Thursday, August 31, 2006

Bo Sox Didn't Feel Like Going to the World Series This Year Anyway


As we come into September Boston stands at 8 games behind the Yankees and 7.5 games out from the wild card berth. But you may ask, why would a Cubs fan devote a post to the Red Sox's chances in the World Series. Honestly, I just wanted an excuse to post this picture.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Pluto 1930 - 2006 R.I.P.


Pluto was mercilessly put down earlier today. Scooby-Doo has reportedly been put on notice.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a_fxxEJGwq3Y&refer=europe

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Going on Vacation - Be Back End of August


We are closing the doors here at Inner Sense Abroad for a week or so. We will be knocking about The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. We'll be back in business at the end of August.





L’Albufera

L’Albufera is a freshwater lake that is the prime wetlands habitat for birds in Eastern Spain. It is fed by the River Turia from the North, the River Jucar to the South and connects to the Mediterranean Sea through three drainage channels. Its maximum depth is 2.5 meters / 8 ft, but because of silt buildup it is getting shallower.
The barraca was the common housing style in this area; many of them are still in use for housing, storage and restaurants. The base of the house was made of clay and mud from the lake and the roof was thatched from the canes growing out of the water. The original barracas can be identified by the religious symbol on the roof. The Christian families put a cross on the roof, the Arabs had a crescent moon and the Jewish put a Star of David. Considering the Arabs and Jews were driven out of Spain in 1492, the barracas with the cross on top are much more common, but apparently there are still a few left with the crescent moon and the Star of David.
The Romans called it Nacarum Stagnum (which I think means the singing lake) and it was known as the Mirror of the Sun by its original inhabitors, the Arabs. Due to Arab rice farming techniques in the Middle Ages the lake has shrunk by 10 times its natural size. The ancient rice paddies are still in use today and account for 1/3 of Spain’s rice.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

While Strolling Through Valencia...The Saga of Yo La Tengo and Starbucks






Marta's biggest complaint since moving to Spain was that she couldn't find a proper iced mocha or Italian soda anywhere. She would often (apologetically) pine for a Starbucks knowing that was more realistic than a Java House ever making its way here. Lo and behold, while strolling through Valencia today we stumbled across the brand new Starbucks. She paused long enough to catch her breath. Feeling torn about going into a Starbucks, I will admit a certain feeling of familiarity washed over me when we walked through the doors. The smell doesn't remind me of coffee, it reminds me of books. It made me think of my endless hours perusing the shelves of Barnes and Noble and Prairie Lights. At the counter I was floored to find the chocolate banana muffins. I might be able to come to terms with this Starbucks. Now I'm going to close my eyes and hope for a Dunkin' Donuts...I'll let you know how this works out for me.

Included are some other pictures we took while walking around today. On a completely unrelated note, I found the Yo La Tengo double disc Prisoners of Love collection at fnac today for 9 euros. There are two retrospective essays in the cd's booklet. The second essay mentions the show that they played with Tortoise here in Valencia at The Roxy in 2001.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Travel Blog



I just started a travel blog. Much like this blog, it was by accident. A friend had a blog and I was poking around and signed up just out of curiosity. Like this blog I'm going to stick with it and see what happens. It is only for travel, it maps out where I've been and where I'm going.
Who knows how much traveling I'll actually be able to do, but in one week we're going to Budapest and then to Prague, so I'll have that.

At any rate check it out:

http://www.travelpod.com/traveler-profile/sjdevore/tpod.html

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Monasterio de El Puig







King Jaime I of Aragon, who was conquered Valencia from the Moors, founded this monastery in the 13th century to affirm Christianity in Eastern Spain. This monastery is believed to have printed the first book in Spain in 1474. It currently holds 240 paintings from between the 16th and 18th centuries. It also holds a copy of the world’s smallest book.

August Reading and Listening Recommendation










Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Let me start off by thanking Eoghan. He took off for some summer gigs around the U.K. and Germany. In doing so he left me in charge of his library. This book is part of the Eoghan collection.
Someday I hope to be able to read Marquez in his original language, but for the time being I’ll settle for Edith Grossman’s translations. If you haven’t read Marquez to tell you what a particular story or book is about doesn’t do it justice. The art is in the process. Love in the Time of Cholera is about a love triangle that goes unrequited for fifty-one years, nine months and four days. It is set in Columbia during the latter 1800’s and early 1900’s, when Cholera was ravaging the residents of the Columbian countryside. As I was nearing the end of the book, I found myself reading slower to avoid finishing it.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is currently writing the screenplay for a movie version which will star Javier Bardem (see Mondays in the Sun, a fantastic movie). I still have one question that lingers and anyone can feel free to answer it. In the last few pages of the book Fermina Daza is going down the river in a riverboat and she sees a woman that she recognizes who is obviously distressed on the shore. She asks the capitan why they don't stop to pick her up and the capitan explains that the woman is a ghost who is always there trying to lure the riverboats into the rocks. Is that woman on the shore Fermina's mother?


Thom Yorke has a new album out as do The Twilight Singers, Johnny Cash and Golden Smog but we haven’t bought any new music in a while, so this month’s selection is brought to you by the Matt Melvin inspired wing of our collection.

Satan is Real – The Louvin Brothers
Outside of what might be the best album cover in our collection and the preachy content (seriously), this comes down to being simply a good gospel/folk collection of Americana. Boasting songs such as “The Angels Rejoiced Last Night”, “There’s a Higher Power”, “The Christian Life” and the two part epic to a drinking man’s finding of Jesus “The Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea” and “The Drunkard’s Doom”.
Charlie and Ira Louvin started in the 1940’s working with Chet Atkins. The brothers were inspired by Appalachian Folk Music. They joined the Grand Ol’ Opry in 1955 and stayed there until 1963. Ira was killed in a car accident in 1965 and Charlie attempted a solo career. The Louvin Brothers provided inspiration for the country-rock genre having influenced The Byrds, Crosby Stills and Nash and Gram Parsons.