Photo: “Under The Tuscan Sundown”

I am living in a small Tuscan town. The other night we were going to attend an opera – outside – under the evening sky. Me? I prefer American Country – but still, I thought it was a nice idea…Then came the rains and the whole thing was cancelled. So my wife and I stayed home and searched for something to watch on TV. For several years now, I have found it difficult to find anything new which seems to have been written  with a good script and or a few good lines. I thought I would give you a short list of good lines from the time when movies were movies:

1. “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” GWTW, 1939
2. “If you want me, just whistle.You know how to whistle don’t you? You just put your lips together and blow.” Lauren Bacall, “To Have And Have Not”, 1944
3. Dave Bowman: “Open the pod bay doors, HAL”:  (in response; “I’m afraid I can’t do that. This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.”)  2001, “A Space Odyssey”, 1968
4. “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” (…and “I don’t tell the truth, I tell what ought to be the truth.”) Blanche Dubois in “Streetcar Named Desire” – Tennessee Williams, 1947
5. “Everything is going to be alright in the end and if everything is not alright – then it is not the end.” -“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” , 2001
6. Butch: “Kid, there’s something I ought to tell you. I never shot anybody before.”…Response from Sundance: “One hell of a time to tell me!” -Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, 1969
7. “God changes his appearance every second. Blessed is the man who can recognize him in all his disguises.”
   ― Nikos Kazantzakis, “Zorba the Greek”, 1964
8. “She needs watching, that one. We can’t trust anybody, especially a female.) -Fagin, “Oliver Twist”,  (movie), 1922

You don’t find lines like these in a show about coaches coaching soccer teams…but maybe that’s just me…until next time…

&nbsp

Sometimes you find it is simply too hot out there…and the wrong people are in charge of the world, and the corruption is just too much to be believed…and there is nothing you can do about any of it, anyway…and…and why should you follow the news because it is just so terrible and what good does knowing about any of it do you? …and then you look out the window and you see people dining under the starlit sky…and soon they will dance for no good reason and you have a sudden thought that things can be alright.

• “Storms Never Last do they baby? Bad times all pass with the wind.” -Waylon Jennings, song
• “Next time you’re found
  With your chin on the ground
  There a lot to be learned
  So look around.”  -First verse from “High Hopes” – Sinatra, song
• “Everything’s going to be alright, Rock-A-Bye. -Mullins, song
• “So warm, Odysseus’ joy when he saw that shore, those trees”. -Homer (The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 436-441. After his boat is wrecked and he is adrift on a heavy sea for two nights and days, Odysseus is overjoyed to see the shores of Phaeacia.)

&nbsp

The photo tells you how hot it is here in the Piazza. Usually there would be thirty kids kicking a soccer ball…a few skateboarders……some dogs…and the blue seats would be filling up to get ready for the jazz…not today…

• “Some Like It Hot” – The Name of a movie. A comedy. Today’s Generations would not understand the title.
• “Here comes the sun, and I say, it’s all right.” -The Beatles…more 60’s stuff
• “When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.” ― Ronald Reagan…You know that’s right.
• “It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.” — Yogi Berra“
• “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” — Harry S Truman… But, Harry, it’s hotter outside of the kitchen than it is in the kitchen.
• “It was a sure sign of summer if the chair gets up when you do.” -Walter Winchell
• “Heat cannot be separated from fire.” -Dante Alighieri
• “Climate Change is a Hoax!” -Attributed to #47…and if you say otherwise you are a Communist.
• “Weather forecast for tonight: Dark with a chance of tomorrow.” -George Carlin

 

 

Every other Wednesday night I host a dinner at one of the local restaurants where we talk about what in the affairs of man is concerning us the most. It is not to argue; but to discuss. Usually nine people show up: Some Brits, a Frenchie or two, Americans, an occasional Italian, Dutch and so on. It is always interesting and informative. ‘Ukraine’. ‘Tariffs’, ‘Brexit’, ‘NATO’, ‘Iran’…all the obvious topics. This coming week, however, I’ll bet we talk about something we have not had to talk about in the past: The Weather. We”ll see.  For weeks now, we have been suffering through temperatures in the high, high 90’s. 15 degrees above the normal averages. Everybody is bothered by it. Neighboring countries are on fire. It does not look like a passing thing.

I’m hereby asking my readers if they think the weather is an important topic. Is it too political?  Is ‘Climate Change’ a Hoax? Or is it just a Hoax in Washington D.C.? Is it too late to not “Drill Baby Drill”? Are you a Communist if you think people should be protected from Climate Change even if it is not a Hoax? I will report on this week’s conversation next week. If any of you have a thought on this, please send it to me. Thanks.

(The above picture was taken this week, during our town’s  charity dinner for the benefit of the people suffering in Gaza – another one of those ‘Topics’ of the day.)

“Va Pensiero”…(Think As You Go) -Verdi…sung the other night in our Piazza…Think about that.