Palavras lidas #369

I've decided to re-read Tabucchi's Pereira, this time in English, who continues to declare/maintain. And so we have the beginning and the end of the first chapter:

ONE

Pereira declares he met him on a summer's day. A fine fresh sunny summer's day and Lisbon was sparkling. It would seem that Pereira was in his office biting his pen, the editor-in-chief was away on holiday while he himself was saddled with getting together the culture page, because the Lisboa was now to have a culture page and he had been given the job. But he, Pereira, was meditating on death. (p. 1)

(...)

It was the twenty-fifth of July Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-Eight, and Lisbon was glittering in the azure purity of an Atlantic breeze, declares Pereira. (p. 4)

Taboucchi, Antonio. Declares Pereira: A True Account. Translated by Patrick Creagh. London: The Harvill Press, 1995.

Parece que estou a ouvir #252

La Javanaise

par Madeleine Peyroux 

(original by Serge Gainsbourg)

J'avoue j'en ai bavé pas vous mon amour
Avant d'avoir eu vent de vous mon amour
Ne vous déplaise
En dansant la Javanaise
Nous nous aimions
Le temps d'une chanson

À votre avis qu'avons-nous vu de l'amour?
De vous à moi vous m'avez eu mon amour
Ne vous déplaise
En dansant la Javanaise
Nous nous aimions
Le temps d'une chanson

Hélas avril en vain me voue à l'amour
J'avais envie de voir en vous cet amour
Ne vous déplaise
En dansant la Javanaise
Nous nous aimions
Le temps d'une chanson

La vie ne vaut d'être vécue sans amour
Mais c'est vous qui l'avez voulu mon amour
Ne vous déplaise
En dansant la Javanaise
Nous nous aimions
Le temps d'une chanson

Numa sala perto de mim #365

The Shape of Water (2017), yesterday won oscars for best film, best director, best production design, and best original film score. Centered in Baltimore of the early 1960s the story revolves around Elisa Esposito a mute cleaning lady, her black friend and co-worker, her older gay neighbor, and the creature she connects with at work, perhaps because they are both unfit for society around them. 

The fantastic touch of the movie goes well beyond the monster creature —slightly resembling those of the movie Avatar, but here the blue color sparkles along the skin vaguely resembling blood circulation— that no one seems to understand but Elisa. Most of the scenes occur at night due to the nature of work of the ladies, thus the screen is often dark. The necessary use of artificial light and the (ab)use of exaggerated colors in the kitsch decor, offer stark contrasts that constantly remind you of the surreal nature of the movie. Two examples: pie slices are fluorescent green; a stranger waits for the bus holding a cake (missing one slice) and a bunch of balloons. Multiple scenarios are unreal and implausible. 

Yet, the movie appeals to the audience who relishes both on the fantastic, the romantic, and some moments of comic relief. The movie also covers a wide spectrum of presently resonating social issues, such as sexual harassment, sexual orientation, racism, handicap discrimination, abuse of power, espionage. Though the coverage is wide, it is not deep. In my view not much would have been lost if some of these issues had been left out... but I am not much of a fantasy fan. I could well live without this movie, but for the music.

Noteworthy is the main song of the movie... Renée Fleming singing jazz... truly beautiful. It is the second movie this year featuring the acclaimed soprano, a rare feat!

Parece que estou a ouvir #251

Still on the ongoing conversation about Brazilian music recently discovered by my Italian friend... it is my turn to learn that the familiar tune I attribute to Chico Buarque is actually a cover of the original song by Lucio Dalla, who would have been 75 today.

____________

4 Marzo 1943

per Lucio Dalla

Dice che era un bell'uomo
e veniva, veniva dal mare,
parlava un'altra lingua
però sapeva amare
E quel giorno lui prese mia madre
sopra un bel prato,
l'ora più dolce
prima di essere ammazzato.

Così lei restò sola nella stanza,
la stanza sul porto,
con l'unico vestito
ogni giorno più corto,
E benché non sapesse il nome
e neppure il paese
m'aspettò come un dono d'amore
fino dal primo mese.

Compiva sedici anni quel giorno
la mia mamma,
le strofe di taverna
le cantò a ninna nanna!
E stringendomi al petto che sapeva
sapeva di mare
giocava a far la donna
con il bimbo da fasciare.

E forse fu per gioco,
o forse per amore
che mi volle chiamare
come nostro signore.
Della sua breve vita, il ricordo,
il ricordo più grosso
e' tutto in questo nome
che io mi porto addosso.

E ancora adesso che gioco a carte
e bevo vino
per la gente del porto
mi chiamo Gesù bambino.

Inverno #58

View from the office: Wednesday to Saturday

Vista do gabinete: quarta a sábado

Numa sala perto de mim #364

Phantom Thread (2017) is surprising. Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis), a renowned (and older) fashion designer obsessed with work and his own routines, meets Alma Elson (Krieps), a young waitress, at a countryside restaurant. One would think the two would not have much in common, but alas, one is constantly surprised in this movie. What I liked most was to think I understood the premises (and the characters) up to a point, and then suddenly I realized I didn't. For instance, the movie is set in post-war London, appears to have traditional gender roles clearly defined in a 1950s light, and all of a sudden, it hasn't.

Beautifully filmed, subtle musical score, and masterfully acted by Daniel Day-Lewis, as always, in what is to be his last film.

Ditto #380

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

Palavras lidas #368

History Lesson
by Jeff Coomer

My grandfather left school at fourteen
to work odd jobs until he was old enough
to join his Lithuanian kin chipping
anthracite out of the Pennsylvania hills.
Nine hours a day with five hundred feet
of rock over his head, then an hour’s
ride home on the company bus
to a dinner of boiled cabbage and chicken.
When the second big war broke
he headed “sout,” as he pronounced it,
for better work in the blast furnaces
churning out steel along the shores
of the Chesapeake. Thirty-two years
and half an index finger later he retired
to a brick rancher he built with his own hands
just outside the Baltimore city line.
The spring he got cancer and I got a BA
from a private college we stood under
a tree in his backyard while he copped
a smoke out of my grandmother’s sight.
“Tell me, Pop,” I said, wanting to strike up
a conversation, “how did you like
working in the mills all those years?”
He studied my neatly pressed white shirt,
took a long drag on his cigarette and spit a fleck
of tobacco near my shoes. “Like,” he said,
“didn’t have a thing to do with it.”

Sem título #98

These days in Ghouta, east of Damascus in Syria...

when will the world get tired of seeing these images?

Por estes dias em Ghouta, a leste de Damasco na Síria...

quando é que o mundo se cansará de ver imagens destas?

Espantos #538

Friends tell me Spring has sprung in Tennessee, pink trees abound.

here it has not....

snow instead was in view as I walked out the door this morning.

For once the Canada geese are seen when not eating... they don't seem that happy with the scenario from the "motherland."

Parece que estou a ouvir #250

Still on the ongoing conversation about Caetano...

me: "the lyrics are sad in all songs I sent you, but that's the Caetano I like"
her: "I like fun Caetano too"

me: "I do too, but for me that's like milk chocolate... I like dark chocolate SO MUCH that I almost never eat milk chocolate"

Praia da Areia Branca, Lourinhã, Portugal

_______________

Debaixo dos caracóis
letra & música de Roberto e Erasmo Carlos (em homenagem a Caetano)
canta Caetano Veloso

Um dia a areia branca seus pés irão tocar
E vai molhar seus cabelos a água azul do mar
Janelas e portas vão se abrir pra ver você chegar
E ao se sentir em casa, sorrindo vai chorar

Debaixo dos caracóis dos seus cabelos
Uma historia pra contar de um mundo tão distante
Debaixo dos caracóis dos seus cabelos
Um soluço e a vontade de ficar mais um instante

As luzes e o colorido
Que você vê agora
Nas ruas por onde anda,
na casa onde mora
Você olha tudo e nada
Lhe faz ficar contente
Você só deseja agora
Voltar pra sua gente

Debaixo dos caracóis dos seus cabelos
Uma historia pra contar de um mundo tão distante
Debaixo dos caracóis dos seus cabelos
Um soluço e a vontade de ficar mais um instante

Você anda pela tarde
E o seu olhar tristonho
Deixa sangrar no peito
Uma saudade, um sonho
Um dia vou ver você
Chegando num sorriso
Pisando a areia branca
Que é seu paraíso.

Debaixo dos caracóis dos seus cabelos
Uma historia pra contar de um mundo tão distante
Debaixo dos caracóis dos seus cabelos
Um soluço e a vontade de ficar mais um instante

Retirado do contexto #243

Apesar de não ter graça nenhuma passar tempo no trânsito

sempre que vejo um sinal de "diverted traffic"

só consigo pensar no divertido que vai ser ;-)

Caprichos #472

Jacintos que recomeçam

Parece que estou a ouvir #249

My Italian friend said to me "I fell in love with Caetano's music," which made me think "It's been so long I've listened to Caetano!!"

Sonhos

Caetano Veloso

Tudo era apenas uma brincadeira
E foi crescendo, crescendo, me absorvendo
E de repente eu me vi assim completamente seu

Vi a minha força amarrada no seu passo

Vi que sem você não há caminho, eu não me acho
Vi um grande amor gritar dentro de mim
Como eu sonhei um dia

Quando o meu mundo era mais mundo
E todo mundo admitia
Uma mudança muito estranha
Mais pureza, mais carinho mais calma, mais alegria
No meu jeito de me dar

Quando a canção se fez mais clara e mais sentida
Quando a poesia realmente fez folia em minha vida
Você veio me falar dessa paixão inesperada
Por outra pessoa

Mas não tem revolta não
Só quero que você se encontre
Saudade até que é bom
Melhor que caminhar vazio
A esperança é um dom
Que eu tenho em mim, eu tenho sim
Não tem desespero não
Você me ensinou milhões de coisas
Tenho um sonho em minhas mãos
Amanhã será um novo dia
Certamente eu vou ser mais feliz

Coisas que não mudam #437

Um pato reflectivo e outro no vai não vai

Numa sala perto de mim #363

Last Flag Flying (2017) on a father's drama of losing a child in a senseless war and knowing that such episode has been repeating generation after generation. Besides the remarkable performance of Steve Carell (the father of the deceased), who has much less lines and much more emotion than his fellow actors, the movie made me think about (a) what you miss of life is not the old days, is your younger self, (b) decades may go by but certain traits of character do not change, (c) long or short lives, we should focus on what we have rather than what we failed to get.

Retirado do contexto #242

Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal

Recently at a UK Post office counter:

me: I'd like to send this package to Portugal.

him: Of course! 

[he reads the address and types it on the computer] 

he: So this 1700 is the zip code?

me: Yes.

him: Lis-bo-a... whereabouts is that? Anywhere near Vilamoura?

me: No. Vilamoura is in the Algarve, which is in the south. Lisboa is in the centre by the sea on the West coast. You've been to Vilamoura?

him [with the most candid smile]: I LOVED it!! A tad expensive... but very beautiful!

me: I am sure :-)

_______

Let's face it: Britons go to Portugal because of the bad weather they endure... not much else :-)

Caprichos #471

Uma prenda de natal muito útil!

Hoje vi um pássaro que nunca tinha visto antes!

Pelo que leio no livro, o dito pássaro ou era fémea ou ainda não era adulto porque tinha muito mais tons de cinzento que a imagem do pássaro adulto que é preto e branco.

Caprichos #470

Chocolate diferente

Numa sala perto de mim #362

Darkest Hour (2017) shows the first three weeks of Winston Churchill's mandate as Prime Minister of the UK. The movie portrays a difficult moment in that country's history, when the threat of foreign invasion was non negligible and the alternative of negotiating peace was tempting given the potentially devastating effects of the loss of 300,000 troops at Dunkirk. 

Churchill is portrayed as moody, temperamental, and resolute, as he was in Churchill (2017), but the comparison of the character in the two movies is contrasting. In Darkest Hour, we see a determined political leader in the first days of the War gaining the confidence of the public, his party, and cementing his own, whereas in Churchill we see the same man worn out by four relentless years of war. In both occasions Churchill vehemently questioned the establishment, but while early in the war he proved right, later on he proved wrong. Both movies have a slow pace, perhaps conveying the inordinate amount of time involved in the delicate political maneuvers at the backstage of the war.

Brian Cox and Gary Oldman each play a good Churchill, but it was Gary Oldman who got the nomination for best actor in a leading role for Darkest Hour.