Category:
South America

Wanted:  Fernando Botero Model!

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You might have been following this recent case of a stolen baby. I suggest the police interrogate famous Colombian artist Botero. Surely the suspect has previously modeled for Botero at some point.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 03, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Art, Crime, Babies and Toddlers, South America

Workplace Tragedy

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jun 29, 2009 - Comments (7)
Category: Humor, Parody, Work and Vocational Training, South America

Beware the Worm Lizard!

Every day the news brings me reports of some horrible locale outside my safe and beloved New England, where people are subject to floods, volcanoes, earthquakes--and "worm lizards"...?!?

Yes, it's not bad enough that the poor citizens of a certain region in Brazil have to battle flooding, they also have to contend with the evil Worm Lizard!

You can read about their troubles here. The key sentence:

Like 218,000 others across a swath of northern Brazil three times the size of Alaska, the neighbors have fled the worst rainfall and flooding in decades, braving newly formed rivers teeming with anacondas, alligators and legless reptiles known as "worm lizards" whose bite is excruciating.




Posted By: Paul - Sun May 10, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Death, Destruction, Disasters, Horror, South America, Natural Wonders, Weather

Weekend in Havana

Can you sing as fast as Carmen Miranda does in this tune, "Rebola a Bola," from WEEKEND IN HAVANA?

I found the Portuguese lyrics and had Google translate them. The eccentric result is to be found after the jump: original line in Portuguese followed by English "translation."





More in extended >>

Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 21, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Fashion, Human Marvels, Movies, Music, 1940s, South America

Sister Mayo

Does the world need the hybrid music of Sister Mayo, blending a squeaky anime voice with Latin American rhythms?

Decide for yourself.


Love Tropicana - Sister MAYO

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 27, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Music, Asia, South America

World’s Most Dangerous Road

For those who did not get enough excitement with the "King's Path" post, here is the Yungas Road.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 30, 2008 - Comments (2)
Category: Death, South America, Cars

Shamans in Peru

Time to look at some curanderos. The best part comes after the three-minute mark.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 04, 2008 - Comments (1)
Category: Medicine, Paranormal, Religion, Foreign Customs, South America

Would you buy a car from this dealer?

This Brazilian auto dealer has a rather unfortunate name. (Warning: NSFW language!) I would have thought that, even in Brazil, they would recognize that term.

It appears that in Brazil some people have the F-word as their last name. Take, for instance, the example of Dr. Reinhardt Adolfo F***, who is a Professor of Geology at the University of Brazil. It must be a bit awkward whenever they travel to an English-speaking country: "Welcome to America, Mr. F***!"

Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 18, 2008 - Comments (2)
Category: South America

Eugênio Hirsch

Discovering traces of a forgotten surrealist/pop artist is always nice and weird. That's why I'm happy to present here some data on Eugênio Hirsch--a name I believe will be little-known to English-speaking art-lovers.

I took the liberty of having Google translate his Spanish Wikipedia entry, and then cleaned up the text a bit.

Eugênio Hirsch (Vienna, 1923 - Rio de Janeiro, September 23 2001) was a visual artist of Austrian origin, considered one of the pioneers of Brazilian graphic design.

Eugênio Hirsch was born in Vienna, Austria in 1923. Given the imminence of World War II his family emigrated in 1938 to Argentina, where Hirsch was highlighted as a graphic artist. During his stay in Argentina, he lived in Buenos Aires where he worked for the Encyclopedia Codex. In 1947 he met Monteiro Lobato, who illustrated texts mentioned in the editorial. He also lived in San Miguel de Tucuman where he worked with Lino Spilimbergo Enea.

In 1955 he emigrated to Brazil. Beginning in 1960 he was hired by the publisher "Civilização Brasileira" and in a short time revolutionized the concept and design of book covers, becoming one of the biggest names in this specialty. In 1960 he won the Jabuti Award (highest distinction in the field Brazilian literary and artistic). He was considered a pioneer of graphic design with decisive influence on subsequent generations. One of his favorite quote was "Uma feita layer is to attack, did not to please" ( "A cap is used to attack, not to please"). In 1965 he traveled to the United States where he collaborated with Playboy magazine and then to Europe, but then returned to his adoptive country, Brazil.

Among his most famous works include the illustration done for the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. He was also recalled for his eccentric personality.

Eugênio Hirsch died in Rio de Janeiro on September 23, 2001.


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You can see some of his book covers on this Flickr page. But my favorite is this one he did for the novel Flesh by the great Philip Jose Farmer.




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How did I chance upon Hirsch's work? Through this pictorial in Playboy for December 1965. The mildly NSFW totality of the feature is to be found after the jump.





More in extended >>

Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 10, 2008 - Comments (4)
Category: Art, Pop Art, Surrealism, History, Historical Figure, Literature, Books, Science Fiction, Magazines, Sexuality, Sex Symbols, World, Europe, South America

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Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

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