Cose Fantastiche

There are times when I am given evidence, that yes I really am Italian. This does not mean Italian-American, which has its own weird culture I was never exposed to. All of my interaction with my relatives has actually been in Italy, so really I'm just straight up Italy Italian. The effect is probably not obvious to people, even those who know me really well, and sometimes I'm criticized for being 'pretentious'. For the record, I'm not for two reasons 1. I like stereotypically populist sorts of things as well as stereotypically elitist things, and 2. I'm European, deal with it. Not speaking Italian fluently for a long time has made it difficult at times for me to own my identity, but it is half of the picture of who I am and it has partially defined my lifestyle, food palate, fashion sense, and even music taste. Observe below.

My friend Marina was on my computer the other day watching stuff related to King Arthur because she's just weird and awesome like that. Today in my Youtube history I found what she was looking at: 'King Arthur' sung by Valerie Dore, which part of an italo-disco Arthurian concept album in the 80s. As I watched this in wonder I felt my Italian-sense tingling.



And then I watched "Lancelot" which is a huge stadio show, which means that at one point there were thousands of Italians out there capable of appreciating the majesty that is this song. And the only thing cuter than the happily waving people in the crowd are the comments of people musing on Youtube in Italian about all their nostalgic flashbacks brought on by this song "Ahh che bei ricordi!"



The world is a changed changed place due to the Italians that made italo-disco like this possible. Yes, its ridiculous, and yes, its amazing something like this not only existed but had a real following. It's times like these when I'm seriously proud to be Italian. Read More......

If You Still Need an Idol

Lately I've been watching tons of old music videos for classics like Eurythmics, Siousxie, basically anything with my female role models of style and badassery. there is something solidifying about watching those videos, maybe there is something more real about seeing them in person, with hair and makeup and clothes that other youth as myself must have admired, but most of all that element of uniqueness and spunk that sets them apart from the rest of the world. It lets me know I'm not the only one who wants to live life on my terms, 'Up Bondage Up Yours.' I'm just not famous (yet).

I don't know where this came from, but I found this music video of women rock legends to the music of one of my favorite punk bands X-Ray Spex, "The Day the World Turned Dayglo." If you don't have a chickrock idol yet, select one now:



And if you want to see the actual video, and one of my dear idols Poly Styrene (look for the one with braces), here it is:

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