Italy has its first female prime minister

So the new prime minister of Italy is "far right wing" according to U.S. media--no to gender nonsense, yes to traditional family and border security, no to Muslim terrorism. Sounds like the U.S. before Obama decided to "fundamentally" change the country in 2009.

Do narrow minded Americans need to travel more to see how others live?

We have travelled outside the U.S.—Ireland, Russia, Italy, Finland, Estonia, Germany, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Israel (and briefly Canada, but that was just airports). What we saw there in terms of little population groups disliking each other and ethnic battles that dated back for centuries should make Americans feel proud (until the last 6 years) of the way we’ve patched up centuries of ethnic battles.

I think the Lapps (Sami) in Finland have 11 different languages, wander over 4 countries, have special protections like our American Indians, and are generally not well liked by Finns who are a different ethnicity. And among the Sami the reindeer people don’t like the fish people who don’t like the forest people. The Somalis in Finland have a high crime problem among the youth who need to know both Finnish and Swedish in order to get a job and are experiencing discrimination—but were never slaves and have socialized healthcare and free college.

When we shopped in Estonia, the retail clerks were speaking Russian to each other.  Big problems there between native Estonians, and Russians who have lived there for generations—or since WWII. We were pleasantly surprised in Israel, which is another melting pot with Jews, Muslims, Christians and others like Bahai.

In Italy, which hasn’t really been a nation all that long, the light skinned, fair northerners who believe their culture is the only one that matters, look down on the dark skinned, poverty prone southerners.

In Ireland the hatred for the Brits and what they did to them during the famine is still palpable. There seems to be a monument to every battle back to the Scandinavian invaders , most of which we’ve never heard of. Also in Ireland it was the economic boom years when we were there and almost the entire service trade were foreign—Poles, Czech, and other east Europeans whose economy hadn’t yet recovered from Communism—the nannies were head covered Muslims. The Irish wouldn’t take any of those jobs in the tourist industry—except in the rural areas where they were entertainers and historical site managers. Even the restaurant managers were foreign (serving Irish food for the tourists). These people stayed to themselves, had their own churches, clubs, even trades. Meanwhile the Irish were searching for deeper roots with special schools and summer internships in Gaelic language.

The Volga Germans, invited to Russia because of their superior farming skills during Catherine the Great’s reign, are some of the most discriminated against people in Russia, and now its eastern former provinces. They speak a form of old low German, and aren’t welcome in Germany either after 3 centuries since many speak Russian. They do make it in the U.S., however.

The push for diversity and multiculturalism in the U.S. has done the opposite of what those words would seem to mean. And leading the pack in finding irritants among groups is the Obama administration, with appointments like Holder, cheered on by the likes of Sharpton,  filled with poverty and race pimps who fear a loss of their jobs or non-profits if people really were working together for a greater country and the greater good.

Update: Somalis demonstrate at the welfare office in Sweden. 14% of the population in Sweden are immigrants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn8sdVIECo0

The Talented Mr. Ripley (movie)

We received a free three month trial for HBO recently, and last night was the first time I actually watched an entire movie, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) was nominated for many awards, and world wide grossed nearly $129 million with a production budget of $40 million. 

There are some big name actors in it, although since it was made in 1999, based on a 1955 novel, they are even bigger now—Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, and Philip Seymour Huffman.  The 1950s costumes and styles were very good as was the Italian scenery.  Although the author of the book (was actually 5 books) denied that Ripley was homosexual—just confused--but he certainly is in the movie. He kills one desired lover who spurned him, one whom he loves, and a friend of the first who figured out his scam.  On the list of 329 gay themed movies at Box Office Mojo, it is #4 in gross.

It’s very dark, but the main character, played by Matt Damon, is quite interesting and the viewer is dragged protesting into liking him, at least I did.  Damaged but endearing. Tom Ripley is sent to Italy by Dicke’s father to bring him home, and instead falls in love with Dicke’s lifestyle and then Dicke, whom he later kills when he rejects him to marry his girlfriend Marge, and assumes his identity. He also has to kill Freddie, Dicke’s good friend who figures out his scam, and finally his lover Peter who is about to find out, but who knows him as Tom Ripley when others think he is Dicke.

The author of the novels on which the movie is based, Patricia Highsmith, was described by Otto Penzler, an acquaintance as “a  mean, hard, cruel, unlovable, unloving person.  I  could never penetrate how any human being could be that relentlessly ugly." So perhaps that’s how she could draw such dark, evil characters to people her novels. Her own mother didn’t help much by telling her she wanted to abort her—had even tried. (Wikipedia)

What to wear in Italy

Cannes, the site of the film festival, isn't in Italy, but it's close enough. I saw an article on what to wear in Cannes (for the festival and site seeing), so I thought it would be a good hanger for my travel wardrobe in early summer when we visit Italy.

Daytime--women
designer jeans
colorful tight top or
wrapped dress in bold print
trimmings of diamonds, flashy handbag and expensive sun glasses

Evening--women
bleached teeth
designer gown
a tan

Sight-seeing
good flats or expensive sandals (absolutely no athletic shoes)
you can also use the sunglasses, jeans, tight shirt and white teeth

Men--Daytime
tight jeans
fitted white shirt or
rocker t-shirt
expensive shoes
gold Rolex

Men--evening
Tuxedo

I'm not sure my on-sale Talbot's jeans with sparkles and flowers qualify; even so, I do hate to see women "dressed up" in jeans--especially tight jeans. Ladies, I think the gay designers are after our men, because most of us just don't look that terrific after age 16 in tight jeans. Muffin tops, saddle bags, cellulite, sausage links--you know the routine. What we look like in that 3-way mirror in the store is exactly what someone walking behind our behinds sees.

So here's my plan--black, white and taupe, with a little color thrown in for evening. I now have two new pair of black sandals, and one pair of black walking shoes--tie oxfords. I agree with the writer--athletic shoes for strolling around ancient ruins and art museums look a bit tacky. But so do tight jeans on plump or saggy Americans.

If only it were this easy

Si. No. Per piacere. Grazie. Prego. Parla inglese? Che? Vorrei vedere il cartellino dei colori.



Looking ahead to our trip.

Black sweater fashion showdown

Today's WSJ featured a story about a $99.50 black sweater from Land's End (owned by Sears) up against a $950 black sweater from Bruno Cucinelli. Both were made of cashmere from Mongolian goats in China, but the "cheap" one was made in China and the expensive one in Italy. The writer said the Land's End was a bit stiff and wrinkled easily, but the Italian sweater had to be returned to the store for repairs because something started to unravel. The $950 sweater was made in a 17th century castle by workers who get a 90 minute lunch or a free 3-course meal at work cooked by local women. So when rich, limosine liberals buy a sweater from Cucinelli, they can rest assured that the hand work was truly done by hand, and no 3rd world worker was allowed to improve himself on her dollar.

I'll have to check the label on my black mock-turtleneck bought on sale 2 years ago at Meijer's for $5.00. That leaves me a little to drop in the collection plate rather than wearing my wealth (or pension check). And it hasn't wrinkled or unraveled.