Maria Eugenia’ suitcases for Brazilian TV Show ‘Adotada MTV’

Maria Eugenia Brazilian TV Show ‘Adotada MTV’ and her 'Cameo' bags

Luiz Pagano was contacted by his niece Maria Eugenia Suconic, protagonist of Brazilian TV show MTV “Adotada MTV” (Adopted in Portuguese) to create some little faces that would be printed in suitcases and other objects that appear in the second season of the program.

"The suitcases could not carry only illustrations of her face,they should go beyond" describes Pagano "The drawings must carry part of her personality everywhere she goes ".

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To go on with the suitcases, the artist decided to use and adapt the ancient art of cameos.

The term cameo comes from the word "Kame'o" used in Kabbalistic language to designate a "magic square", i. e. a kind of talisman worn by ladies who commissioned artists to carve these pieces over shells.

The technique has since been undergoing through periodic revivals, at the beginning of the Renaissance, and again in the 18th and 19th centuries. The French neoclassical revival began with the support of Napoleon.

Why Cameo? - Responds Pagano "I can not use the term ‘camafeo’ (Portuguese for cameo) because shells are traditionally used as a basis for engraving cameos, in this case I replaced it with suitcases. I decided to use the cabalistic term 'cameo' as a way to wish good luck to my niece in this new season".

Chocolate and Cupulate – from the Amazon rainforest to the table of the best international restaurants

Dona Nena Facilities at Combu Island - Amazon Rain Forest

When sophisticated customers of DOM restaurant in Sao Paulo Brazil eat their exotic desserts made with Dona Nena’s chocolate, they are not able to realize the astonishing sequence of management of ideas, resources, and people mobilized for it to reach their tables.

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Before going further with this matter, it is important to say that, to celebrate the 15 years of life and seven years Blog, after a long history of generating ideas in the Blemya decided to get out of the office and go to the field to search a beautiful job of talent, of people and of science – the history of chocolate and cupulates of Dona Nenas, from the island of Combu.

Along with Pernod Ricard team of mixologists, we created the Tembi-u project (from neologic Guarani "tembi'uapokuaa" which literally means "knowledge or science of making food"), with the aim of bringing Brazilian culture elements of excellence to bartending society and world cuisine.

Luiz Pagano with the team of Tembi-u Project 

To get the facilities of Dona Nena, we start from Belém (estate of Para, Brazil) towards Combu Island, by the river Guamá, three kilometers via “voadeiras”, a typical vessel in the Amazon basin.

It was only in 2006 that Dona Izete dos Santos Costa (Dona Nena), which use to sell objects made out of the fruit of the cocoa, called biojewels, decided to sell an old family recipe of chocolate and “brigadeiros” (Brazilian delicacy made with chocolate and milk jam) in Batista Campos Square in Belém PA.

Everything was going well, but one problem led Dona Nena to have the first of many good ideas.

Cocoa beans used to make the brigadeiro was ground in a pylon, in a laborious and tiring method. When thinking of something that would grind with less effort, she found in meat grinder a viable alternative, it not only offered less work to do the recipes but also found that the quality of dough had improved a consistently.

Dona Nena avoiding that ants could attack the box of bees

She realized that the grain was thinner and the process had become more hygienic, beyond what, she managed to have an uniform dough without adding sugar, creating a 100% cocoa chocolate formula.

Her new recipe was discovered by the chef of award-wining restaurants Recanto do Peixe/do Bosque, Thiago Castanho, and thus the delicious chocolate bars packed in the cocoa leaf, cocoa powder, brigadeiros and nibs (granulated cocoa covering to Brigadeiros) went beyond the state of Pará and came to the also award-winning restaurant D.O.M. of the chef Alex Atala,

She did not stop there, she had also developed the so-called 'Cupulate' bars and brigadeiros made not with cocoa dough, but with the mucilage from cupuaçu. The result is a delicious dessert, rich in amino acids even sweeter than chocolate and less bitter.

Standard EMBRAPA bee box for uruçu species (Melipona flavolineata) 

Even the fructification of cocoa and cupuassu had scientific interference, in order to respect the environment. Dona Nena added to its already large repertoire of innovations “the beekeeping”, in a joint project with Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation), Eastern Amazon and Federal University of Pará, the resources came from a financing of CNPq.

Five boxes of stingless bees of yellow uruçu species (Melipona flavolineata) have been installed on the property of Dona Nena, on the island of the Combu.

Yellow uruçu specie (Melipona flavolineata) 

Besides the spread of beekeeping and the resulting environmental education, these initiatives change for the better the lives of the local population around Dona Nena, "not only these bees pollinate cocoa and cupuaçu" she says, "but also help in fructification of another important source of income here on the island, the açai ".

Luiz Pagano lecture in which he shared the experiences acquired in the amazon at Tembi-u project

According to the researcher Cristiano Menezes, the goal is to enable the producer in the management of stingless bees techniques and demonstrate the results for the other residents of the island, in order to attract them to the activity. In addition to the pollination of fruit trees such as açaí, the uruçu yellow bees produce honey that can be exploited as a source of income.

The next steps will involve visits to demonstrate the techniques of artificial feeding insects. "As this time of year honey production is reduced due to the low amount of available flowers, bees require supplementary feeding," explained researcher Cristiano Menezes. With the end of the rainy season, the blooms intensify and bees return to produce honey.

chocolate and cupulate bars, packed in the cocoa leaf, cocoa powder, brigadeiros and nibs
(granulated cocoa used to cover Brigadeiros)

Porjeto Tembi-u and Blemya intend this actions to be the beginning of a series of others activities for valuation of people and their cultures, into viable and sustainable economic projects.

Blemya 15 years

History of Blemya - Luiz Pagano & Mauricio Bozzi - importing vodkas from Russia
Веда – русская водка

What is Blemya?

Through the representation of Blemya, Luiz Pagano personifies Brazil in relation to other countries in the world. For him, Blemya represents the Brazilian people, who are often perceived as different and sometimes even frightening in the eyes of the rest of the world. However, Pagano sees this difference as an opportunity for transformation.

Blemya, is portrayed as a little female monster, an evolved being, in perfect harmony between intuition and science, with the heart next to the brain. This symbolic representation illustrates the ability of the Brazilian people to unite emotional and rational elements, integrating intuitive wisdom and scientific knowledge.

By reframing the perception of Brazil, Pagano seeks to show that the country has the potential to achieve a harmonious social, cultural and scientific evolution. His artistic vision challenges stereotypes and highlights Brazil's ability to integrate different aspects and perspectives, seeking to build a better future.

Luiz Pagano is an explorer of Brazilian identity, a defender of Brazil's cultural richness and traditions. Through his art, he promotes the country's appreciation and encourages transformation, inviting us to rethink our perceptions and embrace diversity as a path to a brighter and more promising future.

Background

In the year 1271, Marco Polo a Venetian merchant made a 24-year journey to Central Asia, of which he spent 17 years in Mongol-controlled China alone and served as a special foreign envoy to the great Kublai Khan - Probably had no idea that his adventures would change the world.

Upon his return, Marco brought no great personal riches, just a few trinkets, a handful of pearls, and gifts for family and friends. But the great treasure was not limited to these material goods - it was much bigger than that, he brought "Il Milione".

'Il Milione' the Italian for Million, was the name of the book detailing the events of the trip. Among his short stories, readers will find accurate accounts of this unknown land, such as the idea of paper money, the pasta, a great success in Italian cuisine to this day, among other things.

But there we can also find some absurd supernatural events and a surprising bestiary, including men with characteristics of dogs, eagles able to fly carrying elephants and 'the Blemias' - faceless creatures with their facial features on the chest.

Nowadays, the surface of the planet is no longer a great mystery, on average, more than 8 million people are flying all over the planet, we map every square centimeter of the earth - globalization, which grew massively in the 70s and 80s in the brought great benefits, but still, some great monsters are on the loose - xenophobia, racism, discrimination between the sexes, among others.

Ignorance seems to be the leader of these monsters, it's the worst of them all together - we need a good monster, bigger, stronger, able to overcome ignorance and all other monsters.

So, with the presence of this effective monster, called ignorance, we created a more effective hero: Blemya.

Blemyas belong to a race that evolved from humans, there are only asexual beings in the tribe, and they are individuals of brilliant intellect and high morals.

They are all so smart that they managed to survive in secret from the rest of humanity for millennia, helped humanity to reach the end of world wars and save us from nuclear armageddon, but the work ahead of them is enormous....

And then, the Blemyas give the tip on how to make their population grow:

Keep all situations peaceful;

Strive to know yourself - find out what your best version is and be that person;

There is no way to change the past, but from now on, only make decisions that make you have a happier Karma;

Don't judge people and situations;

See things from the other person's perspective - practice empathy;

Rise up;

Always stay up to date with the Blemya Blog (www.blemya.com)

You know the rest...

Our history

In 1997, I joined the Mauricio Bozzi, a great salesman and a great friend to create a international business company specialized in new product introduction, with some kind of difficulty in the market, named Bozzi & Pagano.

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In the initial years, business was really prosperous, Dynamic Cooking Systems industrial line, American competitor of Viking ranges had a representation agreement with us, and we also outsourced the sales team of Austrian energy drink Flash Power, while this category had not yet specific legislation in Brazilian territory. Our businesses were performing outstandingly at that point.

We felt privileged to have this big luck in business, we travel; we were always at parties, and on top of such great happiness we were always conjecturing how could we have a better world.

Mauricio was a very enterprising guy, focused on making money, but also was really dedicated to help friends in their needs. It was frequent for us to make a massive shopping in a supermarket for unemployed friends, or collecting some old clothing for donations. In 2008 we lived the boom of energy drink, we earned more money than we needed and we start to devote a relatively small portion of our earnings to help needy friends.

Blemyas over the years

Due to some of our own immature moments at the time, we were omitting from our wives these little 'spending with friends' and every time they asked about where was some given sum of money that we had won, we said that a 'little female monster' had eaten it, giving them the impression that we were spending money with an extramarital love affair.

Later, Mauricio started working as an employee of Flash Power and I tried to keep Bozzi & Pagano Company alive on my own. In April 2000 we tried to introduce a multi distilled cachaça in Brazil, and to export it to some countries that we had contact, but the business were not going well. One day I went to show this cachaça to a French chef of cuisine, friend of mine here in São Paulo... he made a frustrating assessment:

"Are you only working with this cachaça?" Asked the chef, I said yes and then he retorted "that cachaça is horrible, you'll have no future with her. I’ll introduce you to some friends of mine, who are behind a cool business here in Brazil."

And so, on a Monday, May 8th, 2000 I started working as an employee in the introduction of Veuve Clicquot in Brazilian market. On Thursday of the same week, I went for a beer with Mauricio to celebrate.

He was delighted to see me working with this brand and also with the help that such a great chef had given me. In the bar table, we spoke also about the cachaça company, which had little chance of success in the format it adopted and which one of the partners was a relative of Antoninho da Rocha Marmo, a holy child, responsible for numerous miracles in the city of São Paulo.

We recall the many people who we had helped in our prosperous times and we decided that if one day we return to prosper again, we would dedicate part of our earnings to research and development of intelligent mechanisms of humanitarian aid, and thus, our ‘little female monster’ would live again.

At that moment I remembered a dream I had, it was about a trip I’ve made with the family of Marco Polo, in which we’ve found a futuristic city of Blemias, headless monsters that had their faces on the chest.

The Blemias were part of a race that had evolved from humans, there were only women in the tribe, and they were individuals of bright intellect. In my dream, they were so smart that they managed to survive in secret from the rest of humanity for millennia, in a city on the heights with an ingenious holograms projector that disguise the whole city as a mountain.

Dream of Blemyas - Luiz Pagano's Agenda May 11th, 2000

These beings were helping humanity to achieve the end of the world wars, and to get rid of the Cold War in the 80s and 90s - the reproduction of the blemias, even in my dream, were a mystery too.

We decided that the name of this great social welfare company would be blemia, nothing more appropriate for a company dedicated to foreign trade, such as Marco Polo was, having a blemia as an institutional mascot. The blemia or Blemya, as we wrote, would be the company whose mysticism and kindness toward our society would be as big as the holy child, Antoninho da Rocha Marmo.

In 2007 I created a blog for the company Bozzi & Pagano and also for Blemya, once we could not have Blemya as a real company, we would make it live virtually.

My partner passed away in December 2010 and we never managed to revive the Blemya in its full form, at least in the design we had create that Thursday afternoon. But Blemya lives - the blog has had nearly 200 thousand accesses and much of our ideas, some pioneers, are widely discussed on the Internet.

As we've seen, Blemyas exists in only one gender, feminine. The reproduction of the Blemias is no longer a mystery, it happens when one man (the masculine form for mankind) helps another in a very genuine spirit.

For me it is a great pride go through with this project, I'm sure that someday we will live in a post-scarcity society, in which religions will respect each other, within the omnism principle, that we will understand that the concept of waste does not exist, and that our maximum proposal, that we are individuals that must interconnect, one to another, on this planet, with the spirit of fraternity and mutual help.

Spece Rusian Roulette

Warning!!  be aware of the falling spaceship

URGENT - MONSTER'S ATTACK WARNING IN PROGRESS

In this extraordinary issue of Blemya monster report, an urgent alert about the unmanned Progress 59 spacecraft that is doomed to burn up in Earth's atmosphere in the next few days after failing to deliver more than 3 tons of supplies to the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly told reporters in a series of televised interviews. Video directly from Progress 59 has shown it to be tumbling in an out-of-control spin.

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The fireball could be bright enough to see in broad daylight, Krag said. But with more than 70% of the Earth’s surface covered by water, and only 3% of the land heavily populated, the chances are slim that anyone will witness it, let alone be struck by debris.

Holger Krag, head of the European Space Agency’s space debris office in Darmstadt, said the risk of anyone being hit by falling parts of the Progress vessel are extremely remote. In six decades of spaceflight, no one has ever been hit by falling space hardware, he said.

“It doesn’t all come down in one piece. Most of the destruction happens between 80km and 70km high, and a very limited number of components have the potential to survive. These are scattered over a huge distance, up to 1,000km, so you might find a single piece every 100km or so,” Krag told the Guardian.

BUT don't worry!! every year 100 tonnes of space hardware re-enter the atmosphere, with the majority of it burning up before it hits the planet. Defunct satellites and spent rocket bodies fall to Earth every week. Larger items, such as the Progress cargo vessel, re-enter roughly once a year.

Blamya says - I'm affraid of no falling spaceship...