Rather surprising.

Things around here recently have been so boring, i've actually started answering emails. Even the ones from relatives. Amazing.
Take advantage of it while it lasts.

EYES

Eyes
a short film by Koichiro Tsujikawa.
music by CORNELIUS.

Images courtesy of Getty Images

debate

My friend fred once told me he closely identifies with bart simpson. No surprise to all those who know him. And that he always associated his family to the simpson family. Again, no raised eyebrows.
He then sometimes proceeds to tell me how each person in duino is represented by a simpsons character(or vice versa). So Barney is the large drunkard who often pops around duino bars, the one with heavy-rimmed glasses. M.O.N.A. is either principal skinner or Mr. Burns. Flanders is of course fred's extremely nasty neighbour. And so on.




And then he once told me: "Oh, and you're Milhouse."

But i wanted to be Otto!



All of this has been a matter of intense debate in the hot summer of Duino, 2004.

Anyway.

Sorry for not posting much recently. Stuff has been happening.

cold, cold, cold

Evaristo and gato are currently the only residents of Casa Evaristo. This morning there was no hot water. Evaristo exits the shower shivering, says to gato "it-t-t-t's v-v-v-very c-c-c-cold, g-g-g-gato". And gato answers "y-y-yes-s-s it-t-t is-s-s-s."
And we're in july, dammit!

So the webmaster occasionally goes to festivals.
So the webmaster also sometimes wakes up in the middle of a field.

So now the webmaster has a headache and a sore neck. I think he's going back to bed, too.

What i did yesterday

Woke up around ten. Stayed in bed until some time after eleven. Got up, checked email, checked downloads. Had a bite, watched futurama, went back to bed. One hour later i'm thinking of getting up, the cat walks in and convinces me of the opposite by lying next to me on the bed and purring loudly. I eventually wake up around seven o'clock in the afternoon, and somehow make my way out of the room. Hung around the house(and the internet) for almost six hours, eventually going to bed around three.

All this laziness is justified by the fact i was still tired from what i did the day before yesterday.

nice early morning read

I realize i'm considerably late on this (exactly one year late, to be precise), but here are some nice opinions Pat Metheny has on Kenny G. Mr. Metheny gets a great deal of my respect back for writing this.

That'll sell!

The latest fashion here in italy these days seems to be a belt with the argentinian flag's colors on it, and with "HIJO DE PUTA" written on it. Or at least, i've been seeing these  in shop windows quite often in the past week or two.
So what i'd like to do is go to argentina and sell belts with the italian flag and "COGLIONE" written on them. I'm sure they'd sell like hotcakes.

i'm seeing gilberto gil live tomorrow.

i'm seeing gilberto gil live tomorrow.
i'm seeing gilberto gil live tomorrow.
i'm seeing gilberto gil live tomorrow.
i'm seeing gilberto gil live tomorrow.
i'm seeing gilberto gil live tomorrow.
i'm seeing gilberto gil live tomorrow.
i'm seeing gilberto gil live tomorrow.
i'm seeing gilberto gil live tomorrow.
i'm seeing gilberto gil live tomorrow.
 
Just testing these new blogger options. Oh, and did i mention that i'm seeing gilberto gil live tomorrow? Udine "castle", soundcheck sometime in the afternoon, press conference thingy at seven o'clock in the afternoon at Sala Aiace in Piazza Della Repubblica, wherever that may be, and finally concert at half past nine back at the castle.
 
While most of tomorrow morning, i'll be deciding which one of these fonts i like best.

but anyway,

(another overused title. The roommate already beats me in quality.)
But anyway, here's a short exchange i just had over MSN:

evaristo scrive:
sei ancora a praga?
Hatsu[how much is a pint of beer in Prague? I MUST find out personally!] scrive:
sono sbtonbzoooooo

az<<<<<<<<(...)<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

(title quite aptly chosen by the roommate, who is starting to enjoy this blogging business)

I was reading a friend's blog, when i realized something.
I realized that the standards of my most inner aspirations had lowered themselves considerably: over the past years i've gone from secretly wanting to be a rockstar to openly planning world domination.

Definitely much lower standards.

it's hard to type at the moment because my cat is sitting on the mousepad. There's something terribly wrong about this, but i'm not sure exactly what.

Celebrations ensue

To mark the first anniversary of this blog, may i invite you to visit the newborn website of my roommate? I believe it's something rather unique, where blogs are involved. So strut your way over to

http://el-gato.blogspot.com/,

possibly to the soundtrack of Mongo Santamaria's El Pussycat, or Shonen Knife's I Am a Cat, or Les Luthiers' Gato Con Explicaciones, or Pizzicato five's cover of Nanka Li Koto Naika Konekochan(What's New Pussycat), or Renato Carosone's Il Gattino Sulla Tastiera, or Los Tres' Gato Por Liebre, or Frank Popp Ensemble's The Catwalk, or Kahimi Karie's Cat From The Future, or PJ Harvey's Cat On The Wall, or...(and so on, etcetera, und so weiter, eccetera.)

Ok, go. Enjoy. It's still in its beta version, of course. I'll be adding links and maybe a better template in the next days. I'm sure it'll eventually become more popular than this blog. Much more popular. But that's not hard.

back...

...so i just got back from prague. Tired. Will now retreat to bed.

And i just noticed this blog is one year old today.
Celebrations will ensue if i ever wake up.

Still in prague.

Yes, i'm still in prague.

Uhhh... that's about it.

Oh, saw Shrek 2 in english the other day. Was cool.
Pity the poor italians who'll have to wait till christmas to see a badly-dubbed version of it. (and laugh at them when their backs are turned)
Actually, being abroad lowered my italian-tolerance level by faaaar. But i'll write mre about that once i'm home in (gasp!) Duino.

And Czech keyboards are confusing.

From Prague

Cronopio A sends an SMS to Cronopio B.

Cronopio A: "Dove sei?"
Cronopio B: "Sono a Praga!"
Cronopio A: "Anch'io sono a Praga!"
Cronopio B: "Che Bello!"

Much laughter follows.

Repeat at least five times a day, even (especially) when in each other's presence.

(Cfr. Julio Cortazar - Viaje a un pais de cronopios. It's available online somewhere, google for it.)

Travel plans.

Evaristo had written exams today. The results are currently unknown. They will be revealed tomorrow morning around 11gmt+1, when he will show up in udine for his orals.

This post, however, has nothing to do with that. It is more about the declassification of his secret travel plans to an undisclosed eastern european capital.

Oh what the hell, i'm just going to Prague.

Tomorrow night(July 8, 2004) i shall depart via bus from Duino at 21:59, destination Udine, courtesy of APT Transports. I expect to be already quite tipsy by then.
Udine shall be reached at 23:10, at which time i am planning for people to pick me up and take me out for more drinks, and eventually lug my senseless body back to the bus station and dump me on the 00:45 bus to prague, on what will by then be July 9, 2004.

Eurolines, or Tourbus for the internationalists among you, should then deposit me in prague at 12:15 of that same day, where i shall wipe the dust off my clothes and start looking for my hostel, which will probably be one of those depicted here or here.

Four nights(!) i shall spend in that ancient city, doing god-knows-not-what. Don't want the old bugger to find out. It's my own business. On the other hand you, dear readers, will be constantly updated with all non-interesting details of my stay, just because i'm that kind of annoying person.

Then, on tuesday, a turn for the worse: i shall embark on the bus back to udine, at 15:30 from Prague bus terminal. Udine will catch up with me at the wee hours of the following(Tuesday, 13th of july 2004) morning, approximately 04:00 AM.

An hour or so of hanging around the hobos later, and at 05:20 i finally leave udine, again by bus, and reach duino around 06:24. There, i will cross the road and fall asleep on the benches of Al Castel. Or maybe even make it home.

All this was also for useful self-reference, so if i don't remember timetables or stuff all i have to do is check this site. I'm so practical.

By the way: Anyone reading this from prague? No? I thought not.

petite changes

As a result from getting appallingly bored after studying minimal art for five big fat minutes, i have added a Recent Posts menu on the sidebar and a rather awkwardly positioned sitesearch box at the very bottom of the page where nobody will notice it anyway because of how uncomfortably the page loads. All this is only temporary, as i shall probably be completely restyling the page over the next month, after i've dealt with my exam and with certain other personal affairs. Probably to coincide with its first birthday, hip hip hooray, we're all so excited, pass the martini.

Can't even fake enthusiasm at the moment. Just bored out of my bones. I miss my DSL connection. I miss my internet friends. I miss my sweet, sweet downloads of completely useless stuff.

...nor have i been available to exchange bizarre links. Lucky i'm so busy studying. Oh yes.

Webcomics!

For those of you who are starving for good webcomics, let me give you this little piece of information: Scott McCloud has finally updated his Links page! See the present wonders of the webcomic world, as selected by one of the newborn genre's luminaries and prime spokesmen. Most of my favourites are mentioned, with the possible exception of Something Positive, Bruno and Cat And Girl, which i link to every other week anyway, so who cares. The first two i mentioned are particularly special for me, having read their full archives, accounting for several years of production just while i was going through two rather difficult moments of my recent life, so they've both left a strong sign on me somehow. You can probably also blame SomethingPositive for my becoming far more cynical in the past month, but that's another story.

(small note for those of you reading this from home: my internet connection has been somewhat volatile in the past two days so i haven't been able to connect to any instant messaging/p2p facilities. Which is why some of you haven't seen me around to offer bureaucratic advice, crave for romantic advice, discuss subcultural minutiae or brag about having met this or this other semi-nonfamous musician. Which has actually been very good for my exam preparation.)

Everybody here at WGD Central wishes a big fat In Culo Alla Balena o Merda Che Dir Si Voglia to Intuassenza, who tonight are finally performing for the first time in what's supposed to be their hometown. More info here, where you may also listen to a brief excerpt from their EP.
Pity i can't make it to the gig, too busy studying and answering emails for one thing or another. But tell you what, if anyone from milan reads this in time, pop over to the concert and tell them i sent you. Then watch yourself get beaten up by the members of the band for being so damn stupid.
Molto rock.

UPDATE: Especially for the occasion, italian minister of finance Giulio Tremonti resigned last night! Seeing the state he left the country in, i don't see him finding new employment anytime soon. All this will be celebrated tonight at yet another of WGD's PiwoParties. We welcome anybody! Bring alcohol! As if we didn't already have 58 cans of english&polish beer.

in a perfect world...

In evaristo's perfect world, Spain is still islamic and Araucania is of the araucanians.

These are both arguments i always end up bringing out in conversations, although this is the first time i make a connection between the two. Also, in most chronicles, Orelie-Antoine de Tounens is described as quite an eccentric to say the least, putting him on the same level as San Francisco's own Emperor Norton. I recall one exhibit in the Museo Regional de la Araucanía in Temuco, my first contact with this small chapter in the history of indigenous nations, that was quite so inclined in its description of this unlikely king. Luckily, contemporary historians are shifting their attention towards de Tounens by considering him as more of an enlightened politician than as a madman.

Come to think of it, i also have the childhood memory of one of those contemporary historians in particular, getting into a loud argument with my father at the dining room table regarding the exact body count of the vietnam war, and myself trying to think of a good way to sneak out of the situation. And thinking "they shouldn't even be discussing this! They're nineteenth century historians, for christ's sake!"

But a storm is forming over duino right now, so i think i'll turn this pc off and go back to studying post-war informal art. If you'll excuse me.

First two links courtesy of Plep, which is a really good blog i ought to visit more often.

Musical musings

My parents had always wondered (but have eventually just grown accustomed to) how their offspring was capable of studying with rock music on, and of the loud variety too. "Why not classical music, at least?" they've often asked themselves. Nowadays i'm the only one of the three who is so inclined as to indulge in bookworm activities, and must say that i have recently tried to study with classical music on, but it

Just.

Didn't.

Work.

I would find myself listening too carefully, concentrating on the music, trying to understand it. And all my energy would go towards what i was hearing and not to what i was supposed to be reading. Instead, i found that i study marvelously well with japanese classical music, of the loud drone variety. It puts the mind in a good relaxed and open state. Also Hendrix is good, the sixteen-minute improvisations are a good challenge and keeps that thinking muscle exercised. And i've also been known to sometimes listen to seventies disco (Earth, Wind and Fire, anyone?) while studying, just to keep myself awake. All of these very, very loud. At all times possible.
Which has been doing wonders for my study/research environment.

But i don't think the neighbours are very happy about it.

Seclusion & felines

Go and check out what 26 years alone in a house with only a fat cat (and the occasional drooling dog and obligatory housemice) as company can do to a poor comic strip character's mind: Farfield.
"The strip's Beckettian terror is fully realized", is the author's succint description.

(And mr. Mills, if you're reading this, your P5 Lyrics and song-by-song annotations pages have been of great help to me in the past month. Thank you for occasionally being almost as monomaniacally obsessed as i am.)