Hey, were you wondering what that wacky Marcus was up to these days? Probably not...but just in case, here's THE BEST SITE ON THE INTERNET (ok, the only one) for Marcus news, pics and anecdotes. Enjoy! (Or at least pretend to for my sake... :-)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
MARCUS DISCOVERS THE MAGIC OF YOUTUBE...
Yes, it's true, Marcus is finally getting a handle on those newfangled computing-machines and how they functionate: I've learned how to edit videos, upload them to YouTube, and yes, even embed them here, in my blog!!
So, for starters, I'll begin with the long-awaited international debut of myself in a real live (well, pre-recorded actually) "Davey and Friends" episode, as that lovable dalmatian, Davey the Dog. No, it's not quite Shakespeare...or even Sesame Street for that matter...but hey, it's good, clean, somewhat educational doggy hijinks--who could ask for anything more?! To appreciate the full spectrum of my talent (and the very low budget of the show), take note that the script for this episode (and yes, even the soon-to-be-a-classic "Colors Song") was written by yours truly :) So here you have parts 1 and 2 of one of my favorite episodes (more to follow soon, stay tuned!)
[courtesy of the program "Kids Club: Davey and Friends" on "Aprende Inglés TV", and "S.O.S. in Action Theatre", Madrid, Spain]
[courtesy of the program "Kids Club: Davey and Friends" on "Aprende Inglés TV", and "S.O.S. in Action Theatre", Madrid, Spain]
Here's another clip, this time of me singing in Germany a few years ago with talented Mexican soprano Zura Medina (not the best quality video, nor my best performance, admittedly, but a decent clip nonetheless of one of my all-time favorite scenes, without a doubt one of the best ever written for the musical stage):
Marcus Giovanni and Zura Medina performing "Tonight" from WEST SIDE STORY at the Gummersbach Musikfestival in 2005 (near Cologne, Germany)
And one last clip: this is of an old newsreel we dug up of my great-grandparents (paternal), Cosimo and Carmela DiDonato, along with my great-uncles, from when they won the "Irish Sweepstakes" back in 1949...only $40,000, but back then it was enough to get them a decent house for the family in Yonkers--let's hope their luck runs in the family! (Dad, any idea what numbers they played??? :)
Monday, December 08, 2008
AS 2008 DRAWS TO A CLOSE...
...there's a lot to be thankful for. This year's been a pretty productive one for me: turned the big 3-0, successfully finished the Cambridge DELTA (ESL/EFL postgrad) and my Master's Degree in Music Therapy, made my Spanish television premiere as that infamous dalmation, Davey (clips to be posted soon, I promise!), sang in the UNESCO headquarters in Paris with the Spanish Actor's Union Choir, got cast to sing in the chorus of next spring's production of DON PASQUALE in the Teatro Real (Madrid's Royal Opera House) ...and oh yeah, GOT MARRIED!!
Most of all, though, I am thankful for the wonderful family and friends who have supported me along the way. It was great to see so many of you back in NY, and Luz and I really appreciate your sharing these special times with us.
Yes, after eight long years I can finally be proud to tell people around the world that I'm American again! No, I don't expect Obama to magically fix all of America and the world's problems of course, but I do truly believe that he, along with a wisely-chosen cabinet and hopefully some bipartisan cooperation, will at least be able to start to undo some of the Bush-Cheney administration's gravest errors, and maybe even set the U.S. off in the bold new direction that it needs to take to regain international respect and truly evolve as a nation...
~ WEDDING & HONEYMOON ~
Yes, it's true, I've finally tied that notorious knot! We had a great time: music, food and fun was had by all--thanks so much to those of you who were able to attend! For those who couldn't make it, you can check out the pics below:
Then of course the honeymoon!!! Yes, we went to beautiful Japan, a country truly rich in culture and natural beauty. A perfect blend of the modern and the traditional, we had the opportunity to travel extensively through the main island of Honshu for two weeks: whether visiting the enormous metropolis that is Tokyo, paying homage to the tragic past of Hiroshima, strolling down the Geisha-house-lined streets of imperial Kyoto or spending a peaceful night in a Buddhist temple, Japan, and its charming people, never ceased to amaze us:
Here are some pics from this past August, from Switzerland, where we were visiting our friends Fabián & Bea and Peter & Mónica (both Fabián and Peter are physicists, so we got to play with super-electron microscopes and liquid nitrogen!):
A weekend getaway we took to Buitrago, a small medieval town about an hour north of Madrid; the hotel itself was great, built right inside of the orginal city walls, plus we did some hiking on a nearby trail, very relaxing:
Here are some photos from our recent trip through Galicia (northwestern Spain) and Portugal--a beautiful area, rich in culture and tradition and quite different from the south of the Iberian peninsula. Enjoy:
I guess it's time for a brief update on my latest adventures: in January I had the opportunity to sing at the UNESCO headquarters with the Coro de la Unión de Actores (Spanish Actors' Union Choir), great experience.
Now, quite busy working and studying the second year of my Music Therapy Master's. Apart from teaching English, I'm also on my way to Spanish stardom with the theatre company I work for here...they have hired us to do a bilingual Sesame Street/Blues Clues type cable TV show for young kids called Kids' Club: Davey and Friends. And who exactly is Davey you might ask???...Well, I think the pic says it all!
Fear not, I will be sure to share the excruciatingly embarrassing video clips with everyone once the program starts to air...for now, enjoy some more photos by clicking below:
Here we have some pics from some wonderful holidays spent at home in NY with family and friends. The weather was pretty good--and it was great to see everyone! Click here to see the photos (then on "Slideshow"):
The second part of our American adventure took us to the opposite end of the East Coast, where we ended up wrasslin' some gators and finding ourselves closer to Cuba than to the continent...Click below to see the pics from Miami, the Florida Keys and the Everglades:
Also, the latest updates on me: busy!! I've (finally!) finished up my Cambridge DELTA post-grad work, and now focusing on the second year of my Music Therapy Master's (will be starting up my internship/residence work in January hopefully). Apart from that, I'm working as an EFL teacher, as well as acting with a theatre company called S.O.S. In Action (http://es.geocities.com/imtootsweet/) and singing with the Spanish Actors' Union Choir (http://www.corouniondeactores.com/), so all is going quite well.
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Will be back in NY over the holidays, so hope to catch up with a lot of people...Best wishes and good cheer to all for the fastly-approaching New Year!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
¡VIVA MÉXICO!
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Vamos, ¡que México está padrísimo! An amazing trip, one of my all-time favorites. I had been to México before, but only to the border towns (like Tijuana, Acuña, etc.), so this time Luz and I chose to explore the Riviera Maya on the Yucatán Peninsula for nine days. We stayed in Playa del Carmen (about an hour south of Cancún), and from there did day trips to the numerous archeological sites and natural parks that the region has to offer.
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An incredible experience, combining the impressive history and architecture of the ancient Mayan civilization with the rich and unique culture of present-day México and its wonderful people (que por cierto, son muy buena onda :) Equally impressive are the flora and fauna of the region, and of course the sublime Caribbean beaches. (I hope to be able to return to this beautiful country in the future when I have more time to dedicate, maybe even live there for a while as I have been looking into various volunteer programs to teach in some small villages near Chiapas, so we'll see...)
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The above photo is of the Great Pyramid/Temple of Chichén-Itzá, sacred city of the Mayas and one of the recently named new Seven Wonders of World--click on the link below (then "Slideshow") for the rest:
Gotta love Ryan Air: if you survive the trip (planes are kinda ghetto), you can visit this amazing city which is only two hours away from Madrid for about 50 EUR! Of course, once you get there watch out for those 7 EUR café au laits... The French capital is for me one of the most beautiful cities on earth (despite its inhabitants, who are, indeed, somewhat rude in general, even when one makes the effort to speak French [comme moi!]...although one can understand how they might be sick of toursits: in July and August the city is literally flooded, ad nauseam, and it makes it difficult and frustrating to do just about anything...)
Then, we continue our trip south towards the French Basque Country, and then cross the border into Spain and San Sebastián in the Spanish Basque Country. Unfortunately, we had very little time to explore this beautiful city, but instead opted for a few days of quiet relaxation in the neighboring region of Cantabria where Luz's parents had rented an apartment for their summer holidays. Northern Spain is quite beautiful, and a strong contrast to the stereotypical images of sun and flamenco dancing that people associate with the south (Andalucia); the north is quite green, with beautiful rocky shores, quaint villages, and a climate similar to that of southern Ireland (meaning yes, unfortunately, lots of rain!)
Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this blog... Hmm, let's see, well, after a very busy May and June, I finally finished my Cambridge DELTA (just have to make up one class this fall) and the first year of my Music Therapy Master's. Then, was very busy teaching some intensive summer courses, as well as doing gigs with "The Good Guys/S.O.S. Theatre", an interactive English-language touring theatre troupe. This fall looks to be much of the same, teaching intensives at my language school, touring on and off, and working on my Master's....
Vaya, hace tiempo que no actualizo este blog... Hmm, a ver, bueno, pues después de un par de meses muy ocupados (mayo y junio), por fin he terminado el Cambridge DELTA (solamente me queda un último trabajo para este otoño) y el primer año del Máster de Musicoterapia. Luego, he estado muy ocupado trabajando, dando cursos intensivos de inglés y también haciendo obras interactivas con "The Good Guys/S.O.S. Theatre", un grupo teatral que hace giras por toda España. Este otoño promete mucho de lo mismo, dando cursos intensivos en mi academia, actuando en obras, y trabajando para el Máster...
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
MORE MADRID MARKETING...
So for those of you who STILL haven't made it out to visit me here in Spain, here's yet another attempt to whet your traveling appetites with some more pics of my fair (adopted) city and its surroundings. These were taken mostly by Corey and Jesse on their visit here after our Easter trip to Italy. Click on the link below (then "Slideshow"). Enjoy! - http://picasaweb.google.com/marcusgiovanni/MadridSegoviaWCoreyAndJesse2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
IN SEARCH OF THE SICONOLFIs...
SICONOLFI Italian (Neapolitan): from a medieval personal name derived from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements sigi ‘victory’ + wulf ‘wolf’.
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This Easter Week, 2007, saw the search for my roots in the Region of Campania, southern Itlay. An amazing trip, Luz and I started off in Naples, with its chaotic charm (and amazing food!), where we met up with friends from home, Corey and Jeff. Then the ruins of Ercolano (Herculaneum) and Pompei, left by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD, followed by exploring the Isle of Capri and the Amalfi Coast. The most thrilling for me, however, was having the chance to trod the very same streets where my great-grandparents grew up, in the small town of "Sarno"...
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The end of the trip found us back in Rome with more friends (Jesse and his girlfriend, and a former student of mine from Zoni Language School in NY, Santi). To follow my story and see the pics, simply click here (then on "Slideshow"):
Here's a mix of some holiday photos from this Dec.-Jan. which includes some shots from our apartment (and holiday party), dinner with the Palacio family, and then the trip with my folks from Madrid to Sevilla and Barcelona (slightly out of order, sorry, too lazy to organize them all). This photo is from Gaudí's amazing Park Güell in Barcelona; click on the link below to see the rest:
Here are some photos from some of my more recent travels. The first set is from June, when Luz and I went with her sister and some friends from home (Julius, Dan, and Stavros) to the Rock of Gibraltar, Mijas and Málaga (Andalucía, Southern Spain), and Tangier (Morocco). Click here (then "Slideshow"):
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http://picasaweb.google.com/marcusgiovanni/MLagaGibraltarTNger2006# -- Then we have the following photos from our most recent trip (last weekend) to Extremadura (Western Spain, where Luz's mother is from), where we visited Oropesa, Trujillo, Cáceres, Alburquerque, Valencia de Alcántara, Badajoz, and Mérida--as well as Marvão (Eastern Portugal). The Roman amphitheatre in Mérida (shown above) is especially impressive, as is the castle in Marvão, and the Old Town of Cáceres (the best preserved medieval quarter in Europe!) Click here (then on "Slideshow"):
I am back in Madrid (living with Luz), and extremely busy between working and doing my Master's in Music Therapy as well as the Cambridge DELTA (advanced TEFL diploma)...
Estoy en Madrid de nuevo (viviendo con Luz), y bastante agobiado con el trabajo y los dos posgrados que estoy haciendo (un Máster en Musicoterapia y el Cambridge DELTA, título superior para la enseñanza de inglés)...
PD: Mis queridos hispanoparlantes, perdonadme por no haber traducido todo el blog al español (neanche all'italiano, ni au français, etc.)--¡pero eso ya es mucho curro! Así también practicáis el inglés un poco ;)
Sunday, November 05, 2006
MORE INDIA: VOLUNTEER WORK Many people have asked me what exactly I was doing in India, besides wading through monsoon-flooded streets and watching goats get decapitated in ritual sacrifices (that's for another blog entry...) Did I have some program arranged to work at before going to Calcutta (Kolkata) or did I just show up there randomly and say "Hey, I'm here to help, what can I do?" The answer is, well, yeah.
It kinda goes like this....I've always wanted to do something like the Peace Corps, but wasn't quite ready for the two-year commitment that it entails. However, it turned out that one of my friends from university (and kindred traveling spirit!), Spencer, had already been living there for a few months, working as a volunteer with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity at Nirmal Hriday/Kalighat (Home for the Dying and the Destitute) so I decided that this would be a great moment to at least do what little I could. So I asked him for some advice and pointers (although he didn't really have too much of a plan when he arrived either, just kind of showed up and offered to help), and the rest is history.
I don't want to get into a long diatribe on my work with the sisters or put forth a complete analysis and critique of the conditions I encountered and the work that is done there (perhaps in another future entry...) Rather I will say that, in general, the sisters and volunteers (and of course the late Mother Teresa) truly give a great gift of themselves every day, offering love and care to those who need it most. Although I do have my issues with the Catholic Church, I enjoyed working with these nuns and the other volunteers (a very international group, many Europeans, Japanese, Koreans, etc.--really got to practice a plethora of languages!), and was especially impressed by their respect for all religions. They did not actively try to convert the patients to Christianity, and, for example, if a patient died while at the center their body would be sent to the appropriate temple or mosque, church, etc., for funeral services.
So what exactly did I do there? Well--besides occasionally acting as an interpreter--my duties were basically that of an orderly....with no formal training. Just showed up and did what the sisters or other volunteers asked me to, basic tasks like giving out food (and, eventually, "promoted" to giving out meds), washing dishes, cleaning up soiled clothes (and patients), giving massages and doing some rudimentary physical therapy and just spending time sitting down and talking with the patients. At first, one is quite paranoid about contracting some horrible disease like leprosy or TB or malaria and you wear gloves and masks and are constantly washing your hands...but then you reach a point when you realize that the best thing you can offer most of these people is a little human contact and love, and you start to relax (after having to clean out the infected remains of the socket where an eye once dwelt, I got past my scruples pretty quickly--in fact, quite surprised myself by handling it much better than I ever would have thought possible...)
Although it may sound quite depressing, it was really rather peaceful and beautiful. But the more uplifting of my work is reflected in the image above: a card made by my students at M.E.N.T.A.I.D., a school for mentally handicapped children where I volunteered as a music teacher. I happened upon this wonderful and enriching experience purely by accident... One day, my first week in Calcutta, I randomly met this English guy and we started chatting. Turned out that he was a musician, and that another friend of his, also a musician, had lived in Calcutta a couple of years ago and had worked as a music teacher at this school. Well, to make a long story short, he gave me the contact information and POOF, suddenly through the friend of a guy I hardly know I end up offering my services as a music teacher for the duration of my stay in Calcutta!
It was a beautiful experience, the children were SOOOO appreciative and enthusiastic (great precursor to my current Music Therapy studies). I taught them some of the basics of Western Music, while at the same time doing quite a bit of improvisation and musical storytelling with them on a potpourri of instruments--and learning quite a bit about the extremely rich tradition of Indian Music at the same time! In fact, looking back on it now, I couldn't honestly say who benefited more from our time together, the children or myself...
In short, hope to go back to this wonderful country to do more when I can (although thinking of doing a volunteer program as an English and/or music teacher in China or México next summer, so we'll see...)
OFF THE BEATEN PATH: INDIA, GETTING LOST ON PURPOSE...
For me, one of the most amazing things one can do when traveling is to really try and immerse yourself in the culture. While it's all nice and good to marvel at the Taj Mahal or once in a while enjoy the food at a luxurious restaurant (which costs about 1/5 of what it would in the U.S. or Europe), the real beauty of traveling lies in meeting the native people and getting to know their culture, language, and traditions.
While I can't truly claim to have "lived like the locals" during my six weeks in India (the $4/night room with no hot water and a less-than-impeccable-mattress in the hostel where I chose to stay while volunteering in Calcutta would likely be considered rather luxurious to the 80% of Indians who get by on $1/day...although I imagine it would have been looked upon with disdain by many middle to upper class/caste Indians and most Westerners...), I think I can at least say that I made my best effort to learn the language (in this case Bengali, and some Hindi/Urdu) and make friends with the local people instead of just hanging out with other Western (and East Asian) tourists and volunteers (which of course I also did, and met some wonderful people as well).
While visiting the gorgeous temples and palaces and volunteering (to which I hope to dedicate another entry to) were amazing experiences, some of the best times I had there were just sitting down in a local restaurant and chatting with the clientele...or enjoying a traditional Bengali meal as honored guests in the home of a newfound friend...or being invited to stay in a small village where the majority of people had never seen a Westerner before, and learning to play a game (called "carom," similar in concept to billiards) with local children or being invited to a cup of tea by people--who despite their extreme poverty--were unwilling to accept money from their "sahib" (important, respected person) guest.
The above photo is of some children playing football (soccer) on a muddy, makeshift field, complete with cows sitting stubbornly in partial obstruction of the goal. I distinctly remember this day, as I awoke to a flooded Calcutta (monsoon season), and had to take a rickshaw so that I could leave my hostel without getting soaked up to the waist in rather fetid, sewer-like water (later on I gave up on any remaining scruples though, and just "dove in" so to speak!) I decided to go and visit the Jain temple complex in the northern outskirts of Calcutta (Jainism is one of the many religions that the richly diverse cultural tapestry of India has to offer; they believe in complete nonviolence, and refuse to eat, or harm, even the smallest living creature). Well, after many transportation trials and tribulations to get there, I arrived to find the temple gardens converted into lakes, with a makeshift path of wooden benches to conduct the faithful to the temple proper. After removing my shoes and visiting the temple, I decided to explore a little. So, I just chose a direction and started walking.
Eventually I found myself in what could best be described as a "shanty town," more like a small village on the outskirts of the main city. As I penetrated deeper into the town, I noticed the increasing number of stares that I was drawing, a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. This was definitely not a place frequented by many tourists, and occasionally people asked me, "Where are you going? What are you looking for?" And I would respond, in broken Bengali, "No, I'm just walking..." Eventually I noticed that I was in a Muslim neighborhood, since there was a small mosque and all the signs were in Urdu (linguistically almost identical to Hindi, but coming from an Islamic background and written in the Perso-arabic script), so I used the Urdu (and universally Muslim) greeting, "Salaama lekum," when people addressed me. Well that seemed to win them over, and more and more people started coming over to speak to me, asking all sorts of questions, displaying a genuine curiosity in getting to know more about me and my culture.
After spending a while chatting in our fractured mélange of Bengali, Urdu and English, two boys offered to take me back to the main road in their cart (they were working, transporting lumber across the neighborhood). With a bit of hesitation at first, I accepted and we had a nice talk as we made our way back towards the city proper. When we arrived, I offered them a bit of money for their rickshaw-like services--but they adamantly refused.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
MY PAST ADVENTURES... Well, ideally this blog was started as a way to share pictures and anecdotes from my travels with friends and family. However, seeing as how I'm a little late in jumping on the blogging bandwagon (and FAR too lazy to upload all my photos, album by album), I've had to do some consolidation here: below, a small compilation of my favorite pics from some of the amazing experiences that I've been privileged enough to have, spanning over 10 years, 18 countries and 40 U.S. states (note: India is not represented here, see previous entry).
Maybe someday I'll go back and put captions on each individual photo (HA, yeah right!), but for now the fun lies in guessing where they are from. Heck, you can even make a game out of it (winner gets a free round of cerveza; must come to Madrid to collect prize in person :) Rules: 1 point if you guess the country correctly, 2 for the town or city, or 3 for the specific monument, neighborhood or occasion. Plus an additional bonus point for the year, and 2 more for guessing what exactly I was doing there (theatre/music gig, teaching, vacation, international espionage, etc ;) For example, for the above pic:
SPAIN, Pamplona, Festival of San Fermín (3 pts); 2002 (1 bonus pt), Marcus jumping around like an idiot after having run with the bulls (2 bonus pts) = 6 PTS
Here is the link to the photos (when the page opens click on "Slideshow" to see them better). Enjoy!
So, here we go, I will start this thing with a little taste of my recent trip to India, though neither words nor pictures could ever truly do it justice. In the future, I will try to post the entries from the journal I kept while I was there (but let's be honest, who knows if I'll ever actually get around to doing it...)
Ok, here we have a collage of photos (some low quality, cell phone, oops) starting in Calcutta/Kolkata (West Bengal) where I volunteered for one month at Mother Teresa's Home for the Dying and the Destitute (Nirmal Hriday) and as a music teacher at M.E.N.T.A.I.D. (school for mentally handicapped children). Then, with Luz, traveling for about two weeks across Northern India...first Bodhgaya (where Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, reached enlightenment under the Bodhi tree), then Varanasi (sacred Hindu city, on the banks of the Ganges), then on to the Golden Triangle (Delhi with its Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, Qutab Minar; Agra, with, of course, the Taj Mahal; & Jaipur, The Pink City, with its palaces and the Amber Fort--not to mention the elephants and camels!! :) A truly unforgettable journey, filled with too many incredible experiences, and people, to even know where to begin...
Click on the link below to see the photos (then when the page opens just click on "Slideshow"):
Due to recent changes, some of the older links to photos may not work. If you would like to see those albums, please e-mail/FB me and I will send you the appropriate link. Thanks!