I’ve just discovered this band, and I think it will provide the soundtrack for my writing in the next few days.
Enjoy!
(and yes, as the video says, it’s by far better if you use stereo headphones)
Category Archives: Media
Two books and a movie
I am lucky: there’s people out there that give me books as gifts. I am really moved by this, because it means these persons recognize my addiction, and have enough compassion to want to help me stay sane by keeping me well provided with reading matters.
So yesterday I got a digital copy of Alastair Humphreys’ My Midsummer Morning. The person that sent it to me (thank you!) knows I am a fan of Humphreys’, and knew I was curious about this book – that chronicles the author’s travel through Spain, on foot, living on the earnings of his busking.
Humphreys’ offbeat adventure was inspired by another great book, Laurie Lee’s classic As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, which chronicles Lee’s crossing of the Spanish peninsula, while busking with his violin to make a living. Lee’s adventure took place in 1934. He would return in Spain in ’37 as a member of the International Brigade.
Humphreys’ book is all about finding adventure by facing what causes us anxiety and fear – because if it’s all fun and games, it’s not a challenge, and cannot be a proper adventure.
Hence his idea of travelling as a busker while having no previous experience as a violin player but a few months of lessons and frustrating exercise.
Yes, it’s a wild, crazy idea, but one that works, and does make a sort of sense.
And never before as in these days we needed to be able to face what causes us pain and anxiety.
Books will help, and music. And a certain mental attitude, that allows us to discover adventure in adversity.
So here I have the ebook on my reader.
But in case you are curious, the author also shot a documentary of his adventure, and here it is… enjoy!
Binge watching
Almost everybody out there, if I must trust (and I shouldn’t) what I get through mi social media, is using the lockdown time to catch up on movies, TV series, books, comics and videogames. And really, why not?
We live in a media-rich landscape, and our old life forced us to leave behind a lot of stuff.
And while I was never a fan of binge-watching, as I mentioned previously I’ve been supporting myself on a steady diet of Chinese horror/adventure web series these days, courtesy of a Youtube channel that streams subtitled episodes. And I must say that in general I am impressed by the quality of the products I’ve seen so far.
So, the twenty episodes of The Weasels Grave gone in two nights of insomnia, I am now getting ready to start with The Wrath of Time.
Once again a story of grave robbers, monsters, curses and two-fisted archaeology, and being part of a franchise whose instalments apparently go back in time, this time the story is set in Chinese Republican times – back when warlords ruled and the China was in chaos.
I mean… it’s got to be fun, right?
I’ll keep you posted (especially considering that watching these series has given me a few ideas about writing I need to digest).
A Grave for the Weasels
Two weeks ago I spent a weekend binge-watching Candle in the Tomb, a Chinese web-series about the exploits of a team of grave-robbers trying to find (and loot) an ancient lost city in the Gobi Desert. Despite the sometimes rough humor and the clunky SFX, it was a great fun – and for this reason, I moved on to the follow-up series, Candle in the Tomb: The Weasel Grave.
A long weekend approaches, and this is just what I need to keep my spirits up during my long sleepless nights.
Continue readingLike a ragged samurai – L’Armata Brancaleone
Mario Monicelli (1915-2010) was a genius and a true artist. He started his career in movies at 19, writing an adaptation of Poe’s Telltale Heart, and for over seventy years he was at the cutting edge of Italian cinema, with a total of 112 scriptwriting credits, and 69 movies directed. He was one of the stalwarts of the so-called “commedia all’italiana” (Italian-style comedy), a genre that, at its best, mixed broad farce, subtle satire, and sharp social observation. And Monicelli was the best in the game.
Italian-style comedy came with a bundled problem, and some friends warned Monicelli that by bringing to the screen the flaws of the Italian character in highly comedic manner, his would be perceived by many as a celebration, not as an exposé. It was a fair warning, and indeed, today a lot of Monicelli’s work is remembered for the belly laughs and the ribald double-entendres, not for the often painful underlying themes of human frailty and misplaced ideals.
In 1966, Monicelli and some friends, including actor Vittorio Gassman, decided they could not take anymore the Disney-esque popular perception of medieval times, and decided to do a movie about a “ragged samurai of sorts” in a Medieval Italy that was at the same time historically accurate and sharply modern. So they did L’Armata Brancaleone (known in English as For Love and Gold or as The Incredible Army of Brancaleone).
Continue readingVincent Price Blogathon: The Saint
It’s the day of the Vincent Price Blogathon, when we celebrate one of the most iconic, elegant and versatile actors ever to grace the silver screen, Vincent Price. Most of us know him for his huge catalog of horror movies, but Price was also a star in film noir and in costume dramas, he had a fine comic spirit and one of the most distinctive voices in Hollywood.
He worked in movies, TV and radio, and outside of his acting career, he was an art expert and an excellent cook.
The blogathon is hosted by Realweegiemidget Reviews and Cinematic Catharsis, so point your browser in that direction, for a huge selection of posts about Vincent Price, his life and his art.
And then come back here, because we are going to take a look at a side of Price’s work hat is often overlooked, and we’ll explore Price’s own take on one of the great iconic characters of classic thriller fiction… Simon Templar, aka The Saint.
My story “Sapiens” on the Imaginary Worlds Podcast
The latest podcast from Imaginary Worlds is all about Solarpunk, as a culture, and attitude and a genre of science fiction. And I had the surprise of learning that my short story Sapiens, that was published in the second issue of the magazine DreamForge, was selected as an example of the genre.
So, if you will, listen to the podcast – it’s full of great ideas and great reading suggestions.
And I am in there, too!
Karavansara 