Espantos #569

Pretty awesome new ad from... IKEA. Who would have thought!

Numa sala perto de mim #397

Wildlife (2018) tells the story of a 14 year old boy who keeps his sanity despite having pretty screwed up parents. Rather disturbing but somewhat refreshing (in a sad way) as it moves away from the clichés of coming of age movies.

Palavras lidas #404

Wild Geese
Mary Oliver (1935-2019)

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–     
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

No Times de hoje #190

Apropos yesterday's Holocaust Remembrance day, there was an article in the New York Times on Sousa Mendes's heroic actions to save Jews fleeing the Holocaust and the price he paid for them.

Foi neste dia #328 (1945)

Há 74 anos o exército soviético libertava os sobreviventes do campo de concentração de Auschwitz-Birkenau na Polónia. Desde então, a 27 de Janeiro celebra-se internacionalmente o Dia da Lembrança do Holocausto, em memória de tantos que foram forçados a partir antes da sua hora.

Coisas que não mudam #483

Coisas doces com açúcar

vinho do porto e panettone... com pepitas de chocolate!!

Caprichos #526

Acabadinho de montar :-)

Coisas bonitas #20

Hoje em Turim amanheceu assim:

lindo!

Mas quem está contente de não estar lá sou eu :-)

Inverno #59

A primeira neve do ano (e do inverno) foi tímida

mas chegou bem.

Agradecida mas não é preciso mais.

Não carece!

Foi neste dia #327 (1808)

A Chegada de Dom João VI à Bahia, Cândido Portinari, 1952

Há 211 anos chegavam a São Salvador da Baía a familia real e a corte portuguesas, saídas de Lisboa dois meses para fugir às invasões francesas.

Numa sala perto de mim #396

They Shall Not Grow Old (2018). Nearly one million British soldiers perished in World War I. They are the subject of Peter Jackson's documentary, launched last November for the centennial anniversary of the Armistice in 1918. The documentary shows images of joy, camaraderie, fear, indignity, worry, pain, death, horror. They did not grow old and the coloured 100 year old footage shows us how young they were.

Numa sala perto de mim #395

The Hate You Give (2018) puts the 1989 movie Do the Right Thing in the context of the current Back Lives Matter movement. The problematic neighbourhoods are the same., where poverty and crime lead people to engage in illegal activities. Additionally, the differential attitude of the police towards blacks makes matters worse. The permanent denial of civil rights and liberties to a segregated population is simply appalling. Traumatic events witnessed by children from very young ages mark them forever. The latent conflict passes from one generation to the next in a process with no end. Breaking the cycle is hardly ever an option.

Espantos #568

Há dias, um pôr-do-sol

A few days back, a sunset

Numa sala perto de mim #394

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) tells the story of Freddie Mercury in Queen with some license, necessary in a 2h15m movie. I liked it! Makeup did a good job in approximating the actors to the original characters, but Brian May and John Deacon are especially close. Rami Malek's performance is great, and very Freddie like, but he's less well built and has much less hair.

Retirado do contexto #257

On black cats

Parece que estou a ouvir #275

De passagem ouvi a música da lendária série de boa memória

Teardrop
Massive Attack

Love, love is a verb
Love is a doing word
Fearless on my breath
Gentle impulsion
Shakes me, makes me lighter
Fearless on my breath
Teardrop on the fire
Fearless on my breath

Night, night of matter
Black flowers blossom
Fearless on my breath
Black flowers blossom
Fearless on my breath
Teardrop on the fire
Fearless on my

Water is my eye
Most faithful mirror
Fearless on my breath
Teardrop on the fire
Of a confession
Fearless on my breath
Most faithful mirror
Fearless on my breath
Teardrop on the fire
Fearless on my breath

It's tumbling down
It's tumbling down

Ditto #401

If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.

– Shirley Chisholm

Palavras lidas #403

Six O'Clock
by Trumbull Stickney

Now burst above the city’s cold twilight
The piercing whistles and the tower-clocks:
For day is done. Along the frozen docks
The workmen set their ragged shirts aright.
Thro’ factory doors a stream of dingy light
Follows the scrimmage as it quickly flocks
To hut and home among the snow’s gray blocks.—
I love you, human labourers. Good-night!
Good-night to all the blackened arms that ache!
Good-night to every sick and sweated brow,
To the poor girl that strength and love forsake,
To the poor boy who can no more! I vow
The victim soon shall shudder at the stake
And fall in blood: we bring him even now.

Espantos #567

O que surpreende não é a temperatura estar igual a esta hora.

São as mínimas, senhores. As mínimas!

Palavras lidas #402

The Naming Of Cats 

by T. S. Eliot

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.