Cities

Back in the country on Sunday after a glorious two weeks abroad; exploring Hong Kong, Paris, and London! With no time to be spent jet-lagging; I went straight back to tutoring work the next day and university yesterday. Starting to feel the eleven hour time difference now though. It was such an incredible experience and made me addicted and in love with travelling even more. I have also been nominated by my university for an exchange next year to the University of California - extremely nervous and excited about it all coming together! I'll post photos soon of my trip.

Orangerie

Orangerie, Versailles

Tracy Weddle

National Geographic

Spires and Gables

'Admirable, however, as the Paris of the present day appears to you, build up and put together again in imagination the Paris of the fifteenth century; look at the light through that surprising host of steeples, towers, and belfries; pour forth amid the immense city, break against the points of its islands, compress within the arches of the bridges, the current of the Seine, with its large patches of green and yellow, more changeable than a serpent's skin; define clearly the Gothic profile of this old Paris upon an horizon of azure, make its contour float in a wintry fog which clings to its innumerable chimneys; drown it in deep night, and observe the extraordinary play of darkness and light in this sombre labyrinth of buildings; throw into it a ray of moonlight, which shall show its faint outline and cause the huge heads of the towers to stand forth from amid the mist; or revert to that dark picture, touch up with shade the thousand acute angles of the spires and gables, and make them stand out, more jagged than a shark's jaw, upon the copper-coloured sky of evening. Now compare the two.'

from The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo

New Eyes

'Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.'

from A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett

Ireland

 

Ireland

Jim Richardson

National Geographic

I calcianti

This is the trailer for the film I calcianti, an Italian film directed by Stefano Lorenzi, it is inspired by the Florentine football of Medieval times. So intriguing; I will have to do a little research on the game and its history.

C'è un gioco antico. Un gioco senza regole, dove i compagni sono fratelli di sangue e gli avversari nemici giurati. Quattro squadre, quattro colori: giocano per le loro donne, per Firenze, vincono per il proprio quartiere!

I Bianchi: un padre e un figlio contro i fantasmi del passato.

I Rossi: due amici da una vita, due destini opposti.

I Verdi: un mito che non accetta di essere solo un uomo.

Gli Azzurri: un Capo che ha perso se stesso e la sua donna, un cinese che sogna in fiorentino.

Sette uomini, un solo desiderio: vincere la paura, scoprire se stessi fra pugni, carezze e fuochi d'artificio. In una commedia amara e spettacolare come la Vita. La storia di sette uomini.

An ancient game. A game without rules, team mates are brothers in blood and opponents bitter enemies.  Four teams, four colors: they play for their women and for Florence, they fight for their borough!

Whites: one father and his son fighting against phantoms of the past.

Reds: two life-time friends, two opposite destinies.

Greens: a myth that is not content enough with being a man.

Blues: their captain has lost himself and his woman, a Chinese man who dreams in Florentine.

Seven men, one goal: to overcome their fears and discover themselves in the middle of punches, caresses and fireworks. In a bitter and spectacular comedy: just like life. The story of seven men.

The official site with a full synopsis can be found here: http://icalcianti.com/

Delicacy of Grandeur

'By far the most beautiful piece of ancientry in Rome is that simple and unutterable Pantheon to which I repeated my devotions yesterday afternoon. It makes you profoundly regret that you are not a pagan suckled in the creed outworn that produced it. It's the most conclusive example I have seen yet of the simple sublime. Imagine simply a vast cupola with its drum, set directly on the earth and fronted with a porch of columns and a triangular summit: the interior lighted by a hole in the apex of the cupola and the circumference furnished with a series of altars. The effect is the very delicacy of grandeur - and more worshipful to my perception than the most mysterious and aspiring Gothic.'

from a letter by Henry James to his sister in 1869

Audrey in Roma

Audrey Hepburn and Mr. Famous, Rome 1961

Elio Sorci

Matthew 6:30

My friend posted something on her blog about her 'birth verse', a Bible verse attributed to a particular day of the year, and intrigued, I followed the link to find mine. A verse from the book of Matthew, in a passage about worry, it is is so extremely applicable right now that I thought I'd post it here. Trusting in God is so difficult, and often I feel so far removed from Him; wanting so much to explore the world, not necessarily to be wild, but to live life without the feeling of boundaries.

For my art project I'm researching the relationship between language structures and their development; growth and erosion, as affected by culture and environment. My friend brought up the interesting idea that the book that has been translated the most, and is constantly being revised, is the Bible. It's fascinating to see how language has changed and the meanings of words have changed; but how the Bible has remained relevant. Here is my birth verse in English, and in Italian just for fun.

'If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?' Matthew 6:30 (NIV)

'Ora se Dio riveste in questa maniera l'erba dei campi, che oggi è e domani è gettata nel forno, quanto più vestirà voi, o uomini di poca fede?' Matteo 6:30 (Nuova Diodati)

Lanes and Courts

'Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists.'

- Samuel Johnson

Rottura dell'acquedotto a Venezia

La Domenica del Corriere

30 July 1911

Rottura dell'acquedotto a Venezia: La gente accore a provvedersi d'acqua importata ai pozzi ed alle fontanelle.

Rupture of the acqueduct in Venice: People come to provide themselves with water imported to the wells and fountains.

Rome Trailer - Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi

Danger Mouse and Italian composer Daniele Luppi have collaborated on an album entitled, Rome; which pays homage to the music of spaghetti western films. To stay true to the feel of vintage Italian soundtracks they worked with some of the original musicians who worked on films of the 1960's and 70's, and they recorded at Rome's Forum Studios, founded by the iconic composer Ennio Morricone. The music was recorded with original equipment, directly to tape. Rome captures the mood of spaghetti western soundtracks while adding a contemporary flavour with the vocals of Norah Jones and Jack White.

On My Mind

This year has flown by so quickly, it's hard to believe we're already in June. So many amazing things happened over the summer and I met so many incredible friends that have since returned to their home countries; I've found it difficult to move on and have thrown myself into work in a vain attempt to forget. Just when I think I'm over it, a photo comes up or I talk to someone and all the wonderful memories come back, and I miss it all over again. But even though it hurts, I would do it all again; I feel so blessed to have met all the people I did and to have shared such a beautiful summer together.

As our degree is nearing completion, my friends and I are constantly discussing the options for life after university; both anxious and excited for the future. The notion of continuing post-graduate studies is very appealing; probably in Art History as opposed to English or Fine Arts, but I wish I could do all three. Lecturing would be an incredible position, with many opportunities for research and travel. Or I could do a Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching and teach at a high school in New Zealand. Teaching English in Europe would be another option as they seem to be encouraging English in schools and universities increasingly. Education seems they way I am leaning towards at the moment; my part-time job currently tutoring maths and English to 5-14 year old children is so much fun that I can imagine teaching for the rest of my life. There are so many options and so many choices, it's all a little overwhelming. With an upcoming trip to Paris and London, I am sure my inspiration will be renewed and I can become less pensive and more productive in my art-making.

Paris

'... the whole of Paris is a vast university of Art, Literature and Music…it is worth anyone’s while to dally here for years. Paris is a seminar, a post-graduate course in Everything.'

from a letter by James Thurber to a friend in 1918

Festa della Repubblica

Frecce Tricolori for Festa della Repubblica, 2005 

Annually on the 2nd of June, Italians celebrate Festa della Repubblica, the day when Italy became a Republic in 1946; after World War II and the end of Fascism. The Italians voted for the new form of government in an institutional referendum by universal suffrage; 12,717,923 voted for the establishment of a republic, and with 10,719,284 for the monarchy; after 85 years of rule, the male descendants of the House of Savoy were exiled. The festival is one of the most important Italian public holidays.

There are symbolic events attributed to Festa della Repubblica, such as the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Altare della Patria, Vittoriano, Roma. There is also a military parade held in central Rome, attended by the dignitaries such as the President of the Italian Republic and the Prime Minister. The Frecce Tricolori, 'Tricolour Arrows', also provide a patriotic show with their nine Italian Air Force aircrafts, flying over the Vittoriano monument, trailing green, white, and red smoke.

Twinkled Like Ribbons of Stars

'The view was so marvellous that it enthralled one in mute contemplation. The Eternal City seemed in that instant more like a fantastic vision than a real thing. Under the deep blue sky, like a stream of diamonds flowing from its bed, the Via del Corso stretched across the city, gigantic, indefinite, fantastic; a sea of buildings which in that pale light took on the strangest and most bizarre forms; an undulation of cupolas, a fugue of profiled shapes thrust into the silver shadow emanating from the sky from which the moon also descended, throwing its innocent spell upon those ancient remains of the world on the Tiber. All Rome appeared of marble. Its head plunged into the glimmer of light, but shadows rose from the ground, coiling at its feet. In darkness, the long strand of gas lamps twinkled like ribbons of stars.'

from Jan Maria Plohjar - Julius Zeyre

Inka Parei in New Zealand

German author Inka Parei travels to New Zealand ahead of the Frankfurt Book Fair, and is interviewed by Deutsche Welle's Arts. 21. It's so odd to watch videos of New Zealand from a tourist's perspective.

Correspondance à Joyeuse

Correspondance à Joyeuse, 1954

Robert Doisneau