BRIC POP: The Blog

Been on a whirlwind project that had nothing to do with the BRICs, so I was sadly away from the book, and this blog. Let’s catch up on a few things that caught my eye in the last few weeks:

Wunderkind footballer Alexandre Pato — now shortened to just Pato by the brilliant self-naming gods of Brazilian football, who can give Landor or Interbrand a run for their money — scores in his debut for AC Milan. Pelé comes in to manage the expectations over Brazil’s latest superbrand.

Russia is continuing to use their money to buy cool. Or is it their cool to get money? This Guardian article continues the Western canard that your average Noviye Russkie is a vulgar Slavic Beverly Hillbilly who can only buy loud Italian taste, ignoring the clever, well-educated subculture of people who are really cool and bringing authentic Russian style to the moneyed set there, and to us next. The Brits have a blind spot toward the Russians right now, maybe because of this.

I was so absorbed by events in Pakistan that I almost missed some of the cultural fun goings-on in India, except for this troubling story of the always problematic Shiv Sena attacking an exhibition of the works of the greatest living Indian artist, MF Husain, at the India International Centre in Delhi. It continues to be one step forward, two steps back for Indian creative culture on the global stage.

And my new favorite BRIC story of doing things in their own special way comes from China, where scorned wife/television presenter Hu Ziwei uses the backdrop of the Olympics to point out that her husband Zhang Bin, also a television presenter, is not being very harmonious by having an affair. Watch this!

“Today is a special day for the Olympic Channel, for Zhang Bin, and also for me. Only two hours ago, I discovered that Zhang Bin has an illegitimate relationship with a woman. Next year, the Olympic year, the entire world will be interested in China. But as long as we are not able to export our values, China will not be a great country.”

You go, girl. Ambush marketing at its finest.

Next week is my favorite emerging-market free-for-all, Davos. My money is on Brazil to be this year’s belle of the ball, finally getting the attention they deserve. Not for anything cultural, mind you, as brilliant as they are. It’s all about the oil.

Everyone has their doppelganger. Here are some people who sometimes get pegged as the BRIC equivalent of a western celebrity.

Ksenia Sobchak: the Paris Hilton of Russia. Unfair, because Ksenia has an education, multilingual fluency, and is likeable. She’s also #6 on Forbes Russian celebrity power list.

Next, a woman I adore, Ana Maria Braga, host of the Brazilian morning program Mais Voce. Kind of like Diane Sawyer and Martha Stewart put together, except she has a parrot for a co-host, a hunky 35-year-old husband, and has never been to jail. She put me on her show after I interviewed her for the book.

Here’s a clip of Ana and Louro José (the parrot), in a compilation of his cheekiest moments. You lose a little without the Portuguese, but suffice to say you would never catch Diane or Martha having a straight conversation with a puppet at 8:30 in the morning.

Daniel Wu. He’s from San Francisco, but is now a Hong Kong film and music star. But on the side, he’s the Johnny Knoxville of China. Here he is shooting fireworks at his friend’s chest, from ChiSeen.

Daniel’s also a serious actor. But not here. In his directorial debut, The Heavenly Kings, he Spinal Taps the whole Cantopop boy band phenomenon.

Finally, Simi Garewal. The Barbara Walters of the Indian celebrity interview. Soft focus, lots of white, inane questions. Unlike Barbara, her background isn’t journalism, but a Bollywood actress herself. The show opener is fabulous:

MTV India Comedian Cyrus Sahukar does a hilarious imitation. You can meet “Semi Girebaal” and take the complete woman quiz here.