Category Archives: São Paulo

More Divorces, Easier to Divorce?

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The State of São Paulo’s registry office of notes had, last year, 9,317 divorces, an increase of 109% in relation to 2009, when there were 4,459 separations. The study was done by CNB-SP (Notary College of Brazil – São Paulo Section), an entity that represents the sector for the State.

The entity attributed the expressive growth to the ease with which couples can publish their divorce. In July of last year, via the Constitutional Amendment 66, the waiting period was extinguished. Before, couples only could part ways officially after one year of formal separation or two years while living in different houses.

Also according to the statement, the notary divorces began in 2007 following the authorization obtained through Law 11,441. That year, there were 4,080 formalizations without the need for judiciary input “because they were resolved consensually in a notary office.” That number rose to 4,394 the following year.” – Folha

My Take

Either more people wanted to divorce before, yet found the process too cumbersome, meaning it’s just an easier way out now or more people are getting divorced ‘these days’. For this year, I’m predicting drive-through divorce or divorce by text. “Sorry I didn’t get the eggs and milk like you asked…didn’t you get my text earlier???” Jokes aside, I wonder if it’s also getting easier to get married, too, in Brazil (seeing as there’s no “Sin City”, like Las Vegas, there).

The more we facilitate the break-up of the family unit, the harder it will be to bond, and when there is no one to rely on, we become more succeptable to outside influences. Soon, we’ll all be ‘alone together’ (article, video).

PS – See comments

Bullet Train May Carry Mail, Ease Traffic

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“The Ministry of Communications stated today that the government is studying the possibility that the Mail and Telegraph Company (ECT) may become a fixed client of the bullet-train that will connect the cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Campinas.

According to the ministry, the minister Paulo Bernardo already solicited the new president of Correios, Wagner Pinheiro, to start talks with the National Agency of Land Transport (ANTT) to discuss the project. The minister estimates that close to 80% of Correios’ service traffic is concentrated in the metropolitan areas of Rio and São Paulo. The expectation is that, with Correios having a dedicated wagon for correspondences and parcels, the State can take a large quantity of trucks off the Via Dutra.

The minister believes that the anticipated contract with Correios could guarantee investors that the bullet-train could start right off with a fixed client. The transport of small parcels had already been announced by ANTT as an alternative for entrepreneurs to obtain extra revenues, which do not include direct compensation by means of passenger transport tariffs and economic exploitation of the stations.

The bullet-train auction, also known as the High Velocity Train (TAV), will occur in April. The estimated investment needed is R$33.1 billion, with a maximum timeframe of five years for construction and 40 years for service exploitation.” – Valor Online

Sampaio Moreira – São Paulo’s First Skyscraper

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“Built in 1920, Edificio Sampaio Moreira was the first skyscraper in São Paulo and stands in the Anhangabau Valley, in the heart of the city. The area has already been through a golden age and a spell of decline, and is currently going through a period of revitalization.” – Red Bull House of Art (see how it’s currently being used)

“Considered a colossus, at the time, it even scared people.” – Cristiano das Neves, the architect.

With 13 stories and 50 meters in height, the Sampaio Moreira building ranked as the tallest building in São Paulo between 1924, the year of its inauguration, and 1929, when it was beat out by the Edifício Martinelli (with 30 stories). It is considered the first large multistoried building in the city, as well as one of the first in the country to present such typology. Considered the “prototype” of São Paulo’s never-ending skyscrapers – built in a time when other buildings maxed out at 4 stories -, the Sampaio Moreira building is registered as a historic site by the city due to its historical and architectural importance.


(Martinelli on the left and Sampaio Moreira on the right)

More Info

Prédio Sampaio Moreira (in PT, with old photos)
The Verticalization of São Paulo (in PT)

São Paulo Street Art Taking Over SP Museum

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“The first time graffiti artist Mister Dheo went out “bombing” was in the dead of night, splashing cheap supermarket paint on the walls of an abandoned factory.  ‘I didn’t even have a name yet. I just wanted to paint, and to feel that adrenaline. I was young, and it was totally different from how it is now.’

Times have changed indeed. A decade later, Dheo doesn’t have to creep around when he wants to leave his mark. This month, his work will feature alongside 65 other street artists at São Paulo’s innaugural Graffiti Fine Art Biennale, held at the city’s prestigious museum of sculpture, MuBE.” – Source (more here)

More Info

Short Documentary (w/ English subs)

Alex Atala – Brazil’s Top Chef

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He is seen as one of the most exciting chefs of his generation, and the first Brazilian chef to become well known outside his own country. Alex Atala is a mega-celebrity in Brazil, and his name there is a synonym for fine food.

He was a punk and a DJ, with tattoos and an irreverent attitude, working in a night club in São Paulo. He was restless, curious, and wanted to see the world. When he was 18 years old he saved a little money, sold his records and left his country to backpack through Europe. In Belgium, he first worked as a wall painter to survive, washed dishes in a restaurant, until he was convinced by a friend to enrol in a catering school. This was not a career choice, but an easy way to get a work permit. He never thought that this accidental choice would give his life a new direction! After graduating, Atala was in Italy, France, and in Belgium where he worked at Jean Pierre Bruneau’s Restaurant and with the legendary Chef Bernard Loiseau at the Cote D’Or Hotel. In 1994 he returned to Brazil with a solid foundation in French cuisine, and with a great desire to find his own culinary identity. He developed this identity in the following years after his return. In 1999 he opened the restaurant D.O.M. (an acronym for a Latin phrase meaning “God, the best and greatest”). Thus began a new era in the Brazilian Gastronomy. – Source (article by Luciana Bianchi)

There is a reason why Alex Atala’s D.O.M. is rated the top restaurant in São Paulo, Brazil and Latin America, year-after-year… and this year, D.O.M. is ranked #24 in the World by Restaurant Magazine. Alex now has a new restaurant in the same neighborhood in São Paulo. The restaurant is called Dalva e Dito, a culinary tribute to 100% Brazilian food.

More Info

Bloomberg article

The Working ‘Girls’ of the Praça da Luz

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I came across a 15-minute documentary (with English subtitles) called 69 Praça da Luz which tells the story of prostitutes of an advanced age that earn their living in ‘Light Plaza’ in São Paulo. If you are going to watch it, keep in mind that the verbal content is quite explicit since they are talking about their jobs and their clients, nonetheless, it’s a rare view into the lives of a section of society that is often lived in the shadows.

Best Documentary at the Festival do Rio 2008
Best Short – Jury Selection at the Festival Mix Brasil 2007
Best Documentary at the Festival Mix Brasil 2007
Best Short – Jury Selection at the Lisbon Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2008
Best Documentary at the Vale Curtas 2008
Best Brazilian Film at the Vale Curtas 2008

69 – Praça da luz / 69 – Luz Square

If Vimeo doesn’t let you seemlessly stream the documentary, try waiting until it is completely loaded. Otherwise, there’s a Portuguese-only option of the longer version on Youtube.

The Birth of Brazilian Installment Plans?

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“Shopping in Brazil before the late 19th century meant facing a Portuguese immigrant, almost always serious, standing behind a counter, demanding guarantees to grant credit. Around the 1880s, however, common men carrying bags full of fabric, thread and lace started knocking on the doors of Brazilians.

They spoke little Portuguese and were always ready to lower the prices of products and to accept payment in installments, as they would return later.

They were the Arab immigrants who, without planning it, brought innovation to the activity they chose as their breadwinner in Brazil, trade.

“They brought a breath of fresh air to trade in Brazil – marked by the Portuguese traditionalism – with credit, discounts, and stock flow. Trade was reinvented,” said Oswaldo Truzzi, a professor at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and author of book “Patricians – Syrians and Lebanese in São Paulo.”

As they carried their merchandise, they could not walk and walk, selling nothing. “So they sold in installments, gave discounts and traded,” said the professor.” – Source (more)

São Paulo as an Emerging Creative Center

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“It is known as Batman’s Alley and on Google Maps it looks like any of the hundreds of narrow inner streets that twist and turn within Sao Paulo’s blocks. What makes it different and cannot be seen from above is that every single wall in its 100m extension is covered top-to-bottom with graffiti of all shapes and colours. The graffiti here are not the average large-letter tags, although there is a lot of that. Batman’s Alley or Beco do Batman, in Portuguese, resembles more an open-air street art gallery, where abstract, surreal, psychedelic and geometric paintings colourfully co-exist.

You only need to drive for a few blocks in Brazil’s biggest city to encounter its thriving graffiti culture. It is the most visible expression of a new, creative, buzzing Sao Paulo that has emerged in the last 10 years. A vast and diverse network of musicians, playwrights, film-makers, painters, cartoonists, actors, singers, DJs, writers, poets, dancers, architects and fashion designers have not only been busy producing work but are also helping to lend 21st Century Sao Paulo a cosmopolitan, artistic edge which is unprecedented.

“Foreigners use the word ‘energy’ a lot to describe Sao Paulo,” says Baixo Ribeiro, who along with his wife Mariana Martins, has fostered and promoted urban and street artists since 2003 through their gallery Choque Cultural. “They say they feel a vibe which is different to other places. It has a lot to do with the zeitgeist: Brazil and other countries which were always secondary but that are now emerging strongly.” – BBC (more here)

 More Info
Batman’s Alley
Curumin on Myspace Music
Video Report about Rua Augusta (in PT)
Choque Cultural Art Gallery