.: so comes snow after fire :.

Sorry for disappearing, guys, but remember the backache I mentioned in my last post? It quickly morphed into the One Ring of all backaches, and it basically confined me to a bed for a whole week. That, and not being able to breathe, eat, move my arms without being in terrible pain. Today is my first day of feeling truly better; it still hurts, and I still get tired easily, but I managed to leave the house, do some grocery shopping - a very light bag, but still. God, I missed it.

I'm so glad I was born in the age of painkillers, you have no idea.

Having gone through a black hole of a week, I don't have much in the way of news. I managed to marathon Steven Universe on my laptop, and I highly recommend it to anyone. It's funny, the story is beautifully written, it has lesbian moms, it's all feminist and full of fuzzy warm feelings. It's wonderful. You can watch it all for free on their official website. And seriously, it's got honest-to-god lesbian characters, in a children show, raising a kid. It doesn't get any better than that. ^^

And they just released the trailer for the next Mission Impossible movie. I don't really care for the first trilogy, but Ghost Protocol is one of my favourite movies of all time. I've watched it hundreds of times, and it's one of my "comfort movies": it's the actual name of a folder in my laptop for movies to watch when I'm sick. Works better than chicken soup and paracetamol. So yeah, I'm super excited about the new one! ^^

In completely unrelated news, yesterday I had to explain to my aunt, on the phone, what a lap dance is. Maybe also because I was on painkillers, I found the experience to be absolutely hilarious. :D

Yay, LJ is back! I don't have to use proxy servers anymore! Although I love using them because then I can pretend I'm british, and the BBC website gets fooled everytime. :D

So, today I went to the bank, I bought a Vermeer calendar for the kitchen (so many of my favourite paintings, yes!), went to the hospital, and then therapy. Mom's fine, everyone's relieved, she can even start on her physiotherapy again. Therapy was much overdue, although I spent half of the time asking my therapist to repeat her questions because I was so tired I couldn't focus properly. It didn't help that my new glasses gave me a killer headache (it always happens for the first few days, it's either that or nausea), and even if I managed to get a painkiller just before entering the hospital, I was still ditzy for a while.

I came back home feeling like I had cotton instead of brain cells, and while I was fumbling with my keys I heard my neighbour calling my name. He had four packages that had arrived with the courier while I was away (that guy has wonderful timing), two months worth of shopping on Amazon that arrived all on the same day. The perfect day to arrive, may I add, because the crisis is over, I have nothing to do this weekend, and now I feel like Santa Claus just paid me a visit. I came in, put the kettle on, and started taking pictures while Sakura played with the boxes.


Group picture! So many wonderful things, I have great taste, yes yes. *_____*


Let's start with the Hobbit artbook. It has Thorin's map at the beginning. When I was a kid my dad made one from scratch using the little picture in our copy of the book as reference. If he could only see this! Also pictured, Thorin's key (with all my other keys). I got the map, I got the key, I'm ready for my adventure. I should put a rune on my front door, just in case.


This picture was tricky to take. It's the moon runes on the map, one can feel them with one's fingertips, and I had to sharpen the picture three times on Photoshop to have them visible enough.


Bilbo's contract. That's a lot of clauses. I have no idea how I managed to take these pictures since I was jumping up and down and making high-pitched noises that I'm sure only dogs could hear.


Both Rise of the Guardians books, The Man On The Moon and the movie artbook. They're both so pretty! I have the rest of the Guardians books but they'll have to wait until I've finished reading Fearless. God, I love Cornelia Funke! ♥


It is time for a Lord of the Rings marathon. Last one I did, it was with mom. I wonder if these blurays also have the hidden easter eggs from the dvds. I remember finding Gollum's acceptance speech at the MTV Movie Awards and feeling so proud of myself. :D

And now the headache seems to be back. I should probably go and lie down in the dark a bit, that always helps. ^^

And the first half of the fifth season of Breaking Bad is over. Or, as I like to call it, the fifth season. Because if I have to wait a whole year for 8 new episodes, I'm going to call them "sixth season". Just saying.

I'm going to let my inner Arthur Shappey free here, and say it was BRILLIANT. No other words come to mind. Two iconic, extraordinary montages, and one nail-biting final cliffhanger all wrapped up in one amazingly written episode. The next season is going to be such a chess game, I can already taste it. Can't wait. And I realized halfway through the episode that I can finally order all the previous seasons on bluray, even if they're region A, because hello new bluray player. So happy! ♥

A few weird things that happened to me lately, in an otherwise uneventful week. A girl at the gym yesterday approached me and asked me about my summer. While we were chatting I noticed she was very nervous, and after a few minutes I realized why. She was talking to me like a teen talks to an adult, trying really hard to sound smart and engaging. For the first time in my life, I realized I was on the recieving end of the "awkward conversation with an adult". So then I noticed the girls at the gym consider me part of the Adults group, even if the Adults (who are coincidentally all friends of mine, and all over 55) consider me one of the Girls. So weird. :D

My Galaxy Quest bluray arrived today! I opened it, and there was a sheet with a coupon for the 2009 Star Trek movie. I found it very, very amusing. :D I can't believe I hadn't heard of this movie until two weeks ago, when somebody posted a gifset of the crunchy-chompy hallway scene on tumblr. It's witty, funny, touching, and it has some of my favourite actors ever! For all that I complain about tumblr (no space for real discussions or comments, full of kids, the epitome of the "serious business" attitude) it made me discover so many great movies and tv shows. ♥

Hip hip hurrah for me, as today I finally have a multiregion bluray player in my hands! Yes, you read that right, something that isn't supposed to exist, and yet it's here. It started with a long and frustrating search on Google last week, and after a couple of hours I managed to stumble upon a forum thread mentioning the Toshiba BDX1200 player and a certain australian firmware. Much clicking and crosschecking later, I managed to find one on amazon.it, got the firmware ready, and waited while it travelled from Barcelona to Paris to Milan and this morning to my house. It is surprisingly light and slim (I'm used to the PS3, and even if it says so on the package, slim it is not). Five minutes later, the hidden menu was revealed, the region set to A (but I can change it to every other region as many times as I see fit), and my Alice bluray started loading. Behold, behold, it WORKS! It only took me three years since the day I bought that bluray to have it finally working (still pissed off about that one).



It's the second one, just under the PS3. I can't put anything above the PS3 since the top is convex, and I'd like to meet the genius who designed that so I can punch them on the nose.

And now the Avengers special edition, with the Tesseract and all the movies, that I pre-ordered last month, is actually a reasonable purchase after all. As in, now I can actually watch the movies too, instead of just playing with the Tesseract. :D



IT'S ALIVE!!!

If any of you not-american friends would like to know how it works, just drop me a comment. It took me only 130 € (very cheap for a bluray player, and the quality is VERY good), three days for delivery, five minutes to set it up. And to do that one just needs a usb stick!

Bit of bad news: yesterday I got the beginning of wryneck, which sadly I get from time to time, and it usually lasts for at least three painful days, for no apparent reason other than my body hates me. And it is obviously the weekend, and I don't have my painkillers, and I had to go with some lousy ibuprofen that has the same effect of a glass of water. Tomorrow, as soon as the pharmacies open, I'm going to jump out of the window and buy some serious painkillers, I won't even bother with the door. Stupid neck.

Anyway, today we had another lovely day together, even if I couldn't turn my head and had to walk like the Terminator. My aunt decided we had to wash the curtains, and I helped her get them down and in the washing machine, and then back up. Tati is going to come later for dinner, and my aunt made a typical sicilian dinner for her, with eggplants and tomatoes. She'll love it. *____*

In the afternoon I put on my new Avengers skirt (which made my aunt honest-to-god squee in delight) and we went downtown to our usual cinema - it's called Excelsior, and obviously makes me giggle like a lunatic everytime, and it's all John Finnemore's fault. We were going to see Seeking A Friend for The End of the World at 5.30, but when we got there they told us the movie had been cancelled, and we could choose between The Expendables 2, The Descendants or The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. My aunt was already leaving, when the man at the counter looked at me and said "you should try the Marigold Hotel one, it's lovely and it has a bunch of old British actors". I have to admit I did a very undignified squeaking sound and dragged my aunt back in screaming about British actors. The movie had already started, but only by five minutes, so we had to sneak in the dark room, and wait a couple of minutes standing in a corner until our eyes adjusted enough so that we could reach our seats. The movie was indeed lovely, full of actors I adore, and we had a wonderful time. And I brought a scarf with me, so the air conditioning didn't bother me at all!

Now my neck is still hurting, but only on the right side. I just have to be careful and remember not to turn my head but the entire torso when my aunt calls me. I can do it! Mind over matter!

Spent the day in Padova with two friends of mine, and it was a blast. I talked so much I'm literally hoarse, and we did some shopping, ate pizza, and organized a photography day in Venice. They're both studying professional photography, I just have my cute digital camera, but I can be an awesome guide. :D

Besides, I'm participating in a wonderful project, A Travelling Lemon Gift for John Finnemore. Follow the link for the rules, but basically you just take a lemon, put it next to a landmark in your city, and snap a picture, and then they'll all be sent to John Finnemore as a gift from his fans. Isn't it the most adorable idea ever? And I have literally a hundred landmarks to choose from! So they're going to take their professional photos of the Campanile of S.Marco, while I run around yelling "where do I hide the lemon in plain sight in front of a freaking cathedral?!" It's going to be crazy. :D

Let us not get off the nerd wagon just yet, because I have pictures of three packages I found on my doorstep when I came home, one from Amazon, two from Etsy. *_____*


I went a bit crazy with the Benedict Cumberbatch suggestions on Amazon, but a dvd there costs 3 pounds, it's unbelievable. An E.E. Cummings anthology because I read a few poems online and got intrigued, finally the Jeeves and Wooster boxset (finally!!!), and two cds I had on my iPod and that I was feeling way too guilty about. If I love it, I should buy it. Yo-ho a guilty pirate's life for me.


An incredibly cute cover for my Kindle (strawberries!), that actually protected it from a fall not even five minutes after this picture was taken. And the last piece for my Sherlock shrine, the magnifying glass! That made me squeal out loud when I opened the box. :D The shrine shall be on a shelf in my living room I emptied a couple of months ago for my favourite books, high enough that Sakura won't bother it, with the hat and the books and Sherlock Holmes' card from the museum. *________* Pictures shall be posted as soon as I'm satisfied with the final result. ;)


As Abed would say, cool. Cool cool cool cool.

I also bought orange blossom body cream. Orange flowers smell like Sicily, and it was always my mom's favourite scent, so now I'm sitting here with the smell of my childhood all around me. Nice. ♥

Here it's raining, back at my aunt's it's snowing. I cannot believe two weeks ago I was sunbathing in a London park. I'm happy for the rain, since it was needed, but it is still such a weird weather.

I'm also starting to recieve all those blu-rays I pre-ordered during the last few months. On May I'll finally get The Artist, War Horse, Sherlock Holmes - A Game Of Shadows, I love spring. :D



So, it's Tintin, finally, that deserves to be on bluray so much. Can't wait to see all those piratey action scenes on my TV. :D Then we have 12 Songs by Neil Diamond, an album I've been meaning to buy for years, because it contains what is probably my favourite song. Or at least, the one song that if I were to die tomorrow I would spend my last day obsessively listening to. This song. I have no idea why that song sounds so perfect to me, it just does. ^^

XXX-Holic is finally over. I read the last chapter years ago on the net, but it's great to finally have that last volume. Next, The Little Book Of Calm is real! It's still my favourite episode from Black Books, it just makes me cry with laughter. :D



Last but not least, the Magnetic Fields with their new album, because I've listened to 69 Songs so much it's not even funny. ^^

It's the first day of snow here, in a whole year! It's even staying on the ground, instead of melting, and here it's kind of a rare thing. In such a wonderful day (I love snow, I can't help it), every order I did on Amazon in the last two months arrived, all in the same package. It's like Christmas on February 01. *_____*


Every last thing I bought there since December, I told you. The Sherlock 2 bluray, and the soundtrack. I spent a good five minutes sniffing the booklet. It smells so good, like an old book. Hey, you already knew I was weird, this is hardly news. :D Good Omens is there because my copy has a horrible cover, and it's been bugging me to no end. Besides, I wanted a copy to read and carry around and a copy to look pretty on the shelf. His Dark Materials, because I only have the Italian version, and even if it's a good translation and everything, it is unacceptable. And Drive. ♥


The Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy limited edition. It's like a treasure chest. I found the book, the playing cards, the notebook, and then I spent a couple of minutes turning it around and shaking it until I found the secret drawer. Yes, it has a secret drawer, with the bluray disc, the soundtrack, and a project witchcraft file. But it was the secret drawer that got me squeeing like an idiot. :D


Bonus picture, snow on the balcony. And it's getting thicker and thicker. I had to wait a while, but I finally got the White Christmas I wanted. :D

I also got my I Believe In Sherlock Holmes pin from CafePress, and I already pinned it on my bag. *______*

It's the first day of snow here, in a whole year! It's even staying on the ground, instead of melting, and here it's kind of a rare thing. In such a wonderful day (I love snow, I can't help it), every order I did on Amazon in the last two months arrived, all in the same package. It's like Christmas on February 01. *_____*


Every last thing I bought there since December, I told you. The Sherlock 2 bluray, and the soundtrack. I spent a good five minutes sniffing the booklet. It smells so good, like an old book. Hey, you already knew I was weird, this is hardly news. :D Good Omens is there because my copy has a horrible cover, and it's been bugging me to no end. Besides, I wanted a copy to read and carry around and a copy to look pretty on the shelf. His Dark Materials, because I only have the Italian version, and even if it's a good translation and everything, it is unacceptable. And Drive. ♥


The Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy limited edition. It's like a treasure chest. I found the book, the playing cards, the notebook, and then I spent a couple of minutes turning it around and shaking it until I found the secret drawer. Yes, it has a secret drawer, with the bluray disc, the soundtrack, and a project witchcraft file. But it was the secret drawer that got me squeeing like an idiot. :D


Bonus picture, snow on the balcony. And it's getting thicker and thicker. I had to wait a while, but I finally got the White Christmas I wanted. :D

I also got my I Believe In Sherlock Holmes pin from CafePress, and I already pinned it on my bag. *______*

My Shame soundtrack arrived today! It's one for me and one for Tati, but I couldn't resist and took a picture of both, so you can see my new hair colour too. The fuchsia stripes have been a success so far, I got lots of compliments. I can be so vain sometimes. :D



Today was the warmest day of the new year so far. I saw boys in the street stripped down to their shirts, and even if I have a feeling teenagers don't feel the cold like I do, it was still as warm as the first day of spring. Sakura loves it, so even if it is weird, I get an hyper cuddly cat two months in advance this year, that's good. Tiring, but good. :D

Yesterday I played a bit of Final Fantasy Dissidia 12 after months, because I want to get back in a Final Fantasy mood: in two weeks I'll have Final Fantasy XIII-2, and I want to be ready. This one has time travel in it, it's going to be amazing! *_______*