Jose Murilo

I work on the Internet, managing websites of Brazilian federal agencies in the cultural sector. I like to write about what I see and what I think. In Portuguese: Ecologia Digital – In English: Eco-Rama.

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Latest posts by Jose Murilo

Brazil: The (r)evolution of Lusophone music

  6 February 2009

LabCult provides a torrent link of a documentary about Luso-Afro-Brazilian music and sounds: “Lusophony – The (R)Evolution“. From hiphop to rock, visiting the Portuguese fado and Angolan and Caboverdian rhythms like the kuduro and the morna, the doc compiles Lusophone music from the colony days till today.

Lula on the US ambassador’s expulsion: “Evo is right”

  18 September 2008

The New World Lusophone Sousaphone translates a comment on the expulsion of the American ambassador in Bolivia by Brazil’s President Lula da Silva: “If it is true that the U.S. ambassador was meeting with the opposition to Morales, then Morales was right to kick him out.”

Cuba: Developing Hackers

  28 June 2008

André Deak is a Brazilian blogger who has recently visited Cuba, and in ‘Cuban Hackers‘ [PT] he tells about the ‘Universidad de las Ciencias Informáticas‘ (Informatic Sciences University), where local developers are learning to create code in one of the most precarious technological environments, caused by the US embargo. Deak...

Brazil: The Black President Before Obama

  17 June 2008

The sweeping Obama phenomenon has caught Brazil, and it comes as no surprise in the country with the world's largest population of African descendants. An especially notable thread is the one reporting on the resurgence of a weirdly interesting 1928 Brazilian sci-fi novel — ‘The Black President' — that predicted a US election matching a black, a feminist, and a conservative candidate in the then remote year of 2228.

Brazil: Visible and Invisible Indians and Scoops

  31 May 2008

Brazilian Indians were in the spotlight of world media this week. From the images of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon, to the enraged protest caught on camera against the building of dams along the Xingu River in the Amazon basin where an official of Brazil’s national electric company got slashed by traditional machetes and clubs.

Brazil: Can the Amazon problem be solved with new management?

  24 May 2008

Changing the command in a Brazilian Ministry used to be a domestic affair, but the resignation of the renowned rainforest defender Marina Silva from the Environmental Ministry has sparked global reactions. Ms. Silva's replacement was quickly announced by President Lula, through the designation of Carlos Minc, former environmental secretary of...

Brazil: Images of the ‘Invisible Indians’ in the Amazon

  23 May 2008

Altino Machado presents pictures [PT] of what could be the last isolated ethnic group in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, the so called ‘Invisible Indians’. The pictures were taken from a plane by José Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Jr., coordinator of FUNAI's [Brazilian National Indian Foundation] Ethno-environmental Protection Front, in the...

Brazil: The prohibited march that keeps marching

  16 May 2008

This year's edition of the Marijuana March was prohibited by courts in 9 capital cities across the country due to allegations of illegal promotion of drug use. The theme provoked responses by many local bloggers, and the reactions to the prohibition keep echoing around the Brazilian web.

New Oil in Brazil Unleashes a Gusher of Media Controversies

  21 April 2008

Twisted information about the discovery of what may possibly be the third largest oil field in the world turned into a hot issue on the Brazilian blogosphere this week. The trigger was a comment from the head of Brazil's National Petroleum Agency [ANP], Haroldo Lima, mentioning that the recently found Carioca [or Sugar Loaf] field in Brazil’s offshore Santos Basin could potentially contain reserves of up to 33 billion barrels of oil and gas.

Kathmandu: 100 million mantras for Tibet

  2 April 2008

Haroldo Castro, at ‘Viajologia‘, is a Brazilian blogger covering events in Tibet with a few posts translated into English. The blog displays some videos and dramatic photos showing the bodies of victims.

Dismissal of Brazilian Blogger: Censorship or Just Business?

  23 March 2008

The abrupt dimissal of the journalist Paulo Henrique Amorim — or PHA as he is referred too — from his anchor-like position at the IG portal has fueled this week's blogs debate. The humorous and opinionated style used by PHA in his ‘Conversa Afiada‘ blog to attack what he called...

Brazil: User-customized Football Media

  14 March 2008

A new arena is gathering steam and significance in the Brazilian Internet space: the football blogs. Day by day, fervent fans are finding out that blogs and other media possibilities -- podcasts, webcasts, foruns and chats -- are invaluable tools to display, promote and exchange opinions about the many games, and also to express their passion for their favorite football club teams.

Brazil: Following up the Democratic Primaries

  29 February 2008

‘Biscoito Fino e a Massa‘ is closely following the Texas Democratic Primary polls [PT], and reports about Obama's surge toward nomination. He also tries hard to explain the primary's rules in the state, and mention past local cases of electoral mess and misconduct like the ‘gerrymandering’ in 2003. The blog...

Brazil: While traditional media deals with lawsuits, blogs report

  22 February 2008

Two of the biggest media companies in Brazil are currently involved is court cases that similarly raise the issue of freedom of speech and press even though the media finds itself on opposite sides of the issue in the two cases. Blogs are uniquely pointing out the similarity and contradictions revealed by the connectedness of both situations.

Kuduro: The Sexy Angolan Rhythm With a Message

  30 November 2007

Whether the word Kuduro comes from the Kimbundu language, native to northern Angola and means “location” or from the Portuguese expression meaning “hard ass” or “stiff bottom” is debated but there's no argument that the dance is sexy. As one watches the dancers of this Angolan music style jutting their...

Brazil: “Haiti is here, Haiti is not here”

  29 October 2007

Haiti has become a regularly commented on issue on the Brazilian blogosphere. The special connection between Brazil and Haiti was initiated in 2004, when Brazilian troops started to participate in MINUSTAH — the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. Last week the UN decided to extend its presence in the...