Michele on the Road: on Travel, Photography and Life

Finally, I managed to do my 2004 list. I chose 5 for each category with no particular order – unless specified.

Mind that I refer to the Italian release dates, where applicable. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the reasons I like music is because it keeps memories alive. I think the easiest way to explain it is by making an example.

Yesterday night, I was driving and, of course, listening to music. At one point, the song was Tangerine by “Led Zeppelin“:amazon. Listening to it made me think about when I was in “Tibet”:http://www.freetibet.org this summer: I used to listen to it over and over – at least when I was able to use my “iPod”:http://www.apple.com/ipod/, because it can’t be use above 10,000 feet.

Listening to ["Smashing Pumpkins'":amazon:smashing pumpkins] ["Adore":amazon:smashing pumpkins adore] makes me think about Ireland, because it was one of my favorite albums during the summer when I went to Ireland. “Pennyroyal Tea“:http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=115509&selectedItemId=115489 by “Nirvana“:amazon, makes me think of when I was starting to play guitar, because it was the song I wanted to learn how to play. And “Corduroy“:http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=487952&selectedItemId=487939 by “Pearl Jam“:http://www.tenclub.net/ makes me think about the “Pearl Jam“:http://www.tenclub.net/ concert at Milan in June, 2001, because, the days after the concert I was listening to it over and over. And, as the day after the concert I went to London, it makes me think of London, too.

I could list more of them. But I just wanted to make a few examles. Do you understand what I mean?

Music is such an important part of my life.

!)company“:http://www.wonsys.net/]’s website. The “company” is called “Wonsys“:http://www.wonsys.net/.

The website has been designed by me using XHTML and CSS. It’s not a definitive version, indeed it is more like a provisional version: we’d like to develop it together, but it’s difficult for us to be together because one of us live in another city. We want to be fisically together so that we can get out the best. I guess we will manage to make another website – a definitive one – in a few months, but in the meanwhile “this”:http://www.wonsys.net/ will serve fine.

Let me know what you think about it.

I think we should be honest with ourself and rename [Christ]mas to [Gift]mas.

I’m not here to say it is wrong to give presents. Indeed I love giving presents to people I love. What I want to say is that – at least for many of us – Christmas is not what the name suggests. It is a way to spend some time at home with our families and loved ones, to relax and to receive that thing you’ve never decided to buy during the last year.

Come on, I know it. You know it. Everybody knows it. It’s not a secret!

And what if this Giftmas – or Christmas if you prefer ;) – we try to make it a Giftmas for people who really need “gifts”, too? Check out these:

• “Unicef“:http://www.unicef.org/
• “MSF“:http://www.msf.org/
• “Save the Children“:http://www.savethechildren.com/
• “Emergency“:http://www.emergency.it/index.php?ln=En
• “Amnesty“:http://www.amnesty.org/
• “Railway Children“:http://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/

This morning, I bought a couple of books. One is ["Fight Club":amazon:Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club] by “Chuck Palahniuk”:http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/.

I bought it because I’d like to see how he writes and I always wanted to see the “movie”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/: usually, I prefer to see a movie based on a book, after having read the book. But now I’m not sure that it is the best thing to do.

What I’ve always thought is that if you see the movie and then read the book you enjoy the second less, because you already know what the story is: no suspence. But what if you read the book first and love it and then you watch the movie and you don’t like it: it’d be a delusion. For example, I know many ["Lord of the Rings":amazon] books’ fans – I’m not a real one, though I like Tolkien a lot – that were so disappointed with the movies; but I know many that didn’t read the books before viewing the movies, they loved them and now they love the books. So, maybe, it is better to see the movie first, because, usually, the book is more detailed, so you can read things that weren’t in the movie. The story is deeper. And well, if the movie sucks you can always hope the book’s better!

Now, I have to decide if I want to read ["Fight Club":amazon:Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club] first, or if I want to watch “Fight Club“:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/ first. :???:

What is your personal opinion about the Book vs Movie battle?