Peppermint Breath

The Current ♥

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:52:30 GMT

Because I just can't keep this jewel just for myself!!!

The Current (Minnesota Public Radio)

What you have to know, in order to understand the importance of the next sentence, is that I usually loathe radio; especially italian radios, since they seem to use something like 10 songs over and over and over again, and generally I don't even like those ten songs to begin with XD but seriously, I don't listen to the radio. Period.
But!
It's been three days, and I just can't stop listening to this station! I love, love, LOVE the music, and they talk so little that they don't bother me XD Also, in three days it just happened ONCE that I heard the same song.

Sooooo lovely ♥

-.-

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 10:52:24 GMT

I hate WoW patches -.-

Coming back? (mmmmaybe)

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:44:17 GMT

Maybe it's time to come back, or maybe it's just peer pressure (val, se pensi che io stia parlando di te... hai ragione XD)
I just think I'll probably forget about all the "translating my italian blog in english" because it just didn't work!!!
Maybe, I'll just use this space as a place to collect beautiful things that I find online and such.
Maybe, I'll just wait and see what happens :)

We are the girls of rock'n'roll!

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:51:37 GMT

The Chipmunk Adventure

More!

Aten't dead

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:24:30 GMT

Sorry I didn't post in a long time.
Been busy, and translating into english everything I wrote on the other blog seemed like too much.
But I kinda decided to try again.
Sooooo...
Happy Easter to everyone!!!
:D

Brisby and the secret of NIMH

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:39:44 GMT

preview

The rest :D

Dogma icons

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 00:54:59 GMT

Made for icons100

Please credit if you use it. Comments are welcome :) Note that some icons may have explicit language, because in the film there was. Textless icons are not bases. Resources list at my icon journal http://tide.iobloggo.com

Teaser:

Table thanks to obsessivefangrl

001 : Alone	002 : Magical	003 : Embrace	004 : Sunshine	005 : Sorrow

006 : A Dreamer’s Dream	007 : Colorful	008 : Brightness	009 : Rain	010 : All Is Wrong

011 : All Is Right	012 : Lost	013 : Wicked	014 : Smile	015 : Laughter

016 : Misery	017 : Secrets	018 : All That I Am	019 : Soul Food	020 : Love

021 : Fire	022 : Ice	023 : Glory	024 : Full Of Regret	025 : green

026 : Blue	027 : Red	028 : Forgotten	029 : Snarky	030 : Mmm Yum!

031 : Hush	032 : Reminisce	033 : Why	034 : Time	035 : So Close

036 : Joy	037 : Kiss	038 : Beautiful	039 : Hope	040 : Desire

041 : I've Been Bad	042 : Fury	043 : Companionship	044 : From Now On	045 : Mine

046 : Trouble In Paradise	047 : Tears	048 : My Drug	049 : Flowers	050 : Water

051 : Artist's Choice	052 : Artist's Choice	053 : Artist's Choice	054 : Artist's Choice	055 : Artist's Choice

056 : Artist's Choice	057 : Artist's Choice	058 : Artist's Choice	059 : Artist's Choice	060 : Artist's Choice

061 : Artist's Choice	062 : Artist's Choice	063 : Artist's Choice	064 : Artist's Choice	065 : Artist's Choice

066 : Artist's Choice	067 : Artist's Choice	068 : Artist's Choice	069 : Artist's Choice	070 : Artist's Choice

071 : Artist's Choice	072 : Artist's Choice	073 : Artist's Choice	074 : Artist's Choice	075 : Artist's Choice

076 : Artist's Choice	077 : Artist's Choice	078 : Artist's Choice	079 : Artist's Choice	080 : Artist's Choice

081 : Artist's Choice	082 : Artist's Choice	083 : Artist's Choice	084 : Artist's Choice	085 : Artist's Choice

086 : Artist's Choice	087 : Artist's Choice	088 : Artist's Choice	089 : Artist's Choice	090 : Artist's Choice

091 : Artist's Choice	092 : Artist's Choice	093 : Artist's Choice	094 : Artist's Choice	095 : Artist's Choice

096 : Artist's Choice	097 : Artist's Choice	098 : Artist's Choice	099 : Artist's Choice	100 : Artist's Choice

Merry Christmas!!! :D

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 01:22:37 GMT

Birthdaying

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 04:42:18 GMT

Announced and last minute defections.
Little number of people, but still interesting.
Freezing, tights are not enough, I want wool knee socks ;___;
As usual, parking in front of Agnesi (my high school).
Looking swiftly at windows, so that we won't be late and because it's too cold to stop walking.
Wanting to have dinner at Kapuziner, and instead ending at Rossopomodoro, and finding out that it's not so bad after all.
Restaurants that don't have pizza margherita
Gossiping in Corso di Porta Ticinese you can almost forget the cold, almost.
The Nox that from the outside seems like a sadomasochistic club (not my words) and that seems closed.
A piece of an old door over my head pillory-shaped.
Really long lists of drinks, even a Scottish beer (but not Young Pretender ;___:), but no hot chocolate.
Two drinks for me and Cathy, celebrating the fact that we weren't driving XD
Chemical toilets candle lit, but I remember a real toilet at the Nox.
Passing by Agnesi again, to get our car back (necessarily, I would say)
Taking Cathy and Laura to their car, parked a little farther than ours.
Going back home following roads that are not the same as always.
Then stopping outside my house, just a little talk, and in one minute three hours have passed.

It's was a great birthday, oh yes.

And now, presents!!!
Mum and Michele (step-dad): a sort of neck-massaging cushion (really cool and really beautiful and really soft) money
Bro: a pair of earrings really nice
Parents' friend nr1: a necklace made by her with hematite.
Parents' friend nr2: the catalogue of the Biennial Exhibition of Modern Art in Venice
Cathy: japanese bowl chopsticks in japanese box with japanese greetings :D a little toy of pucca, which wasn't of Pucca at all but actually of Pucca's boyfriend XD a glittering blue eyeshadow and lots of Nuvenia's promotional kits XD
Maggie: Moleskine London ♥
Laura: two little golden hairpins star-shaped and green pendant-earring with flowers

Nox!

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 03:30:51 GMT

I missed you, and I didn't even know.

Mondo senza tempo - Larry Niven

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:35:03 GMT

original title: A world out of time

I admit it, probably I would have never bought this book, if I didn't find myself in the prospect of 45 minutes of bus without a book XD and I payed for it like two euros at a books kiosk in Piazza Mercanti, and that adds glamour to every purchase :D
Yes, books kiosks are my favourite shops, at the moment XD
Well, however.
It's kind of a strange book. At the beginning, it seems one of those distopic books that I love so much, but it's like the author wasted cheerfully all of his potential of describing a State that is the only form of world govern in a future earth that is overpopulated and hyper-organized (in every aspect of life). Then he moves on, and reaching the first third of the book I was wandering how could it go on, since I felt like I was reading a story that was drawing to an end.
And instead you find out that the whole part the I was so interested into was actually a preamble of the real focus of the novel: Earth, three million years in the future.
It's a scary idea, right? How could possibly be earth within three millions years? My mind paralyzes, it feels like I have a huge blind spot. Not to talk about describing it.
Niven, at least, tries to. And he gives an interesting description, weird enough to be believable. Maybe the only point that he underestimate a little is genetic evolution, but I believe that actually in the years this book was written (70s... another world) genetic still didn't have the importance that has today in imagining the future (if not in post-nuclear scifi... but probably that was more 50s/60s scifi now that I think about it).
Actually, and I was thinking about it just while I was reading this novel, reading scifi written before your own birth it's a tough challenge. I mean, if I read a 70s novel set in the 70, the greatest effort I'll have to do would be forget 30 years of technological progress, and that's all. Seriously, if something it's not there, it's not there. It's unlikely that I find myself thinking "Why doesn't he call him on the mobile phone?" or "She should search on the internet". After all, I'm not so stupid XD
But when we're reading scifi, we're already entering a different universe, the one generated by the author's mind. And this universe, more or less, is an extrapolation made by the author of themes and problems contemporary to him, an exaggeration of a situation that him, and who is metaphorically near him, knows perfectly. Us "reader of the future" instead, have first of all to forget of 30 years of technological and social change, and then face the elaboration of a reality that we never experienced.
In short, even if it's true that reading just one scifi novel written in the 70s will probably make me understand more things on the 70s that five "normal" novels of that time, it is also true that this novels can be terribly tiring (and boring, since the themes and problems often are not the ones that matter for us right now XD)

Haaaaaaappy biiiirthday tooooo meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 23:23:24 GMT

Birthday post!!! :D
What to say: I'm officially 22 and I was born in the time of the year with more birthdays then any other, apparently (theory: could it be the result of the spring hormonal storm? XD), and that makes organizing a party of sort harder XD
But still, birthday! Yeah!

(tomorrow, no, sunday the presents post :D)

In truth, divided we fall

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:27:41 GMT

Quest for Camelot - The Magic Sword

About Stardust, the wind, and 80/90s anime

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:11:21 GMT

Stardust is after all a great movie. I had fun, was never bored, and this is obviously good. At the beginning there are some minor , understandable, changes from the book, but also some scene there are actually the same (that was for fans, I'm sure XD). But then, toward the end, the screenwriter must have become an anarchic, and decided that he could do better (better of Neil Gaiman! sacrilege and stupidity!). I won't say anything specific for those who didn't see it, but for those who have I'll just say this: the whole final scene in the Lilim's palace comes from where?!?
On the contrary I totally approve the modification of the Captain, because Robert De Niro was marvelous XD
And then there was the wind. A little too much wind probably, given that I washed my hair in the morning and at noon they some sort of electric tangle XD and it was really cold. But the wind is beautiful, always. The sky was really clear, and the light was crisp (only my schoolmates at IED could really understand this XD).
About 80/90s anime (the ones I saw when I was a little girl, I'm not actually sure about when they were made XD): I started watching The secret of Blue Water (superlove! it's a steampunk anime! and it's really beautiful, except for Nadia -.-), then I passed on to Sailor Moon (I've seen first and second season, and clearly I'm seeing the others three too; until now, I noticed that the plot of the single episodes is rather banal and repetitive, but the themes of the seasons are really interesting. So, yay for Sailor Moon!), and now I'm watching Daddy Longlegs. Consequently, I decided to find out all anime of my childhood and watch them :D
Obviously, I didn't stop watching tv series. At the time I'm seeing Heroes (♥ i totally loved 2x07 ending), Gossip Girl (more interesting that what I thought at first), Desperate Housewives, Scrubs, How I met your mother (favourite sitcom ever, and there Willow from Buffy :D), Ugly Betty and Smallville (not quite sure why I'm seeing it... but I am XD).

Circularity

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 23:43:12 GMT

And in one of those moment of revelation and perfect circularity, while I was reading the Neil Gaiman's page on wikipedia, I found out that it isn't true at all that I discovered him this summer.
Actually I know him and love him since 2000, even though I didn't know it was him XD
It was his the Snow White tale inside "I tesori della fantasy", a book that I read, re-read, lent, and that came back to me so many times that is almost worn-out but not too much.
This is
enlightening.

Books (left behind, again)

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 23:13:11 GMT

La Matrice Ombra - Marion Zimmer Bradley
original title: The Shadow Matrix

The re-reading of Darkover continues, fascinating as always.
This is a strange book. Seriously, it's like two books in one.
The whole first part, where Mikhail is in Elhalyn, is totally useless for the second part set in the past.
However.
It's a nice book, even if it's not one of the best of Darkover (probably also because it's written with Adrienne Martine Barnes, and you can tell it's not pure Marion). Mikhail gets a little more depth, but he will never be one of my favourite characters. Regis in this novel reaches peaks of unpleasantness that I would have preferred never to read. And as usual it's full of inconsistencies on telepathy and matrices, but I fear it's an inevitable problem when there's a second writer...

Attacco a Darkover - Marion Zimmer Bradley
original title: Traitor's Sun

Probably this is the less darkovan Darkover book that I've ever read. Besides the wide part about the Terrestrial Empire (sorry: Terrestrial Confederation, as it has been called in the latest books. I never quite understood why they changed its name...), it's like we saw Darkover from the outside, and it's not pleasant. The presence of Herm Aldaran's Rennian wife changes the point of view, and it's like every particular but nice thing on Darkover is not nice anymore. I don't know, it's something really weird.
And the departure of the Empire... books over books saying " the terrans will not disappear just cause we want it" and then suddenly the terrans are going away because the lease of the ground of the spaceport is expired? I don't know, it's kinda absurd. But of course, this an Adrienne Martin Barnes book (even if the cover says something else), and it's obvious that she's not Marion Zimmer Bradley, unfortunately ;___;

Stardust - Neil Gaiman
original title: Stardust

Probably I was expecting too much.
Also because actually I've known Gaiman just since this summer, but I believe I'm more than a little in love with him.
But this book disappointed me a little. It was difficult for me to enter its world, and I kept thinking about others things while I was reading.
BUT.
I probably read it at the wrong time, when I actually had something on my mind that wanted to distract me.
And there are many interesting things in this modern fairytale.
And then I discovered that a) it is born almost as a comic b) there is an illustrated edition as a book c) the version I read was cut in some parts so they could sell it as a children book -.-

Starplex - Robert J. Sawyer
original title: Starplex

If I don't remember wrong, it's one of the first books Sawyer wrote.
And well, there are many others better book in Robert's production. Yet, I've read it once years ago, and I had a terrible memory, while this time it surely fascinated me. The idea of giant creature made of dark matter, and the alien species are original and well characterized as usual, and the complexity of the idea of timetraveling and immortality... there are interesting things, and actually now that I think about it the problem is the main character XD who, let's say it, is not the best Sawyer's character that I ever read about!

Year's Best Fantasy 2 - cured by David G. Hartwell

And after 5 years, I finally end this book XD
Okay, five years ago I dropped it when I was half through the first story, so it doesn't count. But it still took MONTHS since when I re-started it, and that sounds like a judgement to me.
Like every short story collection, there are beautiful and terrible, slow and fluent, fascinating and boring, original and trite stories... problem is, in this anthology the terrible stories are much more than the beautiful.
And, well, it's not easy reading a book like this.

La strada del Destino - Larry Niven
original title: Destiny's Road

This book is one of the Urania (famous series of paperback science fiction novels) that I read when I was 12/13 taking them at the library, and then they disappeared XD
So now I wander through bookstalls looking for them XD
However, we were talking about Niven.
I had a really faint memory of this book (that I always confuse with John Crowley's Engine Summer, because in both of them there was The Road - but they're actually two different things with the same name) and in fact it was like reading it for the first time, the only thing that I actually remembered were speckles (that for some reasons in italian are called stelline, that means little stars -.-).
It's a strange book; it's quite interesting and nice, but it's not really focused on something. And then there is a time jump of like thirty years, and it always kinda weird when it happens.
Anyway, it's a colonization scifi book (anyone can tell me if this thread really exist? XD or if it has another name maybe...), that is one of my favourites subgenre.

Halloween!

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 14:25:34 GMT

Pretty late, but...
Halloween is one of my favourite festivities.
It is a time to dress up, that is one of the things that I always loved.
It is a kitsch festivity, and I love kitsch.
It is a festivity to pass with Cathy, since when we were fifteen, and festivities with Cathy are always worth it.
It is a festivity during which you can go outside wearing tons of black eye shadow, and it's okay.
And this year, it's been a festivity of witches struggling between the forces of the nature and the forces of darkness, and a festivity of white wigs and black lipsticks.

Cathy and me, as usual :D

Another picture of my costume

Sailor moon hai la luna in te, principessa di un regno che non sai dov'è

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:33:18 GMT

Comments&credit are very much welcome :)

Ancient memories from the web

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:26:40 GMT

It takes just a little research, and like magic from the depth of a yahoo group, here it comes a fan fiction of sort written on the subject "One night at the Prancing Pony" (which is the inn of The Lord of the Rings)

(the story was written in 2002, but I'm translating it right now :D)

"I'm not quite sure of what we're doing here, in this retrograde place!"
Meliantha, noble offspring of a glorious family in Nolavan, her own world, was staring angrily at Gerk, the man who brought her there.
"Be quiet, young lady. It doesn't seem such a great idea to say things like that about the place where we're spending the night."
Meliantha looked astonished at him.
"You'd better be joking! I'd never walk into a hovel like this! And however I was referring to this world, this "Middle-Earth", as you say."
Gerk looked at her, irritated.
"You know why we're here, and you know as well why we're not supposed to talk about it."
Meliantha rolled her eyes. Why they needed such mystery, he didn't understand. And all because her father stuck on that stupid and vulgar golden ring...
"And however, look at the clouds. Do you really believe that we could open a passage without the electrical interferences throwing us on the other side of the universe?"
Not even waiting for an answer, Gerk got inside the inn.
Meliantha was forced to follow him, as standing outside, at night, on her own, under the rain, was certainly worst that entering in that dreary place.
*what a stupid name! The Prancing Pony... better not to think about it too much*
On the inside, an intense smell of smoke (weird, different from the one she was used to) and food, vaguely greasy. You could also feel the smell of sweaty bodies, particularly intense in that stormy night, since the windows had to remain closed.
She hurried toward Gerk. She could feel the eyes of people on her, people who were different from the ones she were used to, people not used to see girls in the inn. She couldn't get rid of the sensation that those eyes were slowly undressing here. She moved closer to Gerk, and apparently they thought that she belonged to the man, because everyone got back to their business.
A funny and agitated little man behind the counter ask what they wanted. Gerk ordered beer and, once they were at the table, she told Meliantha to drink it.
"Blend in, young lady. Drink it and don't stare at people."
Meliantha took a sip of the light beer, almost certainly lengthened with water.
Some minutes later, she dared to take a quick look around.
The place was not bad as she first thought. In spite of the intense smells, the atmosphere was cheerful, inviting, and from some distant tables came light-hearted songs.
After some time, Meliantha noticed a strange thing.
"Gerk" said shyly. "Who are those small men?"
"Hobbit" he answered absent-mindedly. "Little quiet people. I don't know much about them. And however, they don't concern us. We're here for the Ring."

You can't stop the motion of the oceans

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:00:05 GMT

I love getting lost in Milan.
Forgotten railroads, unforeseeable shops, roman ruins, houses covered in ivy, bookstalls selling Urania and Librogame for 1 or 2 euros.
And if there's a shiny sun which brings a magic light like yesterday, you would never stop wandering between unknown alleys, not even when you feel like you're really lost.

And then, yesterday I finally went to see Hairspray!!!
And it's so nice! I giggled all the time, and clearly I can't stop listening to the soundtrack.
But above all, I realized that I'm actually a twelve years old fangirl.
How else can you explain that every time that Zac Efron was on the screen I kept smiling like a teenager in her first crush?!?
And even '60s James Marsden is not so bad XD

Stupid test

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:12:28 GMT

Stolen from http://kijomi.livejournal.com/

I'm look EMO, so I MUST cut my wrists.
I'm BLACK, so I MUST carry a gun.
I'm HISPANIC, so I MUST be dirty.
I'm ASIAN, so I MUST be smart.
I'm NOT LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, so I MUST be a loser.
I'm JEWISH, so I MUST be greedy.
I'm GAY, so I MUST have AIDS.
I'm a LESBIAN, so I MUST have a sex-tape.
I'm an ARAB, so I MUST be a terrorist.
I SPEAK MY MIND, so I MUST be a bitch.
I'm RELIGIOUS, so I MUST shove my beliefs down your throat.
I'm an ATHEIST, so I MUST hate the world.
I DON'T HAVE A RELIGION, so I MUST not have morals.
I'm REPUBLICAN, so I MUST not care about poor people.
I'm DEMOCRAT, so I MUST not believe in being responsible.
I'm JAMAICAN so I MUST smoke weed.
I am LIBERAL, so I MUST be gay.
I'm SOUTHERN, so I MUST be white trash.
I TAKE ANTI-DEPRESSANTS, so I MUST be crazy.
I'm a GUY, so I MUST only want to get into your pants.
I'm IRISH, so I MUST have a bad drinking problem.
I'm INDIAN, so I MUST own a convenient store.
I'm NATIVE AMERICAN, so I MUST dance around a fire screaming like a savage.
I'm PREPPY, so I MUST shun those who don't wear Abercrombie & Hollister.
I'm a CHEERLEADER, so I MUST be a stuck up whore.
I'm on a DANCE team, so I must be stupid, stuck up, and a whore.
I wear skirts a lot, so I MUST be a slut.
I'm a PUNK, so I MUST do drugs.
I'm YOUNG, so I MUST be naive.
I'm RICH, so I MUST be a conceited snob.
I WEAR BLACK, so I MUST be a goth.
I'm BLOND, so I MUST be a stupid ditz.
I'm a WHITE GIRL, so I MUST be a nagging, steal-your-money kind of girlfriend.
I'm CUBAN, so I MUST spend my spare time rolling cigars.
I'm MEXICAN, so I MUST have hopped the border.
I FELL IN LOVE WITH A MARRIED MAN, so I MUST be a home-wrecking whore.
I'm a TEENAGE MOM, so I MUST be an irresponsible slut.
I'm POLISH, so I MUST wear my socks with my sandals.
I'm ITALIAN, so I MUST have a big peter.
I GOT A CAR FOR MY BIRTHDAY, so I MUST be a spoiled brat.
I'm PRETTY , so I MUST not be a virgin.
I HAVE STRAIGHT A'S, so I MUST have no social life.
I DYE MY HAIR CRAZY COLORS, so I MUST be looking for attention.
I DRESS IN UNUSUAL WAYS so I MUST be looking for attention.
I'm INTO THEATER ART, so I MUST be a homosexual.
I'm a VEGETARIAN, so I MUST be a crazy political activist.
I HAVE A BUNCH OF GUY FRIENDS, so I MUST be fucking them all.
I HAVE A BUNCH OF GIRLS WHO ARE FRIENDS, so I MUST be gay.
I HAVE BIG BOOBS, so I MUST be a whore.
I'm COLOMBIAN, so I MUST be a drug dealer.
I WEAR WHAT I WANT, so I MUST be a poser.
I'm RUSSIAN, so I MUST be cool.
I'm GERMAN, so I MUST be a Nazi.
I hang out with GAYS, so I MUST be GAY TOO.
I'm BRAZILIAN, so I MUST have a BIG BUTT.
I'm PUERTO RICAN, so I MUST look good and be conceited.
I'm SALVADORIAN, so I MUST be in MS 13.
I'm POLISH, so I MUST be greedy.
I'm HAWAIIAN, so I MUST be lazy.
I'm a STONER, so I MUST be going in the wrong direction.
I'm a FEMALE GAMER, so I MUST be ugly or crazy.
I'm BLACK, so I MUST love watermelon and fried chicken.
I'm BI, so I MUST think every person I see is hot.
I'm ASIAN, so I MUST have a small penis.
I'm a GUY CHEERLEADER, so I MUST be gay.
I'm SKINNY, so I MUST be anorexic.
I'm a PREP, so I MUST be rich.
I don't like the SUN, so I MUST be albino.
I have a lot of FRIENDS, so I MUST love to drink and party.
I wear tight PANTS and I'm a guy, so I MUST be emo.
I couldn't hurt a FLY, So I MUST be a pussy.
I hang out with teenage drinkers and smokers, so I MUST smoke and drink too.
I'm CHRISTIAN, so I MUST hate gay people.
I have ARTISTIC TALENT, so I MUST think little of those who don't.
I don't like to be in a BIG GROUP, so I MUST be anti-social.
I have a DIFFERENT sense of HUMOR, so I MUST be crazy.
I tell people OFF, so I MUST be an over-controlling bitch.
My hair gets GREASY a lot, so I MUST have no hygiene skills.
I'm DEFENSIVE, so I MUST be over-controlling and a bitch.
I'm a NUDIST, so I MUST want everyone to see my boobs.
I read Comics, so I MUST be a loser.
I hang out with a FORMER PROSTITUTE.. so I MUST be a whore myself.
I'm TEXAN so I MUST ride a horse.
I’m a GOTH, so I MUST be a Satanist.
I’m a CROSSDRESSER, so I Must be homosexual
I draw ANIME , so I MUST be a freak.
I am a FANGIRL so I MUST be a crazy, obsessed stalker.
I WATCH PORN so I MUST be perverted.
I'm an ONLY CHILD so I MUST be spoiled.
I'm INTELLIGENT so I MUST be weak.
I am AMERICAN so I MUST be an obese, loud-mouthed and arrogant.
I'm WELSH so I MUST love sheep.
I’m a YOUNG WRITER, so I MUST be emo.
I’m CANADIAN, so I MUST talk with a funny accent.
I'm a GUY, so I MUST ditch my pregnant girlfriend.
I'm CANADIAN, so I MUST love hockey and beavers.
I'm DISABLED, so I MUST be on Welfare.
I'm a FEMINIST, so I MUST have a problem with sexuality and I want to castrate every man on the earth.
I'm a TEENAGER, so I MUST have a STEREOTYPE.
I WEAR A BIG SUNHAT when I go outside, so I MUST be stupid.
I like BLOOD, so I must be a VAMPIRE.
I'm ALBINO, so I MUST be an evil person with mental abilities and is A MURDERER!
I'm ENGLISH, so I MUST speak with either a cockney or a posh accent, love tea and cricket, and have bad teeth.
I’m WHITE, so I MUST be responsible for everything going wrong on the planet: past, present, and future.
I don't like YAOI or YURI, so I must be a HOMOPHOBE.
I’m not the most POPULAR person in school, so I MUST be a loser.
I care about the ENVIRONMENT...I MUST be a tree hugging hippie.
I have a FAN CHARACTER, so it MUST be an annoying Mary-sue.
I CHAT, so I MUST be having cyber sex.
I'm PAGAN so I MUST sacrifice babies and drink the blood of virgins.
I'm PAGAN so I MUST worship Satan.
I'm CONSERVATIVE, so I MUST be against Abortion.
I'm SWEDISH so I MUST be a tall blonde blue-eyed lesbian.
I'm a LESBIAN so I MUST want to get with every single girl that I see.
I like CARTOONS, so I MUST be IRRESPONSIBLE.
I like READING, so I MUST be a LONER.
I have my OWN spiritual ideology; therefore I MUST be WRONG or MISGUIDED.
I am WICCAN, so I MUST be a SATANIST.
I DISAGREE with my government, so I MUST be a TERRORIST.
I am a WITCH, so I MUST be and OLD HAG and fly on a broomstick.
I love YAOI, so I MUST be GAY.
I'm a PERSON, so I MUST be LABELED
I DON'T CURSE, so I MUST be an outcast.
I like GAMES, ANIME and COMICS, so I MUST be childish.
I'm SWEDISH, therefore I MUST be WHITE.
I SPOT GRAMMATICAL ERRORS, so I MUST be a pedantic bastard.
I'm GOTHIC, so I MUST be mean.
I’m STRONG so I MUST be stupid.
I'm Australian so I MUST hunt crocodiles and talk to kangaroos.
I go to REN-FAIRES, so I MUST talk weird, be a loser, and not be up with the times.
I’m GAY so I’m after EVERY straight guy around.
I don’t want a BOYFRIEND so I MUST be Lesbian.
I'm NOT CHRISTIAN so I MUST just need converting.
I love marching bands, so I MUST be a friendless freak.
I DRINK and SMOKE, so I MUST have no life.
I HATE RAP music so I MUST not fit in.
I move around A LOT so I MUST not fit in anywhere.
I call my friends GOOD LOOKING so I MUST be Lesbian.
I've NEVER been kissed so I MUST not be good enough.
I'm a GUY so I MUST want sex ALL THE TIME.
I'm a CHRISTIAN so I MUST not listen to GOOD MUSIC.

Holding on

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:08:22 GMT

It's true, I never write.
And the rare times I do, I write about books.
I'm actually reading a lot lately, but I don't think this is a good reason XD
Truth is I have the feeling of being at a standstill, as if I were holding on, and I'm not able to change this situation.
And I don't feel like talking about it.
So, let's focus on nice things!
Like that on sunday Gianluca came to Milan, and it was almost 2 years that I didn't saw him, and as always it has been a beautiful day. Me and him and Cathy, wandering in unknown streets, with me as guide saying " I don't know where we are and I'm picking random streets, but I know where we're headed and I know we're gonna get there" XD
And so you're wandering for this unknown Milan, and you see a church that you almost forgot and you realize that 4 years ago you were here and you thought you were somewhere else; you find a shop where everything is upside down, the ceiling is on the floor and the floor is over your head, and the chandeliers are shown in the windows leaned on the ground; you see a paintings market where the paintings are almost exactly what you expected, but then you're hit by some metallic glares and circular fantasies; you talk about cyberpunk, and about japanese novels where the main character is a cat, and about Philip K. Dick's psychosis, passing for once behind the Hoepli bookshop instead than inside; you stop in Piazza della Scala talking about Japan and Scotland, and about how much they're actually similar, and dozens of memories come to your mind, but for once you don't talk about them; you have lunch in a pizzeria in which you haven't been for a long time, but that is an important piece of your personal history; you walk in Piazza del Duomo in the crowd with the sun in your eyes and the wind in your hair; you walk into Piazza Mercanti watching it for the first time in months; you try to reach some places you want to see again through the alleys, but instead you find new breathtaking places; sitting on the extinguished fountains of Cadorna, you talk about feelings, of comprehension, of relationships and choices; you find out a museum of art and science that you've never seen before; walking instead of taking the underground you can finally begin to understand how places in Milan are linked between them, like pieces of an enormous puzzle; you leaf through the pages of russian books, and through the japanese edition of The little prince, and you almost cry when you find an audiobook about learning Scottish Gaelic, while you're trying to explain the difference between the "metodo assimil" (short for assimilate, I believe... it's really a sad name in italian for a language course -.-) and traditional language courses; you let yourself go on a park bench in the Giardini Pubblici, wondering why the statue of Indro Montanelli is golden; you compare alcohol stories, and you laugh so hard that people passing by look you in a strange way, but it doesn't matter; you suggest new year's eve in London, a little joking and a little not; you talk about halloween costumes and kitsch themed parties, while you explain to a Torinese that for you there is more sky in Turin than in Milan, while he tells you that in Turin there are no spaces wide as Piazza Repubblica; you sit on a bench in the central station, listening to tales with one ear and to the station announcement in order not to let the train leave without Gianluca; goodbyes, beautiful and painful as ever, especially in central station; ending as always in the mcdonald's of the central station (that is not in the station, however), telling things that had not space when you were three; and then going home together, and saying goodbye in Corvetto, and finding out when you come out of the underground that it's already night and it's cold, and there's no doubt autumn is here.

And then yesterday I went back to IED with Maggie. To get my thesis's images back, it shouldn't have taken more than five minutes. Actually we stayed there for three hours, but this is normal XD
Because there were second year student in class (i should say third year actually...), and we know them all. Because they have changed the dispensers, and now there is real coffee and pomegranate-leeches juice. Because Federico is now dark room assistant. Because I missed Maurizio more than I remembered. Because there are always photos to take. Because we had thing to tell each other, and IED as always been the place where we told things to each other. Because it was like we never left. Because, even if you would have never thought so, it felt exactly like home.

La sfida degli Alton - Marion Zimmer Bradley

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:57:05 GMT

Original title: Exile's song

Though she's not credited, this book was written in collaboration with Adrienne Martine-Barnes, and it isn't something you cannot notice.
Not that is unpleasant, of course. Exile's song is one of my favourite Darkover books, even if there are actually some anomalies.
To start with, we experience for the first time something like normal city life in Thendara. Craftsmen and shops, and liric music (which sounds wrong to me, on Darkover, but I don't really know why).
Margaret is an interesting character, even if I know she has lots of detractors XD she's a scholar, clever and educated, and with a stubborn temperament that, clearly, won't take long to put her in embarrassing and dangerous situations.
The thing that I like less in this book, actually, is the way marion has been treating my poor Regis ;____; ok, it's been like thirty years from Sharra's Exile, and he couldn't possibly be the same boy he used to, but he's so horrible ;____; poor Regis, I used to love you so much ;____; it must be Lady Linnea's fault -.-
However, Lew is wonderful and super lovable, especially since he comes bach to Darkover, because in Marja's memories he's awful XD
One thing that I don't quite understand is that Ashara's problem is solved not at the end but near the middle of the book, practically the first time that Margaret faces her.
Well, I know that the story is developed in The Shadow Matrix, but in this novel it could have been managed better, for example with a first fight at Ardais and a final one at Armida, maybe with Lew's help or with some resonance of the ancient Forbidden Tower... in other words, it was an interesting storyline, and closing it so abruptly, making Margaret defeat Ashara so easily when she's still so ill and inexperienced when dozens of Keepers completely trained couldn't do anything against her... well, it's rather disappointing.
And Dom Gabriel... he was so nice in Sharra's Exil, and now he's dreadful ;___; I don't wanna believe that aging you can change that much, I don't wanna grow old XD
And then there's Mikhail.
What I mean is, is it possible to have such a dull character? But above all, believing that Margaret immediately falls in love with him??? -.-
Thank God there's Lew Alton (and Jeff Kerwin too, whom is hot even if he's old XD)

Brand new! :D

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 01:48:39 GMT

This is actually an experiment...
Being an italian girl with not so many chances to exercise my english, and having a blog in italian only, I decided to try some writing practice making a mirror blog in english.
So from now on I'll try to write here everything that I write on my italian blog (http://peppermint.iobloggo.com)
:D