This is a public service graffiti

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What do you think of this?

"First Graham Bell astonished the world with the telephone, then he spooked the criminals". It isn't very clear, but above this main text there is a telephone number in red with the text "Disque Denúncia" - it's a police number so you can report criminals.

 

I spotted it a little while back near Jardim Botanico and it sent me running for my dictionary. Assombrou is the third-person past-tense of Assombrar – which can mean haunt, amaze, astonish, stupefy, petrify and a bunch of other translations. When I asked a colleague they suggested that in this context you might use ‘freak out’, i.e. he astonished the world and then freaked out the criminals.

Anyway, however you translate it, it’s an unusual piece of graffiti isn’t it? So often graffiti seems to be anti-establishment and here is something encouraging people to inform on criminals!

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What colour is your New Year’s Eve?

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And so we reach the point where memories of Amigo Oculto and Blueberry Trifle are fading fast and we turn our attention to New Year’s Eve. It seems that in Brazil, New Year’s Eve may be referred to using one of several terms. Mostly I hear people talking about Reveillon, but then I have also seen Véspera de Ano Novo and Noite de Ano Novo (hint, I ‘wonder’ about things like this in the hope and expectation that some clever Portuguese speaker will clarify things for me).

If you decide to spend your NYE in Rio then the main event is held in Copacabana. As many as 2 million people [shudder] are expected to celebrate together on the night – there will be big-name musicians such as Beth Carvalho, O Rappa and [shudder again] David Guetta, plus a spectacular firework display. I went past the area in a taxi yesterday and the driver joked that the only people who stick around for this event are tourists. Indeed, many Cariocas decide to use this holiday to get out of town and avoid the mayhem.

The New Year's Eve fireworks in Copacabana. Sure the fireworks look cool, but just look at all those people. Good luck getting a taxi home... (thanks to mazavideos.blogspot.com for the awesome photo)

 

But regardless of where you decide to spend Reveillon, there is one question on everyone’s mind: What colour will you be wearing?

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Wark This Way!

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As regular readers of Eat Rio will know, I have a small obsession with graffiti. I love spotting new pieces as they appear and getting to recognise the work of particular artists or crews. Soon after I arrived here, one character caught my attention and the more I travelled within the city, the more I saw his rather unseemly face.

Not a particularly friendly or happy character is he?

 

I have to say, I wasn’t a big fan of this series of often sneering characters. But they were striking and something about them really  jumped out at me. In my head I dubbed them ‘Ballmen’ and the more I looked around, the more I realised that there were many different variations dotted around the streets of Rio.

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What links Rod Stewart, George Benson and Zumbi?

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If you’re asking yourself who or what Zumbi is then go and check out yesterday’s post. OK, so I’m going to assume that we’re all up to speed on Zumbi. I’m sure you guys know about the other two, but just in case, this is Rod Stewart:

This is Rod on a visit to Brazil in 1978. I can’t say for sure, but I suspect Rod didn’t need much persuading to wear a sunga…

 

And this is George Benson:

Looks pretty happy with himself doesn’t he?

 

So what do these guys have in common with each other and also with a 17th Century leader of escaped slaves?

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There’s graffiti all over the school!

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I grew up in the city of Winchester on the south coast of England. It was a great place to be a kid/teenager – by no means a village, but small enough that if you didn’t know someone directly, you probably knew someone who knew them. It is just an hour from London on the train, yet it is situated in a particularly lovely part of Hampshire, characterised by gorgeous, gentle countryside (a million miles from the dramatic mountains, forests and beaches of Rio).

Thatched cottages in Wherwell, Hampshire. Putting the Shire into Hampshire.

Winchester is a fairly wealthy city with a population of just 40,000 – when I was growing up crime levels were very low. So you can imagine my shock when I arrived at school aged 11 to hear there had been an attack.

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