Torre de comunicação da Gazeta, onde fica minha faculdade, universidade paulista (em Avenida Paulista) —

Gazeta TV and communications antenna, Avenida Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil.

(via ipirangaesaojoao)

Last night, at Praça Rosa, São Paulo, during the first meeting of the open-to-all Extraordinary Commission on Human Rights and Minorities (Comissão Extraordinaria de Direitos Humanos e Minorias). Led by the trans cartoonist Laerte and congressman Jean Wyllys, the commission sprang up as a reaction to the appointment of Marco Feliciano, a bigoted, homophobic evangelical pastor, as president of Brazil’s Congressional Human Rights Commission.

‘I’d rather my sexuality were of no consequence. But it is. It’s stigmatised. The only way I have of rising above that stigma is to incarnate that identity, but I’d prefer it if I didn’t have to.’ Jean Wyllys, a member of Brazil’s parliament who incredibly, rose to fame by winning Big Brother. 

Photo from NINJA Facebook page.

Ipanema beach | rio de janeiro

by Luis Roberto Toledo, non-plusultra

Beco do Batman (‘Batman alley’), in Vila Madalena, São Paulo. By Clairex on Flickr.

Alameda Franca – the entrance to my apartment building, São Paulo, Brazil. By Clairex on Flickr.

Picinguaba, in Ubatuba, Brazil, by Clairex on Flickr.

pinheiros | são paulo, brazil

by Luis Roberto Toledo, non-plusultra

In hyper-dynamic São Paulo, South America’s largest city, people battle for space every day – and never more so than out on the roads. This weekend, the battle hit a macabre low, when a 21-year old hit-and-run driver threw the detached arm of a cyclist he had struck into one of the city’s filthy rivers

Worlds collide on the streets of the mega-city
By Claire Rigby, in Folha de S.Paulo

‘… São Paulo is not safe for bicycles: according to new figures, nine cyclists are hospitalized in SP each day. The city’s dense, stressed traffic is a menace to its pedestrians as well as cyclists, and most of all to motorcyclists, who die at the rate of five a day, in the state of São Paulo. Aside from the ciclofaixas, a small network of permanent ‘ciclovia’ cycle routes and a handful of patchy bike-rental and park-and-ride schemes, the city has pitiful provision for bicycles. And its army of drivers, addicted to their cars, have little experience of sharing the road with cyclists – and seemingly little desire to learn. …

And yet, often unacknowledged by bike enthusiasts, there are parts of São Paulo in which cycling reaches ‘European proportions’, as reported by Vanessa Correa in a feature in Folha’s saopaulo magazine last September. On pock-marked, pitted, sometimes unpaved streets, thousands upon thousands of cyclists use a mixture of rickety bikes and sleek, prized specimens to come and go, navigating their neighbourhoods and setting out on long rides to work in the city. It’s an army of David Santos de Souzas, and they don’t need to be encouraged to use bicycles: they have no other option.’

Read the rest.

Fabio Braga/Folhapress image of the naked bike ride along Avenida Paulista, Saturday night, 9 March 2013. 

Under the pavement, the trees. São Paulo’s trees don’t care, they just smash up the pavements all over town with their insistent, silent, neverending T’ai chi ch’uan power.

Vila Madalena, this morning.

“A fantastic new article and graphic tool shows that owning a car is a big waste of money for lots of people that do have to commute to work. And that isn’t just taking into account the obvious economic benefits to be had if they swapped in the wheels for public transport, walking, or biking. what the numbers show is that many people can save lots of money even if they take taxis everywhere. Since taxis here are ubiquitous and excellent, that hardly seems like a less comfortable solution. But still, more and more cars, everywhere, every day.”

By Vincent Bevins in the From Brazil blog, in English, at Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. via ciutats

Vai-Vai samba school preparations, São Paulo, by Clairex on Flickr.

A figure from one of the floats from a previous year, stored round the back of the warehouse belonging to the samba school Vai-Vai, from São Paulo, Brazil. Another view,

Vai-Vai samba school preparations, São Paulo Carnival 2013, by Clairex on Flickr.

A figure from one of the floats from a previous year, round the back of the warehouse belonging to the samba school Vai-Vai, from São Paulo, Brazil. Another view.

Sofia Borges, Sediments Series (2009)

Sofia Borges was one of the artists featured in the recent São Paulo art Bienal. Here’s an interview with her (by me!) at Time Out São Paulo, where she talked about her favourite fellow artist at the Bienal. She chose the late Irish photographer and filmmaker Patrick Jolley.

Unintentional nice photo. Kids, rain, crazy paving at the Vale de Anhangabaú, São Paulo, yesterday during the Criolo and Emicida free concert for the city’s 459th birthday.

Estação Pinheiros, São Paulo, 2012. By Fabio Costa.