FC Bayern München in lederhosen

**

After defeating FC Schalke in an away game, players for FC Bayern München donned traditional Bavarian dress including the lederhosen. Of course, Oktoberfest has already started.

New York City - get fit and make music. For free.

For VMAN, Clark Cord and Matthew Terry show how New York City can provide the means of staying fit and making music, without paying a dime.

Clark "you can go down the street and work out anywhere"

VMAN 23 CLARK ll from V Magazine on Vimeo.

Matthew - shows that the city has a rhythm and beat

VMAN 23 MATT ll from V Magazine on Vimeo.

Move, Eat, Learn

STA Travel Australia commissioned Rick Mereki, Andrew Lees and Tim White to film their journey over 44 days to 11 countries on 18 flights and travelling some 38,000 miles. Their journey has been condensed into a series of one minute films, with original music by Kelsey James. More technical details from Vimeo.

(has rapidly alternating images - epilepsy/seizure warning)

Move


Eat


Learn


Now for one called Play.

Smells like Lithuania

Three enterprising Lithuanian entrepreneurs have created a scent as an olfactory reminder of Lithuania. Reported in the Guardian

Developed by Rutkauskas and two other Lithuanian entrepreneurs and produced by the French perfumery Galimard, Lietuvos Kvapas – literally, "the scent of Lithuania" – is an attempt to create a positive national brand.

"If I say chocolate and watches, what do you think? Switzerland. If I say Guinness and leprechauns? Ireland. Fish and chips? England. But here in Lithuania we don't have an internationally recognised symbol of our identity," said Rutkauskas. Since the £25 scent went on the market earlier this year, 1,000 bottles have been sold – mostly, said Rutkauskas, to local tourist offices and businessmen keen to improve Lithuania's image abroad.

The prime minister's chief of staff ordered bottles to give to the heads of other Baltic states at a recent summit, and the foreign minister sent one to every foreign ambassador in Vilnius, the capital.

The defence minister even flew 20 vials out to Afghanistan to give Lithuanian soldiers a reminder of home.

Read more. See also the Daily Telegraph. From www.lietuvoskvapas.lt

Scent is a strong emotional factor which invokes memories and associations. Therefore, there are no bad or good scents until the moment we grant them a meaning and relate them to our experiences. Our memory can preserve separate scents or their combinations and sequences. Most people can recall the scent of their childhood, homeland, heroic adventures or first love. Scents can remind us of the countries we have visited, the people we have met and the experiences we have had.

When creating the Scent of Lithuania, our goal was not only to impersonate the fragrances of the country, but also to tell a story about its cities and villages, its nature, ancient traditions and cultural heritage, the character and the achievements of its people: everything what we are justly proud of and respected for.

This is how the Legend of the Scent of Lithuania emerged and inspired the Galimard perfumers to select the distinctive scents and incorporate them into the fragrance. Only natural essences and components tested in authorized laboratories were used in the production of the Scent of Lithuania. This finest quality three-note perfume is designed for ambient scenting.

Characteristics of Lithuania are revealed in the perfume notes

Top note
Bergamot, note of wild flower bouquet, ginger, raspberry, note of red berries, grapefruit

Middle note
Lily of the valley, lilac, rose

Base note
Amber, tree moss, cedar, sandalwood, patchouli, musk, note of tree smoke

If other countries 'bottled' a characteristic scent, as an olfactory reminder, it would be interesting to find out what they choose.

There is a particular tropical smell that is characteristic of places like Bangkok and Singapore upon arriving at their airports. It's a thought to consider the next time you arrive in a new place. Close your eyes and take in the smell.

There was an interesting piece by Jason Logan in the New York Times in 2009 about the smells of Manhattan.

Vivid Sydney is vivid

Sydney's annual Festival of Light, Music and Ideas - Vivid Sydney - is on from 27 May to 13 June 2011.

Vivid Sydney will colour the city with creativity and inspiration, featuring breathtaking immersive light projections on the iconic Sydney Opera House sails, performances from local and international musicians as part of Vivid LIVE and a free outdoor exhibition of interactive light sculptures.

In 2011 the festival will also include a range of artistic collaborations, public talks and debates from leading creative thinkers from Australia and around the world, celebrating Sydney as the creative hub of the Asia Pacific.

Stunning video footage from Agence France-Presse of the launch, with the Sydney Opera House and Customs House lit up with 3D projections

Brussels metro bans French and Dutch songs, plays Lady Gaga instead

The Kingdom of Belgium has tenuously united Dutch-speaking Flemish and French-speaking Walloons since 1830. Divisions between the two groups have meant that there has been no new government since the elections of 13 June 2010.

The Brussels metro previously broadcast French music (songs) at its 69 stations. Following complaints from dozens of passengers in April, the operator of the Brussels metro STIB has banned both French and Dutch music to avoid offending customers. Dutch music had actually not been broadcast because they were not popular (in music charts) anyway.

Consequently, most music broadcast by the stations have been in English. This provided an opportunity for the promotion of Lady Gaga's latest album.

Music from French and Dutch musicians is not technically banned, provided it is sung in English.

See reporting in Le Post (in French).

Report from Le Journal on Télé Bruxelles

Lady Gaga dans le métro de Bruxelles by Zoomin_France

More on Vivian Maier

In January, I wrote about Vivian Maier, a prolific photographer from Chicago who was largely unknown until her death when some of her work was discovered.

Mother Jones recently featured some of her work in its May/June 2011 issue, 'The Best Street Photographer You've Never Heard Of' written by Alex Kotlowitz. This sums up her work well

MAIER'S WORK IS PART OF THE decades-old genre of street photography, a field that has included such giants as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, and Diane Arbus. (Judging by her collection of books on photography, Maier was likely aware of their work.) These photographers speak to the profoundly democratic impulse to acknowledge that we all have a place—that our stories matter. She took photos of the downtrodden and the well-heeled. She took photos of festive people and people in distress. She took photos of children and the aged. She took photos of whites and blacks (notable, given the times). Her work is marked by serendipity; she appeared to have no agenda, but instead captured what she stumbled upon. Joel Meyerowitz, the co-author of Bystander: A History of Street Photography and a renowned photographer in his own right, says of Maier's images: "They are full of wit and surprise and playful spirit...Her basic decent humanism is evident everywhere in her photographs."

Read more, which includes some stunning photographs.

Photograph by Vivian Maier/John Maloof Collection

Vivian Maier, photographer extraordinaire and chronicler of Chicago history.

Vivian Maier - unseen photographer

Broadcast by PBS affiliate WTTW on Chicago Tonight (22 December 2010), this story about Vivian Maier has left many historians and photographers gasping. Vivian Maier was a prolific photographer in Chicago, whose work is only now coming to light, following her death in 2009. There are more than 100,000 photographs by Maier still to be seen.



The majority of the collection is now owned by John Maloof, with around 12,000 held by Jeff Goldstein.

John Maloof, Anthony Rydzon and Lars Mortensen are in the process of producing a full-length documentary film, Finding Vivian Maier. You can back the project through Kickstarter.


A book will also be published by powerHouse Books.

See also
- article in Chicago magazine
- John Maloof's website/blog vivianmaier.com
- Jeff Goldstein's website Vivian Maier Photography
- YouTube channel vivianmaierphoto (Maier also took some video films)

James West's Thanksgiving. The other one.

How receiving somebody else's emails in error resulted in a Thanksgiving invitation. A charming story reported by CNN.



See reports in Sydney Morning Herald and Palm Beach Post.

James West's YouTube videos can be found on his webpage.

Bayerndeutschsprechen

I speak German like a country hick from the south - Bavaria. Needless to say, many Germans from the north, especially Berlin, and proper Hochdeutsch speakers treat Bavarians and Austrians with bemusement.

From NDR (based in Hamburg. In the north)


How rude!

Seeing the forest for the trees

The Curtain Fig Tree (strangler fig species Fichus virens), just outside the small township of Yungaburra on the Atherton Tableland near Cairns (in north Queensland, Australia) has been a tourist attraction for many generations.

(photo from Tropic Wings, a great tour company)

It might seem strange to travel some distance to view one tree but many people appreciate natural beauty.

Just outside San Francisco is Muir Woods, another attraction, which is a tree-lovers paradise.

Les Gitans de St. Jacques

FREELENS Galerie, in Hamburg, Germany is exhibiting photographs by Jesco Denzel about Gitans in St. Jacques, a quarter (or neighbourhood) in Perpignan, France. From Christoph Twickel, writing in Der Spiegel

Perpignan, population 120,000, is hardly a must-see on the European tourist circuit. At most, travellers might change trains here on the way from Paris to Barcelona. But the town is home to one of the few quarters in France where Gitans -- as Roma are called in French -- have found a permanent home.

Rejection

They have been there for almost two centuries. In the 15th century, Gypsies arrived on the Iberian peninsula from India via a part of Greece known at the time as "little Egypt." The Spanish referred to the newcomers as "Egiptanos," which eventually became shortened to "Gitanos" -- and in France to "Gitans." Following the French Revolution, Roma began settling on the Mediterranean coast including, in around 1920, in the St. Jacques quarter of Perpignan.

Although the Gitans in St. Jacques are not directly connected to the Roma who are currently being deported from the country by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, discrimination and integration have long been defining issues in their lives. They are all citizens of France, but poverty and illiteracy have been their constant companions. Photographer Denzel noted that the Gitans in St. Jacques prefer to stay among themselves, in part because of the rejection with which they have been confronted by French society.

Read more.


from Der Spiegel (1 of 21) by Jesco Denzel

A fascinating insight into the world of Gitans in France. The exhibition is also timely, but a pity that it is in Hamburg and not Paris.

La Tomatina

(photo by André Hänni Tortorelli 2009)

One of the world's largest food fight festivals was held today (11am local time) in Buñol, Spain. From La Tomatina (official)

It all started on the last Wednesday of August 1945, when some young people were getting fresh air in the town square. The evening did not promise much, so they decided to form part of a parade that was taking place with musicians and carnival figures of giants and enormous headed individuals. The impetus of their entry caused the fall of a participant who full of rage, began to hit everyone in his way. By a quirk of fate, there just happened to be a stand of vegetables beside them. The angry crowd started throwing tomatoes at each other until the public law put an end to the vegetable battle.

The following year, the young people repeated the tomato fight on a voluntary basis and brought tomatoes from home. Although the celebration was dissolved by the police during the following years, the boys, without knowing it, had made history. La Tomatina was banned in the early fifties, although this fact did not dissuade participants, eventhough some were arrested. But the will of the locals was heard and the celebration returned, more people took part in it and it became increasingly wild.

Again the event was canceled until 1955, when, in protest, the Burial of the Tomato was held: an event in which residents carried a coffin with a big tomato inside. The parade was accompanied by a music band playing funeral marches, and it obtained a complete success. Finally, in 1957 official permision was granted and La Tomatina festival was formaly established. After that it has been the City Councils of the municipality themselves that have organized and promoted this curious battle, that has made Buñol world famous.

The festival became popular in the rest of Spain thanks to Javier Basilio who, showed the event in a television program Informe Semanal “Week report” on Spanish TV. Since 1980, it has been the different City Councils that have supplied the tomatoes to the participants, which year after year, increase in number and enthusiasm. The success has led to have La Tomatina, of Buñol, be considered, as of August 2002, International Fiesta of Tourist Interest by the General Secretariat of Tourism of Spain.

It looks like a lot of fun. However, is it ethical to waste so much food that is perfectly edible? Even if the quantity of tomatoes (around 100,000 kilograms or 100 tonnes in 2010) was surplus to need, it required water and probably fertiliser on land that could have grown another crop.

Österreich: Arabische Touristen in Zell am See

Von ARD

Während viele Mitteleuropäer im Sommerurlaub in den sonnenverwöhnten Süden reisen, wählen immer mehr arabische Touristen aus Katar, Kuwait oder Saudi-Arabien den umgekehrten Weg. Urlaub im vergleichsweise milden Österreich und als Höhepunkt gelegentliche Regenschauer.

Interessant und wunderbar.

Louisiana. Still French.

Today's modern state of Louisiana in the United States is only a small proportion of the land territory that was sold by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803 called the Louisiana Purchase.


(map from Wikipedia, may contain errors)

Sadly, it seems that only the state of Louisiana has maintained or tried to maintain its French heritage.

There was a great article in Monocle magazine (June 2010 edition) about the revival of French language and teaching in schools in Louisiana, with the assistance of the French government.

See
- France-Louisiana Agreement
- Council for the Development of French in Louisiana/
Conseil pour le Développement du Français en Louisiane

New York? How about Newport? In South Wales, United Kingdom.

There is a Jay-Z song (featuring Alicia Keys) about New York, called Empire State of Mind.


(this video has had over 53 million views on YouTube)

A parody version called Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind) with Welsh stars Alex Warren and Terema Wainwright and directed by Morgan-Lane 'MJ' Delaney is gaining in popularity.


(this video had had nearly a million views since 20 July 2010)

Cute.

England's unofficial 'national anthem'

BBC News has reported that the hymn 'Jerusalem' music written by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916 to a William Blake poem is set to be the national anthem for the English team at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Previously, 'God Save the Queen' was played, as it currently is during the World Cup in Johannesburg. Excerpt

For the first time, Jerusalem will be played to celebrate English winners at this year's Commonwealth Games.

The anthem was chosen for medal ceremonies at the event in Delhi - ahead of the God Save The Queen and Land of Hope and Glory - after a public vote backed by Commonwealth Games England.

The words are very religious in nature:

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green
And was the holy lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen

And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark Satanic mills

Bring me my bow of burning gold
Bring me my arrows of desire
Bring me my spears o'clouds unfold
Bring me my chariot of fire

I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
'Til we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land
'Til we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land

The unofficial anthem/song of Scotland is 'Flower of Scotland'


The official anthem of Wales is 'Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau' (Land of My Fathers)


Of course, officially the national anthem of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is 'God Save the Queen'


Explaining how England, Scotland and Wales are considered to be 'countries' despite being part of sovereign state United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is another matter.

Playing the beer market

In most pubs and bars, the price of drinks are fixed. Now if the price changed based on supply and demand, it would be similar to a stock market. However, in the case of supply, there would be only one seller with a virtual monopoly.

Hence price variation would only be based on demand.

A bar in Berlin actually operates such a beer market (or Brokers Bierbörse), the Berliner Republik. They have 18 draught beers with changing prices based on demand, after 6pm daily.


photo by Melanie from holidaycheck.com

Another possible variation would be to set prices based on public auction by customers with whoever bid the most purchasing the beer. Of course, it would depend on the customers. While most would prefer to pay the lowest price, others who could afford it might turn an establishment exclusive based on wealth.

Eyjafjallajökull

According to the New York Times, Eyjafjallajökull is pronounced

EY-ya-fyat-lah-YOH-kuht

The “EY” rhymes with the word “bay.” The “k” is softer than an English “k,” almost like a hard “g.” And the “t” at the end kind of sticks for a second and pulls away with a hint of a glottal “l.”

EY-ya-fyat-lah-YOH-kuht

Say it soft and it’s almost like, “Hey, ya fergot La Yogurt.”

“The first problem for Americans is, you see this long word and don’t know where to begin, “ said Joan Maling, a professor emerita of linguistics at Brandeis University. “You don’t know how to divide it up.”

It’s simple. “Eyja” is the Icelandic word for island. “Fjalla” means mountain. “Jokull” is glacier.

But it seems even the NYT may be incorrect. From YouTube - you're doing it wrong

Die beste Currywurst der Welt

I love all kinds of wurst including Weißwurst, Bratwurst und Blutwurst. Even the popular Currywurst. Deutsche Welle reported on a gourmet snack bar in Hamburg attracting accolades for its Currywurst.

Food and Drink | 15.12.2009
Saucy sausage curries favor with food critics


A restaurant in Hamburg is going all out to cast the currywurst in a prettier light

The good old German currywurst is poised for fame. A restaurant in the northern city of Hamburg apparently does the dish so well that it even squeezed a tingle out of the hardened taste buds of the Gault Millau critics.

Exactly who invented the currywurst - that is to say, who came up with the sloppy idea of dousing a boiled sausage in ketchup and curry powder - is one of those disputes which will go on forever.

Hamburg, Berlin and the industrial Ruhr region all lay claim to this culinary delight, but if, as the saying has it, the proof is in the eating, then the city on the Elbe is the winner. And that's thanks to Curry Queen, a little place which left a pleasant taste in the mouths of some of the world's toughest food critics.


Curry Queen in Hamburg - queen of the curried sausage

When owners Sascha Basler and Bianka Habermann received a letter informing them that they would be featured in the 2010 edition of the highly renowned Gault Millau eating guide, they couldn't believe it.

"We thought it was a fake," Basler told Deutsche Welle. It was the first time a fast-food joint had made the list. But "fast-food joint" isn't quite accurate.

"We consider ourselves a wurst restaurant," said Habermann. Their large menu veal, duck, beef, pork, bison and rabbit sausages - cooked on a volcanic rock grill to keep fat to a minimum and served with different strength curry powders.

Gourmet gurus tend not to joke around and the ranking was, indeed, very real.

Feast niche

Basler and Habermann are relatively new to the gastronomy game. They both come from a music background, but after a decade and a half of seeking their luck in a thankless industry, they were ready for a new challenge.

The idea for their current venture came after they entered and reached the finals of an international cookery contest.


Eating in style

"We thought there was a real opportunity for a high-level snack bar," Habermann said. Thus, Curry Queen was born and for two years now, wurst connoisseurs have been enjoying exotic sausage varieties in a classy atmosphere, with dark wooden tables and deer antlers on the walls.

Guests can choose from seven different curry mixtures. There are also four different home-made potato salads on offer, as well as home-made ketchup and even organic red wine from Mallorca.

However, French fries - the currywurst's standard snack bar accompaniment - are not to be found in Curry Queen. "We wanted to have clean air in the restaurant," explained Habermann. "To put in a big exhaust fan, we'd have to renovate, and we've avoided doing that so far."

Next year, Habermann and Basler plan to open a second restaurant in Hamburg and ultimately have their sites set on a nationwide chain.

Berlin snack bars, be warned.

Even the Kartoffelsalat is a good idea. See - Curry Queen.

Most train stations (Hauptbahnhof) in Germany have sausage stands, Munich in particular having some great ones. In Berlin, these are also found on street corners. Curry Queen has raised the bar. A lot.

See also visual