Piauí - The Best Magazine You Never Heard Of

If The New Yorker had a Brazilian baby brother, bastard & alternative, it would be called Piauí. The lengthy articles - wordy and mostly photo-free - often adorned with illustrations, brings the American counterpart to mind.

Piauí is a large format monthly magazine, the brainchild of João Moreira Salles, with mostly Brazilian-themed articles. But you have to read Piauí to really get it. It covers any subject that will make an interesting article. All themes and subjects are welcome, when dealt with intelligence. Sports, health, politics, arts, fashion, tele-novelas or odontology. It could be profiles, chronicles, journals, even fictional work. No preset editorial agenda or political stance. Articles do not need to be current as far as they make an interesting, well written and enjoyable reading, tinted with humour no less. I will personally testify that there's plenty to read in Piauí. A few day's worth of reading maybe, depending on how much time you spend on it. Bathroom reading time, let's say. But the volume of text does not equal "filler". Piaui is very well edited, or better say, curated. Highbrow, but never "crunchy".

The publishers have covered articles as diverse as prison diaries, small town color-wars, theft of a stuffed goat's tail, cosplay conventions, egg-donors for pay and monkey watching. Even subjects that might not have any appeal to some (me), let's say Brazilian gangsta rap, pulls you in from the first paragraph on, seducing you all the way to the last sentence. Brazilian contributors and writters, mostly under 30, are side-by-side with top shelf names like Woody Allen and Elvis Costello, as guest writers.

But let's focus on the magazine's name a bit. Piauí is a state in the Northeast of Brazil, often thought to be forgotten by the rest of the country. School text books have printed maps in the past while omitting it by mistake. Even famous politicians have publicly diminished it's role in Brazil's current affairs, unfairly I must say. The magazine gives importance to what, for being ignored, is believed to be insignificant.

"My first Piauí" (you never forget!) was a few issues ago. I read somewhere about this interesting article on high fashion piracy in Brazil, published by some odd-named magazine. I asked around and, when I found it, I couldn't believe my eyes. That was IT? When I think of interesting magazines I envision luscious European publications with glossy paper, cutting-edge photography and intriguing names, like Purple or Wallpaper. Piauí is published in news-print, dull and flat. The cover choices still get to me a bit. I get the "alternative" vibe, but they need some work in my opinion. Too obscure or too genius - I'm on the fence on that still. But as your mom probably often told you: "Don't judge a book by it's cover". Piauí is the prime example of that saying.

I love Piauí and so should you. Give it a try and you will be pleasantly surprised.

If in Rio you can purchase their past 11 published issues at Banca Piauí (no relation), in Baixo Leblon.

The Saggy Jeans Debate

Some American counties are outlawing those oversized saggy jeans, often worn bellow the buttocks with the underwear on display.

A style popularized in the early 1990s by hip-hop artists, are becoming a criminal offense in a growing number of communities, specially in the racially dived American South. Starting in Louisiana, an intensifying push by lawmakers has decided that pants worn low enough to expose underwear poses a threat to the public, and they have enacted indecency ordinances to stop it. Behind the indecency laws may be the real issue - the hip-hop style itself, which critics say is worn as a badge of delinquency, with its distinctive walk conveying thuggish swagger and a disrespect for authority. Also at work are the larger issue of freedom of expression and the questions raised when fashion moves from being merely objectionable to illegal.
Sagging began in American prisons, where oversized uniforms were issued without belts to prevent suicide and the use of belts as weapons. The style spread by way of rappers and music videos, from the ghetto to the suburbs and around the world.

According to Andrew Bolton, the curator at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, fashions tend to be decried when they "challenge the conservative morality of a society." Like past fashion bans, the prohibitions on sagging are seen by some as racially motivated because the wearers are young, predominantly African-American men.

Personally, I deeply dislike the whole look but I am strongly opposed to any type of censorship at the same time. When I was younger dressing-up was an insintric part of who I was. This "personal statement" was what I stood for and what I didn't want to be associated with, at least in the mind of an young man. The idea of a court ordinance prohibiting my fashion choices seems too dictatorial and old-hat. If politicians can decide what you can or cannot wear, where will it stop?

I see the image below as "threatening to society" as saggy jeans. Where are the ordinances against that?

Via International Herald Tribune

100 Umbrellas - Tokyo

Collaborative group Mirey Hiroki is attempting to raise awareness of mass consumption with their installation using 100 vinyl umbrellas in a mall in Tokyo. In Japan, approximately 130 million umbrellas are imported every year, including 50 - 60 million vinyl ones (according to 2005 statistics). Most vinyl umbrellas are sold at every convenience store and considered to be "disposable". This, of course is leading to a serious environmental problem. Mirey Hiroki calls for end to this mentality for the sake of our future.

Via Tokyo Art Beat

Mustache & Beard Competition - Brighton, England

Competitors from the UK, America, Germany and many other countries are in Brighton, England, for the World Beard and Moustache Championships.
The 2007 event is being hosted by The Handlebar Club which was set up exactly 60 years ago in a London theatre. Categories include Dali moustache, goatee and full beard freestyle.

Via BBC