Dweezy & Trazzler "City Flavor" & NoH8 : Tastes Like Rio All Over Again

Oi, Keepin' It Rio faithful. Hope you are guys are all in for another Trazzler treat.

The cidade maravilhosa has yet again inspired a writing contest entry for the twitter-esque travel website, Trazzler. Their February contest,"City Flavor" has five categories, meaning you could enter five separate trips.

I scribbled up a trip about Santa Monica Art Museum for their "Neighborhood Spots" category & recalled a recent SF excursion to Grubstake grubbary for the "Only in SF" category.

For the "LGBT Icons" my mind turned back to Fall 2008, in Rio. Without any further rambling, I give you my latest Rio entry:


If you can find a moment, I would love it if you Wishlisted (Trazzler's form of voting) my "trip". All you need to do is slap that little green button that says "save" & follow the instructions (which include either creating a free Trazzler account or signing in through Facebook).

Merely slap the green button that says "SAVE" beneath the photo to wishlist/vote for my entry.
(Overly explained instructions appear below):

Step 1. Hit the green button "Save" beneath the photo.
- estimated time: .5-2 seconds

Step 2. Either press Sign In (for Facebook or Trazzler users) or Sign Up to create a Trazzler account.
- estimated time: .5-2 seconds









Step 3. Enter your Facebook or Trazzler login (or if you are already logged into Facebook, just proceed)
Estimated time: 5-45 seconds

And yer done!

Don't worry, you aren't going to be spammed (errr) or charged anything.

I have the chance to win 700 bucks, and a trip to SF if I end March atop the "LGBT Icons People's Choice" standings.

If I finish atop the podium I will be donating half of that dough ($350) to the NoH8 campaign:


In other words, it's an art-based effort to end the hate in the state where I reside. Which would make California, and any other place a much more pleasant one.


Thanks a billion, happy Trazzling and much love.

Vasco Para Vida.

San Fransisco Food—> http://ow.ly/1dwZZ Rio Parade —> http://ow.ly/1dx0X Santa Monica Art —> http://ow.ly/1dx1p

Trazzler Halftime: The Push for 1,000 Slothy Wishlists

Welp.

We are at the midway point in the Trazzler.com #NYCGO writing contest. It has been a lot mo' fun and exciting than people woulda predicted. From the jump, I've been all sorts of active about getting the word out and it seems like a few dozen of the 204 semifinalists did the same. The efforts have livened the experience up for everyone involved.

I don't readily toot my own horn but in this case I'll break for a squeeze.

For one, my idea to donate some of the winnings to charity has caught on almost as rapidly as the wildfires burning my current So-Cal surroundings. Initially, I felt a tad robbed but charity is still charity and I would rather the winner donate a portion of their winnings to positive cause — especially one having to do with their Trazzler trip. After all, the writers owe as much to the places they visited as they do to their writing abilities. It's also true that most of my fellow competitors have only been complimentary instead of malicious.

I've been impressed with my supporters' drive to hustle votes and clicks for my lil' writing tidbit. Some get pretty excited and I have to be wary to warn cats not to flirt with their five-per-IP address limits by allowing votes from their friends and family. Visions of mid-party music halts aimed at convincing everyone in the room to log onto Facebook and send a vote the sloth direction plague my mind.

Still, aside from a few techno-tards who can't seem to follow the simplest of steps (albeit the voting/wishlisting terms take an inkling of explaining) to vote for the trip, all of my efforts have yielded results. The YouTube video should hit 1,000 before the contest is up, my CouchSurfing comrades have represented well, the Twitterverse has been responsive and, of course, the majority of my wishlisters have flooded in from my Facebook contingent.

As the contestants tighten their shoe laces, adjust their shin guards and wait for the second half to begin, a lot could still change. Team SLOTH won't. And to paraphrase Mos Def:

"No Matter How Hard You Sloth, You Can't Stop Us Now."

VOTE NOW BY WISHLISTING THIS TRIP FOLKS!

Let's hit 1,000!

Trazzler: The Razzmatazz of Travel Blogging

And by razzmatazz, of course, I mean tiny sweet, tangy strips of gooey bloggy goodness sprinkled with sugary narrative.

But it's the bite-size length of the writing strips that are the site's most delicious feature.

Yes, the twitter of travel writing, Trazzler has its recipe just right. They don't give their writers (although mostly talented) enough room to ramble on and ruin the places they are trying to praise. This rapid fire approach on their mini-blogs (called "trips") forces writers to be concise. This also allows for more writing to be spent on other "trips" in other countries for other readers. It's a double victory.

Maybe, best of all, they don't open the floodgates to any-ole-hack with a keyboard and a passport stamp to write for their site. They have focus, consistency, quality and breadth — and all of these qualities compliment each other to make one hell of a great travel site.

If they play their cards right, maybe I will even lend them my words about my "trips", in Rio and out.

For now, I guess I can just be happy to be a semifinalist in their #NYCGO writing contest with trip #24514 Slouching in Slow-Travel, Sloth Style in Caraíva, Brazil. Sure it was only one of a few hundred Brazilian "trips" I took, but it was one of the fondest — still illuminating the room storing my memories in true saudades-steez.

It's almost been six-months since my six-months in Rio and I'm still writing about it.

Join trazzler and 'wishlist' my trip starting Monday August 31st and maybe, just maybe the site will get the chance to host my trips about the marvelous city.

For all of you loyal Keepin' It Rio readers, still checkin' the site after six months of absence...enjoy the exclusive photos of Caraíva, including bonus Sloth shots. Maybe more to come next week...

Vasco 4 lyfe...I'm out.