Category: Art

Twenty Things We Saw At Another Fair

August 25, 2013

After the fair last week, one of KLS’s workmates suggest we visit another fair, about 90 minutes south of here. Everything about it was supposed to be bigger and better than Altamont, including the rides.

We had to go!

So go we did, to the Duchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, NY. We got there shortly after it opened and stayed for more than six hours. Quite simply, this fair had more to see than could ever be seen and more to do than could ever be done.

We tried though, and here is some of what we saw:

1) County fairs celebrate agriculture and farming, so is it a surprise to see something like the above? What about…

2) The JCB ‘dancing diggers’ performance. Such hydraulic power! Such structural integrity! I have never seen such a beautiful performance of choreographed excavators before!

3) We saw a robot named Oscar…

4) And an old master painting a masterpiece onto a mirror!

5) The food selections were mind boggling. KLS had a crab cake platter, and I…

6) had a lamb gyro. I was planning on getting a corn dog later but… I’ll get to that…

Lets talk about the animals! There were a bazillion of them there, representing countless different species, for example:

7) Porkers…

8) A tiny horse…

9) An evil giant bird…

10) An insane, metal-eating armor-clad sheep…

11) A lazy bugger…

666) And Satan!

We also saw camels, long-jumping hounds, rabbits, fowl, monkeys and even two coatimundi!

13) Here we see KLS next to the prize-winning Christmas tree. Every type of plant you could imagine was being shown and judged including…

14) A room full of flowers!

15) That’s the prize-winning Dahlia. Can you grow them this well?

16) Speaking of prize-winning, here’s a remarkable piece of art we assume is The Greatest American Hero:

And of course, we saw the rides! Unlike Altamont, rides were not included in the entry price and cost about $5 each. There were dozens of them in all shapes and sizes, three of which I was very interested in riding. They were:

17) ‘The Claw’, a contraption with so many axis of rotation it may outdo The Zipper! Looking at it, I knew it would ruin me 🙁

18) The ‘Sky Diver’, a sort of leveled-up Ferris Wheel in which you’d spend half your time upside down!

19) The ‘Fire Ball’, known to aficionados like myself as the ‘Superlooper’. I hadn’t ridden one in 30 years and even though I feared it would ruin me the pull of nostalgia was strong. I sat KLS on a shady seat, shuffled off and before I could change my mind purchased a ticket from a grizzled felon, hopped on the ride and buckled myself into the front seat. Here’s what I looked like immediately afterwards:

20) Yes my friends, I was ruined. Even now, almost a day later I can remember the dizziness. I curse the god that makes me sick on all these wonderful rides I love :< After, I noted that I was significantly older than almost every person riding any ride. Have I outgrown these things? I hope not. Post-fireball illness aside, the fair was spectacular. We will certainly be back next year :)

Apotheosis of The Machine Brain

August 10, 2013

It’s 8 pm and I’m sitting on the promenade outside the ~~castle~~ hotel overlooking the Saint Lawrence river. There will be fireworks later; people are everywhere! It will be a fun end to a busy day!

Here’s the very start:

We’d return to this bakery later for bread and pastries for our dinner!

In the morning we caught a bus upriver to the famous Montmorency Falls.

Beautiful! See the bridge over the top? We walked that. The photo above is taken from a steep staircase that leads from the top to the bottom:

Here’s a shot from the lookout to the south side of the falls, visible on the left in the first photo:

We started at the top, took the stairs down, then got to the top again via a rope way!

Here’s me hamming it up in the car:

Growing up in Australia waterfalls are not exactly common and it’s always a treat to visit one. It was a sight definitely worth seeing 🙂

Afterwards, we returned to the city and headed down to old town, at the base of the cliffs on which stands the hotel. Here I met a lovely bird:

Whose hand is that? ONLY MINE!

I petted him and he leaned into my hand. So cute!

We wandered on, and ignorantly walked right past the Canadian Museum of Civilization! Booooooring, we all might think. But stop the presses since a certain poster caught my eye…

What’s this? A froggy museum exhibit on the history of video games in Quebec, Canada? Could it be good? Was it worth $15?!?!?

Yes, my friends, it absolutely was!

The exhibit, which was divided into various eras (Origin, Arcades, 3D etc.) contained over 500 items including a staggering 88 playable consoles and arcade games!

And believe me, whoever curated this exhibit was no slouch to game history and the landmark games from each era.

The above snap shows Barbarian playable on an Amstrad!?! I was in hog heaven as I effortlessly demoed the 1-hit kill move to Jim almost 30 years since I had last played.

I would go on to play PC-Engine, MSX (!!), C-64 and countless other gems, including…

Tempest 2000 on a Jaguar! Jim got in on the action as well:

That’s him playing an Amiga for the first time. The game? Turrican!

Here’s a cute display:

That’s Bubble Bobble demonstrated on 4 different machines. A fifth was playable adjacent to this display.

I also went a bit menerk when I found Thunderforce III playable for Mega Drive. It was as if this exhibit was custom designed for me!

Oh and the relics! They ranged from breathtaking original working Space Invaders Deluxe cocktail cabinets:

To displays of rare game merchandise:

To awesomely nostalgic game packaging:

And to stuff bizarre beyond words:

There was so much to see and play, from Odyssey to iOS and Wii U. Superb beyond my mere words, this exhibit was one memory after another. As I got to this screen on my first man:

In this game:

I knew my visit to the ~~boooooring~~ Museum of Civilization was one I’d probably remember forever 🙂

Oh yes, and later in the day we saw this:

Gotta run! Fireworks 🙂

Castle On The Hill

August 9, 2013

We had booked the first train to Quebec City from Montreal, and had to wake before dawn to make it. The train was very comfortable, with spacious airline-style seating, and the trip was smooth and relaxing.

I’m taking Bernard’s comment from the other day to heart and today’s blog will feature only ‘street photography’ in accordance, I’m sure, with his exacting standards 🙂

We arrived at Montreal just after 9, and since nothing had been open when we left Montreal the first order if the day was breakfast. I’ll illustrate the event in a ‘visual tone poem’:

Quebec City has an old section inside a wall and up on a hill and our hotel – the Chateau Frontenac – is right at the top. Even so, it was a relatively easy walk up to the hotel from the station through the picturesque streets of old city.

And the hotel itself! Here’s the first you see of it:

And a couple of other views:

It’s 120 years old, absolutely massive and (obviously) built to resemble a classic European castle. Our room is large and comfortable, and the hotel sits atop a cliff with incredible views of the St Lawrence river. According to a plaque, it is the most photographed hotel in the world!

It’s also one of the most expensive I reckon! Ignoring for a moment the (ugly) $12075 sculpture of a violin in the gift shop, take a gander at this ‘fridge’:

It’s pre-stocked with all manner of beverage and if you drink any a charge is added to your bill. A can of soda? $4.25! A can of beer? $9! The total price if you drink everything (and eat the snacks as well)? $328.25 🙂

After dumping our stuff we went out and explored the near bye area, including a fort and a field upon which a historic revolutionary war battle occurred. Eventually we ended up in lower city at the base of the cliff on which stands Frontenac.

The rest if the day was – if you can believe it – spent relaxing! Here’s Jim snoozing the afternoon away:

I went exploring and found some old cosplayers in the hotel foyer…

A handsome horse just outside…

And a ‘Caramilk’ bar that I speedily shoved down my gulliver…

Later on I did some shopping (more postcards mostly), some eating, some watching of TV and then – after dark – a walk on the promenade. Here I saw a great acrobat show:

And a very large and very impressive castle-hotel looking beautiful with the lights on:

Tomorrow we’re going to visit the great outdoors…

Robot Claw