No Glorious Embraces

• Who Left the Lights Off, Baby? From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (5 days old)

  On Tuesday, 10 November, around 10:30pm, Brazil suffered a nationwide blackout that left about a third of the country’s population shrouded in complete darkness. Entire states were left without an… more

• Going Green From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (10 days old)

  Saturday evening saw the third edition of the Planeta Terra Festival, which translates as the Planet Earth Festival. Rather than an eco-friendly gathering as the name might suggest, Planeta Terra … more

• Ooh Aah Cantona From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (14 days old)

  So yesterday was the last day of the São Paulo International Film Festival, one of Brazil's most prestigious film festivals. With about 400 films packed into two weeks, there's a film that suits e… more

• La Vie en Noir et Blanc From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (23 days old)

  As part of the never-ending celebrations of all things French here in Brazil, which has so far included everything from electro popstar Sébastien Tellier to cubist Matisse, photgrapher Henri-Carti… more

• I Know It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll But I Didn’t Like It From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (26 days old)

  Last Sunday, I went to see a Brazilian production of Tom Stoppard’s ‘Rock ’n’ Roll’. My knowledge of Stoppard only extends as far as watching ‘Shakespeare in Love’ (which he wrote the screenplay f… more

• Let Us Now Praise Famous Photographers From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (39 days old)

  Tuesdays are always great for a jaunt to a museum here in São Paulo; not because of some astrological reason of the alignment of the planets on Tuesdays, or some numerological notion of Tuesday be… more

• Trouble in Paradise From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (46 days old)

  And so, after 3 blissful weeks in London (and one spectacular weekend on Planet Bestival), it's back to Brazil for another year. This time, however, I've already got some work lined up, thankfully. I'… more

• 16mm of film is still enough From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (55 days old)

  In an age when digital technology is taking over the film industry and analogue film is slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past, one can trust always artists to still make extensive use of … more

• Once upon a time... From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (56 days old)

  The design world has taken over the streets of London this past week with the London Design Festival. You can find countless exhibitions around the capital as well as some installations such as th… more

• Still the best of all festivals From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (61 days old)

  Space: the final frontier. Most of us will never even set foot in a space shuttle much less visit the Great Beyond, so a trip to Planet Bestival will just have to do. For those 40,000 astronauts w… more

• The Prodigal Returns... briefly From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (78 days old)

  When I left for Brazil last October, the idea was only supposed to be a year out, to get to know Brazil and specifically São Paulo, truly get to know what Brazilian life and culture is all about. … more

• When We Weren't Kings From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (83 days old)

  "Brazil" and "football" are words that go hand in hand together. It's almost impossible to think of one without thinking of the other. It's the national pastime in every sense: playing, watching, … more

• Let's face the music and dance! From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (87 days old)

  Why is it that musicals have such a bad reputation amongst the majority of the general public? If you ask the average person (and as far as I can tell, you could do this in any country and it'd be… more

• Dear Baby, Welcome to Dumpsville. Population: you. From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (94 days old)

  Breaking up is never easy. That final face-to-face confrontation when you bring out the old "it's not you, it's me" line and you hope the other person doesn't burst into tears in the middle of the… more

• 3 Days of Peace and Music From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (95 days old)

  This weekend marked the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, hailed as the greatest music festival of all time. 600,000 attended, 3 million claimed they did. For some, it was a transcendental, once-in-a… more

• Smoke 'em up, Johnny! They're your last! From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (100 days old)

  Last Friday, on the 7th August, São Paulo introduced a smoking ban in all closed environments across the entire state. There had already been a smoking ban before but it wasn't widely enforced. Wi… more

• The City of Angels From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (100 days old)

  So the big news is that I'm a godfather now. I was asked a few weeks ago by my cousin to be godfather to her son. Like me, he shares cultural influences from England and Brazil since his dad is Br… more

• The Singing Journalist From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (105 days old)

  "Musical genius", "ahead of his time", "misunderstood": these are terms that probably have been thrown about too much since the dawn of time (or at least the dawn of music). Too often have musicia… more

• To hold as 'twere the mirror up to theatre From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (115 days old)

  About three weeks ago, a new series began on Globo TV, Brazil's biggest national TV channel, called 'Som e Fúria' (Sound and Fury). I'd been hearing a lot about it since I arrived last October, ev… more

• A Fairy Tale for Adults From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (120 days old)

  It's another film festival this week in São Paulo. This time, it's all about animation. Anima Mundi is Brazil's biggest animation festival, showing films from all around the world, from Croatia to… more

• Through the Rabbit Hole From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (126 days old)

  I decided to take my camera for a stroll round the neighbourhood yesterday since it was such a beautiful day. When you're one month into winter and it's 20 degrees with the sun shining above you, … more

• Die Neue Haas Grotesk From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (128 days old)

  2 years ago, I remember picking up a copy of Time Out and reading about a documentary called 'Helvetica', a film entirely concerned with the eponymous font. It was on at the ICA and I remember ask… more

• Red Bull gives you wiiings! From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (130 days old)

  For a while now, I've been doing some work for Red Bull here in Brazil. It's pretty simple work really, they have a programme called Cliptomaniacs which is a clipshow in English of all the extreme… more

• Sports Movies From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (133 days old)

  Sports have always offered a fountain of inspiration for filmmakers around the world. Just think of the countless American football and basketball films Hollywood has produced, or even bobsleigh f… more

• The Love Sorceress From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (136 days old)

  I've said this too many times before but I'll say it again, it's simply astounding how many film festivals happen here in São Paulo throughout the year. More astounding is how specific some of the… more

• Extra! Extra! From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (141 days old)

  Success! My first articles for a magazine have now been published! And no editing either, mind you. As I mentioned last month, I had got in contact with an online British film magazine called Film… more

• The Great Escape From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (143 days old)

  So the festival season has kicked off again and this weekend just gone saw 100,000 people head to a farm in Somerset, put up with rain, mud and cold with only a flimsy, paper-thin shelter to prote… more

• Still Life From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (151 days old)

  I started a stop-motion workshop today, at one of the many cultural centres São Paulo has to offer. It's a week-long, basic introduction to all forms of stop-motion from pixilation (as opposed to … more

• The Men from B.R.I.C. From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (156 days old)

  Yesterday saw the first major BRIC summit, a meeting between the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, the top four emerging nations in the world. Held in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, … more

• It all makes sense now! From randomg17 in No Glorious Embraces (157 days old)

  I had a revelatory moment this afternoon, one of those moments where you go "oh, that's what it means". Not quite an epiphany, but probably as close as I'm going to get trawling the internet on a … more

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