CAFFEINATED ZOMBIE

CAFFEINATED ZOMBIE

Jan 4, 2025 | A COFFEE WITH, MOVIES, ISN'T IT IRONIC?, ISN'T IT IRONIC?, MOVIES, ROCK, ROCK, A COFFEE WITH

Caffeinated zombie in particular is impersonated … can we say ‘impersonated?’ Just kidding of course!

I mean, reading the title you must have immediately thought of Jim Jarmusch’s film The Dead Don’t Die, do you know it?

If you don’t know it, ‘this is going to end badly’ …

I don’t know about you, but we really like to quote some iconic lines from this film.

But back to our caffeinated zombie aka the Iguana of rock: Iggy Pop. 

Born James Newell Osterberg Jr., you can really say anything about him.

Even that he roams Centerville with his inseparable pot of coffee.

Caffeinated zombie

Over all I like to recall his friendship with David Bowie.

“He resurrected me” were his exact words in an interview with the New York Times. 

Together they went to and from Berlin and together they gave us that little gem that is China Girl, not to mention the legendary The Passenger.

Together is the adverb that can also be used when referring to Jim Jarmusch because the interpretation of a zombie is one of the many occasions in which he and Iggy also collaborated.

Staying on the subject of zombies for now, what do you think?

Do you like films and series with their range of versions from the most macabre to the most ironic?

The word zombie has its roots in the West Indies, roots intertwined with woodoo rituals, but why am I telling you about it at the start of this year?

To quote The Simpsons: ‘zombies prefer to be called disadvantaged living.’

That’s it: let us rise from slumber and worry less about definitions.

Let us live, let us feed on beauty and not on our fellow man, let us distinguish, let us change.

Otherwise, as Adam Driver repeats: this is going to end badly.

And of course I would also like to toast, like the old Mallory: Chardonnay!

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

Dec 21, 2024 | ART, ART, MOVIES, CULTURE, CULTURE, MOVIES

The Room Next Door is Pedro Almodòvar’s film that won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

I went to the cinema with Monica thinking I would be moved but actually I got angry.

You can find the review on the blog Matavitatau and incredibly this time Nick was more lenient than me.

Of course: The room next door has a lovely part.

Everything concerned to the visual sphere represents perfection, starting with the colours used in a sublime as well as communicative way

In an interview, set designer Carlota Casado  mentioned Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings among the references.

If you look at her paintings:
Oriental poppies
Ladder to the moon
Jiimson weed white flower

you can get a clear idea of the range of greens that I particularly admired.

The costumes, which we could call outfits, by Bina Daigeler are a riot of colour, style and quality.

Every single detail is meticulous, even I quote: ‘the coffee machines.’

The settings are fabulous: New York at its most magical and a house that represents the perfect blend of architecture and nature.

The set is Casa Szoke, designed by the Aranguren+Gallegos Arquitectos studio  near Madrid, in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, and located on the slopes of Mount Abantos in the forest of La Herrería. 

As if that were not enough, the furniture elements are well-known design pieces and the painting People in the sun by Edward Hopper becomes an integral part of the narrative as well as the visual.

And Almodòvar completes the representation of beauty by quoting James Joyce: The Dead from Dubliners

The snow falling faintly through the universe, and faintly falling, upon all the living and the dead.

The Room Next Door is Pedro Almodòvar’s first English-language film and his intention, I would say successful, was to make it as American as possible.

But then there is the verbose part, let me use the term, the dialogues in my opinion are that much excessive that they break the balance of everything else.

And there are a number of unfinished elements.

I will not go into the profile of the protagonist, nor into the euthanasia issue, because everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

But remaining on the mere portrayal of the illness and the physical and psychological suffering, perhaps because I have unfortunately experienced it from my side, I could not help but get nervous.

An exclusive death.

Real life, however, is quite different.

Did you enjoy it? Did you find the ending unsettling or inspiring?

THE CHILDREN’S TRAIN NETFLIX

THE CHILDREN’S TRAIN NETFLIX

Dec 15, 2024 | BOOKS, MOVIES, BOOKS, MOVIES

We already talked about The Children’s Train when I read Viola Ardone’s book published by Einaudi. 

But above all, we talked about The Children’s Train when I read the book Happiness trains by Giovanni Rinaldi. 

I became fond of Giovanni Rinaldi’s research work and his subsequent There was me on that train too and with words I travelled through the stories of many children, many families, many people who today still witness the beauty of solidarity through eyes that have seen the train of life run and through words that have much to teach us.

A discovery, a gift, which has brought us the privilege of the direct testimony of Americo Marino. 

Americo, not Amerigo, I am not mistaken: the real name of the man we knew as the protagonist of Einaudi or  The Children’s train Netflix, played by Christian Cervone and Stefano Accorsi is Americo. 

And if in some interviews Viola Ardone recognised Derna, Pachiochia or Maddalena as real characters, officially Americo remains a fictional character, despite the fact that significant elements such as his shoes, to name one, come from his direct testimony. 

This is why I could not miss seeing The Children’s train Netflix directed by Cristina Comencini and produced by Palomar.

The film was presented at the Rome Film Festival and has the support of the Emilia Romagna Region and Film Commission Torino Piemonte.

I sincerely hoped for a different epilogue with regard to the personal story of Americo, a person of rare sensitivity to whom I have grown fond of.

A thank you in the credits, a reference, a name, even coffee was mentioned.

How would you react if, we can say the whole world, given that The Children’s train has been translated into twenty-five languages, knew elements of your story, then declined in a different way?

Would you still be happy or would you suffer?

Have you seen The Children’s train Netflix?

If, like me, you are left with the thought of those children travelling to the unknown and how they found the affection of families who welcomed them as children, I think this video will move you, it is not fiction:

Derna and Americo from the Rinaldi Archive 

NIRVANA UNPLUGGED

NIRVANA UNPLUGGED

Nov 2, 2024 | BOOKS, MOVIES, BOOKS, MOVIES, MUSIC, MUSIC, ROCK, ROCK

Nirvana unplugged in New York, often known as MTV unplugged is first and foremost a high moment in music history to me.

For our very first chat here on the blog, almost five years ago now, I told you about the cardigan Kurt Cobain wore during the recording of this live show.

Then over time we talked a lot about music but never came back to what is really one of the most important memories for me.

First of all it is the memory of an emotion: the first time I listened to Come as you are without even getting to the end I was convinced that I would never like another song again.

Come as you are is perhaps the only one of Nirvana’s most popular songs, performed even during unplugged, I think precisely because of its characteristic intense intimacy.

But every single song performed during MTV unplugged is beautiful.

The cover of The Man Who Sold the World in my opinion beats even the White Duke.

Where did you sleep last night is poignant to the point of almost materialising Kurt’s suffering.

And then Dumb, About a Girl, Pennyroyal Tea … which is your favourite?

Sadly released posthumously Unplugged in New York with every listen reminds us of the pain and loss of an artist who would now be a grandfather, as his Frances Bean became mother to Ronin at the end of September.

Many tales and anecdotes about 18 November 1993 chase each other all over the place, but what we can all still see is Kurt arriving, and after a simple ‘Good evening’ he introduces About a girl by attacking his guitar ride.

The rest is magic, atmosphere, white flowers, candles, drapes and soft lights, like metaphorical arms that welcome us into an immersion of music and sensations, simplicity and depth at the same time, where everything else is stripped away, the whole world is outside, where all that counts is the lightness of a faint breath destined to fade away but which in reality can only remain engraved in the memory forever.

Extreme vulnerability yet disruptive power.

Nirvana Unplugged is one of the gifts I cherish, it is 30 years old today and yet I’m never tired of listening to it again.

I treasure it along with Kurt Cobain Diaries

Nirvana unplugged

and Montage of Heck, which I saw at the cinema earlier anyway.

Nirvana unplugged

On the off chance that you’ve missed something, I recommend catching up: I find it indispensable to understand the deep torment of a Soul torn between the love of music and the pain of life.

I wish I was like you
Easily amused
Find my nest of salt
Everything is my fault

I’ll take all the blame
Aqua seafoam shame

I WANNA TAKE HUGH THERE

I WANNA TAKE HUGH THERE

Jul 27, 2024 | MOVIES, MOVIES, MUSIC, MUSIC

I wanna take Hugh there … pun inspired by the very famous lyrics of a song that needs no introduction:

When you call my name, it’s like a little prayer
I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there

Impossibile to listen to this song without singing it, a universal song.

Just as Hugh is universally known.

Also this time I would like to talk about the non-original soundtrack.

Here it is.

I wanna take Hugh there.

What can I say?
A fantastic excursus into pop history.

I mention as an example You’re the One That I Want, itself the soundtrack to a film I have seen countless times in my life.

Grease was the first film with friends in the cinema in the place where I was born, obviously love at first sight.

A movie in which cars take on the role of status symbols for the guys, who process them, use them for drive-ins and also for their ‘dates.’

Lo and behold, even the Deadpool & Wolverine scene with the Grease song playing in the background takes place in a car … still a symbol if you will, but a lame one.

And ‘the encounter’ is still physical and related to friendship, but on the level that characterises the whole film: totally insane.

Friendship and madness mingle as elective affinities between this trio who manage to put together a series of crowd-pleasing situations, not to mention cameos.

The third element is Shawn Levy, who gave us that gem Stranger Things. 

Watch out for those other two: Hugh and Ryan interact like two opposite, colourful halves, just like in this little gadget.

I wanna take Hugh there.

They represent well the passing of time, with the desire to always remain themselves, superheroes or nerds, or both.

And at the first notes of Good Riddance you are left with nostalgia: something umpredictable but it in the end is right.

Would you like to tell me something related to any of the other songs?

You can find them directly on Spotify. 

In both cases the songs appear as per the tracklist on the Disney site which sells the two branded LPs.

There is actually more.

Impossible not to mention Hells Bells … I’ll let you imagine as soon as the first notes start.

And then there’s I wanna take Hugh there …
courtesy of Madonna.

It’s not like it’s a no-brainer.

Ryan Reynolds said in an interview that he didn’t know how to ask for it: ‘what do I do, call up and say hello this is Ryan?’

Apparently that’s exactly what happened, but luckily for him, Madonna’s kids like Marvel superheroes too.

I wanna take Hugh there.

How about you?

LIKE THE BIRDS OF CINDERELLA’S DRESS

LIKE THE BIRDS OF CINDERELLA’S DRESS

Jan 20, 2024 | MOVIES, WOMEN, MOVIES, WOMEN

Like the birds of Cinderella’s dress … is the comparison Sabrina Impacciatore used during an interview at the Emmy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Listen:

I really like this way of her being ironically crazy.

This attitude of laughter brings good humour, don’t you think?

The perfect friend for messing around …

Speaking of friendship … have you ever seen “Amiche da morire – Friends to Die For?”

I would say that Sicily is a congenial place for Sabrina: the season of The White Lotus for which Sabrina received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series is filmed in Taormina.

In the interview Sabrina tells that her dress was fitted the night before by tailors like the birds of Cinderella’s dress, and also declares that her victory is to be there, but we can say that another great shot is her participation in the upcoming film In the head of Dante with Al Pacino and John Malkovich.

Who knows, maybe the Fairy godmother has a hand in it… 🙂

And you? Have you ever lived a fairy tale?

I could tell I live perpetually in the mess, but isn’t it the real fairy tale?

Gianni Rodari wrote:
Where are the fairy tales?
There is one in everything:
in the wood of the coffee table,
in the glass, in the rose.

Where can you see the fairy tales?

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