22 iulie 2014

Movie of the Day: Metropolis (1927)

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
153 min - Drama | Sci-Fi - 5 March 1927 (Denmark)

Director: Fritz Lang
Writer: Thea von Harbou (novel & screenplay)
Stars: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich

Photo of the Day: Erie, Pennsylvania. 1949.

Classy little man...
© Ralph Morse. Erie, Pennsylvania. 1949.

19 iulie 2014

Scriitorii şi dragostea lor pentru pisici: Jorge Luis Borges


"Nobody thinks that cats are good companions, but they are. I am alone, laid down, and suddenly I feel a powerful jump: it is Beppo, that wants to sleep by my side, and I perceive his presence like the one of a God that will protect me." 

- Jorge Luis Borges

9 iulie 2014

Movie of the Day: American Beauty (1999)

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after becoming infatuated with his daughter's attractive friend.
122 min - Drama - 1 October 1999 (USA)

Director: Sam Mendes
Writer: Alan Ball
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Mena Suvari

Lester Burnham: My name is Lester Burnham. This is my neighborhood; this is my street; this is my life. I am 42 years old; in less than a year I will be dead. Of course I don't know that yet, and in a way, I am dead already.

Lester Burnham: [narrating] I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn't a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time...

Ricky Fitts: Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in.

Lester Burnham: Good. I'm looking for the least possible amount of responsibility.

Lester Burnham: It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that you've forgotten about.

Lester Burnham: Remember those posters that said, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life"? Well, that's true of every day but one - the day you die.

8 iulie 2014

3 iulie 2014

Iubeşte animalele: Dumnezeu le-a dat gândire rudimentară şi bucurie netulburată...

“Iubeşte animalele: Dumnezeu le-a dat gândire rudimentară şi bucurie netulburată. Nu le deranja bucuria, nu le hărţui, nu le priva de fericirea lor, nu lucra împotriva intenţiei lui Dumnezeu. Omule, nu te mândri cu superioritatea faţă de animale; ele nu au păcat, dar tu, cu măreţia ta, pângăreşti pământul prin existenţa ta şi îţi laşi urmele prostiei după tine !” 

Feodor Dostoievski

Photo of the Day: Kentucky. 1949.

A father singing to his children...
Leslie County, Kentucky. 1949. © Eliot Elisofon

'cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.

2 iulie 2014

Photo of the Day: Paris. 1928

André Kertész - My Friends at Cafe du Dome (1928)

Hermann Hesse - Lupul de stepă


"După ce sunt o vreme ocolit de plăceri sau de dureri, după ce respir aerul de suportabilă, fadă indiferenţă a aşa-ziselor zile bune, în sufletul meu de copil se iscă vântul suferinţei şi al nenorocirii, astfel încât azvârl zeului zgomotos al împăcării, în faţa-i copleşită de împăcare, ruginita liră a recunoştinţei mele, preferând să simt arzând în mine mai degrabă o durere diabolică, decât această convenabilă temperatură a camerei. Atunci mă apucă dorul sălbatic de sentimente puternice, de senzaţii, furia faţă de o asemenea viaţă incoloră, plată, normată şi sterilizată, şi un chef nebun de a distruge ceva, eventual un magazin universal sau o catedrală, sau pe mine însumi, de a săvârşi nişte tâmpenii temerare, de a smulge perucile câtorva dintre idolii venerabili, de a procurara unor elevi cuprinşi de dorul de ducă râvnitele bilete de tren până la Hamburg, de a seduce o fată sau de a le suci gâtul câtorva reprezentanţi ai ordinii burgheze pe mapamond. Căci ceea ce uram, dispreţuiam şi blestemam eu mai mult şi mai presus de toate erau: împăcarea, sănătatea şi tihna, optimismul cocoloşit al cetăţeanului oarecare, ordinea obtuză, prosperă a mediocrităţii, a tot ceea ce era normal, a căii de mijloc."

Hermann Hesse - Lupul de stepă

Movie of the Day: Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

“The cleverest and most brilliant film of my career.”
Charlie Chaplin in Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

124 min - Comedy | Crime | Drama - 8 December 1947 (Sweden)

Director: Charles Chaplin
Writers: Charles Chaplin, Orson Welles
Stars: Charles Chaplin, Mady Correll, Allison Roddan

Henri Verdoux: Wars, conflict - it's all business. One murder makes a villain; millions, a hero. Numbers sanctify, my good fellow!

Judge: Monsieur Verdoux, you have been found guilty. Have you anything to say before sentence is passed upon you?
Henri Verdoux: Oui, monsieur, I have. However remiss the prosecutor has been in complimenting me, he at least admits that I have brains.

Priest: May the Lord have mercy on your soul.
Henri Verdoux: Why not? After all, it belongs to Him.

[to the court, after being found guilty of murder]
Henri Verdoux: I shall see you ALL soon - very soon.