Archive for November, 2006
Sunday, November 26th, 2006
Performance Peddlar I
Featured Video: Street Juggler (3.8MB, .avi movie file)
(Santiago, Chile) Every day I pass this spot just in front of the Bellas Artes museum on my way to work at the Santiago Times. I’ve seen ball jugglers and hoop jugglers and guys working with bats in pairs, a few clowns, and a few spinning non-flaming poi.
I don’t suppose for a juggler that this guy is doing anything fancy, rather just adding a bit of shtick to a regular 5-bat juggle. Keep in mind however that I am a 3-ball juggler and the thought of keeping 3 bats in the air just stifles my comprehension.
No Comments » - Posted in Travel by Damon
Monday, November 20th, 2006
Subway Flute Player
♫ Featured Audio: Subway Flute Player (2MB mp3 file)
I sometimes take the subway as far west as Plaza de Armas, and I’ve seen this guy playing a there couple of times, a surprisingly refreshing welcome at the entrance to the metro station that leads into a long hallway. Please keep in mind that he’s playing a traditional Chilean flute, one that resembles a large recorder or even more akin to a Japanese shakuhachi. The mouthpiece is just a slit in the wood at one end, and the player has to breath across this slit to create the tone.
No Comments » - Posted in Travel by Damon
Monday, November 20th, 2006
And today, why not?
When a kind of commercial slogan begins to lose sight of good taste, it instead begins to take on a sense of its own style. I’m not talking about classic signage like Burma-shave or old coke slogans, I’m thinking more of those 80s adverts on the back of magazines for drinks like Schwepps or Wild Turkey, just before advertising started to be clever or even intentionally ironic.
No Comments » - Posted in Travel by Damon
Sunday, November 19th, 2006
The Neruda Bike
Most of us know Pablo Neruda as a kind of king among poets–a true romantic who found his voice in lyrical tribute to love and grace. I highly recommend his poetry.
In no small part due to his worldwide stature, Neruda is a towering figure in Chilean culture, beyond poetry, and as such, his name stands at the ready to be co-opted for any project that needs a distinctly “Chilean” brand.
2 Comments » - Posted in Travel by Damon
Saturday, November 18th, 2006
Desperately Seeking Sushi
As I posted earlier this month in Sushi Guarded by Carabineros, the thought of a really good Japanese meal has been slowly devouring a corner of my mind, not growing into an obsession, but seeding itself to grow into a real full-time monomania sometime soon. On my visit to Pomaire, I had recommendations from some Japanese acquaintances that rated a few restaurents, in their words, “OK” or “Pretty Good”. If a discerning Japanese palate gives a green flag to a restaurant, I’ll take it that my westernized tongue will probably find it pretty good.
