GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of February 4

by Adrienne Wilson on

There was a tremendous out of activity going on here at Gadling this week. There were mentions of huge music festivals; silly hitchhiker’s auctioning off their names and enough Valentine’s suggestions to eliminate any and all excuses. We understand that you may have missed something in the frenzy and so now it is time to catch-up. Here are some picks hand plucked by me that are worth viewing once more.

5. How Was the NFL Experience?:
Those of use who were either snowed in or couldn’t get closer than our television sets to experience some of the NFL Superbowl action down in Miami for some reason or another, can now check out Willy’s play-by-play coverage for the NFL Experience. The event wasn’t exactly the big game, but sports lovers may find this one inspiring enough to experience it on their own next year.

4. How Environmentally Friendly Are You? Take the Ecological Footprint Quiz:
Afraid? Be very afraid. If you think you’re the environmentally friendly type take this quiz to find out just how happy or unhappy the planet is with your actions.

3. Army of Bjork:
Round of sound to Erik for giving Bjork some additional play with this video found on Travelistic. I never knew of this event until recently which looks to be held annually in Brooklyn so for all the other Bjork fans and people-watchers I hope that this one comes in handy.

2. How to Buy An Island:
C’mon, who doesn’t want their own little chunk of land off a beautiful turquoise ocean? If I had the dough I’d surely grab my own tropical island or two. If you’re a bit closer to making it a reality than I am check out this easy two step plan to get one.

1. Backing up your Travel Journal:
Always looking for a plan B, C, or Q to backing up your photos and precious travel works? Neil points worry-warts and smart-thinkers alike to a nice cheap gadget that can back up your goodies in addition to other back up methods. I’ve never heard of this one, but it sounds worth a try.

Friday Funny: Philosopher Soccer

by Erik Olsen on

As much as I try to get myself excited about soccer, I usually get rather bored about halfway through a match. I know, that’s probably both ignorance and culturally insensitive of me. Our European readers no doubt hold me up as a typical closed-minded, fast-food eating American…which I contest I am not…although I do love a little Taco Bell now and then. But as I say, the scores are so low! You sometimes have to wait and entire game before someone scores a gooooooallll! and then prances around the field like they just liberated Paris (oh wait, that was us). No no, just kidding.

All this is not to fire up the tempers of gadling readers, but rather as a preface for one of my favorite Monty Python skits of all time, the Philosopher’s soccer, football, match.

Courtesy of YouTube, if this one doesn’t meet the fine criteria of a Friday Funny, I don’t know what does.

(Thanks, Howie!)

Mythical, Googly-Eyed Sea Creature Found in Russia

by Justin Glow on

EnglishRussia.com is quickly becoming one of my favorite sites. It regularly features a heavy dose of weirdness from Russia, of course, where “something cool happens daily on 1/6th of the Earth’s surface.” And below the surface, it turns out.

A post on the site yesterday claims a group of fisherman off the coast of the Rostov region captured a strange, stingray-like creature that was “moaning like a human, not as fish, [and] weighed 200 pounds and was rotating its eyeballs.” Lovely.

I have no reason to believe this is a hoax, but upon viewing a video they have on the website, I now have my doubts. Something fishy is going on here — it’s skin looks like a rubber glove, and it’s face looks too alien-like, like someone was trying to create a mythical underwater creature. Who knows, though — there’s a lot of weird stuff coming out of Russia.

Seven Wonders of the World: Bollywood Style

by Jamie Rhein on

Can you name the Seven Wonders of the World? I made it through a partial list before I became stumped. Here’s a refresher course. In true Bollywood fashion, a musical number is linked with gorgeous costumes, scenery — and a bit of name-that-place. All are rolled into one fun package of a tour around the world to seven of it’s most famous places.

This montage is from the Indian movie, Jeans. Aishwarya Rai, actress and former Miss World, sings and dances with a mighty handsome male partner to the song “Ajooba.” They start dancing at the Great Wall of China and don’t stop until they do a dance segment at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Okay, that’s two of the wonders. What are the other five? Check the first comment to find out.

Thanks to Fahed Zariwala, uk2k4u, for sharing this on You Tube.

Paddling the Altiplano

by Erik Olsen on

Kayaker extraordinaire and videographer Alex Nicks makes me green. With envy. He is constantly globetrotting with a team of National Geographic explorers to bring us some of the most lovely and inspiring reportage from far off places where kayaks can go. And though you might not think that the Altiplano of South America is such a place (it is one of the driest places on earth and the place that most closely approximates Mars on our planet) this video shot by Alex shows what a hospitable place it actually is for kayaks.

The video here, though short, is chock full of breath-taking scenery and sweet shots, well, people paddling. The short is part of the epic paddling series Oceans 8 with Jon Bowermaster, a gadling hero. Check it out.