I WAS 8,969 DAYS OLD WHEN I WAS BORN ANEW TO LIVE AGAIN

LYKKE LI IN MILAN

2010-06-12T13:13:00.004+02:00

MONTH SIX DAY THREE - CASA MENABREA (MY FRIENDS PART II)

2010-05-17T18:50:00.007+02:00

CHIARA

PAN

MONTH FOUR DAY TWENTYSEVEN - MY FRIENDS

2010-04-10T13:33:00.009+02:00

MANU

CAMI

PANFRY

AND...

MONTH FOUR DAY TWENTYTHREE - NO WORKING ON SUNNY DAYS

2010-04-06T20:33:00.007+02:00

Today I woke up to go to work and saw the brightest sun and the bluest sky ever seen around here in the last thousand years so I decided to take a day off and leave with my parents to Chiesa in Valmalenco . Let me tell you something about my mum and dad: they are the biggest mountain fans and they spend most of their free time hiking and trying mountain-related sports. Unlike me.

Today they took me snowshoeing like the junior Woodchucks scouting organization would have done in a Disney cartoon: we walked for 1.5 hrs on a 700 mt difference in height.

The weather was fantastic and on our path there were botanical signs pointing out which plant species we were running into:

On the winding road going down to Chiesa there were quarries and I frequently asked my dad to pull over to take some pictures:

Before coming back home we stopped in Chiesa to sneak a peek at the village:

It was such a lovely day and when I saw that car I couldn't stop but recalling this song,and its video, both for that car and for the blueness of the skies above my head.

MONTH FOUR DAY TWENTYTWO - AN EASTER MONDAY 23 KM BIKE TRIP

2010-04-05T20:37:00.007+02:00

My family and I decided to go on a short one day trip instead of having the usual Easter monday family picnic: we put our bikes into our cars and drove to Certosa di Pavia where we parked and start pedaling all the way to Pavia.

Ponte Coperto over Ticino

Near the Castle

Inside the University

Certosa di Pavia

MONTH FOUR DAY SIXTEEN - ILLEGAL PLAYLIST SHARING IS BACK

2010-03-30T00:48:00.004+02:00

Screenshot from The devil and Daniel Johnston.

You can get the weekly playlist here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X0F8SH68

MONTH FOUR DAY FIFTEEN - WE'RE EFFORTLESSLY COOL

2010-03-29T17:25:00.007+02:00

The other day I found this picture of me, my older sister, mum and dad in 1988:

I was 3 years old back then and it took me two decades to realize that coolness should be genetically transmitted: they were effortlessly cool, stylish and beautiful without even trying.

MONTH FOUR DAY TEN - BBB: BRUNETTES WITH BANGS AND BALLS

2010-03-24T20:30:00.009+01:00

K A T E N A S H

(new album coming soon <3)

F E I S T

C A T P O W E R

B A T F O R L A S H E S

O L I V I A / THE DO

♡♡♡ Z O E Y D E S C H A N E L ♡♡♡

and....

M E

uh well, I'm not sure I deserve to be in this post, but who cares! hah!

MONTH FOUR DAY FOUR - TRUE LOVE WILL FIND YOU IN THE END. REALLY? OH SNAP!

2010-03-17T20:23:00.008+01:00

I'll see this guy here live in Milan in May.

True love will find you in the end You'll find out just who was your friend Don't be sad, I know you will, But dont give up until True love will find you in the end This is a promise with a catch Only if you're looking can it find you Cause true love is searching too But how can it recognize you Unless you step out into the light? Don't be sad i know you will But don't give up until True love finds you in the end.

I'll see these girls here tonight in Milan at a house concert

I actually have an extra ticket (or two) to get in Taxi Taxi! concert, if anyone's interested just write to me.

MONTH FOUR DAY TWO - CARNABY PART I

2010-03-16T11:31:00.006+01:00

As most of you probably already know, I've been collaborating with CARNABY for 6 years now; for those who don't, well, now you know. Carnaby is an interior design showroom and studio, being one of the oldest and together leading family firms in this area, an article with an interview will be published on an interior design magazine in April (month of Milan Design Week). Odd as it sounds, I've been asked to take care of the whole photographic side of this project (: Here we go with some of the first bits:

http://www.carnabysrl.it/

MONTH FOUR DAY ONE - IT'S MONDAY, YOU KNOW

2010-03-15T15:46:00.004+01:00

YESTERDAY I WENT TO
By Reading Emails Unexpectedly Incoming, Let Clear Eyes Reveal Valuations Not Inaccurate About Various Arguments Lead To Outreach Ur Rationality N Excel Neatly, Causing Hyper Effects

AND THEN STARTED AN INSANE ACRONYM GAME WITH A FRIEND WHOSE PLATE NUMBER IS........... HERE:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TIJ1NFVS

so download and spot him on the highway (:

MINUS ONE TO MONTH FOUR - A COLORFUL REVOLUTION

2010-03-13T13:26:00.010+01:00

13 March 2010, Carnaby. Nikon D40.

20 April 2009, Carnaby. Polaroid Colorpack II, Fuji FP-100

September 2009, My cousin on my balcony. Blackbird, Fly camera with Kodak colour ISO100.

August 2009, Rho. Blackbird, Fly camera with Kodak colour ISO100.

21 December 2009, My sister. Canon Ixus 60 (?)

14 November 2009, Wilco at Conservatorio Verdi. Nokia E63.

Dearest Zoey Deschanel, I adore you and I wish I was just like you.

MONTH THREE DAY TWENTYTHREE - "M" IS FOR MONDAY. AND MUSIC.

2010-03-08T18:06:00.005+01:00

And Mountains:

Here you can download this week's playlist, which came out with a theme:

MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION

This roll was shot in 2009, but developed last week.

MONTH THREE, DAY TWENTYTWO - BERLINERS

2010-03-07T23:04:00.008+01:00

I had this Kodak Colour 100ISO developed the other day and I loved how Berlin shots turned out

I have countless Berlin pictures that I forgot posting btw (:

yay!

MONTH THREE DAY SIXTEEN - 7 SONGS FOR 7 DAYS

2010-03-01T16:54:00.011+01:00

Fuji 100, shot on a sunday afternoon

View from my window. Rainbow.

Since I've been doing this for a while now, I thought it was time to share it: everyday I take a note of the song I listened the most so at the end of the year it gets easier to find out what I've listened the most (don't even try to mention itunes, ipods, iphones, last.fm stat counters, cause the answer would be iDontcare) so I've just decided I'll try to suggest you 7 songs every week.

You can download the first half-dozen-plus-one HERE or THERE or WHEREVER YOU WANT.

From WILCO THE BOOK

MONTH THREE, DAY NINE - CARNIVAL PARTY WAS A BLAST

2010-02-23T12:08:00.008+01:00

Preparatory draft:

Gaga would have been proud

MY CRIB : SNEAK-A-PEEK

2010-02-03T18:57:00.005+01:00

I am loving Belle & Sebastian oh, so much

I always loved you

You always had a lot of style

I'd hate to see you on the pile

Of ‘nearly-made-it''s

You've got the essence, dear

If I could have a second skin

I'd probably dress up in you

MILANO NO. OBVIOUSLY.

2010-02-03T18:22:00.004+01:00

http://www.sleepingstates.co.uk/

MONTH THREE, DAY TWENTY - NEW YORK I LOVE YOU. MISS YOU SO MUCH.

2010-02-03T15:33:00.007+01:00

you're still the one pool
where I'd happily drown

2010-01-27T16:40:00.002+01:00

Living room window. Home.

If I were a better writer, I might write things here other than how bad a writer I am. I might express how my days are or how my job hunt is going or how much I loved the pasta I had for lunch, but I am so self aware of my writing, that all I can really articulate with any reasonable sense of clarity, is how conscious I am of the fact that I’m writing something and how weird it must be coming out. I was the person who wrote those letters about the paper I was writing on, how nice then pen was I was writing with and repeatedly apologizing for either my handwriting, or the lengthiness of the letter. This all changed sometime in my teens when I learned of the care package. Finally, I could express myself to you through artifacts: candy, books & magazines, clothing, photographs, weird shit in general, music, etc, etc. I still very much operate on this level. So forgive me if all you get here is weird photos, songs, art/design I like, and the occasional rant. I guess I trained myself to find it easier to communicate through artifacts than to communicate through words.

MONTH TWO, DAY THIRTEEN - THE ADVENTURES OF ALESSANDRA IN BERLIN

2010-01-27T08:34:00.001+01:00

My sister, dressed up as a Russian zar's daughter, got to Berlin and found herself on Swiss Alps.

Here's a picture of passers-by's disbelief as she acted like a super hero.

This is when she went ice skating in the middle of Sony center and the girl with the red glove had to rescue her.

As soon as she walked away from Potsdamer Platz she fell into a puddle:
all I could see was her heel.

But I saved her.

MONTH TWO - THE NIGHT I MADE UP A SICK SHORT STORY (DUE TO GOING TO BED TOO LATE)

2010-01-14T14:50:00.000+01:00

Last night I was wandering on planet Mars, no wait, I was actually rambling on Mars-the-chocolate-bar, passing by uninteresting nude landscapes, hoping to hit something exciting around the next corner. Descouraged by the average dullness, I kept on walking, shoe-gazing, until I saw a PJ. A checked blueish garment, matching with a plain t-shirt, and as my eyes went over this mishmash of colours and patterns, I caught his glance. And he was cute.

I first thought he could speak, so I asked who he was what he was doing there but the only reply I got was "Errr... Imma mmmh... You know ...uh?... art....t?"

I'm still not sure what that guy meant, but, he suggested me to take a look at this:

Wire/Metal relief, acrylic on wood. 26"x48"

I decided to make some resources about the author of the artwork here and found out the artist's name is Damon Ginandes: based in Brooklyn, he realized some amazing murales (there's a click-through link on the picture above, redirecting to the web page where you can see a short video of the 3D details).

Ascendants

Carlton Arms Hotel, Manhattan, NY

Concrete relief and acrylic on wood. 8.5' x 18'

I even found a video of the artist on YouTube and, considering the thing I have about americans, I have to admit I find the guy here pretty attractive. Oh, how I wish I met him instead of that stuttering pj-guy! At least this one can make a speech!

Now go and check his website! http://www.damonginandes.com/

MONTH ONE DAY TWENTYNINE - THE DAY I HAD TO SUM UP A MONTH OF SILENCE

2009-12-18T16:08:00.000+01:00

"Shout Out Louds ist eine schwedische Indie-Rockband aus Stockholm"

Direi di partire proprio da qui, facciamo in inglese da ora?

Here we are, trying to sum up a month of procrastination and posts saved to Drafts and never really posted. On day Thirtyfive (which must have been Dec 18. More or less) of this new life I found myself checking Shout Out Louds website in search of news about the band, any new album or anything. And here's what I've found.

Let alone the fact they are one of my favourite bands AND they're from Sweden AND

when I saw them live I felt like I was landing in Wonderland, they've always inspired me and I'm firmly

convinced they will, once again, make a great album.

Some months ago, on the very last day of my summer vacation in Boston, MA, I bought a cute 135mm twin lens reflex camera:

This small wonder, named Blackbird, Fly, came in a birdcage-shaped-plexi-box and it was love at first sight. I developed my first roll and, well, this time, high expectations matched with no disappointment at all! Look:

Then Christmas time came and all the parties came along, that's when I tried to use a 5 euro disposable Kodak camera to take pictures of my friends:

A B L A S T !

What else? Uhm... Yea, I got the last Post Secret book:

I have the feeling not all of you know what I'm talking about. Post Secret, as they state on their Wikipedia page, "is an ongoing community mail art project, created by Frank Warren, in which people mail their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard"

In case you want to know more about it, you should check their Community, their blog and, who knows, maybe send them a postcard?

Here's a story from the book:

I have so much more to tell about this month, but this one here seems like a pretty long post. Coming soon: stories from Berlin, an art project I want to take part to and much more.

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT - THE DAY I DECIDED TO BUY A HOUSE IN ICELAND

2009-12-11T15:13:00.000+01:00

Ecco, forse l'ho trovata:

DAY TWENTY-SIX - STRANGEST THINGS DID HAPPEN

2009-12-09T09:19:00.000+01:00

Sono in Germania e casualmente mi capita di scattare delle foto che ricordano parecchio il mio album preferito del mio gruppo preferito, su cui c'e' anche la mia canzone preferita che il caso vuole che si chiami Impossible Germany.

Ma non e' tutto qui: decisi di scaricare quest'album, assolutamente ignara di chi potessero essere questi Wilco, perche' mi piaceva la copertina... E un giorno vai in Germania, alzi lo sguardo, vedi uno stormo di uccelli che sta per passarti sopra la testa e senza nemmeno pensarci alzi la macchina fotografica e fai quattro scatti Merda! ero in manuale, ma gli scatti vengono e ti ricordano una cosa bellissima.

DAY NINETEEN - EVERYTHING GOES IN CIRCLES

2009-12-02T17:06:00.000+01:00

Un pomeriggio mi metto a guardare la Dashboard del mio Tumblr per cercare di rispolverarlo.... e trovo questo:

Ovvero: http://www.flickr.com/photos/quadrostella/3491139321/

♥ ___ ♥

DAY NINETEEN - THE DAY I SEWED FLOWERS ON MY CARDIGAN

2009-12-02T12:13:00.000+01:00

Ho fatto dei fiori di stoffa e poi ho deciso di metterli su un maglione. Fono ftata braviffima, vero?

Ne voglio fare tantissimi e metterli ovunque, quindi se volete qualcosa da me sappiate che sarò felicissima di farvelo.

Edited on DAY NINETEEN. A rainfall of beads and sequins fell during the night:

DAY SIXTEEN - THE DAY AFTER THE NIGHT I THREW A PARTY

2009-11-30T08:19:00.000+01:00

Ieri era il compleanno di mia sorella e con l'aiuto dei suoi amici le ho fatto la festa... a sorpresa. Ho fatto l'invito, ho prenotato torta-baci-cappellini-brindisi-palloncini, ho chiamato tutti e abbiamo messo in scena un teatrino degno di oscar per farla arrivare alla festa senza sospettare di nulla.

Bellissima, riuscitissima, carinissima e abbiamo anche fatto uno smilebooth con la festeggiata e i palloncini e tutto il resto! AHWWW.

Auguri Alessandra. Happy 29th birthday.
Ti voglio bene.

DAY FIFTEEN - WHO'S THE WINNER

2009-11-29T17:16:00.000+01:00

Io e il mio amico Grbriele abbiamo un problema con GNAH e GNEH. Ce lo scriviamo in tutti i modi:

DAY THIRTEEN - THE DAY I STARTED HUNTING FOR MODELS

2009-11-27T16:45:00.000+01:00

AAA Cerco modelli - e per modelli intendo tutti voi che state leggendo sì-anche-il-più-caso-umano-di-voi-mi-interessa - per continuare il progetto di ritratti che ho cominciato tempo fa, cagacazzi astenersi.

In cambio vi darò tanto bene.

DAY THIRTEEN - 1985

2009-11-27T16:16:00.000+01:00

Non ci sono più le mezze stagioni, ma nemmeno i film di una volta. Chi lo conosce è bravo.

DAY THIRTEEN - BE NOISY

2009-11-27T15:38:00.000+01:00

Forse sono uscita dal tunnel del silenzio. Oggi mi sono innamorata di questa cosa qui sopra.

DAY NINE - DO YOU EVAHHH

2009-11-23T22:19:00.000+01:00

Nel lontano 2007, ai tempi d'oro di MySpace tormentai gli animi di tutti i miei amici con i Good Shoes. Un simpaticissimo autoplayer nel mio profilo accoglieva i visitatori con questa canzone:

e io so con certezza che ognuno di loro ha desiderato la mia morte sentendo DO YOU EVAH partire in automatico mentre il loro iTunes stava suonando tutt'altra musica.

Bene, questo post lo dedico tutto a voi anche se non ci caghiamo piu' come nel 2007, sappiate che se potessi metterei un autoplayer sul profilo di Facebook per accogliervi con questa:

Non sono sicura che possano fare di nuovo breccia nel mio cuore (le premessi non sono particolarmente promettenti e, soprattutto, ne e' passata d'acqua sotto i ponti dalla giovine sprovveduta che ascoltava solo mediocrita' adolescenziali) ma sono comunque curiosa di sentire il nuovo album, No hope No future, in uscita all'inizio del 2010.

DAY NINE - SONG OF THE DAY

2009-11-23T17:22:00.000+01:00

Questi qui sopra nella foto carina sono i Mumford & Sons, l'n-esima band britannica di questa rediviva scena folk che piace solo a me. Ora partono le scommesse: Laura Marling, dopo essersi passata sia Johnny Flynn che il cantante dei Noah and the whale, chi si farà tra questi?

DAY NINE - INSIDE OF ALL US IS A WILD THING

2009-11-23T12:30:00.001+01:00

Milano, Piazza Napoli, Domenica 22 Novembre, ore 14:30: fuori dal cinema una fila di 12milioni di persone (prevalentemente pubescenti, nonni, mamme con bambini, bambini forse da soli, donne sicuramente sole) tutte li' a sgomitare per vedere quella merda di New Moon. Io e i miei due compari, vittime di una societa' di idioti e aspiranti vampiri, siamo costretti a stare in fila con tutti gli altri per guadagnarci tre posti in una sala deserta (si chiamava sala 2 ma forse la ribattezzeranno Sala Deserto dopo la proiezione di ieri) per vedere il capolavoro di Spike Jonze.

"Spike Jonze: Check. Dave Eggers: Check. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Check. Where the Wild Things Are has all the ingredients to become the hipster equivalent of Star Wars."

US National Public Radio

Sendak scrive una storia da 10 righe, Jonze lavora con Eggers alla sceneggiatura, Karen O ci fa una colonna sonora su misura ed ecco il film perfetto, che non piacera' mai in Italia, ma in America si. Forse un film piu' per adulti che per bambini: con tutta quella tristezza negli occhi delle creature selvagge forse i bambini si spaventeranno, o forse no. Io ho pianto insieme a un bambino davanti a me, ma lui era in braccio alla sua mamma.

Io vi consiglio di ascoltare questa qua:Karen O and the Kids - All is love

DAY SEVEN - A TRICK TO IMPRESS EVERYONE

2009-11-21T18:22:00.000+01:00

Mi sono sempre sentita un po' una scimmia, forse perchè sono curiosa, forse perchè faccio le cose con i piedi o forse perchè mia sorella da piccola mi ha insegnato ad imitare i gorilla, comunque questo video è illuminante e da oggi sorprenderò tutti i miei amici col trick della scimmia.

Uh Uh Uh

DAY SEVEN - WANNABE HOUSEWIFE

2009-11-21T16:21:00.000+01:00

Have you met Miss Jones? Appena lo incontro penso a HIMYM e a quel loro giochino stupido Have you met Ted?, poi mmi metto a guardare le meraviglie che questa ragazza australiana mi propone e in un click dimentico chi sono-cosa faccio nella vita-dove vivo e comincio a sognare una casetta in Canadà con vasche, pesciolini e tanti fiori di lillà... ma soprattutto, con questi soprammobili:

Credo di essere ad un passo dal far un ordine, se nel frattempo qualcuno volesse comprarmi la sopracitata casetta...

DAY SIX - BIG NEWS

2009-11-20T19:26:00.000+01:00

Oggi, in modo del tutto casuale (iTunes DJ), incappo in una canzone che avevo completamente rimosso dal mio HD (cervello) forse perche' il "modo del tutto casuale" non si e' mai ricordato di farmela sentire piu' spesso o forse, shame on me, non mi sono mai ricordata di questo gioiellino targato Vampire Weekend.

lady's the pharaoh, Charles is the nile
thats a museum, thats a cool place
stones of your fathers standin' today

I've held dreams of boston all of my life

Inutile specificare il motivo di tanto entusiasmo quindi passero' oltre. Travolta da un insolito destino, no scusate quella era Madonna, dicevo, travolta da un ritorno di fiamma in grande stile per i VW, decido di dare un'occhiata al loro sito per vedere se l'hanno cambiato, se sono cambiati, se si sono cambiati e se hanno qualche regalino per me. E cosa ci trovo?

Video nuovo uscito -sapete quando?- ieri.

http://vampireweekend.com/

PS Ovviamente shows gia' pianificati da qui a fine febbraio, ovviamente anche in Europa, ovviamente non in Italia.

DAY SIX - HIFILWACB

2009-11-20T17:37:00.000+01:00

HIFILWACB, ovvero, How I Fell In Love With A Children's Book.
L'ho aperto e ho solo fatto in tempo a dire gnah che i miei occhi erano già a forma di cuore.

DAY SIX - THE DAY THEY STOLE MY MOM'S CHRISTMAS TREE

2009-11-20T15:56:00.000+01:00

E' un po' come quando ti trovi davanti quelle notizie di Studio Aperto che ti raccontano la cistite di un cagnolino o la pleurite di un anziano solo: non sai mai cosa dire. A volte cambi canale, ma nella migliore delle ipotesi ti trovi davanti quella rincoglionita della Isoardi alla Prova del cuoco.

Potete cambiare blog, ma se poi ve ne capita uno di street files non vi lamentate con me.

Addio albero-di-Natale-piantato-da-mia-madre-50-anni-fa. Mi mancherai.

DAY FIVE - MUSIC IS NOT A LOAF OF BREAD

2009-11-19T14:51:00.000+01:00

Jeff Tweedy, un piccolo grande uomo, nel 2004 lascia un piccolo grande contributo in merito ad una questione che coinvolge ognuno di noi: zip-upload-share-P2P-seed-peer-leech (ecco, leech sarebbe meglio di no, stronzoni)-download-unzip-listen.

"A piece of art is not a loaf of bread. When someone steals a loaf of bread from the store, that's it. The loaf of bread is gone. When someone downloads a piece of music, it's just data until the listener puts that music back together with their own ears, their mind, their subjective experience. How they perceive your work changes your work.
Treating your audience like thieves is absurd. Anyone who chooses to listen to our music becomes a collaborator. People who look at music as commerce don't understand that. They are talking about pieces of plastic they want to sell, packages of intellectual property.
I'm not interested in selling pieces of plastic."

D'altra parte furono proprio loro , qualche anno prima di quest'intervista, a mettere Yankee Hotel Foxtrot a disposizione di tutti i fan sul loro sito. Sì, l'hanno messo lì, alla mercè di tutti: avevano prodotto un capolavoro e invece di affannarsi alla ricerca di un'etichetta che li producesse non hanno fatto altro che aspettare il feedback dei fans.

"Stop trying to treat music like it's a tennis shoe, something to be branded. If the music industry wants to save money, they should take a look at some of their six-figure executive expense accounts. All those lawsuits can't be cheap, either."

La Warner tagliò i costi scaricandoli (certo, sostenevano che non ci fosse neanche una hit da classifica in quell'album)e Tweedy e compagni, non hanno fatto altro che scaricargli in testa un secchio di sterco caldo, 50,000 visite al loro sito il giorno del lancio dell'album, 13esimo posto in classifica. Not bad direi.

Grazie piccolo grande uomo, smetterai mai di stupirmi?

"What if there was a movement to shut down libraries because book publishers and authors were up in arms over the idea that people are reading books for free? It would send a message that books are only for the elite who can afford them."

PS: io, i loro album, continuo a comprarli.

NEW LIFE, DAY FOUR

2009-11-18T17:10:00.001+01:00

Oggi trovo nella cassetta della posta una busta, piatta, di cartone bianco, quadrata, carina e il pensiero che mi assale per i primi 5secondi è Cazzo è?. Poi metto a fuoco il mittente e realizzo: è il singolo di Johnny Flynn, pre-ordered ad agosto e in uscita a fine mese. ED E' GIA ARRIVATO!

Ok, scarto al volo, ma sto attenta a non rompere niente. C'è il singolo e una cartolina con due spillette con cui mi ringrazia e , sì, insomma, mi vuole anche bene.

Il singolo non l'ho ancora ascoltato, ma lui resta una delle mie scoperte più significative del 2009, è il mio fidanzato immaginario da mesi, fa l'attore, scrive testi e musica, è un gran bono, ha una voce stupenda, disegna tutte le illustrazioni dei suoi album, ha un sito carinissimo e, ovviamente, non suonerà mai in Italia.

http://www.johnny-flynn.com/

NEW LIFE, DAY ONE

2009-11-15T16:20:00.000+01:00

Sabato 14 Novembre 2009. Wilco performing at Conservatorio Verdi, Milano.

Last but definitely not least: GRAZIE ALE ♥