Audiovisual Pleasures when Traveling

Earlier this week I was travelling to and back from Prague, not on a plane, nor by car, neither by train. And exactly because of that, I was the blessing that is called free time immobilised. Why is that, you will ask. Let me explain: the aforementioned ways of travelling no matter how different they are, have one similar result: keeping us busy. Not sure if it applies to others, but for me taking the plane means a lot of organisation and serious item selection and separation (liquids here, heavy stuff there, fragile goods where?), which brings along stress, just like the never-ending controls, check-ins and so on so forth. Little time to rest and be peaceful/ready to concentrate on something other than the trip per se. Travelling by car implies company, and your company wants to converse, wants you to be a good dj and stuff, occasionally he even wants you to drive a little bit so that he gets some rest (what the fuck). No free time for extracurricular activities there. Train comes handy, cause it surely gives more time for contemplation; the voyage is normally long, but the landscape distracting, just like the various stops on the way. You cannot help listening to the bizarre names of the stops in between, noticing new passengers coming in or going out, staring at interesting strangers if not the strangely-shaped trees that for the fraction of a second collate with the horizon and little time is left for you to read or write, let alone watch a movie. Because, this is what I'm talking about: the impossible deed of watching a movie on the move.

But, yes, earlier this week I made it. I opted for a bus from Luxembourg to Prague, and, what a joy, I was left exhausted in my not-so-comfortable seat, ready to endure a ten-hour-trip armed with unusually quiet co-travellers and a small screen stuck on the back of the seat in front me. A vast (sic) choice of films and TV series awaited me. I finally had the time to fill my gaps when it comes to recent and not-so-recent cinematic releases. On the way to the exceptionally gothic Czech capital I watched Argo (2012), the oh-so-acclaimed film I once scoffed on the basis of its fame -sometimes too much praise gets on my nerves, you know- only to realise that it is a good film indeed. I love to find out that I was wrong; I enjoyed a messy and long-haired Ben Affleck, full of poise and secret agent allure, as much as I found the atmosphere in '79 Teheran intimidating and threatening, even a bit exaggerated so (been in Teheran ten years ago, the early years' roughness had worn off, but, oh well, it is an "unfree" place to a certain extent).

Gravity (2013) is much appreciated

I never thought I would write an elegy for Sandra Bullock. But, when they say "never say never", I guess they are right; I totally feel like writing an elegy for her performance in Gravity (2013), indeed. Even if part of the credit goes to the Alfonso Cuaron for being the director he is (a director able to achieve concrete results with a largely abstract scenario like this one), his female lead cannot go without praise.

On Shipwrecks or Life of Pi

This day last year the Costa Concordia was sailing happily near the Italian shore. Not too near, until its Captain decided he had the right to be careless. A bit after nine thirty in the afternoon the emergency signal rung. The evacuation plan worked out well for more than three thousand passengers and crew. It didn't for thirty-two of them, who lost their lives in their effort to escape. Two of the bodies were never found.

Last year on this day and for some days after, Gianpaolo,  my then roommate, was utterly embarrassed from the disaster; he was blaming the Captain, not only for being irresponsible, but also for giving a bad name to Italians, as he said. The Captain in question is restricted in his residence and did not yet face trial for manslaughter, for which he is accused. As for the ship, it still lies on its side, near the island of Giglio, waiting to be towed away - a costly operation.