Friday, March 29, 2013

Sublime Delights & Extraordinary Experiences

For months I have been trying to put together a show which focusses on food in Italy. I eventually arrived at what I planned to a muli-focused attempt to capture the entire dining experience of Italy. I would first describe the importance of dining in Italy with emphasis on experiences involving family and friends. Then I would walk through a survey of all the different kinds of eateries, and then take the viewer through a typical day of eating concentrating on the three main meals with some treats along the way. As I created this show, I kept changing things until a few days ago finally felt comfortable with what I had with about 140 photos. As I examined the show more closely, I kept adding photos especially those which depicted some of our most wondrous moments especially how we met new friends and enjoyed the company of former ones. As ideas began to spring to mind, I added more and more until I wound up with close to 200 photos, way too much for the 60 minutes show. Nonetheless I waded through the plethora of memorable times. Eventually with only about ten minutes to go, Ellen reminded me that I had little time for a lot of material and I had to rush through. Had I planned this better from the start, I could have divided the show into two smaller ones with one concentrating on the dining experience and the second on the actual food.

Nonetheless the show was very enjoyable, despite some times when it was obvious I was rushing as evidenced by some mistakes on some simple matters. Since I don't know that much about food of any kind, I enjoyed talking about how the Italian dining experience had such an impact on my life of travel over the past 21 years, the new friends I made, the old ones who relationships were made closer through the dining experience, and the amazing times at friend's houses enjoying their culinary masterpieces. Being with friends at a fabulous restaurant is one of life's great pleasures and have been some of my most memorable experiences. I could have actually talked endlessly about dining, all three meals, because some (perhaps 30 - 50 %) of those cherished times which had the greatest impact on my Italophobia occurred during meals. The intimacy of dining creates magic moments some of which I explored on the show, and obviously many more which could probably make for a good book. Even Laura and I dining alone during our travels have had some really wonderful and no so wonderful experiences, all of which have left an indelible mark on our beings. Most of our discussions between us and friends have centered around an interesting dining experience. I could easily say that almost every meal we ever had can be remembered with fine detail almost to the point of knowing the actual courses and how they tasted, not because we are food fetishists, but because these are some of the exceptional moments. Whether we were at very informal places or some of the great locale, whenever forget a moment. Even though I covered many on the show there were sill many more unspoken. Perhaps a part 2 is appropriate.

My advice for anyone traveling in Italy is slow down, pick out some really great looking (some recommended by tour books) places, and make an effort to first choose great dishes, second try to make friends, and third bring people you know with you. Always talk to the waiters, maitre d's, chefs, and anyone else for the inside scoop on what it is like being Italian and working in a restaurant. Always try to go to places where there is a lot of Italian spoken; these are the natives who know where to go. Of course, if you do not speak Italian, hope that someone speaks a little English for the best results. Try to eat at informal, family-run places where they aim to please. I love the places down dark alley-ways, that seem to be places out of time and space that give a slight chill as you try to find them with the odor of smoke from chimneys wafting down narrow lanes. Ask your hotelier for suggestions, as they really know the best places. I understand that they probably get a kick-back for recommendations, but what the heck, we have never gone wrong with a hotel recommendation. Ask the hotel if reservation is necessary. Try to have a little wine, vino della casa (house wine) which is usually quite good, and have several courses. Laura and I usually share to make sure we get a variety. Some regional favorites are Bisteecca Fiorentina in, where else, Florence. Pici in Siena. Seafood on Lake Como. I love very simple, but incredibly delicious pasta ragu. Some good bruschetta to start, but we usually pass on dessert as by that time we are very full. And take your time and relax. Italian restaurants, trattorias, osterias, etc. do not rush you and never just bring over the check. Say "il conto, per favore," for the check. Most places take credit cards, which is not a shame on you and has no bearing on the quality of the food. People always tell me that any place that takes credit is not local and not good. That's not true at all. If you like the food, ask to see the manager to tell him/her or even the chef. It's a great compliment and who knows where it will lead. Restauranteurs take great pride in their presentation.

Thanks for reading and look for my tour of the great loggias, porticos, patios, and balconies of Italy on next week'a shoy, # 59. Grazie per la lettura. Ciao !

Sunday, March 24, 2013

My Personal Journey

My library forums were a lot of fun, as I explored through photos and recollections the multitude of experiences that comprise Alan's Italy: My Personal Journey, i.e. my 21 years of Italian travel. Not sure if I will do any additional forums beside Kingston, Saugerties, and Woodstock, and since only about 40 people actually attended the three lectures, I decided to record the presentation I gave for posterity. So last Friday's show was basically a rehashing of those forums, except that I didn't do the two readings from my book as I had performed. It didn't matter, since my remembrances of most of my highlights were very clear in my mind. I didn't do much planning, since the forum album was prepared long ago, and I had performed it three times already, there wasn't much to do.

Ellen and I were smooth as silk, winging our way through the 60 minutes (plus the 15 minutes or so with sound checks, etc). The only glitch was that I had mental blocks for three things, the name of the northernmost town in Cinque Terre, the first name of the representative from the Five Star Movement, and the name of the owner of the hotel in Orvieto. Absurd !!!! The former I made a big deal about on the show, the second I referred to him as Mr. Martellini, and the third I just didn't focus on the error at all. At the end of the show I referred to the final Cinque Terre Town of Monterosso al Mare, and then as I rode home I remembered the other two. Same deal as always, live show, trying to put extra pressure on myself to remember everything, etc. etc. The usual that by now I have become so accustomed, I hardly think about making a mistake much, so I just carried on flawlessly. So, of course, Andrea Martellini and Gianni popped into myself sans pressure.

Of course if was fun talking about the five people who have had such a wonderful impact on my life of Italian travel, and how I managed to get there so many times. The whole story is quite amazing in retrospect, and worthy of people taking an interest. And so that story is now on Youtube for all to see and hear and perhaps take some kind of inspiration from, even my solo trips during which time my lows were VERY low, but highs very stupendous. I don't ever want people to think that ANY of my trips to Italy were easy ! They all challenging, all anxiety producing, and every one a very meaningful and very personal journey, a significant part of my life. Only my extraordinary determination not to be swayed off the path of my life's dreams and goals gets me through. I would be happy to help others fulfill their dreams as well.

Then I went home, downloaded, uploaded, etc etc. and everything was fine. I even spoke with my computer tech savior, Dan, who made changes in my website for me in his usual efficient and friendly manner. He IS the best !!!!!  My hero. My website, incidentally, now indicates a preview of the next two months of shows, so my viewers and followers can get an idea of what's coming up. Also, the link to Youtube is now to a page which lists the past shows numerically from last to first, so that it is easy to read the names of the actual broadcasts. Also, I will try to have the upcoming shows of all the producers (who are interested) at WPAT submit future events to me for printing in the Woodstock Times on a weekly basis, if they permit. I hope that works out, because many people produce very interesting shows, many of which few people actually know about. I am referring to Thurman Greco's superb interview with our Assistant Town Supervisor, Liam Kahn, and the horrid bullying that occurs in local schools. The interview was quite sweet and wonderful, both Thurman and Liam, clearly amazing people ! So I hope my letters to the editor, known locally in the paper as "Feedback" serves that purpose.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

DVD Woes

As used to problems as I have become over the months, it still unnerves me when something goes majorly wrong. It almost seems to be that when there are large amounts of equipment of various types involved, it is inevitable that things will malfunction. Some of these occurrences I have become used to, and take it very much in stride. Ellen, my engineer, was having trouble with the DVD copying system she uses, and as the show had progressed a few minutes into Franc Palaia's presentation of his wonderful polaroid photography of the Towers of Venice (Show # 56), I noticed that Ellen was writing something. At first I thought she was simply filling out a page in the book that records who uses the studio, but then she came towards us and slipped a piece of paper on the table which Franc read, and then passed along to me. One DVD player had failed to record, and the other looked to Ellen to possibly also be a problem. I indicate that I had my TV at home recording the show, so it didn't matter, as I would simply use that system to create the DVD of the show. On we went through a fascinating episode of Alan's Italy. When it appeared that we had finished a bit early, I asked Franc his impressions of the recent election in Italy. Franc is extremely knowledgeable about many things, but especially when there are occurrences in Italy. The short discussion we had was excellent, and coupled with the short piece we did at the start of the show about the new Pope, with his marvelous art, all in all it was a great evening for me (and I hope my audience). Ellen gave us the two DVD's and since I had to get home, left them conversing and left the studio.

We immediately left our house and didn't return for several hours. I tested the first DVD and it worked fine. Using that I downloaded to my computer, uploaded to Youtube, and began copying the discs, one for the studio to play as reruns and the other for Franc. Meanwhile I determined that the second DVD indeed was not working so discarded it. I then saw that the TV DVR had successfully recorded the show, and began to make another copy from that source, basically simultaneously making copies. Everything seemed fine, but I didn't proceed until Saturday. I got my computer made copy and, as I always do, played it back to make sure it worked. To my shock and dismay, it wasn't playing on either my internal DVD player or external. Then I tried it on my TV DVD player and it was fine !!!! Since I had made the copy on the external DVD player, I created another internally and still it would not play. To make a long story short, Saturday for most of the day I was on the phone with Apple Care. When I bought my computer almost two years ago, I purchased their plan - ladies and gentlemen, one of the best things I ever did. I have used now for countless hours of expert advice and repair for the $270 I paid. At the time I thought it was too much too pay, but once again Laura knew best, and I did it. Without exaggeration, I was on the phone with them for about 4 hours, both before our dinner engagement with our friend at the Bear Cafe in Woodstock, and then afterward. It is so complicated that I am unsure what occurred ! All I know is that I now have the capacity to play DVD's once again, but instead of using VLC, now use the Apple system, which is fine with me. The only drawback is that instead of the DVD immediately starting to play when I put it in the drive, I have to point and click twice. Who cares ? During the whole final process which lasted from 9 - 11:15, I was unsure if Alan's Italy ever occur again, I was sort of ecstatic; however, you never know when the next catastrophe is going to occur.

Well, I soon found out when that would be, because somewhere during the evening I placed the TV created DVD of the show back into that DVD to play and there was sound but no picture ! So now after I write this blog, I will be speaking with my Tech Specialist for the answer to that question.

In the meantime I will start teaching at New Paltz LLI on Wed, doing my Friday show replicating my library forums on my "personal journey", preparing new shows for the future, continuing to plan our May/June trip to Italy, buying a new car tomorrow, getting my water system fixed by Culligan, and who knows what else !!!!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

My Own Worst Enemy

I spent a longer amount of time trying to create this show on Towers of Italy than just about any show since my first few when I was crazy and kept going over and over the same presentation. Finally I arrived at the studio, and I wouldn't say I was totally confident about what I wanted to say. I had a strong desire to "teach" the whole concept of towers to my audience complete with history, background material and, of course, personal reflections. Since I might be reading my notes throughout the show, I asked Ellen to show the towers, but not focus on me so much as I will have my head down most of the time studying notes. The sound problem we had the previous week disapeared, and everything began flawlessly. No community center activity at all. As the day progressed I was a bit nervous that the huge snow storm which was so poorly predicted by the weather service around here, of course, failed to materialize. What a great job, meteorologist. Matters not how accurate you are, you are still paid, one of the rare jobs in the world where failure is not only acceptable, but expected.

Off we went and I tried very hard to tone down my excitement. Of course, the idea for the show came from Franc Palaia's show on his Polaroid Towers, which will appear next week. I thought this introduction of my knowledge and photos of towers would be an excellent prequel. As the show progressed, I kept catching myself making very small mistakes, which as I progressed became magnified in my mind. When I finished, I was my usual exhausted and starving, so got home quickly and when my wife indicated that it was a great show, told her I made a lot of mistakes and the show stank. I even had trouble sleeping thinking the show was a failure. I then sat back this morning and saw it from beginning to end, and was stunned by how good it actually was. Yes, I did make a few mistakes and I will leave it to the viewer to pick them out, but since errors have become par for the course, I should become more accepting of my flubs. After all I am far from perfect, and all of my Italy projects are flawed to a degree. I have come to realize, but never seem to fully grasp the fact, that acceptance of one's limitations and foibles are the key to peace of mind. The mistakes didn't detract from an excellent presentation and it was obvious that I did spend a lot of time on the whole presentation. Ellen did a superb job in every way, as the picture, sound, and timing was perfect. All in all I am quite satisfied.

Next week, of course is Franc Palaia's version of Towers of Italy, so I can sit back a little more relaxed while he does his usual magnificent job. The week after I will reproduce a typical library forum such as the three I performed in Kingston, Saugerties, and Woodstock. I want it on the record and this is the only way I can obtain a professional video copy of my forums, so if you have already seen one, you are excused from viewing, unless you liked them very much. After that I have several shows I have spent a lot of time on such as show Loggias of Italy, Eating in Italy (a light jaunt through, not a culinary presentation, but my own dining experiences over the years), then the Boboli Gardens of Florence, Gardens Throughout Italy, and then Ric's presentation of Tuscania, and the long awaited show discussing the origins of Woodstock Public Access Television with Tobe Carey and Bart Friedman as guests.

My course at New Paltz Lifetime Learning has been expanded to 26 students (from a cap of 20) and I have been communicating with several of them over the past week. I emailed a copy of my course outline which I assumed people would have trouble downloading and printing. I have mailed two of them in the past few days. I am again testing my computer at New Paltz on Wednesday, yet another dry run in preparation for the March 20 first day. Meanwhile I have not heard from Kingston about my offer of a series of lectures on Italy over the summer, so I assume that project is not going to happen. Meanwhile I pursue my desire to get back to teaching math at a college. My website is slightly changed. Have a look. Grazie per la lettura.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

An Out of the Way Italian Treasure - Viterbo

I indicated to Ric tonight that a good next book would be to talk about some of the out of the way places we both have been to and focus on how those places can be as rewarding as visiting some of the better knwon locations. The problem with out of the way towns is that perhaps they wish to stay that way. I would not want the podestas of twenty small towns out to get me ! One of these precious gems is the Alto Lazio town of Viterbo, where we visited in 2012. During that same excursion we also toured Tuscania, another spectacular town. (We will talk about Tuscania in a few weeks) Neither of these places have as much elevation such as the Tuscan towns of Montepulciano, Montalcino, or Cortona (to name but a few), but charming nonetheless. It took us almost nine months to finally do this show and it was well worth waiting for. Ric, using no notes, gave a fabulous tour from memory. I remarked on the show that his knowledge of Viterbo was akin to my knowing about Kingston. As Woodstock is such a small town, we often shop in Kingston which is much larger. The relationship between Ric's town of Roccalvecce and Viterbo is similar, as he frequents the latter on a regualr basis.

We started the show with an analysis of the recent elections in Italy in which their lower and upper houses of parliament became so divided among several parties that the country appears to be ungovernable, causing widespread panic in the a financial market already frail in the current worldwide recession which began in 2008. As Italy has dozens of parties, my friend Luca told me that these divisions are common in Italian elections. I indicated my interview with Andrea Martellini one of the spokepersons for the Five Star Movement, started by Beppe Grillo several years ago as a protest against Italian governmental corruption. His movement captured 25 % of the vote, which is astounding for a non-party group out of the mainstream and without much political clout. They have succeeeded in capturing the loyalty, imagination, and devotion of the Italian populace who seek change. Since he is just interested in weeding out corrupt politicians, there is no other platform other than the election of honest people to serve, and greater regard for the masses of struggling Italians. Ric assisted with this as well. When we return in May, I hope to do a follow-up with Andrea and several winners of the election. It would be a real coup if we could also speak with Grillo through video and bring that back with us.

On the production front, Ellen, my engineer (and all of us) heard this loud buzzing on the sound system when it was hooked to the computer, so we disconnected it and went instead with the sound from the computer directly into the microphone. It was impossible to tell that anything was different and otherwise the show was perfectly broadcast, a very calm evening of television production for sure.

Meanwhile on other fronts, Alan's Italy begins to be rebroadcast on New Paltz Public Access on Fri, Sat, and Sun at 6 PM having the same show for three weeks at a time. This is apropos to the beginning of my 8-week program as part of New Paltz Lifetime Learning on March 20 extending into mid-May. That class will be expanded from the original 20 limit that I set during registration, as apparently many more people want to get into the class. The sight in the catalogue of a photo of Lake Como and the intriguing description must be very appealing to people, as I knew it would be. My specially prepared 7-page broshure will be e mailed to my students shortly.

My next show on Alan's Italy, Towers of Italy focuses on all the different types of towers that appear throughout the country. I hatched the idea from a show that Franc Palaia will be doing on March 15 when he talks about his Polaroid Photography in which many towers appear. I will categorize each type of tower and discuss my experience with them during the show. Please tune in. Grazie per la lettura.