Carnaval begins!

On the beginning of the weekend madness and fun that is Carnaval, I thought it would be great to put up a link to the trailer for a film that debuted last year called O Samba Que Mora Em Mim (The Samba That Lives Within Me). It's a lovely film about Mangueira, the neighborhood that lends its name to one of Rio's oldest, biggest and most popular samba schools. My family are members of the school, meaning that they dress up, rehearse and perform as members of this school in the annual Carnaval parade/competition. You don't have to live in Mangueira to be a member of the Mangueira school; indeed, many famous celebrities are Mangueira members. But all samba school members respect the heritage of the traditions, people, music and year-long effort to make that one weekend during Carnaval the happiest, the shiniest, the best of the year. This film is the testament to that spirit, regardless of your circumstances. Check it out.

Fashion Week and old friends

With Fashion Week in full swing this week, it's hard to avoid the street style papparazzi and bloggers obsessively snapping the most sartorially correct boulevardiers. My fave shot of the day, though, was a photo of the always fashionable, fearless and wonderful Tim Gunn.

I met Tim when he was my New York neighbor and together we judged a neighbourhood dog fashion show I organized for our annual local block party. As ever, his presence was a hit with the crowds: witty, generous and devastatingly funny.

When my book first came out, I ran into him at a party and he was kind enough to do an impromptu endorsement on my behalf. I haven't looked at the video in a while, but when I saw the photo of him this morning looking dapper and fresh, I thought it would be a great time to dig this out and put it up for fun.

The sound quality, given the party atmosphere is not the greatest, but he is talking about his then move to Liz Claiborne as a creative director, to which he had transferred while Project Runway was in full swing.

Here's to you Tim!

China and Brazil: Neo-Colonialism on Display?

Yesterday at Cosban, the Sino-Brazilian Commission summit in the capitol of Brasilia, China's vice premier Wang Qishan expressed himself with interesting bluntness not usually heard in such diplomatic circumstances. He commented on his dissatisfaction with not having met business leaders during his stint at the Itamaraty capitol headquarters. To the ears of the politicians and diplomats arrayed around him, Vice Premier Wang's claims that business people carried "more weight" than government officers must have rankled more than a little. But can it truly be any surprise to Brazilians at this point that China's rapacious need for Brazilian resources is the primary concern for the Asian colossus? China's typical foreign policy strategy is minimal political or social intervention abroad, unless it directly aids China's receipt of the raw materials it needs to maintain its billion-plus population and the growth of its economy. Already, Brazilian firms like Petrobras and countless agricultural organizations have unlocked sweetheart deals for commodities with China in exchange for the capital needed to build-out precious infrastructure to...provide yet more commodities for China at sweetheart prices! Is it any wonder Vice Premier Wang couldn't be bothered with the diplomatic platitudes? As is China's wont, Wang just wanted to cut to the chase. Brazil needs to figure out how to present a more focused and strategic platform for its relations with China, so that both countries can arrive at equitable accommodation without the imbalance of neo-colonialism. Otherwise, the long-term picture for both countries will contain poor relations and possibly civil unrest--two factors both countries are desperate to avoid. 

My Op-Ed in Reuters and Thoughts on Brazil's Police State/State of the Police

Employment sits heavily on my mind as I ponder the current state of what has been happening in Bahia. In the past week, police have gone on strike in the Northeast, leading to murders and chaos. Now police and firefighters in Rio threaten similar action, with only days left to go before Carnaval begins. Should the action go forward, you can expect bloodshed. Street cops in Brazil, along with teachers, are among the lowest paid civil servants--and yet, their influence and power are directly related to the levels of crime and chaos within Brazilian society. Is it any wonder that police in Rio now form the largest faction of the militias that took over from drug traffickers in the favelas? Officers seeking to garnish their state wages now oversee the rackets gangs and druglords once commanded, including the provision of cooking oil, electricity, sewage, cable TV and public transport--all at extortionate rates--to the poor and captive denizens of the slums. A vicious cycle ensues, with less respect accorded to police, which drives them further to victimize their targets.

The strike action was meant to force the government's hand to raise salaries; but of course, this is hardly the way to go about things. President Rousseff will have to take serious resolute action to deal with the wage inequality that maintains corruption, instability and violence as a part of daily Brazilian life. Should the situation in Rio break down in the coming week, Brazil's soft-power gloss will be greatly tarnished--a major setback. Check it out here.

Employment and its effect on civil society were the main issues covered in a new op-ed I published in Reuters today. The US and China are not so far apart in their corporate disregard for the rule of law in their own labor statutes, leading to a trend I call Foxconnification--the individual tendency towards self-enslavement in tough labor markets. I contrast the unpaid intern problem in the US with the blue collar manufacturing situation in China to come to the conclusion that the net effect of globalization drives us further away from respecting our laws that protect labor rights and more towards reluctantly subjecting ourselves to the whims of employers.

Stay tuned for the Monday relaunch of the Brazilian Bikini Body Program website! More on that then...

New Name, New Content

Well, it's happening again, a return to this blog after a long period of going dark (5 years if you note the last post--an epic fail on my part!). I went off the rails so that I could get my ticket punched by the higher education racket to score my Masters degree in International Relations. I'm almost done, but as I am preparing my thesis, I have relaunched my book's website: http://www.thebrazilianbikinibodyprogram.com. Where it once was a subscription-based site, all the content is now free. Not only will you find a complete 30-day nutritional and exercise plan, you'll also find recipes, videos, audio, and more. I've also got my Twitter feed of VidaBossa running now too: http://www.twitter.com/vidabossa.

So this blog will be oriented around geoculture and foreign policy as it pertains to Brazil, and perhaps a few other regions of interest. I'll be jumping from covering Rio music-makers, to green sustainability initiatives out of the Amazon, to Petrobras politics. In the meantime, feel free to follow VidaBossa on Twitter and let me know about stories that interest you. I am looking forward to expansion, especially as we got closer to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Oba!!!

More soon!