'Avatar' by James Cameron (USA/UK, 2009)

Only a 'visual genius' like James Cameron could entertain the biggest audience of the cinema history for almost three hours with a beautiful, poetic, cinematic and really touching metaphor about politics, genocide, pollution and endless greed: in fact, absolutely powerful and tragic topics but not popular at all, not able to upset a crowd. Until now.

Over and above the past (the genocide of Native American, to give an example...), if we talk only about the present, our present, it's happening right now in every corner of the world something very similar to what happens in the movie and we don't have a second planet that we can colonize, destroy, devastate. But 99% of people simply don't want to think about it, they refuse to consider or to believe it.

They refuse to consider that they're involved, in something like this. During the projection, I simply could not stop to think about Amazonia. It was impossible, for me.

Avatar is visually perfect, full of cinematic quotes - from Werner Herzog to Stanley Kubrick, from Clint Eastwood to Francis Ford Coppola, from Peter Jackson to Jean-Pierre Jeunet, from Mel Gibson to George Lucas, from John Boorman to Cameron itself, with his 'Alien's' saga chapter, and so on... - and it's a kind of movie that you have to watch for the first time on a big screen, definitely in 3D, in original version if possible.

Update: 
Have a look at the comic by The Oatmeal Avatar: How to choose a Banshee

Tags: Avatar, James Cameron, Directors, Amazonia, genocide, pollution, metaphors

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Cyber-message in a cyber-bottle, Feat. Robin Wright Penn

[Robin Wright Penn in Message in a Bottle (1999)]

To all people who usually don't think about it:

Being an expat is hard.
Speaking the whole time a foreign language is hard.
Living in a different culture is hard.

Be kind.
Because people from another countries are just like you.
They are better than how would you like to make them feel.

--

A tutte le persone che di solito non ci pensano:

Essere un expat è difficile.
Parlare tutto il tempo una lingua straniera è difficile.
Vivere in un'altra cultura è difficile.

Siate gentili.
Perché le persone che vengono da altri Paesi sono proprio come voi.
Sono persone migliori di come vorreste farle sentire.

Tags: Being an expat, Foreign language, Cultural differences, Vita da expat, Lingua straniera, Differenze culturali

Mood: Looking for Simplicity, Feat. Henri-Louis Bergson

L'homme devrait mettre autant d'ardeur à simplifier sa vie qu'il en met à la compliquer.

Henri-Louis Bergson [1859-1941]

This quote by French philosopher and essayist Henri-Louis Bergson says "People should put as much passion to simplify their life as they put to complicate it". 

It is a very interesting point of view and I know for sure that sometimes we feel so lost in our problems and in our thoughts, just like in this Black-and-White labyrinth, that we forget that for sure another way is possible too. Another solution. Another life.

To simplify is not that simple, of course, and takes time and practice.

But practice makes the master, after all.

Are you willing to semplifiy your life too?

How do you make your life more simple and easy-to-manage?

--

Questa citazione del filosofo e saggista francese Henri-Louis Bergson suona come "L'uomo dovrebbe tentare con altrettanto ardore di rendere la propria vita più semplice di quanto ne impieghi per renderla complicata". 

Si tratta di un punto di vista molto interessante e so per certo che a volte siamo talmente persi nei nostri problemi e nei nostri pensieri, proprio come in questo labirinto in bianco e nero, che ci dimentichiamo che c'è sicuramente un'altra via possibile. Un'altra soluzione. Un'altra vita.

Naturalmente non è così semplice rendere le cose semplici, e richiede tempo ed esercizio. 

Ma dopo tutto è l'esercizio che porta alla perfezione.

Desiderate anche voi semplificare la vostra vita?

Come rendete la vostra vita più semplice e facile da gestire?

Tags: Henri Bergson, Simplicity, Philosophy, Literature, Quotes, Semplicità, Filosofia, Letteratura, Citazioni

Mood: No Regrets - Part II, Feat. Henry David Thoreau

Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.

Henry David Thoreau [1817-1862]

Personally I consider Henry David Thoreau's prose still amazingly modern, vibrating and fresh.

After almost 150 years I can still find myself in his words, in his sentences, in his desire for a more authentic life.

And yet it's not so easy to make the most of your own regrets. 

People should be deeply honest with themselves, in order to achieve it.

Are you able to do it?

--

Traete il meglio dai vostri rimorsi, non soffocate mai la vostra tristezza. Prendetevene cura e apprezzatela, invece, fino a che diventerà una fonte di interesse a sé stante. Avere dei grandi rimorsi significa vivere di nuovo.

Henry David Thoreau [1817-1862]

Considero la prosa di Henry David Thoreau ancora incredibilmente moderna, vibrante e fresca.  Dopo quasi centocinquant'anni posso ancora ritrovarmi nelle sue parole, nelle sue frasi, nel suo desiderio di una vita più autentica.

Eppure non è così facile trarre il meglio dai propri rimorsi.

Le persone dovrebbero essere profondamente oneste con se stesse, per poterci riuscire.

Ne siete in grado?

Previous post:
Mood: No Regrets - Part I, Feat. Katharine Hepburn

Tags: Henry David Thoreau, Literature, Letteratura, Regrets, Rimorsi, People, Persone, Quotes, Citazioni

Mood: No Regrets - Part I, Feat. Katharine Hepburn

I have many regrets, and I'm sure everyone does. 

The stupid things you do, you regret... if you have any sense, and if you don't regret them, maybe you're stupid.

Katharine Houghton Hepburn [1907-2003]

We are all afraid of something.
We are afraid of making mistakes. We are afraid of being wrong. We are afraid of being hurt. We are just afraid and we avoid doing things in order to play it safe. To be sure. To not being hurt.

[Katharine Hepburn in her twenties...
What a gal!]

I am not sure that this is the best solution, though. I prefer to feel sorry because I did something and I did try, instead of not doing anything because I am afraid of making a fool of myself.

What about you?

Do you agree with Katharine Hepburn?

--

Ho molti rimorsi e sono sicura che tutti ne hanno. 

Se hai fatto delle cose stupide, hai dei rimorsi. Se sei intelligente e non hai rimorsi, può darsi che tu sia stupido... 

Katharine Houghton Hepburn [1907-2003]

Abbiamo tutti paura di qualcosa.
Abbiamo paura di sbagliare. Abbiamo paura di avere torto. Abbiamo paura di venire feriti. Abbiamo solamente paura ed evitiamo di fare qualcosa per poter andare sul sicuro. Per essere sicuri. Per non venir feriti.

Non sono sicura che questa sia la soluzione migliore, però. Preferisco essere dispiaciuta per aver fatto qualcosa e per aver tentato, piuttosto che non fare nulla perché ho paura di rendermi ridicola.

Voi che ne pensate?

Siete d'accordo con Katharine Hepburn?

Tags: Katharine Hepburn, Cinema, Regrets, Rimorsi, People, Persone, Quotes, Citazioni, Fear, Paura

Loneliness is... the difference between "allein" and "einsam", like the Germans say

It is so strange, comfortable, frightening, hard, and yet at the same time incredibly beautiful to be completely alone, with my thoughts.

This can be expressed very effectively in German too, because you can use two different adjectives for stating that you are "alone" or "lonely": "allein" and "einsam".

[Being alone with my thoughts feels like...
Purple Haze by Kevin Walker]

If you are allein (alone, in English), you are alone but you are happy with it and you are enjoying it, somehow.
If you are einsam (lonely, in English), you are feeling lonely and you are missing someone and/or someone. You are definitely not happy with it.

My mother tongue, Italian, works in another way.

Waiting for home-made Vegan Frushi...

I really enjoy eating sushi, or vegetarian maki, to be more precise, like Kappa Maki, Avocado Maki, Hoso Maki, and so on.

They are healthy, delicious, nutritious, vegan, and easy to prepare.

Ingredients are just rice, Nori seaweed, a little bit of sesame and slices of cucumber, avocado, carrots, pumpkin, or other vegetables. As much wasabi and ginger as you want, but no soy sauce for me, since it's often not gluten-free and I suffer from celiac disease.

In Berlin, it's very easy and convenient to go out for having sushi in some Thai or Chinese or Japanese restaurants, but what about Frushi?
Frushi is another kind of maki, prepared by using slices of fruits instead of slices of vegetables.

I haven't seen Frushi in any Berlin restaurants so far, beside of Avocado Maki, so I should learn how to prepare it by myself.

But meanwhile... I'm looking for this elegant Purple Weking rice cooker. If you should see it somewhere, please let me know!

Do you like Sushi too?
Do you prefer Sushi or Sashimi?

Tags: Rice cooker, Weking, Frushi, Sushi, Vegan, Purple shopping, Maki

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On Air: Like a Rolling Stone

No, you can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
And if you try sometime you find
You get what you need...

The Rolling Stones, You Can't Always Get What You Want
(Let It Bleed, 1969)

[Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg
at the time of their relationship, 1969]

You can't always get what you want, the Rolling Stones say. Of course not. Nobody can have it all.

But if you really want something, fight for it and try to get it. Really try. Maybe you can lose, but maybe not. If you don't try, you are not going to know it.

You can think that it's easy to say something like that for me, right? We are not talking about me, after all... Well, we are also talking about me, of course.

I am trying to learn German and change my life. It's not easy, but I want it and I am trying.

What is your biggest dream?

Are you trying to achieve it?

--

Non puoi sempre ottenere quello che desideri, cantano i Rolling Stones. Certo che no: nessuno può ottenere sempre tutto.

Ma se desideri davvero qualcosa, lotta per ottenerlo e provaci. Provaci davvero. Magari perderai, ma magari no. E se non provi, non avrai modo di scoprirlo.

Stai pensando proprio ora che è facile per me parlare così, giusto? Non stiamo parlando di me, dopo tutto. Beh, stiamo parlando anche di me, naturalmente.

Sto cercando di imparare il tedesco e di cambiare la mia vita. Non è facile, ma voglio farlo e ci sto provando.

Qual è il tuo sogno più grande?

Stai cercando di realizzarlo?

Tags: The Rolling Stones, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Let It Bleed, Lyrics, Testi, Music, Musica, Dreams, Sogni

Mood: A New Beginning, Feat. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Martin Luther King, Jr.]

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Martin Luther King, Jr. [1929-1968]

This is a brand-new beginning, not only for this blog, but also for me.

Wish me good luck, please.

Tags: Martin Luther King Jr., Challenge, Quotes