Primavera #45

Beautiful cherry blossoms

Numa sala perto de mim #301

Searching for Sugar Man (2012) tells the incredible* story of Rodriguez, a potential Bob Dylan, who left the music business after two unsuccessful albums in the early 1970s. Somehow one of his records got to South Africa where his music quickly spread and marked an entire generation well into the fall of apartheid. The construction worker from Detroit was more famous than Elvis in a far distant country, and yet he was completely oblivious to it. As if this was not enough, he kept a low key life, his record companies went broke and as a result he was overall extremely hard to trace. The search itself is worth the film. The bringing him to South Africa concurs. I wonder...

____________

I wonder

Rodriguez

I wonder how many times you've been had
And I wonder how many plans have gone bad
I wonder how many times you had sex
I wonder do you know who'll be next
I wonder l wonder wonder I do

I wonder about the love you can't find
And I wonder about the loneliness that's mine
I wonder how much going have you got
And I wonder about your friends that are not
I wonder I wonder wonder I do

I wonder about the tears in children's eyes
And I wonder about the soldier that dies
I wonder will this hatred ever end
I wonder and worry my friend
I wonder I wonder wonder don't you?

I wonder how many times you been had
And I wonder how many dreams have gone bad
I wonder how many times you've had sex
And I wonder do you care who'll be next
I wonder I wonder wonder I do
______________

*Too incredible a story for April fools.

Primavera #44

Manifestly Spring

Manifestamente Primavera

Retirado do contexto #197

Took me a while to understand the concept of (Florida & Oklahoma) panhandle.

Numa sala perto de mim #300

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) follows the path of the first movie but leaves more to chance and subtlety. Still very funny!

I will not hear your negativity! Madame, this is Route 66 and we are most assuredly getting our kicks!

Numa sala perto de mim #299

Fly Away Home (1996) a movie about the migratory patterns of geese and a lot of strong will!

Parece que estou a ouvir #202

Long Way Home
originally by Tom Waits, last night by the Hotclub of Cowtown... dog (Eva) and everything!

Well I stumbled in the darkness
I'm lost and alone
Though I said I'd go before us
And show the way back home
There a light up ahead
I can't hold onto her arm
Forgive me pretty baby but I always take the long way home

Money's just something you throw
Off the back of a train
Got a head full of lightning
A hat full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
And I love you pretty baby but I always take the long way home

I put food on the table
And roof overhead
But I'd trade it all tomorrow
For the highway instead
Watch your back if I should tell you
Love's the only thing I've ever known
One thing for sure pretty baby I always take the long way home

You know I love you baby
More than the whole wide world
You are my woman
I know you are my pearl
Let's go out past the party lights
Where we can finally be alone
Come with me and we can take the long way home
Come with me, together we can take the long way home
Come with me, together we can take the long way home

Num país a fingir #52

Já lá vai algum tempo sobre a última publicação nesta rúbrica. O interregno deve-se, entre outros motivos, ao cansaço demasiado que a actividade de apontar o dedo a factos tristes que não deviam existir me provoca. Hoje, no entanto, quebro o silêncio porque o caso José Sócrates toma detalhes de monumental anedota. A paciência já não é muita para as notícias a conta gotas sobre a mediática personagem. Cada manhã se sabe mais um pequeno detalhe da vida ilícita do ex-primeiro ministro e quando isso não acontece é o advogado extravagante que dá nas vistas. O update de hoje faz saber que o livro de Sócrates afinal não é de Sócrates... nem ficção de novela de qualidade poderia alvitrar este cenário. Palmas por favor!

Sem título #44

18 Fev. 2015

Same location, different scenery / Mesmo local, cenário diferente 

25 Mar. 2015

Primavera #43

Mais visíveis / More visible

algumas magnolias já se vêm bem! / some magnolias are finally out!

Magnolias e céu azul... / Magnolias and blue skies...

chegou a primavera finalmente! / spring is finally here!

Pormenores #124

Very alert! / Sempre alerta!

Pormenores #123

Incompleta / Incomplete

Ditto #299

Three things cannot be hidden long: the sun, the moon and the truth.

--Buddha

Numa sala perto de mim #298

Red Army (2014) on the best hockey team that ever played the sport from the perspective of one of their own, Viacheslav Fetisov. A movie about hockey, politics, regimes, war, propaganda, personal dilemmas, beliefs, and money.

Coisas que não mudam #296

19 de Março é sempre Dia do Pai

(embora a data da celebração varie de país para país)

Primavera #42

Demoraram, mas finalmente os primeiros tímidos botões estão à vista!

They took a while, but finally the first timid blooms are starting to show!

Coisas que não mudam #295

Another St. Patrick's

(doodles hardly ever spell google anymore)

Retirado do contexto #196

Quase, mas não exactamente, simétrico

Almost symmetric but not quite

Ditto #298

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

-- Mahatma Gandhi

Numa sala perto de mim #297

Romanzo Criminale (2005) un film su la criminalità, la mafia e il terrorismo, tutti parte della storia d'Italia negli anni 70 e 80.

Numa sala perto de mim #296

The Other Son (2012) a movie about the discovery of the switch of two babies at birth, eighteen years after the fact. In the meantime a Jew has been living with a Palestinian family in the West Bank and an Arab has been raised a Jew in Tel Aviv. What is identity? What are genetic traits? What are innate preferences? What is family? What part of an individual is shaped by the environment? The Israeli and Palestinian cultures are quite distinguished but their take on this problem is rather similar, and very different from Japan's.

Caprichos #357

Keyword: alfajor. Directly from Argentina!

Caprichos #356

Novo elemento do local de trabalho

New office addition

Foi neste dia #254 (1965)

On March 7th 1965, in Selma AL, 600 people initiated a peaceful Civil Rights march to protest the systematic denial of voting rights for blacks in Alabama and also the death of Jimmy Lee Jackson a week earlier, beaten and fatally shot in a similar Civil Rights march in Marion AL. Fifty years ago today, the march was violently broken up after crossing the Edmund Pettus' bridge, in (yet another) Bloody Sunday. 

The event made it to national tv headlines shocking people throughout the country. Many, including religious people, travelled to Selma to join the 2,500 march led by Martin Luther King two days later in what became known as Turnaround Tuesday: after marchers crossed the bridge, troopers stepped aside to let the march progress while marchers knelt in prayer and turned around back to Selma so not to disobey the court order that prohibited the march. On that same night, three white ministers were brutally attacked by local KKK members. Reverend James Reeb 38, from Boston died in the hospital on March 11. Ironically it was his death, not Jimmie Lee Jackson's, that triggered demonstrations and vigils in various cities and gave the final push for the Voting Rights Act, outlined by President Johnson on TV on March 15 and signed into law on August 6, 1965.

The historical events of Selma are remembered in the remarkable movie of the same name, so deserving of the Academy's nomination for best movie.

A 7 de Março de 1965, em Selma AL, 600 pessoas iniciaram uma marcha pacífica protestando a negação sistemática do direito de voto a negros no estado do Alabama e também a morte de Jimmy Lee Jackson uma semana antes, espancado e abatido a tiro pela polícia numa semelhante marcha pelos Direitos Civis em Marion AL. A marcha de há cinquenta anos foi violentamente dispersada depois de atravessar a ponte Edmund Pettus num (outro) Domingo Sangrento. 

Este evento chegou aos noticiários nacionais chocando todo o país. Muitos, incluindo religiosos, viajaram até Selma dois dias depois para se juntarem à marcha de 2,500 pessoas liderada por Martin Luther King naquela que ficou conhecida como Turnaround Tuesday (terça-feira do volta atrás): depois de os manifestantes atravessarem a ponte a polícia afastou-se para os deixar passar, mas estes ajoelharam em oração e depois voltaram para trás regressando a Selma para não desobedecer à ordem judicial que proibia a marcha. Nessa mesma noite, três pastores brancos foram brutalmente atacados por membros locais do KKK. O reverendo James Reeb de Boston, de 38 anos, faleceu no hospital a 11 de Março. Ironicamente foi esta morte, não a de Jimmie Lee Jackson, que motivou manifestações e vigílias por todo o país e deu o impulso final à Lei do Direito de Voto, apresentada na televisão pelo Presidente Johnson a 15 de Março e efectiva desde 6 de Agosto de 1965.

Os acontecimentos históricos de Selma são recordados no filme com o mesmo nome, tão merecedor da nomeação para o óscar de melhor filme.

Coisas que não mudam #294

Who doesn't feel like that?!

Inverno #38

And again...

Numa sala perto de mim #295

Touch of Evil (1958) tells about the troubled enforcement of the law in a border town where drugs and crime are rife and the police has earned a "reputation". Celebrating 100 years of Orson Welles.

Numa sala perto de mim #294

The Third Man (1949) set in occupied Vienna after WWII, tells the story of a newly arrived, who soon discovers the person that invited him to go and work there is dead. All to the sound of excellent music! Celebrating 100 years of Orson Welles.

Espantos #419

A very red orange and yet, not a blood orange.

Uma laranja muito vermelha, e ainda assim não é das ácidas.

Numa sala perto de mim #293

Ida (2014) on the remnants of the Second World War. Never easy to bury the memories. Quite difficult to learn about facts that were never told. Still, I expected more.

Coisas que não mudam #293

At the World of coca-cola in Atlanta, the overwhelming presence of the utmost symbol of America's corporate culture is expected... but it's still quite impressive.