A very controversial Brazilian film following the very violent exploits of Rio de Janeiro military police special forces, it reminded me a lot of situations I’m familiar with as a fellow Latin American.

Apologies for embedding the Brazilian Portuguese trailer to those of you who might not understand the language, but the English one is ridiculous, corny, and gives you completely the wrong idea about the pace, style and atmosphere of the movie.

Finally watched this Oscar-winning movie.  Set in the slums of Mumbai, the plot is very well built, and the soundtrack and camerawork are just excellent.  Even though it has its very tragic moments, it is quite an uplifting movie, unlike Amores Perros & Cidade de Deus.

Give it a try if you haven’t yet.

Anybody who knows me a little bit (or has seen my profile at Last.fm) has probably realised that my musical taste is quite varied.  On any given day I could be listening to raï, ranchera, punk, samba, rock, jazz, metal, classical music, ska, axé, or electronica from Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Algeria, France, Belgium, Israel, India, Canada, Argentina, Egypt, China, etc… which if they’re not your usual Anglo-Saxon pop-rock will usually be clumped together into World Music, with very awkward results.

For example, with the current version of iTunes you have a “Genius” feature that promises to make perfect playlists for you.  However, the database they use seems to have been made by the record companies instead of users, so when it does find the music I have (which is less often than I would expect), if I ask to create a Genius playlist out of e.g. one of my favourite Mexican rock bands it will put it together with Mexican & Argentine traditional music too since they’re “Latin”, something akin to lumping James Brown together with Enya because they come from the English-speaking world.  It gets even better when I try it with some of my favourite samba artists, as they will be lumped together  with salsa, raï, Bollywood and tango acts because they are “World Music”, even if I do have plenty of MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) to make a list with.

David Byrne said it best: he hates world music.

This week I learned that two of my classmates from high school in northern Greater Mexico City are also in a relationship with Finnish girls and both are also living abroad.  That got me thinking about how many of the guys and gals I used to go to school with back then are also overseas, and the sample is quite broad.

I’m not particularly surprised of this development given that we were educated as the so-called NAFTA generation learning English (and sometimes other languages) from childhood, and given a broader view of the world than people before us (I remember attending lessons on economics, global affairs, the stock market and compared history of North America at that time).

What sets us apart from those before us I think, is not that some of us would go abroad, but that we would not concentrate in the United States as before.  In my sister’s high school class (she is only a few years older than me) most of those who are working abroad are doing so in the US (a couple here and there in Europe, but it’s a minority), whereas with us the geographic dispersion is much broader: I have classmates in Mexico, and all over the US, true, but also in Canada, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Australia, France, Brazil, UK and I believe even a couple in China.  Moreover, many of them who are back in Mexico also have international experience, either as students or during their careers.

I’m sure that this is partly due to American immigration regulations after 9/11, but I believe it also has something to do with many of us wanting to see what else was out there.  I wonder if the Institute for Mexicans Abroad will start tapping this kind of talent network too, as many of us are working for institutions like e.g.  Shell, Nokia, Microsoft, ESA or Volvo or studying at recognised institutions all over the place.  Maybe we should learn something from what the Indians and the Chinese are doing by taking advantage of their expatriates, instead of complaining about the brain drain?

Regardless, it’s good to see that most of them in Mexico or wherever they may be are doing well.

Some time ago I argued that the middle classes would help the economic and democratic development of emerging countries.  Again, the Economist takes this subject on with a special report, and Paco Calderón references it with a cartoon.

Will this positive development survive the current economic climate worldwide?

I just found this one when I was uploading all my videos to Share on Ovi.  It’s from Couleur Café, a music festival I attended in Brussels last year.

Why is it that in countries like Mexico or Brazil you are constantly bombarded by ads that promote government initiatives whereas in other places such as Finland or Belgium that is a completely alien concept?

Why can't the government focus on doing its job instead of just shouting around and wasting money on that?

Libro Recomendado: Cuentos Chinos
Originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado

Andrés Oppenheimer otra vez saca un libro sobre actualidad latinoamericana altamente recomendable. Aunque en algunas cosas se nota un poco que fue escrito hace ya dos años, en general se trata de un libro que nos muestra qué es lo que han hecho los países que sí se han subido al tren de la globalización y el desarrollo y por qué Latinoamérica aún no ha hecho lo propio, con resultados mediocres.

Me quedo con tres reflexiones:

-Países como México o Argentina harían bien con seguir el ejemplo de Corea del Sur, que con un consenso político ha alcanzado niveles de desarrollo que ya quisiéramos nosotros con una tamaño de población similar.

-Sabía que Brasil se trata de posicionar como el líder de la región, pero no estaba enterado que por eso han empezado a referirse a la integración de Sudamérica en lugar de Latinoamérica (que incluiría a México, el único país que tal vez le haría sombra). Obviamente, las políticas de Tlatelolco tampoco han ayudado mucho en contrarrestar esta jugada de Itamaratí.

-El crecimiento actual de las economías argentina y brasileña, dependiente de los precios elevados de las materias primas, no es sustentable al largo plazo a menos a que decidan invertir esas ganancias en otros negocios. Si no, pregúntenle a México cuando iba a “administrar la abundancia” bajo la presidencia de López Portillo.

During the past 18 years, the Norteña music genre has expanded from its homeland in the north of Mexico to the rest of the country.  Even in places in the south of the country like Acapulco where so-called “Tropical” music such as salsa and cumbia still predominates you can find radio stations devoted to norteñas.

I’ve heard that it has even become popular in some parts of Brazil (could somebody confirm if that’s true?).

The organisation of the World Cup has been awarded to Brazil for the event in 2014.  Furthermore, they have submitted a bid to organise the Olympics in Rio in 2016.

With this, Brazil would become the second Latin American country that organises the Olympics (after Mexico 68), and the second that organises the World Cup for the second time (after Mexico as well, who did so in 1970 & 1984, while the World Cup was in Brazil in 1950).

I definitely think the Brazilians will put a great show, but the country has to be sure that they will be able to cover the expenses involved.  These events become bigger and more expensive every time, and as such they are a drain on public resources.