Wicked game

Disclaimer: I have chosen the video below because the song is great and not, absolutely not, because of Helena Christensen half naked and iper sexy during the whole video!

"What a wicked game you play
To make me feel this way
What a wicked thing to do
To let me dream of you
What a wicked thing to say
You never felt this way
What a wicked thing to do
To make me dream of you
And I don't wanna fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
And I don't want to fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]"

In love, what percentage of things are done to "secure" the other person to ourselves?
How often do we play a "wicked game" just to make sure the other person will remain with us?

Noodles @ Genova, Italy

"Ora lo so
io non ci credo più
alle promesse dei mercanti nel tempo
e anche un'idea è un'utopia
in questo tempo di ordinaria follia

Dove si nascondono gli angeli
quando a terra cadono gli uomini
non ci sono più cieli cieli limpidi
io non so se guarirà
questo tempo che più pace non ha"

(E.R.)

--
Sent from my mobile device

Volver

Tengo miedo del encuentro
con el pasado que vuelve
a enfrentarse con mi vida...
Tengo miedo de las noches
que pobladas de recuerdos
encadenan mi soñar.

(I am frightened of the meeting
With the past that is returning
To confront my life all over.
I am frightened of the nighttimes
When my dreams are linked and fleeting
And old memories come to stay)


The question for tonite is: "Why have we lost that moment? Can that magic return?"

Toc toc toc

"Wake up (Noodles).
Follow the white rabbit".

Ok cool. But where is my rabbit?

--
Sent from my mobile device

A cloud is a river who already knows the sea.

Picture taken from the plane.

--
Sent from a tiny keyboard
Please ignore typos unless they are funny

La Lluvia (tambien) en Sevilla es una Maravilla

Sevilla is the city.
Sevilla is the place I would really like to live in.
Everything is slow and poetry there. The small streets in the center of the city, the river, the warm sun at the end of September during the Feria de San Miguel. Los toros, pas tapas, las cervecitas y las mujeres.
La lluvia tambien en Sevilla es una Maravilla.

This place is all about fun and joie de vivre. Not because you can dance in a disco until 4AM. Because people is great and the place is wonderful.

It is a place where you can walk around and people smile. People move slowly, never in a hurry. You can spend time doing nothing or simply feeling the warm sensation of the sun in Plaza de Espana. Where you can take a small tour of Spain as you can see references and corners of any Spanish province.
It is a place with passion. Where people wants to have fun together, where it is easy to talk even if you Spanish is crappy and almost nobody speak English. People will tell about their life doing their best to let you understand.

I have been in a taperia. Crowd of people, drinking small beers (becuase the cerveca must be "glacial" and if it is too big it will get warm before you finish), eating great food. With the local guys willing to know why a guy from Italy likes a Spanish city so much. And I have got people willing to explain me the history of the Betis team in 1907 and what happened during the Civil War to the team members who have been killed.
The offered me their food becuase they found it amazing and I could not leave Sevilla without trying that particular tapa.

I have met a lady with whom it was impossible to communicate because of the lack of common language. She could understand what I said but she could not answer back without long and funny hand movements to explain just a single word. But at some point, with a single glance she told me what she meant and what she wanted because the "Language of the World" sometimes can go beyond words.

Or another sweet and funny lady wanted to explain me the meaning of her name. Rocio. "Mi nombre significa la lluvia de la manana". My names means the rain of the morning. Dew. Isn't this something really amazing?  Lluvia de la manana. This sentence amazed me. And the way people speak, the accent, is just wonderful.

Or that Brazilian guy. Running a restaurant with his boyfriend. A restaurant where to be hired you have to come from abroad. There is the Brazilian guy, his boyfriend from Holland, a guy from Venezuela, France, Argentina, Peru. The idea is that any of them brings a flavour from his country and his culture. And the food is just an amazing mix of all of those.

Since I have arrived in the city I kept singing a song in my head. It is an old song in Spanish that my "second mind" keeps pushing to me. The reference to the second mind is peculiar and not sure it is easy to understand. I have copied the lyrics so I can have it here.

<<
Duermen en mi jardin
las blancas azucenas, los nardos y las rosas,
Mi alma muy triste y pesarosa
a las flores quiere ocultar su amargo dolor.

Yo no quiero que las flores sepan
los tormentos que me da la vida.
Si supieran lo que estoy sufriendo
por mis penas llorarían también.

Silencio, que están durmiendo
los nardos y las azucenas.
No quiero que sepan mis penas
porque si me ven llorando morirán.
>>

During this trip I did not visit any monument. I was not that interested. The city was much more than enough and I am looking forward for the next fiesta or for a good Opera en el "Teatro de la Maestranza" to have an excuse to come back. As this place is magic. And you can not understand the beauty of a full moon appearing beyond the Cathedral while looking to the profile of the city from the other bank of the Guadalquivir. You can not until you actually see it.

I just realized that this posts is full of small details because this is what I look for. Because life is a matter of details. The whole picture will take care of itself. Details can make the difference.

Noodles in the air.

--
Sent from a tiny keyboard
Please ignore typos unless they are funny

Travel is a means to and end. Home.

The sentence in the title is something I feel really mine.
It has been an inspiring sentence. I was in London, just arrived after
a long and problematic flight. I took the train from Heatrow and I
ended up in Paddington at 6pm.
Lot of people walking around, lot of noise and I think I did look like
a farmer just arrived in town. In a city he does not like, in a place
he does not know.
I finally understood where to go and I bought the Oyster card and the
guy gave me a card holder with the Ikea logo and the sentence "Travel
is a means to and end. Home". I felt strange while reading it in front
of the train track. I felt at home and safe for a little while and I
kept that insignificant object in my hand for the whole journey to my
hotel. It was very cold and I was feeling alone but that yellow stuff
kept me safe.
I remember the feeling in the room. Lot of rain outside and a little
world inside where I could relax with no risks. Weird. I usually like
to travel but not that time.
Maybe because I wanted a specific person to be there.

Today I am travelling as well.
No business class, no VIP lounge, no great hotel to check in.
Today is for myself. This is the first blog post written on my mobile
from a plane! :-)
I am flying with a cheap airline on a blue and yellow seat. I hate
that airline but they are the only one flying where I wanna go. The
plane departed at 6AM and it is not really fun.
I will arrive in a city I love and I know quite well. I will leave the
arrival lounge with people who maybe are there for the first time.
Usually couples. I have got two young guys in my row. They are sweet,
they kiss each other every 5 minutes (I have to say he is quite
brave... ;-)). I hope they willl enjoy the city as I did my first
time. They are reading a Lonely Planet guide. I kind of envy them. If
they are lucky and inspired they will be able to see the magic of that
city and the poetry in the small streets, in the guys talking in a
lovely language who make you feel happy.

I will see the same places once again. I will have breakfast in the
same bar as that's the one where my love story with the city began. I
will walk in the park and take a bus or a bike to that inspiring
Church. I will climb to the top of the tower, take the boat in the
River, see the bloody show screaming if the guy is bad, clapping loud
while standing if the guy has been good.
Nothing new. But everything so *mine*
And I will be alone this time as well. Travelling alone is tough. When
you prepare your luggage you feel a bit stupid. And you fear you will
not like it. You fear you will be out of your confort zone. And at the
end you will be. But usually it is inspiring. I love it, despite it is
sad and unconfortable from time to time.

The sun just began to show himself beyond the clouds. It is orange and
very nice to see. The unknown cities below are waking up but you can
still see the lights of the night. This is the part of the early
morning flight I prefer.

Funny enough, I am having a cup of hot tea and a Shortbread. This
brings me back to another solo trip to Glasgow. A solo day-trip to
attend a concert. Maybe I am meant to make all of those discovery
alone?
Maybe being in a couple visiting new things is just another way but
not more interesting? For sure they are couples here who would not
even notice the sun and the lights below. They might not smell the air
in that city. They might focus on the main must-see places forgetting
the soul of the place. If that's the case, this time being alone is
better.

If you arrived to read this sentence you are very patient or just as
crazy as I am! :-)

Noodlles in the air.
(noodles.homewood at gmail.com)

--
Sent from my mobile device

La Boheme - O Mimi tu più non torni

At the beginning of the wonderful Act IV, Marcello and Rodolfo are pretending to work, though they are primarily bemoaning the loss of their respective loves, Musetta and Mimi.
This is not the most famous aria of the Boheme opera but for sure it is one of my favourites.

The idea of the loved woman is filling up the heart and the mind of the two bohemiens. Reading what Giacomo Puccini ask them to sing is simply amazing. Pure poetry together with a music that will make your heart shuddering. (English version below, in red the parts I love more)


Rodolfo:
O Mimì, tu più non torni. 
O giorni belli, 
Piccole mani, odorosi capelli, 
Collo di neve! Ah! Mimi, 
Mia breve gioventù.


Marcello: 
Io non so come sia 
Che il mio pennello lavori 
E impasti colori contro voglia mia. 
Se pingere mi piace 
O cieli o terre 
O inverni o primavere, 
Egli mi traccia due pupille nere 
E una bocca procace, 
E n'esce di Musetta il viso ancor...


Rodolfo:
E tu, cuffietta lieve, 
Che sotto il guancial partendo 
Ascose, tutta sai 
La nostra felicità, 
Vien sul mio cor, 
Su mio cor morto, 
Poichè è morto amor.


Marcello:
E n'esce di Musetta il viso 
Tutto vezzi e tutto frode. 
Musetta intanto gode 
E il mio cuor vile 
La chiama ed aspetta.


Rodolfo: O Mimi, you won't return! O lovely days! Those tiny hands, those sweet-smelling locks, that snowy neck! Ah! Mimi! My short-lived youth.
Marcello: I don't understand how my brush works and mixes colours to spite me. Whether I want to paint earth or sky, spring or winter, the brush outlines two dark eyes and inviting lips, and Musetta's face comes out...
Rodolfo: And you, little pink bonnet, that she hid under the pilow as she left, you know all of our joy. Come to my heart, my heart that's dead with our dead love.
Marcello: Her face comes forward then, so lovely and so false. Meanwhile Musetta is happy and my cowardly heart calls her, and waits for her.

Casablanca

I have run this question with a few people in the last months and now I would like to share it here.

Casablanca is probably one of the most famous films of all time.
It is a love story between Rick, a cynical American escaped from the US for an unknown reason, Ilsa, a pretty Norwegian girl who met Rick in Paris a few days before the German marched into Paris and Victor, a famous fugitive of the Czech Resistance she has always been with.
Ilsa and Victor were married and she tought he was dead when she meet Rick. Before escaping from Paris with Rick, she get informed that Victor is still alive and then she decides not follow Rick. He will be waiting at the Paris station like "a guy standing on a station platform in the rain with a comical look in his face because his insides have been kicked out".

They all meet again in Casablanca. At the end of the movie all of them are willing to leave Casablanca for political reasons and Rick has only two letter of transit. He decides that Victor and Ilsa will leave, while he will stay there.

Here is the terrific ending dialog:

Rick: Last night we said a great many things. You said I was to do the thinking for both of us. Well, I've done a lot of it since then, and it all adds up to one thing: you're getting on that plane with Victor where you belong.
Ilsa: But, Richard, no, I... I...
Rick: Now, you've got to listen to me! You have any idea what you'd have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we'd both wind up in a concentration camp. Isn't that true, Louie?
Captain Renault: I'm afraid Major Strasser would insist.
Ilsa: You're saying this only to make me go.
Rick: I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
Ilsa: But what about us?
Rick: We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.
Ilsa: When I said I would never leave you.
Rick: And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that.
Rick: Now, now...
Rick: Here's looking at you kid.

Did he take the right decision? Love should never be interrupted? Or was he fearing a comparison and come out as the loser?

I am Rick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3odtrWWc2A

Dark room, endless night

In the dark room
he can only see a small flame in her eyes
and that is enough to demonstrate that it is true.

Her skin is clear,
her smile is something he will have hard time to forget.
She keeps his head in her hands
to protect him from the world outside.

There is no need to talk
being there, with her mouth just a couple of inches from his lips,
is close to be ones.

Tomorrow everything will be different,
they will never forget that endless night.
It is a gift for the both of them,
not expected, not desired, not deserved.

Day recap

A tough day.
You have been driving, calling, emailing from the berry. Meeting, smiling, pretending, hiding.

At 10.40PM you realize the day is gone. Business only. Just a few moments for yourself.
In general this is not the day you want but today is ok. You need days when you have to rush. You need days when you have to get mad because that deal is not going to get closed anytime soon and you need it to make the quota.

You can spend the whole day keeping your head busy with things you will not remember. Things that are not really important in your life. Will you remember why you got mad at work in 6 months?

On the other hand, will you remember that glance in the book store?
A few seconds that can wake you up.
Probably yes. Even if you did not talk. Even if she did not talk. She just went away smiling as you did.
Did it really happen? Not today. Today it is just what could have made your day a day to remember.

The song of songs

How beautiful are your feet
In sandals, O prince's daughter
Your navel is a bowl
Well-rounded with no lack of wine
Your belly, a heap of wheat
Surrounded with lilies
Your breasts,
Clusters of grapes
Your breath,
Sweet-scented as apples

New Phil Cd...

If you are not aware, the new CD of Phil Collins is out now.
I am listening it on Spotify beating the time with my feet and dancing like a baby!

It is quite old-style. It is a cd of cover of Motown songs. Not exciting as some older records but still a great return.
It makes me think I could even fly to London if he would make a concert there! ;-)

Too bad he won't do it. He is retired! ^_^

(http://www.philcollins.com)

Good will hunting - terrific scene

This is my favourite dialogue of the movie.

I ask you about love, you'd probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable— known someone that could level you with her eyes. Feeling like God put an angel on Earth just for you. That could rescue you from the depths of hell. And you wouldn't know what it’s like to be her angel. To have that love for her, be there for forever. Through anything, through cancer. And you wouldn't know about sleeping sitting up in a hospital room for two months holding her hand, because the doctors could see in your eyes that the term 'visiting hours' don't apply to you. You don’t know about real loss, because that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much.

from: Good Will Hunting, 1997

About love - a quote

Q: What do they say? (about making love with someone)

A: That you can lose yourself. Everything. All boundaries. All time. That two bodies can become so mixed up, that you don't know who's who or what's what. And just when the sweet confusion is so intense you think you're gonna die... you kind of do. Leaving you alone in your separate body, but the one you love is still there. That's a miracle. You can go to heaven and come back alive. You can go back anytime you want with the one you love. 

from "The Bicentennial Man", 1999

The winner stands alone

I have read this book by Paulo Coelho and I am not sure I got the meaning.
In the book, Igor kills several people to get his wife back but at the end he is still alone. Maybe the meaning is that we are made to be, in our secret world, always alone?
I have always feared to be alone and after lot of changes in my life I find myself alone. It is not the end of the world, it is just a matter of being aware of the fact that you can count only on yourself.

I have friends and some of them are very important. But I am not their first priority. Everyone is is own first priority and tonight I realized that I can not base my mood on someone else presence / feedbacks / feelings.
I have my books to read, my dreams to realize, my toughts in mind, my interests. And I like all of them. I have something great to share but I am not desperately looking for someone to share with. Not anymore.

Gray and windy afternoon

I left the office in a gray afternoon.
It looks like we are going to get rain here. It is supposed to be a sunny place but now the sky is dark and the wind is suggesting to rush at home. Tourists are looking around in the Square. Everybody comes here to see that Square and it is nice to walk in the middle, looking to guys arrived from the other part of the world taking pictures and promising love forever.

The cold wind reminds me that I am alive. I feel my skin cold and I would like to have fog as well, as this is what we are used to.
Fog makes you almost blind. You leave your home and you do not see where you are going. But you know it. And fog makes everything more confortable (except driving). Lot of "white" in the air and you feel relaxed.

I walk in the square knowing that I am probably the only one enjoying the cold wind. And I like it. I like the idea that I take care of details that other people might not even notice. I stop for a little while and I look to the world as if it was a window I can spy from outside. And it is a relaxing feeling.
I think to the people in my life and I am afraid there are very few who can understand this feeling. Are you, unknown reader, one of them?

Looking forward for November. I am in the mood of something like in the picture... Sweet mood today...

Need a change?

When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

(Steve Jobs)

That sweet...

The hotel is not fancy. It is clean, people is kind and gentle. But it
is not the same kind of hotel I am used to be when travelling for
business.
Here, people seems to care when they say "Good morning". Nobody is
asking your room number when getting in or when you are going for
breakfast.

In early morning the breakfast room is empty. Lot of small things on
the table including *that* sweet. The ones that you did not see since
a long time. Probably last time I have tried it I was 12 in my grand
mother house. It has been strange to come in this isolate place, far
away from my usual path, to find again that sweet. I did not even know
you could buy it any longer.

This made my day. Now it is time for a short walk.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Kind or clever?

"One day you will understand that it's harder to be kind than clever... Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice" (Jeff Bezos)



Jeff Bezos: What matters more than your talents | Video on TED.com

The barman

This morning I have entered in a new bar for breakfast.
The guy is about 55. He said hello to a lady, wonderful lady. We look to each other as men do while he is preparing my coffee.
"You know, I have been away for 9 months".
In 5 minutes he tells me more or less his life. Is this a sign? Maktub.
"I have been living in Milan for 25 years. I have worked here for 17 years and then I decided I wanted to change. It is not easy, you know? You need to take courage and do it. But I needed to see other places, other people. At the end the bar owner called me back and I am back. I have tried to stay away from this city but I missed the caos that you can find here, the "business men" entering the bar with the newspaper on one hand and the Blackberry on the other hand."
He tells this in a deferential way, as if he is thinking that he is a step below the rest of the world. But it is wrong. He is a step above than anyone else, or at least at the same level. Maybe not from a financial perspective but I am not sure this is what really matter.
For sure he is not part of the Superclass.

Paulo Coelho wrote:

It didn’t take him long to see that the Superclass are as dependent on their success as an addict is on his drugs, and nowhere near as happy as those who want nothing more than a house, a garden, a child playing, a plate of food on the table, and a fire in winter.

The guy is from South of Italy. And he talks about his home with the eyes of someone who has lot of experience. When I go home, everything is quiet and nice. You feel alright, lot of people take care of you, you drink and eat the whole day. "I have tried to work there but I missed Milan and the caos".
Adaptation. Or, maybe, simply crazyness.

He spoke to me about "the son of my wife" as if it is a normal thing to happen. Maybe he was talking about a love that is "beyond".
His tie with a questionable node, a old white shirt and a jacket that would keep you hot even if mid December.
BUt he takes care of the bar, of *his* coffee machine and he makes hundred of coffee per day. But always impeccable. Because even in what you do everyday you have to be impeccable, not only when doing special things.

Why this name?

Here is the reason.

I have always been a fan of Peter Gabriel.
I have seen him live a few times and when he introduces my favourite song he is used to say:

Sometimes you can see a couple so close together, it gets hard to distiguish which one is which. And bits of them disappear into a space that forms between them. This we could indentify as the Secret World

And the song is simply great.
The idea behind this blog is to write what I have in mind. It will be in English or Italian, depending on the mood.

Sometimes I want to quote a book, show to my little and Secret World what I am listening to, where I am or simply what feeling a sunset gave me. This might happen here.