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The Iranian 'ID card challenge' asks Iranians who they really are (BBC)

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-34884408

Paris and Beirut

Iran at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Iran decided to boycott the Frankfurt Book Fair because of the invitation made to Salman Rushdie to participate in the event. A symbolic image:

Nisi Dominus, RV 608: Cum Dederit, Vivaldi (Philippe Jaroussky)

Aylan Kurdi

© Khalid Albaih

Oliver Sacks, 1933-2015

Neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks died today at 82, in New York, only two weeks after his last article published on The New York Times, "Sabbath":

 

(...) And now, weak, short of breath, my once-firm muscles melted away by cancer, I find my thoughts, increasingly, not on the supernatural or spiritual, but on what is meant by living a good and worthwhile life — achieving a sense of peace within oneself. I find my thoughts drifting to the Sabbath, the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, and perhaps the seventh day of one’s life as well, when one can feel that one’s work is done, and one may, in good conscience, rest.

 

The obituary of this great man, scientist and author is worth reading.

Nowhere (2009) - Dimitris Papaioannou homage to Pina Bausch

Dimitris Papaioannou homage to Pina Bausch

Que horas ela volta?

A delightful Brazilian movie about social hierarchy and relationships in Brazil:

Beer, book and view over the bay: holiday!

Leaving Isis behind

Images of women crossing from Isis-controlled territory into Kurdish areas have been circulating on social media after they were posted on Twitter apparently by a freelance journalist working in Syria. They throw away their black robes as they leave Isis territory - from black to colour, from danger to safety, from oppression to freedom. I believe these images will soon become iconic.

Carlos Paredes

I recently watched Os Verdes Anos, a 1963 movie by Portuguese director Paulo Rocha.

The soundtrack of the movie is by Carlos Paredes and includes this beautiful track, Portuguese guitar at its best:

 

Greeting other human beings

Sarah Glidden published a funny cartoon on The Guardian on the codes of greeting people from different countries and backgrounds. Funny AND so true!

Swan

Luc Petton's dancers and swans perform together:

The rape of Berlin and Russia's revisionism

An interesting BBC article today looks onto a taboo chapter of WWII: the rape of German women by the invading Soviet soldiers 70 years ago. Despite wide evidence (diaries, doctor's records and countless testimonials) Russia continues to label this episode as "Western propaganda".

Facts and truth

You can learn so many facts that you never get to the truth.

Maya Angelou

Finnish post

Today I got a postcard from Finland with this stamp:

Finnish post states on its website that the Tom of Finland series is... sold out.

On not letting go

We're all fed up with the usual you-must-forgive-if-only-for-your-own-sake-to-be-able-to-move-on talk, so it was refreshing to read Laura Kipnis' article on the Feb/March edition of Bookforum, Resentments of Things Past. She asks the pertinent question of WHY on Earth we should let go. Yeah, why should we?:

 

What's the use of getting over things? Wrongs have been perpetrated: assaults on your dignity, your self-image, your fragile well-being. And they've gotten away with it - they're reveling (no doubt prospering), smug in their galling impunity, probably laughing at you right now. Bullies, critics, snobs, the so-called friend who slept with your one true love in college and has now tried to friend you on Facebook as though it never happened. Shitty parents, lecherous mentors, crappy former spouses: It's a world of assholes out there. Fuck them all.

 

You said it all, Laura.

Eros in ancient Rome and Magna Grecia

All pictures below were taken in Naples (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli), Pompeii and Paestum.

Matera

You take a train in Salerno, then a bus, and three and a half hours later you’re in Matera, the place where so many films were made, from Pasolini's The Gospel According to St Matthew to Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. While I was there it was Morgan Freeman who was shooting a remake of Ben Hur.

Matera is known for the Sassi, the caves that for centuries were the homes of many people and their animals, all under one roof (there are a couple of museums that recreate this). Many of the caves also served as churches. Wonderfully preserved, the city has been declared world heritage by UNESCO and the caves that were once the symbol of misery nowadays attract tourists from all over the world. Matera will be European Capital of Culture in 2019.

Walking in the empty streets of Sasso Barisano at dusk can feel like you're back many centuries ago, if it wasn't for the electricity. It is an almost biblical place and it's no wonder so many movies are shot there.

And then, there is the food, and the Basilicata wines.

And the light.

The cross left on the Belvedere by the crew of Ben Hur

Matera seen from the trails near the Belvedere

One of the many chiesi rupestri

Villa Cimbrone, Ravello

Sometimes you are familiar with places which names you don’t even know, because you have seen pictures in the media or elsewhere, but you never bothered to check where they were, nor their story. Then, one day, you end up there by chance.

This happened to me when I visited Villa Cimbrone (now a luxury hotel, but you can visit he gardens), in Ravello, and ended up at the Terrace of Infinity. So, it’s here, I thought. I had seen this place so often, it belonged to my mental images of Italy, and suddenly I was in the picture.

There is something special when places leave the realm of abstract beauty and geography and become part of your experience. You’re there. You can see them, feel them. You read their story on a bench and, for a little while, they're yours.

Mercury's seat. Catullus' poem.

Terrace of Infinity

Terrace of Infinity

The Villa (now a hotel)

The Rose Terrace. Poem by Omar Khayyam.

Capri under the rain

So what do you do when you’re in Capri and against all expectations (why do we insist in having expectations) it is raining, and you’ve already visited and basked in the gardens of Villa San Michele?

You do whatever you had planned anyway, because this is Capri and you’re here and it’s out of the question that you leave without doing the trails, visiting Villa Jovis and the Tiberius Leap behind it, the Augustus Gardens and their view of Via Krupp.

Then of course on the day that you’re leaving the sun comes out and you rush to take the funiculare up to Monte Solaro before doing the 3 hour hike you wouldn’t dare to do under the rain, the Sentiero dei Fortini, on the West side of the island. It departs from the famous Grotta Azzurra, that you can’t visit because of the sea conditions, but you’re rewarded with a clear view of Mount Vesuvius far away.

It’s not difficult to understand why everybody since ancient times (Emperor Tiberius moved to Capri and ruled the Roman Empire from there) has fallen in love with Capri. If only for the views, you want to stay here for ever. Odyssey's sirens didn't leave far away, according to legend. Maybe Capri's cliffs played the same tricks.

But the time inevitably comes when you have your last limoncello, take the ferry and head for the Amalfi Coast – more beauty to come.

The view from Villa San Michele

One of my best friends in Capri (the other one was my umbrella)

The gardens of Villa San Michele

Villa Malaparte, made famous by Brigitte Bardot in Jean-Luc Godard's "Contempt"

Mount Vesuvius seen from Grotta Azzurra

Via Krupp

Sentiero dei Fortini (from the northwest to the southwest tip of Capri)

Back to Anacapri from Monte Solaro

Capri seen from Monte Solaro

Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, Wuppertal

Some parts of Wim Wenders' documentary "Pina" were filmed here