Fuzzy Bus

Where on this planet can you find a place that brings together two passions at once — art and shopping?  Singapore provides the answer to this question in the form of Vivocity in the Harbourfront Precinct.  Travelers in the hotels of Singapore will discover a building designed by world renowned architect Toyo Ito, in his first major project outside of Japan.  Vivocity’s design is meant to evoke the idea of sea waves, and its home to entertainment and shopping businesses, providing an excellent environment in which to relax.  As the largest retail center in Singapore, the shopping practically takes care of itself, but what about the art?  There are six major works by international artists at Vivocity for its patrons to enjoy.

On the Harbourfront boardwalk, you’ll find a twenty foot tall sphere of flowers by Korea’s Choi Jeong-Hwa.  Set among the Promenade’s trees, it brings a great deal of color to its setting.  The Flower Tree causes people to stop and almost literally smell the flowers.  From the Netherlands, Marc Ruygrok has created Gogo, a thirty-three foot tall rocket, colored a brilliant red, that greets patrons as they enter the parking area of Vivocity.  It resembles a rocketship one might find in a science fiction B-movie from the 1950s.  Then there’s an elongated Snowman, another tall work at forty-three feet, also on the Promenade, rising high above the second story terrace and looking into the third story Sky Park.  Inges Idee from Germany has provided Vivocity with gigantic Snowflakes, each about three feet wide, sitting atop the Sky Park.  Combining this art work with that of the Snowman, there’s a curious comment on nature, snowflakes and snowmen sitting in the tropics, the man-made version of these items lasting even in the warm 80 degree heat of Singapore.

If you’re of a more romantic frame of mind, you’ll discover Aphrodite’s Roses, a series of four giant rose blooms that serve as seating for the patrons, designed by Hiroshi Yoshimiza from Japan.  The sculpture, There, by Netherland’s Henk Visch, depicts a gymnast going through a work out on a horizontal bar some twenty feet above the water.   Finally, you have Vivo Punch, work created by Hong Kong’s Michael Cheung, also known as Punchman.  His human-like figures are playful and colorful and add an extra level of energy to the Sky Park.  For those engaged in the eternal struggle between art and commerce, they may find a merger of the two at Vivocity.

The dead of winter is full-on in Dayton, Ohio. My family was stuck in our hotel for a whole day, there was a blizzard blowing outside. But, that didn’t deter us the next day from the main reason we were here, to visit the National Museum of the United States Air Force located just an hour’s drive west of Columbus, which is where we live. We weren’t planning on staying the night, but then we weren’t expecting to be in a blizzard either. We were lucky to make it off the interstate all in one piece and lucky to find a hotel in Dayton close to the museum.

My wife wasn’t too thrilled that I took the kids out in a snow storm, but we had Cabin fever real bad, we were all going batty and the kids had that wild eye look on their faces, a look that they were just about ready to tear our home apart! So, I did the only thing I knew how to do, get them and me out of the house.

The museum is free! The exhibits are organized chronologically, beginning with the Wright Brothers and continuing onward up to today: Air Power, Modern Flight, Cold War, Missiles and finally the Space Gallery. My kids thought I was crazy by taking them here, but once they got inside, I lost track of them (don’t tell my wife), they each had their own interest concerning what era of flight they were interested in.  My kid’s range from 4 years to 9 years, the younger ones really just enjoyed seeing something new, and didn’t hold their attention for long, and while running and screaming through the museum is discouraged, my kids where just glad to be out of the house, and out of our hotel room.

The layout of the museum is very easy to navigate, and there are guided tours, which are also free of charge. There’s even an Imax theater, a Morphis Movie Ride, a cafe and a gift shop. Actually, there was way too much for us to see in one day. But, at least the change of scenery was hopefully enough to tackle my children’s winter restlessness. The trip to the Air Force Museum in Dayton is the perfect solution for a case of cabin fever.

Clothes for a Summer Hotel continues its short run at the Hudson Guild in New York. It’s a hot item and popular with many tourists, as well as residents, so guests staying in some of Manhattan’s best hotels should try and get their tickets as soon as possible. Also, remember that there are some great theatre packages available in New York for accommodations, dinners and a show so make sure and check out all of your available options. New York is known for having the best theatre, the best dining options and hotel accommodations, to there is no way to lose when making plans to visit the city and enjoy its diverse features.

Clothes for a Summer Hotel was written by Tennessee Williams who is well known for his great, and sometimes cryptic dialogue and well formed female characters. In fact he has created some of the most famous characters from women on the American Stage. This is the case with this play, though interestingly one of the main female characters is based on real life famous personality, Zelda Fitzgerald. The play is one of Williams’ ghost plays and deals with the restless spirits of another literary great F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. The two were known in real life for their extremely passionate and somewhat unconventional relationship and this continues in their afterlife.

The script takes strong liberties with concepts such as timelines, dates and chronological associations, which is frequently the case when created great drama from dramatic life contexts. In addition, the play deals with the ghosts of these characters so that is already extending the typical suspension of disbelieve which is a traditional theatrical convention. The past and present fuse into a stream of experiences and the story features an appearance from lively characters such as Ernest Hemingway. It is only schedule to run through the 21st of this month, so get your tickets fast.

I always secretly wanted to be Biff.  Maybe it’s not all that secret.  When I was in high school, I was on the wrestling team every year, and I did not want to take drama, but I had to.  There was something about it being the only elective left, and there was one other except for drama and that was homemaking class.  So it was just drama that was open, and that’s what I decided to take but I didn’t want to.  But then I started to be in the class and it was interesting, and then I started doing a scene about the guy in sales, the guy who dies.  

That was a very different play and I liked it a lot because I got to play Biff, and everyone told me I nailed it.  I didn’t know you could nail it in a drama class, but I did, and that was good.  I don’t know what I did, but there was a moment when I was deciding to think about how I was mad at someone who took some cash from my wallet and I decided to think about that, and then I don’t remember the rest.  That was a few years ago, and now I’m sometimes going to check into these New York business hotels because that sounds like something Biff would do, and I wait to have meetings with a boss the next day.

But you know what?  Just like in the play, there’s no meeting.  I’m not there to meet anyone.  It’s sad.  I’m there not to meet anyone but just so I can say I did, because I don’t know why I do it.  There’s something about this Biff Loman that makes me feel like I’m reminded of someone who is me.  And I think if I were like the guy who wrote the play so he could marry Marilyn Monroe, that would be all right, too, but it would have to a be a younger one, because she’s got to be like way old by now.

I inherited the duplicates of an old stamp collection when I was 6 years old. The images on the stamps fascinated me. All the different colors and pictures of plants, animals, people, landscapes, seascapes, air craft, rockets, flowers, nuts, seeds, events and on and on and on. A a child you would have thought I would have been drawn to colorful multi colored stamps. But I was not, I really like the detail in the usually monochromatic engraved stamps. Some of the engraved stamps were in two colors the order in one color and the vignette in another color. I love the detail and little line that went into making up the image, I love looking at these under a magnifying glass. The stamps I got were from all over the world some of the stamps were 100 years old. The old paper intrigued me it was different then the paper of the newer stamps. The memories came back one day in Barcelona, I stepped from my Barcelona boutique hotel and saw a Spanish street scene that reminded me of an image I had seen on a stamp as a child. I learned a lot about the world from those stamps. Some had markings and symbols unrecognizable to me so I looked them up in a little book I had that would decode the symbols and identify the stamps country of origin. With that information I could locate the stamps rightful place in the album. With the identification of the country of origin I then looked on a map, if I was unfamiliar, to locate where on earth the country was located. Many stamps commemorated events in history I would be intrigued to find out more about these events learning history in bits an pieces.  I spent many long hours at this pursuit.

“There’s no way I’m jumping off this. Just no way.” We were standing on the Bloukrantz bridge, the highest bungee jumping bridge in the world, and a couple chaps were about to hook me up to the big bungee and heave me over. I looked down at the South African ravine, more like a canyon, and felt woozy just looking. Amy, however, was as nonchalant as an astronaut, and, as it turned out, righteous as a fist.  The blokes at any of the luxury hotels Cape Town will suggest this bridge with a certain glee, and as we ate ice cream back at Cape, Amy the Daredevil talked me into it. I had met her sea kayaking in Alaska six months ago when she was on break from the Women’s Professional Demolition Derby circuit (I didn’t believe it either) and looked about ready to wrestle one of the killer whale that came up to our kayaks thirty miles from Valdez. She’s gotten me to skydive for the first time and to eat raw oysters, but this was going a bit far.  I just couldn’t see jumping off a perfectly good bridge with a rubber band around my legs. The whole thought made me blanch.

Then with a mighty cry of Geronimo! (I didn’t think any one ever said that any more) off she went, blond hair streaming back like a maned lioness, as she positively dove off the lip of the bridge to the wild green and mottle brown yonder of the spanned crevice. Later in Cape Town with a bottle of African red and a springbok steak, I had to admit I admired her fortitude, but sitting her on the terrace with my love was more my speed. I’ll leave the diving to others.

I’m a cricket fan. I’m an Aussie who lives in London. I love food. So, when I read that Cardiff had a festival which combined the two, cricket and food, I just had to go. I made reservations at a Cardiff Hotel and drove as fast as I could away from London and on over to Wales.

The two events Cricket and Food are actually two separate events, but for me that didn’t matter. I’ll be able to feast on the sporting excellence of a Cricket game and also sample culinary excellence at the Food and Drink Festival after the game. Seems like pure heaven to me. When I arrived, checked in and headed off to the Cricket Match where I got to see the npower Ashes Test in Sohphia Gardens, it was easy for me to obtain information about where to go for the food and drink festival after the game. I was able to hop onto a water taxi from the Swalec Stadium and dropped back off at Cardiff Bay. Right where the Food and Drink festival was happening. I felt right at home with an array of Aussie wines, foods and ingredients. See, there was a special Aussie Zone in a restaurant located in the Wales Millennium Center. Of course there were delicious foods from Wales to sample, and from around the world. Have about three full hours of sampling my way through the festival, I had a chance to chill out with a cool drink with views over the water.

The next day, I treated myself to other events which the festival offered. There was a craft market and a farmer’s market which were very nice, I even got to create my own dish using local produce from the farmers market, but what I really enjoyed was taking a workshop to learn how to make artisan ice-cream and a master wine class. By the time I got back to my hotel room that evening, I was satiated, happy and floating in memories of Cricket and fine cuisine.

I have a philosophy that I would like to very much like to immerse myself into the culture of any place I visit. Right now I’m visiting Australia for a whole month. I began as a very outgoing person with everyone I met, especially all the hotel staff at the various Hotels Sydney Australia where I have stayed. I found many staff members my age so I could invite them, when they got off work, to join me when I went out and about in Sydney.

Some even invited me over to their homes and cooked dinner for me. One staff member even invited me to experience a real Aussie barbecue. Everything was on the grill, chicken, beef, sausages, vegetables like beet root. It was really fantastic. With getting to know the working class, I felt like a became more and more Australian. Of course, my mannerisms, haircut and language gave me away as a foreigner right away.

I had enough time to enroll in a Australian Wildlife Biology class that offered field trips. My first destination was Smith’s Lake, about 2 hours north of Sydney, a very remote place in the wilderness, or the ‘bush’ as the Aussie’s say. I managed to make fast friends with the other students, who were all Australians. Being outback is a very good way to immerse one self into the culture. Our campsite at Smith’s Lake was extremely rustic. No fresh water, we had to brush our teeth and bath in brackish water. We were constantly being attacked by swarms of insects, and leeches! We all felt like we were on the side of a losing battle, which definitely helped my fellow classmates and me bond even better than expected.

Most of out days were spent exploring different parts of the marshes and the woodlands. We got to team up and analyze various fauna and flora species and we even got to set traps for animals. We caught possum and rats mostly. I learned a lot and really felt a true connection with the Australian way of life, well bush life anyway. I was fully immersed.

When traveling the streets of Malaga, Spain in August, its hottest month of the year, one just might stumble across one of two fairs. The Holy week and the Feria de Malaga, Malaga Fair. At the culturally enriching Malaga Fair, the streets are filled with sweet wines, tapas, and of course this country’s most popular style of music and dance – flamenco. It is believed that the roots of flamenco dance date back to the Spanish Inquisition. The term flamenco was at that time synonymous with Gitano or gypsy. During the Inquisition, gypsies were persecuted and thrust into the ghettos, where it is said that this isolation protected their freedom of expression, which became an exploratory period for the art form of flamenco dancing. If you are not able to travel to Malaga in August, Carlos Saura’s 1992 documentary film Sevillanas is another means of accessing the true flavor of flamenco music and dance. If you are able to get there, however, there are a plethora of four and five star hotels Malaga Spain has to offer. If Holy Week is your fair of choice, then perhaps staying at the Petit Palace Plaza Malaga would be more appropriate as there is there is a view of the well-known lop-sided Cathedral, which is situated on the corner of Calle Larios.

One of this region’s native sons, Hollywood superstar Antonio Banderas, began studying acting at the School of Dramatic Art in Malaga. The future Mask of Zoro star began rehearsing his rebellious ways early, when he was arrested at age fourteen for performing in a Bertolt Brecht play, which was forbidden because of political censorship. Banderas had given up his dream to become a soccer player and chose acting as his new profession after breaking his foot and subsequently seeing a performance of Hair. His futbol roots do not go unrecognized, however, as he financially invests in Malaga’s home team Malaga CF.

For five-star hotels, Mumbai is in an enviable position in the world. One of the most fascinating places on earth, Mumbai is a constant re-blending of cultures, languages, and worlds. There are some who say that India is a huge country, and others who insist that there is no such place, because there are many Indias, all constantly in a state of evolution and change, always fascinating, baffling, and in motion. The hotels here capture a spirit of rejuvenation in the midst of the ocean of activity, blending the old and the new, tradition and innovation, in our accommodations. There is an impeccable sense of style and design, that is simultaneously extremely local and extremely international in sensibility. Guests here will be treated to exquisite luxury, and in the heart of one of the world’s great cities.

In Mumbai, there is too much to do at any given moment. From a vivacious nightlife, excellent restaurants, sight-seeing, tours for the whole family, attractions, cultural events, theatre, music, dance, and everything in between and beyond, it’s all here. There is also, of course, a superb film culture, being the center of Bollywood. Like any city that has a lively mainstream arts scene, there is an incredible alternative arts scene as well. One reassuring piece of evidence of this is the Cinema of Prayoga. This is an interesting event that tours the best of India’s experimental film and video since film’s birth on the planet. It is also a series of public forums, discussing the state of the art in this country.

The Cinema of Prayoga had an excellent reception when it came to Mumbai, and there are many Mumbai theorists filmmakers involved in the project. But in reality it is meant to cover the history of experimental film in all of India, and the project is a joint sponsored by n.o.where and Filter India. Prayoga translates to “experiment,” and can also mean “representation,” which is an excellent clue to some of the philosophical ideas of the project, which is intended to not only show video art forms that allow for wider perspectives on the notion of reality and how it is presented in art, but also to raise awareness about Indian filmmakers capacity to make work that is truly cutting-edge. There is more to film than Hollywood and Bollywood, and some of the alternatives to these models, including some of the most interesting work in the world, is created here.

If you are in the market for a grill there is one major decision you need to make before you even step out of your house to buy one. Do you want charcoal or gas?

Charcoal grills in mass production were started by the Weber company and were really what popularized American grilling. But really the debate is a matter of preference. Some folks think that charcoal is the only way to grill because of the taste it gives the grilled meat. While others prefer a gas grill because of how convenient it is.

Although charcoal grills may give grilled meat the best flavor it is also the most difficult way to grill. Grilling with Kingsford coals gives meat the smoky taste that most people associate with grilling.

With gas grills, just flipping a switch to grill is appealing. There is no kind of prep work with a gas grill and you can cook things easily and quickly. And when you run out of propane you can just go fill it up at the local gas station. However, these types of grills don’t really add much flavor or taste to the food.

As far as taste goes, it really does depend on the person. Although most people can taste the difference between a steak cooked on a gas grill or one cooked over coals.

Also you have to consider how much space you have in your backyard for a grill. These days people can have massive outdoor kitchens in their backyard. Check out the website of Steven Barbarich, chooseoutdoorkitchens.com to find some at great prices. Smaller areas do well with electric grills because they are much safer and do not produce flare-ups. A charcoal grill normally requires more room.

When it comes to cost, it’s a toss up. Charcoal is the more expensive fuel compared to electric or gas grills.

Four years ago, many of the black citizens in Cape Town were asked about a big white building that stands in the middle of the city. Many answered that it is a courthouse. The building in question is actually the one that houses the National Gallery of South Africa. This speaks tremendously about the past regime of Apartheid, and the effects still noticeable in the city. For many years, whites only were allowed in some of the top Cape Town hotels, restaurants, galleries and museums. Apartheid ended sixteen years ago, but they inequality of the time, and the evidence of the segregation still remains. In many countries, the world of art is sometimes, sadly the realm of the wealthy and the privileged. The Biennial Art Festival organizers are trying to change that.

In response to the economy, and some criticisms of past festivals becoming too commercialized, the festival this year focused on the local artists of Africa, as opposed to the previous years of bringing in famous artists from around the world in order to boost sales and commerce. This was an attempt to attract a new, fresh audience, and to involve the people of Cape Town who had been excluded in previous years. One event was the Young Curators Program, which put five black curators in charge of curating the shows. They were moved to Cape Town for the year and studied under the tutelage of a curator from Cape Town. Educational systems for blacks in South Africa is still lacking, and many of the curators and gallery owners are still mainly white South Africans.

This not only provided these five with the opportunity to fulfill their dreams, but guaranteed the focus of the festival, that of the art of the locals, living and working and celebrating in Cape Town today. The projects are located all around the city, and are more participatory and performance oriented than ever before. Actors and dancers perform throughout various venues. One theater staged a show in which the stage was filled with kids in Obama and Mandela masks. And murals are on the walls of the city’s buildings commemorating the heroes of the country. This is a wonderful time to visit Cape Town and to witness the art of the country.

There is a very close connection between the Chinese Opera and the Chinese Temple celebrations. The opera, known by the term Wayang, which is a Malay word that simply means ‘performance’, began many hundreds of years ago and was brought to Singapore by the Chinese immigrants. Most performances then, were done upon temporary stages set up and brightly lit on the sides of streets. During this time all actors were male, and young boys played the female roles. There was no price to attend these shows. Then, as well as today, the shows are often funded by the temples and coincide with various festivals and religious celebrations. Even the ones that are mainly for entertainment purposes now, started out in this fashion. Some festivals are similar to Halloween or Day of the Dead Festivals that occur in other parts of the world, such as the Hungry Ghost Festival. In these cases the dead are remembered, honored and appeased with dancing, feasts, sacrifices, and performances.

Today there are over thirty professional companies performing Wayang Opera. Should one be visiting Singapore and not know where to find a performance, the concierge at some of the best hotels in Singapore will have that information. These performances have a long cultural history and should not be missed. This is an art form based in traditional rituals and are very religious in context, over ninety five percent of them being performed on such occasions. This form of expression disappeared however, for almost 70 years. But with the growth of the country, there seemed to be something missing. The older generation has come together with the younger, as Singapore’s youth becomes more interested in the history of their city and their heritage, and many of the older generation remember the days when all performances were done on the street corners, before fancy opera houses were built and when the price of a ticket was simply the desire to be there.

I tend to do a lot of traveling with my work.  This means that I spend lots of nights cooped up in a hotel in a strange town or city!  I like to do fun things at night but I find my options limited.  I’ve now developed a taste for live theater.  I’ve found that most towns and cities have some performances on while I visit.  Its fun because you get to see all levels of acting.

When I vist New York I occasionally seek out Broadway tickets.  But more often than not I go for Off Broadway tickets or Off-Off Broadway tickets.  I’ve seen some great performances, and also some not so great! On my last trip a friend gave me musical tickets which turned out to be an excellent production.  I am off to New York in a couple of weeks and so I plan to make live theater an integral part of my visit.