cliché...

(sunset over the Mekong river in Vientiane, Laos, photo by O Coxo)

bamboo bridge

(bamboo bridge in Vang Vieng, Laos, photo by O Coxo)

in the mist

(foggy morning in Muang Ngoi, Laos, photo by O Coxo)

Muang Ngoi

(Muang Ngoi, Laos, photo by O Coxo)

by the river

(Muang Khoua, Laos, photo by O Coxo)

rainy day

(monks in Luang Prabang, Laos, picture by O Coxo)

a lesson

(Luang Prabang, Laos, picture by O Coxo)

uivos

"Há decerto uma lei moral, mas há sempre por trás uma boca a pregar. Uivos, gritos, exasperos. É a transformação do grotesco em ferocidade, é a camada de hipocrisia que custa a romper. (...)

Foi grotesco, começou por ser grotesco. Mas escuta-te: é um mundo que lá tens dentro, é uma multidão que se prepara para o assalto. Estava adormecida, acordou. Mete medo. E pregam, açulam-se, avançam direitos aos seus apetites, ao saque, à guerra, à luxúria. Continham-na arames enferrujados, o medo da morte, o hábito de crer em Deus, cacos de armadura que derruíram de um dia para o outro. Descobrir que não há Deus que alegria! Põe a gente à vontade. Respira-se de outra maneira. (...)

Agora é que eu contemplo a vida - e me perco na vida. Começo a ter medo de mim mesmo e não me posso olhar sem terror. Que é isto, este sonho, esta dor, esta insignificância entre forças desabaladas? Onde hei-de por os pés? Eu sou a árvore e o céu, faço parte do espanto, vivo e morro ligado a isto. Sou temeroso e ridículo. (...) Sou ridículo e construí o mundo. Sonho e acabo reduzido a pó. Sou capaz de tudo e um nada me abate. Sou sórdido e fútil e não tenho limites - vou de mundo a mundo e de espírito a espírito. Dei almas às coisas inertes, significação ao universo, vida ao que não existe, luz às estrelas - e no fim acabo grotesco."

(in Húmus, Raúl Brandão)

the rickshaw

(art work from street artist Banksy)

Filmar en America Latina

animatou

where birds are usually hit

I walk a little above the ground
In that place where birds
Are usually hit.
A little above the birds
In the place where they usually lean forward
To take flight
(...)
I walk humbly through the word’s outskirts
A passer-by one invisible step above earth
In that place of trees with fruit and trees
Engulfed by fire
I’m a little inside what burns
Slowly dwindling and feeling thirsty
Because I walk above power to satiate whoever lives
And I squeeze my heart out for what descends on me

And drinks

(poem by Daniel Faria; Translation: 2004, Richard Zenith)


Ando um pouco acima do chão
Nesse lugar onde costumam ser atingidos
Os pássaros
Um pouco acima dos pássaros
No lugar onde costumam inclinar-se
Para o voo
(...)
Ando humildemente nos arredores do verbo
Passageiro num degrau invisível sobre a terra
Nesse lugar das árvores com fruto e das árvores
No meio de incêndios
Estou um pouco no interior do que arde
Apagando-me devagar e tendo sede
Porque ando acima da força a saciar quem vive
E esmago o coração para o que desce sobre mim

E bebe

(poema de Dainel Faria; 1971-1999)

Stalker

Caro pcp, para quando a prometida sessão de Stalker ?



(Scene from the film Stalker, Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)

It is said that Tarkovsky, on being told that the film should be faster and more dynamic, replied: - the film needs to be slower and duller at the start so that the viewers who walked into the wrong theatre have time to leave before the main action starts.

antes da aurora

"By Chance"--that is the most ancient nobility of the world, and this I restored to all things: I delivered them from their bondage under Purpose. This freedom and heavenly cheer I have placed over all things like an azure bell when I taught that over them and through them no "eternal will" wills. This prankish folly I have put in the place of that will when I taught: "In everything one thing is impossible: rationality."


"Por acaso" - é a mais antiga nobreza do mundo, e eu restituí-a a todas as coisas, libertei-as da servidão da finalidade.
Como uma abóbada azul, pus sobre todas coisas essa liberdade, essa serenidade celeste, no dia em que ensinei que por cima delas e por elas não há "vontade eterna" que possa agir.
Pus no lugar dessa vontade o capricho e a loucura, no dia em que ensinei que " em todas as coisas o que é impossível é que elas sejam racionais".

(Zaratustra in "Also sprach Zaratustra", Nietzsche)

The pools...

Natural hot pools in Landmannalaugar, Iceland. The water can be as hot as 43C ! You can imagine the feeling when we got into the water after 4 days of hiking with outside temperatures well below 10C...

lava meets lake - iceland

Photo taken at about 30min hiking distance from Landmannalaugar.

crater lake - iceland

Amazing colours in this lake inside a crater, 2h hike from Landmannalaugar.

Alien

Volcanic landscape, just arriving to Landmannalaugar - Iceland.

Landmannalaugar - Iceland

Coulourful landscape on the third day of our trek to Landmannalaugar.

land of water - Thórsmörk

A wrong turn somewhere resulted in two extra hours adding to our six hour long hike. However it also rewarded us with this maginicent view of the Thórsmörk valley.

Thórsmörk valley - Iceland

Arriving to our campsite in Thórsmörk valley, Iceland after a 8 hike from Skógar.

home & 40 day dream

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero's - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque.

Crises

(por Quino, 70's)

Despierto...

VIII
Despierto.

Primera isla de la conciencia:

un árbol.

El temor inventa el vuelo.

El desierto familiar me acoge.

Alguien me observa con indiferencia.


(Poem by Blanca Varela)

Breithorn summit

The Breithorn (4165m)

O Coxo, on his way to the Breithorn, coming from Gandegghutte (3050m)

Ages of life

Euphrates' cities and
Palmyra's streets and you
Forests of columns in the level desert
What are you now?

(Ages of Life, Hölderlin)

jardim

caminhámos juntos sobre as estátuas
(descalços)
contemplámos as árvores nos pedestais
enquanto na alameda os cavalos decapitados
morriam dorsos nus
fomos por momentos grandes feridas abertas
na terra
e rimos animados por um desejo animal
(e no entanto havia como que um pudor em pisar as raízes)
quebrámos a intenção dos solos
com a obstinação da seiva
amámos muscularmente as pedras soerguidas
e as forças como se fossem matéria anatómica
e pecámos mortalmente nas manhãs
quando o orvalho nos encontrava no jardim

(texto de O Coxo)

Namibia - Etosha reserve

I had to add one photo from Etosha. So I have chosen the giraffes. Some people will ask: are these mountain giraffes ? I would have to answer no... but I did see some giraffes in a very hilly region of the country so technically we could say those were mountain giraffes...

Namibia - Twyfelfountain

typical landscape of the Damaraland,

Namibia - Brandberg

Savannah meets mountains at the Brandberg,

Sandwich Harbour

an indistinct light, diluted by a constant fog gave the whole experience a dreamlike feeling...

Sandwich harbour

dunes meet sea... one of the most amazing places I have been in my life.

Namib desert

this is what I mean with desert...

Namibia - Solitary

It had been a generous rainy season...

Namibia - Sesriem

sunset over the savannah in Sesriem

Namibia - Sesriem

Dunes meet savannah in the Nammib desert

time taunts me

needs no comments...

a dead town

From the NYTimes, 22 February, original article here

GENEVA — Geneva’s counterculture may not be dead, but it is looking distinctly bruised.The city, known internationally for diplomacy, private banking, watches and highbrow culture, was for much of the last decade a hub for squatters, anarchists, electronic music and impromptu theater.

But recent years have not been kind to the alternative-culture scene.

“Geneva is moping,” Le Temps newspaper wrote in an article late last year. “It’s a town closed in on itself, it’s stopped dreaming.”

The malaise has its roots in an official clampdown on numerous squatter spaces in 2007 and ’08 that was led by Daniel Zappelli, the city’s chief prosecutor, or district attorney, from the center-right Liberal Party. For public health and similar reasons, other spots have closed since. Added to the city’s high rents, strict zoning laws for former industrial sites and the success of recently opened upscale private bars and clubs, the closures have severely curtailed choices for those on a limited budget.

“What happened with the closure of the squats was akin to a cultural brain drain,” said Albane Schlechten, who represents a union of independent cultural associations.

The alternative spots — notably La Tour and Rhino — nurtured workshops, bars, theaters and clubs, giving rise to groups like Cave 12, whose electronic sound attracted visitors from as far afield as Japan, and hip hangouts like l’escobar. Artamis, a sprawling, informal cultural center housed the Théâtre du Galpon, a cinema and an art gallery, as well as bars and spaces for concerts; upscale apartments are among plans for the site. All of the venues are now closed.

The changes have put increasing pressure on Geneva’s last grunge-style culture center, L’Usine , on a former industrial site on the banks of the Rhone.

William Riceputi, 36, a teacher who helps to organize arts shows, screenings and gigs for new bands, said: “Many people have been priced out of culture. Young people are getting bored. There’s more frustration.”

chaque homme est une race

O Coxo strongly recommends this play:

Banksy

(graffiti from british artist Banksy)

barricada

Quando já não pudermos mais chorar e as palavras forem pequeninos suplícios e olhando para trás virmos apenas homens desmaiados, então alguém saltará para o passeio, com o rosto já belo, já espontâneo e livre, e uma canção nascida de nós ambos, do mais fundo de nós, a exaltar-nos!

(Mário Cesariny in Pena Capital)

voix de fête

FIFDH