On top of die burg (the castle) at the show. Literally, the stage is right beneath us.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Right now is the last time I'll have wireless internet for a while possibly, so I'm gonna get some pictures of the Gentleman show up.
There will be more to come, trust me.
This was shortly before entering the four-band Burg Open Air Fest, a reggae festival in Abenberg, Germany (population: not many).
I could have made some joke about this being a certificate for good manners on the Continent so far, but that's something my dad would have said, not me.
There will be more to come, trust me.
This was shortly before entering the four-band Burg Open Air Fest, a reggae festival in Abenberg, Germany (population: not many).
I could have made some joke about this being a certificate for good manners on the Continent so far, but that's something my dad would have said, not me.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Meet Spot Knapp, the tri-lingual dog.
Spot is, quite simply, the best dog ever. He has eyebrows. Do you understand how rare that is for dogs to have distinct, bushy eyebrows making them look all human?
Raised in a house which paired a Houston-raised man with a Texan-born/Swiss-raised/Spanish family woman...who live in the French-speaking region of Switzerland, in a town just oustide Lausanne called Morges.
Their family, all three kids included, can switch back and forth between all three languages like its nothing. Which means they speak to their dog in a pretty similarly scattered way.
It's always funny to think, then, that one dog may be "more cultured" than another dog, or "smarter" than another dog because, after all "he knows three languages. Woof."
Spot, a maison! A maison!
Spot is, quite simply, the best dog ever. He has eyebrows. Do you understand how rare that is for dogs to have distinct, bushy eyebrows making them look all human?
Raised in a house which paired a Houston-raised man with a Texan-born/Swiss-raised/Spanish family woman...who live in the French-speaking region of Switzerland, in a town just oustide Lausanne called Morges.
Their family, all three kids included, can switch back and forth between all three languages like its nothing. Which means they speak to their dog in a pretty similarly scattered way.
It's always funny to think, then, that one dog may be "more cultured" than another dog, or "smarter" than another dog because, after all "he knows three languages. Woof."
Spot, a maison! A maison!
Hunter, Breck Knapp and I practically descended this mountain through a huge series of these wooden, rope ladders like the one pictured below. Breck, a fellow native Houstonian, is my idol, as he lives just outside of / works in Geneva with three kids, a wife and a dog, and he gets to do this on the weekend.
The only thing is, he misses Astros games (though he claims "not to care about American sports") How is that possible?
The only thing is, he misses Astros games (though he claims "not to care about American sports") How is that possible?
In Switzerland, if you don't keep paying rent, essentially, on someone's grave site, they will physcially relocate your remains? Think about how much dough you'd have to have at death to land the penthouse suite?
It's always a little eery to me when I find cemeteries beautiful. It sounds like something Radiohead would sing about.
It's always a little eery to me when I find cemeteries beautiful. It sounds like something Radiohead would sing about.
watching World Cup games in outdoor plazas in the country of a team that is playing is the bomb diggity.
this is in Geneva with Hunter. Renting free bikes, swimming in the lake, riding around the Old City with all its hills and cobblestones and dead ends, and diving off the platform = good day. That, and Suisse won.
HOP LA SUISSE!
this is in Geneva with Hunter. Renting free bikes, swimming in the lake, riding around the Old City with all its hills and cobblestones and dead ends, and diving off the platform = good day. That, and Suisse won.
HOP LA SUISSE!
Even more publicity for Hot Dog Man: World Cup Edition, this being some pretty old news that I just found out about.
ESPN.com, Page 2, Michael Davies' World Cup Blog.
Quite a charming caption.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=davies/060617
ESPN.com, Page 2, Michael Davies' World Cup Blog.
Quite a charming caption.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=davies/060617
And I don't mean Marky Mark, Ice Cube, or George Clooney.
This is supposedly the tomb that contains not one, not two, BUT ALL THREE of the wise men. As in the three kings. Are you kidding me? That's bold. I've heard of the whole every-altar-must-have-a-piece-of-dead-holy-person thing, but claiming all three of the wise men? I suspect that at this point, it's kind of like WWF wrestling was before the late 90's boom -- presented to the people as the truth, obviously a farce.
And yet, I pull out my camera. (It's pretty cool to think about it, you feel like you're in an Indiana Jones movie).
This is supposedly the tomb that contains not one, not two, BUT ALL THREE of the wise men. As in the three kings. Are you kidding me? That's bold. I've heard of the whole every-altar-must-have-a-piece-of-dead-holy-person thing, but claiming all three of the wise men? I suspect that at this point, it's kind of like WWF wrestling was before the late 90's boom -- presented to the people as the truth, obviously a farce.
And yet, I pull out my camera. (It's pretty cool to think about it, you feel like you're in an Indiana Jones movie).
GERMANS, GERMANY and the CONFEDERATE FLAG. an essay.
Last week, a survey was published in the Herald Tribune that showed European perceptions of threats to global stability.
Asked to rank the dangers posed by the U.S., Iran and China in descending order, we came out on top in almost every country.
I guess they don't believe that a country sitting atop the second-largest reserves of crude oil in the world could ever have alterior purposes for pursuing such an advanced nuclear program ... or maybe, they simply figure it would have been better had the South risen again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take this truck, for example. Can we find a better hybrid of Germany and Redneck America?
You've got a blue collar man, working hard for his family, his God and his country, by God. And those Stars and Bars, now those colors don't run.
Then you've got a Mercedes-Benz hood ornament, reminding you that the driver probably has no idea of what his little grill decorator represents.
No explanation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
But then you've got the other end of the spectrum, the Euros who are into fashion, but rock the Confederate flag shirts. They're not a hybrid blue collar type of crowd, they're more Euro if you catch my drift. They're pretty.
It was after my discovery of this subset that I stepped in and tried to do a little investigative reporting on the issue. I had just finished writing a 20-minute piece on my feelings about the amount of Confederate flags I've seen on my trip (a 20-minute piece that was subsuquently deleted, mysteriously, as I went to post it the morning of June 23), when I walked by a store that caught my eye. As I strolled in and began fingering the merchandise, I came upon a black t-shirt that said "Rebel" underneath a flapping, shredded Confederate battle flag.
Needless to say, after the grill-decorator and the idiot Texan (keep reading), I thought it was pretty funny to come across the under-publicized pillar of the Six Flags Theme Park chain again, so soon.
The black African and Indian immigrants running the shop cracked a blind that shed some light on the subject.
"Do you know what this flag stands for?" I asked the African dude.
"It is Eng-lond, yes?"
"No. It's the country that fought for slavery in the American Civil War," I clarified.
"Yes, but Eng-lond, too, mon. See? It says right dare: 'Rebel.'"
How the word "rebel" could serve as proof that it has an Anglo connection is beyond me, but the point is, the dude, black as night, had no idea what the history behind the garment really was.
I hesitated to use the swastika analogy, because of the dearth of concentration camps set up in Alabama, Georgia and Virginia, but it was the only thing I could think of to bring it home to the man.
In Germany, that gets people's attention.
"Dees lond fought FOR slavuhree?!" the man asked confusedly. "But it seh 'Rebel.'"
Again, not understanding what that word actually means to this guy.
After about a minute of this, he seemed to get it.
"Do you study history or somefing, mon?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did."
"Wow, mon, thanks fuh clarify-un, mon," he said as I made my move for the door -- the first time someone has ever been impressed that I chose to major in "I hope you want to be a teacher."
His Indian supervisor standing by the register wasn't too moved -- he was more interested in if I was going to actually buy the shirt than any history lesson I could provide.
But at least I got through to one German ... or one African guy living in Germany who may or may not have citizenship.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So the World Cup is about representing your country, right?
Why, then, would someone from The United States of America wear as a cape the flag of the defeated Confederate States of America?
This argument has always been so logical to me that it hurts, but it doesn't seem to work with folks set in their ways. "Southern pride," they say, which sounds like a dignified alternative to spitting out a mouthful of sour grapes.
("It was about states' rights" is my personal favorite).
Well, someone from the set-in-their-ways camp made his way over to Nuremberg for Team USA's third and final Cup game June 22, and we had words.
I don't know what possessed me to go looking for trouble, but I think it may have been related to the nasty case of Ghana-rea I had caught while watching Landon Donovan and the U.S. Chokers get schooled by Kofi Annan's boys. That, and I hate Confederate flags.
Walking down an alley outside of the pub where we had watched Ghana's 2-1 victory, about 10 meters away (I don't actually know how far that is, but I like to use the metric system when in Rome), I saw a backwards St. Louis Cardinals hat and a battle flag, waving in the wind as the cape-wearer trucked down the cobblestones, beer in hand.
"At the World Cup??" I grimaced internally.
As happens from time to time, the words just came out.
"TAKE THAT F****** CONFEDERATE FLAG OFF, DUDE! THAT'S ANOTHER COUNTRY'S FLAG -- THEY LOST!"
His reaction really surprised me, considering I expected to see a Spring Break "whoops" tattoo on his chest when he turned to confront the bleeding-heart Yankee calling him out.
The Son of the South had the arms-extended/"WHAT" reaction down perfectly.
(arms extended) "WHAT! WHAT!"
"I SAID, THAT IS ANOTHER COUNTRY'S FLAG! IT'S THE WORLD CUP; THE CONFEDERATES DIDN'T QUALIFY!"
(takes one step forward, still over ten meters away, arms extended again) "WHAT! WHAT!"
"I'M FROM TEXAS DUDE, WHAT FLAG AM I WEARING??"
(arms extended, but no "WHAT!" this time) "I'M FROM TEXAS, TOO, MOTHAF****!"
Wait for it....wait for it....
"WHAT!"
That was pretty much where it ended, because like the issue of states' rights, some stupid hick's choice of wardrobe isn't worth a fight to me...especially one that could lead to me getting killed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"WHAT!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
As if that was the only thing that pissed me off about the exchange, though. I deal with Confederate lovers all the time, from down home in Houston to an old friend who used to chill with us all the time, a Northern Virginian who sees dip and his CSA bandana as the final two strings left on his tenuous hold to being a "Southerner."
(He was born near San Francisco, and if you've never seen Northern Virginia, envision a REALLY big Starbucks, with people, rain, houses, schools, movie theaters and traffic ... and New Balance stores).
So in short, I'm used to 'em. They don't bother me as much as it may seem from what you've read, because I know deep down, 80% of Confederate flag-wavers are just trying to be cool, and would clearly never wish for a reversal of fortunes in the Civil War.
But the fact that this "WHAT" guy was from Texas, and was wearing a backwards St. Louis Cardinals hat -- now that really chaps my ass, as my dad would say.
The Cardinals??
WHAT?
Last week, a survey was published in the Herald Tribune that showed European perceptions of threats to global stability.
Asked to rank the dangers posed by the U.S., Iran and China in descending order, we came out on top in almost every country.
I guess they don't believe that a country sitting atop the second-largest reserves of crude oil in the world could ever have alterior purposes for pursuing such an advanced nuclear program ... or maybe, they simply figure it would have been better had the South risen again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take this truck, for example. Can we find a better hybrid of Germany and Redneck America?
You've got a blue collar man, working hard for his family, his God and his country, by God. And those Stars and Bars, now those colors don't run.
Then you've got a Mercedes-Benz hood ornament, reminding you that the driver probably has no idea of what his little grill decorator represents.
No explanation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
But then you've got the other end of the spectrum, the Euros who are into fashion, but rock the Confederate flag shirts. They're not a hybrid blue collar type of crowd, they're more Euro if you catch my drift. They're pretty.
It was after my discovery of this subset that I stepped in and tried to do a little investigative reporting on the issue. I had just finished writing a 20-minute piece on my feelings about the amount of Confederate flags I've seen on my trip (a 20-minute piece that was subsuquently deleted, mysteriously, as I went to post it the morning of June 23), when I walked by a store that caught my eye. As I strolled in and began fingering the merchandise, I came upon a black t-shirt that said "Rebel" underneath a flapping, shredded Confederate battle flag.
Needless to say, after the grill-decorator and the idiot Texan (keep reading), I thought it was pretty funny to come across the under-publicized pillar of the Six Flags Theme Park chain again, so soon.
The black African and Indian immigrants running the shop cracked a blind that shed some light on the subject.
"Do you know what this flag stands for?" I asked the African dude.
"It is Eng-lond, yes?"
"No. It's the country that fought for slavery in the American Civil War," I clarified.
"Yes, but Eng-lond, too, mon. See? It says right dare: 'Rebel.'"
How the word "rebel" could serve as proof that it has an Anglo connection is beyond me, but the point is, the dude, black as night, had no idea what the history behind the garment really was.
I hesitated to use the swastika analogy, because of the dearth of concentration camps set up in Alabama, Georgia and Virginia, but it was the only thing I could think of to bring it home to the man.
In Germany, that gets people's attention.
"Dees lond fought FOR slavuhree?!" the man asked confusedly. "But it seh 'Rebel.'"
Again, not understanding what that word actually means to this guy.
After about a minute of this, he seemed to get it.
"Do you study history or somefing, mon?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did."
"Wow, mon, thanks fuh clarify-un, mon," he said as I made my move for the door -- the first time someone has ever been impressed that I chose to major in "I hope you want to be a teacher."
His Indian supervisor standing by the register wasn't too moved -- he was more interested in if I was going to actually buy the shirt than any history lesson I could provide.
But at least I got through to one German ... or one African guy living in Germany who may or may not have citizenship.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So the World Cup is about representing your country, right?
Why, then, would someone from The United States of America wear as a cape the flag of the defeated Confederate States of America?
This argument has always been so logical to me that it hurts, but it doesn't seem to work with folks set in their ways. "Southern pride," they say, which sounds like a dignified alternative to spitting out a mouthful of sour grapes.
("It was about states' rights" is my personal favorite).
Well, someone from the set-in-their-ways camp made his way over to Nuremberg for Team USA's third and final Cup game June 22, and we had words.
I don't know what possessed me to go looking for trouble, but I think it may have been related to the nasty case of Ghana-rea I had caught while watching Landon Donovan and the U.S. Chokers get schooled by Kofi Annan's boys. That, and I hate Confederate flags.
Walking down an alley outside of the pub where we had watched Ghana's 2-1 victory, about 10 meters away (I don't actually know how far that is, but I like to use the metric system when in Rome), I saw a backwards St. Louis Cardinals hat and a battle flag, waving in the wind as the cape-wearer trucked down the cobblestones, beer in hand.
"At the World Cup??" I grimaced internally.
As happens from time to time, the words just came out.
"TAKE THAT F****** CONFEDERATE FLAG OFF, DUDE! THAT'S ANOTHER COUNTRY'S FLAG -- THEY LOST!"
His reaction really surprised me, considering I expected to see a Spring Break "whoops" tattoo on his chest when he turned to confront the bleeding-heart Yankee calling him out.
The Son of the South had the arms-extended/"WHAT" reaction down perfectly.
(arms extended) "WHAT! WHAT!"
"I SAID, THAT IS ANOTHER COUNTRY'S FLAG! IT'S THE WORLD CUP; THE CONFEDERATES DIDN'T QUALIFY!"
(takes one step forward, still over ten meters away, arms extended again) "WHAT! WHAT!"
"I'M FROM TEXAS DUDE, WHAT FLAG AM I WEARING??"
(arms extended, but no "WHAT!" this time) "I'M FROM TEXAS, TOO, MOTHAF****!"
Wait for it....wait for it....
"WHAT!"
That was pretty much where it ended, because like the issue of states' rights, some stupid hick's choice of wardrobe isn't worth a fight to me...especially one that could lead to me getting killed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"WHAT!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
As if that was the only thing that pissed me off about the exchange, though. I deal with Confederate lovers all the time, from down home in Houston to an old friend who used to chill with us all the time, a Northern Virginian who sees dip and his CSA bandana as the final two strings left on his tenuous hold to being a "Southerner."
(He was born near San Francisco, and if you've never seen Northern Virginia, envision a REALLY big Starbucks, with people, rain, houses, schools, movie theaters and traffic ... and New Balance stores).
So in short, I'm used to 'em. They don't bother me as much as it may seem from what you've read, because I know deep down, 80% of Confederate flag-wavers are just trying to be cool, and would clearly never wish for a reversal of fortunes in the Civil War.
But the fact that this "WHAT" guy was from Texas, and was wearing a backwards St. Louis Cardinals hat -- now that really chaps my ass, as my dad would say.
The Cardinals??
WHAT?
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