DOG TIRED
ROMA– Everyone's eyeing my iPod like it's a chic new explosive they should fear, crave or steal. I simply don't care. My expression is pure new world: "whaddya lookin' at? You want a piece a this?"
No one does. Can't say I blame them. After three days of travel, I'm more bruiser than bella.
I break €50 buying a €5.50 book and grin at the curses. Nobody ever has appropriate change in Italy – sometimes clerks still dispense hard candy in lieu of pennies. The trick is shafting someone who won't spit in your espresso cup or curse your unborn children.
Blaring The Hold Steady, I settle in to read Dylan Dog, an Italian graphic novel series about a "investigator of nightmares". Just for extra yucks, author Tizano Sclavi made the protagonist British, vegetarian and sober with Groucho Marx for an assistant. Nonetheless, he pulls with Captain Kirkian regularity...
Yes, I have the reading ability and sensibility of a 14-year-old Italian boy.
No, I'm not proud. But if I meet a vampire or zombie, I can smackdown slangstyle. And, from the looks I'm gathering at Fiumicino airport, that's seeming more and more likely...
You would so win over a zombie. A vampire, I'm not so sure. The vegetarian trump card might not work so well...
ReplyDeleteFound you and your blog via Marie's and your comment on the PDC rally.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to extend my appreciation to your mention of Dylan Dog. My friend who lived in Italy for a while is an addict. She actually fancies him. But then again, she tells me he was drawn to look like Rupert Everett so who can blame her?
Anonymous: but we veggies have the whole garlic edge!
ReplyDeleteHi Anne-Marie. You've caused quite the stir with the rally-rousing: THANK YOU. As soon as work calms back to the boiling point, I plan to comb your archives and discover what we might be getting into!
Dylan Dog is superb. But the Rupert hot factor varies wildly from illustrator to illustrator, unfortunately. Still, he's more fun to practice Italian with than the Penguin facing-page translations...
I think I've seen your comments on some Blighty blogs like GSE, Liars and Lunatics, Spinsterella or Bowlderised. Have we been wandering in the same blog alleys?