Photo of the Day 1-27-2008

by Catherine Bodry on


When I lived in France, I made sure to try every single pastry available. I took me most of my stay there to get through them all, but sampling those sweet delicacies was a highlight of my trip. This photo, taken by Annie White in Paris, takes me back to those winter days in France where I would warm myself up with a café creme and pain au chocolat fresh out of the oven.

Do you have any travel photos you think might invoke tasty memories? Upload them to Gadling’s Flickr pool and we’ll consider them for our Photo of the Day feature.

The Fonz in bronze in Milwaukee

by Jamie Rhein on

Almost a year ago, I wrote a post about a town in Serbia that was hoping to get some good luck by erecting a statue of Rocky Balboa. The original Rocky Balboa statue now resides at the base of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the same steps that Rocky ran up in the first Rocky movie. At first the museum said no go to keeping the statue. It was not considered art by the museum’s standards. The statue was sent on over to the sports arena until the museum changed its mind a few years ago and took it back.

There is a similar situation in Milwaukee where statues pop art has created a difference of opinion and a pop culture icon will permanently represent the city. A group has raised enough funds through “Bronze the Fonz” for a bronze statue of Fonzie from the TV show Happy Days. Happy Days was set in Milwaukee so these folks want to do something to honor the notoriety. Fonzie was picked to be the Happy Days icon since the Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli was an integral part of what made the show stand out.

There are some folks in Milwaukee that are not pleased that a fake person is being memorialized in bronze. Henry Winkler, the actor who played Fonzie of course is real and pleased with the efforts. As a matter of fact, I saw him in West Hollywood at the West Hollywood Book Fair I attended last September. He walked right by me on his way to his guest speaker session. Those that are complaining consider that a bronze rendition of Fonzie is a far cry from highbrow art.

My thinking is that popular culture is a part of art. Andy Warhol, for example. became famous for this concept. If the Fonz in bronze makes the group of people who raised the $85,000 in order to get the statue made are happy, and it provides some cultural interest in Milwaukee’s city scene for everyone else, why not? According to the AP article by Carrie Antlfinger, Fonzie has company as TV character people statues go. There’s a bronze version of Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis for example and Bob Hartley (Newhart) in Chicago.

Carnival: Brazilian small town alternatives

by Anna Brones on

Carnival spirit is in the air, and since it’s cold and raining outside my window, I am happy to dream about more exotic places. A popular one for the pre-Lent festivities is of course Brazil. Common spots to take part in the action are big cities Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, but as the tourists come in, the locals go out and head for the off-the-beaten-track destinations.

This weekend’s New York Times gives us an article about these lesser known celebratory Carnival locations, like Laguna and São Luiz do Paraitinga. Don’t worry, although smaller than the bigger cities, they still promise the colors, sounds and flair that the holiday is known for.

The drawback? Carnival starts on Friday, last minute tickets to Brazil are more than $1000, and accommodations are pretty booked, so without flight or hotel reservations, you might want to consider planning ahead for Carnival 2009.

Michael Palin’s travel series “The New Europe” starts Monday

by Jamie Rhein on

This coming Monday Michael Palin’s new seven-show travel series, “The New Europe” starts on The Travel Channel. He’s taking the TV audience through “post communist” Europe to highlight the natural beauty, history and culture of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary, and Bosnia among several others in Eastern and Central Europe (20 in all), many that were behind the Iron Curtain when he was growing up in Great Britain.

There’s an interview with Palin at World Hum about the series. David Farley’s questions brought out an intriguing look into what thoughts go into a travel series in the first place–including the name of it.

“The New Europe” stuck for this series title, even though it’s a term coined by Donald Rumsfeld, of all people. I wonder if Donald Rumsfeld has a travel series in his future.? Or if people are looking for a catchy title they could call him up for his wordsmith magic.” To be clear, the name of the series and the fact that Donald Rumsfeld called this part of the world “the new Europe” while he was U.S. Secretary of Defense is purely coincidental. They have nothing to do with each other, but in the interview with Palin, Farley included the show’s reaction to the sameness and the decision to keep the name anyway.

When deciding what to include and what not to include in an episode, the balance between what will make for an interesting show and what the country’s reaction to its portrayal are taken into consideration. For example, the idea is to show the scope of the region so countries are not necessarily highlighted for the same reason. In summary, people from one country may look at the depiction of another country as having gorgeous scenery, but not that aspect of the their own and feel slighted. It’s heck to be an editor. Someone is bound to feel slighted.

In the Farley’s interview Palin also muses about the difference between Americans’ and Europeans’ ideas about travel and what draws him around the world. The series that airs at 8 p.m. looks like one that won’t disappoint– and I certainly recommend the interview.

Straight-up Scandinavia: Danish film festival continues in Atlanta this weekend

by Anna Brones on

We all know about, and love, French film. And the musicals of Bollywood seem to be everywhere. But Danish cinema?

Cinephiles may already be well acquainted with the Danish film industry, but for the rest of you, all it takes is a little direction. You may in fact remember the movie Italian for Beginners. Don’t let the title fool you, it was a Danish directed film all about seven strangers coming together in Copenhagen to learn a bit of Italiano. Or what about Dancer in the Dark? Yup, it too was made by a Danish director, Lars von Trier.

This weekend in Atlanta, January 25-27, the quest for discovering Denmark’s film industry continues at the Danish Film Festival. The third annual festival actually started last weekend, but three more movies are scheduled to show this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Rich Theater located in the Woodruff Arts Center. One of the films, A Soap, was the winner of the Best Debut Film at the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival. Even children can get involved, if they are up to reading subtitles, with The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar.

Tickets are $5 general admission and $4 for students, seniors and museum members, giving those of you in the Atlanta area no excuse not to get a little weekend taste of Denmark.