WHO I AM

God, what a situation! Suddenly I felt like my father - I am my sorry father's son, I thought.
(John Irving | A Prayer For Owen Meany)

WHO AM I?

You are something that the whole world is doing.
(The Books - Be Good To Them Always | Lost And Safe)

PAINTED PINK

[...] Shiga plays with the axis of time, floating with the image before it settles, before it becomes permanent. The act of creating a moment of frozen time is akin to prayer for her. Now it exists: it is evidence. [...] Take, for example, the picture of the pink house in the rain. It represents a dream come true for Tatsuko (also pictured). Shiga talked a length with Tatsuko, with the intention of elicting her heart's desire: a pink house, it transpired. Shiga scouted Sendai, and on finding the city's oldest house, ready for demolition, contacted the owners and asked if she could paint the house pink. On the rainy night before the house disappeared forever, she did just that.
(Max Houghton on Stranding Records by Leiko Shiga | Foam #12)

AND SHE WAS

'SHE WAS JUST LIKE OUR WHOLE COUNTRY - NOT QUITE YOUNG ANYMORE, BUT NOT OLDER EITHER; A LITTLE BREATHLESS, VERY BEAUTIFUL, MAYBE A LITTLE STUPID, MAYBE A LOT SMARTER THAN SHE SEEMED, AND SHE WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING - I THINK SHE WANTED TO BE GOOD. LOOK AT THE MEN IN HER LIFE - JOE DIMAGGIO, ARTHUR MILLER, MAYBE THE KENNEDYS. LOOK AT HOW GOOD THEY SEEM! LOOK AT HOW DESIRABLE SHE WAS! THAT'S THE WAY SHE WAS: SHE WAS DESIRABLE. SHE WAS FUNNY AND SEXY - AND SHE WAS VULNERABLE, TOO. SHE WAS NEVER QUITE HAPPY, SHE WAS ALWAYS A LITTLE OVERWEIGHT. SHE WAS JUST LIKE OUR WHOLE COUNTRY,' he repeated;
(John Irving | A Prayer For Owen Meany)

THE BASKETBALL TEAM

They were big, happy guys with goofy strides, and they didn't mind being out of bed before it was light - they were going to miss their Saturday morning classes, and they saw the whole day as an adventure.
(John Irving | A Prayer For Owen Meany)

BUT

'I see,' I said; but I didn't.
(John Irving | A Prayer For Owen Meany)

A SUA SOMIGLIANZA

I calcolatori del futuro prossimo saranno perfetti. Ma siccome per l'uomo la perfezione non può essere che umana (tant'è vero che ha fatto Dio a sua somiglianza e il massimo elogio che può fare a un animale è di trovare che gli manca la parola) quei calcolatori acquisteranno, per la loro eccessiva informazione, un comportamento antropomorfico, saranno cioè portati a prevaricare sull'uomo che li ha costruiti e vuole usarli. [...] Che cosa sarà dell'uomo se seguiterà a perfezionare i suoi calcolatori? Riuscirà poi a liberarsene? Affidata a un calcolatore, la costruzione della Torre di Babele sarebbe riuscita?
(Ennio Flaiano su 2001 Odissea Nello Spazio di Stanley Kubrick | L'Europeo #1/69)

LE PROPORZIONI

Non vi aspettate molto dallo Spazio, è praticamente vuoto. Le possibilità turistiche sembrano limitate. Se immaginate la Terra come un punto e mettete la Luna a un centimetro, il Sole sarà a cinque metri e, per appendere la prima stella del vostro presepio, l'Alpha Centauri, dovete andare a 2mila chilometri da qui. Ecco le proporzioni. Quanto al resto, meglio non parlarne. La natura va per conto suo, l'Universo è insensibile al pensiero umano, non conosce l'uomo, nè la vita è il suo scopo. L'eterno e l'infinito non possono avere altri scopi che quelli che li definiscono.
(Ennio Flaiano su 2001 Odissea Nello Spazio di Stanley Kubrick | L'Europeo #1/69)