Some people

Some people make it look so easy.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=LXrTg4m6_MI

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=oh8jaMwNWl4&feature=related



















Painting by Akino Fuku

God bless 'em all

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ja35dyPxE74

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=TXRGdElsm14&feature=related

Little Boxes

I am now getting sent a German word every day by email, and an example sentence.

The first is "Kartons":

Möchten Sie gern wieder verwertbare Kartons?

Plus I have worked out how to listen to German lessons on my little ipod type thing on the way to work. So I can now say: "Good day. Would you like some recyclable cardboard boxes?"



The view from my bus stop.

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=nXtHLn0FlYc&feature=related

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=QB0ordd2nOI&feature=related



Lyrics to To Build A Home :
There is a house built out of stone
Wooden floors, walls and window sills...
Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust...
This is a place where I don't feel alone
This is a place where I feel at home...

Cause, I built a home
for you
for me

Until it disappeared
from me
from you

And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust...

Out in the garden where we planted the seeds
There is a tree as old as me
Branches were sewn by the color of green
Ground had arose and passed it's knees

By the cracks of the skin I climbed to the top
I climbed the tree to see the world
When the gusts came around to blow me down
I held on as tightly as you held onto me
I held on as tightly as you held onto me......


Cause, I built a home
for you
for me

Until it disappeared
from me
from you



http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=aXM-34m5yak&feature=related

Siblings

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBOMvT19DlA&feature=related

Luka Bloom and Christie Moore - Brothers

Painting of sisters by Akino Fuku

Cover

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=betZWo0gZrc

The times are tough now, just getting tougher
This old world is rough, it's just getting rougher
Cover me, come on baby, cover me
Well I'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me
Promise me baby you won't let them find us
Hold me in your arms, let's let our love blind us
Cover me, shut the door and cover me
Well I'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me

Outside's the rain, the driving snow
I can hear the wild wind blowing
Turn out the light, bolt the door
I ain't going out there no more

This whole world is out there just trying to score
I've seen enough I don't want to see any more,
Cover me, come on and cover me
I'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me


http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=tiNVy5nfbcQ

Come, Madam, come, all rest my powers defy,
Until I labour, I in labour lie.
The foe oft-times, having the foe in sight,
Is tired with standing, though they never fight.
Off with that girdle, like heaven's zone glistering
But a far fairer world encompassing.
Unpin that spangled breast-plate, which you wear
That th'eyes of busy fools may be stopped there:
Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime
Tells me from you that now 'tis your bed time.
Off with that happy busk, whom I envy
That still can be, and still can stand so nigh.
Your gown's going off such beauteous state reveals
As when from flowery meads th'hills shadow steals.
Off with your wiry coronet and show
The hairy diadem which on you doth grow.
Off with those shoes: and then safely tread
In this love's hallowed temple, this soft bed.
In such white robes heaven's angels used to be
Received by men; thou Angel bring'st with thee
A heaven like Mahomet's Paradise; and though
Ill spirits walk in white, we easily know
By this these Angels from an evil sprite:
They set out hairs, but these the flesh upright.

License my roving hands, and let them go
Behind before, above, between, below.
Oh my America, my new found land,
My kingdom, safeliest when with one man manned,
My mine of precious stones, my Empery,
How blessed am I in this discovering thee.
To enter in these bonds is to be free,
Then where my hand is set my seal shall be.

Full nakedness, all joys are due to thee.
As souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be
To taste whole joys. Gems which you women use
Are as Atlanta's balls, cast in men's views,
That when a fool's eye lighteth on a gem
His earthly soul may covet theirs not them.
Like pictures, or like books' gay coverings made
For laymen, are all women thus arrayed;
Themselves are mystic books, which only we
Whom their imputed grace will dignify
Must see revealed. Then since I may know,
As liberally as to a midwife show
Thyself; cast all, yea this white linen hence.
Here is no penance, much less innocence.

To teach thee, I am naked first: why then
What need'st thou have more covering than a man.

John Donne


http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MXhemCOIY

You are right - weird film.

How about this one?

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=VMrUMLCeOnw&feature=related

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=Xql99I1VSdI

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you'll see I'll be there with you

Yes

A classic in our time:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/dermot/ram/winehouse.ram



http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ayzhJKy8H_A

Four guys, two guitars, and a drum kit;

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=N9i2fqxSjTI

I want a whole lot of love

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=V_hxCJYbUXo&feature=related








Painting by Akino Fuku

11/11

As I listen to the memorials - the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, we shall remember them, they died protecting our country, etc. the 108-year-old who as a teenager was forced to take part in a bloodbath in Belgium - I wonder why it is we focus on these teenage victims' sacrifices, rather than on the evil, ignorant misguided morons, the politicians, who sent, and continue to send, millions of young men and women to their certain agonising and premature deaths, rather than use what wit they have to engage in diplomatic discussion with their 'enemies'.

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.

The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Wilfred Owen, killed, aged 25, one week before the Armistice, 4th November, 1918.

Dulce et Decorum est.

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

The title and the Latin exhortation of the final two lines are drawn from a poem of Horace (Odes iii 2.13):

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori:

mors et fugacem persequitur virum

nec parcit inbellis iuventae

poplitibus timidove tergo."

"How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country:

Death pursues the man who flees,

spares not the hamstrings or cowardly backs

Of battle-shy youths."

Wikipedia

Mama Africa

I was lucky to see this amazing and lovely lady a couple of years ago at a festival in Italy. She died today - God rest her soul.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mwh9z58iAU&feature=related


http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=TwNk-5enrfM&feature=related

Einstein

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
Albert Einstein

It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.
Albert Einstein

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
Albert Einstein


http://www.lifeinitaly.com/tourism/tuscany/imgL/Battaglia%20di%20Costantino.jpg

Piero della Francesca