Skip to main content

Impressions notebook

Search This Blog

Quote: Pope Paul VI

August 04, 2013

Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Never reach out your hand unless you're willing to extend an arm.

Photograph taken by me, Rome 2013

Pope Paul VI (1897-1978)

Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Nobody's boy, Hector Malot

My childhood version. The Dutch title translates as: Alone in the world When I was little, my parents had a big blue book on their bookshelves with beautiful drawings. I loved the story of the young orphan Remi who was sold by his mean stepfather when he was ten years old to a musician, Vitalis, who travelled around with Joli-Coeur the little monkey and the dogs Capi, Dolce and Zerbino. Nodoby’s boy is a beautiful story and I read it many times. Only later did I find out this was a world famous French classic, translated into many languages. The story is probably known: Remi is an orphan and that is why he does not belong to anybody. But fortunately for him he does encounter many people who help him, sometimes for a short while, but often for a longer period of time. Vitalis is a good man, but during a cold winter’s night when they could not find shelter, he dies. Gardener Alcuin takes Remi into his family, but when a heavy storm destroys the glasshouses, fat

La piovra (1984-1999)

This is a great Italian series about the mafia. In the first four seasons Michele Placido played commissarion Corrado Cattani. He is send to Palermo to deal with the mafia, but in the end it will cost him his family and even his life. The mafia is called La piovra in this series, the octopus , because her tentacles stretch everywhere. It is an uneven battle for the police, everytime they think they can talk to somebody who will help the, the mafia beats them and usually murders that person. It also becomes clear how ‘normal’ people like solicitors and bankers and politicians are bound to the mafia. In series 5 en 6 the leading role is taken over by Vittorio Mezzogiorno who plays Inpector Davide Licata. It must not have been easy to step into the shoes of Michele Placido , but he also did a great job. Other amazing actors were Patricia Millardet who played judge Silvia Conti and of course Remo Girone as banker Tano Carridi. Bruno Cremer played Espinoza and I never could

The Basilica of Saint Denis

Basilica of Saint Denis In the north of Paris is Saint Denis. This neighborhood is named after the first bisshop of Paris, Denis, who was murdered in 251. He was decapitated at the mountain where is now Montmartre, but took his head into his arms and walked to where he wanted to be buried. A shrine was built over his grave and it soon became a place for pilgrims to pray. The shrine became a church with an abbey and a very powerful one. There were several churches, each new one more beautiful than the previous church, reflecting the growing importance of Saint Denis. It became a church for the kings of what would become France. They choose Saint Denis as the church they were buried in. Being connected to Saint Denis, and to their predecessors, gave each king and each dynasty more legitimacy. In total there are 42 kings, 32 queens, 63 princes and princesses buried here and 10 people who played an important role in French history, like the Constable of France Bertrand du Guescl

Icon, the life, times and films of Marilyn Monroe, Gary Vitacco-Robles

More than 600 books are written about Marilyn Monroe. Biographies in all sorts, from made up and all about scandal to serious and well researched. You can ask the question if it is possible to bring a new biography with more than 1200 pages. And the answer is a whole hearted ‘yes’! Gary Vitacco Robles wrote a biography in two volumes. Volume I covers the years 1926-1956 and has 584 pages, volume II covers the years 1956-1962 and has 678 pages. That does not include notes, film synopsis, literaturelist etc. As far as I am concerned, Icon, the life, times and films of Marilyn Monroe is the definite biography, there is nothing that can be added to this. It looks like Gary Vitacco Robles used almost every available source there is about Marilyn Monroe. So he is very capable in explaining why some biographers got things wrong, they did not have all the sources or did not use all of it. I like Icon because it gives new information in all the details it gives.

Early medieval jewelry

In Leiden I saw some amazig jewelry from the early Middle Ages in the museum. There was an exhibition about the Netherlands in the Merovingian times (400-700 AD). As you can see, gold and different kinds of stones were used to create colourful necklaces and other jewelry. These stones were sometimes from the Netherlands, but also from places as far away as India. All these pieces can bee seen in The Rijksmuseum voor Oudheden in Leiden. A fibula Golden bracelets and coins Different fibulae Necklaces Two necklaces Small necklace and a coin that fell of the necklace Gorgeous purple stones (and you see the camera in the glass) Necklace of purple stones and golden coins, and again a visible photocamera and my hands.

Powered by Blogger