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AUTUMN AND MELANCHOLY: END-SUMMER STORIES, MEMORIES AND DAILY ROUTINE

Summer, it’s a nice memory that slowly fades among the warm autumn colors. Days shorten, temperatures drop and melancholy could easily affect us.

Sea, beach, travels, summer loves, sunsets with friends…everything seems to be faraway and to come back to ordinary life appears difficult, almost impossible. Depression? Technically speaking it’s called Holiday Blues. And even if in autumn this pathology generally arises in a light and temporary way, sometimes it can degenerate.

Long-lasting holiday? To put bikini and sandals away could make you cry! You collected expectations, desires, need to relax and now you have no more than dissatisfaction and delusion.

Leaves turn yellow and your hormones go crazy: almost one week in which the autumn reveals itself in the form of loss of concentration, anxiety, sleepiness and nervousness. So, it’s the #NeverAjoy Fall/Winter Edition. Can we avoid this blue syndrome? Almost everybody is affected when it’s time to start again the routine and the stress of daily life arises.

And what happens when it gets dark early in the afternoon? The situation is about to deteriorate! In fact, it has been scientifically proved that lack of solar light negatively influences the mood. It’s enough to look at you to read a clear message in your eyes: Keep away from me, today – and maybe even tomorrow! – I could kill you. Or probably I’m gonna cry!

Our psyche flips out, how to survive? Here 3 basic rules:

Take some days of transition between holidays and routine, so avoid coming back home just before the last day of vacation!
Don’t give up good summer habits: go to the gym, eat healthy, reset the sleep-wake rhythm and reduce the number of cocktails. Goodbye Spritz!
Have short and frequent breaks during the day, and don’t study or work in the weekend.

What’s the secret of happiness? Any magic formula, it’s enough to stay focused on positive thoughts and follow your own aims. In the end, if we were always on holiday, we wouldn’t really appreciate it.

So, when during the autumn we’ll look at the pics taken in the previous months, we probably will be nostalgic but at the same time will feel the need to leave again, to think about a new trip. Summer is inside us. Summer is a state of mind.

FROM THE BUONDÌ COMMERCIAL TO THE POWER OF ADVERTISING

While the world is worried for nuclear attack in North Korea, in U.S.A. hurricanes devastate countries and Ryanair suddenly changed the carry-on baggage policy, in Italy we are hurt by the Buondì commercial. Is it politically incorrect? For sure it’s incisive.

What’s the power of advertising? Persuasion, participation, debate. And it doesn’t matter if the commercial is not so true or far from the reality, what really counts is to influence the consumers. We can say that Motta, thanks to the Buondì commercial, hit the nail on the head. The current polemic has arisen because of the asteroid that hit the unbelieving mum. Her fault? She denied the existence of a light and tasty breakfast. Same destiny for the dad that, because of his skepticism, suffers the revenge of the sky. So, the daughter is without food and probably not so much shocked.

It supposed to be an ironic commercial and became a national issue. Child care organizations, scandalized parents and even VIPs said their opinion. And so, the rapper Fedez, shared his viewpoint. He posted Instagram Stories in which he defined the Buondì commercial cruel but worthy of defense.

People talk about it, controversies catch on fire. Motta marketing department says thanks and calculates the return on investment. It was born as a normal commercial and became viral. I don’t like Buondì but it may be better if I try it again!

Being unconventional caused a stir.

No happy families, no smiling mums that clean dirty floors. The last time that snacks have been protagonists, it was because of the palm oil, but that’s another story. How many times are commercial incorrect and fake? The effervescent suppository, Mr. Buonaseeeera, Banderas and the hen, Giovanna paints the bird cage dressed in a sexy mini-skirt, Rocco eats chips and so on. Who cares if the Buondì commercial is considered inappropriate, it’s already immortal. May an asteroid hit me if this commercial will be cancelled…nevermind, it’s better to keep quiet!

SOCIAL NETWORK: PHILOSOPHERS 2.0

“Philosophers” 2.0? They don’t know what to do with Plato, Aristotle and Socrates.

Social network philosophers are badass and clearly know more than anyone else. They’ve read all the classics of course, and meticulously use fantastically photoshopped and filtered pics as a way to teach us the true meaning of life. That’s really what THEY think! Or more likely, we allow them to think so every time we mindlessly idolize and glorify them.

INSTAGRAM STORIES: WINDOWS OF HAPPINESS

Twenty-four hours. Videos, photos, boomerangs: extemporaneous fragments of life. Instagram Stories, a tool that the famous social network copied from the less fortunate Snapchat, is a way to reply to the classic question What are you doing?

Why should we use only words when we can tell our life through the images? And why shouldn’t give, even to the most ordinary moments, a touch of color? To share photos and thoughts on social networks seemed an arrival point, but Instagram Stories changed something. Online contents last only twenty-four hours, small pieces of private life offered to the followers. Banalities? Never! If a friend calls you while you are getting a tan, probably you would say to him that you lay baking on the beach. But if you post a story on Instagram Stories, it isn’t the same old story. Even the most boring activities can be ‘sell’ in a hilarious and fun way. Add a filter, some hashtags and fancy stickers, and a cool geotag and it’s done.

Sometimes to exist on social networks is easier than to survive in the real jungle. And Stories in the end are just a window that, in a few seconds, allows you to show outside what you want to tell about you.

It’s a perception game, we want to look happy because being so is our only wish. A boomerang with a toast together with friends, a video with a crazy singing moment in the car, a shot with your favorite outfit before to go out. And then? What happened after Instagram Stories? Bottles empty, friends go away, make-up is removed and masks fall down. Framing becomes wider and real life arises.

But to dream is a right. A bracket that lasts a day to remember that something beautiful, in this hard world, exists. It’s important to share a tile of joy but it shouldn’t be ostentation. We could desire to plunge into a beautiful boomerang to live again and again those seconds that made us happy, but the biggest achievement is pushing play and go on in the real life.

Instagram Stories has the merit to make ‘more human’ even those incomparable stars that sometimes decide to show themselves in their real life, with their children, at the gym or in the morning without the make-up. And so, the window tips over and shows, for a few instants, that sincere and not glossy world that align us to the shining celebrities. It’s the social democracy.

FASHION: GLOSSY LEXICON TALKS ABOUT THE CATWALK

Dear fashion, “Speak simply”! Not so much food, not so much words. This one should be the rule of fashion system. But the glamorous universe made of glossy magazines and sparkling alphabets is always ready to create neologisms with an international touch.

If we should list every single entry of fashion dictionary, the list could be endless. Not only words universally recognized but even many other ones created to define a new trend or to make appealing something that wasn’t so. The power of fashion lexicon is the ability to give light and voice to something dull. It’s a spotlight that decides who and what to make protagonist.

Is it enough to call something fashion to make it really cool? Probably not, but for many ninnies obsessed by the sexy charm of the label, words are enough to characterize an item or a lifestyle.

Fashion dictionary victims? Often. Every year designers and experts coin words to define the news from the catwalks or to make politically correct and socially acceptable some standards of beauty that are generally relegated out of the shining kingdom of haute couture.

Let’s think for example about the word curvy and the well-built models, let’s think about the marketing and how it approached to this new aesthetic mood. Only few years ago, these girls were called just fatso. Fashion, thanks to its verbal range, gave them liberation.

Moreover, there are also interesting lexical fusions as jeggings and jorts. The first ones are denim leggings shaped as jeans, the second one are short pants…very short and completely homemade.

You know, fashion can give also immortality. Everybody dreams the Kelly, the most famous bag by Hermès dedicated to the legendary Grace Kelly.

Made in fashion, it matters! Linguists are absorbed in studying the meaning and the mediatic impact of these words, even if the enthusiasm is not comparable to the one of crazy women at Zara at the beginning of summer sales. Could we call it technical language? Yes, at least in part. In other cases, it is only very posh and exclusive but can generate long chats about nothing. If in front of a pair of flatform that your friends have seen on Vogue worn by Cara, you feel like a Martian, don’t lose heart. Remember that fashion legitimizes, therefore if you decide to go around wearing pajamas and a coat-gown, nobody will call you shabby but shabby chic.

ENGLISH, VERBAL OVERDOSE FOR COOL ‘N POSH ITALIANS

Italians, Anglophone people? Yes, and not because they are forced to be so. English is a hit but sometimes (many times!) is used improperly, especially in business environment. Because foreign words, in some situations, are an unavoidable must.

I’m pretty sure that you caught the ironic mood, so now (if you know a bit of Italian), try to replace ‘yes’, ‘business’ and ‘must’ with three synonyms made in Italy: ‘sì’, ‘professionali’, ‘tendenza’. Why, even if Italian is a very rich language, many people prefer an exotic lexicon? Because it’s cool. It’s trendy, fashionable. And so, it is common that you can hear someone who talks about business plan, meeting and coffee break. In the night, few minutes to make up the look, choose the best outfit and then ready to have a happy hour. Be careful to English overdose. Bacon, eggs and Anglo-Saxon phonemes can be poisonous.

Nobody objects to the usefulness of this language. Nowadays, just to go on using stereotypes, you need English to live. And it’s true. But I don’t understand why Italians are so fascinated by it. Many words belong to our vocabulary too, other ones are a clear stretching. International ambitions? Xenophilia? Inferiority complex? Ordinary idiocy? Whatever is the answer, it is sure that tricolor people like filling their verbal gaps with random loan words.

The result of this fusion between Italian and English could be a disaster as the one that happens in some fusion restaurants that are used to mix nothing and none. To touch lightly and go beyond the ridiculous is a trap. Often misunderstanding is around the corner.

Since in these days I’m in New York, I’ve wondered if the charm of a foreign language exists here too. Do Americans speak Italian? No, they don’t. Not even in Little Italy. The world ends after pizza, spaghetti and mamma mia! What a pity! It could be so posh to order ‘un cornetto’ and ‘un bicchiere di latte’! Instead I’ve banally to ask for a muffin and a cup of milk.

Anyway, Italians have a great talent: they speak English even if they don’t know it. Sort of genius? No, boaster. Of course it isn’t difficult to put two-three words in a statement, the problem arises when the level required is at least intermediate. Dear blowhard, in that case, ‘che Dio t’assista’…God Taxidriver!

MEN AND BAGS: WOMEN LOVES ACCESSORIES

Women love fashion and so can’t say no to clothes, shoes, jewels and other stuff. But women for sure can’t say no to two kinds of accessories: bags and men. Yes, men too. Do you remember that Ken spent his life as a Barbie’s accessory?

Why does it happen? It’s easy: both a bag and a male are potential partners of your life. Backpack, seabag, purse or cross-body bag, bags always stand by women’s side. They keep her most important objects, match her lifestyle and adapt to every situation. It can last forever or be used for a couple of times and never more. Do you notice any difference between bags and men? Maybe one, the XYs don’t adapt to every situation.

In any case, there are several affinities between these accessories and so I created a funny categorization. It sounds like Tell me your bag and I’ll tell you which kind of man you desire.

Purse man

Purse is small and almost useless. You rarely use it because it needs just to finish the outfit and have something where you can put inside keys and phone. It’s just for a special occasion, then you put it in the closet and forget about it. Therefore, purse men are those ones who last one night or maybe one month, you don’t really like them. They are temporary, match only that moment of your life but are not the right ones.

Cross-body bag man

Cross-body bags are cozy, at least because you don’t have to keep it in hands. This bag is a jolly because you can match it easily. You like it so-so but know that when you need it, that bag is there. The cross-body bag man is half a friend and half a potential boyfriend. He could be perfect but, to be honest, you perfectly know that he isn’t the one you want to live every day.

Backpack man

The backpack is with you since the childhood. At school, during the excursions, on the beach…always present. You personalized it and it knows you. Backpack men are the ones you probably met when you were a child, your partners in crime, the ones you kissed for the first time, the ones who make you fall from the seesaw. They grew up with you. They make you feel safe because are aware of your character but you don’t love them, you just feel a brotherly love.

Maxi bag man

Maxi bags are the best ones. You can put all your stuff inside, leave them on the floor or on the chairs and also when they’re heavy you can live without. They are the ideal mates because, even if sometimes they are a sort of black hole where the objects disappear, can keep your treasures. You use them in the morning or in the night, to travel around the world or in your daily routine. Also when they are old, dirty and ask for pity you don’t abandon them because they live with you. So, a maxi bag man is the one you really want in your life. Sometimes it could be tough dealing with him, he will have mysterious moments and you will have to understand his thoughts. But, in spite of everything, he can bring your weight. It’s all about sharing. It’s a love that doesn’t vanish.

T-SHIRTS TELL STORIES: HOW AND WHY A TEE CAN SAY A LOT ABOUT US

Outfit and personality go hand in hand. In spite of what a well-known proverb says, sometimes you can judge a book by its cover and our clothes say a lot about us. T-shirts are the items that in a way mainly describe our character and make visible our thoughts.

Open your closet and count how many t-shirts are there. At least twenty, some of them are in the bottom drawer and belongs to the past. Do you remember when you were used to pile up the tees with the name of the cities you visited? I have at least five t-shirts from Paris.

Garments for the gym, to stay at home, basic, with colored patterns, with famous characters from cartoons, large or fitted. A very long list that can tell who we are. Except the easy wear items we bought just because they’re practical, the ones we carefully choose can deliver a specific message.

Many times we are attracted by a statement or a picture because they work as a mirror. It’s a mirror that interprets our forma mentis or maybe something that we’d like to shout out.

A t-shirt with Snow White means a back to the childhood, if you put on a tee that says I’m friendly, I can’t be also slim it’s a way to be ironic about your body. And when you go to the Hard Rock Café and buy another tee for your collection, it’s a way to keep with you a memory.

T-shirts speak, there’s no much to say about it. They tell a story. Also the most eccentric ones, the tees from the ‘90s that your mother has partially turned into dust cloth. Yes, also those ones have a past. I scrupulously keep them in my closet. Even the t-shirts I wore when I was a child, the first ones by Disney that someone distractedly ruined ironing.

Nowadays, vintage is fashionable again and in the stores it isn’t difficult to find t-shirts with names and logos belonging to celebrity bands like Iron Maiden and Metallica. The funniest side is that you see them in the hands (and then also dressed!) of callow guys that maybe are used to listen to One Direction. But in the end, this is a way to express themselves. Aspirational maybe.

One tee, one story. For this reason, I can’t throw them away. Today I have been in a department store and a nice lady asked me to translate the statement printed on a t-shirt «I mean, it’s a present and I don’t know if these ones are bad words…». It was in English of course. Live now. Good choice!

AIR TRAVEL: 5 TYPES OF PEOPLE IN SEARCH OF A FLIGHT

Volare oh-oh! Air travel, how nice is to travel the globe by plane. Yes, because when you go beyond the clouds, limits don’t exist. No sea or mountain that can stop you. You arrive at the airport, check in, pass through security control before boarding and finally reach your seat in the aircraft. But during the journey to your dream destination you could meet – almost inevitably! – at least one of the typical people in search of a flight.

AUTUMN AND MELANCHOLY: END-SUMMER STORIES, MEMORIES AND DAILY ROUTINE

Summer, it’s a nice memory that slowly fades among the warm autumn colors. Days shorten, temperatures drop and melancholy could easily affect us.

Our psyche flips out, how to survive? Here 3 basic rules:

Like this:

SOCIAL NETWORK: PHILOSOPHERS 2.0

“Philosophers” 2.0? They don’t know what to do with Plato, Aristotle and Socrates.

Like this:

FASHION: GLOSSY LEXICON TALKS ABOUT THE CATWALK

Dear fashion, “Speak simply”! Not so much food, not so much words. This one should be the rule of fashion system. But the glamorous universe made of glossy magazines and sparkling alphabets is always ready to create neologisms with an international touch.

Fashion dictionary victims? Often. Every year designers and experts coin words to define the news from the catwalks or to make politically correct and socially acceptable some standards of beauty that are generally relegated out of the shining kingdom of haute couture.

Like this:

ENGLISH, VERBAL OVERDOSE FOR COOL ‘N POSH ITALIANS

Italians, Anglophone people? Yes, and not because they are forced to be so. English is a hit but sometimes (many times!) is used improperly, especially in business environment. Because foreign words, in some situations, are an unavoidable must.

The result of this fusion between Italian and English could be a disaster as the one that happens in some fusion restaurants that are used to mix nothing and none. To touch lightly and go beyond the ridiculous is a trap. Often misunderstanding is around the corner.

Like this:

MEN AND BAGS: WOMEN LOVES ACCESSORIES