On the 23rd of June 2009 we celebrated 8 years of togetherness... :) 2922 days to be more precise... Still together, still growing strong!

...and there goes one more minister...

I forgot to post this "beautiful and memorable" moment in Portuguese politics:

Manuel Pinho, Portugal's Economy Minister, has resigned after making a cuckold gesture to an opposition MP during a debate in parliament. ...

Research Quotes III

“Yes, here it is. Well, what of it? Let the pain be.”

“And death. . . where is it?”

He sought his former accustomed fear of death and did not find it. “Where is it? What death?” There was no fear because there was no death.

In place of death there was light.

“So that’s what it is!” he suddenly exclaimed aloud. “What joy!”

To him all this happened in a single instant, and the meaning of that instant did not change. For those present his agony continued for another two hours. Something rattled in his throat, his emaciated body twitched, then the gasping and rattle became less and less frequent.

“It is finished!” said someone near him.

He heard these words and repeated them in his soul.

“Death is finished,” he said to himself. “It is no more!”

He drew in a breath, stopped in the midst of a sigh, stretched out, and died.

Leo Tolstoy – from The Death of Ivan Ilych

A little bit of Ipanema in London...

... first you go on the Northern Line of the London tube (yes, the black one!)... then you get off at Hampstead station, walk through the beatiful town (that makes any other Londoner envious)...and tchara! - Hampstead Heath! The famous beautiful, breathtakingly, birds-singing, people happy park! It's really hard to describe it...

Now a pause, let's hop on the plane, cross the Atlantic Ocean... all the way to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and more specifically to Ipanema, one of its most famous beaches! Ipanema is strategically located between Leblon and Copacabana. It's full of life and it will seduce you in two seconds with its thin white sand, coconut water, beatiful people, warm salty water... ohhh it's just paradise... Well at least it is, for part of the year. There are impossible months, like January or February, or even that odd Sunday in Winter when the termometer hits 35 degrees and everyone can only think of one thing: BEACH! Well... these moments are everything but paradise... they are hell on earth! Temperatures that seem unthinkable to human kind, thousands of people trying to fit one on top of each other, leaving no space in between, everyone is sweated, talking loud, listening to music, children squeaking, families that bring so many things to the beach that there is an odd sensation that they are moving... anyway, I think I've painted the picture!...

Anddddd back to Hampstead! Temperatures in London are being very perky this year, maybe a little bit too perky in my opinion. (but everyone is happy and summery and that's what counts, so YAY)!

After a couple of days of unbearable heat (just try riding the tube at 5pm rush hour under 30 degrees - you might as well have a nap in an oven), I decided to try one of the places where one can swim/dive around London. TIME OUT always has a Summer article on this and as a good Time Out subscriber, I keep all interesting files very well filled! Anyway... I finally choose the Hampstead Ponds (or Highgate Ponds) to refresh myself on this hot Thursday afternoon.

There we went... first we got to the Men's Pond. It was beautiful, empty, calm, (women are not allowed, so I wished a was a man at that point)...

So, we went on and came to the Ladies Pond... Goncalo was not allowed in... (I don't think he wished he was a woman), so I went to have a look... OHHHhhhhh it looked amazing... only girlies all chitchatting, sun bathing, very civilized... Totally recommend it!

But, we had no choice - Mixed Pond here we come... we crossed the beautiful park once again, saw the views of the city and then finally there it was: It was Ipanema! Just like a hot Sunday afternoon in December! NOOOOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOooooooOO!!! I couldn't believe my eyes! I breathed deeply and there we went... The water was great, refreshing and so on, but outside? Oh my! The whole experience was just surreal! We finally found a little square of grass for my bum and one for his. Goncalo had 4 different feet sticking in his back, I was closer to my "neighbor" than I have ever been to my t-shirt! Suddenly a new group came and sat by us, they all started smoking on top of us and they started stripping down to their sexy knickers .... ohhhhh..arghhhh... Yes the worst part were the people. I'm quite an open person and very anthropological... but it was too much for me! Loads of people in their under-wears, smelly feet in my face, too many unwaxed girls (yes! all over!) and a general feeling of "what the hell am i doing here?"...

We finally found a strategy of lying down outside the Pond area in the grass, where people were just relaxing and going for a dive once in a while.

We finished the day having a nice salad in Carluccio's terrace in Hampstead Heath High Street and it was an awesome day! I feel like a new person and I'm slightly sunburnt! :)

But... next time I'll leave Goncalo with the boys and head to the Ladies Pond straight away! After all, there is a reason why I avoid Ipanema during Jan., Feb, Sundays and public holidays!

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolition in the Occupied Territory

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolition in the Occupied Territory
http://www.icahd.org/eng/

Posted by Luiz Teixeira de Freitas on Facebook 28/06/09 - Great Documentary, specially for all of us who are in the confort of our homes on this Sunday afternoon!!!

Cattelan on Creed

Martin Creed's WORK NO. 227: THE LIGHTS GOING ON AND OFF

We all have our bad days, when you just can’t get it right, like moments of loss and surrender. And we all have our good days, when everything seems to run smoothly, just perfect for no apparent reason. I can see clearly now the rain has gone. You wake up, things are okay, and the sun is shining. And then out of the blue, there you go again, down into the dark pit of depression. It’s not just a matter of mood swings. Its something more basic and perverse: the inability to preserve joy. The need to measure it against a black background. Art is no different. It’s a ride on the roller coaster of emotions. Sometimes I feel so happy, sometimes I feel so sad. I always thought Martin Creed’s Work No. 227: The lights going on and off had something to do with this simple truth. It has the ability to compress happiness and anxiety within one single gesture. Lights go on, lights go off – sunshine and rain, and then back to beginning to repeat endlessly. I do not know what Creed was thinking about when he made it but to me it always looked like a swing, a mood swing. That’s why I never found it funny but frightening in its simplicity, it’s a sculpture for our lithium oriented, Prozac enhanced reality. Are we afraid of the dark or just blinded by the light? I see a rainbow and I want to paint it black.

Maurizio Cattelan, 2004

At least they went together and are probably having fun up there somewhere...

What a woman!