Month July 2024

Hiking Mount Vesuvius

Anthony Panariello 3 Comments

This was a bucket list item for me. My family is from Torre Del Greco, a small town near Naples and the Volcano is ever present and I’m fascinated by the history of Pompeii and Herculaneum (well the Roman empire in general – yes, I do think of them several times a day!) and I’ve always wanted to climb the volcano and look over the bay of Naples.

This year I finally got my family aligned to go for a visit and it was an amazing week (to be told in another post) but the volcano itself really is omnipresent. Everywhere you look there’s lava rock and the rich volcanic soil that generate the famous San Marzano tomatoes.

We drove up to the summit and found out that you actually need a reservation to hike to the very top. Very disappointing. We tried to get some of the day-of spots but they sold out instantly once they dropped every 10 minutes. After two days of trying to score a ticket to the summit we pivoted and decided to hike the ‘River of Lava’ a trail created when the volcano last erupted. It was a winding trail that climbed up the side of the mountain with so many wildflowers and butterflies that it was like were were in another world.

At the end of the hike through the forest the trail opened up to the river of lava itself – a vast swath of black lava rock that showed the devastation the volcano brought when it erupted in the 1940s. As I walked along the lava rocks I was surrounded by so many wildflowers it was like out of a painting. I stood at the top of the trail on an outcropping of rock and overlooked the bay of Naples – and it was one of the most beautiful natural vistas I’ve ever seen.

So while I didn’t get to summit the volcano (next time – its easier if you reserve in advance and I bet my kids would love it) I still got to hike up the side of this historic volcano and hold 2000 year old lava rocks in my hands and achieve a dream I had for a very long time.

Grain Free – not the life for me.

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But Tony, you’re Italian! What are you doing? What about the pizza? The Pasta? The Bread?! There’s no way you can pull this off!

That’s what I thought when I started. Just two weeks, I told myself. You can do this! The first few days were absolute torture but I persevered and about four days in it was.. fine. It was compounded by my not eating sugar either so my dietary choices were somewhat limited as I don’t like seafood so I ate a lot of chicken, eggs, and beef. The funny thing about eating like a supposed ‘carnivore’ was that it was very filling and I found that my appetite was basically zeroed out and I had to force myself to eat sometimes as I just wasn’t hungry.

In fact the lack of variety ended up being a benefit as I just ate the same few things over and over making it easy to prepare and plan for – lots of scrambled eggs, burgers on almond buns, and sausage and peppers. In fact I went a bit stricter than what was called for as I also didn’t eat fruit to keep the sugars (even natural ones) low. It ended up being a low carb situation which is fine for managing hunger but it’s a real pain in the energy department. I tried playing basketball or hitting the gym and it was brutal. Since low carb means you shed water I ended up parched during workouts and guzzling water like a man who was lost in the desert for a week.

What did work? The weight loss. Now, I realize 50% of it was probably water but it still was pretty effective. So much so that I ended up doing it for 21 days preparing for my trip to Italy. That’s right baby I went low carb right before heading to the motherland of carbs.

So yeah,I gained 1/2 the weight back during my week in Italy but hey – la dolce vita, si? That being said, I really wasn’t doing it for weight loss only I wanted to see how I felt without grain in my diet and I will say that the biggest thing I noticed was my focus improved substantially. I was able to keep on task and keep things in my short term memory longer than before.

So overall I saw some benefits, but not enough to give up three of my favorite food groups (Pizzas, Pastas, Sandwiches). It was an interesting experiment and I’m glad I tried it but it’s really not something that is sustainable for me.

Butternut Squash and Manchego Pizza

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This pizza has been in my rotation for a few years. The genesis of it was a bunch of leftover butternut squash mash I made for the baby. I looked at it and said ‘wait, I bet this would be good on a pizza’. Due to the inherent sweetness of the squash I know I needed a bold salty cheese to punch through and balance it out. I had a block of manchego cheese in the fridge – grated it on the squash threw it in the oven and pulled out an amazing pie. Finish it with a drizzle of hot honey and you’ve got Tony’s squash pizza.

The Kid – 1921

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Charlie Chaplin

Silent Movie / Comedy – 1921

3/5 stars

This one starts with an ingénue who has a baby but the father isn’t interested (doesn’t believe it’s his? Who knows with silent movies) so she is desperate to keep her career so she does the unthinkable and abandons the baby in a rich person’s car hoping he can have a better life (leaving a note asking for someone to care for this orphan child).However – the car is promptly stolen by two thugs who race off in the car only to pull over when the baby starts crying – one thug waves the gun at the baby and suggests (via body language) maybe we should you know.. Shoot it? The other thug who isn’t a complete sociopath decides to leave the baby in an alley (arguably an equally poor solution) where Chaplin’s tramp happens to live.

Chaplin stumbles across the baby and tries to leave it but his conscious won’t let him neither will the police officer who patrols the slums. He tries to put the baby in passing mother’s carriage but that backfires as she catches him in the act and Chaplin goes back into his hovel unsure what to do.

5 years pass and they’ve fallen into a  poverty riddled routine where the kids breaks a window with a rock and Chaplin walks around as a window repairman  and they scrape together enough to maybe buy some food (although seeing a coin operated gas meter was illuminating) – all during this time the mother becomes a famous wealthy actress who tries to atone for her guilt by running a charity for children where she unwittingly interacts with her own child – and she gives him a small toy to cheer him up.

The trouble began when a local bully stole the toy and the kid wasn’t taking that shit and threw down like a champion. They got into a proper brawl and the whole hood showed up for the show (not much else going on tbh) – the kid is whopping the bully’s ass but then the bully’s gigantic dad shows up and tells Chaplin if he kid loses he’s going to curb stomp him so Chaplin tries to throw the fight and pronounce the bully the winner but the kid has the heart of a lion and drops the bully with a tyson-esque combo (in reality he looked like Yoda fighting during the clone was) then Gigantor comes for Chaplin but he manages to avoid his punches for a while until he grabs a brick and starts going full mason on the bully’s dad’s forehead.. Eventually goliath falls and they escape back to their hovel.

Shortly afterward the kid gets sick and his mother (still unknowingly) arranges for a doctor to visit – where Chaplin explains that the kid isn’t his and shows the doctor the note. The doctor arranges for an orphanage to kidnap the kid forcefully which honestly is a traumatic scene to watch as a father which sets off a wacky rooftop chase scene where Chaplin rescues the kid and they hide out in a flophouse to figure out what to do. However, during this the mom met with the Dr. who showed her the note Chaplin had and she realizes that the kid is hers! What are the odds! She puts out a 1,000 dollar reward for his return

The owner of the flophouse sees the reward in the paper and grabs the kid to turn him in for the money and when Chaplin wakes up the kid is gone (again, nightmare fuel for dads) and he frantically searches for him before giving up and falling asleep at the door of his hovel which kicks off an LSD fueled fever dream where the people in his neighborhood are devils and angels and he’s flying around doing.. uhh.. I’m not sure. He’s awaken by the police and he thinks he’s going to jail but he’s actually brought to the mansion of the mother who then lets him in (presumably to reunite with the kid)

Fun fact: The actor who played the kid was uncle Fester in the Addams Family TV series!

Not Fun fact: This movie was written shortly after lost a son in childbirth – making is especially poignant.

Really not fun fact: The kid was conceived on a very young actress and Chaplin married her to avoid the scandal and was divorced shortly after – then he did it AGAIN with the girl who played the angel in THIS movie knocking her up at 16. Yikes.

All Quiet on the Western Front

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Category: War Film

Starring:

A pretty visceral World War I movie depicting the horrors of trench warfare. Told from the point of view of the German soldiers it depicted a harrowing experience spoke to the futility of war.

It starts out in a classroom in Germany when a teacher is giving an impassioned speech about serving the fatherland in the war and the jingoistic speech gets all the young men fired up and they decide that they should all go enlist together. Filled with enthusiasm they join the army and are sent to train under a wannabe despot Colonel Himmelstoss which quickly removes their enthusiasm as they are treated brutally and made to suffer in their training because Himmelstoss is apparently a sadist (although they do get him eventually in a midnight raid but it’s not too serious)

Once deployed they immediately come under fire and one of their group is killed while the rest scatter. Eventually reaching their muster point they realize there’s no food and that they have to pay a veteran solider (Katz) in order to get access to the pig he stole from a truck earlier in the day.

Eventually they get sent to the front lines and the movie treats you to a visceral experience of what war was like during WWI. People dying all around you, the never-ending bombardment of shells, being forced to go over the top of the trench into machine gun fire in order to advance the line. It’s brutal and unflinching (although edited for 1930’s sensibilities)

In a strange coincidence Himmelstoss arrives at 2nd company and is rejected by the men and the next day he’s forced to over the top of the trench with the rest of them and is almost immediately gunned down. One of the soldiers is running down the lines and is attacked and has to stab a man to protect himself and ends up having to stay in a pit all night with the dying man which is traumatic and he ends up begging for the mans forgiveness. 

Later on Paul (one of the soldiers) is badly wounded in action and taken to a\ hospital where his leg is operated on. He eventually pulls through but is given a medical furlough and he returns home. He’s surprised as how everyone in his hometown is still gung-ho on the war and buying into the patriotic fatherland. When he speaks out about the horrors of war he is derided and called a coward.

Paul returns to the front to a new second company (still run by Katz) and is jaded with the futility of it all. During a search for wild pigs for food there’s a bombing and  Katz takes shrapnel in the shin and Paul carries him to a hospital tent, not realizing other shrapnel has hit Katz and he died on the way. Paul can’t believe his friend is dead and he’s shell shocked an devastated.

Back on the front line Paul is in a trench and waiting during a quite time when he sees a butterfly land near his trench. He’s transfixed by this beautiful thing in such an ugly place that he reached out to touch it…

And is promptly 360 no scope sniped. The end.

3/5 – The movie did a good job showing the horrors of trench warfare in World War I and how the interpersonal relationships formed in such a horrid place can be one of the only things to sustain you.

Pizza – Chicago Deep Dish (Malnati’s)

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One of my favorite chicago deep dish spots is Lou Malnati’s. I like that the crust is buttery and the tomatoes on the top taste like, well, tomatoes. The other chains in Chi-town have overcooked sauce with too many spices. For this reason, my attempts to make Chicago deep dish is really an attempt to make this particular one. I found a Youtube video with this guy who said his came close. I was a little suspicious because he didn’t use butter in his dough – just corn oil and olive oil. I tried it anyway because the toppings seemed like they were accurate (drained crushed tomatoes and hand crushed peeled plum tomatoes)

I’ll say this – the toppings were actually very very close to what I remembered. Sliced mozzarella covered with the tomatoes and finished with a dusting of romano cheese. It was actually really good and had the fresh tomato taste I was looking for.

I think I’ll go back to this recipe in the future but I’ll replace the corn oil with melted butter to see if that gets me the flavor/texture I’m looking for in the dough.

Nirvana – Nevermind

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What can I say about this album? This is probably one of my favorite albums of all time. I can still remember the first time I  heard it on MTV. I was like ‘I’m not sure what musical genre that is, but I need more of it’.

Before I listened to this album (and Pearl Jam’s Ten) I was heavy into 1970’s/80’s music specifically Queen, Bob Seager, Cat Stevens, CCR and the Beatles. I listened to that genre almost exclusively and the only exposure I got to other types of songs was via MTV.

That all changed once I listened to Nirvana’s Nevermind. Every track spoke to teen Tony in a way that I think most of my GenX peers would recognize. Socially and politically we were just jaded and this music was so angry and full of emotion that it tapped into the rebellious spirit and became a huge influence in how we dressed and acted (well, my friend group at least).

I’m not sure I could pick a favorite. Smells like Teen Spirit is overplayed but I still headbang every time it plays on my grunge playlist. In Bloom’s driving guitar made me pick up an electric guitar and try to figure out how to play it. Dave Grohl’s drumming in bread never fails to get me hyped – in fact his drumming across the album is simple yet serves the song perfectly. The stripped down acoustic on Polly is so different yet seems to fit into the album perfectly.

When you’re angry at the world put on Territorial Pissings and just scream along with Kurt – let the anger out. It’s such a good song to scream along to.

What this album makes me feel: Young again. Driving up somewhere with the cyber/chat crew in my falling apart Chevy Blazer with this album in the tape deck playing over the cheap stock speakers. Being different – engaging grunge in all it’s flannel glory and opening my eyes to a wide world of music that I wasn’t aware was even out there.

5/5 – I mean – what else can I give it? It’s a great album on it’s own but wrapped into the reshaping of my identity back then it’s influence on me continues to this day.

Nas – Illmatic

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This one was pretty easy as I already owned this album and listened to it extensively during my long commutes in the late 90’s.

There’s a reason Nas is hailed as one of the GOATS the flows are immaculate his rapping style is so clean and smooth and the tracks he’s rapping over are tight. His lyrics on this album are so dense with a distinct storytelling vibe talking about drugs, guns, and the life on the streets.

His breath control on extended verses is amazing and I found myself referring to the lyrics for the songs due to how fast they were going by.

One of my favorite tracks is halftime – it’s got a funky groove and the words go hard (even the few.. Problematic verse) – typical of 90’s hip-hop the album is full of references to money,  violence and police brutality and NAS is unafraid to lay down some tracks calling this out. I also like how he goes back in his history with sine introspective lyrics showing how he started, his struggles, and how he got to where he is now.

How this album makes me feel:  Cruising home from work on a hot summer day, the NAS tape (yes, tape) in the player and cranking out of my shitbox car. No worries in the world other than getting that paycheck and figuring out where I’m gonna spend it that weekend.

5/5 – I love this album. I know I’m biased for NY rappers but I can listen to this album over and over and never get tired of it.

How to Stop Wasting Time – an Editorial

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Some days I put the kids to bed and head down to my office with an idea that I’m going to be super productive and crush a few goals (especially ones I’m lagging at and need to catch up) and I get distracted by any number of things. For instance “Oh, I should tidy my office before I start” or “let me check the social media or see which of my subscribed YouTube channels has an update” and before you know it it’s 11:00 and then I’m thinking “I can’t start anything now, its much too late”

Now, this isn’t every time.  Sometimes I fall asleep on the couch ‘catching the last few inning of the Yankee game’ and sometimes I do get a productive streak and end up getting a lot accomplished.

So, the idea is to try to figure out what’s going on during the productive streak and see if I can replicate it, bottle it, capture it somehow so I can ensure that I meet the goals I’ve set out for myself.

6 months into the year (4 months into the challenge) I’m making great progress in a lot of areas but lagging way behind in others.  The ‘Art’ one is a particular challenge. While I broadly included videos (in addition to sketching/painting) and I have plenty of ideas queued up I just can’t seem to get moving on it. I LIKE painting, drawing, editing videos, and other creative endeavors I just seem to find other things to do instead. I suspect I’m a bit frustrated with how rusty I am but that can’t be it.

One thing I think might be beneficial is scheduling specific times to work on specific things. For instance – Tuesday night is art night. I won’t do any other tasks on that day until I bring the art goal up to at least 50%.  Approaching things with a schedule might help be clear out the excuses but as with most things life tends take more priority sometimes (family time, work, things that need to be fixed around the house, etc.) Having it on the schedule should at least get me past the roadblock it currently is (and with a few hours I can work on multiple projects)

I’m going to work on a tight schedule for 60 days then check back in to see how it goes. I’m hoping it helps me bring all my goals up to at least 50% by the 6 months check in August 13th.

Prince – Sing o’ The Times

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Listening to this album was a trip. I went into it with a little knowledge of Prince as I had the purple rain album when I was a kid and watched the movie more than a few times. Somehow, I never listened to this album before so this is my first time hearing most of these track (off a double album)

The one thing I got from most of these songs was prince was T-H-I-R-S-T-Y man.. Some of these songs were straight up filthy. Prince was a naughty boy and he didn’t mind letting people know. The biggest example was ‘It’ — “I want do it baby, every day, all right.  In a bed, on the stairs, anywhere, all right” I mean.. No allusions here.. He’s straight up being nasty. If I was your girlfriend is a straight freek-a-leek song. This is an album you put on after you slip into your silk pajamas and start making the moves on the laaaaadies.

That being said – there was also some strong social commentary that was relevant to the times laced through out the songs especially sing of the times “In France a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name” – I mean that lyric is fire. I like how the album flip flops between social commentary and seduction so smoothly.

The one song that stands out to me is the lighthearted tune ‘Starfish and Coffee’ about a girl who radiates joy and innocence. It’s a catchy tune and it just makes me smile – can’t help but sing the chorus while grooving.

How this album makes me feel: If I knew this album existed – my teenage self would 100% have put a few of these into a mixtape for a girl I was seeing. It’s a vibe and I’m here for it.

I give this album a randy 3/5 – I’m not that big a fan of R’n’B and it infuses this album pretty heavily. The three is for the standard pop tunes that showcase Prince’s guitar chops and excellent lyrical ability.