(no subject)
buona sera!
jumping right in to the good stuff: the world cup!
for those of you not in the know, last night was the semifinal world cup game of italia versus germany. it was a very tense game because not only is germany really good, but they're the host of the world cup and therefore have the homecourt (or perhaps i should say homefield) advantage. needless to say, everyone in italy, and basically europe, was wound up for this game. so rachel and i and other classmates went to michaelangelo square, where they ( i don't know who 'they' are, but just work with me here) were showing the game on a big screen. excitement!
we got there about an hour before the game started, and there were already lots of people there. we shoved our way into a spot, shoved our way through an apparently free buffet at some bar to get some food, and then shoved our way through the growing crowd to find a better spot. we ended up finding it, even though it was in the middle of the street.
by the time the game started at 9, there were thousands of people there, everyone standing in the street, across the street, on top of anything to see this game. everyone was packed in really close, so on top of the rather sweltering temperature, factor in all that body heat and you got yourself a party. the close proximity also made it really pleasant when everyone (everyone) started smoking. i could hardly breathe, and we know how well ellis does in situations like that.
but i pulled through, standing on my tiptoes and craning my neck for a good look at the screen.
the crowd was really exciting though, and even though i don't generally watch sports, i really got into the game. man, these fans are nuts, singing, chanting, booing. what i really like though is that when italy tried to score but missed, everyone would clap. i think that's very nice.
so no one scored in the first half, and no one scored in the second half, so they went into overtime. two minutes away from the end, italy scored a goal. everyone went crazy, screaming, jumping, cheering, throwing things. madhouse. then, maybe one minute later, they scored again, essentially guaranteeing them the victory. so now italy is going to the finals on sunday. fun!
after the game the entire city was alive with cheering, and people blew their car horns in celebration well into the night. it was a little scary, though, because people get stupid when they get excited, which is why rachel and i have decided that on sunday we will not return to the likely even more ginormous crowd to watch the game, because win or lose, it will be even worse, because riots of celebration and riots of anger are likely and equally dangerous, in my opinion. and since it's about a 30 minute walk back to the hostel, that would be highly undesirable. but we WILL be watching.
anyway, that was the major excitement here. when we finish up here, rachel and i will go and get dinner somewhere and then return to our hmble abode to start working out our first movies, which we will shoot this weekend. it's a little intimidating, because these are film cameras, and basically there is more opportunity to utterly destroy your project that there is to do it right. great. and each reel of film costs €50, which is about $75. and each reel holds about 3 minutes. yeah. i'm going to be a little edgy this weekend.
arrivederci!
jumping right in to the good stuff: the world cup!
for those of you not in the know, last night was the semifinal world cup game of italia versus germany. it was a very tense game because not only is germany really good, but they're the host of the world cup and therefore have the homecourt (or perhaps i should say homefield) advantage. needless to say, everyone in italy, and basically europe, was wound up for this game. so rachel and i and other classmates went to michaelangelo square, where they ( i don't know who 'they' are, but just work with me here) were showing the game on a big screen. excitement!
we got there about an hour before the game started, and there were already lots of people there. we shoved our way into a spot, shoved our way through an apparently free buffet at some bar to get some food, and then shoved our way through the growing crowd to find a better spot. we ended up finding it, even though it was in the middle of the street.
by the time the game started at 9, there were thousands of people there, everyone standing in the street, across the street, on top of anything to see this game. everyone was packed in really close, so on top of the rather sweltering temperature, factor in all that body heat and you got yourself a party. the close proximity also made it really pleasant when everyone (everyone) started smoking. i could hardly breathe, and we know how well ellis does in situations like that.
but i pulled through, standing on my tiptoes and craning my neck for a good look at the screen.
the crowd was really exciting though, and even though i don't generally watch sports, i really got into the game. man, these fans are nuts, singing, chanting, booing. what i really like though is that when italy tried to score but missed, everyone would clap. i think that's very nice.
so no one scored in the first half, and no one scored in the second half, so they went into overtime. two minutes away from the end, italy scored a goal. everyone went crazy, screaming, jumping, cheering, throwing things. madhouse. then, maybe one minute later, they scored again, essentially guaranteeing them the victory. so now italy is going to the finals on sunday. fun!
after the game the entire city was alive with cheering, and people blew their car horns in celebration well into the night. it was a little scary, though, because people get stupid when they get excited, which is why rachel and i have decided that on sunday we will not return to the likely even more ginormous crowd to watch the game, because win or lose, it will be even worse, because riots of celebration and riots of anger are likely and equally dangerous, in my opinion. and since it's about a 30 minute walk back to the hostel, that would be highly undesirable. but we WILL be watching.
anyway, that was the major excitement here. when we finish up here, rachel and i will go and get dinner somewhere and then return to our hmble abode to start working out our first movies, which we will shoot this weekend. it's a little intimidating, because these are film cameras, and basically there is more opportunity to utterly destroy your project that there is to do it right. great. and each reel of film costs €50, which is about $75. and each reel holds about 3 minutes. yeah. i'm going to be a little edgy this weekend.
arrivederci!