Bicycle diaries: on distance

I grew up riding bicycles. Some short stint with the motorized way of ride in the form of 50 cc and my personal favorite the triumph scrambler, but I always returned to the manpowered way of transportation. Most of my bikes stayed with me for some decades, so there were just three or four up…

21/01 The Latin Lover, a translation process of planned obsolescence

Rudolph Valentino 53 years separate La Dolce Vita and La Grande Bellezza, the film by Paolo Sorrentino, that is said to have been largely inspired by Fellini’s masterpiece. Both films tell the ups and downs of a man prowling through the eternal city, meandering from place to place, caressing casual acquaintances, daydreaming of a different…

21/0 Saved by Translation

The day was cold but the sun made it into a sunny winter day. A welcome break from a few days of heavy snow fall. It turned out, it was the last day before an upcoming period of idyllic grayish winter days. It was a good day for a walk after the Christmas festivities. And…

11_H Hour Curfew Time October 10, 1977, part 4

Preliminary notes to this fourth and final part of the transcript of the Dick Cavett Show, with Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, aired October 11 1977. For references to the source of this transcript please see part 1. Here it comes: the scandal. In this last section Mastroianni expresses some thoughts about the mystery and…

11_H Hour Curfew Time October 10, 1977, part 3

Preliminary notes on this third part of the transcript of the Dick Cavett Show, with Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, aired October 11 1977. For references to the source of this transcript please see part 1. Second evening In the first part of the second evening we get to know some details about a fire…

11_H Hour Curfew Time October 10, 1977, part 2

Preliminary notes on this second part of the transcript of the Dick Cavett Show, with Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, aired October 10 1977. For references to the source of this transcript please see part 1. In this second part we empathize with MM in his struggle to find the right words for what he…

Conversations about style #4

In this fourth installment of conversations about style, I had the pleasure to talk with Susanne Barta about Jeans. Please enjoy our pondering here. German only.

11_H Hour Curfew Time October 10, 1977 part 1

Dick Cavett Show - Sophia Loren & Marcello Mastroianni Aired October 10 1977 A Co-Production of Daphne Productions, Inc, and WNET/13 1977 Daphne Productions, Inc. Extra material for the "A Special Day" DVD/bluray Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpG97GXycD0 ASCinema - Archivio Siciliano del Cinema Sophia Loren e Marcello Mastroianni al Dick Cavett Show (1977) - [Film Doc] ASCinema:…

H Hour Curfew Time May 6, 1938, “Una giornata particolare”

The post-neorealist cinema of Ettore Scola. It’s May 6, 1938. We’re in Rome on the silent roofs in via Regina Margherita. The rooftop of the Policlinico Odontoiatrico George Eastman is one of two locations where Ettore Scola sets his 1977 masterpiece “Una giornata particolare”. The other one is situated within a short distance, just a…

On the importance of vintage playboy magazines for a cultivated perception of the nude

The variety of words to describe the act of seeing is an indicator for the importance of this activity in our daily life. Watching, seeing, observing, scrutinizing, sensing, pondering, looking or even hearing, for all these activities our eyes are responsible. With the advent of photography this sense though underwent a radical change. With the…