Bear-able

I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas, and is gearing up for a Happy New Year. Da Bears have been a very pleasant surprise this year, as the "z- clinched division" in the graphic above can attest. I was surprised with some bears tix for my birthday, so for 2010's last post, enjoy some photos from Soldier Field! The 38-34 victory over the N.Y. Jets was a great game to catch... here's to a few more leading into February!

Sec. 434, Row 24...

Not a bad view... and the sun came out between lake-effect snow showers

The colonnade beneath the new stands; note the floodlights!

Lunapics

The best I could manage in 2003- shots with anything else in the sky washed out the moon!

This year the winter solstice will get a bonus- a total lunar eclipse visible in the entire continental US [@ 1:40 AM Central Tuesday morning]. While the Chicago forecast is cloudy/snowy, I can't say I was planning on staying up for it. It did force me to track down some photos I took while in Rome during a total lunar eclipse in 2003. I had many blurry shots of a reddening moon, but the better pictures that evening were from the quiet streets of Roma. Enjoy, and hope you have a good Christmas Week!

The Spanish Steps- minus the typical crowds

Above Piazza del Popolo- with San Pietro distant

From Piazza del Popolo looking down the main-drag Via del Corso

Windfarming

Christmas is getting closer by the minute- which means so are a few trips driving between Chicago and Cincinnati. The ~5 hour drive [always losing an hour going east, and gaining 1 west] through practically all of Indiana has few highlights. Indianapolis, while having a couple trivia-worthy facts [most-centrally-located state capital in the USA, and the second-most populous behind Phoenix], is usually bypassed via I-465. A slew of odd, often quasi-religious billboards [probably worthy of another post sometime] make an appearance.

A windfarm worthy of Funkenschlag

The undisputed highlight of the drive is when the tall, silent wind turbines of the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm begin to creep over the horizon. I-65 cuts right through the heart of the farm, so line after line of the windmills twirl slowly by. Twice I've driven past people who have parked on the shoulder and brave the highway traffic to get some photographs. The ones gracing this page are courtesy of Cassie's passenger-seat photography.


At night the turbines continue to spin, but each tower is topped with a synchronized, flashing red light so that the entire wind farm lights up from horizon to horizon at the same time. Very, very creepy. Webcomic xkcd.com got it right. The speed that they rotate [WHOOSH... WHOOSH... WHOOSH...] is hypnotizing. Can't wait to see 'em again!

Rockin' Around

Light it up!

With yours truly's holiday-birthday, Christmas has always been kind of a big deal in the Matteson homestead. Aside from the seasonal decorations on every wall/ledge/handrail, there're usually two trees: a real pine in the family room for Santa to drop some gifts under, and an artificial tree in the front living room. The latter has our 'town'.

As any real boy should have an electric train set, I was no exception. Around my 5th birthday I got a traditional Lionel Trains starter set, and every year the collection has grown. Nowadays my younger brother is in on it as well, so the layout surrounding the tree has slowly annexed more and more living room floorspace... perhaps slightly encroaching on the dining room's capabilities to host Christmas Day Dinner.


These photos are from the past 2 years; those with keen eyes will spot the differing track layouts. Lionel puts out a new seasonal boxcar every year, and the Christmas Trains usually replace the typical freight cars after Santa drops off a new addition. Department 56-esque buildings provide a small town center, North Pole, and farm/countryside to fill in the gaps between tracks.

Long-exposure + trains running = Cool

Flurries

The Alps, near Kirchberg, Austria

On the commute this evening, the year's first flurries swarmed the area. Hello winter. Although they only managed to wet my windshield as they melted, they'll be back with more friends soon- I'm sure. Wish we had a decent ski slope around here to collect them; will have to keep dreaming of the Alps until I get back out to Denver sometime. Of course, there's always Rib Mountain up in Wausau, too...

Past Blast: Prague

Týnský chrám at night

Charles Bridge, with Prague Castle above

Prague, one of the highlights of eastern Europe, is the Czech Republic's capital city. Sitting upon 9 hills and stretching across the Vltava River, it is sort of a colder version of Rome. In fact, the Holy Roman Empire once ruled from here, and King Charles IV built his famous namesake bridge in the 1300s.


There is plenty to see, and as long as you don't mind hiking a bit, it's all quite accessible. The Jewish quarter has cramped cemeteries and synagogues to visit; one temple's interior is entirely covered with the names of the 77,200 Prague Jews who died in the Holocaust.

Prague Castle; feels like LOTR

Prague Castle [Pražský hrad], noted by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest castle complex,  has a commanding view of the entire city. Most of the complex is open to tourists, including St. Vitus' Cathedral and its royal tombs. The castle itself gives you a real feel for the gothic late-middle-ages, and has balconies to admire the city below.


A treat on my visit included a taste of Absinthe, at the time not allowed in many European countries [let alone the US] due to its high alcohol content and alleged hallucinogenic properties. Prague is also home to many quality and economically-priced beers. According to my journal, we enjoyed 0.5L mugs of a local Pilsner for the equivalent of $1. So while you may be doing a lot of walking, there will be plenty of opportunities for refreshment.

View of Prague from its hrad

Booked: The Deathly Hallows

Given that Part I of Harry Potter VII debuts in theaters this evening, I figured I'd dig up my year-old GoodReads book review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. FYI, some minor spoilers below. Looking back, the series definitely improved as time went on. It seems the same has happened with the movies, and although I won't be seeing the midnight release or anything, I plan on catching HP7 sometime soon... Thanksgiving is only a week away. And I will never tire of imitating Dobby's overly-englishy "Harry Potter?!"


- August 2009 -

Yes, I agree it may have been a little wordy at a lot of points, and that it may be a nightmare for the screenwriters to adapt it without tens of minutes of pure dialogue onscreen, but I'm still giving it the max [5/5 stars]. 

I hope ABC's LOST has as many "Oh now I see" moments in its final season as HP#7 did. Many storylines and half-mentioned earlier hints are tied up and packaged working towards Harry & Voldemort's final confrontation(s). Harry got to call in a lot of favors due to being the modest and thoughtful boy he was in the previous 6 [thanks Wormy & Dobby], and now in 7 he grows up as he has to actively choose the ultimate sacrifice. It probably could have been a smoother read, but I'm not complaining about spending a little extra time in wizarding world. 

Kind of makes me want to start the series over and read-between-the-lines knowing the fates of Harry, Snape, and Dumbledore... but I'll save that for another summer, methinks.

Past Blast: Montpelier

The Vermont State House

Montpelier City Hall

One of the more difficult state capitals to remember [at least if you're not from New England], Montpelier is also the smallest in population [~7,700 people]. Sitting in the Winooski River valley among the Green Mountains, the drive into town twists and turns between exposed granite cliffs. I visited in January 2009, so there was plenty of snow on the ground [White Christmas anyone?].


The Vermont State House found its place in Montpelier due to the city's relatively central location in Vermont. Civil War era cannon still sit under the front portico, souvenirs from the state's service to the Union. A free audio tour is available, if you miss the also-free Guided tours.

Interesting foundation...

The downtown is easily walkable, and has plenty of small sandwich shops/cafes to grab a bite in. Many bridges jump over a small branch of the Winooski river, and even a building manages to straddle the water. If you're willing to drive a little, you can easily reach Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory in nearby Waterbury, VT. A $3 tour will net you a tasty sample at the end... worth it.

Yum.

Sweep, Sweep TV

November: time for the broadcasters to pull some strings, and get some ratings!


Living without a DVR/cable- yes it has been tough [had to watch Mad Men S4 via iTunes. Pain in the rear]. But it has also made me a little pickier when it comes to donating time to the television. So a few of my quickfire network midseason reviews:


Hell's Kitchen- I don't know how we started watching this, but cooking competition shows are usually pretty good, this is the best I've seen on a network. Maybe because it makes me flashback to architecture school crits which are eerily similar to the dish presentations.

Less of this guy, please.

The Event- Was mildly interested for a few episodes, then I just 'forgot' to watch it... I like the aliens/gov't conspiracy side of it, but please no more whiny-douchey facial hair guy fumbling after his kidnapped girlfriend. Honestly, I just met these people, I couldn't care less about them right now, get back to the aliens! [Of course maybe that has happened, perhaps I'll catch up on hulu sometime]. And please learn how to do meaningful flashbacks.


Community- Do you watch television/movies? This show will try to reference as many as it can in 30 minutes, and strangely enough it works. Pretty funny, great casting. Although I'm not looking forward to a non-NBC network copycatting the show's style and making it lame.

More of this guy, please.

30 Rock- My favorite comedy on TV right now. Every line has an immediate/eventual payoff, and you can ask Cas: this show manages to make me laugh out loud. Not an easy feat. This season included Tracy Jordan being picked up by Discovery Channel's Cash Cab. Pure gold.


The Office- Due to trivia Thursday evenings, I only get to see a bit here and there. Seems like the same, reliable show. We'll see what happens when Steve Carell is gone.


Fringe- My overall current favorite program. Manages to fill in most of the hole that LOST left inside of me. I'm always amazed how easily they have figured out to have a show take place in 2 universes at once [usually the Twin Towers are the clue]. Good stuff, keep it up!


Antiques Roadshow- Well, this or anything on PBS helps me avoid the commercials during Prime Time. Just a quick jump to spend 3 minutes learning about the history and value of a mid-19th century wooden desk, then back to the show! [First million-dollar appraisal below]

Past Blast: Lucca

Not pigeons... SQUAB!

Probably a piazza up ahead! 

Near the Italian west coast in Tuscany, Lucca [loo-ka] still retains its medieval fortress walls surrounding the dense urban core of the city. You'll notice that streets seem darker, buried between taller buildings due to lack of space. After visiting the hilly towns of Tuscany, Lucca feels more like a Chicago landscape- it sits on a flat plain. So there isn't any up-and-down hiking to be had.


Since the streets are so narrow, the piazzas tend to attract more than their share of crowds. Lucca still retains the original Roman grid plan in the center near San Michele in Foro, literally 'Saint Michael in the Forum'. Plenty of tourists, saw players, and pigeoni to be found here. Be sure to visit the Piazza Anfiteatro, which still retains the shape of the original Roman amphitheater. And a note on that saw player video [below]: either all saw players look alike, or I also saw him in Florence and back home in Rome.

Peace & Quiet

Somebody likes making stencils... customize your own!

A House Divided

Sorry, no topical post-election post here. As mentioned in an earlier entry, Cas and I moved from a review of the Nation's birth to its make-or-break hour: the Civil War. Via Amazon's On-Demand video service, we watched all 9 episodes [10+ hours] of Ken Burns' legendary documentary The Civil War. I highly suggest you 'play' the youtube video at the bottom of this post while reading... again, great theme music [Jay Unger's Ashoken Farewell] helps make a great film.

Timothy O'Sullivan. A Harvest of Death,
Gettysburg, PA. July 1863.

We [at least my generation] all take for granted the standard history-channel type documentary: panning over photos, maps with troop movements, narration and actors reading historic quotations. This was the film that made it a standard. The Civil War was also an ideal event for this, as photography was still relatively new and photo-journalism as a profession was born during the conflict [all photos had to wait until after battle: exposure time was still too long to capture any 'action']. Using 1776 author David McCullough as main narrator, Ken Burns also hired Morgan Freeman, Sam Waterston, Garrison Keillor and others to bring contemporary letters and quotes to life. 

Alexander Gardner.
President Lincoln. 1863.

History is fascinating; the way great men [and women] seem to rise when crossroads of conflict erupt. Abraham Lincoln still has a demigod aura about him, 7 score and 5 years later. But even in The Civil War's humanizing analysis of the President, the way he conducted his tenure in office [surrounding himself not with yes-men, but with a cabinet full of differing opinions on almost everything] is something little seen today. To give arguably the greatest, concise [10 sentence] speech in American history with the Union fighting anti-war sentiment in the north- not knowing that the Battle of Gettysburg would eventually be hailed as the turning point of the war: Amazing. The Gettysburg Address sums up everything that the Union was fighting for: to prove that a nation founded as a free democratic republic can survive its greatest threat- internal revolt and secession against the Constitution.


Please, watch Ken Burns' The Civil War if you get the chance. It is more-than relevant in today's political climate. Not that we're headed towards any sort of physical civil war: it helps put a lot of things into proper perspective. 

Past Blast: Ljubljana

The 'Triple Bridge' in the city center

A journey to Slovenia's national capital requires a bit of a pronunciation lesson: in Ljubljana treat the 'j's as 'y's and you should come up with a tongue-tickling 'L-yub-l-yana' [close to the italian gli pronounciation FYI]. In the city center, you may occasionally feel like you're in Austria; the Austro-Hungarians ran this town for most of the 19th century up until WWI. Post-WWII it was a socialist state of Yugoslavia, but now is independent and after I visited in 2003 it joined the EU.

The 'Dragon Bridge'

Ljubljana is bisected by the Ljubljanica River, weaved with a series of riverwalks and historic bridges. The city is surrounded by 8,000 foot mountains, which make for an adventurous train ride in. And be prepared to learn a little Slovene; there wasn't much English text to be seen. Walking past the American Embassy, I shot a photo and was immediately asked to explain myself. Eventually the guards accepted my Passport, and I'm sure labeled me just another dumb American tourist. Note to Self: you don't need photos of embassies.

Ljubljanski Grad above the city

A great place to get a panoramic view of the city is from Ljubljanski Grad, the medieval castle sitting on the hill in the center of town. In addition to a video explaining Ljubljana's history [people have lived here since 1800 BC], you are welcome to wander the ramparts and hallways, and will come across several winding staircases in the turrets [see the bottom photo].


Ljubljana is another less-touristed city that provides plenty of hiking opportunity, decent food, and urban sightseeing. The weather was a little grey when I visited, but unfortunately you can't have Sicilian weather everywhere you travel.

View from Ljubljanski Grad

Another old personal fave photo: a turret stair

Rock Banding

Scott Stantis, Chicago Tribune

If you're not a resident of Illinois, give thanks this election season. In a state that's trying [and succeeding] to catch up to California in terms of debt and budget crises, we've been left with candidates that all have their hair caught up somehow in the political machines that run the Land of Lincoln. And with all of the hundreds of cheap political ads airing during commercial breaks currently [unfortunately no Illinoisians have kicked children in the face], it could not be a better time to have the newest installment of Harmonix's Rock Band franchise arrive.


In addition to an impressive setlist [25 or 6 to 4, Freebird, Bohemian Rhapsody... yes please!], Rock Band 3 also includes a few new features. As in The Beatles: Rock Band, there can now be up to 3 people singing in harmony [Good Vibrations] at once. A new peripheral was introduced as well: the keyboard. So now any song with a piano part has a home, too. So including the original guitar/bass/drums combo, at any given time you can have 7 people rocking out. We may need a bigger television.


And for those that want to learn the guitar, if you can find a $150 RB3 Fender Mustang or Squier Stratocaster that's not out of stock, Rock Band 3 will teach you how to play all of the songs on the disc. I don't think I'm quite there yet... I'll rest on my plastic-button laurels for now.


Last week in a final goodbye to Rock Band 2, a few Rockers gathered at my place to tackle the Endless Setlist II. It took almost 6.5 hours to play through the 84 songs on the disc, but in the end victory was ours. I'm itching to schedule a day for Endless Setlist III... but first I need to find a good deal on that keyboard. C'mon Black Friday!

Endless Setlist II complete!

Past Blast: Cefalù

A piazza on the Mediterranean

Located in the center of Sicily's north coast, Cefalù is a small yet frequently touristed city. It has an odd mix of buildings, thanks to the Normans [French] stopping by Sicily on their way back from crusading in the 11th century. Although the medieval and modern day Cefalù are directly on the sea, the remains of the original ancient Cefalù sit on an impregnable rocky hill overlooking the bay. There are a series of winding paths atop the hill, and the ruins are perfect for soaking up some Sicilian sun.

Hills, beaches, sea... it's all good

Just looking at any of my Sicily pictures can take me away from a dreary, breezy midwestern autumn day. The entire week we were there, it was 70+ degrees and sunny. Despite mafioso risks, Sicily is a must-visit for all at some point.

A view of the new from the ruins

Taste of Rome

Nothing too crazy today, just an old video I shot on a typical walk from our Hotel in Rome to our studio... The school recently purchased a newer studio, as well as student apartments, so soon this route will be outdated. However, I'll still remember when the walk was uphill- both ways. And watch out for motorini!

Past Blast: Trieste

The Castle Miramare

Trieste is located in far northeast Italy, facing Venice from across the top of the Adriatic Sea. It is also along Italy's border with Slovenia, and it became part of Italy only after WWI. Its multicultural heritage is clearly seen among the numerous Roman ruins, Austro-Hungarian downtown, and Venice-like waterfront.

A long, 4-mile stone-paved coastal walk called the Barcola leads from downtown Trieste to the Castle Miramare. Originally built for a Habsburg Archduke, the castle stands on a point looking out at the Adriatic and is surrounded by an extensive garden.

Trieste's Municipio

Downtown, the Piazza Unità d'Italia [The Plaza of United Italy] is said to be Europe's largest open urban space facing a body of water [mmm... qualifiers!]. Guidebooks only called it Italy's largest piazza. Either way, the sea breeze kept the plaza nice and cool. The city's Municipio [City Hall] dominates the short closed end of the space. There is a funicular train up the hills around the city as well, allowing for grand panoramic views of the city and sea.


For a day trip between Italy and Slovenia, Trieste worked. I still remember the pesto & salami lunch we enjoyed on the Barcola hike, and the downtown is small enough to see in a few hours. If you stay the night, you can watch the sun set over the Adriatic Sea, this being the only city in Italy you can do so.

Sunset!