Marble Lions
I glided off, in one of the dark boats, until we came to an old Arsenal guarded by four marble lions. To make my Dream more monstrous and unlikely, one of these had words and sentences upon its body, inscribed there, at an unknown time, and in an unknown language; so that their purport was a mystery to all men. " Charles Dickens, An Italian Dream, 1844
Italian Journey - Roma
"In the solitude of the Via Sacra the well-known objects seemed alien and ghost-like. But when I approached the grand ruins of the Colosseum and looked through the gate into the interior, I must frankly confess that a shudder ran through me, and I quickly home.
Any gigantic mass has a peculiar effect on me; it has something about it which is at once fascinating and awe-inspiring. I drew up a summa summarum of my whole stay in Italy, and this roused in my agitated soul a mood I might call heroic-elegiac, for it tried to embody itself in the poetic form of an elegy." Goethe, Italian Journey
Any gigantic mass has a peculiar effect on me; it has something about it which is at once fascinating and awe-inspiring. I drew up a summa summarum of my whole stay in Italy, and this roused in my agitated soul a mood I might call heroic-elegiac, for it tried to embody itself in the poetic form of an elegy." Goethe, Italian Journey
Used to be...
The magic of Sydney is fading for Sydney Magazine's editor who thrives on the creative buzz of New York. "I've noticed Sydney's changing a lot. There's a new aggression and road rage. Sydney used to be all about good sportmanship and politeness. In the last couple of years, there's been a negative energy: a sense of money, greed, and no fair game like there used to be. I say this with certain amount of sadness, as someone who really loves Sydney." Brana Wolf, Sydney Magazine (SMH), May 2008
Sydney - the other side
"Sydney, it's a bit like Melbourne. More money, less society, more beauty, less substance. Better weather, minus the golf ball hail storms. Illogical urban planning, with buses polluting. Restaurants with views, and long queues. Bigger nightlife, with little soul. Slaves to fashion with little sense of personal style. Leggy blondes that show lots of skin and not much within. More stockbrokers, publicists and unwarranted pretension, with not a hint of discernment or culture." Jessica Smith, Sydney Magazine (SMH), April 2008
City of Haunting Dreams
"Venice appears to us as if in a dreams, its breathtaking architecture and overwhelming weight of history challenging the soulless uniformity of our modern-day world. This unique city of so many contradictions, of shifting light and dark shadows, subtle movement and fleeting glances, quickly seduces us with its timeless beauty. It is only later that we become aware of its other, more sinister side." Simon Marsden, Venice City of Haunting Dreams 2001
[Mantova] City*set
Photos by Motocchio1. swan lake, 2. wings, 3. FADED MEMORY: swan lake in late autumn, 4. FADED MEMORY: drive in a foggy day, 5. PRELUDE: birds, 6. calm swim, 7. the end of the day, the beginning of spring, 8. *, 9. morning at the market day, 10. *, 11. her morning, 12. perspective, 13. winter morning diptych, 14. 冬の散歩／passeggiata invernale, 15. mantova, february 2008, 16. FADED MEMORY: on the way
Hanoi Old Quarter
By Bui Xuan Phai (1920-1988). A painter famous for the paintings of Hanoi Old Quarter.
Still there...
"I heard the familiar sounds of the street below: the high-pitched call of the bread seller, the newsboys reciting the day's headlines through an amplifier on his bicycle, the growl of jackhammers, the tap, tap, tao of the bronze caster's hammer on an emerging statue of Buddha. It was a reassuring medley, a reminder that even as great changes were sweeping through South East Asia's oldest capital, the intimacy and timelessness of Hanoi lingered, undaunted by the suffering of war or the burdens of peace." David Lamb, National Geographic 2004
[Hanoi] Poem
Ten years, time turned into a durable thread
Flowers bloom in violets, the wall covered with mold and moss.
Ten years in Hanoi and I have found
My own sort of joys and sorrows.
Poet Nguyen Duc Mau
Flowers bloom in violets, the wall covered with mold and moss.
Ten years in Hanoi and I have found
My own sort of joys and sorrows.
Poet Nguyen Duc Mau
Quote of the Day
"Kyoto's beauty is elusive and has to be sought out with patience and forethought......the best of what Kyoto has to offer is often small in scale and of a delicacy that the encroachment of raucous modernity seems always to underline, and sometimes enhance." Alan Booth, 1991
A Little Lost
"I thought I knew Venice but suddenly you're in the middle of that kaleidoscope of people and places and little pieces and little bridges and little canals and you don't know where the hell you are." Alan Whicker. Sunday Life March 12, 2006
[Beijing] - Population
The influx of migrant workers into the capital had seen Beijing's population reach 17.4 million, the paper said in a separate report, only 600,000 short of a ceiling of 18 million the city government had set for 2020. Reuters, 4 December 2007
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