Vincent Bevins

2 months ago | northsouthnotes.org | Vincent Bevins

Ainda Estou Aqui (I’m Still Here) — Directed by Walter Salles, 2024If you set a film in early 1970s Brazil, you have an excuse to use some of the best songs of all time. If the action takes place in Ipanema, you can point the camera at some of the most stunning beauty surrounding any city ever built.

Nov 22, 2024 | northsouthnotes.org | Vincent Bevins

Imagine you are at the top of a lush green mountain, enshrouded in light mist, but high enough to clearly see the landscape below. Your view is open in every direction. You can see, to your left, a mighty river with an imposing city arising in the distance. Turn to the right, and small villages dot some hills. To their right, a dense forest, with a flock of white birds soaring overhead. Now turn your body ninety degrees further to the right, and there is an entirely different scene.

Oct 21, 2024 | northsouthnotes.org | Vincent Bevins

In recent weeks when someone asks me what I am working on, I say “nothing” (celebratory). The more accurate answer is that I continue to promote my second book, as it begins to come out in translation (Italian was first, next comes Brazil), while I finish up some magazine pieces and figure out what I will do next. If We Burncame out a year ago, and I have been incredibly grateful for the response.

Sep 24, 2024 | northsouthnotes.org | Vincent Bevins

In advanced capitalist societies, if you want to stay alive, you have two options. If you are lucky, you can live in a house that you own. In the United States, property owners benefit from a range of direct and indirect government subsidies virtually ensuring that, even if they do nothing, they can count on rising property values. In 2021 in that country, simply owning property was a better way to accumulate wealth than actually doing any work.

Aug 5, 2024 | northsouthnotes.org | Vincent Bevins

Last month, I attended the fifth instalment of CPAC Brasil, in the city of Balneário Camboriú. This is an import from US American political culture, and those letters stand for “Conservative Political Action Conference,” rather than anything in Portuguese. I covered the event as part of a long New York Times Magazine investigation, which was published yesterday. But — I hear you asking — what can you buy there? What is the gear like.