Espantos #557

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)...

... talvez não tivesse muito sucesso em Portugal.

Palavras lidas #391

Helium
by Billy Collins

                    "The morning is expected to be cool and foggy."
                    --Wislawa Szymborska
                    "The Day After - Without Us"

Imagining what the weather will be like
on the day following your death
has a place on that list of things

that distinguish us from animals
as if walking around on two legs
laughing to ourselves were not enough to close the case.

In these forecasts, it's usually raining,
the way it would be in the movies,

but it could be sparkling clear
or grey and still with snow expected in the afternoon.

Much will continue to occur after I die
seems to be the message here.
The rose will nod its red or yellow head.
Sunbeams will break into the gloomy woods.

And that's what was on my mind
as I drove through a gauntlet of signs
on a road that passed through a small town in Ohio:

Bob's Transmissions,
The Hairport, The Beautiful Buffet,
Reggie's Bike Shop, Balloon Designs by Pauline,
and Magestic China Garden to name a few.

When I realized that all these places
could still be in business on the day after I die,
I vowed to drink more water,
to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables,
and to start going to the gym I never go to

if only to outlive
Baloon Designs by Pauline
and maybe even Pauline herself
though it would be enough if she simply
lost the business and left town for good.

The Rain in Portugal - Poems, New York: Random House, 2016, pp. 24-5

Coisas que não mudam #463

Aerial alpine views

Coisas bonitas #18

Sunset colors

Cores do pôr-do-sol

Pormenores #152

Money is similar in many countries, but in the US and the UK

the similarities are very close.

Sizes and colors are the same, but! British money only shows the face of the monarch always facing the same side (here, the penny, 5 and 10 pence). American money has Lincoln facing right on the penny, Roosevelt facing left on the dime, and Washington facing left on the quarter. Only Lincoln follows the monarchy...

Espantos #556

Amazed by the power of GIFs

Caprichos #503

Brief weekend visits

Visitas breves de fim de semana

Numa sala perto de mim #387

Cinema Paradiso (1988)... simply classic.

Numa sala perto de mim #386

Cold War (2018) has a great premise: a love story during the Cold War when one of the elements of the couple defects. Then the story line follows with several twists some of which are less than convincing in a love story, but are probably more so in a sick obsession. Maybe I just have a problem with Pawlikowski's movies, which I find great in expectation but slightly disappointing ex-post.

Still, I liked the movie for plenty reasons: the original musical tune is cleverly transported through various styles, it is a very believable portrait of life in oppressive regimes, it provides a good illustration of the propaganda machine in autocracies. Overall, I find it remarkable that a single movie includes both The Internationale and Rock Around the Clock... kudos to that!

Parece que estou a ouvir #267

Ontem à noite, ou melhor esta madrugada, em Barcelona

A Casa da Mariquinhas

original de Alfredo Marceneiro, ontem por Camané

É numa rua bizarra 

A casa da Mariquinhas 

Tem na sala uma guitarra 

E janelas com tabuinhas 

Tem na sala uma guitarra 

E janelas com tabuinhas 

Vive com muitas amigas 

Aquela de quem vos falo 

E não há maior regalo 

De vida de raparigas 

É doida pelas cantigas 

Como no campo a cigarra 

Se canta o fado à guitarra 

De comovida até chora 

A casa alegre onde mora 

É numa rua bizarra 

A casa alegre onde mora 

É numa rua bizarra 

Para se tornar notada 

Usa coisas esquisitas 

Muitas rendas, muitas fitas 

Lenços de cor variada. 

Pretendida, desejada 

Altiva como as rainhas 

Ri das muitas, coitadinhas 

Que a censuram rudemente 

Por verem cheia de gente 

A casa da mariquinhas 

Por verem cheia de gente 

A casa da mariquinhas 

É de aparência singela 

Mas muito mal mobilada 

No fundo não vale nada 

O tudo da casa dela 

No fundo não vale nada 

O tudo da casa dela 

No vão de cada janela 

Sobre coluna, uma jarra 

Colchas de chita com barra 

Quadros de gosto magano 

E em vez de ter um piano 

Tem na sala uma guitarra 

E em vez de ter um piano 

Tem na sala uma guitarra 

P'ra guardar o parco espólio 

Um cofre forte comprou 

E como o gás acabou 

Ilumina-se a petróleo. 

Limpa as mobílias com óleo 

De amêndoa doce, e mesquinhas 

Pasmam defronte as vizinhas 

P'ra ver o que lá se passa 

Mas ela tem por pirraça 

Janelas com tabuinhas

Mas ela tem por pirraça 

Janelas com tabuinhas

Cosias que não mudam #462

Qual é

o ditado?

Caprichos #502

Plants that flower in the Fall

Plantas que dão flor no Outono

Caprichos #501

Regularities...

Habitués...

Caprichos #500

Sharing my office chair with Rolf

Partilhar a minha cadeira do gabinete com o Rolf

Cores de outono #52

Fall is here / O Outono chegou

Ditto #393

Democracy isn’t a state of perfection, it has to be improved, and that means constant vigilance.

--Antonio Tabucchi

Palavras lidas #390

Credo
by Alfred Kreymborg

I sing the will to love:
the will that carves the will to live,
the will that saps the will to hurt,
the will that kills the will to die;
the will that made and keeps you warm,
the will that points your eyes ahead,
the will that makes you give, not get,
a give and get that tell us what you are:
how much a god, how much a human.
I call on you to live the will to love.

Caprichos #499

Home made lasagna

Parece que estou a ouvir #266

The Gnu Song
by Flanders and Swann

A year ago, last Thursday, I was strolling in the zoo
When I met a man who though he knew the lot
He was laying down the law about the habits of baboons
And the number of quills a porcupine has got
So I asked him: What's that creature there?
He answered "Nyeh, h'it's a h'elk"
I might have gone on thinking that was true
If the animal in question hadn't put that chap to shame
And remarked "I h'ain't a h'elk, I'm a g-nu"

I'm a g-nu
I'm a g-nu
The g-nicest work of g-nature in the zoo
I'm a g-nu
How d'you do?
You really ought to k-now wa-who's wa-who
I'm a g-nu
Spelt G-N-U
I'm g-not a camel or a kangaroo
So let me introduce
I'm g-neither man nor moose
Oh, g-no, g-no, g-no - I'm a g-nu

I had taken furnished lodgings down at Rustington-on-Sea
Whence I travelled on to Ashton-under-Lyne it was actually
And the second night I stayed there I was wakened from a dream
Which I'll tell you all about some other time
Among the hunting trophies on the wall above my bed
Stuffed and mounted was a face I thought I knew
A bison? No, it's not a bison
An okapi? S'unlikely
Could it be a hartebeest?
I seemed to hear a voice... "I'm a g-nu"

I'm a g-nu
A g-nother g-nu
I wish I could g-nash my teeth at you
I'm a g-nu
How d'you do?
You really ought to k-now wa-who's wa-who
I'm a g-nu
Spelt G-N-U
Call me bison or okapi and I'll sue
G-nor am I in the least
Like that dreadful hartebeest
Oh, g-no, g-no, g-no
G-no, g-no, g-no - I'm a g-nu
G-no, g-no, g-no - I'm a g-nu

Espantos #555

Funny beer names

Nomes de cerveja engraçados

Numa sala perto de mim #385

The Children Act (2017) focuses on a case where the family court decides on the administration of medical treatment according to the best interests of a 17-year-old boy (a minor), but against his own will and that of his parents. The impact of the decision goes way beyond the intended objective of the best interest of the child, it changes him forever, for better or worse. A note for Emma Thompson's brilliant performance... any movie with her risks being a great movie.

Caprichos #498

New office project

Novo projecto para o gabinete

Espantos #554

Há pôres-do-sol que nem precisam de deixar ver o sol para serem especiais

não só o céu parece fogo, como os prédios parecem arder.

Pormenores #151

Nature-made lungs / A natureza também faz pulmões 

Caprichos #497

Desta vez sem lua e com a asa a atrapalhar, mas ainda assim um belo pôr-do-sol a bordo!

Caprichos #496

This morning the Tour of Britain came to Warwickshire

right through Warwick's campus!

Espantos #553

Cunhal das Bolas em pleno Bairro Alto, Lisboa

Trata-se de um palácio medieval, hoje Hospital de São Luís dos Franceses.

Numa sala perto de mim #384

Gilda (1946) a noir movie with the inevitable love triangle, the self-fulfilling miserable relationship that ensues, and the mild background of conspiration and crime, with some notable points of departure (she does not betray him, and there's hope in the ending). Rita Hayworth's performance is memorable much beyond the dance scenes, in a role that marked a genre and a decade. Hayworth herself once remarked: 

Every man I knew went to bed with Gilda... and woke up with me.

Espantos #552

salt n' pepa

Ditto #392

Homo sapiens [are] a tiny twig on an improbable branch of a contingent limb on a fortunate tree.

--Stephen Jay Gould