Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Happy New Year!

[Picture:Frédéric Soltan/Sygma/Corbis, Guardian Unlimited]


Hoping your year has got off on the right foot. As I'm away on a short journey tomorrow (one whole week in a quiet cabin in the woods!), my thoughts turn to travel. The Guardian agreeably offers some interesting possibilities for destinations in their "12 top trips for 2008" including a stop in Mumbai for Ganesh Chaturthi or Ganesha's birthday celebration.

Further, "Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture kicks off on January 11 with a free open-air spectacular involving choirs, Ringo Starr and The Wombats on rooftops around St George's Basin; plus a ballet performed by cranes..."

If you want a good combination of art and humor, visit the Hayward Gallery in London for the exhibit Laughter in a Foreign Language, which explores the idea that "Laughter is universal... Humour, however, is socially specific." The exhibit includes fortune cookies with culturally specific jokes, including:

David Shrigley, UK
What do you call a fly with no wings? A walk.

Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn, US
How many Bush administration officials does it take to screw in a light bulb? - None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honourably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?

2 comments:

Elena Steier said...

Ha! That lightbulb joke comes right from old Soviet humor!

I so envy you your cabin.

The Queen said...

Ooh, J10X & I are hoping to get to Quebec City! We usually visit family in Montreal in summer, so we should definitely make a stop there.....it's so beautiful!