Imagination is the first source of human happiness

jre11 @ 2008-06-08T00:01:00

2008-06-07T22:12:08Z

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/06/07/clintons_last_hurrah.html?hpid=topnews

I loved her speech. What she said made me think to another incredible woman and the end of one of her best books, " A room of one's own". I wonder if one day there'll be a woman who will have the possibility to say that there is no more glass ceiling to shatter. I hope so. One day.

"But I mantain that she would come if we worked for her, and that so to work, even in poverty and obscurity , is worth while "

Sex and the city: The saga

2008-06-01T20:17:18Z

Six months ago when I read that the movie of Sex and the city was coming out at the end of May I decided that, to properly maintain the title of series-addicted I needed to watch Sex and the city. Before January I had watched one or two episodes of the entire series. In three months I watched it all. All the episodes many and many times. I fell in love hard and fast with Sex and the city and it has been immediately put on the list of my favorite series.

That said, I went to see the movie this afternoon. I did hear bad comments about the movie but I hadn't read any review because I wanted to form my own judgment. Now I have seen it and all I can say is that I would have loved it had I not seen the series.
I spent the first hour trying to accept the Italian voices. I saw two or three episodes in Italian years ago and I have seen 150 or so episodes in English in the last months. So wrong voices were the first big obstacle. Once I got used to those voices I actually started watching the movie. The movie is not bad, per se. It's funny at times and I didn't feel the two hours and a half but please don't call it Sex and the city. They ruined Miranda, my favorite character. She was just a shade of the cynical, sarcastic lawyer she was. Sure, she grew up, got married, adapted to her all life in Brooklyn. She changed but I want the old Miranda back. Plus, a crucial part of the series was Carrie's column. Carrie, the book writer is not as much fun and she doesn't have the same spark. Charlotte apparently got all she wanted and still I felt she was not Charlotte anymore. Samantha was quite in character but she lived in LA and I find it pretty improbable that she flew back to NY every five seconds.
Most of all I missed their conversations as they were on the show. It's not just the sex talk missing. There's something more. Their remarks weren't witty and sarcastic as they used to be and that puts a terrible strain on the movie.
I loved, though, the final scene because it was about them, the four New York women that made the show great as it was.

On a more random note, during the break I heard two men talking. One of them said - a little SPOILERISH if you haven't seen the movie-
" Carrie and Big are going to get together but a little female dignity from her wouldn't be bad"

My thought was Thank God some of the members of the male species still possess something that resembles a brain.

I almost forgot. Could the writer please explain to me why, between all the Jewish names, he chose Rose as a name for Charlotte's baby ? ROSE, just like the horse ( Oops, I wanted to say nurse) that was with Derek until the season finale. PUAH !!!!!

I heard it

2008-04-30T13:33:51Z

After avoiding every possible contact with Italian reality (Avoiding includes avoiding news, sites, refusing to get the free papers, sit far from any person who has a paper, avoiding any shop that has a radio playing), today I had to face reality. While I was eating, the unsuspected journalist of the sport news said " The mayor Alemanno gave his approval to the idea of the new stadium.....". Needless to say, I turned off the TV but it was too late.
Alemanno is the new mayor of Rome. There, I said it. Two days and I am still not able to process the news.

jre11 @ 2008-04-28T18:04:00

2008-04-28T16:09:48Z

Rome means a lot to me. Rome is one of my biggest passions. Rome is about to be governed by an incompetent person who has no concrete projects for Rome and that certainly won't do anything for its tourism. I need to get back to 2006 when I still foresaw a future for Italy. Now there is just destruction waiting for me and all the Italians. Especially for Romans.

Way to ruin my happy bubble.

CATASTROPHE

2008-04-15T20:21:56Z

Berlusconi won and that's beyond bad. There is the concrete possibility that Alemanno will be the next mayor of Rome and that's a disaster. I just read that Calderoli is going to be vice-premier and that is a CATASTROPHE.

I refuse to be called Italian until 2013.

jre11 @ 2008-04-05T16:07:00

2008-04-05T14:12:26Z

"The Economist" journalists say Italians should vote for Walter Veltroni.Openly. If only they could find a way to explain to ignorant and elder people, that make the most of the population, that you can't vote for a politician just because he is funny or because he makes unrealistic promises they would be my eternal heroes.

jre11 @ 2008-03-09T19:33:00

2008-03-09T18:38:10Z

I'm a woman who likes football. No, let me rephrase that. I'm a woman who loves football. Yesterday I discovered I have been missing the adrenaline running through my veins during a match. My passions should stop asking overbearingly to be pursued. I don't have time for all of them.

jre11 @ 2008-03-03T23:21:00

2008-03-03T22:39:05Z

Today I went to a conference about the stereotypes of women in Italy. I enjoyed it, a lot. The problem touches me deeply and I would really like to change things, to do something to improve the situation. It's sad to hear all those successful women saying that they're still not treated like men. Paola Cortellesi said that while preparing her own show, in assembling, technicians kept waiting for the approval of her co-author, a person she chose, a man. What about instead a researcher at Censis who said that there weren't money enough to reprint a book with a research about how women are represented in entertainment, fictions and advertising ? I couldn't stay for all the conference because it clashed with my lessons. I would have loved to do that though. Lately I hadn't been thinking about this issue and now it's back in my thoughts. I'll keep it there, maybe for thesis time.

On other news, I finally understood what financial wedge means. For many of my classmates this term was normal, for me it was a myth and so now I feel all satisfied about my little discovery.
I discovered also some cool Excel functions. Silly things, I know.I'm still a child inside.

My soundtrack right now is "Porta a porta". Bertinotti is saying that you have to be either with the workers or with managers. I want to bang my head against a wall.

jre11 @ 2008-02-14T20:16:00

2008-02-14T19:23:44Z

I just heard the new song that supports Silvio Berlusconi. It's called " Menomale che Silvio c'è" which more or less means " Luckily, there is Silvio". It's one of the most ridiculous songs I have ever heard and its lyrics is ......I can't really describe it. I want to see if his supporters are going to sing this song. I think it's way too humiliating but you never know.

Anyhow, I would like to add my voice to the choir in singing " Menomale che Silvio c'è ". Otherwise Italian politics could actually start to become a serious matter. We certainly don't want that.

Dilemmas

2008-02-13T21:37:50Z

So, it's very likely that Obama will win the Democratic nomination in the U.S which makes me extremely sad. On the bright side, though, Casini and UDC won't go to the elections with Berlusconi and this means that his triumph isn't as sure as before. Great news.

So how should I feel ? Sad or Happy ?

Dear Italy,

2008-01-23T14:28:28Z

A few days ago I swore I would try not to care about you anymore. I'm trying really hard and succeeding partly, but still I think you deserve this letter so that I can show you a little support.

Here we go.

Dear Italy,
I'm sorry for everything that's happening to you right now. Maybe you're wondering what's wrong with you, how is it possible that you manage to create only useless politicians. I don't have an answer for you but what I think is really sad is that you created people who actually voted for these " politicians". Don't shake your head, Italy, it's not just your fault. There must be something cosmic for your situation right now. Otherwise we wouldn't be having people who fight just for their power and not for your sake.
Maybe those sad eyes of yours are asking why you keep sending your young people to school to study Plato and Aristotle, since apparently the concept of a good politician is out of grasp for your poor sons' minds. I want to reassure you, Italy. Maybe they weren't listening. Maybe they missed their class or had an annoying teacher. You tried to make them understand, you tried. I know that trying is not enough, but please don't cry. I know that there are so many tears to shed about a Minister of Justice that was charged with crimes and that decides to throw away all the good work done with great difficulty because there wasn't a public manifestation supporting the idea that there was a plot and a media campaign against him.
Don't shed those tears. You have to be strong. Otherwise how could you manage to survive to people that want elections again with the same terrible electoral law ? Those people hurt you, Italy. They made you the one to be made fun of, the one to laugh upon. I know you're screaming that you don't want them again in the higher offices. You want to be respected again, to be considered again as a great nation. You will eventually. I'm confident for you this time, because you need to be comforted a little.
Italy, you have to be confident with me. I understand your perplexities. You have let your sons see that you're ill, the signs are everywhere, and still some of them seems not to care about it. They want to cure your symptoms but not your illness. It would take time and hard work to do that and nobody would love them for forcing people to do sacrifices. Don't worry, Italy. I know that the sacrifices are necessary and many other people do too. We're not all bad sons and daughters. Our siblings though, they're not good doctors. I imagine you answering that if they aren't good doctors they shouldn't be in the position of making important decisions. The point is always the same. Some fellow Italians vote them and give them this power. Maybe you believed that the time of "panem et circenses" was long gone, that people changed, that history made them wiser. It didn't happen. It was one of your sons to say that, Italy. There was at a certain point, a certain Giambattista Vico that said that history goes in circles. You wanted him to be wrong ? Come on, look at the positive side of the matter. If he was right, there is going to be a point in which you'll recover your splendor.
You're one of the strongest nations I know, Italy. If you look back you'll realize you have fallen so many times and still you always regained your balance. You should be proud of yourself, Italy. Don't let the others tell you differently. I know, most of the times the objections based on the past aren't useful to win an argument. But your past shaped you, Italy. You will survive also this twist. You have to. For all your great sons and daughters, of the present and of the past.
The proud look on your eyes tells me you're thinking about some of them now. Maybe you're remembering one of your best sons, one you can honestly be proud of and everybody just thanks you for him. Maybe you're hearing in your head some of his lines, maybe the words

" Ahi serva Italia, di dolore ostello,
nave sanza nocchiere in gran tempesta,
non donna di province, ma bordello!"

are replaying in your head. Maybe, you're wondering why his voice didn't count anything, why wasn't he heard, why more than 700 years later the situation is different and still all the same. Perhaps you would like to know what words he would have used to describe this situation, him, the excellent craftsman of words.
Now, don't get down once again. Many horrible words were written against you, but they were written because there were sons and daughters-there still are some- who loved and love you deeply. That's what you need to remind yourself. It's the only way you have not to succumb against the attacks from all over the world.

And please Italy, don't look at me with those reproaching eyes. I know I'm a little ashamed of you. I know I want to run as far as possible from you, but remember Italy, a part of my mind, whether I want it or not will always care for you, will suffer with you, will rejoice when once again you'll get up and resume your tormented way.

Monica

Dear modern man,

2008-01-22T19:35:53Z

You know what this modern woman wants for breakfast? Maybe oatmeal, bacon and eggs if she's craving protein, definitely coffee. But relax, I'm not going to have you for breakfast. So please don't be such a wimp about women at work. It's high time to accept that a woman may not just be your coworker, she could be your boss. And you're going to have to be prepared to deal, to be a man about it in the true sense of the word. Sure, more working women means more competition, but instead of being threatened by it,be challenged by it. Let's bring up the best in each other. Win or lose, if you are a good sport, everybody wins.Until you get your head around this, you'll be on your road and I'll be on mine. I hope at some point we meet in the middle.

Cheers

The modern woman.

This letter comes from an episode of "Cashmere mafia". It is pretty childish in some parts, but overall I like it. It shows a sense of confidence and I want to be more self-confident. Not only as a woman but as a person. Because confidence makes me feel quite accomplished and good and I like it.
Plus I learned two new expressions from the letter. Will I ever feel confident about my English ?

jre11 @ 2008-01-18T12:35:00

2008-01-18T11:43:12Z

I've just finished my Maths exam and I'm exhausted. But I can't sleep or procrastinate because I want to try and give my legal system exam on Monday. So, no rest for me !!

On the bright side though, the petition that two amazing Grey's fans like me ( and fantastic writers too ) wrote and I signed ( together with other 1900 people ) has been nominated in a site watched by 4 million people every day. Who knows, maybe for once Shonda will listen to her fans.

On knowledge

2008-01-09T20:52:11Z

Economic history exams give me a strange feeling. On the one hand the more I try to learn, the more I have to recognize my ignorance. There are parts of history that are a complete mystery to me. On the other hand though there is always a part that manages to stay in my head for longer than the time of the exam, and that probably I won't forget so easily. Today I discovered that I could have written two or three pages on the topic of the economic rise of Japan, a topic completely unknown till a month ago. I had always wondered a little about Japan, which is the oriental country that more interests me and now I feel like a little child, quite happy of my own little knowledge on the topic. Unluckily there are hundreds of books on this part of history to remind me that I still know nothing. Sigh, Sigh

Marathon

2007-12-02T12:36:56Z

Today it's freezing in Milan and still there were 6000 people who ran the marathon. I saw some of them wearing short-sleeved t-shirts. I was suffering for them.

People are different but I can never understand why a person on Sunday morning decides to abandon the warm and comfy bed to go and run a marathon with a cold and very wet weather. It's a mystery

Poetry, passion and....Dante

2007-11-29T23:14:50Z

I just finished watching Benigni's show about the fifth Canto of Dante's Inferno and I'm still under Dante's influence.
The show was divided in two parts. In the first part Benigni talked about politics, making fun of our current situation, which is always funny but I do think that after all there are always the same jokes and they don't make you laugh anymore- Even if the idea that Berlusconi tomorrow would suggest to Veltroni the law " Alla Vaticana" so that the person that gets elected stays in his position until he dies was pretty brilliant- and so I was kind of bored. But then he shifted to talk about Dante. To arrive to Dante he used a kind of exaltation of Italy. He said that despite everything, Italians should not forget who they are, what they come from, why they are so lucky. He overdid a little the celebration ( he said that Italians discovered that from words you can create beauty and something about philosophy that instead both belong to the Greek civilisation) but the point is that sometimes listening to a person talking five minutes about all the reasons why people shouldn't be ashamed of being Italian is nice. I hate Italy as it is today but touching the cords of the past always has a great effect on me. He concluded the celebration of Italy, celebrating poetry: sonnets, but mainly Dante and his Divine Comedy. What I was more surprised to perceive was the passion with which he spoke about Him. I am a passionate woman and I do recognize he is passionate about Dante. At that point he started commenting the fifth canto. I have read it so many times and some of those lines are some of the most famous ever but when you hear it loud and when the comment is so passionate you can perceive Dante as big as he actually was and still is. His way of writing, some of his verses, the music of the words incredibly composed in that perfect way and read in an excellent way too just amazes me. Poetry is always spectacular and great poetry doesn't deserve to be described by my stupid words. You can just sit back and enjoy and marvel at human genius !

jre11 @ 2007-11-24T22:43:00

2007-11-24T21:51:15Z

Today I should have...

Read at least 50 pages of my Legal system book

Finished the survey for my uncle

Read the theory about the ECDL exams I will be taking next week.

Instead I spent all day re-watching the last episodes of Gossip girl and Brothers and sisters and trying to suppress my sense of guilt, thing in which I succeeded completely.

And tomorrow THEATER !

jre11 @ 2007-11-17T22:50:00

2007-11-17T22:00:35Z

Today I was watching "Che tempo che fa " and Dario Fo was the guest. He was there presenting his new book. Fazio asked him if he regretted choosing theater instead of painting, because apparently he is pretty good at it. Dario Fo answered that it is best to do many things instead of one, to be interested in more than one subject because it opens your mind in a way nothing else does. He quoted as examples Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raffaello and so on. I should be relieved that he said that, since I have been obsessed in so many things all my life.

Except, I don't quite know if the same rule works also for people who are not geniuses and that didn't win any Nobel. Maybe I should ask him that.

Piles of nothingness

2007-11-16T22:23:49Z

I find comparing different types of legal systems quite intriguing. I do think laws are shaped by the society and I wish I could have an exam only on comparative law. And this is a totally random thought to introduce the principal idea of this post which is that apart from reading 15 pages of my Legal system book I did nothing productive today. And it feels good.

Also Marins I bought the microphone and I can't find you. " Where are you ? Where are you my heart's desire ?"

Mirror, Mirror

2007-11-11T18:47:30Z

I'm reading Virginia Woolf's biography by Nadia Fusini right now and some passages are en-lighting . I remember reading somewhere that the talent of great writers lies in being able to voice thoughts. It's completely true because when I read parts from Virginia Woolf's diary I see me, because some of her thoughts are just the same as mine. But when you see some of your saddest thoughts written, it's scary because you realize they're not just thoughts. They may be truths.

Plus yesterday I watched an House episode called "Mirror, Mirror". It was about a patient with the mirror syndrome, which means that he imitates every person in front of him, using the words the person would use. At a certain point House asks one of his fellows " Are you afraid to look in the mirror? ". I would be extremely afraid. Seeing me from the outside wouldn't certainly give me a good impression.

Gloomy thoughts, I know but apparently these days I'm destined to be brought back in the melancholic field.

Totally random

2007-11-07T21:28:13Z

How is it, that after 13 years Maths still manages to make me extremely anxious ? It's a strange power and I still haven't understood how to resist it. Who knows, maybe someday before my degree I'll find the magic formula to reduce Maths to a subject like the other ones !

Helpless

2007-11-05T20:26:26Z

Sometimes I feel helpless. I'm a little depressed quite all the time but it's ok to be like that. I can make fun of myself and cheer me up or just indulge in whatever I like the most, whether it is useful or not, it doesn't really matter. But today I feel helpless. And it's not for the strike or for the awful news on Grey's or for the exams. It's not. I can handle that stuff. Today instead I don't know what to do. All my tricks won't work and I'm bound to my mood. I'm not even thinking.I'm depressed for nothing and I hope it will pass soon because I don't like it. At all .

Bad things come in 3's, right ?

2007-11-02T15:14:03Z

They say bad things come in 3's. So

1) Legal system partial exam on Monday

2) Maths partial exam on Wednesday

3) Economy partial exam on Friday.

Ok, so if I still possess the ability to count-which I really hope I do- these bad things should cover next week, right ?

Except that it isn't right at all, because yesterday I discovered and today I got the confirmation that one of the worst things on earth is happening. It's neither a war nor an epidemic...so maybe not one of the worst things in general but still, quite the catastrophe to me.

This great catastrophe being that the members of the WGA ( aka Writers guild of America) are going on STRIKE and it is not known for how long. I understand their reasons, they are doing it because the AMPTP (aka Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) won't give them the royalties for the downloads and I do support their cause. They deserve those money. Without them movies and TV shows wouldn't be as great, so right now I just want to beat the producers until they give in. Because they don't give in that easily and last time, last time (in 1988) the strike lasted 22 WEEKS. Let me repeat that :22 WEEKS. Seriously ? How am I supposed to stay almost half a year without American serials?????

Suicide seems more and more appealing by the minute

Power

2007-05-21T13:46:59Z

If we normally reflect upon power we think about politicians and how they have the possibilities of changing laws, deciding war even for very weak reasons, making the country take one way or the other. Then we think about powerful journalists that work in important newspapers and make us normal people believe things that are not true. We can also think about powerful businessmen like the ones who invented Google et cetera. But what we usually don't think about is TV writers. Instead if you want to look to a powerful person Shonda Rhimes is the person for you. 37, a single mother, Shonda went one day from being nothing to being everything. As Grey's anatomy became one of the most successful shows ever she got more and more powerful. Journalists try to let her speak about the future of the show but she refuses and she got for this the name of Nazi but she doesn't care. Her Grey's anatomy got so successful that it managed to beat the monster C.S.I almost every Thursday night. Impressive. At some point she decided that it was time to see how faithful the viewers were and she kept going with her storyline even if millions of people didn't agree. And then one day she wrote on her blog that the fans should be prepared to leap with her because she said where we are going might make you shake your fists to the heavens and scream. She wasn't joking. The last episode she burnt out everything. All the couples, all the subplots resolved negatively, tragic situations for every character. You see, that is what I'm talking about. Power means deciding to destroy everything you have done with patient work because the new season is about new beginnings, power is about having thousands of people yelling at you and still ending your blog with a simple Have a good summer. Ladies and gentlemen look at Miss Rhimes, included in the list of 100 most powerful people by the magazine TIME, while she uses her power.

Black Dogs

2007-05-19T16:49:42Z

Lately I'm always depressed for a reason or the other and I don't like it at all. Because when I get depressed I get extremely nervous, I quarrel with everyone and I end up feeling alone and helpless. The reasons of my depression are mostly stupid and sometimes I'm even ashamed of them. The thing is that while normally I find that soon enough the period of depression will end and I will return back to my normal self this time all I see in front of me is a month of preparation for the exam and a series of disappointments. I remember reading somewhere that depression is the inability of creating a future. Now I'm seeing the actual truth of that statement.