TRILOGY

The tree

Falling into the sky. She was living well above it.

And one day, she collapsed in a grey stone. The tree said she wasn’t looking. And yet she was. One of the edges of the stone was smiling. One other was silent. An ambivalent grey stone. While she was falling, she thought about the tree. The stone was falling just beside her. Both landed in the sky but in different clouds. One went East, the other West. They didn’t see each other again for years. Until she collapsed in a grey stone.

Short story by a fairy

She woke up smiling. Many times she knew she had laughed during the night. He told her. Not this time. This time she was just smiling and nobody noticed. She saw her eyes. She didn’t have red hair. She saw her smile and smiled back. To her daughter to be.

(untitled)

Secrets dissolve or linger under a bridge in Madison County.

principles

Babel

To me, it is a movie about imperfect systems, human beings lost in the inability to deal with certain things, difficulty to live in an imperfect world, yet always pursuing perfectness. Imperfect relationships, the imperfect American system to deal with immigration, the imperfect Japan living on the edge of suicide, erotism and high buildings, the imperfect poor societies of those who live with bare feet on the ground, surprised by new things coming from the richer, such as weapons. How naive they all are, after all. Yet, how human. And this woman everywhere. Cate's turn to shine.

uma coisa é certa

Ouvi-o noutro dia num programa na televisão e gostei. Apesar de não concordar com tudo, achei que sim, essa coisa de impingir desmesuradamente regras Europeias a Portugal porque sim é uma grande merda. Então, a propósito de outra coisa, diz Vasco Pulido Valente no Público dia 11 de Fevereiro:

"O referendo, e principalmente este género de referendo, não une, separa. Resta saber se a hostilidade se prolonga para lá de hoje, como se prolongou na América. Uma coisa é certa, o resultado não será aceite como o resultado de uma eleição. As maiorias não mudam convicções."

Estou convencida que tem razão, especialmente depois de ver o debate pós referendo na SIC.

Research activism

I'm usually very suspicious about petitions. But this one has a rationale and implications I fully understand and agree with. It's about research, that's what I do. It's about the lack of dissemination of findings and projects that sit on someone's desk as nice PhD thesis, or serve as market products for publishers who gatekeep access. A EU report showed that the price of scientific journals rose 200-300% beyond inflation between 1975-1995, in a market now worth up to $11bn (£5.6bn) a year. Who looses? The public, societies and research itself. Free access to research stands as crucial to a much wider and more effective knowledge. 16,000 people have signed the petion already, over 700 from Portugal, over 1,100 from the UK and including Nobel prize winners for medicine Harold Varmus and Richard Roberts. Read more in Publico and the Guardian. Needless to say, the petition is a EU initiative, the US wouldn't agree, would they?

Meanwhile, let's not just blame the system. It's also responsability of individual researchers to make sure their findings leave their offices and houses and to explore creative ways of reaching people. I believe it's part of the process. Unlikely you'll have a press office to do this job for you.

Casa da Animação

Fica uma sugestão e o site.

A rolar sessão de curtas-metragens da FilmesDaMente com cerca de 1h de duração, nos próximos dias 03 e 04 de Fevereiro, pelas 21h30. A sessão conta com a presença dos autores, que falarão sobre os filmes antes da sua exibição. Sempre bom, poder fazer-lhes perguntas desconfortáveis. A ver: O site da casa disponibiliza os filmes da casa online - apesar de demorarem muito a "baixar", vale a pena dar uma olhada. O Presente, é o meu preferido.

Já agora fica a informação: FilmesDaMente, é um colectivo de produção de filmes, nascido em 2002, que produz ficção, documentários, animação ou experimental (em formato de curta ou longa-metragem).

As curtas em exibição são:

- Intemporalidade|Victor Santos|12'|2006 (estreia)
- Noite de Cão|Carlos Amaral|17'|2006 (estreia)
- Ctrl Alt Fly|Victor Santos|3'|2005
- Berço de Pedra|Nuno Rocha|28'|2005

Berço de Pedra ganhou o prémio ficção no VideoCor 2006 e Ctrl Alt Fly assinou um contrato com a :2 de exibição pois o mesmo foi premiado Take One! Conquistado no festival Internacional de Curtas Metragens do Porto 2006.

Bilhete custa 3,5 euros, 3 para estudantes e a loja abre às 20.45. Houve quem comprasse lá prendas de Natal.