Penguin Power

by Erik Olsen on

Those crazy penguins. One minute they’re monogamous, the next minute they ditch their spouses
for a couple of anchovies. You never know what they’re going to do next. And you certainly don’t know if you can trust
them,  which may be why lots of people are heading South to see them for themselves. Yes, like all the other movie
tours that have been spawned over the years, we have yet another one: Antarctica tours to see penguins.

According to this piece at the
Independent, the tour groups that do trips down there are all gaga over the success of the film March of the Penguins.
Seriously, remember the whole thing about conservative groups loving the birds because they allegedly practice family
values? Apparently, family values are good for tourism.

Hungary’s Robin Hood

by Erik Olsen on

I don’t check out Salon Magazine as often as I should largely because I get sick of waiting for the long ads to show as I enter Salon Premium. But I should check it more often. The articles are always quite good. Snarky, but informative. I guess I’d go back a LOT more if they brought back their travel section: Wanderlust. I LOVED Wanderlust. I even check out some of the old Wanderlust archives every so often. And remember we did a podcast way back when with Lonely Planet’s Don George? Guess what? He basically started Wanderlust.

Anyway, all this is to say that I found an interesting piece in Salon today about a Hungarian guy known as the Whiskey Robber (AKA Attila Ambrus). As the article itself points out, the story could be something from a Coen brothers film. The guy, apparently good looking…judge for yourself from the picture…I guess he looks a bit like Colin Ferrell. Anyway, his antics and past have inspired a cabaret theater show, a hit song, a Hollywood film deal and a growing worldwide following. He is kind of the Robin Hood of Eastern Europe…and with a name like Attila, well, you can’t lose with that as a story line. Anyway, great story. Give it a read.

AVAM's Character Exhibit

by Kelly Amabile on

The American Visionary Arts Museum is a unique and original center for showcasing art that is
particularly soulful and "…often may not even be thought of as ‘art’
by its creator." The Baltimore museum hosts a mega-exhibit each year that runs from October to the following
September. Earlier this fall AVAM’s 11th such exhibit opened to the public: Race, Class, Gender ≠
Character centers on the belief that the worth of a human is not based on his or her skin color, gender or
ethnicity. The show communicates, through a series of thought-provoking works, that what matters most is simply one’s
character, the inner being that makes each person tick. The exhibit features visionary expressions of this theme from
all corners of the globe — cultural celebrations of character through craftmanship include pieces made of cut-paper,
pipe cleaners and even trash. The exhibit is dedicated to the work of Lily Yeh, who transcended political, economic and
cultural boundaries to inspire the very poorest to establish "Eden-like" communities in North Philadelphia,
Nairobi, Kenya, and rural China. It’s an innovative and interactive showcase of visionary art that is sure to inspire
and interest museum-goers of all ages.

Beating Up Santa

by Erik Olsen on
Australians sure know how to celebrate
Christmas. In the city of Melbourne, a group of about 20 men started to taunt a group of Santa Clauses, and then things
soon escalated into them throwing chairs through shop windows and causing general mayhem.

 

Is it just me, or does Australia seem to have a hooligan problem? Seems like the last week or so has had a few
reports of violent Aussie behavior. And in this case, well, there really is no excuse for taunting Santa. I mean, come
on.

Disaster Tourism in New Orleans

by Erik Olsen on

More on the rather odd, but certainly intriguing concept of disaster travel. Seems that New Orleans is the hot new
spot for this kind of thing, where people go to tour ruins and mayhem and misery.
According to the Mercury News, a
tour operator there is offering (for $35 per person, $28 for children)  bus tours of a few of Nawlin’s most
misery-stricken spots. you’ll get to visit the doomed Superdome, the Convention Center as well as an assortment of
hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods.

It’s an open question whether this is a form of immoral exploitation or a way to keep alive the fact that people’s
attention spans tend to wane and this is an issue worthy of remembrance. I tend to come out on the side of the former.
Anyhow, the company, Gray Line New Orleans, opens its first tour called “Hurricane Katrina – America’s Worst
Castastrophe,”  on January 4.