Photo of the Day (10/17/07)

by Neil Woodburn on

What is not marvelous about this shot? The yummy yellows of Udine Castle in Udine, Italy are a perfect backdrop for this moment of kissing–or perhaps, a longer moment of kissing. The framing of this couple by the arches and the shapes of the shadows, the red bench and the whatever it is that is that bright yellow object–a sweater?–make me want to write a William Carlos Williams style poem, or something. So much depends on a red bench . . .

Thanks to pirano for passing along such a lovely image of sweet romance. If you have your own romantic, or totally non-romantic shots, post them at the Gadlng Pool to be considered for Photo of the Day.

The Red Wheelbarrow
by William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Circus Camp in Vegas

by Neil Woodburn on

I’ve never been one to fantasize about running away to the circus, but I certainly do understand the fascination, especially for children.

If your child is suffering from circus envy, you’ll be happy to know that there is a temporary solution. And you’ll even be happier to learn that it involves Las Vegas.

The Sandou Theatrical Circus School in Las Vegas, Nevada serves primarily as a training gym for Circus Circus and Cirque du Soleil. A few hours a day, however, it also doubles as a circus camp for kids.

While the real pros are training high above on the trapeze, kids are taught juggling, tumbling, fire breathing, aerial skills, gymnastics, and balancing. Oops, just joking about the fire breathing. They do, however, get a real taste for the circus life and the difficulty of performing such acrobatic stunts.

Kids can come in for a couple of hours while mom and dad take a break from gambling, or they can come back in the summer time where a five day camp (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) costs just $125. But be careful; if you do enroll your kids and they later grow up and really do run away to the circus, don’t blame me!

Yard Sales, Parisian Style

by Grant Martin on

Twice a year, residents of Levallois-Perret, a small community on the outskirts of Paris, explode onto the street in a veritable orgasm of yard sales. I came down out of my sister’s apartment last week to discover about twenty square blocks of solid second-hand mayhem, complete with food carts, inflatable Harry Potter moon walks and general French glee.

Naturally, the locals have frenchified the entire operation. When I purchased a set of teacups from these two guys they were in the middle of lunch — with wine and cloth napkins. On the way back when I snapped this picture they were smoking cigars with cognac. It doesn’t really create the same mental image as when you think of an American yard sale, does it?

Among the normal bric-a-brac one can expect at a second-hand sale are a high volume of espresso glasses, copper cookware, wine implements and other vintage, European wares. But the best part about the entire experience is picking up something truly unique to bring home — nothing’s worse than picking up a totally sweet European sweater at the London H&M to find out that they already have stores littered around the US where you can buy the same thing for 1/2 the price.

But as the French verb directly translates, “souvenir” is “to remember”. Either way you reach enlightenment, via yard sales or chain stores, vous allez souvenir.

Cliff Barnes: Stockholm’s Nightlife Done Right

by Grant Martin on

Next time you find yourself in Stockholm, consider visiting one of my favorite bars in the world: Cliff Barnes.

Now, I’ve been to a lot of bars in my day and I’m generally a person who’s fonder of the the quieter, lounge types of establishments. Sure, I’ve been dragged to a few clubs, but dancing really isn’t my forte.

Cliff Barnes is set up as a ski-lodge-esque sort of of drinking hall, with large dark tables, wooden trim and exotic wallpaper. When we got there at about 10:30, the line had just started and we could see the happy Swedes dining about their business within. Declining to check our coats on the way in, we were told by the bouncers “No, really. It’ll get hot in there.”

And hot it got. Milling about and enjoying the landscape at 11PM, the lights suddenly dropped and Also Sprach Zarathustra came on over the speakers. Followed by a five second pause. Followed by In The Navy. You get the picture. Not your average dance music by far, and therefore, outstanding. As you can probably guess, it didn’t take long for the happy Swedes and Americans alike to get on the tables and start swinging things around.

We later learned that Cliff Barnes was a recurring member of the telly show Dallas. A perfect name for a perfect bar.

Norrtullsgatan 45, 11345 Stockholm.

How Many Movies Have You Watched On One Flight?

by Kelly Amabile on

I’m not exactly embarrassed to admit this, but I’m not sure if it is something to be proud of either?! On a recent 13-hour Qantas flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles, I managed to watch five movies in a row, and could have probably snuck in a sixth if my eyes were not so weary. And for some reason, I feel compelled to admit that I engaged in this obscene in-flight marathon film fest. I’m actually quite curious to know about the movie-watching habits of other long-haul fliers out there.

Who else will ‘fess up?

I had only planned on watching one movie, and then figured I’d pop some Sudafed Nighttime pills to knock me out. But the drugs never kicked in after my own private screening of No Reservations. Or maybe deep in my psyche I knew that I just HAD to watch Blades of Glory before bedtime. After that, I blame it on the seat — I just couldn’t get comfortable. Or was it that burning desire to watch License to Wed and Evan Almightly?! By the time I got to Borat I had really surpassed my (or any normal sleep-deprived human’s) film-viewing limit and should have certainly been fast asleep…but once you start watching that movie, you just can’t stop. My cranium hurt and my eyes were surely bugging out of the sockets by then, but I had to know if Borat would ever get his dream date with Pamela!

So who else has been hooked by their in-flight entertainment system? Please tell me that I am not the only who has denied herself sleep on a plane in order to catch up on all the romantic comedies and mockumentaries she’d been missing? I had brought a good book with me on the plane, as well as my laptop, so I could organize the photos from my trip. Instead, the in-flight entertainment system got me good, proving to be a much stronger drug than the decongestant I thought would have brought me at least a few good hours of sleep.