Way Home

Alba explained to me that digging the subways of Rome has been difficult, since the digs frequently run into ruins that must be excavated/examined.

Everytime I cook in my new kitchen, I feel awful afterward: headaches, sneezy, tired, etc. I think I might be allergic to the dish soap or something.

The strength of Parisian graffiti (in my mind) was the sensitivity to the surface/context. ie. NYC graf tends to be done on a flat wall and treat the surface like a flat rectangle, a canvas. Parisian graf artists will put more care into where they work - in a corner, on the floor, a buckle in the wall - and respond to the location, ie. a window or pipe. They're at their best when not working on a flat, canvas-like surface at all. ie. They frequently bomb the sides of trucks and you'll notice that the work responds to the shape of the truck.

The Italian graf I've seen so far is quite simple. Tags are colorful, which gives a wall thats been hit a lot a kindergarten-like feeling, but the messages are often bleak (ie. "La Recreazione E Finita" =? "The fun is over"). It rankles me (to my surprise) that people tag/bomb Roman ruins... It seems like if you endure 2 millenia, you shouldn't have to put up with that crap.

Song of the day: Alton Ellis & The Flames - Cry Tough.