Thursday 24 December 2015

Part 2 (outra nota para esta temporada) - It's Decemnber 24th and..........


Ok - I'll just keep this short and sweet.

It has been re-released!!!

(i want this - just stating so the elves at the north pole know..)



(picture found - posted by Christuan Scheuber)





oh, and.....
 (yes, it is just about to surface and....... i have been so well behaved, even the tooth fairy is on my side...)




This is the new recording - Gaia
(Richie Beirach - Regina Litvinova - Christian Scheuber)

The record is fresh out of the oven, so much so it hasn't gotten it's "clothes" on yet..

picture found - posted by Richie Beirach





So here it is.
My Christmas message this year seems to be all "want want want want want want want want"... (I know..)........, but, I also want,
each person that reads this blog,
to have a wonderful holiday season, no matter what I get or do not get.









We have seen such troubles through the year that I especially wish to see you receive the best of what life can give, and may Human kindness, be it where it may - relieve the load of those who need it most. I know it is commonplace to say it, and I say Human kindness because the troubles I mention are Human troubles. The best way to mend them is through Human action, the action of Human Kindness.


As for dogs, cats, strawberries, elephants, tigers, bears, whales, wolves, dolphins, ravens, squirrels, tadpoles, fish, giant redwood, olive trees, bees, blue spruces, cedars, kelp, tulips, carrots, cauliflowers (anything but turnips, they get on my nerves..) and the rest of the mob on the planet, just be as you are..  we need you, i for one need you (well, again the turnips..... We're still not on friendly terms...), and we also desperately need Human kindness (common sense, if you will).





Have a good, and a safe, Christmas.

Uma nota para esta temporada - (Part 1)

É nestas alturas que, de forma gritante, até, que se pode medir a Humanidade, e com tanta reclamação (independentemente de serem ou não justas) sobre as hipocrisias de certas épocas, urge actuar, para não nos envenenarmos mais ainda. Parece-me que é assim. 



Deixo por isso mesmo um texto, de João Branco (escrito no blogue - Aventar), artigo que vi por ter sido partilhado por Isabel Duarte e, com uma nota intoductória de quem também a publicou, e assim o vi - de Joseph Praetorius
É preciso rever todas as mortes em contexto hospitalar nestes 4 anos. Nem nos homicidios por negligência pode haver crime continuado, há necessariamente um crime por cada morte, nunca excluindo a viabilidade plausível do crime contra a humanidade previsto no Direito Internacional Penal... Depois, é rever todas as mortes que ocorreram no contexto do corte de transportes e limitações administrativas de medicação. Isto feito, ao cárcere! Preventivamente. Com todos os cúmplices e todos os co-autores. Com os mandantes, também. E todos os beneficiários da acção criminosa. Nunca esquecendo o arrolamento cautelar de todos os bens - de todos - para garantirem as indemnizações a pagar, aos lesados e ao Estado.

(J. P.)
............................................................................ 






ONDE SE EXPLICA O QUE É PRECISO SABER:
(do artigo) 
"Pelo meio, passando de fininho sob os pingos da chuva está o ministro Paulo Macedo. Empurrado pelos privados, o antigo gestor dos seguros de saúde do Millenium BCP entrou no governo de Pedro Passos Coelho com a missão de fazer entrar o SNS em total ruptura para levar o máximo número de cidadãos para o privado. Durante 4 anos, ditando a sua lei de completa desregulação, Macedo, castigou a saúde como se não houvesse amanhã, promovendo o aumento das taxas moderadoras nos hospitais para valores mais altos do que as mensalidades que algumas seguradoras do ramo oferecem. Criou uma autêntica situação de ruptura nos hospitais distritais, enfiando para lá todas as especialidades e valências que tinham sucesso e um comprovado atestado de eficiência em hospitais menores, eficiência que se perdeu nos primeiros fruto de uma constante diminuição (ele chamava de racionalização) no número de camas existentes para internamento, item no qual Portugal tem, actualmente, um dos piores registos da OCDE. Pelo meio encerrou urgências e criou situações de cuidados básicos de proximidade que não são pura e simplesmente capazes de dar respostas a problemas que necessitem por exemplo de uma simples operação. Curioso é, pensar, que grande parte dessas alterações foram realizadas no interior em concelhos que distam a 50 ou mais quilómetros do hospital mais próximo.Macedo, especialista na arte de cortar, desmotivou profissionais clínicos de todas as maneiras e feitios. Ora pelos cortes salariais que empurrar milhares de médicos e enfermeiros para os privados. Ora pela criação subita do médico à peça ou do médico tarefeiro, profissional que, trabalhando aqui e ali ao dia, acaba por não ser um profissional entrosado nas equipas médicas onde é chamado a trabalhar e tampouco se sente motivado para promover qualidade no atendimento. Ora, pela mais indigna forma possível de romper: pela falta de meios (desgraçados dos tipos do INEM que andam a arriscar couro e cabelo por 800 euros, sujeitos muitas vezes a morrer na estrada para levar os doentes mais rapidamente ao hospital). Por outro lado, os cortes de Macedo levaram a situações como a do David, um jovem de 29 anos que morreu durante um fim-de-semana no Hospital de São José porque o SNS achou que a racionalização começa na falta de meios e na falta de profissionais durante 24 horas por dia. Porque Macedo acreditava que uma morte sai bem mais barata ao estado do que o pagamento de um clínico de especialidade. Porque Macedo, noutros casos que bem conhecemos durante o inverno de 2014\2015 não se importou de ver gente a morrer nas urgências à espera de uma consulta e no caso dos doentes de Hepatite C, o Estado não podia gastar o que fosse preciso para salvar uma pessoa que durante uma vida trabalhou para ter direito ao seu bem mais básico: a saúde.A História do David é triste. Regresso ao Aventar para lembrá-la. À responsabilidade (jurídica) de Paulo Macedo, num país onde este tipo de criminosos continua a viver de rosto alegre, impune a todos os actos maldosos que cometeu."



Homenagem de João Branco, no Blogue Aventar, ao grandioso e indiscutido Paulo Macedo, ex-sinistro dos impostos e da saúde. 








(ab ovo - IV,



 Guida Almeida,
técnica mista,
2001/2002)

















Só tenho uma coisa a acrescentar: demasiadas vezes me vem à memória um dos livros de Conrad, para meu gosto, embora seja um livro que muito aprecio - "O coração das trevas".







Volto amanhã, para deixar outra mensagem, também pelo natal, mas para para desejar um bom natal,
aos que passarem, e que têem passado, por este blog.



Boa noite.











Tuesday 17 November 2015

Apontamento provindo da terceira bola voadora em torno do Sol, escrito noutro idioma (e não sabem a sorte que têem, pois escrevo mal em todas as línguas) - goodnight.

Although he (the man speaking in the video-clip below) speaks of the world, and knowing he only mentions some of the european countries, Canada, the US, Australia, while leaving out countries in the middle and far east, the entire African and South American continents, nations such as Russia, India.. He, nevertheless, does make some valid points, but of course one must look at the small group he mentions and be knowledgeable of their great wealth, obtained from poaching (thus the rise in such activity these past few years, bringing about actual extinction or placing some on the brink of it as never before) and -

the incredible wealth obtained from the "bargain hunter sale" of petrol from wells taken over as terrain was conquered in parts of Irak..........as they simultaneously installed a cold-blooded civil war in Syria, probably with the excuse of finding a route for Qatar's natural Gas (if I'm not mistaken, in 2013 Qatar, so dear to SA, became the leading country for natural gas) to get to that nice juicy consumer - EU, by reaching Turkey (and for that it would have to go through Syria, right?).


So, there is a small, though well organized group of rich, spoiled, blood thirsty, cold blooded brats, who say they must assassinate -
(some crazy cults as we know do say they believe in God, and propose to represent such an entity, such as the KKK or ISIS, or Jim Jones.. and they're usually filthy rich and power crazed)
- for some reason or other..

 (excuses, excuses, always these half witted excuses.. I mean how can one ever portray all christians on the model of the KKK and forget a Martin Luther King,
or Mandela?
How can one Portray all Muslims based on the model of ISIS and forget - (goodness how memory is quick to forget someone still so young and so very amazing)
- the wonderful Malala Yousafai!
With regard to the North and South American indigenous peoples - doesn't Leonard Peltier, for instance, ring a bell?
I won't even bother to search other big religions such as Hinduism or Buddhism. Let us leave it at Gandhi, among others (for both religions, as a matter of fact), and not measure those religions by any small group of crazies there may ever occur therein.
As for the Jewish religion -
(yes, like the others there is a minority within that faith that are not recommendable , but,
Spinoza / Hannah Arendt / Gustav Mahler / Marc Chagall....... oh what was the name of that jewish friend of RabinathTagore? - ummmm, ah yes, Albert Einstein.. As I was saying.....
Oh, goodness me, age is taking its toll on my memory. Didn't I mention the fact that the jewish person still most spoken of - to this day - (and to my knowledge) is someone loved and important to Christians, yes, and to Muslims also?)


- should one forget the excuses that have fueled horribly sad deeds? )





(since facebook is so popular with some - a video from that social network - but the only thing weak in this small group of fanatics that remind me of KKK among other fundamentalist minor factions of large religions - is the number of fanatics, for they are strong in money, armament (literally seems to fall in their lap) and strategy, be it in their own terrain.. toppling local governments or creating civil war as they have in Irak and Syria - or wherever they seem to set their twisted little minds to)

https://www.facebook.com/theprojecttv/videos/10153243154568441/



_______________________________________

Ah yes, the religious subject at hand, the Muslim faith, so one should be afraid of and hurt Malala? Wait, someone remind me, who it was that shot her?




Who shot Dr. Martin Luther King, Malala?
Who sent Jesus to the cross, Spinoza? (.., Einstein? .., Tagore?)
Who shot Gandhi,  Mother Teresa?  ( .., Cat Stevens?  .., Saint Nicholas? .., Peter Gabriel? .., His Holiness the Archbishop of Peć Pavle?  .., Olivier Messiaen? .. François Hardy, perhaps?)










I'm so confused.

Image from 
Link











I know, I'll just stick to atheists. They're less confusing and I absolutely adore Mr. Hawking.
Now who was it that, ummmmm.. that passed a law (think it was in 2007 when that beauty came to surface) strictly prohibiting, any reincarnation whatsoever unless government approved?











What is wrong with the world, is something missing? - A little common sense, perhaps?
















I could mention a few, but for some reason I choose someone who speaks of religions..
Here: a renaissance philosopher http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pico-della-mirandola/


Some of his findings on free will - and regarding human dignity http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/pico/


He died far too young - on November 17, 1494 - perhaps for the crime of thinking

I just banned him from my facebook account, because I feared his profile image - the good thing is I just banned him from my account, I didn't shoot him "by mistake" and ask questions after.
The thing is - I have a problem with "collateral damage", it just always seems to rub me all wrong.
If some are so smart, elected even - to represent us, or hold on to guns in our armies and be run by whom we are told to believe are intelligent - why is it that there is so much collateral damage, and why are so many forced to flee for their lives?


______________________________________________________________


Dolphins,

...that's it. Those lovable ocean mammals, they're intelligent, sensitive, funny... socially functioning animals....  oh, wait.....
There is now and then, the rapist, murdering specimen, of baby and other adult dolphins (yes, they too, burdened with all that intelligence, as a species, have problems with the occasional psycho dolphin).

ok- Sharks, no longer dealing with mammals,
........but they have too many teeth, make me uncomfortable, and are terrified of all dolphins.. Piranhas? Nah, they're a nag..

Insects. The cockroach (oh yuck! Now I'm grossing myself out.. I'm sure they're important for the ecosystem but...)

I'll just look at the trees, hope one doesn't squish me.. or hurl a giant fig at me with the excuse of..,
saying:
"oh, it was the wind"




















♥ goodnight

Saturday 24 October 2015

um fado

Que escrever sobre o país actual?

Não posso, pelos vistos estamos numa ditadura, de forma oficial, declarada de forma clara pelo chefe de estado.

Como qualquer ditadorseco, convoca eleições "livres" -
(com "n" pessoas, comme d'habitude, a moralizar os que se abstêem, com as suas bolas de cristal como se adivinhassem a escolha dos que tal coisa fariam/fizeram.  Eu por acaso, enchi-me de náuseas, enfiei o barrete com orelhitas de burro, e fui votar, feita idiota)

- para de seguida não aceitar o resultado, a vontade expressa pelo povo que se diz ser soberano. Fala-se de estabilidade e rejeita um governo de maioria, para indigitar um de minoria que sabe de ante-mão ir receber uma moção de censura, sem engano, dito de forma clara e professado ainda antes de eleições, reiterado após as mesmas.   Não quer que lhe chamem de palhaço, não para defender a classe profissional para que não se sintam insultados, mas porque não esconde a sua natureza, débil e vaidosa, dictatorial, acusando formalmente pela via da justiça quem ousa lhe chamar "nomes".  Não admira isto, vindo de quem mais tempo "regeu" Portugal, só ultrapassado por Oliveira Salazar que governou o país durante 56 anos, e Dom Dinís (O Rei Poeta / O Lavrador) cujo reino durou 46 anos e que no caso deste último, houve a desculpa de ter nascido para o cargo que ocupou nos séculos XIII e XIV, para além de ser poeta e ao contrário do bobo Silva, saber estar na corte e segurar num talher...

Dispensava, numa altura que me faz doer a alma, lembrar ainda mais o nome de uma música escrita por alguém que me está no coração. prefiro lembrar as músicas dele sem associação a tristes e patéticos episódios.

Tenho-a, em pauta e em versões gravadas em sexteto, quinteto, quarteto e em duetos..

"Portugal Triste Fado"


No lugar dela, coloco outra coisa, um fado transformado pelo arranjo do meu querido Carlos, num disco da Mísia, para me afagar a alma e tentar esquecer por momentos o que me agonia e se passa em terra Lusitana.


Ir votar é de facto, cada vez mais, uma palhaçada, e o fardo de me auto-intitular de imbecil pesa cada vez mais com cada acto de sufrágio, pela inconsequência do acto.  Claro que enfiarei, deveras contrariada, motivada por pânico, o barrete com orelhitas de burra dentro de meses quando tiver de ir votar novamente, para a mesma finalidade que este último acto, cujo resultado o bobo não aceita, e mais uma vez para nada servirá, a não ser para me sentir ainda mais patética.
Faz lembrar os referendos nestas supostas democracias da UE que se obrigava a repetir até que os resultados agradassem aos que puxam os cordelinhos..
Nessa altura iremos estar num reinado Opus Dei, provavelmente, devido a outro acto de sufrágio, quer se queira quer não. Nem sei bem o porquê de se dizer que será através de um acto democrático /  plebiscitário, num país que (cujo comando interno, e/ou externo..) desconhece o conceito. Quanto muito saberá segurar em talheres, para se distinguir de quem sucederá.

Triste sina.





Quero sair deste mês, já.










Tarde Longa -
fado tradicional, letra de Lídia Jorge, arranjo de Carlos Azevedo.
Mísia - voz
Carlos Azevedo - piano
(album release: November 2011 - Silène, Théâtre du Rond et Ulysse Film)









Tenho o disco, e vou-me embalar com algumas músicas que lá estão, assim como outras gravações com o meu querido Carlos a tocar, outros géneros musicais, com as suas criações, interpretações e arranjos, não substitui quem tanta falta me faz, mas aconchega-me.










































Votos para que estes dias que restam de Outubro não pesem a quem por aqui passar




Monday 21 September 2015

Vítor Silva Tavares


Triste notícia.









Se houve uma editora, a primeira que, independentemente do idioma das obras por ela editadas, me cativou ao longo da vida, foi
 a "& Etc"

, e digo-o sem hesitação. 




Vítor Silva Tavares: 17 de Julho, de 1937 / 21 de Setembro, de 2015.















A sad day for Literature, one of my all time favourite publishers
is gone.




Sunday 6 September 2015

Leitura Encenada | Mulher de Porto Pim, de ANTONIO TABUCCHI


Quem puder ir, aconselho vivamente o seguinte evento.


Local: Clube Naval da Graciosa (Açores - Ilha da Graciosa)
Data e hora: 11, 12 e 13 de Setembro, 21.00h






Ilustração de Isabella Staino



Deixo o seguinte descritivo e informação, escrito por Fernando Mora Ramos (encenador)

- LINK (Fernando Mora Ramos - na rede social - fb)



- LINK (Teatro da Rainha - site)
- LINK (info. sobre a peça, no site do Teatro da Rainha)


_____________________________________________________________

Esta leitura-encenada tentará dar a ver os homens “através dos olhos doloridos de um lento animal”. E será um pequeno texto no fim do livro, retrato dos humanos feito por uma baleia, que Tabucchi refere ter sido inspirado num poema de Drummond de Andrade, a bússola da aventura encenada, pois atravessará, e comentará a passo, à semelhança de um coro da tragédia grega - aqui a voz das baleias agirá através de um corifeu multiplicado porta-voz— o desenrolar das três narrativas seleccionadas: Uma caçada,cujas páginas “não aspiram a ser mais que uma crónica”, Mulher de Porto Pim que Tabucchi confessa dever-se “às confidências de um homem que suponho ter encontrado numa taberna de Porto Pim” e que não exclui ter “modificado com acréscimos e juízos próprios da presunção de quem crê que da história de uma vida se extrai o sentido dessa vida”, e Antero de Quental. Uma vida, biografia contada como “se de uma vida imaginária se tratasse”.

Ideia original de Franco Ceraolo
Encenação de Fernando Mora Ramos
Música de Carlos Alberto Augusto
Pianista Antonella Barletta

Interpretação
Carlos Borges
Fábio Costa
Franco Ceraolo
Fernando Mora Ramos
Manuel Jorge Lobão
Luís Vasco Gregório
Sandra Santos

Operação de Luz e Som de Carina Galante
Produção Executiva Ana Pereira e Carlos Canto Brum
Ilustração do Cartaz de Isabella Staino
Grafismo de Margarida Araújo

11, 12 e 13 de Setembro | 21h30
Clube Naval da Ilha Graciosa
Entrada Livre
[Devido à limitada lotação – 40 lugares – é necessária reserva com 24h de antecedência para o telefone 96 55 39 198 ou para o mail crossoverazores@gmail.com]

A iniciativa da Cross-Over em co-produção com o Teatro da Rainha, é subvencionada pela DRAC – Açores e pela Câmara Municipal de Santa Cruz, conta com o apoio do Instituto Italiano de Cultura de Lisboa e do Clube Naval da Ilha Graciosa e com o Patrocínio do Graciosa Hotel.




_____________________________________________________________


LINK (Fernando Mora Ramos - na rede social - fb)
LINK (Carlos Alberto Augusto - na rede social - fb)

LINK (Teatro da Rainha - site)
- LINK (Teatro da Rainha - na rede social - fb)
LINK (para o evento, na rede social fb)


Saturday 5 September 2015

A Heart of Darkness - revisited

Let us imagine, if not for a moment, that there were no "legal" implications for the term refugee.
(there are - but humour me, please, for the moment)

We'd all like to think everyone could picture being close to 400,000 kilometres from our home, no gravity or air, looking back at our home and marvel emotionally, lovingly homesick, as we have
- "a moment" -
in awe of its astounding, penetrating, blue shine, in the midst of an endless, colourless, void.

Yes, it would be nice, but, things aren't quite so.
There are always a few deranged beings who think and act in accordance to their own whims in an illusion of personal freedom. Freedom can never be true liberty or real if it is only sought by, or for, oneself



work from the series "Beaches of Absolution" - Sept. 2011 Guida Almeida



Europe, it's not that different from other continents, with (some) people keeping people in, (some) people keeping people out.  One thing it is known for (also, like the others) is "a past" with a large flux of people fleeing from the horror of wars, from hardship, from political, economic or past religious persecutions throughout the centuries, bloody civil wars and genocides..
It has (also, like the others) its body of artwork (music, fine art, cinema, dance, dramatic art, architecture, literature, et cetera).

Conrad's - A Heart of Darkness - alone, written in one of Europe's idioms tells us so very much, doesn't it?

I was going to place a video clip with Brando's Kurtz..
If I don't it is because I am a sissy, I love the book, films based on it, and love Brando but, no, not this time.


Migrants.

Joseph Conrad was a migrant, a Pole granted British nationality that travelled the seas with the French and the Brits. in merchant vessels.







Merchant vessels. The Market. Dictatorships.

Trade. Treaties. Turmoil

Exploitation. Misery, Human Will. War. Destruction.

"the horror"






It's too easy to put the blame on this or that nation, on those that pray, pray differently or that do not pray, that eat meat or do not eat meat, or on a victim - be they of war, catastrophes, persecution, hate crimes or whatever it may be that is brought upon them due to someone else's whims,
due to others overstepping their own personal freedom or obeying those that do,
or even by simply not acting, by turning away from those that are wronged.


A Heart of Darkness.

Leopold II, one of the world's top genocidal maniacs of all time was not an example of a typical Belgian person, the same can be said of other monstrous beings born in other lands in relation to their countrymen.

One can turn the coin and say that Gandhi,  Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker,  Martin Luther King Jr.  Teresa of Calcutta,  Peltier,   Mandela or Gandhi weren't or aren't the same as others in their lands,

(..one can expand things to say neither
Hannah Arendt, Rabindranath Tagore, Fernando Pessoa, Bill Evans, Kandinsky, Picasso, Einstein, Bach, Rameau, Coltrane, Monet, Pomar, Stephen Hawking, and a number of others weren't or aren't, in a similar fashion)

(Each person has their own capacities, and freedom of choice, all of us take and choose our own paths)


 but one thing one can definitely say is, whether the "authority" is Science or God, even though obedience is important to social structure and survival
(as it is with other species (dolphins, for example are wonderful but they too have the occasional raping, killer psychopath that causes havoc among the others. Like other animal species, we are social beings),
 it can also be lethal and have a horrific outcome.

To think about things, think them through and well may not be easy but it is important.




(playlist with 3 short clips)








It has taken me a while to try to write down my thoughts regarding the "European Migrant Crisis", not because it doesn't hurt me deep down in my soul, but because I have been perplexed at reactions each time news regarding the terrible ordeal is announced.


Some of us comment the news in such a way that we see how "a heart of darkness" can be anywhere, just as one can be shocked by the outcome experiments such as the one above.


The European Union is a union of states. for obvious reasons with open borders among themselves under the Schengen Agreement, a necessary tool for the EU to function, with its 2013 - Dublin Regulation (revised in 2014) is ill equipped to deal with today's world as can be, to our horror, verified.

To my surprise, some go to great lengths to argue over semantics, whether people are refugees, migrants, immigrants, emigrants, citizens of here or there, to such a degree that something is lost - the understanding that these are
people.
Anyone of us, any one of our children, fathers, mothers, wives or husbands, due to catastrophe, war, famine, drought, plague, or whatever, can become from one moment to the next, a refugee.. Think of it.  If the term refugee seems to (for reasons beyond my knowledge) be demeaning to some people, it is because either they do not fathom in the least  (they themselves)  what it is to be caught in an earthquake, plague, a war torn nation, being pursued by a tyrant's special forces because they liked daddy's car - although daddy was a minister in the tyrant's government - and in a "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality - shot daddy's son who was taking a drive and have daddy's nephew who was in the passenger seat throw himself behind the wheel.., never stopping until he gets to a place where those who would cover-up their blunder (thinking if it happened to us what happens to others?) could not get their hands on him - having been refused protection until he got to the third country he arrived in, thousands of km later, struggling with the thought that he may never to be able to see the face of his family, his fiancée and friends ever again.. His country wasn't at war, imagine if it were,, Demeaning, is not the word that comes to mind when I think of a refugee.
A refugee can be anyone.

It can be you or me in the past, present or future for any reason.

The term exists because Man's world isn't perfect and our backyard may not always be a safe haven.

It is a legal term, with legal implications, defining a hopefully temporary status.


To make things worse, great profit in one of the world's major money making venues is being obtained - human trafficking, blood money being made
- LINK - Guardian news article on Migrant Crisis and Human Trafficking - April 2015 


- GP (international affairs magazine) article regarding flaws in Dublin Convention - Feb. 2015











More LINKS:



Dublin Regulation


NY Times article - Sept 2015


Sputnik News article - Aug 25, 2015


UN Refugee Agency


Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project - International refugee law


European Council on Refugees and Exiles










painting from the series "Beaches of Absolution" - Sept. 2011 Guida Almeida












September and three blogs to post - ok - I might as well start with a beauty pageant. Why not? ('Heavens to Murgatroyd' - i'm writing about a beauty pageant!!)


I admit that ever since I can remember beauty pageants repel me, something about measuring human worth in contests where the superficial values of one's physique are weighed always made me turn away and not care for them in any way whatsoever, not even enough to take them seriously so as to merit criticism.

I suppose it is related to the reasons the Oddessy and its "world" always appealed more to me than that of the Illiad, although obviously one without the other would have a fraction of its worth, one relating the "journey to" (a destination), the other back, and what each reveals about those particular worlds and changes, or differences, therein.

I won't be a hypocrite and say that (in my case) a man's physical attribute's doesn't affect me, or catch my attention, but attraction and appeal (in my case) need way much more than that.


This said and eventhough exceptions always seem to reinforce a rule, as in this case. I feel an exception such as this is stronger still due to an ironic situation.
One sees where what is usually deemed as a path par excellence for conformity and entertainment for the masses, moreover a model for it, in our present times of mass consumerism, labels, where the contents of a package are downsized and of residual relevance (in this case "package" being an individual, anyone of us), in value never more than a second place at best,
in favour of the package's appearance
(the wrapping - so to speak), here
one is taken by surprise by receiving a request for people to think "outside the box", presented with a  light for non-conformity right in the heart of the realm of conformity.


Competitions of this nature, be they to crown a Mr/Miss/Mrs Universe, or others, where a panel of "judges" for the most part are requested to value one's physical attributes, far too similar to the judging of cattle for my taste, may have brought us the likes of a Sarah Palin (a female version of Donald Trump, but without the bad hair) but also people such as this young lady.
It commands my respect that someone like her should subject herself to a pageant, but after becoming aware of the competition's theme I understood a little more how, in this case, it could be possible.

I believe it is the first time (I doubt it will happen again, but who knows?)  that I do not look upon such a competition as a joke, and am thankful for being thus contradicted.

I leave you now with this year's Mrs. Universe.




(taken from this article - LINK , found on a friend's Social Network account's wall)






















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Wishing all a good day

image from - here




Thursday 13 August 2015

International Jazz Fest on the Rhine (2015) - Friday & Saturday, Aug. 21, 22.

A wonderful line-up of concerts, if you love music and are fortunate to be in the vicinity, by all means do not miss this.









Friday 


- 19h
Red Orchestra: Angela Requena Fuentes (dr), Paul Janoschka (p), Jan Dittmann (b)

- 20.30h
Richie Beirach (piano solo)

- 22h
Susan Weinert Global Players Trio: Susan Weinert (g), Martin Weinert (b), Florian Schneider (dr)




Saturday



19h
Ylativ Algo: Olga Reznichenko (p), Jan Kyncl (t sax), Vitaly Kiseleve (tp), Lukas Growe (b), Philip Theurer (d)


20.30h
Regina Litvinova (p), Tamara Lukasheva (v)


22h
Drei im roten Kreis meets the Talking Horns:
Achim Fink (tba/trb), Andreas Gilgenberger (sax), Stephan Schulze (tba/trb), Berns Winterschladen (sax), Reiner Witzel (sax), Joscha Oetz (b), Christian Scheuber (d)

















______________________________________
LINKS:

   Festival



(regarding the photos: I'm only aware at the moment of the author of Richie Beirach's (which is on his "Trust" Album) - an image by David Tan,
  and two others among those I just found on the internet : Drei im roten Kreis - by Manfred Rinderspacher,

  and Susan Weinert's which is by Michael M. Roth)

Wednesday 12 August 2015

Beneath an Evening Sky - the blossoming of impermanence


Yes, the day with all its hues of blue is a wondrous thing,
where Time seems to drift at a constant (more or less),
when we are blind to Space 
from all the light, 
when All - nos remete à Nossa esfera, ao Nosso corpo celeste (de aquáticos tons, giratório e de existência(s) concentrica(s)), à 
ilusão do nosso pensamento, fractal e fragmentário - is not visible though the illusion is so profoundly ironic, with all its reflected light upon so many things; although we know it to be a fraction, it seems our mind only grasps what, where and when the eye can see,
stopping thenceforth 
but,
with each day's demise "sight" changes 
(as does "sound", but its weight in our perception of things, along with its keenness should merit another post. Actually the subject is best "viewed", in my opinion, though authors such as - Link)




Ah, it is getting dark..


Image: G. Almeida









the night - 
as one is given back the truth of one's dimension with the unveiling of the universe and the earth turning back into that nomadic spacecraft sailing the expanses along with its solar partners, ships among their stars that they in truth.. are



(truth?.. Well, whether one fathoms the Truth or not - I suppose it is the closest one can get before being enlightened (the enlightenment of "Nothing" and "All"), 
as one peeks, 
unobtrusively, 
drifting further and further, 
vertigo here and there as one perceives beyond the three dimensions, 
the fourth and the joining of the 4 - Becoming a Duo, a dual state whilst in conversation 
with the Universe, at times shyly, 
at times as the forever existent child within, yet at times almost older in a funny way, 
being talked back to in a similar fashion, then you both look back upon it all. 
All? ...
There is solace in the dark matter that covers much of what IS, 
Was and Will Be 
as there is in mortality 
-
as there is in the fluidity of that which is ephemeral in being.....)




The skin tingles with the freshness of the night's breeze and 
with a quick movement of the chair 
your balance is off, 
You place one foot on the ground 
and surrender. 





So many stars 
and so little time.




image - link







I think one of the meteors crashed into my little toe
















A funny thing about the Perseids (and other meteor showers) is 
that it has always seemed (to me) to be a manifestation of something bigger, 
the Universe coming in 
to tickle 
(me) 
us






Everything may well be impermanent but, 
that doesn't mean it doesn't tickle (sometimes).

Good night.
















(ao dar nome às estrelas cadentes, elas, as estrelas escrevem no céu o que nos vai na alma. O que nos vai na alma, ao contrário dos tons do céu, pode conter mais coisas mas, não muda. Há coisas que não mudam, nem mesmo o universo, por muitas definições que se lhe consigam arranjar.  Pode até nem existir, ou ser tudo não mais que um espirro de um cão obrigado a comer um remédio em forma de biscoito.  Se existe ou não o dito universo, é outra questão.)



Estas horas da noite levam-nos para "outros universos", outros colos. Está na hora de recolher e deixar as estrelas caírem noutras cabeças. Boa noite.







(..se existir o universo? A existência de moscas, por exemplo, faz-me crer que sim. 
Quem iria querer imaginar tais seres? 
Fazem parte do eco-quê?  
E quem iria imaginar um eco-nãosei-dasquantas tão vasto?

Não. Deve existir mesmo, com moscas e tudo, 
inclusive os blocos de cimento que ostentam no lombo  
guarda-sóis, 
teimosamente, 
após uma das estrelas se esconder 
que se colocam, de forma mafarriquenta, ante os pés.
Quem iria inventar, por muito humor que tenha, as cabras das moscas?)








image: G. Almeida





(digo que vou recolher mas, só mais um pouco 
não me fará mal.  
Não será a primeira vez 
que adormeço de baixo de cadentes estrelas)

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It is, after all, a new moon out tonight
(not sure if it's really that new, but then again isn't it always 
as each day passes before our eyes?)




Good night.







image taken from a Nasa Video