Three Imaginary Boys

ok, sorry for the privacy stuff...

Short memory..

In italy the Centre-left coalition won the elections in April, and the new PM, Romano Prodi, has appointed the former leader of the once-called Italian Communist Party, Massimo D'Alema, Secretary of State. Less than 4 months have passed since he sat on that chair, and he's now facing with a word that would remind him of what happened when he was PM in italy, in 1999: the war.
In 1999, he received lots of criticisms for his acting on Kosovo, mainly because, by making Italy enter in war against former Yugoslavia, he would have not respected the italian constitution letter, namely in the article that cites "Italy repudiates war as an instrument offending the liberty of the peoples and as a means for settling international disputes", since he was going to enter a war without UN consensus.
Now, putting apart the stuff regarding the ethical considerations, there's something unclear to me on the amount of criticisms he suffered (and that he's most likely going to suffer again, with Italian troops in Lebanon): the vast majority of these criticisms came (and i'll bet they will come) from people who, not more than 30 years ago, were in groups theorizing violence/war as a necessary mean to solve class conflicts:

Nessuno o tutti, o tutto o niente, e solo insieme che dobbiamo lottare, i fucili o le catene: questa è la scelta che ci resta da fare. Compagni, avanti per il Partito, contro lo Stato lotta armata sarà (anthem of Potere Operaio)

E’ necessario prepararsi e preparare il movimento a uno scontro generalizzato, con un programma politico che ha come avversario lo stato e che ha come strumento l’esercizio della violenza rivoluzionaria, di massa e di avanguardia (document of the Lotta Continua group).

Paolo Cento, Marco Rizzo, Marco Boato, Francesco Pardi, don't you guys feel like ex-hardsmokers blaming a smoker for his conduct?

{T,C}ow Bells

Imagine the most famous mountain place, and imagine several tourists (let's say, two millions a year) infesting the peaceful lands where some thousands of cows are used to graze. I've always thought that if there's a 'victim' in the relation, those should be the cows. No way!! A hotel manager has requested a shepherd to remove the cow bells 'cause they make tourists run away...
I'm now waiting for divers asking fishers to remove sea curls or clams, or hunters removing trees (otherwise it's difficult to hit birds..). But is that a farsighted way?

Elastic Loaf...

The current Iranian PM has recently banned foreign names commonly used in farsi language. From now on, once we'll have to organize to go eat some "elastic loevs", we'd better have a "Short talk" on the messenger, and if it will be difficult to reach the center by car, we'd better use the "rotary wings". It reminds me of the italians in the late 30's playing "ponte" instead of bridge...
Here the press report...

Jamaica Plain

15, Perkins sq, Apt #3, Jamaica Plain MA 02130. And this one's the humble place where I live. A potpourri of different people. I mean, not that bad...

Rain in July...

Someone's told me I'm a little bit lazy on this. I oughta have the time to write more on Boston and whatsoever, in the meantime, please see this video from a south-american (!?!) france fan in the finals at the city hall.
how sweet is it...

Campioni del mondo!!

Questa e' in italiano!
Che spettacolo, c'e' poco da dire...
Un abbraccio a tutti, qui come si e' festeggiato anche a North End...

posh

The first hotel bedroom I came into (just for this night...), I opened and the first term coming to my mind was !!posh!!. And that one in the bath is not a fur, but a bath robe...

condomen...

this one's for you, fu*&ing guys...

Euro-fifa

Now in the semi-finals...
After Brazil-France, the first thing coming to my mind was that the dear oldish europe is still up and running. And the cup is just a matter among us. Only four days left to boston (and only three for Germany-Italy)...

trois couleurs

The first match was ok. 2-0 to Ghana (maybe the best african team seen up to now). Now it's time for US. For what I've seen, no chances for them, but who knows...
ps: remember, the italian tricolore is swapped, i.e. with the green on the left...

fifa...

let's roll it again...

more than a game...

SUV

I'm astonished by the high number of king-size vehicles populating the centre of roma. I know that there should be something with psychology on buying the biggest (is it sexual?), or the fastest (nah, it is not...) thing...
...but the average centre-city street is as narrow as 2.5 metre, how can you put and move a Hummer inside it?

Recess...

... I just remember, 15 minutes spent trying to eat my sandwich as fast as I could, to have time for real life playing calvinball or anything else, till the bell ringing again. Please let the kids play ...

Anchiano (and surroundings)...

...it's a quiet village in the nearbies of Firenze, where the first pioneer bioengineeer was born. I definitely do think that the majority of Anchiano's (or Vinci's) catholics are somewhat indifferent with what has been distorted in Brown's Da Vinci Code. I'm catholic and I should be among the ones offended by it, and i'm not: after all, when seeing a movie/reading a book, do i have to waste time reckoning whether is real?

foo(t)ball..

I do not like wrestling, though there's a clear point in it: it's only show, no competition. Referees are just part of it, and also kids can distinguish what's real from what's fake.
In italy, the by-far most popular game has recently overtaken wrestling, in that not less than 20 matches in the second-last tournament were no more than an actors' studio...
...and I will be paying my last 5€ to these actors today...
by te way, the most rumoured team is in black and white stripes ;-)

White Beards and hair

Italy's now got a new president, whose name is Napolitano, a green-line guy born in the 20's. I'm personally quite accustomed to white hair and beards ;-)...
but, dear oldish italy, do we really dare to grow older with you?

Follow up...

I've been a little bit lazy on this, and three weeks have passed since my latest. There's something new now, i.e. I've got a sticker on my passport!
Time is running, now not more than 60 days, and I'll leave Rome...
something aside, Anna Finocchiaro is still on the way, let's see what happens.

1st

This is the very first post of my blog...
..and i'd like to start with italian politics.
There were some rumours with the elections of the previous days. Now things are quite settling down with a new majority in the house of parliament.
hoping there will be something new with it, starting with the choice on the new republic president, i'd like Anna Finocchiaro to be the next one...