Things I learnt today (Aug 25th, 2007)

1: "Ice-Truck Killer", in Spanish, is "Ice-Truck Killer." (According to Angel Batista [David Zayas] on Dexter.)

2: Just when you think Jeremy Paxman can't get any cooler, he gets significantly cooler. He says a lot of smart things about trust in the broadcast media, dissipating audiences, cowardly commissioning within the BBC, the ineptitude of many producers and shortsightedness of executives willingly blinding themselves to the threats (and potential benefits) of new technology, but the bit that made me happiest came during a section on a typically self-pitying speech by Tony Blair about the relationship between the media and the government, where he took Blair and Campbell to task:

We do not need to take seriously complaints about the marginalising of parliament from a Prime Minister who could hardly be bothered to turn up there much of the time. Nor need we concern ourselves with complaints about trivialisation of cabinet government from a man whose cabinet meetings could last less time than an edition of Ready Steady Cook. We do not need lectures about cynicism from an administration which employed people who believed that September 11th was a good day to bury bad news. Most of all, we do not need homilies about destroying people’s reputations from an administration on whose watch Dr David Kelly was driven to suicide.

I <3 Paxman. So does Emily Bell.

3: Jesse Cameron and Jennifer Morrison have broken off their engagement, according to this TV Guide article. A planet mourns!

4: According to Michael Ausiello, Will Arnett is returning to 30 Rock this season. No word yet on the shortie robe.

5: Hawkman is smarter than me.


That, my friends, is science.

Picturesque Parati

It was the description in our guidebook that first caught my attention.

‘UNESCO considers Parati to represent one of the world's most important examples of Portuguese colonial architecture….The town centre was one of Brazil's first planned urban projects, and its narrow cobbled streets, out of bounds to motorized transport, are bordered by houses built around courtyards…’

When we arrived by bus from Rio, it was not at all what we expected. Instead of ornate stone buildings, we found simple, predominantly single story white stucco buildings. However, windows and doorways were painted in different colours, creating a rainbow effect along the street. It reminded me of Obidus in Portugal, which we once visited on Larry Beasley’s recommendation. There, all the buildings were painted white, with yellow and blue trim. However, this place had another interesting feature.

I was surprised to find the very bumpy stone streets quite wet in places, which seemed odd since it hadn't been raining. As we walked down towards the waterfront, we realized what was happening. The streets were being flooded by the ocean. I didn't learn until much later, this was not an accident. It was by design. At high tides, and especially at full moon, water would enter the town and flood the streets, washing away excrement from donkeys and goodness knows what else. A local artist told us that at certain times the water could be so high, he would be stranded if he didn’t leave in time, and have to arrange for a donkey and cart to transport him away from his studio.

Over the years, many of the buildings have been converted to pousadas, art galleries, restaurants, and shops. Much of the town is now geared to tourists, and has become a venue for conferences. While we were there, we met some physicists who had been attending a week long session on quantum physics. I know that my good friend John Swift would have liked it, since he got so much enjoyment from the film ‘What the Bleep do we Know?’ that we saw together one evening in Vancouver.

Since we arrived without accommodation we immediately went to the nearby tourist information centre. We were told the town was essentially booked up for the weekend, but after our expressions of regret, were found accommodation at the Hotel Coxixo, one of the larger hotels in the historic centre. As it turned out, the town was by no means booked up, but would be the next weekend, since the annual cachaca festival was taking place. (Cachaca is to Brazil what Tequila is to Mexico. Except this is made from sugar cane like rum, but without the pleasant taste of rum! Shops around town offered hundreds of different varieties.)

The hotel was very charming, but unusual in that everywhere there were photos and memorabilia of some actress. It was like a shrine to her and there was even a small theatre on the property. It turned out the hotel was owned by Maria Della Costa, once one of Brazil’s most famous actresses. On the hotel literature, she proclaims 'Te espero com cainho'. 'I wait for you tenderly'.

Compared to Sao Paulo and Rio, Parati seemed almost surreal. It was so very comfortable walking around and felt like the safest place on earth. There was only one small piece of graffiti, which I offered to paint over myself if someone would give me the paint. I didn’t have to. It was gone the next day!

In addition to just wandering around, we went on two outings. The first was a schooner trip to some nearby islands in the bay that included an opportunity to go snorkeling. After being at the Great Barrier Reef, this was a bit disappointing, but still enjoyable. While we were the only English speaking people on our boat, we managed to make a few friends. By the time we got back, the weather was starting to change, but the views back to the town were impressive.

We also took a jeep expedition to the National Park of Serra da Bocaina with its preserved rain forest and waterfalls. We visited two typical cachaca distilleries which seemed extremely primative, and sought out the gold trail. In the jeep, we sat beside an English couple who had been traveling the world for about the same length of time as us. We discovered many similar experiences, even though we had taken very different itineraries.

Each evening, we had good meals, including a bouillabaisse ordered a day in advance at a small French restaurant run by a chef from Marseille. Other restaurants were often selected based on the quality of the music.

We enjoyed listening to non English speaking singers doing songs in English. While some were quite good, no one compared with the girl from Albania, who had us convinced she was from an English speaking country until she started to get tired.

One evening we went to the theatre. While I was concerned whether we would understand the dialogue, I need not have been. The Grupo Contadores de Estorias performed with puppets, and without dialogue. And without strings. ‘Direct manipulation’ is the trademark of the company. Their production included seven ‘adult oriented’ scenes including an old man playing fiddle, an elderly couple flirting, and something called ‘erotic awakening and rebirth’. Fortunately, I slept through much of it.

At breakfast each day, we chatted with two Americans who were in Parati scripting a film with an older Brazilian man. When we told them we were from Vancouver, they wanted to know if we knew Bing Thom. It’s a small world. We didn't want to ask what their film was about, but if a film about Maria Della Costa appears at a theatre near you in a year or two, that's probably it.

On our last morning we told them we were off to Brasilia. “Oh no”, they said. “You should have gone to Brasilia before Parati”. We had an idea what they meant, but were going to find out for ourselves.

Gardner Fox: Visionary

I love Hawkman. There, I said it. Large swathes of fandom seem to think the one-time Thanagarian crime-stopper is a risible leftover from the Golden Age who still looked ridiculous in the equally crazy Silver Age, what with his silly helmet and bird-shoes. They are wrong. Hawkman kicks ass, sometimes mid-air ass, and doesn't bother taking names while he does it. Though yes, the recent Hawkgirl comic written by Walt Simonson and drawn by Howard Chaykin (for a couple of arcs) was possibly the worst comic being published by DC. I'll grant you that. Otherwise, he is all hard-rocking awesomeness.

Gardner Fox introduced him in Flash Comics, and retooled him for the Silver Age in Brave and the Bold, in which his introduction of the futuristic world of Thanagar proves him to be a true visionary. Check out these Thanagarian inventions:


Is that QVC? Or is Shayera a big fan of Ugly Betty and its in-show promotions?


They have TiVo! Except boring Thanagarians use it to tape Fox News. Carter, if you want to know what O'Reilly's been saying for the last few months, here's a recap: "It's all the fault o' derr imigants." Now switch over and watch Lost or Friday Night Lights. They're good for your soul.


"As long as we have a favourable balance"? You mean Thanagar hasn't invented debt yet? Can I move there tomorrow? That said, there are still some Thanagarian doohickeys we've yet to invent, but if Fox's strike rate is anything to go by, it's only a matter of time before we get this wonderful idea:


Hmmmm, tube food. Pneumati-tube food, no less! Actually, to be honest, the thought of Thanaldar City being criss-crossed with gravy-smeared plastic tubes is pretty unappealing.

[All pictures from DC's Showcase Presents: Hawkman, which is highly recommended.]

CSI: Miami Watch: "Curse of the Coffin"

Though I realize we're a few years late to start recapping this marvel of a show, it's never too late to begin. The UK has just begun showing season five, which is a year behind the US schedule – not that it matters, I suppose, because I've never met anyone who will admit to watching it. (Someone is, for Christ's sake! It's the most popular show in the world – even more popular than Baywatch, and we can only thank mighty Thor that the Miami location does not persuade Horatio to blind us with his mole-inflected, saggy cheese torso.) But the Admiral has provided a helpful primer, so any objections you have can be as easily dismissed as one of Horatio's shifty perps.

Synopsis: Have you heard of Santeria? (No, it's not a bowel disease or a fruity tropical drink. It's voodoo! Actually it's an Afro-Caribbean religion, but leave it to this show to reduce a complex religion into simplistic ridiculousness for its own purposes.) Can you pronounce it like Delko, with that slightly rolled "r" and singsong inflection that shows the viewer how authentically Cuban(/Russian) our inept frogman is? I bet you can't. Were you aware that, according to CSI: Miami, it involves putting spells on chintzy pieces of woodwork, selling drugs that cause temporary paralysis, and stowing the bloody, dismembered heads of goats in your closet? And yet it's apparently not affiliated with Scientology? Somewhere in L.A., John Travolta is taking notes.

Of course, this is all in a day's work for CSI: Miami – if it's not cannibalism and pirates (see season three's "Pirated"), it's voodoo curses and random explosions. Our intrepid team finds out that our corpse of the week was an aficionado of the religion, which Delko is immediately spooked by (as he professes that he is Catholic and therefore cannot come into contact with befouled objects – something he should have thought about before Sex Quest '05, perhaps). How do they find this out? They discover a goat's head, infested with maggots and dripping blood, in a coat closet. It's a minor shock that the inept crimefighters even bothered to look in a closet in the first place, but Horatio was probably searching for a small child to patronize (see episodes passim).

Since CSI: Miami writers like to cut out the burdensome step of the writing process called "coming up with ideas," something like this probably did happen in real life. What probably didn't happen in real life? This:



OMG the corpse isn't dead at all! When Ryan attempts to explain this to Alexx, she shows him the corpse and tells him that there's no way it could sit up, as it has a stomach wound. Ryan tells her that the corpse she's showing him is a different dead guy. Excuse me? Alexxx didn't notice this?? A corpse WALKS OUT OF HER MORGUE and Mr. Wolfe, of all people, has to tell her that it's missing. Alexxxx's response? "My staff isn't trained to watch the living." First of all, what staff? Alexxxxx is the only one who's ever in the morgue. Apparently she's begun talking not just to corpses but to imaginary employees as well. Secondly, what? Is your "staff" even trained to watch the dead? Shouldn't they have noticed that a body was missing? Imaginary morgue attendants just aren't what they used to be.

And then we come to the glorious, and gloriously ridiculous, denouement of the episode. It turns out Horatio discovers and has to defuse a car bomb – this is only glancingly related to the plot of the episode and comes out of nowhere, by the way, but no matter. The bomb has four minutes until it explodes. "Can you defuse it?" asks useless-as-usual Tripp. "Not in four minutes," purrs Horatio, the former bomb expert (you didn't know that? Oh, my friend, you have so much to learn).

The next shot we see? Horatio DRIVING OVER A BRIDGE WITH A BOMB IN THE CAR.

How did he even get out of the parking lot in four minutes? How did he know he wouldn't get stuck in traffic? What is his mode of transportation after the car explodes? Why is he driving over a freaking bridge? Is this even legal?? (I know what H. would say: "Justice knows no laws, my friend. It knows. No. Laws.") These are questions only the foolish would consider. For now we have this, the crowning glory of the season, the very reason this show exists (namely, to blow stuff up, and to promote the color orange):



Notice how H. removes his sunglasses as he languidly exits the car that surely should have exploded twenty minutes ago, then surveys the landscape majestically, as only a crusading albino lawman can, and then, for the final iconic shot, puts the sunglasses back on. Shades of Caruso, man. You can't beat that.

Curse of the Coffin Stats:

Horatio's Send-Off Into Credits (how awesome is Channel 5 for appropriating the YouTube clips?): a bit lackluster this time:

Alexx: [referring to a tiny cursed coffin] "Maybe it's a message. Someone trying to scare us off the case."
Horatio: "Maybe. But we don't scare that easy, do we, Alexx?"
Roger Daltrey: "YEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

Ripped-off Plot of the Week: The Serpent and the Rainbow

Horatio's Most Patronizing Line:

Random Perp: "Can I have my clothes back?"
Horatio: "I'd say that would be...unlikely."

Number of Caruso Two-Steps: 4

Snottiest Behavior From Ryan: mocking Delko for being scared of the Santeria objects (hilariously, he later becomes convinced that the curses are real)

Most Ineptitude From Delko: slamming an axe down on a glass table so hard that the table later shatters (we later see poor hapless Boa Vista, in the lab room when the table breaks, emerging from an inexplicable cloud of smoke, her hair mussed and covered in glass, as if the table had actually exploded)

Number of Perps Dispatched by Horatio: only one: a bomb-filled car

Number of Pointless Split-Screen Shots: countless

CSI: Miami primer

I'm sure anyone following the CSI: Miami tags on this post will already know everything they need to know about this most unique of shows, but in case you're wandering through here without having experienced it, here is a quick runthrough of the main characters.

Horatio Caine - The Mighty Caruso.
To say there is no other character in modern TV like him is an understatement. He's not even a character. He's a mood. A state of mind. Justice personified. The yin to evil's yang. A one-man pose machine. An enigma. He is of course famous for wearing sunglasses, but does he wear the shades, or do they wear him? The way he stares at them, often from the rear of the frame while everyone else does the actual police work, it's as if he is in communion with them. Do they guide him? If he ever solved a case, we might have to give some credit to the sentient glasses, but as he never seems to actually do any crime-solving other than intimidating perps or blasting hostiles to pieces, it's immaterial.

Calleigh Duquesne - Emily Procter.
Procter's departure from The West Wing, where she was light and funny and likeable, was already saddening, before she decided to turn up here as a humourless, pinched caricature of herself. I always thought of her as a light comedic actress (in a good way), so imagine my dismay when she was cast as a ballistics expert who looks like she's trying her hardest not to break out in a inappropriate grin in every scene. ::sigh:: Whatever. She's getting a big payday, so it's not like it's the end of the world. Plus, every so often she gets to act opposite the excellent character actor John Heard, playing her feckless alcoholic father. Or Foghorn Leghorn in a big hat. It's hard to tell what effect he's aiming for.

Eric Delko - Adam Rodriguez.
Ah, the inept Delko, prone to losing evidence (in an episode that was obviously running 20 minutes short and filled that time with a panicky Delko trying to pretend nothing was wrong), getting caught buying dope for his dying sister, and having outdoor sex with strangers against walls in the middle of Miami. How he keeps his job is beyond me. Perhaps it's his command of Russian, always useful in Florida. Or perhaps it's his incredible knowledge of sports cars and swamp-diving. Whatever it is, it's a good thing he's around. By season 4 Horatio desperately needed someone to stalk, protect from the boogeyman, and/or love, and Delko's cancer-ridden sister fit the bill perfectly. Until the kingpin of a Brazilian drug cartel had her assassinated. Oh CSI: Miami, how I love thee!

Ryan Wolfe - Jonathan Togo.
Brought in to inflate the cast after the death of Tim Speedle (see below), the young man known to Horatio as Mr. Wolfe was promoted to CSI from traffic cop duty after finding a clue. That's a rigorous selection process right there. Perhaps Horatio thought he could mold the man into a copy of himself. It was not to be. Whereas everyone defers to Horatio and respects him (even though he never does any work), for at least a whole season everyone hated Wolfe. His arrogance, snottiness, and ineptitude certainly justified the treatment, not to mention the outrageously pompous way he dismisses Natalia Boa Vista (see below), though that might be a consequence of her not falling gratefully into his arms in season 4. His finest moment, though, has to be getting shot in the eye with a nail gun. I was torn between being sickened to my guts and wanting to write a thank you letter to the writers.

Alexx Woods - Khandi Alexander.
Another employee who really should be let go soon. Not that she's as inept as Delko, but seriously, hasn't someone thought it odd that the Miami Dade coroner has conversations with dead people, and not like in that scary episode of Buffy from season 7? Several corpses have been patronised by Alexx, who refers to the ones she likes as, "Sugah". Other than that, she does very little on the show. Notably, she is one of the few characters who seems able to tolerate Mr. Wolfe, and coincidentally she is the only character other than him to be regularly thanked by Horatio as he leaves the room/crime scene, even if there are other people there. Why be selective? Even hapless Delko deserves to be thanked from time to time, especially if he doesn't contaminate the crime scene, hump a random witness, or accidentally kick evidence into a swamp.

Tim Speedle - Rory Cochrane.
Yes, I know that's not a picture from the show. It's only fitting I choose his greatest onscreen moment to memorialise him now that he's gone to that swish, glass-walled laboratory in the sky. Speedle represented the slob nation on CSI: Miami for a couple of years, before getting into a shoot-out and biting the bullet. His death was caused by a build-up of what looked like Crunchy Nut Cornflakes in his gun, a character quirk that had been set up in a previous season when Calleigh told him off for not taking care of his firearm. Other than that, Cochrane's time on the show is memorable for seemingly being a very uncomfortable experience for him. He looked embarrassed every week, mumbling his dialogue and shiftily glancing off camera as if looking for Richard Linklater to come and save him. And he did! Cochrane then went on to appear in A Scanner Darkly, and in five nervy, rotoscoped minutes he completely erased the memory of his time in Miami Dade. Hooray! If only Aaron Sorkin would stop being crap so that he could save Emily Procter.

Frank Tripp - Rex Linn.
We watched an episode of CSI: Miami last night that was particularly absurd, featuring carbombs and zombies, but it was notable for featuring possibly the first instance of deductive work by Detective Tripp. He picked up a golf club and said it belonged to a man because it was large. It's not exactly Sherlock Holmes, but for the first time he wasn't just relaying obvious information to Horatio (information that Horatio already knows, usually). I was stunned. Poor Rex Linn. He's been a dependable movie tough guy for a few years now, livening up many dubious films, such as Cliffhanger and Cutthroat Island (time to stop taking Renny Harlin's calls, Rex), and now all he does is act as Horatio's secretary. His most bizarre moment on the show was when he suddenly, with absolutely no prior warning, became a racist NIMBY, ranting about floods of Cuban immigrants stealing American jobs, to the immense displeasure of Delko. After almost coming to blows, their differences were resolved in a memorable finale, with Tripp and Delko teaming up to help a Cuban shopkeeper fix up his mini-mart in super-meaningful slo-mo, with Horatio smiling beneficently from the touchlines. I cried!

Natalia Boa Vista - Eva La Rue.
The most recent addition to the team. Prior to that, Natalia was a hastily introduced lab tech who, in a shocking twist, had been planted on the team as a mole by the FBI. I know what you're thinking. Well, actually, you're either thinking you're hungry and Crunchy Nut Cornflakes would go down a treat, or you're thinking, "Why would anyone want to investigate our heroes?" If you're thinking the latter, the answer is that the CSI: Miami team are notoriously inept and corrupt, constantly bending the law while obnoxiously taking the moral high ground against every even vaguely criminal person they come across. Her totally believable transition into a CSI has been hindered by her rivalry with Mr. Wolfe at his most slimy, as well as the reappearance of her evil abusive ex-husband, hilariously released from jail and instantly hired as a crime-scene clean-up guy just so he can keep pestering her at work. The only other things to note about her are that she succumbed to Delko's lumpen sex-vibe, possibly due to temporary insanity brought on by the guilt of being a mole, and she has the biggest Bambi eyes on TV.

Maxine Valera - Boti Bliss.
Where to begin with Valera, played by the delightfully named Boti Bliss? Well, she's a lab tech. And... erm... Oh! There was that one time she accidentally contaminated a bunch of evidence, or something, and she took a leave of absence for a while. Of course, this had to happen during the aforementioned FBI investigation. The picture I've used is from a seemingly anti-glamorous Ultradent promotional gig attended by the cast, which probably accounts for the severely pissed off expression Miss Bliss is wearing. We're only part of the way through season 5, and I'm hoping she gets more to do soon. She's one of the more likeable actors on the show, and so far does little more than relay exposition.

Brendan Fehr - Dan Cooper.
I didn't even know his character's name until I just checked it out on IMDb. Dan is the lab tech responsible for pressing the notorious "Enhance" button when looking at videos (God bless the internet hero who came up with that concept; apologies for not attributing it properly). He can also isolate the sound of a flea farting in a recording of a Korn concert. I totally believe the technology exists to do this. Other than that, I think Wolfe threatened him once when he said something rude about Natalia. You'll have to forgive me for being vague. There has yet to be a point to Dan. I can only imagine he's there because the CSI: Miami producers were jealous of CSI: Original Flavour having Archie Kao as their tech guy. Either that or Adam Rodriguez was doing a solid for his Roswell buddy Fehr.

If you've never watched the show before, hopefully now you can jump in and enjoy the various thrilling shenanigans of our heroes. Truly there is nothing on TV like it. That may seem like an erroneous statement, what with it being a spin-off with its own spin-off, but the other shows are utterly different. It has plowed its own furrow, and as a result is the most watched show on the planet, a fact that never ceases to amaze me. Long may it reign.

Rio and The Girl from Ipanema

Rio de Janeiro is an hour from Sao Paulo by plane, or 6 hours by bus. As a result of the recent air crash in Sao Paulo, we were told it might be faster and safer to take the bus. When we arrived at the station, we discovered a number of companies all wanting our business. In South America, there are often three classes of buses. We traveled by ‘executive coach’ which was very much like being at the front of an airplane, except for the absence of caring flight attendants and the drink trolley. But it was a very easy and enjoyable trip up the Costa Verde.

On Eliane's advice, we booked into a hotel on Ipanema beach. Fortunately, I met a brave young man wearing a kippa and tzizis in the Sao Paulo bus station who lived in nearby Copacabana. He wanted to serve as our guide once we arrived in Rio, directing us onto another bus through a dirty and scarred favela to the subway, from where we took another bus to Ipanema. When we arrived, I noticed row upon row of bars. But they were not the ones in which you drink. These were designed to keep intruders out. It was disconcerting and sad. That evening, I looked for the girl from Ipanema, but never found her.

The next morning we set off for Copacabana Beach, described by our guidebook as the most famous beach on the planet. We didn't know whether it would be beach weather or not, but it was 25 degrees at 10 in the morning. It was very beautiful, but not as ‘glamorous’ as we expected. While most of the buildings are quite ordinary by our standards, the landmark Copacabana Palace did stand out. We now realize that few cities can match Vancouver's waterfront developments.

After looking around the area, which once back from the beach feels like New York in terms of building density, we went downtown by Metro. Like Sao Paulo, the subway is very clean and feels very safe. At street level, we discovered a varied mix of modern skyscrapers, decaying older buildings, and much in between. Unfortunately, like Sao Paulo, much of it is covered in graffiti.

On the advice of our guidebook, we took a tram up to Santa Teresa, a hilly suburb with leafy, cobbled streets. We didn’t expect too much for 30 cents, but it turned out to be an exciting 25 minute roller coaster ride on an antique tram up to the top. The views along the way were quite spectacular, and although there were many interesting neighbourhoods where we should have got off, we decided to keep going, so we would have time to take a ferry over to Ilha de Paqueta, a car free zone popular with locals.

Unfortunately, we just missed the ferry, and rather than wait an hour, boarded one for Niteroi, across the bay, where we could see Neimeyer's famous Museu de Arte Contemporanea. Unfortunately, it was closed since a new show was being installed, but we did see the outside, which many think is much better than most of the work inside.

That evening, we walked to a nearby restaurant where during dinner we were entertained by three athletic black gymnasts who performed a variety of cartwheels in the street, accompanied by some drumming. After collecting from the patrons, they were off. I think we were all quite generous, in case we met them again walking back to our hotels!

We spent time each day on the beach, by the hotel. Fortunately, we met up with 6 delightful friends traveling together from Pennsylvania, some of whom were originally from Brazil. Together we exchanged travel experiences, tried to negotiate the purchase of prawns, (challenging even if you speak Portuguese), and bought some small paintings.

We decided to stay on another day, but the Ipanema Plaza was fully booked. So we checked into the Sheraton Rio in nearby Leblon, which is unique in that it is a resort right on the beach. (It was also unique in that a large hillside flavela looked directly into our 17th floor windows!)

We had a very decadent time, being served Brazilian barbq by one of the pools, and just lying around. It’s an odd thing, but even after 7 months of travel, I feel guilty just lying on a beach reading! I feel I should be ‘doing something’.

We took the hotel shuttle back to Copacabana that evening, and after a few caipirinha limas, wandered through the market. We came across a very colourful and exuberant painting by a charming young man that seemed to epitomize the spirit of the city. So I bought it, not knowing how I would get it home, but hoping to one day see it framed in our front hall. Back at the hotel, we discovered we had missed the Mexican night.

After 4 days in Rio, it was again time to move on. We didn’t really know where to go. But I had read in our guide book about Parati, a small UNESCO protected 17th century colonial town that had remained fundamentally unaltered since the 18th century. Although it meant a four hour bus ride each way, backtracking towards Sao Paulo, we decided to go.

As for the girl from Ipanema, I never saw her, but she has stayed in my mind. Now she can stay in yours…

Tall and tanned and young and lovely
the girl from Ipanema goes walking
and when she passes
each man she passes
goes Aaah!

When she moves it's like a samba
that swings so cool and sways so gently
that when she passes
each man she passes
goes Aaah!

Oh - but he watches so sadly
How - can he tell her he loves her
He - would just give his heart gladly
But each day when she walks to the sea
She looks straight ahead not at he

Tall and tanned and young and lovely
the girl from Ipanema goes walking
and when she passes
he smiles
but she doesn't see
no she doesn't see
she just doesn't see...