#i really like a lot of rancore's songs now sue me

[sciogli-lingua]

Rancore & DJ Myke || S.U.N.S.H.I.N.E. || Italian lyrics + English translation

“Il ritmo di lavoro nelle officine è diventato così intenso che esaurisce un uomo nel corso di non molti anni. Ma è accaduto come per le api dell'amaro verso col quale Virgilio accusava i profittatori dell'opera sua, ricordate? Voi fate il miele, o api, ma sono altri che lo godono.” ¹

“The pace of work in factories has become so intense that it wears out a man in just a few years. But it’s exactly like what happened to the bees in that bitter line in which Virgil accused those who profited from his own work, remember: you make the honey, o bees, but it is others who enjoy it.”

Iniziare non vuol dire che dovrai finire Beginning doesn't mean that you'll have to end Non mi dire che tu sai predire l'avvenire Don't tell me that you can predict the future L'universo è già nero: non si può annerire The universe is already black: it can't get any blacker Stupidi, quando ci iniziamo ad avvilire Fools, when we start to lose heart Eppure quanta merda devi odorare, un mare Still, you've got to smell a lot of shit, a whole sea Quante piccole bugie devi aderire al fine You've got to endorse many little lies, in order Di adorare nuovi soli appassiti di luce To worship new suns withered with light Manichini per chi cuce vestiti da ballerine Mannequins for those sewing ballerina dresses Fate ridere, belle rime, You make me laugh, nice rhymes, Ma quand'è che inizi a scrivere? But when are you going to start writing? Anche quando incidi Even when you record È difficile decidere di uccidere It's hard to choose to kill Con le parole anche se fai omicidi With words even when you're committing murders Difficile che un suono come questo possa vivere It's hard for a sound like this to live Se non lo vedi come una cosa sola e lo dividi If you don't see it as one thing and split it up Ridi, forza, ridi Laugh, come on, laugh Ma c'è chi quando guarda il cielo vede pioggia di meteoriti But there are people who see a meteor shower when they look at the sky Cerca nella tua testa quella follia Look inside your head to find that madness Senza ipocrisia nel richiamo della foresta Without hypocrisy inside the call of the wild Densa questa tendenza, questa mania It's dense, this tendency, this obsession Di supremazia, qui nessuno ne vive senza With supremacy, no-one can go without it here Morti, siamo rinati nel tempo di una sigaretta Dead, we were born again in the space of a cigarette Siamo tornati, c'era la messa We came back, there was mass Essere belli come il sole non serve ² You don't need to be as beautiful as the sun Se non brilli più di luce riflessa, perché If you can't shine any more than reflected light, because

Dopo essere stati in luoghi ormai devastati After having been to already wasted places Dove non senti i piedi, dove non batte neanche il sole Where you can't feel your feet, where the sun doesn't even shine Dove devi generare il sole, che sennò non vedi Where you've got to produce the sun, otherwise you won't see Essere nati, essere programmati, essere schiavi To be born, to be set, to be slaves Rasserenati dall'amare il sole Reassured by our love for the sun Tu non devi venerare il sole, ma la luce che vedi You mustn't worship the sun, but the light you see Luce, tu curi i mali di chi lo vuole Light, you cure the ills of those who want it Conduci nei tuoi viali finché si muore You lead us down your avenues until we die Ti arrampichi all'orizzonte, fai scavalcare il sole You climb the horizon, you make the sun climb over Oltre questi pianeti Beyond these planets Tanto per quanta forza è nella tua voce è lenta Still, no matter how loud, your voice is slow La luce ha fretta ed è più veloce The light is in a hurry, and it's faster Chiedi alla luce di spingere il sole oltre queste pareti Ask the light to push the sun beyond these walls

Basta un interruttore che vedi un sole, ma A switch is all you need to see a sun, but Chiuso dentro le stanze della città Locked inside the rooms of the city Tanto per quanta fretta hanno le persone qua Since everyone here is in a hurry anyway, Basterà pure un sole fatto a metà A half-made sun will be enough Troppa la depressione, attento prima che ti butti Too much depression, look before you dive Meglio che smetti, per carità You'd better quit, for heaven's sake Forse ultimamente è drogato anche l'amore, Maybe lately love is on drugs, too, Davanti a tutti si fa ³ It's made in front of everyone Case, chiusi in case, eppure aumenta l'insicurezza Houses, locked in houses, yet the insecurity rises E si ruba l'identità And we steal identities Sai, ogni fase gira seguendo un'onda che tornerà You know, each phase turns following a wave that will come back Perché il mondo è rotondità Because the world is roundness Dai, come vivi senza colpevolezza Come on, how can you live without guilt Se hai consapevolezza della realtà? If you have any awareness of reality? Myke, dammi una base che io ci scrivo un'altezza, Myke, give me a base, I'll write a height on it, Li colpiremo in profondità We'll hit them deep Scappo nel bene, nuoto tra le balene, I escape to the good, swim among the whales, Tappo il naso, in verità che nota ha la libertà? Hold my nose, truly, which is freedom's note? Tanto viene come viene questa vita, si sa We take life as it comes anyway, everybody knows Poi con l'età supererà la superficialità Then we'll overcome shallowness with age Meglio non vivere una super felicità It's better not to live a hyper-happiness Se ti controllano come un computer con facilità When they easily check you like a computer I nostri veri padri chi ce li ridà? Who will give us our real fathers back? Meglio nulla che ereditare aridità Having nothing is better than inheriting aridity Urla, non è musica per due scolare Shout, it's not music for two schoolgirls Nella fase del problema cardiovascolare In the phase of the cardiovascular problem Questa musica ci fa sgolare This music makes us lose our voices La metrica è la verità The meter is truth È la tua numerica rapidità It's your numerical speed Se le idee non necessitano avidità If ideas don't need greed Ed un sole non è certo avido di luminosità And a sun most certainly can't be greedy for brightness Sembriamo frutto di attentati dall'aldilà We look like we're a product of attacks from the afterlife Quasi tutti modificati nel DNA Modifications in most of our DNAs

Dopo essere stati in luoghi ormai devastati After having been to already wasted places Dove non senti i piedi, dove non batte neanche il sole Where you can't feel your feet, where the sun doesn't even shine Dove devi generare il sole, che sennò non vedi Where you've got to produce the sun, otherwise you won't see Essere nati, essere programmati, essere schiavi To be born, to be set, to be slaves Rasserenati dall'amare il sole Reassured by our love for the sun Tu non devi venerare il sole, ma la luce che vedi You mustn't worship the sun, but the light you see Luce, tu curi i mali di chi lo vuole Light, you cure the ills of those who want it Conduci nei tuoi viali finché si muore You lead us down your avenues until we die Ti arrampichi all'orizzonte, fai scavalcare il sole You climb the horizon, you make the sun climb over Oltre questi pianeti Beyond these planets Tanto per quanta forza è nella tua voce è lenta Still, no matter how loud, your voice is slow La luce ha fretta ed è più veloce The light is in a hurry, and it's faster Chiedi alla luce di spingere il sole oltre queste pareti Ask the light to push the sun beyond these walls

Iniziare non vuol dire che dovrai finire Beginning doesn't mean that you'll have to end Non mi dire che tu sai predire l'avvenire Don't tell me that you can predict the future Solo sangue scende, il cielo nero vinile Only blood is coming down, a sky as black as a vinyl Mentre una biro collegata sputa la bile While a connected ball-point pen spits bile E sognare non vuol dire che stai lì a dormire And dreaming doesn't mean that you're just asleep Essere per strada non è stare in un cortile Being in the streets is not like being in a courtyard In fondo noi siamo bravi a farci capire After all, we're good at making ourselves understood Tu continua a guardare l'artista e non quanto è abile Keep looking at the artist instead of his ability A usare puntine, pu-pu-puntare alle rime To use pins, to a-a-aim for the rhymes Che è come uccidere però non essere mai condannabile Which is like a killing they can never charge you for Fino alla fine, per questo fino alla fine Until the end, that's why, until the end, La musica sarà il gonfiabile, noi il gas infiammabile Music will be inflatable, and we'll be the flammable gas Fuoco oltre le linee, cosa divide un confine? Fire beyond the lines, what divides a border? Cosa deprime le nostre vite? What is it that dampens our lives? Un gioco con due dischi potrà sembrarti A game with two discs might not look like Poco, ma ti porterà in un altro luogo Much to you, but it'll take you to a different place Dite quello che dite, viviamo come in una giungla Say whatever you want, we live like in a jungle Di deficienti sempre più folta Getting thicker and thicker with idiots Da quando la lista dei tuoi sogni è diventata più lunga Since the list of your dreams became longer Qui la lista della spesa è più corta The shopping list is shorter here Ride, la gente ride, non ascolta They laugh, people laugh, they don't listen Cercano una penombra che nasconda They look for a semi-darkness to hide in Si alzano i gradi, la testa è sgombra The degrees rise, my head is clear Ma è pronta per una protesta perché But ready for a protest, because

Dopo essere stati in luoghi ormai devastati After having been to already wasted places Dove non senti i piedi, dove non batte neanche il sole Where you can't feel your feet, where the sun doesn't even shine Dove devi generare il sole, che sennò non vedi Where you've got to produce the sun, otherwise you won't see Essere nati, essere programmati, essere schiavi To be born, to be set, to be slaves Rasserenati dall'amare il sole Reassured by our love for the sun Tu non devi venerare il sole, ma la luce che vedi You mustn't worship the sun, but the light you see Luce, tu curi i mali di chi lo vuole Light, you cure the ills of those who want it Conduci nei tuoi viali finché si muore You lead us down your avenues until we die Ti arrampichi all'orizzonte, fai scavalcare il sole You climb the horizon, you make the sun climb over Oltre questi pianeti Beyond these planets Tanto per quanta forza è nella tua voce è lenta Still, no matter how loud, your voice is slow La luce ha fretta ed è più veloce The light is in a hurry, and it's faster Chiedi alla luce di spingere il sole oltre queste pareti Ask the light to push the sun beyond these walls

Ghiaccio sui tetti di questo villaggio Ice on the rooftops of this village Adagio si scioglie, non ne resterà uno stralcio Melting slowly, there won't be a shred of it left Squarcio tra nuvole e poi sbuca un raggio A tear in the clouds and a sunbeam pops out Assumo coraggio per stare quaggiù I take on some courage to stay down here

Ghiaccio sui tetti di questo villaggio Ice on the rooftops of this village Adagio si scioglie, non ne resterà uno stralcio Melting slowly, there won't be a shred of it left Squarcio tra nuvole e poi sbuca un raggio A tear in the clouds and a sunbeam pops out Assumo coraggio per stare quaggiù I take on some courage to stay down here

(Per stare quaggiù) (To stay down here)

Tanto per quanta forza è nella tua voce Still, no matter how loud your voice is (Per stare quaggiù) (To stay down here) Conta la luce ha fretta ed è più veloce Light is in a hurry, you know, and it's faster (Per stare quaggiù) (To stay down here) Luce che curi i mali di chi lo vuole Light curing the ills of those who want it (Per stare quaggiù) (To stay down here) Porti nei tuoi viali finché si muore You lead us down your avenues until we die (Per stare quaggiù) (To stay down here) Tanto per quanta forza è nella tua voce Still, no matter how loud your voice is (Per stare quaggiù) (To stay down here) Conta la luce ha fretta ed è più veloce Light is in a hurry, you know, and it's faster (Per stare quaggiù) (To stay down here) Giù, giù, giù Down, down, down Per stare quaggiù To stay down here

Notes

¹ Excerpt from a famous speech given by Palmiro Togliatti, then-leader of the Italian communist party, in 1963.

² “Bello come il sole” is a common turn of phrase in Italian to comment on someone’s outstanding beauty.

³ The pun gets lost in translation: in Italian, “farsi” also means “to take drugs”.

[atamascolily]

An incomplete review of the Star Wars EU/Legends canon

I never thought I would say this, but I'm actually very thankful there will never be another Star Wars EU/Legends book in the old - now non-canon - universe. I've been revisiting those books recently as part of my recent Star Wars kick, and let me tell you, I stopped reading them just at the right time - when Vector Prime came out and they killed Chewie off. It's all downhill from there.

Anyway, the Legends universe is a hot mess, but for me, the five Thrawn Books by Timothy Zahn - Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Specter of the Past, and Vision of the Future - are amazing and totally canon in my heart for pretty much everything. Everything else is pretty much "meh" except for a few books that evoke some late '90s nostalgia (because really this blog is all about late '90s nostalgia).

So in my head, Luke and Mara Jade are happily married, and so are Han and Leia; their three children, Jacen, Jaina and Anakin, are all happy-go-lucky teenagers who can use the Force with their besties - Tenel Ka of the Hapes Cluster, Chewie's nephew Lowbaccha, and Tahiri Veila - and getting kidnapped/saving the galaxy every few months. The New Republic is alive and going strong on Coruscant (which never gets invaded by aliens from outside the galaxy), Luke runs the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV; the remnants of the Empire are scattered and disorganized and sue for peace with the New Republic and Captain Pelleaon finally gets the retirement he deserves. It's really great.

But let's face it, I read just about all of the books published prior to 1999 because I was a Star Wars geek and that's just what you did in the late '90s. (They were New York Times best-sellers so I know I wasn't the only one.) In general, I love the art on the books because it looks just like movie posters for films that were never made and that's exactly what I wanted.

Random thoughts on said EU/Legends canon cut below, for length:

-Ben Kenobi's last appearance to Luke in the Legends AU: "You're not the last of the old Jedi... but the first of the new." (TAKE THAT, DISNEY EPISODE 8!) -Awesome things from the Thrawn books: Mara Jade - check. Talon Karrde - check. Art as a major form of military strategy - check. Secret commando ninjas - check. Leia's title as "Lady Vader" - check. Borsk Fey'lya -check. Camaas Document macguffin-thingy- check. Ysalamiri - lizards that block the Force - check. Vornskrs - Force-sensitive predators - check. Insane Jedi master- check. Lots of clones - check. Lawful Evil Imperials - check. Mara fulfilling her orders to the Emperor in the most badass way possible in The Last Command - check, PLEASE. -Jacen, Jaina and Anakin Solo forEVER! -Also, Coruscant and New Republic forever!! -Shadows of the Empire: WTF, Xizor/Leia sex pollen (okay, pheromones) seduction scene???; Dash Rendar is a Han Solo expy, you're not fooling anyone.   -Truce at Bakura: wow, Ssi-ruuvi are full of Fridge Horror, powering their tech with human life force; maybe the Imperials aren't so bad after all; Luke and Gaeriel have no chemistry and also her entire religion is against the Jedi on principle, and she's not interested in changing it for you, Luke, sorry; of course Dev dies after his redemption arc; watching the force-ghost of Anakin Skywalker try to talk to Leia is amazing, because Leia is so not interested in his shit. -The Courtship of Princess Leia: I love the Hapes cluster, but man Han buying a planet in a card game and kidnapping Leia with the Hapan Gun of Command (pretty much what it sounds like) is NOT OKAY; Teneniel Djo is awesome and so is Dathomir in general. Isolder is okay once he gets over Leia, which takes most of the book. Also on the cover on one edition, Leia looks like Sarah from Labyrinth during that dream sequence with Jareth - what? On the other, she's wearing her Endor outfit, as are Han and Luke and there's a Rancor there, too for no good reason that I can recall.   -Jedi Academy Trilogy: Yay getting to see the Kessel spice mines; I'm not so into the Sun Crusher and the Maw Installation, but Qwi Xux and Wedge Antilles are adoreable together, poor Admiral Daala and Imperial sexism (yet another reason Tarkin is an asshole); yay for a Jedi Academy on Yavin IV; Kyp Durron seriously needs to chill, Luke's in a coma for a lot of the series, Exar Kun is not as clever as he thinks himself. -I, Jedi: I'm supposed to like you, Corran Horn, and I'm just not interested and your narrative voice is kinda annoying.... Just sayin'. -The Crystal Star: super weird and trippy, Han and Leia's kids are kidnapped by "The Empire Reborn", which is as dark and terrible as it sounds, Crystal Star explodes, do not read. -The Black Fleet Crisis: super dark and trippy, especially the Yevethan culture; reveal that Luke's mother was one of the Fallanassi - pacifist Jedi who hid when the Empire was formed - only it turns out to be a huge macguffin, which is too bad. -Children of the Jedi: EVEN TRIPPIER AND DARKER THAN THE CRYSTAL STAR, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE; Luke gets a love interest who's a Force ghost trapped in a ship's computer; sacrifice, body-swapping, creepy song motifs. -Darksaber: Hutts try to build a Death Star, what can possibly go wrong? Luke's new Jedi girlfriend can't live without her force powers when she loses them, so she leaves him. -Planet of Twilight: Luke goes chasing off after Callista and they don't get back together, so that's good. Also dark and trippy.   -The New Rebellion: SUPER DARK AND TRIPPY, LOTS OF MASS MURDER, NOT A FAN. Thank goodness for Mara Jade and Talon Karrde showing up with ysalamiri to turn the force off so Leia can shoot the Evil Dark Jedi behind it all with a blaster. I can't believe I read this. -Ambush at Corellia/Assault on Selonia/Showndown at Centerpoint: also weird and trippy. Han has an evil identical cousin. Luke has to go back and ask Gaeriel for help (she's married now and it's awkward). Lando tries to marry for money and after some awkwardness ends up with Tendra Risant, who is awesome. Lots of things blow up. Kids save the day at the last minute. -I only read one of the Junior Jedi Knights series, Lyric's World, about young Anakin Solo and his friend Tahiri, taking some time off from their Jedi studies to help a friend metamorphose into a new life stage, and I remember it being really charming, despite the inevitable intelligent secret animal sidekick. I later learned that Anakin and Tahiri were kinda an item and then it went horribly wrong in New Jedi Order so I'm glad I didn't read that. -Young Jedi Knights: yay young adult Star Wars novels from the '90s; I  stopped reading after Diversity Alliance, but these were fun - especially Tenel Ka, who was a badass, and I quietly shipped her and Jacen (and then that ALSO ended badly in later books - why can't we have nice things?) Especially good in my memory: Shadow Academy (trying not to get corrupted to the dark side at an academy for Dark Jedi), Lightsabers (Tenel Ka has to deal with losing a hand during a training accident); Diversity Alliance (aliens get pissed off at human dominion in the New Republic government but decide that killing the humans off is the only way to achieve justice).

We're not going to even go into all the stuff that happens post-Vector Prime, because it is truly awful. Go look it up if you're curious.

I did read a few stand-alone books this week, though:

-The later Zahn novels lack the spark and vigor I remember from the Thrawn books. Scoundrels couldn't keep my interest. Allegiance and Choices of One feel very weird to me because Luke and Mara manage to work together without actually meeting each other. Survivor's Quest ought to have been good except somehow Luke and Mara encountering the Outbound Flight expedition was BORING and it shouldn't have been. It's not clear if reading the follow-up novel set during the Old Republic era - titled Outbound Flight - will help with this. -Also, I dislike the retconning so that Mara and Luke make references to Naboo and the Trade Federation, which they didn't do in earlier books, and also Thrawn's major motivation for everything is getting the galaxy ready for the impending invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong in New Jedi Order, which I just - really don't like, especially since NJO was pretty awful. -Also, there are an awful lot of Jedi healing trances in Survivor's Quest, which are only tolerable because the code word that Luke and Mara use to snap each other out of it is "I love you". D'aww. -Also, perhaps this is just me reading too much fanfic, but would it hurt to have at least an allusion to the fact that Luke and Mara have sex on occasion - in addition to snuggling and having Force mind-meld sessions? I'm not asking for porn, mind you, but just anything beyond platonic Force buddies would have been good. -Kenobi, by  John Jackson Miller was another, relatively recent Legends book that ought to have been good. I mean, it's Obi-wan Kenobi hanging out on Tatooine, dealing with Tusken Raiders and moisture farmers - I eat that sort of fanfiction up - but although there were some good bits, it just really didn't work for me. -Those handy timelines in the front - listing every single book and how it fits into the convoluted chronology - is really helpful, though! The only thing that would make it better would be to add authors and dates. But that is what the Internet is for, I guess.

Conclusions and Follow-Up Questions to Research:

-Wow, the '90s were an interesting time. -Bantam Spectra line of EU novels: mostly good, some weirdness. Del Rey line: ARGHHHHH. -Wow, there are a lot more Star Wars books out there then I remember. -Wow, Mara Jade is awesome. -I have a lot of strong opinions on the subject. -Since they stopped putting out Legends novels as of April 2014, I never have to care about keeping up with canon or anything I don't like about this universe ever again. -Has fanfiction spoiled me for the "real" thing? Or is it just a failure of the published works to address the topics I'm REALLY interested in? -Is the Disney EU canon any better? (My guess, given how I feel overall about the direction of the recent movies: probably not for me, but maybe worth checking out.)