Slam-bang Guga
Gustavo Kuerten, who every Brazilian is calling Guga these days, is
tennis’ latest upstart and Brazil’s newest sports hero. He won the French
Open title with a stunning straight-set victory over Spaniard Sergi Bruguera.
With this achievement, Kuerten became the highest ranked Brazilian male
ever to play the game.
By
Playing a femme fatale with some brain in a successful Brazilian novela
(soap opera) landed actress Adriana Esteves on the cover of Time
magazine, on the Latin American edition that is, but still quite impressive.
Esteves is Helena, the protagonist of Globo TV A Indomada (The Untamed)
and also the main star of Time’s take on the political role of Latin
America racy soap operas. The weekly news publication called her “novela
queen and Brazil’s sweetheart.” “I am not only a sex symbol in this soap
opera,” said Adriana. “I interpret a strong-willed woman who tells the
world the things in which she believes.”
Who is also flirting with Uncle Sam is Christine Fernandes, 29, who
just went back to Brazil after working on Francis Delia’s independent film
The Time of Her Time. In Hollywood, Christine and her flawless and
accentless English made the finals for playing Jane to the coming Tarzan
movie. Back in Brazil, after being chosen is one of the three finalists
among 200 candidates for the coveted role, the Brazilian actress was hopeful
she would be called as the King of the Jungle’s companion.
Only the Best
Pixinguinha, Cartola, Milton Nascimento, Djavan, Jorge Ben, Paulinho
da Viola, and Gilberto Gil, all of them are in Black Pearls, the
latest musical extravaganza by Brazilian saxophonist, producer, arranger,
and composer Leo Gandelman. This is Gandelman’s homage to 11 Afro-Brazilian
composers from the first team of Brazilian pop music and it is also the
musician’s US debut on PolyGram Latino. For nine years in a row Gandelman,
who is now living in the United States, has won as Brazil’s most popular
instrumental artist, according to the yearly popular poll taken by Rio’s
daily Jornal do Brasil.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Gandelman grew up listening to classical music
in a home where the father was an orchestra conductor and the mother a
concert pianist. After attending Boston’s world-renowned Berkeley College,
the musician returned immediately to his hometown’s musically effervescent
environment. Black Pearls is Gandelman’s sixth solo album. But he
can be heard in more than 500 discs, adding his eclectic sound to the work
of such musical powerhouses as Djavan, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, and Milton
Nascimento.
Eating Brazilian
“On your mark, get set, eat!”- this Village Brazilian all-you-can-eat rotisserie
is a “carnivore’s delight”, serving virtually “every critter on the Ark,
skewered and BBQ’d, plus an “incredible salad bar”; it’s “a blast”, so
“go with a group” and “eat till you drop.” That is the way legendary gourmet’s
bible Zagat Guide describes the eating experience at New York’s
Riodizio, just one of eight Brazilian eateries spotted on the 1997 version
of the book.
According to Zagat, New Yorkers and visitors to the Big Apple
can enjoy Brazilian cuisine’s spices served in a sophisticated setting
in all these other places: Cabana Carioca, Circus, Coffee Shop, Greenfield,
Ipanema, Rice’n’beans, and Via Brazil. Churrascaria Plataforma, which serves
authentic Brazilian barbecue, has become a big hit in town. Being the new
kid on the block, it did not make the renowned restaurant guide 1997 edition
though.