Adventures of a Gringa

Famous Brazilians in the U.S.

I noticed that there are quite a few Brazilians, at least ones born there or with a Brazilian parent, who have made it to the big time in the U.S., but not many Americans know about their roots. Here is a little collection of some of them; if you can think of more, please leave a comment!

• Morena Baccarin, the star of ABC's new sci-fi show V. She plays the "head alien" whose face has been plastered all over the U.S. in the past week or so. Interestingly, she is Carioca (!) and was raised in New York City, and studied at Juilliard. Her mom was an actress in Brazil and moved to the U.S. in the 1980s, and her dad still lives in Rio.
• Camilla Belle, a TV and movie actress who has been in Hollywood since she was little, and starred in several movies, including "When a Stranger Calls" and "Push." She also recently starred in a Brazilian movie called "À Deriva." Though she was born in the US, her mother is Brazilian, and she speaks fluent Portuguese. She has family in Sao Paulo, and some of her favorite foods include brigadeiro, pao de queijo, and feijoada.
• Rodrigo Santoro, Brazil's most famous actor export who has starred in dozens of American and Brazilian TV shows and movies. Though Brazilians are probably muttering "Duh!" under their breath, you'd be amazed how many Americans think he's Argentine or Italian. Rodrigo was born in Petropolis and grew up in Rio de Janeiro.
• Alice Braga, Sonia Braga's niece, was born in Sao Paulo and started out doing Brazilian movies. She eventually got roles in Hollywood and was in "I am Legend," "Blindness" and "Crossing Over."
• Alessandra Ambrosio, Victoria's Secret and top fashion model. She was born in Rio Grande do Sul and started her American career in New York.
• Adriana Lima, Victoria's Secret model, fashion model, and actress. She was born in Salvador, Bahia and also began her American career in New York.
• Ana Beatriz Barros, top model. She's mineira!
• Gisele, one of the world's most famous models and an occasional actress. Seriously, if you didn't know that one, I can't help you!
• Nenê, basketball player with the Denver Nuggets. He's from a small city in Sao Paulo state.
• Leandro Barbosa, basketball player with the Phoneix Suns. He's originally from Sao Paulo.

Hello, Brazil Blogger

Occasionally, I receive emails from Internet marketers trying to get me to write about their TV show or book or product without directly asking, but giving a lengthy explanation of why their product is so great without bothering to look up my name to add to the salutation.

The other day, I received this one. Since I changed the names, you can take a guess as to whether this marketer bothered to research my profile and to see whether this would please me and make me want to market the show for free, or completely irk me and make me want to scream. See for yourself.

Hello,

TV Channel X is launching a new show next Monday, September 21st, called New Show and the premiere episode is in Brazil. Given the nature of your blog [Adventures of a Gringa], I thought I would share more information with you! Personally, I really like this show and think it's different than anything else TV Channel X has aired before. Below is more information.

What is New Show?
The #1 TV show in Finland, New Show is on a quest to explore the most insane destinations in the world!  Bob and Rob are two fearless Finns who cross the globe carrying nothing but backpacks and cameras from the Himalayas to the African deserts, from Tokyo to Polynesia.

Brazil Details (Premiere episode)
Bob and Rob, the two Finns behind the madness, begin their journey in Brazil where they encounter dangers I personally wouldn't dare to face. The episode starts with Bob in a medical chair getting his bicep sliced open with a scalpel. What for? A diamond of course! He gets a diamond sewn under his skin in case he gets robbed and needs cash fast.

This precaution makes more sense once they reach their first destination: a shanty-town (Rocinha Favela) run by gang members. The murder rate in this town is significantly higher than Rio's, which has one of the highest crime rates worldwide. A lot of criminals move to the shanty town to get lost after leaving prison. Bob and Rob get up-close-and-personal with one of the gang members and his guns. Here's a sneak peek video of their experience (feel free to post on your blog).

Next they head to the rainforest to take part in an Ayahuasca ceremony. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant extract, that is ingested during a tribal ritual. Before the ritual started Bob said, "I'm afraid of going nuts". I don't blame him! What happens after they drink this plant extract is pretty wild.

Southeast Asia Summary
In this episode, Bob and Rob travel through Southeast Asia in search of freedom. Drinking cobra blood and shooting bazookas, our mad men take on the ruthless military junta of Myanmar.

Tune-in for a wild ride with Bob and Rob! Also, check out the slideshows from these two episodes. You can get updates on the show by following us on Twitter.

Cheers,
Internet Marketer

Protest Now

I recently discovered CQC (Custe o que custar), a comedy show on Band in Brazil, which roughly translates as "Whatever it takes." Though it is mostly a mixture of comedy segments, it has a fantastic political segment called "Proteste já" (Protest Now). The show sends one of the hosts, Rafinha Bastos, to investigate a social problem in a town or city in Brazil, in an effort to bring attention to the problem and to alert the responsible authorities, to ultimately resolve the problem.

In this week's episode, Rafinha (who is, incidentally, a Jewish stand-up comedian) goes to a town in Sao Paulo state where the public hospital is in a state of complete disarray. Despite the fact that the city government spends twice as much as the legal amount on public health, there are no doctors in the ER the day Rafinha arrives, with few doctors available, a broken X-ray machine, and insufficient medical instruments. Rafinha goes to the Secretary of Health in the city and gets up in his face (unlike the soft-balling Globo version of "Proteste Ja" when they show the problem, play dramatic music, and call it a day). Dressed up as Death, he reads him a long list of problems with the hospital, and asks him to give a definite answer about when and how he'll deal with the crisis. He also asks if the secretary uses the hospital, the only one in town; he meekly replies: "I go to a private hospital."

Inspired by the segment, I'm starting a new series to shed light on local issues in the Americas not getting enough attention in the international media that need to be addressed.

For the first post, let's have a look at some serious shenanigans going on in Para, one of the most lawless states in Brazil. It is also in the Amazon, and one of the most rapidly deforested areas in Brazil, due to illegal logging and cattle ranching.

Ibama, the government branch responsible for protecting the environment and punishing those who destroy it, is currently working on an operation called Boi Pirata II in the Novo Progresso area of Para, which is the municipality with the highest rate of deforestation in the country. The operation is being led by Ibama agent Leslie Tavares, who is managing one hundred agents from Ibama, the National Security Forces, the Federal Police, and the Federal Highway Police, working together to fine illegal loggers and confiscate illegal goods. In 2008, Ibama ran Operation Boi Pirata I and managed to confiscate 3,500 heads of cattle and remove another 100,000 from illegal ranches. So far, Operation Boi Pirata II has punished ranchers with $15,000 in fines and has removed 2,500 heads of cattle.

The area of the operation, which includes a national park, stretches 13,000 square kilometers, 11% of which is now completely deforested due to illegal commercial activity. The operation seeks to limit area destroyed for cattle ranching and to enforce environmental law. However, cattle ranchers essentially run entire areas of the Northeast with an iron fist, like in the days of the coronels.

Sadly, the judicial system in Para, one of the most corrupt in the country, is not always supportive of the federal government's efforts, and is often supportive of the local strongmen. This week, one of the ranchers who was fined in the operation, one Jocemar Picolotto, went to a state judge asking him to put a stop to the operation. The judge conceded the request, and ruled that Boi Pirata II must halt its efforts and return all confiscated cattle to their owners. Ibama, however, ignored the ban, after a federal appeals court (TRF-1) swiftly overturned the ruling. Nevertheless, on Tuesday, the state judge ordered that Leslie Tavares, the head of the operation, be imprisoned for failing to halt the operation. In other words--the court ordered a federal agent to be thrown in jail for doing his job.

Chaos ensued when military police came to put Tavares behind bars, while Ibama agents and federal police tried to help Tavares. But the military police succeeded and put Tavares in jail. Later, Ibama informed the authorities of the TRF's ruling, and Tavares was released.  Now, Ibama says, the judge could be thrown in jail for failing to enforce the higher court's ruling, but it is not clear what will happen to him or to Tavares.

[Source: Cruzeiro do Sul, Canal Rural & Globo Amazonia]

*Please email suggestions for this series to riogringaconsult at gmail dot com. They can be in Brazil, the US, or Latin America.

O Jeitinho Americano

Though the term jeitinho is Portuguese, based on Brazilian realities, the truth is that every country has its own form of jeitinho, even if it isn't as widespread or as woven into the fabric of society. We certainly have a jeitinho americano, but it's considerably different from the Brazilian kind.

First, it's important to separate the jeitinho from common corruption (stay tuned later this week for a post on that). The truth is that it's hard to get around the rules in the US, but in the face of necessity, there is sometimes room for a jeitinho.

In my personal experience, I've found the jeitinho in two places: customer service and health care. Companies concerned with keeping customers happy will let things slide or will provide certain loopholes if they feel it will ultimately benefit them in the end and will maintain their clientele. Given the choice between creating more red tape and generating a lower profit, some companies will be happy to accommodate customers by letting them skip steps or make a process easier. An interesting example of this happened to a Brazilian at a very popular American lingerie store that shall not be named, where the saleswoman let the customer jump hoops to get a store credit card. Recently, while touring New York on a pass that gives discounts to several locations, the first person to take the pass never wrote the purchase date on it, and not a single other ticket taker checked to see the validity of the pass, even though it is only supposed to be used within 9 days of purchasing it.

I've also, thankfully, found the jeitinho in health care. Last summer, I managed to convince a few doctors to see me for minimal or no charge since I had no health care, and since I've been back and had a traumatizing experience with the entire health care system (maybe I'll write about it later, when I'm less depressed about it), I've managed to get some discounts and skirt some fees since I'm unemployed.

With this in mind, I'd like to recommend Nurse Jackie as the perfect example of the jeitinho americano. Besides the fact that it has the best writing on American television at the moment, superb plot lines and outstanding actors, it's also the ultimate showcase for the jeitinho. It's about a nurse at a New York hospital, who doesn't let bureaucracy or rules stand in the way of doing the right thing--or at least, what she thinks will be the best solution. When it comes to others, she uses the jeitinho to reward those who need it or to punish those who deserve to have it used against them, but when it comes to herself, she uses the jeitinho purely for self benefit, though she knows it is morally wrong.

Nurse Jackie airs on Monday nights on Showtime, but if you're outside the US, you can watch it here.

Rio Gringa Recommends

I haven't done one of these in awhile, so I wanted to devote a post to some great things I've come across recently.

1. The Lost City of Z: A Deadly Tale of Obsession in the Amazon

Written by David Grann, this non-fiction tale is just as compelling, if not more, than a fiction thriller, and I could not put it down. It tells the story of three adventurers who set out to find "El Dorado," the lost city of gold, in the Brazilian Amazon: British explorer Percy Fawcett in 1925, a Brazilian father-son team in the 1990s, and Grann himself a year or two ago. It is a must-read for Brazil-philes, historians, escapists, and bookworms alike. I'd also recommend it to Brazilians, though you may find yourself twitching involuntarily, since the book largely focuses on gringos set on having their way in the Amazon. Though it's basically a historical account, the twists and turns would make for a great movie, and the ending is...well. You'll have to read it.

2. Moo.com

I ordered business cards from here awhile back, and while I've been interviewing and networking in New York, people have really loved them and always ask where I got them. You can get regular or mini-sized, and you pick from a variety of designs. Once you pick a design, you get a certain number of each pattern, so that you have a diverse group of cards that are mostly all different. I happened to love Sarah Green's designs the best, but there are a ton of other beautiful designs that make for really unique and eye-catching business cards. Also, they ship internationally so you can have them sent anywhere.

3. The Real Housewives of New Jersey

Ok, ok hear me out. Though it's definitely a guilty pleasure, this show is highly entertaining and provides a very eye-opening and bone-chilling look into New Money in America. I've never watched the other "Housewives" shows (they've had them in New York City, Orange County, and Atlanta), but I think this one really is the epitome of conspicuous consumption and the nouveau riche in the United States. It shows what people do with their money, what they do to compete with one another to show who has more money, and the sickening things that go on behind closed doors. It's certainly yet another warning sign as to how poorly Americans have handled money and buying habits, driving us into this Crisis. Thankfully, not all Americans are quite as bad as these women, but the show certainly offers some insights as to why we buy the things we do and parts of our culture that wouldn't exactly make our founding fathers proud. And how much more American does "the bigger, the better" mentality get? If you're not stateside or missed this season, you can watch online here. The last episode of the season airs this Tuesday.

Paying the price

I'm a big fan of O Buteco, where I always find interesting stuff. But this video is one of the best (and worst) I've found in awhile.

In the video, the reporter from MTV says he's going to investigate how rich people are spending their money on a weekend in an upscale Sao Paulo club, in a country where the minimum wage is R$465 (US$211). What he finds isn't exactly pleasant.

Before he goes into the club, he asks if poor people are allowed in. The host giggles nervously and shakes her head. In the club, he asks people how much they typically spend in a night; some say R$150, another guy says R$350. Then the reporter asks how much people pay their maids, and they pretend not to hear or refuse to answer.

He asks how much people paid for their drinks; one guy answers that he spent R$10 on a beer. The reporter asks him if spending that much on a beer is something a rich guy would do, or an idiot would do. The guy responds, "An idiot." The reporter then asks, "Do you think you're an idiot?" "Well, no," the guy answers. The reporter asks how much another guy spent on a bottle of vodka: over R$300.

The worst part comes at the end, when one of the clubbers rips R$150 and throws the pieces into the air like confetti. In any country, it's disgusting; in Brazil, where hunger and starvation exist, it's unspeakable.

The comments on O Buteco's post are interesting. Some say that while it's awful to destroy money, it is the guy's property, so he can do what he wants with it, which I thought was a very American point of view. One person points out that destroying money is illegal in Brazil and is punishable by law, but another person claims that a someone willing to shred R$150 would have "enough money to pay off a judge."

The Difference: Speaking the language

Brazilians consume an enormous amount of American culture, including TV shows, movies, and music, but many of them rely on subtitles and dubbing to understand it.  English has become the fashionable language to learn and use, but only a minority speak it completely fluently. Brazilians accept the fact (or at least realize) that Americans do not speak Portuguese and anything they get from the States will be relatively Greek to them before it gets translated.

So when I was sitting in my living room and first heard Donald Trump start barking in Portuguese, I sat up in my chair and my jaw dropped.

As a reality show junkie, I watch a lot of People & Arts, a channel with mostly American TV shows. What I've noticed about this channel that sets it apart from other channels that broadcast foreign shows, or foreign-based channels, is that the internal advertising has begun using Portuguese by asking the American stars to speak directly to Brazilians. In a commercial for Celebrity Apprentice, Donald Trump  refers to the show using its Portuguese name (O Aprendiz), and says "you're fired" in English, Spanish in Portuguese [Voh say ess ta deh meh tido!]. In another, the male trainer from "The Biggest Loser" introduces the show in Portuguese (Perder para ganhar), and starts out by saying "Oi Brasil!"

To me, it makes all the difference in the world.

Take this in contrast with channels like HBO, which despite the fact that it has Brazilian shows, in Portuguese, often does most of its internal advertising entirely in Spanish, which pisses me off to no end. Clearly, channels like this have a Latin America division, rather than totally separate Spanish Latin America and Portuguese Latin America divisions. They try to save money by creating a single set of ads to distribute throughout the continent, instead of making separate ads for Brazil. This, to me, is extremely insulting, since Brazilians obviously do not speak Spanish and frequently get miffed if they are expected to understand it. It is also typical of Americans to lump all Latin Americans together into a single ethnic and language group, a concept which Brazilians don't exactly look kindly upon. As such, I think HBO-style advertising is lazy and in my opinion, counterintuitive.

I'd like to offer People & Arts' advertising as a lesson to all foreign investors and businesses in Brazil. Brazilians may have an odd obsession with English, and some of them may very well understand it, but they will sit up and listen if you make an effort to speak their language (even if you don't do it very well). It makes a huge difference.