TWIST AND LEARNING

  I am very confused about the new prime minister appointed. Before this Italian government crisis, I did not have a great opinion about the outgoing government and its parliament majority, but now a larger new majority is being prepared, this new majority includes other parties and their very questionable leaders. There is a good thing: no party will be indispensable, no party can blackmail the government. Sure Draghi is certainly not a socialist or leftist, but he is not a storyteller (how can I say " cantastorie " in English?). The "cantastorie" were singers who told real stories, but they invented details and romanced the stories to make them more compelling, adapting and twisting them according to the tastes of the audience. This is what the populist parties do. Draghi is not like these populist leaders, but these party leaders will support his government and continue to campaign permanently, exactly as they have done since the last election, every single day

  Today is my birthday. I guess this is the remembrance day also out of Italy. Of course in the whole world, it does not remember my birthday but the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp . So the week before my birthday all TV channels broadcast programs on the Shoah . I hate the word "holocaust", this word makes it seem like it's a spontaneous sacrifice and not planned extermination. Despite the sadness exerted by the vision of many TV programs, I arrive at this day with a light heart. A few years ago, I was always very sad on my birthday. Now no more, maybe the time passing, the years more... I do not know. Perhaps ( I do not sure when I have to use "maybe" or "perhaps" so I use both) watching people who suffered really much helps me to be not sad on my birthday. I have been in a boarding school for 6 to 13 years. When I was twelve or thirteen years old I read a lot of books. I read every book that I had found. Among those books, there were

For some weeks ago I suffer from sciatica. I can't go out to run, I can just drive my bike on the rollers. I have bought an electro stimulator and I use it every day. I must have a lot of patience. I cannot any else. I should at least go out to walk, but in this period of lockdown in fits and starts... red zone... orange zone... it is very depressing. I work from my home and I go out only to shopping at the supermarket with my wife. Oh yes, I can watch TV series, many TV series! These days when I drive my bike I watch Occupied , Midnight diner: Tokio stories , Glow , South Park and I wait for the new season of Disenchantment , Better call Saul , Stranger things , Bonding... I miss very much to go out for running, I like running realy so much! It is one of few things possibile in this period and I cannot to do! I signed up to the virtual Corsa di Miguel beacause my wife want the race shirt! I will not be able to run this virtual race either. But how says The Rolling Stones '

  I continue to study English, but with poor results. I wish to have more memory and I would not make the same mistakes over and over again. When I watch a series-tv in English without Italian subtitles I understand some words and even simple sentences. A few times I saw Super Monsters , a cartoon for children, that uses simple language, and I understand its dialogues almost perfectly. Unfortunately in the cartoon sometimes the caracters occasionally sing… And I hate the songs in the cartoons! Until a few years ago I hated all the songs in all the kind of movies. It is not the truth, when I was fifteen and I went to graphic school we student had to watch movies to design posters. I saw West side story and I loved it so much. Later I loved also Jesus Christ Superstar , The Blues Brother and Hair but not The Saturday night fever. Maybe I am getting stoned (you know the age...) but when I hear certain song in certain movies I can't hold back the tears. For example in The deer hunte

  Yesterday I have learned new English beautiful (colorful) expressions. I was watching Star Trek Discovery e Michael Burnham said about Philippa Georgiou "she was a pain in the ass" and also "badass". The Italian subtitles were " rompicoglioni " and "tipa tosta". But in Italian for the first expression, we also use "un dito al culo" (a finger in the ass), for example we say "sei proprio un dito al culo" if the person is very annoying. But this expression can also be used in an affectionate sense, like almost all Italian vulgar expression. But, when I have told my wife about my recent discovery she was not seemed happy like me...  T hat is all about my progress in English profanity. In italiano l’avrei scritto così: Ieri ho imparato nuove bellissime (colorate) espressioni inglesi . Stavo guardando Star Trek Discovery e Michael Burnham ha detto di Philippa Georgiou "she was a pain in the ass" e anche &

  A few days ago I read the simplified version of The sign of four by Arthur Conan Doyle .  This version was been adapted for pre-intermediate English students, so it was easy for me. It is hard for me to use the correct time verb, I do a lot of confusion between the past simple and past perfect. Of course, there are a lot more things that I do not know about English than I know. I do a lot of confusion also the position of adverbs, about conjunctions... and when I listen to the English phrases, I need to listen to them many times. I become crazy to listen to the impossible pronunciation of native English speakers on Memrise . These people are not professional speakers, they are common people and they often have pronounced dialectal inflections. These inflections are definitely instructive but I need to listen to these phrases many, many times before I understand the words. It is very different to listen to the speaker of The Sign of Four with his perfect English pronunciation. In ita