alessioIRIDE

Surely, someone is profiting from our misfortunes, and it would certainly be better to live it rather than endure it, but can you have the drunk wife and the full barrel? I don’t know. It would certainly be nice to be able to express what we receive, and it’s definitely impossible to express oneself in Naples, but the solution? Let's find a solution. But instead, it’s not even sought after, and this is a factor of this diversity (I refer to the lazy and indifferent nature of the Neapolitan) that I like the most. In short, the fact that someone has exploited us is such a deeply rooted and lived experience that we certainly know that if one evil is removed, another arises. I think of Horkheimer when he says he aligns with Schopenhauer, according to whom true good is never reached in this reality. It’s precisely that sense of abandonment, of decline, that fascinates me about Naples... a city that has been slowly dying since the 1600s, that is decaying, and the fact that the Neapolitan has internalized this perspective, understanding that there is no brake to all of this, surprises me. It makes me think that this violence, to which we are subjected every single day, has its negative aspects (physically negative, because people die in Naples... we’re all a bit like Tommasini in a violent life), but it has so many positive aspects that are the beauty and what I appreciate about this place.

Carlo, you have to understand that where I live, when there was the amnesty, they set off fireworks for two months, and just think that every evening they shoot something off just to signal that the drugs have arrived, fresh from the day. Naples is a romantic place, and by romantic, I don't mean mushy, but contradictory, violent, passionate. I don’t know, I’ve spent almost my entire life hating Naples and the Neapolitans only to realize that I am profoundly Neapolitan, that I am (maybe it’s my Marxist upbringing speaking) an integral part of the context in which I live... it’s social conditions that determine consciousness, not the other way around. Lately, I experience all the discomforts that Naples brings me as necessary conditions, as installments to pay, as the price to pay for living in such an original and unique place. My friends think I’m crazy, and probably in a month I’ll start hating it again, but for now, no. Let’s say it: 90% of the everyday life of a Neapolitan, elsewhere, would rightly be considered either uncivilized or illegal. This thing, until recently, made me nauseous, but not anymore. It feels good, it’s cool. I live in a place where everything is the opposite of everything. I live in an original way in an original place... and when my time comes, I’ll leave, but outside of Italy. In Italy, I could only live here. In some ways, I don’t even feel Italian. I feel Neapolitan.

Well Carlo, the acoustics seem good to me... it's not the first time I've been there and I always enjoy it. I heard everything well... actually, the positive note of the evening was precisely the sounds and those with me agree. That, after trying in inhumane conditions, we are all a bit deaf is true, but I couldn't quantify it. The music used to bother me too, but when they played Pavement I felt good... it only takes little things and I don't think the credit was solely due to the beer. The illegal parking attendants are like pigeons: they serve no purpose and only create annoyance. Of course, it takes guts, but I would never trade Naples and its parking attendants for the desolate neural wastelands of other parts of Italy. We are peculiar people, living in peculiar conditions. We are "Divers_"

Damn, you're making me age terribly. Soon you'll become a Juventus fan. Hold yourself back! :)

But Vomero is not meant to be driven up... you walk or, at most, you go and leave the car in the driveways that don't require towing... in true Neapolitan style. There are a couple of strategic spots that are perfect. We need to organize a Neapolitan demeeting, maybe not in Vomero and definitely not with the car :)

So, you have to tell me who you are? I was there too, I was with my better half... after the concert, we both declared in unison, "the most boring and pretentious band we've seen in a few years." They’re fighting for the pole position with Patti Smith in acoustic. The exception, they are the exception among Dorella's groups. oVo live were an experience, and I bought the record, later relegated to the shelf of "never listen to again." I saw the Ronin in London, beautiful and captivating. I got the record, listened to it, and gifted it. Now it lies in a living room of an apartment in Battersea Park waiting for someone to steal it and put it back in place. With the Bachi, I didn't even entertain the idea of buying it for a second. True, it has been raining for months, and you’re not the only one getting 71 euro fines in Naples for illegal parking… Vomero is all about no parking zones. If I had known earlier, we could have shared a beer, and it’s not true that the Cellar is such a dump... I actually like it, I go there with pleasure. I’ll put it among my favorites. Bye

I liked the review, especially for the clever tactic of the non-vote. I find it right not to vote for something that struck you and then no longer does... it's part of growing up. Of course, it would be better not to grow up, but there's nothing you can do about it. And let’s say it once and for all. The vote itself doesn't count for anything; what matters is what's written next to it. Fortunately, I have never read the book. Of the Italians in this "scene," I've only read "Treno di panna," which has long remained at the top of my list of the ugliest books I've ever read. I'm a refined reader: I only read about people who have passed on, preferably by suicide. If I had a fourteen-year-old son, hoping I never have such a ball and chain, I would make him read "La casa in collina," a book that at that age helped me discover a friend, my best friend... you’re never too young for anything. If anything, you can be too old.

Feltrinelli bores me; it must be the location it's in... that part of the city with which I don't have the best relationship... and it's pricey. I prefer other areas, other shops. Super, check the mail! Among the favorites, screw Coldplay and especially Paltrow... would that the heavens allow.

Bartle, I respond without any pretense of justifying myself. That my comment is out of place on a review site is beyond doubt, but it seems to me that there have never been any boundaries respected here, nor is there any regard for manners; rather, we find ourselves in a non-place. That it is in poor taste after what has happened is certain, but similar things (with this, I do not mean to lessen my guilt, as I do not believe there is any, or to diminish the event) have always happened and, unfortunately, will always happen. To say this lightly and support it is no. I know very well what it means to die of cancer; I know very well what the pains and torments are, and I know very well how events almost always befall those who do not deserve them. What I meant to say and what I still maintain is that Fallaci, for what she was and for what she represents, has not yet settled her debt with karma. From your point of view, this may be a narrow-minded thought, and you are absolutely right to express what you think, but it was meant to be nothing more than a narrow-minded comment. With this, I am not justifying myself; I simply expressed my opinion, which you may not like, but it remains my opinion nonetheless.

Larrok, in our family, we have a bottle of wine that's been stored since, I believe, '96... keep in mind that I don't like wine, but for once I will make an exception ;)