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Remember the opening shot of La Dolce Vita where we see a statue of Christ suspended from a helicopter flying along the Aqua Claudia? Just 8 km from the centre of Rome, there is this public park called Parco degli Acquedotti.
Named after the aqueducts that go through, the park contains also the remains of Villa delle Vignacce and a short stretch of the original Roman Via Latina. Protected from development, you can see sheep grazing and crops growing.
I wanted to go there for some time, the other week I saw a ray of sun and we've met with Kat from ZeroTheOne to bike to the park. We rode a couple of folding bikes from BikeByBus to put on a public transport in case the weather would turn. Luckily we had the perfect light during whole morning and Kat took fantastic photos of me. Thanks Kat!
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This Autumn didn't start well for me, but riding around the city on my bike always helps! After we got back from Spain, F got himself injured with his bike, I got sick, he got sick and the final kick got me bad: At the end of a job, while we were toasting for the job done, my laptop bag got stolen. Maybe you noticed that I didn't post an instagram picture for a while, my tablet was in that bag, gone with the wind.
Well, my sister sent me an old notebook and a friend introduced me to Ubuntu! It's intuitive and my interface is beautifully designed, so I'm thinking to go with an Android based tablet next. Any ideas?
I started to collaborate with BikeByBus, go like it now if you still didn't do it! It's a folding bike rental service born between a social coop for young adults with cognitive disabilities and volunteer bike mechanics from ciclofficina-bikekitchen. The plan is to provide local or foreigner tourists with a folding bike to explore the lesser beaten paths of Rome and to create job opportunities for young people with cognitive disabilities. You read here all the time, me taking small trips in Apulia, Molise and Toscana regions with my bike and panniers. Well, you can do it now, hopping on local trains and riding along paths with mushroom filled baskets carrying nonni's.
We did a bike-trip with other two friends to join a Halloween night dedicated to resisting women in history. The fantastic town of Poggio Catino is a 15th century maze created with stone houses, steps and arches, in northern Latium region. We rode our folding bikes to the Trastevere Station and did hop on a train. We ate a lot of fried food, fritti and drank vin brule, danced with traditional music taranta around the bonfire!
We biked the Parco degli Acquedotti with Kat Tan (ZerotheOne), a talented multimedia artist based in Pigneto. She also introduced me to Kelly Medford, a painter which you can join for sketching tours in Rome. Also based in Pigneto. I just love this neighborhood. We have a wild idea about introducing a sketching tour by bike, what do you say?
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As the winter was turning into spring, I had an amazing week in an activity camp near Kuopio. Finland welcomed our group with sunshine after 8 weeks of grey sky. Wooden camping in the forest with countless frozen lakes around was an amazing setting to work and enjoy the nature. Chatting and remaining silent comfortably in the smoke sauna like the local families do it for centuries, late night fire in the hut under the starry sky, were unforgettable experiences.
During our visit to a B&B -we took off our shoes- and we feasted on local food and traditional music sang by our host. Notice the Marimekko tablecloth in the picture? Eero Aarnio documentary and Marimekko paper napkins and cups on the flights were just right for me. I felt a little twinge about leaving Finland without seeing Helsinki, but there will be always places to see and opportunities to catch.
Kiitos, Finland. And maybe, nähdään!0Add a comment
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The season changed and we took our bikes to a small ride in Villa Borghese. The Galleria Borghese was in full motion and the small garden next to the gallery was shining with the beauty of Irises and Cidro lemons. We met another mechanic from the bike kitchen enjoying the sun with a small dog, happy to tag along to our ride. A gelato stop in Gelateria Bartocci for a dulce di leche flavored cup and we were back again to enjoy the golden sunset in the park.
Hello Michel Gondry hands! 2View comments
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Anna Magnani in Mamma Roma
Franco Citti - young and old age
Mario Monicelli
Pasolini
Going to east in Rome brings you first through Porta Maggiore, then to Pigneto, my neighborhood. Cinema Impero is on the outskirts of this neighborhood, blending with Torpignattara, a second "Chinatown" after Esquilino.
This movie theater was build in 1930's in Art Deco style common in the fascist era, with the same name as "the" Cinema Impero in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, in a way to connect together the fascist empire. Pigneto and the neighborhoods around gained popularity when the Mussolini government wanted to move the factories and working class from the city center (Ostiense and Testaccio neighborhoods) near to the eastern railway. An noble (!) effort to protect the higher classes in case of war and bombing over the factories.
Anyway, after the 70's, the movie theater closed. Gentrification arrived to San Lorenzo, the university neighborhood sometime before my arrival to Rome, in 2009. At that time, Pigneto had 4 restaurants in zona pedonale, the precious strip at the entrance of the neighborhood. It is still used as a market place in the morning -with endless efforts of the neighborhood committee- and is occupied by one venue next to other, with a permanent police car keeping drug dealers from harassing "consumers/ tourists from Rome".
Even though Cinema Impero is a 20 min walk from the piazza, it was tempting already in 2000, when it was bought to build into student halls. It seems like it was occupied until 2010 to stop the profit based project. This googlemap photo must be taken last year.
After the "tsunami" wave of occupations throughout Rome last year, the owner of the building cleaned walls and painted the doors an unfriendly red and black. A very rushed job; one can only assume, done with a fear of another occupation in the building.
Today the original stone walls have only a mild stain of rusted iron. I took these street art pictures at the beginning of the week. (Was shopping tofu in chinatown, thanks for the advice!)
The artists told me, that the next day, the national channel tg would be present with journalists. The newspapers say that it was the neighborhood committee of Torpignattara, which seems unlikely because of the media present like Corriere.
If it's a grassroots action, with a referral to Pasolini movies and his neighborhoods of malavita, with prostitutes and drug addicts, that's a good job. Although the website for the movie theater has confusing information about the relation between all parts, which makes me suspect of another attempt to beautify the building, to break the resistance against the project. If he was indeed paid for the pieces, it's not that I'm against street artists being commissioned by building owners. I just hope that the artist knows what he is doing.
More about the artist, David Vecchiato aka. Diavù, can be seen on his blog:diavuinprogress.blogspot.it/
Are you living in a neighborhood with ongoing gentrification?
Homeowners or renters? What are your concerns?
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I've done an interview in 2007 published on seruven.org, a magazine about graphic novel culture. It was with a member of ÇRAK, a student club for graphic novel studies found by friends, in 2002. I know that they were still meeting in 2011, obviously with different students.
In 2007, they did this Milk and Biscuits Club during the Spring Fest, to watch together cartoons from our childhood. Although that was the most childish activity the club offered, they took animation serious, did screening nights on specialized themes and one of the members followed his studies at the Gnomon special effects accademy. Wow, good job guys! (Saying this, I always have a bit of envy towards people who always knew what they wanted to do.)
Trying to remember my published articles, I read this interview again and remembered have much I loved the last paraghraph about the fear of growing up.
"If a group of people comes together discussing, creating, screening graphic novels/ documentaries while aware of the end of their studies, of the big future in front of them, the fact that they'll disperse after the graduation date in a couple of years, maybe they have the fear of future that awaits for them. There is a nostalgia of the naivety, the beauty of childhood, definitely there is."
instabiscuits
Here's the full interview, in turkish.
22.09.2007
ÇRAK Beş Yaşında
www.seruven.org
İstanbul'da dikkatli gözler birkaç yıldır bu dört harfi sadece çizgi romanlarda değil duvarlardaki çıkartmalarda ve afişlerde de yakalıyor. Çizgi filmlerin süt ve kurabiyeyle iyi gittiğini bilen ama iş yaratmaya geldiğinde onu ciddiye alan bir grup genç 2002 yılında kurdukları topluluğu artık yeni nesle bırakmış durumda. Merak uyandıran hareketleri, kulaktan kulağa yayılan efsaneleri ile ÇRAK beş yaşında.
İstanbul'da dikkatli gözler birkaç yıldır bu dört harfi sadece çizgi romanlarda değil duvarlardaki çıkartmalarda ve afişlerde de yakalıyor. Çizgi filmlerin süt ve kurabiyeyle iyi gittiğini bilen ama iş yaratmaya geldiğinde onu ciddiye alan bir grup genç 2002 yılında kurdukları topluluğu artık yeni nesle bırakmış durumda. Merak uyandıran hareketleri, kulaktan kulağa yayılan efsaneleri ile ÇRAK beş yaşında.
Arda (Sander), İTÜ Çizgi Roman ve Animasyon Kulübü başkanı bu konuda konuşmaya alışmış, Hürriyet'in İK eki onlarla bir röportaj yapmış bile, oysa ne popüler kültürün bir parçası onlar, ne de anaakım bir iş yapma hatta bu kişisel zevklerini bir işe dönüştürme çabasındalar.
Pekala, ÇRAK'ın sihri nerede?
Birinci sınıftayken Mimarlık Fakültesi'nden isimleri mühim değil birkaç arkadaş, Güneş (Direk), Emre (Kovankaya), Deniz (Gök), Yekta (Gürel), ben, genellikle Çukurcuma'daki evi paylaşan insanlar, bunu düşünüyorduk. Ben bol bol -genellikle İtalyan çizgi romanlarını okuyordum, Emre animasyonla uğraşıyordu, Deniz koleksiyoncuydu. Aklımızda çok büyük, özel bir proje yoktu. Sadece oluşan güzel çevreyi, sohbetleri resmiyete dökelim bir yandan da üniversitenin desteğini alarak kaynaklarından faydalanalım, gösterim yapalım, dedik. Kulüp olmak için aşılması gereken bürokratik engelleri; üye sayısı, tüzük meselelerini ben halletmeye çalıştım. Yönetim de bize oldukça yardımcı oldu.
Önümüzde herhangi bir örnek yoktu, yine de başka kulüplerden de bizi rahatsız eden, kemikleşmiş başkan/üye, eski/yeni kavramlarının bizim aramızda baştan beri yeri olmadı. İsteyen, bir fikirle gelip bir şey yapmak isteyen, o fikri alıp götürür, hayata geçirirdi.Neredeyse bir siyasi parti gibi çalışan kulüplerin hiyerarşik yapısının aksine, daha demokratik, özgürlükçü bir yapımız vardı bile denebilir; inisiyatif almak isteyen alırdı, herhangi bir üst kontrol mekanizması yoktu, herkesin her etkinliğe katılması beklenmezdi. Üzerinde konuşularak verilmiş kararlardan bahsetmiyoruz, kendiliğinden oldu herşey.
Ne çıktı ortaya?
Elli küsür gösterim yaptık, bazen salon dolup taşarken, bazen de animasyonları biz bize izledik. Stop motion, animasyon atölyeleri, illüstrasyon sergileri açtık. Yapmak isteyip de oldukça uğraş verdiğimiz ancak sonunu getiremediğimiz bir projemiz de oldu; Tema'nın ilköğretim öğrencilerine göstermek istediği bir bilinçlendirme filmi projesi için karakter oluşturduk, taslaklarını hazırladık, hikayeyi yazdık, çekim yöntemini belirledik, tüm filmin storyboardlarını kare kare hazırladık, ancak bu süreçte bize bir geri dönüş olmadığı, bir teslim tarihi verilmediği için proje askıda kaldı, biz de oldukça çalışmış olmamıza rağmen devamını getiremedik. Bitirilen güzel bir proje ise içinde bol bol çizim olan bir Taşkışla ajandasıydı. Arkadaşların, biz ajanda çıkaracağız, diyerek geldiği, bizim çok karışmadığımız bir projeydi.
Ne yazık ki sonradan aramıza katılan arkadaşların hepsi bu kadar bağımsız hareket edemiyor, yol gösteren biri olsun, etkinlik olsun, katılayım, diyor, süper bir üst-örgütlenme, her sene yapılan belirli şeyler arıyor insanlar. Ama öyle bir şey yok, o sene orada bulunan insanlar ne yaparsa, o oluyor; bir şey yapmazlarsa da hiçbir şey olmuyor. O yüzden o an orada bulunan insanların o ortamı sahiplenmelerine bağlı herşey. Biz sahiplendik, yürüttük. Bizden sonra, şimdilerde, bir şeyler yapılıyormuş galiba, ama olmazsa dağılabilir de, kötü bir şey değil, neden dağılmasın ki?
Nasıl oluyor da herkesin sizden haberi vardı?
Biz bir şekilde reklam yaparak kendimizi tanıtmaya, anaakım bir şeyler yapmaya çalışmadık, amatör ruhlu, bu işe hobi olarak bakan insanlardık, bu sayede ağızdan ağıza yayıldı herşey. Sohbet ediyor, iyi insan ilişkileri kuruyorduk, müthiş, büyük bir şey üretmemiş bile olsak, o organik ilişki insanları cezbediyor.
“Süt-Kurabiye” gibi...
Onun çıkış noktası çocukluğumuzdaki “sabah kuşağı çizgi filmleri” kavramını yeniden canlandırmaktı. Taşkışla bahar şenliğinde, sabah 9-12 arasında koridora minder atıp, süt ve kurabiye dağıtarak, duvara He-Man, Voltran, Thundercats gibi eski çizgi filmleri yansıttık; Clementine de aradık ama bulunmuyor ne yazık ki.
Olağan gösterimlerde de bazen süt ve kurabiye, bazen patlamış mısır dağıttık, bir şekilde avantgarde bir yaklaşım: niçin süt ve kurabiye, niçin sabah kuşağı çizgi filmleri? Bunlar da insanların bir şekilde bizden haberdar olmalarını sağladı.
Büyüdünüz, mezun oldunuz ve her şey bitti...
Ben hâlâ çizgi roman okuyorum, Martin Mystere, Conan hâlâ keyif veriyor bana. Bu projeye ekip olarak başlayıp, ekip olarak bitirdiğimiz için hiçbirimiz eskisi gibi devam etmiyor tabii ama aramızdan dünyada bir numara olan Gnomon Görsel Efekt Okulu'na devam etmek isteyen bir arkadaşımız vardı, bir yıl üzerinde çalıştığı portfolyosunu sunarak kabul edildi. Zafer bundan bir hayal gibi bahsederdi ama hepimizi şaşırtarak bunu başardı.
ÇRAK'ın oluşumunda üniversite-olgunlaşma kaygısı ve çocuk kalma karşıtlığının payı var mıydı?
Yapılan işlerin en çocukçası süt-kurabiyeydi, biz animasyonu çok ciddiye alırdık. Sayısı çok az olması dolayısıyla üç boyutlu bilgisayar modellemesi şeklinde üretilen animasyonları özellikle gösterirdik, toplamda altı uzun metrajlı film vardı. Bunun ve sabah kuşağının dışında hep yetişkinlere yönelik çizgi filmler gösterdik. Başından beri nostalji ya da çocukluğa bir öykünme yoktu işin içinde.
Hobi zaten, mutlu olduğun ve başka bir şey aramadığın eylem durumudur, biz de öyleydik, mutluyduk. Bu da aslında hangi yaşta yaparsan yap çocukça bir şey.
Bu yönden bakarsan, gelişimini tamamlamış, önlerindeki büyük geleceğin, birkaç sene içinde mezun olup dağılacaklarının bilincinde bir sürü insan bir araya gelip, çizgi film tartışır, yaratır, gösterirken, o kendilerini bekleyen gelecekten bir korkuları da vardır belki. Çocukluğun naifliğine, güzelliğine bir öykünme vardır, mutlaka vardır.
Röportaj: Sezgi Uygur2View comments
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At the beginning of the winter, a friend in town gave away a bunch of books, some of them ended in my hands. In Lecce, last month, I met a friend who gave me some books in Turkish. In Helsinki I found a Bookcrossing space. It's incredible how I end up with so many free books. I've chosen comic novels and thrillers for traveling to create a comforting zone in those "impersonal spaces" like airports. I'll talk about 8 books here, but I passed already 4 of the read books along.original + read in englishBrain Pickings calls Kunkel one of the literary visionaries of Late American Novel. This book has a flimsy plot and treats women characters badly, but still, written in a hilariously funny way, the narrator's angst was painfully familiar to me - and to everyone from my "quarter-life crisis" suffering generation. The book cover is beautiful, designed and hand-lettered by Brian Rea.original + read in englishIt's a stream-of-consciousness narration of a young boy with Asperger Syndrome solving a mystery. It's not a mystery novel, if you're not a 15 year-old boy, mind you. There are more to this story than the mystery. The orange cut-out cover makes me want to keep it, but I doubt I'll read it again.original in french + still reading in turkishI think I tried to start this book a couple of times in french in the past. The translator is a brave woman. Even in my mother tongue, the paragraph-long sentences become confusing, making it impossible to read at night. Although I like it and I crave it during the day, so let's hope I'll finish it this time.The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsonoriginal in swedish + read in englishConfusing translation. Lousy bookcover. (My copy was this classic naked girl. This typography-class student made a catching but not printed cover. ) Thrilling story. So if you find it around a good translated copy, maybe for free, then read those bricks. Makes a great snack-book between other hard-to-digest books, if-you-know-what-I-mean. Already passed them over to the bookshelves of a volunteer hosting apartment.original + read in italianA good noir with an independent, suffering, woman protagonist resolving a crime in Catania. The ending was weakening the strong image, weaved chapter after chapter. Some parts are wildly in catanian dialect, not fit for beginners in italian. Finished while travelling, swapped.C is for Corpse - a Kinsey Millhone Mystery by Sue Graftonoriginal + read in englishI was happily shocked to find a Book Swap room in Helsinki Airport, it's an oasis in the overwhelming buzz of stores and cafes, the only place where you're not forced to buy anything. I picked this old thriller, the vintage typography was irresistible, and surprise, it's from 1987!So is Book Swap free? How does it work? The book swap room is one of many places where you can see "Bookcrossing". Get the book, it's free to read. Get a BC id-number, put a sticker on the book, and when you're finished, it's good to release in the wild. The next person catching the book checks in with the id, making it possible to track every single book. It seems like there is a "crossing zone" in Fiumicino Airport in Rome, too, probably in the office zone. Gonna check next time I'll be traveling.
Mara at BookSwap in HelsinkiAirport 0Add a comment
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Lately I've been to Finland and even though I didn't have time to visit Helsinki, I've seen Alvar Aalto stools and Marimekko textiles used in daily life. I came back with a cold and no voice. That day I found about Bron | | Broen (The Bridge), danish/swedish tv series shot in Copenhagen and Malmö. I had no choice but cook myself teapots full of ginger-cinnamon-clove decotto -a very timely gift- and watch hours of this crime drama. I admit to pause often just to enjoy the danish (interior and public) design and the scenery with grey/faded colors.
The Egg is a chair designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1958 for the Radisson hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Y stoel or The Y Chair (1950) by Hans Wegner, a student of Arne Jacobsen
Poul Henningsen PH Lamps originally from 1926 (tell me if I'm wrong)
Probably Asperger Syndrome affected Saga Norén with a scar on her face. Not your average woman protagonist.
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