Friday, 5.18, 12:45 pm

We all do what we have to do, but Benicio del Toro’s Magnum Gold campaign is giving me faint pause, I must say. He’s still the most unchallengably cool and Brando-esque actor of our time, but these print ads (which are pasted on the side of every other bus in Rome) feel like a slight violation of the mystique. I’ve been a Benny loyalist starting with his bit part in Swimming With Sharks and all the way up Che (let’s forget about The Wolfman), but these Magnum ads have at the very least challenged that fascinating existential portrait of the guy that Chris Jones wrote for the September 2007 Esquire.

Friday, 5.18, 1:10 pm

Friday, 5.18, 12:55 pm.

These cobblestones have been walked on for so many centuries that you just have to stop and stare at them for a minute or two. Unless, of course, you’re shuffling around with a double gelato in your hand and trying to read a foldout map, or if you’re part of an American tour group that’s being led around by some guy carrying a flag.

Friday, 5.18, 2:45 pm.