Friday, April 30, 2004

Abate Cruento

From a certain point of view, things have been kind of strange lately.

On monday morning, my cat came home limping, almost dragging his hind paw behind him. He spent all day in my bed, convalescing. When i got home from work, i spent the rest of my day with him. When it was time for bed, we moved him to his bed in the living room. He was already looking a little better.

This was when the strange things started to happen.
I've always had a rather warped view of the phenomenon we call dreams. To make a long story short, i give what happens in dreams the same importance as what happens in so-called reality. To me, they're just two halves of the same life. Ok, ask me about that again sometime.

Anyway, that night i started having bizarre dreams. One of my brothers had come to visit, and had brought a large dog along. Actually it wasn't even that large, it was just rather unpleasant. I've never really liked dogs. So in this dream i really wanted to see how my cat was doing, but was stopped by this ugly dog who barked at me at first, and then held me rather firmly by the arm with his sharp fangs. I did what anybody else would've done in such a situation: i started to scream. And then my dream went up one level, and i felt a reassuring presence on top of my bed. My cat had somehow gotten past two closed doors to wake me up from my nightmare. His paw reached my hand, and i felt good because if he had made it till here, it meant that he was feeling much better and i shouldn't worry about him.
Then the phone rang, and my dream went up another level.
It was my other brother, calling from brazil, asking for windows 98 registration codes. I was still in my bed, but the cat was gone. I turned the phone off, cursed, and tried to continue sleeping.

When i got home the following day, i discovered that last part was not at all a dream. My brother was on MSN Messenger, and asked me for those codes again. I was rather shocked.

Yesterday afternoon the dreams started again. I was in duino piazza, and saw two beautiful ladies dressed in black approach riding what appeared to be a giant hamster. It turned out to be a capibara. "I've never seen a capibara like this", i thought to myself, before realizing that i'd never even seen a capibara, *period*. So who was i to doubt its reality? It was about one and a half meters tall, fully mounted and the same colour as my cat. College teachers came around it to cuddle it (one member of the administrative staff was in full drag, which didn't surprise me in the slightest. as if you never saw these things happen in duino).

I woke up, went to the living room, and my mother started telling me she had the strangest of dreams...

She was outside old offices, with the cat who had made it down the stairs with great difficulty. She was giving attention to something else, when she heard the cat make strange noises. It was changing its skin, and becoming a rather large lizard.
She was surprised at first, but then she remembered. "oh, yeah", she told herself, "this kind of cat sometimes changes skin!"
So the lizard changed its skin again, and became our cat again. Only much larger.

I wouldn't be surprised if other people i know were having strange cat-related dreams. My theory is that since our cat has had to spend most of its time in a bed, it gets its exercise by going for walks in our dreams.

Ok, now that i've gotten that out of my system, i'm off to take a shower.

Thursday, April 29, 2004

How Grammatically sound are you?

Grammar God!
You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be.
Congratulations and thank you!


How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Playlist for 28/04/04

Rather peculiar one this time, due to the unusual occasion.

Los Tetas - Corazon de Sandia
Soulwax - Intergalactic (Beastie Boys vs ac-dc vs inxs vs herbie hancock mix)
Freelance Hellraisers - Smells like Bootylicious
Blur - Parklife (Live Acoustic)
James Brown - Sex Machine (readymade jazz defector mix by konishi yasuharu)
Goldbug - Whole Lotta Love
El Señor Coconut - Smoke On The Water
Tito Puente & La Lupe - Pata Pata
Tom Jones - Venus
Cesaria Evora - Besame Mucho (Senor Coconut's Chachacha Remix)
La Lupe - Fever
The Persuasions - You Are What You Is
Bill Haley And The Comets - Rock Around The Clock
Medley: Elio e le storie tese - Acido Lattico meets Graham Coxon - Freaking out
Gal Costa - Chiclete com Banana
Earth, Wind and Fire - Boogie Wonderland
The Avalanches - Since I Left You (Cornelius remix)
George Duke - Love
Los Amigos Invisibles - La Vecina
Action Figure Party - Action Figure Party
Pizzicato Five - Tokyo's Coolest Sound
Victor Jara - Ni Chicha Ni Limoná
Los Tetas - Santiago
The Police - Can't Stand Losing You
Caetano Veloso - Sim Nao
Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Sylvian - Psychedelic Afternoon
London Elektricity - Rewind (Pizzicato 5 remix)
Sananda Maitreya - Windows
Arto Lindsay - Simply Are
Bobo Rondelli - Quando Non Ci Sei
Ran-Dells - The Martian Hop
Inti Illimani - Carnavalito de la Quebrada

As i said, rather different from usual(a little less japanese stuff, much less reggae).
No chilean music next time. Promise.

consideration

These days, i've been weighing 65 kilos.
But with my hair wet, i weigh 67 and a half.

Saturday, April 24, 2004

At the florist.

Her: Yes?
Me: Um...i need some flowers.
Her: What kind?
Me: I have to thank a colleague of my parents for driving me home last night while i was smashed drunk.
Her: Tulips?
Me: Perfect.

more self-gratification


Caetano Veloso and webmaster's coat. Udine, May 2000.



Caetano Veloso and webmaster's hands holding "Araça Azul". Yes, i actually like that extremely avant-garde album. But coming from somebody who named his blog after a Beefheart lyric, that sounds hardly surprising.

Oh, for reference: here's a pic of the webmaster's coat, Faso of Eelst and the webmaster himself. Just so you don't think i was lying about my admittedly dubious presence in those first two pics.


Ok, that's enough bragging for today.
(Caetano Veloso pics courtesy of vivabrasil.it)

Hee hee.

That last pic sent my blogger template completely SNAFU. Amuses me to no end. Which is strange, considering the sorry state i'm in.
Ever noticed? I blog more when i've got a hangover.

News Item.

Since nobody seems to have noticed, i guess i'll tell everyone here that Ike Willis will be in italy again this summer. And that he's available for gigs. The only confirmed one is 16 july in Vinadio(CN), with Ossi Duri and Elio E Le Storie Tese. If there's anybody who can organize further concerts, please, please, please contact another great italian, Filippo Bellavia bellavia@katamail.com (hope posting his email here doesn't cover him with spam).

And just for self-gratification, here's a picture of the webmaster with ike willis:

l-r: evaristo, maxkava, Ike Willis, JJFlash. Crouched: Nervo.Fun to notice each person in the picture has something relevant to link to.

Here's another one:

Blog was looking rather empty without many pictures on it. Hope to post more these days, just to add some color.

Pictures taken on april 2000 in Lugano, after the recording of Eelst's Lugano Tapes. Evaristo followed them on their entire world tour that year(Lugano-CH and Nova Gorica-SI), and it's also interesting to notice that his custom of dressing up for their gigs originated that night.

On the Winamp: George Harrison - Let it Down.
Another great englishman.
Greatly missed. But that's a story for another day.

Hmmm...

What impresses me is how much
this interesting eBay item looks like my famous lamp.

Oh, speaking of items removed from former residences, Paul, Joanna and Fred are also being kicked out of Pala. Please act accordingly. And don't tell anyone i told you to.

Update Re: the Webmaster's Brain

So this blogger finally bought that Caetano Veloso CD he'd been ranting about for the past four months.
However, he's also got too much of a hangover to tell about it at the moment. As a matter of fact, he just threw up. And it goes without saying that he hasn't had time to listen to it completely yet. But what he heard was appropriately beautiful.

Friday, April 23, 2004

meanwhile

(Now there's a post title i've used a bit too often)
I've been asked where my foolproof military-service-deterrent letter can be found. No, i've never posted it on this blog. A good friend of mine did on hers (right here), and i've usually sent people there when they've requested it.
But just in case, let's break some language barriers and post it here too, will we?

(Source: C:\Documents and Settings\me\Documenti\this could work.doc )

Duino, 14 Gennaio 2004.

Al Distretto Militare di Udine - Ufficio Reclutamento.

Gentili Signori,
In riferimento alla Vostra comunicazione del 22 Dicembre 2003, Vi informo che non posso svolgere il Servizio Militare perchè sono un gatto.

Cordiali Saluti,


(signature)

Thursday, April 22, 2004

whoa.

One of Doonesbury's oldest and most beloved characters seems to be going through a definitely radical redesign...
The storyline begins here...(only available for the next 15 days or so)

(Good Luck, B.D.)

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

entr'acte

The night before the "job interview" (That's last thursday for those of you keeping count), Pino tells me via icq:

Pino - Of course you already know i consider you a preliminary experiment for a new renaissance(ideally, not intended as an artistic cathegory you already hate by now) in the horrible world of computer sciences - especially where engineers are involved - don't you?
Me - Uh... No, i didn't know that.
Pino - What i hope is that after working with you for two weeks, they'll give you all the money they have and decide that they should leave computers aside and go into the woods looking for mushrooms. It may not go that way, but it's nice to be imagined.
Pino - (of course they wouldn't give you the money as a payment for your job, just because it's not necessary when looking for mushrooms)
Me - I hope it goes that way, then.


Indeed, it is nice to imagine a bunch of engineers suddenly realizing what was wrong with their lives, ripping all their clothes off and running into the woods, searching for magic mushrooms. Or at least, that's how i imagine it.
And i still consider it one great compliment. Grazie Pino.

(All exchanges with Pino are published without permission. Forgot to ask.)

Monday, April 19, 2004

Oh, and also...(Part one of three)

Tired again. I'm back from my first day of work.
What? i didn't tell you?

Some days ago, i met Pino on icq. Here's an excerpt from our conversation, conveniently translated into The Queen's English(or something).

Pino - You're not looking for part-time employment for a month or two, are you?
Me - mh...why do you ask?
(In inglese nell'originale)
Pino - Because a friend of mine is looking for a part-time employee for a month or two.
Me - Organic debris relocation?
Pino - It doesn't involve moving excrements around.
Me - Not even if i ask them nicely?


The job turned out to be rather different indeed: beta-testing software for a company in Buttrio, sixteen hours a week, flexible timetables, for two months, same pay as a full-time employee. And no, i don't know how much that is yet.

Last thursday, while i was borrowing some A3 paper from a room that will go unmentioned, i got a call from the guy who wanted to employ me. The following day i popped by to check the job out, i seemed to be ok for them. Which i assume goes to show how easy my duties ought to be. I then proceeded to miss a bus while buying peach vodka in the supermarket next to the company's main building and almost get lost in Buttrio. Ok, i tried.

So anyway, i eventually made it back to Duino. After a spritz or three, i get home and my brother tells me...
(to be continued...)

Sunday, April 18, 2004

tired...

Just finished photocopying, and have to get up early tomorrow...
Have TONS of things to tell here, but life is moving too fast for me at the moment, and all i want is a comfortable bed, some quiet music and a low oxygen level so i can sleep deeply enough.
Will explain some stuff tomorrow. Promise.

Meanwhile, explore the Burnt Food Museum!
(Tnx to Pino)

slice of life(and bourbon)

Coffee break. But i don't drink coffee. So i keep original alternatives at hand.
Walked out of the school building after 90 minutes of photocopies, and saw the sun come out. Walked home and noticed the girls downstairs had put the Hair soundtrack on at full blast andwere sitting on their windowsills, singing their heads off. The obvious thing to do was to go to my room, open the windows and play Bob Marley - Exodus at full blast. Would've played Trout Mask or The Yellow Shark, but since i'm on friendly terms with my residence tutees lately i decided to go easy on them. I know, i know, i'm getting soft.
Once i'd chosen the album, the main priority came back to mind: snacks. Usually, i would stop at Al Castel and munch on something ephemeral while sipping my Spritz. But since i only have 17 eurocents left, the fridge's sorry state was to be investigated.
Feeling adventurous, i opened the freezer and much to my surprise found a large container 2/3 full of Vanilla and Bourbon flavored ice cream. After a thorough investigation, i made sure there was no soy inside and decided it was to be eaten.
This is probably the ice cream we had at the end of my mother's birthday party, the day i passed my exam. The reason i'd forgotten about it was that i was pissed drunk at the time. Luckily there were so many people at home, my parents hardly noticed.

Oh, the Bob Marley album just finished, so i'm playing Zappa's You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore vol.2 instead. Which is my idea of mellow sounds.
Stay tuned for the big decision: what'll i be having next? More ice cream or cheese sandwich? The sky's the limit.

Saturday, April 17, 2004

Diversion.

Seen here.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

The closest book was Fester BesterTester by Don Martin, Ed. Corno, Milan 1975.
Page 23 only has four words. These four words are "KRAKLE TEAR POUND SHRED". I would've posted the fifth word only, had there been any.
So i grabbed the second closest book: I Grandi Maestri Dell'Arte - Giorgione, Ed. L'Unità, Rome 2001. Page 23 just had a painting of moses.

Finally, i grabbed the book beneath that. Nicanor Parra - Antipoemas, Ed. Seix Barral, Barcelona 1972.
The fifth sentence of page 23 is in spanish: "La Ironía es la autodefensa del poeta que se sabe demasiado humano, que se sabe terrestre y mortal y vulnerable y solicitado por todos los abismos."
(Figure that out for yourselves)

Third time lucky, i guess.

meanwhile...

anybody who wants to hear some quality vintage zappa live concerts this afternoon might as well connect to RadioPhiga, since i'm leaving it broadcasting throughout the day.
How, i can hear you wondering, can he do this with the lousy connection he has?
Well, i'll answer that question later in the day. An extremely interesting answer it'll be.

We're Back!

Please excuse this short hiatus. I could say we've been having technical problems, but that would be true only to the extent of "life catching up and happening to you" being considered as a technical problem.
Anyway, first things first.
I couldn't update in the past few days because the college connection we were using during daylight hours somehow cut blogger out of its proxy settings. So i could only have worked with our night-time only dial-up provider. Pity(for the blog) that i had other activities to attend at night.

Then, things changed.

God, i don't know where to start.
So i won't.
I'll just browse the net for a while and come back later with a fresher mind. And maybe take a shower too, in the process.

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Two interesting interviews

One is with DeZ Vylenz, writer and director of the upcoming documentary "The Mindscape of Alan Moore". Find it here.
The other, with the oft-mentioned Mark Evanier. Future projects and new insights on past ones. Over here.

This webmaster is currently too busy overdosing with strawberry jam to blog more about his personal life.

Monday, April 12, 2004

I'll Be Seeing You

Veloso sees all the American songs he performs as his own - and the world's - because he, like millions of other listeners, grew up with them. In fact, there are scores more songs he wishes he could have included.

"I could have done 'I'll Be Seeing You' or 'The Very Thought of You' or 'You Go to My Head' or 'I Get a Kick Out of You.'

"The music just goes on."


I'LL BE SEEING YOU
(Irving Kahal / Sammy Fain)

I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places
That this heart of mine embraces all day through
In that small café, the park across the way
The children's carousel, the chestnut trees, the wishing well

I'll be seeing you in every lovely summer's day
In everything that's light and gay
I'll always think of you that way
I'll find you in the mornin' sun
And when the night is new
I'll be looking at the moon
But I'll be seeing you



Caetano Veloso will be hosting events and performing live at Carnegie Hall throughout the week.

Friday, April 09, 2004

'morning there.

Ok, the good news first: i passed my exam. 25/30. In the first part, the written test, i had got an 18(the minimum). So i had to lift that up a little. I was planning to get a 24 in my oral, so the grand total would've been 21/30. Instead, it became 25/30. I still have to understand how this could've happened. Apparently, the teacher isn't very good at math.
Anyway, while i was uh...giving the exam(i was about to write "performing my oral", but that somehow didn't sound right), i noticed my examiner paging through my written test. It had a crossed out "18" on it. Under that, a crossed out "not admitted". Under that, a rather uncertain but not crossed out "18" again. I call myself lucky.

Easter's almost up, so to celebrate the death of a hippy, i'm going off to Croatia with some people. Small seaside town called Medulin, which just sounds so much like some medicine. Hope they give free samples.
We were supposed to leave yesterday, but discovered a total absence of the buses we'd completely made up. So we're off today instead.
Cheers to all, meow to most.

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

That last post gave me the sudden craving for some strawberry jam. Finding none at home, i ran down to the shop under the pouring rain just to feed my urge.

Good lord, i do hope i'm not pregnant.

Yummy!

After baking all the different types of cakes, I carved them into the shapes of the appropriate organs, using my handy Gray's Anatomy as a reference.
(Via Neil Gaiman)

Good way to start the day

The first thing i do in the morning after taking a shower is usually checking on my favourite webcomics. Today, two of them made me laugh out loud, and it's not so easy to make that happen so often, especially these days. So anyway, here are permalinks for the latest dieselsweeties and for this week's Cat And Girl, which is so good (and, in my case, appropriate) that it's also just become my new wallpaper. For my desktop, not for my room.

Oh, Suburbantribe is also quite good today.

Monday, April 05, 2004

short exchange

Today.

Her: "I'd never seen you smoking before!"
Me: "Yeah, i'm trying to quit."
Her: "When did you start?"
Me: "Yesterday."

Saturday, April 03, 2004

In Duino.

Beautiful white and blue Volkswagen van just parked under my window. I was coming home while it did. A nice couple came out, neither too young nor too old. On the back window, stickers with the characters of Lupin the III. Inspector Zenigata wisely placed a little further apart from the others. The girl noticed my attention to their vehicle, and said Ciao! to me with a smile. I answered in the same way. She had lovely blue, blue eyes.

(I recently spoke on the phone with a person who usually gets her predictions right. She told me i will soon meet a girl, who will be shorter than me but with eyes like mine. This wasn't at all the case, but i guess the day it'll happen can't be that far away.)

The sun is warm in Duino, and my father baked Olive Bread.
Why don't you come?

On the Winamp: Paco De Lucia - Entre Dos Aguas
Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention - Blessed Relief
(two tunes that fit perfectly together. go get yourselves them somewhere.)

Apologies to all Duino-sick readers. Excuse me if i'm in a good mood!

march flashbacks - 1

Just realized that, in retrospect, the last month was awesome for me.
So before i get my thoughts straight, i'll just be posting small flashbacks. For your amusement.

The Place: Cavalluccio, Porto
The Time: Friday or Saturday night, about two weeks ago (end of selections)

Pleasantly chatting away with this year's friuli selection committee, reminiscing old beatles songs.
At one point, someone remembers the words to P.S. I Love You. I was the only other one at the table who knew that song.
Beautiful childhood memories come back to me, of when my parents would take us to Lubiana, and every time we would buy a new Beatles LP, these gigantic 33'' records, perfect replicas of the originals, YUGOTON brand. Still have them, of course. And spending afternoons listening to them over and over again, and remembering the harmonies, and thumping away to Paul's Bass. And George Harrison still alive and well, releasing Cloud Nine which i got for my ninth birthday, and Got My Mind Set On You always on the radio.

Then the deranged philologist within me kicks in, and i pout out the fact that PS I Love You wasn't even written by the Beatles, it was actually a Burt Bacharach song.
This sudden change of focus within our discussion brought no sympathy whatsoever.

And today i went back and checked: it really was a Lennon/McCartney song. Bugger.

Friday, April 02, 2004

Oh, i just finished studying for my exam, and only have revision to do now.
That's probably why i sound so euphoric, all of a sudden.

timezones

Italy moved all clocks one hour forward last weekend, but here at WGD central we're doing our best not to follow the flow, treading the least beaten path just as we have always done, and always bloody will. So my watch is still one hour back from everybody else's. Who are they to impose a timezone on me? I can decide where and most of all when i want to live! So from now on, WGD follows its own very personal calendar. It's kind of hard to explain, so just take it for granted that every time somebody asks me the time, my answer will be "TEQUILA TIME!!!".

[so, as you can see, nothing really changed]

Anyway, it was good to see that both the local bus company and my uni are following the same policy: when i travelled on the former to visit the latter last wednesday, i noticed they had refused to update their clocks, too. Go APT! Go Udine University! F*ck the systeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem!!!!!
(wait a minute, they are the system. Oh, forget it.)

On the Winamp: Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - Revolution Rock

absence

Why've i been away so long?
Been studying. Exam on wednesday, extremely tough, too.

Let me ask you this, since i've been asking everybody else already(and my sense of humour has often gone wasted):
If i were ever to become an early seventeenth century venetian renaissance artist, please promise me that you, dear reader, will come and kill me.

(To this request, Fred answered: "Ok. But if you become a late eighteenth century impressionist, well, that'd be cool." Mmmh... Absinthe!)

Anyway, i can't stand Renaissance artists anymore. If you ask me, it would be a lie to say that the only good renaissance artist is a dead renaissance artist. The only good renaissance artist is a living renaissance artist.