last night here in milan the concert of the great portishead. hypnotic, gloomy, deep. their first album, DUMMY, in 1994: 14 years have gone by, but they are as modern as ever. here one of their best track: http://www.benedusi.it/portfolio/albums/anticamera/ftp/portishead/11%20Glory%20Box.mp3
ok, i know, i can’t stand myself. pointing the finger, this is right, this is wrong, criticizing this and that…. “hey benedusi, what the fuck do you criticize! think about yourself!” and in fact you are right. but let me give a tiny criticism on how the world goes, very tiny, not like those who fight against illegal immigration, or against the mafia, or (even!) against world famine. i simply would like that those who move maholes covers, for repair or cleaning, (it happens..) have the care to place them back in the right position, as they found them. here above a collection of badly placed manholes covers. so, seen that elections time is near, i promise my vote to the one that commits to the correct repositioning of manholes cover. politicians! promise! i’m here!
but isn’t it illegal to place a poster over unauthorized spaces and for which the tax haven’t been payed? how can one pretend more legality when those who ask for it don’t respect it? one word is little, two are too many: fuck you!
“to reach the yearned aim proceed in the opposite direction of the same”
“the celestial path always wins, it’s not worth the fight”
“if two brawlers raise their hands against each other, the one who suffers the most wins”
from “The road to Tao” by Lao Tse”
“ the flower justifies the bunches”
“to become the river without having gone through the course of the stream” Alessandro Bergonzoni
“optimist is someone that, with no money, orders oysters hoping to be able to pay with the pearl he may find inside” Ugo Tognazzi
yesterday i went scouting location inside a favela. now i know very well i’m going to say a classic crap that the “rich” from milan says: the humanity, the kindness, the willingness, the human warmth i’ve seen in this place i found rarely. full of children playing in the street, apparently happy and jolly, everybody inviting us in their homes offering bier and pastelas. they seemed and they were!, all calm and relaxed. surely there are some bizarre things, like the management of the electrical lines, as you can see here above it is to say the least handcrafted…. how good it is to judge the shitty life of a favela, now that i’m comfortably sitting in front of my kick ass computer inside my kick ass 4 stars hotel room in the kick ass area of rio de janeiro!
my problem of travelling around the world, as a person trying to stay healthy and especially being italian, is trying to eat well, and is not at all that easy. it is not easy for the reason heard over and over, banal as much as you like but true: outside italy eating is shit. it’s not always true, there are exception … put it the way you like it but the essence is this. i’m also very curious of other food, i want to try and i always try everything, but sometimes is really difficult. i don’t know if i’ve told you this in the past but i find that this is the big difference between italy and the rest of the world when it comes to food: surely in usa, germany, spain, brazil…. there are excellent restaurants where one can eat well and healthy, but if you go in any restaurant in italy, especially in small towns, you will always find well prepared good food. i often solve the problem with the japanese, that is always only raw fish, and it is difficult to make a mistake. but there is a new wave in the food industry that is spreading around the world, and i really appreciate a lot: natural food, often vegetarian, with carefull attention on the quality of the products and where they come from, giving importance to the three factor: earth, tradition and territory. often are small, simple restaurants, where one can eat quickly, simply and especially in a healthy way.i found also here in rio a place with these characteristics! here above a photo. thay always have 4 or 5 soups, very good desserts, milk shakes and smoothies. vegetables of all kinds. but also very good fish. i want to mention it because i think i’m the only italian who ever came here, if you ever will come here it deserves more than one visit, unlike those shit places for tourists. it’s called “fontes”. it’s in visconde de pirjà 605.http://www.fontesipanema.com.br/
today is sunday, and i woke up, because of the time zone, at 5.00am. my hotel is in leblon, after ipanema, on the beach. on sunday morning something nice happens: cars are not allowed on the street along the beach and is free for tens, hundreds, thousands of people that go there to play a sport. sports of all kinds, i must say this is the most sporting town i’ve ever seen in the world. they run, go by bicycle, they surf, they play fresbee on the beach, they play volleyball (more than soccer), well they do it all and more and all of them, young and old, nice and ugly, thin and fat…… something is very fashionable and i don’t know if it also exist in italy. nothing outrageous, but everybody is doing it: a sort of fast walk, swinging the arms far up and down. me to, and i’m not the sporty type, put on my running shoes and went along the beach to run, up to the end of ipanema. there is a beach just for dogs, full of big dogs enjoying themselves a lot. i came back (not running or walking fast like the brasilian ….. only simply walking the italian way…) and at each stall i had a aqua de coco. all fine? the hell all fine: by the series one is never satisfied: i would like to be in the rainy milan and go to see a movie… what?!? should i go and get fucked??!?!! but why!! i tell you all my adventures and you tell me to get fucked?