Those 2 hours difference between communism and capitalism

I already forgot what it is like to propel yourself out of the office early like a rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, skipping a meeting or leaving your report unfinished because of the gift you have to buy for your friend’s birthday and all stores in town are closed after six. And you finally make it to the store, panting, it’s twenty to six, you’ve got enough time to choose something more thoughtful than a chocolate box and have it wrapped but, as you step in, the shop assistant or owner looks at you in outrage and contempt, as if you just tried to sexually harass her dog and she wants to eat your guts with mussels and fries, and bitterly spits out 'Mais, Madame, we're closing in 20 minutes...'. You gave her the look of death, the defying I-am-not-leaving-until-I-get-my-f***ing-gift gaze. If only I could strangle her. Not only her. Also Karl Marx, bring him back to life and show him what he's done to Belgium. Forget Russia, Karl, there're three Prada stores in Moscow and as far as I know they're open until nine. Let's get focused on Belgium: would you please shout out loud once and for all that what you wrote is a bunch of crap?

Now things should be different. Yet I can't get my mind around this paradox: if NY is the city that never sleeps, how come department stores close around 8 and thus the sudden urge to buy new sunglasses I got yesterday at 7.30 went unfulfilled?

De intellectus emendatione

I would have added a little bio to this label , like 'Baruch Spinoza, philosopher, born xyz, wrote xyz’.

Kellogg’s estimates the cereal box is read an average of five times in a typical household. If the "reading all sides of the cereal box" ritual applies to the bagels bag, this could become a nation of spinoza-savvy consumers.

Anyway, let me tell you that the Spinoza bagel is not intrinsically good or bad, except to the extent that it is subjectively perceived to be by the individual.

Ieri sera indimenticabile Bohème al Met

Grandissimo spettacolo, eccetto Rodolfo che mi ha rovinato il pathos del primo atto quando affacciato al balcone ha urlato "AMICHI!"

Emozioni da immigrato abruzzese

 

Trovato nel supermercato sotto casa. 

Telephone interview dress code revised

I had a telephone job interview today. My friend A. sent me a message yesterday suggesting that I dress for it because it makes a difference psychologically. I gave her advice serious thought, but the good thing about a telephone interview is that it can reduce your stress level; if you dress for it, won’t your professional outfit bring all the anxiety back? Then I thought that ‘dressing’ does not necessarily mean wearing a suit. It’s about taking the pajamas off and use clothing as a motivating factor. What would be my motivational clothing? When that question came across my mind it was already too late to go out and buy a Batman costume. That’s how I ended up answering the phone in my spinning clothing.

Londrina day: pulling the plug on my Facebook account

I joined facebook in September in an act of submission to peer pressure. Or, say, to please those friends who were begging me to join in and help boost their popularity. Also, I signed up to see what all the fuss was about.

Here is an account of my experience with facebook and the reasons why I believe it is useless or, to put it elegantly, it sucks:

Stage 1: I have been a pretty passive user for a few months.

Stage 2: this is when I got sucked into the whole social networking thing. I was thrilled with facebook and started looking for connections with friends and old acquaintances, all those friends who moved to remote places, people I met at a bus stop 15 years ago, the cashier at my local grocery store in Rome, all past co-workers I couldn't stand... Most people say facebook is great to connect with friends. From my standpoint, facebook was a Ghandian experience, a training ground for practicing tolerance; I came across a bunch of people I loathe, at first I wanted to puke, then I thought 'yeah, why not? let's add this son of a b---h to my friends list'. After all, everyone knows that facebook friends are not real friends, and you teach yourself how to neutralize negative vibes.

Stage 3: when the pests came into the picture. Here are the party poopers: old friends and acquaintances I would never want to be reconnected with. If I wanted to keep in touch with them, I wouldn't have 'lost touch' with them. So simple.

Stage 4: when you stop to think about it and the social scientist in you starts asking questions such as 'isn't this just a narcissist's cyber-playground?' All these guys sharing their dumbest thoughts with 15 million users. Hey, look at me 'Jack is currently reading a book'! Amazing! Thank you for letting me know, seriously! Worst, those who suffer from publicity/privacy schizophrenia. I mean, what am I supposed to do with 'Jane is happy because of what she is going to do tomorrow'??? You either tell me the whole story or just shut up.

They call it social network but the truth is, facebook is about cheap interaction. Social relations means communicating and engaging in a dialogue. There is no dialogue on facebook because there is no content. People look like 5 year old kids picking their nose. They can't articulate a thought that goes beyond the 'Jane is currently reading a book' level of complexity, and social interaction is ultimately reduced to taking quizzes, playing games, sending zombie invitations and poking, with the sole purpose of telling the world what quizz you took, game you played, whom you poked. It's not actual communication, but pieces of digital stammering spammed to hundreds of 'friends'.

Stage 5: when you want to abide by the principle of intellectual honesty to come to a fair judgment by looking at all aspects of the problem. My starting point was: if facebook is inspired by the six degrees of separation and interconnectedness theories, then I can exploit the network's full potential so as to develop some exciting connections. I searched for Jonathan Franzen and Milan Kundera. Guess what? They're on facebook. It seemed too good to be true. In fact, next thing I know, you cannot add them to your friends' list but you can join their fan club. Hm, what a nine day wonder! So, basically, the added value of facebook's gigantic chain of connections is that I can get linked to Jenny Jones from Auburn, Iowa.

Stage 6: I’m strongly considering killing my facebook account. I'm choosing a date. I thought of March 22, marking the anniversary of Sheik Yassin's death in an Israeli helicopter missile strike on his car. But I'm not sure I can stay with facebook for another thirteen months. August 6th is also a possibility: the day the Prefect's office of Londrina, Brazil, authorized the extermination of 50 thousand pigeons.

Fear thou the Londrina judgment day, my facebook!

Vota Calogera

Votato. Con poco entusiasmo e poca cognizione di causa. Alla fine, un po' per esclusione e un po' per affiliazione di schieramento, ho espresso la mia preferenza. E va bene cosi'. D'altronde quando mi ricapita di votare una che si chiama Calogera??

"We appreciate the opportunity to serve you"

I love customer care service in the US. I am and I will always be a very annoying customer in this country. Why? Because here I can. It’s pretty much like the Russian immigrants who had a considerable part in the falls of the Israeli governments in the 90s. Why? Because for the first time they were able to fully exercise their political rights. Likewise, I come from a country, Belgium, where to have my brand new Sonicare toothbrush charger repaired or replaced I had to engage in a 3-month long email exchange with Philips' customer care whose only outcome was a very long email with instructions on how to operate the toothbrush. In Dutch.

Only one year later, when I moved to NY, I was able to finally enjoy my toothbrush thanks to Philips' US customer care; 5 minutes on the phone with an agent and a new charging station was delivered free of charge within three business days. Now you're talking!

Last week it was the food processor's turn. I left the cover on the cooker while I was making dinner and the heat melted it. I contacted KitchenAid. My argument was pretty much along the lines of "your instructions booklet doesn't say the product is not designed to resist the effects of a nuclear reactor explosion". My new cover should be arriving within 7-10 business days, free of charge. Dank u wel!

Welcome to America

Indimenticabile la visita dei miei genitori e di mia sorella a NY! Sorella a parte, navigata "connoisseuse" stelle e strisce, e' stato emozionante presentare ai miei genitori questo grande paese, a loro che ci hanno trasmesso il senso di ammirazione e rispetto per i valori di cui l'America si fa portatrice, che ci hanno regalato la grande opportunita' di viverla e di distinguerci con fiera intelligenza da tutti i micheal-mooristi che hanno popolato e spopolato l'Europa negli ultimi anni.

Ecco la mia top five di questi splendidi giorni passati insieme:

1) il momento in cui sul flight tracker ho seguito il loro aereo attraversare il confine canadese per entrare nello spazio statunitense,
2) noi quattro sotto il cielo stellato di Grand Central,
3) quando ci e' caduta la mascella entrando in una classe 4a di una scuola elementare pubblica del West Village vedendo i bambini al lavoro ognuno sul suo Macbook... naturalmente tutto rigorosamente wireless!
4) l'espressione da bambina golosa di mamma davanti al burro d'arachidi,
5) il record giappo-fotografico dei 950 scatti di papa'!