14522 ª February 6 9:29 AM. Not Flying Down To Rio For The Carnival? Never mind! Beat the crowds but catch the beat by listening to this year’s terrific sambas before the rest of the world can. This is the real shanty-town stuff, not the watered-down touristy rubbish[WindowsMedia required]that passes for Samba. This year my favourite for first prize is Mangueira. What’s yours? The Brazilian Carnival[learn all about it here] starts Saturday and goes on straight through to Tuesday. For the latest inside information – including the Bin Laden Mask controversy – O Globo’s special web site[In Portuguese]is unbeatable. Enjoy! [MetaFilter]

Cool! It takes really long to load on a Mac, though