camera follows him throughout his day-to-day and according to Globo, it has become a hit online. There are no subtitles and it’s 27 minutes long. I have yet to see it but I’ve no doubt that it’s full of funk music, funk entourages and groupies, plus women imitating sexual movements for the male gaze. Nonetheless, I’m sure it will be interesting for cultural researchers out there.
Winning Museum Design Needs Help
Many were saddened when Rio’s Club Help closed and, likewise, many were delighted to hear news of the museum that would take its place. The Museum of Image and Sound (MIS), no less…just what Rio needs (especially when it already has an MIS in their downtown area). I’m sure the residents of Rio’s estimated 1,000 favelas were dreaming about such a day. The irony is that the winning image by a New York architecture firm is just so-so. That is high praise considering the other possible designs.
“The cost of the museum project, which will include extensive external access ramps and windows showing different angles of the Copacabana beach, is estimated at 65 Million Brazilian Real (35 Million US Dollar), including 50 Million paid by the local government. The rest comes from private sponsors including the Roberto Marinho Foundation.”
I wonder what’s the next silly project…
Why Is Twitter So Popular in Brazil?
Time Magazine can tell you. But so can I. (Was that 140 characters or less?)
There are two reasons Twitter is popular in Brazil. One is that as more and more people in up-and-coming countries get online, the Internet becomes democratic, giving everyone access to the same content. Said content can be extremely interesting or, as in most cases, it can leave you like a dog chasing its tail, filling your mind with one-thousand bytes of useless information (at which point you may wish to ask yourself what conclusions about life would you be coming to had you not spent that hour reading nonsense).
Reason two is that Brazil has a celebrity culture, much like the U.S. and Twitter gives ‘normal’ people the chance to connect with ‘special’ people who are one of the following: beautiful, powerful, young, or rich. In fact, this is a huge turn-off for getting me to take the service seriously because for every interesting news article on Brazil listed on Twitter, there are hundreds upon hundreds of Brazilian teen girls tweeting to and about Justin Bieber, Kaká, Beyonce, you-name-it.
Interesting what happens when you look into the etymology of the word ‘tweet’, as individual messages on Twitter are called. The word ‘tweet’ originated in the year 1845 and is imitative of the sound made by a small or young bird. If you were to follow that logic, that means users are either small (unimportant) or young (not mature), enjoy imitating non-original ideas in 140 characters (linguistic minimalism, no way to convey things in depth) and like to ‘follow’ people on stages/altars (actors, politicians or clergy…not that there are clergymen on Twitter).
Just a thought. Here are a few more by Time.
