Tonight we fly to Germany! One thing we are excited to see are the famous "Mad King Ludwig" castles in Bavaria. They're the architecturally lavish, fairy tale fortresses that inspired the Walt Disney Cinderella Castle.
While these are beautiful, and without a doubt a marvel, I can't help but think we won't be seeing any castles as cool as this one:
Kelburn Castle in Scotland was transformed 3 years ago into a street art masterpiece by a group of Brazillian artists, commissioned by the Earl of Glasgow's children.
The city council only allowed the Earl to make the massive mural on the condition that it would only be up for 3 years. Now time is up, and the land owner is trying to make the work permanent. Unsuprisingly, some folks have a problem with this!
The Earl'ss family have lived in the grand manor for the last 800 years. I'm of the mindset that they should be able to paint their castle any way they want - historical preservation rules be damned.
I just love the juxtaposition of stoic old money splendor and bright colorful graffiti. Very Cool.
I won't be posting for awhile! Have a great start to your September, and I'll see you on the other side!
Guys guys guys guys - BIG NEWS...It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is coming back to TV in like 2 weeks and I am so excited.
But I'm also feeling kind of conflicted! Many of you probably know that this season heralds the arrival of "Fat Mac".
Rob McElhenney purportedly gained 50 lbs because "fat people are funny." But I've always thought Mac was pretty good looking! So it's weird!
It's weird though too to have a tv crush on a character who is basically a terrible person. WHATEVER. I'm looking forward to new episodes! I hope they do another musical!
It's kind of drawn me to another bit of body art inspiration:
Darwin tattoo for the win! If there is one thing I would want people to take away from a superficial look at my flesh, it's my faith in the scientific world.
There's nothing like a little mini vacation to rejuvenate! Paul and I were lucky enough to get to spend a gorgeous day in Boston yesterday, and stay over last night at a company expensed hotel. We were in town because Paul was doing a photo shoot for an article CODE magazine was doing on his work. It was a good taste of what his new modeling career will entail, glamorous wardrobe changes (they had him model in a $1000 coat!) and hotel living. (Pics to come!)
While we were in town, we decided to spend a few hours at the New England Aquarium. It was a lot of fun! It did make me discover my newest first world problem pet peeve. People were taking way - way- way too many pictures. I know that now that everybody (except me) has an android, it's really easy to take some photos. But do you really need to seize the opportunity and take pictures of every single thing you see?
Really, when you look back on your vacation pictures, are you going to be all that excited to show your friends the 100 pictures of fish you took? Especially given that there are probably pictures of these fish that exist already, many probably better quality than yours, that you can access any time?
It also seems totally impossible to actually be appreciating and enjoying the exhibits when your primary concern is flashing pictures of every single fish in the aquarium. Give it a rest!
If you're thirsty and in the mood to try something unusual, I have a recommendation!
Kelpie Seaweed Ale from Williams Brothers Brewing Co., creators of the "historic beers of Scotland". The recipe for this brew is purported to be based on 400 year old sea coast treat, which mixes seaweed and barley. If you are kind of in the mood for something dark, but feel like it's still a little early to be busting out the stout, this beer is a really good choice.
It has nice malty, chocolate, nutty flavor, but is also very light and effervescent. There's even the lightest hint of a salty smell to it, bringing out again the reminders of ocean origins.
It's definitely worth trying, especially if you want to treat your taste buds to something atypical. Good for a rainy summer evening or a night by the seashore. I give it a solid B+!
Yes! They are willing to go to all kinds of screwed up lengths to get it - even destroying somebody's home!
Not a whole lot of interesting subtext here. Just fun with gum and slapstick. Enjoy!
PS: 5:43: Another Fun fact, this happened to me when I was little, a bee getting stuck in my gum and bumbling in my mouth like that - admittedly under much different circumstances!
I was doing one these - and it flew into it! Gross!
So Cafe Press has a pretty substantial collection of fan-made Star Trek Merchandise. I was browsing through it other day. Some of the posters are really cool and well done!
Others...not so much. On that note, I present:
The Top 10 Laziest Star Trek Posters
1.
I wanted to start with this one, because it's not exactly "lazy"...it's more strange and awkward. WEIRD!
2.
3.
I should point out that there are TONS of these, one for pretty much every lead male character that has been on the show.
The X-Files are pretty cool. Last night Paul and I watched the one where a black oil slick sludge monster/ alien body snatcher body snatches its way from the ocean floor to the American heartland so it can hop in it's top secret space ship.
I really really really like to imagine that this alien and the one below are one in the same.
As some of you probably know, Paul and I have been into RPGs lately. We've been playing a bit with our good friends from out in Athol. From now on when we play- this will be my anthem -
My character is a Rogue Halfling girl. I would definitely be cut in half by Baby Cakes. My skills are mostly stealing, sneaking and hiding!
Paul and I were talking last night about the very strong parallels between what's going on in England right now, and the Rodney King/ LA Riots shit that went down almost 20 years ago. An act of perceived injustice carried out on a black man by white police officers, causing the whole community to reject the notion of law and order and use it as an excuse to riot, loot, and rob from other community members.
I felt like this video really captured the true nature of the situation, and the futility of it. In a way, it appears the police exacerbated the situation. There was already this anti-police current running through the community, and then they show up in full riot gear, making aggressive postures and preemptively blocking streets, preventing people from getting to their homes. This merely seemed to serve as the catalyst to reignite the flames.
I think this video also really captures how ineffective the police are in this ongoing situation. No meaningful weapons or means to disperse the crowd, and they're grossly outnumbered. Its almost painful to watch them shielding themselves from the things people are tossing, and getting laughed at. You can tell that their presence is a total joke to the lawbreakers. And they are laughably bad at asserting authority. You want to shout at your computer screen "arrest them or something at least! Don't just stand there!"
It makes you wonder what these riots will herald in the future for England. After the LA Riots, it seemed to become a parable for cultural awareness and acceptance, and an event that people look at as a catalyst for the suppression of racism in the community. But with the already strong anti-immigrant climate in the UK, and the rising determination to be nostalgic about "britishness", its easy to imagine that this will tip the scales to an even more fascist UK.
Tonight there will be 16,000 officers on the streets of London to restore order, and they are considering the use of rubber bullets. that's 10,000 more than the night previous. Interested to see how it plays out!
I'm sorry that we're going to miss this on our upcoming German jaunt.
For the next ten days, this neat floating installation will be gracing the waters of Alster Lake in Hamburg.
The sculpture is by Oliver Voss, and is 13 feet high and 98 feet long!
I find it pretty surprising that a local mayor has said that this is "sullying the beloved lake." I thought Germans were down with nudity here there and everywhere. And this nudity is merely implied! IMPLIED!
Over the weekend, Paul and I were up in Wells, enjoying 3 beautiful days at the beach. It was so relaxing and awesome- like a little mini-vacation.
While we were up there, I saw two people doing this:
An activity I have never seen before! I wanted to shout out "what do you call this thing you are doing?"
Well, thanks to the internet, I can shout it after the fact and get an answer. Although typing it into google is probably more effective than yelling.
It's called "stand up paddle boarding" - or 'SUP (so appropriate for surfers, amirite?).
Looking at people doing this, I thought, it doesn't look like the more comfortable/stable way to get around. Having excellent balance seems like a prerequisite to success.
However, this video proves that it is a more speedy way to get from point A to point B than I would have guessed:
The video is slighty too long, so I'll give you a hint - sup bro won. Though I can't help but think that if the kayak hadn't veered off crazily at 1:20 he would have had a better chance.
