Ciao, Professore!

I was quite pleased with this movie, the story is very archetypal but when done well its a good archetype and in this case the characters and treatment of the Italian setting and issues. The opening was interesting by making Louis Armstrong a counterpoint to the degradation of the city. In this context the music of Louis Armstrong becomes a sign of education, refinement, and international cultural appreciation, which seems a hefty sum to attach to any one person yet a think Satchmo does it all justice. Through out the movie much of the plot is the juxtaposition of a northerner within a southern town and how the two different modes of thought often oppose each other. Such scenes the teacher, Marco, confronting the custodian and several arguments over the proper way to run the school. As well as his confrontations with the principal, the conversation after Marco loses his temper and strikes a child is quite amusing since he is lamenting his loss of self control all the while the principal is congratulating him. It is an amusing growth movie, almost a Bad News Bears meets meets public schooling, in that as the movie progresses the two parties, teacher and students, grow on each other too the point that Marco rescinds his request for relocation and expresses a wish to stay in Corzano. However shortly before the climax of the story he receives a letter telling him to return to the north, while the climax of the film features Marco helping out Rafaele, the classes "tough guy", during which each claims that the other is changed for the experience. The interactions between him and the class produces some great scenes, due in part to the children swearing like sailors, for example Marco rounding up all the children at the start of the movie and him and the overweight kid trying to go on a diet.

This isn't the greatest movie I've ever seen but it is a good watch. It also does a decent job of highlighting north-south conflicts.

Umberto D

I'm not sure how to feel about this film, it was very good and I enjoyed watching it thoroughly, however I'm still conflicted. And this confliction has only one source, I don't know how the movie ended, I sat there and watched the ending... and still have no fucking clue what the point was. The only way I can conceptualize my frustration is as such, imagine your favorite movie or story in your head, don't close your eyes it will only slow you down and I want you to keep up with me for this one. Now imagine there are ten points of reference or plot points or whatever you want going through out the story from start to finish, 0-9 that's your movie (and no it can't be 1-10 cause this is my thought process so it follows my rules) movie starts that's 0 and progress on thru then you reach 9 and the credits roll, even in an open ended movie there is enough plot elements that make it to 9 that it works as a story. Follow so far, if not go ahead a reread the past few sentences till you're caught up, seriously do it I'll wait......... All set, ok good. Now here is where Umberto D and I have some issues, if this point 9 were say a finish line and the rest of the movie is a race then the path race takes will define where finish line goes, this is especially true when the path is straight or in this case when the story is very linear in its progression. So the audience gets an idea as to where the finish line will be, but they stay to watch the race. Well in movies with a twist the take advantage of this, so that when you get to the "end" of the race its revealed that the finish line is actually around the corner but then this newly realized and relocated 9. Well Umberto D does this but when you reach where the finish line should be it reveals there is another corner and around this corner they drop base ten counting systems for hex but still stop on a nine, so you get a race with no end.

Now I know that this explanation is difficult to follow and that I don't cite the movie, but seeing as it is the end of the film I choose to not actually reveal the ending but rather how I feel, so as to not ruin it for any one who has not seen the movie. However my idiocy aside the acting was very good, and the lighting had an appearance of technical proficiency not particularly common to the genre. I also happen to be particularly fond of the opening sequence where the police are chasing off the protesters, with the camera mounted in the jeeps it gave the appearance of herding livestock. As I said, ending aside, I really enjoyed this movie and I sorry that I didn't catch the showing with the speaker but just being able to see the film was a treat.

readings week 3

In the first "reading", the intro, the thing that grabbed my attention were the maps. After looking at them them for a bit I went through a few thought processes, at first I was shocked at the number of different maps and sepperations that were used to define people. I was well aware of the difference of north and south, however the the sheer level of socio-political analysis was amazing. This was followed very shortly by a comparison to our own country, and all the crazy ways we define ourselves and our regions, this replaced my sense of awe with a sense of normalcy about the idea. Now for some this sense may have been where it would stop, and for me it lasted an hour or so, however I then recalled that Italy is only slightly larger than Arizona. Its a thirtieth our size and just as if not more so politically complex, thats the point where my mind was blown.

"Italians lack an underlying faith in the impartiality of the state: they see it as a bestower of favours to its friends rather than the guarantor of rights for all." this quote from the second reading struck me, I read it and immediately thought of Giancarlo. As for the rest of the reading, it seemed long winded and rather round about so that three quarters of the way in I stop caring what was being said. Eventually the message was made but it seems that it could have been achieved more easily.

Also this upon Italian politics was a bit irritating, while informative and interesting (what can I say exploits regarding right winged totalitarian, rule i.e the fascists, make for a good read) plus the reading helped to re-enforce the appropriateness of the given character traits of two cliques.

Bread and Tulips

For me I am not sure as to what I can say about this movie, it confounds me. I enjoyed this movie thoroughly, but I in retrospect can't help but feel like its a hallmark movie, and that makes me feel...dirty. The struggle in the movie appears mild at best,being limited mostly to a series of bizarre flashbacks and an amateur detective. And there is cotton candy happy ending, the movie is cavity causing sweet yet I enjoyed it in its entirety. I think that I like the originality not of the plot on a whole but of the charters, Fermo the anarchistic florist, the fat plumber/amateur detective. Of course Rosalba is an interesting character, a middle-aged house wife that on a spur of the moment decides to head to Venice and ends up taking residence there. And my favorite character Fernando, the waiter that offers the main character, Rosalba, a place to stay and becomes the love interest of the story. I'm particularly found of the this character, he was at the start of the film depressed and suicidal, both of which change during the film, but I feel his speech patterns are perhaps the most endearing part of his nature, he talked with this strange mix of poet and philosopher. And while the blooming of Rosalba into her own person is the main focus the film tries to achieve, however for me the characters that surround her are what stuck with me. However her nightmare sequences were interesting with there surreal feel and bizarre color palates. But I still can't seem to make heads or tails of those scenes and I am not a dumb man. In my earlier reviews I was able to compare those films to other movies I had scene before, yet for some reason this movie defies any of my prior experiences, its an odd mix of quirky characters and yet sappy and cliche story. Its almost like I was hit sideways by warm and fluffy, or a surgical strike force made of cotton candy. I felt pleased... and I didn't know why.

Caterina in the Big City

I was fond of Caterina in the Big City, however there were portions of this movie that were difficult to sit through because you felt embarrassed just as an observer. The class discussion had mentioned the scene with Giancarlo making a foole of himself on tv (hell yeah I spelled fool with an e, thats just how I roll), which was bad but for me the most embarrassing was when he was trying to "hang" with Margherita and either didn't get or ignored the awkwardness that this caused for Caterina. God that scene was painful on so many levels, besides the awkward sensation from lack of trying to rid yourself of your parents and still be respectful, but the embarrassment of have your parent trying really hard to relate to you, especially painful as a young teen. For me this movie was also an odd mix of political message and coming of age movie, the best way my brain could resolve this concept was to think of it as Mean
girls meets Fox News. I can't think of a mainstream American film with nearly as political a message without being a documentary, the only thing I can come up with off the top of my head is The American President and in that movie politics work more as an oposing force to the romance between Michael Douglas and Annette Bening. I will say that I feel this movie wrapped up nicely, it wasn't the relistic which usually bugs me but they were able to somehow justify it and make it work. It wasn't quite a hallmark ending in the amount of cornball present but it was just corny enough to be a happy ending, and I think the thing that kept it from being completely cheesy was that instead of changing and reconciling their problems through some miracle fix, they all ended up doing what was best for themselves, Giancarlo's ending being the most amusing.

Roman Holiday + reading

For me Roman Holiday was a nice flick but nothing too spectalular. I think that the thing I liked most wasn't the movie itself as much as being able to say that I have finnally seen it. It's like a number of pieces of classic literature or cinema, you usually have about an equal chance of liking it or disliking it, but in the end by having experienced it you can now use it as a point of reference for other works. Thats not to say I didn't enjoy the film but it didn't really blow me away, but since most films to date are a remake of aremake of a remake, by watching a classic like this I can add to my knowledge and appreciation of cinema history.

As far as the film itself it felt a bit light to me, something like a hallmark picture but with better writing and after seeing it I can only assume that this film was the mold from which they made "Chasing Liberty", not any of that is a bad thing I just happen to not be a huge fan of light films. On that Note I must say that there were some aspects that I particularly enjoyed, first Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn didn't end up together, GOOD. My mother, who throughly enjoys hallmark movies would say that ending isn't a happy one, well in my opinion its the happiest you can make it and still make sense, so for me that was a point it the movies favor. There also wasa a few bits that I thoroughly enjoyed, first the slapstick bit between Peck and Albert where in Peck uses less than subtle ways to hint to Albert's character, who seems to miss the point entirely. It's simple slapstick comedy but I think that there must be some portion of the male genome that makes us mentally defenceless against slapstick (thus the continued post mortem success of the Three Stooges). The other bit I enjoyed was Gregory Peck and the face of truth, or whatever it is called, I had ages ago seen the image of Peck with his hand in his sleeve stand in front of the face and I got the gag but I wasn't aware of the context, so that was a bit of a treat for me.

I quickly skimmed the material from Gianetti and I was relatively impressed, this piece seemed to find a nice balance between being comprihensive and easily absorbed and understood. The tradoff being the why and the technical subtleties are lost, which I understand but it makes me sad that in the process the argument of video versus film stock seems to have been lost. In either case I particularly appreciated the section on style, since I tend to focus on the tech heavy side of film making a small piece about style was refreshing and pleasant.

And I tried to skim the bit on modern Italy but that seems to have flowed out of my brain like sieve so I have to go back and try again.

Any way so far so good.

June 5+6

On Thursday the only meal of note was during lunch when I step into a café near my house for a bite. I had their mushroom risotto and an espresso with brandy, because I can so there. But seriously the risotto was tasty and filling but nothing spectacular but perhaps that may be related to the fact that it was a premade dish that they were merely reheating. However I was glad I picked up the coffee and brandy, I actually think it went pretty well with the risotto and I was happy I gave it a try. The next day was far more interesting, starting off with going back to the mensa for lunch where I had a ricotta with a grape tomato which was quite good and very refreshing. I had a pasta with a mussel and red sauce, the mussels added a nice taste to the mix however the pasta was very smooth and did not hold the little sauce that was there very well. I also had an orange which I neurotically set to peeling and cleaning. For dinner I again set to cooking, I started by making my peppers and mushroom side. However this time I added red wine and let it cook down and reduce and I was sorta psyched about how it came out since I can’t ever recall having cooked with wine before. But it seems the universe has to maintain balance, because as pleased as I was with my side I was at least equally disappointed with my main course, tri-pepper pasta, which I had made successfully a number of times before. The dish is a simple one pot camping dish that I didn’t mess up as far as technique, but there was a cheese in the fridge with a slightly pungent smell that I figured I could use to cut the parmesan and try to use it up, “waste not, want not”. I’m dumb as hell some times, that little bit of cheese was strong of taste and scent, I decided that that cheese was a lost cause.

June 4

Wednesday was day a good number of us were waiting for, the evening of our cooking lessons. The chef that taught us worked at a local culinary school and was supposed to be quite well known, I had never heard of him but among his acclaims is that he has cooked for the Pope. He was a large kind fellow who seemed to have a pretty good sense of humor. The first dish was a tomato stuffed with mixed veggies and served atop a pesto sauce. I expected it to be on the mushy end of things, but the tomato was able maintain a good portion of it texture and the cool salty quality lent by the pesto was able to make the flavor just, god I really wish I could come up with a better descriptor for the sensation, “pop”. For this dish we learned how to peel a tomato, and I was able to pickup an interest tip or two on plating. The next dish was a citrus chicken pasta, which was equally amazing if not more so. It was a very light dish with a great lemon kick to it, it was so good I made sure to go back for seconds. The third dish that was served was sort of a veal marsala, the dish was perfectly tender, with a fantastic savory flavor. And lastly for dessert we had panna cotta with fresh berries, a custardy dish similar to crème brûlée without the caramelized sugar. Smooth, creamy, cool, and refreshing, it was a truly perfect end to a perfect meal. Plus I got keep the chef’s hat, Sweet!

June 2+3

On Monday the Italian language class went to the Brek, a self-service franchise restaurant, at piazza bra for class. All I had was an espresso, but that seemed to tide me over for hours until I made dinner, I made pasta with a simple cream sauce and a side dish of beef with peppers and mushrooms. It was simple but tasty, and served to help use some of the mushrooms we picked up. Plus since I cooked for my classmate, she agreed to do the dishes, win-win, I get to cook and I don’t have to clean. The next day was an interesting culinary mix, first I had a lemon gelato during my break. I was pleasantly surprised, it tasted exactly the same as the Italian ices I would get back at home. For lunch I had another kebab, only downside was the mayo and ketchup they put on it but whatever still good. And I then picked up an apple from Verra Frutta for a snack, I had bruscheta for dinner at the Cappa, nothing fancy but still a decent meal.

May 31 +June 1

Saturday was pretty dull, I kept to myself the majority of the day, making for myself pasta with a pre-made pesto sauce, and in the evening pasta with olive oil. That’s it, sound boring? Well it was. But, the next day completely made up for Saturday. I, one of my classmates and two of the professors decided to go to a local rice festival, the train we took consisted of a single car which I found funny as hell, I just kept thinking up jokes as to how we were on the train equivalent to a short bus, I kept it to myself but that thought kept bouncing about my brain. After we arrived it took us a little bit to get ourselves oriented and determine were the festival was, once we were righted and semi-certain of our head we stopped into a café to pick-up treats, I picked up a nice chocolate pastry, it was small but tasty and held me over well while we walked, I can’t think of much more to say about it, mostly I believe because it paled in comparison to that which followed. The rice festival was quite a sight, they had a decent selection of foods and drinks to choose from. Also upon our arrival it was made clear that this festival was not just rice but meats from the region. My classmate and I split a risotto and a steak, both were simple but top notch. The risotto was made, as near as we were collectively able to determine, with beef broth and ground beef, the texture was perfect have the creamy al dente quality that one expects from a risotto, and the savory beef flavor was a perfect coupling with the steak that we go. The steak was not particularly thick and perhaps cooked a little more well than I would like, however it still remained extremely tender and was very simply seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil. After all that we all split a pair of rice crispy treats made with caramel. Afterwards we hung around to take a tour of an industrial mushroom growing facility, the worst of it was the stage were in the produce the growing medium, rotting straw. This is the stage were in the stench of rot is strongest, the stages that follow were all carefully controlled in temperature and humidity, so at most it carries a musky stench, but not unbearable by any means. Each of the four of us were given a small container of mushrooms, a sizeable amount for each person, had no idea how I was going to finish them all.

May 28,29+30

Wednesday was sort of a dull day as far as food went, I had lunch at the university cafeteria, where I had a pasta tomato, ham, and an oil dressing and a banana for dessert. Later that night I went back to Creative hot dog for dinner and due to a miscommunication I walked off with two hotdogs, both with onions cheese and french fries, only one of which I ate that night. The next day I had the remaining dog for breakfast, which meant I was full when the food culture class decided to do field work exploring kebabs, which didn’t bother me much since I had already had a kebab. However that evening was interesting, since I had to observe Italian hand gestures for my language class I went to a bar where I could do just that. I order an aperitif the exact details about which I have forgotten, if recall correctly it included orange juice, white wine, and some bitter that I am not familiar with. I was able to finish both the drink and the assignment and decided to head back to the apartment and I was certain I knew where I was going…I fucking hate when I feel certain of something, I found myself at the Cappa Café about 7 blocks up river from where I expected to be, However the photo professor had spoken highly of the Cappa so I decided to check it out. I was not disappointed, in fact it was much nicer than the exterior would suggest, in the interior the tables all had candle light. The place seemed to me to have a nice beatnik feel to it has if it belonged to or was a determining factor to a small slice of fifties Americana. Anyway, I ended up having a midori spritzer and bruscheta. The next day a group of us joined the Italian professor in heading to Lake Garda, at the train station I again picked up a sandwich, this time the bughy made with mushroom, cheese, and prosciutto, wasn’t too much mushroom which can sometimes be an issue for me, it was pretty good. When we got to the lake we all had lunch at this nice german franchise where I got melon and prosciutto with a nice glass of beer, probably not the best fitted match up but no regrets. In the evening we went to see a free concert that was being but on for charity, we ate at a restaurant near the concert, I had their veggie pizza made with tomatoes, spinach, and eggplant. The pizza was fantastic and the music was great, however the last tune they play is one I best associate with the Blues Brothers, not only were the two singers mediocre but they choose this song to make all the announcements during. So they would start singing just long enough for me to accept their voices for what the were and appreciate the big band pumping out the melody, then all of a sudden they would stop add the band was stuck looping the chorus like elevator music.

May 26+27

At the start of the new week I continued on exploring the various foodstuffs of Verona. While on the bus that lead us to our apartments one of the students who had come last year pointed out this little hole in the wall shop called Creative Hotdog, and spoke highly of the food there. Well, after my classes Monday, having not eaten breakfast (see a pattern yet), I was quite famished and decided to give them a try… Holy Jesus H. tap-dancing Christ! If ever in Verona, come to Creative Hotdog. On my dog I got a tomato sauce, onions, sauerkraut, and mustard, the entire assembly is rather sizable with a large but delicious bun and a decent sized hot dog cut in half length-wise and then placed to fill the bun. The toppings, appearing to be rather fresh, are piled atop the bun and dog and thrown into and oven to heat, the overall effect is quite amazing. After that I went to Verra Frutta, the produce shop near my place, and pick-ed up an apple, this thing was nearly as big as my head. For dinner I ate once again at the pizzeria across from San Fermo and had a “Verona” which was a cheese pizza with rugla, or as the translation called it “rocket lettuce”. It wasn’t bad and I enjoyed it, however after awhile the texture from the lettuce got to me, but that’s just me. I did however learn a lesson in the Italian restaurant culture, I.E. they will not bring you the check, you must ask for it, I spent at least half an hour learning that lesson. The next day we went to Venice, at the train station I picked up a caprese sandwich and Mikado to have on the train, Mikado is pretty much the same thing as Pocky. On the train I picked up a cup of espresso to have with my Mikado, worst choice I could make since I didn’t ask the cost first it ended up being four Euros for this really foul tasting coffee with only the recourse that the Mikado still tasted delicious. Later in the day a friend and I find a quiet pizzeria on the main canal where I got this great pizza with spicy salami red, pepper flakes, and Tabasco sauce.

May 24+25

After finally get the sleep that we all desperately needed our professors knew that our sleep deprived minds were unable or unwilling to absorb the information given to us the day before and so we went on another walk throughout the city to absorb the sights and get some of the history. However having not had breakfast most of us to the opportunity to pick up a fruit cup from the stands at piazza erbe. Saturday’s tour ended near castel vechio near which some of us grab food from a decent little shop, in order to enjoy our food within the castle courtyard. I grabbed wurstel in camicia, essentially a hotdog wrapped & cooked in dough, it was very tasty with mild flavor. After that remembering that I could recall nothing of importance from the previous day I went off in search of the university and most importantly the computer lab associated with them. I failed quite miserably in that regard, eventually walking in a large circle without being aware of it. I did however discover doner kebabs, my R.A. had previously gone on this trip and swore by them. They are in essence what we would call a gyro back in the states with slight differences in topping selection, but I was in no way disappointed by what I found and since they can be found in a number of shops throughout the city they make for a great fast food treat. The next day we took another trip through the other half of the city we did not cover on Saturday, I was certain that here too we would stop at some point and I would be able to grab a bite… We didn’t. It wasn’t till much later that I was able to grab a bite, before attempting to head to the top of the hill that over looked the city. What I was able to find was a sandwich made up of crustless white bread, meat and mayo, it was a plain sandwich to be sure, but I was in no mood to be picky. Despite its small portions I found it held me over quite well, for afterwards I walked for some hours with a couple of friends, eventually preparing for ourselves a small dinner consisting of various meats and cheeses as well as a pleasant after dinner wine.

I’ve been in Italy for about a week now and have been thoroughly enjoying myself, but since I waited so long now I have really try hard to remember when I ate what, but here I go.

I guess I should include the time I spent in the airports and flying since it is all part of the trip. Anyway, everyone from the group was to meet at the airport at two for a five thirty flight, even with security and pre-boarding we had two maybe two and a half hours to just sit and wait, which meant most of us ended up getting fast food to eat while we waited, I ended up getting Sbarro. Which if you’ve ever seen one you know is pretty much just as cheap and unimpressive as you would expect, but since its in an airport they can crank up they price like thirty percent, not unexpected but annoying still the same.

So when we finally got on the plane I knew that we would get something in flight but based on my experiences with domestic airlines I expected little more than a sandwich at best. Airfrance absolutely surpassed my expectations with a stew-like beef dish with peas, carrots, and potatoes. This came with salmon and couscous, bread, cheese, pudding, and a piece of cake with cranberry if I recall correctly, as well as a decent red wine. Since it was an overnight flight they also provided a breakfast, the exact contents of which I can no longer recall, however I due recall it being decent.

Even on the small connector flight that took us from Paris to Verona there was a selection of pastries from which to choose. However more noteworthy was the terminal that we waited in while in Paris, since we were on a smaller flight we were essentially waiting in a bus terminal, were the bus took us to our plane on the tarmac. That aside the thing that really amused me was that they had a game station setup to keep kids entertain during long waits, but on the sides was a caricature of what I can only assume is supposed to be a flight control tower, but rather than appear cute or whimsical it was just creepy looking, and they put it all over I think it was a mascot or something but it stayed creepy looking to me.

So we eventually get to Verona and we’re all exhausted due to jetlag but we’re told we can’t sleep till 21:00 or else it will mess with our system and it’ll be near impossible to adjust. So they show us our rooms, give a bunch of information, take us on a tour of the city, blah, blah, blah. We were all dead on our feet, but eventually we’re set free and a bunch of us decide to go to the pizzeria across from our classroom/meeting spot. God was that ever good, I got the most basic pizza they had, bread, sauce, garlic, oregano, and no cheese with a liter of mineral water, and it was still amazing. Sorry to any one from Chi-town but around here thin is where it’s at and this pizza had it, it had a great crispy crust and I added a little chili pepper to it, which rather than just being a shaker of crushed red pepper was a bottle of oil with the pepper inside. After that I slept like the dead.