I Heart Elaine Dundy

"As a rule I'm rather fond of excitement. Raw, rollicking, riveting and toute cette sorte de crap, it has a way of forcing me out of myself and at the same time dragging me back in that I find truly exhilarating. On the whole I should say it's a fine thing; a stepping-up thing, a leading-to-action-t-least sort of thing. But is it an end in itself, I begin to wonder. I mean couldn't one have enough of it--or, to put it more plaintively--can't it have enough of me? I wish it would stop hovering over me like some privately commissioned thunderbolt." - The Dud Avocado

Harry Patch fought at the Battle of Passchendaele in World War I

The last British survivor of the World War I trenches, Harry Patch, has died at the age of 111.

On the BBC news.

[a Reminder]: 40 years On

The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. It was the fifth human space flight of Project Apollo and the third human voyage to the Moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.
The mission fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s, which he expressed during a speech given before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961:
"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

Keep reading the Wiki entry :)

Panteão Nacional: part ii

In 1966, during the government of the Dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, the Church of Santa Engrácia was turned into a National Pantheon. The personalities buried here include the Presidents of the Republic Manuel de Arriaga, Teófilo Braga, Sidónio Pais and Óscar Carmona, Presidential candidate Humberto Delgado, writers João de Deus, Almeida Garrett, Guerra Junqueiro and Aquilino Ribeiro and fado singer Amália Rodrigues. There are cenotaphs to Luís de Camões, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Afonso de Albuquerque, Nuno Álvares Pereira, Vasco da Gama and Henry the Navigator.

[from here]
... and this is how I've learnt of Humberto Delgado:

Although initially a staunch supporter of the right-wing dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar, and the youngest general in Portuguese history, his passage as a Military Attaché and Aeronautic Attaché to the Portuguese Embassy in Washington, D.C. in 1952 pushed him into the defence of democratic ideals, and inspired him to run as a candidate to the Portuguese presidency in 1958.
In a famous interview on 10 May 1958, in the Chave d'Ouro café, when asked what would be his attitude towards Salazar, he made one of the most famous quotations of Portuguese politics: Obviamente, demito-o! (Obviously, I'll sack him!).
His outspoken attitude earned him the epithet of General sem Medo (Fearless General).
He was nevertheless credited with only around 25% of the votes in the highly rigged presidential elections of 1958, despite the consensual opinion that he was the true winner and some evidence of ballots filled with votes for the regime candidate by the secret police.
He was expelled from the Portuguese military, and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy before going into exile. [...]
In 1964, he founded the Portuguese National Liberation Front in Rome. [...]
Delgado and his Brazilian secretary, Arajaryr Moreira de Campos, would be murdered on 13 February 1965, after being attracted to an ambush by the regime's secret police (PIDE) near the border town of Olivenza, when trying to enter Portugal clandestinely. The official version was that he was killed in self defense, but he was not even armed when he was shot, and his secretary was strangled. Their bodies would only be found some two months later, near the Spanish village of Villanueva del Fresno. [...]
In 1990, Humberto Delgado was posthumously promoted to Marshal of the Portuguese Air Force - being the only person to hold this rank -, his name was given to an Avenue in Lisbon and his body was moved to the National Pantheon, in Lisbon. The significance of this gesture is that some former Portuguese Presidents are there.

[from here.]
Why write all of these here?
Because I found it to be representative of respectfulness, in its widest understanding, and because I found it impressive: certain errors may be [even if only marginally] corrected posthumously, from what it appears. And this has the potential of being a lesson for many, individuals and peoples alike.
[Photos from my flickr.]

Tagline: "They Changed The Way Campaigns Are Won." [1993]

Finally seen it! Yesterday night was the dedicated night - and here I am, sharing it with the world:
It was The War Room, and here's its IMDb entry and here the Wiki one.

At the start of the 1992 Democratic primaries, D.A. Pennebaker, a revered documentary filmmaker, pitched the idea to the Clinton Campaign to allow for access into the campaign strategy sessions [...]. The Clinton campaign agreed, and allowed Pennebaker to focus on Communications Director George Stephanopoulos as well as Lead Strategist James Carville. [...]
There was a media revolution during the 1992 presidential campaign. The Clinton camp embraced the new news phenomenon while the rest of the country was being flooded with character, competence, and image press rather than platform and political information. The 1992 campaign exemplified the shift of United States political coverage from platform information and traditional press to what it is today: a character and celebrity focused popularity contest. Voters were getting their information from outlets such as late night talk shows, Donahue and MTV. Citizens were gaining perceived knowledge from these outlets and feeling satisfied that they had the information they needed to vote. Many argue that voters were not receiving important information about candidates’ platforms but because of their perceived knowledge, voters were not seeking additional information.
The historical context surrounding this film is important to note because the film is intertwined with history: the access granted to the filmmakers was unprecedented and the type of campaign the Clintons were running was entirely new, especially by focusing on the new news. The War Room not only documents the campaign history as it unfolds but it makes history in its access to the campaign.

To me, both James Carville and George Stephanopoulos are simply brilliant after having watched this: Just take a look at the Quotations section on Carville's page :)

Here's a taste:

One Glorious Sunday Morning We Visited Panteão Nacional in Lisbon

The Church of Santa Engrácia is a 17th century monument of the city of Lisbon, in Portugal. In the 20th century the church has been converted into the National Pantheon (Panteão Nacional), in which important Portuguese personalities are buried. It is located in the neighbourhood of Alfama, close to another important Lisbon monument, the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora. [...]
The first church dedicated to the Saint was sponsored by Princess Maria, daughter of King Manuel I, around 1568. In 1681, building of the current church began after previous structures collapsed. The author of the new design was João Antunes, royal architect and one of the most important baroque architects of Portugal.
Building work proceeded from 1682 through 1712, when the architect died. King John V lost interest in the church, concentrating his resources in the gigantic Convent of Mafra. The church was left unfinished until the 20th century, so that Obras de Santa Engrácia (lit. Saint Engrácia's works) has become a Portuguese synonym for long unfinished works. Eventually a dome was added, whereupon the church was reinaugurated in 1966.

Excerpt from the Wiki entry: here.
More shots as taken by me: here.

More of the same: [iii]

Plot: "Chaos ensues when a man tries to expose a dark secret regarding a recently deceased patriarch of a dysfunctional British family." [2007]

Director Frank Oz won the Audience Award at both the US Comedy Arts Festival and the Locarno International Film Festival.

Read about Oz's "Death at a Funeral" experience on the IMDb here or, should you prefer it, on Wiki here.

Plot: "An adaptation of James Redfield's novel about the search for a sacred manuscript in the Peruvian rain forest." [2006]

Due to the fact that The Celestine Prophecy novel sold over 23 million copies since its publication in 1993 and has thus become one of the best-selling books of all time, Redfield had expected the film to be a success. However, the film was almost universally panned by critics and was a box office failure with a total worldwide gross of less than $1 million.

Read about Armand Mastroianni's "Celestine Prophecy" experience on the IMDb here or, should you prefer it, on Wiki here.

Tagline: "A comedy of biblical proportions" [2007]

Read about "Evan Almighty" [otherwise known as the "Bruce Almighty" sequel] on the IMDb here or, should you prefer it, on Wiki here.

Funky details spotted on the Wiki page:

Construction of the ark began in January 2006 and the scenes involving the ark were shot in a Crozet, Virginia subdivision called Old Trail.^[3] The ark was designed to meet the actual measurements of the biblical ark, measuring 450 feet (140 m) long, 80 feet (24 m) wide, and 51 feet (16 m) high.^[8] The ark's layout was also based on pictures in several children's books that crew members had read in their childhoods.^[3] When the characters were filmed during the day building the ark or were on location elsewhere, crew members would further construct the ark at night.^[3] A concrete base was built to support the weight of the large ark; after filming was completed, the ark was taken down in a week, and the base in another week.^[3]

In disassembling the set, everything that was salvageable from the ark was donated to Habitat for Humanity. "Leave no trace" was the slogan used by the director as part of the DVD's bonus features, "The Almighty Green Set".

Woo-hoo! Wishes DO come true!

As [perhaps..] you can see, I now DO HAVE a FlickrPro account! [as wished for out loud on the interwebz here] :)

Multumesc, Stefan!

This made my day! :)
[p.s. you can click the image to enlarge, if curious]

The Ticking

As the word spread, I decided to give graphic novels a go.
This was the 1st try:

Renee French, The Ticking (Top Shelf Productions, 2005)
I am sure there is someone out there-- in fact, I am sure there are a lot of some-ones out there-- who can read through The Ticking a few times and tell you all sorts of things about the subtext, the symbolism, and all sorts of other under-the-surface stuff about this book. I am not one of them. I'm just here to tell you that The Ticking is one of the flat-out oddest productions I have encountered in the universe of graphic literature.
Edison Steelhead's mother dies in childbirth. His father sees that Edison has inherited his own deformities, and sets about trying to get Edison plastic surgery to make him look more normal. Edison himself isn't sure about all this, and flees from the necessity of these confrontations into his career as an aspiring artist. Edison's father then brings home a sister for Edison-- Patrice, a chimpanzee, and Edison and Patrice begin down the road to sibling-hood, one not smooth at the best of times. And that's just the beginning. Things get odder from there.
This is a book both amusing (how amusing you will find it depends largely on your capacity for appreciation of black humour) and horrifying, often in the same panel. French's panorama is the world of the deformed, but [...] French approaches her subjects with a warmth and humour that translates to the audience's ability to better relate to the book's subjects-- always a wonderful thing.
If the book has a problem, it's that it could have been longer. French's impressionist style is wonderful, and the holes that are left are done with an obvious sense of planning, but I'd still have liked to see a little more of... well, everything. The relationship between Patrice and Edison's father in particular stands out as not quite covered enough, but the Patrice-and-Edison scenes, some of the best in this always-strong book, are too few.

As reviewed on Amazon.
To my agreement, the "Unbearable, but beautiful" title of the review made for a very appropriate choice.

What's been said here recently

Click on image to enlarge by redirecting. :)

993 days, 335 sent & 322 received cards later

I dare make a note on Postcrossing:
Firstly, because it brightens up my days, even more so recently!
Secondly, cause I'm not really certain why, but Postcrossing seems to have become of interest only marginally in Romania [current country of residence :)], with merely 200 users. Now, I'm not really sure why things are so, but I think they can change :)
So here's a briefing:

About Postcrossing
What is Postcrossing?

In short: the objective of Postcrossing is to allow people to exchange postcards via mail (real mail, not email) with random postcrossers from around the world. Oh, and it is absolutely free, meaning, if you send a postcard, you will receive one back from another random user (and sometimes, another one from the person you wrote to).

How does Postcrossing work?

It goes like this:

1. You register yourself on the website. You will need to provide your postal address so that you can receive postcards.
2. You request to send a postcard. An address is displayed along with the member's profile. This address will be accompanied by a Postcard ID - a unique code that identifies your postcard.
3. Choose a postcard, write something nice on it along with the assigned Postcard ID, and mail it to the address you were given.
4. Wait, wait, wait. :-)
5. Hoorray! The card arrives to its destination and is registered by the user! Now you too will receive a postcard!

For more details, please check the About section. If you still have questions, give us a shout!

Need I add that Postcrossing's been keeping me company over almost 1000 days and 3 countries now? ... and that it's been created from scratch by my good Portuguese friend Paulo? :)
So get them postcards rollin'!

Coming Clean 4 Congo: