The Curmudgeon on São Conrado History
Opinon, by Michael Royster RIO DE JANEIRO – There was a shoot-out in São Conrado early Saturday morning; there was an invasion of high-rise condos; there followed the assault upon a five star hotel by black-clad bandidos, with hostage taking and the whole shebang. What was the main reaction of the great mass of Rio [...]
It Can’t Happen Here
Opinion, by Michael Royster RIO DE JANEIRO – Rio’s major newspaper this week ran a front page picture featuring a Greenpeace activist wearing an oil-sludge-begrimed cape standing on Copacabana Beach, showing a sign saying “BP — Risky Business” to pensive poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade—or rather to the bronze statue of him, seated on a [...]
The Curmudgeon on Sticks and Stones (Again)
Opinion, By Michael Royster RIO DE JANEIRO – On the eve of his visit to Iran, President Lula has publicly requested President Ahmadinejad to allow a 43-year old Iranian woman convicted on two counts of adultery to seek asylum in Brazil, rather than being stoned to death, as called for by her sentence. The good [...]
The Curmudgeon on The FARC Farces
Opinion, by Michael Royster What are we to do with the FARC? The US and the EU have classified them as a “terrorist” organization that deals in drugs. On the other hand, Venezuela’s President Chavez has said they are “Bolivarian” and have a political program. More to the point, they seem to have engendered a [...]
The Curmudgeon on Trains
Opinion, by Michael Royster RIO DE JANEIRO – Just last week ANTT, the Brazilian Land Transportation Agency, published the public invitation for bids for the TAV or “Trem de Alta Velocidade”, generally known in English as HSR, short for High-Speed Rail. Designed to hurtle passengers from Galeão to Guarulhos and Viracopos airports at over 250 [...]
Brazil’s Wheel of Miss Fortune
Opinion, by Felicity Clarke RIO DE JANEIRO – At the start of the World Cup a television appeared in the house. As well as facilitating a thorough viewing of the Cup’s proceedings (which have been emotional), it has become a near-constant distraction and a window into the wonderful world of Brazilian television. With no knowledge [...]
The Curmudgeon on Who Hexed the Hexa?
Opinion, by Michael Royster After their exit from the World Cup last week, here are exactly seventeen Curmudgeonly reasons why Brazil lost to Holland. 1) The prefix “hexa” comes from the Greek word for six, so “Hexacampeão” was the word on everyone’s lips in Brazil. But in English, to “hex” someone means to jinx them, [...]
The Curmudgeon on The Fat Lady
Opinion, by Michael Royster RIO DE JANEIRO – “Is there an ear, nose and throat specialist in the house?” This was the medic the Fat Lady desperately needed at Court Eighteen of Wimbledon last week, and (fortunately for the record books) she couldn’t find one anywhere in the crowd. We hasten to explain. Normally, tennis [...]
The Curmudgeon as Smokey The Bear
Opinion, by Michael Royster RIO DE JANEIRO – Rio Times readers in Zona Sul this weekend will have seen, or at least sniffed, the results of a seemingly unquenchable passion—loosing decorative balloons (“balões”) in the weeks surrounding St John’s Day, June 24th. These artfully decorated and constructed hot air balloons, reaching four to five meters [...]
The Curmudgeon on Vuvuzelas
Opinion, by Michael Royster RIO DE JANEIRO – As Gollum famously said: “We hates it! We hates it!” Tolkien’s character in The Lord of the Rings was lamenting the Thief! Bilbo Baggins! The Curmudgeon is lamenting the dreaded vuvuzela. Those of you who were in the US or on another planet during the buildup to [...]