#The Bicycle Thief

[girlzoot]

You’re rooting for two people you probably see a dozen times a day, in a 7-Eleven, in line at the DMV. It’s the kind of movie that makes you realize that each person you glance at, interact with or ignore is an epic film or thrilling novel you’ll never get to experience. Makes you bless the grandeur of life and curse it at the same time for being too painfully narrow and brief. --Patton Oswalt/Silver Screen Fiend (discussing The Bicycle Thief)

[pitch-and-moan]

Bicycle Thief Thieves

An Italian neorealist drama which gives a wider perspective of the growth of criminal organizations in post World War II Italy, centered around a kidnapping ring which preys on petty thieves in order to press them into working for the Camorra.

[marlowe1-blog]

"The Bella Lingua" (The Stories of John Cheever)

John Cheever really liked Italy

A long time ago, I read an article explaining that Stephen King is a great writer without being a good writer. Great because he puts everything on the page. Not good because he's loaded with cliches, doesn't know how to end a book and gets all "hello fellow kids" when he's dealing with a character who isn't a baby boomer.

One thing that intrigues me about Cheever is just how much of himself ends up in the page. This can be a drawback (like how many stories am I going to read about white dudes in the suburbs?) but it also feels like I'm on a journey with the man.

And I didn't even need to google to know that he spent some time in Italy and it became his ideal land. Still I googled and yes, he's very much into Italy.

So the last story in this collection (The Trouble with Marcie Flint) is about a woman dealing with the fact that her husband took off to Italy without telling her when he'd be back, only to kick him out of the house when he finally returns, leading him to go back to Italy, this story is about a divorced man living in Italy.

A great deal of this story is description. Repeatedly the characters are either enchanted by Italy of vaguely discomfited. They are getting robbed or they are failing to adapt.

Streeter is the main character but he's not the only one who gets a perspective. He's in Italy enjoying the beauty and trying to learn the language in order to adapt, but he's not an immigrant. He's an expat.

There are comedic scenes of him going through teachers. One teacher won't stop reading Pinocchio at him. The other teacher wants to talk about her terrible fiance. A third teacher seems flirtatious, enough for him to try something and get screamed at.

But finally there's a teacher who actually is good at teaching Italian, mostly because she had to learn it herself as she's from Iowa. The last part of the story turns to her and her son and her uncle who wants to take them both home.

The uncle scenes contrast with Streeter due to the fact that he's got an image of Italy as a place that you take a vacation in. So he does the tourist things and gets mugged on his way to her place. There's rather a wonderful way that you can contrast the characters simply in their viewpoints of Italy.

So the climax is the confrontation where Streeter has faded from the protagonist to an audience member between the Uncle and his Italan teacher with the son so out of step with Italy that there's no way that he's staying.

But the teacher - well her past in a small town in Iowa was hell. So there's a new contrast. Streeter is in Italy because he's divorced and he's romanticizing Italy. HIs Italian teacher had such a crap time in her town that she's never going back.

In America, we have a couple cities that serve as the "Everyone belongs because no one belongs here really" but for someone who truly suffered as a youth, not even New York or Los Angeles could be far enough away.

This is one of those stories that I think I'll be reading again. Some day. I enjoyed it a great deal.

[northernexposureonly]

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

northern exposure s03e21

[pseudophan]

you have no idea how lucky you are for finding the laptop holy shit a few weeks ago my friend had his car stolen + everything inside of it which included his work macbook that was borrowed from his job + personal documents etc and ever since then when i leave my car i quadruple check if every single door is closed properly lmao

omg yeah i mean i talk a lot of shit about this place but one thing i'll say is people are overwhelmingly honest here, like i've yet to lose something of any value and not get it back. and i lose things all the time lmao. though one time a few years ago my mum's car got broken into and they tried to hotwire it but couldn't get it to work so instead they stole the 1996 car radio and one bottle of pepsi max from a four pack in the backseat

[redgranola]

Read this and thought of @theoutcastrogue

[teazzle]

this pod is going to make me cry. which is a FEAT and I'm impressed

[mixierupperc20]

THEY STOLE MY FLIPPING BICYCLE SEAT WHAT THE HECK, WHY??!!!

[mrbrrop]

How much aura points do I get for writing a 2 pages long analysis of the first episode of 6 feet under from memory for my film exam instead of a 20 line review of a film I was supposed to watch but didn't cause I couldn't bring myself to watch a 1h30 long Italian black & white movie from the 50's during break?

Also I wrote my analysis by hand in under an hour and entirely in french... I am so getting a 0

[zipperc2020]

THEY STOLE MY FLIPPING BICYCLE SEAT WHAT THE HECK!!?

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"ITALIAN IS SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN PENITENTIARY," Berlin (Kitchener) News Record. August 8, 1912. Page 1. --- Frank Marks Who Stole Money, Revolver and Bicycle From Fellow Boarder and Then Pulled Gun on Constable Was Sentenced This Morning -- Other Police Court Cases. ---- Frank Marks the Italian who pleaded guilty on Monday the 28th of July to the theft of a bicycle $81 and a revolver from a fellow boarder, was this morning sentenced in police court to three years in Kingston penitentiary. Magistrate Weir imposed the sentence.

Crown Attorney Bowlby, in questioning Marks regarding the theft, asked how he came to commit the crime. Marks, replied that at the time he was drunk.

"Then you rode down to near Hespeler on a bicycle?" questioned Mr. Bowlby.

On receiving a reply in the affirmative, the attorney raised a laugh by inquiring as to why he did not fall off the bicycle, if he was intoxicated.

From Marks' statement, it appears its that the man from whom he stole the money, was in the habit of leaving it on the table over night. The temptation to steal it eventually proved too strong for Marks. When pursued by Sergt. Grasser, Marks pulled a revolver on him.

Marks has been in Canada for the past two and a half years. "Now, you'll be here for three years more," quoth Mr. Bowlby.

A BOARDING HOUSE ROW. A sensational row between the Gough household and Mrs. Kawalski, all of Hall's Lane, was reviewed in police court with gesticulations, illustrations, variations and deviations before a large and interested audience. From the evidence forthcoming, it was apparent that the quarrel was one of long standing, which culminated two weeks ago in a "bang on the nose" for Mrs. Kawalski, as she very realistically put it. The injured proboscis was at the time exhibited, in its gory condition, to the Chief, for reference on the occasion of the police court scene.

The details of the case, interesting though unimportant, were minutely recited by Mrs. Kawalski in spite of the objections, from his worship, and Mr. H. J. Sims, who appeared t for the defendant. The trouble, it p appears, was at first general, but finally, narrowed down to one of Mrs. Gough's children, who had acquired e the habit of throwing sand. There were two performances bearing on the case, one being in the afternoon, when a words were the chief weapons, and the other in the evening, when more effective weapons were brought into use. In the evening row, Mrs. Kawalski in appealing to the seven-year-old child for some information in her excitement, shook the child. Here mother, Mrs. Gough interfered with the above result.

After the recital, the case was summed up and it was found to be so contradictory and the evidence of little value. The case was dismissed.

NEIGHBOR AGAINST NEIGHBOR. Another neighborly row was threshed out this morning before Magistrate Weir, when Mr. Olinski from Germany to accused Mr. May, also of Germany of using insulting language.

The history of the case indicated that May had annoyed his neighbor. On hearing that Olinski was "mad" he immediately repaired to his farm to "make it straight." In this he failed owing to the fact that Olinski was "goin' it full lick." The term was expressive of how he talked.

May acknowledged using the insulting language and, at the investigation of the court, tendered his apology and paid the costs of court, including witness fee for the complainant which was emphatically demanded.

[AL: Marks or Mark was 24, born in Italy, a bricklayer in the Kitchener area, unmarried, and a jailbird. He was convict #F-442 at Kingston Penitentiary, and worked in construction at first. He was a 'bad'' prisoner - he was reported in February 1913, losing 7 days remission, in April he was confined seven days in solitary confinement, and given seven more days in solitary for disobedience in the solitary cell. In June he was again thrown in the solitary cell and lost two weeks remission, and was again, in November, thrown in solitary for weeks. All for impertinent language, violent conduct, trafficking and quarreling. He was sent to the stone pile, too. He was deported in June 1915 as an undesirable.]

[pd-lyons]

Silvester Day, by PD Lyons

Silvester Day (West Germany 1982) The bicycle thief of Hamburg has no arms. She sits in the lobby, waiting. Smoking filtered cigarettes Held between her toes – After the ballet would be her time : From midnight to dawn, charms Bicycles from their chains, frees Them from railings and fence posts, From street poles and the bumpers of parked cars… Like children after a pied-piper, they would follow…

[liberlandtv]

The forestry company stole the #Liberland #settlers' #bicycles and other #equipment with the support of #Croatian #police ‼️🚨🚨🚨

[theancienttimesnews]

Bengaluru: man arrested in Bengaluru for stealing cycle in KGF

The police investigated the case and found that Pasha John was the one who had stolen the bicycle. John was arrested and produced before a court, which remanded him in judicial custody. In an unusual turn of events, a 60-year-old man, Pasha John, was recently arrested by the police for stealing a bicycle 38 years ago, i.e. in 1985 in KGF town in the Kolar district of Karnataka. The bicycle…

[booradleyboo]

My bicycle was stolen yesterday. Here's what I assume the thief looked like making their escape.

They must have had extremely long legs due to the fact they had to step over an 8 foot fence to gain access to my bicycle.

Reckon I'll develop this rough doodle into an animation when I have my PC build, finally.

[omophagic-beast]

What is your Hogwarts house?

Hi! Im gonna assume this is in good faith once, and answer this by saying that im a trans man and have fully disconnected from harry potter because theyre bad books and jk rowling sucks if youd like to read something better id love to recommend some stuff! The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron is a series I like enough to put a quote from it on my arm, though I still hesitate to call it my favorite. It's about the greatest thief in the world as he tries to get his bounty as high as possible, accompanied by a swordsman wielding a mountain and a woman hosting the seed of a demon. The Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nyx was recommended to me by the lovely Jay Dragon and a few others at Metatopia this year, and I ended up devouring four of the seven books on the plane ride home. A child unwillingly goes through The Horrors, fighting seven angels who have been overtaken (in a sense) by the seven deadly sins. There's so much cool and interesting symbology throughout the series that's really fun to pick out when you notice it. Delicious in Dungeon is a manga by Ryoko Kui and definitely my favorite manga of all time. It's mainly about the importance of good food, as a group of adventurers end up having to traverse a dungeon with no supplies, surviving by eating the monsters within.

The Seep by Chana Porter is fun, if you're willing to get weird with it. Trina Goldberg-Oneka, a trans woman, finds herself devastated and unmoored after her wife leaves her to become a baby again. And by "fun" I mean it's a book that left me feeling like I was more of a person than I was before.

There's also plenty of really good webcomics out there, like Sakana, Bicycle Boy, Pia and The Tiny Little Things, A Better Place, We Go Together, Barbarous, Cold Sweat, ect, that you can simply find and read for free online! And if you simply must have wizards may I suggest making your own, the blog There's a TTRPG for that has a great post listing a bunch of good ttrpgs with that theme: https://theresattrpgforthat.tumblr.com/post/718030523649376256/theme-magic-and-mystics And speaking of games I'll cap this all off, for no particular reason, by recommending the game Let's Rob RJ McElhenny and Steal Her Golden Quill by Glaive Guisarme Games. It's fun and campy and a really good time.