El Gaffney » brazil

First Half Recap

Seth — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 16:12:00 +0000

Here’s the link to my photos/fotos from Rio, Santiago and Buenos Aires. I’m off on a quick trip to Mexico City tonight. I’ll try to get a shot of me in a sombrero before leaving but can’t make any promises since the city is actually quite modern. Hope you enjoy the show. Email (or comment I guess) if you have any questions about what each picture is of. I should know, but was definitely too lazy to label each of the 90 shots.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=plax7en.2qzrctvb&Uy=-lgaotf&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

Proving My Age, Again

Seth — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 18:27:00 +0000

An an ariel (7th Floor) view of the Caesar Business hotel’s pool on the 2nd floor. I couldn’t help it.

To Sum It Up

Seth — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 04:49:00 +0000

Life was good in Rio. I got down to business and to the business of gettin’ down. And I definitely will return for Carnaval when I can afford it outside of a business trip. Though there’s nothing like good clean business… and a little monkey business. Name that movie. No chance, huh? Back to School – conversation between Thornton Melon and Dean Martin. Next trivia: Who else makes an appearance in that movie and is responsible for the name of this blog? Answer coming upon my return to the U.S. Photo: Me eating Biscoito Globo on Ipanema Beach, where I also drank coconut water (and ate its “meat”), Matte Leão (a nice cold tea), and of course, a lime caipirinha with sake. That’s all for Brazil. Beachseth Out.

One Last Stop in Rio

Seth — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 04:31:00 +0000

On my final day in Rio, I decided to go to Corcovado to see Santo Cristo and the beautiful view, both of which are shown above. From up you could see the whole city: Sugar Loaf (Pão de Açúcar), Rodrigo de Freitas lake, Gavea’s Rock (from where people jump to fly with asa delta – hang-gliding), and all the various beaches I’ve been bragging about for the last few days. I got some pretty good shots of Sugar Loaf, the soccer stadium, some long bridge (like the one they blew up in the original Bad Boys), and other parts of the city, but will save those for KodakGallery (formerly known as Ofoto). Furthermore, it’s fair to say that besides for my brief Copacabana association, I didn’t think about Bar Mitzvahs that long. And for those wondering: yes, of course my first inclination was to replicate his pose, but using better judgment, I decided against it and stood respectfully in front of JC. After all, Jesus was a Jew, so I was in good company. In all seriousness though, it was extremely powerful (and gigantic and way up high) and it was the perfect place to finish my trip. If you don’t believe me Google Earth it or use Google Maps to get there. Those are the best. Verdad eso. Doble verdad.

Sambas: Not Just the Name of a Sneaker (Introduzindo Crazy Legs)

Seth — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 04:23:00 +0000

That night we went to Junior’s house and then to the Beija-Flôr show. Above is a picture of the samba school, whose colors are blue and white and whose name means kisses flower. The show took place in a theater called Claro Hall (located under a mall). Opening acts were Monobloco and MC Marcinho. Above that is Crazy Legs (thanks Jake for the nickname), doing some dancing Brazilian “funky” steps. Those paolistas (from Sao Paolo) had some moves, but were definitely not prepared for the serving that this gringo could do. If BDR had been there with the spin moves, we may have been able to change the Americano stereotype double-handedly. But in true, late night weekend fashion, we finished off the night with some slices made of palmito and calabreza in Pizzaria Guanabara. ETPO (Estimated Time of Pass Out): 5AM. DTEO (Definite Time of Eye Opening): 1PM, which was fine with me since I managed to burn my entire face within 2 hours the previous day. You could call me Porco like a Portuguese version of Lord of the Flies.

100% Real Brazilians

Seth — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 23:14:00 +0000

Let me introduce my new Brazilian amigos… From left to right: Caroline, Me, Junior, Danielle, Adolfo. No, they’re not just random peeps from the street (or beach in this case). I met them through Caroline (pronounced Cah-roh-lean-ehy), who is Brazil’s brand manager for Kanina dog food and thus, one of the people with whom I worked. Still with me? She works with Danielle who’s dating Junior (I don’t know his real name) who’s friends with Adolfo.

Yes, the name Adolfo makes me a bit uncomfortable, but I managed to shift my thinking so that images of Ralph from the Muppet Babies would be triggered rather than those of that guy with the strange moustache. Don’t ask me how or why. Or do. I’m not sure. I just know it wasn’t because he was playing piano.

Anyway, here are the facts, diary style: We had a great afternoon at Prainha, a remote beach half enclosed by big green mountains. To get there, we passed trough Barra, an area that looks a lot like Miami and where people were kitesurfing. (Not where all the beautiful people come to be gay. Yay. Huh? – okay, that’s from an obscure Bruno/Ali G segment.) I tasted açaí, a typical brazilian fruit, prepared with granola and drank a Skol beer. After the beach, Junior drove us to a small seafood restaurant where we ate bolinho de bacalhau, a portuguese dish prepared with cod. On the way, we heard brazilian music: Seu Jorge (Life Aquatic), Gilberto Gil, Roberto Carlos (not the soccer player) and Zeca Pagodinho. We also heard 50 Cent, Chemical Brothers, MIA and The Rolling Stones at my request.

Details of our evening coming later tonight…

Yes, I Said Copa, Copacabanaaa

Seth — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 16:17:00 +0000

Is it wrong that upon seeing this beautiful hotel, I was immediately taken back to 2 places: 1. My Bar Mitzvah reception in middle school – I started reciting the song in my mind and became EJ the DJ mixing it right into Macho Man; and 2. My couch in high school – where I was watching Can’t Hardly Wait. That’s right, who’s gonna want you know, A-man-da? Somebody. More like nobody. You really got me there Mike. Fag! Well, thanks Barry Manilow for this hit and for that song about your dog. Remember: music and passion were always in fashion.

First of Many Beaches

Seth — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 15:51:00 +0000

Second if you count the little one in Botafogo where the training took place. I know what you’re thinking though… and yes, there was cause for the ellipses after water in the last post. After making my way through the 6 layers/rows of umbrellas between the volleyball courts and the ocean, here was the scene. No, that’s not David Hasselhoff swinging from the helicopter, and no those are not Germans either, but they rushed to the scene as if both were the case. And all this hype for what I was later informed is a relatively routine occurrence: the current is so strong, waves big and undertoe severe, that people get swept out to a point beyond which they’ll be able to swim back (unless we’re talking about Liz or Genna) and have to be rescued/scooped up like fish in this giant net and flown the 50 feet or so to be dropped off back on shore. And yes, Jimmy, that is a Hines Ward jersey bottom mid-left of photo. Once again, this is Copacabana Beach.

Point Is, They’ve Got Us Beat

Seth — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 00:35:00 +0000

I was going to continue posting reasons Brazil will continue to dominate the international soccer scene, but one, I ran out of ways to tie it into dreams; two, I . Three, and most importantly, when I went to Copocabana Beach two days ago thinking I’d hop into a social game of soccer volleyball (sports being the international language and all), I went to the court which seemed to have the least athletic looking players and much to my surprise, they were all 50x more skilled with this lighter and bouncier ball than I would have prayed I’d be. Thus, I saved myself, and the U.S., the embarrassment, took the picture above, and kept moving toward the water…
Note: It’s called futebol here, but as I would have written in a new post, we just sound silly calling it football (same goes for boots, pitch, nil, and many other phrases uttered by Rob Swain).

Reason #76646

Seth — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 13:08:00 +0000

They don’t dominate the all-you-can-eat “Brazilian steakhouses” like we do. I may not have posted the 11 lb. weight gain from my previous dining experience at Churrascaria Plataforma (thanks, Katz for bringing a scale to the restaurant), but when you look around and see you’re the only one who is still “green-buttoned” it says something. And that something is: “You are a fat American pig.” (See the name of the restaurant, and its classy logo, above.) I’ve been washing all dinners down with their infamous (like El Guapo) Caipirinhas. They have all the bob flavors.

Reason #37326 Brazil Will Continue to Kick Our Asses in Soccer

Seth — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 02:37:00 +0000

Time: 10:14AM
Location: Playa Botofago, Rio de Janeiro
Tempature: 91 degrees Fahrenheit, 32.7 repeating degrees Celsius
Who: 7-11 year old boys
Activity: Jumping over, weaving through and running to cones… repeat. Playing soccer is the reward.

Dreams Turn to Sonhos

Seth — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:45:00 +0000

Here’s me in Minneapolis this weekend. I’m off to somewhere a whole lot warmer and less icy (I’m talking about frozen water), where the sun is red and the flag is as yellow as the beach-goers’ banana hammocks. Where in the world is Seth Gaffney? Hit it Rockapella. Stay classy Carmen Sandiego.