RAPIDINHAS

Luciana Rodrigues Gravital, 24, a beautiful Carioca (native from Rio) girl, has been the talk of Paris these days. Publications like Paris Match, Parisien Libéré and France Soir have given her ample space. She has previously been on the cover of the man magazine Lui and performed at several Emmanuelle films dressing nothing more than her pretty smile, but her photos and story this time are appearing at the faits divers, the section reserved by the French press to the police-beat news. The French have called her Nikita, drawing parallels with the tough-murderer heroine from the homonymous film.

Luciana was caught by an indiscreet camera when robbing a branch of the Crédit Lyonnais bank downtown Paris and that was her fall. The thrill of adventure seemed to be the main motivation behind the robberies. Before the bust, Luciana and her companion Michel Ortiz had assaulted several cosmetic shops where they first took perfumes -- Channel number 5 seemed to be her favorite -- and only at the end would pick up any money left at the cash register.

It didn't help with the judge that she used a rusty fake gun on her exploits. For the victims it was convincing enough and she will probably spend the next four years in jail. The producers of Emmanuelle, however, already have an idea for a movie in which a pornostar becomes a bank robber. And they want Luciana to star in it.

Two massacres, two trials, two very different conclusions. In São Paulo and Rio the courts have just tried two of the most notorious mass killings of Brazil: the fusillade against rebellious prisoners from São Paulo's Carandiru penitentiary which resulted in the killing of 110 (that's it, one hundred and ten) inmates, and the night vigilantism that resulted in the death of eight street kids who slept on the steps of the Candelária church in Rio. The police in both cases were responsible for the murder.

São Paulo's Justice Tribunal concluded that the military police acted properly in its effort to quell the prisoner's uprising on October 1992. The court was answering to a suit brought by the mother of one of the killed prisoners. The real culprit of the bloodbath were the prisoners concluded the verdict: "They started the rebellion, destroyed a pavilion and forced society to defend itself."

The July '93 Candelária carnage, however, earned one of its mentors a sentence of 309 years behind bars. It was more a symbolic act since no one, by law, can stay more than 30 years in a Brazilian prison. The tough punishment for police officer Marcus Emmanuel came after he volunteered to confess that he had taken part in the kids' assassination. Two other accused have also confessed after military police officer Nelson Cunha started the Confiteor wave. From the confessions it became clear that the wholesale murder happened as a retaliation after Emmanuel was hit by stones when trying to detain a group of children selling shoe glue (a product that street kids inhale as drug).

Despite all the freedom allowed Escolas de Samba to create their plots for the grand annual Carnaval parade, one principle had been sacred until now: only Brazilian inspired stories could be told. The abolition of the rule by the Rio's Liga Independente das Escolas de Samba was immediately taken to heart at least by two samba schools which have announced foreign themes for the next Carnaval. Acadêmicos da Rocinha wants to bring the magic world of Walt Disney to the avenue and it's already in touch with Disney personnel. Estácio de Sá already has the name for its samba enredo (samba plot): Através da Fumaça (Through Smoke), the story of perfume from old to modern times in Italy and France. Elmo José dos Santos, president of traditional Estação Primeira da Mangueira, reacted, "We will continue rediscovering Brazil. There are plenty of subjects."

The always stormy relationship between the Brazilian currency and the dollar is finally getting some reassurance and stability from government. Restrictions and rules to get dollars in Brazil or send them abroad have been a nightmare. Since May 16, however, the Central Bank has streamlined the process and the only ones yelling bloody murder are the doleiros, a type of parasite that has prospered trading in dollar in the middle of the bureaucratic jungle.

Until now Brazilians overseas and foreigners in Brazil weren't able to use their credit cards to withdraw money from electronic tellers. This should be changing soon. Travelers will also be able to buy dollars for their trips even if such a trip is more than one year away. And to send money outside the country the limit has been raised from $1000 to $3000. The sender doesn't need to show proof that the payment is legitimate as before, but he still has to declare that such a proof is available. "The government trusts you" is the message, but with an eye wide open.

Only a few hours apart, Folha de São Paulo and Editora Abril, two of the most aggressive and largest Brazilian media conglomerates, launched a still-not-yet-cooked Internet service inspired on American Online. Both services are still experimental and free during this initial phase. They seemed so enthralled by their American muse that they all but borrowed AOL's name and called themselves UOL and BOL. UOL (Universo Online), Folha's offering, has as anchors the daily Folha de São Paulo and newsweekly magazine Isto É. Everybody expected that BOL (Brazil Online) would have the powerful Veja newsmagazine anchoring the service, instead of starting with the offer of some articles from economy magazine Exame¸ with excuses for all the bugs still not fixed. To complicate things, a problem on Embratel -- the state monopoly Internet provider -- took BOL off the air for several hours. The dust should be settling by now. Hoping they are still there, check http://www.folha.com.br and http://www.bol.com.br

The British magazine The Economist started its Big Mac index -- the price of that sandwich on a given country -- more as a joke. The number, however, has its serious side and according to it the real, the Brazilian currency, needs a devaluation fast. Brazil is one of the countries in which the McDonald's staple costs the most. While you can get a Big M for $2.36 in the US, the hamburger-cum-tomato will set you back $2.98 in Brazil, a land where the minimum wage is just above $100 a month. Even in famously expensive Japan, you get your fill of the Mac for a mere $2.70.

Fantastic realism is back to prime-time TV in Brazil. That's because playwright Dias Gomes is the author of O Fim do Mundo (The End of the World), the new novela (soap opera) of Globo TV network. Gomes is the same soap scribbler who brought to television such unforgettable pieces as Roque Santeiro (The Saint Maker), O Bem Amado (The Well Beloved) and Saramandaia. The plot of the new treat: people get crazy in a quiet cozy backland place when psychic Joãozinho de Dagmar (interpreted by Paulo Betti), who lives in town with his three wives, starts having visions of the end of the world. The series is also being used as test for a new format of novela. Instead of dragging on for months, the drag now will be for a few weeks. The End of the World's end will come in 35 chapters.

The new generation -- not that again! -- is being accused of disfiguring the so-called "Lacius last flower" or the Portuguese spoken in Brazil by linguists and literati. Says poet, essayist and translator José Paulo Paes, "Teen talk is made out of exclamatory dialogues, without fluency, good for someone intent only on reaffirming a group's behavior." As the American without words who fills up pauses with "You knows", Brazilian teens have just introduced a new appendix for that empty space. It is the "tipo assim" (type like that). As in, "That girl is tipo assim a monument." Willing to be privy to the new patois? Get a load of it:

Abstrair -- (to abstract) to forget as in "Abstrai what I told you"
Animal -- (adjective) great
Bad trip -- the blues
Demorô -- (you took your time) right on
Din-din -- money
Do mal -- cool
Emplumar -- (to plume) become snob
Punk -- guy
Quibe -- ugly woman
Sinistra -- great
Show -- great
Se pegar com -- to courtship
UFO -- (OVNI) pretty girl
Visação -- flirt

Publicity
Lesbian sassiness

Cássia Ávilla is that Mineira (from Minas Gerais) girl who was in the cover of Vogue and Elle, two sophisticated and rather innocent fashion magazines. Janaína Bull, a Carioca (native from Rio), is the youngster with the smile selling soap and clothes for Mesbla (a Sears-like department store). Anyway that's the way they were known before being invited by Duloren to star in another of their memorable though outrageous lingerie commercials. Now Cássia (the one in white) and Janaína are the girls who in nothing else than a lacy underwear kiss each other in the mouth in a wedding ceremony inside a church.
The copy shows even a marriage certificate for Renata and Mária de Fátima. Duloren loves polemics and poetic license.