Ishmael

Look korrea, from what he writes I get the feeling that Fiquata has never been to the States, let alone to Olympia, nor "in those years" when, according to him, there were "very few" cities like that. So you see, his judgment is worth as much as what you find around wherever you go, not to mention "questioning the objective." The "angry feminist from Harlem," then, is straight out of a textbook (Fiquata, evidently, has learned everything he knows from "Tex").

Francis, I wanted to ask you something: is it really you who writes or has someone stolen your password? Because a collection as comprehensive of idiocy in a single person is hard to come by; I think it has happened maybe twice in the entire history of humanity.

Francis, I wanted to ask you something: just how good are you?

A question for ajeje: so do you think the theory of relativity isn't brilliant? Or do you want to tell me that you've understood it?

I only found the courage to read this dense page today (not even all of it), and, umm, I must say that in the end I would give a little bit of reason to Basentini. I mean: every field has its experts and every field can (and must) be analyzed (and criticized) according to a method that we call scientific (which must be learned with effort and passion). Otherwise, we discuss tastes, and there is really no point in discussing tastes, as we well know. However, we can have a conversation about tastes.
Well, I have a degree in architecture, and I almost always notice that the works of architecture, design objects, and the cities that appeal to me usually only appeal to other architects; almost never to "laypeople." This happens in any human domain: it’s just that there are fields that are more or less "popular," in the sense that few dare to question the word of a lawyer, for example, or a structural engineer. While anyone feels fully competent to express a judgment on a building, a painting, a piece of music. Forgetting—or not knowing—that even in the artistic field there are well-defined skills and precise rules: it’s not like tomorrow someone will pop up claiming that Keith Haring was the greatest painter who ever existed (even though, among certain age groups, he is likely better known than Van Gogh).
However: this doesn’t mean that, as I said earlier, we can’t *converse*, even passionately, about the feelings that a work gives us. Because in the end, it should not be forgotten that music, art, architecture, cinema (...) are not made solely for the use and consumption of the "experts," but are, nonetheless, cultural expressions of an entire population, and belong to the population. It’s true that a film (or a building) acclaimed by all critics as a "masterpiece" but that the public generally finds terrible usually ends up shaping the entire cinematic (architectural) production of the subsequent decades, even the more "popular" works (and thus, in the end, it is appreciated by all); it is also true, however, that often a work that is beloved by the public but snubbed by critics eventually gets re-evaluated "academically."
Jazz, for as little as I know, can be a good example: it is only in relatively recent years that it has been considered "cultured" music and appreciated by intellectuals. I am reminded, just to give an example, of Hermann Hesse who spoke very poorly of it in one of his books (Steppenwolf, I think). Today, no "cultured" writer would do that.
That said, what did I want to say? Ah yes: "Nice site."

s t u n n i n g

How nice! You check the box in the top right corner and the shit goes down the pipe, down down down into the sewer where our friendly buddy Maurizio lives.

Wow, what a movie! Beautiful beautiful beautiful.
I loved it to death back then (damn, was it really fifteen years ago?) but I’ve never rewatched it, and maybe that’s for the best.
Favorite scene: Bobby Peru "seducing" Lula.

I've always found them EXTREMELY BORING. Such a drag.

Justice, from afser to afser: look that you're about to come back, instead of wasting time on the computer, make sure to enjoy these last months (they're the best, trust me).