Summer might be over, but that doesn’t mean we need to stop daydreaming about warm places and days spent at the beach. It also means that some great videos produced over the summer are now popping up on Vimeo, such as the film above by director Pau García Laita. Over the summer months, the 22-year-old filmmaker sought out to capture a day in the life of his hometown of Barcelona, Spain. From sunny shots of classic Barcelona architecture to windsurfers catching waves on the Mediterranean, the film offers a glimpse of the city that would tempt any traveler to want to hop on a plane to Spain. However, García Laita didn’t just stick to tourist trodden places; he also captured some places and spaces travelers rarely see, like the stacking of boxcars in the city’s train yard or a bird’s-eye view of some construction sites. Did he do a good job of capturing Barcelona? You tell me in the comments below.
Base Jumping Stunt In Norway Goes Terribly Wrong
Ouch! When base jumper Richard Henriksen decided to add a gymnastics element to his daring stunt, he expected everything to go smoothly. Unfortunately, Henriksen did not foresee the high bar he was performing his routine on to completely collapse, propelling him head first over a cliff.
According to news.com.au, the father of five was performing the stunt for a television program on the NRK network in Norway when the terrifying incident occurred. In the video, you can see Henriksen make one complete flip around the high bar, the crowd cheers and then everything falls apart.
Luckily, the daredevil survived the 3,937-foot fall. Narrowly missing contact with the rock face of the cliff, Henriksen managed to open his parachute on the way down.
We’re just glad he’s okay.
Paris Versus New York In Animation
I’ve fussed about the differences between Paris and New York several times in my writing career (hint, nobody is rude) but few things make the comparison better than a side-by-side video. Tony Miotto did a great job with this one on Vimeo. Its beauties, I think, are in the subtleties of the comparisons, the way the design at the Parisian Louvre parallels that of the Apple Store in Manhattan or the ways that Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle are circuitously drawn by wandering airplanes.
There’s so much happening that I had to watch the video several times to pick up on all of the quick comparisons. You should too. It’s a great video.
Video Of The Day: The ‘Wildscapes’ Of Wyoming
Wyoming, the least populous of all of the states in the United States, is also one of the most beautiful places to visit. The land is covered in mountains, foothills, prairies and high plains, nearly half of which is owned by the U.S. Government. Each year, more than six million people come to see Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park, making this one place where travelers outnumber the locals; just over 500,000 people call the state home. In today’s Video of the Day, Nicolaus Wegner attempts to capture the many varied landscapes of the state. Give it a look and you might find yourself daydreaming about a visit to the Cowboy State.
Crazy Video: Wild Arabic Dancing In Texas
Arab culture has an image problem. Most outsiders think they don’t have any fun. As one acquaintance informed me, “Arabs are a dour lot.”
He’d never actually hung out with any Arabs. Anyone who has can tell you that they do have a sense of fun, as this video shows. Uploader noxalicious tells us this was filmed in Cafe Layal in Houston, Texas. This guy gets so into the music that he ends up on a table shaking what he’s got for all it’s worth. I’ve seen guys dance like this at weddings in Egypt and parties in Syria, but they weren’t quite so … jiggly.
If you want some more Arabic humor, here’s a video about Saudis in Audis, sent to me by Facebook friend and British Muslim activist Shelina Zahra Janmohamed. Somehow it was funnier coming from her.