The Wonderful Earworm

Sometimes, in certain places, under certain circumstances, magic can still take place, even in this profoundly pragmatic world we’re living in. Such was the case last night. Between exactly 8:00 and 9:25 PM in Oakland, California, USA, an undeniable bit of musical magic happened on the stage of Yoshi’s (accomplished sushi restaurant and excellent jazz venue): Charlie Hunter’s 11^th annual holiday show, with the unexpected addition of tap dancing prodigy Tamango Vancayseele.

I say magic happened and I’m sticking to it. Charlie Hunter is one of the most gifted guitarist of our times and him alone, with his custom-made eight-string guitar would have made for a great show. But the vibrant performance of his tap-dancing friend onstage, combined with an unexpectedly pleasant elderflower-and-sake liqueur to top a belly-full of delicious sushi, all in the company of good people simply pushed the experience to new heights.

Lessons learned from this random encounter with the miraculous:

1. Never again underestimate the power of live music!
2. Elderflower makes damn good liqueur…
3. Sashimi is just fish.

Thankfully, someone already posted one of Charlie's recent performances with Tamango on YouTube, so here it is, although a recording doesn't really do it justice.

Il Corpo Delle Donne - Women's Bodies

Ever since my summer in Berlin four years ago, I've been a loyal reader of Der Spiegel, which I mainly read online thanks to their news alerts which remind me to return ever again to this great publication. By the way, the controversial Julian Assange agrees with me on this one, as he picked Der Spiegel (along with the New York Times, another one of my must-reads) to be one of only 5 publications that he leaked the diplomatic cables to.

A couple of weeks ago, an article on the Spiegel web site caught my eye: Neither Saints Nor Whores: Italian Women Battle for Middle Ground. The title is self-explanatory, but the gist of the articles is that Italian women, caught in between the machismo of the Italian culture and the iron fist of the Catholic Church, have been quietly fighting for the right to be what they really are: complex creatures in all shades and colors that cannot be easily pinned down as either saints or prostitutes.

The statistics are rather shocking: 

DER SPIEGEL:  In the [World Economic Forum's] 2010 Global Gender Gap Report, Italy ranks 74th among 134 countries, below Colombia and Venezuela. In no other European country do so few women work outside the home (only 44 percent), and those that do earn half as much as their male counterparts. They spend 21 hours a week doing domestic chores, longer than any other European woman. Only five percent of Italian men have ever operated a washing machine. Young female academics, not seeing a future for themselves in Italy, are abandoning the country and embarking on careers in the United States or trying to undo their country's reputation as part of Berlin's growing Italian Diaspora.

"Only five percent of Italian men have EVER operated a washing machine!!!" That statistic alone needs no further commentary...

But the most interesting part of the article comes here:

DER SPIEGEL: After living in Munich and Paris, Lorella Zanardo returned to Italy and was shocked when she saw the roles being played by women in public: women in clothing ads for Benetton almost pornographically sticking cucumbers into their mouths, or on television, where they are velinas, giggling hostesses or letterines, that is, girls who carry letters, lottery tickets or football results through the studio.

Zanardo quickly learned that even turning off the TV didn't do any good. So, for three months, she recorded everything that Canale 5, Rete 4 and the state-owned RAI channels had to offer in terms of entertainment programming. She edited the material together to make a documentary film with a spirited narration. Three million Italians have already seen the film, "Il Corpo delle donne" ("Women's Bodies"), which is now available online in several languages. It is practically a horror film, an attack on the Berlusconi system using his own weapons: images. Foreigners who have seen the film, Zanardo says, always ask the same question: "Why do you put up with this. Why don't you fight back?"

Il Corpo Delle Donne is in Italian, but the images need no translation, especially the grotesque end scenes in the butcher shop-like set. The documentary now has its own Facebook page and has been viewed across the world. Most of the comments on the YouTube channel (again, in Italian) come from Italian women who are realizing how the glut of objectifying images on mass media is molding the perception of women by Italian men from an early age.

And now, the coup de grace of my post: A long time ago, at one of my cousins' wedding in Romania, I had an interesting conversation with an elderly Italian man who patiently explained to me the value-add of marrying Romanian women: they're great cooks, they do housework, they are beautiful, and above all, if they want out of Romania, they have no choice! 

And so, it is with sadness in my heart that I end today's post with two conclusions: 

1. Even in the "industrialized" world, there are still pockets where to be born a woman is to be born with a handicap.

2. Lack of economic opportunity can push smart, educated and ambitious women to circumstances where they become indentured in return for, literally, a few household appliances. 

"Why so local, son?"

After a two-month hiatus, mostly due to my limited ability to concentrate on things other than healing and working, I’m finally back. Well, actually, in all honesty, I’ve been back for a little while, but most of my blogging energy went into a different direction: The Wedding Blog.

But, in the spirit of constructive criticism, my first “back from the dead” post will be about my frustration with the uber-localization of Google, but really, of everything.

Take Google search: If you run a search for “beer” on Google from your computer while logged into your Google account, thanks to the search titan’s latest localization efforts and the launch of Google Places, your search results will first list nearby pubs and restaurants and possibly liquor stores, along with a small Google map full of red dots, to help you find your way to the closest place where you can quench your thirst. Not much about, say, the history of beer. The experts agree that Google is going local and so is the world. 

(Yelp is also falling in the same localization rabbit hole: every time I search for Bob Hope Airport, I get San Francisco-based entries like Bob’s Donut and Pastry Shop or Bob’s Steak and Chop House. Granted, Yelp has made a name for itself as a web site where people review businesses in their towns, sometimes revising reviews after subsequent visits, so it’s clearly all based on proximity, I probably shouldn’t complain about it.)

Some people salute the new utilitarian location approach as adding true and immediate value to web search. 

I, ever the idealist, shudder at the thought that I’m becoming, yet again, a target for advertisers. But online-only retailers have much to fear, too, as local search simply pushes them out of the picture. 

Should I feel better because the local advertisers are more likely to be mom-and-pop stores than big-box retailers or Newcastle Brown Ale? Maybe, but I don’t. I still feel like my eyeballs are being commoditized without my consent. Why should Google and all the others assume that I’m primarily interested in Buying Stuff Now and Ideally Without Moving My Buns Too Far?

Whatever happened to the sense of adventure that web search used to provide in the olden days? You know, when you typed “Library” and spent the next hour reading about the Library of Alexandria? … I never thought I would come to say this, but: I think I miss AltaVista.