YAS PUPPY SURVIVORS

europe is just a bunch of lines on a map

via watch the border change over the course of history. it never has quite settled down over there.

tell me more about maria de blasio wilhelm

kylie's post about bill de blasio and his apparent tardiness issues made me wonder about what kind of lady his mother might be. everyone knows loving moms make the best alarm clocks.

anywho, turns out the man we know as bill de blasio was born to maria de blasio wilhelm, and was named warren wilhelm jr after his father. his dad had some post traumatic war issues and divorced maria when bill was young. she raised her three boys on her own in cambridge, mass. the daughter of italian immigrants from the city of Sant'Agata de' Goti, she grew up in manhattan, went to college at smith, and later worked for time magazine as a researcher and the office of war information which broadcast news programs into fascist controlled italy. in 1988 she wrote and published a book titled The Other Italy: The Italian Resistance in World War II. how accomplished!

she sounds just like another italian american mother that i know: smart, hard working, resourceful, and supportive. mrs. de blasio wilhelm died in 2007, but we can bet she would be so proud of our new mayor. cheers maria de blasio wilhelm! via via via 

NO MORE BARILLA!

Guido Barilla the guy who owns the pasta company was talking some shit about gay families in a recent interview and went so far as to say "if the gays don't like it they can go eat another brand." Don't mind if I do, jackass!

 TIME FOR A BOYCOTT!

san carlo alle quattro fontane

your fortnightly boat.

did y'all hear about this?

A luxury cruise liner, the Costa Concordia, ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, killing at least six people and forcing some 4,200 people on board to evacuate. (via)

Third Time's the Charm!

Get ready for WWIII!!!!  I'll give you one guess as to whom it might start with.  Give up?  It's the Germans...again.

Germans are scared that if the European Central Bank starts printing more money to keep Greece solvent, they'll be unable to resist their old Nazi habits.  Following WWI, the German Central Bank began printing extra money to pay domestic debts and reparations, and many Germans believe the resulting hyperinflation allowed the Nazi Party to seize power.  Poland's Finance Minister is shaking in his wooden shoes (Polish people wear wooden shoes right?) saying that a collapse of the Euro Zone and the European Union could lead to widespread political instability and war in 10-20 years.

Not helping matters is Silvio Berlusconi who referred to German Chancellor Angela Merkel as an "unfuckable lard-ass".  that.is.an.actual.quote.  Honestly I've gotta say, after being called that I'm not so sure I would blame her if she became a lady Hitler.

Anyway, you should probably start stockpiling guns, composting your poop, and turn your bathtub into a tilapia farm/hydroponic garden because if the Mayan apocalypse doesn't come in 2012, the German's will be waiting in 2021.  Either way, we're all screwed.

[via]

oh snooki.

explanation here.

THANKS CARLY!

For re-igniting my love for chuck mangione and his funky-ass flugelhorn.




My grandmother gave me this record when I started playing the trumpet my first soph. year of high school. italian americans are the best at brass.

my italian heritage

here is a picture my crazy family that my crazy italian aunt put on facebook. my grandmother sadie rosalee spinosa is the lady at the bottom of that triangle of girls near the top left.

also, can you find the puppy in this picture?

2Pz movie review

winter's bone:
this guy won first place at sundance a little while back. as you might could tell, i was drawn to its creepy backwoods rock-bottom-of-humanity subject matter. and in this aspect, it did not disappoint. the story's interesting enough: a girl on the search for her meth-cookin' daddy, thwarted by the secrets being protected within her slightly inbred ozarks community. the acting is impeccable, but the real appeal is the dialogue (including the threat "i already told you once with my mouth.") i really enjoyed this one, and give it about 9 biscuits!



i am love:
god damn, tilda swinton. how are you so ridiculously good? saw this'n last night, and gah. i really liked it. it's not perfect, but it is absolutely GORGEOUS. i am love tells the story of a russian-born italian housewife who's just had it up to here with the monotony of it all. and boy does she love food. i mean you can't even imagine how much she loves it. anyway, it's set in milan, mostly in this incredible mid-century mansion that is so weird and so awesome. the titles and credits are classic. the people are pretty, and the fashions are hot2trot, specially tilda's orange outfits. i could just look and look for hours. omg and the soundtrack! this one's too lush for dvd. see it in theaters or else. 10 beautiful biscuits!

NeRd aLeRt!

i want to go to there

heineken viral marketing event

pope knocked down

a crazy lady in a red jacket ran into the pope while he was walking down the aisle in st. peters at midnight mass. he got up and continued on his way and the woman was never heard from again.

in other news, the pope still hates gay people and abortions.

face!

ROME — An attacker wielding a statuette of the Milan cathedral struck Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in the face following a rally in Milan on Sunday, and hospital officials said the blow fractured his nose, sliced his lip and broke two teeth.

Television images showed bodyguards helping a stunned and bloodied prime minister into a car after the attack, which came as he greeted supporters after delivering a rousing speech to a rally of his center-right People of Liberties Party in central Milan.

The police detained a Milan resident identified as Massimo Tartaglia, 42, who has a history of mental illness, Italian news media reported. A prosecutor was questioning Mr. Tartaglia and a formal arrest was expected. (via)

nErD aLeRt!

roberto cavalli's home in tuscany. not as h3d as his yacht.

thx g.

wedding gone wrong

this italian couple had this charming idea to have the wedding bouquet tossed from an airplane.

what could go wrong with that? well, the bouquet got sucked in the engine, blew it up, the plane crashed into a hostel. AH hah AHAHA HAHAH AHA ahahahaha. one injured, no one died.

wedding ruined.