#happy brazil independence day

[sarahvilelaheart]

This is an art of the Brazilian flag celebrating this year's Brazil Independence Day. So... Happy Brazil Independence Day 2023! 🇧🇷 And enjoy this special drawing! 🙂

[maybe-boys-do-love]

It's wild that the whole global trend of gay-focused happy ending romance shows and movies has only been going on for *looks at calendar* a measly ten years!

Just ten years ago. 2014. That's when you get the discovery of a market for queer romance series and films with happy endings. That year the OG Love Sick in Thailand came out. Brazil puts out The Way He Looks, which deserves so much more credit than it receives for influencing the aeshtetics of the genre. Looking premieres on HBO, and despite low ratings, it's an important touchstone. South Korea has the darker Night Flight. And, despite Nickelodeon’s censorship and shifting the program from tv to its website, the Legend of Korra confirms Korrasami in its season finale.

The next year, in 2015, we get Love Sick season 2, and China, pre-censorship laws has a few options: Happy Together (not the Wong Kar Wai one lol), Mr. X and I, and Falling In Love with a Rival. Canada, premieres Schitt's Creek. In the US, Steven Universe reveals Garnet as a romantic fusion between two female characters, and will proceed to just be so sapphic. Norwegian web series Skam premieres and sets up a gay protagonist for its third season, which will drop in 2016 and entirely change the global media landscape.

Then, 2016! This is the MOMENT. That aforementioned Skam season happens. Japan puts out the film version of Ossan's Love and anime series Yuri!!! on Ice. China has the impactful Addicted Heroine, which directly leads to increased censorship. The US has Moonlight come out and take home the Oscar. In Thailand, GMMTV enters the BL game and Thai BL explodes: Puppy Honey, SOTUS, Water Boyy, Make It Right, plus, the Thai Gay OK Bangkok, which, like its influence, Looking, is more in the queer tradition but introduces two dramatically important directors to the Thai BL industry, Aof and Jojo.

By 2017, Taiwan enters the game with its History series. Korea’s BL industry actually kicks off with Method and Long Time No See. Thailand’s got too many BLs to mention. Call Me By Your Name, though not a happy ending, makes a big splash that will send ripples through the whole genre, and God's Own Country offers a gruff counter-argument to problematic age differences and twink obsessions. This is also the year of Netflix reboot of One Day At a Time bringing some wlw to the screen, and the Disney Channel has a main character come out as ‘gay’ on Andi Mack ( I’m am ready to throw fists with anyone who thinks the Disney Channel aesthetic isn’t a part of current queer culture). And I'd be remiss not to mention the influential cult-following of chaotic web-series The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo: "Sometimes things that are expensive...are worse."

All this happened, and we hadn’t even gotten to Love, Simon, Elite, or ITSAY, yet.

Prior to all this there are some major precursors some of which signaled and primed a receptive market, others influenced the people who'd go on to create the QLs. Most significantly you have Glee, and its ending really makes way for the new era that can center gay young people in a world where queerness, due to easy access to digital information, is less novel to the characters. And the QL book and graphic novel landscape was way ahead of the television and film industries, directly creating many of the stories that the latter industries used.

There's plenty of the traditional queer media content (tragic melodramas and independent camp comedies) going on prior to and alongside QL, and there are some outlying queer romance films with happy endings that precede the era but feel very much akin to QL genre tropes and goals (Saving Face, The Wedding Banquet, Big Eden, Maurice, My Beautiful Launderette, and Weekend). I don't mean to suggest that everything I’ve listed ought to be categorized as QL.

Rather, I want to point out how all of these new-era queer romance works are in a big queer global conversation together, in the creation of a new contemporary genre, a genre that has more capacity and thematic interest to include digital technology and normalize cross-cultural relationships than other genres (there's a reason fansubs and web platforms are so easily accepted and integrated to the proliferation genre).

You're not too late to be part of the conversation. Imagine being alive in the 1960s and 70s and participating in the blossoming of the sci-fi genre. That flowering is where gay romance sits now. Join the party.

[masonmontz]

heyy, how are you? :) so, since it's father's day here in brazil, i decided to do something cute for this special day

REMEMBER: english is not my first language

fluff word count: 2k

this is a bonus of pinky promise with mason and olivia, you can read it separately if you want.

✦‎۟    ࣭   ⊹

“But am I your favorite? You need to tell me.” Olivia asked Mason. You were working and they were watching Barbie and the Three Musketeers for the second time, as Olivia had become obsessed with the movie, but now she started to get bored and started asking Mason random questions.

“Yes, you are my favorite, you know that.” Mason was paying attention to the movie, unlike Olivia. 

“But you have other nieces, you swear to me that I am your favorite?” She stood up from the mattress they had placed on the living room floor, then looked at Mason with her hands on her hips and a serious expression on her face.

“I swear to you, pumpkin.” You smiled to yourself watching the two interact.

It had been three months since you and Mason had been together, and just like his promise, you were happy, but most importantly, Olivia was happy, and that was enough. It took you a while to tell her that you were dating Uncle Mason, but trips to Manchester were frequent or Mason would show up in London and sleep at your house even if he has to leave the next morning.

“Don't be jealous, Summer is your friend and Mason is her uncle.” You said, still paying attention to the computer in front of you. Olivia left Mason and went to you, holding your neck in a hug while he was still watching the movie. 

“I know, mum, but I like Mase and I want him to like me too.” She whispered, so you laughed.

“He loves you, Olivia, you know that.” You squeezed her cheek, leaving a kiss on her nose, which was a little red from the cold. Ever since you and Mason told her you were together, she stopped calling him "Uncle Masey", just because she understood that he was now her stepfather, but Mason said he had no problem being called Uncle Mason, because he was already used to it. “Go put on a coat, you're freezing.” 

You traveled to Manchester and would spend the weekend with Mason, also taking advantage of the fact that the game on Sunday would be at Old Trafford and you would be able to see Mason play. Olivia loved the days you guys traveled as she would spend time away from home and get to know new places with you. 

Not to mention the fact that Mason decorated a room for her, exactly the way she wanted. You didn't know it, but Mason and Olivia had already talked about the decoration and when you arrived one weekend, you found a decorated room. Olivia almost cried when she saw the room the way she asked. 

The room was white with pink details, butterfly drawings on the wall and a huge bed just like Olivia always asked for. Mason even put a desk for her to study and a small bookshelf with some interesting books for children. It was much better than her room in your apartment in London, and that's why it was always hard to go home when she had so many comforts in Manchester. 

Mason spoils her too much, and she is getting used to this life very easily.

“Mum, can you help me take a shower?” Olivia asked quietly, so you agreed and closed your computer, walking her upstairs to help her bathe. Olivia is an independent child, but sometimes lazy and most of the time she would ask you to help her so she wouldn't have to do everything alone. Plus, the bathroom in Mason's house is different, so she can never get the water to the temperature she wants.

“Have you and Mason picked out dinner yet?” You asked as you helped her take off the coats she was wearing. Even with the house being heated, Olivia liked to stay warm. 

“Mase said we can order pizza.” She walked past you and stepped into the hot, running water of the shower. You grabbed her shampoo that Mason had bought just for her to use, as well as her favorite strawberry soap.

Mason has always been attentive to Olivia, he never stopped listening to what she likes, what she says, and she always felt comfortable sharing everything with him, just because Mason made her feel comfortable.

“That's a good idea. Here, shampoo your hair, do you want some help?”

“No.” Olivia was thoughtful, but the day was tiring for her, as she had fun before deciding to watch a movie with Mason. “Mum, can I ask you something?” 

“Of course, honey.” 

“Can I call Mason dad?” 

You froze. You didn't expect that question coming from her, in fact, you never thought she liked Mason so much that she wanted to call him dad. You had only been together for three months, who would have guaranteed that you would be together forever? 

“What?” 

“He's your boyfriend now, mum, and I love Mason so much, I also wish I had a dad like my friends in school.” 

“Babe… I don’t know, Olivia. We have to ask him about this, and what if he doesn't want to? You'll be sad about that.” You rubbed Olivia's hair as she played with the water that was falling on her. 

“Oh, yes, but what if he wants me to call him dad?” She looked at you with teary eyes, and you were touched to realize that she really wanted Mason's presence in her life.

You always thought you could fill her lack of a father, but realizing now, Mason was always there for her, just like Robert. 

“Oh, babe, why did you never tell me anything about this?” You knelt down and didn't care about getting your clothes wet. Olivia came up to you with her hair full of foam, and she placed her hands on your face.

“I don't want you to think I'm sad. You're the best mommy in the world, but Mase would be a cool daddy too.” It would be a lie to say you didn't want to cry about it.

“We'll ask him then.”

✦‎۟    ࣭   ⊹

“Mase, can you get me some juice? I'm thirsty.” Olivia asked Mason, who was walking to the kitchen to set the table for you guys to have dinner, and she was lying on the mattress on the living room floor again, watching Pinocchio.

“Olivia, go get it yourself.” You scolded her, knowing that Mason does whatever she wants. You were walking down the stairs after taking a hot shower, and Mason had already ordered the pizza for you. 

“I'll get it.” Mason said and walked to the kitchen, so you followed him and watched as he poured the grape juice into a glass for Olivia and took it to her. He quickly returned with the empty glass.

“You can't do everything she asks, Mason. She's taking advantage of you because you can't say “no” to her.” You were serious and Mason looked at you, shrugging.

“She just wanted some juice, love.” Mason came closer, grabbing your waist and pulling you against him. He was wearing a hoodie, just like you, and he was so warm that you just wanted to lay down next to him and sleep in the warmth.

“Yeah, juice, shampoo, bedroom, toys, shoes, clothes…” 

“Guilty.” Mason laughed and you wrapped your arms around his neck, lifting your head and kissing his lips. You sighed as he deepened the kiss, and it felt so good to kiss him that you could spend hours like this, just being around him. “Hmm, I love you.” 

“I love you too.” You spoke and the doorbell rang, so the two of you went to the living room while Mason went to get the pizza. Olivia stood up and held your hands, walking with you to the kitchen.

“May I ask?” She spoke quietly, knowing Mason was behind the two of you, so you nodded, giving her a smile and encouraging her. 

Mason placed the pizza on the table, oblivious to Olivia's nervousness, which was now transparent. She was fidgeting with her hair and kneeling on one of the chairs, and you knew she fidgeted when she was nervous. Mason served you slices of pizza while the two of you chatted randomly, and Olivia still hadn't said anything. 

“I left it reserved for you tomorrow at the game, you can stay close to Anouska, she's going with the kids there.” 

You agreed, but Olivia was still nervous and wasn't eating, you were sitting next to her, so you placed your hand over hers, reassuring your little girl.

“Mase, Olivia wants to ask you something.” You spoke for her, and Mason nodded and finished chewing before looking at the two of you, paying attention to what Olivia wanted to say.

“Mom, I got nervous.” She said shyly and you smiled, running your hands over her back and rubbing. Mason had a smile on his face even though he didn't know what it was. “Mase… Hm… I want to know if- hm… I want to know if I can call you dad.” 

You could see the shock cross Mason's face, because he clearly wasn't expecting this. Olivia also looked at him as he didn't look away from her for a second.

“What?” That's what he managed to say, swallowing hard. 

“Only if you want to.” Olivia spoke softly, and you could tell that Mason's delay in responding made her feel insecure, and she snuggled closer to you. You looked at Mason with a small smile, knowing that it was a lot of information for someone.

“For real? You want to call me dad?” Mason asked and Olivia nodded, and you could completely see it as his eyes filled with tears and he put his hands over his eyes, trying to stop his emotion.

“I want to.” She smiled. Mason got out of his seat and walked over to her, kneeling down beside her on the floor and pulling her against him, hugging her. Olivia wrapped her arms around his neck and it was probably the most beautiful scene you had ever seen between them. 

Mason had his eyes closed as he hugged her, but a huge smile on his face as you saw a tear run down his face. That's when you felt like you were crying too, because a tear fell down your leg.

“Only if I can call you my daughter too.” He whispered, but you heard. Olivia let out a loud laugh of happiness, and you felt your heart explode with so much love and happiness as you finally felt complete.

“Yes, yes.” She cheered and you smiled, then Mason let go of her and wiped his own eyes, looking at you next. She jumped into Mason's arms, ignoring the pizza she wanted so badly, and looked at you. You stood up and walked over to the two of them, so Mason wrapped an arm around your neck while holding Olivia in the other arm. “We are a family now.”

“After seven years.” Mason mumbled and you smiled, leaning in and leaving a kiss on his lips. Olivia smiled and left a kiss on Mason's cheek and yours. “Can you believe it? I have a daughter now.”

“It's a big responsibility, you know.” Mason rolled his eyes and you smiled.

“Thank you for this, really. I couldn't ask for anything better.” He spoke to you, then to Olivia and smiled at her. “I love you both, my girls.”

“I love you too, dad.” Mason's eyes filled with tears again when Olivia spoke, but he held back from letting them fall. “Mum, we need to move to Manchester, families live in the same house.”

“Hey, easy girl. One thing at a time.” 

“She’s right. She can't live in London while her father lives in Manchester.” 

“Calm down too, that's a topic for another time.”

“Yes, now I want pizza.” Olivia spoke and you smiled, then Mason placed her in the chair again and looked at you gratefully.

Maybe it would take you a while to move, or maybe not. No one knows what might happen the next day, but you hope things will work out forever.

yourusername

liked by masonmount, declanrice, yourfriend and 359 others

yourusername It's been a great few months 🤍

↳ masonmount Love you so much, my girls! ❤️

↳ debbiemount I miss you, great pictures ❤️😀

↳ jazbenham Can't wait to see you again, the girls miss you and Olivia 🥰

[cepheusart]

Since today is a special day, I have a special Brazilian Miku

[ID: Hatsune Miku, wearing the military uniform of Maria Quitéria, with her hands curled into each other like a prayer, with a serene expression. The uniform consists of a blue jacket, golden adornments, loose white pants and a grey skirt, as well as a high golden hat with a green feather on top of it. The Brazilian National flag is on the background. /end ID.]

Happy Independance Day of Brazil and shoutout to our actual heroes <2!

[ducktoonsfanart]

José Carioca (also known as Zé Carioca) celebrates his birthday and the holiday of his country (Brazil) with his family and friends - Ze Carioca Comics - The Three Caballeros Month - Feriado - Día Festivo - Holiday - Família - Familia - Family - Duckverse AU - My version

Unfortunately, I didn't get to do any specific drawings related to The Three Caballeros Month, but if nothing else I'll end this with my favorite theme, which is the theme of family. Although his birthday has passed, I will certainly not avoid drawing some of my favorite characters and one of the parts of the truly underrated Disney comics, which are the Ze Carioca comics that are mainly published in Brazil and certain countries of Latin America. I wouldn't even know about these things if it wasn't for the internet and my friends who translated certain Ze Carioca comics into English.

Yes, Jose's birthday is August 24th, and Brazil's national and independence day is September 7th, so on that occasion I drew a special drawing of José Carioca (Zé Carioca) in modern clothes (yellow t-shirt with letter Z and backwards cap) together with his family and friends how they celebrate given events. In front of him is a cake with Goiaba or Guavas, avocado, and other exotic fruits.

Together he hugs his beloved two nephews, Zico and Zeca Carioca, and next to them are Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck, Donald Duck, Panchito Pistoles and Aracuan Bird. There are also Jose's friends Nestor, Pedrão, Afonsinho and his rival Zé Galo. I hope you like this drawing and this idea and sorry if there were any mistakes.

Also, belatedly, happy birthday to José Zé Carioca and happy Brazil Day! Also Happy 90th Birthday Donald Duck and 80th Anniversary of The Three Caballeros! I hope you like this drawing and this idea and feel free to like and reblog this, just don't copy these same ideas without mentioning me and without my permission. Thank you!

Also this is dedicated to the blog @mesdelostrescaballeros2024, and this is my gift for my friends @flakatita, @fantasticenthusiasttale and @donze-trash and I hope you like this.

[ruggiezz]

I AM SO SORRY MY GOOGLE CALENDAR DIDN'T ALERT ME THAT YESTERDAY WAS BRAZIL'S INDEPENDENCE DAY

Ruggie Bucchi I have failed you please forgive me.

I hope all brazilians had a blast yesterday 😭 happy (late) independence day

[crooked-sketches]

Mrs and Mr Brazil! 🇧🇷🇧🇷 Happy Independence Day! these oc's belong to the amazing @ms-lirio and @chaoshiki respectively! I hope I did them justice!

I tried so hard to get these done for yesterday but...alas. I was debating before I started with Brazil oc to do until I remembered that this is my art acc and I can make fan art of however many versions of the same oc as I want. I apologise in advance for how bad I am at drawing hair in this style still, I'll get the hang of it eventually 🥲

[cloudcountry]

Hi darling! May I have some hcs for Vil, Jamil, Azul, Leona and Idia (separate) with a tomboy & rebel fem!MC who is not so affectionate with them in public, but when alone, she showers them with love ‘cause she is to shy for to much PDA?

Long request, sorry (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

Also, new follower!

Sorry for any grammar mistakes, kisses from Brazil <3

SUMMARY: Leona, Azul, Jamil, Vil, & Idia with a tomboy s/o who is affectionate in private.

WARNINGS: None!!

COMMENTS: this is so cute i love the tough but secretly affectionate trope :C dont say sorry, there's no need!! i've gotten longer requests anyways C: and you're doing great dear, thank you for being so kind!! <3 while editing i realized i used no pronouns in this aside from you??? so its not explicitly a fem!s/o but you can imagine the reader as fem!!

Leona doesn’t bat an eye at your tough nature. He’s already accustomed to dealing with people like you, people who are self-sufficient and will defend the ones they love at all costs. After all, he leads a dorm full of them.

You’re not a wimp. That’s one of the things he grows to appreciate about you after getting more familiar with what some of the other dorms are like. Little does he know that you have a softer, squishier side, and it displays itself to him quite a few times as the two of you grow closer.

He can’t say he minds it when you lay down with him and rub his ears or run your fingers through his hair or massage his shoulders. Like I said before on this blog, this man looooves being spoiled. You’re giving him the best of both worlds here.

Azul saw you roughhousing with Floyd once and nearly burst a blood vessel. How are you holding your own? What?! And why do you look like you’re actually having fun?! What is wrong with the people here?

It takes a bit for him to warm up to you in typical Azul style. At first he kept you around because you were basically a free bodyguard (not that he needed one. But you certainly add to the intimidation factor!!)

It becomes a bit more than that when you start treating him so sweetly. Bringing him tea when he’s tired, smiling at him so softly, holding his other hand and playing with his fingers while he works. Goodness, you truly are an enigma!

Jamil nearly broke his neck when he heard you scolding Kalim for piling work on his plate. Someone? Noticed?? How hard he's working??? To be fair, this doesn’t mean he can let you get away with scolding Kalim...so now he has to scold you.

You don’t stop, though. Whenever Kalim does something stupid and outlandish you are always there to tell him no. You say that one word and leave no room for argument, and it leaves Jamil’s head whirling in confusion.

You become even more confusing when you start doting on him. It takes a bit for Jamil to get used to it, to realize that you literally don’t want anything from him other than his happiness. You can’t blame him, he isn’t used to this at all!

While Vil does approve of how tough you are, he does not approve of you convincing Epel to fight people that irritate him. Epel has not yet learned to pick his battles, and with your well-intentioned encouragement, Vil is finding more and more bruises on his underclassman.

He does find himself becoming fond of your independence. It’s important to be able to take care of yourself in this world, and you do that beautifully. He finds himself spending a bit more time with you (mostly because of a certain first year) and before he knows it, he finds your softer side.

There’s a certain joy that comes with being someone you care about this much. Vil is no stranger to others praising his beauty, but rarely are his true efforts noticed. They’re usually played off with a simple “Oh, he works hard,” but you do not. You make note of small things he did during the day that impressed you, and it makes his heart flutter in his chest.

Idia was scared of you at first. I mean, what is he supposed to do in the face of a total OP character? It’s like you had maxed out strength stats and you had so much confidence too! You were like one of those really scary anime characters that—

Oh, what’s this? You’re not one of those characters, you’re actually the scary but soft type?! WOAH! Talk about a plot twist! Even more of a plot twist is the fact that you latched onto him, and now every time you see his tablet floating around the hallways you stop by to say hello.

Ortho is absolutely delighted at this turn of events, bringing you up to his brother every chance he gets. Ortho has even analyzed your schedule just so he can get the two of you to hang out someday. Cue classic Idia whining!

[goticamarey]

happy bday to hatsune miku,

sucks that theyre banning twitter in brazil right when brazilian miku was getting popular, and nearing miku day and our independence day even.

[alexblue29]

Fuck I miss the huevos. It's been two fucking weeks and we've had what, 2-3 events, and during every single one of them Tubbo says how he thought the eggs were gonna be coming that that time.

Fuck, I think he even said it during the Mexico independence party!

I saw someone say that maybe they're waiting for Wilbur to come back from tour but I think that leaves too much leeway because the tour could very well be extended if needed/if they wanted too.

Next weekend we get a Brazil meet up with a lot of the ccs which is gonna be awesome and I'm excited for it and so happy but it also means that they most probably won't be back this weekend either.

Fuck we can even see it affecting Foolish and Roier now! Foolish is starting to show more and more himself getting lost in the pictures, the memories, dissociating, hoping that his daughter comes back or even his husband because he could use someone by his side right now.

Roier's skin is changing every single time and he looks progressively more and more tired because he doesn't know what to do or think anymore. He already lost Bobby, all he had was Leo, his sibling, and Richarlyson thanks to his relationship/marriage to Cellbit and he lost them both but without an explanation this time.

I think that's why it's more difficult this time, not only for the players but for us as well. The other times we lost a huevo was because they died. We mourned them and still miss them to this day but we know they won't be back.

This time, we know nothing. All we know is that they ran away but we have no news. We don't know whether or not they're alive and if the feds want to keep the minimum of control they have over the players, you bet your ass they won't tell them shit, no matter if they know of their status or no.

I'm trying to stay positive, I really am but idk about you guys I'm having a really difficult time still believing we'll get them back.

[xingyun-luv]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHONGYUN! (why does he have his birthday on the same day as the brazil independence? suspicious.)

[sitelenco]

today is September 7th, y'know what that means? BRAZIL!! 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

decided to draw the 2016 Olympics mascots for today's honour but in my style!

anyways happy Brazilian independence day to you all!!

[yasmiiin-24]

happy brazil independence day

[karineverse]

Happy independence day for my bbg Brazil 💖

[hooked-on-elvis]

Have you seen this picture of Elvis? I get so exited when I see an Italian connection to Elvis. For example today I discovered he owned several Beretta guns that explicitly say “Made in Italy”. 😍

This is not quite the same, but yeah: BRAZIL! 🇧🇷

OMG, YES! I'm crazy about that picture, I shared it here months ago. I totally have that feeling too! So cool you mentioned Elvis also collected Italian guns. I know just how you feel about it, dear. 🥹

Well, on Elvis and Brazil, there's a few connections I'll never get over... they're so dear to me.

First, during the last of Elvis' appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show (January 6, 1957), EP performed on the same day as a Brazilian singer named Leny Eversong. They didn't performed together, but I was so happy they got a couple pictures taken that day, backstage. Leny was/is one of the greatest female Brazilian voices. ♥ I don't know if that's true or not, but some places say Elvis told her she reminded him of his momma. Cute.

January 6, 1957: Elvis backstage with Brazilian singer Leny Eversong and the host of the show, Ed Sullivan.

Another Elvis/Brazil connection took place during his Hollywood era. On my favorite Elvis movie "Live a Little, Love a Little" (1968) there's a song composed by the Brazilian musician, Luiz Bonfá. The song is "Almost In Love", a beautiful ballad which dreamy melody was borrowed from Luiz Bonfá's original 1965 song "Moonlight in Rio", while the lyrics Elvis sings was composed by Randy Starr. According to Luiz Bonfá, in 1968 he was working at MGM and someone (I won't remember who) told him Elvis needed a song for the soundtrack of this 1968 movie. That's when the Brazilian musician would lend his beautiful melody, an original composition, to what would become the song recorded by the King and featured in the 1968 movie "Live a Little, Love a Little" soundtrack.

Brazilian's Bossa Nova was very popular around the world in the 60s but, unfortunately, that was the only song composed by a Brazilian musician that the King ever recorded. Either way I'm so, so proud of it. ♥

Last but not least, years later, on November 30, 1972 Elvis attended Paul Anka and Brazilian musician Sergio Mendes's opening night at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV. They met backstage. Sergio Mendes is one of the greatest Brazilian musicians of all times. He was friends with Frank Sinatra (they toured in the 60s). About that night meeting the King, Sergio said Elvis went backstage to congratulate Paul and him for the concert, telling them he did enjoy the show.

Here's some pictures:

November 30, 1972: Elvis attended Sergio Mendes and Paul Anka's opening night at Caesar's Palace. The photos show Elvis backstage at Caesar's Palace, early on December 1st, with Sergio and Paul.

Sergio Mendes and Frank Sinatra toured together in 1968.

Those are the Brazilian connections to Elvis that I know of so far. I don't believe there's more but who knows?

According to Kathy Westemoreland on her Facebook page (as shared on this website), Elvis did enjoy the music of the Portuguese singer, Amalia Rodrigues, known as the "Queen of Fado". Brazilian Portuguese and the Portuguese from Portugal are not the same but they are similar, just like American English and British English, because Brazil was a Portugal colony when it was first "discovered" in 1500, that until 1822 when Brazil became an independent nation. That leaves me wondering if Elvis knew a little bit of Portuguese or not, having him listened to some songs in Portuguese (both from Portugal with the Fado music and from Brazil with our Bossa Nova). That would be so cool, but I've heard or seen nothing that could proved this yet.

Italian language, on the other side, Elvis knew at least one word: "Arrivederci" -- "Oh, no, that's Italian", he said after mistaken German for Italian during a press conference in Germany in 1958, giving us yet another cute moment of him to cherish.

Anyway. Thank you so much for being kind and reminding me of that Army Elvis picture with the Brazil showing in the map right behind him on the wall. I love that picture. It's so silly, but even the slightest connections of Elvis with our different nations thrills us, I know exactly how you feel about the Italian guns he collected. ♥

I bet you love the song "Heart of Rome" too, don't you? Or "It's Now or Never", an English version from an Italian song ("O Sole mio"). I think there's more connections of Elvis and Italy. I'd love to read all about it if you'd like to share, including pictures of the Italian guns Elvis had, if you have any of them.

Ohh, by the way, another cool thing I know connecting Elvis to Italy is that Elvis' suite at the former International Hotel then Hilton Hotel and now Westgate Hotel in Las Vegas, which unfortunately was remodeled and doesn't look like it was when Elvis was there, is named today after a region in central Italy! I've seen somewhere on Youtube that Elvis' actual penthouse suite, when remodeled, was split in two or three different villas. Well, one is named "Tuscany". SO COOL! ⚡🥹 ✨

WestGate Hotel, Las Vegas. That picture above was taken on October 2023 by an Elvis fan, Jill Stringham, shared on the Facebook group "Elvis in the 70s". Below there's a video inside the suite.

[alianoralacanta]

Fisichella Defence (21-12-2006)

Context: The flame wars one sees on Tumblr and other social media in 2024 are nothing new. Back in the mid-2000s, fora were full of them. In F1, these tended to go down a few clear lines: Michael Schumacher vs some people's version of how sport should be conducted Michael Schumacher vs Alonso Michael Schumacher vs Raikkonen (you may detect a theme here) Both Schumachers vs Montoya McLaren vs Ferrari Williams vs McLaren Villenueve vs whatever he was arguing about this weekend One forum-specific flame war that was none of the above. In one of the general forums I was in at the time, the specific flame war was manufacturer teams vs any independent not named Williams (it was that specific flame war which split the forum in the first place, due to its two admins being on either side of the argument). The Team Silverstone forum flame war was Team Silverstone vs people who thought that specific team shouldn't exist (I eventually ended that one in mid-2007, due to a typo). The forum where La Canta Magnifico Blog was based had Giancarlo Fisichella vs Juan Pablo Montoya.These days, people generally accept that it is possible to like both Giancarlo and Juan Pablo at the same time (this is often the eventual outcome of flame wars where there is neither a clear winner nor reason for long-term rancour). However, this particular corner of the internet had not yet come to that conclusion. Even after Juan Pablo Montoya had found his happiness elsewhere in motorsport, people on the forum still argued about whether he was better than Giancarlo Fisichella. I don't have the forum post that clearly prompted this blog entry, but the gist of it is that Juan Pablo Montoya was being defended on the basis that he had some great video clips on YouTube (back before FOM started issuing copyright notices to the platform, which started happening in summer 2007). As the most prominent Fisico fan on the forum (as well as its most long-winded), I felt the need to respond…

The reasons there are few videos of Fisichella doing great stuff (and some do exist, though copyright forbids me from linking to them) are the facts that he does his races quietly and has a tidy driving style. None of JPM's wheel-locking or massive slides are in evidence unless Fisi's having a really bad day, and it's always more difficult for a camera person to convey excitement when there is no feeling that the driver is out of control. While keeping just the right side of that boundary in a dramatic way is commendable and fan-attracting, the smoother, quieter method usually generates more race speed from the car.

It's no accident that the only top-level drivers using the just-in-control driving styles are Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villenueve and Fernando Alonso. Montoya got it to semi-work in a rather understeery McLaren and messy Williams, Villenueve's not managed to co-operate properly with a car since he went to BAR and Fernando Alonso has created a new variant of just-in-control driving that nobody else has yet managed to emulate.

Picking a single definitive race is tricky because Fisi has had so many really good races. Taking just those races starting from when I paid particular attention to Giancarlo's races, anything from the the start of 2001 through to about two-thirds of the way through 2003 (apart from Malaysia 2003), USA 2003, anything in 2004 after about race three except Monaco, Australia 2005, Canada 2005, the last third of 2005, Malaysia 2006, the American leg of 2006 and the last third of 2006 will show elements of why Giancarlo is in the top 5 drivers and has been for a long time. Simply because he doesn't have ten fifteen-second-long race incidents that summarise the true scope of his ability the way Juan Pablo or any other "just-in-control" driver will have doesn't mean there is nothing to summarise. Though if I had to pick the one that best shows why Fisi is better than JPM, it would be Brazil 2003. Notwithstanding the rain factor, there was also the part where the notoriously unreliable Ford in the back of Fisichella's car had been sounding slightly off since about lap 49. However Giancarlo got the car past the red flag before the engine finally blew up. Not only would Juan Pablo not won the 2003 race, he would have induced a technical retirement. However, the cameras missed most of Giancarlo's race as they were too busy keeping up with spinners at Turn 3 and Raikkonen passing everyone except Fisi.

This also helps to explain the video situation, as having a few widely-recognised key situations forming the videos is the quickest way of building up search ranking. That helps explain why JPM's best-known incidents are always going to be very high on the video search list.

As for the the part about it being only legend that the driver must make the team work, it's a fact. Everyone in a group has to support everyone else in the group to succeed, and teams are no different. Simply because teams are usually predisposed to helping their drivers and Ron Dennis clearly hadn't recruited Juan Pablo to be an "after you, Claude" No. 2, doesn't mean that Juan Pablo didn't need to do any work to maintain that. From the F1 Racing September 2006 article, Juan never took any time to gel with the McLaren team setup, which apparently was causing trouble long before the tennis incident. Juan should have known fitting in would take work and if he wasn't prepared to do it, he should have found another berth for 2005 (there would have been plenty open to him at that point on the open market!)

That is why I hold Juan largely responsible for his having to leave McLaren in the first place. In fact this is the second time it's happened, with Juan Pablo unable to co-operate with Williams enough to extend his original contract there either. The fact that he chose the timing of his leavetaking is great, but surely it's better to do what Fisi did and put some effort into nurturing the team that's giving you the car? That's why the Renault people have bent over backwards to protect Fisi where necessary when McLaren would do no more than it usually did to protect Montoya when he erred.

Team building may not be a major factor in driver ranking, but when the raw speed statistics do not help separate Juan Pablo and Giancarlo very much, and the differences in results almost entirely attributable to cars rather than drivers, then things like the ability to become a No. 1 in a team suddenly play a major role in the decision.

It's worth saying that in the olden days when cars ran close to each other, these skills were still necessary - it was simply that they were taken more for granted because the whole motorsport community was closer-knit back then - in fact the drivers had to do more back then to get into their teams' good books. Do you think it was an accident that a lot of the drivers back then had some background as a mechanic before reaching F1?

If Renault was not confident of Fisi, they'd've given Nelson Piquet Jr. his place. As it happens, Fisi is not only considerably more experience of Renault and F1, but also a very fast, consistent driver who is capable of leading a team - and of being a better driver than Juan Pablo Montoya was.