Once again someone I know saw the show and remarked that she was eager to see the show since she went to Siena once. She was disappointed that the show did not completely cover every part of the city, so I explained to her what I have tried to explain many times, but perhaps it is necessary to repeat this every so often. No problem.
Alan's Italy is not the definitive travelogue on any place. I do not ever want to be considered the authority or expert on Italy. It is a story of my and Laura's experience in a particular place. Yes, I try to include some narrative about the history and background of the place, but for the most part it is simply, well, how shall I put this? ALAN'S Italy!!!! It is what happened to us during our stay interpreted the way we want, I want. We saw a few things of note like Il Campo and the Cathedral and the Pinacoteca, but we had no interest whatsoever in spending the four days stay going everywhere in Siena. In fact the reason we stayed in Siena was not so much to see the city, but to stay in a central place near other areas of Tuscany not far from Florence that would permit somewhat easier access for our friends, Luca and Lida, to come, pick us up and take us around to places I wanted to explore like Volterra, Monteriggioni, and San Quirico d'Orcia.
So once again, when I title a show, Siena, for example, it is because that is where we were, and I will show significantly charming photos while I talk a little about the town, but the essence is not THE definitive show about Siena, nor did I ever want it to be. One more story. I once had a discussion with a friend about my TV show. This was perhaps three or four years ago. The person made some suggestions about how HE would have wanted the show to be. I digested all that he said and then responded, "Well, John, no offense at all, but if you have a certain interpretation of what you would like my audience to see, then have your own show and call it John's Italy!!!!" I have spent a lifetime in education following prescribed curricula, superintendent directives, rules, laws, regulations, and the list goes on and on. Alan's Italy is my attempt to basically do what I want. In my last remaining years, that pleases me to no end. It is MY show and exactly what I want it to be. I place it on Youtube because if a person wants to see it, fine; if not, well that's ok also.
I am happy that I have a lot of subscribers to my Youtube Channel, 129 as of this writing, and approaching 40,000 views, and I hope everyone who watches understands what I am trying to do. I also hope when I do my next show, Show # 127: Volterra, people do not view with the intent of learning everything they will want to know about that town in Western Tuscany. In fact I have one segment of the show (working on it as I write) in which I choose a well known person who was born there and grew up there, but did some amazing things elsewhere. The person is Daniele da Volterra, a fellow whom I have noted pretty much everywhere I read something about Michelangelo's later life, especially as it regards Rome where the amazing master of sculpture and fresco painting did a vast amount of work. So when you view Alan's Italy expect the esoteric, off beat, different interpretation of a place, not the boilerplate version you might expect from reading one of the great and famous tour guides.
Thanks for your attention.
No comments:
Post a Comment