The night of June 25th, Bruno took Teresa, Lynn, and me to see O Teatro Magico, a cross between a band and Cirque du Soleil. They were one of many groups in town for FISL because they release their music under a creative commons license – you can download it here.
As you can see in the above clip, there was plenty going on. Our toes kept tapping and our bodies swaying, although we’d already been on our feet most of the day working the Sun booth (my legs were very, very sore the next day).
^ this photo by Ludovic Poitou reminds me of Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergére.
Another group activity in Porto Alegre was an evening of cachaça tasting at Ãgua Doce. Brazil’s national drink is made from distilled sugar cane juice, but beyond that there’s plenty of scope for variety in distilling and aging methods and flavor additions.
Some of us tried a few during dinner; I especially liked a coconut-flavored one that Eduardo got. Then we had an official tasting of five different types (aged in oak, aged in cherry, “plain” as used for mixing caipirinhas…). Most of us bought a bottle or two to take home, my choice was a sweetish liqueur version.
I was in Wellingon, New Zealand, this week, where my old friend David Earle had arranged for me to give presentations/seminars hosted by the Ministry of Education. These were open to all, and the attendees were a cross-section of government, NGOs, and local community representatives.
The attendees seemed to find the info useful, and I was at least as interested in hearing their stories: the usual problems with nervous managers, unwieldy systems and software, and Terms of Use that make it illegal for government departments to use some popular online tools (e.g., Google Analytics – but that’s being worked out).
I took the opportunity to mention slx.com, Sun’s soon-to-release SaaS video platform, which could be a useful solution for some departments which need to be able to publish video easily and without restrictions on length, and possibly limit access to insiders and/or a predefined set of users.
Billboard in Wellington, New Zealand, which prides itself (rightfully enough) on its coffee.
Of course while we were in Porto Alegre we had to go to a churrascaria. This method of cooking originated with the gauchos of southern Brazil and is mostly about all kinds of very good meat, though there’s also a buffet of salads and vegetables, and you can get grilled cheese (in large, melty chunks, not sandwiches).
Truly some of the best meat I’ve had in my life (there are times I am thankful not to be vegetarian), and the tableside capirinha service helped to wash it all down.
I was delighted to learn that the Fogo de Chao chain is of authentic Brazilian origin and considered good, so there are a few places in the US where I’ll still be able to enjoy churrasca.
