After resisting insistent calls from Brazilian Playboy to
pose in the nude and from ad agencies to at least model some
lingerie, Paulista (from São Paulo) Mylla Christie, 24,
decided to participate in some of the most racy sexual
scenes Brazilian TV has ever shown. Mylloca, as her friends
call her, has started her career on TV hosting the oh-so-
wholesome Clube da Criança (Kid's Club).
Married to a gynecologist 20 years her senior, Mylla is
still trying to calm her parents, who were very much against
the idea of their daughter baring it all on the small
screen. The scenes -- which had all Brazil talking about and
salivating over -- took place on Engraçadinha...seus amores
e seus pecados (The little cutie...her loves and her sins),
a Globo TV miniseries based on the late controversial
playwright Nélson Rodrigues.
Mylla's total exposure catapulted her to stardom. Overnight
she went from a virtual unknown to instant stardom on the
streets. In Engraçadinha, she plays Silene, the teenage
daughter of the play's heroine. Among other sexual exploits,
she loses her virginity to her boyfriend, fakes a multiple
rape, and begs to be spanked. The offers from TV and
modeling agencies have been pouring in. The actress
confesses, however, that what she would like most is to work
on stage.
It seems that in the creative and outrage-stirring
department, lingerie maker Duloren and its ad agency VIS
have no one to fear but themselves. After showing lingerie-
clad women as religious sisters, kissing each other, and in
sadomasochistic scenes, Duloren has dressed a transvestite
in a very sexy and revealing outfit. The passport shown in
the ad is authentic and it reads: Luiz Roberto Gambine
Moreira. Sex: male. Moreira, who underwent a sex-change
operation, but was forbidden by the Brazilian courts to
change his name or sex on his documents, is better known as
Roberta Close. Actor Robert De Niro and movie director
Francis Coppola, who recently went to Carnaval in Rio, are
among some of those who have fallen under the spell of
Roberta.
Are Brazilians ever going to join the rest of the civilized
world and get free access to the Internet? They were
promised the key to cyber-space several times, and delivery
has been always postponed. First in January, then in May.
Embratel, the Brazilian Telecommunications Company, is now
promising open doors in September. The most optimistic
forecasts, however, predict a maximum of 180,000 Brazilian
being able to reach out the Web and other Internet offerings
no sooner than the end of the year. Already in the country
there are close to 1 million modems installed. But there is
no infra-structure to speed up the process. Give more people
the password and the electronic super highway will be
clogged.
While Brazilians wait in line to get on line, some
publications are jumping the electronic gun. Jornal do
Brasil, a daily from Rio, became the first to offer its
electronic edition to Internet users. O Estado de São Paulo
news service, Agência Estado is also on line. More modest,
Rio's O Globo and Porto Alegre's Zero Hora, are
electronically publishing their computer section only. Jot
down some addresses:
Jornal do Brasil Online: http://www.ibase.br/~jb/index.html
Jornal do Brasil E-mail: jb@ax.apc.org
Agência Estado: http://worldnews.net/estado/estadopub.html
O Globo: http://www.embratel.net.br/~oglobo/index.html
Zero Hora Informática:
http://www.embratel.net.br./infoserv/zerohora/index/html
Brazilian Playboy E-mail: playboy@embratel.net.br
President of Brazil E-mail: pr@cr-df.rnp.br
Finance Minister E-mail: mfgab@cr-df.rnp.br
The dollar is starting to get a little more respect from the
real, the new Brazilian currency, which according to experts
has been overvalued by at least 25%. Since the end of June,
Brazil's Central Bank decided to let the dollar value
fluctuate between 91 and 99 centavos. Even though expected
for some time now, the move came as a surprise. Exporters
are looking forward to getting more. And the government is
in desperate need of a foreign cash infusion to
counterbalance its mounting trade deficit. From January to
May, Brazil accumulated a deficit of $3.45 billion. Since
March, the greenback has been allowed to fluctuate only
between 88 and 93 centavos
Six thousand members of Igreja Assembléia dos Anjos
(Assembly of Angels Church), a new sect in Belo Horizonte
(capital of Minas Gerais), say they are ready to take up
arms against criminals in the city's streets. The church's
pastor, Amantino Ribeiro Netto, 54, who prefers to be called
"director-commander-in-chief of the Army of Good," seems
serious and has no lack of funds or fanatics. He is in the
process of getting a license to open a private security
company. Problem is, Netto has a thick police file,
including accusations of battery, swindling, and an eight-
year jail term for seducing of a minor.
Five years ago anthropologist Luiz Mott wrote that Zumbi, a
hero of the black movement in Brazil, was gay and nobody
said a word. He repeated the statement recently , provoking
invectives, threats, and the vandalism of his home and car.
The story comes from Bahia, a land famous for her composers
and live-and-let-live philosophy. This year Brazil is
preparing to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the death of
the Quilombo dos Palmares leader. Palmares was a community
of runaway black slaves who organized themselves inside the
jungle. Opportunist Mott, who is the President of Salvador's
Grupo Gay, says that he has ample proof of the sexual
preferences of Zumbi, among them: 1) His nickname was
"sueca" (Swede lady); 2) he was from Jagas de Angola, an
ethnic group in which homosexuality was common; 3) as leader
he had the right to be polygamous, but there isn't any
mention of women in his life; 4) Zumbi was found dead,
castrated with the penis inside his mouth. Many other gays
have been killed in this manner in Alagoas, where the black
leader lived.
Maria Oliveira Barros, better known as Maria Boa (Foxy
Mary), is now 74 years old, and for 50 of them has been a
famous Madam. In the 40's the presence of American GIs in
the Maria Boa Cabaret made her whorehouse the most lively of
them all in Natal (capital of Rio Grande do Norte). The
business was still going strong with 40 girls a few months
ago, when Maria Boa put the cathouse up for sale. She was
supposed to get half a million dollars for the prime piece
of real estate on which her bordello was located. But she
may end up with much less. Five of her ex-employees went to
court looking for compensation totaling $100,000. They are
asking for vacations they never had and night-shift
additional. Paulo Saraiva, lawyer for the litigants, says
his case is a piece of cake. "Eighty percent of Natal's male
population can testify as to the girls' profession," he
guarantees.
Whoever says McDonald's and romantic eating don't go
together hasn't been to the McDonald's in Ipanema. Every
Tuesday night there is a crowd of young couples sharing
hamburgers and fries on china plates and Coca-Colas by
candlelight. To end the night, the unorthodox burger
franchisee throws in a free bottle of champagne. The price
for this extravagance? No more than you would pay for your
Big Mac without the extras.
Culture Minister Francisco Weffort has already decided what
to do to increase the national cinema's piece of the total
pie. He is reviving a law from the days of the dictatorship,
forcing movie houses to show Brazilian films for a minimum
number of days a year. The schedule will be 28 days.
Rio's attorneys have already established a price list for
assisting families involved in what has become a plague in
Rio and São Paulo: kidnapping. To work as intermediaries,
the lawyers are charging a minimum of $5,000 for starters,
with $1,700 added for each day of negotiation. With this
arrangement the tendency will be to prolong as long as
possible conversations with the abductors. For those who
have to come up with the money, this amounts to double
ransom.
She has been called the Brazilian Jackie Kennedy thanks to
her sophistication and elegance. Maria Tereza Goulart, 57,
who was First Lady in the early 60s, is having a hard time
paying the bills these days. João Goulart, her husband, was
rich, but theirs was not a community property marriage. The
$11,000 that she receives from her late husband's pension
($700) and the leasing of properties haven't been enough to
finance her extravagant tastes and generosity with friends.
Her condominium fees in the building she lives in Copacabana
haven't been paid for 20 years. Three years ago the other
residents of the building went to court to collect the money
and are expecting a decision from the Justice. Mrs.
Goulart's lawyer recognizes his client cannot pay all her
bills. The former First Lady herself sees everything in
terms of personal persecution. "I have survived much worse,"
she says.
Rio is getting back its luster, and fast. The Brazilian
Association of Travel Agents (ABAV) is expecting 920,000
foreign tourists in the so-called Cidade Maravilhosa
(Marvelous City), this year. It's a record. The loot to be
left behind? $200 million.
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