More lights

Some more beautiful time-lapse images.

Only in Brazil

The controversial Belo Monte dam in the Amazon received another blow this week, when a federal judge halted its construction citing that indigenous people in the region were not properly consulted. The government claims they were, and presented a very "green" plan for building the hydroelectric dam without impacting the area too much. A stalemate, but this week at least, Native Indians 1 X Brazil 0.

Only in Brazil

O Globo published an article about how in the countryside of Rio, there are still 18,000 people who have been living without electricity for over 50 years. Candlelit dinners every night!

Only in Brazil

While Pride attracts millions to the streets of Rio and São Paulo and Rio ranks among the most gay-friendly cities in the world, Brazil is a whole still got a long road ahead. Last week, in the state of Bahia, a man was stoned to death by a group of young men after leaving a party hugging another guy (who happened to be his twin brother.) Neither of the men were gay, but they crossed the cultural line of masculine affection in public.) Another young gay men was cruelly killed in the state of Rio and thrown in a river, right on Pride Day. Meanwhile, among the educated echelons of society, the “gay” is moving from joke-butt to must-have.

Square fruit

Camp Juice grew fruit in molds to look like juice boxes.

Only in Brazil

A group of pretty blondes and a brunette are performing flash-kidnappings in Rio and São Paulo. They rob women in shopping malls at gun point and max out their credit cards to buy designer clothing and other luxury items.

Google and Amazon together at last

Google now offers “street view” of the Amazon Rainforest. The service has set off to the Brazilian jungle to let users explore rivers, forests, and communities of the Amazon basin within Google Maps. Some amazing sights of Brazil.

Morrissey rocks Brazil

Rock royalty Steven Morrissey played Rio as part of his Latin American tour. After explosive show in Porto Alegre, the man who created The Smiths will also play in São Paulo.

Meanwhile, another sort of UK royalty was partying it up in Brazil, supposedly launching a major drive to bring tourists to Britain. From the stage at Fundição Progresso, Morrissey yells to his legion of rabid Brazilian fans: "He came to ask you for money. Please don't give it to him."

Only in Brazil

Helicopter self-destructs in Pará.

Good mixture

Boa Mistura, a Spanish art collective composed a participatory urban art project in Vila Brasilândia, one of the favelas in São Paulo. The artists worked with residents to paint words that viewed from the proper angle and distance, seem to float in the air, thanks to an illusion effect based on the painting of stretched-out text to give it a 3D perspective.

The new human family

The Brazilian state of Paraíba is notorious for its machismo. That made it even more surprising that the first male gay couple in Brazil granted the right of adding both their names to the birth certificate of their newborn baby daughter live in that state. Old hat in a few other countries, but this is a first in Brazil.

Meanwhile, Archie Comics, published since 1942, just married its gay character, and to a black guy too!

Going bananas

Madonna and Brazil go way back. The country will forever have a special place in the aging diva’s pantheon. Here’s the kind of thing we do for her:

She gives Brazil so much (Jesus Luz can tell you all about it), that it's only fair that sometimes she may take a little for herself. Apparently her god-awful new single, sugary-poppy-sticky-sweet “Give me all your luvin’” (sic) takes its annoying “L-U-V, Madonna” from a Brazilian confection by João Brasil and Lovefoxx (of CSS) -- only they’re proclaiming their love for bananas. It is uncanny.

Asked if he is going to pursue legal action, João Brasil said: "Personally I don't want to do anything. The last thing I need in my life is a fight with Madonna."

Rainbows in Rio

Source: O Globo

Only in Brazil

A remote town in the Brazilian Amazon will have a nightclub based on Facebook. Brazil was named as the country with the fourth highest number of Facebook users in the world.

Rio's Solar Tower

These conceptual renderings are making the rounds again.

The proposed Solar City Tower for the 2016 Rio Olympics looked interesting, but it was impractical. Access to the island is difficult and the amount of energy needed to lift the water up to the top of the tower would be enormous. But the view would've been great!

My new favorite image

Symbol for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. 

Morning in Rio

Source: O Globo

Only in Brazil

A family of quatis (Brazilian equivalent of the raccoon) in the Boa Vista Forest in Rio.

Only in Brazil part 2

The Christ this week.

Only in Brazil

And while some occupy the financial centers of the world, in Brazil, the Armed Forces are still occupying the favelas of Rocinha and Vidigal, two of the largest and oldest slums in Rio, developed into neighborhoods and with some households that make as much as US$30,000 a year.  It’s also an enormous center of distribution of drugs being ruled by heavily armed dealers in an industry that moves US$20 million a year in Brazil. Brazilians consume 1 ton of crack a day, and the problem is way larger than one slum, but this occupation is another step to reclaim Rio from the clutches of a never-ending cycle of violence brought upon by the drug wars.