Expresso do Oriente

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

2012-01-30T23:44:00.002Z

Where everything began...

2012-01-21T21:02:00.000Z

... in a way. Göbekli Tepe, the first temple in the world (12.000 aC), but also the beginning of agriculture and civilization. You can read more about it in this blog. Just search: Göbekli Tepe
Photos from Smithonian

The Hand

2012-01-11T20:53:00.000Z

Giotto's frescoes at the "Capella deli Scrovegni" also known as Arena. This chapel is situated in Padua.
And now look at the hand...

Janus

2011-12-31T21:53:00.004Z

Separation

2011-12-26T20:45:00.001Z

Edvard Munch's painting

Deus sive Natura

2011-12-04T23:03:00.001Z

Clothespin

2011-11-08T20:22:00.002Z

Usyal Mehmet Ali, Park Chaudfontaine (Belgium)

Cape Roca

2011-10-23T10:48:00.000+01:00

Where the land ends and the sea begins...

The Universal and the Particular

2011-09-30T23:28:00.002+01:00

Bill Viola

2011-09-26T11:25:00.001+01:00

The Fates and the Witches

2011-09-26T10:57:00.000+01:00

Goya's paintings

2011-09-25T11:34:00.000+01:00

Lake Maurepas (Louisiana). Eugene Vasenyoff for National Geographic

Rajasthan

2011-09-18T10:48:00.001+01:00

Desert of Rajasthan (India). Shivji Joshi's photo to National Geographic.

Gabriele Münter

2011-09-15T12:00:00.001+01:00

Gabriele Münter, Jawlensky und Werefkin (1908/09) in the Lenbachhaus of München (Munich)

Y

2011-09-14T16:58:00.000+01:00

Mark Wallinger's Sculpture in Oxford - Magdalen College

"The sculpture, ‘Y’, has taken two years to create and can be found in Magdalen College’s grounds in Bat Willow Meadow, where it completes a circle of willow trees.

The tall, tree-like sculpture reflects the changing light throughout the day and visitors can walk up to and around the work. When the meadow floods, as it often does at certain times of the year, the reflections of ‘Y’ on the water should add another dimension to the sculpture."

Black Forest Schwarzwald

2011-09-12T16:21:00.002+01:00

Photo from Selkuc Aral

Van Gogh: Four Seasons

2011-08-30T20:55:00.001+01:00

Hand of God

2011-08-22T21:19:00.001+01:00

Lorenzo Quinn's sculpture: The Hand of God, now in London (Park Lane)

Fongoli Chimps

2011-08-16T19:54:00.000+01:00

Revolution in our knowledge of chimps. They like to swim and they create spears for hunting.
New discoveries from Jill Pruetz in the region of Fongoli (Senegal).

Hævnen (In a Better World)

2011-08-11T22:53:00.000+01:00

A lovely Danish movie on forgiveness, directed by Suzanne Bier.

"Anton is a doctor who commutes between his home in an idyllic town in Denmark, and his work at an African refugee camp. In these two very different worlds, he and his family are faced with conflicts that lead them to difficult choices between revenge and forgiveness. Anton and his wife Marianne, who have two young sons, are separated and struggling with the possibility of divorce. Their older, ten-year-old son Elias is being bullied at school, until he is defended by Christian, a new boy who has just moved from London with his father, Claus. Christian's mother recently lost her battle with cancer, and Christian is greatly troubled by her death. Elias and Christian quickly form a strong bond, but when Christian involves Elias in a dangerous act of revenge with potentially tragic consequences, their friendship is tested and lives are put in danger. Ultimately, it is their parents who are left to help them come to terms with the complexity of human emotions, pain and empathy. Written by Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Producer"

Winter's Bone

2011-08-08T22:42:00.000+01:00

Great movie now on DVD, with Jennifer Lawrence directed by Debra Granik.

Pandora's Seed

2011-08-03T20:24:00.002+01:00

One of the greatest books of this century.

"In the Western world we are more comfortable than ever before. So why aren't we happier or healthier? Spencer Wells uses the latest research to show the answer lies in our hunter-gatherer roots.
Settling 10,000 years ago may have led to modern civilization, but it also opened a Pandora's box: everything from our sweet tooth to stress, environmental problems and terrorism can be usefully traced back to the mismatch between genes and lifestyle.
On a globe-trotting journey, Wells illustrates how we can learn from our ancestors how to thrive in the future.

Spencer Wells is a leading population geneticist, documentary filmmaker and author of The Journey of Man and Deep Ancestry. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1994 and conducted his post-doctoral training with Luca Cavalli-Sforza at Stanford University. His landmark research findings from a field study that encompassed 25,000 miles of Asia and the former Soviet republics led to advances in the understanding of the male Y chromosome and its ability to trace ancestral human migration.
He was previously director of the Population Genetics Research Group at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford and was recently appointed Frank H.T. Rhodes Visiting Professor at Cornell University. Wells is currently National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and spearheads the Genographic Project. He lives with his wife, a documentary filmmaker, in Washington, DC."

First Work of Art

2011-07-27T09:35:00.000+01:00

The first world's artwork (known until now).
From Blombos Cave in South Africa.
Dating around 80-75.000 years ago.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

2011-07-18T15:25:00.000+01:00

Klimt

2011-07-13T09:59:00.001+01:00

Cassone (1913) - Klimt's painting

Sephardic Song

2011-07-11T22:59:00.000+01:00

Spencer Wells and Human Genetics

2011-07-10T19:39:00.002+01:00

Spencer Wells

2011-07-10T18:33:00.001+01:00

Gothic

2011-07-03T12:39:00.000+01:00

Summer Garden

2011-06-21T16:53:00.004+01:00

Webshots Click on the link. You'll find a better resolution of the photo.
© Deleu /AGE Fotostock

Nuno Crato

2011-06-18T15:15:00.002+01:00

One-Moment Meditation

2011-06-12T14:38:00.002+01:00

Sri Lanka

2011-06-07T20:11:00.001+01:00

National Geograpic's Photo (Gaston Lacombe)

What an Astronaut's Camera Sees

2011-06-04T15:33:00.000+01:00

Quoting:
"An intimate tour... in 1080p... of Earth's most impressive landscapes... as captured by astronauts with their digital cameras. Dr. Justin Wilkinson from NASA's astronaut team describes the special places that spacemen focus on whenever they get a moment.

We start with the coast of Namibia in southwestern Africa, the very dry desert coast of the Namib Desert. You can see a cloud band butting up against the shore and some straight sand dunes in the lower left of the picture. Yeah those are big red sand dunes that the astronauts say is one of the most beautiful sites that you can get when you're flying.

Coming into the view on the left is an impact crater right in the middle of the picture, right about now and some wind streaks. We know where this area is because it's a bit unique. We've got a major dune field coming into the picture on the left there: the Oriental Sand Sea, as it's called in French, and on the top is the Isawan Sand Sea.

This is the island of Sicily with cloud over Mt. Etna, so you can't quite tell there's a big volcano in the middle of the picture right now. And there's the toe of the boot of Italy coming into the picture from the left. See a good example of sun glint on the right with the sea reflecting the sun.

This is the smooth east coast of the Kamchatka peninsula again. As you move inland it gets even more striking as a picture because of all the volcanoes on this peninsula and the snowy mountains. There's a volcano just coming into the picture from the top left there. You can see a knob-shaped feature.

Here is a smaller finger of land in China sticking into the Pacific Ocean. In winter you can see all the snow lower left. This is called the Qindoa P eninsula and we recognize it. And again, the sun glint point moving along the coast upper center.

In a very clear picture, the Zagros mountains with snow on them in Iran, in the country of Iran.

Here we have the north coast of Australia and the gulf of Carpenteria and some islands. The biggest island at the bottom of the screen there is Groote island, which means the big island in Dutch.

When you see a huge powerful feature like this and the astronauts do shoot them a lot and we have had some detailed views looking right down the eye, looking at the eyewall. In fact I seem to remember views of breaking waves on the sea surface at the bottom of the eye. Amazing detail.

Look at this neat picture of Great Salt Lake in Utah. And the variation in color? That's due to an almost a complete blockage of the circulation of the lake by a trestle for a railroad that crosses from one side to the other. It stops the circulation and things get a little bit saltier and certainly saltier at the north end of the lake.

Here you see two circles coming in to the top of the view now. These are either volcanoes or effects from inside the earth producing circular features. We think this is the Big Bend area of Texas.

This is an interesting sideways view of the peninsula of Florida, with the Keys stretching out into the lowest part of the picture there. And the shallow seas around the Bahama Islands top right. And Cuba coming into the picture lower right.

And this I believe is the coast of Northern Chile in South America. It's a very straight coast, except for that strange headland out to the right just disappearing. And so the desert is the first part of the inland zone, and then you see much blacker at the top of the picture the Andes Mountains with some many dozens of volcanoes.

Here is a thunderhead. The typical look of the thunderheads, the big rainstorms, that develop over the Amazon Basin. And another one coming in top right. Here's an obviously a major river. There's an even bigger one coming in on the right. That looks to me like it could well be the Amazon River, with one of its big tributaries on the left. And the flow would seem to be from the bottom of the picture to the top."

Indonesia

2011-05-31T20:51:00.000+01:00

Photo from National Geographic

Omo's People/3

2011-05-31T14:18:00.001+01:00

Photo from Hans Silvester

Omo's People/2

2011-05-31T10:47:00.003+01:00

Omo's People/1

2011-05-30T22:34:00.007+01:00

Omo's people. They live in Africa near the river Omo (in Ethiopia). It's a special place for humanity because it was the location where Richard Leakey discovered the first Homo Sapiens (they lived there 195.000 years ago...). Photo from Hans Silvester.

Great Composers 1 - Bach

2011-05-28T23:15:00.002+01:00

Namibia

2011-05-27T23:30:00.002+01:00

The Elephant Celebes

2011-05-14T20:04:00.002+01:00

Famous painting from Max Ernst. "The Elephant Celebes" (1921) or The Elephant from Celebes is one of the greatest surrealist paintings.

Time-lapse

2011-05-10T19:52:00.002+01:00

T imelapse
- The City Limits from Dominic on Vimeo.
Enlarge the video to see it...

Luz

2011-05-01T23:01:00.004+01:00

Ana Baptista(©)'s Photo

Orpheus and Eurydice

2011-04-25T16:11:00.004+01:00

Click to enlarge the painting

Eurydice bitten by the serpent - Titian's painting Orpheus and Eurydice (1508).

Anish Kapoor (2)

2011-04-08T12:27:00.004+01:00

The same work from Anish Kapoor but from another angle or even at night.

Anish Kapoor

2011-04-03T21:42:00.006+01:00

Click to see it.
Anish Koopar's sculpture (Cloud Gate) in Chicago (Millenium Park). Anish was born in Mumbai and lives now in the U.K.
If you want to know more of Kapoor's work browse his own site: HERE.

Gandhi

2011-02-15T13:11:00.002Z

Buddhabrot

2011-02-01T23:27:00.001Z

Click to see it

buddies

2011-01-30T13:24:00.003Z

Euan Walker and Ellie (Springer Spaniel) Paul Walker – www.pawspetphotography.co.uk

Dogs

2011-01-30T13:22:00.003Z

West Highland White Terrier // Paul Walker – www.pawspetphotography.co.uk

Venice

2011-01-24T15:31:00.004Z

Deborah Howard, Venice and the East: the impact of the Islamic World on Venetian Architecture, 1100-1500. New Haven, CT:Yale University Press, 2000.

Venice, "eastern city" of Europe.

serenitas

2011-01-20T20:09:00.005Z

Click to enlarge.
Rui Cambraia's Photo

San Miniato al Monte/Firenze

2011-01-05T16:23:00.005Z

Click to see it.
A work of visual art by Helena F. Monteiro (2010).
San Miniato al Monte is a basilica in Florence (the construction of the present church begun in 1013).

Anselm Kiefer and Zin Zum

2011-01-04T20:48:00.006Z

Anselm Kiefer's painting, Zin Zum (1989).
Zin Zum [Tzimtzum] describes the cabalistic view of creation as a contraction of the power of God to a single dot.

Penrose staircase

2010-12-26T07:46:00.006Z

"Relativity" (1953) from M.C. Escher, the main motive of Nolan's movie "Inception" (2010).
Try to climb a Penrose stairs...

And now Inception...
"SPOILER WARNING: What follows should only be viewed by people who have already seen Inception. It contains heavy, critical spoilers which will impact your viewing of the film. If you haven’t seen Inception yet, stop reading and don’t come back until you do." (Cinema Blend)

Click it

Happy Christmas

2010-12-23T11:41:00.001Z

Van Dog

2010-12-06T10:29:00.003Z

Click it (in Portuguese).
Cartoon from Van Dog.

Parsifal

2010-12-04T20:13:00.003Z

Quadro do pintor belga, Jean Delville: "Parsifal"

The Fool

2010-11-03T18:43:00.004Z

The Fool, Tarot card from Rider-Waite (Smith)'s deck

Sphynx

2010-11-02T18:34:00.003Z

Click the painting to see it better.
Gustave Moreau, Oedipus and the Sphynx (1864)

Time

2010-11-01T21:57:00.001Z

Titian (Tiziano), The Allegory of Age Governed by Prudence (c. 1565–1570)

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T08:08:00.000Z

Nabucodonosor

2010-10-30T12:06:00.003+01:00

"Nabucodonosor" de William Blake

Daigo

2010-10-26T16:02:00.004+01:00

Photo shot by webshots of a Shingon Temple in Japan (Kyoto).

Colour/Color

2010-09-12T19:41:00.002+01:00

Surrounded by Space

2010-09-10T22:41:00.002+01:00

Cores

2010-08-28T23:21:00.000+01:00

Kyoto

2010-08-16T22:57:00.002+01:00

Magical Mountains of China: Yangshuo

2010-08-15T11:19:00.005+01:00

The Masks of Sichuan

2010-08-14T18:53:00.005+01:00

Sanxingdui is situated in Southwest China in the province of Sichuan. In the times of late Shang Dynasty a mysterious culture was developed in China. There strange rituals were made with these masks and statues. To know more, click HERE and HERE.

Crops

2010-08-08T23:30:00.004+01:00

Click to enlarge it. This picture was taken in Pewsey, Wiltshire (UK).

Wuji-Taiji

2010-07-29T12:38:00.003+01:00

Click the picture to enlarge it.
Wuji (Wu-chi) Taiji (T'ai-chi)

"1. Wuji: The open circle at the center has no divisions. It represents the great limitlessness that is our origin.
2. Yin and Yang: The solid line represents yang, and the broken line represents yin. Yin and yang are the first separation after limitlessness.
3. The Four Images: Yin and yang take on their first pairings with one another, forming four combinations.
4. The Early Heaven Eight Trigrams: This is Fu Xi's arrangement of the Eight Trigrams. The arrangement is read counter clockwise. Opposite trigrams are arranged across from one another.
5. The Early Heaven Sixty-Four Hexagrams: This arrangement is read from the top and center outward on either side. One begins from heaven (at the "top" of the circle) and meets the other side at the "bottom" on earth. One can begin from heaven, only to find all lines reversing themselves after passing the point marked by earth. A blank band between the fifth and sixth circle marks King Wen's revolutionary rearrangement of the Eight Trigrams and the Sixty-Four Hexagrams.
6. The Later Heaven Eight Trigrams: King Wen's Eight Trigrams pattern, expressing the cyclical, seasonal, and directional nature of change. This pattern unites the Five Phases and the Eight Trigrams. It is read clockwise.
7. The Later Heaven Sixty-Four Hexagrams: The sequence is read clockwise. Odd-numbered hexagrams generate the following evennumbered hexagram by reversing their lines in a yin-yang exchange. Thus, every other hexagram is the inverse of the preceding one. In turn, even-numbered hexagrams are linked to subsequent hexagrams. Each hexagram is built from six lines, and these lines symbolize time and position. The lowest line is early in a situation and subordinate in position. The highest line is late in a situation and retiring in position. By the logic of the Changes, that which is late in a cycle changes to its opposite, and generates a new cycle. Thus, each hexagram represents a cycle."
Deng Ming-Dao

Camel in a White Shade

2010-07-28T17:17:00.002+01:00

Click the picture to enlarge it.
Photo by Sergei Reautov. You can find it alt National Geographic:
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/

Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove

2010-07-27T18:55:00.003+01:00

Click the picture to enlarge it

"The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove were a group of Chinese learned men from the third century CE. During a time of political upheaval, the group distanced themselves from governmental service, choosing instead to spend time engaged in Daoist-inspired discussions, poetry, and music, sometimes while inebriated. At least one member of the group abandoned his government position after becoming disheartened by corruption, and the group as a whole became associated with retreat from public life.

References to the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove are abundant in Chinese and Japanese art and literature. The earliest extant visual representations of the group date to the fifth century CE. Over time the theme gained popularity in Chinese painting and decorative arts, particularly from the late Ming (1368–1644) through the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). In Japan, the motif of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove was known as early as the ninth century. It was widely represented in Japanese art from the sixteenth century to the Edo period (1615–1868).

Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, featuring traditional works of art from China and Japan, has been organized to accompany and provide some cultural context for Asia Society’s exhibition of Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest, the contemporary video work by Chinese artist Yang Fudong.

Who Were the Seven Sages?

Xi Kang (Ji Kang; 223–262) is identified through historical references and tomb inscriptions as a poet and musician, author, and Daoist philosopher and alchemist. His oeuvre includes compositions for a stringed instrument called the qin and writings on music theory, politics, ethics, and longevity. A critic of Confucianism, he is recorded as having challenged many of the social conventions. At a young age he retired from official life and a desire for fame and success, removing himself from the political corruption that he felt he could not endure, and became a proponent of wuwei (inaction). We know he was executed by the military general Zhong Hui, although the circumstances leading to this action remain unclear.

Shan Tao (205–285) was a good friend of Xi Kang. Shan Tao was an official who ultimately reached the rank of Director of Instruction (situ), one of the three highest offices in China. At one point Shan Tao put Xi Kang’s name forward as his successor. This recommendation only alienated the latter and irrevocably damaged their friendship, because the act suggested that Shan Tao did not fully understand Xi Kang’s character and his rejection of governmental service.

Xiang Xiu (228–281) was also a good friend of Xi Kang. He wrote a memoir of Xi Kang, as well as a refutation of Xi Kang’s essay Yangsheng lun (Essay on Nourishing Life). He is also said to have written a commentary on the major third-century BCE Daoist philosophical text the Zhuangzi.

Ruan Ji (210–263), the son of an official, was a member of a famous literary group and a talented writer and poet himself. He held the official position of Infantry Colonel (bubing xiaowei), but has gone down in history as being unrestrained and reckless, perhaps because of his excessive drinking habit. Correspondence also relates that he was an acquaintance of Xi Kang.

Ruan Xian (230–281) held office as Junior Chamberlain (sanji shilang) and Grand Warden (taishou), and is said to have possessed musical skill.

Liu Ling (ca. 221–ca. 300) wrote the poem Ode to the Virtues of Wine. There are a few anecdotes about him published after the fifth century. One of these notes:

On many occasions Liu Ling, under the influence of wine, would be completely free and uninhibited, sometimes taking off his clothes and sitting naked in his room. Once when some persons saw him and chided him for it, Ling retorted, “I take heaven and earth for my pillars and roof, and the rooms of my house for my pants and coat. What are you gentlemen doing in my pants?”

Wang Rong (234–305) remains largely an enigma, though we know that like Shan Tao he held the high ranking post of Director of Instruction."
Asia Society
©2009 Asia Society | 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street New York, NY 10021

Mu

2010-07-24T18:51:00.004+01:00

On the lost continent of Mû, you can read something if you click the word HERE
The twelve books of Corto:
1. 1904-1905: La Jeunesse (1983); 2. 1913-1915: La Ballade de la mer salée (1975); 1916-1917: 3. Sous le signe du Capricorne (1979); 4. 1917: Corto toujours un peu plus loin (1979); 5. 1917-1918: Les Celtiques (1980); 6. 1918: Les Éthiopiques (1978); 7. 1918-1920: Corto Maltese en Sibérie (1979); 8. 1921: Fable de Venise (Sirat al Bunduqyyiah) (1981); 9. 1921-1922: La Maison dorée de Samarkand (1986); 10. 1923: Tango (1987); 11. 1924: Les Helvétiques (1988); 12. 1925: Mû (1992).
We can also find books with short stories: 1. Suite Carïbéenne; 2. Sous le drapeau des pirates; 3. Lointaines îles du vent; 4. La Lagune des mystères.

China - 中国

2010-07-20T19:00:00.005+01:00

Last Painting

2010-07-20T18:54:00.001+01:00

Van Dog

2010-07-20T18:51:00.000+01:00

Click to read it (in Portuguese)

Blake & Mortimer

2010-07-15T11:20:00.003+01:00

If you love the work of Blake & Mortimer and you know how to read French, you'll love this site. Please click HERE.

Van Dog

2010-07-08T11:05:00.001+01:00

Click to read it (in Portuguese)

Beckett

2010-07-06T10:04:00.000+01:00

"Directed by Charles Sturridge, Ohio Impromptu, written in 1980,by Samuel Beckett opens with a figure clad in black with long white hair hiding his face and sitting on a white chair at a white table. There are two characters, the Reader and the Listener."

12 Chinese Zodiac Animals

2010-06-27T11:54:00.001+01:00

Good friends

2010-06-26T12:55:00.002+01:00

Van Dog

2010-06-21T22:42:00.002+01:00

Click to read it (in Portuguese)

Amazing Fox!

2010-06-20T13:29:00.010+01:00

Amazing archaeological discovery! In Turkey, German archeologists found what looks like a "sanctuary", the first sanctuary built by men, thousands years before Stonehenge or Newgrange... It was built 11.500 years ago and it is known by the weird name of Göbekli Tepe (it means "Hill with a potbelly"). It's amazing because it was established by hunter-gatherers, nomadic people, before the advent of sedentarism, long before the first cities.
And you can predict by the following image that they like foxes.
It is really an old fox! :)

To know more about the subject click HERE (Smithsonian mag) or in Wikepedia.

Oriental Studies/Estudos Orientais

2010-06-19T13:17:00.004+01:00

For more information (in Portuguese), click HERE.

Van Dog

2010-06-18T11:04:00.001+01:00

Click to read it (in Portuguese)

Charm

2010-06-17T12:36:00.004+01:00

I'm thrilled because this blog received the Charm Prize. Thanks to the blog Through the Window.
An now the prize goes to:

Azul Porcelana
blog@conceição
Folhas Perdidas
Imagens com Texto
Traços e Cores
Van Dog

and last, but not the least:
Through the Window

Van Dog

2010-06-11T20:46:00.001+01:00

Click to read it (in Portuguese)

Across the Universe

2010-06-05T23:31:00.001+01:00

Macedonia

2010-06-04T19:58:00.005+01:00

St. George's Island in Macedonia (Republica of Macedonia). As you can see, this beautiful island is the real motive of the painting "Isle of the Dead" from Arnold Böcklin. See my last post on Böcklin (May 31th)

An Idea...

2010-06-04T10:36:00.001+01:00

USA vs UK

2010-06-03T20:22:00.000+01:00

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Jon Stewart Schools John Oliver: US Elections Are Better Than UK Elections
- Watch more Funny Videos at Vodpod.

Nirvana

2010-06-03T19:53:00.003+01:00

"There is a realm, where there is neither the solid (earth), nor the fluid (water), neither heat (fire), nor motion (wind), neither this world, nor any other world, neither sun, nor moon. This I call neither arising, nor passing away, neither standing still nor being born, nor dying. There is neither foothold, nor development, nor any basis. This is the end of suffering.
There is an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed. If there were not this Unborn, this Unoriginated, this Uncreated, this Unformed, escape from the world of the born, the originated, the created, the formed, would not be possible.
But since there is an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed, therefore is escape possible from the world of the born, the
originated, the created, the formed."
The Buddha (Udana)

The Power of our Imagination

2010-06-01T12:24:00.007+01:00

Click it!

The German painter Stephan Lochner (1440-1451) never had seen a lion in his life. But as a mediaeval painter (school of Cologne, gothic art) he was familiar with the topic, Saint Jerome and the Lion. So he decided to paint one with his own imagination... This story is narrated by Tom Regan to exemplify the difference between our knowledge of animals in the past and in the present. And how this knowledge matters...

Van Dog

2010-06-01T10:29:00.003+01:00

Click it (the comic strip is in Portuguese).

Isle of the Dead

2010-05-31T11:43:00.007+01:00

When I saw for the first time these two paintings, I thought to myself: "it is impossible to know by the Internet how a painting really looks". But then I realise that there are five versions of this famous symbolist painting, and we're seeing in this post the first (1880) and the fifth (1888). Arnold Böcklin is also the author of the painting: Isle of the Living (Die Lebensinsel, 1888), but it is not so beautiful as "Isle of the Dead" (Die Toteninsel). Lost fans, please be aware of the driver from Oceanic (last episode) with the name "Bocklin".

Egyptian Senet with an Irish Flavour (Flavor)

2010-05-28T12:31:00.007+01:00

Please look to the symbols on the right...

And you'll find in this Egyptian board game the same symbols from Newgrange

On Senet, click HERE.

Newgrange, one of the most magical places I have been (inside).
And inside the cave I saw the Light... really

On Newgrange, click HERE

Happy Vesak

2010-05-27T22:54:00.001+01:00

Live together and you won't die alone

2010-05-26T19:38:00.005+01:00

Click it (© picture from Lostpedia)
The Island is a metaphor, a symbolic narrative of our lives (where Lost is the keyword); the Flash-sideways, a touching metaphor of our afterlives (where Found is the keyword). But if you prefer, everything can be the last dream of a dying man near his dog. It's up to you to decide...