The Prodigal Daughter

Carnival Cruise Lines has recently been promoting themselves by staging large stunts in US cities. Here in Philadelphia they built a giant (supposedly the world’s largest) piñata and promised to destroy it in South Philadelphia at 14th and washington (in the lot where Cirque De Solei usually sets up).

When I got there yesterday at 1:30 pm there was a small crowd around the piñata itself, where they were filming their commercial. They put us (the unpaid extras) behind orange safety cones. We anxiously waited, the destruction of some thing giant and colorful exciting our deep inner selves.

Apparently the Carnival Cruise lines people are not familiar with South Philadelphians, who by nature are very nice but impatient and don’t really like to follow orders. Around 2 pm people started to throw the candy found in boxes around the cone barricade at the PA’s (production assistants). They also told us the destruction was now scheduled for 2:30 pm We were told that we were to stay behind the cones and that a helicopter would fly by and film us (the unpaid extras) waving up at it. At some point there was a rush from the front of the barricade up to the piñata and the director (a man in a fleece who sounded as if he was on ludes) screamed through his bull horn “PEOPLE, NO! NO PEOPLE!”. This was followed by some retreated back to our barricade. This man then told us “These barricades are for your safety. Let’s have fun. Make the city of philadelphia proud. We will not destroy the piñata if you do not behave. You’re going to be a part of history…” blah, blah, blah. Smooth move. At 2:45 pm people started to filter out. A little later the announcement was made that there were technical difficulties, and there would be no destruction. The unpaid extras began to leave.

Now I pose this question…do you think they were ever going to bust the thing or did they just need some unpaid extras to film a commercial for Carnival?

Read an official article here

Tags:
Stunts
Philadelphia
Piñata

It is interesting to see that the “town hall” debate between Obama and Mccain has some guidlines on how the audience will be able to veiw it. From the Chicago Sun Times:

“Almost every important detail about the debates — three presidential and one vice presidential — is governed by a 31-page “memorandum of understanding.” It was collegially negotiated between the Obama and McCain camps and covers everything from how the candidates are addressed to the permissible camera shots.

An audience member will not be allowed to switch questions. Under the deal, the moderator may not ask followups or make comments. The person who asks the question will not be allowed a follow-up either, and his or her microphone will be turned off after the question is read. A camera shot will only be shown of the person asking — not reacting.”

There is a technology that allows for refridgeration without using hydrofluorocarbons, which have been linked to global warming. In other countries this technology has already been made available. Now Ben and Jerry’s will be the first in the United States to utilize this technology.

“The technology showed, contrary to industry claims, it was possible to use effective refrigerants that protected the ozone layer and the climate. In fact, the cooling units turned out to be more efficient than those using HFCs.

Greenpeace made the technology available to industry free of charge, and it is now used by leading manufacturers such as Haier, Whirlpool, LG, Bosch, Panasonic and Samsung and can be found in over 300 million refrigerators worldwide.”

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Paul Newman was always uber cool. He passed away at 83 from cancer on Friday. Time has a great photo essay of the actor, salad dressing maker, and super cool dude. Here are some of my favorites:

Link to the story here.

But more importantly…this sounds weirdly similar to the plot of “The Freshman” with Matthew Broderick and Marlon Brando.

Also it’s ok to eat fish because they don’t have any feelings.

An interesting lesson from a small danish island.

“In the past 10 years, one Danish island has cut its carbon footprint by a staggering 140%. Now, with a simple grid of windfarms, solar panels and sheep…”

Hmmm…an example of how consumerist culture is destroying old folklore…from the article:

“So there it is: a way to speed straight to the happy ending, without stopping to think about the story along the way. It’s a great way to sell just about anything, but it’s also precisely the opposite of what makes fairy tales compelling in the first place. The modern, commercial fairy tale contains no conflict, no resolution, no questions unresolved, no larger issues to explore. Once the princess climbs down from the tower, or the ball comes to an end, you’re left with nothing to talk about at all.”

Perhaps another way that we are dumbing down a future generation.

“The two cops shot yesterday are the fifth and sixth officers hit by gunfire in seven weeks - and the fourth and fifth to be shot within a month.”

—
The Daily News

Boston needs to lighten up, or at least get cable television:

Gorilla marketing seems brilliant to me. So if I ever need to hire someone to promote me these guys will.

And it is in Germany. The European Union has spoken up against the use of unrenewable energy sources. What is amazing is that the climate change we’re experianing right now might indeed lead us into a new direction. In fact maybe a new light. What I glimpsed today was a BBC news report with a very small mention of a rotating solar powered house that directs its panels to the sunlight. I was very hard pressed to find out as much as possible. The BBC did feature an article hours later about Heliotrop Freiburg, in Freiburg Germany. The Heliotrope gently rotates to get as much sunlight for its solar panels and thus creates more energy than it even uses.

The man that designed the Heliotrop is Rolf Disch who has created entire solar communities at Schlierberg.

“Maximising the use of solar energy and minimising heat loss – that is Disch’s mantra”–Goethe Institut

At his site you can take a virtual tour of the Heliotrop.

Tags:
Rolf Disch
Heliotrop
Solar Power
Germany