Buon San Valentino....

..a tutti !

The Atlantic....

Olive tree....

Empty....

Get Back....

Boy....

Fender Bass VI....

Greed....

Fog....

Babelsberg....

..illusions

Illusions perdues....

"je pense à ceux qui doivent en eux trouver quelque chose après le désenchantement"

The joy of a record store....

..Bengans, Göteborg 

The artist pair....

..the Swedish zeitgeist of the 50s in a beautiful photo by Olle Waller

The Swan....

 1958, by Arne Jacobsen for the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen.

A better 2024....

1975, Fender Starcaster....

Haga....

Merry Christmas....

photo by Dorothea Lange, september 1935

"Texas tenant farmer in Marysville, California, migrant camp during the peach season. 1927 made seven thousand dollars in cotton. 1928 broke even. 1929 went in the hole. 1930 still deeper. 1931 lost everything. 1932 hit the road. 1935, fruit tramp in California."

In Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Carousel....

Maspalomas....

Court Central do Jamor....

..and many more courts 😊

Babylon Berlin....

Gereon (Volker Bruch) und Charlotte (Liv Lisa Fries)

Berlin, Berlin....harte zeiten, eine dunkle schönheit, einer verlorenen zeit. A very well-made (expensive !) TV series capturing the city's late 20s atmosphere 👏

"riders on the storm"....

The recording of LA Woman in December 1970 at The Doors Office on Santa Monica Blvd. The boys seem to attend a funeral rather than being in the process of creating some of their best songs. Photo: Wendel Hamick

After reading the biographies of the three surviving Doors in a short time, I have to wonder if they forgot to have fun while the train rushed away ? One can discern a certain playfulness and pleasure around 1965 when Manzarek and Morrison lived together on Frazer Av. (Venice). After that, there is most hard work (and trouble) during the incomparable creative process that they went through the next few years. But joy .... is just not there (or so they forgot to write about it ?). Densmore`s book is like a letter of reconciliation; "and a little sad that I did not really understand what was going on ... then". What you get from all three books (and they actually complement each other), is a very good picture of who Morrison was; an enormously talented and tormented young man, whose legacy is still as relevant today ....

Jim....he would have been 80 today.

5 x Chaplin....

..and not a boring second 😊

The Kid, 1921

The Gold Rush, 1925

City Lights, 1931

Modern Times, 1936

Limelight, 1952

Portobello Road, 1983....

Dancin`....

..40 years ago 😊

Stairs....

Hyde Park....

..1983

Another year....

Ken (Peter Wight) and Mary (Lesley Manville) 

As time goes by, masked solitude becomes an inevitable destiny for some. The spectator goes throughout the movie with a tiny smile....and in the very last scene, that transforms into a total eclipse.

Of course...British acting at its very best !

Remembering Miguel Lyzarro, 1950 - 1996

..here in an RTP interview from February 1975

He started his dance training at the age of 16 and became, during the 1970's and 1980's, one of Portugal's most prominent ballet dancers. Privately, Miguel was the most gentle, sensitive and educated person. Sadly...he left this world so early.

In the land of never ending corruption....

Today, Portuguese PM António Costa resigned after corruption allegations against members of his cabinet. In Portugal, corruption is still the country's number one internal carcinoma. Next year we will celebrate 50 years of democracy....and centuries of corruption 😡

...."Certo é que Portugal é mesmo uma Cunhalândia, o país da cunha, a terra dos pequenos e médios favores que nutrem teias de poder subterrâneo e paralelo (mas às vezes superior) aos poderes eleitos e às instituições. A cunha, o factor "C" é mesmo uma cultura nacional. Todos "dão um jeito", um jeitinho, um desenrasca. É "mexer os cordelinhos". É a nação das influências, a identidade das informalidades e habilidades, troca de favores, amiguismo, clientelismo, nepotismo. Ismos pútridos que medram nos lobbies partidários, noutros grupos de interesse organizados ou de privilegiados que se julgam investidos de direitos consuetudinários e vivem nos mundinhos onde tudo isso é desculpável e irrecusável. Numa das suas Farpas, Eça lançava:"Querido leitor: Nunca penses servir o teu país com a tua inteligência, e para isso em estudar, em trabalhar, em pensar! Não estudes, corrompe! Não sejas digno, sê hábil! E, sobretudo, nunca faças um concurso; ou quando o fizeres, em lugar de pôr no papel que está diante de ti o resultado de um ano de trabalho, de estudo, escreve simplesmente: sou influente no círculo tal e não me façam repetir duas vezes!" Talento, mérito, dom, esforço, regra, ordem, protocolo, tudo isso é luso-relativo. Variável, contextualizável. Depende."

Joana Amaral Dias in Diário de Notícias, November 5, 2023

Difficult translation....but more or less, "corruption as perpetuated national heritage"

Unforgettable scenes....

 

"Inglourious basterds" ¨- and Christoph Waltz in the Italian scene 😂

Midnight in Paris....

Gil and Adriana (Owen Wilson / Marion Cotillard) have just landed in La Belle Époque..

Honesty, I could take a seat on that time machine....dreamy and pleasant - and Madame Cotillard is just superb.

Lemon....

ZZ Top at Scandinavium....

The never ending abuse in the land of impunity....

Parede, September 29, 2023

This is a common sight in Portugal and has been so for decades. The (in)competent authorities do little or nothing to solve the problem. Very often, pedestrians are obliged to step out onto the road, risking their own lives. I lived in this village for more than 30 years ago and the problem was exactly the same...in the exact same spot !? Amazing 😡

Some heavy fines could be applied on these morons wallets and the problem would be quickly solved.... but that is not going to happen in the paradise of egoists and incompetents.

Lisbon....from city to theater scenery

This is the destination of most buildings built around 1900. The "restoration" process consists mainly in the total destruction of interiors. Against all the international recommendations and agreements for good building conservation, Lisbon has its own short term/no return final solution. 

The Portuguese modus operandi....

..built for the 1998 Expo

..25 years later (yes, open to the public !)

We do love to build and create new spaces and sensations, often with an initially bad or non-existent quality. Maintenance....well we leave that in the hands of fate - or maybe God.

The land of "short term"....

These pine trees were planted by the time of the Expo 1998 in Lisbon. Pine trees are very common in this country, so one can presume that they knew that their roots grow with a large perimeter and close to the surface. The choice of pavement is astonishing and, of course, condemned to failure. Did the people who planned the trees speak with those who planned the pavement ? Amazing !!

The result, 25 years later, is a completely useless and deformed/destroyed pavement, impossible to use for persons with disabilities. 800 meters of useless pavement and money that could have been thrown into the Tejo river. Act first and think later....

Lisboa, 1 PM, 35 Celsius....

The Portuguese "know-how" in a nut shell. These trees were once planted to provide shelter for pedestrians. They provide shelter indeed...but for the road traffic. A previous 5 minute visit to the spot could even tell a blind person where that shelter should occur during summer. But that is complicated in a country where incompetence and laissez-faire is a never ending national plague.

The return of Neanderthals, or - did stupid get a job...?

 ..the solution for male Neanderthals

..and the astonishing solution for female Neanderthals 😡

These are temporary solutions during events for humans to urinate. I wonder what kind of neurons these narrow/ignorant minds used to realise such abnormalities.  

Tourists....

San Francisco late afternoon....

House boat..

Bodega Bay....