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Saturday, October 7, 2006 |
One of the few remaining sports I am passionate about is Formula One Racing. Yeah, there are races (and years) where it's decided in the first corner and it's probably a huge waste of resources. My friend Zero turned me on to the sport in the mid-80's and I have followed it ever since.
Fans have recently found out that Michael Schumacher, the 7 time world champion driver for Ferrari will retire at the end of the season. Love him or hate him, he has accomplished an amazing record in the sport and others will have a hard time breaking most of them. He and the current champion Fernando Alonso are tied for the driver's championship and it makes for an exciting finish to the season.
Upon waking this morning I flicked the TV on here in Italy (home of Ferrari and a very big F1 country) and the qualifying coverage from Suzuka, Japan was on Rai Due and Rai Sport, the Italian national channels. The pictures were crystal clear and the sound of the engines filled the single speaker on the hotel TV. The reason I am writing is because there was no comments, no color commentary, no inane speculation to what was going on. It was very refreshing. I realized that it would never work in the US though they have tried moments of silence in different sports from time to time. They don't trust the fans to keep watching; they are afraid they will lose them to a flashing light or a piece of tinsel blowing in the wind. They may be right (or have the research to back it up) but to just have the feed to watch actually made it more immersive for me.
There are times when I love the differences over here.
PS- I just looked at Alonso's birthday; he was born after I graduated from high school...
8:25:06 AM 
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from Billboard:
I'm not sure about you, but I've spent hundreds of hours in dozens of Towers all over the world, roaming the bins for music I couldn't find anywhere else. It appears that those days of an actual tactile exploration of your music before you buy it are nearly over. On Sunset, in Seattle, Sacramento, San Francisco, Dallas, London, Tokyo, New York... the end of an era.
Tower Records To Be Liquidated
4:08:21 AM
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Check out Iggy Pop's show rider at the Smoking Gun... the author appears to be Jos Grain...
Laughs for all...
(Thanks to Kelly S. for the tip!!!)
2:24:01 AM
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Our time in Italy is bringing us through a few spots I've never been before, places that are not on the regular circuit. In the previous post, you can see a small part of the Villa Manin in where we played. It's just a little country house built in the 16th Century that now houses a museum of contemporary art and holds a concert from time to time. We came in the back gate just like we should have. The buildings we housed our offices and dressing rooms had rough stone walls and had been upgraded with modern lighting and wooden floors. Once you figured out which button to push to flush the toilet, you were all set.
Here's a morning shot outside of the Loggia di San Giovanni and the Torre dell[base ']Orologio in the Piazza della Libertà in the center of Udine...
We moved on to Verona, an ancient city which was home to Romeo and Juilet and our venue of the day, the Arena di Verona. It was built in 30AD... it's almost as old as CBGB's. I've been to a couple of these ampitheatres and it is widely thought that this one is in the best shape; I'd have to agree.
"Good Morning... where's the venue? Oh..."
"How do you get in? Oh..."
They stage both popular music and opera here... not to say that opera isn't popular but that's what they call it. It was great to watch a team working on a section of it, cleaning and restoring the stone; slow, meticulous work which has to include some love.
The weather behaved, the crowd was full of passion and the band played some new tunes which matched the building... I clicked a few more pics whic I stuck on my Flickr site here...
...but I had to put the dead horse up...
... and at least one art shot...
2:20:29 AM
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