.: so comes snow after fire :.

News from the last few days! Yesterday I did my annual skin check-up, where we look for suspicious moles and I hold my breath in fear for twenty minutes. We didn't find any, but two new moles made the list of "keep an eye on them". Stupid moles. If it were up to me, I'd cut them all off! And that's why I'm not a surgeon. :D

This morning, after the usual bank-and-offices stuff I went for lunch with a friend. It was my first time seeing her house, and we had a lovely time chatting about anything and everything and running after her cats. We made plans for next Carnevale, and it'll be my first time dressing up for Carnevale in 18 years, wow. I know, I'm a shame to my own city, but ever since hitting puberty I've been avoiding the crowds of Carnevale in Venice like a vampire avoids sunlight. It will be a huge trip down memory lane indeed. ^^ And nope, we haven't decided on our costumes yet. My only input is: it should be really warm and include a wig or a hat. I get cold very easily.

I came back home in the late afternoon, and then I got a call about my new glasses. They're ready! I can't wait! I'll go and get them on Friday, and then take pictures to post here. *____*

And to spoil my good mood, I just had a really horrible conversation with my neighbour. This needs a little intro, though. As you all know, there's been lots of war refugees from Syria and some African countries escaping to Italy during the last few years. Lately it's been getting worse and worse, with no help from the EU at all. Many of these refugees have been given temporary homes all across Italy, and one of these homes is ten meters from our building. There's usually around ten men staying there at any given time, and they keep to themselves. Me, I feel much safer now that they are here. They spend the day on the big balcony that faces our door, and it's great when I come back home late, and it's dark, and there's always a little group of them watching over me. Other than that, it's almost as if they weren't even there.

And then five minutes ago my next door neighbour rang on my door because he wanted to ask me to sign a petition to get them kicked out of our neighbourhood, because it "used to be a nice neighbourhood and now it's a slum". I calmly asked him if they had bothered him in any way. If they'd even talked to him, or his wife, listened to loud music, or anything like that. He said that no, they hadn't done any of those things, but he was annoyed by their talking and their laundry. I told him my flat is way closer to their balcony than his, and when they are there they talk in a normal tone of voice, and I've been able to sleep soundly all summer. I asked him if he was disturbed by my laundry too. All of this, in a nice, polite tone of voice. He didn't know how to answer to that, because he was so sure I would have agreed with him, and my questions shocked him. I smiled and told him to come back when he had photographic evidence that any of the men next door were doing anything illegal, as defined by the laws of our country. Until then, he was not to disturb them or me. And then I shut the door in his face.

Sadly, the region where I live, Veneto, is the most racist region in Italy. But it still baffles me when things like this happen. My neighbour's wife had tried to approach me on the same matter a few weeks back, but she was way more shameful about it, and shut up as soon as she realized I was not agreeing with her. Considering their two screaming kids make much more noise than ten war refugees put together, I know what kind of petition I'd like to sign and nail on their stupid door! What bothers me the most is the thought if they were ever to go there and spout any of this shit to those men's faces, it would be horrifying and I would die of shame to even be associated to these persons. I should probably talk to the building manager and tell him from the start I strongly disagree with anything my neighbour says on anything, just to be on the safe side!

And now dinner and some chocolate, because I really need something sweet to fight all the bitterness that stupid selfish man threw at me!

This is the weirdest spring ever. We just had a classic summer storm, with thunder and lightning but the air remained hot. It didn't really bother me though, because I'm in a great mood. After lunch I went downtown to the cinema, to see Iron Man 3 again. It was even better than the first time. There was a kid sitting next to me, five years old tops, who kept comparing the plot points to the comics for the benefit of his grandma, it was hilarious. It was an audience of young nerds, so it felt a lot like being in church. Even when they laughed, it was a whispered thing, not to lose a single word. I loved it. :D

The first time I watched this movie they cut the credits short, and we couldn't see the post-credits scene. It was actually hilarious, because it was only four of us left, and Tati kept swearing under her breath while putting on her coat, while a dad was trying to explain why we couldn't see the extra scene to his little kid. The kid asked him why, and he answered, completely serious, full of controlled anger, "because some people are mean and cruel, and enjoy hurting people like us". I was absolutely shocked and had to bite my lip not to laugh in his face. He just kept going on and on about the unfairness of the world! :D

Anyway this time I bought my ticket and stopped to talk to the theater manager, and asked him very politely not to cut the credits. He was suprised, and told me I should have brought my old ticket instead of buying a new one, and he would have made me watch the movie for free to apologize. It was my time to be surprised, and then there were some negotiations, and at the end I won and didn't get a refund. It was nice of him to offer, but it's a five-second-long scene, I couldn't accept a free ticket!

So I got to see the final scene too, and I loved it, and everyone loved it. On the way home I stopped for shawarma, as it is Marvel tradition, and talked a bit with a woman there who had an 80s hairdo like from a Cindy Lauper video. She was stunning! And then I trotted home in the rain singing I'm Blue (Da Ba Dee), only to discover we somehow have a new government.

I mean, I take one afternoon off, and they go and make a new government with a bunch of people approved by He Who Shall Not Be Named Because Bleargh. Although we also have a minister who's a black woman, so I'm trying to concentrate on that. A black woman. In Italy. I would think it's a dream, but then I look at the other names and no, it's not a dream, I'm painfully awake. Just some small piece of great news amongst the wreckage. Time to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, etc.

Yesterday morning I voted. I'm trying not to think about it, I did my duty, now we just have to wait and see, but I can't help being very nervous about it. I wish it was already tomorrow, that the results were out, because I hate this grey middle area where we just wait.

Today the postman brought me every single letter from the past two weeks. Even bills have to stop when the snow starts falling. The good news is, I also got my new The Hobbit bag and my Blackadder dvds! Yes!


I saw a girl at a cosplay contest a couple of weeks back wearing this bag, and I fell in love with it. I love how it's just the portion of the map they cover in the first movie. I wonder what they will do for the next one, a huge zoom on Mirkwood? Luckly there's this shop near Belluno that sells all kinds of official Lord of the Rings merchandise, and now they're stocking up on The Hobbit merchandise too. I've had this conversation with my aunt where she asked me if I wouldn't prefer "real" bags. As in, expensive, leather, from some relatively big name in fashion. I replied that in that case I could only afford one, and would have to be extra careful with it. While with my fandom bags, ranging from 15 to 30 pounds tops, I can own different kinds, put them on the floor of the cinema if the seats next to me are taken, and I can be carefree and put pins on them too. ;)

The Blackadder dvds have a huge chart with Baldrick's family tree. Apparently The Baldricks come from Exrescenses and Shites (while we come from Primeval Soup), and are all named Baldrick. :D


Bonus Sakura picture! She was sniffing all over the new bag, and wouldn't turn around for the camera, until I said "look at mommy, Sakura, look at mommy!" That's my aunt's fault, she keeps saying to Sakura that I'm her 'mommy', and now she's learnt that word!

And now back to worrying about the Elections. ^^"

It's the Birthday Entry! This one was an epic one, at least for my standards. :D It's 29, the last year of my twenties. *drumroll*

First, a picture of yours truly in her lucky red corset (I just *love* it), eating sushi. See the hair? I'm going to cut it on wednesday. That already qualifies as "too long" in my mind. Although I do admit it has a certain puffy quality that on good days I define as "cute". My hair and I have a love-hate relationship.



( This way for pictures of the celebrations, with colourful wagons on the streets and dancing men in lederhosen, and old phobias being crushed to the sound of wonderful music. And shoes. )

I had to skip the gym today because I slept on my stomach last night, which I never do, and woke up with a wryneck. Well, that, and the air conditioning still on on the bus yesterday. It's wine season, for god's sake! It's cold! I'm feeling fine now, but I thought it best not to stress the muscles too much.

Tomorrow it's vet time (for Sakura) and therapy time (for me), then back to Tati to start the second season of Teen Wolf together! She's in for quite a great journey. ♥

The third boxset of Cabin Pressure is finally here, and sadly, there's no Molokai in it. It's the mp3 file for that, then. This is the opposite of brilliant.

Since the first booklet was written by Arthur and the second one by Douglas, the third one is Martin's. It features an adorable sketch of Martin's face as drawn by Douglas, a list of attempts at finding a place that rhymes with Paris, and the official logo for Icarus Removals!





Today I went to the comic book store and they were playing Iron Man 2 on the first floor, and The Avengers on the second floor. The always have a movie playing in one of the televisions, but this is the first time I literally stopped on the stairs to try and watch them both at the same time. :D

Oh, per gli amici italiani: entro lunedì bisogna pagare la seconda rata dell'IMU per l'abitazione principale. Stamattina ho fatto il calcolo sul sito del mio comune, e domani vado a pagarla alle Poste. Siccome non ne ho visto parlare nè in tv nè online, a questo punto resta solo il passaparola.

Mi hanno linkato su Facebook questo piccolo capolavoro, che non avevo mai visto prima, il Vademecum Tango con Bramieri, Del Frate e Pisu. I bei tempi in cui si poteva fare un intero, adorabile sketch in tv completamente in latino.



L'audio è quello che è (era pur sempre il 1964), quindi consiglio di alzare per bene il volume, e al massimo rifatevi a questa trascrizione lasciata da un utente nei commenti:

Mutatis mutandis -con le dovute varianti absit iniura verbis -senza offesa temporibus illis -ai bei tempi ob torto collo tango -costretti al tango ubi maior minor cessat -il più bravo fa sfigurare gli altri talis pater talis filius -è una questione ereditaria motu proprio ad maiora -la volontà di eccellere Ahi! Vademucum tango -manuale di tango ad usum Delphini -per principianti sed alea iacta est -ma ormai è fatta memento audere semper -sempre ricordati di osare.

♥

Comunicazione di servizio per tutti i fan italiani di Benedict Cumberbatch! Arriva alfine nei cinema del nostro amato paese Frankenstein di Danny Boyle, "dal romanzo di Mary Shelley una nuova visionaria opera teatrale registrata Live al National Theatre di Londra e da settembre al cinema con Benedict Cumberbatch e Jonny Lee Miller". Versione originale, sottotitolata in italiano. Alla pagina linkata trovate le date uscite finora, anche se a quanto pare potrebbero aggiungerne altre. Al momento sono queste:

CALABRIA
Reggio Calabria
Lumiere
www.multisalalumiere.it/
25/09/2012

EMILIA ROMAGNA
Faenza
Cinedream
www.cinedream.it
11/09/2012

EMILIA ROMAGNA
Modena
Victoria
www.victoriacinema.it
11/09/2012

LOMBARDIA
Bergamo
San Marco
www.freecinema.eu
28/08/2012

LOMBARDIA
Milano
Anteo
www.spaziocinema.info
01/10/2012

LOMBARDIA
Milano
Arcobaleno Filmcenter
www.cinenauta.it
02/10/2012

LOMBARDIA
Milano
Mexico
www.cinemamexico.it/
04/10/2012

LOMBARDIA
Paderno Dugnano
Area Metropolis
metropolis.cinetecamilano.it
26/09/2012

LOMBARDIA
Treviglio
Ariston
www.aristonmultisala.it
15/10/2012

PIEMONTE
Dogliani
Multilanghe
www.multilanghe.it
04/09/2012

PIEMONTE
Torino
Massimo
www.museonazionaledelcinema.it
25/08/2012

PUGLIA
Bari
Galleria
www.multicinemagalleria.it
27/09/2012

Con Tati si pensava di andare a una data a Milano. E' relativamente vicino, conosciamo entrambe bene la città. Certo, dovessero aggiungere una data a Venezia, sarei ancora più felice! Staremo a vedere. ^^

Gioite e diffondete la notizia! \o/

So, so pissed off right now. There's a new construction site in Venice, on the Ponte Della Libertà, which is the huge bridge that connects the mainland to the islands. In other words, the only way in and out the city. It's going to stay there for the whole summer, and then next spring too. The result is, they cut down the number of buses, and what's left travels at 5 miles per hour. I talked with some of the persons at the bus stops, and everyone was furious. Also wet to the bone because we had summer storms all morning too.

What pisses me (and everyone else) off so much is that it's for a useless reason: they want to install a tram line even if there's no need for it whatsover. Somebody years ago was corrupted enough to start this stupid project, and now we're still paying for it. On my way back I stopped at the comic book store, and they had V for Vendetta masks on the counter. There was this crazy moment when I thought: let's just buy them and go and protest in front of city hall! No one would listen, as usual, but it would be awesome!

(I'd like to add, this is my first entry on the new keyboard. It's Logitech like the old one, but compared to that it looks like something from science fiction. It's very light, and small, and it has a little usb thingie for the wireless, which I installed with my sonic screwdriver - it's a torch and I had to reach the back of the computer without moving my desk, so I needed a light source)

Con tutto quello che è successo questa settimana viene un pò l'amaro in bocca alla sola idea di festeggiare qualcosa, ma d'altra parte una data così non posso mica lasciarla passare senza dire niente. Vai di citazione colta e De Gregori, che così non si sbaglia mai!

"E poiché essa è retta in modo che i diritti civili spettino non a poche persone, ma alla maggioranza, essa è chiamata democrazia". (Pericle, in Tucidide 2, 37)

Buon 2 Giugno a tutti! ♥

I'm back home, a bit worse for wear. There was another earthquake this afternoon, that claimed more victims. I heard my friends living in Ferrara, they didn't have to leave their homes but tonight they're going to sleep either in the car or fully dressed, by the door with a backpack full of stuff. Everyone's pretty scared. I'm lucky, I checked my flat all over and only found a few books toppled over, but nothing more. Sakura is very excited, and she's spent the last hour trying to get me into playing hide and seek with her. I had to decline because I was starving. I called my aunt, who's very worried, and then made myself a sandwich. The plan now is: eat some chocolate cookies, drink a cup of camomile tea, and go to bed because tomorrow I have to rise early in the morning and I need a good night of sleep.