Brazilian Day Festival in New York
The 2006 Brazilian Day festival takes place on 46th Street between 5th Avenue and Broadway, and on 6th Avenue between 43rd Street and 57th Street.After a brief setback at this year's World Cup, where Brazil lost in the quarterfinals, people are celebrating in the streets for beloved Brazil once again. The occasion is Brazil's Independence Day, a party celebrating their separation from Portugal every first Sunday in September (the official date is September 7th). Last year over 1 million people reportedly danced in the streets, eating traditional food and listening to two stages of live music.
The 22nd annual green-and-yellow festival is highlighted by energetic musicians on the main stage at 46th Street and 6th Avenue. The axe music of
Babado Novo, the hugely popular
Banda Calypso, the country singer
Leonardo, and the young brother-sister singing duo
Sandy & Junior are featured performers. Traffic is restricted to pedestrians, but still come early, especially if you want to hunt for authentic food like feijoada, canjica baiana and -- if you look hard enough -- picadinho de Jacare (alligator meat). Come early, stay late and samba all day!
When: 09/03/06
What: Brazilian Day Festival
Time: 10:00AM-7:00PM
Where: between 43rd Street and 57th Street - New York
Official Site: Brazilian Day Festival
Brazilian Felipe Massa claim the first F1 win of his career
Massa, 24, who has taken his first pole position a day earlier, never put a foot wrong aboard his Ferrari as he won by 5.575 seconds from Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher - who was under the Renault driver"s rear wing at the end.
Massa wore the look of a man who was overcome with deep satisfaction during the post-race celebrations on the podium, and afterwards admitted that it was the best moment of his career.
"It's like a dream come true," he said. "I've worked so hard during my career for this moment. It's amazing. Looking back to everything I'd done in my life to get here, there are lots of emotions.
"I did a very good start and had a very good first lap. The car was well balanced during whole race.
"Every single part of the race the car was responding in a fantastic way and I could just keep the gap and not drive too aggressive."
The current overall leader Fernando Alonso of Renault finished in second place, ahead of the seven-time champion Schumacher, who came in third. The Spaniard extended his driver's championship lead to 12 points ahead of Schumacher, with just four races remaining.
David Lee Roth sheduled to play in Brazil
Former VAN HALEN frontman
David Lee Roth has been confirmed as the headliner of the Brazilian edition of the Live N' Louder festival, set to take place October 14 at Arena Skol Anhembi in São Paulo. Roth will not be appearing at the Mexican Live N' Louder date, which is scheduled for October 7 at Palacio De Los Deportes in Mexico City. The previously announced Argentine date for the Live N' Louder festival (October 12 in Buenos Aires) has now apparently been scrapped, although this has not yet been officially confirmed.
The Live N' Louder festival – October 14, 2006 at Arena Skol Anhembi in São Paulo, Brazil:
DAVID LEE ROTH
STRATOVARIUS
SAXON
SEPULTURA
AFTER FOREVER
GOTTHARD
DORO
NEVERMORE
MASSACRATION
MINDFLOW
Brazilians got gold and silver on the X Games Vert Skate
On Thursday night at The STAPLES Center,
Sandro Dias' first run was good enough for gold. It was also the Brazilian's first skateboard vert gold medal at the X Games. Bob Burnquist nabbed silver and Bucky Lasek took home the bronze. Andy Macdonald missed the podium, just 0.25 points behind Lasek.
Dias best finish in skate vert was a bronze at X Games 11, but he holds several vert titles from the Latin X Games and Asian X Games.
"I thought my score was too high," quipped Dias, when asked if he was surprised his first run was enough for the victory. "But I love the judges."
That winning run included a backside 540 McTwist to tail, a gnar jar 540, heelflip to frontside slider and ollie to fakie.
Burnquist, another Brazilian, and Lasek both had strong runs with opportunities to take the gold, but in the end came up short. Burnquist fell on his final two runs on a switch kickflip after a frontside air to backside air.
"I feel very good about that run, because I connected every obstacle and it flowed all the way through," said Burnquist. "The switch kickflip that I couldn't land I'll definitely lose sleep over that because I usually can land it. I think that if I had landed that, I might have got the gold."
Lasek put together a run that included a frontside air 540, ollie flip fakie and stalefish.
"My body felt good for as battered as it was," Lasek said. "I was feeling it on my third run but I was seeing about eight walls ahead of myself and fell on something easy."
'House Of Sand' a beautiful drama
PLOT: This Brazilian turn-of-the-century drama finds an elderly mother and pregnant daughter living in the remote desert after being dragged there by the younger woman's husband. Eventually, circumstances beyond their control shape their destinies in ways they couldn't have imagined.
Incredibly, the Brazilian film,
The House Of Sand, was a special presentation at last year's Toronto International Film Festival.
I say incredibly because I can't believe it took this long for such a lovely film to see the light of day in Toronto.
Essentially a dramatic saga within an art-house film, The House Of Sand tells the story of two Brazilian women who find themselves living in extremely difficult conditions in the middle of nowhere at the turn of the century.
The younger woman Aurea (Fernanda Montenegro) is pregnant and at the mercy of her demented older husband Vasco (Ruy Guerra) and has also brought along her sick, elderly mother Don Maria (Fernanda Torres).
In the movie's striking opening scenes, the two women struggle to walk in their long skirts through the glorious-looking sand dunes of Maranhao, Brazil, and those humans-versus-the-elements images evoked by Jane Campion's The Piano come to mind.
"This is no place for a child -- this is no place for anyone," Aurea tells Vasco, who isn't willing to listen.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, the workers hired by Vasco soon desert the camp after being confronted by a hostile group of runaway slaves.
The next morning an outraged Vasco attempts to continue working on the house, built out of palms and clay on the sand near a lagoon, but perishes almost immediately.
The two women then find themselves alone, having to fend for themselves in rather grim and desolate surroundings.
But their plight almost immediately gains the sympathies of of one of the initially hostile runaway slaves, Massu. He's played by Brazilian singer-turned-actor Seu Jorge, who was so memorable in The Life Aquatic as the Portuguese-singing, Bowie-covers-playing shipmate.
Massu fishes on the ocean with his young son and lives in a simple, rustic hut, and offers up what food he can, but a rival for Aurea's attentions soon comes in the form of a dashing army officer (Enrique Diaz) who's leading a scientific expedition through the desert.
The House Of Sand, which follows the women's lives over six decades, is remarkable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it marks the first time that the acting mother and daughter team of Montenegro and Torres have appeared in a movie together.
Both convey beauty, strength and dignity in their respective multiple roles -- to say anything more would give too much away -- and are thoroughly believable and incredibly moving.
Meanwhile, the panaoramic imagery (the movie was shot in a national park in Brazil) is awe-inspiring, whether it's Auera sleeping amongst the dunes in the starlight, or later witnessing a rare solar eclipse in the middle of the day.
Director Andrucha Waddington (Me You Them), who has an extensive background in making commercials, finds that experience paying off as the astonishing visuals become just as important as the accomplished acting.
Often little has to be said to say so much.
The House Of Sand is in Portuguese with English sub-titles.
BOTTOM LINE: Incredible desert scenery and moving performances by real-life mother and daughter Brazilian actresses Fernanda Montenegro and Fernanda Torres make this art-house film one of the must-sees of the year.
Brazil's Ceni becomes most deadly goalkeeper in football history
Rogerio Ceni of Brazil scored twice on Sunday night to become the biggest-scoring goalkeeper in football history with now 64 goals.
Ceni, 33, first scored with a free kick and then on a penalty in a 2-2 draw of his club Sao Paulo at Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte.
Citing the ruling body FIFA, news reports said that Ceni's double gives him 64 goals overall, two more than Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert (62) scored in his career.
'The record makes me very happy. But I am happy for every goal my team scores,' said Ceni.
The 16-times capped Ceni has been at the Sao Paulo club since 1990. He was voted Brazil's best goalkeeper three times by the Placar football paper and was Brazil reserve keeper at the 2002 and 2006 World Cup.
Brazilian jeans Forum starts new ad campaign
Different than other jeans brand, the Brazilian company Forum decided to focus its new campaign against the unethical problems Brazilians face in their everyday life (corruption, violence, poverty, etc). The result is a very fun, yet concious campaign. Here are some photos of the new ads:
4th Annual Brazilian Film Festival of New York
After a successful 10-year celebration in Miami, the Brazilian Film Festival (BRAFF) prepares to launch its fourth edition in the Big Apple. From August 6th to 13th, 2006, the festival will once again offer New Yorkers a versatile programming schedule comprised of more than 20 of the most relevant Brazilian film productions. Most of them are either N.Y. or U.S. premieres. Festival attendees will also have the opportunities to attend panel discussions with directors, producers and actors and enjoy Brazilian musical events featuring local and international talent. The films will be competing for the Crystal Lens Awards - Best Public Choice for feature film chosen by the public. From August 7–13, screenings will be held at Tribeca Cinemas (54 Varick Street at Laight Street).
Opening night festivities begin at 7 pm, Sunday, August 6th at the Summer Stage in Central Park with an incredible performance by musician
Lenine, who, according to Rolling Stone magazine provide us with “a samba-rock fusion more rhythmically aggressive than bossa nova but just as melodically lush, with Hendrix-ian guitar and fat electrobeats pushing the sound into heavy funk territory”. Lenine won two Latin Grammys in 2005 for Best Brazilian Contemporary Pop Album (InCité) and best Brazilian song (Ninguém faz Idéia). His blend of MPB, rock, hip-hop, and traditional music is the perfect way to open the Brazilian Film Festival of New York.
Following Lenine’s performance, and still under a Brazilian music spell the film This is Bossa Nova – The History and Stories, takes over the Summer Stage, for a special
outdoor screening. This documentary directed by Paulo Thiago takes us to the birth of Brazilian music in the early fifties that would attain definite international recognition in 1962 with the memorable concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall. This is Bossa Nova – The History and Stories recently won the Proud to be a Brazilian Award during the 10th edition of the Brazilian Film Festival of Miami.
Tickets for The 4th Brazilian Film Festival of New York are available at the Tribeca Cinemas box office (54 Varick Street, at Laight Street) and online (
www.tribecacinemas.com).
Ticket prices are $12 for adults, $8 for seniors and students. VIP Pass: $120. Admission to all screenings, panels, and Galas. Free access to the Festival’s Lounge in Tribeca Cinemas. Complimentary beer.
For more information and online tickets, log on to
www.brazilianfilmfestival.com or call 1877 273 4563
The most beautifull Brazilian Actors/Actress
The Brazilian magazine,
Contigo, just launched a list of the top 50 most beautifull faces of the Brazilian TV. This is the third year that the magazine promotes this survey among its users, and after 30 days and more than 10 thousand votes, here is the final TOP 10 list by gender:
The most beautiful woman on Brazilian TV:
1- Angelica
2- Fernanda Lima
3- Ana Paula Arosio
4- Cleo Pires
5- Juliana Paes
6- Malu Mader
7- Mariana Ximenes
8- Carolina Dickman
9- Ivete Sangalo
10- Adriana Galisteu
The most beautiful man on Bhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifrazilian TV:
1-Reynaldo Gianecchini
2-Marcello Antony
3-Bruno Garcia
4-Willian Bonner
5-Bruno Gagliasso
6-Henri Castelli
7-Fabio Assuncao
8-Vladimir Brichta
9-Caua Raymond
10-Murilo Benicio
Full list is available
here
Starbucks to open its 1st store in Brazil
Starbucks in May said it would open its first store in Brazil within a year through a joint venture with Cafes Sereia do Brasil Participacoes SA, a Brazilian holding company that also runs McDonald's and Outback Steakhouse restaurants.
Brazil is the No. 2 coffee-drinking nation behind the U.S. The first Brazil store is set to open next year in Sao Paulo.
Starbucks plans to open 1,800 stores overall this year. Thomas Weisel Partners LLC analyst Matthew DiFrisco estimates Starbucks will exceed that goal with about 1,950 stores in 2006.
The company had opened 1,543 stores through the first nine months of the year, or 86 percent of its goal, New York-based DiFrisco said in a July 24 research note. For the past two years, Starbucks had opened about 66 percent of its targeted new stores by the end of the third quarter, he said.
So now, it is time to wait and enjoy Starbucks in Brazil...
