Blister in the Sun
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 • Posted by jcb
It’s been raining for four days straight and Witzy just covered his GOOG short. I know the rain will come out again soon but it sure doesn’t feel like it looking at sourKIDD Witz. Plus, I hear we are expecting an OGENS storm front any day now. Pray for the citizen’s of this poor city… mix a top tick covering trader and an OGENS hell bent on a gutter soiling adventure and I get scared, very scared.
Get heavy on with digging your ditch
Thursday, April 21, 2005 • Posted by jcb
This is where you go if you piss off your brasilian girlfriend.
Witzy and I headed over to the Cemitério São João Batista located in neighborhood of Botafogo, adjacent to Copacabana. Some of the well known personalities interred here are; Tom Jobim, noted musician and composer who wrote “The Girl From Ipanema”, Carmen Miranda, film star from the 40’s, Ary Barroso, composer of popular Brasilian music, The Guinle Family, whose family fortunes date back to 1890 when the family patriarch received a 90 year concession to build and operate the port of Santos, they were also the original owners of the Copacabana Hotel. We keep telling people we went to the cemetery to check it out and they look at us like we have two heads. I found out later this place is ripe for muggings, however we deftly snuck in during the Rio de Janeiro championship soccer match. No self respecting mugger would be caught dead working during a soccer match.
Just goes to show you. No matter how much you got everyone still gets planted in the same ground.
Not sure. You think this guy was a fighter pilot?
Digging a ditch where madness gives a bit
Digging a ditch for when I’m through
Digging a ditch where silence lives
Ivete Sangalo
Wednesday, April 13, 2005 • Posted by jcb
I am not really sure how to describe an Ivete Sangalo concert except to say if you crossed a Madonna concert with a Wiggles concert you would be somewhat in the ballpark. The oddities of attending this concert began the day before when I was told I would need to bring my ticket and one pound of non-perishable food to a random mall in the suburbs. Upon arriving at said location and handing over a sack of black beans I was presented with a one size fits all orange and white polyester tank top. Don’t these people know I only wear black. The nerve. “Wear the tank top or you don’t get in!” I was told. CONCERT DAY At the entrance, what appeared to be a riot was actually the generally accepted way to enter the concert venue. As throngs of sweaty drunk concert goers lurched forward, security personnel pressed back, slowly allowing only a trickle of humanity to gain entrance. There has to be a better way. Clearly liability lawsuits have not caught on down here. Once inside, things really got interesting. Imagine a football field of drunk college co-eds smacked out on guarana wearing the EXACT same t-shirt. This makes finding your friends extremely difficult however it does add to the sport of my next observation…. As the concert got under way it became strangely obvious that I wasn’t just seeing an over abundance of PDA. It was down right excessive. Apparently the thing to do at these concerts is to make out with as many people as humanly possible with the least amount of conversation. For those who were fortunate enough to attend one, think the largest Sigma Chi / Pi Phi D.R.S. you could imagine, forgetting of course the monopoly money. And if all of this chaos wasn’t enough for you, the concert organizers decided to skip the whole stage idea and place Ms. Sangalo on a rolling flatbed/stage driven around the field by a drunken teamster. Again, liability lawsuits thankfully not on the radar or I’d have nothing to bitch about. Sorry my pictures suck, the guarana must have gotten to me.
Rocinha Redux
Tuesday, April 12, 2005 • Posted by jcb
Just as the crust from a two week Witzy-free bender was beginning to chafe, fortune shown upon me in Rio. A local documentary film crew had been looking for gringos to fill out an upcoming shoot in the favela Rocinha. Somehow our paths crossed and before I could think of a proper excuse I was headed up the hill for an eye opening trip through the largest urban slum in the world. These pictures do little justice to the calm and sense of order I felt inside Rocinha. Lately the local news and gossip focuses around the ongoing violence between Rocinha and a neighboring favela over drug trafficking territory. However none of this violence was even mildly apparent. What I found were well mannered friendly people willing to open their homes, businesses and hearts to complete strangers.
Like I said before, they don’t have much but they hold the hill. The best views in Rio. This is a view of Ipanema Beach with Copacabana around the point.
Don’t tell G-d you have a big problem, tell your problem you have a big G-d!!!
I’m gonna be a big big star.
The trash was raining down from above on this poor city sanitation man. No sense in hauling your trash down the hill when you can just toss it!
Lots of little shops selling everything from fresh fruit to lumber.
and the bars….
Carlos from Northern Brasil. This guy had me pounding Cachaca at 9 in the morning and promising to visit his relatives. Anyone need a free place to stay in the north?
Too Many Ways To Fall
Thursday, April 7, 2005 • Posted by jcb
The wedding of Unity Stoakes and Flavia Santana April 2nd, 2005 Búzios, Brazil.
The Bride looking lovely and Tom Wolfe The Groom looking dapper. Unity, I couldn’t resist.
Vitor taking a nap… and some liberties.
Kissing the ring.
Dallas’ finest future export. Jeff V.
This’ll make me convert.
Thursday, April 7, 2005 • Posted by
A driver is loading the Pope’s luggage into his car on his recent
return from abroad when he notices the Pope standing beside him.
“Excuse me, Your Holiness” says the driver, “Would you please take your seat so we can leave?”
“Well,” says the Pope, “They have never let me drive a car since I became Head of the Catholic Church and as I don’t feel I have much time left on this earth I want to drive back to the Vatican.”
The driver is naturally very concerned but seeing the frailty of the old man and that it might be one of his last wishes he reluctantly agrees and proceeds to sit in the back seat while the Pope takes the wheel.
After leaving the airport terminal the Pope puts his foot down and is soon roaring through the streets of Rome at over 100-mph.
“Please slow down Your Holiness!” screams the driver but the Pope is oblivious to his request and goes even faster.
Out of nowhere a traffic cop arrives with sirens blazing and the Pope reluctantly pulls over and winds down his window.
The cop takes one look at him and immediately gets on his radio to HQ. “Put me through to the Chief urgently.” says the cop. He tells his boss that he has just stopped a limo traveling at over 120-mph.
“So bust the driver.” says the Chief.
“I don’t think we really want to do that sir he’s a VIP”
‘Well who is it’ says the Chief, ‘the Mayor?’.
“No, he’s more important than that” says the cop.
“The President?”
“No, even bigger”
“Well” says the Chief, “who the hell is it?”
“I think it might actually be God.” replies the cop.
Chief: “What makes you think it’s God?’
Cop : “He’s got the bloody Pope as his chauffeur!”
Matt Abramowitz to UC Quad Stage… Matt Abramowitz to UC Quad Stage
Thursday, April 7, 2005 • Posted by
I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. Somebody gimmie a bean.. panic’s coming back on!!
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I was a fighter, I could turn on a thread. Now I stand accused of the things I've said.