November 9, 1989 — Freedom For Millions
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Chitchat
Celebrating the fall of the Wall 20 Years ago on November 9, 1989, when millions of people became finally free.
No more shot people who were trying to illicitly cross the border. No more Cold War between countries of the NATO and the Warsaw Pact. No more prison for 16 million East Germans.
The lives of millions of people across Europe had changed dramatically to the better.
Time to celebrate, reflect, and to give thanks! :-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
12 CommentsPermalink Tags: berlin wall, fall of the wall, freedom
Luciana Domingos Faustini — Nossa Musa do Carnaval 2009
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Chitchat, Contests
Carnival is one of the most important cultural and economical events in Brazil.
Brazil’s biggest television broadcaster, TV Globo, holds a contest every year to find the Musa do Carnaval do Rio de Janeiro (Muse of the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro) — a Samba girl who best represents the Carnival in Rio. Think of it like the “Miss Country” competitions throughout the world each year.
My sister-in-law, Luciana, won second place out of twelve competitors, and it was her first appearance in this big TV Globo contest!
Rio de Janeiro’s twelve major Samba schools pick their best Samba girls to represent their schools on TV Globo for this big contest. Mangueira, the Samba school Luciana dances for and was chosen to represent Mangueira in the TV Globo contest, is one of the biggest and oldest Samba schools in Rio.
The TV Globo contest was divided into two rounds. The first round (to pick the four finalists) was divided into two groups. Luciana performed in the first group (six participants) which was broadcasted on January 17.
Here is the video from that day where she won first place, showing her incredible first-class performance…
The Final, recorded on February 5 and divided into two semi-finals, was shown on TV last Saturday, February 14.
Here’s Luciana — first showcasing her home, then dancing to win the second semi-final…
And here are the voters, including the audience, clearly voting her to enter the Grand Final…
Based on Internet votes, Luciana is even the clear winner of all twelve participants, thus she is The Internet Muse of the Carnaval of Rio de Janeiro 2009…
(The winner, Suellen from Portela, is voted fourth place here.)
Please join me in on a BIG Congratulations (Brazilian: Parabens) to Luciana Domingos Faustini by submitting a comment below! :-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
P.S. Luciana: Você é nossa Musa do Carnaval 2009 — uma garota muito simpatica, com estilo, corpo perfeito, elegante, muito profissional, samba como ninguem, e linda demais. Parabens! :-)
Thank You
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Chitchat
I received a lot of comments and e-mails asking how my wife is doing after I reported her weakness. She is doing comparably fine. Thank you very much for your sympathies. It is much appreciated.
Right now, she is spending the second of two weeks in Rio de Janeiro together with her family and friends (she has hundreds of them, I’m telling you!). Yes, I’m “alone” at the moment. And although she would have had an examination this week (here in Natal,) we both figured it would be better she visits them and has a lot of fun instead of the examination.
This might be contrary to other people’s belief, and Edilene herself was and still is concerned about this, but the more I apply the principles of The Law of Attraction to my life the more I understand what we should let in to our life and on what to put our attention to. To choose and do only what serves us well.
Again, she has a lot of fun there at the moment. And she had the opportunity to attend two spiritual celebrations which are unavailable here in Natal and which here family attends regularly.
She is attracted to two religions if you so will: Catholicism and a particular religion that (I believe) has its sources in Salvador, Bahia and is fairly strongly present in Brazil. Basically, such a “celebration” takes place in that a group of people meet each other. While they make music and sing and dance, they call certain spirits. These spirits appear in that they move into the physical bodies of some of the participants (really!) After this dancing, they start to eat and enjoy each other, while the spirits are still in the other people’s physical bodies. Visually, you can see it in that they appear and behave totally different, according to the spirit’s particular behavior, customs, and wishes to express him-/herself.
So, she’s doing fine at the moment and is supposed to come back this Saturday.
Again, thank you very much for your sympathies.
Have a wonderful week everyone.
—Marcus Hochstadt
9 CommentsPermalink Tags: edilene, update
Back Again
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Chitchat
Just a quick note that I’m at the finishing touches of the winner post. It shall be live in a couple hours, perhaps earlier.
My stomach is better today. My wife feels a bit better too, although she was diagnosed with a rising “vascular cerebral accident,” and therefore has to take good care of what she eats and does during the day now, otherwise…
Another thing that happened is my PC does not start anymore. *grrr* (Am writing with my Laptop right now, which is as well not that reliable anymore.) I build PCs on my own. Unfortunately though, the options here in Natal are VERY limited. So either I will build or buy a new one, or I find out what the cause is (someday…)
Either way, check back soon to see what you won! :-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
5 CommentsPermalink Tags: update
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