Hmmm...

Speaking of which...

Looks like he's going to make it this time!

Chicken, beef or turkey?

Which one of these will be the next album i buy?
Number one, number three or number two?

So there's a new intern at the college. Beautiful asian young lady. Made her acquaintance over the weekend.
I sometimes bump into her here in the office. Then when she leaves i usually remain staring with languid eyes at the door she went out of, until somebody else(usually julius) comes in and breaks the spell.

Most male students are in awe of her beauty, but i keep reminding them that she's too old for them(i seem to remember she's about 23). On the other hand, she would be ideal for somebody of, say, my age. Coincidentally.

Pity me. i'm reading my own blog archive. That's how bored i am. Lucky i'm going out in five min--oops, i'm late.
And forgive me, i just noticed i've posted that Unicorn aphorism twice. At least the second time i pointed out the source.
Cheers.

Finally!

As mentioned in this item, the ugliest album cover ever was discovered by evaristo and Gnapppo in a roman record shop. Immediately, we began the search for a large enough scan of it. Much to his shame and surprise, Gnapppo found out that his parents owned the original LP*, so he didn't lose a minute and sent me the scans. And what scans they are!
check'em out:


The Cover


The italian liner notes...


...And the pre-babelfish dadaist english translation of them!


Wow...that last one was a real treat!

*parents do this sometimes. After fifty, embarrassing LPs show up in your collection. The Best Of George Moustaki misteriously appears among your CDs. Or earlier, if you appreciate that stuff ironically. Which explains my Lucho Gatica CD.

I'm going to bed, but first i just *have* to point out This Site. Back when i was seven or eight years old the "paul is dead" myth would scare the hell out of me. Some ten years later i learned that the truth about that urban legend is much, much creepier... but at least is has to do with Lewis Carroll.

Ever noticed how many important twentieth century world leaders have had second-rank ex-actresses as wives? Chairman Mao, Hitler, Peron, Reagan...even Berlusconi!
I'm sure there's more, but none come to mind at the moment. Any ideas?

Oh, and speaking of God TV, why don't you go read The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus, an excerpt from Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them?

Another link, this time to the great serbian artist Danijel Zezelj's official site.
Sadly, Panini Comics has recently announced that it won't be publishing Zezelj's iconoclast Captain America miniseries, which came out in the US a couple of years ago. Shame on them. Their excuse is that the author is not famous enough. They ought to pop by any bookshop: Zezelj's books are always in print.
Oh, a coincidence: in the News section of the site, you'll see that in july he took his recent multimedia performance to Topolò, where he performed it alongside the Tambours di Topolò, three of whose members are currently displaced around the world, having recieved UWC scholarships. It all comes back.

Oh! Check out Mariscal's site!

Had just come home, and my parents called me to urgently come and see something that was on TV in that moment. So i went to the living-room area of our cubicle, and found them watching GOD TV with a mix of amusement and incredulity in their eyes. Christian rock concert. People wiggling around in tempo to the midi and praising that lord guy. It all reminded me of this comic, by the controversial Peter Bagge. It's actually quite well documented, and worth a read. I appreciate Bagge's work most of the time, even though his opinions aren't always all that similar to mine. And his Megalomaniacal Spider-Man comic was just...weird.

Found a reference to Zappa in Erich Hobsbawm's Age Of Extremes. The Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991. It's on page 490 of the aforelinked edition.
I'd copy the paragraph down, but i've got a tutorial dinner to attend.

Oh, i just noticed it would have been more reasonable for me to make a wish list on amazon uk instead of us. Bugger.

This one's for Pino.

Daily iranian strip about freedom of press.
Check it out.

Update about my life:
My life is currently waiting for track 6 of Abbey Road to end, so track 7 can come on.
And that's not a drumskin Ringo's beating on. It's poor lil' me.

Just a quick update, from the Archives:

A Wise Man Never Plays Leapfrog With A Unicorn.
-Myself, circa 1997

Why am i reading this???

In english at last, a fascinating article about one of my favourite web-comics.
Cat and Girl

Come to think of it, why bother distinguishing comics from web-comics? it's one of my favourite comics, period.

Ok, cool, that worked.
Coming soon, truckloads of pictures of my cat.

Anyway, important news: the full lineup for trieste Barcolana festival is out!
here's the easy teenage version:

Thursday, 9 October, Alpe Adria Night

Marco Anzovino(pordenone)
The Elevators(Slovenia)
Hardbradler(Austria)
Le Vibrazioni(Milano)


Friday, 10 October

The Hormonauts(Italy/Scotland)
Africa Unite(Torino)
ElioeLeStorieTese(Milano)


Saturday, 11 October

Northern Lights Sound System
Meganoidi
Neffa
Claudio Coccoluto
Planet Funk

All concerts begin at 20:30, Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia, Trieste.
Free entry. Not-so-cheap beer(bring your own). Galatine will be served to all who find me.

Official info here.

I'll be there from the early afternoon of the tenth(none of the first day's artists interest me in the slightest), and probably also for the first couple of bands on saturday. If neffa sucks, i'm going off to have fun elsewhere.

Of course, i'd already known about that elusive Eelst gig last week. How come? Well, i went to see them live. again. Wasn't at all bad. Saw them only briefly afterwards, just to say hello and then popped back over to duino. Cesareo was in trieste in the past few days(no, i didn't see him) to mix, edit and supervise the video recordings they'd made of the first two gigs this year, and of the ten-day preparation they'd had in a warehouse in Pordenone. It's currently unknown if those recordings will surface as a TV special, a DVD or what. But i've been to those first two gigs, and can assure that a splendid time is guaranteed for all! Hoping they're luckier this time, they're first DVD is still in re-release limbo.

Speaking of splendid times, i had an extremely memorable night yesterday, surely one of the best i've had in quite a while, in Lignano with Pino, Filippo Cerqua and his girlfriend Alice. Those last two i had bumped into completely by chance in the late evening, after not having seen them in something like four years! i love it when these things happened.
We drove to a place called Il Panino, where we were served one of the best beers i've *ever* tasted, not to mention a massive panino, which by default also included fries and a ton of pink sauce. Great company, good music(rather unobtrusive quality '70s disco first, usually EWF, classic Blues afterwards. Muddy Waters etc.), amazing beer, surprising food...all in all a perfect night. Did a great job of keeping my mind away from its troubles.
Afterwards, when the others had returned to their respective abodes, temporary or otherwise, hung around with Dmtr, Samir and Heather until around five. Had pasta, played with bandages, set stuff on fire. As usual. The others lasted a good three hours more than me. Crazy buggers.

Ok, that's all. Visiting that Galatine site is making me dizzy.

just a test, to see if i understood how to post[link to]images...

Have you ever noticed? One of my best friends is the long-lost-twin of one of the best(and most beautiful) cello players in the world!

(above)This is my friend Zivile...


...and this is Eva Boecker of Ensemble Modern!

Just noticed something: three of my favourite songs have the same title.
In inverse chronological order,
Caravan by Blur
Caravan by Van Morrison
Caravan by Juan Tizol

I'll be listening to all three one after the other in a moment.
The Blur one reminds me the most of a caravanseraj i once visited on the way to Kirman. No idea why.

The Suitcliffes are here. I'll blog later.

Some Arts student humor:

Q:Why didn't Duchamp like Frida Kahlo's self-portraits?
A:He couldn't draw moustaches on them.

Wait till i graduate! I'll be making even unfunnier ones!

Just back from Udine, found the pc connected to a cable which goes out through the door, thus keeping me from listening to my stereo at full blast(just borrowed from the library: Punch The Clock, by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. good album).
Thing is, while i was away mr. Pamio came over and connected us to the Greater Big Fat United World College Cable, which means i will now be able to use some net features for free. But i still can't understand how to configure winmx and icq. Bother.
But at least now i know blogger works. This was actually just a test. Ah, reader deception!

Yes, i am still alive.
I keep getting messages asking me that.
Sheesh. You don't update a blog in 36 hours and people already think you're O.D.'ed.
I'm fine. Been busy.
Studying, yes. Also socializing. Also trying to set up a new blog i'll feel at liberty to talk about in a few days, but it's gonna be cool.
Oh, and my project is doing great. I'll also explain that later, when i'll have developed the sample pictures i took. Territorial intervention.

Had an entertaining night yesterday, some fifteen of us met on Dimitri's balcony to enjoy the Lasko Pivo&cevapcici he'd brought from his weekend home stay. Fred supplied the barbecue and the polish beer. Marcelo and i washed up afterwards.

Well, my connection just broke down. So i'll have to interrupt.

Oh, hello.
I'm fine, thanks.

Now, back to sleep.

(i was just trying to be reassuring)

Oh, hey, here it is. Well, whatever.
Now i'll just have to add some interesting links, and think up a better description. To begin with, i like vodka too.

Speaking of which, this saturday morning was peculiar in the fact that not only did i not wake up with stuff written on my arm as so often happens, but i even discovered i still had a complete set of memories of last night!
Oh, but i also found loads of leaves and stuff in my hair. As usual. You can't have everything(and my brain thrives to prove that assertion).

Um. Think i lost an update. I'd written something yesterday, i'm sure. i think.
And i'd also started to fix the template. But there seems to be no sign of that.
Oh, well...

That was good. Now.

First things first. My out-of-the-closet admittal of nothingarianism the other day is already showing itself useful: one gin tonic and i'm already tipsy. A small beer would be enough to throw me to the floor. So like this i also save on my alcohol input.

Next: tomorrow at this place they're gonna be having an exposition of chilean mural art from the UP period(1971/73), lectures, readings of poems by Neruda and, this saturday at 21:00, a concert by my occasional acquaintance Alberto Chicayban, who published a beautiful tribute to Victor Jara some years ago.
During all of these events(from tomorrow 'til tuesday) Empanadas will be served. Recipe provided by My Father, who was supposed to cook them at first, but eventually got too busy writing those books of his.
(pino: this is what i was trying to email you about)

And furthermore: still in Trieste, this tuesday, El Señor Coconut y Su Conjunto are playing at the Teatro Miela. Just can't miss it!

And finally...
So last night i went to bed early, deciding nothing special was going to happen. Then early this morning i left for udine, conducted some of my business there, and came back around three o'clock of the evening.
In the meantime all hell broke loose in Duino.
But i'll tell more about that later.

An interesting link(at least, interesting to me) here interviewing somebody who's seen just a couple of ElioeleStorieTese gigs more than i have.

Bought Luttazzi's live cd today, a full show just like Lenny Bruce would do in the sixties. I'm listening to it right now.

Which is why i'll blog later.

I would like to announce that i am abdicating my place at the top of the food chain. To be precise, i'm abandoning the food chain altogether.
I'm quitting eating. Of course i can still occasionally indulge in it during social events, as i have done recently, or at home once or twice a week so as not to worry my parents too much, but that's about it. And no, of course i'm not becoming vegetarian. I have nothing against vegetarians, but i firmly believe that if you decide to be a carbon-based organism, you are a carbon-based organism all the way, so you have no excuses for ceasing to be an omnivore, if that's what category you fall into.
Myself, i'm just not eating anymore. Most fruit just gets my mouth all irritated. Pork has given me problems ever since i returned from my two-week stay in iran, some five years ago. In many occasions it has seemed to me as no more than sweaty pieces of a pig. Other kinds of meat i may appreciate, poultry in particular, but always in limited quantities. Lettuce is ok, but eventually boring.

As a matter of fact, i can't remember the last time i've actually been hungry. Last time i had some appetite was last night, after a good conversation. But it was the first time in weeks, and i don't expect anything like that to happen again soon. I was reading yesterday that nowadays we don't need to have children as much as we once did, since we don't have to grow crops or keep warm in the winter anymore. That's why most first world industrial societies have zero growth. I suppose the reason i'm never hungry is similar. We're wealthy, therefore we no longer need to hunt for a plate of sausage&chips. Therefore we no longer eat.

At least i'm admitting it.

On another note, i've started to pick up the drawing book again, over the last weekend i've completed two or three strip storyboards(one of which covers the above topic rather well, for its medium) and drawn a rather satisfactory full page, which i'll eventually be redoing, scanning, touching up and putting online. Not so soon of course, i first have to learn to draw a bit better. So now i'm going out to sketch a bit, and see if i can design the odd new character.

Other news. As soon as the weather gets a bit better, i'm starting a new series of inhabited territory interventions, a bit like the ones i had started doing before moving out of udine, but also quite different. It all depends if i feel comfortable with the results this time.
Oh, and i've decided that my next exam will be Latin. If i have to die, be it in the most gory, violent, splatter-y, agonic of carnages. With my sincerest apologies to the english language.

Check this site out!

Oh, found my cellphone, Dmtr had it.
But that doesn't necessarily mean i'll be answering phone calls.

SXZA
(The cat felt compelled to add this while walking on the keyboard.)

Had difficulties posting in the past days, blogger seemed to be malfunctioning.
Anyway, it's almost ten o'clock in the morning of a sunday, i'm awake and at the pc, and i just realized that the only reason i don't have a hangover is that i'm still a bit drunk.
Lost my cellphone last night. I might have to start asking people for numbers. Let's see if it shows up again.
Last night also brought some explanations, long-awaited ones. Pity i can't remember much of them.

Cat's meowing around the room, still not used to closed places.
Blur's 13 album on. Love it. It's helping me. Last night's song was Coffee & T.V., today's is Tender.

Was supposed to be a good day.
Didn't go as expected.
Some people managed to cheer me up.
One of them is Mark Evanier, one of my idols. The text that managed to cheer me up is here.
So those of you who can ought to crack open the mylar of an old Groo comic book and laugh their heads off for a while.
And think of me.

An interview to My Father, spellchecked by Yours Truly. Check it out here.

The cat is on my lap. Don't worry about him, he'll be ok.
So will i, after my 4 days' prognosis.

I'm off to Fred's party. He's giving one because he's going back home after five days of Ples. Wise move.
Cheers to all, purr to most.

Just found a seed in my seedless grapes. I'm sure there's a punchline for that somewhere.
Anyway.

INFURIATED RANT DEPT.
So it seems that for the past week/ten days the current residence tutors of Pala A(which is where we've been kicked out for after living there for over 20 years, for those of you not keeping count) have been going to see the headmaster(also known as Mona, for those of you who...ah, whatever)complaining about a DANGEROUS CAT who had been TERRORIZING THEIR CHILDREN and LITTERING EXCREMENT AROUND THE PREMISES. Now, with all due respect to our cat, we must all admit that he is no more dangerous than a clothes peg. When we went to take him away earlier today(more about that later), their daughter was begging us to leave him there with her. But most of all, my cat is house trained. I trained him myself. If the administration says my cat doesn't know how to use the toilet, it's assuming i don't know how to use the toilet. And if they assume i don't know how to use the toilet, they're assuming my parents don't know how to either(i know nothing about my grandparents, let's leave them out of this). So by saying this about my cat, they're automatically insulting me, my cat, my parents and my toilet.
Oh, they'll learn i know how to use the toilet. I could even demonstrate if they like.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARDS

Well, we went to pick the cat up of course.

YEAH, OK, BUT WHAT HAPPENED?

What happened is that we actually succeeded. sort of. While my mom kept the engine warm, i picked the cat up and after much fighting got him into the car. In few seconds of carnage we made it to the new house, and i emerged clothesripped and bloodstained but still retaining a firm hold on the cat. We got him through the house door shortly before i collapsed into an unsightly bloodsplattered heap, since he happened to have hit a couple arteries in the way. Ok, so he is a *little* dangerous, sometimes.
He's currently hiding under my sofa, just waiting for the second he'll become bloodthirsty again. What i call "Playing Gladio Agent".

So we finally have a cat again. About time.

Link of the day
Speaking of furry animals, it's Scott Shaw!'s Birthday! check out today's Oddball Comic!

26 Activities Booklets done.
Only 224 to go.

Bumped into Fred a while ago. He asked me if i'd seen Robin. I answered that yes, i'd seen myself. He gave a blank stare for about a minute, and finally said "i just understood that".
I still haven't.