back on the strEEt

deliciously fresh shit from Banksy:  http://www.banksy.co.uk

quote of the day

"The plumbers are here and I'm naked, I'll call you back."

Sorry, Mom, I had to.

A shot of me this time, because I am mostly behind the camera these days...I was also having a really good hair-day.

My favorite in Florence so far

The largest gumball machine...EVER?!

another day/another dollar

Today was a "me-day."  I often try to spend a whole day, or at least, a good portion of a day by myself at least once a week.  It's not an anti-social thing or a form of protest, it's just my own time to do whatever I want, whenever I want.  I think that we as people spend too much time constricted to...time itself.  Everything is allotted a stretch, a span, a season, an interval, a period, a length, a duration of time; punching in at work, meeting up with a friend, a TV show, dinner-time.  It's like the block schedule from school follows us into the real world.  And it's not a negative thing by any means.  It keeps us going and organized.  BUT...it's fun to see what happens if you completely discard all units of time, which is what I try to do on my "me-days."  I will admit that I do actually schedule the "me-days" themselves (for example, I tell myself, Lexi-that's what I call myself-take a "me-day" tomorrow).  The night before I turn off my cell phone and deactivate my alarm in order to wake up naturally.  The day follows with a completely open format.  I just go...wherever I go, basically.  As a result of not having an agenda, the day is full of surprises; either a lot happens or nothing at all.  Today was once where a lot happened...

I started off by taking Camilla (la mia bicicleta) for a ride around Florence and somehow ended up on the other side of the Arno.  I parked Camilla at a pole and walked about 20 paces until I found myself walking into a huge, open room that was chock-full of stuff...it was a rummage sale!  Most of the items were geared more towards old-lady-style, but it was so much fun to go through everything and people-watch while I was at it.  In the very back of the room, away from all of the items, there was a grand piano.  You can probably guess where this is going...a woman walked over to the piano, sat down to play, and started jammin'.  She was incredible.  She filled the entire room with a warm, rich musical sound.  I asked if I could take a photo of her and she said yes:

Next, I stumbled upon a market in piazza Santo Spirito.  I was immediately drawn to a tent that displayed colorful paintings.  As I was going through a box of them, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a man approaching.  He was completely disheveled; his clothes were dirty and falling off of his body, his facial hair was long and patchy, his hair was greasy and matted, and he had a rolled cigarette dangling from his mouth and a beer bottle between his two fingers on his left hand:  he was the artist.  We ended up talking for 15 minutes about his paintings.  Finally, I bought one.  I bought a piece of artwork from a drunk man with a bloody nostril who kept apologizing for speaking poor English because he was drunk.  The art:

Dog poop is common in Florence.  It's everywhere.  Either dogs poop a lot or their owners just don't pick up after them.  It's probably both of those things.  Today I found a piece of poop on the sidewalk, but this was no ordinary poop...it had a sign in it.  The sign (as you can read for yourself) said "stronzo come il padrone," which I believe translates to "shit like the master."  Funny?  Yes.  Disgusting that someone took the effort to write about a piece of shit and then place it in it?  Also, yes.

It's 7 o'clock in the morning.  I am lying on the couch, tired and hung-over.  My body is somehow able to produce the slightest, grumbling chuckle from reading the front-page article from nytimes.com, "Economy Hammered by Toxic Blend of Ailments."  The first paragraph reads,

"Almost everything seems to be going wrong for the American economy at once.  People are buying less, but most things are costing more.  Mortgage rates are rising, the dollar is falling and prices of key commodities like oil are leaping from one record high to the next."

That's not the funny part.  Next to this serious and bold, but ever so true statement--comprised of well-written sentences and accurate punctuation--is an advertisement from nytimes.com/realestate:  "What you get for...$1 million" (in reference to the picture above).

I like juxtapositions.  I think this one is great.

song of the day

"Tell Me Why (Original Mix)" by Supermode.  The chic's voice sounds a bit like Cher, but the song is bumpin'

Not only are fashion and the fashion industry unique and significant to the Italian culture, but the presentation of clothing and other accessories are also a large part of the purchasing decision.  As a result of my recent interest in storefront displays, I have been attempting to document their elegant presentation through photography.  After some successful and other unsuccessful tries, I believe I have finally found a decent shot the does some justice.