Carnival!

And for one of the sickest stories of the week (via shakespearessister)...

Next week, Brazilians will rise as one, and party their asses off. Yes, Carnival is coming, and nowhere on Earth is it celebrated with as much verve and style as in Brazil.

The best part of this year's Carnival? No floats about the Holocaust with a dancing Hitler on top. At least, not for a lack of trying.

You see, a big part of Carnival here is the Samba school competition. They have huge competitions both in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, they are televised, and they are a huge part of the lives of many Brazilians. It's a BIG deal, basically. Each Samba school will have hundreds and hundreds of dancers, drummers, and workers to make their Theme come to life.

It seems that a Samba school called Viradouro was planning on making its theme "É de arrepiar" which, loosely translated is "It's Shocking." One of their floats was to be dedicated to the Holocaust and was to be adorned with a pile of dead bodies (not real ones, mind you) with a dancing Hitler on top of it all.

Basically, what happened was, all the schools are required to tell what their theme will be beforehand. When this came out, the Jewish Federation in Brazil asked Viradouro to at least make one change - to put a sign saying "Never again" on the float. The school said no. So, they took it to court, where a judge said the school could not use the float, or any Hitlers, and that Carnival wasn't really the appropriate place for a dissection of the barbarities of the Holocaust