Later!

All set.
I'm leaving for Naples tomorrow morning, 7:36 train from Monfalcone station. So of course don't expect too many updates in the next day or five. Will be meeting with a Falco or two, a Janos, a Roberto "MIT" Carli but not with that Gri guy whom i owe 10£. Hopefully also with some other ex-uwcers, or even current ones, who knows.

Ok, ahem, i have a little announcement to make.
Earlier this year, when Alan Moore turned 50, he announced he would cease writing comics and become a magician.
Likewise, when Captain Beefheart was 40 and had just released what was to be his final album, he announced he would abandon the music industry and devote all his time and attention to his paintings. He's still there, painting, somewhere in the Mojave Desert. Hope he's fine.
Anyway, i would never compare myself to those last two Great Creators. I am but 25, but i still have something to announce. Earlier this autumn i have decided i shall become an artist, and have been working towards this goal ever since. This will not be news for the closest among you, who had already heard it from my own lips, or seen the consequences splattered around duino. And i also suppose it will come as no shock to all those who have already known me for some time.
I'm just making it official. That's all.
As soon as i get around to finding some free webspace(the old digilander one is now inaccessible and kaputt) i'll try to post some images of what i'm up to. Apart from that, blogging will continue as always.

Ok, that's that. Now, i just wanted to say another thing. I don't really believe in christmas, nor do i give much importance to the New Year, if not as an opportunity to get thoroughly sloshed. Still, i believe this time in the year to be symbolic of the ending of one thing and the beginning of another. Whether it's through a calendar resetting itself, a child being born, the winter getting at its worst possible so you're certain it'll be better from now on and the days starting to get longer, or anything, it's still important.
So i would just like to wish a bright new beginning to all readers out there.

And that's all. I'll have some more new year considerations, er, next year!

Happy new year.

RLF, 29.XII.2003

...

So i haven't updated much these days. Hey, i was kind of busy. And tomorrow i'm leaving for Rome or Naples to spend the new year there(wherever it may be, nothing's definitive yet). So unfortunately posts will continue to be scarce during the holiday season. But i hope to make up for it afterwards.

Some news: I've been paid! Or at least, i think so. Which means i can finally give Gri those 10£ i owe him.
Of course i still have to understand if the bank says i have that money, or if i just owe it to them.

Interesting...

Verrry interesting.....
(Tnx to Pino)

Something amazing

Here!

evaristo is the 47

Whoami

Actually, at least 15 of these are true.

recycled presents

...And if you weren't satisfied with what ol'skankybones brought you, well, that's where i come in!
Download a complete 1990 Elio e le Storie Tese gig, audio and some video, here!
Download several different versions of Yo Mama, George Duke's 1974 exploits and some actually non-cheesy christmas songs at this site!
And finally, Here is where you can still find Zappa's killer Sidney'73 concert, featuring Jean Luc Ponty, Ruth&Ian Underwood, George Duke(again), Sal Marquez, Ralph Humphrey and a couple of Fowler brothers!
But hurry! that last one will probably only be available until tomorrow, and the others for an indefinite amount of time! Get them modems a-buzzin'! Unless of course you have DSL. Lucky Bastards.

Christmas Spirit

Wanna see how Santa Claus looks like nowadays?
Well, as we all know, Old Saint Nick currently -ahem- resides in the beautiful XII century Church of Saint Nicholas of Bari(BA), where he has been ever since he was, er, brought from Constantinople back in 1087AD (Not BC of course. That would be just daft). Actually, some Bari sailors broke into the cathedral in Constantinople one night and outright stole him, but that's of no interest to us at the moment. Although the whole idea of kidnapping the mortal remains of Santa Claus does seem rather original.
Anyway, here are the most recent pictures of that Santa guy, taken between the 5th and the 6th of May, 1953. I was going to include them here directly, but just decided some people might not like what there is to be seen. Instead, here's another picture of my lamp! (just joking)

So anyway, hope the skull-and-crossbones guy brought you all enjoyable presents, i'll be raving about mine later this week.
Although i must mention this amazing pair of penguin-themed socks that just added themselves to the collection. So cool.

errata

..and by the way, the bonus track on the album i was going on about here isn't Dental Hygiene Dilemma, it's Does This Kind Of Life Look Interesting To You?
Sorry! Could've happened to almost anyone. Almost anyone who's interested in this kind of junk, anyway.

So that you'll forgive me, here's a nice link Scott McCloud pointed out to today: Mr. Picassohead!

sometimes three is better than four

I'll forgive the imperfect panel layout on Today's Dieselsweeties only for the cute zappa quote!

Paolone, 12.VII.1962 - 23.XII.1998

It's been five years since the passing of Feiez.

Not much i can say about this. For those of you who don't know it, Feiez, a.k.a. Mu Fogliasch, a.k.a. Paul Branigade (etc.etc.) was the Saxophonist, percussionist, second guitarist, backing vocalist, just-about-everything-elseist of the great band Elio e le Storie Tese. And overall great guy.
I only had the fortune of seeing him perform once (Pordenone Rototom, April 1998), and i wish i had some great behind-the-scenes anecdote about meeting him after the show. But that night, after meeting all four "core" members of the band, realizing that i had some friends anxiously waiting for me in a van somewhere in the parking lot, and noticing the uncanny amount of people surrounding him, i decided i could even just give Feiez a miss, because "i can meet him the next time". Sadly and stupidly, there was no next time.

But what i can say is this: that night, he and the other five members of the band played their hearts out on stage, giving us one of the best, most surprising and thoroughly enjoyable shows i've ever witnessed. That's my personal memory of the man. And it's not that bad at all, come to think of it.




...and by the way, two days ago would have been FZ's birthday. Pop over to Zappa.com to check out the festivities!

Village of the sun, son

i've been asked for the url for that picture i posted earlier today of a certain nearby star we seem to be going round once in a while. Here it is. I assume the image changes automatically once in a while, haven't bothered checking.
I still think my lamp is more interesting. I think i'll post its picture again. Hey, it's my blog, ok? i can do what i like!


(p.s.: Michael, do i know you?)

This is what i owed my comic book pusher 20€ for. Well spent money, well paid credit.
And while we're at it, here are some more sites on Dave McKean.

The Loudest Noise Comes From The Electric Surrealist.

The Advertising Slogan Generator.

These are nice, but not as nice as these.
(first link courtesy of Pino, second one courtesy of Yours Truly, who finds cool sites on his own sometimes too.)

There may be some strange things happening to the sidebar and general layout of this page in the next few days. I'm trying out some new solutions and stuff. Stuff, Isn't that a great word? Stuff, stuff, stuff. I could type it all day.
Oh, and from now on, if i've reviewed or commented on a recently acquired book or cd, the sidebar will link to the post where such a thing occurs. If i don't, it'll just remain unlinked and if you want more info you can go out there and find it.

Which Batman villain are you?

It's pathetic quiz time again!


You are: THE JOKER!


Which Batman Villain Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

(Yes, i really got this result. I'm extremely glad there's no such thing as a "which batman sidekick are you?" quiz. Really.)

some similiarity

This

,
which they tell me sits somewhere above our heads,
looks very similar to this

,
which is currently lighting up my room, and has been doing it for the past seven years or so.
Cool.

Just love the way this one's progressing...

Bayeux

As promised, even though almost every comic-related site has been linking to it ages ago, here's the Historic Tale Construction Kit!


P.S.:Watch that button!

Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein! It's a way of life!

In case you hadn't followed the link from that Michael Moore article i pointed to the other day, here's where you can view the famous picture and most of all download the video of Donald Rumsfeld Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein!

Dental Hygiene Dilemma

This is what i bought yesterday:


And this is what i chose not to buy:


Even though it took me over an hour to choose.
Actually, i didn't even expect the Baby Snakes DVD to reach italian retailers. Imagine my surprise upon seeing it there. And imagine my despair upon discovering they *also* had that ensemble modern CD and that i could only take one. But the CD sounds great, the arrangement for trombone, violin and percussion of FZ's guitar solo on Revised Music For Low Budget Orchestra is enticingly lyrical, and the Civilization Phaze III tracks, which even i believed to be humanly impossible to perform, come out glimmering and without a scratch. The real treat, however, is the 20-minute-plus Adventures of Greggery Peccary, featuring Omar Ebrahim and David Moss(!) on voices. I'd only ever heard the piece in the version Zappa would perform with his Grand Wazoo orchestra in '72, where it was performed as a suite, the concluding section(New Brown Clouds) serving as concert-opener. The Greggery story is at the same time farce, social commentary, and nonsensical humor, but most of all it's very explicative of Zappa's fascinating idea of Time.
The only little flaw in the cd is the inclusion of Peaches En Regalia, which just feels out of place among these pieces. Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favourite tunes ever, but this orchestral version just doesn't click it in for me.
Lucky we also get a bonus track! Dental Hygiene Dilemma from 200 Motels! Looking forward to an EM reinterpretation of that masterwork!

the complete peanuts volume 1: 1950-1952 hc

Why is THIS recommended for mature readers????

Worst of the worst

Worst mp3 downloaded this year, hands-down:

La Lupe- Se Acabó.mp3

Runner up:

Righeira- Vamos a la Playa- Los Amigos Invisibles Remix.mp3

Worst mp3 found downloaded 23 times on my hard-disc after a drunken night i remember nothing of:

Claudio Cecchetto- Gioca Jouer.mp3


Cheer up with me, here's a cool webcomic i've never noticed before.

The Annunciation, probably.

The Annunciation, probably 1425/1430
tempera (and possibly oil glazes) on panel, 148.8 x 115.1 cm (58 9/16 x 45 5/16 in.)
Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Unfortunately, that "probably" is referred to the date, and is not part of the title. If it was, it would've been the best title for a painting i've seen today. Sounds very Duchamp to me!

More information on this painting here.

Vauro

Tax Cuts For The Fat Cats

An official paper, signed by M.O.N.A. himself, somehow mad its way to my pigeon-hole this morning. I took it home not without some surprise. It details the budget cuts for next term, and it seems some people will be rather disappointed. To begin with, two of the remaining three cultural visits have been removed, for it seems that "many students benefited from a strong cultural experience in Rome". So sorry, no Mantova nor Verona.
One of the unkindest cuts goes to the choir, whose budget goes down by 66%. Music activity also loses a big fat 2000LocalMonetaryCurrencies. Friends in the video activity will lose over a third of their already-tight budget, but that shouldn't be a problem considering how well they've been doing selling VHS' of the national evenings(Which are still NOT what national evenings are supposed to be like, but i digress). The skiing acivities also get some punches in the gut, and Photography sadly also gives in to some cuts, not too drastic but worrying nonetheless.
Of course, i can't give too much details here. And if anybody asks, well, we all know my mind isn't exactly the most socially functional one in the world, so all this might as well just be a figment of my imagination. Consider it a disclaimer.

And for all those readers for whom all of this is no more than senseless gibberish, here's a link to That Wacky Michael Moore's most recent article. When will he learn.

Oh, last tidbit of information. I have a fish in my room. But maybe that's also just a figment of my imagination. The cat sure looks interested, though.

Plep

Thanks to one of those blogs i visit regularly, i stumbled across this fascinating site which had been pointed out by Plep, an amazingly simple and surprisingly useful blog, for anyone even just vaguely interested in the arts. And in History. And in...waaah, i could go on for hours.

I've been wondering recently whether there were comics in soviet russia. I know there were in the communist block, or at least i know there were in Jugoslavia and in Bulgaria. But every time i have to ask a russian or ex-soviet-country-coming-from-person in general, it takes me so long to explain the difference between "comic", "cartoon" and "funny drawing" that i eventually give up. Well, they had no photocopy machines, which means if i'd lived in the USSR i would have no work and no pay, not just no pay like here in neo-liberal Italy. There, that made me feel better. Goodnight.

It's not a great experience, though, even considering it is played through a fungus.

Inspired by a NewScientist Article published on this week's Internazionale, i popped over to take a look at Cameron Jones' Molecular Media Project. What i heard over there didn't really impress me much, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless. Where for "interesting" i mean "wacky".

This is where i stand.
Where do you stand on the Political Compass?

Blogging has been slow recently - i apologize for this.
The college network has started smiling on us again this morning, so i suppose i'll be more available online, not to mention updating more regularly.
The past three weeks or so have been a blur. Running around Cernizza carrying chairs and tables. Sticking pins into the heads of newborn paper men. Discussing god/artist relationships with Dave McKean. Not being sober.
I'll try to get the things in my head tidier, and eventually send them out through here. I'm like an 80Mb hard disk: i need to be emptied out often so more stuff will fit in my brain.

Yesterday was cool, went to Trieste to see Lorenzo and Dimma, also made the acquaintance of a couple of Lorenzo's friends, extremely enjoyable afternoon/night. Watched two movies: Ted Bundy(Horrible) and Jalla Jalla(really nice, hadn't seen it yet and was looking forward to it. Expected more comedy from the way it had been described to me, but was great anyway)
Got home an hour ago, connected to the expensive provider, checked my mail for a while, disconnected. Ten minutes later the college network came back up.

The college network line seems to be snobbing us, so now i can only log on after 18:30, when the flat rate bumps in.
This means that every time the Muse to Blog strikes, i must keep it back. And when i can finally sit down and type, i don't remember what i wanted to yak about. And writing on a text file and copy-pasting afterwards just doesn't feel correct, don't ask me why.
And don't ask me why i'm connected right now, i haven't the slightest idea either.

Bedroom Wormholes

Agi was restless. She turned to us, and cried: "I can't find my passport!"
A heap of clothes, books, shampoo bottles and other objects loomed behind her, its peak well over a metre from the ground.
"You've already looked through all of that???" we incredulously asked.
"No, i've only checked my suitcases"
Then she turned, took a glance at the junk behind her, and added:
"That's just my usual mess."

While she searched, i explained the Bedroom Wormhole Theory. It goes like this: sometimes rooms, desks or offices are so messy that the amount of objects within them actually take up more space than is physically available. In these cases, the concept of space itself miserably fails its objectives, and goes off to sulk behind a corner. What happens while it's away is that objects lying in a state of intense mess all actually share the same place in the universe, thus causing wormholes in the deepest of aforementioned mess. So all particularly big messes are interconnected, which is why you sometimes lose things, but find things you're sure you've never seen before. If you're lucky, your mess only links to those of other messy people you know, so you eventually get your stuff back. This usually happens to me. If you're unlucky, the concept of space returns with a bad temper, a big brother and a thirst for vengeance, and your mess implodes creating a small nova, or a black hole. Which is why i'm tidying up today.

Oh, and anyway, Agi found her passport in the end. It was inside her toothbrush case. She also found her Identity Card, her Student Card, and her train ticket returned in time from Venice(explaining what it was doing there in the first place would just be too long). She later missed the bus, forgot her boots and ultimately, it seems, took the wrong train. I'm quite confident she's safe at home in Budapest by now.

Currently listening to: United Future Organization-Make it Better(Kyoto Jazz Massive Remix).mp3, which, as i was surprised to discover, is a cover of Gilberto Gil's So Quero Um Xodò.
While typing that last bit, winamp switched to: The Beatles-Decca Auditions-Besame Mucho.mp3 (which reminds me of Cake's version of Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps)

Poema Chicano

Before resuming regular blogging, here's a Chicano poem My Father emailed me some days ago. Consider it an appetizer for posts to come.

The pain que siento aqui
my darling no se me quita
the kisses from to boquita
tan solo belong to me

If you me dices que si
I promise you serte fiel
como never un hombre has been

If you me dices que no
as sometimes ha sucedido
I shall take un big revolver
and forget que te he querido.
Bang!

(Boy, i'm gonna enjoy spellchecking this!)

An Update

Good morning. So anyway, an update. Hmmm, yes, an update. Ho hum. Another update.
Hey, look! Godzilla!
(runs away)

Hot Turkey

Classic or Extra Crispy?

...and i guess this would be the right place to mention, have a look at what happens if you google for "miserable failure" and click on "i'm feeling lucky"!
(again, courtesy of marok. org)

Once you've got theUSB Rubber Ducky, you won't need anything else in the world.
(Courtesy of marok.org) (That Lovable Homo)

And comes a time...

Every once in a while here at WGD Central(also known as "that messy room on top of the old offices") somebody looks at his multi-purpose digital watch and realizes it's that time of the day(week, year) known as FOOD TIME. When FOOD TIME strikes, the entire WGD staff goes down to the canteen(also known as "over to the kitchen"), opens the multi-purpose deep freezer and splunks whatever's available into a pre-heated and well-greased oven. The well-greased oven is a Pala tradition i'm trying to pass over to Old Offices. It goes like this: you touch the oven door, and your hand either dissolves, sticks, or remains sticky for the rest of the day. Or all three of these, in sparse order. The idea, as in most things Pala-related, is to fortify the immunitary system. And to be annoying.

Anyway, today (or this week, or whatever) the consumer-friendly FOOD OBJECT chosen was a Frozen Pizza. So This Blogger opens the box, extracts one wrapped frozen pizza, takes the plastic wrapper off(So many wrappings!What do they think it is? Christmas?), opens the bin, disposes of wrapper, closes the bin, slams pizza into oven.
Then he realizes somebody was looking at him from inside the bin. He opens it again and finds out that somebody in his family threw away a postcard reproducing a sixteenth-century image of the Virgin Mary With Child.

Won't Go Down, We're all about the Respect Of Other People's Religion!

It's all pointless anyway...

...Just yesterday i was thinking what a nice metaphor "as calm as a madman five minutes before the end of the world" is. And just today Scott McCloud links us to the Cthulhu Chick Tract.
I'm sure there's a pattern to this.

Jim Henson Makes Us Happy moment of the day

..and this recollection of an encounter with the late, great mr. Jim Henson brought the morning's first smile to this muppet-loving blogger. It's right at the bottom of the post, and will shine a smile on you, too. (god, i sound so cheesy)

What's the ugliest part of your lunch?

I can't believe it. Zappa-related recipes for the masses.

...sigh...
...another day, another advent calendar window.

Necessary Link.

And since i'm doing the webrounds, i thought it necessary to point out the Famous Blogger's comment on the Famous Graphic Novel. 99% of my readers are familiar with either.
(Cazzo, Pino, ricordami di prestartelo, Persepolis)
Listening to the Persuasions' covers of early Zappa tunes. This is the kind of cover i like. These, and Ensemble Ambrosius' are the must-have FZ covers. After all, Doo-Wop and Baroque rhyme any day of the year.

Mirsky's Drunk Browsing Test

I remember first coming across Mirsky's Drunk Browsing Test several years ago, one night i was in the Computer Room with Istvan. It still turns out useful every now and then.

Last night i dreamt of...

Can't remember? Try the Dream Generator!

Do YOU know what YOU are?

you are mediumpurple #9370D8

Your dominant hues are blue and magenta. You're the one who goes to all the parties but doesn't quite fit in at every one... you know what you want, but are afraid of what the world might think of it. You're a little different and that's okay with them, and if you're smart it's okay with you too. Your saturation level is lower than average - You don't stress out over things and don't understand people who do. Finishing projects may sometimes be a challenge, but you schedule time as you see fit and the important things all happen in the end, even if not everyone sees your grand master plan. Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Passing Glances

Almost made me cry...

It was brought to my attention that one of my email addresses is full. And guess what! I checked, it *is* full!
So instead of rubbing out everything on that account, i proposed myself to open a new one, instead, that i could happily link to from here. My first idea was to make one with Yahoo, since it's currently the webmail that's treating me the best (almost no ads, easy to use, no spam whatsoever). But i realized it would mess up my cache settings to have more than one address from them. Same for Hotmail, where i still have my very first email account, dating back to sometime between '96 and '97. It's still active, but of course all of you are aware that Hotmail is actually just a spam-generating machine. Create a hotmail address and watch it fill with spam, even though you're the only one who knows about it. You think.
I was about to make another one on the libero/inwind portal, but that one's also getting to be a pain. So slow. And it's also taking the slow turn towards Evil.

So i'll just keep looking for something(story of my life). If anyone out there has suggestions, hey, there's still the comment button down here.

And in the meantime, i've put up a link to the new email address. Whenever it comes into existence.

Living a five-day weekend is tough, sometimes.

This morning i walk out of my house and bump into Marcelo and Elira.
Immediately, without even saying hello, they tell me: "Don't worry, you didn't do anything last night."
"Why are you telling me this?" i asked.
"Because you asked us to when we saw you yesterday."
"Oh."

So it seems i was drunk last night. No big news, at all. After a while, they tried to explain exactly how drunk i was. It's nice to see your friends compare your different drunkenness exploits, and share Robin-did-this-that-time stories. For the record, i was less drunk than last year's reunion Sangria party, also less than the night Elira met me (the nonchalant way she told me this almost made me feel ashamed. Almost.), but more than several other times. Their analysis didn't clash with my recollections of the night.

Last night, by the way, was Osmizza night. A big fat thirty-or-so of us went up to Medeazza, the wine was just fantastic, so was the food. It was also Fred's last night in Duino this year, but i'm not sure too many people were aware of this, or maybe they were just too drunk. Some nice moments came when the owners of Al Castel and Luca casually walked in, were greeted with cheers to their estabilishment, and eventually bought us more wine. And Paul and Joanna also popped by, which was really nice of them. We've all learnt to appreciate them much, much more in the past year or so. Where we means myself, my family, and the students in general. They're great.

And the previous night...boh, don't remember.
No, actually, it's all coming back to me now. I wasn't even that drunk. But i'll recount in a later instance, after all those photocopies won't milk themselves. And i can feel one of those little gnomes that move the various mechanisms inside the body hammering wildly inside the top left side of my head, trying to fix all the bits that broke down last night. Or maybe just putting up a painting to make it look less empty.

What could ever be better in the morning than a Jobim album???
This one in particular, which Fred gave me back yesterday even though i had forgotten that he had it. Or that i had it, to that matter.
Jobim's playing will lull you out of a hangover anytime. The sweetness involved in his restraint is nothing but an expression of his character. The piano, always muted. The keyboards, discreet the most possible. His singing often just hearable at the very end of the mix, recorded off the piano microphone as he sang along to his own tunes, usually without even noticing.
His satie-esque minimal solos, every moment you can feel that he's about to break into an amazing, bill evans-like improvisation, but not once in his known recordings does he go ahead and do this, even though we all know he very well could.

And by the way, on this album you can also hear Ron Carter play at his best ever. (on track 4, the nine minute long rendition of Ary Barroso's classic Brazil)

It's one of those mornings...

Have you read Bruno? A beautiful real-life based webcomic.
Couldn't find a banner i could link it from, even though i know it's there somewhere.
Oh, problem with this comic is that only after rather extensive reading of the archives will one be capable of understanding the daily strips. But it's worth it.

Leeched from a certain intranet site...

See if you find the odd announcement...and guess who put it there.

D A I L Y B U L L E T I N
Thursday, 4th December 2003
DAY 2 (2nd cycle)

Web version



TIME
PLACE
EVENT
ORGANISER

14.25
Fore Court
MULTICULTURAL SS IN MONFALCONE.
Mitja

14.45
Fore
BAND SERVICE. Departure for Trieste.
SS

15.00
Art Centre
ART EXHIBITION. To all: come and enjoy our art exhibition!
Fabio

17.30
Fore Court
Social Service : MEDEA. Please note that, instead of going on Wednesday afternoon, we have been invited to attend the play which the residents are putting on in the village of Medea. Departure from Fore courtyard at 17.30 sharp. Back in time for Mensa! y. Back in time for Mensa! MA
MA

18.30
School basement
CHOIR (last reheArsal before 7th & 8th Dec.).
SS

20.00
Physics lab
PHYSICS OLYMPIAD. Come for the "Trial Olympiad".
FG



________________________


In the light of the need for rehearsals for the International Show, which will take place next weekend, there will be no activities on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week. Social Service should take place as usual unless numbers are decimated by the rehearsals or van drivers are not available. ST


FIRE SAFETY MEETING: LUCCHESE AND CARSICA RESIDENTS. We meet in Lucchese Drama Room at 8.30 p.m. All residents must attend – it is compulsory. See you there. HT/JK


EE VISUAL ART. Plamen, Paolo, Anita meet me as soon as possible in the Art Centre. Fabio


ART CENTRE SUPERVISOR. Today on duty 17.00 è 19.00 Juan / 20.00 --> 22.20 Ona. Week A. Fabio


Today is the tenth anniversary of the death of the great American composer, musician and conceptual artist FRANK ZAPPA. Were he alive today, he would have wanted us all to think with our own heads.


STUDENT ON DUTY for School and Library Buildings this week: HELEN KAMENIUK / MARCO SIDDI.

Was checking the layout of the site, and realized i was my own 200th visitor. Made me feel like such a loser.
Still, this counter surprised the hell out of me, never expected there to be so many contacts. In the first month, there were about 150 visitors, which means something like [figure it out for yourselves] people a day! Never expected there to be more than 30 or so before the end of the year. Or maybe somebody's just playing a practical joke on me and pressing "refresh" 100 times in a row. Matteo, se sei tu smettila.

Anyway, that last Gorilla Suit announcement i put here only to break the tension. Didn't really feel like i could write anything specific to remember Zappa, so just interrupting like that seemed to be the stupidest-and therefore best- thing to do.

And i should be writing here more, but i really haven't had the time to. Hopefully over the weekend(that would mean i won't have had too many photocopies to do. Huzzah). Will change that stupid old survey and make a more relevant one as soon as possible, however. A big fat five people voted, leading to a tie between "don't you have anything better to do?" and "who cares?".

Oh well, i have a tutorial dinner to attend now. Millone made Tiramisu. How's that for gossip?

Not only, but also!

Frank Zappa.

21.12.1940 - 4.12.1993

We Miss You.

now go here.

Scariest link of the CENTURY

not for the faint of heart...

It seems this blog pops up thirteenth(out of around 14900!) if you google for "won't go down". That's nice. So anyone craving for a Beefheart quote would have to check this.
It also appears if you search for "evaristo", but it's somewhere past the 20th page of results. Was looking, but got bored after a while.
And it doesn't show up if you google for my real name. That's veeeeery practical in case anyone from the job or from the family should check.

You can tell i should be working on my thesis, instead. Fifteen hours to go.

14900.
I remember when CDs costed that much.

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bursar

...So the following afternoon i went to see the person i consider my Boss, Livia, who is also one of the few hard-working and reliable people in the administration. (the others are...er, whichever one may one day stumble across this site. Hi there! um.) I told her about the previous day's call. She told me her reaction to the news, at the time, had been quite the same as mine- to have it repeated to her so she could laugh some more.
I explained to her that the people in accountancy actually have a very, very good reason for thinking they've misplaced my payment requests: i never gave any in.
You see, at the beginning of this working year, i was offered a contract by the Bursar. After discussing one or two things about it, i accepted and signed it. The contract expects me to be paid a regular monthly fee. So of course one thing i had asked the Bursar before signing was whether i would still have to present monthly payment requests. I asked him this on two different occasions, and on both he said it wouldn't be necessary. If i wanted to, he once added, i could carry on writing down my working hours for "private accountancy". Which of course i did, and would've done even if he hadn't suggested me to.

Livia listened to my story patiently, and then told me what to do.

The next day, i came into her office with the letter she had told me to write. It very politely complained about the inefficiency behind my lack of payment and asked how i should behave in future. Whilst making blatantly obvious whose fault all this was.
Attached were my new payment requests for september and october.

Hope some good comes out of this. Such as: money in my pocket. Those comic shop debts won't milk themselves.
What, i didn't tell you about my new Dave McKean book? Or about meeting the man himself? Or about meeting Luttazzi for the umpteenth time?

Oh, well, i'll tell about all those things tomorrow. After all, i still have a first chapter of a thesis to write for tomorrow.
Current word count: 0
21 hours to go...

Whatever happened to Bill Watterson?

"If you do the job badly enough, sometimes you don't get asked to do it again."
-- Calvin, from Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat.

..and returning from that thoroughly fascinating blog, which i found extremely informative and did not arouse me in any way, even though there would be nothing wrong about that. Nor would there be anything wrong if any of my readers did, and if it did, my pleasure.
But anyway, had i mentioned anything recently about getting paid by the college?
No?
Ever wondered why?
Well, as explained here, i haven't been paid since September. Last wednesday, while on a bus on the way to Udine, a phone call explained the reasons behind this.

(meanwhile, status.blogspot.com is back up. evaristo.blogspot.com is up but not completely functional. But the aforelinked belledejour-uk.blogspot.com seems to have fallen into the river. Blogger.com, please, make up your mind!)

So i'm on the bus. The phone rings. My brother on the other side tells me "somebody from the office" had just called saying something about my pay.
"Yes," he said, "it seems they've lost all the papers saying you should get paid."
"This is too good to be true." I answered. "Would you mind repeating that to me?"
"Yes," he said, "it seems they've lost all the papers saying you should get paid." (i assume he also copy-pasted it into the receiver)
I broke into laughter.
"Thank you,", i finally said, wiping the tears from my eyes. "Now i know the rest of my day can't possibly get any better than this."

also...
(College connection's back, so i can afford to update)
I tried to open my blog, but blogspot gave me a 500 error. So i checked what was wrong on status.blogger.com : 500 error there too.
So i opened the main blogger page, and clicked on a random Blog Of Note, to see if it was everybody's problem. Apparently, it's not. And the random site i opened is this one, which is rather racy but strangely compelling. Found myself reading the archives, this person knows how to write.
And she also uses my same blogger template. Poor soul.

Intermission.

To relax everybody's nerves, here are some pictures of cats and BBC programs about Frank Zappa.

more about.

Forgot to mention yesterday: the announcement reproduced a letter of thanks written by DBS.

And anyway, this morning the M.O.N.A. saw the notice, ripped it off and summoned my mother to his courtroom. Once there, she told him how offensive what happened at yesterday's assembly was. Mona answered that it was the people in Accountancy's fault(as usual), because he had asked for the list of people who had been working in the college for over 20 years, and for many years my mother was only a part-time worker. Of course, if part-time workers counted anything to them, they would even go so far as pay me once in a while(more about this later).
Anyway, after explaining this, he proceeded to insult her even more, by saying that her family is being cause of more and more trouble(?) within the College.
Congratulations, Mr. A. You're very good at making fifty-year old women cry.

meanwhile.

Today, at the assembly, the M.O.N.A. publically thanked, celebrated and gave out gifts to all members of staff who have been working here for the past 20 years. Unsurprisingly, my mother was not mentioned, nor celebrated, nor did she get any of those gifts. When questioned about this, the Master of Numerous Achievements said he "forgot". How convenient. Most of the administration seems to be having problems with their memory when it comes to thanking people or even just paying them. My father just came into my room to inform me of this, and instructed me not to answer the phone for any reason. Because that'll be Mona himself with his apologies. Which are as good as refused, i'm going out this moment to stick up an announcement My Father just printed reproducing a letter of thanks to my mother for her 20 years of service...
See you all later!

It's Coming...

Thursday will be the 10th anniversary of Frank Zappa's untimely demise. One of the many strange happenings in remembrance will be done by Rai Radio 3 at This Link.
Here at Won't Go Down central we'll be officially celebrating Thursday in ways still very much clear but, for the moment, TBA. But it's gonna be cool.

I'M TIRED!

Just finished photocopying(i'm updating from the office, while sophia swears at Dreamweaver on the pc next to mine), had just come back from Trieste where i saw and spoke to Dave McKean, and before going there i'd just finished writing my personal statement for the Guggenheim Internship Application, and before that etc. etc. etc.

It's been a hectic weekend. Tomorrow morning, i send the application papers. And in the afternoon, it's thesis time again. Hope to manage to cram an hour of sleep or two into this schedule. And a longer update, quite a few things have been going on in my life and in duino that deserve mentioning.
But now i'm off to chill out in Pala. Cheers.

meanwhile...

Ok, so the college connection isn't working(struck by lightning), so i'm using a dial-up connection here. Would have tons of things to say, but my time-which in this moment is literally money-is limited. In the meantime, check out the 365 Days Project! Audio wonderment for all the family!

sugo di merda.

(don't ask)

technical difficulties

This page will look strange for a few hours. Blogger's having some technical problems, as you may see on Status.Blogger.Com. Should be working again when i get up tomorrow morning. i hope. i hope i wake up. also.

temporary results...

vote...now!

ok, might be working. Let's just very diplomatically say i'm beta-testing it.
Which when it's at home means that i haven't the foggiest idea whether it'll work or not.
Scroll down for vote! It's a way of life!

By the way, it's interesting to notice how the automatic blogger ad on top of this page redirects according to the content i post. At the moment, it's pointing at "marvel comics" and "Marcel Duchamp".
Cool!

Installed this little voting script, will change every now and then. So go ahead and vote!
While i was at it, i managed to fix a couple of things in the layout that i didn't really like much. Now, for example, the counter is at the very bottom of the page, thus eliminating all page-resizing problems. It doesn't look too nice down there, either, but after all few people read till the bottom.
More changes will be coming, sometime soon. Anything, instead of writing that thesis thing.

A Poem, by the Captain.

Three Months In The Mirror

Hey! Hey! the C.I.A.!

It seems that my good friend Giggi will be monitored by the Secret Services a little bit more than usual. Apparently, he's the one behind the high-quality downloadable version of Raiot, Sabina Guzzanti's programme which was censored last week(Those wacky italians! When will they learn!), and which can be found here. Bother, haven't done anything particularly subversive recently, the authorities must be thinking i've gone soft...after all, blowing up bits of Duino over the weekend isn't that subversive.

Started the first draft of my Thesis. Due Wednesday.
After ten lines, realized i had to start over.
Wrong language.
Shit happens.

La Violeta

Just finished listening to Radio 3's first installment of a very touching, very delicate biography of Violeta Parra, which will be running all week.
It concluded with Violeta's arrival to Santiago,in the forties, when she had to perform in small restaurants to gather what little pay she could. And most of all, after a life playing, performing and reflecting on tradicional chilean rural folklore, she had to adapt to the music people wanted to hear in the cities. Tango. Ranchera. Fox-trot. And so on. And of course, as so many musicians before and after her, she had to wonder why she was playing music from places so distant, written by people so different from her. It's from doubts such as these that some of the greatest musical masterpieces have been created. And it scares me a little to think that i'll never have to wonder about these things, not having a defined place i could say my culture comes from.
Ah, but i digress.

Alcohol Education

Don't you just love the Pennsylvania State Liquor Control Board?

Hey, look! an update!

Last monday, i went to the automatic bank machine to check if i actually had any money, at all.
The machine gave me a print-out telling me i have a big fat 70€ on my account. This news caught me completely by surprise, but didn't keep me from dancing and hopping my way from the machine waving the print-out above my head, singing in ecstasy and leaving a trail of flowers behind me.
And my bank card, too.
So of course the following day i was queuing at the comic shop with my stack of long-overdue reading material, and as true cool people do, i pulled out my purse to fish out the card...which wasn't there. Oops.
So anyway, the bank informed me this morning that yes, they have my card. And yes, they're even going to give it back to me. Maybe even sometime this week. This solves *many* problems.
Even more problems would be solved if i got paid sometime. Haven't seen a paycheck since september. So on monday i told Livia, who wrote a post-it to Sandy, who then wrote a post-it to erika, and that's more or less all i know about the petit post-it avalanche moving towards me actually having money again.
Oh, but there's a catch.
Why, you may be wondering, did i only start complaining about the lack of pay now, and not earlier?
Easy.
I need some favors.
Timing. Timing's important. Especially when you only have 6 days to apply for an internship.

Web Fire Escape

If any of our dear and beloved readers should ever actually find a job, i just added something useful to my template, covering for your browsing needs. The Web Fire escape. Read how it works here. Warmly recommended by Mr. blogger himself.
Pity that neutral green color kind of ruins the template's subtle blue color shading.
Oh, who am i kidding. It's just a ready-made template, and not a very nice one too.

When in doubt, play the blues (F. Zappa)

Not sure whether to listen to John Lee Hooker or to Blur. My incapacity of listening to 2 albums at the same time is extremely frustrating.
Really, i've tried.
In doubt, i'm listening to fela.

We hear the playback and it seems so long ago

Take the '80s quiz.
I only scored 18%, and that's reassuring.

Nikita, Ike and Walt.

"We have come to this town where lives the cream of American art. And just imagine (that) I, a Premier, a Soviet representative, when I came here to this city, I was given a plan. A program of what I was to be shown and whom I was to meet here.

But just now I was told that I could not go to Disneyland. I asked 'Why not? What is it? Do you have rocket-launching pads there?' I do not know.

And just listen - just listen to what I was told - to what reason I was told. We, which means the American authorities, can not guarantee your security if you go there.

What is it? Is there an epidemic of cholera there or something? Or have gangsters taken over the place that can destroy me? Then what must I do? Commit suicide?

This is the situation I am in. Your guest. For me, this situation is inconceivable. I can not find words to explain this to my people."

Who said these historical words on the warm days of september 1959? Find out here!

Coupling my socks...

Why do i step on so much scotch tape all the time? Ah, but i digress...

Haven't updated with anything personal recently, and i apologize for this. Most of the time, i've been preparing for my thesis (i now have a clean, tidy desk in my room. Believe it or not). The rest of the time, i've been making molotov bombs with Fred. Using powdered sugar and polish soup powder. There's something about polish cuisine that has always fascinated me. Yesterday i half-jokingly asked Fred if, by using the same principle, it would be possible to make somebody's soup explode. He gave no answer.
Nordic taster session last night, got rather tipsy, for free! Actually, at the end of the night i bought a glass of wine. So my entire tipsiness could ultimately be accounted for in only 1€. Cool.
The taster session was ok, good food, lots of sweets, would have wanted to taste the Sausage Soup, but it was too close to the Gluhwein, and i kept getting attracted into the latter's orbit. Also because Fred was serving it, under the mysterious sign saying "Benelux".

Not much else to talk about. Oh, college hasn't paid me since september. Which in a way is cool, because they can't piss me off for being around the residences after curfew.

And here's another link to that great Jim Hill Media Site.

Freud would have a field day...

Bolt City

Check out Kazu Kibuishi's website featuring Copper, one of the most perfect comics i've ever seen, printed or otherwise.
As a matter of fact, i've been saving every single panel on my hard disc, so i can carry on raving for them even after the guy actually wisens up and starts to want to be paid for his work. Those wacky artist-people.

For those of you living in Rome (you know who you are)

Daniele Luttazzi will be presenting his new DVD this saturday (22/10) at 19:00 o'clock, at Melbookstore, Rome.
Those not living in rome should go to that site and read the comments to Daniele's appearance on TV last week(yes, he was censored after all), but most of all the beautiful interviews in the "inediti" section. I've been reading veeeeeery slowly over the past few days, also because they're just as dense as they are wonderful.

Didn't remember what i've been up to lately.
So i came here and checked.
Interesting. Useful, also.

The Bride Stripped Bare Of Her Bachelors, Even

Courtesy of Marcel Duchamp

Interesting things going on at Knulp in Trieste... Unfortunately, their site is not very informative. So i'll just copy-paste their press release here. In italian, i've no time to translate. Bloody italians. Can't they just speak english like everyone else?

Knulp
via madonna del mare 7/a-Trieste
tel : 040-300021
www.knulp.it
e-mail : knulp@knulp.it
aperto dalle 10 alle 24/chiuso il mercoledì



VIVA BRASIL
un'iniziativa dell' associazione QUILOMBO



GIOVEDI' 20 NOVEMBRE (GIORNATA DELLA COSCIENZA NERA IN BRASILE)

ore 21.00: conferenza stampa, presentazione associazione QUILOMBO e rassegna
ore 22.00: proiezione film "Quilombo"

VENERDI' 21 NOVEMBRE

ore 19.00: il Brasile di "Dona Flor", cucina e musica, assaggini con specialità brasiliane

MARTEDI' 25 NOVEMBRE

ore 20.00: video comico "Os normais" (1a parte)
ore 21.30: musica "ao vivo" con BINHO CARVALHO
ore 22.45: proiezione spettacolo Berimbau e Gilberto Gil al festival Sunsplash 2002

GIOVEDI' 27 NOVEMBRE

ore 19.00: il Brasile in rete, in collaborazione con MUSIBRASIL
ore 19.30: la poesia di Vinicius de Moraes, letture e musica
ore 20.00: apertura piccola mostra artigianato e mostra fotografica in collaborazione con XINGU ARTE BRASIL

VENERDI' 28 NOVEMBRE

ore 19.00: relazioni del convegno "Un nuovo Brasile in cammino", in collaborazione con IBRIT di Milano
ore 19.30: solidarietà, proiezione video comunità di Minas Novas

DOMENICA 30 NOVEMBRE

ore 21.30: musica, teatro e danza "QUINCAS" (Fabbrica delle Buccie/Berimbau)
ore 22.30: film/concerto "Bahia de todos os sambas"

LUNEDI' 1 DICEMBRE

ore 21.00: musiche di capoeira con il gruppo CAPOEIRA ANGOLA CENTER di Mestre Joao Grande (prof. Marquinho)
ore 22.00: video di capoeira (Mestre Joao Grande)

MARTEDI' 2 DICEMBRE

ore 20.00: video comico "Os normais" (2a parte)
ore 21.30: musica "ao vivo" con ADRIANA VASQUEZ
ore 22.45: documentario "Nel cuore delle batterie di Rio"





PER TUTTE LE INIZIATIVE L'INGRESSO E' LIBERO.

That last bit was cool.
Anyway, i'm planning to be there this thursday for the opening and movie (1984 movie with unpublished music by Gilberto Gil), then on the 25th of course, to see Gilberto Gil's concert for a second time(i was there when they filmed, i'd even reviewed it somewhere on my lousy old site) and on the 27th for Vinicius' poems. And maybe also on the 30th to see that Bahia De Todos Os Sambas movie which i once bought the VHS of, but it never worked. Bother.

Not me.

My New Wallpaper

Courtesy of Kozyndan!

Feeling a bit down. Can't find my Bluebeaters CD anymore, will have to buy it back(it was a copy, anyway), i noticed it's been republished in a 2-pack with their live album, seems to be a worthy low-price buy.
I would check how much money i have in the bank, but i'm afraid the machine will steal my card. Or repossess me.
Eventually ate the two kinder-surprises i had hidden in a secret place of my room, they say chocolate cheers you up. Hope it works. The surprises weren't bad. A frog and a jigsaw puzzle.
I'm also seeing if browsing for stuff i can't buy on amazon will help cheer me up. The link to my wishlist i put here yesterday is more for my own use(i don't want-nor expect!-any reader of this blog to buy me stuff. I'm already surprised they read this, it's enough for me), so in mid-december when my mother asks me what i want for christmas i can just say "wait, i'll send you the link."
The link to the wish-list, of course. Not to the blog. Noooooooooooooo, not to the blog.

"The Russians taught us to drink vodka, but they never taught us when to stop"
-Kazakh Proverb.

This is not a joke. I repeat, this is not a joke.

Only 40 days to christmas(or something)...

Just added my Amazon Wish List to my far too egocentric links.
As if anyone cares.
Bah. Humbug.

At last, more info on Dave McKean's visit to Trieste: download pdf file here.
Other interesting things of the trieste science fiction festival: Tarkovskij's Solaris, Chris Marker's La Jetée, retrospectives of Doctor Who and The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Not bad. Oh, and Dario Argento's popping by, too.

Relive the McCarthy era at its peak! Download Dr. Fred Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent!

What turns on a kryptonian?

Just added another link to your right (left if you're standing behind the monitor): Steu's blog which had apparently already been linking to me for some days without me noticing. Time to return the favor.

What is this, post-every-ten-minutes day?

Another CD released that risks to make the wallet of me much lighter...(except that i don't really have a wallet, but that's another story)
Problem is, it seems shops will be stocking it at a rather steep price, since it comes with that extra-cool bonus DVD. Which of course has the "Bonus" status only outside italy. Ho hum.
Instead, i think i'll just download Sananda's New Song!

Um, let's just all ignore that last post, ok?
Thanks.

Mushroom.

Nothing to do tonight, all very mushroom.
Just stayed at home all night. Going to bed now.
Ciao.

So italian pianist Stefano Bollani released a new cd that looks quite interesting...will i resist the temptation of getting a copy? come to think of it, that would just get Angelo jealous of my musical tastes...
...so instead, i'll just wait for the seventeenth and pick up Ensemble Modern's new Zappa cd!

A little news before we carry on with our regular blogging...
Literary magazine Storie will be publishing an agenda called Natale Che Palle, featuring two new short stories by Aldo Nove and our ever-loved Elio e le Storie Tese.
Speaking of whom, photos of 10 october's historical(?) tour-ending concert are available here, courtesy of that adorable friend and colleague in geeky fandom, Chrissy. Of particular interest is this one,


this one.
where the people being pointed at are none other than those lovable UWCAD students, Aprilia, Arisci, Carbonchio, Cecchi, Giacomino et al. I'm particularly proud of them.

One last thing: Blogger has officially taken stance on the "dreaded Mom Scenario".

Actually, Reclusive Hangover Day only lasted until about 30 mins after that last post, when i realized there was a beautiful sky and went down to porto to take some more pictures of my voodoo doll. Then went to library, despite my *bad* hangover, and tried to study. Quite surprisingly, after three hours of suffering my head cleared out and some productivity was attained. I stayed there from five to ten, not a bad time after all. Even found some great texts to add to my thesis' bibliography. Yes, i'm actually working on it. And no, i still haven't started writing it. Surprise surprise.
Went to visit some friends in Pala afterwards. While there, i discovered i'd been to old offices last night. Or maybe not. If anybody sees some brain cells carrying luggage around an air terminal, ask them. It's not my problem anymore.
Now i hope to meet my sleeping deadlines. It's almost half past two, high time to go to bed. But first, link of the day!
Goodnight.

What day is it today?

It's Reclusive Hangover Day!
An entire day spent within the four walls of my room, listening to music, playing videogames, messing around on the 'net and watching the Special Edition Gorillaz DVD i got myself in Rome(for an absurdly low price). Yes, i like the Gorillaz. So?
I've only exited my room twice, once to shower and the other to go to the bathroom. I think my parents don't even know i got up. What they do know is that i got home at seven this morning.
Oh, and there've been carabinieri or policemen outside my window for the past two days, occasionally peeping up at me. But i'll worry about that tomorrow.

Everybody's linking to this, so i guess i should too.

Forgot!
My PC now works again, we found a new little fan. The old one has followed my example and has chosen to devote its life to Art. So expect it to show up in some future installation or performance.

Brown Shoes Don't Make It

Bought new shoes today. Brown. But don't worry, no risk of me doing nasty things with interns on the White House Lawn. Don't know what i'm talking about? go here and here.
Anyway, in 5 minutes i'll be going to pick My Father from the airport, then at a quarter past seven i'll be meeting fred and the as-yet-unidentified "others" to go up to some Osmizza. So my new shoes will immediately understand with what sort of person they're going to have to do with.
They're so nice and clean now. By tomorrow morning they'll probably have stains of anything ranging from wine to yesterday's lunch (beans). Poor guys.

And one of my favourite webcomics ended the other day. So sad.

i may not update for a little while - the little fan inside my computer decided to pursue more ambitious careers, so i'm stuck blogging from my dad's PC until he comes back from Spain, which if i'm not wrong should happen today.
And speaking of parents, i should be meeting my mother to buy new shoes in half an hour. Pity i don't remember if she said we should meet in piazza, her office, photocopy room, staff room or Kingston Bay, Jamaica. Hope it's the last one.

Made some changes, as you may see, to the contents of the sidebar.
A new link was added, along with two new sections, which i still have to decide whether to link to related pages or to the reviews i'll eventually get around to writing (yeah, right).

BREAKING NEWS! YES, AGAIN!

The great Artist, illustrator, designer, director, musician, etc. Dave Mckean who just happens to be one of my favourite living artists, will be in Trieste on the 30th of November.

The news is official, the details aren't yet. But as soon as i have official press releases to link to, they'll be linked to.
When i got the news, i started jumping up and down my room with glee. The noise caused my mother to have to come in and check what was going on. I felt extremely nerdy. But of a very happy nerdyness.

Zen Terrorism is born!

Last day in rome saw the birth of what i call Zen Terrorism.
What i did was, while shopping for books, to take out all the Feng Shui books from their section of the shop and then file each one of them in completely wrong places.

Subtle, but lots of fun. Had me giggling around the halls of at least four different large roman bookshops, and a couple of small ones. One of which in particular i endorse.

er.

Was writing a long post on music, art, and other stuff.

Lost everything because the college's line is so slow, it timed out while i tried to publish.

I'll eventually start it all over. Still sleepy anyway, think i'll roll over to my bed. Let's see if the cat on my lap approves.

Even quicker, from a webcafe somewhere in the Eternal City (Rome, not Codroipo. Although time does pass faster here.)
My bancomat just died out on me. Ho hum. Off to catch up with mia mamma so i can fill up with the €'s again. Oh, and i just met Michele Loi.
No money and Michele Loi. Now my karma owes me big.

Another quick one.

Still in rome.
Changed host: Moved from Giggi's place to the amazing apartment of Susan and Mohammed, two ex-UWCADers who live and work here.

Opening ceremony yesterday. Saw lots of friendly faces i'd been missing for quite some time, got lots of hugs from long-lost friends, indulged in free buffet, got sloshed on a boat-disco on the Tiber surrounded by students and ex-students, at a party i crashed into. Then, just when things were starting to get good with the ladies, got dragged out by my friends and ended up in a moroccan restaurant, smoking Narghile.

Extremely cool.

That was the highlight of this week, i think. Actually, i've had several very good moments. Strange to think tomorrow's the last day.

Going to see the Dadaists in Parco Della Musica, and doing my final shopping around for cds.

Will write more as soon as time is in my hands again. Probably monday.
Meanwhile, a big hug to all eastern-europeans who have started to visit this page in the past week. Miss you. You know who you are, moja sestra.
(yep, too busy to write but still insanely curious about Sitemeter's statistics. And who's that visiting from Singapore, eh?)

I'm alive.

Yep, I'm alive.
Too many things to tell.
Had fun.
Took train.
Studied[made up] my lecture for the following morning while everybody else partied.
Caught up partying when everybody was already drunk.
Got to Rome.
Started guided tour.
Wasn't bad.
Showed Matta mural in Piazza di Spagna metro station.
Tourists stopped to listen.
Enjoyed.
Got to Giggi's place.
Watched Tron DVD extras.
Fell asleep.
Woke up, apologized, felt guilty because it was interesting.
Went to bed.
Woke up, showered(finally).
Got to meeting point 10 mins late.
2nd day as guide wasn't as good, but still ok. Discovered some nice places.
Planned to meet people in termini, cellphone broke down, fell into despair for 15 minutes, called from payphone to cancel all appointments and apologize, started to worry about having to buy a new cellphone tomorrow.
Cellphone came back to life, cursed.
Met five beautiful music scholars on the way to Campo Dei Fiori. Had a drink and enjoyable chat with them.
Wrote a small message to a friend.
Got to Campo dei Fiori, joined Giggi, Mumble and others for a flashmob-planifying meeting.
Much fun was had.
Went home.
Met Ramesse.
Checked mail. Now blogging while Ram and JJ discuss programming behind me.

Sorry, no pope tomorrow. Maybe i could weasel myself in, but can't be bothered.

I guess that's it.

Met Giovanni, Valentina, Michele, Fabrizio, Filippo, Michele, luciano in different moments, will see them all again in the next few days.
Got mail from Micheleloi saying he's in Rome. Still wondering what to do about it.

Yap, that's it.
Rome's cool. Free day tomorrow, time to wag the bancomat card around some music and comic shops.

Cheers to all.
Anybody in Rome? Contact me.

The Program.

Ok, so here's the official program of the guided tour i'll be giving in rome.

Monday:

Morning - Meeting in Piazza S.Ignazio as soon as baggage is accounted for. Visit of Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio and Chiesa del Gesù.
Walk towards Piazza di Spagna passing through Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. Break. Viewing, explanation and commentaries to Roberto Matta's mural behind Spanish Steps.

16:00-Meeting point with rest of college.


Tuesday:

Morning - Meeting point: outside Sta Maria Trastevere church. 9:00 Sharp.We meet with Franz's Group.
Mosaics in rome, W/Franz's Group. Trastevere (monastero S. Cecilia). 2€.

Afternoon – Meeting point Piazza San Pietro 14:00 Sharp. The architectural influence of Sebastiano Serlio. Musei Vaticani: Raffaello’s Rooms! Shortly thereafter, visit of the churches of S.Maria della Pace and San Pietro in Montorio.


Wednesday:

Morning - Meeting point San Paolo Fuori le mura church. 9:00 Hours. We join Franz's Group for San Paolo Fuori le mura.

Afternoon - meeting point Ostiense station. 14:00 Hours. Ostia Antica.


Thursday:

Morning - 10:00 hrs meeting in front of Quirinale, visit to exhibition "Metafisica" in Quirinale (Mirò, Picasso, DeChirico, Dalì, Ernst, etc etc). 3€.

Afternoon - Visit to Facoltà di Lingue Università La Sapienza.

Evening 17:00 opening ceremony.

Evening 19:00 FREE BUFFET DINNER!


Friday:

Morning busy, DaimlerChrysler Event. Followed by Lunch Buffet.

Afternoon – Guided visit to Bernini’s work (Fountains) + Piazza Navona

Finishing the program for the project week. Gotta hand it in in an hour.
Pity i'm still drunk from last night.

We're Back!

Got up around 12 this morning. Had come home at 6. Had gone to pala at 18:00. Had not exited the premises in twelve hours.

Pala is looking very, very good this year. The second years have built themselves their own little personal environment, where they have made themselves extremely comfortable. I watched Bruce Almighty with them two nights ago, it was an extremely refreshing night, with movie, popcorn, good company and whisky+cola. The movie was funny. Nothing to write home about, basically a remake of Liar Liar where the Deus Ex Machina walks in at the beginning to make the trouble begin instead of at the end to make them finish. Now that's a twist. Made me realize how long it's been since i'd last seen a conventional, absolutely predictable hollywood movie. Relaxing nonetheless. After seeing it we all walked around talking like Jim Carrey. And hearing "one of us" on the supermarket loudspeakers the following day made me crack up in laughter.

But anyway, what really surprises me about pala this year are the first years. It's probably the friendliest crop we've had in a long time. I very often go to the dayroom, brought in by my automatic homing system(still not used to old offices), and enjoy very nice conversations with the people there. Then i sometimes look around and notice i'm surrounded by first years, and fear i might be becoming something like Noce, i.e. seen as "the old guy who sometimes shows up but nobody knows what he's doing with us seventeen-year-olds". But then when i make for the exit, much to my surprise three or four voices ask for me to stay, wondering what could be so wrong that would want me to leave.

Another good thing is the so-called Midnight Club. Some more adventurous first years have taken up the habit of always sleeping in the dayroom. Where by sleeping i mean "staying up talking until four or five in the morning when we all eventually doze off, and then going up to one's room around eight in the morning and sleeping till dark".

Last night, for example, i had gotten back from one of the weekend beer buying sprees Fred and i usually have when his parents are away, and got invited by Andres, the mexican first year, to stay around for dinner. He, Cristobal from Chile, Agi[Agnes] from Hungary and i all cooked together, mixing ingredients from different countries to make extremely interesting, although not necessarily healthy servings. After this long, interesting conversations ensued, eventually culminating with Agi's production of a Scrabble board thus beginning a match that would have continued until almost one o'clock in the morning. Around two, i was outside in the large concrete circle in front of the elementary school(i can imagine what whoever built the thing was thinking. "What can we build for the children to play in? I know! A large, concrete circle1 they'll love it!")with much of the same gang, plus Claudia from Ecuador and Marta from Latvia, drinking wine and generally enjoying the not-too-cold environment. Departing from the trodden path, Marta, Yael from Israel and I climbed to the elementary school roof and atched the world from above. Philosophical, sentimental and linguistic discussions followed. Then we pulled away our aura of intelligence and started talking about Paprika Island.

Sleep caught up with most of us in pala dayroom, all lying half-dead on the sofas we had amassed together, listening to Agi and Sara from Spain chatting away. Around six i decided it wouldn't have been a very good idea to stay around, since in any moment PS would have come down to check on the milk supplies. Once again, my departure was almost blocked by Agi's puppydog eyes telling me to stay a little longer. Denying her requests makes me so guilty, on the way back i felt like Hitler invading Poland. As usual, i was extremely punctual in my departure, for only minutes later he would have come down and, as Fred related to me some minutes ago on the phone, dropped his luggage on the dark pond outside the dayroom which, as they discovered, was nothing but a certain second year's lunch and dinner of the previous day. Remember that beer i'd told you about? Ecco.

So today i got up at twelve, and started working on the program for my project in Rome. Instead, wasted time making a CD for a friend and updating this blog. Oh, well.

Some good news, some bad news.

The good: i have a new hard disk. 80giga. Huzzah.
The bad: my brother's still busy installing it, so my pc is currently off-limits.
The worse: i should be preparing next week's calendar/timetable, but it's proving to be difficult without a pc handy.
The better.: no updates till all this is sorted out. I'm updating from the office so i can't even link to other sites. So in the meantime learn some magic tricks. No, learn to juggle.

I'm going out for some chocolate, a beer and a cigarette.
But i'm feeling guilty about the chocolate.

Speaking of privacy, i'm still trying to understand who visited this site from Hong Kong's timezone.
But most of all, why this page sometimes only loads halfway. If you're also going through this, just refresh and hope for the best.

BREAKING NEWS

It's official!

Yours Truly will be in Rome from monday the 2nd to sunday the 9th of november. That means from monday!
Among the many things he'll be doing will be:
-being the guide for a group of over 14 students+ 2 teachers through specific roman monuments(the ones i can bullshit long enough about)
-Providing commentary and discussion for the Roberto Matta mural mosaic in Piazza di Spagna's underground station.
-on wednesday morning, possibly having an audience with [free inside!] The Pope!
-on wednesday afternoon, staging a performance/installation between Campo Dei Fiori and Piazza Navona. Details TBA.
-Visiting the exhibition "metafisica" at Quirinale.
-Attending the Official Opening Ceremony of the United World College of the Adriatic's Academic Year. Followed by buffet dinner for all. That's the main reason i'm going there.
-Visiting several record shops, ditto comic shops.
-Drinking around the place. Investigating on the possibilities of finding a good waikiki in roman bars. Last time wasn't too successful(but we did manage to fill our bellies free of charge)

As you can see, the clou events are on wednesday. Hopefully.

Definitive calendar/timetables are being worked on. Or rather, they will be, as soon as i finish reading webcomics.

All events will be thoroughly chronicled on this very Blog.

Won't Go Down, we're all about Your Privacy!

sitemeter statistics are cool...

Ciao Mitko!

Just added a wee counter. Thanks to the sitemeter guys.
Of course, i still have to understand how exactly it works.

Lately.

So i realize i haven't posted any real content in the past couple of weeks or so. That's because i was either too busy metamorphosing into a slug in the library eight hours a day, or outside getting some social life taken care of on weekends, which is something that has quite surprisingly been going fine recently. Can't help wondering how long it lasts this time.
Anyway, exam tomorrow. Tomorrow? Yes, my dear reader. For last you had heard about exams was, last thursday, three o'clock, Contemporary History Oral. Things didn't quite turn out that way. Well, let's start from the beginning.

Some ten days ago i had to give my history teacher a paper on pre-fascist concentration camps in Ustica. Of course, i wrote it the day before. And the night before. Of course, i didn't sleep. Of course, on the way to Udine i started hallucinating.
I somehow managed to get the freshly printed 3000+word paper into the assistant's hands, even though giant carrots were bulging from the ground, the marble floors were making me pirouette and most traffic lights were morphing into chamaeleons or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bad guys. On the way back, i almost got run over because i'd failed to see the green chamaeleon turn red.

Once i got back to Duino, having been awake for over thirty hours, the most logical thing to do was to go to sleep. But thirty was such a dull number. It was decided forty-two was far better. So i stayed awake until around five, topping around forty-four hours awake, for once reaching 42 conversation ensued. That explains this.

So on thursday i go to udine to give my exam. Contemporary history, 1914-today. The assistant comes. The teacher doesn't. The assistant informs us that the exam will be divided into two parts, the second being with the teacher on tuesday(tomorrow).

I was third on the list. Five minutes before the first examinee exits, i hear the guy on my left tell me:
"1914-today? No, it's 1814-today!"
and the the girl on my right:
"the second girl just left. You're next in the queue."

My reaction was immediate: i ran down the road to the closest bar, and had myself a shot of grappa.
Shortly thereafter, i entered the examination arena.
Before i even had time to sit down, the assistant asked me to digress a bit on the paper i had presented him the previous week. He said it was somewhat peculiar.
"students don't usually write so much about such specific facts".
Nice.
The first half of the exam was more of a friendly chat about italians deporting libians in the 1910s, the conquest wars, Omar-al-Mukhtar, the movie about him starring Anthony Quinn and its being censored on italian land, the fact that it is widely available on p2p, and why WinMX is better than Kazaa.

Then some questions about Hitler and Mussolini. Got over those without too many problems.

Then came the tough part.
Him: "let's go back a little. Choose an independence war and comment it to me."
me: "hmmm...how about the american independence war?"
Him: "That was 1776. A bit early for this exam."
Me: "Oh! Yes, silly of me. How about the italian independence war?"
Him: "Okay. The first, the second or the third?"

I eventually weaseled my way out of the question.

Final verdict: 27/30. To be confirmed on tuesday. That's tomorrow, for me.

Haven't seen a history book since.
I'm currently blogging, listening to the radio and chatting, all at the same time.

Exiting the exam, i went to buy a bottle of Baileys at the liquor store in the bus station. When the baileys-selling-person found out i was from Chile, he began an extremely friendly chat about neoliberism under Pinochet and the similarities between Aldo Moro and Allende's political coalition programs. Interestingly, he was just as prepared in the topic as the exam assistant. Nice.

On the way back to Duino, lifting my eyes from a comic book for the first time in half an hour, i noticed my bus was going through places i'd never seen before. I got up from my seat, went to the bus driver, and politely began the following exchange:
Me: "Excuse my irreverence, but where the fuck are we?"
Bus Driver: "Medea."
Me: "Oh."

Ten minutes later, we got back to the beaten path. And then got to Duino twenty minutes late.

Ok, that's the story of the first part of my exam. I shall now proceed to have a drink before going on with the story.

Made me laugh out loud...

Paid for by BUSH-CHENEY '04, Inc.

And finally,

check out the cheap beer taste test (by way of Dorothy, whose site i visit and link to so often i've started calling her by first name)

This is a public service safety message. Stay tuned for more blog.

Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 14:34:53 -0800 (PST)
From: "Robin Luis Fernandez"
Subject: Please, delete eventual previous message.
To: [myself]@yahoo.it

[bcc: a load of other people]

Dear sirs,

If you happen to have recieved a message containing
nothing but gibberish from an email account extremely
similar to mine but nonetheless
unrelated(evaristocavallo[at]publisa.it), i suggest
you all delete it.
It would indeed not be very healthy to open it, in
particular not to open the large executable attachment
it comes with.
I apologize for the inconvenience, even though i am as
much of a victim of this as you are. Or more of a
victim if you haven't recieved such a message and this
is just a false alarm(if this is the case, hello! how
are you! we probably haven't heard from each other in
quite some time).
I shall do all that is in my power to avoid this from
happening in future, even if this may mean dismissing
the present account and getting a new one, which would
be quite a pity because i only use it for writing to
special, special people and have thus grown quite fond
of it. Really.

Please accept my most humble apologies, and possibly
proceed to turn off your computer and go out to enjoy
the more tangible sides of life. All this is of no
importance in the end, indeed we ought to remember
that life wasn't at all that bad before we had
computers.

Yours,

-Robin Luis Fernandez

And now, in italian:

Cancellate il messaggio di prima. Aveva un virus.
-R.

__________________________________

sleeping on money

Just found a coin while making my bed.

By way of Neil Gaiman

A certain library for sale...
Something about this makes me feel uneasy.

Quick post.
It's official: finally going to Venice tomorrow, to the Theatre Biennale.
Tonight, the 1st years gave a short but 75% nice show for the 2nd years, since it was "E.E. Day". Before the show, a *marvelous* performance by the Tambours di Topolò. They're only getting better.
At the show, i noticed everybody was dressed really cool. I asked around what the dress code was. Half of the people i asked answered "dress like Robin", the other half answered "dress like a '60s alcoholic hippie". I don't kno whether to be flattered or offended.

Anyway, 7:30 wakeup tomorrow. So goodnight.

Feeling kind of empty after having given the first part of my exam.
I'm going out to take some more pictures of my voodoo doll.

Was reading this article on the bus on the way to my exam. I found one passage particularly provoking. Here goes.

"Phrases like "axis of evil" or "the road map" are not policy statements, but merely soundbites. Officials such as Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz talk like Rambo in public, as in private."

So the US has officials who talk like Rambo.
A president who acts like Rambo.
A governor of the State of California who is Rambo.

Scary, very very scary.

I've got my exam today, sometime between three and four. Wish me luck.

Figures.

Yeah, yeah, too busy studying to answer email or meet people, but not enough to waste time on this.

FLY GUY

Cannot. Believe. this. site.

Forgot to point out Banksy's official site. I just bumped into this page over there which is undoubtedly the single most shocking thing i've read all day, which is relevant if you consider i'd been studying twentieth century armed conflicts for the past eight hours.

Banksy's been at it again! Check the news, here and here!
It's hard to be original, with such geniuses around...


Oh, and the most beautiful character ever created is starring in a new movie. Info here. So much for college-related content.

I can't say this message on Sananda Maitreya(a.k.a. Terence Trent D'arby)'s messageboard didn't shock me. I had to read it twice to believe it actually said what it says.

On 10/17/2003, Mike wrote:

What kind of world do we live in when there is no or little Sananda played on American radio??! I have been hep to Sananda since he first came out when I too was stationed in Germany Back in the Late 80's. I have been spreading his music ever since!! I am currently station in Iraq due to this useless war. I have Neither fish with me and Have been allowing the Iraqi interpeters listen and they want more!! Who doesn't once they listen to the best artist alive today!! I also bought the movie the FAN because I caught at the end of the movie TTD singing while the credits where playing!! Does anyone know if Sananda smokes cigarettes?
francois14815 [at] themail.com

I won't comment on this. But it's good to see that the people stationed in Iraq show more brains than their leaders in admitting that 1)the war's useless and that 2)yes, there actually still is a war going on.

Whatever. There's some new content over on sananda's site. Anyone interested ought to check it out. But that's usually just me.

(have i really dealt with nerdy '80s music and contemporary geopolitics all in one post? Whew. I guess i'm starting to understand why some people think this blog is written by more than one person.)

Two questions have surfaced recently when this weblog has been mentioned in conversation.

1. "Couldn't you write more about the college?"

Answer: Hey, i have my own life too. But anyway, i'll make an effort to write a little more about what's going on, within the limits of what won't *really* get me in trouble if too many people read this page. And if i haven't been informing you guys about what goes on around here recently, it's because i've spent most of the past weeks locked up in the library. No, really. If i could have seen myself writing this a couple of years ago, i would've grabbed a time machine and showed up this moment only to punch myself in the face.
Wait.
Ok, didn't happen.
We're safe.

2. "How do i leave comments to your posts?" (or, as one of you out there asked, "how do i write on your blog?")

Answer: Well, now you can! actually, i'm posting this only to announce that, thanks to the fine folks at haloscan, anybody can comment, scorn or insult my posts! So go for it!
Seems like i'm finally getting the hang of this blogging business. Cool.
(PS: angelo, scusami ma oggi proprio non ce la facevo. Incombevano fotocopie ed esami.)

Cool, it seems i don't rate *that* bad.

Radio 3

Just listened to the first part of Radio3 Suite's 10 episode Zappa retrospective. You should do it too. Don't miss the next ones, every day at 20:00 hours. Little or no info here.

And while you're at that site, check out these programs about Victor Jara!

Tom Jobim with Marcello Mastroianni, 1982

Soneto de separação

-Vinicius de Moraes

De repente do riso fez-se o pranto
Silencioso e branco como a bruma
E das bocas unidas fez-se a espuma
E das mãos espalmadas fez-se o espanto.

De repente da calma fez-se o vento
Que dos olhos desfez a última chama
E da paixão fez-se o pressentimento
E do momento imóvel fez-se o drama.

De repente, não mais que de repente
Fez-se de triste o que se fez amante
E de sozinho o que se fez contente.

Fez-se do amigo próximo o distante
Fez-se da vida uma aventura errante
De repente, não mais que de repente.


Oceano Atlântico, a bordo do Highland Patriot, a caminho da Inglaterra, 09.1938


Vinicius de Moraes would have been 90 years old today.

Spent a great night.
Had duinesi expecting my attention, which i gave them for a limited time. Then went on to Luka's b-day party. Bavarian beer.
Then enjoyed some time chatting with 3rd years, Junio Seela and Giulia. Then a group of iberoamericans and mixed 1st years met in school basement, where we set up the first indianata of the year. Hoping more will come. If i have my way, they will.
Oh, and i got to kiss some really nice girls.

Ok, so i've got tons of emails to answer, links to link to, events to point out to, but i'm *still* too busy.
That's fate.
So if you've been waiting for an email/phone call/whatever, i apologize, it'll show up in a day or two.

Anyway, i seem to be becoming a good student: i study six to eight hours a day, i write essays, i discuss history with my friends, i never sleep, i get drunk. And i'm enjoying it.

Still kind of busy.
Just had 7 hours' sleep after staying awake for 44 hours. Long story.

Comics can save the world.

Swamped Again!

As you might have noticed, updates have been rather slow here at WGD central recently. It appears the webmaster's currently too busy with his non-blog activities lately, so to honor an ancient internet tradition we are now posting the Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup, which as you all know indicates that blogging shall resume just as pointlessly as ever once we've finished working on this history essay. It might even go online afterwards so i can be scorned in public and probably even chased, beaten and hanged by a chain gang. Can't complain, that's what they're there for.

Viva La Politically Correct!

yes, i'm going through the archives...

interval.

(wierd but fun comic. depressing after a while. that's what makes it good. Achewood. Go for it.)

My weekend, fit the first.

Where Alcohol is purchased and consumed, bad timing causes delusions, Much music is heard, our hero causes disruption but ultimately gets rewarded for it, and unexpected encounters bring revelations to our readers.

Winamp: Jackson5-I Want You Back(Konishi Yasuharu ReadyMade Mix)

Let's start with friday. I'd left this blog with a bag full of junk. So i went out and bought some union pivo, just to make things heavier. Six 33cc bottles, 1,50€. The first one died on the bus.
Before going, i had time to say hello to Ana S. and Andrea T., who have been visiting Duino for a few days. I think it's safe to say that they're both doing fine. Ana i'll probably be seeing more of soon, since [SPOILER ALERT] it turned out today that i will be going to rome with the college, after all. It seems i have a project to supervise. No kidding.
Anyway, i made it to Piazza Unità just in time for The Hormonauts' soundcheck. Which meant Eelst's one had been hours earlier, at three o'clock in the afternoon as a matter of fact, but nobody had warned us. Bugger. The other Favae were quite angry about this, i was kind of frustrated because i should've expected it. Ho hum.
Other favae: Chrissy of course, with her mother, brother and grandma who had made a large strudel for Elio, as she usually does. Some groupies this band has. Then there were Ciro&friend, Francesca&bored boyfriend, Romina(new entry!), and i'm probably forgetting somebody. Had some fun conversations during the long wait for the beginning of the show. Called and got called by old friends. Found out that my cellphone battery tends to expire a bit too often for my tastes.
By the time the first band came on, half the beers were gone, or were lobbying to exit. The Galatine remained more or less untouched. Dinner could wait.
The Hormonauts are one great live act. must be seen to be believed. Even Chrissy, whose musical tastes are more traditional, enjoyed them. Next time they come close, i'm paying to see them. Worth it. Their act consisted of ska/rockabilly/swing/punk/whatever works, with cool outfits and quite an attitude to match.
They even managed to overshadow the second band, Africa Unite. Good reggae, but they eventually got a bit tiresome. I like my reggae more rhythmic, more shaken. Theirs was too reflexive, it wasn't the best choice to be placed between two bands that make you move quite a lot. As a matter of fact, Chrissy hated them and spent most of her time making fun of her from the front row.
At this point, Quite a few friends from Duino should have already been there, but were nowhere to be seen. Then i sat on the hand-rail in front of me, and heard them calling from three rows back. By the time Africa Unite had finished, more than half the piazza was full. Halfway through the concert, i checked again and it was completely full. So i called for them and told all 8 or 9 of them to come closer. No, there wasn't any space. I just wanted to cause some more confusion.

Elio came on. Must i add any more? Ok, by now i only had one beer left, which i prolonged throughout the gig. It much helped me in enjoying it, not that i wouldn't have without, but it did enhance my responses to the overall proceedings.
Just some short notes about the concert.
Carambola comes from Duino, Elio said on stage. Afterwards, in the backstage, he authorized me to boast that he'd said that because of me. So there.
More or less the usual show was played, minus Cani e padroni di cani, Mio Cuggino, Budi Giampi, Pagàno and Litfiba. Can't have everything, they finished late anyway. At one o'clock we were already in the municipality enjoying beers given to us by Cesareo himself. Met the cameramen again, they told me Marco Conforti(the band's manager) is taking this DVD thing quite seriously. Multi-angle etc. etc. And he also told me they had lots and lots of closeups on me, since i'd been in every show they'd filmed. Wow. So if it actually comes out, i'll be seen drinking my head off, screaming, dancing and disrupting crowds for the rest of eternity. Small price for fame, i'm already famous for some of those things anyway.
In the end i said goodbye to band members and cult-followers alike, turned my heels and tried to find the Duino people, didn't, swopped that E.L.I.O. cd with another full of mp3s of last year's Cordialmente, went back to the backstage and had Ciro drive me home. A great night all along.

Can't go on, have an appointment in 5 minutes.

More soon. Eventually.