Nature & Cities @nature-cities - Tumblr Blog

Self-portrait, Fontainebleau forest, France, 1948 - by Adolfo Kaminsky (1925 - 2023), Argentine/French

“Humboldt himself was just beginning to put on weight. He was thick through the shoulders but still narrow at the hips. Later he got a prominent belly, like Babe Ruth. His legs were restless and his feet made nervous movements. Below, shuffling comedy; above, princeliness and dignity, a certain nutty charm. A surfaced whale beside your boat might look at you as he looked with his wide-set gray eyes. He was fine as well as thick, heavy but also light, and his face was both pale and dark. Golden-brownish hair flowed upward-two light crests and a dark trough. His forehead was scarred. (...) His pale lips were prominent and his mouth was full of immature-looking teeth, like milk teeth. He consumed his cigarettes to the last spark and freckled his tie and his jacket with burns.”

Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift

Don't ask me why exactly, as I don't even think this description is that specific, but I immediately saw Humboldt looking like Philip Seymour Hoffman, and he can only look like Philip Seymour Hoffman from now on.

#It's weird: I never give a defined face to book characters #but it's now the second time this happens in a fairly short amount of time #I recently reread Mr. Norris Changes Trains (by Christopher Isherwood)#and Mr. Norris has the face of the actor who plays Mr. Norrell in the TV series adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell #while Mr. Norris secretary is very obviously Paul Dano

“Such brooding didn't make him any saner.”

Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift

#yup

geryone

Holy Wild, Gwen Benaway

sonimage1965

Charles Mingus

London, 1952

by Robert Frank

macrolit

“Learning does not make one learned: there are those who have knowledge and those who have understanding. The first requires memory and the second philosophy.”

— The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas (b. 24 July 1802)

antonio-gregorio

«Los antiguos habitantes de Mesopotamia creían que los pájaros eran sagrados porque, en la arcilla todavía blanda, sus patas dejaban marcas que se parecían a la escritura cuneiforme. Descifrar esos signos suponía saber qué pensaban los dioses.»

— Vivian Abenshushan, Permanente Obra Negra.