Merry Christmas

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word  (Hebrews, I,3)

This Must Be The Place

I really loved this film. Sean Penn was a very compelling character, the photography beautiful, the settings inspiring, and the story unusual and thought-provoking.

lady gaga

Happy New Year.

If, like me, you don't really listen to nor watch lady gaga, try this instead :

The Ultimate Zen Garden

This is the ultimate Zen garden : it was created by itself in the broken step of an outdoor staircase. No thinking mind involved.

A film about people eating

I saw this film with Meryl Streep, all about cooks and cooking.

The most fascinating part was the astonishing amount of times that characters dipped their fingers into other people's food, their own food, or whatever was being cooked. It was little short of standard eating procedure. They sure couldn't wait for anything to be served for them on a plate.
Are they always that greedy in hollywood?

Also, it was sort of disgusting, I mean, who knows what those fingers were touching a while before....a dog? a banknote? a running nose?

Furthermore, forks seemed to be used only for pointing at other people, and all the talking was done with the mouth full. They really were extremely hungry.

As I said, a very interesting film.

the silly pumpkin celebration

Before the pumpkin people arrived, the beginning of November used to be a time when one would remember, and pray for one's departed loved ones. But "having fun" is the only thing that matters in some parts of the world, now.

film review

Hello people,
I saw this film with Scarlet Johanson and others in it. They were taking their relationships very seriously, which was strange, because I wasn’t able to do that. Anyhow, Scarlet Johanson kept saying ”oh my God”, but, unlike what happens in most holliwood movies, she didn’t go ”Im so proud of you” nor was she speaking with her mouth full, pointing a fork at the other person and saying ”oh my God, I’m so proud fo you" (like Sara Jessica Parker). Why are they so proud of each other, anyway?

I much prefer the good old Hitchcock movies. Or movies with Barbara Stanwick, because she really had style. I love the way she would slink down staircases in silk dresses. Moreover, a good actress is fascinating even while she eats.

Anyway, what happens is that Scarlet Johanson, who teaches spirituality and does the meditation thing, tries to break up someobody else’s marriage in order to fulfill herself. So she swims naked in a pool to seduce a hapless man who doesn't even know why he got married. At that point, sympathising with his attractive wife, I started speed-forwarding the DVD, and it became much more interesting because people are intriguing, when they move very fast. Unfortunately, that prevented me from understanding the rest of the film, and I don’t know what happened in the end (there was no shoot-out). But here is a picture of a nice horse that makes up for the frustration.

Gran Torino

I really liked Gran Torino.

I didn't like the film by Woody Allen that took place in Barcelona. Couldn't empathise with any of the characters nor relate to their chattering. Match Point was much better, less allenesque.

Clint Eastwood made a fantastic statement about life, really. Funny, because he hardly spoke a word.

Also saw "Zatoichi" for the umptieth time (the one by Beat Takeshi).

Street Art

I really like street art, especially zebra crossings.

Quote Of the Decade

If you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss will stare back at you. (Nietzsche, Beyond Good & Evil)

The Quest

I can't post any copyrighted pictures of madonna Ciccone, so I drew her instead. Here she's dedicating her dance to the Pope, desperately hoping that he will notice her.

From Outer Space

This is one of my favourite possessions...it is a piece of meteorite : "A meteorite is an extraterrestrial body that survives its impact with the Earth's surface without being destroyed...When it enters the atmosphere, air resistance causes the body to heat up and emit light, thus forming a fireball, also known as a meteor or shooting star."
Makes one dream, doesn't it?

This is a flower that I found by the roadside

Pamplona

I find there's something rather silly and rather ridiculous about bullfighting.

One of my favourite poems ( by Nazim Hikmet )

We stand at the source,
the plane tree and I.
Our images reflect
off the river.
The water-dazzle
lights up the plane tree and me.

We stand at the source,
the plane tree, me, and the cat.
Our images reflect
off the river.
The water-dazzle
lights up the plane tree, me, and the cat.

We stand at the source,
the plane tree, me, the cat, and the sun.
Our images reflect
off the river.
The water-dazzle
lights up the plane tree, me, the cat, and the sun.

We stand at the source,
the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives.
Our images reflect
off the river.
The water-dazzle
lights up the plane tree, me, the cat, the sun, and our lives.

We stand at the source.
The cat will be the first to go,
its image in the water will dissolve.
Then I will go,
my image in the water will dissolve.
Then the plane tree will go,
its image in the water will dissolve.
Then the river will go,
the sun alone remaining,
and then it, too, will go.

Another sky, from my collection

Puss

This is a really nice one

"Voltaire said " the more the people will be enlightened, the more they shall become free. His successors explained to the people that the more they would be free, the more enlightened they would be, and this spoiled everything." (Antoine de Rivarol)

"We (...) do not overestimate culture. What we call a "world vision" is not based on books : it is an inner form that can be more sharply defined in a person lacking any particular culture, than in an "intellectual" and a writer" (Julius Evola)

"It is difficult to preserve one's own nature, even more so when we are burdened with too many belongings" (Ernst Jünger)

Poetry

More Rilke

The Panther

His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.

As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.

Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly--. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.

Rainer Maria Rilke

PS - ok ok I'll get a photo of a larger panther next time I go to the zoo.

PT

This week-end I'll experiment with the power of positive thinking.

Summer

I like summer. Come to think of it, I also like the rest of the year.

Friends

This animal has an interesting expression.

Exit strategy

I think this is a good exit strategy.

Primordial Soup

Today, watching my soup (beetroot btw) and the various stages it went through, I thought that life and soup are rather similar.

The Da Vinci Cod

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the Da Vinci Cod.

Free Counter

I've invented my own free counter. It counts the number of people you would like to visit your site, so it's much better than the ordinary ones because it reads your mind.

Food

Could you actually believe that this ugly-looking stuff (entirely vegetable) tasted absolutely delicious?

GMOs

I wonder if we will be having Genetically Modified Idiots any time soon.

Cat in the sky

Thank you for everything, cat. I think we really got along well.