Amazing Race 14 starts tonight

by Jamie Rhein on

What already? Wasn’t it last week when my least favorite team Starr and Nick dashed across the finish line to win the million dollars? Nope. The end of Amazing Race 13 was in December. Tonight, Amazing Race 14 begins on CBS at 8:00 EST.

From a quick glance, I have two reasons to tune in:

One couple, married duo Brad and Victoria are from Columbus, Ohio. According to their bio, their motto is, “life is not a spectator sport and therefore you should always enjoy each moment that life gives you.” Each of them have overcome personal challenges. I’ll have to see how much I like them based on tonight’s episode. Regardless of them being from the city I live in, I’ve never met them. I’ve never seen them before in my life.

The other pair, Cara and Jaime caught my attention because of one of their names. The spelling is different. From reading Jaime’s bio, I’d say the spelling isn’t all that’s different. For one, the other Jaime used to be a cheerleader and I’ve never been able to touch my toes. These two are from Florida, and seem like lovely people, both inside and out. I give them a thumbs up so far.

The other nine teams are made up of an assortment of married, friends, siblings, parent/son and dating pairs.

  • Amanda and Kris are a young dating couple. I’m interested in Kris’s reactions to the world since he has not had the chance to travel much.
  • Christie and Jodi are flight attendant friends who met on the job. I wonder if they tune into Galley Gossip? If not, they should. With their combined travel savvy, I’d say these two are formidable contenders.
  • Preston and Jennifer, another dating couple, are from Columbia, S.C., a city where I lived for two years as a kid. What will make them a fun pair to watch (or possibly highly annoying) is their quest to see if they should break-up or stay together. They haven’t made up their minds yet. Who is ready for some bickering footage?
  • LaKisha and Jennifer, from their descriptions these two sisters from Brooklyn should provide some interesting TV. They haven’t traveled much outside the U.S. and have very different personalities.
  • Linda and Steve might be my favorite so far. From Martinsville, Virginia, they’ve traveled extensively and seem to be a non-traditional married couple who have found out how to live a good life.
  • Margie and Luke are a mother/son pair from Denver, Colorado who could also be my favorites to win. Luke is deaf and communicates with American Sign Language. I have a deaf brother-in-law and sister-in-law. What a great addition these two are to the line-up.
  • Mark and Michael are two brothers who are from Hawaii and California. Their backgrounds make them interesting contenders as well. Both of them are stunt men and one works as a jockey and the other has acting gigs. Because they are using the Amazing Race to work on their relationship, I expect some footage analyzing what makes brothers click or not click.
  • Mel and Mike are father and son with an atypical family history. Mel is gay. That’s not the atypical part. This should be an interesting team to watch.
  • Tammy and Victor are another sibling pair who are a cross between TK and Rachel and Starr and Nick. She’s the laid back one. He sounds like Nick. Both are lawyers with great smiles. He looks nicer than he sounds.

Let’s see how these teams do and how accurate their bios are. Personally, I like the mix of ages and that none of the teams sound particularly full of themselves. Hopefully, this season will do a great job of highlighting the countries where the teams headed. That’s my favorite part.

Here’s a link the preview video of Episode 1. My favorite line so far is “No use standing here looking like dumb asses.” (Or something like that). The first destination country is Switzerland. Cheese and bungee jumping are involved.

“Don’t Worry”: Playing for Change–music around the world

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s another song from Playing for Change, the project that joins various musicians from around the world. The musicians are filmed singing the same song, but each sing in the country where they live. The parts are then combined into a whole with the footage of the musicians woven together. The intention of the project, as we’ve posted before, is to inspire people to make the world a better place by building music schools around the world with an aim for peace-building.

Of the three songs I’ve seen of this project, “Stand by Me,” “One Love,” and this one, “Don’t Worry,” I like this one the best, although they’re all excellent. The CD/DVD of the project will be released in April. Enjoy.

9/11 widow dies in Buffalo plane crash

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Beverly Eckert, widow of 9/11 victim Sean Rooney, perished on Continental Airlines Flight 3407 last night. She was on her way to Buffalo to celebrate what would have been her husband’s 58th birthday. While in town, she had also planned to participate in the presentation of a scholarship award at Canisius High School. She had created the scholarship in honor of her late husband.

The crash of Continental Flight 3407 occurred at around 10:20 PM, when the plane hit a home in Clarence Center, NY. It resulted in 44 on-board fatalities: all 40 passengers and all four crew members. A person on the ground was killed, as well. Twelve local residents were evacuated, and firefighters were quick to respond, as the crash site was close to the local fire station.

The crash has been described as feeling like “a mini-earthquake” and “a large explosion.”

[Via CNN, photo via thebuffalobean]

Andy Warhol exhibit: Other Voices, Other Rooms

by Jamie Rhein on

Back in August, it seemed as if there would be oodles of time to revisit “Andy Warhol: Other Voices Other Rooms,” the exhibit at the Wexner Center for the Arts. Time, however, has a way of speeding by faster than I anticipated. After this Sunday, the fabulous exhibit of everything Warhol that has taken over the entire art museum at The Ohio State University in Columbus will be dismantled.

The exhibit is a retrospective of Warhol’s life and work– and like Warhol’s work, it is an eclectic assortment of art, graphics, newspaper articles, videos and an interactive performance space. Every inch of the museum’s galleries have been used to create a Warhol world of sorts.

The first time I saw the exhibit was at the opening in August. My first response was wondering when Warhol ever sat down or slept. Along with his famous prints of Marilyn Monroe, Campbell’s Soup and other cultural icons, there are many of the photographs he took, all the television episodes he created, and his interviews with people like John F. Kennedy Jr. and David Bowie. Each room offers a retrospective of certain aspects of Warhol’s creative interests, pursuits and perspectives. Woven throughout is his interaction with the world, himself and the arts. After he was shot and seriously wounded by Valerie Solanas, Warhol even turned that experience into art and commentary.

The room devoted to Warhol’s TV shows is one of my favorite sections of the exhibit, partly because of the effect of its execution. I noticed that while visitors sit on star-shaped stools watching whichever video screen captured their fancy, they became part of the exhibit in a way. Individual headphones allow for several people to sit at one time in front of their own individual screen while other people mill about taking in the entire scene of the room. This moving in and out between private and public experiences was one of the themes of Warhol’s life.

For anyone who has been influenced by popular culture and reality TV which, honestly, seems to be everyone I can think of, this exhibit is a look into Warhol’s vision of what was to become mainstream. Think of Joe the Plumber, Heather Mills McCartney, Harry Wittington, John Mark Karr, James Frey and who else? These are folks who represent Warhol’s phrase, “15 minutes of fame” referring to how celebrity status comes and goes quickly based on media attention. Although some people stick around longer than 15 minutes, the point is, the media helps create the celebrity. (The only person I could come up with off the top of my head was Joe the Plumber, so I found this article in Time magazine “15 people who had their 15 Minutes of Fame” to help me out. See? Fame is fleeting.)

If you do make it to the exhibit, take time to read about Warhol’s early life. You’ll find out how and why a person born in Pittsburgh to immigrants parents, one a coal miner, could grow up to be that eccentric, trendsetting fellow who wore wigs of platinum-blond hair.

To give people more time to see it, the Wexner Center has extended hours this coming weekend. Friday, February 13 (11 AM to midnight), Saturday, February 14 (10 AM to midnight), and Sunday, February 15 (10 AM to 8 PM). On Thursday from 4-8 pm, you can see the exhibit for free, otherwise there is a cost if you are over 12. Those 12 and under are free. Adults, $8; students, ages 13-17, and age 65 and older, $5.

Here’s a video tour of the exhibit, but the in person experience is this many times over. I’m planning on heading here again myself.

17,000 people overtake London Liverpool street station – for a Flashmob

by Scott Carmichael on

Flashmobbing is not new – in fact, the last time a massive flashmob took place at a railway station, it became one of the most popular posts we’ve ever covered here on Gadling.

This newest flashmob took place in London several days ago, and all started when a Facebook member saw a TV commercial for T-Mobile.

Inspired by the dance routines in that commercial, he invited a couple of friends to the station so they could have a little fun.

And of course, with the way social networks operate, a couple of friends invited their friends, who invited some of their friends, and this eventually turned into 17,000 people making their way towards Liverpool street station.

Check out the video for yourself. The event was so successful that more of them are being planned, but nothing beats the spontaneous kind of gathering put together by a single Facebook message.