Overwhelmed Episcopalian
Today … why some of the smartest guys in finance are total morons. But first a report from the Rio Carnaval, where we spent last weekend.
A plumber would probably like it. A psychiatrist might say it is normal. And maybe a Roman Catholic could handle it. But there were too many quivering buttocks for an Episcopalian.
There must have been 10,000 of them – sweating … shaking … twerking … and vibrating – in the Sambadrome on Saturday night.
The costumes were as unrestrained, immodest and over-the-top as you might imagine. The idea seemed to be to attach as many sequins and feathers as possible. And almost everywhere, amid the gaud and glitz of the getup, were the shimmering cheeks.
Photo via unlike.net
Not Just Any Night Out …
As we made our way to the Sambadrome, we began to suspect that this was not going to be just like any other night out. Crowds filled the streets and sidewalks all over town. One young man was retching on the curb. A young woman had passed out; her friends were slapping her to try to get her back to consciousness. The heat? The alcohol? The excitement?
It could have been anything; several times during the evening we felt like swooning too. A little farther on, another man was being loaded onto a stretcher – ailment unknown. And on a back street outside the stadium, two women had gotten into a fight – cause likewise unknown.
We were in the elite section of the Sambadrome. Our fellow spectators looked a bit like the crowd you’d find at one of Baltimore’s slick eateries in Camden – young, professional, good-looking. The men looked as though they might be stockbrokers during the week. The women might have been models. Sleek, attractive… some trophies, many still competing.
Scarcely had we arrived when the music began. We missed the bombing of Dresden and the collapse of the World Trade Center. But we caught Carnaval! The decibel level must have been about the same.
