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Posts for August 2005
Summertime is the time for festivals -- some a little more strange than others. Check out the Gilroy Garlic Festival for all things garlic, including ice cream. Or, how about Austin's Bat Fest, a day of arts, crafts, and bat watching? Battle Mountain, Nevada, was once referred to as "The Armpit of America" in a Washington Post article. In response, the community proudly hosts the annual Pit Festival. Then there's the Boggy Bayou Mullet Festival in Niceville, Florida -- not a celebration of bad haircuts, but of the bottom feeder from the local swamps. Ohio has a Duct Tape Festival ('nuff said), Illinois features a Turkey Testicle Festival (don't ask), and Alaska has a Moose Dropping Festival, where the moose does all the dropping. Square dancing tractors take center stage at the Maria Stein Country Fest, an otherwise typical country fair. Still looking for something really different? Today's the day to go lob tomatoes at strangers at La Tomatina in Buñol, Spain. While summer is almost over, don't worry. If you've missed any of these gems, who knows what weirdness next year will bring?
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Entertainment Events, Food and Drink Events, Performing Arts Festivals |
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Archived under: Entertainment, Events, Festivals, Summer, Weird Stuff |
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(from Yahoo! Sports) |
Peyton Manning at quarterback, Priest Holmes at running back, and Randy Moss at wide receiver. Sound like a dream team? Actually, it's more like a fantasy -- a fantasy football team, that is. Fantasy football is a game that lets you be the team owner and draft a roster from among the top players in the league. This isn't just daydreaming, either. Last year, over 30 million Americans played fantasy sports, spending over $100 million in the process. Most leagues started out as friendly rivalries between buddies, but now high stakes contests with entry fees of hundreds and even thousands of dollars are becoming popular. Some sites even make you pay for information and stats that might help you score the most points and win your league. An addiction, perhaps, but now true fans of the game have a great reason to cheer for more than just their favorite team each week. And unless your favorite team is the New England Patriots, there hasn't been much to cheer about lately.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Fantasy Football, Leagues, Stats and Tips |
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Archived under: Fantasy Sports, Football, Online Gaming, Sports |
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Black Rock City, Nevada, late summer. You ramble past bodies, warmed by the sun, adorned in body paint by day and el wire by night. No, this isn't a mirage -- it's Burning Man, an annual festival of arts and subculture held the last week in August. Why do thousands of people make this their destination each year? Many come here to test their survival skills while building a community based on radical self-expression. People labor for months building fiery sculptures, flaming diversions, and art cars, then transport them hundreds of miles to the desert for the sake of sharing the results with others. The Black Rock Desert provides a blank canvas for the cultural pioneers among us to create nearly any type of society they desire. And your participation is required. Whether you volunteer to be a Black Rock Ranger, help create provocative art, or share a cool space, you will be welcomed.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Burning Man, Theme Camps and Art Projects, Survival Guides, Testimonials |
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Archived under: Arts, Events, Fanatics, Festivals, Weird Stuff |
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Wilhelm and Jacob |
Once upon a time, there were two German brothers who wrote over 200 fairy tales. However, the stories of the Brothers Grimm were never intended for kids. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm considered themselves patriots preserving their Germanic culture, not entertainers of children. In fact, more than a few of the Grimms' fairy tales contained scenes so graphic and cruel, it's no wonder Walt Disney fluffed them up. For example, in the original tale of Snow White, when the huntsman delivers what appears to be the princess' heart to the evil queen (Snow White's wicked stepmother), the queen has it cooked, salted, and then eats it! And the modified version of Little "Red-Cap" spares kids the scene in which a hunter rips open the wolf's belly to set Grandma and Red free -- all while the wolf is still alive. Thankfully, this weekend's The Brothers Grimm movie is a humorous look at the brothers' career, so if there's any heart-munching or gut-slicing in the film, we're sure it's all in good fun.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Brothers Grimm, The Brothers Grimm Movie, Folk and Fairy Tales |
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Archived under: Authors, Children's Literature, Fairy Tales, History, Literature, Movies |
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While some college students gear up for the new semester by color-coding their folders and sharpening their pencils, others bathe in rancid milk or share their enthusiasm for the U.S. Postal Service. Here at The Spark, we enjoy milk and express mail stickers as much as any reveler, but we can't stop ourselves from organizing them. We've compiled resources that will help bookworms and carousers alike to survive the college years, from rainbow-tab bedlam and hazing to homesickness and dorm mates. So whether you're choosing a major or humiliating yourself in the name of Greek fellowship, you can feel prepared and kick those back-to-school blues. Just set your alarm clock, and get to class. Oh, but leave the postal tape in your dorm room -- that'll be our little secret.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Surviving College, Student Life, Fraternities and Sororities |
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Archived under: College and Universities, Education, Society and Culture |
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