“A local helps a reveler with his costume made from beer and soda cans during the ‘Bloco da Latinha’ street party Carnival parade in Madre de Deus, Brazil, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres).”
“Carnival revelers in northeastern Brazil ‘s Madre de Deus heard the aluminum can street party before spotting it: More than 30 paraders decked out in cumbersome outfits made from hundreds of beer and soda cans clanged their way around the island in Bahia state’s Bay Of All Saints.”
Brazil, Geoff & Maria Muldaur (1970) In 1939, Ary Barroso was stuck in his house during a rainstorm, so he wrote Aquarela do Brasil. Three decades later, multi-talented musician Geoff Muldaur and his wife Maria (nee D’Amato) recorded it as Brazil. In 1985, Terry Gilliam adopted the song for his cinematic vision of a retro-future dystopia, and now it’s immediately recognizable as theTheme to Brazil.
Yeah, that’s really a fire escape for the Edifício Copan, an apartment building in Sao Paolo Brazil. With 1,160 apartments and over 2,000 residents, the Brazilian postal service assigned the building its own postal code. Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, construction took 14 years to complete (1952-1966).
There are about 100 employees in the maintenance department, and I pity the poor sap that has to sweep the stairs every day.
I want to go to the top and release 1,001 little rubber balls.
I was looking for a live performance of “Brazil” (perhaps by Xavier Cugat) to commemorate the Competitions of the Grecian Gods, but instead we must settle for The Theme Song to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil as performed by Geoffrey Muldaur. He was famous for marrying Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D’Amato who recorded some popular songs in 1973 about putting camels to bed, and another one about feeling her leg.
There’s no live performance for that one, so I looked for some more Olympics-themed stuff.
If you’ve never seen Terry Gilliam‘s excellent movie Brazil this would be a good weekend to watch it. Twice.
There’s something very wrong with taking Dave Brubeck‘s classic “Take Five,” completely missing the musical pun involved (5/4 time) and turning it into a ska version (in 4/4). Aside from that blasphemy, it’s kinda fun.
Punk Funk Reggae Ska compilation, courtesy The Aggrolites. I like.
Have a great weekend folks, see you back here tomorrow for more fun.
This edition of Saturday Matinee is sponsored in part by ZooBooks.
[Found here.]
Cool animation with a nice version of “Brazil.” performed by The Real Tuesday Weld with Nick Phelps and Geert Chatrou.
Darkly bizarre, “Brazil” is one of my favorite anti-bureaucracy movies. (Ever see Michael Palin as evil?) This movie succeeded in large part to Terry Gilliam’s insistance that it not be edited; that cost him a lot of promotional backing, but it became a hit in its own right. “Half a dream and half a nightmare” sums it up pretty well.
Flashback to 1932 – Louis Armstrong, fresh out of King Oliver’s band, provides the soundtrack (and more) to a typically creepy yet benign Betty Boop cartoon, “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal You.” Maybe they’re in Brazil.
“…And Now I’m Praying For The End Of Time” is THE best punchline in the history of protopunkrock, courtesy of Mr. Loaf.
Let’s wrap this up with George Thorogood’s classic take on John Lee Hooker’s “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.” Kinda sums up my attitude these days, En out de do’ ah went.
I honestly don’t know the story behind this amazing feat of engineering, but here it is.
Very cool. The styling just screams high performance babe magnet.
Serious aerodynamics here. This dragon wagon chills at close to the speed of light and it beats your ride even while parked. Okay, it’s got an unfortunate license plate, but hey, the hotness overrides the WOBL1. Let’s have a look at the interior.
IT’S A COCKPIT! Way cool. But, um, where is the silicone/saline siren supposed to sit? Seems to be a slight design oversight, but admit it, you’re still cruising at 3,000 feet right?
Not quite. Sometimes scale matters. You are travelling at whelp speed in a truncated tadpole…
..only worse. It’s a Mars Bar with wheels and an embarrassing license plate.
Screw it; it’s basic transportation. Let’s mess with the traffic and laugh about it while feeling Green and saving the planet. (Sorry, there’s no room for you. Get your own tadpole, mooch.)
So is it a Babe Magnet or not? Phhht. For the money, I’d buy a Harley and a rainsuit instead, and I’d still get better mileage than Mr. Tadpole.
BUT if I were forced into driving a dorkmobile, and only upon penalty of death, I’d choose this, if only for the nostalgia: