Brazil's unsung 'capital of happiness'

Considered the birthplace of modern Brazil, Salvador's tumultuous history has produced a unique "axé" (or energy) and approach to life.

The rich aroma of acarajé fritters sold by Baiana vendors mixed with the rhythmic drumming of Salvador's street bands. Tourists and locals flooded the bars of the Pelourinho neighbourhood to watch Brazil's first game in the 2022 World Cup, and crowds erupted as they scored against Serbia. This joyous celebration, set against the blue skies and pastel-coloured colonial-era buildings of the Terreiro de Jesus square, is typical of the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia, Salvador de Bahia (better known as Salvador). 

I quickly learned that celebration is the norm rather than the exception in Salvador, a city located along Brazil's north-eastern coast near some of the country's best beaches, which is considered by many to be the birthplace of modern Brazil. Locals have a saying, "Sem pressa, olha para o céu, fala com Deus, você tá na Bahia" (Take your time, look at the sky, talk to God, you're in Bahia), which, as Salvador-born Alicé Nascimento points out, embodies the relaxed and feel-good atmosphere unique to this region. It is no wonder then that this Unesco World Heritage city is unofficially known as Brazil's "capital of happiness".

When you ask locals (known as Soteropolitanos) what makes Salvador so jubilant, they all seem to mention the same thing: axé, a Yoruba West African term that loosely translates to "energy". Jair Dantas Dos Santos, a Salvador local, describes Salvador's axé as a "powerful presence in the air, which is something to be felt rather than explained". Indeed, Soteropolitanos say axé is an energy woven into the fabric of Bahian culture, and it imbues everything from Salvador's music to its laid-back attitude towards life.

It is impossible to describe Bahian axé without first considering the region's layered and tumultuous history. Salvador was settled in 1549 by Portuguese colonialists and served as Portuguese America's first capital until 1763. It was a major seaport during the transatlantic slave trade and is considered the New World's first slave market, with enslaved Africans brought to work on the region's sugar plantations. 

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I LOVE when I'm reading a fic about the Three Caballeros and they make Zé be from Bahia. It's just too funny. His surname is lit "from Rio de Janeiro" but for some reason some american writers make him be from Bahia and it amuses me soo much.

That being said a tip for pleople who want to integrate the Bahia onto Zé: there was a lot of migrations of people from brazilian northwest (for a long time mostly rural) to brazilian southwest (full of industrialized cities), people looking for better condicions that mostly were not met.

Bahia is the biggest northwest state and Rio is the second biggest southwest state. It wouldn't be a shock if Zé grandparents (or even his parents) were from Bahia. It would actually fit well with him having such a connection with the place while saying he never visited it.

AU where Hisashi calls Izuku regularly while he works overseas and one day Hisashi tells Izuku about his new boyfriend who is very sweet to him and unfortunately got into a bad accident many years ago that left him disabled so Hisashi helps care for him.Izuku later finds out this boyfriend is AFO.

why would you leave inko for afo. 'hold on yeah i think i'll leave this priceless bahia emerald and skip town and then i found a broken piece of chalk instead.' my guy. you deserve all might stealing your son.

1- ok so. Hisashi is an accountant who moves to new york to make more money. He and inko officially divorce, which means Izuku takes the Midoriya name and Inko has sole custody, but while Hisashi does not have to pay child support or alimony, he does opt to send them some support and tries to stay in contact because i guess his taste in men was so bad that he and inko just work better as friends. good for them ig.

2- actually Hisashi is just straight up color-blind: he can't see any red flags. Its not just his personal tastes. this man has worked for four separate blatant money laundering schemes since he went abroad. he has no clue. this is how he ends up coming into contact with AfO, but AfO's job offering is too indirect and vague, and Hisashi is like 'are you... flirting with me?' instead, but AfO can work with that. And while Hisashi certainly isn't a genius with people or warning signs, i will give him (and inko) this: he's a great lay.

3- He's also a very caring boyfriend, which was part of the problem with inko, they ended up really inciting each other's anxieties, but AfO likes being pampered so he decides to keep Hisashi around even if he isn't a employee. even better really, that he doesn't have to pay, bribe, quirkify, dequirkify, or threaten him. Hisashi, as a bit of a doting boyfriend, also has a lot to say about the man to others, so Izuku ends up hearing a lot of gushing over the phone as he's training with weights and is a bit too out of breath to change the topic. plus, he doesn't want to bring up going to UA until its a sure thing, his dad will definitely freak out about it not being safe. finally he tells his dad he got in, and hisashi is like 'oh yeah, cuz they changed the rules, which track?' and izuku goes 'oh uh hero track and alsoihaveaquirknowitscalledsuperpower oh look at that moms calling me for dinner sorry bye.'

4. Dazed, Hisashi gushes about his son to his boyfriend later, dropping that izuku's going to become a hero at ua, what a surprise- but, well, he supposes his son has always loved to watch heroes...

AfO is like 'hm. being a hero isn't very safe...' ('i know...') 'why don't you try to push him to visit you? keep him safe. maybe in a safe. don't you just wanna keep a hold of him?' ("i do, but that'll only drive him away. he's growing up... besides, if i was busy only keeping watch over him, who'd take care of you?") 'mm, good point. keep prioritizing me, i will neither put a hit on the kid as competition nor do anything to keep him safer.'

5. Reveal... uh yeah so Hisashi does mention to Izuku when his boyfriend goes missing, sometimes he gets called to work suddenly but he's never been gone this long, he's worried, is he restocking his meds, where is he? oh yeah, he vanished around Kamino. unfortunate, but not incriminating on its own. What IS incriminating is rewound!AfO, looking at Izuku with a tilted head. "I can see bits of Hisashi in you, hm. Just the worst bits, luckily." Izuku starts realizing what this means. Bakugo distracts him and blasts him to the Shigaraki fight, because he also started to realize what it meant and simply did not want to deal with hearing anymore of that. Over at the ShigarAfO fight, AfO tries to keep throwing Izuku (and tomura) off their game by wondering if Hisashi will find this new, younger body nice as well- probably, its not like the man had the highest standards. Izuku and Tomura are united in such abosolute done-ness with AfO that he's immediately snuffed out of Tomura's head and nothing remains behind. Tomura is like 'uh, do you want a day's break and then a rematch because i need to bleach my brain' but izuku is like 'oh no i need to punch someone through a mountain rn, lets keep going while i reform you with the power of friendship and incredible violence.' (By unspoken agreement, neither Izuku, Bakugo, or Tomura ever breathe a word about it to anyone, much less to Hisashi.)

Yo just came over me while I was scrolling through ducktales/the three Caballero's Pinterest that Donald duck was fucking lit in his teens. Like mf was car racing with Mikey mouse professionally had part ownership of a fucking mechanic shit for fast car drivers has friends EVERYWHERE like mf fucked off to mexico-bahia-rio de janeiro (wherever the fuck Mikey mouse's forest quick-trip mansion/house was) on a fucking wim dude like what??? How the hell be his little shits of nephews(that I love) think he a nobody? Mf pulled a girl while travelling hardcore to wherever. My man the man dude.no cap.

There's also a ep in there Caballero's in witch Donald crossdreses as a female named "Anna" and josé(zé carioca) & panchito(pistoles) fight for his hand the whole ep my man getting carried princess like and fucking kidnapped the moment one of them gets distracted my man is a diva a queen an idol an a fucking legend at this point

Wanna share your fav Brazilian hcs with the rest of the class :)

CRACKS KNUCKLES BOY WOULD I EVER.

- Everyone knows about famous One Piece Guy Monkey d. Luffy being brazillian, or at least inspired by the culture, but I think his whole crew should be brazillian as well (except for Sanji for comical effect). Chopper is just a caramel dog to me, If I could animate I would put Nami in a "Girl of Ipanema" pmv SO fucking fast, Zoro would fucking love football if he knew what it was, and Usopp just fits the stereotype of "malandro" (sneaky malicious guy) PERFECTLY. I've seen that kind of man at bars and he was stealing the cups everytime.

- Lagoona from Monster High is Australian-Brazillian to me. It just makes sense. I think if Monster High ever went to Brazil they could make some cool worldbuilding stuff around the flora and fauna and mythos of the place (Mula sem cabeça girl), and out of everyone in the group I feel like Lagoona would know the most about the culture. She strikes me as a girl from either Rio de Janeiro or Bahia, but honestly you could tell me she's from anywhere with a beach or even just a Big Quantity Of Water and I would believe you. Frankie would probably also have a few brazillian body parts but since they can't talk all they do is shake really hard when she says something wrong about the country /j

- I still have to draw this but Link is like a fantasy brazillian to me. I don't have much of a basis for this except for "I want him to be", but I feel like if I could I would hit all of hyrule with Brazillification beams. You think he's a gringo because of his beautiful blond hair and scary blue eyes, but then he starts speaking in the thickest accent you've ever heard in your entire life and you don't even ask him about it anymore. He even has zero self preservation, which is a trait every brazillian man has <3

- Sonic. Source ? My baby cousin saying he was like 3 years ago. And honestly it does make sense to me I think he should compete in the Copa for us.

- Goku. I don't know how to even explain this one but I'll try anyway: when I was a kid, I never knew Dragon Ball was an anime, and I only watched the portuguese-br version of it, so to me all that stuff was just happening in my state in a really weird version of the world where super sayans were real. I never knew the guy was supposed to be japanese despite the obvious names and the fact the credits were always IN JAPANESE, so in my head I was like wow 🧡 o goku é Mineiro que nem meus tios 🥰 ele também deve ser meu tio 😁. Anyway, long story short, I drew a lot of me and Goku hanging out when I was like 8-10 years old and doing typically brazillian stuff. It was awesome. He's mixed (Super Sayan/Japanese/Brazillian)

I have a lot more but I don't even know how to explain without sounding. Insane. So I will leave at that ! Thank you so mucj for asking I love this country and every character I like is from here 💚💛💙🇧🇷💥‼️

SEPTEMBER 9, 2023 (#358)

Husker Du: "Gravity" Replacements: "Unsatisfied" Scratch Acid: "Owner's Lament" Cult, The: "Rain" Love And Rockets: "Ball Of Confusion" Jesus And Mary Chain, The: "April Skies" Big Audio Dynamite: "Just Play Music" R.E.M.: "Stand" Smithereens, The: "Drown In My Own Tears" XTC: "King For A Day" Flaming Lips: "Shine On Sweet Jesus (Jesus Song No. 5)" New Fast Automatic Daffodils: "Fishes Eyes" Pulp: "Countdown" Frank Black: "Hang On To Your Ego" Suede: "Still Life" Elastica: "Waking Up" Guided By Voices: "Jane Of The Waking Universe" Death Cab for Cutie: "Information Travels Faster" Radiohead: "How To Disappear Completely" Interpol: "Take You On A Cruise" Sneaker Pimps: "The Chauffeur" IAMX: "Sailor" Fischerspooner: "The 15th" Cansei De Ser Sexy: "Bezzi" LCD Soundsystem: "Someone Great" Cut Copy: "Cold Youth" Small Black: "Bad Lover" Juan MacLean, The: "Tonight" Minks: "Ophelia" Yeasayer: "O.N.E." Neon Indian: "Should've Taken Acid With You" Hot Chip: "Flutes" Franz Ferdinand: "Stand On The Horizon" (Todd Terje RMX) Prince Rama: "Bahia" Caribou: "Silver" Classixx: "A Mountain With No Ending" Toro Y Moi: "A Girl Like You" Washed Out: "Olivia" Brian Jonestown Massacre: "Pish" Mark Lanegan: "Flatlands" Pixies: "All I Think About Now" Beach House: "Drunk In L.A." Nothing: "Eaten By Worms" Porcupine Tree: "Chimera's Wreck" Florence & The Machine: "What Kind Of Man" Shannon & The Clams: "King Of The Sea" King Gizzard: "Head On / Pill"

We welcome all of our listeners to Omega Radio, WUSB's most diverse show on its grid. Tonight, we start off our Autumn broadcasting season in a major way. It's a double-deluxe program as we take over for Everything Must Go with four hours of marquee artists, tried-and-true synthpop, chillwave, and newer all-around favorites. We also revisit some artists that we haven't played in quite a while and ones who are featured here for the first time.

A huge thank you to @tewz for proving us with lots of ideas for tonight's show. We'll have plenty of Autumn sounds to go around, including ending the year with our annual 'second-chance' broadcast. Thanks for listening.

September 23, 2023 (10PM New York City): deluxe Omega

October 7, 2023 (10PM New York City): deluxe Omega

October 21, 2023 (10PM New York City): deluxe Omega

November 4, 2023 (10PM New York City): final deluxe Autumn Omega + Year 11 broadcast.

Hello everyone! This month I'm bringing back the "A Trip To..." series. Last time we went on a trip to Ireland, and this time we're going to Brazil! This is a list full of novels that take place in Brazil, and are written by Brazilian writers. Thank you so much to someone who suggested this to me in our last survey.

As always, don't forget to vote for our next book using the link at the bottom of the post. Onto the books!

Blood-Drenched Beard, by Daniel Galera and translated by Alison Entrekin

—So why did they kill him? —I’m getting there. Patience, tchê. I wanted to give you the context. Because it’s a good story, isn’t it?

A young man’s father, close to death, reveals to his son the true story of his grandfather’s death, or at least the truth as he knows it. The mean old gaucho was murdered by some fellow villagers in Garopaba, a sleepy town on the Atlantic now famous for its surfing and fishing. It was almost an execution, vigilante style. Or so the story goes.

It is almost as if his father has given the young man a deathbed challenge. He has no strong ties to home, he is ready for a change, and he loves the seaside and is a great ocean swimmer, so he strikes out for Garopaba, without even being quite sure why. He finds an apartment by the water and builds a simple new life, taking his father’s old dog as a companion. He swims in the sea every day, makes a few friends, enters into a relationship, begins to make inquiries.

But information doesn’t come easily. A rare neurological condition means that he doesn’t recognize the faces of people he’s met, leading frequently to awkwardness and occasionally to hostility. And the people who know about his grandfather seem fearful, even haunted. Life becomes complicated in Garopaba until it becomes downright dangerous.

Spilt Milk, by Chico Buarque and translated by Alison Entrekin

As Eulalio Assumpcao lies dying in a Brazilian public hospital, his daughter and the attending nurses are treated--whether they like it or not--to his last, rambling monologue. Ribald, hectoring, and occasionally delusional, Eulalio reflects on his past, present, and future--on his privileged, plantation-owning family; his father's philandering with beautiful French whores; his own half-hearted career as a weapons dealer; the eventual decline of the family fortune; and his passionate courtship of the wife who would later abandon him. As Eulalio wanders the sinuous twists and turns of his own fragmented memories, Buarque conjures up a brilliantly evocative portrait of a man's life and love, set in the broad sweep of vivid Brazilian history.

The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector translated by Benjamin Moser

Narrated by the cosmopolitan Rodrigo S.M., this brief, strange, and haunting tale is the story of Macabéa, one of life's unfortunates. Living in the slums of Rio and eking out a poor living as a typist, Macabéa loves movies, Coca-Colas, and her rat of a boyfriend; she would like to be like Marilyn Monroe, but she is ugly, underfed, sickly and unloved. Rodrigo recoils from her wretchedness, and yet he cannot avoid the realization that for all her outward misery, Macabéa is inwardly free/She doesn't seem to know how unhappy she should be. Lispector employs her pathetic heroine against her urbane, empty narrator—edge of despair to edge of despair—and, working them like a pair of scissors, she cuts away the reader's preconceived notions about poverty, identity, love and the art of fiction. 

Captains of the Sand, by Jorge Amado translated by Gregory Rabassa

They call themselves “Captains of the Sands,” a gang of orphans and runaways who live by their wits and daring in the torrid slums and sleazy back alleys of Bahia. Led by fifteen-year-old “Bullet,” the band—including a crafty liar named “Legless,” the intellectual “Professor,” and the sexually precocious “Cat”—pulls off heists and escapades against the right and privileged of Brazil. But when a public outcry demands the capture of the “little criminals,” the fate of these children becomes a poignant, intensely moving drama of love and freedom in a shackled land.

The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, by Machado De Assis and translated by Flora Thompson-DeVeaux

The ghost of a decadent and disagreeable aristocrat decides to write his memoir. He dedicates it to the worms gnawing at his corpse and tells of his failed romances and halfhearted political ambitions, serves up harebrained philosophies, and complains with gusto from the depths of his grave. Wildly imaginative, wickedly witty, and ahead of its time, the novel has been compared to the work of everyone from Cervantes to Sterne to Joyce to Nabokov to Borges to Calvino, and has influenced generations of writers around the world.

Please vote for our next book here.

# 4,490

Omega Radio for September 9, 2023; #358.

Husker Du: “Gravity”

Replacements: “Unsatisfied”

Scratch Acid: “Owner’s Lament”

Cult, The: “Rain”

Love And Rockets: “Ball Of Confusion”

Jesus And Mary Chain, The: “April Skies”

Big Audio Dynamite: “Just Play Music”

R.E.M.: “Stand”

Smithereens, The: “Drown In My Own Tears”

XTC: “King For A Day”

Flaming Lips: “Shine On Sweet Jesus (Jesus Song No. 5)”

New Fast Automatic Daffodils: “Fishes Eyes”

Pulp: “Countdown”

Frank Black: “Hang On To Your Ego”

Suede: “Still Life”

Elastica: “Waking Up”

Guided By Voices: “Jane Of The Waking Universe”

Death Cab for Cutie: “Information Travels Faster”

Radiohead: “How To Disappear Completely”

Interpol: “Take You On A Cruise”

Sneaker Pimps: “The Chauffeur”

IAMX: “Sailor”

Fischerspooner: “The 15th”

Cansei De Ser Sexy: “Bezzi”

LCD Soundsystem: “Someone Great”

Cut Copy: “Cold Youth”

Small Black: “Bad Lover”

Juan MacLean, The: “Tonight”

Minks: “Ophelia”

Yeasayer: “O.N.E.”

Neon Indian: “Should’ve Taken Acid With You”

Hot Chip: “Flutes”

Franz Ferdinand: “Stand On The Horizon” (Todd Terje RMX)

Prince Rama: “Bahia”

Caribou: “Silver”

Classixx: “A Mountain With No Ending”

Toro Y Moi: “A Girl Like You”

Washed Out: “Olivia”

Brian Jonestown Massacre: “Pish”

Mark Lanegan: “Flatlands”

Pixies: “All I Think About Now”

Beach House: “Drunk In L.A.”

Nothing: “Eaten By Worms”

Porcupine Tree: “Chimera’s Wreck”

Florence & The Machine: “What Kind Of Man”

Shannon & The Clams: “King Of The Sea”

King Gizzard: “Head On / Pill”

Double-deluxe updated rainbow marquee broadcast; majority of contributions from one valuable listener.

What are some sweet things 80’s and Old Man Terry would say to beloved?

-”I won’t bullshit you. I consider myself a...as say they, connoisseur of the finer things in life. Yeah, I enjoy a good car or two. Good wine. Suits. A nice view. And you. You’re one of the finer things I own. The finest. All of this? It’s worth shit next to you. Would you believe that? Because it’s true.”-

-”Of course they’re all staring! I mean, look at you! Everyone else is a piss poor excuse for beauty in this city, except for you --- and you’re all mine.”-

-”When you reach my particular age, your focus clears. Life boils down to essentials. Boils down to a big beachside house and the good company of someone who you can tell anything --- and you know me. Inside out. You know what and who I am. I think that’s something. More than you know.”-

-”No shit you need to be treated! Who do you think I am!? If I say you deserve it, you deserve it! I don’t care what you say!”-

-”Is it wrong that I’m pissed off!? That I didn’t know you sooner? Because I am, and if I wanna fucking drink to drown that crap, then I’ll drink to drown that crap and if I’m perfectly clear, I don’t think all the Whiskey in that cellar will cut it, my dear.”-

-”When those bad memories come, all the bullshit and everything that’s better forgotten, you’re all there is. Did you know that?”-

-”Monogrammed, carved white silver from the Bahia emerald collection. It’s one of a kind. An old family heirloom. It belonged to my mother back in the days and it fits your finger perfectly. Had it slightly tweaked. I want you to have it. Wear it.”-

-”Of course I’m jealous! Are you crazy!? Who isn’t jealous of something invaluable!?”-

-”Look at me. I said look at me! Don’t you ever dare say something like that about yourself in front of me or behind my back ever again. Don’t do it in my company, in front of others or anywhere, ever.  Are we clear? Why? What do you mean ‘why’!? Because it’s crap and it’s all lies!”-

-”You sure know how to make an old man feel happy.”-

-”Me and John, we had a good friend in ‘Nam. A real joker. It was always us three. He went by Ponytail, because he had this thin wisp of greased up hair tied at the nape of his neck and our commanding officers always yelled at him for it to cut it off and be presentable. He never did. Died stubbornly wearing it, poor sucker. I wear it for him now. He’d like you a lot, you know?”-

-”Sit with me. I want to play you a special song.”-

-”I could keep you safe. Protected. Taken care of. In every sense.Think about it? Think about a life where they’re all too afraid to look at you? Touch you? Ever hurt you again? Where there’s nothing to be lacked for because I’ll provide everything? All I ask in return is your love Devotion. Let me do it. Let me prove my loyalty.”-

-”Yeah, I’ve seen and done pretty much all of it. Is it bad that I’m content just being here with you until the end?”-

-”Never really talked about this to anyone, but when I was a kid, I was a skinny sort. Wimpy. Scrawny. They used to call me Twig in the army. Sappy bullshit. Hated that nickname and I hated that kid. There was very little to be content about back then, but I like to imagine you were there somehow with me from day one.”-

-”Remember when I pulled up that old Ford and put on those clothes and went around pretending I was some poor asshole to mess around that Larusso kid a few years ago? Yeah. Those were the days. Sometimes I still think about that. Think about us just being, hopping into that car and getting the fuck out of here.”-

-”C’mon. Read to me. I need to hear it in your voice.”-

-”You make me feel young again.”-

Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands

Certain films have the power to transport an audience, enticing us to leave the theater and book the next flight to its desirable location. Bruno Barreto's Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands is one such film, and in 1978 it captured the imagination and heart of international audiences as it still does today. "When I make films, I think it's essential to make them very specific and unique about where they take place, and at the same time, I want to make sure that international audiences will get it. So that's a significant concern for me," said Barreto, who grew up in Brazil watching American and European movies. "I felt transported, like I was in the American west, in Paris or the French countryside when watching a Truffaut film, or in Rome or Milano or Naples watching a Pietro Germi film. So, I always wanted my audience to feel the same way.

Dona Flor's backdrop is Pelourinho, the historical center of Salvador, Bahia, in the northeast of Brazil, and many scenes are shot in its colonial squares and buildings. Dona Flor's home in the movie is so iconographic that cineaste tourists still seek out its precise location. Barreto has said, jokingly, "There was only one thing I couldn't get on film, which is the aroma of Bahia and Flor's cooking." In addition to his eye for location, Barreto augments each scene with soundtracks by Brazil's musical giants. In the case of Dona Flor, he used Chico Buarque; and in his 2000 film Bossa Nova he used, of course, Tom Jobim.

Barreto was twenty years old when he directed Dona Flor, which is based on the novel by Jorge Amado. When initially released in Brazil in 1976, Dona Flor became   numbers only topped thirty-five years later. Released internationally in 1978, Dona Flor received nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award, and in the US. it held its rank as the highest-grossing Brazilian film for over twenty years.

As a love story, Vadinho and Flor's passion is the incarnation of the sacred and the profane. The beauty of the film rests in the fact that its eroticism is simultaneously imagined and real. This is primarily due to the extraordinary form of glamour embodied by a young Sonia Braga as Dona Flor. As in the novel, Barreto's film plays with the juxtaposition of the solid middle-class customs of Salvador, Bahia, which Flor inhabits in the 1940s, and the licentiousness of the blond malandrinho (a naughty but appealing guy) Vadinho, portrayed by José Wilker. Murilo Salles' camerawork floats between the two principal characters, and, at some point, the viewer realizes that Vadinho is the camera at those times when we see the scene through the dead man's eyes. The visual virtuosity of the cinematography creates a distinct presence that the audience is privy to. Observing Dona Flor through the lens of her immense grief, the viewer is transported into a romantic space of epic proportion. Seduced, we can offer no resistance to their passion, even though we know it is a total fantasy.

The German cultural critic Sigfried Krakhauer once stated, "Photography is the redemption of physical reality." This has never been more accurate than in this film, and Barreto's relationship to photography is not accidental. He has said he was a photographer first and had to start directing his films in order to have the chance as a cinematographer. Much has been made of Barreto's young age when he made Dona Flor, his third feature film. For a director, like Barreto, who helmed his first feature at seventeen, a youthful vocation often suggests that the budding recipient now has a full-time job and a career path to pursue. But perhaps even   more interesting is that the late teenager experiences a nascent identity and sense of self that comes through in this early work.

Color is the lingua franca of Brazilian culture. The film's authenticity is reinforced by its color palette; the distinctive colors of Salvador's colonial walls, tiles, cobblestone streets, and churches, are beautifully rendered by cinematographer Murilo Salles' poetic lens. This new digitally restored version has augured well for Dona Flor and has a consistency that enhances the framing, composition, and internal dimension of the entire drama and its characters. Movies on analog raw stock, shot on film, often benefit from enhancing digital technology. Colors long since faded come back to life, bringing an extraordinary contemporary sensibility.

The art direction and costumes by Anísio Medeiros contribute to the narrative of Flor's transformation from an inhibited woman of the 1940s into the passionate partner of the scoundrel Vadinho. Braga's body adds a sensuality to the bourgeoise styles of the time and to her widow's weeds. Towards the film's ending, when Dona Flor attempts to exorcize Vadinho from her life, she wears an ethereal pink organza robe. The robe's transparency echoes his corporeal disappearance as his spirit returns to the dead. This scene is the only time we see her clothed while having sex with Vadinho after his death, and it lends a considerable erotic charge.

Two religions, Candomblé, based on the West African Yoruban religion brought to Brazil by enslaved people, and Catholicism, are featured prominently in the film. The book's author, Jorge Amado, frequently refers to Candomblé's rituals and beliefs. Amado was proud to hold the title of Oba at the candomblé Ilè Axé Opô Afonjá, in Bahia. According to Barreto, "We are the largest Catholic country in the world. So, sex, and sexuality, is like a ghost. Very, very hidden and disguised, but very strong precisely because of that. And very potent." As previously mentioned. the film is set in the historic center of Salvador, Bahia, a UNESCO World Heritage site sometimes called the city of a thousand churches. As the first capital of Brazil, from 1549 to 1763, Salvador de Bahia is famous for its syncretism of Portuguese Catholicism with African Candomblé. Therefore, it is not surprising when Flor, wracked by quilt over her otherworldly affair with her dead husband, seeks help from her priest AND a Candomblé priestess. She asks her friend, the prostitute Dionísia, for a ceremony to be performed to exorcise Vadinho. The priest is useless, whereas the Mãe de Santo, the head of the Candomblé house, is entirely familiar with the problem, and is successful, until a bereft Flor calls Vadinho back into her arms. Of note are the authentic renderinas of this Candomblé house and its ceremony. Adding a healthy dose of religious cynicism is a scene where the obsessed gambler Vadinho goes to the church attempting to cage a loan from the priest Dom Venâncio.

While not an overtly political film - with a book by Jorge Amado and a soundtrack by Chico Buarque - love. loss. and death as a metaphor for exile cannot help but be an underlying theme. As a young man, Barreto was a part of a generation listening to Tropicalia. Some of its major musical artists, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Chico Barque, left Brazil in the late 1960s after the military dictatorship's Act Number Five, which eventually led to institutionalizing torture and repression. The novel Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands was published in 1966, but the story takes place in the 1940s. As a communist militant, Jorge Amado left Brazil for Argentina and Uruguay from 1941 to 1942. In the famous song written for the film, O Que Será, Chico Barque's Iyrics transform his leaving Brazil and his criticism of the dictatorship into a song that expresses Flor's pain and longing. Barque transfigures Flor's love and loss into a larger picture of the human condition - speaking of religion, government, and the people of the streets - the prostitutes, poets, prophets, and lovers.

Carnival is a festive Catholic season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent and the resurrection. As a communist in his youth, Jorge Amado saw the Brazilian Carnival as a suppression of the masses, and he starts the novel with a descriptive carnival scene. The film's opening carnival scene of singing men dressed as women signals that a delightfully libertine experience lies in store for the audience.

An enormous tension is created between the sexy, beautiful Sambista in gold, signifying the rhythms of life, just as the main character dies of debauchery. The dancer stays in the center of the screen, continuing to writhe over his body. Following the titles and credits, the carnival dance resumes as the camera floats over the revelers in the street to the open window of Dona Flor's house, where we see the pale and very dead Vadinho lying in his coffin. And off we go, transported by the film into the libidinous mind of the beautiful young Dona Flor.

After this spectacular overture, our characters settle into quotidian life. However, Vadinho, who goes out every night, feels he can continue his relentless pleasure- seeking fortified by the comforts of the fine meals cooked by Flor. He forces her to stay at home, and she runs her profitable culinary school, which funds his gambling. Vadinho was based on one of Amado's real-life friends, who he says used "to lose money and win women." Halfway into the film and tired of grieving over Vadinho's untimely death, the young widow Flor finds herself in the position to marry the socially solid pharmacist, Dr. Teodoro Madureira (Mauro Mendonça). However, she soon becomes bored with her new husband's conventional lovemaking. She calls back the phantom of Vadinho, and the sexual sparks fly across the screen with even greater intensity than before. Eventually exhausted by Vadinho's constant appearance and feeling guilty about his ridiculing of her square husband, Flor is at her wit's end. The film's final scene, whose international poster image has become synonymous with the film, shows Sonia Braga walking out of the church, arm in arm with her new husband and a naked Vadinho, who, as they turn, has his hand on her... The End.

MARY JANE MARGASIANO is a New York-based programmer, producer, and costume designer for films, theatre, and dance, working extensively in Brazil. She is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at Cinema Tropical, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit media arts organization presenting Latin American cinema in the United States and co-curated their 2019 Brazilian film series "Veredas: A Generation of Brazilian Filmmakers" with Film at Lincoln Center.

Selina Kyle - Background

Her story begins in Salvador, Bahia (Brazil). Her grandmother Teresa Araújo meets an Irish-American man named Brian Kyle, who falls in love with her. Teresa sees the opportunity to leave behind a life of poverty, and begins a relationship with him.

She claims to be pregnant of him and Brian, enthusiastic about having a child, brings her back to the USA and marries her. The child is born, a beautiful baby girl they call Maria, but she isn't Brian's - not that he ever found out.

But their relationship quickly deteriorates. Brian is unfaithful and when Teresa confronts him, things get even worse. He's controlling and keeps her close by financial manipulation and cutting off her communication with her family.

With no means to get away or people to contact, she has to stay and oblige him.

He used to have some money, but has expensive tastes - parties, women, alcohol - and the money slowly starts to dry. He loses his job, and finds a new one in Gotham - where he's also paid a lot less.

As things go worse, Brian starts to drink and loses part of his hold on Teresa, too busy with his own problems. Teresa sees an opportunity to escape, and gets away with Maria.

They start a new life in the poor part of Gotham, Teresa working in a hair saloon, often bringing Maria with her.

Maria grows up being friends with her mother's customers. She meets some girls from the night and gets interested when she finds out how good they're paid and how beautiful they are. Her mother alerts her it's not an easy life, but Maria insists.

Sure that she can financially help her mother like this, Maria starts working as a dancer in nightclubs, with the help of some of her other friends.

The first few years aren't bad, but when her falls ill with no means to seek medical help, Maria looks for a job that pays better. She ends up on the Iceberg Lounge.

She successfully pays for her mother's treatment, and Maria seems to be doing very well on the Iceberg Lounge - until she's moved to 44 Below, where she meets Falcone*.

There's she gets involved with him and gets pregnant with Selina.

Selina's first years of life, she is mainly taken care of by her grandmother ("Vó Tê" as she calls). When she's five, however, Teresa is caught in the crossfire between police and criminals. She gets hospitalized, but doesn't resist and ends up dying.

Maria has to bring Selina to her job. Things get worse and worse, and Maria has some hope that Falcone will recognize Selina as his daughter and help them out.

The end we all know - Maria gets killed by Falcone, for making too many demands and becoming a problem to him.

Selina is then sent to temporary shelters, and spends her days until majority going from place to place.

*NOTE: In case of interacting with a Falcone who doesn't want to play as her father, I can easily change it for being an "unspecified crime lord".

Treatment 008

Imma try to be casual about this. Life in Los Angeles took a toll on my mental health. It sounds ridiculous to even say this out loud considering how many lunatics drag themselves around these streets. I feel like one of them. Especially if the other option is to compare myself with the "hot" instagrammable people with shallow spirits and nonchalant behavior. I sat by myself at this dive bar after another failed attempt to write music with Americans and drank green tea shots and beer on an empty stomach. A homeless person sat by my side.

A beautiful, 63-year-old black man called Lionel. No one would look at him. It was astonishing how uncomfortable this group of whites from Boston was by the mere existence of this person in their environment. At first, I'm not gon lie, I was also uncomfortable. It's hard to be a decent person when you're sad. I just wanted to go home and cry to my mother but home was nine thousand miles away and I came so far, I wouldn’t give up now. Even tho that’s all I wanted to do, just give up and retire in a beach house in Bahia, never to worry about the music business again.

Anyway, I started talking to that man and he was somewhat lucid, he talked about stars and black holes and reparation from slavery and his four daughters who lived with their mommas and his life as a fisherman, this was a stand up, salt of the earth, type a guy. But he wore a medical wristband and had apparently gone through surgery recently to remove a ring from his finger. I’m aware I’m dehumanizing this person by using him as a subject matter for this treatment, but who the fuck are you to judge?

I was impressed by how normal this guy was. Some people, specially in the streets of Santa Monica, can be crazy dangerous, or dangerously crazy, if you know what I mean. It’s hard to relate with crazy because no one wants to admit they’re crazy too. But this guy just ran out of his luck I guess. Got too close to the sun and fell like a burning meteorite to the deepest of grounds.

I went to the bathroom and this guy was kicked out of the bar right away, no question. Less than a minute later I can back and that group started talking to me, about what a saint I was for entertaining this man, for keeping him occupied so he wouldn't bother them. they said I looked tortured by the conversation. And they were right, I was being tortured by every word they were saying.

I was not getting involved in an altercation that night. “It is open mic night and I love comedy more than I hate these people”

I finished my drink, laughed at some really bad jokes, went home and passed out.

This man was my first thought when I woke up. That’s why I’m writing this. Not because I’m afraid to become him, even though I am. But because I’m even more afraid to become them.

Homelessness is a consequence to what we as a society do to our people. Money is worth more than a human life and that’s what we should be disgusted and embarrassed about.

#wearehomeless

Beatport Exclusives Only: Week 5

- Artists: Beatport DATE CREATED: 2024-01-29 GENRES: Drum & Bass, Hard Techno, Jackin House, House, Indie Dance, Techno (Peak Time / Driving), Tech House, Psy-Trance, Minimal / Deep Tech, Progressive House, Nu Disco / Disco, UK Garage / Bassline, Afro House, Melodic House & Techno, Techno (Raw / Deep / Hypnotic) Tracklist : 1. Matisa - Baby(Original Mix) 2. RY X - Lençóis (Love Me)(Extended Version, Cassian Remix) 3. Sweely - Extra Man(Original Mix) 4. CHRS - In The Darkness(Extended Mix) 5. Hilit Kolet - Hot Mess(Original Mix) 6. Diego Oroquieta - Sabor Mango(Original Mix) 7. Purple Disco Machine, Asdis - Beat Of Your Heart(Club Dub) 8. Riordan - Needle On The Record(4am Extended Mix) 9. Abrão, 8Kays, Glowal - Matemática(Original Mix) 10. Cornelius Doctor, Tushen Rai - Age of Love(Original Mix) 11. Total Science - No Smoking(T>I Remix) 12. DOT (BR), Rachel Reis - Eu Vou Pra Bahia(Extended Mix) 13. Refracta, SONZO - Slave to Sound feat. SONZO(Original Mix) 14. Read the full article

Beatport Exclusives Only: Week 5

- Artists: Beatport DATE CREATED: 2024-01-29 GENRES: Drum & Bass, Hard Techno, Jackin House, House, Indie Dance, Techno (Peak Time / Driving), Tech House, Psy-Trance, Minimal / Deep Tech, Progressive House, Nu Disco / Disco, UK Garage / Bassline, Afro House, Melodic House & Techno, Techno (Raw / Deep / Hypnotic) Tracklist : 1. Matisa - Baby(Original Mix) 2. RY X - Lençóis (Love Me)(Extended Version, Cassian Remix) 3. Sweely - Extra Man(Original Mix) 4. CHRS - In The Darkness(Extended Mix) 5. Hilit Kolet - Hot Mess(Original Mix) 6. Diego Oroquieta - Sabor Mango(Original Mix) 7. Purple Disco Machine, Asdis - Beat Of Your Heart(Club Dub) 8. Riordan - Needle On The Record(4am Extended Mix) 9. Abrão, 8Kays, Glowal - Matemática(Original Mix) 10. Cornelius Doctor, Tushen Rai - Age of Love(Original Mix) 11. Total Science - No Smoking(T>I Remix) 12. DOT (BR), Rachel Reis - Eu Vou Pra Bahia(Extended Mix) 13. Refracta, SONZO - Slave to Sound feat. SONZO(Original Mix) 14. Read the full article

The lifeguard wanted to eat my wife!

My name is Pedro, I'm 36 years old, 1.90 tall, white, handsome, I work out at the gym and swim. What I'm about to tell you happened to me a few years ago. My wife and I took a few weeks' vacation and went to a resort in Bahia. We didn't have any children yet. We rested, had sex and sunbathed by the pool. From the first day I noticed that the lifeguard João, a strong black man about my height, was looking at us differently. I was a bit annoyed at first, because he was blatantly staring at my wife's ass. On the second day, my wife went up to the room and I swam until the sun went down. When I stopped, João started talking and asked where we were from. I said we were from Rio Grande do Sul, but lived in Rio de Janeiro. He said he'd noticed because they were very white. He asked if we didn't sunbathe in Rio. I said we didn't have much time. He asked if we'd been married long. I said it had been three years. He said he was also married and had a three-year-old son. He also said that my wife was very pretty, and that he thought white women from the south were very beautiful, with all due respect. I laughed and said that southern women were the most beautiful, yes. And I joked and asked: do you like a pink pussy, then? He laughed and said that he liked pink pussies and assholes, but that they were hard to find. I laughed and noticed a large bulge in his swimming trunks, which he was covering up with the float. I thought, this black guy must be a naughty eater. Then my wife called me to dinner and I had a quick shower in the changing room to get rid of the chlorine, dried off and went up to the bedroom.

The next day, I swam again until late. João started chatting again, asking me if I wasn't tired of swimming and that the pool would close in 10 minutes. I said I was running out and then left the pool. I went back to the changing room for a shower to dry off and go upstairs. As soon as I realized it, João came into the changing room and said: "Look at Dr. Pedro, you cuckold, he looks like a southern girl, with a smooth, white ass. Is his ass pink? I froze, surprised by what he'd said. I laughed and told him to fuck off and said, "Look at the respect. He laughed. I wrapped myself in my towel and went upstairs. I was very angry because he was blatantly trying to fuck my wife. Then I thought about what he'd said about my ass… I thought it was strange, I'd never done anything with a man, not a transvestite, nothing. The only thing that made me horny was when my wife sucked my balls and went down on them. But I'd never imagined myself taking a cock, especially from a big black man. I thought it might be a joke on his part, I don't know. The next day we had the same routine. When the time was up, I went to the changing room to take my shower. I was surprised because he hadn't spoken to me that day, but I kept to myself. When I realized it, he came in and locked the door. I froze. He said: "Dr. Pedrão, I need to confess something. I want to fuck your hot wife and make you a cuckold, and you'll have to agree. I said: Are you crazy? We would never accept that. My wife is faithful, religious. There's no way! He punched the cupboard and said he was annoyed. He was going to take a bath to cool off. I asked for the key because I wanted to leave the changing room. He told me to finish my shower. He took off his clothes and turned on the shower next door. He was bigger than me. I couldn't help but stare. He came closer and asked if I wanted help soaping up. I shied away. I went to the corner. He said to me: Come here, doctor, let me see your pink ass, I love a white ass, I want to fuck you and your wife. I said I wasn't gay, that it wasn't going to happen. I was going to talk to the management. He didn't listen, he pushed me against the wall, putting his arm around my neck and calling me a cuckolded faggot. I became desperate. He told me to do everything he said or he would tell my wife that I had fucked the chambermaid when she went on a boat trip. I really did. But I didn't know that he also fucked the black chambermaid. But that's another story. I had no choice. He ordered me to suck him off. I could hardly put that big cock in my mouth, but over time I got used to it. He said I was all smooth and white and asked to see my ass. He put me on the bench and started to stick his tongue up my naturally smooth, pink ass. I surprisingly started to get a hard-on. Wow, I was so horny. We kept sucking until he wanted to fuck me. I said I couldn't take it and, besides, we didn't have a condom. So he made me suck him until he came while he watched the naked pictures of my wife on my cell phone. He washed my face of spit. He asked me to come back the next day and he'd have a condom to take my asshole out. However, I felt very bad about what had happened and didn't go back to the pool until we left. After that I had a few other little stories. But nothing different has happened since the pandemic. Even my asshole is still a virgin.

Now these urges and thoughts are coming back.

219

Feels like someone sucker punched my outer thighs and yet I'm too afraid to idle at home so I force myself into 2 hours of dispassionate painting ahead of friends coming over for dinner. It doesn't seem right that I have to host my own celebration, and yet I chose this. Secretly better than Ottolenghi, the Israeli restaurant Honey and Co delivers mezze, stews, and baklava to my house at 4.30pm and then I FaceTime with V who is sunning herself in Bahia, tell her I don't want to see anybody. Making space for 8 in my home requires grievous rearrangement of furniture. It is only when I do this that I realise how many beverages and cleaning products I buy in bulk, and how nuts it looks. I cover the beverages with music equipment and put my antidepressants in an elegant bowl as though they're on offer to guests, and I stuff socks into the crevice of my sofa for no good reason. I meditate, bathe, weirdly walk out my front door and walk back in to imagine what a stranger sees, scan the main room for residual dead giveaways that something is wrong with how I live J arrives first, the only other Capricorn, it's his birthday tomorrow. I tell him I don't know why I love so many late people. He gets me a ceramic jug in the shape of a frog and some tulips. Then C, freshly out of the covid danger zone, asking for more parking permits. As for the year's supply of rolling papers he gifts me - remembering that that's all I said I wanted when we watched the World Cup last month - he says they were really hard to get. He was on the phone with various HR departments of various suppliers. In many ways, knowing C but his hard-earned journalistic credentials to such bad use moves me more than any act of love I've ever received / will ever receive. He also hands me a card with Joe Rogan on it, reading "happy birthday man! That's crazy! Have you ever done DMT?". I can't believe someone made this, I say, placing it in the shelving system overlooking where we will eat. "I found a right wing Etsy store", C explains S and J and H, the Goldsmiths contingent, and most sympathetic to my feeling old at 30 since they, too are all hovering around 30. More flowers than there are vases. Good problem to have. I force everybody to eat, like the anorexic mother I may someday become. M arrives and says he used up all his punctuality getting to the spa yesterday. Everybody is smoking, which will later irritate me, despite my own contribution to it. I have a prejudice against pre-rolled cigarettes, convinced that the extra chemicals make the stench worse. I always do this when I host, engage in pedantry. M's loud eating will also later drive me up the wall. F rocks up at 8, never removes their hands from their pockets except to eat lamb which they'll claim helped ease the pain of a recent breakup. I find myself feeling guilty at what an early 2000s British nostalgia showdown the dinner becomes, and how lost F (Canadian) looks when J and C start screaming quotes from former "Steps" band member Lisa Scott-Lee's reality spin off show at each other from across the room. Many of the references are even lost on me. I wasn't allowed much television as a child. C tells us of a tv host who used to weight recently postpartum celebrities on his show to shame them for not losing the baby weight. I manage to relax. At the very least, the food is fantastic. I make a note to write the restaurant owners the following day When everybody leaves at midnight I tell R I have to move all the furniture back to its pre-dinner state. "Or you won't sleep, right?", he asks, "I'm the same". I can't vacuum this late so I sweep furiously and text R "I'm sweeping furiously". Eventually I climb into my delicious bed, delighted to have fulfilled all of the week's social expectations, and knowing all I have to do on Saturday is get three sets of keys cut in Kensington. The wind whistling through the gaps in Georgian architecture is a lullaby for adults