Jul 052026
 

Yesterday, the radio opera was Aida, by Giuseppe Verdi. It was commissioned to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. It’s pretty well known even outside the opera world, so I’ll just stop there. I also listened to Adam Klasfeld’s reading of Justice Brown-Jackson’s “Barbara” opinion (which did finally post with sound), and later, to Malcolm Nance’s reading of parts of the Declaation of Independence. He is the third IIRC generation in his family to be career military, and besides the sirect line, there’s an uncle and his two older brothers. I wasn’t surprised he teared up some. Andy Borowitz has a new book out called Profiles in Ignorance – his column on it may be the longest I’ve seen from him since he came to Substack.

This is less a good news story, and more of a bad stuff overcome story. But it is noteworthy when Congresscritters come together in a bipartisan way to help a constituent (of one of them.)

I apologize for all the ads – I hope the story is worth scrolling through them. (it was to me)

This would be better news if we as a nation were livng up to our founding documents. But it’s also not entirely fair to put that burder on the shoulders of athletes alone.

This is good news to me – it probably doesn’t mean much to anyone else. Yes, it should have been done a long time ago, but Leo’s only been Pope a little over a year. I particularly like that he’s starting at the top, the way it should be.

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Dec 172022
 

There is no doubt that the FIFA World Cup fever engulfs its fans and inspires them to dress up in support of their nation’s team.  The efforts they put in to making their costumes to support their countries at football’s biggest carnival is simply amazing!

But my gob was smacked when I was treated to this outfit:

When I first saw this, I thought it was fake – some CGI (Computer-Generated Image) or VFX (Visual Effects) character with augmented reality that was promoting the World Cup by honoring Brazil’s incomparable Pelé (who is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time having led team Brazil to World Cup Championships in 1958, 1962 and 1970).

I had the definite impression that I wasn’t really seeing an actual human being, but rather an animation enhanced by special effects.  It truly seemed more like a digital rendition of a football player – like someone had just walked out of a video game.

But it’s a real person in the most imaginative costume I’ve ever seen!

 

@maskbusters

#qatar2022 #fifa #fifaworldcup #qatarliving #thisisqatar #football #soccer #pele #worldcup #fortnite #trophy #ball #eventideas #evententertainment #specialevents #eventperformer #corporateentertainment #eventpros #eventservices #corporateevents #eventshow #liveentertainment #luxuryevents #show #eventplanner #mirror #costume #mascot #brazil #brasil

♬ original sound – MaskBusters

In fact there are three people decked out in these fabulous, mirrored costumes that have virally taken the World Cup fans – and Netizens of the world – by storm.  Beside Pelé there’s one sporting a red jersey that portrays Cristiano Ronaldo, star of the Portugal national team.  And finally, a third character all decked out in the quirky mirror outfit of a referee.

@onefootball

Replying to @Luis Aguilar 👽 They are 🤩 @maskbusters #worldcup

♬ All I Want Is You – Disco Lines

 

@espnfc

This #Brazil fan came ready at the #WorldCup 🇧🇷👏 #qatar #soccer #neymar (via cahemota/Twitter)

♬ sonido original – Minuto 90

Turns out that these costumes were not crafted by a Brazilian or Portuguese fan – but are the creations of a company called MaskBusters.  It’s located in Slovakia, and like you, I had lots of questions about their creations.

Sadly, I couldn’t find out as much as I wanted about the costumes or MaskBusters itself – but here’s what I did learn.  They’re made of triangular pieces of colored reflective material forming a mosaic-like geometric outfit in a broken-glass pattern that’s sewn onto a layer of fabric.  (You can make out the zipper on the back in a few of the frames.)  The consensus of Netizens’ comments is that it’s most likely a thin plastic or possibly mylar – so it’s probably fairly lightweight.

I was unable to find out how hot they are, but probably not as hot as a lot of college and professional team mascot costumes are.

You can hire MaskBusters to design a costume for your event, but they don’t sell them.  Apparently they have a crew of models who perform while using the mirroring costumes the client requested.  I have no idea what the cost might be – either with a Google search or at the MaskBusters website.

Here’s a sampling from their portfolio of what they’ve created in the past:

Finally, sadly for the man dressed as Pelé, after reflecting on his team’s loss I’m sure he was “shattered” into a Brazilian pieces.

(I forgot – how many zeroes are there in a Brazilian?)

 

 

 

 

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