BIG IDEAS

Everytime I've visited Italy in the past year I become more and more aware of the difference between life here and back in Holland. I initially had the idea of including a project emphasizing these differences in my final Art Exhbition, taking photos of parallel situations in Rome and around Holland. This never really worked out, and I only ended up taking very few photos of subjects in Rome (Like this, this and this); most of which even required some over-editing due to my lack of practice with the dSLR which my cousin had leant to me. In any case, it was a good experience though for future reference.

I'd like to, over the coming years (or even in a few years), work on something bigger; putting together a multimedia project which could include short text extracts, accompanied by many formats of photos; ranging from ones just taken with mobiles to higher quality portraits, and sound recordings. The project would illustrate the three realities of life lead in Rome, London and the Randstad (as it'd be hard to pick one city in the Netherlands). I think I might start straight away with the recordings. Spending all my times in trains in Holland has convinced me that I should bring my MP3 player all with me all the time to record all the ridiculous repetitive conversations people have on their phones. The best ones are like one I came across the other day: This guy was heading to Amsterdam for some kind of dinner and he called about 5 people telling them exactly the same thing, phrased in the exact same way. I even remember it, despite the fact it happened 5 days ago. He was telling them to meet him at the station at 8:15 and that he'd booked a table in a Belgian restuarant for 6 people. He kept emphasizing that "Belgian food ought to be quite nice" which I found quite humorous because in my head all I see on a Belgian menu is Tartar... but then again I am a snobby medditerranean so what do I know? Anyway, the point being these convenient conversations would be SO good to sample; along with sounds of the city and whatnot (for example right now I can hear crickets really loudly and I don't think I've ever heard a single cricket in Holland...not that's very rapresnetative of anything other than the climate).

BLABLA.

For the real life now. I went to a family reunion yesterday, reunion that I attend yearly just to hang out with my Grandad's twin. She's 91 and has a sharper memory than anyone I know. She also regularly gives very touching speeches, speaking of detailed memories. It's absurd how she remembers dates of ANYTHING that ever happened. I look up to her infinitley... It warms my heart to know that all of the Feliciani brothers and sisters were big writers and speakers, so at least I know that I am possibly going down the right track. I also spoke to my cousin who suggested for me to read an italian magazine called "Internazionale" which is a collection of international articles collected and translated in italian. I'm thinking of getting a subscription so I can finally stop thinking with critical British mentality, due to my reading of solely the Economist and BBC articles, and broaden my horizons a little before getting to Uni.

That'll be all I guess. Today I'm being passed on my cousin's dSLR, and as soon as I get a lens I will be able to make my posts look more colourful... I realize these days no one actually reads through anything in an aspiring blog unless it looks appealing too.

CF

Ps; I'm currently immersed in the reading of "Cuba In Revolution" by Antoni Kapcia; and it turns out the revolution initially never had communist ideals, in fact they were very neglectful of the socialist party as they had strong ties with Baptista. Crazy stuff.