Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
My friend Lance used to tell me stories about touring with his punk band in Europe. They'd have the hairiest time loading all their gear onto trains during the few minutes afforded them at stops, deal with customs, and then worry if their contact was going to show up when they got wherever they were going. Our trip was pretty cushy, since there were only two of us with one piece of luggage each and we made reservations online. We also took the high-speed rail. By the time we arrived in Florence from Rome, it was mid-afternoon. After checking in, we had time to walk around at dusk, eat, and walk around some more. The picture above says a lot about the area: cute narrow streets, hoards of tourists, bikes and scooters, gelato. Not shown: high-end boutiques, expensive meals, smoking and graffiti everywhere. We woke up early the next morning to make our appointment at the Galleria degli Uffizi. Wendy booked several museum reservations so we could walk right past the long lines (or get in at all). The museum is world-class, but is somewhat low-budget when it comes to preservation (you can sneeze on important pieces of work) and crowd flow (we got to the exit and realized we missed Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Spring). When the guard wasn't watching, we walked in through the out door, retraced our steps to the top floor, and found out that we also missed some da Vincis and Michelangos. Astounding. You can see key works by each of the Ninja Turtles' namesakes here. No photos were allowed inside, but the construction boards showed some of the works. Of course, the oversized canvases were used as canvases by locals… Just outside the Uffizi were some galleries with classic statues. No, the David is not real but you can't take pictures at the Galleria dell'Accademia, which houses many of Michelangelo's works. (That was later stop in Florence.) In between museums, we tried to find some food, crossed the town's oldest bridge in an unfruitful quest for a Michelin-recommended gelato spot, and wound up eating fruit from a street vendor. Produce is quite expensive in Europe, but we ponied up since so much of our meals consisted of pasta, bread, and cheese. The pears, figs, and grapes were typically the best. Apples, not so good. Besides (before?) museums and shopping, the Duomo was the center of action in town. We decided to climb into the gigantic cathedral's dome, which entailed steep stairs, narrow hallways, and log-jammed corridors. The picture below is one of the nicer, breezier parts of the ascent, which was more often dark, humid, and musky. There were payoffs, though. First, an excellent view of the mural at the top of the dome–worthy of a Slayer album cover! Then, a panoramic view of the city. Besides the old art and old buildings, Florence has plenty of living charm going for it. The architectural arrangements and details make Disneyland look like Magic Mountain....
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Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.
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Sorry I've been away from the blog. It's nothing personal. It's just that my cousin got married in Paris and my wife and I decided to visit Italy for a week before celebrating with the family. We barely had access to email and only sporadic some Facebook action, so there's some catching up to do… Wendy and I landed in Rome, where the train from the airport dropped us off in Italy's equivalent of Chungking Mansions with a ton of Chinese fashion knockoffs and Indian fast food joints. Totally cobbly sidewalks and streets meant no skateboarding but there was still a ton of graffiti everywhere (like above). We walked up to our hotel mid-afternoon and I asked the counter guy where Grinderman was playing. It turns out seeing Nick Cave's band would have required 50 Euro taxi rides both ways, so it was off to the monuments–probably the right thing to do anyway. After hoofing it for a mile or two, Wendy and I wondered if we were going the right direction to see the Coliseum. Then we looked up from our map and saw the historic structure peeking out from the modern buildings, roads, and traffic. It wasn't that different than the L.A. Coliseum where the Raiders used to play. Or at least the bathrooms were about the same. It was already dusk, which meant we were just in time to take it in during the Magic Hour. It was easy to imagine the sounds of the spectators, lions, or even Bruce Lee. The time of day also meant that the tours had stopped and the rush of tourists was waning. As we walked around the building, we could see the souvenir hawkers, dudes dressed in gladiator outfits posing for pictures, and fruit trucks. Back to reality. We walked further from the hotel, passed people dressed as Egyptians looking for handouts, and saw rows of red lanterns that had something to do with Italian-Chinese relations. It wasn't long before we reached the Forum, or what's left of it. Floodlights indicated where columns once stood, marking where Roman orators did their thing. The trinity of high school Western Civ was complete when we made it to the Pantheon, which was obscured by scaffolding and construction. Still, a ton of people, both local and tourists stopped there to hang out on the steps and smoke. By the time we arrived, we were tired and starving, and I had my first pizza in Italy… I had at least one a day while in the country. It's a meatless, relatively cheap, and easily accessible meal in a nation where meals are a lengthy, expensive ritual with a ton of courses that usually entail meat and wine. It was good, but I was also really hungry. Wendy's spaghetti came with wine, and it was the only time we had to stop ourselves from saying, “When in Rome…” Re-energized and with plenty of adrenaline to fend off jetlag, we walked to the Fountains of Trevi....
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Seesaw The debut film by Tokyo filmmaker, Keihiro Kanyama operates on a budget that's smaller than most used cars but drives like a seasoned classic. The film is about a young couple living in urban Tokyo. They're cool and their lives are just getting going and the film's story is told in a realistic style. At times, Seesaw has the cinema verite feel. It's as if a mic and camera were dropped into the room and you're witnessing the lives, and issues of a couple who's at a crossroads. Are they moving forward like their friends who are getting married? Or are they going to continue “just” living together? He wants to get married, and she's ok with living together.
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