Christmas is over

Christmas is over, and while everything is back to "normality", I can show you what I did for Christmas present.
This year I decided to have many simple and lovely presents, I also wanted to buy much handmade!!

La Tenaglia Impazzita is run by an Italian artist. Giulio is specialized in mosaics, amongs his marvellous masterpiece there are some beautiful objects that are much more affordable for my pockets. I chose a photo frame. It was the marvellous present for a family, and they really appreciated the artistic touch of this simple object.

One of my dearest friend is an avid reader of Jane Austen novels. On Etsy I found the perfect shop for her present from now on!! Pemberley Pond is run by Laura and Luisa Lodetti, two Italian illustrators. They hand-decorate marvellous notebooks, posters and bookmarks. recently Austenians chocolate is available in her shop. And I can assure the taste is fabolous!!

Christmas is also a time for remembering of ourselves, to have time to relax and every year I make myself a present. Wnadering etsy's marvellous shops I stopped by RickyandNina in UK, to buy a beautiful vintage box of stamps. They arrive in perfect time, in a safe package.
I hope my next sale come soon, in order to use them to decorate packaging.

Thinking about stamps I decided to give a stamp to my sister too. She liked them quite as much as I do, but I wanted something particular for her, so I asked to a French artist to make something special for me. Aurélie made a particular stamp shaped as a bassoon in very short time.
I wanted a Bassoon because my sister plays that peculiar instrument. t is not very popular, and so anytime she finds anything related to it she is enthusiastic!! And she loved the stamp at first sight!

Buying handmade you can be sure that your presents are unique. You also say to those who receive it that you care for them.

Another great advantage is buying online: few moments to decide what you want and you'll get it without any effort!
I'm very happy that etsy made me in contact with these extraordinary word full of extraordinary people.
Christmas is over, and my present are full of life!!

2009...

... is over!
Its wishes, hopes (fulfilled or not), feelings are past, and so ready for the new year to come.
Ready with our memories of what this year was (everything, nice or not because what we don't like could help us anyway!), with good intentions for the new year, with everything we've learnt so far!

HAPPY 2010!

About love

image taken from here
original text taken from here:

Eine Kleinigkeit
(für Catherine)

Ich weiß nicht was Liebe ist
aber vielleicht ist es etwas wie das:

Wenn sie
nach Hause kommt aus dem Ausland
und stolz zu mir sagt: »Ich habe
eine Wasserratte gesehen«
und ich erinnere mich an diese Worte
wenn ich aufwache in der Nacht
und am nächsten Tag bei der Arbeit
und ich sehne mich danach
sie dieselben Worte
noch einmal sagen zu hören
und auch danach
dass sie nochmals genau so aussehen soll
wie sie aussah
als sie sie sagte -

Ich denke, das ist vielleicht Liebe
oder doch etwas hinreichend Ähnliches





A littleness

I don't know what love is
but perhaps
it is something like this:

when she
comes back from abroad
and proudly says to me: "I've
seen a water rat"
and I remember these words
when I wake up at night
and the day after at work
and I miss that
these very words
once more I hear her saying

and again and again
exactly seeming
as they seemed
when she said them

I think that perhaps it is love,
or at least something very similar to it.

translation is mine, any advice is welcome.

Senza Fiato

Dolores O'riordan is one of the best voice ever. I love her interpretation, the energy she can show in her singing. Giuliano is the leader of an Italian Group: Negramaro.
This song really leave you breathless.

6th August 1945

Image from Wikipedia

There are mistakes we are not allowed to forget.

Ocean Sea

Sabbia a perdita d'occhio, tra le ultime colline e il mare -il mare- nell'aria fredda di un pomeriggio quasi passato, e benedetto dal vento che sempre soffia da nord.
La spiaggia. E il mare.
[...]
The very beginning of Oceano mare, by Alessandro Baricco
(Sand as far as the eye can see, between the last hills, and the sea -the sea- in the cold air of an afternoon almost past, and blessed by the wind that always bow from the north. The beach. And the sea. translated byAlastair McEwen)


I would never dare to translate Alessandro Baricco. Never.
Because I love him, I adore him as an intellectual and as a novelist.
Ocean Sea is one of my favourite books, maybe my favourite book. I've read it many years ago, and I re-read it sometimes, when I need to read something beautiful.
Ocean Sea is a story, but it is also made of many different stories, one for each character, at least. Baricco's characters are always peculiar: children almost like angels, scientists involved in absurd researches, sailors that can tell marvellous stories without speaking, painters who use water instead of colours...

The story is set around a place called Locanda Almayer, the characters arrive here for different reason, but here they all find the sea, and that will complicate or finally solve their lives.
[...]
Questo è un posto che quasi non esiste. E se chiedi della locanda Almayer, la gente ti guarda sorpresa, e non sa.
[...]
Oceano mare, by Alessandro Baricco

When you read Baricco's stories, either this one, or any other, you must remember that nothing is there by chance, not even punctuation. The use of lay-out and punctuation is one of his main characteristic, in his novels you can find very long sentence (more than a page) and very short ones. The organization on the page tries to represent the scene he is describing, to emphasize words, and so it is a kind of description without the usual devices.
[...]
Spiaggia. E il mare.
Luce.
Il vento dal nord.
Il silenzio delle maree.
Giorni. Notti.
[...]

La prima cosa è il mio nome,

la prima cosa è il

mio nome, la seconda quegli occhi,

la prima cosa è il

mio nome, la seconda quegli occhi, la terza è un pensiero,la quarta la notte che viene,
[...]
Oceano mare, by Alessandro Baricco

The narrator plays an important role in Baricco's novel, it is a voice that follows all the stories and knows many things about the characters, s/he sometimes stops the narrations to tell external stories or to explain why they are behaving in a particular way. Humor is another great characteristic of Baricco's style, he underlines situations in order to make the reader smile.

Pensa rimugina e riflette e ragiona. Poi di scatto salta giù dal davanzale. Dalla parte della camera, s'intende. Bisognerebbe avere le ali per saltare giù dall'altra.
[...]
Rimane lì il bambino con gli occhi fissi sul mare. Ci resta per un po'. Poi guarda bene che intorno non ci sia nessuno e di scatto salta giù dal davanzale. Dalla parte della spaiggia, s'intende.
Oceano mare, by Alessandro Baricco

It is almost impossible to summarize the whole content of this novel, because there are many different stories composing one story, and if you listen to it "...you'll hear the voice of the Sea".

Here you can find a review, and probably a better description of what this novel deal with.

Out of my window...

Image taken from here.

They go on saying that the world is changing, or better, is changed. The new President of United States of America, is the final sign of this change.

Before the election I was (most of all) curious to see whether Americans were brave enough to elect a President like Obama. Yes, you need courage to have such a President, for several reasons that I'm not going to investigate here. I'm happy that he's been elected, because, even though I'm not American (and proud to be Italian, despite Silvio...), I'm aware of the great influence of U.S. on the world. I'm happy because he seems to be a man able to do unpopular choices.

Since the day of his election I see people exulting there(in America) and here (in Italy). It is clear why Americans are happy about it, but it is not so clear to me why the Italians are so happy! I mean, we're governed by the same people as before, the only hope for us is... an invasion(remember Fascism?)! And what is more, we would have never elected such a candidate! And I'm not talking about the colour of his skin! I'm talking about those unpopular choices that we're not able to do... We want our leaders to be the image of what we would like to be, and not real persons who tell us what the real problems are.

So, keep on celebrating, but out of my windows it is still raining...

09/11

09/11/2001 I had one of the best ice cream of my whole life. I was in Sirmione on the Garda lake, and suddenly everybody went to watch the TV nearby, I went too and I saw what seemed to be a film. The attack, the tower collapsing... so unreal! I didn't realize immediately what that could mean, but then I remember that the strong feeling we had was fear. What will the Americans do after that?!

In 2003 I was attending my first year at University, the very day of the attack on Baghdad I had a lesson in the Political Science department! When I reached Piazza Antenore I understood that reaching my class that day would have been really hard. There were many students outside, complaining for the attack. I had economics, and since I don't understand a thing about economics, all I wanted was to go and see whether my Professor was going to teach us something that day. He arrived and was going to do his lessons when some students came in to call us to join the demonstration. After deciding to stay there, our Professor asked us “Do you know what happened on 9/11?!” Who didn't?! And someone asked back: “What year?”

I had already read The House of the Spirits, And I knew what happened in Chile in 1973, but I had never realized that the day of the coup d'état was 09/11...

On 11th September Augusto Pinochet overthrew Allende's government, with the help of United States intelligence. During the military Junta of those years there was a word largely used: desaparecidos, disappeared. All those who had something against the government simply disappeared.

In 1998 Pinochet was arrested for Crimes against Humanity. He was practically never processed, because of his health problems or many other little reasons.

Today is 09/11, and even though I live in Italy there are many programs on TV remembering us what happened 7 years ago. I respect those people who died in Twin Towers attack, and their families too, their sufferance.

But is there any respect for the more than 3000 people who died during Pinochet's government?! Are they once more desaparecidos?!