The Great Snape Debate May 29, 2007

I’ll admit it, I’m a diehard Harry Potter fanatic. But let’s face it, the HP books are british literary genius. For me, it all started around Christmastime, with book one, and now it’s led to my literary pursuit of books concerning HP theory. After finishing the sixth and most upsetting novel by JK Rowling, I turned my attention to: The Great Snape Debate. For those of you who are followers: is he good or is he bad?

 

We shall soon find out…

 

The 7th and final installment of the HP saga will be released the 21st of July, and I’ve already reserved my copy. Not only that, in order to satiate my need of all things Hogwarts, the 5th film will be out in theaters mid July.

 

As if that weren’t enough, I found a website online and entered my name into a sweepstakes to be one of 500 to be present at a reading of the 7th book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling herself! But, get this, only 7 of which can be Americans. WTF? Damn British nationalism! I feel so discriminated against, so unjustly represented! And yet, this must be how the rest of the world feels about America…

 

 

if you have 10 minuti… May 10, 2007

… and you need a good laugh, watch this video. it’s 3 Americans and their attempt at a parody of Pasolini’s Mamma Roma for a final project. we included a few subtle references to his book Ragazzi di Vita and his scandalous documentaries.

Disclaimer: this probably won’t be funny/make sense unless you’ve seen the movie

Mamma Roma in 10 Minuti

(un capolavoro)

 

Auguri, Roma! April 20, 2007

W Augustus! 

Rome: caput mundi, the eternal city, limen apostolorum, la citta’ dei sette colli…

2760 years ago on April 21, 753BC Romulus drew a large circle in the earth and called it Roma.  He was ancient Rome’s greatest conqueror who killed his own brother just to have the city named after him!  (thanks for taking one for the team, Remus.)  no worries, they were both diefied and, let’s face it, they founded what would become the largest and longest-lasting empire of classical antiquity.

My innate italophilic nature and nerdy fascination with ancient Rome have lead me to Houston, Texas this weekend to endulge in a day of the classics.  Bypassing the Kings and the beloved yet doomed Republic, I’ve come to celebrate the empire!  The Houston Museum of Natural Sciences has an exhibit of Imperial Rome, and you better believe I’m going to be there:

The Houston Museum of Natural Sciences

Roma is my home-a…

You know you’re an italophile when… April 14, 2007

 

• you could successfully navigate Rome yet you can’t get anywhere in Houston or Dallas 
• you think learning French would be a waste of tuition/brain capacity 
• you can’t find any food that isn’t suitable with a thick layer of Nutella
• at a bracelet-making party, yours was red, white and green
• you rearrange your required course schedule to make space for an Italian Drama course
• the reason you bought your shampoo was 30% because it’s organic, but 70% because it was marketed by a guy named “Giovanni”
• you take pleasure in pronouncing italian words and names properly at museums and restaurants even though everyone else will look at you as though you’re a pompous, incomprehensible jerk… and you embrace the fact that you are
• you personally believe that gelato changed your life
• seeing the Vatican makes you almost wish you were Catholic
• you’ll watch Roma play calcio, but you’ve never seen a Longhorns game
• for fun on a Friday night you rent a CD-ROM from the library that has a virtual tour/historical guide through Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence
• you’re enrolled in your second semester of classes on the subject of ancient Roman art
• you’re an active member of the Italian-American Cultural Club, yet you admittedly have no ancestors from the boot-shaped country
• you really kind of wish you had a moto to drive around campus

good thing i don’t know anyone like this…

 

rodeo clowns March 29, 2007

as we say in Texas: “save the horse, ride the cowboy”

My Grandma’s a true BA March 26, 2007

today is my granny’s birthday, she and her twin are 90 years old and still unbelievably active. i went to their birthday bash in Houston this past weekend, which was quite the gathering. my grandma Geraldine (on the left) and great-aunt Maxine made the front page of their town’s newspaper. how BA is that?

click here to read the article

 

Bouncetastic March 21, 2007

i admit, it’s old, but this video remains one of my favorite “spots” and reminds me of when my brother used to collect all kinds of bouncy balls…

*true beauty comes in all shapes, colors & velocities*

 

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

 

(i still don’t know how to add a video to my blogtastic site, sorry!)

un caffè Afterhour March 16, 2007

 

just when you thought i couldn’t get any cooler, even with my Van Gogh tat, i just did. yesterday a few of us from the italian club met up with 2 italian bands that are here for SXSW (The Hormonauts & the Afterhours) at a local coffee shop. they were surprisingly cool; they spoke to us in italian & luckily didn’t laugh when i assumed “batteria” meant battery… apparently it means “drum”…

we have street cred… March 10, 2007

20 in 07 March 6, 2007

yesterday my friends and I went out to dinner at an italian market/restaurant for my birthday; ’twas wonderful because there was a group of adults dining next to us from an italian language class. (pictures coming soon)

the day was absolutely fantastic, the weather was perfect for laying out and i even got cookies delivered from a secret admirer…

…i’m getting old…