Memories of Savannah

I was in Savannah, Georgia last week for a veterinary seminar.  I learned the proper way to amputate a penis.

But enough of the exciting stuff.

Savannah is one of my favourite places in the world.  There is something really charming about a place where strangers say hello as they pass on the street, people dress up for church, kids fly kites in the park and the beautiful squares are filled with old trees draped with Spanish moss.

And you can drink beer or liquor in public places.  Score for the homeless drunks!  

The food is great too if you like large portions of the really fattening stuff.  I usually try to make it to Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room for some fried chicken, black eyed peas and collards but I missed my chance this visit.  Something to look forward to next time.

As always, I had some observations as I was strolling around town.  And I strolled A LOT.  Most of my time (when I wasn't learning about medicine and surgery) was spent walking around town and I didn't once get bored.  There was always so much to see and it was all free.

So these were some of the thoughts that filled my head ...

•    Paula Deen's restaurant is overrated but if you are a woman older than 60 and LOVE Paula, then you should probably eat there.  

• If you sit long enough in one of the squares, someone will eventually sit down and talk with you and the conversation will likely revolve around God and money.  

• The Hilton deSoto is a terrible eyesore in the historic district and it's criminal that a beautiful old hotel was demolished on the same site.  

• I am not a fan of soft shell crabs.  When I ate them, I kept thinking that they weren't that good and their lives were in vain.  

• Savannah is a place where a lot of wives drag their reluctant husbands.  And sometimes their even more reluctant teenage sons.  

• I've seen Miss Chablis and she truly cannot lip sync to save her life.  

• How is it possible that two different taxi drivers tried to rip me off?  For the record, it's a $28 flat fee from the historic district to the airport.  

• Five Guys Burger and Fries make really good burgers that probably taste a lot better when it's 2am and you're still drunk.  

• They should put a bench in the same place where Forrest Gump sat.  It would be crazy popular.  

• Savannah at night is truly scary.  I was so freaked out the first night I woke up in a cold sweat thinking that some entity was in my room and staring at me. I'm not convinced that it didn't happen.  

• Fried green tomatoes are much better than they sound.  

• There are four types of people in Savannah; SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) students, tourists, homeless looking people who may or may not be homeless and rich looking business people who may or may not be rich business people.  

• Don't put Savannah Bee Honey in your carry-on luggage.  They will take it away.  Bastards.  

• Is is so wrong that I saw a powder blue seersucker suit and wanted to buy it?  

• Leopold's ice cream was my most exciting discovery on this trip.  

If you have never been to Savannah, I strongly encourage you to go.  Make sure you stay at a B&B (and be prepared to pay for it) and eat lots and walk lots and try to meet as many interesting people as you can.  

And have fun!

Retro Dominican Republic

This is my attempt at a retro grunge style of photo.

Not sure it really worked but hey, it was fun putting it all together.

Photoshop is the best time waster ever!

A Dominican Magician

In case you've ever wondered if it is possible to punch screwdrivers up your nose, I have something to say:

Yes, it is possible and here is the proof.

While we were drinking rum and eating fish on the beach, I paid for this travelling magician to show us some tricks.  I didn't expect him to pull out two screwdrivers and promptly whack them into his sinuses.  This what not something I wanted to see since my stomach was already feeling a little queasy from all the beachy sun and sea time.

He also swallowed two bullets and regurgitated them back up.  Pretty impressive but I probably could do that if I really tried.  And Steve-O did that with live goldfish so I felt like I had seen it before.

And he also threaded a lot of string through his nose which I thought was a bit of a filler act.

He did something with fire too.  I think he juggled it or something.  I normally would remember but there was a girl beside me and she was very distracting.  And not in a good way.

If you want to see him, he's pretty easy to find.  Just keep your eye out for him along the Sosua Beach in the Dominican Republic.  According to my dad, he's been walking around there for at least the past ten years, possibly longer.

The Domincan Republic: Photoshopped!

More photos from the island paradise ...

Memories of the Dominican Republic

A couple of weeks ago, I was down in the Dominican Republic which is one half of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

There are many great things about this country but most tourists remember the long stretches of relatively deserted beaches ...

Did I go a little overboard on the photshop?  Hmmm, yeah, should have pulled back on the saturation a little bit but the colors are still pretty dramatic.  

This is my dad and not some random guy wearing trousers on the beach.  

At one of the restaurants, this dog was patiently waiting for the leftovers.  Fish bones?  No problem!  

Okay, yes, I take pictures of flowers ...

... and weirdly shaped structures that are difficult to tell if they are plant or animal.  

Sunset over Sosua Beach.  Sosua is on the north coast just adjacent to the big city of Puerto Plata.  As the sun goes down, most people's blood alcohol goes up.  

If you want to get it all out, then nothing should stop you.  No matter where you are.  

In this case, we were on the top of the mountain in Puerto Plata otherwise known as the National Park of Isabella de Torres.  There is a large Jesus here with outstretched arms, kinda like in Rio, but on a much smaller scale.  

This little guy was just hamming it up for my camera.  I luv taking pictures of kids.    

Lillies.  Just because.  Much less expressive than kids but they still possess a certain quiet charm.  

This is my tourist shot at the top of the mountain.  Great views.  Something a little different than just lying like a roast chicken on a beach.  

I'm looking a little pasty.  And that's because I bought 200SPF sunblock by mistake.  

This is a very large rock on a beach.  It's an amazing photo, isn't it?  

I said that because there really isn't anything else to say about it.  

Shells.  I took the time to edit this photo so I'm going to include it in the collection, damnit.  

These pictures were taken at La Boca which is a little hidden away from the usual tourist destinations.  Every time I've been here, it has always been deserted or almost deserted.  Great body surfing if you're into that kinda stuff.  

And there is a small restaurant here that serves the best fish I've ever tasted (not including sushi which is in a class by itself) .  

Pinas!  

There are more photos on their way and I promise you they are way more interesting.  At least I hope so.

The Trouble with KONY

Doesn’t KONY2012 suddenly feel like KONY2011?

I finally broke down this week and watched the video that apparently 3 billion people had watched last week.  In case you have managed to avoid the tsunami of media manipulation, I have decided to break down the video into much smaller pieces: 

THIS IS AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME

Really cool music that makes you think something important is about to happen. 

Introduction of Gavin, the filmmaker’s son.  It’s not clear why this kid is in this video except for middle aged mothers to say, “damn, I wish my son was that cute”. 

Cut to brutal interview of scared African teenager wishing he were dead.  This is serious folks.  YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION so get off your damn playstation for two seconds (actually 30 minutes) and listen up!  But the cute blonde SoCal kid will be coming back in a minute so don’t fret. 

Cute kid is back!  Dad says that Kony is a very bad man.  Kinda like Darth Vader from Star Wars.  When dad asks him what cute kid should do about the situation, cute kid replies, “we should stop him”.  This is the implication; if a seven year old can figure it out (even though he was probably coached by daddy to say everything), then all you morons watching this video can figure it out too.  KONY MUST BE STOPPED!  

The details of how, when, why and all that crap will be explained later—all in vague but exciting terms.  The point is to keep the message simple for easier ADD teenage digestion. 

Lots of cheering.  Young people.  Ra Ra Ra.  Kinda like a cheerleading squad on Capitol Hill.  If we are going to do something, we must make a lot of noise and do it together.  A bunch of littles can make a big difference!  And it worked (kinda).  Special forces were sent to help the Ugandan Army (with their own questionable history) in an attempt to find world criminal #1. 

At this point, the filmmakers should have inserted some porn.  Because I’m pretty sure that some of the 14 year olds stopped watching, clicked the share button and went back to their playstations. 

But for those still watching…this isn’t enough.  We are going to “target” (a word which seems strangely inappropriate considering the subject) celebrities and policy makers.  Really  important celebrities like Rhianna who sings about rough sex and Angelina Jolie whose name is always mentioned when the international community needs help.  This will bring AWARENESS and make KONY a CELEBRITY –even though the actual victims of Kony desire no such thing. 

More young people running around and cheering.  An introduction to the awesomely cool ACTION KIT that was funded from all those heartfelt donations.  It includes STICKERS and POSTERS and a cheap bracelet that probably cost 5 cents for you AND a friend so you can pass it on.  Because this is all about passing it on.  And then on April 20^th, all these do-gooding 14 year olds are going to blanket their cities in KONY 2012 posters (God help us all) so that everyone can be even more aware that KONY exists. 

Cut back to cute kid.

“ I’m gonna be like you dad.”

“In what way son?”

“I’m gonna make millions by asking teenage kids for their lunch money while travelling the world AND making use of my USC film degree.” 

“Dare to dream, son.” 

I think we can all agree that Kony is a very bad person and has done some very evil deeds and deserves to be punished.  The problem I have is that the filmmakers are building awareness and raising some SERIOUS cash so that they can raise more awareness and raise more cash and raise more awareness … and well, at least they are consistent with their mission statement.  But as a CEO of a third world foundation, it makes me a little sick to see that so much money is squandered on making films and paying salaries and transportation costs and building “ACTION KITS” and making people aware without any real consequence.  It all just seems like a slick Hollywood machine and the people who really need help—the victims of Kony’s atrocities—are given a disproportionate percentage of money and support.  And after watching the video, I couldn’t help but get the feeling that the film was as much about smugfaced Jason Russell and his cloying kid as it was about the plight in Africa.    

 I have watched several of the interviews with the filmmakers over the past week and they are in a very intense spotlight.  To answer their critics, they have even made another film but quite frankly, I think they are digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole.  I’m sure they didn’t expect THIS much attention and I’m curious to find out whether the momentum will carry through and make their “Cover the night” party a success.  Will Kony be caught because of this?  I’m not sure it really matters.  There will always be evil people in the world.  The focus should be on helping the good. 

FILTER FORGE

It's amazing what kind of crap you can find when you're surfing the internet.  In some cases, it is worthwhile crap or at least, interesting crap so I usually find myself exploring further and at least giving the crap a 30 day trial.

Today, I came across filterforge and to be very fair, this program is not garbage and I highly recommend it if you use photoshop.  As you may know, the filters in photoshop are very limited (and most of the time a complete waste of time) but with photoshop, the filter possibilities seem endless and most of the time, they are pretty freakin' cool.

I played around with a couple of them this afternoon and turned some photos into tricked out wonders.  I decided to make a collection of some countries that I have visited.

First up, we have Cambodia of course, my latest obsession.  I have always loved this photo.  It came together at the end of the day when two monks were wandering around the famous Ta Prohm temple.  The original photo isn't quite in focus so the photo is improved when it is "disguised" with a little filter magic.

Next up, we have Canada.  This is Lake Belwood situated about an hour outside of Toronto and on a warm August morning, it is one of the most beautiful places in the world--in my opinion, of course.  Summer doesn't last long here; by the middle of September, it's all over till the following June.  

The DR, as most people like to call it.  An island paradise where the people are friendly, the beers are cold and the music is hot. If you come here, you'll spend some lazy days unless you get diarrhea and then you're running a lot to the bathroom.  Bring some pepto and don't drink the tap water!  

.  

I really miss France.  I lived outside of Paris for a year just before I entered University and I fell in love with the whole country.  One of my favorite spots is Mont St. Michel which is the large Abby situated in the northwest corner of France in an area called Normandie. In the picture below, the large red splotches are actually poppies.  Not the best use of filterfoge (it looks like an impressionist painting that was left out in the rain) but it took me quite a while to do so I'm putting it here.     

You can check out filterforge at www.filterforge.com.  And yes, they do have a free trial.