Author Archives: Charles Lambert

Tagged…

Posted on September 21, 2007 by Charles Lambert

…not electronically though I may deserve it, but by Elizabeth Baines. See her post, explaining the set up, here. Briefly, I have to share eight random and/or embarrassing facts and/or moments about myself with you, then tag eight more people … Continue reading →

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Language slaves

Posted on September 21, 2007 by Charles Lambert

An update on the situation of university language teachers in Italy, otherwise known as lettori. The academic year looks set to begin with the usual mood of rage tempered by resignation as emails from colleagues throughout Italy relate the new … Continue reading →

Posted in barone, human rights, lettore, university | Leave a comment

Mortadella turns

Posted on September 20, 2007 by Charles Lambert

The much assailed Italian PM Romano Prodi, often referred to – without affection – by his opponents as Mortadella, turned on his voters a couple of days ago from the only authoritative pulpit available: Porta a Porta, Bruno Vespa’s chat … Continue reading →

Posted in corruption, politics, prodi, university | Leave a comment

This is not a time for dreaming…

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Charles Lambert

…is the name of a video we saw this summer at the Beaubourg. It’s on the lower of the two floors, halfway down on the left and was made by Pierre Huyghe, an artist I’ve never come across before. I … Continue reading →

Posted in art, paris | Leave a comment

A rose is a rose

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Charles Lambert

Giuseppe made friends with an Italo-French florist fifty yards down the road from the flat we were in, in Boulevard Saint Germain, and managed to scrounge three separate bunches of roses during our two-week stay. They were just the way … Continue reading →

Posted in paris | Leave a comment

Hausmann rules, but not always

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Charles Lambert

One of the joys of Paris – of central Paris, at least – is the endless variation on the theme of Hausmann; street after street, quartier after quartier, of houses that follow the same essential rules of architecture, yet each … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, paris | Leave a comment

Burning hills

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Charles Lambert

I wrote about the fires that were devastating the hills around Fondi earlier this summer. You can find what I said here. This photograph was taken a couple of weeks after that, towards the end of July, as we were … Continue reading →

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Writing as madness

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Charles Lambert

This summer, I saw a painting I’d never seen before, in the Centre Pompidou. Entitled Peinture (Ecriture rose) and covering a fair-sized chunk of wall (maybe three metres by four), it’s the work of Simon Hantai and was done in … Continue reading →

Posted in art, islam, paris | Leave a comment

Penis, Paris

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Charles Lambert

The image is rather ghostly, but you should be able to make out the form of a rather substantial male member on this toilet-paper roll. It’s isn’t remarkable in itself. The penis, after all, is to graffiti in public toilets … Continue reading →

Posted in graffiti, paris | 3 Comments

Racist lunatic arrested

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Charles Lambert

Good news from Brussels (and how often do you hear that?), as one of the most laughably despicable figures in Italian politics gets picked up by police after attempting to take part in an illegal demonstration against the ‘islamisation of … Continue reading →

Posted in borghezio, fascism, islam | Leave a comment