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Diary 2014

December 2014
Happy Christmas from


22.12.2014 SSC Napoli wins the Supercoppa Italiana!
Watching the breathtaking game with Alessandro, Barbara, Maurizio and the little Alessandra.



Masataka now calls it his "Karaoke syndicate international" in Berlin. It was a very happy special night on December 14th, with Masataka and friends @ Monster Ronson's Ichiban Karaoke! Some hits of the night: Daydream Believer (The Monkees), Rock'n'Roll (Led Zeppelin), Don't know why (Norah Jones).


I value your feedback, so I improved the About section with more visible direct links to music, places, videos etc.


At the office in Lützowplatz we do not have a cafeteria. We go out for lunch. Very often the choice is the Möebel Hübner kantine, sometimes we walk up to Nollendorfplatz and Winterfeldtplatz and stop by the market or by one of the little restaurants there (like today by Sao Mai), sometimes (especially when I am alone) the choice is the italian 'tavola calda' around the corner.
I like this. I can experience another area of the city, Schöneberg, which I think is more genuine and berliner than Mitte and Prenzlauerberg. In Schöneberg I still feel being in the Berlin I met - and I fell in love with - some years ago when I started exploring it.

While the guitar solo of Dire Straits' Tunnel of Love was taking possession of my head and obsessively going around it day and night...
...this week I ve been going out with my friend Chaitan at one Internations event @ Supermarket @ Bikini Berlin ...and visited again, this time with Regine, Dominique and Sascha, the little Italian ristorantino CottoeCrudo where they make lasagne the way I like it


November 2014

29.11 In Haarlem, the Netherlands, this week - beautiful place, great time with my friends and EMEA colleagues - where I received the award for Building an Excellent Team: it was very rewarding for me... as a friend of mine said to me "it's not about sales, tax, money, products... it's about people!".
And now back again to my supergirl!


A cool week... because it is really getting cold and because I've been often around with my friend Matthias, a night at Schwarze Pumpe (and we agreed on a biweekly Wednesday's men's day!), again at gym after a long absence, and lasagne and more Italian food lately (which is always good)

This is my new... Shure PG48 ->


15.11.2014 Coming back home after 4 days in Istanbul. I have seen nothing of the city, only hotels and restaurants; but many nice friends and colleagues faces.
And soon upon my return, to the Cinema to see Interstellar. Nothing special, nothing really new, a mix of 2001 Space Odissey, Armageddon etc... but a trip in the space, into the future, into the unknown, in the Universe, is to me always worth seeing. They should do more of this sci-fi movies (I recently saw Prometeus which also stimulated my fantasy and dreams a lot).

8.11.2014
It has been memorable... walking along the Berlin Wall's path made of white balloons to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its fall.
If what happened 25 years ago wouldn't have happened many things would be so different today, that's banal to say, who knows what and how. And I would hardly had such a Compare, such a friend.
Thank you Matthias for this beautiful day!


Finally seen (via iTunes): Buffalo 66. Super good!

New Glasses !

 


October 2014


I've been sick some days of the last week, actually we both felt not good in the last period, must be the winter approaching...


My parents were here in Berlin for a while, having sightseeing tours with their friends and spending evenings and weekend with us at our place.


Bukowski about shrinks (psychiatrists). I am re-reading Pulp these days.
"Last dream I had I was laying under this elephant, I couldn’t move and he was releasing one of the biggest turds you ever saw, it was about to drop and then my cat, Hamburger, walked across the top of my head and I awakened. You tell that dream to a shrink and he’ll make something awful out of it. Because you are paying him excessively, he’s going to make sure to make you feel bad. He’ll tell you that the turd is a penis and that you are either frightened of it or that you want it, some kind of crap like that. What he really means is that he is frightened or wants the penis. It’s only a dream about a big elephant turd, nothing more. Sometimes things are just what they seem to be and that’s all there is to it. The best interpreter of the dream is the dreamer. Keep your money in your pocket. Or bet it on a good horse."


Camera Test 18.10.2014
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Headless Our Simple Song 2014

 


Headless Gianni On Trial 2014!

This video Marco recorded for my birthday moved me a lot. And made me do this brave gesture of recording again, after 20 years, my old songs with my headless guitar. Like in the good old times, I am too lazy to try hard so I just recorded once with a cheap mic and kept it as it came out. I am still On Trial!

Headless Our Simple Song 2014
Amp: CaliMetal?, Rhythm: must have been PoP, Effects: Flanger & Room

Headless Linda 2014
Amp: CaliMetal?, Rhythm: must have been PoP or 16Beat, Effects: Comp & Room

And if you would like to have the full versions: 1) call a doctor, because there's something wrong with you; 2) contact me and I will send it to you


Starting October with my colleagues visiting me in Berlin,
with a sunny and long weekend,
with coffee and cakes at my favourite 'kuchen' place in Berlin,
with pizza with Masataka (about Rod Stewart and the Faces, bass and guitar, karaoke in Japan and more),
with my headless guitar.

And with my Regine of course. She's been a bit sick with cold and cough and fever in this days. But together we stay cool.
Happy birthday my Regine!


September 2014

Doraemon

A very nice weekend in Helmstedt, with my compare Matthias' family


Singing "Doraemon" with my Japanese friend Masataka. A privilege, unforgettable!


 

15.09.2014 I am Turning 40.

It's been forty years full of Life!

And it's been celebrated with overwhelming beautiful emotions!

   
   

 


CROATIA from south to north! (end of August - beginning of September)

visiting... Dubrovnik + Mlini + Makarska + Brac Island + Milna + Pakostane + Zadar + Vrsar + Porec

with... Beautiful Regine & me + Anna & Ugo (the last 4 days in Vrsar)

staying at... Villa Avantgarde, Mlini (good) + Illyrian Resort, Brac Island Milna (lovely) + Camping Kozarika, Pakostane (nice) + Campsite Valkanela, Vrsar (incredible! beautiful! immense!)

doing... ->


August 2014

Nice things happened last weekend.
- Regine's present for my next birthday, a new bicycle for me - black, cool, comfortable. And we hope this time it will last more than 3 weeks!

- Regine and me we went cycling round here, and we went to the cinema to see the latest Eastwood's movie Jersey Boys
- Regine proposed to watch The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as a late movie before falling asleep, and despite I thought I had already seen this movie a thousand times... I realized that I had never really seen it with the eyes of a man, but I always had with the eyes of a boy. A great movie...

Regine reminds me of the Guinnes slogan: Regine is good for Gianni!


Dario in Berlin for a Weekend (9-12.08).
We went @ Felix Club , Monster Ronson's Ichiban, Bite Club street food festival, etc. etc.


Greetings from (a beautiful week in...) Herrenberg! (2-7.08) , with Regine, M.L., C. and... 'Tanzen mit dem Ehepaar Fern' + 'il bombo!' + da Gino + Uno! + 'chiocciola' + 'tretigricontrotretigri' etc..etc..


July 2014

Baustellen @ Zionskirchplatz

I love this city, Berlin, at least the part of it without the Baustellen (construction sites). What's goin' on here is ... too much! You can't walk 500 meters without passing by an excavator or a crane. There's a guy who made a website about it, wow!
Last year they worked in our innerhof to build the balconies for the neighbors, and before that they started working and are still working to a kinda shop or street bureau in the building next door (what are they doing there? what are they searching for?). And, I don't remember when (last year?), the Baustellen invaded the Zionskirchplatz: they say they received funds to renew the whole square,..., and this week they started working at our sidewalk. Few weeks left and it sould be ready, they say. Let's see. To me, it didn't look like it needed a renovation, but maybe it is just my conservative nature.


20.07 Swimming in Berlin @ Langer See with my friends and 34° Celsius!


18.07 @ Clärchens Ballhaus for pizza and dance....but it was too hot to stay in the ballroom! But we didn't give up, and moved to Monbijou Park for open air dancing : swinging (and sweating) the night away.


Weltklasse, Weltmeister
13.07.2014 Germany is Football World Champion!
Finally, this very well deserved achievement.
And I am happy I was here in Berlin when this happened, to see this joy in the eyes of Regine and of my friends and dears.

Headless HookyWooky
Amp: UK80, Rhythm: Pop Green 1, Effects: Flanger & Room

Best Italian player at the World Cup ->

June 2014


27-29
.06 Familientreffnung in Bremen!

With Marie-Luise, Christoph, Almi, Sebastian, Peter and Regine in the beautiful Bremen # Ramada Hotel # Beck's brewery tour # Ratskeller # die Musikanter # World Cup (of course) # Becks in´n Schnoor # Science Center at Universum® Bremen # Schnoor # Viertel # "Junge die Welt ist schön" # etc...


Mamma and Papa' were here in Berlin for a long weekend, 20-25-06. We went at Weißensee, visited Markthalle in Kreuzberg, celebrated my name-day. And we watched Italy's debacle against Costarica and Uruguay: my World Cup is already ended.

21.06 watching Ghana – Germany : 2 – 2 @ Dave Lombardo bar (1st half) and then home


18.06 in Haarlem (the Netherlands), watching Holland defeating Australia with friends and colleagues. In the orange crowd. pic 1 - pic 2


16.06 watching Germany – Portugal : 4 – 0 @ Kapelle


Saturday @ midnight. Exactly 00.00 Sunday 15.06.2014.
World Cup 2014 started for real: Italy vs England 2 - 1.
Watching it at home with Regine, Almi and Sebastian!



I'm sticking with you.
(
collecting Panini World Cup 2014 stikers)


Incredibly hot temperatures considering we are at the beginning of June, and in Germany! We've enjoyed some free days and the lively streets at evenings and nights, and meeting friends coming from Italy, Francesca, Vincenzo and Roberta.

May 2014

(24-31) 1 week in Kos, Greece.

Relax. Pool. Book. Ping Pong. Sun. Swimming. Beautiful Regine. Champions League final. Souvlaki...and food in general. Collecting Panini World Cup 2014 stikers. Beach. Hippocrates. Atlantica Marmari Beach. Apartment 606. All inclusive.


This is what I recently declared to the Polizei: "Ich parkte das Fahrrad in der Station am Morgen und fuhren mit dem Zug zur Arbeit zu gehen. Wann Ich nochmal am Station war am Abend nach dem Arbeit, hatte Ich nicht das Fahrrad gefunden."
My bike was stolen at S-Bahn Nordbahnhof on May 14th! Only 3 weeks, or even less: it was born under a bad sign!


HEADLESS

Introducing my new Steinberger Spirit GT-pro Deluxe and Vox Mini5 Rhythm.


Giuliano and F. visited Berlin from 9 and 12 of May, and we spent good hours together during the weekend.


1-4.05 In Hamburg
Visiting Almi and Sebastian (and great home-made food!), and celebrating Peter's birthday.



03.05.2014 SSC Napoli wins the Coppa Italia!


April 2014

26.04 After almost 3,5 years in Berlin...
I have a bike!

(and an helmet which makes me look really ridiculous)


Brand new Tattoo
Inn Berlin @ Zionskirchstrasse

Easter @ the Horse Race
Great idea Regine! www.hoppegarten.com


As an additional sign of how the weather this year has been so unusal warmer and more gentle, the Ping Pong Season has already started on Easter day (20.4), more or less 2 months earlier than in 2013.


Starting end of January from year zero of the Foundation Era (0 F.E.), on 10.04 I've reached - once again - the end of the saga (Foundation and Earth).
Golan Trevize should have get rid of Fallom!

And now, back to the Robots novels...
Shouldn't I read something new? (Bukowski was an alternative, but his novels are so few)


Once again I was restless in my sleep. This time I was enrolled in a military mission, I was supposed to personally protect the Marshal. And it was useless to scream how I had nothing to do with it.
I woke up late the morning of the blitz and so I skipped this responsibility, but I was still afraid of the Marshal's anger.
Before running away from the military base I had a stop at the warehouse for one of their cool jackets.

 

5-10.04 Italian Dinners @ Zionskirchplatz with AK, JT, colleagues and beautiful Regine.
This is the Menu of the night with colleagues "Meet the Chefs"


03.04. Qui continuano le giornate col cielo limpido, e durano anche piu' a lungo con l'ora legale etc... E cosi' oggi dopo il lavoro c'era ancora luce e non faceva freddo ed ho passato un po' di tempo seduto su una panchina in un parco. In questa foto ascolto 'Marmellata' di C. Cremonini, e si intravede il brufolo che mi rispunta proprio sulla punta del naso con una certa regolarita'. Cremonini mi ricorda il mio amico Domenico P., boh... credo si somiglino. "Ah... da quando Baggio non gioca piu'...".


March 2014

29/30.03. A sunny weekend in Berlin.

Almi came to visit us. I enjoyed this spring days relaxing and reading @ Weinbergspark . We walked in Kollwitzkietz, and were in Charlottenburg at the opening party of our friend new vegan Cafe'. Saturday night we went to "Irma and the bird" concert @ Bflat.
Etcetera, etcetera.



Last night I dreamt of my favorite Italian pizzeria in Berlin being run by Russians. I was crying in my sleep.


In Napoli

# Salvio, Regine, D., G. and N. @ “O' Braciuolo è Nata Cosa (!) # La Genovese di Mamma da portare a Berlino # Napoli-Roma uno a zero # Family # Pizza # Dario # Circumvesuviana & Portici # Pub with Regine, Ale & C. # Walking in San Giorgio # too many espresso # ...


I am a successful Marshal of the old (and declining) Empire @ foundationgame.com



Durante un recente viaggio di lavoro ho comprato un panino all'aeroporto ed ho pagato con 20 Euro. Ho fissato interdetto la banconota di resto pensando "ma guarda che particolari gli Euro che hanno qua!". Evidentemente il tipo mi ha visto perplesso e mi ha spiegato "Sir, I cannot give you Euro - we don't use them here".
L'immediata sensazione e' stata quella di essere capitato a Frittole, prima di realizzare di essere a Zurigo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86wWSdWsxHM


Marzo e' iniziato con una festa, che si e' consumata un po' all'aria aperta - aria fredda riscaldata in parte dal fuoco in un bidone, dove e' stata anche bruciata una bambola come rito di augurio per scacciare l'inverno ed i cattivi pensieri - un po' in una grande tenda Mongola (!) ad ascoltare musica dal vivo (molto bella) di violini, chitarre, basso e percussioni.
Mi affascina sempre constatare come in occasioni/contesti di questo tipo non manchi MAI la ragazza coi rasta e il cane.


February 2014

And the last night of February we went to Mehringdamm and Bergmanstrasse, had dinner at Marheineke Markthalle. Like we did as turists and explorers, before we definitively moved here at the end of 2010.

23.02.14 Sunday afternoon @ Schloss Charlottenburg. Exploration of Berlin continues (started in Prenzlauerberg beginning 2011, remember?).


In Paris 19-21.02.14 # Eiffel Tower # The Seine # Colleaugues/Friends # Miss Ko # Business meeting


On 13.02.14 we went to the cinema in the Hackesche Höfe to see American Hustle



12.02.14 A super night, with SSC Napoli defeating AS Roma 3-0 and conquering the final of Coppa Italia.
In a San Paolo Stadium where Diego Maradona appeared again like he did in the good old times, this time among the publicum.

"Effetto Diego", was the headline of an Italian newspaper : not sure if on the team, but on me Diego's influence is still huge!


09.02.14 Karaoke @ Monster with G., L., M. and M.. One of my hits of the night: Love Lies Bleeding (sing it!)


This online game appears abandoned like the Galaxy suburbs in which it is set... We can finally be Hari Seldon and Hober Mallow!


02.02.14 We wento to the cinema in Kreuzberg this Sunday afternoon, to watch 'La Grande Bellezza' starring a great Tony Servillo.


January 2014

I am reading Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, once again (not a big news, times I read it are becoming countless...but I am taking notes here, so that next time I'll read it I'll know when the previous time had happened).

It moves me to another Universe, literally.

The only problem with it is the edition I have: one big volume which contains 'Foundation', 'Foundation and Empire', 'Second Foundation' and 'Foundation and Earth': too big to bring it with me to Amsterdam, during a recent short business trip.


24.01.14 @ La Cueva, Berlin. Another concert of my Japanese friend Masataka, this time with a German Sängerin



18.01.14 "...My Life was saved by Rock'n'Roll...". That's why this is one of my favorite places in Berlin. pic 1 - pic 2


Since last summer in Sardegna, when we spent some beautiful evenings watching Moltalbano's new episodes, I am enjoying the series of Il Commissario Montalbano, Il giovane Montalbano and of L'Ispettore Coliandro via internet.

It someway connects me to my Italian roots, usually before I fall asleep at night.

 

There's good free stuff available on the web site of Rai Fiction.


10.01.14 Tango @ The concert of my Japanese friend Masataka and his band @ CamBa-La-Che Berlin


06.01.14. An unexpected encounter with Lou Reed, in Berlin.

I was only hangin' 'round, waiting for a man tonight on the way back home, and this picture appeared from the window of the next shop.
I had the feeling that Lou was waiting for me to come back home in Berlin.
I had the feeling that I owe him a lot.
I had the feeling that I love him very much.


A congested Christmas and New Year's Eve 2013

# Salvio @ Santa Lucia # Bell' Rosa' # Scarlatti Garage, their music # Family # Pizza # M&M&beautiful L @ Trattoria Medina # Friends # Ascot & Shirts # nights @ Dario&Alessandra' place # Ale(s) in San Giorgio # Scarlatti Garage, the night @ their concert # having a cold # lot of food # Regine, joining in the second half # Salerno & old friends # Giuliano & co. and the Paninopolis' tales


Timeline updated with 2013. Happy 2014!