New York Shots. What a cool idea. The idea is this: A Tumblr user, a girl named Katie O’Beirne, recently started leaving disposable cameras out around New York City. Tied to a park bench, left at the Brooklyn Bridge. This project has been evolving for a while now, especially thanks to a Kickstarter campaign that collects funds in its honor. It’s a beautiful project. It captures people, generally their faces, from all over the world. It began with the people of the world who stumbled across O’Beirne’s cameras in New York City parks. The project has now expanded internationally with photography and people lovers in cities across the globe reaching out, volunteering to rig up disposable cameras in their own city. The photos are captivating to view. O’Beirne’s updates about the project are uplifting. These are the kinds of things I love finding out about.
Cruise line murder case back on TV this week
Roll back the clock and set those VCR‘s, the 2005 cruise line murder case of George Smith who went missing while on a Royal Caribbean cruise is back on network television. In an update on Dateline NBC this Friday (10PM Eastern), the news hounds go to the well one more time for an update on the tragic industry-changing case.
“Dennis Murphy tells the story of an active, ongoing investigation whereby FBI agents won’t talk on the record. However, the cruise line, Royal Caribbean has conducted its own internal investigation and ‘Dateline’ has the exclusive update about what happened aboard the ship in the early hours of July 5, 2005″ reports Greenwich-Post.com.
According to the preview at Dateline’s Website, Mr. Smith, a Greenwich, Connecticut resident, went missing from his honeymoon cruise. His family settled a lawsuit last year involving his estate. Royal Caribbean agreed to hand over its investigative file on Mr. Smith’s disappearance to the FBI as part of the agreement.
“This settlement brings us one step closer to achieving our objectives because Royal Caribbean has agreed to provide more extensive information from its investigation into George’s disappearance,” Maureen Smith, George’s mother had said, in a press release reported by the Post.
Checking in on Dateline’s Facebook page, this question and photo posted teases fans:
“Can you guess what happened here? Is it a crime scene or something else? Take your best guess on this photo clue for Friday’s all new Dateline…”
Phoenix Art Museum opens exhibit on world religion
The Phoenix Art Museum is one of the city’s best art spaces. With more than 18,000 objects in its permanent collection, it brings everything from Picasso to medieval Japanese silk to central Arizona. Their Asian collection is especially good.
Now the museum has started the new year with a major new exhibition. Sacred Word and Image: Five World Religions covers the written word and painted image as expressed in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. By showing the art and writings of these different religions side by side, visitors can see how people each faith use them to express their beliefs.
The exhibit includes a wide variety of objects, including Christian icons, Muslim prayer mats, religious texts, sculptures, and much more. One interesting item is a 7th century Japanese printed prayer, one of the oldest printed texts in the world. When Japan converted to Buddhism in the 7th century, the emperor had one million small wooden pagodas built. Each included a printed prayer inside.
Sacred Word and Image: Five World Religions runs until March 25, 2012.
Photo courtesy Chanel Wheeler.
U.S.A. highways as a subway map
If it all comes down to getting from point A to point B, be the distance between short or long, then an atlas isn’t all that different from a framed and posted subway map–our nation’s highways as a subway map is a conceivable notion. And, in fact, it’s now a viewable, perceivable notion. Cameron Booth is an Australian designer who recently released a map of the U.S.A. highways in subway map form. As to not confuse highway routes in the U.S.A., like Route 66, with roads along the Interstate Highway System, Booth created a separate map which depicts the U.S.A. interstates as a subway map. Useful? Not really. Interesting and fun to look at? Totally.
Mammoth Mountain offers guaranteed snow
It has been a real hit-and-miss season for skiers so far this winter. Some regions of the U.S. have received plenty of snow, but large sections of the country are still waiting for for the sizable accumulations that will allow them to hit the slopes in style. But visitors to Mammoth Mountain in California can rest assured that they’ll have plenty of powder to play in, as the resort is even offering a snow guarantee for pass holders.
The Mammoth Mid-Winter Pass is currently on sale for just $299 and allows skiing or snowboarding everyday of the week between January 9 and February 10. That averages out to just $12 per day, which is an amazing deal for anyone who wants to ski one of the premiere resorts in all of North America. But, it gets even better. Starting yesterday, for every day that goes by in which the resort doesn’t receive 24 inches of new snowfall, they’ll extend the length of the pass for an additional day.
I’m told that the current snow base on the mountain is between 1.5 and 2 feet, and daily measurements will be provided by the Mammoth Mountain Ski Patrol to keep track of how much new snow falls. A running ticker will also be added to the Mammoth website to keep pass holders informed of those measurements and how many extra days are being added to their pass. So while you’re lamenting the fact that no fresh snow has fallen on the mountain, the value of that Mid-Winter Pass will continue to go up.
There is one small caveat however. In order to take advantage of this deal, you’ll need to purchase the Mid-Winter Pass by Monday, January 9th. To find out more and order your pass online, click here.
[Photo Courtesy of Mammoth Mountain]