Conselhos úteis #15

Retirado do contexto #272

Encarpado à retaguarda

Numa sala perto de mim #425

The Report (2019) on the interests of power and justice, and the length authorities go to act in the limits of the law on account of protection of the public interest, even if the line between right and wrong is blurred or the separation of powers is overlooked. The movie contains the genesis of authoritarian rule and the justification for covering up mistakes, as well as the difficulty of oversight and accountability.

Palavras lidas #447

Before Quiet
Hazel Hall

I will think of water-lilies
Growing in a darkened pool,
And my breath shall move like water,
And my hands be limp and cool.

It shall be as though I waited
In a wooden place alone;
I will learn the peace of lilies
And will take it for my own.

If a twinge of thought, if yearning
Come like wind into this place,
I will bear it like the shadow
Of a leaf across my face.

Ditto #429

Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.

--Percy Bysshe Shelley

Espantos #601

A escultura original da Loba Capitolina, em Roma.

Coisas que não mudam #535

Sem título #104

Em Roma, algumas fotos que fazem lembrar...

I don't care,

I certainly do!

nem vem que não tem;

ai se eu pudesse saltar mais alto;

aaaaai que tristeza tamanha...

just when I thought I was a woman...

no me gusta!

mas quem é que me roubou o selfie stick?

Numa sala perto de mim #424

Le Mans '66 (2019) or Ford vs Ferrari on the relentless competition of car manufacturers to build the fastest and most resistant machine to withstand a 24h race. Though it's a Hollywood movie, it stays pretty close to historical facts.

Espantos #600

Roma e Vilar de Mouros teem a mesma latitude: 41.9° N

Caprichos #575

Em Roma: uma casa de banho de luxo

no palácio Doria e Panphilij

Pedaços de Roma #3

Castelo e Ponte de Sant'Angelo

depois do sol se pôr

Caprichos #574

(from here)

Palavras lidas #446

Primitive
by Joyce Sutphen

How lucky we are that we do not live
in the time of the Plague, when, in three

years a third of Europe’s population––
20 million people––died, and no one

knew the cause. How fortunate we
are to know that it was not the planets

or the wrath of God that caused it
but a tiny bacillus carried by fleas

on the backs of rats coming by ship
from Asia, and how much better it is

to live now, rather than in 1891, when
Thomas Edison filed patents for

the first motion picture camera and viewer,
which operated on a perceptual phenomenon

called “persistence of vision”––a thing that
tricked the brain into thinking it was seeing

seamless movement as the viewer stared
through a tiny peephole and beheld the

gray-and-black image of a horse, galloping.
This is what I think about as I leaf through

the ads for flat-screen TVs in today’s paper
or click a button on my phone to watch

a video posted from a pub in Ireland. Aren’t
we lucky that we have no idea how primitive

our lives will seem one day? How appalling
to realize that our best cures for cancer will

look like a form of torture and that we really
thought we couldn’t be everywhere at once.

Ditto #428

Those who prefer their principles over their happiness, they refuse to be happy outside the conditions they seem to have attached to their happiness.

--Albert Camus

Numa sala perto de mim #423

Sorry we missed you (2019) shows the life of a working poor family, struggling to make ends meet when the husband decides to become self-employed in deliveries. The gig economy has a lot of promise but is relentless when it comes to time off. A combination of unexpected events and ill judged decisions gets them more into debt, entering a spiral of more and more working hours, while the family falls apart. The movie ends with no solution or closure, letting the viewer walk out of the theatre uneasy as there's no possible good outcome in sight, quite the contrary.

Pedaços de Roma #2

Roma ao entardecer

é Roma que anoitece

Numa sala perto de mim #422

The Farewell (2019). Family ties. Cultural differences. The blurred line between right and wrong, between a lie and a "good lie." The emotional struggle to keep it together. Sensitive. Heartwarming.

Parece que estou a ouvir #307

We three kings

by John Henry Hopkins Jr.

We three kings of Orient are,
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

Refrain:
Oh, star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright.
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide with thy perfect light.

Refrain

Born a King on Bethlehem's plain,
Gold I bring to crown him again
King for ever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign.

Refrain

Frankincense to offer have I,
incense owns a Deity nigh
Pray'r and praising, all men raising,
Worship him, God most high, oh

Refrain

Myrrh is mine
Its bitter perfume breathes
A life of gathering gloom
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
Sealed in the stone cold tomb

Refrain

Glorious now behold Him arise
King and God and Sacrifice!
Alleluia, alleluia
Heaven to earth replies

Caprichos #573

Ginger bread man muffin