Whoah! Time zone check!

Am i out of my mind? I was so sure this was gonna be tomorrow!
Oh well, after all i'm reknowned for hardly ever knowing what day it is...

Waiting for the big event...

While everyone here at WGD Central is gearing up for tomorrow's big events(gotta get them Gorilla suits outta the wardrobe!), we'll just go down and mellow into

Won't Go Down's Official Blues Day
A completely random tradition born no less than twenty seconds ago.

Here's some links:
The Father of Ethnomusicology: Alan Lomax. Why hadn't i seen this site earlier?
Robert Crumb portrays the Blues Greats.
Vintage Interview to The Captain.

And wandering back into more familiar, albeit wacky, territories: there's new junk to be grabbed over at The Big Note!

Uh, i guess that's it for today.

Important Announcement

I Hereby Issue A Formal Complaint

Just as i though. I started to blog again, people stopped writing to me.
Bastards.

Duino

I got some worried phone calls yesterday morning.
There was a rumour out there saying somebody had been suspended from The College(i have adopted the policy of not naming the place too much, so this blog won't accidentally be googled by people who want to go study there. Or even worse, who work there and can't stand me).
Some people even went so far as to tell me that it was an italian, a second year, who had been caught in pala, after curfew, over the weekend.

Now, guys. None of this actually happened. So just relax, ok?

During the holidays news had also been around that the aforeblogged Bungalow Bursar had been fired. That [unfortunately] hasn't happened either. If there weren't enough incompetent people here, this place would actually start working quite well. And that's not what The System wants.

Instead, some rather bad things have happened, or rather, have started to happen once more. One first year had a birthday party. During that party 250 euros were stolen from her. And now all involved in organising that party are in trouble. Because of the theft? Noooo! Because they had bought alcohol. Ex-students, pick up pen and paper and write it down this minute: there's no more such a place as home.

Tonight, the Balkans had their taster session. Taster sessions are what's left of old National Evenings: instead of having dinner in Agip before the show, they have people taste typical cuisine in pala dayroom. Not too bad, if you don't have strong memories of how it used to be. And probably also more representative of different cultures etc. etc.
Tonight was especially good, for two of my favourite pagan divinities (Mr. Burek and Ms. Rakjia) were supervising from behind the clouds, a satisfied grin on their faces. But.

But later it turned out that a wallet had been stolen, again holding a large amount of money, this time also with passport and other documents. And it wasn't in a room: it was in a coat, among other fifty or so coats, on the ping-pong table, in the dayroom, while about 200 people were there eating, drinking, chatting, dancing and just plain having fun.

These things shouldn't happen here. And they make me particularly mad.

So mad, i don't even feel like commenting on the facts that next year ES's flat will become a storage zone, PS will be moved out of pala, and that old offices middle floor(underneath us) will become a teacher's flat. For more than one single teacher.

Let's just not talk about that right now.

Ok, just to end this post with a high note (quinta di piccardia, for all you music experts out there), here's the Quote Of The Day:

"Whaddaya mean i can't dance? I taught Karol fuckin' Wojtila to dance!"
-Myself, a couple hours ago, mickey mouse bar.

Just got back from Monfalcone, where i went in desperate need of buying some comic books, after a whole month studying the god-damn Renaissance. Don't know how i resisted this long.



I've been so far into this stuff, that last night, after eating my piece of chicken, i pulled the wishbone with myself. What did i wish for? Well, having just spent an afternoon studying the different interpretations of Botticelli's so-called Primavera, i told myself that my right hand represented carnal, passional love like the characters (r-l Zephyr, Clori, Flora) on the right side of the painting. My left hand was chosen to represent cultured, platonic love(the three Grazie) pointing heavenwards thanks to Mercury on the far left of the painting.

The right hand won. Hope it brings me good luck for this weekend.

So, as i was saying, i've had enough of Renaissance art.

(PS: Blogger's spell check wanted to replace "passional" with "vaginal". And "Zephyr" with "zipper". Sneaky little freudian spellchecking applet!)

I hereby declare that i'll be using&abusing of this punchline for at least the next six months. Or years, if nobody notices.
Speaking of which, the latest Suburban Tribe storyline is becoming more and more similar to an old Leisure Suit Larry game. And i like that.

Time for some links.

First up, here's Hamlet: the textgame.
(Via Neil Gaiman)

Next, here's a useful walkthrough...for IKEA.

And finally, check out this short cartoon about the US budget. One thing i envy the US for is the clever ice cream manufacturers with good musical taste. Don't get many of those around here.

That's about it. I mean, i'm sure there was something else i desperately needed to link to, but there's no way i'm gonna remember what it was. Oh well. But hey! Here are the unofficial official rules of Calvinball!!!

um. er. hello.

Wow. Haven't posted in so long, blogspot forgot my username(i mean the cookie expired. To date, blogspot has been treating me absolutely fine, and i recommend it to whoever should want to embark on the obnoxious pastime of keeping a blog). Actually, i've realized that every time i don't post for a day or three, people send me emails, cellphone messages and even comments to my posts. So it's fun to hear from people once in a while. Even though what usually happens with email is this:
-i get a short "are you alive?" message (1 line)
-i answer an equally short "yes i am!" message (1 line, maybe 2)
-i get a nice "where i am, what i'm up to" message (not more than 5 lines)
-i answer a completely involved, open heart message about all i'm doing and how i feel and good old days and so on and so on(10 pages or more)
-i get no answer, having scared the shit out of the receiver.

Anyway, sad to see that the site i linked to in my last post went offline shortly afterwards. Big time copyright infringement, i suppose. Well, that's what it gets for sticking Outkast's Hey Ya into my head all sunday, whistling it and singing it over my head all day long. To the extent that i had to come to extreme measures: i downloaded the bloody bastard of a pop song, and listened to it ten times in a row. It's what i call the Jordi Vaccination Method. Or Asereje vaccination method, depending on what generation you're from.

Things like these shouldn't really exist.

Is catchy though.

scribble scribble post post

"So, how's your blog?"
"Ah, it sucks."

-myself, last night, in bar.

There was snow in duino this morning! But it thawed out now. Awww...
I am currently in mid-coffeebreak, which in my case is a toast-and-soda-update-blog break.
Not many updates in the past few days, i apologize, was busy being busy. Studying first, then discovering that my exam isn't on the 29th of January but on the 4th of February, then studying a little more, and then spending the whole of my saturday slacking. Also went to an Osmizza with Pino and Stic, was lots of fun(why do most of the people i know have nicknames? Even my parents don't call each other by their real names! They call each other "mom" and "dad"). Oh, and had a nice walk in Trieste on friday night, made good use of the local Guinness Pub.

Uh...that's about it for now. Sorry for the lack of real content. Don't worry, i'm not dead! i just stopped living for a while! Happens to everyone!
Blogging will resume in due course(probably tonight or tomorrow).
Great things are afoot!
(actually, they're not. Just sounded like a good way to finish this post.)

What Hath God Wrought?

Mark Evanier's just added a new page of pictures from his Backyard. Possums, cats and more possums, oh my!
I visit Mr. Evanier's blog almost every day, most of the time to get tons of information i would never have needed. Today, for example, he's commenting on how the voice of one of the characters from a 1960 cartoon called King Leonardo was miscredited on most reference books.
Mr. Evanier is the kind of person who takes these things seriously.
And i'm the kind of guy who takes him seriously. What fools these mortals be.

(But aren't those critters adorable? As one acquaintance of mine once put it, "The man lives in some fucking zoo!")

morning morning

Scott McCloud's latest Morning Improv is coming out really beautiful. His imagination had gone a bit too wild recently, it's a joy to see him return to character/story situations.
On one side, i'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't mess this one up again(hey, he's one of my favourite cartoonists-ahem- sequential artists, but nobody's perfect!).
But on the other, i'm secretly hoping giant dinosaurs or attack monkeys start appearing soon, because the way this one's going, i expect it to break my heart by the end of the week...

How To.

So lately all i've been doing is locking myself up in the library eight hours a day and studying the hell out of all those renaissance guys. Not much to tell about my life, then. Not much to tell about Duino, either: eventless start of second term. Ok, there were a nice dinner with good friends and some nice beers with fred et al, all very pleasant but nothing that'll make good blog material. Whatever that may be.

(Speaking of which, i've been informed that 16 is legal in Italy. Cool, but i still haven't forgiven them for all this military service business.)

In the meantime, i'll explain how you can tune into my show tonight. JJFlash and i spent most of the past two nights configuring my system for the broadcast, so you'd better pay attention.

To listen, you'll need two things: Winamp and Streamer. The former, i assume everybody already has. But look out! Streamer doesn't work with Winamp3! Then again, who does? Just in case, i linked to it.
Anyway, download Streamer file, run it, it installs. Now run the program.
Select the "config" button, top left, next to "stations". In the "Bandwidth" area, select your kind of connection. You're supposed to already know what kind of connection you've got, so don't ask me about it. Now, don't touch anything else on this screen, the connection's fine enough. Don't touch that, i tell you. Good. Now click on "stations".
Look at this screen. Empty isn't it? Well, if it's all configured correctly, stuff will start to appear on it within one or to minutes. Keep staring at the black screen just in case. Think of a good enough excuse in case somebody walks into the room and sees you.
Ok, by now several names of webradios will have appeared. The one you have to select is RadioPhiga(ITA). Double-click on its name, and winamp will automatically open up and reveal all our broadcasting beauty.

If none(or all, what the heck) of this works, feel free to contact me via icq, messenger (contact on sidebar) or pop over to the radio's chatline, #radiophiga, over at Azzurra. I can occasionally be found there(of course i will be there every time i broadcast), mainly on a chatroom called #affanc1. Note the delicate elegance of our puns.

Program begins at 22:00 GMT+1! Be there or be Winston Churchill's Parrot!

Just my luck.

On the winamp: Desmond Dekker and The Specials - Teenage Ska

Why, oh why do i visit gmtplus9 regularly? If i hadn't gone there this morning, i wouldn't have known about this fantastic design book (featuring, among others, the beautiful meomi), nor would i have discovered this online italian artbookstore. This means more money saying bye-bye. And i still have to get myself that Jacques Tati 4DVD box...
Oh well, at least i got to visit some great japanese designer's websites!
(whoops, that last one was italian. So at least i'm not *completely* nippo-centrically linking today!)

On the Winamp now: EWF - September

Tired...

Spent the entire afternoon photocopying. Everybody and their sister wanted copies today. Almost spent eight whole hours in that little room!
So i'm off to bed. But first...

Today Pelo, inspired by my last post, tried to babelfish this blog.
Here's the result.

Fuckin' priceless!

Questions, questions...

Why did i feel the strong necessity of listening to something by Queen when i walked into my room this morning? Haven't listened to Queen in yonks. Nor do i own any of their albums. Lucky i had this mp3 handy.
(tnx to marok - sorry about that direct link. The things people do when your back's turned.)

Also, Pino just sent me over to this great site about...er...something. Haven't really understood it yet, but it is great.

But most of all, it is my pleasure to announce that my first radio broadcast will be on Wednesday, 21st of January at 22:00 hours GMT+1.
There's a great explanation of how to tune your winamp in over at RadioPhiga's official blogsite (by the way, i liked the old working title, RadioPorcoLibero better), but it's in italian. So here's a quick explanation of how to do it if you're of english habla.

1. Download Streamer.
3. Run Streamer.
4. You wait. Time passes.
5. Choose "radiophiga" from the list.
6. Enjoy!

(yes, i know i forgot point 2. Thing is, i only noticed this while typing up point 4. So i thought it fitting to leave things as they were.)

Ok, ok, i'll post a better explanation later. Or just babelfish the italian one.

I also *still* don't have a title for my show. Suggestions welcome.

Ok, finished voting for the bloggies, am sending my entries in. Good luck to all participants, hope my 150th of the final opinion didn't cause too much damage.

Was approached by a beautiful young lady at the bar last night. Truly gorgeous. We chatted for quite a while in a nice, relaxed manner. Meanwhile, the little devil on my right shoulder kept screaming "Dance with her! C'mon, there's great music on!", and the little angel on the other shoulder was shouting "Buy her a drink! Buy her a bottle of something! Take her out for a walk by the beach!".
I did none of these things, i was too busy repeating to myself that
she's
too
young.

After all, she *was* some 7 or 8 years younger than me. And looked her age, too.

So this morning she passes by and says hello while i was saying goodbye to janos, who came to visit for a few days before going to live in London.

Me: "Do you think she's too young?"
Him: "Man, is she legal?"
Me: "could be... Yeah, i guess so."
Him: "Then go for it.*"

It's good to have friends who are honest. Honest bastards, too.
Anyway, i just checked. She'll be seventeen next month.
Which, if i were to insist on this business, would only stretch further my already almost nonexistent idea of "legal".

Er...lucky nothing happened. And probably never will.
Phew!

*Translation: stop wasting my time with these stupid, stupid questions.

Amazing...

Robert Fripp has a Blog???

Also, while voting, came across one site, gave it a quick look, read some content, and eventually discarded it because "Ugh! This one almost sucks as much as mine!"

huh?

Found this quiz on one of the bloggie candidate sites.
Took the test, answered rather honestly, here's the results:

35%

There's a 35% chance that I'll win a Bloggie™.
What's Your Chance to Win a Bloggie™?

The blogger i found the link from had only gotten 10%.
Yeah, right.

So, What's Your Father Up To These Days?

...which is one of my Frequently Asked Questions. I'll be answering to the other ones *soon*, i.e. "when did you last cut your hair?", "what's with the Duck?" and "who the hell are you anyway?".

So anyway, these days he's working on one book about Tsunamis, to finance his Magnum Opus.

And every day, at around half past ten, he goes out to have coffee in College Staff Room.

He doesn't like coffee.

He just wants to annoy the administration.

So some mornings i wake up singing Wonderful Wino under the shower. And then i go to the PC and play the Swiss Cheese/Fire! Montreux live '71 Mothers bootleg. And then i start to do all of Aynsley's drum parts with two fingers on my keyboard's desk. And if then the fire hadn't broken out, i'd never manage to get any work done.



So why did i wake up singing that song anyway? Well, there's a parallel to the answer to that question over on one of my daily guilty pleasures. So basically, the second half of a bottle of whiskey, 2 bottles of red wine, one of cheap white fizzy wine, one bottle of Pampero and one of Absolut that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere all helped me feel happy when i woke up this morning.

That's it, now i go off to find out whatever happened to the other people who were with me last night.

...and finally...

Another old friend of mine is now blogging! She's in dolce attesa as they say around here, which in english means something like "she's got a baby inside her belly". It's bound to pop out sometime around the end of January. Which is good, because if it were only a week or two later, the poor thing would've risked being born on the same day i did. Which wouldn't be a very good start.

Oh, and the proud mummy-to-be, whom we all know(and love) as Churra, also just posted something about my current military problems...permalink here! (i might post the same thing in english one of these days, it's...interesting.)

Speaking of births, The Official Pogo Site is online starting..today! Go There Now!

And one last thing... how would i love to own one of these...

Don't forget to[register to] vote!

New poll is up. Scroll down (confusing isn't it?) to vote!
A little explanation about this one's topic. The options are three albums i've always owned more than once for short periods, listened to, loved memorized inside my head(where else?), but then either lost or given back to the original owner or even, in some cases, given away to close friends.
But now it's about time i had my own copies. So you'll be helping me choose which one'll be the first!

Actually, the same thing usually happens to me with books. My two favorite books are Queneau's Les Fleurs Bleues and Cortazar's Historias De Cronopios Y De Famas (there goes blogger's spellchecker). All of my closest friends own at least one of these books because they're the ideal presents for the people i love, it's as if i was giving away a part of myself. But i've only had my real personal copy of the first one for a year or so, and still don't own a copy of the second one.

In an ideal world, i would eventually meet a girl who, after going out with me for some time, would give me a little packet saying "here, i wanted to give you a present: a copy of my favorite book". And i would open the packet, and out pops Historias De Cronopios Y De Famas.

Hey, i can dream, can't i?

In the real world, the packet would probably contain some book like "5000 reasons why you suck and i'm breaking up with you".

It's a miracle i'm still alive...

Do you know what it's like when you've studied too long?
After some 6 hours in the library(that's where i've been hiding most of the time these days), my brain had become a rather unappealing blob of goo. Which is also its usual configuration, but that's not relevant to today's story.
So when you're in such a state, it sometimes happens that you say things without filtering your ideas through your brain. Which is when you usually accidentally tell people you respect to shut up, people you love to buzz off, or just plain start speaking nonsense.
It was the beginning of my 6th hour of renaissance painters. Pictures of Michelangelo Sistine Chapel in front of me. Inbetween, an etching showing what it looked like before the man leaned his brushes against it.

"Liked it better before", i muttered to myself.

Then i realized what i had just said and was attacked by the forty-foot-tall Art Student Guilt. THANK GOD nobody heard me. THANK GOD i didn't *really* mean it. And most of all, THANK GOD i wasn't struck by lightning for uttering such blasphemies.

I was so guilty afterwards, it felt as if i'd just kissed my little sister or something.

Lucky nobody'll ever find out. Except for the whole world, since i'm stupid enough to write about it on my blog.
At least my teacher doesn't read this. I hope...(shivers)

And Then Some

First things first: the Barbapapa quiz. Nobody bothered to answer, therefore all regular readers can now proudly declare to the person closest to them, in ALL CAPS, "I AM NOT A GEEK". Offer void where prohibited.
Anyway, the early Elio E Le Storie Tese song which incorporated parts of the old italian theme to the barbapapa cartoon, originally sung by reknowned songwriter Roberto Vecchioni (who probably needed the money to pay Andrea Pazienza for those beautiful album covers), was Pork E Cindy, which was eventually resurrected on their second album.
Won't Go Down: We're All About The Edutainment.

Second: i'm one of the 150 voters on the panel to choose the finalists of the Weblog Awards(TM). Of course i can't reveal the sites i have to choose from, it's just good to know that some of my favourites are in there somewhere. Not necessarily ones i link to, though.(Phew!)
Won't Go Down: We're All About the Bribes. Huh? What?

Third: keep your eyes and ears open, 'cause one of these days i'll be debuting as deejay of my very own show on RadioPhiga, a webradio recently set up by some old buddies of mine. Maybe even tonight, if i manage to study enough in the afternoon. And if anyone of them manages to explain how i'm supposed to do it. But whenever it happens, it's gonna be cool.

Fourth: new poll! Look for it later today.
Hey! i just went over 500 visitors! Something must be wrong, there's not supposed to be that many. A big hand to that 5% who uses a Mac! Go Mac! And a kiss and a hug to that 8% visiting from Estonia. You know who you are. So do i, of course.
Won't Go Down: We're All About Your Privacy!

Finally: thanks to all those who called, contacted or emailed me about my recent military service troubles. No significant updates on this topic yet, but i have to say that one the most helpful things these days has been receiving so much solidarity. Now bugger off, i have a pizza to eat.


(PS: while imagegoogling for those Pazienza covers, i came across this image. Not for the squeamish)

a cat.

Site about a cat. Loved it. "Stealth" is particularly enthralling.
(Tnx to Pino)

claim to fame

So i got quoted on one of my favourite blogs. Cool!
I feel so professional now.

When the universe is expanding it can make you late for work

Woody Allen's universe is in constant expansion. Oh! Hey! So's mine!

Pictures of people washing their teeth

It's a way of life!
(Link courtesy of JJFlash)

I wonder how many confused atlantan Zappa fans accidentally showed up at This Party...

Illustrations by Franco Matticchio

Here.

I once found a beautiful book by Matticchio at an outdoor book fair. It was also extremely cheap, which made my find even more exciting. I read the book, called SensaSenso, and enjoyed it so much i felt i just *had* to lend it to this good friend of mine.
I lend it,
She loves it,
One month later, i show up at her place for a chat, and at some point remember that book and ask for it back.
"...But i thought it was a present..." she answers, with gigantic manga-esque puppy eyes.

So i gave it to her.

I'm so vulnerable to this kind of thing.

(That bitch.)

A Foreign Sound

...is the title of Caetano Veloso's next LP (does anyone other than me still call them like that?), a long awaited tribute to great english-speaking singers and songwriters.
Unfortunately, this album will only be published in March, 2004.
However, we at WGD Central have the skinny on Caetano's December shows, which previewed future tracks from the album to small audiences.
...Apparently, Google has no non-portuguese data on these. So Yours Truly is proudly first to relate on this in Shakespeare's English(well, almost).
In these intimate gigs, the 61-year old Brazilian Songwriter was accompanied by his son Moreno(Cello, Percussion), Domenico Lancelotti(Drums), Pedro Sà(Electric guitar), who by the way are the full lineup of Moreno's own band Moreno+2, and veteran Jorge Helder on the upright acoustic bass.

The songs:
(in what little order i've managed to understand from my extensive- ha, ha -Google search)

Nao Tem Traduçao (Noel Rosa)
So In Love (Porter)
I Only Have Eyes For You (Warren/Dubin)
Stardust (Hoagy Carmichael)
Nature Boy (Ahbez)
Come As You Are (Cobain/Nirvana)
Summertime (Gershwin)
Love For Sale (Porter)
Cry Me A River (Hamilton)
Baby/Diana (Veloso, Anka)
Body And Soul (Green)
Sophisticated Lady (Ellington)
Sampa (Veloso)
Cuccurruccuccu Paloma (Mendez)
Diferentemente (Veloso)

--encores--

The Carioca (Carmen Miranda)
Love Me Tender (Presley)
As Time Goes By (Hupfeld)

Authors - or most reknowned performers- indicated between brackets, within the limits of my own ignorance. Any corrections are well accepted.

The only new song performed was Diferentemente, a Samba-Cançao admittedly only written six days earlier. A song which begins quoting Madonna, of all people, and later includes the verses "Diferentemente de Osama e Condoleezza/ Eu não acredito em Deus".
"Unlike Osama and Condoleeza, i don't believe in God"

Still the Caetano we've always known and loved.

The songs performed are only a few of the 26 already recorded for the A Foreign Sound project.
It'll certainly be a long wait until March.

pressure.

I'd never given much attention to Tracy White's Traced comics. But today i read this one and really appreciated it a lot. I guess i'll be going through the archives quite a lot in the next few days.

(another webcomic i came across recently: Cigarro&Cerveja. Of course, what attracted me to this nice comic about friendship was the title.)

The greatest band *ever*

A diagram, for Your cultural history essay convenience.
(other useful maniac person resources here, here and here.)

2004: Year of the Webmaster Officially Shitting His Pants

Ok, time to reveal one of the reasons things have been so bad lately.
I got back from Naples, and a nice little letter was waiting for me at home.
The letter was from the [Neofascist] Italian Government, kindly forcing me to join the [ultrafascist] Italian Army.
Yes, we still have the draft in this medieval country. Even the USA are more civilized, which goes to show quite a lot.

So basically, my condition is this: if by early february i haven't found either a job with an 18-month contract or someplace i can "work" as an underpaid civil servant, it's the big guns for me. Which in my case, would probably mean, well, i don't really want to think about it. Let me just say i'm really, really, really worried.

I only actually started looking for information about how to avoid all this from happening something like 2 hours ago. The rest of the week i had just spent cowering in a dim-lit corner of my room, worrying my balls off and listening to Track 19 from disc 2 of Civilization, Phaze III.
And posting tons of escapist garbage on the blog.

Ok...so...if there's anybody out there knows of places i can be a civil servant, obviously not affiliated to any religious group, or knows of anybody who can offer me an 18-month job contract, well, let's just say any help is more than appreciated.

Oh, while we're at it, the other reason i was not really at the top of my self these days is that in my absence, a partition of my PC busted up, thus causing the loss of some vaguely important data. Stuff like: all my drawings, all my poems, and my thesis.
Lucky i had print copies of the thesis.
Lucky i can scan my drawings back in anytime i like.
...
...

...Pity about the poems.

world's smallest website

This is seriously bad for your eyesight.

Some(more) similarities

Went out with Fred last night, came home reasonably tipsy(i.e. not much, but satisfied nonetheless), had a really good time.
Seeing him made me realize that people from the college will be coming back soon, and also how little i feel like seeing people around duino again. I guess there are only two, maybe three people i feel like spending some time with when they're back. Maybe i should start my old campaign again, the one where i tried to convince the other animals to kick all members of the homo sapiens species out of Duino. It should work better, now that i've discovered that Duino has frogs. No, really, there are frogs here, too. I've only seen one in twenty years, but hey - it's proof!

Watching that X-Men 2 movie over the holidays has kind of influenced the view i have of my presence in this place.
(please note: the following will be comprehensible only to those who have seen the movie, or at least read the comic book once in a while)
So i see myself as a Wolverine-like character, complete with funny hairstyle, walking into a dayroom kitchen at two o'clock in the morning...
Me:(opens fridge) "Don't you guys have any beer around here?"
Passing student: "in case you hadn't noticed, this is a school."
Me:"Oh. Right. Forgot."

Later, in the Prof's lab...
Me: "Yo, Chuck, i need you to read my mind again. I gotta find out what i did this weekend."
Prof. X: "All right, Logan. But first, you must photocopy these CIA files about us for me. 200 copies, back to back. In blue."

And this is more or less when i wake up in bed screaming...



(Please note, once more: i don't really see myself as a wolverine-type character. He's cool, i'm just a nerd with a blog)

Non-Historian Doubts

Imagine how powerful Japan would be today if they hadn't recieved so much damage from Godzilla, Gamera, Mothra and all those other giant monsters of the fifties. Sure, they got the best out of the Korean War, supplying bases and doing trades, watching their income go up 300% in five years and all that. But if the giant monsters hadn't been attacking them all the time, Japan would probably be ruling the world by now!
I've been looking for data on this on all my history books(like this one), but not a single mention is made of Godzilla. I don't get it. Must be some old cold-war plot, or something to do with secret CIA documents, etc.
Bah.

Charles Mingus Taught His Cat To Use The Toilet

really, proof here.
This was a music appreciation public service. Litter-ally. (ouch!)

Look who's talking now!

Since when has this funny old man been a Guardian columnist?

Hot. Fuck.

My Favourite Living Movie Director was in Naples on the same days as i was, and all i got was this lousy link.

Why didn't i hear about this earlier? Please, somebody come over with a dirty big knife and slit my throat.

Little thing: Gilliam's Assistant Director for Brothers Grimm is Michele Soavi, who already directed the cult sleeper-hit Dellamorte Dellamore. Believe me, if you're french you already know and love this surreal horror movie scripted by that lovable Post-Buzzatian Tiziano Sclavi. If you're italian you'll just say "huh?".
But it's a good movie. The french were already right about Hitchcock, after all.

And about the last post: a little bit of trivia for our italian readers! Which early Elio E Le Storie Tese song incorporated parts of the (italian) Barbapapa Cartoon Theme? Answers tomorrow!

Comic...strip. book. thing. Oh, you know what i mean.

So some weeks ago i was hanging out in my local comic shop, intent on choosing which new Alan Moore release would've come home with me (the choice was between The Many Worlds of Tesla Strong and The Birth Caul. I don't remember which one i chose, probably just some old x-men comics), when my Comic Book Pusher pulled out an old-looking box and announced to his trusty clientelle: "Hey, wanna see the first ever manga published in Italy?" Of course, everybody did.
Horrored and surprised faces were what resulted of the discovery that the first ever manga published in Italy was... Barbapapa.



I took this personally. Very personally.
I immediately tried to confute the theses presented to me: "Hey! wasn't Barbapapa french, or belgian, or something like that?" After all, I should know, for I owned the booklets back when i was a tiny tot in Glasgow.
"Well," he answered, "they were only published by those countries. They were actually ghost-written and ghost-drawn by unnamed japanese workers. Which makes them the first manga to reach Italy. 1976, to be precise."

"You mean... they're like Nike footballs?"
"Yes. Just like Nike footballs. Third world workmanship." [i know, Japan is no third world country, but i was too shocked in that moment to point that out. It was probably just comic-book-selling-person poetic justice]
And then he added something ominous.
"They were done in Japan by the same people who did the Barbapapa cartoon. And who also did that Vicky The Viking cartoon."

Blam.

Two of my most beloved childhood experiences destroyed in five minutes.

Er...i guess this whole post just goes to show how much of a nerd i actually am.

Actually, i'll use it to tie in to a topic i pulled out some time ago. But later.

First, i have to point out some internet wierdness. After all, that's what i'm here for, isn't it? Isn't it?

Action figures! Action figures! Holy Sigmund Freud!

It's Superman Meets The Quik Bunny!

One of the best pixel comics *ever*.
(and from that site, enjoy this party! coolest thing on the net in the last five minutes!)

Great site!

Art-flash-news (or something) for the masses!

Stunning!

Once again, this is not a joke.

No, really. This is not a joke. I checked.

SO...

Almost haven't updated at all since i got back from naples.
That's because things here at home have just gotten worse and worse, let's just say that my karma bounced back from the fun i had over new year's - with a vengeance. So most of the time these days the urge to blog has been extremely scarce. Don't worry, i ain't stoppin'. I'm just going through some tough days.

In the meantime, while we're all waiting for some content to return to this blog, here's an interview to a guy that managed to give me a couple of good laughs. And after the interview - just watch those nerds react! Anthropology at its lowest levels, my dearest sirs.

Jeffrey Burns, Solo Piano

Plays the world premiere version(1992) of Ruth Is Sleeping, by Frank Zappa, later recorded by Ensemble Modern on the Yellow Shark album.
More info on this interpretation here.

From the site of Kieron Dwyer, who is an illustrator and satirist who has drawn everything from high-profile Superman comics to Ed McMahon taking a crap on an old woman’s bed. (job definition from tmcm.com) This one had already been around some time ago, but it felt right to pull it out again over here.

here's a really nice year-in review.

Speaking of new year...

Pretty Unbelievably Cool.

The emailbag - 2

We love email!

Here's one from Mitko!
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So I have a bookmark to Robin's blog and I visit it often...
Procrastination with suitable justification... Anyway, so one day I
click on it and instead of Won't Go Down this weird arabic site comes
up (see attachment). I had to wait 5 mins and refresh several times
before I got what I was after... It wouldn't be that weird if it
wasn't for the way this other site looked. For a sec I thought it's a
joke by Robin :) Enjoy.

And have a great New year's

Mitko

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ALL IS WELL
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And the attachment in question contained this site.
I'm as puzzled as you are!

The emailbag - 1

We love email!

Some stuff has been happening in the past few days. But first, i promised i'd post this up!
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30/12/03-0346-Won’t go down
(Textual homage to evaristo)

“If only I could hunt the hunter,
if only I could make the maker,
if only I could kill the killer.”
(Alanis Morrisette)

Ok, I had way too many psycoactive substance and swallowed way too much alcool to do this properly, but I feel I am up to it….i can still type. Won’t go down, as evaristo says.
Life is quite disrupted, I have to say, and is not as it once was and as, I hope, it will be.
But in less than 48 hours I’ll meet in napoli (ok, in a village around napoli, it’s all the same to me, I came from puglia!) with my roomo and with evaristo for a good self-destruction party, so I have no problem tonight.
Tonight…this text is just an account of tonight.
Boring, but it’s interesting, trust me. Nothing special, just a night that an (ex)college student enjoyed a lot. Life, and you could have done just the same tonight.
It all started with the invitation to a punk-jazz concerto from my dad. Now, what the hell is punk-jazz? Now, I don’t read rumore, neither I have a huge musical culture. But I like punk, and I try to listen to as much punk I can. I like punk-rock, I find hard-punk difficult and I love punk-ska. But punk-jazz, I never heard of it. Anyway, why not giving it a try.
As punk is punk, and I don’t drink alone, I had to make a smoking-preparation. Just starting, and a friend of mine calls up. With company it’s always better. Some deftones and pink floyd, and we can go.
We got there, just to see [name withdrawn to avoid Eternal Damnation] sending some rain as a sign of his approval for punk-jazz, and we bought some beer. I mean, it’s punk.
Well, the concert was ok. When you go to punk concerts in a place than once was an illegal storage facility for drug smugglers, you can’t have too many expectations. A punk band (band…bah) that I know expelled the drummer on the ground that he was too good with the drums. So, I had my usual low musical expectations. Beer and people trying to phisically hurt and maim you make up for the music. That anyway is punk , so fun.
And the music was great. Don’t know where the jazz side ended, but the punk one was great. Enjoyable music, good lirics, danced a lot.
Ended up listening to a friend I knew when I was 10 telling me, after offering me an evil bottle of wine, as if you pass a special sigarett (those with taste) to the left is for the goddes cali, and if to the right is for shiva. Now, I like Cali more. We are talking about a bue woman with eight arms that kills her enemies with a sword and drinks the blood before it touches the ground. A cool typ, so I like her more. Obviously, I passed to the right. I never do what I decide to do. Self contraddiction. Simpson sindrome.
After meeting a lot of people I did not talk to for two years, the concert was over. We decided to go home. Only to end up in the mud with the car. I mean really in the mud. The car got stuck. Now, this is usually not such a big problem. But when when the person that drives the car proposes to get it out with a rope that is back home, and is really determined to do it, it gets problematic. And if it’s 0230, and you are drunk, it is even worse.
Anyway, the rope somehow came out. I was taking pictures with my digital camera.
Got out of the mud, we went back home happy for a cost free concert. Apart when I got into the discussion on wheter burned cds means not supporting the bands I like. But sorry, after a bastard stole in the library my cd case with all my 44 cds, I don’t manage to buy originals cds anymore. It’s not the same anymore.
Got home, we went to the pub. THE pub. The only pub, I would add.
A beer, since I know the bar girl and I have to buy something. Anyway, she does not offer.
After the beer, I meet a friend I see once every year. But when I was a child, he always gave me food and presents (he is some 10 years older), so I still adore him.
Of course, he was going to drink rum. A shot of rum should be no deal, but I was having problems standing. Too much punk, that was the reason, you know.
But the college taught me to drink vodka, but it did not teach me when to stop. So I had my shot of rum. Had a sigarett with the bargirl, then noticed I was talking about something I had (and still have) no idea about (not that I knew nothing about it, I did not know what was I talking about), so finally agreed with my liver and brain that it was time to go to sleep. Came here, met a norvegian friend that told me to download something from opeth, and so I did. Have’nt listened to it yet, is still downloading some songs. Do you know opeth? It must be good music, I trust her.
And then I ended up in fron of my laptop writing this.
It’s not my fault, it’s all because of some people (evaristo among them) that turned me into this…blame them.
Good night
janos


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