Saturday, 16 January 2016
Monday, 23 November 2015
Sunday, 22 November 2015
Friday, 20 November 2015
Saturday, 17 October 2015
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:
Wednesday, 9 September 2015
Sunday, 6 September 2015
Sunday, 30 August 2015
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.
Monday, 3 August 2015
Sunday, 5 July 2015
Que horas ela volta?
A
delightful Brazilian movie about social hierarchy and relationships in Brazil:
Saturday, 4 July 2015
Friday, 12 June 2015
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.
Wednesday, 3 June 2015
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:
Wednesday, 27 May 2015
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!
Monday, 11 May 2015
Friday, 1 May 2015
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".
Monday, 27 April 2015
Monday, 20 April 2015
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.
Finnish post states on its website that the Tom of Finland series is... sold out.
Thursday, 2 April 2015
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.
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