Best Libraries

I figure while I am posting examples of fine architecture, here is a great list provided by my always reliable Uncle Paul:

http://weburbanist.com/2011/08/26/reading-revolution-14-marvelous-modern-libraries/

Train Stations

From the good people at the BBC, some of the most beautiful train stations in the World:

http://www.bbc.com/travel/slideshow/20110822-worlds-most-beautiful-train-stations

Presidential Election articles

Some good stuff from two of my favorite writers, Christopher Hitchens and Matt Taibbi, about Rick Perry and the Presidential race:

http://www.slate.com/id/2302661/ 

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/rick-perry-vs-ben-bernanke-round-one-20110816

Movie Review- Blitz: Double Bollocks

You may remember a few months ago my review of a British gangster film, "London Boulevard", that ended up being a disappointment. Now I bring you another gangster flick, and the book it is based on, is written by the same author as the "London Boulevard" novel. Like "Boulevard", "Blitz" only had a theatrical release in England, so many of you here probably haven't heard of it. How did it compare with "Boulevard"? Lets find out......

"Blitz" stars God's actor, Jason Statham (we are off to a good start already), and some other English actors that I recognized but you rarely see outside of English films. The synopsis can be written quite simply, as the movie is the story of a hard-boiled London detective (Statham) who is trying to track down a psycho who is killing policmen. I figured, "hey, this sounds pretty promising".............

..............but, there really is no point in trying to get around it, "Blitz" is a terrible film. I had perused some reviews before sitting down to watch it, and the word "shite" came up quite often (must have been English reviewers), and, I have to say, that sentiment is not misplaced.  Miserable acting, bad writing, shoddy plot elements, and some really atrocious film editing (without a doubt, the worst movie goof ever takes place in this film). Right in the very opening scenes of the film, when Statham takes out some troublesome youths with a field-hockey stick, the acting was so bad, I had to cringe a little bit. I mean, Statham was just his usual self through-out the whole film, mumbling his lines and just trying to be an overall badass, which  I don't begrudge, he at least does THAT well, but the rest of the actors were, to use the term again, "shite". The story was badly written, as there were a number of plot holes and elements that just went unexplained. They reveal who the killer is about 15 minutes it, so there went the mystery. The rest of the film basically became an-hour long manhunt. Oh, and that editing goof? Mind-blowing. Towards the end, Statham is firing a gun, a pistol, and when we get a shot of the action from the side, he is holding in his hand a silver revolver, nothing like the gun he was using a second before. This wasn't some quick, oh-shit-I-barely-saw-that type of thing, this was on screen for like two seconds, and very noticeable. I can just imagine the people behind this film sitting down and watching their final product. I would have loved to have seen the shock on their faces when that happened. "Blitz" didn't give me the impression of a low-budget flick, but that type of thing didn't help its case.

All that being said.....I actually enjoyed the damn film. When all is said and done, "Blitz" really is just a quirky British gangster flick, with some really over-the-top violence, and hilarious lines (I have a real soft-spot for British slang/humor/style of speech, particularly when it is coming from salty characters). Even though all the mystery went out the window early on, I still felt compelled to watch it. To the movie's credit, it still made it interesting enough such that you wanted to see how they would apprehend the killer. I think in the end though it is my weird fetish for British gangster flicks that made me like this movie in the end. It is a cinematic disaster, but those Brits always seem to have a fun take on crime films, and something about them keeps me coming back. If you are really looking for the next Oscar contender, then stay very very far away from this film, but if you just have an hour and a half to kill, and are willing to settle for some mindless fun, than "Blitz" is actually not a bad way to go about it.

Verdict: I can't believe I am doing this, but I am going to say see it, but with conditions. Be warned that this movie is fun to watch, but it is a terrible example of film-making. Grade: ummm, well, under normal circumstances,  I would give it a C-. Yeah, I guess thats about right.

If you liked this movie you might also like: Can you name a hard-boiled British gangster or crime film? OK, that will do......

Washington DC: A night on the town

I suppose I should start out by saying that I haven't been a very good travel writer the past couple of days. I have actually been in Tysons Corner, Virginia since Monday evening, but yet here it is Wednesday night, and I haven't posted anything regarding this trip. Well, this is my first time on travel for work and the past couple of days have been consumed with, well, work.

Monday evening was un-eventful, not arriving until after five in the afternoon. Tuesday wasn't much better, though after completing duties for the day myself and a few colleagues grabbed dinner at a  Peruvian roasted chicken restaurant, which was actually very good.

So tonight is my final night in the Virgina-DC area before heading back tomorrow. My meeting didn't break until nearly five o'clock, but after a quick breakfast a colleague and friend of mine, Mark, offered to accompany me and do some sightseeing downtown.

Now, I have been to our nation's capital before, but the last time was when I was eight years old. I decided that, since I was in the area, I might as well make the most of it and check it out again. Unfortunately, downtown is a bit of a hike from where I am staying, and 20-30 minute subway ride is required to get down there. It was already getting dark by the time we emerged from our metro stop.

This had to be quick, so we moved toward the Washington Monument, quickly paying homage before moving towards the WWII Memorial, which is relatively new, at least to me, not having been there in over fourteen years. Despite the hour, a number of tourists where out and about, and a babel of languages could be heard on the street and around the sites. We made a brief circle around the WWII site, and then walked along the still-under-construction reflecting pool that is going to run between the WWII Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, eventually coming to the Korean War Memorial. The Korean War site was what I really wanted to see, and it is worth a look. It is a neat design, with several statues of soldiers, apparently representing a unit out on patrol. Unfortunately, dusk was turning to darkness at a rapid rate, so we had to haul ass. We paid our respects to Mr. Lincoln, still seated up there in what looks to be a comfortable position. Sadly, he didn't get to see the end of the play (yes, I will be here all week folks). Having seen one president, we worked our way to the current president and every American's black friend (well, maybe not every American). It took us a few minutes to walk over there, but we eventually made it.....and it was not as I remembered it. I guess the difference was there were no throngs of tourists in the sweltering heat this time around, but rather some people who looked like they just got out of work and decided to have a look. We didn't dwell long but, at least I can say I went back and saw it again.

And that was it. We were both beat after a long day, and it was still humid out despite the hour. It was getting late anyway, so we made our way back to the subway station, concluding a very brief, but fun nonetheless, tour of Washington DC.

I have a noon flight tomorrow from Dulles to Syracuse. This trip went by quick, but it was a good time for my first official business trip. Hopefully the others go as smoothly.

See you back in the Empire State. 

Movie Review-Rise of the Planet of the Apes: You Damn Dirty Ape

You are in one of America's dullest places. Its a rainy Saturday night. What do you do? What everyone else does, go see a movie.

It was a choice between "Cowboys and Aliens" or "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" (RoPA). "Cowboys" didn't really tickle my and or Nick's fancy at the moment, and RoPA actually got decent reviews on both Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB. So, we decided on the ape film.

Hmmmm, kind of regret that decision a little bit. The trailer, as is usually the case, made the movie look like more than it was. It seemed to be action-packed, but that didn't really come until the last 20 minutes or so......much of the story was taken up by the background of how apes came to be geniuses. I guess that makes sense, you can't just have apes all of the sudden able to compete with humans. Even so though, that doesn't make for incredibly interesting viewing, and it was unnecessarily slow at times. There were also several loopholes in the story that the writers did not even bother to explain, and that irked me, something of a cinema purist, to no end.  

Don't come to this movie looking for acting either. James Franco just pisses me off, I am kind of sad he was handed this role, it may have been played better by someone else. For some reason I think Clive Owen would have done better as a genius chemist than Mssr. Franco did. Freida Pinto, who some of you may know from "Slumdog Millionaire" is absolutely gorgeous....but didn't bring much to the film. John Lithgow had a role as Franco's dad, and he was "meh". Brian Cox, who is a very talented actor, had a small part in there as well, but was under used.

I do give the movie credit for its CGI...very impressive. All of the apes were computer-generated, and they looked life-like, very well done. One of the apes was pretty cool-looking too, he had a messed up eye that made him look menacing. The action at the end was neat, including apes battling with riot police, but it was too little too late, my interest had waned by that point. The ending sucked as well, but it looks like they left it open to another installment. I don't know how a story about apes coming to dominate humans is getting so much play (there was the Mark Wahlberg remake what, ten years ago now?) but there you have it, expect another somewhere down the line.

This movie just hit theaters on Friday, so it was a packed house last night. Unfortunately, lots of people means lots of douchebags. I have never heard so much talking in a theater in all my years of film-going. The kid sitting next to me, probably around my age, acted like he had never seen a movie before. It was always, "oh wow!" or "oh shit!" when an ape did something that apes normally don't do. I also liked the "hey, do you think he is dead" from someone behind us when someone met a pretty brutal demise on-screen.  You know folks, I think the screening of the new Smurf movie was down on the other end of the hall, maybe you should have gone there to be with individuals on the same intellectual level as you. Oh, and to the fat-fatty Mcfatterson sitting directly behind me, and your equally obese son sitting next to you, I realize that movement of any type, including shifting your fat-ass to a more comfortable position, is probably quite a difficult maneuver for you, but next time how about you try doing it without kicking my seat every.single.time. There was one point there where I thought I was on a roller coaster you were rocking me so much with your fat feet....I declined from turning around and making known the nasty thoughts I had in my head, including telling you that I felt like taking your extra-large bag of popcorn, dumping the buttery contents onto your fat-shit son, and then suffocating you with the bag. But I held off so as not to make a scene. Jesus Leaping Christ, try to show some courtesy to those of us not tipping the scale the wrong side of "what the fuck is wrong with, stop eating".

Anyway, I digress:

Verdict: Nope, I can't recommend this one. Grade: C-

If you liked this movie you might also like: Charlton Heston. Hey, remember that movie "Congo", based on the Michael Crichton book, about the killer apes? That was a cool movie. 

Its a little late.....but the wait is over

You can all release your collective breathes. Relax. Allow your pulse to return to normal. The Four Corners' Next Destination list is here..........

But Adam, the Top Destinations list is missing! Yes, that is correct. I have decided to remove that element from my end-of-the-month reports. Whenever I travel somewhere new, I will report on it, but who am I to decide which places are best? You can read from my tales and recaps what I thought of a place, and whether or not it is worth a stamp on your passport. Other than that, it is all up to you. It was hard to keep on changing the list anyway. This way I can focus on all the places I (and quite possibly my readers) have never been, but don't garner as much attention. OK, so having said goodbye to Top Destinations, lets get down to business:

1) Kazan, Russia: Moscow and St. Petersburg  get all of Russia's travel attention, but Kazan is actually high up on my list, and should be for others too. The city is located in the Republic of Tartarstan, south-central Russia, nearer to Kazakhstan. The city has a blend of Muslim and Christian cultures, and a brief look at some of the architecture in the city reveals some stunning stuff, some of it on the always reliable World Heritage Cultural Sites' list. I will let you see for yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazan
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/russia/volga-region/kazan

2)  Quito, Ecuador- I have been hearing good things about Ecuador's capital city. I have looked into a bit, it is a difficult destination to get to, probably needing two stopovers. However, the city's old town looks quite the area, and is filled with things to see. Quito, along with Krakow, Poland, was the first city to be designated a World Heritage Site. That is something special, if your entire city gets that billing.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Quito
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ecuador/quito

3) Windsor, Ontario, Canada- Now, for those of you living in America's northeast, this destination can be reached by car. Windsor is located on the Canadian land-bridge between New York state and Michigan. I, of course, am a huge fan of Canada: ethnically diverse, clean environment, friendly locals. Windsor is no different, and it actually boasts one of Canada's most diverse populations and highest number of visible minorities. This means that there is a wealth of food styles to choose from. Windsor is unique in the fact that is lies south of  Detroit, and actually has fantastic views of Detroit's skyline. You may run out of things to do after too long, but I feel that Canada's cities are still good after all the sights have been taken in, wandering around and people watching is good for a long time.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Windsor_%28Ontario%29

4)  Con Dao Island, Vietnam- An island located off of Vietnam's southeastern coast. I once ran across an article in the International Herald Tribune's travel section talking up this place as still relatively untouched by mass tourism and having breathtaking scenary. The French, during their colonial rule, used the island as a penal colony, and the structures can now be toured. It supposedly preserves large amounts of natural beauty, and some of Vietnam's best diving, an activity I have yet to get into. Vietnam actually ranks high on my list of places to go, and I think Con Dao will definitely compete for a spot on my itinerary when I do go. Check out the slide show from the IHT:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/05/23/travel/20100523CONDAO.html

5) Bay of Kotor, Montenegro- Bay of Kotor is actually a region in Montenegro, a small European nation located south of Bosnia that few have probably heard of. Bay of Kotor is supposed to be gorgeous, and has some UNESCO spots to boot. The area's main airport is in the town of Tivat, and is actually connected with some large European airports. Give it a look, some pictures seem to indicate its reputation might be well earned:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Bay_of_Kotor
http://www.fotopedia.com/wiki/Bay_of_Kotor

Rick Steves, my rival and sworn enemy (Rick, for those of you who don't know, runs a large, popular, and expensive European tourism service, so his job as CEO or whatever is to basically just travel around Europe) appears to be onto Bay of Kotor as well......I guess he must be reading my blog posts:
http://www.ricksteves.com/news/tribune/kotor.htm

That should do for this installment folks. A brief announcement, I will be traveling to Washington D.C on August 15th for work, my very first work-related travel! I am quite happy with the destination, I haven't been to our nation's capital (outside of Dulles, that is) in many years. Look here for the recap of my triumphant return. Until then, always be on the look-out for whatever I might have to post here........

North Korea: An Inside Look

Ok, there are just some places The Four Corners just won't be taking you. North Korea is one of them, dead to rights. Well, here is an interesting slide show, giving a window onto life in the Hermit Kingdom

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43869447

I know, I know, you are all clamoring for the FC end of the month "Next Destinations List", it is coming tonight, don't worry. Be sure to come back later.

Quebec City: A Continuation

Right, so where were we? I believe I left off with Nick being disgusted with himself and all of French Canada for eating a fajita filled with deep-fried bacon. We made our way down to the port (the Quebec City Old Town is incredibly small, you can walk from St. John's Gate to the port in probably 10-15 minutes), all while Nick tried to reconcile who he was as a human being with what just happened at the food stalls. The port was now packed with people awaiting the light show, and we had to settle for a seat on the wooden boardwalk, which still afforded a decent view.

The light show was pretty neat, giving a history of Quebec City using old footage and stylish animations. Some of it didn't make a whole lot of of sense, I think the creators got a little carried away with their artistic license, but everyone seemed to enjoy it, including us.

That concluded the first day. Having done so much and seen basically everything there was to see, meant we could take Saturday at a slow pace, which is what we did. We spent the morning and afternoon exploring some of the side streets and parts of the Old Town that we may have missed, and I felt pretty confident that we had covered the Old Town in its entirety. We stopped for lunch on St. Jean street, the avenue that runs from the newer part of town to St. John's Gate, grabbing kebab from a Lebanese store. The woman who served us, who spoke no English, was absolutely gorgeous (I have heard that about Lebanese women), but we assumed she might be the owner's wife, and he was a pretty large individual. Great kebab though, hats off, both for the food and having a beautiful wife.

After a brief rest we decided to see what the newer town had to offer. It wasn't much, it is primarily residential, but it was worth it anyhow, as we got to check out the homes in the area, many of which are very nice (and probably cost a pretty penny). It is rare that you see residential areas and homes so close to a city center, but there you have, right there in Quebec.

By now the early evening was beginning to set in, and we ventured back to the Old Town and started by plopping ourselves down on a wall along a busy street and chatted and people watched until we discovered we were hungry. After filling up on some poutine and hamburgers from a local fast food joint (Ashton Burgers-won't find those on the American side) we climbed up onto the ramparts at the Old Town entrance. A concert was going on in the square below, featuring a Bob Marley cover band. A sizeable crowd was in the square jamming to the beats, and the ramparts were crowded with revellers listening to the music and having a good time. We hung out up there for a while, and before calling it a night we went back to our spot along the wall further into Old Town, watching the night scene and chatting about whatever came into our heads. By 11:00 we were bushed, and we would have a long drive ahead of us the next day.

The drive back went as smooth as possible, and actually passed pretty quick. We stopped in Brossard again, just by dumb luck, to grab something to eat before crossing into Red, White, and Awesome. We just went for some McDonald's, Nick claiming that "I don't even care anymore dude" that he might as well finish the trip with something awful for his body. After some Big Macs we made our way to the border, where we encountered backed-up lines of cars, but made it through without much hassle, surprisingly. It is interesting to note that, coming from Canada to the US, when you reach the border you are met by a huge sign in bold letters exclaiming "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA", yes they even embolden the of. Coming in the opposite direction, the only thing that greets you is a friendly Canadian border guard, maybe with a French accent, telling you to enjoy your stay. An interesting contrast.

Overall the Quebec trip, though short, was a great time. Sure, it was a long drive, and there is not a whole lot to do in the city, but it was great to get away, if just for a weekend. I was beginning to get cabin fever, and needed to get that passport some attention. Nick was an absolute hoot to travel with to, particularly with his own assessment of the deep fried bacon saga. I don't think Canada gets a lot of love, particularly from us Americans, but it is a fantastic place with a diverse and friendly population, and is always good for a visit.

Be sure to come back soon for that "end of the month" bit that I do. Its back to work for me.

Quebec City: A recap

Apologies to those who rely upon my travel posts as the reason to get out of bed in the morning. I had limited access to internet with in Quebec (we didn't feel like paying the 5 bucks a day for the hotel's wifi), so I didn't have much chance to give a day-by-day. No worries, it was just a short two day stint, so I can give the highlights here:

It short, it was a blast. Not much to report from Brossard, it was just a stop along the way to break up the drive. After breakfast at our Comfort Inn, we headed further north for Quebec City. We had to drive through some pretty tight traffic, complete with the suicidal driving tactics of the Quebec residents, but we made it in without a scratch.

Our hotel in Quebec was about 2 miles from the main part of the city, the Old Town, but a bus passed out front every fifteen minutes. Having been told that the nearby grocery sold two-day passes, we popped in. The attendant was this elderly man, and I thought, this is going to be interesting. Quebec is not like Montreal. Some people there really cannot speak English, or just very little. So I went up and asked, in my best French "Parlez-vous Anglais"? To which he responded "Yes, of course", in an English accent. He later said "there aren't many of us English folk left here", so there is still some remnant of the time the English occupied that place.

We spent much of the day on Friday walking around the Old Town. We first checked out the Gare du Palais, the ornate train station located near the port. Around that time we realized we were hungry, and decided to go back to the gate entrance to the old city, where we saw some trailers set up selling food. I got frittes and poutine, a popular local dish made up of french fries topped with gravy and cheese. Not something you should eat daily, but it was pretty good. Nick decided upon something simply called "le sandwich" that was depicted on the side of the trailer. You couldn't really tell what was in it. but he went for it anyway. It turns out the meat was, get this, deep fried bacon. Yeah, you heard that right. I guess they figured, hey, lets take the worst thing for you, and deep fry it. Nick said that, he hoped something that is so bad for you would taste better. Disappointing I guess.

We spent the rest of the day touring the old city, which was very small in area, and jam-packed with tourists from around the world. I didn't expect that in what is a pretty remote place, and Quebec city is not very big (just under 200,000 people) but there they were, tour groups from China, India, what have you. We made our way to the Chateau Frontenac, the city's main landmark. The 19th-century Canadian Railway architecture style hotel overlooks the St. Lawrence, and the hill it sits upon offers great views. Neither of us was interested in paying to go in, so we strolled the wooden promenade outside, enjoying the perfect weather (warm, but with a nice breeze) and viewing the crowds. We eventually made our way up to the Citadel, the walled fort also overlooking the River. From there we walked all the way along the city's walls to the St. John's gate, the entrance to the Old City and just in front of where we begin, where the cooked food stalls were still in operation and live music was going on in the city square.

We sat on the grassy ramparts for a while, chatting and watching the people moving about in the square or making their way into the Old Town (ok, there was some female watching in there as well....). We then decided to go to the lower part of Old Town, and check out the city's port. On the way there we passed through Petit Champlain, a compact area of narrow streets packed with restaurants and shops. Dusk was beginning to set by now, and at the port we found out that a light show was set to take place at 10:00 that night, being cast onto a large silo located at the port. We still had some time, so we figured we had better grab dinner. We noticed a Lebanese guy selling kebabs by St. John's gate, so we headed back.

The kebab weren't enough for Nick, he needed a little something more. "I noticed that trailer also had fajitas, I will get one of those", referring of course to the place we ate at earlier. Ok, sounds good. Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but when you think of a fajita, you think of grilled chicken, right? Well, Nick at least thought so. Upon receiving his order, he realized, much to his horror I should say, that the meat wrapped inside was more of the deep fried bacon. He was visibly shaken. He couldn't even eat all of it. "I can't do it Adam". He had to take out some of the meat, apparently to save some of his dignity. You know that feeling you get after eating something you know is bad for you? Well, I can't imagine what was going on in his head at that moment. "I hit rock bottom Adam, this is it".

This is getting quite long, and I am here at work, how about a little intermission? Also, I know it is August already, you are all probably wondering where my end-of-the-month "Next Destinations" post is, well, it is coming, albeit a little late. Lets get the Quebec story done with first. Back with more late.