30 julho, 2012

Ditto #213


Young bodies are like tender plants, which grow and become hardened to whatever shape you've trained them.

--Erasmus, A Handbook on Manners for Children

29 julho, 2012

27 julho, 2012

Olympics...

...London 2012, let the games begin!

Ditto #212

Happiness does not lie in happiness, but in the achievement of it.

—Fyodor Dostoyevsky

26 julho, 2012

Thee...

When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unrespected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And darkly bright are bright in dark directed.
Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,
How would thy shadow's form form happy show
To the clear day with thy much clearer light,
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so!
How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made
By looking on thee in the living day,
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay!
All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.
William Shakespeare, Sonnet XLIII

25 julho, 2012

Palavras lidas #198

A wonderful book* about expectations, realizations and the distance between the two. Profound and philosophical, makes the reader think about life in a different perspective. Set in Lisbon... can't wait for the movie!
__________________

He loved tains, they were a symbol of life for him. I would like to have traveled in his compartment. But he didn't want me there. He wanted me on the platform, he wanted always to be able to open the window and ask for advice. And he wanted the platform to go along when the train started moving. Like an angel, I was to stand on the moving platform, on the angels' platform sliding there at exactly the same speed. (p. 351)

Life is not what we live; it is what we imagine living. (p. 438)
__________________

*I purchased the book from Amazon (Grove Press edition), and it is missing pages 51 to 82. Though I got my money back, Amazon did not send me an undamaged book, which was rather disappointing.

Pormenores #80

Familia eclesiástica em Portimão:

o pai,

a mãe e os filhos,

e a gaivota intrusa.

Foi neste dia #183 (1581)

A Batalha da Salga faz hoje 431 anos. Os Terceirenses largaram gado bravo em cima dos Espanhóis que retiraram em debandada sofrendo grandes perdas. Durante dois anos Portugal foi apenas na Terceira e nas restantes ilhas açorianas dos grupos central e ocidental que resistiram ao dominio Filipino.

24 julho, 2012

Memórias #46


Funny feeling when you listen to a song you heard repeatedly as a child, but never again. 

My father's first car had a music player of bulky tapes, which predated the cassettes, that we would hear over and over in long trips. I was probably around 7 when we switched cars in the early 80s. By then the technology had changed and so did the music on the new tapes. Today, in the background sound of a tv show I was partly listening to, I heard  the familiar lyrics Power to all my friends and immediately uttered To the music that never ends. The show truncated the song so I checked it online... I had no idea of the song's name or who sang it, but these days those things are easy to find. For the first time I paid attention to the (simple, almost childlike) lyrics, which I couldn't really understand at or before age 7. In the video I noted the eccentric 70s style... what a wild decade!

_____________________

Power to all our friends

Cliff Richard

Power to all our friends
To the music that never ends
To the people we want to be
Baby, power to you and me

There's one old man
Spends his life growing flowers
And caring for the bees
Power to the bees
There's one old lady
Spent her days making wine
The wine tasted fine
Power to the vine


Power to the boys who played rock 'n' roll
And made my life so sweet
And to the girls I knew before
And those I've yet to meet


Power to all our friends
To the music that never ends
To the people we want to be
Baby, power to you and me


There's one strong man
Ploughing in the valley
He's living off the land
Power to the land
There's some young girl
Layin' down in Monte Carlo
Layin' in the sun
Power to the sun


Power to the boys who played rock 'n' roll
And made my life so sweet
And to the girls I knew before
And those I've yet to meet


Power to all our friends
To the music that never ends
To the people we want to be
Baby, power to you and me


Power to the boys who played rock 'n' roll
And made my life so sweet
And to the girls I knew before
And those I've yet to meet


Power to all our friends
To the music that never ends
To the people we want to be
Baby, power to you and me


To the music that never ends
Baby, power to all our friends

22 julho, 2012

Foi neste dia #182 (1946)

Há 66 anos a revista Time publicava a escandalosa capa que os Portugueses nunca viram... censurado, claro.

21 julho, 2012

19 julho, 2012

Palavras lidas #197


Ó ondas do mar salgado
Donde vos vem tanto sal
Vem das lágrimas choradas
Nas praias de Portugal

Trova popular

18 julho, 2012

Palavras lidas #196

Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino y nada más;
Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.

Al andar se hace el camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante no hay camino
sino estelas en la mar.

Antonio Machado

17 julho, 2012

Ditto #211


Historical knowledge is indispensable for those who want to build a better world.

--Ludwig von Mises

14 julho, 2012

12 julho, 2012

Retirado do contexto #137

Ai se as gárgulas
soprassem ao ouvido
o que dizem os documentos do século XVI!

Caprichos #219

Bubble tea!! Now in Lisbon.

10 julho, 2012

Foi neste dia #181 (1499)

Há 513 anos chegaram boas novidades a Lisboa: pela primeira vez regressava ao Tejo um barco vindo da Índia provando assim que havia ligação entre a Europa e a Ásia por mar. O evento mudou o mundo de então.

Aos comandos do Bérrio, Nicolau Coelho foi o primeiro capitão a chegar a 10 de Julho de 1499. Nove meses depois, Coelho partiu novamente para a Índia com a armada de Cabral (que a história conhece não pelo comando da segunda armada da Índia, mas pela inesperada aportagem no Brasil), regressando desta em Junho de 1501. Viria a partir outra vez para a Índia, desta feita na armada de Afonso de Albuquerque em Abril de 1503, para morrer na viagem de regresso ao largo de Moçambique em Janeiro de 1504.

09 julho, 2012

Caprichos #218

Archival documents:
like,
dislike.

Ditto #210

Not everything is meant to be, but everything is worth a try.

--Unknown

08 julho, 2012

Pormenores #79

Calçada portuguesa


Coisas que não mudam #191

Lisboa das estátuas,

da calçada,

das fontes, 

dos eléctricos, 

e do céu azul. 


06 julho, 2012

Ditto #209

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

--Mother Teresa

05 julho, 2012

Retirado do contexto #136

... ha comprato un bambin Gesù per sua mamma...

04 julho, 2012

Caprichos #217

Loira e de olhos azuis tal como a menina que me disse "Vais a Paris?! Traz-me uma boneca de Paris!"

No Times de hoje #140

On the aesthetics of the statue of Liberty on the 4th of July. Curiously, I saw a Paris replica, on the Seine, the day before yesterday.

01 julho, 2012

Pormenores #78

La Sagrada Familia, where the angels look down on to you

Pormenores #77



Banys Arabes, Girona, Catalunya, Espanya

Palavras lidas #195

Cinco séculos depois, olho para a cidade aninhada na concha da montanha da Mesa lá do cimo do teleférico, vejo-a anoitecer sentado no outro extremo da baía, na praia de Bloubergstrand, e percorro a linha do Estoril deles, a marginal oceânica que liga o centro histórico à periferia balnear que se estende sob as falésias dos Doze Apóstolos. Enfim. Não posso deixar de pensar que tudo isto podia ter sido português -- o talento nacional para as oportunidades perdidas tem cromossomas antigos.

Também não posso deixar de pensar que se calhar foi melhor assim. Para eles, claro.

Parte II, Viagens Sedentárias: Cidades e Aldeias, Grita Liberdade, p. 93