Bem-Vindo, São Paulo!

Though Bostonist is but a minor deity in the pantheon of the ist-a-verse, Gothamist LLC continues to rule Mount Olympus with its ever-growing might, and like Zeus, Gothamist's children periodically spring fully formed from its head, clad in full armor. So it is with Sampaist, São Paulo, Brazil's ist, which launches officially today, but emerges into the world in the full swing of things, chock full o' posts. In Portuguese.

Conscious of Boston's status as a premier destination for Brazilian immigrants, Bostonist feels a special bond to the first -ist from the land of samba and Joga Bonito and all that (this is surely how Miamist will feel when Havanist finally comes on-line). So we've put aside our tenuous grasp of Portuguese and plunged headlong into the new site, and can report that it's pretty good.

Today features a post on some sort of World Cup-related change in subway schedules (we think to accomodate people hurrying home to watch games), along with a rundown of local news ("Killers of Liana Friedenbach and her boyfriend will go to trial in July for the 2003 crime"). Yesterday there was talk of São Paulo's being the fourth most congenial city in the world, and a coming alternative rock festival. We could go on and on, but you should really just learn Portuguese and go read for yourself.

Photo: Ronaldo and Pele celebrate the arrival of Sampaist.