Stanlio

DeRank : 31,83 • DeAge™ : 4281 days

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  • Here since 13 november 2013
Mario Tessuto: Lisa dagli occhi blu
Vinile I have it ★★★★★
It was a real craze of those years...
Martin Amis: L'informazione
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
Richard Tull and Gwyn Barry are friends. They are forty years old, were classmates at Oxford, and both became writers.
But Gwyn is a successful writer, while Richard is a failure.
Yet he had started off better than his friend; he had published a book that was well received by critics and was considered a promise.
Now he survives on reviews and is forced to endure increasingly monumental biographies of lesser poets.
Richard also feeds on hatred: he hates his friend, living in envy of his success.
He seeks not just revenge but wants to elevate revenge to a form of art, humiliating Gwyn on the same ground where he himself was humiliated. (cit. Einaudi)
Martin Amis: Il treno della notte
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
Jennifer was beautiful, intelligent, and lucky.
And she killed herself.
Why?
The most difficult case for detective Mike Hoolihan.
Detective Mike Hoolihan has a trucker’s bulky physique, bleached blonde hair, and a hoarse voice from too much smoking.
Detective Mike is a woman.
A fat, ugly woman, a former alcoholic.
A childhood friend, Jennifer, shot herself three times with a .22 caliber in the mouth.
Jennifer was stunning, intelligent, professionally accomplished, and romantically happy.
Her father, a big shot in the police, doesn’t believe in suicide and gives Mike a free hand. (cit. Einaudi)
Martin Amis: Altra gente
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
Mary remembers nothing anymore.
She doesn’t even remember her own name, which almost certainly isn’t Mary.
But she doesn’t recall more trivial things, things like clouds, and she thinks they are fat creatures with a dreamy air, in perpetual adoration of the sun.
"When you forget the past, the present becomes unforgettable," and indeed for Mary everything is an enigma and a discovery.
Beyond objects and people, she must relearn emotions and feelings from scratch, especially those that others have towards her for reasons that elude her.
And she discovers that she can hurt people, and attract wickedness, as if in a past life she herself had been perverse and evil. (quoted from Einaudi)
Martin Amis: Cattive acque
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
All nine stories narrate of inverted or science-fictional worlds. It’s the case of the first one, where fabulously wealthy poets fly business class from Europe to Los Angeles, land of powerful poetic majors that shower them with money and put at their service legions of collaborators. Meanwhile, the screenwriters, tipsy and unrecognized, find themselves at night in the city’s underbelly to hold clandestine readings of their works. In a not-so-distant future – hypothesizes another story – the world could be predominantly populated by homosexuals, while heterosexuals, prideful to the point of arrogance, would increasingly choose to come out. In short, turned upside down worlds... (cit. Einaudi)
Martin Amis: Esperienza
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
Like a tightrope walker facing the greatest challenge, Martin Amis stretches the rope between experience and memory and begins his walk into the void. His movements narrate the story of a life. "Why should I tell the story of my life? I know what it takes to make a good tale, and life is almost entirely lacking: structure and balance, form, completeness, measure." Yet, between 1994 and 1995, something happened; "big events" transformed the novelist and short story writer into the author of an original, eccentric autobiography. (quoted from Einaudi)
Mauro Covacich: A perdifiato
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
Dario Rensich finished sixth in the New York marathon.
A flattering result, just enough to become a respected coach for the Federation, which sends him to Hungary with the task of preparing a group of young middle-distance runners for the marathon, determined to seize the opportunity to stand out. A torturous process for the adoption of Fiona, the little girl that he and his wife Maura are "waiting for," seems to have reached its final stages just as Dario departs for Szeged, the town on the banks of the Danube.
The dying river, polluted by cyanide, accompanies the training of the seven ambitious eighteen-year-olds... (cit. einaudi.it)

"A perdifiato delivers, with a syncopated and courageous prose,
in constant need of oxygen,
the mad sprint of man towards disaster."

(from la Repubblica)
Mauro Covacich: Fiona
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★
- ... the mind of a young father who dreams of love and death with the feverish rhythm of a countdown.

- The entire novel seems to be marked by the ticking of a final conflagration, the muted beat of an epilogue not easily defused.
However, from the very first pages, a woman with red hair appears.
No one knows who she is, no one knows what she wants.
Perhaps managing to get close to her means managing to save oneself. (cit. einaudi.it)
Max Gazzè: La favola di Adamo ed Eva
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
The lyrics are written by Max together with his brother Francesco Gazzè, poet and lyricist.
Max Gazzè: Ognuno Fa Quello Che Gli Pare?
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
Inevitably, this fourth chapter also confirms the good things that have been said previously about its original ability to synthesize a pop language that draws (unconsciously?) from Battiato and the typical ferment of the Roman singer-songwriter scene, which is now more nuanced than ever.

And “Ognuno fa quello che gli pare?” seems to have been conceived by seeking nuances rather than a conceptual line that perhaps characterized, more or less, the previous albums.
(cit. rockit.it)
Michael Crichton: Il terminale uomo
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★
Harry Benson is a man who suffers from psychomotor epilepsy, which often makes him violent towards others. After committing acts of violence due to his fits of rage, he experiences total amnesia that erases all memories of his actions. For this reason, he will become the first candidate for an experimental surgical procedure that involves the insertion of a minicomputer into the brain...

The film of the same name, directed by Mike Hodges and starring George Segal, was adapted from the book published in '72 and released in '74.
Michael Crichton: Mangiatori di morte
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★
- Original title "Death Eaters: the manuscript of Ahmad ibn Fadlan on his experiences with the Vikings in 922"
- The novel, narrated in the first person, is set in the 10th century: the Caliph of Baghdad sends, as punishment to rid himself of him, the dignitary Ahmad ibn Fadlan to the distant King of the Bulgars in order to instruct him on the Islamic religion.
Ibn Fadlan begins the journey with a party consisting of an unspecified number of men.
Along the way, they come into contact with some Turkish tribes known as Oghuz, whose customs and traditions are described in great detail by the narrator, with the funeral rites explained in detail...
- The book was adapted into the 1999 film The 13th Warrior directed by John McTiernan, starring Antonio Banderas and Omar Sharif. (wikipedia)
Michael Crichton: Congo
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★
June 1979, in the rainforests of the northeastern region of the Congo Basin, where the forest meets the Virunga volcanoes at the edge of the Great Rift Valley, a secret U.S. geological expedition explores rivers and streams in search of alluvial diamond deposits, particularly a type of diamond that, due to its impurities, was colored blue and was used for its optical properties in a laser pointer. (wikipedia)

In 1995, this led to the film "Congo," directed by Frank Wilson Marshall.
Michael Crichton: Sfera
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★
It starts like a science fiction story but quickly transforms into a psychological thriller that delves into the subconscious.

From the novel, the 1998 film of the same name was made, directed by Barry Levinson and featuring Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sharon Stone.
Michael Crichton: Jurassic Park
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
Following the success of the novel, in 1993 the blockbuster film of the same name was released (but why do I even need to mention that...), directed by Steven Spielberg and featuring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Dinosaurs that appear in the story:

Apatosaurus (in some versions Camarasaurus)
Cearadactylus
Dilophosaurus
Euoplocephalus
Hadrosaurus
Hypsilophodon
Maiasaura
Meganeura
Microceratops (in some versions Callovosaurus)
Othnielia
Procompsognathus
Styracosaurus
Stegosaurus
Triceratops
Tyrannosaurus
Velociraptor
Michael Crichton: Sol levante
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
The Japanese multinational "Nakamoto" is organizing a party to inaugurate its new skyscraper in Los Angeles, where personalities from the worlds of politics and finance are invited, but the celebration is disrupted by the discovery of a woman's corpse lying on the boardroom table of the company.

The book was adapted into a film of the same name, directed by Philip Kaufman in '93, starring Sean Connery, Wesley Snipes, Harvey Keitel, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and Tia Carrere.
Michael Crichton: Rivelazioni
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★
Tom Sanders is a prominent executive at "Digicom," a company operating in the technology sector and on the verge of merging with another major corporation. Tom wakes up cheerful because he knows he will be promoted following that merger, but upon reaching the office, he begins to hear rumors that he has been passed over, and his boss's lawyer subtly indicates that the rumors hold some truth. When he arrives in his boss's office, he discovers that he has indeed been overshadowed by a very attractive executive with whom he had an intense relationship several years earlier.

The book was turned into the eponymous film starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore, directed by Barry Levinson in '94.
Michael Crichton: Punto critico
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★
Flight 545 of Transpacific Airlines experienced severe turbulence in the sky, or so reported the pilot, and was forced to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles due to three fatalities and numerous injuries. The reasons for the incident are unknown. The aircraft is a N-22 from Norton Aircraft, a model that had never caused serious issues for engineers, and the pilot had a significant number of flight hours under his belt, making the likelihood of human error improbable. (wikipedia)
Michael Ende: La storia infinita
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
Bastiano Baldassarre Bucci is a ten or eleven-year-old boy who, after his mother's death, can no longer communicate with his father and has withdrawn into himself, finding refuge in reading and fantastic stories. At school, he is a solitary type who is teased and bullied by his classmates. One day, fleeing yet another persecution, he finds shelter in the antique bookstore of Mr. Carlo Corrado Coriandoli. The man was reading a mysterious book titled La storia infinita. Bastiano is immediately drawn to the tome, as he has always wanted to read a never-ending story, so when the store's phone rings and Mr. Coriandoli leaves the room, he steals the book and flees to the attic of his school. Here, he begins to read La storia infinita. (wiki)
Michail Bulgakov: Il Maestro e Margherita
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
"The Devil is the most striking character in Bulgakov's great posthumous novel. He appears one morning before two citizens, one of whom is enumerating the proofs of God's existence. The newcomer doesn’t share this opinion... But there’s much more: he was also present at the second interrogation of Jesus by Pontius Pilate and provides a detailed account in a chapter that is perhaps the most astonishing in the book... Shortly thereafter, the demon performs at the Variety Theatre in front of a huge audience... A novel-poem, or if you will, a show in which many characters intervene, a book where an almost cruel realism merges or mixes with the highest of possible themes: that of the Passion." Eugenio Montale
Michail Bulgakov: Cuore di cane
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
« Uuuuhhh!!!
Look at me, I'm dying.
The storm howls the de profundis at the door and I howl along with it.
It's done, I'm done for!
A delinquent in a dirty cap, the cook from the staff canteen at the Central Council of National Economy, dumped boiling water on me and burned my left side.
What a scoundrel!
And he’s a proletarian too! »
(Chapter I)
Midnight Oil: Diesel and Dust
Nastro Audio I have it ★★★
Wikipedia

In Italian:
Diesel and Dust is the eighth studio album by the band Midnight Oil

In all other languages, it is the sixth...
Miguel de Cervantes: Don Chisciotte della Mancia
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
"Don Quixote is the wager of a genius, with two characters so complex and yet so free that they do not know until the end where they are headed, where their confused journey will take them, and above all the play of their relationships."

- Vittorio Bodini -
We believe that our memories coincide with those of those we have loved, we believe we have lived the same experience, but it is an illusion. (from Adelphi)
Milan Kundera: L’identità
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
There are situations in which, for a moment, we do not recognize who is next to us, where the identity of the other fades away, while, in reflection, we doubt our own. (from Adelphi)
Milan Kundera: La lentezza
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
- suddenly, it will become clear to us that to speak of slowness means to speak of memory
- and to speak of memory means to speak of everything
(from Adelphi)
Milan Kundera: Il libro del riso e dell’oblio
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
As a character in the novel says: "Man's struggle against power is the struggle of memory against oblivion..."
Milan Kundera: Il valzer degli addii
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
In a quaint spa town with a démodé charm, eight characters find themselves caught up in an ever more dizzying waltz: a lovely nurse; a talented gynecologist; a wealthy American (part saint and part womanizer); a famous trumpet player; a former political prisoner, victim of purges, and about to leave his country... (from Adelphi)
Milan Kundera: Amori ridicoli
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
The world, as it appears with an air of serious composure, is happily falling apart before our eyes, shattered by the dual force of eros and mystification. (from Adelphi)
Tomáš, Teresa, Sabina, Franz exist for us immediately, after just a few touches, with an irreducible and almost painful concreteness. (Adelphi)
Mordecai Richler: Solomon Gursky è stato qui
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
The story indeed spans two centuries, two shores of the Atlantic, and five generations of a Jewish dynasty in which everything is immense: vitality, wealth, luxury, an inclination toward pleasure in every form. But no great family is without blemish, and the blemish of the Gursky family is named Solomon... (from Adelphi)
Mordecai Richler: Quest’anno a Gerusalemme
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
As a child, sixty years before becoming Barney Panofsky, Mordecai Richler was absolutely forbidden from turning the lights on or off, answering the phone, or listening to the radio on Saturdays. In the days leading up to Yom Kippur, he was forced to swing a chicken over his head to transfer the sins of the past year onto the terrified animal. At thirteen, having become an apikoros, a heretic, he converted to the secular, socialist, and Zionist faith of Habonim, the Builders, eager to land in Palestine as soon as possible and establish a Jewish state. In the end, Richler would not emigrate to the Promised Land. He would visit it twice, in 1962 and 1992... (from Adelphi)
Mordecai Richler: Il mio biliardo
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
What do Paul Newman, the Queen Mother of England, and the sleepless people willing to watch on television, until dawn, the silent evolutions of colored balls on a full-screen green table have in common?
Simple: a passion, the same one that Mordecai Richler has always had and that he has decided to narrate in this book, his last.
Convinced that billiards is a game too serious to be left to sports journalists... (from Adelphi)
Mordecai Richler: La versione di Barney
Cartaceo I have it ★★★★★
Barney talks to us about his three wives – an existentialist poet, a billionaire with robust appetites and an unstoppable chatter, and Miriam, the beloved Miriam, who has just left him.
He shares his passions, like commenting on the newspapers or listening to Miriam on the radio at night.
He describes his entertainments, such as imagining Terry McIver struggling in a shark-infested sea, or throwing galoshes at the forward of his hockey team who has just missed a goal. (from Adelphi)
  • perfect element
    22 sep 17
    It's on the list of books I need to read. Wonderful film.
  • Stanlio
    22 sep 17
    It's on the list of movies I need to watch. Wonderful book.
Moreno Veloso + 2: Music Typewriter
CD Audio I have it ★★★★★
Unlike his father Caetano, Moreno embraces the tropical tradition yet colors and fills it with electronic sounds, noises, and dissonant arrangements that create stunning contrasts with the warmth of his voice.

"Music typewriter" is a little masterpiece full of fragile and subtle songs that will make you get up from wherever you are relaxing, be it on a beach or in a city bar.

Samba, bossa nova, Latin American ballads, rhythm 'n' blues, jazz, drum 'n' bass, funk, loops, and noise converge into a single sound that evokes and shakes both firmness and sweetness. (cit. mescalina.it)
"Zen has no doors.
The words of Buddha are meant to enlighten others.
Therefore, Zen must be without doors."

Thus wrote Mumon (1183-1260) introducing a collection of koans dedicated to a group of monks who were his students.

(cit. Adelphi)