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.

Before I left for Italy, I was starting to become extremely fed up with American culture.  I was tired of hearing about the war, I was annoyed and sick of all of the superficiality both in real life and on TV, and I was ready to give up the fast-paced lifestyle that apparently makes America so unique.  I kept thinking about how nice it was going to be to escape all of that for a good couple of months and live a relaxed European lifestyle.

Since the moment I arrived in Florence, I have constantly been comparing European ideals with disappointing American standards and mores.  It wasn't until a couple of days ago when I was doing research for my internship on Oliviero Toscani (see below), that I realized how hard I have been on my country.  Toscani is Italian but he has spent a significant amount of time living in the U.S...sometimes even hanging out with Andy Warhol!  He has a really interesting perspective on both countries, and on life in general.  I was reading an article in which he was quoted saying,

"you can say anything you want in America.  There is the worst, but there is also the best, in America.  When Europeans talk about America it makes me laugh.  They don't know.  America is anything you can say, do, be...Americans are great because they get so mad, they get so passionate."

I paused when I read this because I forgot about all of that.  When you are living outside of the states, the only thing you hear about America are the stories that make the headlines.  But just because our government has seen better days, because we are at war, and because people like Paris Hilton are the face of our country, does not mean that that is America.  It's the entire lifestyle, the "we the people," the "American dream" ideas that I forgot about.  Or, maybe I didn't forget, maybe I just never realized it.  It's hard to recognize what it is like to live in America until you have lived somewhere else, at least for me.

Italy is probably not even a very good example to use in comparison.  Countries that are still run by communism or lagging behind economically make this difference significantly more drastic.  But given the mere fact that one can still recognize the difference between America and anywhere else, says a lot.

I have never been a patriotic person, but it wasn't until I was living away from my home that I realized how lucky I am that I do live at home.

I really miss this guy

I went to the Uffizi the other day to spend some time with Leonardo's Annunciation before I gave a presentation on it in class.  The museum was crowded but I stayed in front of the painting for at least 15 minutes.  I was very focused and very serious.  As I was walking out of the museum, casually passing by Botticelli's, Michelangelo's and some of the other most important artwork from the Italian Renaissance, a little girl about 7 years old said, "wow, thank god that's over!"  It definitely shot my emotions to hell, but it was the funniest goddamn thing I have heard in a long time!

"Picasso is Spanish-me too.  Picasso is a painter-me too.  Picasso is a Communist-me neither."

Part of an email that I wrote to my parents:

"Sometimes, at night, when I lay in bed, I have trouble falling asleep because I begin to fret that my arteries are clogged.  I haven’t worked out in ages and all I do is eat…SO, if you want to spare me from my fast-approaching heart attack, I would be forever indebted to you if you could send me a pair of shorts and my running shoes."

nosh vamosh

It's been a while...

I have been traveling a lot so I haven't had the chance to update this thang as much as I'd like.  Lots of fun stuff to report, though.

Went to Spain last weekend to visit Katie, had a great time.  Madrid:  excellent graffiti.  Went to a fantastic Picasso exhibit (I got some ideas for possible thesis topics), did a lot of jumping, learned about "no-no bags," and drank Kalimocho (red wine and coke).  Oh, and flying to Madrid, the captain called the airplane an "airbus!"  I loved that, of course.

I got an internship here in Florence!  I will be interning at the SUF art gallery for the semester.  I have been assigned to work on an exhibit that will consist of a collection of photographs taken by the former fashion photographer for United Colors of Benetton, Oliviero Toscani.  Toscani has recently been noted as a controversial artist because of his shift in subject matter from fashion to the documentation of negative social aspects in contemporary culture, such as people suffering from anorexia and AIDS.  Our gallery will be displaying a body of Toscani's photos of men on death row.  As of right now, I am doing research in order to write Toscani's biography for the exhibit, but hopefully I will be doing more hands-on work as we get nearer to the exhibition opening in early April.  I am so stoked about it!

What else...ah yes.  Congratulations to the Strange Bedfellows for kicking ass at Skidmore's "Comfest!"  When I was little I had an imaginary friend named Gupperman.