Another amazing book by the Angola writer, Pepetela .

" The near end of the world " is a wonderful novel , full of refined irony and wrapped in a delicious narrative that exposes the weaknesses , inconsistencies and virtues of human beings , regardless of skin color, social status and economic standing . The thread of this story is simple , like the title suggests , the world as we know it disappears and will not do as, but what I can say is that unlike other books that describe doomsday scenarios , or wars , or major natural disasters , or even alien invasions to justify the end of all human beings that inhabit the planet, here everything happens for one reason, pure prejudice . Above all I believe that " almost end of the world " is a book that makes us think , not only on issues related to racial , ethnic , cultural and social differences, but in particular on the value we give to things, if almost all living beings pure and simply disappear like smoke, what would be the true value of the materials things for the few that were left ? What would be essential and what would become superfluous ? What will move us ? This is a disturbing literary exercise in the sense that if we are put in that position, how we would react before the total loss of our identity ? Now, imagine how the world would be if everything remained intact and only you and a handful of people survive ? Well , the writer explains how, and all you have to do is read. Have a nice reading.

There is a small publisher, the company of the islands , founded by Carlos Alberto Machado and Sara Santos, on the island of Pico in the Azores. It is an almost utopian dream which seeks to give greater visibility to the new Portuguese writers of fiction , but also publishes poetry and theater .

What was the need to create a publishing house in the Azores ?
Carlos Alberto Machado : Well, there is always the need for publishers regardless of where we are. Fortunately there are many people, many authors to publish. There are more known, others less, that in general terms . In the Azores, in particular , there was a lack of publishers with a wider spectrum, not just publications on Azorian topics but mainly local writers , since the two that exist normally never engaged in the publication of new authors. There are also personal reasons and other, more general , but that is the life of publishers to appear and disappear .

But what are the challenges for a publishing company in the islands ?
CAM : There are very real challenges, there is a set of Azorean authors are not publish and we can do it. It is a project in parallel one with the other . We released more poetry and theater, something that is not very common in national publishers and we are going to keep this line . This year we 'll start other areas. In the background when someone creates a publisher tries to differentiate itself from other projects , not to be distinguished, but because we are different people and have differing ideas about the books we think are accurate and that are interesting to offer to readers.

Addressed to publish new authors , but it is only the Azorean writers or appear others outside the islands ?
CAM : We have no age preference . In the Azores and elsewhere, but here in particular , the two publishers who are relatively recent privilege the consecrated. We thought that the offer should be guided by quality and hence we can publish both the author with a name made in the market, and one that is appearing, or has published little things . We start publishing a magazine with only Azorean authors addressed exclusively to the archipelago and that favors the relatively young novelists with the maximum of 40 years of age, but with the peculiarity of not having work published, or at least almost none. This is an important aspect. We publish already some national authors , including two writers whose books were the first to be edited, but it not only just the new one.

The Azorians , being islanders, are preferably poets ?
CAM : I think not , because the texts that will be publishing there is much fiction, told you about the magazine whose content we opted not to include poetry, but mostly fiction , though there have been major Azorean poets. I do not know if there's a big difference, I cannot say all of this safely, do not know if the region differs from the rest of the country in this regard , people said that Portugal is a country of poets , maybe it's true, because there very good poetry in our country .

It is a film of Nelson Camacho and Filipa Garcês. A comedy that draws a parallel between the poetic writing of Fernando Pessoa and the current reality of Madeira .

The idea of the scrypt for the fortunate islands arises how?
Nelson Camacho : Starts with an irresistible invitation, knew I had only two months to do it, so I accepted the challenge, on the other hand, had never done a short film with a script, which was another of the hurdles to overcome in terms of my video experience . It all starts with Filipa Garcês that is the person who follows me closely on this project, she is the co -author of the script and we started talking how we could shoot it in our fe off hours , on weekends and days off . I really like Fernando Pessoa, particularly the fortune islands and taking into account that Filipa, as an actress , had already had some experience with this and other characters, we begin to think of a story that has passed through Madeira, it was fiction and also could cause the laughter of the maderian, in our view . Everything begins with a very creative work , tireless from Filipa in the dialogues and we fought a lot to create something with logic, 15-20 minutes, which was another huge challenge , because a free short film surely would have been smaller, only by a matter of time, as we had only two months. So we got to work.

Let's talk about the script, there is a bridge between the poetry of Fernando Pessoa and the other characters , what was your biggest challenge in terms of writing ?
Filipa Garcês : Essentially it was trying to write something from today that fits the Madeiran reality, from the poem and develop the characters and the story .

Other curiosities of this film is all male characters are represented by a woman .
FG : Exactly, it was very complicated to deploy me on several characters, even more by male figures, was also a double challenge in my opinion, because it is a comedy that is an idea that is still associated with men, I can say even it was triple the effort and seeing the feedback from the audience we think it was very positive .

NC : I'd like to add that it was also a larger challenge to Filipa, from the moment we want to put the characters into contact with each other , because it is extremely difficult to account for the time necessary to response to hit the right work edition. Of course there are always tricks you can use , but it is nonetheless meticulous taking into account the long dialogues and believe me we had to repeat many times ( laughs ) .

Which of the characters each of you liked more ?
NC : I really like the intolerant, cruel police, says some truths , is incisive and think he is fantastic.

FG : I liked Sergei, the Ukrainian , because it represents the fragility of emigrants in terms of language barriers, not understanding what the locals say, the habits are different .

NC : Maybe also there is a certain shyness.

FG : It's a character that is very dear to me .

Since 2011 the Prague Theatre is dedicated to the catechesis. In different formats and with different themes this is always room for who wants to be in a moment of reflection , mixed doubtful intimacy and intolerant preaching. This time the preaching trip passes through the Gate 33 with André Teodósio and writer José Maria Vieira Mendes. Both helped participants not to find answers but to reformulate their questions. About theater, for example. But also literature or dance or dictionaries or deaths and births and stories and so on .

Catechesis why? It is a provocation ?
André Teodósio: No, we felt that we must share some grammar to get our megalopsique or transcendence of our soul. It is a position , an output of our everyday action , as we see us or a self -awareness so we can decide our future, or our way, so we tried to do with this catechism is to be human and our own god ex machina at the same time, we try to do anything and try to see anything. Catechesis is a kind of a conversion of other ways to do this, or other kinds of perception to the way we experience a particular form of consciousness.

One of these forms of consciousness is the sublime. Explains this idea.
AT: It's a way of living to live between real and what is not programmed and know and reality where we find ourselves daily. The sublime is that almost fanciful position, for example , to live in the real forever, or live only in fact , is the way we positioned ourselves in various contingencies , or types of ways of living , or happen to act , or thinking , in which we coexist . It's not only follow a path and not being alone in a place , is to take a step and know that can be deadly or not , is like the painting of Caspar David Friedrich , the man who is on the cliff , it has the real in front and has his life behind , if he take a step forward dies , if he goes back he continous his life, but does not have that aesthetic experience of reality, the monstrous beauty. It is precisely the maneuver of the sublime that we tried to do too.

So how goes the idea , the concept becames practice in the workshop ?
AT: What we are doing is doubt know, of being, that we are something to the idea that we are to be many things at once. So began this first step , the assignment of the theater is to be attributed things and then question what is being spent and something to be. Within this we know that we are living in relationship with many things for us which we used to mirror ourselves or use for mirroring . This last step is mirroring what we presented as being in and through the eyes of the others we manipulate our bodies , or our ways of acting according to what we are , but modifying it at the same time in order to be anything else. It is the case of the sublime , there is a real thing we forget , or we glimpse from time to time because we live in reality and then we lack the pace, because we want to be in the articulation of these two things . It is something practical, we have a text, we are in front of a mirror and tried an exercise of body movement , awareness, how we can represent while others are looking for and we will make us imitate anything and we also have to mimic what they are doing , is our imitation. It is a game of mirrors , is a total detachment from leftovers and still be the way until we get to nothing.

http://www.porta33.com/eventos/content_eventos/Catequese/Catequese_Andre_e_Teo

It is a hybrid device that captures sunlight and wind.

For about three months the entrepreneur, Pedro Ruão, engineer of materials, decided to launch in the domestic market with a successful signable an innovative product, an omnidirectional property turbine that captures the wind and the sun in all directions , in simultaneous. The Omniflow allows generating electrical energy and transform it into useful energy to provide your home, office , building , electric car or any other electrical appliance .

This is a device that causes small little landscape or visual impact, unlike others on the market . Further, the turbine can be customized with color and graphic decoration or to display advertising like the company's logo. Another advantage is that is non-hazardous to birds, due to the omnidirectional diffuser that protects the turbine and its not visible and has no flicker effect and shadows on the moving parts. It is also a system that makes no noise when operating. The price of this unit varies according to its application , a power production for a single family house, not counting the cost of installation by a trained specialist, may be around 2500 euros.

http://omniflow.pt/

This is a unique musical project that mixes electronic music with discourses of politicians, sound elements of Portuguese society and national news. An artist's concept create by playwright Jorge Palinhos, inserted in the project "the terror and misery of the Third Republic" group theater theatrical run responsibly and Luka Ivanovic', best known as lukatoyboy, Dj, musician and journalist .

In that context the project arise with luka ?
Jorge Palinhos: It was integrated into the design of "tells me how " that prepares various themed weekends organized by different playwrights inserted into a larger project, " the terror and misery of the Third Republic" of theatrical responsibility, which is a group of Coimbra theater .

In this work there is a gathering of musical recordings. How was it made that particular choice?
JP : I searched news or political speeches that were more directly related to the current situation, especially some of the most memorable moments of Portuguese political and social life, not the last few years, but months because so many different things are going on that news is not what we miss.

What was the public reaction ? Given that in the show is not audible in the case of the speeches by personalities, even politicians, Portuguese society indeed we hardly ever realizes it's Portuguese .
JP : There are some part that it is perceiveble and ultimately function well in a surprising way. We're listening to something that is just sound and rhythm and turns into words and I think this is very interesting. But the public reaction has been some perplexity and surprise.

So why were perplexed and surprised ?
JP: By an innovative and unexpected proposal. Making words and speeches into something that is more musical and sound is something people are not used to hearing .

Joana Ribeiro is a jewelry author designer, inspired by the textures found in nature. Its unique and artistic pieces reflect a large plastic and unique diversity, which won not only the female audience, as juries of several national and international competitions.

Many jewelers are inspired by nature, what distinguishes you from other professionals ?
Joana Ribeiro : Many jewelers are not seeking out nature's forms , I try to feel the texture , the leaves and roots of poppies. Jewelry that are meant to be different to the touch.

These differences are also noticeable in the material, or not ?
JR : Yes , in a way. The pieces are all made of silver . However , there are pieces that seek to enhance the color through glazes that is not a technique as used in jewelery , I also use more common stones that can be found in a garden. Try to show a bit of rough with the elegance of silver.

Then you do a search for materials, after finding these elements in nature ?
JR : Yeah I always do a search. Everywhere I go, park the car and am always seeking gardens attentive to detail that these natural spaces have, go with a pair of scissors in my wallet and I collecting samples, I research to know what that plan is and what are its features.

So you get your creative process in nature and only then you stay inspired to create the piece ?
JR : Exactly . Have much basis in the trial and not the design . First do some mockups and then idealize a piece .

It is the second most complete edition of the book previously published by lawyer and historian, Rui Nepomuceno .

Why the second edition of this book ?
Rui Nepomuceno: Because the first sold out. Then I continued to study , to read documents, go to the archives and came to the conclusion that I had to or amend the first, or add more. So I decided to make a book with the same title, but a second edition, improved and enlarged.

How long it took to study this subject ?
RN : About twenty years ago, because I had to view documents and read everything that is published on this topic .

The other version is already extensive .
RN : But this is even more. I notice the history of Madeira had never been really tell because it does not exist in Portuguese universities. For years I did exhaustive records on the subject . In my time there was no computer, so did everything by hand. And one day I noticed that he was twelve years of files and I thought what if I die? There was a lot work that could be lost, so I decided to publish the book .

So this is the final version ?
RN : Yes, now I have another book out .

José Vieira Mendes assume-se como um escritor de literatura dramática e desde 2008 integra o Teatro Praga como artista residente e dramaturgo, mas a sua produção literária também inclui ensaios para teatro, libretos para óperas e tradutor.

Fala-me um pouco sobre o teu processo de escrita para o teatro. Nas tuas peças englobas todos os tipos de escrita que existem e acaba por ser difícil de levar à cena.
José Vieira Mendes: Eu não tenho um processo fixo. O que me interessa fazer é uma literatura dramática, sobretudo, os códigos que estou a usar, ou me estou a mexer são da literatura dramática, que tem uma história própria, tradições e autores que foi conhecendo ao longo dos tempos e estou com essa bagagem toda que conheço, estou a tentar ocupar o meu espaço nesses códigos. Não me preocupa de todo o espectáculo de teatro quando estou a escrever e quando escrevo é literatura e não um peça de teatro. É inevitável que seja influenciado pelo teatro, na medida que sou uma pessoa que trabalho em teatro, para além da literatura, mas tento distinguir esses dois momentos. Tanto sou influenciado pelo teatro, como pela vida em Lisboa, pelo telejornal, ou mesmo "a casa dos segredos", nesse ponto de vista não acho que haja uma relação privilegiada entre aquilo que escrevo e os espectáculos.

Não é uma contradição?
JVM: As peças que são levadas à cena é um problema que não me diz respeito até porque, idealmente para mim não gostava que esses textos fossem levados à cena nesse sentido, mas também não faço questão que não o sejam. Os textos estão disponíveis e interessa-me publicados e se por acaso alguém quiser fazer um espectáculo que os faça e se for uma pessoa com dinheiro ainda melhor, porque ainda recebo, porque é o único interesse que tenho em relação aos meus textos e o teatro. Não acho que o texto necessite de um espectáculo.

Então como te defines, quando se faz uma pesquisa com o teu nome apareces como dramaturgo.
JVM: Eu defino-me como dramaturgo e foi isso que acabei de explicar. É uma pessoa que escreve literatura dramática que estão inseridos nessa tradição, um autor de literatura dramática tem uma relação diferente com o teatro, porque os seus textos só estão completos se forem postos em cena, há autores que acham que sabem o que é o teatro e escrevem para ele. Como não tenho nenhum desses conhecimento, como não sei o que é o teatro e como aquilo que estou a tentar descobrir o que é a literatura dramática e o pode ser o meu texto, não tenho qualquer interesse entre essa relação entre o texto e o teatro.

Então não te preocupas com o feedback do público?
JVM: Eu preocupo-me com o feedback dos leitores. Eu quero que os meus textos sejam publicados e lidos. Essa é a relação privilegiada, que interessa ter com o leitor. Os meus textos não tem uma relação com o espectador, o espectáculo é que o tem. O meu texto é letras em papel e a relação passa a ser com o leitor e não o espectador. A ideia de que texto é teatro é errada, texto é texto, depois há pessoas que dizem: vou fazer um espectáculo a partir deste texto, ou vou adaptar este texto, mas isso é na cabeça deles, as pessoas que vão ver esse espectáculo por sua vez, não o vêem esse texto, estão a ver a obra. A relação directa que posso ter com o público, é mais uma relação com o leitor e não com o espectador.

It's a film byFilipe Ferraz it is above all a reflection on a society in ruins fruit of human pride.

How does the project ruins arise?
Filipe Ferraz ; Emerges from a call of the center of the global arts produced by Mauricio Marques , decided to do a metaphor to speak of the ruins of the reality we live in, where everything is in ruins and we continued to pretend it it is not. Everybody keeps trying to have a normal life and pretends not to see anything around them.

It is a kind of play?
FF : Yes , it is a kind of play, which is only in a world where there is no God, because the players do not get to be gods, everyone is working at the behest of somebody and nobody is responsible for anything and just goes on living. It is a play without God .

You had a special concern with the choice of scenarios . There are landscapes of the island in abandonment called new Madiera , so did you have in mint all thar ?
FF : Yes, the story broke from these locations, were the ones I wanted to film and show the idea of ruins and then we began to create scenes around the scenarios .

What was your greatest difficulty in this project ? The biggest obstacle ?
FF : The biggest difficulty was technical, was not having good equipment , we have no ability to pay skilled professionals who have some availability, we were always working on someone days off always half an hour to make a scene, shoot with just one person and pretend the other character were besides. The difficulty has always been that, time.

Of the characters you've created for this short film which was your favorite ?
FF : I do not know, because in the end all they are not doing of themselves . I really like Nuno , because it is exactly the figure that is always in the air, Maggiore is always complaining and never does anything trat. Marta is gossip girl seems a wig sometimes and have an opinion in five seconds. I like them because they are all my friends who are there.

It is also a critique of the Madeiran society ?
FF : Yes, absolutely . It is a society that is not responsible for what you do and the responsibility is always the other , or some external , no wonder reaching the point of being someone to paint corpses and have to leave , because it's already six in the evening , as if working a bank.