The Burton Holmes Archive has information about Burton Holmes, the travel writer who became the first person to make filmic travelogues. More importantly, they also have a lot of film clips by Holmes and his associate, André de la Varre, who was also a great travelogue maker himself. Watching these clips is not quite time travel, but it is as close as we can get. Take a look at Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1926, Lake Michigan in 20s, Cairo in 1932 and the 1955 Rio de Janeiro carnival. The later films have sound and narration, but I prefer the silent ones. [Burton Holmes previously, André de la Varre previously, and the Travel Film Archive, which runs Burton Holmes site, previously]
posted by Kattullus on Oct 26, 2011 - 5 comments

The media portrayed it as a fight between good cops and evil drug dealers. According to that point of view...
posted by Fiasco da Gama on Oct 21, 2011 - 14 comments

Good morning. I know that every second of weekend freedom is precious to you so I won’t waste your time with superfluous verbiage. Or superfluous links, for that matter. So here goes: Leo Justi is a DJ from Rio De Janeiro. He has quite a few tracks on his Soundcloud page but the three that come highly recommended are: "Dunno Riddim (Kid Conga Remix Instrumental)", "Floor Crank 3.3" and (mildly NSFW language)"Blacqstar – Go Get My Gun (Leo Justi Remix of Carli’s Remix)".
posted by jason's_planet on Feb 27, 2011 - 8 comments

Complexo da Maré is one of the oldest favelas in Rio, and a new short documentary, Te Vejo Mare, shows how, despite the headlines and violence, a community and culture manages to thrive there. As featured on today's Guardian website: Welcome to Complexo da Maré (10:16), The Samba Is Infinite (10:22), Fighting for Peace (11:00)
posted by HP LaserJet P10006 on May 19, 2010 - 4 comments

Brazil Wants to Build a Wall Social and economic problems out of control? No problem. Brazil plans to literally build a 10 foot wall to separate the haves from the have nots.
posted by muppetboy on Apr 12, 2004 - 27 comments

Rio Blames It On The Simpsons. 'The Simpsons...visited Brazil last week (and) made some offbeat observations. (They) found that Rio de Janeiro is a city where all men are bisexual, where fearsome monkeys roam the streets, and tourists are kidnapped by taxi drivers and mugged by children. Unfortunately, the Rio tourist board did not see the funny side and is preparing to sue the producers, Fox, for damage to its international image and loss of revenue. The issue threatens to become a diplomatic incident.'.

How something so obviously ripping the shit out of stereotyping can be so misinterpreted is beyond me, but now 'The Brazilian president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, has entered the fray claiming that the cartoon "brought a distorted vision of Brazilian reality."' Surely the shows makers were trying to do a service to Rio by rubbishing the stereotypes? Apologies, I ain't seen the show, but if you did, what did you think?
posted by boneybaloney on Apr 9, 2002 - 38 comments

Not Flying Down To Rio For The Carnival? Never mind! Beat the crowds but catch the beat by listening to this year's terrific sambas before the rest of the world can. This is the real shanty-town stuff, not the watered-down touristy rubbish[WindowsMedia required]that passes for Samba. This year my favourite for first prize is Mangueira. What's yours? The Brazilian Carnival[learn all about it here] starts Saturday and goes on straight through to Tuesday. For the latest inside information - including the Bin Laden Mask controversy - O Globo's special web site[In Portuguese]is unbeatable. Enjoy!
posted by MiguelCardoso on Feb 6, 2002 - 13 comments