Dyxie Land: A Gay/Straight Take on Nothing: First International Post! And It's Masculine Monday!

Buongiorno de Italie! Or however you would say that in a grammatically correct fashion; I am not Italian and I only took French in school. My sister and I are doing our best, though, and usually when we try our pitiful (PITIFUL) Italian, the nice locals will respond in English to make us feel less stupid, and to help us buy their products. Good business sense! Anyway, I'm currently in an Internet Café, and it's our second day in Florence. On our first day, we got lost looking for the fancy restaurant we had reservations at, and ended up in this tiny pizza place. At first, we were disappointed. Then we tried the food and swore off all American pizza forever and always. IT WAS AWESOME. Apparently in Italy, even the tiny, 5 Euro pizza joints serve AMAZING FOOD. If you ever find yourself in Florence, stop by La Ghiotta (Via Pietrapiana, 7r. I don't know what that means; I believe it's an address. It's on their card.). (Also, my favorite moment of the evening was when my sister got her food like 10 minutes before me, then finished it, and I still didn't have my pizza. Then our waiter walks by like four times. On the fifth time, he stops, looks at the order that he had written out and placed on our table, and shouts "He forgot your pizza!" I DIED.)

Anyway, so the first MMer is a guy we met on the plane: Matteo. He is an Italian guy who had just lived for a year in London "to improve his English," but also because after that he got a job working as an internet marketing person. He talked to us for the whole plane ride and taught us how to pronounce basic Italian words, and he wrote down the names of foods we needed to try. He was very adorable and he had a straw hat on that said Mad(rid) About You! and he was wearing an inexplicable fanny pack and was super nice. We taught him about the American education system and he taught us that Italians value cars so much that sometimes they will spend all their savings on them. He also said that it was strange, to an Italian, that we didn't live at home anymore, because for them it's difficult to leave their mamas' good cooking. We said it was difficult for us too, but that was just how American culture worked. He seemed a little sad for us.

So to sum up, Thanks Matteo, we would be much more pathetic without you!

Ok. So to have a second MMer that goes with the theme of past ones (aka is not just some dude I met), but because I am not tied into pop culture right now, as the hotel I'm staying at is, let's say, quaint (cute and cozy, but not so much with the technology) I'm going to pull out an old favorite and give him some new credit: Paul Rudd. Paul Rudd is Joogly Bear's favorite person; she is in love with Mike, Phoebe's husband from friends. Paul is the star of many great movies, including Clueless, I Love You Man, Role Models, and the movie he was in with Jennifer Aniston which no one has ever heard of except me, The Object of My Affection, in which he plays a gay dude who Jenny is in love with. GREAT FILMS. In Paul's honor, please go rent or buy or steal one of his movies. And here's a clip of him on Jon Stewart for your viewing pleasure. Ciao!