Making history and taking names

History is constantly being made, but we live in a time when things are happening right in front of our eyes through this year’s rollercoaster presidential election.

First, we had two democratic presidential nominees, a black man and a woman, run against each other. This had never happened before. Now we have a potential to have the United States of America’s first black president. Who knew this man from a tiny collection of islands and the last State of the Union could become president?

Barack Obama: From Hawaii to the history books.

As of today, the Republican presidential nominee John McCain has chosen Alaska govorner Sarah Palin as his running mate. For the first time in American history, she could be the first woman will be the second-in-command to the most powerful person in the world. There has only been one other woman selected as a running mate. Her name was Geraldine Anne Ferraro, selected by Walter Mondale during the 1984 presidential election against Ronald Reagan

Sarah Palin: Former ‘Ms. Wasilla’ beauty contest winner now a potential vice president.

These are exciting times that we are living in. During my high school years, I grew up in Alaska and I even remember meeting Sarah Palin when I worked for the City of Wasilla back in 2002. Who knew that the mayor of a small town of 8,000 people would now be the potential vice-president of the most powerful country in the world?

We live in a small world and the world is going to get smaller. When the world gets smaller, the more you can make a difference. We’re all a part of history and you can make history happen.

Photo of the Week

Lunch Atop a Skyscraper

This is one of my favorite pictures. It was taken by Charles C. Ebbets in 1932 during the construction of the Rockefeller Center.  A true slice of Americana, this photo is considered one of the best taken during the 20th century.

Yet another “Thing of the Week” post by Jered

I know. I have ADD. Here is yet another post about another “something of the week.” Get used to it. It’s here to stay. I’m going to try with all my will and might (well, maybe 60 percent) to remember all of the “something of the week” posts and update them with semi-weekly regularity.

My new “thing of the week” if you will, is to start posting places in the world that I have always wanted to go to or I come across in my daily meanderings.

For this week, I have always wanted to go to Greece. I love places with history; a deep, rich history that spans centuries. I live in Vancouver. Let’s face it. Vancouver doesn’t have a history. I love Vancouver, but no offense, the history of Vancouver could lull a 7-year-old kid that drank 4 Red Bulls and took 3 caffine pills to sleep. It was founded by gold rushers in the 1860′s, which than developed into a lumber town and in turn became a port and….blah blah blah. I am boring myself already telling you that so I am going to stop.

However, Greece is the birth place of the Olympics, democracy, political science, drama and comedy and Western philosophy. Alexander the Great came from Greece. Homer’s epics were set in Greece. The events in the movie 300 (which is a completely accurate retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae) happened in Greece. Greek food came from Greece and boy, do I love Greek food.

Any ways, enough about that. The place I want to go to is a small shipping town called Ermoupoli. One day, I’ll go there. Here’s a brief history of this little city. It was founded in the 1820′s after the Greek Revolution and was the hub of Greece’s shipping industry until it’s decline in the 19th century. Now it is primarily a service and industry city with a population of 13,000.

 

Ermoupoli: I’ll see you one day.

The Best Trilogies Ever Made

 

10. The Matrix

9. The Bourne movies

8.  Austin Powers

7. Lord of the Rings

6. X-Men

5. Indiana Jones

4. The Godfather

3. Back to the Future

2. Lord of the Rings

1. Star Wars

(Honerable Mentions: Land Before Time (all 10 of them), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Terminator, Crocodile Dundee)

This is a definitive list and cannot be refutedby anyone on earth. Not only are you wrong if you think otherwise, you cannot argue with it’s supremacy. Through careful and deliberate measuring methods, I have whittled down the list into an extremely accurate and cohesive list that ranks the top ten trilogies of all-time.

Bigfoot Eludes Again

Bigfoot gets away…again…

After the dust settled surrounding the media hoopla on the Bigfoot carcass by John Dyer and Matthew Whitton while hiking a Georgia national park, all has been proven to be a hoax.

After I found out, my worldview came crashing down and I even posted a blog about it expressing my belief that this was a real thing. I severely apologize if you came to think it was real on my accord. I kid. The ‘carcass’ of Bigfoot in the photo is actually a Halloween costume frozen with some animal guts thrown in for a ‘realistic’ effect. You can read the ABC News article here. Once again, I’ll reiterate what I said in a previous post, a guy wearing matching camouflage shorts and t-shirt cannot be trusted.

These guys spend their days after working at the sawmill or coal mine, shooting shotguns, drinking Budweiser, watching football and king of the hill, all while sitting in front of their trailers in a sofa. I’d easily trust them. I hope they start a search for Loch Ness and UFO’s.

Picture of the Week

Heading to the circus in Iran.

This picture is from a Times Magazine article on Iran.

Calling All Ugly Girls

In Austrialia, in the “beautiful” mining town of Mt. Isa, the mayor has made a call on all “beauty-disadvantaged” women to move to the town. He said that there are “five blokes for every girl” in the fair city. He urged women all over Australia with “beauty deficiencies” to move to the town because of a severe lack of females due to the local mining industry, which is primarily male-driven.

 

If you’re a girl who scored below a 6.5 on hotornot.com, this place may be for you!

The mayor, John Molony, has stood by his comments even in light of the rage expressed by the local female population. Go figure. Now if only there was a city where there’s “five girls to every guy” out there somewhere for guys with “handsome-issues” could go. Read the full story on Mr. Molony here.

The Human Race

Nike is sponsering a huge event called “the Human Race” which is essentially a 10k run organized by Nike in 25 of the world’s biggest cities, with Vancouver being one of them. It’s supposed to tie in with their Nike+ product (which I have yet to get. I will one day. I will) as well as to unite runners world wide in the largest organized run in history.

Over a million runners around the world are expected to participate, making it one of the biggest 10k runs in history. Another cool aspect of the 10k is that if you have the Nike+ and you keep track of your kilos and upload them onto the website, they will tally the K’s run from everyone around the world and donate accordingly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the UN Refugee Agency and the World Wide Fund.

It’s only 60 bucks, small price to pay to run 10k and be a part of the Human Race. I plan on doing it and without a Nike+. C’mon, run for a cause, run to set a world record and run for fun!

To register go here.

To reach a summary of the race go here.

Robert Doisneau: Motion in Still Life

Robert Doisneau: Simple, funny, real

One of my favorite photographers of all-time is the french legend, Robert Doisneau. At one point in time, you have seen his photographs or at least the one with a french couple kissing on the streets entitled “Le baiser de l’hôtel de ville.” No one knew the identities of the pair until 1993 when Denise and Jean-Louis Lavergne took him to court claiming it was them. The lawsuit made Doisneau admit that he used actor/models Françoise Bornet and her then boyfriend Jacques Carteaud.

Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville

Mr. Doisneau was born on April 14, 1914 in Gentilly, Val-de-Marne. He attended École Estienne in Paris, but he always claimed that the streets of the working class neighborhood is where he received his real education and his work shows it. Doisneau began photographing when Modernist ideas were just beginning to promote photography as a viable means of artistry and reporting. During WWII and the German occupation, his talents were utlized to forge documents for the underground. He later recommenced his work with a stint with Vogue Magazine from 1948 to 1952 and eventually joined a group called Group XV, which was a collection of photographers dedicated to improving and promoting the art of photography.

Doisneau has been noted for his use of humor in real life, while contrasting the non-conformist with the establishment. His favorite city to photograph in was Paris, France and his favorite subjects were of children roaming and playing in the streets freely, unhindered by parents. He’s one of my favorite photographers because his work was shot in a candid and real way, yet it almost looks like something from another place and time that has never existed.

Here are some of his more well-known works, but I recommend that you get Icons: Robert Doisneau: 1912-1994 because it’s a great little coffee table book with his most famous works.

                           

Bigfoot Found!

Bigfoot: You sneaky little punk, we finally got you (apparently)

Apparently, a few guys in Georgia found Bigfoot, stuffed him in a freezer, took pictures and got an article in the NY Times. Click here for the full article, the picture of the Bigfoot carcass and three guys that caught him. In my opinion, this is the real deal. Just look at the guys who caught him. Completely credible. Whoever wears a camo t-shirt/short combo is totally an expert in the Bigfoot field. I love America.