CSotD: What could be mais alegre than this?
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I said the other day that I have mixed feelings about the World Cup.
And the metaphor is "mixed" feelings because they're not blended: They're quite distinct, one from another.
1. I love seeing the best footballers of each nation get together once in four years for a great tournament.
2. I hate the greed and corruption of FIFA and nearly everyone involved in the World Cup who does not wear spiked shoes.
3. I can't help but think you could get everyone to come play futbol even if you didn't allow quite so many pigs to belly up to quite such a large and over-filled trough.
Which means that I'm going to watch as many games as I can, and hate everything but the game itself.
Thing is, I get these twinges, and yesterday, when France met Honduras, they played in a place called Porto Alegre, which might make you think of this:
But, no, that was a TV show, "Villa Alegre," which is Spanish for "Happy Village."
This is "Porto Alegre," Portugese for "Happy Port." It's apparently not an entirely bad place, but its name appears to be one of those pre-industrial industrial-developer names like "Greenland," designed to lure settlers and investors.
And the *ping* in my mind when I heard the name sent me back, first to my own archives and then to Cartoon Movement. Very short rant today, because you need to go visit, click and marvel at this brilliant interactive cartoon.
Then go see what the investigative journalist behind the cartoon had to say about it.
In that linked interview, this cartoon about the favelas of Rio de Janeiro is mentioned, and, given that "improving" them — mostly by tearing them down — has been part of Brazil's preparation for the World Cup and the 2016 don't-get-me-started Olympics, it's worth looking at that cartoon and its sequel.
The effort has not been entirely successful, for the favela dwellers or for others in Brazil.
However, I don't want you to feel depressed about the whole mess, because, after all, World Cup is a joyous occasion.
So, to lighten the mood, let's end today's posting with the delightful comedy stylings of John Oliver:
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