When the dead walk the earth, how many will there be and where’s the best place to view them?

by Neil Woodburn on

Today is Halloween, the traditional day for zombies to climb out of their graves and walk the earth, perhaps feeding on some unfortunate human brains along the way.

I suppose if I had to pick a place on this planet to watch this all happen, it might have to be somewhere in Italy where scores of zombie gladiators and roman centurions would make for great spectacle and show.

Of course, I’d have to ask myself, how much danger I’d be in under such circumstances. Sure, I could easily outrun the slow moving zombies (unless I was with some girl who trips and falls down–as they tend to do in these situations). But how many are we really talking about here? Because, as everyone knows, zombies are most effective when working as a team and exploiting their numbers advantage; at some point, there are simply too many and whoops, there goes your brains.

So, when the dead do walk the earth, how many will there be? According to a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, approximately 106 billion people have lived and died on our little planet. Today, there are just 6.5 billion of us currently alive. That means if the dead do walk the earth, they will outnumber the living about 16 to 1. Wow, those aren’t very good odds. And so, I leave you with some classic advice from Night of the Living Dead:

“Chief, if I were surrounded by say six or eight of these things, would I stand a chance?”
“Well, if you had a gun, shoot ’em in the head. If you didn’t, get a torch and burn ’em, they go up pretty easy. Beat ’em or burn ’em.”

Is it really possible to avoid the tourist trap?

by Abha Malpani on

I went to Rome last weekend, and truth is I didn’t like it.

Yes, everyone I’ve told this to said that I’m crazy — “how could you not like Rome!?” is what they snapped back at me.

This is why:

  • All I heard around me was English, Spanish and French — where were all the Italians!?
  • The Colosseum blew my mind — but outside it there was a 10 piece Brazilian band getting people to samba, a puppet show, two clowns singing some ridiculous song in Spanish, and some break-dancers.
  • A cappuchino cost me €3.50 everywhere in the center.
  • The lines to get into any place of significance like the Vatican or the Colosseum were endless, and it wasn’t even peak season.
  • It felt nothing like an ancient Roman city; it felt more like Disneyland with the odd Bulgarian dressed like a gladiator as opposed to Mickey Mouse.

Maybe it was because I was only there for three days so focused on seeing the main stuff that Rome is known for, rather than going off the beaten path in search of some real Italian culture — something I missed out on even though I was with a friend who has been living there for two years with her Italian boyfriend.

The presence of so many tourists ruined it for me (yes I know even I’m a tourist) and made me mad to the extent that I wondered why I even bothered to go to Rome.

I should have gone to Asciano or Bevagna; I would have missed Fontana di Trevi, but would have eaten some authentic risotto. But then how can you not go to Rome!? It’s one of those Catch 22’s.

There is a good piece on MSNBC that talks about this and recommends how to escape the tourist trap. Funny thing is, there is nothing new in the article, but yet I have no idea how I would have bypassed the tourist blast in Rome.

The end of the world comes to the Vatican

by Catherine Bodry on


Don’t worry; despite what the above photo implies, you won’t need to bring protection from plagues or rains of fire at the Vatican’s “Apocalypse” exhibition. Msnbc is calling the exhibit — a collection of works ranging from the 4th to the 20th centuries — “unusually bright:” “while ‘The Apocalypse’ usually evokes Doomsday visions, remarkably few monsters and sword-bearing angels populate the works on display.” Instead, organizer Alessio Geretti told reporters, the exhibit is reviving a view of The Book of Revelation as “a book of hope.”

Works on display include masterpieces from the Louvre, Capilla Real, National Galleries in Berlin, Budapest and Warsaw, and St. Marc’s Basilica in Venice. Artists include Salvador Dali and El Greco.

The exhibition runs through Dec. 7 and is part of the normal tour of the Vatican Museums.

Thanks to Micah A. Ponce on Flickr for the slightly scary but definitely awesome photo.

Rome’s Trevi Fountain runs red

by Catherine Bodry on

Last week, Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain ran red, tainted by paint or dye. The fountain runs on a closed cycle, so the waters remained blood red until police and technicians shut the water off and restored a clear flow. What at first seemed like a practical joke was actually a political statement; the group that claimed responsibility for the act left leaflets at the sight explaining that it was protesting expenses incurred in organizing the Rome Film Festival. The color symbolized the event’s red carpet.

Once I was assured that nothing was damaged permanently, I had to laugh at this harmless act. Some lucky tourists got a once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity! It looks as if blóm, on Flickr, was one such lucky viewer.

[via Msnbc]

The Red Garter: A Classic Expat Pick-Up Joint

by Kelly Amabile on

My aunt lived abroad in Florence for many years in the 70’s and 80’s. Although she worked as a nurse for much of her time overseas, she had her fair share of odd jobs too, especially in the early years of her expat experience. Recently she told me about her days working reception at a pensione run by the horrific “La Signora” and another job at a leather shop. And then there was that stint checking coats at The Red Garter. She and an Aussie friend had vowed they would never work at this popular expat hangout swarming with Italian men looking for foreign women. But my aunt did wind up in the coat room there for awhile. She met lots of Italian men, including one that she introduced to her Aussie friend, who wound up marrying the guy. So much for steering clear of The Red Garter!

Literally days after I heard this story, I came upon this post about the best pick up joints around the world. Lo and behold, the very first one mentioned: The Red Garter. It’s the only actual establishment mentioned in the piece — the rest of the pick-up places mentioned are special festivals or cities where the pickin’ is apparently not so slim. So it got me thinking about other joints like The Red Garter (which has been around since the early 1960’s) that have a long-standing tradition of fostering love connections which rise above language barriers — What other classic expat hot spots have been around long enough to be considered institutions of international romance?

(Photo credit: Special_K at Flickr)