This is the blog of a one Ben Wilson, a Louisville, Kentucky native who enjoys baseball, beer, music, bikes, things that fly and good food. By day he pushes pixels and makes the Internet happen for a local advertising agency. His wife, Kelly is an Ironman, and his baby Amelia is the cutest thing ever.
Kelly and I ran the Cursa de la Merce this morning – a great race. Real big! Lots of fun. Then, despite our being totally wasted by the race, we decided to go up to Parc Güell, the Gaudi-designed park northwest of town. My god, it was so hilly! Insane, but wonderfully wild and beautiful. Delicious dinner tonight at Ciutat Comtal, topped off with some xocolat at Valor!
Correfoc video up on YouTube!
More photos on the way. Tomorrow – I don’t know! Coffee and the Boqueria again, I’m sure. I’d also like to go out to FC Barcelona’s stadium, Camp Nou! Maybe get tickets for Wednesday’s match?!
Correfoc team giving one last big blast at their end of the street!
Update 6:44PM EST – Correfoc (fire run) photos uploaded in the Barcelona gallery! I also took a bunch of video I’ll have to edit later. That was totally insane! Team after team of fire-hurling devils and drum corps just going nuts! Dancing, fire, drumming… wow. Kelly and I have our run in the AM so we’re turning in!
Hola! Kelly and I have had a long couple of days here in Barcelona – jet lag an issue upon arrival, but that’s all behind us now. We’ve embarked on a couple of rambling, unguided walking tours in the last few days that have left us very tired but filled with the sights and sounds (and tastes!) of Barcelona.
We’ve visited the Sagrada Familia, strolled Las Ramblas on numerous occassions, bought our breakfast at La Boqueria market, dipped our feet in the Mediterranean and wound our way through the narrow streets of Barcelona’s old town.
The “fire run” I spoke of (el correfoc) is tonight and our run (La Cursa de la Merce) is tomorrow morning! More info on the correfoc and the Festival de la Merce here: Barcelona La Merce Festival @ Barcelona Tourist Guide.
The first batch of photos (from today) are up in the Barcelona Gallery!
Remember how I said I was going to make a large catapult and call it THE POWER OF LOVE? Well, I did it! It took me only a handful of hours to complete over the 4th of July weekend, and at M@ and Sara’s 4th of July Party, it made it’s debut!
M@ was kind enough to video the thing in action (firing incendiaries) and put it up on YouTube:
One package is a charred oaken barren filled with corn squeezins’ and let sit for a decade. The other is a crude, yet effective attempt at medieval artillery fashioned out of bits and pieces from a local hardware store. Either is glorious!
The “Taste of Oak” thing was a fundraiser for the Easter Seals. Normally held during August, they moved the event to before the Derby (in fact near Oaks Day). The event involves a bourbon tasting and food from many different vendors, though the bourbon is the main attraction. Most of the major distilleries in Kentucky show up and are more than happy to give you all the bourbon you want in their custom glassware. Meanwhile, the Six Million Dollar Man and that Dead Guy From Lost Who Is Related to Tom Cruise wow the audience with their presence.
The trebuchet (treb-you-shay) thing started I-don’t-know-when, but suffice it to say any man with sufficient space at one point or another at least considers building a catapult. Last year, you may remember that some folks from our crue built potato guns for the Fourth of July. This year, we intend to keep up the sciency challenge with the building of catapults out of readily available materials. Rules and regulations are still in the works, but today (as witnessed by the photos and video) I put my small trebuchet through it’s paces with the help of Charlie Dillon. In the end we semi-reliably flung a golf ball about 60-75 feet. Glorious! This small model (named Cheap Plastic Artillery #1, aka CPA One) will be scaled up into a larger contraption that I have named THE POWER OF LOVE
Kelly, Chris Gerstle and I went down to Thunder Over Louisville last weekend to see the sights and check out some of the 800,000 other folks. I snapped some photos, and you can see them here: 2006.04.22 – Thunder Over Louisville.
Kelly and I were at Oxmoor and stopped inside Sharper Image. You know
– the kind of place where you can get a robotic calf massager, a
robotic vacuum cleaner, even a robotic… robot. In the middle of
store, prominently displayed (but outside the reach of small children)
were the Master Replicas Star Wars lightsabers!
I said “OOOH! SHINY!” and immediately went over and picked it up off of
it”s display case. I believe it was the “Darth Vader” model. There was
also a nice family of a father and like three kids “playing” with the
“Anakin” model. I hear the Dad say “uh, now kids, this ain”t for
swinging now — these are $125 a piece!” I chuckle and lapse back into
my daydream of standing on the bank of a lava-flow yelling “YOU WERE THE
CHOSEN ONE!”, with Matt Rasnake”s brother Javan standing down below w/o
3 of his appendages. Now me, I”m standing there with a goatee, sandy
blonde hair parted a little to the left gripping this thing with two
hands, just thinking one word over and over in my mind — “AWESOME
AWESOME AWESOME”. The dad then snaps my concentration and says “Hey
man — my kids think you look like Obi-Wan, you know, but like Young
Obi-Wan”. Now, this dude was black, so I was automatically thinking
“Mace! You old cock! How are you?!” but declined to say such a thing.
Nonetheless, I thanked him and his apparently awe-struck children
(judging by the looks on their faces) and went on our way. Upon
reflection I should have whipped out some great Obi-Wan scenes like
walking over to the people looking at the Roomba robo-vacuums and waving
my hand saying “these aren”t the droids you are looking for”.
So yeah, that was pretty awesome. Next time you are dragged into that
mall, I suggest you check them out.
O, what a glorious site to behold! The noble baking potato, expelled from a humble collection of plumbing supplies, cracking the silence with a percussive “PHOOOMP!”, inciting glee onto the faces of those who stand witness.
Imagine if you will a rough and ready collection of irregulars, bound together with the love of Science and the need for senseless aerial bombardment, executing the flawless mechanics demanded by such revelry. Then imagine that on a boat in a lake. Further, imagine that with much beer. Poseidon we respect ye not!
Finally, imagine revellers, merry-making and explosions to delight the soul! All there in the lawless, beautiful abandon required of such activities – Southern Indiana!
That, loyal readers, is what transpired this last Monday, July 4th. We have pictures to prove it: 2005.07.04 – Splosions!.
Much thanks to the Dillon family at large (save for Dalton – what a sucker. He chose Florida over incendiary tubers!) for hosting the event. A grill was lit, a boat was launched, and much champagne (of beers) was had. We celebrated the 4th of July in grand and ostentatious fashion, though the Right-Honorable Raging Bazooka Bear of Destiny did fall that night, inciting a near panic. “Hide behind the trees! The trees are our safety!”
I do hope that next years event will be as grand – hopefully, perhaps more arrogant in its flaunting of Science!
That, my little candy-cane children, is the name of the next (possibly last?) White Stripes album. It is due out June 7th, while the first single “Blue Orchid” is due out on radio in the US on April 19th.
The promo site for Get Behind Me, Satan has not yet “gone live”, and only holds a single image of a pale, white hand (Meg?) holding a white apple.
Further indications of awesomeness include Jack’s awesome mustache and long-hair combo from this year’s Grammy’s, where he stood aside Loretta Lynn when she picked up the statue for Best Country Album.
Man — not a month goes by that I don’t find myself apologizing to one band or another for not listening. I’ve publically acknowledged this before, but now I’ve got to do it again. This time, it’s Death from Above 1979. I had seen their music being bandied about with furious intensity over on IndieTorrents, and I had read the Pitchfork review of You’re a woman, I’m a machine a while back. I thought that it was probably just a bunch of indie-hipster saber-rattling, but o’ how I was wrong. These pair of canucks throw down the beat-infused noise rawk! Go and find yourself a show or a file on their website.
filed underGeneraland then tagged as'Splosions,Music
Mar 2 2005 ~ 9:22 am ~ Comments Off ~
