I'm gonna make it rain, so ring the bell

Be a fighter, backbone, desire
Complicated and it stings, but we both know what it means
And it's time to get real and inspired

Cause agony brings no reward

Don't be a casualty

Cut the cord

(Freedom, la la la la)
(Freedom, follow me)
(Freedom, la la la la)
(Freedom) Cut it!
(Freedom, la la la la)
(Freedom, follow me)
(Freedom, la la la la)
(Freedom)

Let me tell you, I'm vicious
Not pass-aggressive
I got my finger on my pulse, staring straight into a hole and I get it
And I'm a savage
It's automatic
I got a way of making noise, the power to destroy with no static

Cause victory is all you need
So cultivate and plant the seed
Hold your breath and count to ten, just count to ten

I'm gonna make it rain, so ring the bell
I know it all too well
Switchblade on the edge of your wrist
Can I get a witness? (Witness)
Cause agony brings no reward
For one more hit and one last score
Don't be a casualty, cut the cord

(Freedom, la la la la)
(Freedom, follow me) Cut the cord
(Freedom, la la la la)
(Freedom)

You gotta feel courage
Embrace possession
If it was easier to shatter everything that ever mattered
But it's not, because it's your obsession
Be a fighter, backbone, desire
Complicated and it stings, but we both know what it means
And it's time to get real and inspired

Cause victory is all you need
So cultivate and plant the seed
Hold your breath and count to ten, just count to ten, just count to ten

I'm gonna make it rain, so ring the bell
I know it all too well
Switchblade on the edge of your wrist
Can I get a witness? (Witness)
Cause agony brings no reward
For one more hit and one last score
Don't be a casualty, cut the cord

Cut it
Cut it

Cause victory is all you need
So cultivate and plant the seed
Hold your breath and count to ten, just count to ten

I'm gonna make it rain, so ring the bell
I know it all too well
Switchblade on the edge of your wrist
Can I get a witness? (Witness)
Cause agony brings no reward
For one more hit and one last score
Don't be a casualty, cut the cord
Don't be a casualty, cut the cord

(Freedom, la la la la)
(Freedom, follow me) Cut the cord
(Freedom, la la la la)
(Freedom, follow me, me, me)

Let Me Bring You Down 33

Different views

Summer was as cold as Winter Solstice,
you morons!!!

I thought my demons were my friends

Sweet bitter words
Unlike nothing I have heard
Sing along mocking bird
You don't affect me

"Coming Undone"

Keep holding on
When my brain's tickin' like a bomb
Guess the black thoughts have come Again to get me
Sweet bitter words
Unlike nothing I have heard
Sing along mocking bird
You don't affect me

That's right
Deliverance of my heart
Please strike
Be deliberate

[Chorus]
Wait
I'm coming undone
Irate
I'm coming undone
Too late
I'm coming undone
One looks so strong
So delicate
Wait
I'm starting to suffocate
And soon I anticipate
I'm coming undone
One looks so strong
So delicate

Choke choke again
I thought my demons were my friends
Getting me in the end
They're out to get me
Since I was young
I've tasted sorrow on my tongue
And this sweet sugar gun
Does not protect me

That's right
Trigger between my eyes
Please strike
Make it quick now

[Chorus]

I'm trying to hold it together
Head is lighter than a feather
Looks like I'm not getting better
Not getting better

[Chorus]

Vivi!

Li senti questi scricchiolii nel buio, mentre sei stesa nel letto e ti nascondi sotto le coperte? Sono le tue paure che vengono a farti compagnia. Strisciano fuori dagli angoli della tua mente, camminano spavalde davanti al tuo viso, si radunano tutte intorno a te. Sei tu che le rendi forti, sei tu la loro madre e loro sono affezionate a te. E questo perche' hai rifiutato di camminare nella luce del sole, perche' non hai voluto vivere apertamente le tue emozioni e soprattutto i tuoi sentimenti. Cio' che le altre persone pensavano e' stata la barriera che ti ha fermata: che fosse il loro giudizio di te, o il tuo di loro, il risultato e' stato lo stesso. Vivi la tua gioia, prima che gli anni te la rubino, e non ti curare di chi non puo' capire. Perche' alla fin fine, che cosa sono loro per te?

I'm dead already

Opening his way through the Doors of Iron

Defeating the Guardians of the Wall of Shadows

Walking beyond the Well of Blood

Come is the Warrior of the Dreams, the warrior-monk

To face the Black Throne, upon which seated

the Lord of Sorrow is.

Red of blood the sword is, pitch black the castle hall is.

Lone witness is the Moon-pouring her light

at the feet of the contenders.

>>I'm the Warrior of the Dreams, the warrior-monk

I'm an ideal, and you're dead already. I don't need to slaughter you.<<

The blade is back into the sheath

Never again it will be unsheathed

for an idea is stronger than any army.

The warrior-monk seats down, crosses his legs and rests.

You don't fear who's already dead.

The Lord of Pain can nothing

For nobody can stop an idea.

   

With three steps he closes in on his target. But the blade is sheathed and the moon's rays flicker briefly on its edge and then disappear. The shadow on the throne doesn't relax, neither tenses. In the moonlight pouring through the skylight, both the figures are shadows blending in the darkness, the one seated upon the throne, the other one standing in front of it. Both still. The darkness hides the ends of the hall. A last movement in the darkness, a death rattle, then the silence again.

Leaning out towards the warrior, the seated shadow scrapes the darkness with his voice: -In the end, the Warrior of Dreams has entered my hall.- A hint of amusement gives a threatening sound to the voice.

-Not the Warrior of Dreams is in front of you, but the warrior-monk.

-Warrior of Dreams... warrior-monk... it doesn't matter.- An almost bothered tone. -I can kill you before you will be able to move a single step.

-You can't kill me, for I'm already dead.

A short silence, then the voice scratched the gloom again, marked with anger. -I can annihilate your body, I can fill it with so much pain that your mind will shatter into thousands of shards. So many that you will not able to recompose it. You have no chance to kill me!

-I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to defeat you. And this I've already done, without the need of killing you.

-And tell me,- the shadow asks amused, -how would you overthrow me from this throne?

-You haven't realized it yet, but the process has begun. Many have seen me come here; at this very moment, there are who see that I'm standing in front of you. The challenge has been launched and you couldn't tackle it. Kill my body, but you will not stop me. For I'm not this body, but an ideal. If you kill my body, many more will pick this idea up. Many already know that you are not unreachable, that you're not untouchable, and the word will travel fast.

"You've already been defeated, even if you don't accept it.

A whisper, almost a grunt. The figure upon the throne lays back against seat-back.

-Killing you-, he ponders in the dark, -I would make a martyr of you, and men would gather beneath your flag. But I can lock you up and show you off as a trophy, and the men will pity your weakness.

-They have seen that I am close enough to strike and that I have decided of not doing it. Imprison me, and everybody will think that I let you do it. Imprison this body, but you will not be able to mortify me with pain or fear, for being already dead there's nothing I fear to lose. Lock me up and you will achieve nothing, for you can't prevent to an idea to run free.

The silence falls one more time in the hall and stretched through the darkness. The two shadows, the one seated the other standing, face each other still. A stream of blood, slowly, flows from the darkness in the moonlight. The only proof of a mortal contest recently come to an end.

-Join my service-, the seated shadow whispers. -You will have power above all other men in this Empire. You'll need only to point out what you desire to have it: a human being, object or animal. You'll have anything you wish for what is between the Skyrim and the deeper Underworld. I'll give you immortality and men will worship you as a God!

-You have nothing that a dead man would desire.

-You can't hit me! You have never had the chance to strike the final blow!

With a slow and fluid movement, without moving the arms but just folding his own legs, the warrior-monk seats down. Crossing his legs he stays still in front of the Iron Throne. -I killed you already. I killed the fear grasping the heart of the men forcing them to obey you. I set them free, for now, they know that they can challenge you. And what can be challenged can be defeated too. They will fear death no more, for my ideal is into them now. They will not be your slaves again, for they were slaves of the fear and I killed the fear. they were enslaved to a simple word. Killing such a word I killed you.

The two figure are completely still once more: the one high upon the throne, the other one seated on the ground. Again the darkness is silent. The stream of blood, black in the moonlight. has stopped flowing.

Cosa fai nella vita?

Cosa fai nella vita?

Domo leonesse. In attesa di trovare una donna capace di mettermi al guinzaglio.

Cosi' difficile?

No, a dire il vero no. Ma chi ci era riuscita si e' poi spaventata di cio' che aveva preso al laccio.

E cosa c'e' di spaventoso in te? Mi sembri un uomo normalissimo.

Non saprei. Ma sono stato accusato di tante cose, dalle donne. Tipo di non essere mai soddisfatto e di far venire l'ansia da prestazione...

Three wishes

You say you want to know her like a lover
And undo her damage, she'll be new again
Soon you'll find that if you try to save her
It will renews her anger
You will never win

Could I have my wish for the rainy days?

We'd be so less fragile
If we're made from metal
And our hearts from iron
And our minds from steel
if we built an armour
For our tender bodies
Could we love each other
Would we strive to feel

And you want three wishes:
One to fly the heavens
One to swim like fishes
And then one you're saving for a rainy day
If your lover ever takes her love away

You say you want to know her like a lover
And undo her damage, she'll be new again
Soon you'll find that if you try to save her
It will renews her anger
You will never win

And you want three wishes:
You want never bitter
And all delicious
And then one you're saving for a rainy day
If your lover ever takes her love away

You want three wishes:
One to fly the heavens
One to swim like fishes
You want never bitter
And all delicious
And a clean conscience
And all it's blisses
You want one true lover with a thousand kisses
You want soft and gentle and never vicious
And then one you're saving for a rainy day
If your lover ever takes her love away

My golden rule

Smetti di pensare a cio' che vuoi e cerca di capire di cosa hai bisogno. Ottenere cio' che vuoi non ti aiutera' quanto ricevere cio' di cui hai bisogno.

Stop thinking to what you want and try to understand what you need. To get what you what will not help you as much as to receive what you need.

I'm glad it's over

To be honest, yes. Yes I'm glad my time with the company is over. Quoting Oscar Wilde, that woman is a gorgon, and it's unfair to be a monster without being a myth. About planning the future... Well, tomorrow I'm going to play tennis table, and from Monday I will start to think about my future. I reached the point where a man doesn't give a shit about his future.

Gymnastic Tour

Life is a circus

Well, maybe there's a good reason...

Let Me Bring You Down 32

So, this is the reason I can't find a free seat on the District Line any more in the morning!

Blooming

Campanula carpatica.

Camellia japonica.

I took the two photos in Fulham, London the 17 of December. These plants should make flower not earlier than March. Any gardener can tell you that anybody saying the global warming is not happening is a liar. Or an idiot.

Showing yourself completely naked

Be careful. You tell too much about yourself on your blog. Are not you worried that somebody could use it to hurt you?

How could they use it? What could they do me? They guilt complex that other people can inflict is something I have already experimented, while I live with the self inflicted one since a long time. Failure is a taste that I know even too well, and I had to deal with who wanted only to use me and left me into the troubles. The staggering state and the confusion felt when you lose control of your life I can tell you are exactly the same of when somebody punches you in the face. I still remember that piercing pain into the chest when you find out that who you love has cheated on you, and I remember too how it spreads to undermine your will. The uselessness and that feeling which grasps you when you realize that whichever action you undertake the events of your life will go their own way to your own detriment, are my old friends. And the loneliness, that sensation of being completely isolated from any other human being, for there's nobody to share thoughts and feelings with, is already biting at my heart, to me who has never ever spent a single day really alone till today.

So, tell me: what do you think people could do me worse than this even if I show myself completely naked?

Walk off the Earth

Christmas in Newham

Newham council run out of proper Christmas trees, so in Upton Park instead of a spruce...

...they used a fucking pine tree! Well, half of the population is made of Eastern European and they don't care, the other half is made of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs... so where's the problem?

Beggars in Upton Park don't even try to be credible.

Woman! That crutch is not just for a higher person, is even out of fashion!

Oh... That's mean... And so close to Christmas...

Can you help to find this table?

Per chi cerca lavoro in UK 5

Traduco alcuni passaggi da un recente articolo del Guardian sulle condizioni di lavoro nei magazzini della Sport Direct. Tali condizioni sono molto piu' frequenti di quanto possiate pensare. E ditemi se questo non vi fa pensare a qualche romanzo di fantascienza distopica cosi' in voga una ventina di anni fa.

<<Sono le 5:30 del mattino ed e' ancora buio pesto nella periferia di Shirebrook, Derbyshire, ma le strade sono gia' trafficate. Un fiume di auto, in genere piene di est europei, scorre lungo le strade della campagna per portare circa 1.500 persone a un gigantesco fabbricato circondato da terreni agricoli.

[...]

Ognuno porta con se' il proprio pranzo, infilato in un sacchetto di plastica trasparente per permettere alle guardie della sicurezza di ispezionare velocemente cosa viene portato all'interno dell'edificio, a cui si accede tramite lo scanning delle impronte digitali e sotto il costante controllo delle telecamere. Se le guardie notano che indossi vestiario non autorizzato sei immediatamente spinto fuori dalla coda.

[...]

Passo dopo passo, lavoratori al minimo salariale sono informati di cosa ci si aspetta da loro per la modica cifra di 6 sterline e 70 pence all'ora (in realta' molti ricevono addirittura meno), non ultimo il fatto che dovranno camminare per oltre 30 chilometri all'interno del magazzino per andare a prendere i prodotti dai loro scaffali.

Occasionalmente posso essere richiamati all'ordine tramite gli altoparlanti se non si muovono sufficientemente veloci -"per favore accellera il tuo ordine al piu' presto" l'altoparlante latra- mentre i "crimini" contro la compagnia -chiamati "strikes" (colpo/sciopero ndt) e che includono "errori", "eccessivi/troppo lunghi usi del bagno", "spreco di tempo", "eccessivo chiacchierare", "giochi/scherzi", "indossare vestiti di marca" e "uso del cellulare nel magazzino"- vengono puniti col licenziamento al sesto richiamo in 6 mesi.>>

Qui potete leggere l'articolo integrale. Del resto se volete lavorare in UK si suppone conosciate l'inglese.

Our dystopian future is here and now

I

t may be 5.30am and pitch-black on the outskirts of Shirebrook, Derbyshire - but the roads are busy. A stream of cars, typically packed with eastern Europeans, wind their way along country lanes and deliver about 1,500 people to a massive facility surrounded by farmland.

[...]

The crowd clutches packed lunches that have been stuffed inside transparent plastic shopping bags, which allow hovering security guards to quickly inspect what is being brought inside. A fingerprint scanner grants access to the building through security barriers, while everybody remains under constant surveillance from cameras. If you are spotted wearing unauthorised clothing, you are immediately pulled aside by the guards.

[...]

Step by step, minimum-wage workers are informed of what is expected of them for the headline rate of £6.70 an hour (in reality, many receive less) – including being told they will walk almost 20 miles each day inside the warehouse as they pick products off the shelves.

They can occasionally be harangued by name via tannoy if they don’t move quickly enough – “please speed up with your order as soon as possible”, the speaker system barks – while “crimes” against the company – called “strikes” and including “errors”, “excessive/long toilet breaks”, “time wasting”, “excessive chatting”, “horseplay”, “wearing branded goods” and “using a mobile phone in the warehouse” – are punished. Six strikes in six months and you’re out.

It's not a passage from a dystopian novel, but reality in UK. More frequent than is said. You can read the full article here.

Just one of many

There are plenty of ways that you can hurt a man
And bring him to the ground
You can beat him, you can cheat him
You can treat him bad and leave him when he's down

Oh! Let's go!

Steve walks warily down the street
With the brim pulled way down low.
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet,
Machine guns ready to go.

Are you ready, hey, are you ready for this?
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you, too
Another one bites the dust

How do you think I'm going to get along
Without you when you're gone?
You took me for everything that I had
And kicked me out on my own

Are you happy, are you satisfied?
How long can you stand the heat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat

[Chorus]

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust

There are plenty of ways that you can hurt a man
And bring him to the ground
You can beat him, you can cheat him
You can treat him bad and leave him when he's down

But I'm ready, yes, I'm ready for you
I'm standing on my own two feet
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
Repeating to the sound of the beat

[Chorus]

Doom

The days deplete themselves apparently being useless. On the shelves, books line up higher in number day after day and so my guilts do. And while I'm ageing and becoming aware of a fondness for my defects, I wonder if it will be the books or my sins to reach first the crashing weight. But I believe that this will be my death...

Destino

I giorni si consumano apparentemente inutili. Sulle mensole i libri si allineano sempre piu' numerosi, cosi' come le mie colpe. E mentre invecchio e mi scopro affezionato ai miei difetti, cerco di capire se saranno i libri o i peccati i primi a raggiungere un peso non piu' sorreggibile. Ma credo che moriro' in questo modo...

Education now and then

Lady Bracknell is questioning Mr. Jack Worthing, who just proposed to her daughter Gwendolen. She writes down with a pencil on her note-book all the answers Jack gives her.

Lady Bracknell. [Pencil and note-book in hand.] I feel bound to
tell you that you are not down on my list of eligible young men,
although I have the same list as the dear Duchess of Bolton has. We
work together, in fact. However, I am quite ready to enter your
name, should your answers be what a really affectionate mother
requires. Do you smoke?

Jack. Well, yes, I must admit I smoke.

Lady Bracknell. I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an
occupation of some kind. There are far too many idle men in London
as it is. How old are you?

Jack. Twenty-nine.

Lady Bracknell. A very good age to be married at. I have always
been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know
either everything or nothing. Which do you know?

Jack. [After some hesitation.] I know nothing, Lady Bracknell.

Lady Bracknell. I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of
anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a
delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole
theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in
England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If
it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and
probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square. 

The importance of being Ernest, Oscar Wilde (1895)

La desolazione che era nella sera...

...s'è soffiata via col vento.

Salsicce fegatini 
viscere alla brace 
e fiaccole danzanti 
lamelle dondolanti 
sul dorso della chiesa fiammeggiante 

vino, bancarelle 
terra arsa e rossa 
terra di sud, terra di sud 
terra di confine 
terra di dove finisce la terra.

Solo tenebra e terra ghiacciata per me,
nell'immediato futuro.

Let Me Bring You Down 31

I hate selfinators...

Let Me Bring You Down 30

Andare avanti

Una volta che hai salpato l'ancora e' cosi' difficile tornare indietro...

I simboli della tua lotta cadono in pezzi tra le tue mani,

ma se ti volti chi o cosa troverai ad aspettarti?

Neppure un cuore di donna vale la resa, perche' quel cuore lo perderai se ti arrendi. Puoi solo andare avanti, attraverso le tempeste e a dispetto della bonaccia. Anche se non ne vale la pena. Perche' non ci sono piu' approdi sicuri in cui riposare.

E alla fin fine...

...il futuro e' gia' scritto e non puo' cambiare.

Wake up!

Fist in the air,

in the land of hypocrisy.

Friends in London 3

Oh, well... That's me!