All the firsts for me in the last month:
- first time to Vancouver: potentially nice city to live in but boring to visit
- first time to the Canadian Rockies: beautiful, particularly the different coloured lakes due to the rock flour ground up by the glaciers
- first time to Philadelphia: historical town but hot and humid!
- first Philly Cheese Steak: what's the big deal about these? They aren't so great!
- first time to Pittsburgh: also a nice city to live in but not a lot of tourist attractions
- first hummingbird - seen in Si-lam and Alicia's herbs. It was really big! I always thought they were really, really small.
- first county fair: the Yamhill County Fair in McMinnville, which according to Alicia was very traditional and hasn't moved with the times (certainly looked like the way county fairs from 100 years ago are described in the books I read as a kid)
- first rodeo: it was at the county fair. As with the bullfight in Madrid, cheap and little gets you mediocre performers - there were more misses than hits but I was impressed with the fact that cowgirls have a proper competition (skills-based, not beauty-based) and there was a competition where the cowboys throw themselves off their horses onto the calves to bring them down and under control.
- first monk-made fudge: the Brigittine monks (founded in the 1300s) are now extinct except for a monastery in Oregon (of all places!) where they make fudge as a sideline.
- first sweet potato fries: yum!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The revelation of the World Cup - Paul the Octopus
Paul the Octopus has been predicting all of Germany's games for the last 2 years with an eerie level of accuracy. He managed to correctly predict the outcomes of all 7 of Germany's games at the World Cup, including their shock loss to Serbia and their loss to Spain in the semi final. This begs the question: did psychic waves of Germany's wins/losses cause Paul's predictions or did Paul's predictions cause Germany's results? ;)
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Valencia and the Holy Grail
At Easter, I went to Valencia to see the ultimate in holy relics - the Holy Grail.
The Valencian people do not seem to realise that they have a great tourist attraction in their city - the one Holy Grail in the world that is officially recognised by the Vatican. The websites on the subject are remarkably poor, the tourism office is poorly informed and the brochures have the wrong information. Contrary to what we were told and able to discern from all of the sources, the cathedral was not open on Good Friday, it did not cost anything to go in (we just walked in) and there was no museum associated with it.
It is located in a little chapel inside the cathedral with a little sign pointing the way to the chapel but not saying that the holy grail is in there (I had to ask the desk in cathedral). It sits cordoned off high up on a shelf behind 2 glass cases with a gold background, making it very difficult to see clearly. The actual cup is a plain bowl perched on the top of a bejewelled stem, which was made in the 11th or 12th century, I suppose to make it more special. Reminds me of Indiana Jones... :)
The old town surrounding the cathedral is tired and worn. The beach is likewise. They are not what you would expect from a seaside resort town.
The other thing that Valencia is famous for is the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, a series of futuristic buildings housing the Performing Arts Centre, Science Museum, IMAX theatre and Aquarium. The white tiles and shallow pools reflect the sun. They really are very impressive & beautiful.
The food in Valencia was very good. The seafood was all delicious and the oranges were sooo sweet! They must keep all the good ones for themselves and export the inferior product. The one other thing I found in Valencia is cafe bomba - an expresso with condensed milk - yum! I had 3!
The Valencian people do not seem to realise that they have a great tourist attraction in their city - the one Holy Grail in the world that is officially recognised by the Vatican. The websites on the subject are remarkably poor, the tourism office is poorly informed and the brochures have the wrong information. Contrary to what we were told and able to discern from all of the sources, the cathedral was not open on Good Friday, it did not cost anything to go in (we just walked in) and there was no museum associated with it.
It is located in a little chapel inside the cathedral with a little sign pointing the way to the chapel but not saying that the holy grail is in there (I had to ask the desk in cathedral). It sits cordoned off high up on a shelf behind 2 glass cases with a gold background, making it very difficult to see clearly. The actual cup is a plain bowl perched on the top of a bejewelled stem, which was made in the 11th or 12th century, I suppose to make it more special. Reminds me of Indiana Jones... :)
The old town surrounding the cathedral is tired and worn. The beach is likewise. They are not what you would expect from a seaside resort town.
The other thing that Valencia is famous for is the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, a series of futuristic buildings housing the Performing Arts Centre, Science Museum, IMAX theatre and Aquarium. The white tiles and shallow pools reflect the sun. They really are very impressive & beautiful.
The food in Valencia was very good. The seafood was all delicious and the oranges were sooo sweet! They must keep all the good ones for themselves and export the inferior product. The one other thing I found in Valencia is cafe bomba - an expresso with condensed milk - yum! I had 3!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Go the French!
Fantastic! In the midst of the madness of the volcanic ash cloud grounding all flights around Europe, people are struggling to get back home in a rather Amazing Race-style way. They are taking all forms of land and sea transport: rental cars, taxis, trains, buses, cruise ships, cargo ships etc. Enter the French train employees. They have gone on strike! Awesome! Don't ever let natural disasters get in the way of your industrial action!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
The Last Supper
A couple of weeks ago I saw The Last Supper by da Vinci, which sits inside the refectory (dining hall) of the Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.
The painting has gone through hell in the last 500 years and so is now extremely fragile. da Vinci didn't use the usual fresco technique of painting on wet plaster because he wanted time to contemplate the piece (it took 5 years to complete). Due to this, the painting started to flake and crack with the wall even during his lifetime. The painting got so dark that it was not recognisable and at this time, the stupid monks cut off Jesus's feet when they made the doorway under the painting taller. Several restoration attempts in the 1700s made the situation worse. Subsequently it was used as an armory, a barn and a prison. A few more restoration attempts were done in the early 1900s before the refectory was struck by a bomb in WWII. Finally, in 1977, Pinin Brambilla Barcilon began a 22 year restoration to bring it to its current state. She cleaned the whole painting and then used watercolour to touch up parts of it.
They have a whole bunch of 'airlocks' on the way in and on the way out to help protect it. Only 25 people are allowed in at any one time and only for 15 minutes. The hall is quite long with The Last Supper on one end and the crucifixion is on the other end (painted by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano), which, unfortunately, nobody looks at much.
There are a lot of details in the painting. Jesus's blue cloak represents the resurrection and the red robe represents death/blood. Peter's knife is to do with his reaction to Jesus's arrest. Judas's arm is knocking over salt, which represents his betrayal of Jesus. He also has a bag of money. There is a fish on the table, bread, glasses (no cup!) and there is an orange, which I think the guide said represents redemption. There are hooks on the tops of the tapestries in the background. Thomas's finger points up as it is referring to him doubting Jesus's resurrection and putting his finger in the holes. There is embroidery on the tablecloth. Jesus's robe was painted with 70% lapis lazuli, the really expensive blue paint whereas Judas's robe was painted using cheaper copper based blue.
The painting has light coming from the windows in the background but also from the left side as you face it. This is so that it looks like the painting is part of the room as there used to be windows to the left of the painting and natural sunlight would shine on it.
The guide was an art historian. She said, contrary to what Da Vinci Code says, John is on Jesus's right side. :) He's supposed to be 16, which is why he looks like a girl. She got a bit pissed off later when some of the tourists asked why people knew it wasn't a woman. I can't believe people have been so influenced by one book (a work of fiction, no less!). Where do people think that John went if that really was Mary?
In other news, I went to Dr Johnson's House yesterday. This was the house that Samuel Johnson lived in while he produced the dictionary. I don't recommend a visit. There were only 2 redeeming features of the house that almost made the £4.50 entry fee worth it.
The house is symmetrical with a staircase in the middle, a big landing on each floor and 2 rooms on either side of the landing. On the first floor, there are 2 walls on hinges, with 2 doors built into each of them. These 2 walls can be swung into position to make 2 rooms and the landing or can be swung back to create one big room. The doors in one wall then match the stairs from the ground floor and the stairs leading to the second floor. The other wall then shuts in a tiny little alcove at the window. Cool feature no. 1. I might put something like that in my house.
Cool feature no. 2: the front door. It is no longer used (you come in through a door at the side of the house). There are spikes across the glass above the door to prevent thieves from boosting little children in, a la Oliver. Then, there is the chain. It is enormous. It swings right across the door with each chain link about 5cm wide and 10cm long. The end is latched onto a big corkscrew. The reason for the corkscrew is so that thieves can't lower a hook to pull the chain off; you need the dexterity of 2 hands to release the chain.
The painting has gone through hell in the last 500 years and so is now extremely fragile. da Vinci didn't use the usual fresco technique of painting on wet plaster because he wanted time to contemplate the piece (it took 5 years to complete). Due to this, the painting started to flake and crack with the wall even during his lifetime. The painting got so dark that it was not recognisable and at this time, the stupid monks cut off Jesus's feet when they made the doorway under the painting taller. Several restoration attempts in the 1700s made the situation worse. Subsequently it was used as an armory, a barn and a prison. A few more restoration attempts were done in the early 1900s before the refectory was struck by a bomb in WWII. Finally, in 1977, Pinin Brambilla Barcilon began a 22 year restoration to bring it to its current state. She cleaned the whole painting and then used watercolour to touch up parts of it.
They have a whole bunch of 'airlocks' on the way in and on the way out to help protect it. Only 25 people are allowed in at any one time and only for 15 minutes. The hall is quite long with The Last Supper on one end and the crucifixion is on the other end (painted by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano), which, unfortunately, nobody looks at much.
There are a lot of details in the painting. Jesus's blue cloak represents the resurrection and the red robe represents death/blood. Peter's knife is to do with his reaction to Jesus's arrest. Judas's arm is knocking over salt, which represents his betrayal of Jesus. He also has a bag of money. There is a fish on the table, bread, glasses (no cup!) and there is an orange, which I think the guide said represents redemption. There are hooks on the tops of the tapestries in the background. Thomas's finger points up as it is referring to him doubting Jesus's resurrection and putting his finger in the holes. There is embroidery on the tablecloth. Jesus's robe was painted with 70% lapis lazuli, the really expensive blue paint whereas Judas's robe was painted using cheaper copper based blue.
The painting has light coming from the windows in the background but also from the left side as you face it. This is so that it looks like the painting is part of the room as there used to be windows to the left of the painting and natural sunlight would shine on it.
The guide was an art historian. She said, contrary to what Da Vinci Code says, John is on Jesus's right side. :) He's supposed to be 16, which is why he looks like a girl. She got a bit pissed off later when some of the tourists asked why people knew it wasn't a woman. I can't believe people have been so influenced by one book (a work of fiction, no less!). Where do people think that John went if that really was Mary?
In other news, I went to Dr Johnson's House yesterday. This was the house that Samuel Johnson lived in while he produced the dictionary. I don't recommend a visit. There were only 2 redeeming features of the house that almost made the £4.50 entry fee worth it.
The house is symmetrical with a staircase in the middle, a big landing on each floor and 2 rooms on either side of the landing. On the first floor, there are 2 walls on hinges, with 2 doors built into each of them. These 2 walls can be swung into position to make 2 rooms and the landing or can be swung back to create one big room. The doors in one wall then match the stairs from the ground floor and the stairs leading to the second floor. The other wall then shuts in a tiny little alcove at the window. Cool feature no. 1. I might put something like that in my house.
Cool feature no. 2: the front door. It is no longer used (you come in through a door at the side of the house). There are spikes across the glass above the door to prevent thieves from boosting little children in, a la Oliver. Then, there is the chain. It is enormous. It swings right across the door with each chain link about 5cm wide and 10cm long. The end is latched onto a big corkscrew. The reason for the corkscrew is so that thieves can't lower a hook to pull the chain off; you need the dexterity of 2 hands to release the chain.
De-icing Planes
On my trips through various airports around Europe in the last few months, I have had the pleasure of watching the de-icing of planes, which I found extremely interesting. I can see your eyes glazing over already...
Firstly, there were a couple of different processes - sometimes the planes were de-iced at their stands and sometimes they were de-iced just in front of the runway. I couldn't see that it would make that much difference to the danger of ice reforming in such a short time (the ambient temperature was actually higher in the 'runway' airport as opposed to the 'stand' airports).
Secondly, there were several different de-icing truck types. 1) The one used by Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport was a super-duper high-tech one with an enclosed cabin and remote controls to shoot the antifreeze liquid onto the wings. A guy in the truck drove it around while the guy in the cabin controlled the de-icing. When it was done, the guy got out of the cabin, walked down some steps built into the crane shaft and when he was on the ground, the cabin folded down neatly into the body of the truck. 2) The ones used at Schiphol were 1-man trucks with a crane and cameras, lights and de-icing hoses at the top. 3) The most common one was used by British Airways at Frankfurt, among others, and was a 2-man truck with a cherry-picker open basket-type arrangement. The guy stood in the cherry picker with a gun/hose in his hand and lent out of the basket to do the de-icing. I am convinced that this 3rd truck is not great from an OHS point of view. None of the men had breathing apparatus or even simple masks on while leaning out of an open basket several metres above the ground in a windy & cold airport apron, kicking up an enormous spray of hot, fluorescent green, anti-freeze liquid. Not a job I'll be applying for in the near future.
While I'm on the subject of snow, ice and cold, the UK is the worst of all the European countries I've been to in dealing with snow and ice on public streets. When the snow came down, the streets and pavements became treacherous. People slipped and slid across the ice. After a similar size dump of snow in Frankfurt overnight, I emerged at 8am from my hotel to find a clean little path, devoid of any snow, ice, mud or dirt, all the way to the office. I was most impressed. I expressed my surprise at this efficiency to my client, who said, 'Of course it is clean and clear! Why wouldn't it be?!' : ) The Dutch are slower to clear the snow but likewise end up with pristine pathways and the Slovaks have a bit of slush, though they do have 4-5 foot high banks of snow against the walls & fences.
I am sooo over the cold, snow, wind and darkness. Seasonal effect is most definitely real.
Firstly, there were a couple of different processes - sometimes the planes were de-iced at their stands and sometimes they were de-iced just in front of the runway. I couldn't see that it would make that much difference to the danger of ice reforming in such a short time (the ambient temperature was actually higher in the 'runway' airport as opposed to the 'stand' airports).
Secondly, there were several different de-icing truck types. 1) The one used by Lufthansa at Frankfurt airport was a super-duper high-tech one with an enclosed cabin and remote controls to shoot the antifreeze liquid onto the wings. A guy in the truck drove it around while the guy in the cabin controlled the de-icing. When it was done, the guy got out of the cabin, walked down some steps built into the crane shaft and when he was on the ground, the cabin folded down neatly into the body of the truck. 2) The ones used at Schiphol were 1-man trucks with a crane and cameras, lights and de-icing hoses at the top. 3) The most common one was used by British Airways at Frankfurt, among others, and was a 2-man truck with a cherry-picker open basket-type arrangement. The guy stood in the cherry picker with a gun/hose in his hand and lent out of the basket to do the de-icing. I am convinced that this 3rd truck is not great from an OHS point of view. None of the men had breathing apparatus or even simple masks on while leaning out of an open basket several metres above the ground in a windy & cold airport apron, kicking up an enormous spray of hot, fluorescent green, anti-freeze liquid. Not a job I'll be applying for in the near future.
While I'm on the subject of snow, ice and cold, the UK is the worst of all the European countries I've been to in dealing with snow and ice on public streets. When the snow came down, the streets and pavements became treacherous. People slipped and slid across the ice. After a similar size dump of snow in Frankfurt overnight, I emerged at 8am from my hotel to find a clean little path, devoid of any snow, ice, mud or dirt, all the way to the office. I was most impressed. I expressed my surprise at this efficiency to my client, who said, 'Of course it is clean and clear! Why wouldn't it be?!' : ) The Dutch are slower to clear the snow but likewise end up with pristine pathways and the Slovaks have a bit of slush, though they do have 4-5 foot high banks of snow against the walls & fences.
I am sooo over the cold, snow, wind and darkness. Seasonal effect is most definitely real.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Avatar and the British Movie Experience
I went to watch Avatar at the O2 yesterday and experienced a bizarre, but not atypical of British cinemas, sequence of events.
The movie was advertised to start at 1.40pm. I got there with 25 minutes to spare and bought a ticket with Screen 7 written on it. I found a sign pointing to Screens 6-10 hidden behind one of those big cardboard ads for an upcoming film. There was an escalator running downwards towards the main foyer next to this. On the other side of the foyer was a sign pointing towards Screens 1-5. It turned out that this was where you were supposed to go (and you were supposed to know this). Everyone was milling around the foyer not sure what to do.
I finally found my way into Screen 7 at 1.40, at which point in Aussie cinemas, ads would be showing. Nothing. Black screen. Almost 10 minutes later, the ads start rolling.
Another 5 minutes pass by and they start with the trailers. 5 minutes after that, a movie starts. But, it's the wrong movie! They started playing Toy Story 2 3D! Hysterical!
90% of the audience got up and headed for the door. I stayed put. What were the chances that 150 people had got the screen wrong vs them putting the wrong reel on? Anyway, another 5 minutes passes and the movie stops, people sit down (with a girl coming and sitting right beside me) and the movie starts for real.
Midway through the film, the girl next to me starts to snore! What the...? Anyway, she wakes up after a while and then starts to text on her phone. At about the same time, the girl a couple of seats on my other side starts to look at her phone. Maybe they were texting each other... :) A little while later, a girl somewhere behind me starts talking on her phone! What is wrong with people?! What can possibly be so important that you can't have your phone off for a few hours?
Halfway through the credits, they turned the film off! I couldn't believe it. The couple of extra minutes was surely not going to affect their schedule, particularly as the cleaning crew was already in and working.
Finally, there was a sign saying 'Way Out' but it wasn't the Way Out, it was the Way In. The real Way Out had no signage.
This is the 4th or so British cinema I've been in and they are all pretty bad, this one being a particularly poor outlier. It was not that I, being a foreigner, was not understanding the intricacies of the British cinema experience, the Brits themselves were all confused too. How difficult can it be to start on time, get the right movie on, put the right signage in the right place and play the film right through to the end?
Anyway, to the film itself.
It was visually spectacular, the computer graphics were beautiful, the storyline pathetic. When I think of the phenomenal movies James Cameron directed early in his career, e.g. Alien and Terminator, on limited budgets, his later films just don't cut the mustard. His career is almost exactly like Zhang Ye Mou's, in that they had incredibly powerful films early on, with strong female leads (Gong Li for Zhang and Linda Hamilton & Sigourney Weaver for Cameron) and have both degenerated to all style and no substance. Titanic was one of the worst movies ever made for massive amounts of money and here, Cameron was saved by the technology. I learnt, from the credits before they were cut short, that the special effects were done by Weta, the NZ company responsible for LOTR. 10 years on, they are still run by the same people and are going from strength to strength.
Avatar still has the strong female characters, 3 of them, in fact, but also has a cardboard cut-out baddie and plot 'twists' that were telegraphed several scenes before they happened. Overall, though, a good piece of entertainment if you switch your brain off and let the stunning visual effects take you along for the ride.
The movie was advertised to start at 1.40pm. I got there with 25 minutes to spare and bought a ticket with Screen 7 written on it. I found a sign pointing to Screens 6-10 hidden behind one of those big cardboard ads for an upcoming film. There was an escalator running downwards towards the main foyer next to this. On the other side of the foyer was a sign pointing towards Screens 1-5. It turned out that this was where you were supposed to go (and you were supposed to know this). Everyone was milling around the foyer not sure what to do.
I finally found my way into Screen 7 at 1.40, at which point in Aussie cinemas, ads would be showing. Nothing. Black screen. Almost 10 minutes later, the ads start rolling.
Another 5 minutes pass by and they start with the trailers. 5 minutes after that, a movie starts. But, it's the wrong movie! They started playing Toy Story 2 3D! Hysterical!
90% of the audience got up and headed for the door. I stayed put. What were the chances that 150 people had got the screen wrong vs them putting the wrong reel on? Anyway, another 5 minutes passes and the movie stops, people sit down (with a girl coming and sitting right beside me) and the movie starts for real.
Midway through the film, the girl next to me starts to snore! What the...? Anyway, she wakes up after a while and then starts to text on her phone. At about the same time, the girl a couple of seats on my other side starts to look at her phone. Maybe they were texting each other... :) A little while later, a girl somewhere behind me starts talking on her phone! What is wrong with people?! What can possibly be so important that you can't have your phone off for a few hours?
Halfway through the credits, they turned the film off! I couldn't believe it. The couple of extra minutes was surely not going to affect their schedule, particularly as the cleaning crew was already in and working.
Finally, there was a sign saying 'Way Out' but it wasn't the Way Out, it was the Way In. The real Way Out had no signage.
This is the 4th or so British cinema I've been in and they are all pretty bad, this one being a particularly poor outlier. It was not that I, being a foreigner, was not understanding the intricacies of the British cinema experience, the Brits themselves were all confused too. How difficult can it be to start on time, get the right movie on, put the right signage in the right place and play the film right through to the end?
Anyway, to the film itself.
It was visually spectacular, the computer graphics were beautiful, the storyline pathetic. When I think of the phenomenal movies James Cameron directed early in his career, e.g. Alien and Terminator, on limited budgets, his later films just don't cut the mustard. His career is almost exactly like Zhang Ye Mou's, in that they had incredibly powerful films early on, with strong female leads (Gong Li for Zhang and Linda Hamilton & Sigourney Weaver for Cameron) and have both degenerated to all style and no substance. Titanic was one of the worst movies ever made for massive amounts of money and here, Cameron was saved by the technology. I learnt, from the credits before they were cut short, that the special effects were done by Weta, the NZ company responsible for LOTR. 10 years on, they are still run by the same people and are going from strength to strength.
Avatar still has the strong female characters, 3 of them, in fact, but also has a cardboard cut-out baddie and plot 'twists' that were telegraphed several scenes before they happened. Overall, though, a good piece of entertainment if you switch your brain off and let the stunning visual effects take you along for the ride.
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