"But it is the worry that the key source of corporate profitability — Chinese labor — may no longer be docile and cheap for much longer that mainly nags at the country's corporate guests as well as its rising capitalist class. And many fear that the very ruthlessness that Zizek talks about — the iron fist that the Chinese state has deployed over the last three decades in order to achieve the unbeatable 'China price' —
has become a central part of the problem."
posted by notion
on Jul 9, 2011 -
30 comments
Copa América is streamed live on YouTube. Copa América is the oldest international football competition, having been held first in 1916. This is a contest between the 10 South American nations and two invitational teams, this time Costa Rica and Mexico, who both sent young squads (Japan was slated to take part but
withdrew due to the earthquake). The tournament started yesterday with Bolivia unexpectedly managing to
hold Argentina to a draw. Colombia are currently beating a 10-man Costa Rica 1-0. Brazil start their campaign tomorrow, against Venezuela. One of the world's premier football writers, Jonathan Wilson, wrote previews of the three groups,
A,
B and
C. The Independent has more light-hearted
team previews.
posted by Kattullus
on Jul 2, 2011 -
13 comments
Current TV
previously & previously, the media company founded by Al Gore after the 2000 election, has picked up the kinds of in depth long form journalism being rapidly dropped by major networks, but has been tantalizingly unavailable for those without cable; until now. They have been putting their Vanguard episodes up on their website and on YouTube.
[more inside]
posted by Blasdelb
on Apr 30, 2011 -
24 comments
Lula's Brazil - "Compared with his predecessors, he had the imagination, born of social identification, to see that the Brazilian state could afford to be more generous to the least well-off, in ways that have made a substantial difference to their lives. But these concessions have come at no cost to the rich or comfortably-off, who in any absolute reckoning have done even better – far better – during these years. Does that really matter, it can be asked: isn't this just the definition of the most desirable of all economic outcomes, a Pareto optimum?" (
via via)
posted by kliuless
on Apr 7, 2011 -
16 comments
In 1971, a clinic in Brazil bought a radiation therapy machine. Fourteen years later, the practice closed and was abandoned. On September 13th, 1987, two men sold the inner canister of the machine for scrap. Upon breaking it open, a scrapyard employee found sparkling, glowing blue powder. It was distributed to family and friends, who used for decorative and magical purposes.
Sixteen days later, 112,000 people were in Olympic stadium, being tested for radiation poisoning. [more inside]
posted by nevercalm
on Mar 31, 2011 -
123 comments
Carnaval (or Carnival) week is over in Brazil, and the judges have decided: the winning samba schools of the two main parades in the country, Rio and São Paulo, were Beija-Flor and Vai-Vai. And both chose musicians as their themes.
Beija-Flor honored Roberto Carlos, known as the king of Brazilian music. From his origins in Jovem Guarda (an early form of Brazilian pop and
rock'n'roll) to the adoption of romantic melodies, he is considered a living Elvis Presley.
Vai-Vai, on the other hand, chose as a subject
João Carlos Martins - whose life could be a MeFi post in itself.
[more inside]
posted by Trielli
on Mar 9, 2011 -
2 comments
Elis Regina was perhaps the biggest Brazilian popstar of her time. The clip in the first link is a single song from a TV special she did in 1973, at the height of her powers, and which has been
put online in its entirety. The song, Águas de Março, was a Tom Jobim composition, which they
sang together on the album Elis & Tom, which also featured such gems as
Corcovado,
Inútil paisagem and
Triste. Over her career Elis Regina worked with a who's who of Brazilian popular music, and there's quite a lot of material out there. The best places I've found are YouTube channels
elisetom1974,
Eurachel and, though the Elis Regina material is mixed in with other stuff,
jordaoqualquer is a treasure trove. Elis Regina died from an alcohol and cocaine overdose in 1982, 36 years of age. Last year NPR had a
short appreciation of her as part of its 50 Great Voices series.
posted by Kattullus
on Feb 5, 2011 -
26 comments
Rhys Millen
drifting his 750-horsepower Hyundai Genesis coupe up Serra Do Rio Do Rastro in Santa Catarina, Brazil.
(SLYT hoon filter via.)
posted by Ahab
on Dec 2, 2010 -
48 comments
Retratos Pintados "Since the late 19th century through the 1990s, hand-painted photographic portraits were a common feature in homes in the rural areas of the northeastern Brazilian states. At a time when black-and-white photographs were not considered dramatic enough, the retratos
pintados (“painted portraits”) glamorized and idealized their subjects. Black-and-white family photos were enlarged and painted, conferring status on members of the family and portraying them as icons or saints. Using oil washes and other techniques specific to the region, local artisans embellished clothing with pattern and color, smoothed wrinkles, added jewelry or resurrected deceased relatives, illustrating the fantasies and desires of their customers."
posted by puny human
on Jul 19, 2010 -
7 comments
16 year old
Yonlu made
music that ranged from bossa nova to 8-bit music from the sounds of desktop printers, never knowing that he would someday make the pages of
Paste,
eMusic, and
Rolling Stone Brasil. He posted
It's Not Another
King Kong (later titled A Boy and the Tiger) to a gaming forum, where it was
met with praise.
More songs soon followed, which included English songs (
I Know What It's Like,
Humiliation), and also Portuguese songs (
Estrela,
Luana). Perhaps suffering from depression, Yonlu took his own life via carbon monoxide poisoning in 2006, just a few weeks before his 17th birthday. His
parents only learnt of his songwriting from a CD he left behind for them, with a note telling
them to listen to the CD "whenever they felt sad".
posted by Xere
on Jun 9, 2010 -
17 comments
Os Novos Baianos (The New Bahians) played psychedelic rock blended with regional Brazilian folk styles, heavily influenced by bossa nova maestro
João Gilberto.
In 1972, after recording
Acabou Chorare (which went on to top Rolling Stone Brazil's
list of best Brazilian albums ), the band moved to a far suburb of Rio de Janiero to live communally, play soccer, and work on the album
Novos Baianos F.C. (New Bahians Football Club). In 1973, German television sent music producer Solano Ribeiro to capture their daily life on film. It's around 45 minutes, broken up in six youtube videos:
1 2 3 4 5 6. No subtitles, but you won't need them too much. The audio is spotty, but it gets better.
[more inside]
posted by hydrophonic
on Jan 24, 2010 -
11 comments
Sunday night
60 Minutes aired a segment on the state of cyber crime & cyber terror which included the extraordinary claim that unknown hackers were behind massive power outages in Brazil in 2005 & 2007. Now Wired Magazine's
Threat Level blog says that's just not true. According to
two studies (PDF, Portuguese) by the Brazilian government it was buildup of soot on insulators that caused the blackouts, not super-hackers demonstrating their abilities. Is the US Intelligence Community
passing around false information to justify its relevance?
posted by scalefree
on Nov 10, 2009 -
52 comments
On September 10th, to celebrate their initiation week, 172 communications students at the University of Quebec at Montreal
decided to put on a show. After weeks of preparation, the costumed and prop-wielding crowd enacted
an exuberant, complex, and flawlessly-choreographed performance of the Black Eyed Peas song "I Gotta Feeling" that sprawled through the campus's multi-story Judith Jasmin Pavilion... and they did it all in
one continuous take (on their
second try). The feat is just the most recent example of "
lipdubbing" -- a video phenomenon where a single camera moves through a crowd of highly coordinated lip-syncers in a single seamless take, with the original recording dubbed over the finished product.
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Oct 1, 2009 -
83 comments
If you've ever heard the song Aquarela do Brasil (often called simply "Brazil" -- here's my favourite
cover), then you'll probably enjoy
this classic 1942 animation which first made it famous. The clip is the finale from the feature
Saludos Amigos (hello friends), created during a US government-funded goodwill tour of South America aimed at strengthening Pan-American relations, which
some argue may have helped bring South America onto the side of the Allies in World War II.
[more inside]
posted by PercussivePaul
on May 14, 2009 -
25 comments
