She Drives Me Crazy

Get ready for a berserk weekend with Emancquea.

Grandma's home cooking

Click any image to enlarge

From a blurb about the book In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World:

"On the eve of a photography trip around the world, Gabriele Galimberti sat down to dinner with his grandmother Marisa. As she had done so many times before, she prepared his favorite ravioli. The care with which she prepared this meal, and the pride she took in her dish, led Gabriele to seek out grandmothers and their signature dishes in the sixty countries he visited."

These are pictures of a few of the grandmas he visited and their dishes. There are more after the jump, and more at Amusing Planet's What Grandmas Around The World Cook.

Vyzhit Posle

My operation recoveries always seem to involve popping painkillers, lounging in a lounge chair and watching goofy TV shows. For this operation's recovery the main show I've settled on is the Russian TV show Vyzhit Posle, which on Amazon Prime goes by its English title The Day After.

The show starts with 11 young people waking up in a cold war era bunker with no idea how they got there, or what's in store for them. Later it turns out that they're there to be test subjects in an experiment cooked up by some Eeeeevil Russian Oligarchs to create a master race (more on that in a bit). However, in the mean time they mainly get hysterical, flirt with each other and pair off.

The above video focuses on one of the couples: Velera who starts out as a rather frightening skinhead but morphs into the hero and Aijan, the beautiful but sensitive Asian girl from Kazakhstan who he falls crazy mad in love with for no apparent reason. At any rate, if you've watched the video you'll know there is a bump or two on their path to true romance -- mainly the fact Aijan gets bit by a zombie girl and ends up zombified herself.

As long as we're talking about zombie girls, you may have noticed in the video clip that Moscow appeared to be a bit deserted except for black-eyed zombie girls. Well, it turns out that the Eeeeevil Russian Oligarchs' plan to create a master race didn't exactly go according to plan. They intended to have all the hot Russian girls become fertile, while the ugly ones went sterile. I dunno… the Eeeeevil Russian Oligarchs claim this was to clear Mother Russia of future riff-raff, but I'm having a hard time following their logic. It just seems like a scheme to create a plethora of hot looking Russian woman down the road to me. Not that I'm objecting to their aim mind you, although sterilizing all the ugly people seems a bit crass.

Anyway, the experiment is a flop. Instead of creating more hot babes a master race it accidentally turns all the hot women into screeching, black-eyed zombies while the virus kills everybody else off. Oops.

Part of the charm of the show is its Russian nature as opposed to how an American show would portray things. For example the women, even the zombie babes, are pretty much girly-girls running around in high heels and dressed to the nines. The guys are of course pretty macho, endlessly threatening each other with guns when they're not babbling about the 'broads' they're locked up with. And some of the captioning is pure gold, such gems as "you are entering a zone of top secrecy" and referring to the promiscuous Russian escort in the bunker as a yum-yum girl.

The plot can be all over the place, with chunks of it just tossed out and forgotten once the story moves on, but all in all the show is actually entertaining in spite of all its plot holes and preposterous storylines.

Season I: Vyzhit Posle
Season II: Can true love survive zombification?
Season III: Hot zombie babes just want to be your friend (sort of)

Back in Black

Get ready for a recrudescent weekend with Acoustic Hits.

Going under the knife again

My handful of regulars may remember that a few months ago I had an operation and part of my recovery involved sitting in a lounge chair and watching crappy movies while riddled with pain killers.

Sadly for me my recovery took its toll, all the lounge chair lounging causing problems with my ulnar nerve. So now, since patent medicine miracle cures and internet advice did me no good, I need another operation to fix that problem. Again I'll be off-line for a bit, but it shouldn't be as bad as before.

Ah, the wonders of growing old.

Whatever Lola Wants

Get ready for a targeted weekend with Natacha Atlas.

1960s Florida of tourist memories

Click any image to enlarge

Here's a few pictures of 1960s Florida from a tourist's perspective. Some of the kitsch is gone, some has just evolved. For example, Weeki Wachi, in the picture below got converted from a private tourist trap to a State owned park. The mermaid shows are still being staged.

There are a few more pictures after the jump, and more at Flashbaks post ‘Home to Meet God’ – 1960s Florida in Kodachrome.

Walking in a Moroccan bazaar

The Thrill Is Gone

Get ready for an invisible horn section this weekend with Lucid Wake.

 

Futures morphing into the past

Photo by Brett Leigh Dicks (click to enlarge)

Two Bedrooms, Fireplace And Hardwood Floors - Bernard Henrie

He can see his grandfather standing
on a dark, hardwood floor like the one
of his new apartment, a cuspidor
at his feet;

shadows inch into storage bins
and deaf corners of the house.

the halogen bloom of summer across
tile roofs and shining into the eyes
of dogs with jeweled collars;

the landlady offers lease papers,
he stares into the street;

a Japanese woman passes by,
he notes her lapel floret, her body
slight as his wife's on their
wedding day, she moves into focus
as on a photographer’s glass plate.

His wife had not called all day
and he was unable to remember
when his daughter would arrive
from school;

egg-shell colored hair feels thin
in his hand;

an hour later he turns
to the landlady, but the room
is empty; he finds his silver flask,
swallows a single capful;

grains of dust fall on his shoulders,
his watch is missing, a scuffed left
shoe untied.

In the fireplace mirror,
he notices how old he has become;
blue eyes aged to hardened steel,
unclipped brows drooping to form
a hood; his glasses and cheeks
grow wet;

The effect is a man's face struck
by rain while waiting for a taxi.

Havana tour guide vs a skeptical Ukrainian

Above is a pretty entertaining video of a Ukrainian lady who is not buying a Havana tour guide's spiel about the wonders of Cuba. You can tell she's having great fun calling BS on what he has to say.

The video is by a fellow called Brandon Ferdig who has a lot more videos, although many of them are quite short, at his YouTube channel. As well as Cuba, he's traveled through China, Thailand, Cambodia, East Africa and the United States.

One of his primary interests is poverty and homelessness. I actually first stumbled across him through the below video where he talks to a southern redneck.

Old Caribbean travel posters

Click any image to enlarge

My recent trip to escape the polar vortex cold of Florida was to the Dominican Republic. I quite enjoyed my stay there. The people, the food, the beaches, the poolside and just wandering the streets were all pleasant and relaxing, although the touts could get annoying at times.

If you're ever in Bayahibe stop by the Blu Café. Easily the best restaurant on my trip.

Anyway, for graphics, since I couldn't find any old Dominican Republic travel posters I branched out a bit and went for a small sampling of Caribbean themed posters instead.

Mariposa (en Havana)

Get ready for a weekend of cavorting with Si*Se.

Heading south for a bit

My destination - click image to enlarge

Damn you Canada -- this polar vortex business has made Florida intolerably cold. I'm having to wear sweaters nearly every day, I am also fearing that I may get frostbite if I'm not careful, and I don't even want to mention the horrors of cabin fever.

Anyhoo... I'll be heading south for my safety and most likely won't be posting for a bit. See you all later, if you haven't froze to death in the mean time that is.

On the departure of a shipmate

The Old Boat - Frederic Edwin Church 

We do not ask a tamed seagull why she feels the need to disappear from time to time to the open sea. She goes, that's all, and it's as simple as a ray of sunshine, as normal as the blue of the sky. - Bernard Moitessier 

Sweet Dreams

Get ready for a nectarous weekend with Holly Henry. 

Daydreaming and reality

Painting by Francine Van Hove

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. - Albert Einstein

Russian pilots of the Congo

Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Get ready for a conclusive weekend with the United Rhythms Of Brazil.

Sindbad vs Popeye

There was a time when I regularly posted Wednesday 'Hump Day' fight videos. I'm not going to resume that posting tradition, finding videos of silly fights was getting increasingly difficult, but today I'll post a throw-back Hump Day fight. This one features a brawl between Popeye the Sailor and Sinbad the Sailor, who is played by Brutus. Naturally Olive Oyle is caught in the middle.