Hulk Hogan vs il Califfo

Fa sorridere l'articolo di oggi sul Corriere della Sera che parla di Hulk Hogan, il piu' grande wrestler di tutti i tempi, tanto che parallelemente alla carriere di attore nel circo wrestlers degli Anni Ottanta venne contattato ripetutamente per parti da attore cinematografico. Sembra che ora le cose non vadano piu' bene come un tempo e che l'ex wrestler viva in affitto - pur non facendosi mancare nulla. Ma di soldi per sua stessa ammissione ne ha sperperati parecchi (8,9, 10 milioni di dollari, in macchine di lusso, case e vacanze).
E cosi' mi torna alla mente un altro articolo, sempre del Corriere, dedicato ad un altro grande "lottatore", questa volta nostrano. Il Califfo, al secolo Franco Califano.
In comune i due hanno sicuramente i folli guadagni di una vita vissuta al massimo e nello spettacolo; le folli spese per oggetti di lusso (piu' una quantita' imprecisata di donne per Califano); accuse di uso di droghe alle spalle; un divorzio a testa; e chi piu' ne ha piu' ne metta. La differenza e' il lottatore Hogan ammette di vivere ancora nell'abbondanza; il lottatore Califfo, con una caduta di stile senza precedenti, chiede un sussidio statale.
E tutto il resto e' noia

Blog world

I was wondering what is that makes a blog a successful one, attracting visitors, comments, reactions. I don't know what the right recipe is, but for sure, if you are already famous somehow it helps.
Let's take Nino Mandala', for example, who you can find in the news yesterday in abundance, referred to as a mafia boss. Do you know how many visitors he has had since 31st December 2009 - when he started his blogger career? 26062 in this very second, and going up. And I am sure that he is being read even more these days because of the press referring so much to his blog.
It's a sad world.

Novalgina: che ricordi.

E chi se la ricordava piu'? S ha la febbre e ha trovato nel cassetto una confezione non scaduta di Novalgina. E io che credevo l'avessero tolta dal commercio... mia madre ce ne dava sempre qualche goccia quando avevamo la febbre, facendola cadere su un cucchiaino di zucchero per mascherare senza troppo successo quel gusto cosi' imperdonabilmente amaro.

Jackie Kennedy vs. Jackie Kennedy

Aspettavo con ansia le sue rivelazioni post-mortem. Certo, dalle "anticipazioni" che si leggono sembra ci sia ben poco di cui meravigliarsi.

La sua opinione su Lyndon Johnson? Beh, Jackie non mise praticamente mai piu' piede alla Casa Bianca dopo che lui divenne presidente...
JFK criticava i riti orgiastici di Martin Luther King e lei rabbrividiva nel vederne una foto? Ipocrita l'uno e lei chissa' che brividi doveva avere ogni mattina risvegliandosi accanto al marito...
Amante di Gianni Agnelli? Alla buon'ora, sorprende di piu' che si sia sposata Onassis, considerazioni economiche a parte!
Eppure, nonostante le "anticipazioni" deludenti, leggero'Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy'. Ormai e' una missione. Vorrei solo che anche Anna Bolena avesse avuto l'opportunita' di lasciare le sue rivelazioni.

The Last King of New York. And his Princess.

I know that being Italian I should probably comment on Mrs. Gelmini's gaffe or some Berlusconi stuff. But I don't feel like it. There would be too less to add to what has already been said.

Let's talk about the Gottis, instead, and in particular John Gotti and one of his daughters, Victoria.
So this John Gotti was not at all famous like Lucky Luciano or Al Capone or all the lot, even though he had the merit to reunite under his own egida the 5 Mafia families of New York. He is much more remembered for his style: very elegant, so much that he earned the nickname of the Dapper Don; apparently totally unscathed by the many trials he underwent without ever being pinned to his many crimes, characteristic that earned him his second nick: Teflon Don - till his fall-down in 1992. He was the last icon of the Hollywood type of gangster and many movie characters are actually shaped after him. Just to mention one: Michele Corleone in the Godfather.

                                                                                                         

Now, what can come out of a Gotti? Some kids, one of which is Victoria, New York socialite. I used to watch a reality with the Gottis and thought blond Victoria as a kind of vulgar useless lady. Now I read she was and is very bright, can write (she even published some apparently successful thrillers - I checked, they're out of print, so I can't testify to that), and has turned her notorious family name into something (legally) profitable. Chapeau. And probably never judge from appearances....

Lemony Snicket's A series of unfortunate events

 "I'm gonna get you kids. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, I'll *find* you! Oh, you are so deceased!"

I can't convince P that it's actually a good movie and that he shouldn't get asleep after 20 minutes or so.

"I am Stefano, and I am  an Italian man"

Jim Carrey is one of the best villain ever, with his three characters of Count Olaf, Stefano and Capt. Sham (the choice of this last name is just full of echoes from the Dickens' character of Miss Havysham). He hasn't the least bit of good in himself and doesn't care about children, whom he calls "orphans" because that is what they actually are. His philosophy about "children" is well stated by alter ego Stefano "Children are strange and distant for me....but I know they are an important part of the ecosistema". It somehow reminds me of unforgettable Nina Van Horn from the Just Shoot Me TV Series (http://gabrieleisland.blogspot.com/2011/09/memorable-quote.html)
But he is also the only adult in the plot who knows that the Baudelaire children are right and he states the simple truth that "nobody ever listens to children", even if they are right.
Of course, if it's good feeling you are interested into, there's plentiful in the movie. After all, it's a movie for children... But that's not why I like watching it.

Gabriele Island update

The little island is growing fast.
But Alu, the local alligator in the muddy pond, is killing Kois, leaving traces in the garden.

Sleepers

I'm definitely not a movie person but sometimes I do watch.  Yesterday night I was caught in "Sleepers", old movie - 1996 - that is still worth watching every now and then. The story is gripping, the themes are deep (friendship, vendetta, sexual abuse) and the cast exceptionally good 

(De Niro, Hoffman, Pitt, Bacon and the Italian Vittorio Gassman to name just a few). 

The movie comes from the book "Sleepers" by Lorenzo Carcaterra, who claims all the story to be true - basically. Of course its claim to be a true story brought about some debate (in the US), but as producer/director Levinson said in an interview after the film version release, ''I still don't know what is this big quest for the truth, with four boys no one ever heard of. 'What's this big thing we need to get into? There are no historical figures here. Outside of New York, it's almost like, 'I don't know what it is.' ''
Clearly the big debate is about the presentation of the juvenile criminal system and of a case in a NY tribunal that has no record - according to official statements. But the movie doesn't come out as an accusation to the system, actually: it's a story of individuals. 4 friends (the boys) and 4 other friends (the guards) playing against each other in a lifetime deadly game. Is replying to a stand that the movie doesn't want to take a sign of a guilty conscience?

Rapid Eye Movement

Era l'inizio degli anni Novanta quando le note di "Losing my Religion" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if-UzXIQ5vw&ob=av3e) cominciarono a fare da sottofondo alle nostre giornate. Sapevo il testo a memoria, uno di quei testi che avevo faticosamente cercato di trascrivere ascoltando e riascoltando il brano quasi fino a consumarlo.

E cosi' dopo 31 anni l'avventura dei R.E.M. finisce qui. Bravi. 

Delfini d'Italia

Luigi XVII, Delfino di Francia

Dmitri Medvedev, Delfino di Putin (Russia)                  

Renzo Bossi, Trota di Umberto

           

Cristiano Di Pietro, Trota di Antonio

                          

A little shot of vodka... or two

Actress Keira Knightley - one of my favourite actresses, by the way - confessed that she needed some courage to shoot the spanking scenes in her latest movie "A Dangerous Method". She found that courage in a couple of shots of vodka and after the scene celebrated for not having to do that ever again with a couple of glasses of champagne. The fact is that the spanking was - of course - not real: the co-actor actually spanked a box. And Keira threatened her co-actor to have him beat by a bodyguard if he even tried to get near her.
Dear Keira, that's much ado about nothing.

News from the World (2)

Old story. My friend M. used to tell me how his father during some high level business negotiations discovered that condoms are classified in 3 measures according to "ethnic" building:
Asian
Caucasian
African
(I think I 've put this in some order, but I am not going to explain further).

So now South Africa is saying "no" to Chinese condoms? Halloooo, where in the first place did you ever think they could fit anybody there?
http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2011/09/16/news/preservativi_cinesi_sudafrica-21754379/

Adieu

You have to be careful in this town. A moment you see something, the next it's not there anymore. One day you enter a restaurant and the next day it has been torn down. You talk with the same person over the phone in the agency xyz for 3 months, and one day you are informed she/he doesn't work there anymore.
That's life.
And that's what happened to the Liangma Antique Market. Very quiet place, with some good pieces among some dusty rubbish. I used to go there and start sneezing after a couple of steps. But it was a good spot if I didn't have the time and the strength to throw myself into Panjiayuan with the hordes of tourists. There I found  beautiful vintage alarm clocks for my friend G, who really wanted one. I got him two.
But the place is no more. Only the gate and the name are still standing. Or were. Already 24 hours have gone by. Goodbye old market. Adieu. 

News from the world

Monju Begum, 40 years old from Bangladesh cut off the penis of her would-be rapist using his own knife.
She duly brought the cut-off piece to the Bangladeshi police, wrapped in a plastic bag. The police report described the penis as "crusted with blood, fleshy and 51 millimeter long".
The piece of news is reported  in "Der Spiegel" n.35/2011.

Pensiero del giorno

Le smancerie telefoniche - con partner, figli e affini -  in ufficio  dovrebbero essere proibite quando imposte a orecchie assolutamente non interessate, anzi passive, anzi addirittura violate da questa acustica indesiderata ed inopportuna. Le trovo rivoltanti.

Nanus hortus

I nani da giardino popolano la mia vita da anni ormai. L'espressione "essere un nano da giardino" in senso di disprezzo fisico e morale, e' entrato nel mio eloquio all'epoca di una puntata dell'Ispettore Coliandro e non mi ha piu' abbandonato. Mia nonna tiene Biancaneve e 3 nani nel suo giardinetto perche' gli altri 4 sono - ahime' - misteriosamente morti.... e credetemi, non e' facile ammettere pubblicamente di avere qualcuno in famiglia che tiene nani da giardino, seppur decimati.

Sono molto stupita, e affascinata, dal fatto che qualcuno abbia pensato di scrivere un libro intitolato "Come sopravvivere all'attacco di un nano da giardino", breve volumetto edito da DeAgostini, scritto da tale Sambuchino. Lo leggero' con grande interesse, per scoprire se anche Sambuchino ha le mie stesse teorie sugli ignobili Nani. E grazie a M per avere scovato il libro!

About a woman

I have just finished reading a biography about Elizabeth I Tudor. Now I am confused: I used to believe she was exactly like the movie with Cate Blanchett. Very cool indeed.
From the biography, I discover she was a nasty woman, always punishing somebody for something, and not even a virgin as she wanted the world to believe! on the contrary, she really was the daughter of her father.....

Paolo Valle

I have found an Italian contemporary artist I seem to like. Some of his paintings were on display in an airport lounge. His name is Paolo Valle, class 1948, from Venice, and there is something catchy in his works. I can't still say if it is the colours or the black lines. Whatever it is, it definitely caught my eye.

Happy Birthday

8 September 2011. Gabriele Island is 1 month old. Under normal circumstances, I'd say "who cares", but since I consider it a little victory upon my own lazy self ---- well, Happy Birthday is in good oder then!

Memorable quote

"Honesty is one of those things people say they want, but they really don't, like education or children"

(from the TV series "Just shoot me!")

Jacqueline Kennedy vs. Anna Bolena

Sono rimasta colpita dalla figura di Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, dopo averne letto una vecchia biografia che si ferma al 1989, quando Jackie era ancora viva. Chi era costei? Un'arrivista, una donna dall'intelletto mediocre ma dalla grande eleganza, una persona con una innata sensibilità politica, un'affascinante ammaliatrice, una donna dispotica ed arrogante...?(http://www.anobii.com/books/A_woman_named_Jackie/9780749301521/01ddcd4b40bc0d114f/ )

Come per tutte le grandi figure del passato e del presente, i quadri sono numerosi almeno tanto quanto le persone che sono entrate in contatto con il personaggio ritratto. Specie poi quando si tratta di una donna, mi viene da dire. Di un'altra grande donna del passato, tale Anna Bolena, si dicevano molte cose simili a quelle che secoli più tardi si sono dette a proposito di Jackie. Compresa l'attribuzione di presunti amanti e rapporti incestuosi. Compresa l'accusa di stregoneria.

I fatti biografici in comune pure non sono pochi. Entrambe sposate con uomini potentissimi (e un po' farfalloni, ma tant'è): Anna con Enrico VIII, Jackie con il Presidente degli Stati Uniti; entrambe con un tocco francese nella loro educazione; entrambe soggette ad aborti spontanei e gravidanze difficili nel tentativo di dare eredi al trono (vero e proprio nel caso di Anna, figurato ma tutto sommato reale nel caso di Jackie), entrambe descritte con molte parole e i loro esatti opposti a seconda di situazioni, cornici, autori. E l'elenco potrebbe continuare.

Chissà cosa avrebbero potuto dirsi Anna e Jackie si fossero potute incontrare. Sarebbe stato di sicuro un incontro al vertice.

Tomatoes vs. Lettuce

You might divide the world population into many categories, according to beliefs, faith or else. Republicans and Democrats, Fascists and Communists, Westerners and Easterners. I have decided that I sometimes like to divide my little world into tomato-eaters and lettuce-eaters. I belong to the tomato-eaters, and I fairly dislike lettuce and often wonder how there can be lettuce-eaters, even in my own family.

But I have decided to be tolerant.

From Levanto to Monterosso

There is a walk you can take from Levanto to Monterosso. My friend A. has been telling me about it for some years now. You will see the sea from a distance and you will walk up and down the hills on a path that - take my word for it - you don't want to take with children or people who would complain every two steps.

I was talking about my plans yesterday and my beach neighbour told me it would just take more than an hour to walk from Levanto to Monterosso. And also added that I needed proper walking shoes to do it. While some friends bet I'd probably wear high shoes, I started off my journey with my  Prada flip-flops. All the other walkers I met along the way had proper shoes, walking sticks, proper clothes and backpacks. I was neatly dressed in Max&co. 3/4 trousers plus Puma shirt, and had a shoulder bag I use for almost everything, from shopping to going to the beach.

It actually takes 2 hours to walk the distance, and not because of my flip-flops: signals along the way say so and "the others" also confirm it. My beach neighbour probably never took the walk.....

Most of the people I met on the path were either German- or English- speaking. But they all would proudly make a point of greeting other people on the way  with the Italian "Buongiorno". Only the French would stick to their Bonjour.

It's quite an enterprise, but I was very happy when I finally reached Monterosso. You actually feel like you have accomplished something. Do not get scared when mid-ways you find a plaque commemorating poor professor Maier who died along the path, most of the people actually make it. Alive. 

Imprenditoria

Se il venditore di cocco dell'altro giorno (http://gabrieleisland.blogspot.com/2011/08/it-never-happened-when-i-was-child.html) era il simbolo perfetto dei tempi che cambiano, quello di oggi e' il simbolo perfetto dell'imprenditore che reinventa se stesso, che anche su una spiaggia si ingegna per avere maggiore appeal nei confronti del possibile acquirente.

L'ho visto percorrere 500m e piu' parlando solo in rima, rime per tutti i gusti, per tutte le categorie, mogli, mariti, amanti... e oltre:

"Alzati dall'asciugamano, compra cocco da un napoletano"

"Anche se sei interista, mangi cocco e diventi ottimista"

"Dalle Alpi alle Ande un grido si spande, cocco bello sei grande"

Chissà se se le prepara a casa o se lascia tutto all'improvvisazione.

G for Gifts

A friend sent me a book she really likes, I MORTI DEL CARSO. I open it to know that the author has also written: MORTE IN LISTA D ATTESA, A CIASCUNO LA SUA MORTE, LE LUNGHE OMBRE DELLA MORTE.
I am afraid the author might be a bit too much into death.