The weeklong festivities include fireworks and concerts and showcase all manner of dazzling displays, from a special shape rodeo to lighted nighttime " balloon glows, " but the climax is the handful of spectacular mass ascensions in which all participants take to the sky in two waves.

CNN: 7 breathtaking ballooning adventures

On the business side, consultancy firm KPMG - in the shape of its special global adviser Yvo de Boer, former head of the UN climate convention - has highlighted the pledges of the private sector.

BBC: Rio revisited: Glass half-full?

Both bills represent significant improvement on the flawed rules that we have in place today, despite the furious effort of industry lobbyists to shape this legislation to their special interests.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Tells Wall Street to Back Reform

"Once" may earn the same special status by doing something similar, albeit on a more intimate scale -- using pop-rock songs to shape its characters' ecstatic feelings.

WSJ: Film Review