Romulus, My Father

I watched this film, Romulus, My Father, a while ago and loved it. Directed by Richard Roxburgh, starring Eric Bana, Franka Potente, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Marton Csokas.

'Based on Raimond Gaita’s critically acclaimed memoir [and] it tells the story of Romulus, his beautiful wife, Christina, and their struggle in the face of great adversity to bring up their son, Raimond. It is the tale of a boy trying to balance a universe described by his deeply moral father, against the experience of heartbreaking absense and neglect from his mother. It is a story of impossible love that celebrates the unbreakable bond between father and son.’

This is quite possibly the greatest film to ever come out of Australia.

Le tue parole fanno male - Cesare Cremonini

Le tue parole fanno male by Cesare Cremonini

Bologna and Cassini

Another incredibly stunning image by Robert Simmon from NASA, this time of Bologna, Italy.

'Jean-Dominique Cassini (born Giovanni Cassini) a leading astronomer, mathematician, and engineer, began his scientific career at the Panzano Observatory in Bologna, Italy, in the middle of the 17th century. The current NASA mission to Saturn was named after Cassini in honor of his observations of the ringed planet.

Located in north-central Italy on the southern edge of the Emilia-Romagna plains and the northern limit of the Apennine Mountains, the city of Bologna has been the site of human settlement for at least 3,000 years. Over this time, a succession of civilizations ruled the city: Villanovians, Etruscans, Galli Boi, Celts, Romans, and Christian Popes. In 1859 the city joined the nation of Italy. The University of Bologna (where Cassini was a professor of mathematics from 1650-68) was founded in 1088.

It was Cassini who discovered the large gap in Saturn’s rings (through which the Cassini spacecraft flew on June 30, 2004, as it entered into orbit) and four of Saturn’s moons: Iapetus, Rhea, Tethy, and Dione. He also correctly theorized that the rings were composed of small particles orbiting Saturn.

Cassini’s other accomplisments in astronomy included measuring the period of rotation in Mars and Jupiter, analyzing the orbits of Jupiter’s moons, and mapping features on the surface of the moon.

This image was acquired on June 20, 2000 by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus on board the Landsat 7 satellite.'

Source

L'infinito

Sempre caro mi fu quest'ermo colle,
E questa siepe, che da tanta parte
Dell'ultimo orizzonte il guardo esclude.
Ma sedendo e mirando, interminati
Spazi di là da quella, e sovrumani
Silenzi, e profondissima quiete
Io nel pensier mi fingo; ove per poco
Il cor non si spaura. E come il vento
Odo stormir tra queste piante, io quello
Infinito silenzio a questa voce
Vo comparando: e mi sovvien l'eterno,
E le morte stagioni, e la presente
E viva, e il suon di lei. Cosi tra questa
Immensita s'annega il pensier mio:
E il naufragar m'è dolce in questo mare.

Always dear to me was this lonely hill,
And this hedge, which from me so great a part
Of the farthest horizon excludes the gaze.
But as I sit and watch, I invent in my mind
endless spaces beyond, and superhuman
silences, and profoundest quiet;
wherefore my heart
almost loses itself in fear. And as I hear the wind
rustle through these plants, I compare
that infinite silence to this voice:
and I recall to mind eternity,
And the dead seasons, and the one present
And alive, and the sound of it. So in this
Immensity my thinking drowns:
And to shipwreck is sweet for me in this sea.
- Giacomo Leopardi

The History of Berlin

The History of Berlin on Euromaxx, Deutsche Welle

Musee d'Orsay

A photograph taken from inside the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, one of the most beautiful galleries I have ever visited. Unfortunately we could only take photos from inside this cafe, and not of any of the artworks, but the gallery holds many of the world's best paintings and sculptures.

Earthquake

Early yesterday there was an earthquake in southern Italy, new report from TVNZ here.

Magnitude 5 earthquake hits southern Italy

26 October 2012

A magnitude 5 earthquake struck north of Cosenza in southern Italy early today, and police said a hospital had been evacuated after cracks were found in its structure.

There have been no reports of injuries, however, AFP reported a man died after having a heart-attack.

The quake hit at 1:05am local time (11.05am NZT) about 6.3 km underground, north of Cosenza in the Pollino mountains area on the border of the southern regions of Calabria and Basilicata, according to data from the Italian Geophysics Institute (INGV).

It said on its website that at least 14 other tremors followed the initial earthquake.

An Italian police official told Reuters a hospital in the small town of Mormanno had been evacuated as a precautionary measure because some cracks were found in its structure.

Italian news agencies reported scenes of panic in the hospital and said many inhabitants of Mormanno and surrounding towns had come out in the streets.

Police and fire fighters are surveying the area for further damage, officials said.

Ten Months

Ten months.

Italian Food

Kind of hate and kind of love this children's poem by Shel Silverstein.

Italian Food

Oh, how I love Italian food.
I eat it all the time,
Not just 'cause how good it tastes
But 'cause how good it rhymes.
Minestrone, cannelloni,
Macaroni, rigatoni,
Spaghettini, scallopini,
Escarole, braciole,
Insalata, cremolata, manicotti,
Marinara, carbonara,
Shrimp francese, Bolognese,
Ravioli, mostaccioli,
Mozzarella, tagliatelle,
Fried zucchini, rollatini,
Fettuccine, green linguine,
Tortellini, Tetrazzini,
Oops—I think I split my jeani.

- Shel Silverstein

Miniature Food

French designer Stéfanie Kilgast's miniature food featured on Euromaxx, Deutsche Welle

Wonder

'I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything.'

- Bill Bryson