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.