Valentine’s Day: Fanning or Finding Love at an Art Museum

by Jamie Rhein on

Art museums make me feel amorous. It’s true. A walk through rooms filled with paintings, particularly if they’re from the Impressionism art movement, soften me right up. The sounds of shoes on marble or wood floors, the polite guards making sure people don’t get too close to the artwork, the creativity and genius of human beings in an outpouring of color and images. Yum!

Evidently, I’m not alone in my mushiness. According to a survey done by the 24 Hour Museum in the United Kingdom, 65% of the respondents said they would take a person to an art museum to make a favorable impression. (Hmm. impression. Impressionism. Is there a connection here?) Some (20%) said they had fallen in love in a museum. Was it in front of a Renoir, I wonder?

In this one research article I came across by Courtney Spousta, she points out that in the movie Play It Again Sam, Woody Allen’s character goes to the Modern Art Museum in NYC looking for love. Throughout the article, she cites examples of how certain nights at art museums are geared to help people mix and mingle. At the Milwaukee Art Museum there are even speed dating events. The last one was on February 2, it seems.

This month there are some art museums I came across that are capitalizing on the romance and love theme.

If you do head to a museum with that special someone or you’re out looking for that special someone at an art museum, it wouldn’t hurt to read “Cupid on the prowl” by Mary Louise Schumacher. She gives some tips on what to say to impress particular types of people and what not to say.

Oh, and the most romantic art museum in London according the the 24 Hour Museum survey? It’s the Victoria and Albert.

Valentine’s Idea: Israeli Snake Massage

by Jonathon Morgan on

What else says love like six non-venomous snakes? If that sounds like something your partner would enjoy, a quick trip to Ada Barak’s spa in northern Israel might be in order. Instead of using traditional techniques to reduce stress and muscle tension (like, maybe her hands), Barak instead lets California and Florida king snakes slither across her clients.

She says the treatment was inspired by her belief that — once the client gets over any initial apprehension — contact with the reptiles can be soothing.

Just in case you’re seriously considering this, Barak’s spa is in the communal village of Talmey El’Azar. If you go, please, please send us photos.

[via: Boing Boing]

Beach Trash? Small Solutions to a Big Problem

by Jamie Rhein on

Erik’s post Global Trash Ruins Hawaiian Beaches reminded me of participating in a beach clean-up in Singapore. Some trash, like Erik’s post mentioned, are from ships that either dumped trash on purpose or landed in the water by mistake. Strong gusts of wind? Someone eating at a ship’s railing and a plastic fork dropped or a shoe came off? Because Singapore is a major port, ship trash is a big problem.

The clean-up I participated in several years ago was part of the International Coastal Clean-up organized by the Ocean Conservancy. For the past 20 years the conservancy assigns groups to particular beaches to clean up what they can and keep track of what’s being dumped. According to their website, 300,000 people participated in 2005. The 2006 tally is not entered.

I remember that when we picked up trash we kept track by counting the number of pieces and the category. During this past year’s event, September 16, 2006, 1,865 people participated in Singapore. You can see the total results here. It’s amazing to see the variety of things collected. The photo was taken by Steve Early, a friend of mine, who still teaches science at the Singapore American School. I just happened to find this out when I went poking around looking for a photograph. Small world. The school’s trash duty assignment was at the Kranji Mangroves.

The next International Coastal Clean-up is not until this coming September, but there are plenty of other smaller opportunities to pick trash up along beaches until then. Here are a sampling of three that happen every month. If you know of more, tell us. It would be neat to participate in a beach clean-up in other parts of the world. All this reminds me that when I’m at a beach somewhere and see that piece of trash that doesn’t belong, it’s not that much work to bend down and pick it up.

  • Save Our Shores out of Santa Cruz, CA offers Interpretive Beach Clean-ups where participants learn about the ecosystem of the area as well. There are clean-ups scheduled almost every month.
  • The 3rd Saturday of every month there’s “Justin Rudd’s 30-minute Beach Clean-up” in Long Beach, CA. The site also has a terrific video ad.
  • Blue Ocean organizes beach clean-ups in New Hampshire.

Army of Bjork

by Erik Olsen on

Adrienne brought this to our attention a little bit ago, but I figured it was worth another look…

At first I thought maybe this had something to do with new Scandinavian commitment to Iraq…but then I clicked the link and learned differently. It turns out that there are legions…nay an entire army, of people out there for whom, to quote one of the people interviewed in this video, Björk is the “ultimate embodiment of outsiderness” (or UEoO).

The Icelandishstic singer/performer/maker of very odd music videos in fact has her own army, which does occasionally gather in meeting places across the globe…or at least in predictably Björk-friendly neighborhood in Brooklyn.

I am an avid fan of the travel video site Travelistic, and this link came to my attention from one of the producers of this segment, and I pass it on to you, dear gadling reader, to decide for yourself if the Army of Björk is a threat to national security and/or an affront to cultural sensibilities. I argue that it is not, but my guess is that red staters might disagree. Either way, take a moment to enjoy. And please make note of the extra-special effort I put forward in this post to find an actual ö. And don’t ask me to pronounce her last name: Guðmundsdóttir, although my understanding is that it rhymes with Duðmundsdóttir.

24 Hour Museum website: a resource to tour for hours

by Jamie Rhein on

If you are in the United Kingdom or if you are heading there anytime soon, the website “24 Hour Museum,” is a handy reference guide. This is where you can find out about the listings and features of 3,000 museums and heritage sites around the United Kingdom from the large to the small venues. Instead of just listings with brief descriptions, there are downloads of art, other websites and articles about what is going on pretty much everywhere.

One thing I like about the site is that you can find places you may not have thought about. Sure the British Museum in London may be on your list of places to go, but how about The Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester? There’s an exhibit going on with the theme Collective Identity that features the work of 10 Chinese artists.

The 24 Hour Museum also has a feature called Trails. Each trail has a theme that shows travelers what museums and cultural spots have a particular connection to each other. For example, the trail “A History of Enlightenment, Buddhism in London” leads travelers to various museum exhibits, temples and gardens that show a Buddhist influence. There are detailed descriptions of each place so you can brush up on each site’s importance beforehand.

I wish I had known about this site when I was in London for just a day. It would have been great to know what exhibits to look for when we popped in and out of museums in a mad dash to see as much as possible.