Monkeyrockworld

I have recently participated to World Nomads Travel Writing Scholarship 2013: a chance to fly to Beijing and join the Rough Guide‘s staff to contribute to the monstrously famous Rough Guide China‘s update. Indeed, a very nice opportunity to learn more about the travel writing craft and its industry.

And I have LOST Well, I cheer myself up by thinking that we can’t always get what we want, first. And second, going back to grey, smelly and ultra technological Beijing was not really my favorite cup of tea. Anyways, congratulations to the winner – he really has nailed down a great submission, I reckon – and I will spare my piece for my readers. Comments are welcome.

Between the chopsticks and her heart

by Marco Ferrarese

“C’mon, try it.”
They floated in a thick, dark sauce. The nails had been cut off, but the rest of each finger stared back at me without eyes from the plastic plate, livid in vinegar. Truncated joints just below the feathers’ line. As I kept staring at my prospective dinner, I wondered how low a man can go to impress a pretty girl.

“So, will you try one?”
Her eyes were inquisitive windows open on her world. A slot machine of emotions tilted inside of her head, trying to spit out the appropriate row of words to describe me as delusional. When she invited me out to try some of the best street food in Penang, she probably trusted me to be a different, more interesting date. Read the rest of this entry →

Dopo aver viaggiato dall’Asia all’Europa via terra e facendo l’autostop, ho visto tante, troppe belle cose, situazioni e posti. Ho dunque deciso di proporvi una serie di post che mostrino quel che mi e’ piaciuto o mi ha colpito di piu’. Possono essere citta’, posti, locali, ristoranti, situazioni, esperienze, persone, qualsiasi cosa. Lo scopo e’ di mostrarvi una bella foto (opera di Kit Chan) e raccontare brevemente una delle nostre esperienze. Se poi vi sentirete abbastanza ispirati per cercare voli lowcost e partire, ne saremo solo onorati. Ecco la sesta foto, dall’Iran:

Iran– Incredibile Ospitalita’ e camionisti folli

Mi e’ sempre stato detto sin da piccolino che l’Iran era uno di quei posti pericolosi dove non bisognava assolutamente andare: musulmani, assassini, rapimenti, droga, morte, distruzione e Satana in carrozzella. Quando arrivai in Malesia e incontrai i primi iraniani della mia vita per davvero, rimasi al contrario colpito dalla loro cordiale gentilezza, le loro maniere educate e decisamente piu’ orientate ad Ovest che in quel ghetto mediorientale dove la mia cultura li aveva gettati, e molto, molto colti. Avevo ovviamente incontrato quel gruppo di pochi eletti e fortunati figli di famiglie abbienti che si potevano permettere di fuggire dal proprio paese per studiare all’estero… prima in Malesia, e poi – generalmente – in qualche altro paese occidentale come gli USA, l’Europa o l’Australia. Anche loro mi dicevano come il loro paese fosse orribile: un posto senza giustizia, senza liberta’ e occluso da un fondamentalismo religioso che rende la vita vomitevole e impossibile. Ok. Digerito. L’Iran ha sicuramente dei problemi, ma se questi stessi Iraniani all’estero continuavano a lamentarsi dei propri paesi d’adozione e rimpiangere la propria terra, ci sara’ ben dovuto essere un motivo… e dunque siamo andati a vedere. Con estremo piacere. E, purtroppo, una visa molto breve. Read the rest of this entry →

Motörhead said:

“I’ve got the medicine you need
I’ve got the power, I’ve got the speed
I’ll find out how to stop your clock
We sure ain’t talking Doctor Spock
Hear me talking, Doctor Rock”

But, in the same song, they concluded “Pay me, pay me / I ain’t no doctor of philosophy.” Well, dear Lemmy, it appears instead I am on the way to be. On the last 8th of May, my candidature as an extreme music anthropologist of Malaysia and Singapore has been approved. This will be my day-job for the next 2 years and a half.

The panel itself would have made Lemmy change his mind about academics: Dr. Emma Baulch, author of “Making Scenes:Reggae, Punk, and Death Metal in 1990s Bali” reached us digitally from Bali, while David Ensminger, author of  “Visual Vitriol: The Street Art and Subcultures of the Punk and Hardcore Generation” , connected from Houston, Texas. My other two supervisors, Dr. Yeoh Seng Guan and Dr. Julian CH Lee, particpated respectively in the flesh in Kuala Lumpur, and on the phone from Melbourne. The panel was chaired by Dr. Marco Buente, head of the research unit at Monash School of Arts and Social Sciences, Kuala Lumpur, from Germany. Quite an international cast of characters, concluded by me, the quirky Italian. Read the rest of this entry →