Siamo come il sole a mezzogiorno baby

Siamo come il sole a mezzogiorno baby
We're like the sun at noon, baby

Senza più nessuna ombra intorno...baby
Without any more shadow around...baby

Here is another Lorezo Javantti video. I downloaded an album from amazon and interestingly it automatically imported the songs to iTunes. Anyway, I am now taken with the song Mezzogiorno (noon) and the lines above are what sealed the deal on my affection. With Bacciami Ancora I understood maybe 1/4 or so of the words right off, but with this I had to download the lyrics and translation before I got a feel for what it was about.

There are multiple videos for the song but for some reason the main one featuring Lorenzo himself the embedding was disabled so above is the one with for of them at the same time.

Below is the last singer I was infatuated with singing in a language I couldn't understand, but at the time I had no resources for translation so I enjoyed the song for years without knowing what it meant and tonight I finally know. Isn't the Internet a wonderful thing? In retrospect it may have been a more pure experience not being able to find a translation.

Un bellissimo spreco di tempo

While looking at websites to help me learn Italian I found embedded in one site the video above by Lorenzo Jovanotti. It is the title song to an Italian movie I don't think has been released in the US. Anyway, knowing nothing about the singer, song or movie I fell upon it with a unreasonable affection. Visually it speaks to an American ideal of “Italian”, a villa with a big family and a red and white checkered table. I mean, really! and musically it echoes a bit of Leonard Cohan's "Hallelujah" so is it cool, pop, maudlin or what? But I keep clinking to that virtual bookmark.

About the Italian checkered tables...I wonder if Italy is trapped by it's own cliches and Americans are? In the video they even load the table with the wicker chianti bottles you get at any US Italian restaurant, and of course the women are beautiful and all the men are thin. They left out the plump mother bringing out the huge platter of spaghetti. In the Us the Texans are shown as loud and with Cowboy hats and Oklahoma is filled with “Indian” with plumed headgear.

But aside from any cultural study, I somehow end up like a sentimental old lady on the verge of tears while listening to lyric like these below. Maybe my favorite line is the first line since it might describe my sad attempt to learn Italian on my own...

Un bellissimo spreco di tempo
a beautiful waste of time


FYI, the translator has ancora as “again” but in my crude Italian I used “still” and even if the other is more accurate I'm sticking with “kiss me still” which for some reason sounds way more powerful

BACIAMI ANCORA
KISS ME still

Un bellissimo spreco di tempo
a beautiful waste of time
un’impresa impossibile
an impossible undertaking
l’invenzione di un sogno
the invention of a dream
una vita in un giorno
a whole life in one day
una tenda al di là della duna
a tent beyond the dune
Un pianeta in un sasso, l’infinito in un passo
a planet in a rock, eternity in a step
il riflesso di un sole sull’onda di un fiume
reflection of a sun on a river's wave
son tornate le lucciole a Roma
the glow-worms are back in Rome
nei parchi del centro l’estate profuma.
in the midtown's parks the summer perfumes
Una mamma, un amante, una figlia
a mother, a lover, a daughter
un impegno, una volta una nuvola scura
a commitment, once a dark cloud
un magnete sul frigo, un quaderno di appunti
a magnet on the fridge, a notebook
una casa, un aereo che vola.
a house, a plane that flies
Baciami ancora…
kiss me still
Tutto il resto è un rumore lontano
everything else is a distant sound
una stella che esplode ai confini del cielo.
a star exploding on the edge of the sky
Baciami ancora…
kiss me still
Voglio stare con te
I wanna be with you
inseguire con te
chase with you
tutte le onde del nostro destino.
all the waves of our destiny
Una bimba che danza, un cielo, una stanza
a little girl who dances, the sky, a room,
una strada, un lavoro, una scuola
a road, a job, a school
un pensiero che sfugge
a thought that escapes
una luce che sfiora
a light that skims over
una fiamma che incendia l’aurora.
a flame that inflames the dawn
Un errore perfetto, un diamante, un difetto
a perfect mistake, a diamond, a defect
uno strappo che non si ricuce.
a tear that can't be mend
Un respiro profondo per non impazzire
a deep breath to don't go crazy
una semplice storia d’amore.
a simple love story
Un pirata, un soldato, un dio da tradire
a pirate, a soldier, a god to betray
e l’occasione che non hai mai incontrato.
and the chance that you've never met
La tua vera natura, la giustizia del mondo
your true nature, justice in the world
che punisce chi ha le ali e non vola.
that punishes who has wings and doesn't fly
Baciami ancora…
kiss me still
Tutto il resto è un rumore lontano
everything else is a distant sound
una stella che esplode ai confini del cielo.
a star exploding on the edge of the sky
Baciami ancora…
kiss me still
Voglio stare con te
i wanna be with you
invecchiare con te
grow old with you
stare soli io e te sulla luna.
be alone you and I on the moon

Coincidenze, destino,
coincidences, destiny
un gigante, un bambino
a giant, a child
che gioca con l’arco e le frecce
playing with bow and arrow
che colpisce e poi scappa
that hits and runs
un tesoro, una mappa,
a treasure, a map
l’amore che detta ogni legge
love that lays down the law
per provare a vedere
to try to see
che c’è laggiù in fondo
what there is down there
dove sembra impossibile stare da soli
where it seems impossible to be alone
a guardarsi negli occhi
looking each other in the eyes
a riempire gli specchi
filling the mirrors
con i nostri riflessi migliori
with our best reflections

Advancements, Sort Of...

Aside from the many techniques we worked on today Sensei “awarded” me a brown belt. Up 'till now our dojo followed the Dallas tradition of aside from the white belt and the black belt you get at Shodan, you got a brown belt after you take the 2nd Kyu test. So that would mean you took one more test before the black belt test (Shodan) But Sensei decided our dojo would present the brown belt after 3rd kyu and in our small dojo that only means me getting a new belt.


I don't want to be melodramatic but it really is humbling since it will be a visual distinction that I have made some progress and I will feel obligated to try and live up to the standards of the previous brown belts who are now wearing the black.

In some other dojos I seen 3rd kyus where a blue belt so I imagine Sensei didn't think another color was really needed. So it is not really a promotion but still I have a darker belt now.

---

I meant to write more of an Aikido blog but I stayed up a bit late and finished Level 1 Italian in Rosetta Stone Version 3.

From checking my past posts I guess I never got past the first Level in the Spanish version 2. I don't know if this is easier or just so much better one is more likely to try harder. Version 3 is definitely guides you more whereas in version 3 you pretty much just worked on what you wanted with not tests and no automatic reviews. I like this better, but I don't know that I actually learned as much.

Of course my weak Spanish is way better than my tiny Italian but I can't rate The Stone since I've made numerous attempts as Spanish over the years and even spent two months in Cuernevaca at a language school (way back in 1990 so I forgot most of it)

For now I'll head into Level 2 and also try to know the Aikido I am supposed to already know.

So all in all it was sort of a day of awards

Un Giorno di ITALIANO!

I missed class last night because I felt a head cold coming on and I felt bad enough this morning to stay home from work.

The upside is that I had some time while resting to play with the Italian Rosetta Stone.

The first Level has 4 sections and I am now almost half way through the 4th section, almost through the first Level! I guess my two semesters of Italian are coming back a little, as I fly through it pretty fast and now that I see the end of this level I am pushing a bit more.

It would be curious to know if there was any relationship or parallel between Rosetta Stone's Levels and traditional semesters of study. I don't know if it is easy because I am remembering what I learned a few years aga or if the Rosetta Stone method is just so dang good.

Buon Giorno!

OK, through a fortunate accident (is that the same as serendipitous?) I found a benefactor so I now have the Rossetta Stone Italian Version 3 and I spent much of the last week attacking Level one.

4 or 5 years ago I took 2 semesters of Italian at the local community college and interestingly it was when the 3rd semester did not form because of lack of students I thought about filling my time with Aikido.

Anyway I have a very slight background although I have forgoten an amazing amount. So far it has been pretty easy but not “a Breeze” but I made it to the half way point of the first of 3 levels. The product seems a lot better than the Version 2 that I had with Spanish. Definitely a more professional product and laid out better. I read where someone thought there was less vocabulary but I can't really say anything about that.

I'll go with it for as long as I have the energy and see where I end up.

Of course learning Italian makes no sense because there is almost no chance I will get to Italy in the near or distant future and Spanish in Texas would be so much more practical...but that is pretty typical of me, in that I tend to do things that while interesting don't really seem practical. Well you gotta do something I guess.