What exactly is a Media Z Lounge, a Sky
Media Loft, or a Login Gateway? And could
someone please explain what happens
when you take a Chariot to the Heavens?
Media Loft, or a Login Gateway? And could
someone please explain what happens
when you take a Chariot to the Heavens?
Brézéme
Over ten years ago Eric Texier read about a lost viticulture area in the 1880’s book Les Grands Vins de France by Dr. Ramain. This once famous area is very similar to Hermitage, with its steep, south-facing slope, hillside vineyards. It is about 30 miles south of Hermitage, on the east side of the Rhone River, outside the town of Livron. The history of the appellation goes back to the last century, and in the early 1900’s, wines from Brézéme sold for as much as Hermitage. In the middle part of the century most of the vineyards were abandoned. There was less than one hectare planted in vines in 1961.
There are now 22 hectares in vines and Eric is the #1 bottler
of Brézéme, controlling more than a third of the current appellation. There is room for more vineyard plantings but this is a very complicated issue. From what I gathered on my magical visit is there are six owners but only four bottles it as Brézéme. Note: due to the microclimate
Brézéme is harvested end September to early October,
several weeks later than Hermitage.
Pouchoulin
First vintage was 1940 and he’s the Grandfather of Brézéme . His father made the wine before him and some of these 100 year old Syrah vines remain. All his vines are 60-100 years old. He is slowly turning over his vines of Syrah and Roussanne to Eric. In the 2000 vintage he is making only 55cs of red and less of white. This was the most moving visit we have ever made in all the years visiting cellars.
Pouchoulin age’s his Syrah for 30 months in barrel’s, which look like they are from the 40’s. We tasted: 2000 Blanc, 1999 and 2000 Rouge from barrel, plus the 1998 Rouge and 1999 Blanc in bottle. Also the 1989 Rouge that spend 2 months in new oak (the only time new oak was ever used) than 4 years in old wood. Bottled in 1994, this was the first time Pouchoulin tasted it since 1997.
Pouchoulin told us one interesting story. He read somewhere many years ago that the chemicals that you put in the vineyard will end up in the grape and the wine. So as he is his #1 customer, (he drinks half of his production himself) he went to organic farming as to not poison himself.
Jean-Marie Lombard
We did not visit this producer but did taste his 1995 Rouge (which showed flawed winemaking) the night before at Moulin de Lourmarin. Older vintages were said to be excellent here.
It’s the only reference to Brézéme we know of before Eric as they were at one time imported to the USA.
Chateau La Roliere
A grand family whom own a marvelous Chateau and the Clos La Roliere. In 1995 they left the Co-op to bottle themselves. The Clos is about six hectares of which Eric buys almost half. It’s located on the next ridge to the north of the main slope of Brézéme, slightly less steep, but still south facing. The vines are 25+ years old and Eric is assistant winemaker at this time. The wines are sold only at the Chateau.
We tasted: 2000 Rouge tank and barrel. 2000 Viognier, 1999 Roussanne/Marsanne blend, and 1999 Cuvee Speciale Rouge from bottle.
Eric Texier
We tasted with Eric five different barrels that will go into his 2000 Brézéme’s. He will bottle a V.V. this year for the first time from Pouchoulin’s steep terraced vineyards. He has also secured a few lots of other V.V. vineyards in such lesser-known appellations as Seguret (80 yrs old) and St Gervais (113 yrs old). We also tasted the 1998 Brézéme Blanc. Eric also found two other lost viticulture areas in the same old book.
One of which he is in the works of bringing to light,
but sorry we are sworn to secrecy:>)
Over ten years ago Eric Texier read about a lost viticulture area in the 1880’s book Les Grands Vins de France by Dr. Ramain. This once famous area is very similar to Hermitage, with its steep, south-facing slope, hillside vineyards. It is about 30 miles south of Hermitage, on the east side of the Rhone River, outside the town of Livron. The history of the appellation goes back to the last century, and in the early 1900’s, wines from Brézéme sold for as much as Hermitage. In the middle part of the century most of the vineyards were abandoned. There was less than one hectare planted in vines in 1961.
There are now 22 hectares in vines and Eric is the #1 bottler
of Brézéme, controlling more than a third of the current appellation. There is room for more vineyard plantings but this is a very complicated issue. From what I gathered on my magical visit is there are six owners but only four bottles it as Brézéme. Note: due to the microclimate
Brézéme is harvested end September to early October,
several weeks later than Hermitage.
Pouchoulin
First vintage was 1940 and he’s the Grandfather of Brézéme . His father made the wine before him and some of these 100 year old Syrah vines remain. All his vines are 60-100 years old. He is slowly turning over his vines of Syrah and Roussanne to Eric. In the 2000 vintage he is making only 55cs of red and less of white. This was the most moving visit we have ever made in all the years visiting cellars.
Pouchoulin age’s his Syrah for 30 months in barrel’s, which look like they are from the 40’s. We tasted: 2000 Blanc, 1999 and 2000 Rouge from barrel, plus the 1998 Rouge and 1999 Blanc in bottle. Also the 1989 Rouge that spend 2 months in new oak (the only time new oak was ever used) than 4 years in old wood. Bottled in 1994, this was the first time Pouchoulin tasted it since 1997.
Pouchoulin told us one interesting story. He read somewhere many years ago that the chemicals that you put in the vineyard will end up in the grape and the wine. So as he is his #1 customer, (he drinks half of his production himself) he went to organic farming as to not poison himself.
Jean-Marie Lombard
We did not visit this producer but did taste his 1995 Rouge (which showed flawed winemaking) the night before at Moulin de Lourmarin. Older vintages were said to be excellent here.
It’s the only reference to Brézéme we know of before Eric as they were at one time imported to the USA.
Chateau La Roliere
A grand family whom own a marvelous Chateau and the Clos La Roliere. In 1995 they left the Co-op to bottle themselves. The Clos is about six hectares of which Eric buys almost half. It’s located on the next ridge to the north of the main slope of Brézéme, slightly less steep, but still south facing. The vines are 25+ years old and Eric is assistant winemaker at this time. The wines are sold only at the Chateau.
We tasted: 2000 Rouge tank and barrel. 2000 Viognier, 1999 Roussanne/Marsanne blend, and 1999 Cuvee Speciale Rouge from bottle.
Eric Texier
We tasted with Eric five different barrels that will go into his 2000 Brézéme’s. He will bottle a V.V. this year for the first time from Pouchoulin’s steep terraced vineyards. He has also secured a few lots of other V.V. vineyards in such lesser-known appellations as Seguret (80 yrs old) and St Gervais (113 yrs old). We also tasted the 1998 Brézéme Blanc. Eric also found two other lost viticulture areas in the same old book.
One of which he is in the works of bringing to light,
but sorry we are sworn to secrecy:>)
They're Back :
"According to the official Ninja Tune website, a Portland, Oregon radio station has been fined $7,000 by the FCC
for playing "Your Revolution," recorded by DJ Vadim featuring spoken word poetry by Sarah Jones. "Your
Revolution" appears on DJ Vadim's 1999 release, USSR: Life from the Other Side. The trouble stems from the
opening line of the song, "Your revolution will not happen between these thighs." The FCC has deemed that the
song features "unmistakable patently offensive sexual references."
Ninja Tune is encouraging fans and listeners to contact FCC Chairman Michael Powell at mpowell@fcc.gov or
1-888-225-5322 "to voice your concern and support independent music and free speech." KBOO-FM stands
by their decision to play the track, and has 30 days to respond to the formal complaint. Those who are interested
in reading the full report (including the lyrics in question) can do so at the FCC's official site."
"According to the official Ninja Tune website, a Portland, Oregon radio station has been fined $7,000 by the FCC
for playing "Your Revolution," recorded by DJ Vadim featuring spoken word poetry by Sarah Jones. "Your
Revolution" appears on DJ Vadim's 1999 release, USSR: Life from the Other Side. The trouble stems from the
opening line of the song, "Your revolution will not happen between these thighs." The FCC has deemed that the
song features "unmistakable patently offensive sexual references."
Ninja Tune is encouraging fans and listeners to contact FCC Chairman Michael Powell at mpowell@fcc.gov or
1-888-225-5322 "to voice your concern and support independent music and free speech." KBOO-FM stands
by their decision to play the track, and has 30 days to respond to the formal complaint. Those who are interested
in reading the full report (including the lyrics in question) can do so at the FCC's official site."
'Weird' Brando, 77, acts the fool
Ageing, overweight film star calls director 'Miss Piggy' and appears
on set half-naked
Edward Helmore in New York
Thursday July 12, 2001
The Guardian
Five years since Marlon Brando's last major film role, and five
decades since he revolutionised acting in On the Waterfront and A
Street Car Named Desire, the legendary actor is making a rare
appearance in a film opening in the US tomorrow.
But by some accounts, the 77-year-old's efforts on the set of The
Score, a crime caper starring Brando's method acting acolytes, Robert
De Niro and Edward Norton, were as bizarre as Brando watchers have
come to expect.
Brando, who plays an elderly homosexual crook about to pull off the
biggest job of his career, received about Ł2m for just three weeks'
work of which all but a few minutes ended up on the cutting room
floor.
Accounts of the filming of The Score suggest that he clashed with the
director, the former Muppet Show puppeteer Frank Oz, and refused to go
on the set when Oz was present. The bizarre outcome, according to one
report, was that De Niro was forced to direct while Oz, off set,
directed De Niro through an assistant.
When not regaling Oz with four-letter words, Brando took to calling
him Miss Piggy and has been reported as saying: "I bet you wish I was
a puppet so you could stick your hand up my ass and make me do what
you want."
The actor, who alarmed The Score's makers on the first day of filming
when he ate two enormous steaks in one sitting, turned up to the set
naked from the waist down - a ploy, apparently, to ensure Oz could not
film him below the shoulders and reveal the full measure of his
corpulence.
"He was kind of monstrous," reported a source on the set. "At first I
thought that the guy might be senile and had simply forgotten to get
dressed, but it was part of this weird tactic. Nobody knew where to
look."
But co-star Norton played down Brando's nudity, saying it was hot on
the set so the actor put on shorts instead of suit trousers. "It was
the most practical thing to do," Norton explained.
Brando, the once beautiful champion of the Stanislavskian acting
revolution who is regularly named the greatest actor of the past
century, has followed a strange and haphazard course, often
denigrating the acting profession and his own achievements.
"A movie star is nothing important," he once said. "Freud, Gandhi,
Marx - these people are important. Movie acting is just dull, boring,
childish work. Everybody acts - when we want something."
In the 1970s, on the set of Apocalypse Now, he turned up without
learning his lines and famously messed around during production of The
Island of Dr Moreau, five years ago. But as far back as A Streetcar
Named Desire in 1951 Brando was marked as a mercurial character.
The film's director, Elia Kazan, loved his performance because of the
way he "challenges the whole system of politeness and good nature and
good ethics and everything else". Kazan found in the man-boy "a soft,
yearning, girlish side... and a dissatisfaction that can be
dangerous". There's "a hell of a lot of turmoil there", he warned.
Brando lives by himself in Los Angeles. He reportedly has three young
children by his former housekeeper, Christina Ruiz.
A forthcoming biography by Patricia Bosworth suggests that he is
practically a recluse. He sometimes shares a Chinese takeaway with
Johnny Depp but his main contact with the outside world is via
email. He communicates with people anonymously, occasionally
correcting mistakes on Marlon Brando websites.
"I'm going to live to be one hundred, and then I plan to clone myself,
with all my talent and none of my neuroses," he recently told a
friend.
Brando still struggles with his diet. Periodically, he will telephone
Oprah Winfrey to discuss their weight gains and losses. He keeps the
fridge padlocked to prevent him bingeing on ice cream or eating an
entire brie.
Still, as America gets to see its legendary screen son once more this
weekend, his reputation as the grandest, most disordered personality
will again overshadow anything he may do.
Asked by Newsday whether Miss Piggy or Brando was more difficult to
direct, Oz tactfully replied: "He's a very sweet, gracious - childlike
in some ways - very, very humane, very complex person. I can't say
that we got along all the time. And it wasn't because he was
difficult. He felt one way, quite sincerely and earnestly, and I felt
the other... and Marlon did come around to my side."
Ageing, overweight film star calls director 'Miss Piggy' and appears
on set half-naked
Edward Helmore in New York
Thursday July 12, 2001
The Guardian
Five years since Marlon Brando's last major film role, and five
decades since he revolutionised acting in On the Waterfront and A
Street Car Named Desire, the legendary actor is making a rare
appearance in a film opening in the US tomorrow.
But by some accounts, the 77-year-old's efforts on the set of The
Score, a crime caper starring Brando's method acting acolytes, Robert
De Niro and Edward Norton, were as bizarre as Brando watchers have
come to expect.
Brando, who plays an elderly homosexual crook about to pull off the
biggest job of his career, received about Ł2m for just three weeks'
work of which all but a few minutes ended up on the cutting room
floor.
Accounts of the filming of The Score suggest that he clashed with the
director, the former Muppet Show puppeteer Frank Oz, and refused to go
on the set when Oz was present. The bizarre outcome, according to one
report, was that De Niro was forced to direct while Oz, off set,
directed De Niro through an assistant.
When not regaling Oz with four-letter words, Brando took to calling
him Miss Piggy and has been reported as saying: "I bet you wish I was
a puppet so you could stick your hand up my ass and make me do what
you want."
The actor, who alarmed The Score's makers on the first day of filming
when he ate two enormous steaks in one sitting, turned up to the set
naked from the waist down - a ploy, apparently, to ensure Oz could not
film him below the shoulders and reveal the full measure of his
corpulence.
"He was kind of monstrous," reported a source on the set. "At first I
thought that the guy might be senile and had simply forgotten to get
dressed, but it was part of this weird tactic. Nobody knew where to
look."
But co-star Norton played down Brando's nudity, saying it was hot on
the set so the actor put on shorts instead of suit trousers. "It was
the most practical thing to do," Norton explained.
Brando, the once beautiful champion of the Stanislavskian acting
revolution who is regularly named the greatest actor of the past
century, has followed a strange and haphazard course, often
denigrating the acting profession and his own achievements.
"A movie star is nothing important," he once said. "Freud, Gandhi,
Marx - these people are important. Movie acting is just dull, boring,
childish work. Everybody acts - when we want something."
In the 1970s, on the set of Apocalypse Now, he turned up without
learning his lines and famously messed around during production of The
Island of Dr Moreau, five years ago. But as far back as A Streetcar
Named Desire in 1951 Brando was marked as a mercurial character.
The film's director, Elia Kazan, loved his performance because of the
way he "challenges the whole system of politeness and good nature and
good ethics and everything else". Kazan found in the man-boy "a soft,
yearning, girlish side... and a dissatisfaction that can be
dangerous". There's "a hell of a lot of turmoil there", he warned.
Brando lives by himself in Los Angeles. He reportedly has three young
children by his former housekeeper, Christina Ruiz.
A forthcoming biography by Patricia Bosworth suggests that he is
practically a recluse. He sometimes shares a Chinese takeaway with
Johnny Depp but his main contact with the outside world is via
email. He communicates with people anonymously, occasionally
correcting mistakes on Marlon Brando websites.
"I'm going to live to be one hundred, and then I plan to clone myself,
with all my talent and none of my neuroses," he recently told a
friend.
Brando still struggles with his diet. Periodically, he will telephone
Oprah Winfrey to discuss their weight gains and losses. He keeps the
fridge padlocked to prevent him bingeing on ice cream or eating an
entire brie.
Still, as America gets to see its legendary screen son once more this
weekend, his reputation as the grandest, most disordered personality
will again overshadow anything he may do.
Asked by Newsday whether Miss Piggy or Brando was more difficult to
direct, Oz tactfully replied: "He's a very sweet, gracious - childlike
in some ways - very, very humane, very complex person. I can't say
that we got along all the time. And it wasn't because he was
difficult. He felt one way, quite sincerely and earnestly, and I felt
the other... and Marlon did come around to my side."
in 1985 i weighted 137 pounds--in 1987 152 pounds--by the mid 90's i was 172--over the past # of years i have gained 4 pounds on every trip to europe--today i weight 200 pounds.....
http://mwheeler.home.texas.net/intro.html
http://mwheeler.home.texas.net/intro.html
friendlier than an Arkansas handshake........
FAKE - OUT
"Wine and War" Julian Barnes
for The New Yorker, The Critics July 16, 2001
for The New Yorker, The Critics July 16, 2001
dont eat at Le Chaudron or at least beware
Mr. Jean-Louis Chave:
My name is Michael Wheeler and I have the most unfortunate story to tell you which involved one of your wines. This last Saturday night I was dining with three fellow wine importers at Le Chaudron in Tournon.
It was our first time at the Restaurant and we were anticipating a grand Rhone experience so we ordered your 1992 Hermitage Blanc as our first wine. Several minutes later, I see the owner go into the kitchen with an empty bottle of Chave Hermitage and a decanter. He comes out with the full decanter plus an open bottle with some liquid in it. There was no effort to show us the wine before he opened the bottle or to do so at our table. As he pours the wine into our glasses, I see a cork in his hand that is branded 1999. We taste the wine and it tastes like an inexpensive young white Rhone.
At this point I say to the owner: "This is not a Chave 1992." He tastes the wine and says yes, this is in fact how the 92 tastes. We ask to see the cork and he said he must have left it in the kitchen. He runs into the kitchen to look for it but returns and says he could not find the cork, that he must
have thrown in into the garbage!
While he is looking for the cork, two of us taste the liquid that still remains in the bottom of the bottle, and there is no doubt but that it is water. When the owner returns to our table without the cork, I demand he take the bottle away and open a new bottle in front of us, which he does.
This bottle is golden yellow in color and and grew into a glorious experience. The owner came over to the table later and said he must have accidentally switched the carafe with a Guigal Cotes du Rhone that was meant for another table. There were only three tables with customers at this time and we took a look at what was being drunk at the other tables and there was not a wine with the same golden yellow color as your 1992 Hermitage Blanc. We had caught the owner in a fraudulent lie, but stayed at the restaurant as it was late and we thought he would not dare try such stupidity again.
Later on, we ordered a 1988 Hermitage Rouge from your domaine, which on our insistence, the owner angrily brought to the table, and opened in front of us. It was a fantastic perfect bottle.
We then order a 1990 La Chapelle. "I am out.," he says. We then ask for a 95 or 98 Hermitage Cathelin and to our surprise he says: "I am out but I do have the 90 La Chapelle," which he had already told us he did not have in stock.
The owner was missing in the kitchen for a long time and then comes out with a wet bottle, opens it without showing us the cork, and walks away. The label is moist and there is glue left on the bottle where the original label must have been. Clearly, to us, this bottle had been relabelled. We tasted
the wine and it was old and oxidized. We then asked for the check but told him we refused to pay for the fraudulent La Chapelle or have him bring out another bottle of 1990 La Chapelle. Enough was enough!
The owner insisted we pay for the La Chapelle and it turned into a very big, unfortunate scene. Finally, he kicked us out of the restaurant, saying: "This isn't America" and refused our efforts to pay for the meal and all the wines, with the exception of the La Chapelle.
I am sure he will have a different story for you, but I don't think this was the first time he has done these tricks. Of the three importers at the table, two were Americans who speak French well and one was a native French women. So it is not possible that what happened was a 'misunderstanding.'
As the incident involved your wine I wanted to bring it to your attention.
Best Wishes on the 2001 Vintage.
Mike Wheeler
Mr. Jean-Louis Chave:
My name is Michael Wheeler and I have the most unfortunate story to tell you which involved one of your wines. This last Saturday night I was dining with three fellow wine importers at Le Chaudron in Tournon.
It was our first time at the Restaurant and we were anticipating a grand Rhone experience so we ordered your 1992 Hermitage Blanc as our first wine. Several minutes later, I see the owner go into the kitchen with an empty bottle of Chave Hermitage and a decanter. He comes out with the full decanter plus an open bottle with some liquid in it. There was no effort to show us the wine before he opened the bottle or to do so at our table. As he pours the wine into our glasses, I see a cork in his hand that is branded 1999. We taste the wine and it tastes like an inexpensive young white Rhone.
At this point I say to the owner: "This is not a Chave 1992." He tastes the wine and says yes, this is in fact how the 92 tastes. We ask to see the cork and he said he must have left it in the kitchen. He runs into the kitchen to look for it but returns and says he could not find the cork, that he must
have thrown in into the garbage!
While he is looking for the cork, two of us taste the liquid that still remains in the bottom of the bottle, and there is no doubt but that it is water. When the owner returns to our table without the cork, I demand he take the bottle away and open a new bottle in front of us, which he does.
This bottle is golden yellow in color and and grew into a glorious experience. The owner came over to the table later and said he must have accidentally switched the carafe with a Guigal Cotes du Rhone that was meant for another table. There were only three tables with customers at this time and we took a look at what was being drunk at the other tables and there was not a wine with the same golden yellow color as your 1992 Hermitage Blanc. We had caught the owner in a fraudulent lie, but stayed at the restaurant as it was late and we thought he would not dare try such stupidity again.
Later on, we ordered a 1988 Hermitage Rouge from your domaine, which on our insistence, the owner angrily brought to the table, and opened in front of us. It was a fantastic perfect bottle.
We then order a 1990 La Chapelle. "I am out.," he says. We then ask for a 95 or 98 Hermitage Cathelin and to our surprise he says: "I am out but I do have the 90 La Chapelle," which he had already told us he did not have in stock.
The owner was missing in the kitchen for a long time and then comes out with a wet bottle, opens it without showing us the cork, and walks away. The label is moist and there is glue left on the bottle where the original label must have been. Clearly, to us, this bottle had been relabelled. We tasted
the wine and it was old and oxidized. We then asked for the check but told him we refused to pay for the fraudulent La Chapelle or have him bring out another bottle of 1990 La Chapelle. Enough was enough!
The owner insisted we pay for the La Chapelle and it turned into a very big, unfortunate scene. Finally, he kicked us out of the restaurant, saying: "This isn't America" and refused our efforts to pay for the meal and all the wines, with the exception of the La Chapelle.
I am sure he will have a different story for you, but I don't think this was the first time he has done these tricks. Of the three importers at the table, two were Americans who speak French well and one was a native French women. So it is not possible that what happened was a 'misunderstanding.'
As the incident involved your wine I wanted to bring it to your attention.
Best Wishes on the 2001 Vintage.
Mike Wheeler
another reason to telnet. email wiretapping
Here's an interview with digital artist John Simon. Pretty interesting, but I don't know what to think about his art. He taught "computer art" at SVA, and I like his approach (from the little I can make out of it.)
When I was teaching in the Computer Art MFA program at the School of Visual Arts [in New York] I taught both programming and systems. The systems class was meant to explain how the computer worked, layer by layer, from "why the user interface looks like a desktop" to "how electricity and transistors can be made to store and manipulate information." I don't think we should allow creative innovators to use application software without showing them how it is all put together.He had a piece in bitstreams, so maybe Tom could comment on his work?
Some conversation at Bill's party about unusual grooves on vinyl records (that's the actual needle-vibrating, spiraling cut, not rhythmic "grooves"). Maybe Tom could compile the cites, but the guy I was trying to recall, who had a record with two different spindle holes, was Rhys Chatham. Check out his "Is Rock Dead" essay if (like me) you're nostalgic for the future circa 1990. I really thought ecstatic dance music was happening, but instead of My Bloody Valentine and the Orb taking over MTV, we got Nirvana (great as they were) and another cycle of the same old Rock myth (and nobody in the Detroit I lived in ever heard of Techno).
Was it someone they ate?
Woman visits tribe that ingested her ancestor.
Woman visits tribe that ingested her ancestor.
Once upon a time, important art was made in France.
Now them's fireworks!
We can't keep up with her. I have to go to bed. She keeps going. You wake up and she's still at it. After 15 hours she's radiant.(via robotwisdom)
First Monday of every month.
Backroom! Film night at The Parkside Lounge (Houston St near Ridge) hosted by Larry 7 and Bill Bronson.
Monday, July 2
Steve Doughton
On Air Library
Oren Ambarchi
Jasmine and Darjeeling
Sparks-78 RPM D.J.
FREE! Things should get going by around 10:pm
I went once, it was pretty fun, a somewhat chaotic mix of musicians and filmmakers-film collectors. Many projectors on one screen and spilling onto the celing and walls.
We'll see what happens. I seem to prefer seeing my stuff in such a context.
Hey Bill, what about films on the 4th?
Backroom! Film night at The Parkside Lounge (Houston St near Ridge) hosted by Larry 7 and Bill Bronson.
Monday, July 2
Steve Doughton
On Air Library
Oren Ambarchi
Jasmine and Darjeeling
Sparks-78 RPM D.J.
FREE! Things should get going by around 10:pm
I went once, it was pretty fun, a somewhat chaotic mix of musicians and filmmakers-film collectors. Many projectors on one screen and spilling onto the celing and walls.
We'll see what happens. I seem to prefer seeing my stuff in such a context.
Hey Bill, what about films on the 4th?
French Guiana trip is closing in and as with my preposed Fiji trip seems like a little unstability is in the air--need a Yellow Fever shot!!
thanks linda for info below--parts first paragraph sound great and its not too expensive to me and i hear the insect thing is overrated-- about the note: is true and there has been some resent bubbling but not serious--i will be in capital 3 nights, than the river trips than i escape to suriname if need be:>)
We cant say that French Guiana, site of one of the worlds most notorious prisons for more than a century, has been rehabilitated into a top destination for travelers. Its still hot, steamy and insect-riddenand its quite expensive, without the quality of restaurants and hotels to justify the high prices. But it has certainly undergone some major transformations. Devils Island, where many famous prisoners were held in solitary confinement, has become a coconut-palmed getaway for rocket scientists who work at the French aerospace complex on the mainland. And Hmong villagers, exiled from Laos, have established villages and farms in the countrys thick interior jungle. For certain intrepid travelers interested in exploring jungle rivers in motorized canoes and staying in South American tribal villages, this may be just the destination. We would stress, however, that this is not mainstream ecotourism: This is adventure, and only those who are willing to put up with a lot of inconvenience and the most basic conditions imaginable need apply.
Note: There have been occasions of civil unrest in the capital, Cayenne, which resulted in rioting in the citys streets. Student groups and labor unions have been involved in these disturbances, as have a small but vocal group of French Guianese that favor independence from mainland France. At times, Air France has suspended flights to the airport at Cayenne.
thanks linda for info below--parts first paragraph sound great and its not too expensive to me and i hear the insect thing is overrated-- about the note: is true and there has been some resent bubbling but not serious--i will be in capital 3 nights, than the river trips than i escape to suriname if need be:>)
We cant say that French Guiana, site of one of the worlds most notorious prisons for more than a century, has been rehabilitated into a top destination for travelers. Its still hot, steamy and insect-riddenand its quite expensive, without the quality of restaurants and hotels to justify the high prices. But it has certainly undergone some major transformations. Devils Island, where many famous prisoners were held in solitary confinement, has become a coconut-palmed getaway for rocket scientists who work at the French aerospace complex on the mainland. And Hmong villagers, exiled from Laos, have established villages and farms in the countrys thick interior jungle. For certain intrepid travelers interested in exploring jungle rivers in motorized canoes and staying in South American tribal villages, this may be just the destination. We would stress, however, that this is not mainstream ecotourism: This is adventure, and only those who are willing to put up with a lot of inconvenience and the most basic conditions imaginable need apply.
Note: There have been occasions of civil unrest in the capital, Cayenne, which resulted in rioting in the citys streets. Student groups and labor unions have been involved in these disturbances, as have a small but vocal group of French Guianese that favor independence from mainland France. At times, Air France has suspended flights to the airport at Cayenne.
