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Who was the real ‘Girl from Ipanema’?
05.23.2018
10:21 am
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“The Girl from Ipanema” is one of the most covered songs of all time—second only to “Yesterday”—and an “elevator music” cliché the world over. The story behind the bossa nova standard is so well-known to most Brazilians that our readers there might find this a really obvious thing to write about, it’s not so well-known anywhere else, I don’t think.

Ipanema is trendy, beach district in south Rio de Janeiro. Near Ipanema Beach was Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim’s favorite hang-out, the Bar Veloso. Every day, the married musician would await the arrival of a “tall, and tan, and young and lovely” young girl who would pass by the bar on her way to the beach, never making eye contact with the bar’s patrons, even when she came in to buy cigarettes for her mother.

Jobim invited his friend, a writer and poet named Vinicius de Moraes to come by the Veloso to see this girl.  Eventually, after several days had passed, she walked by. Jobim said to his friend, ““Nao a coisa mais linda?” (Isn’t she the prettiest thing?) and de Moraes replied, “E a coisa cheia de gracia” (She’s full of grace).  Moraes wrote their banter on a napkin and this exchange became the seed from which the original Portuguese lyrics of “A Garota de Ipanema” (“The Girl from Ipanema”) grew.
 

 
A few years later, “The Girl from Ipanema” as performed by Astrud Gilberto, João Gilberto and Stan Getz, from album Getz/Gilberto became one of the top-selling records of 1964. Only the Beatles outsold the song and it was nominated for, and won, several Grammy awards.
 

 
But who was this beautiful girl from Ipanema?

From Stan Shepkowski’s “The Girl from Ipanema”:

Heloísa Eneida de Menezes Paes Pinto was a born and raised Rio de Janeiro girl – a true carioca.  The daughter of an army general from whom her mother divorced when Helô was 4, she grew up on the Rua Montenegro, some blocks up from the Bar Veloso.  At age 17 she was shy and quite self-conscious: she had crooked teeth, she felt she was too skinny, she suffered from frequent asthma attacks, and she had an allergy that reddened her face.  And on her way to and from school and on her treks to the beach, she had to walk by the Bar Veloso.

Although the song had been around since 1962, it wasn’t until 1964 that Helô learned the truth.  Friends introduced her to Tom Jobim, who still hadn’t worked up the courage to talk with her.  But with the ice finally broken, he set out to win her heart.  On their second date, he stated his love for her and asked her to marry him.  But she turned him down.  Two things got in the way.  Helô knew Tom was married and that he was “experienced,” whereas she was inexperienced and would not make him a good wife.  The other was that she had been dating a handsome young lad named Fernando Pinheiro from a prosperous family in Leblon since she was 15.  Undaunted by her refusal, Tom told her that she was the inspiration for the song.  This confirmed the rumors she had heard from others and, of course, thrilled her beyond imagination, but she still turned him down.

The world would not learn the truth until 1965.  Tired of all the gossip and particularly concerned that a contest was going to be held to select “the girl from Ipanema” Vinicius de Moraes held a press conference.  In a detoxification clinic in Rio where he was undergoing treatment (you’ve got to love poets), and with Helô at his side, de Moraes told the world.  And he offered her one more testament:

“She is a golden girl, a mixture of flowers and mermaids, full of light and full of grace, but whose character is also sad with the feeling that youth passes and that beauty isn’t ours to keep.  She is the gift of life with its beautiful and melancholic constant ebb and flow.”

 

 
Although Helô became an overnight sensation, Brazil was a very conservative country at the time and she did not take advantage of the modeling contracts and movie roles she was offered, opting instead to become a mother and housewife, marrying Fernando Pinheiro the following year.

That might have been the last the world would have heard of Helô Pinheiro, but in the late 1970s Pinhero’s companies fell on hard times and Helô gave birth to a handicapped son. Although reluctant to do so her entire life, faced with the situation she was in, Helô decided to capitalize on her identity as “the girl from Ipanema” and became a successful model, gossip columnist and television host. She endorsed over 100 products.“You move mountains, when it comes to providing for your children” she said.

In 2003, at the age of 58 and still quite lovely, Helô Pinheiro appeared with her own daughter, supermodel, actress and reality TV star, Ticiane Pinheiro in the pages of Playboy magazine, making her their oldest model, ever…

Continues after the jump…

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Posted by Richard Metzger
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05.23.2018
10:21 am
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Meet the David Bowie of Brazil: The wild, weird glam tropicália hybrid of Secos e Molhados
04.23.2018
01:03 pm
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Secos e Molhados (“The Dry & Wet”) was a hybrid glam-rock/Tropicália band formed in Brazil in 1971 during the most repressive phase of the military dictatorship. The band was short-lived, recording just two albums, but launched the career of feminine-sounding vocalist, Ney Matogrosso. Their name apparently refers to different categories of food in Brazilian supermarkets. Their unusual sound combined elements of baião, jazz, pop, glam and prog rock, along with Portuguese folklore, Brazilian and Portuguese poetry, and instruments of Latin American music.
 

 
Matogrosso’s distinctive voice is “sopranino” meaning that he can hit notes higher than F6. Now 76, he’s still a huge star in Brazil, but has dropped the wild costumes and make-up, concentrating more on the purely vocal aspects of his talents, and re-interpreting classic Brazilian pop songs.
 

 
João Ricardo, who founded the group, and Gerson Conrad were the other two members. Secos e Molhados recorded in a wide variety of styles. Their innovative make-up and costuming caused a sensation, if not exactly scandal, in early 70s Brazil and they sold millions of records. An urban legend in Brazil was that KISS copied their makeup from them. Although entirely possible, this seems unlikely as their albums were released only in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Portugal.

Below, Secos e Molhados performing “Flores Astrais.”

 
More Secos e Molhados after the jump…

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Posted by Richard Metzger
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04.23.2018
01:03 pm
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‘Blasphemous’ Brazilian artist under fire for turning religious figures into pop culture icons
02.27.2016
10:45 am
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Brazilian artist, Ana Smile, has created a bit of controversy with her company Santa Blasphemy, which creates plaster religious statues painted in the form of pop-culture icons such as Batman, Frida Kahlo, Catwoman, Captain Hopper, The Joker, and Minnie Mouse.

Reportedly, angry emails from offended Catholics have been sent petitioning the local government to do something about the “blasphemous” paint jobs, but the government has not attempted to intervene. Since then, the artist has been bombarded with outraged Facebook and Instagram messages.

The artist has stated (via the magic of Google Translate):

So it frustrates me so much this whole brouhaha in recent days. The pieces were created as decorative items. It has nothing to do with religion.

Continuing, Smile indicated that she is not dissuaded by the outrage, and will continue her work:

I’m so bogged down from people interested in buying and know the work positively that the last thing I’ll do is read this petition.

Here are some of Smile’s “blasphemies”:
 

 

 
Many more after the jump…

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Posted by Christopher Bickel
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02.27.2016
10:45 am
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Watch ‘Island of Flowers’ NOW, a Vonnegut-inspired dark comedy short on humans, garbage & freedom
06.26.2015
09:09 am
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I had seen the brilliant 1989 short film Ilha das Flores (translation, Isle of Flowers) before, but in the original Portuguese with subtitles. The narration is so poetic and coy, I was thrilled to find this wonderful version dubbed in English, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Writer and director Jorge Furtado actually said the piece was in part inspired by Kurt Vonnegut, and you can certainly hear it in the cadence of the narration (and subject matter), but there is also a Pythonesque humor to this absurdist little “documentary,” very reminiscent of the black humor in The Meaning of Life. I mean the opening credits land the first punch with, “God doesn’t exist.”

The “story” of the film begins with a Japanese-Brazilian farmer, who grows tomatoes that are later purchased in a supermarket by a nice middle-class door-to-door perfume saleslady. She then cooks these tomatoes into a sauce for her nice middle-class family—throughout all this the narrator is taking little contextual detours along the way on matters like evolution and the Holocaust. The story spins back and forth with cutting little observations on labor alienation and capitalism, until eventually we arrive at the titular Isle of Flowers, the tragic, ugly side of all our modern conveniences.

I won’t give it away—you just have to watch.
 

Posted by Amber Frost
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06.26.2015
09:09 am
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‘Sad Brazilians’: Website dedicated to Brazilians crying
07.09.2014
01:39 pm
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As the whole damned planet knows by now Germany slaughtered Brazil during their semi-final match yesterday. Lots of Brazilians were losing their shit and crying. I’ve never really understood the extreme emotional response some people have over their team losing (or winning). Perhaps I’m just not enough of a sports fanatic and I simply don’t get it?

Either way, there’s a website dedicated to Brazilians with serious cases of the sads over their epic loss to Germany.


 

 

 

 

 

 
via Sad Brazilians

Posted by Tara McGinley
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07.09.2014
01:39 pm
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Arnold Schwarzenegger is an ass man (hilariously inappropriate)
02.11.2013
02:55 pm
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Arnold Schwarzenegger goes to Carnaval in Rio. Hilarity ensues!

“You know something, after watching the mullatos shake it, I can absolutely understand why Brazil is totally devoted to my favorite body part, the ass.”

Easy to see how the former body builder, Hollywood action star and one-time occupant of the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, CA got his “Der Gropenator” nickname…

“I learned one word yesterday… BUNDA!!!

The part where he teaches her some English is pretty classic.
 

 
Thank you Syd Garon!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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02.11.2013
02:55 pm
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Google Street View tells an odd story
01.11.2012
03:09 pm
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Okay, This is even weirder than the hovering pliers-shaped spaceship previously spotted in the UK. You need to *click* on the woman taking a stroll at this Brazilian address: R. Flor de Tipuana - Santa Terezinha. Then look at what happens.

This is just odd, right?  But what is even stranger are the events Redditors noticed on Google Street View that follow:

Redditor anexanhume says: “I offer the following without comment.”

Redditor squidesquide then points out: “Now I feel bad for her.”

Finally, Redditor danc4498 notices: “I feel like these people are laughing at her.”

Jeez, I hope she’s all right! . 

(via reddit)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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01.11.2012
03:09 pm
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Brazilian drug raid typography
09.26.2011
04:38 pm
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I don’t speak Portuguese so it’s a little hard for me to tell you exactly what’s going on here, but from what I gather, Brazilian police spell out their departments’ names in acronyms with seized drugs or weapons and then take a photo of it for bragging rights.

Go to Fabio Lopez’s Flickr page to see larger image.

(via The Good Blood)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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09.26.2011
04:38 pm
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Animation: Brazilian footballer describes New York City blackout of 1977


 
Brazilian footballer, Carlos Alberto Torres, describes his arrival to NYC on July 13, 1977 during the citywide blackout in this animation for Umbro.
 

 
(via HYST)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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07.18.2011
12:18 pm
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Dilma Rousseff - Brazil’s First Female President Sworn into Office
01.02.2011
12:13 pm
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Brazil’s first female President, Dilma Rousseff has been sworn into office. At her swearing in, President Rousseff said:

“I know the historical significance of this decision. Today, all Brazilian women should feel proud and happy.”

Rousseff, a former Marxist guerilla who was imprisoned and tortured during Brazil’s long dictatorship for her involvement in a series of bank robberies in the 1970s, said at her 40-minute inauguration speech, “That at times this tough path made me value and love life much more. It gave me, more than anything else, courage to confront even bigger challenges. It’s with this courage that I’m going to govern Brazil.”

Rousseff has appointed nine women to her cabinet of 37 ministers - a record for Brazil, and traveled to the event in a Rolls Royce surrounded by female security guards - another first - she also said:

““The most determined struggle will be to eradicate extreme poverty. We can be a more developed and fairer country.
I will not rest while there are Brazilians without food on their table, homeless in the streets, and poor children abandoned to their luck.”

The new President gave support to “the ‘free press’ than the silence of the dictatorship.”

“I come to open doors for many other women can be presidents.

I come not to praise my biography. My commitment is to protect the weak, and govern for all.

We are experiencing the awakening of a new Brazil; innovation will be a key tool to be competitive in international markets”.

The destiny of a country depends not only on its government but of all people who live in it, I’ll be with everyone.

I extend my hand to the opposition parties. From now on I am the president of all Brazilians.”

 

 
With thanks to Danielle Delgado
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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01.02.2011
12:13 pm
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Sweet short films of Brazilian star Seu Jorge contemplating Kraftwerk’s Model
12.21.2010
01:28 am
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New-generation samba-soulster and actor Jorge Mario da Silva a.k.a. Seu (“Mister”) Jorge has risen from drug addiction and homelessness in Rio’s Belford Roxo favelas to international renown. The world has seen the Brazilian go from playing the amazing villain Mané Galinha in City of God, to crooning Bowie tunes in Portugese as Pelé Dos Santos in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Now filmmaker Kahlil Joseph has captured some of the Jorge magic in conjunction with the singer’s eponymous album with the group Almaz, made up of folks from the Recife-based mangue bit band Nação Zumbi. In the two elliptical b&w vignettes below, Joseph finds Jorge wandering around a tasty Hollywood bungalow, musing on his mysterious muse, The Model, the undergoddess, the Oshun. His opaque handling of Kraftwerk’s tentative klassic is a sight to be heard…
 

 
After the jump: Check out the revelation of the Model…

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Posted by Ron Nachmann
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12.21.2010
01:28 am
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Rock against repression: Gal Costa, “Milho Verde” and the banning of India

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Brazilian singer and birthday girl Gal Costa started her career during the Costa e Silva and Médici military juntas in Brazil, and from the top there was no stopping her. Joining up with the renegade Tropicalia movement in 1968, Costa helped make history with a group of musicians led by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil.

In 1973, in an atmosphere rife with governmental repression, torture and strict press censorship, Costa unleashed the album India, which sported a Sticky Fingers-esque cover that got the album immediately banned from the shelves. Based on a themed live show and arranged and produced by Gil and recently rediscovered funk-meister Arthur Verocai, India comprised a great bunch of post-Tropicalia experimental rock tunes, a version of Tom Jobim’s bossa classic “Desafinado,” and this intense version of the Portugese folk tune “Milho Verde.” 
 

 
Bonus clip after the jump: an Afro’ed Gal tears down the house in 1968 with Veloso & Gil’s “Divinho Marvilhoso” at IV Festival de Música Popular Brasileira!
 

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Posted by Ron Nachmann
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09.26.2010
12:42 pm
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Erasmo Carlos And Brazil’s Rock And Roll Revolution
07.29.2010
08:26 pm
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Erasmo Carlos is a Brazilian singer and songwriter who regularly appeared on the influential sixties Brazilian music tv show called Jovem Guarda (Young Guard). The show spawned a whole scene of young rockers and pop singers, including Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil, Roberto Carlos, Wanderlea and later Maria Bethânia and Gal Costa.

Jovem Guarda came to signify a musical movement more than a mere television show. The ‘Young Guard’ bands eventually went from American garage rock and British Invasion pop styles to more adventurous music , exploring psychedelia, jazz and the avant garde.

Erasmo Carlos is still recording and hugely popular in Brazil.

In the first video (which contains footage from ‘Mondo Mod’), Erasmo performs Vem Quente Que Eu Estou Fervendo (I’m So Hot, I’m Boiling), a tasty slice of Brazilian garage rock. The second video is a compilation of clips of bands performing on Jovem Guarda.

 
video clips from Jovem Guarda after the jump…

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Posted by Marc Campbell
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07.29.2010
08:26 pm
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