Remember that fast-talking fellow with all of the nifty geography lessons? The guy who sorted out the difference among Great Britain, England and the UK for us in one dandy film? Well he’s back, and he’s here to explain the proper use between The Netherlands and Holland. I won’t ruin the surprise for you, but the geographic difference was quite enlightening.
His name is CGP Grey, by the way, and he also sells T-shirts strangely. Check out his whole feed here.
Recently we reported on the discovery of King Richard III’s remains at a grave in Leicester, England. Now historians have recreated the medieval inn where he stayed the night before being killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
The Blue Boar Inn was the new, posh place to stay in late-15th-century Leicester, and so it was a natural choice for the king to rest there before facing his enemy Henry Tudor in the decisive battle of the War of the Roses.
The Guardian reports on several legends related to the inn, including that it was originally called the White Boar Inn. White boars were featured on Richard III’s coat of arms, as shown below in this Wikimedia Commons image. When the owner of the inn heard that Richard had fallen in battle and Henry Tudor had won the day, he quickly painted the boar on his sign blue and renamed the inn. Another story relates that a bag of gold was found hidden in a secret compartment in the king’s bed a century after the battle. This wasn’t the stroke of good fortune it should have been. Someone murdered the landlady to get the treasure.
By the early 19th century, the Blue Boar Inn had become a tourist attraction but that didn’t save it from being demolished in 1836. Luckily a local architect made detailed sketches of the inn along with measurements. The video explains how these were used to create a computer animation and a scale model, allowing a glimpse into what it was like to stay at an inn 500 years ago.
Oddly, the site is still used as an inn. A Travelodge stands there today.
Tis the season for holiday-themed marketing videos, but this one is so charming, it’s already on heavy rotation in my household. Pauanesia, the wonderful Auckland shop featured in our New Zealand-made souvenirs story, has just released this “Night Before Christmas” video starring their stuffed kiwi birds. The adorable and colorful birds, retro-simple stop-motion animation, and jazzy ukelele soundtrack (from Kiwi band Wellington Ukelele Orchestra) make for a lovely short.
Merry kiwi Christmas from New Zealand!
“On Tane Baum in Istanbul” from Manzara Istanbul on Vimeo.
Want to feel some holiday warm and fuzzies? Take a few minutes to enjoy this Turkish video from Manzara Istanbul, a vacation apartment rental agency in Turkey‘s most popular city. The agency is run by a German Turk, who coordinated his entire staff to sing a not-exactly-stellar but very sweet version of the Christmas carol “O Tannenbaum” (aka “O Christmas Tree”), in German, no less. It’s part music video, part travelogue of the lovely Galata neighborhood, much of it off key, but heartfelt. You can also see the making of their awesome green glass bottle Christmas tree in Istanbul, but the narration is all in German. For more information on the musicians, the (very impressive) production team behind the video has a post here.
Manzara has also released another holiday video for this year, with more endearing Turks, beautiful shots of Istanbul, and great music, but the traditional Arabesque style is a bit on the cheesy side.
Mutlu Yillar (Season’s Greetings)!
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