stranazione

SALDI @ GASOLINE!!!

2010-01-14T09:47:00.000-08:00

Right before fashion week, Milan has been (and still is) in an uproar with all the sales.

Pay two drinks, and we'll give you the third.

You need to have that third whiskey. Especially before Friday morning's credit card bill gets to your front door....

Take a peek!

You can always dress up in a plastic bag when your closet is in the laundry.

I don't think I've seen a BIG HUG like that since the Teletubbies...

After the JUMPPPP!

Welcome downstairs.

That freebie did you a lot of good.

Whaddya lookin' at?

Swan Lake.

That is not a girl.

I <3 Sales.

"No, no, I'm not for sale darling. I'm just fab."

Better buy those tights before they disappear... IT'S SALES!!!

Jake Gyllenhaal? I love.

Amazing how beautiful people just become more beautiful when you hide half of their face.

Is it Glitter? No, it's Gasoline!

I'd like to know the price of this one, please...?

What a bargain.

Fashionable and Fun. Funkay.

Someone's happy with what they got in their shopping bag.

Good boy. Stay on display.

... you too!

I'll give you this one at half price.

We don't exchange sold goods.

Lily Allen is BACK from the future.

Get wild...

...and get naked...

... that's it!

Is there a limit per customer?

In the end we had some help from Giorgia to finish off the memory card. Creds, gurrl.

aww...

Indie Milanese - alla Gasoline.

And if you hate everything you've seen so far, just remember that this guy is always here and you have to love him. Too bad he's not for sale.

Buongiorno Amy

2010-01-12T04:38:00.000-08:00

Every now and then I get a little excited... but then there are those greyish days where only Amy can properly capture your mood as you drink your coffee with the wrong kind of sugar, eat your toast with the wrong kind of marmelade and realize you got up to late.

Thank Heaven for cigarettes. And for Amy Winehouse.

Ingrid's New Year Tale

2010-01-11T10:49:00.000-08:00

Time goes by so slowly, as mentioned before. But then you find yourself in a house with a piano and you're all dressed up. The temperature is not only low, but below a certain zero, and by quite a bit. And all you have to keep you warm is whiskey... darling, it's time to celebrate the end of a decade and...

... that's pretty...

Take a jump with the Norwegian crowd into 2010... right after the JUMP!!!

Ingrid represents a certain wonderfullness rarely found in women, the kind of Marilyn-slash-Audrey-Hepburn-slash-Britney-gone-wild kind of wonderfullness. And when she took on the task to throw a New Year's Dinner, the only thing I could say (apart from insisting on Gourmet food), was "I'll be there".

With too much to eat and too much to drink I somehow managed to forget to shoot the fireworks, and if it wasn't for good friends, I would have probably forgotten my camera outside of the EU.

At year's end come the holidays. Christmas is usually spent with the family. New Year's, however, is a time to get together with good friends and remember the past.

Remember... until the Whiskey takes over. And I think it did...

Ingrid, we do love your dress!

What appears to be a calm get-together...

... with people all dressed up (notice that clever smile)...

... where a little glass of wine...

... and don't forget the beer...

... and suddenly!

Bottles!

As you can imagine...

... the ice is suddenly broken!

I was sure I'd see this at FW...

... wonder why I didn't?

"How you doin'?"

Bon apetít.

I say fierce.

When the eating is over...

... it's time to find the barmaid in you. Or the bar in your house.

Are you ready to get shitfaced?

Snap, snap, snap.

Will you marry me

Anyone

I think I'll consider that over a glass (bottle) of wine.

Taran...

... the oracle!

Cheers!

To peace!

... and cheers to general psychedelic shizzle.

You'd think that in temperatures like these, with your balcony overflowing with snow... that smoking would have to wait.

Sorry to break it to you all, but in Norway that is not an obstacle. I wonder what brand the Vikings smoked?

Let there be smoke...

... let there be smoke...

Sharing is caring.

Let the women work.

... and let the new generation of housewives drink at home.

Imagine how many fewer associations this picture would have given you if that bottle wasn't there.

... ?

Where the wild (tipsy) roses grow.

What are we without friends?

What are we without Whiskey?

Don't ask this guy.

... or this girl.

After some time...

... we realize that someone had just a little too much.

Clever people - minus the guy on the right.

After the dinner we went to the other end of town, Skarpsno, to keep the shots coming into the New Decade.

Cheers to the end of a decade!

These shoes stay on my feet!

Did someone say...

... drink?!

*giggles*

What do you do when there are no more cups?

Darling, are you sad? The solution to all your problems is already in your hand.

Tre paperelle.

A decade is over, another one has begun...

... and as usual parts of the night are missing from my memory and you only know that when you realize that the last picture you took was in another apartment than the last one you remember.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Horror Story - Norway

2010-01-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

In Norway we use machines to get rid of the snow, also in residential areas. In Norway it's cold.

And -44ºC feels like death. But somehow you still manage to get out and take a walk. And when you do you realize that cold is sometimes beautiful.

It's the kind of beauty we all worship, yet chose to stay away from. We just can't bear the cold. Well, for one day I could. More pics after the...

JUMP JUMP JUMP!

Emergency.

Christmas Porridge - Ricy Traditions.

2010-01-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite Christmas traditions is the devouring of the Christmas Porridge, known as Julegrøt. Basically we stick a peeled almond in the ricy goo and whoever finds it gets a huge piece of marzipan shaped like a fat pig.

And if you don't get it, don't worry. Because you'll all be so full you will want to kill yourself, or maybe you will actually die. Lot's of carbs and fat and sugar and cinnamon. Can it get anymore Christmasy?

I didn't get the almond. My sister did. I am not jealous. Not at all.

Norwegian Future Business Leaders - Christmas Dinner

2010-01-11T08:44:00.000-08:00

What you see here is the fabulous economics professor of yesteryears. And where is he?

I think you'll have to find out after the jump (unless you managed to read the headline, that is).

JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!

It all started back in the Days, when Ingrid and Joe decided to create their own organization to collect a network of smart people their own age. With time NFBL (Norwegian Future Business Leaders) grew to become an organization that does not only include alumni, but also strives to throw the cosiest gatherings every summer and Christmas.

Starting the night at Jenny's house, working our way down to the infamous Lorry's... and then you'll see. Scroll, scroll, scroll!

Ingrid...

... and Joe all the way from CPH.

Even Anniken came out from her hiding in London.

Fabulous Host..

Short lesson in aperture and manual focus...

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

Hat and hoodie. Be fashion forward.

Superhero of the night.

Wanna take a walk?

Interior of the infamous Lorry's. Today a respected restaurant. Also the place where the Norwegian Premier's sister got addicted to heavy drugs. What a love story.

Feed the horse, yum, yum!

Dear everybody...

... I am going to have a speech. So shut the fuck up. Fab. <3

Coffee? Nah...

Interior design by LSD Trip Inc.

Snap, snap, snap.

Cross the road. Cross the road in style.

After party! Yay, let's run.

Wild at heart.

Look!

... shopping cart!

Whey, whey, whey!

And the we got to my place, were I was happy to receive a... lollipop. What do we make of this?

Wine glass? No, don't have that?

At a certain point, it became time to undress.

I think I'll call this "After under Tiffany's"

Teacher's can have fun too.

Especially with students like these.

The advantage of having few seats...

... is that you'll end up with something in your lap.

Welcome to the tasty world of carton wines. We <3 tax.

Don't feed the monkey.

After a few glasses of wine, Ingrid re-discovers her passion for literature.

Ooops, it went up my nose.

We hope you don't want to forget tonight, because it will be impossible.

Let's get physical...

... physical...

... I wanna get physical.

Let me hear your body talk...

A-okay and out.

Welcome to the 10's!

2010-01-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

Time goes by... so slowly, as Madonna said to the beat of ABBA's "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme". And then you realize yet another decade passed you by.

Financial Crisis. War on Terror. iPhone. Hybrid Cars. Britney's Babies. Madonna's New Boyfriend. Kylie's French Lover. Cameron Diaz is getting old. Demi Moore turned pedophile. And by the end of the next decade even Ashton Kutcher will be ancient.

Time goes by so slowly, yet passes so incredibly fast. The World in the 2000's seemed to forget about time, and now we are reminded again by the big 1 in front of the lonely 0.

The passing of a decade doesn't make you feel old, but it's as if history is growing up. And suddenly we feel the urge to catch up. Nostalgia happens at the end of every decade. Usually through introducing "Best of the **'s" CDs. Suddenly everything's a classic. I imagine we'll hear a good deal of Lady Gaga on the "Best of the 10's" CDs... if there will even be CDs in 2020.

Music is what brings me to the conclusion of this post. Because nothing defines a time so much as the music we listened to. A particular moment I remember, was when I watched Vampire Weekend at the Hove Festival the summer of 2008. That was the summer before I moved to Milan, and Walcott was the song that caught my heart. In fact, it had already caught it for some time, ever since I heard what was then an unrecognisable new sound with a profound message.

The reason I am posting this song is because unlike Billboard Magazine, I don't think Nickelback is the best band of the decade. I guess you can imagine who deserve it more.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T11:09:00.000-08:00

Stranazione would like to wish all of our readers a wonderful New Year and a glamorous start of a new decade.
It has been a pretty intense, fun and - to some extent- traumatizing time, but most of us made it!

We lost a lot of important personalities, had a lot of threats to humanity, and the world of art and creativity may have disappointed some of our ancient romantic ideals.

Before I hang up my new calendar, and I would like to express some of my thoughts with you.

As every year, decade and century before our times, new problems have arisen. New diseases, new wars, new everything. These things happen because we let them happen.
It doesn't take much of an effort to shut our mouths up and let life take its course without creating controversy, or open our mouths for a good reason and spread awareness of these problems actually going on.
Yes, we are around six billion people who share a huge chunk of land mass and who have different ideals, morals and thoughts.
Yet, we all have something in common, something very small hidden inside our rib cage. These small things lets us live, feel and act.

The heart. Without the heart we wouldn't be here. Without the heart we wouldn't feel compassion, love or sorrow. Without the heart, we wouldn't know what truly mattered to us.
You can argue its all in the brain, but I truly believe most of our basic actions and instincts are all locked up in our hearts.

All of this sounds ridiculously cheesy, but still, I would like our readers, as limited, yet wonderful as you are, to at least think from time to time.

We are slowly drowning in our own glass of water, and it doesn't take much to take a look around and see what we have done - the good and the bad... and hopefully climb out of it slowly.
And now that the world is becoming more connected and closer, we can all do it together and do what our predecessors have been ultimately trying to do.

So, my last point is: Have fun, be glamorous, and do what you have to do, but please remember you have a heart like the other 6 billion people who share this earth with you.

Eat good food, have fun, and be glamorous.
Happy New Year,
and Happy Start of a New Decade.

Lots of love,

Stranazione Team

The Man Who Is Selling His Soul to Pokemon.

2009-12-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, a simple man with a great mind woke up with a dream.
A dream of hope and light pleasures in this dark, dark world...

This man's name is Paolo Corradini. Your average guy from Modena (Italy), basically.
But as any other 'average guy', there's a catch:
If he gets one million fans on his Facebook fan page, he will tattoo 151 Pokemons on his back.

An act of pure genius and entertainment for the Facebook world, or a brave idiot?

He makes me feel a little nostalgic, one man still has a passion for this Japanese fad.

I laugh at him, crack jokes, and make stupid comments, but deep down inside... I admire his courage.

Paolo Corradini, Stranazione loves you.

(Hakuna Matada)

!!UPDATE!: There is ANOTHER man , Jose Romero from Spain, who is going to tattoo 151 Pokemons on his back if he gets one million fans on his fanpage!

Is this a new fad for 2010?!?

I really want to see who gets there first. GO GO GO!

XMAS MARKET PARTY @ Gasoline

2009-12-19T05:43:00.000-08:00

And with that, Christmas is definitively here. Brought to you by Ale the Christmas Tree.

This last Thursday before Christmas, the Gasoline Crew decided to do things a little bit different. Instead of the usual Party-Party-Party-All-The-Time, they arranged a fundraiser for Ospedale dei Bambini - OBM. You can find their website here if you want to make an effort as well.

Those who came with a toy and dropped it into Santa's huge sack, got in for free. The toys were then donated to be gifts to those less fortunate. By the end of the night, the sack was packed, so we'd like to send a big thank you to everyone!

More Christmas Spirit After the JUMP!!!

Ho Ho Ho!

All I want for Christmas is you...

And all he wants for Christmas...

... is him/her.

Smile, it's Christmas and all.

Christmas is a time for hugs.

And a time for love.

And a time for drunk girls hanging on to Casanova.

No, I changed my mind. All I want for Christmas is that guy.

Santa's Little Helper?

"I want that, I've been a good girl!" (until tonight).

A Big Happy Birthday to Filo!

Ho-Ho-Heart Attack.

Favourite little helper tonight - the bartender!

... looks like someone is already unwrapping the presents.

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer...

WTFF?

For some, Christmas is all about a t-shirt adorned with crusifixes.

Looks like someone's been a BAAAAAD girl this year...

Camikaze and her reindeer.

Santa's Wife?

Christmas tree of the evening.

Ready to unwrap your presents?

Christmas Market of Doom.

"Will you be my gingerbread man?"

Sometimes we buy gifts just to shut someone up.

What is a night out without Christmas Shopping?

DJ Zelmo spreading the Christmas Spirit.

And with that, darlings - MERRY... (whatever that is...)

Vamp! @ Gasoline

2009-12-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

Vampires. Vamp. Bats. Blood.

We all dream about eternal youth, and that's what Gasoline had to offer this night. Bloody Mary's and tasty necklines were there at our disposal.

Take a bite after the jump!

Yum yum!

^_^

Looks like someone just got bitten.

Sharp style - sharp teeth!

Aaaaah!

Didn't age so well? Wear a mask!

???

Want a bite?

Bite me!

Mmmm... boots!

Too much blood tonight, darling?

Mmm, Bloody Mary?

Rabies?

"Darling, you look a little pale?"

Slurp.

Seduce, sedate and drain.

Watch out, Dj. There are vampires down here.

Don't think we can't tell that you want to drink!

Fresh meat...

Finnish blood... tastes of vodka.

Wanna meet my teeth?

Bite my nipple?

Vegetarian vampires only eat roses.

James St. James? You're following us.

What...

...the...

...f*ck?

Legs. Shoes. Eh?

With that we leave you guys, over and out!

Rubik's Cube @ Gasoline

2009-12-18T08:46:00.000-08:00

Rubik's Cube, invented in 1974 by a Hungarian Sculptor. Bla bla bla. Rubik's cube party after the jump!

This week at Gasoline you got in for free if you dressed colourful enough. And a lot of people did.

The Rubik's cube has always puzzled me, maybe not so weird since it's a puzzle. Apparently only intelligent people know how to solve it...

...which is why I love watching them get drunk and turn as dumb as me! Muhaha!

What is a party without a... make-up artist? Fabulous!

I'm blue, dabadee dabadaa!

Shark attack!

All pink!!!

Strike a pose and be fabulous!

???

Tenero...

Time to go? Back to the 80's of course!

Lady Gaga's Pokerface

2009-12-04T06:48:00.000-08:00

And you thought we couldn't read your poker face?

(snapshot from Bad Romance music video)

Party Monster DAY HOSPITAL @ GASOLINE!

2009-12-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

As you all know, each one of us needs some rehab time. Why not go to Gasoline's Day Hospital for your little pick-me-up's?

The bar tenders/nurse-men are very helpful at handing you over magic pills and drinks that will totally send you over the edge. Take a peek...

This boy just needed a kiss to feel better...

Some need local anaesthetics...

It ain't easy to keep your hands of the nurse!

Is that what an ear infection looks like?

Check, check, check!

Turns out she's healthy.

Serious case of kleptomania?

We don't even know what these guys came for...

Dr. Yes, Dr. No and Dr. I-Dunno.

First aid, anyone?

It's urgent!

Heart skipped a beat?

Doctor, doctor! Can't you see? My mind's been playing jokes on me!

Time to get some medicine!

Don't worry, it's all in your mind.

...or is it?

Happy patients!

Happy nurses!

Not so happy patient...?

Band-aid or nicotine patch?

Watch out for radiation!

Wha-wha-whatcha say?

Love in the emergency room...<3

"I'm ready for a urine sample!"

Visiting hours are almost up...

"I think we'll have to put you..."

"... in a wheelchair!"

There's just something irresistible about those leather gloves...

"Visiting hours are over!"

Crack is Wack...?

2009-12-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

Or simply fashion?

Spotted in Via Torino.

I <3 my Duckie

2009-12-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

Our dear beloved Claudio was cooking for us, when suddenly Christmas Presents appeared. Casanova got a tripod for his camera...

... and Camikaze got a rubber duck.

But this ain't just any duckie, darlings...

Virgin Fitness

2009-12-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

Virgin Records, Virgin Airlines and now also Virgin Fitness.

(click on the picture to read the poster on the tram).

A fine fine.

2009-12-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

In Barcelona, if you smoke on the metro, you have to pay the price of 30 EUR and... 5 cents.

Round number, don't you think?

G for.... GREEEEIGE!

2009-12-03T13:49:00.000-08:00

Never mix grey and beige...

That's what they say. I don't agree, and I now know I'm not alone. When I was in Barcelona, I saw this Gucci belt on display. It is grey and beige! Grey and beige! Doesn't it feel nice to know that the 90's are back and we just don't care anymore. What's next? Will buttons on jackets switch side?

Feel free to click for a larger version.

Grey + Beige = GREIGE!

All the way!

Gente - Barcelona

2009-12-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

Snapping people on the street is really fun, but sometimes I get a bit shy and try to do it unnoticed. There is something special about people who aren't posing. They seem more natural. Unfortunately they also move and I can't seem to focus fast enough.

More random shots after the JUMP!!!

It's illegal to sell fake stuff, but apparently it's still profitable... if you in a few seconds manage to throw it all over your shoulders and run from the cops!

Pose of the Week.

Biker.

More bikers...

...and a DOG!

And the People's Man again, Lluiser Luis.

Sagrada Familia by Night and the Door of WTFF?

2009-12-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

La Sagrada Família was designed by Antoni Gaudí who worked on the project from 1883 and devoted the last 15 years of his life entirely to the endeavour and... thank you so much wikipedia.

Behold my rather low quality photos of it, but know that I had tons of fun that night.

Note: the fun commenced after I tired of taking pictures of my own shadow in the shadow of the gigantic and astonishing temple.

Afterwards, Luis the great magician took me to his place for a special hookah.

... blurring my vision so much this was all I saw of the Sagrada Família...

And suddenly we were here.

If there's a next blogpost after this one, he is innocent. Otherwise call the police.

Dedicated to Lluiser Luis.