Foreign Perspectives

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Brazil is a massive country and one of the largest sugar producers in the world: so large that it’s production directly affects the world price for the product.

All that production is concentrated in just two areas of the country: around Sao Paulo and in the north. So large is the production that they even go so far as to produce ethanol to power cars from it (about half of their production goes this way). Naturally, this reduces their dependence on improrted oil, no bad thing given the way that oil prices are going these days.

You might think that “sugar is sugar” but in fact it isn’t. The refined sugar known as ICUMSA 45 which is aimed at the foodstuff market makes up quite a small percentage of the sugar exported and the majority of exported sugar is in its raw form which gets refined in the country importing it.  Obviously exporting is done in bulk and most ICUMSA 45 is sold well in advance in common with most commodity products which is why you won’t often see “Sugar from Brazil” on your bags of sugar in the shops.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Cyprus is a slightly peculiar place to go on holiday.

One peculiar effect of the British history is that they drive on the left in contrast to pretty much all of Europe. It sounds a trivial thing but it made the place seems that little bit more like “home” to me.

However, it isn’t home and it has a very long Summer season thanks to its position in the eastern Mediterranean. In addition to the obvious attractions as a beach location and, of course, quite a substantial nightlife, you’ll also find that there are lots of Greek era remains just about everywhere you go.

A flight to Cyprus is fairly cheap these days and you’ll find oodles of reasonably priced accommodation there. Very much worth a trip if you’re looking for a combination of somewhere that’s abroad but not too foreign, has beaches but isn’t only beachy.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Frontiers was due to get an NC-17 rating for its “extreme sadistic gore and violence”. Rather than make cuts to the film to get an R rating, the producers decided instead to run without a rating which means that it’s been limited to a one week theatre release just prior to hitting the DVD shelves.

Does Frontiers deserve that extra bit of publicity?

Going by the trailer, it seems a little over the top to me which usually has the effect of dulling the effect of even very extreme violence but then trailers are usually a pretty poor way of judging films even when they do select typical scenes and when you’re aiming for a particular type of publicity for a film you don’t always select truly typical scenes of course. The short cinema release will intensify the attraction of course as films, and particularly scary ones, are never quite the same on the small screen.

If you’re looking for a scary movie, this is probably the best one to aim for at the moment but be prepared for queues as there’s a major league publicity campaign for this one aimed at maximising the take from that one week run. Bear in mind too that it’s only in “selected” cinemas so you might have to travel a bit if you want to catch it.

Popularity: 14% [?]