Damn Yankees!

OK, I've got it figured out. Last night/this morning's Samba School Parade featured the performances of the six best Samba Schools. The radio broadcast I heard early in the week was the announcement of the final scores and winners. So what I saw this morning was basically a victory lap for the best six.

The best two schools I saw last Sunday placed fifth and six. So I got to see four new Samba Schools -- ranked first through fourth.

You've probably already heard this, but "Beija-Flor" came in first with 399.4 points. They've won the championship three years in a row now. And "Unidos da Tijuca" came in second with the heartbreaking score of 399.3! The photo above is of Tijuca's opening float -- a real stunner. It featured a highly choreographed performance with more than 100 performers. It was so beautiful it made me cry -- especially knowing they had lost by the slimmest of margins.

Tijuca's performance was very moderne and macabre. I especially like the Zombie Samba. Beija-Flor seemed much more traditional, IMHO. I thought their performer portraying Jesus carrying his cross was just over the top. (But they got the points, so I guess they know what they're doing.)

My camera and I had a major disagreement last night. I wanted it to take snapshots. It wanted to take little movies. So my photos didn't turn out very well. But I have a collection of little moviettes on my laptop. But since I didn't know we were making movies most of them start with the parade and conclude with a shot of my leg after I've lowered the camera.

My camera may have tried to tell me what it was doing. But I shattered the little monitor on the back of the camera in a tragic fall on a slippery, steep hill in Cape Town (not cocktailed!) So until I get it fixed I don't always know what my camera is trying to tell me.

But the silver lining is I now have some great sound recordings of the Samba School Parade.

Will Smith was directly across from me in the "Hitch" box watching the parades. He got lots of attention and marchers would pass him their hats which he obliging wore until they passed by and he would hand them off to an aide behind him. The energy in his box was building until Jada Pinkett Smith fell out of the box. (Speaking of cocktailed.) She wasn't hurt, but I think she was embarrassed. They left within 5 minutes of the incident.

They presented the parades in the order they placed, starting with the sixth placed school and finishing with the Grand Champions, who went on at 4 a.m. This appealed to my sense of order, and I found it very easy to stay until the end.

It also helped having a seat in a box, rather than crowding into the bleachers like I did last Sunday. I was in the third set of boxes from the front. Each box had six seats and room to samba.

These boxes make the boxes at the Hollywood Bowl seem like matchboxes. (Not that I've spent that much time in the boxes at the Hollywood Bowl. The last time I was in one was during the opening seating for L.A. County Sheriff Sherman Block's funeral. But I WALK past them on the way to my seat at the Hollywood Bowl.)

I enjoyed brunch today at the Copacabana Palace Hotel. It was neat to see the hotel that started it all in Copacabana. And the food was great. But the people were CHEESY! Think big men, little swimsuits and cigars. It was like the Russian Mafia had come to town. I couldn't get back to chic Ipanema Beach fast enough.