January 25, 2010Brittany Murphy was born in Atlanta, Georgia in November of 1977. She demonstrated talent and a personal magnetism and charm at an early age. She was also a talented singer. Her mother moved the two of them, her parents had divorced when Murphy was two, to Los Angeles in part so that the young performer could pursue her career there. The world is now aware of Brittany Murphy due to the unseemliness and tragic nature of her death and most people associate her with Los Angeles though residents of Atlanta known she was one of their own. Even the tourists who may have heard about her death in the lounge or lobby of an other wise quiet Atlanta hotel may have been surprised to discover she was from that city.
Murphy stared in several Hollywood films during her short but successful career. She first gained popular attention for her appearance in the film Clueless, though she had appeared on various television series prior to that role. Clueless was a comedy and was released in 1995. It was loosely based on the Jane Austin novel Emma, though the stress on this is loosely. Alicia Silverstone and Stacey Dash were two other stars of this comedy. The film was not a huge commercial or critical success though it did inspire a television spin off as well as a book series.
Girl, Interrupted was the first film in which Murphy was strongly recognized for her skill and performance. It was released in 1999 and starred Winona Rider and was directed by James Mangold. Angelina Jolie also gained enormous attention as the troubled Lisa Rowe who was a resident in the mental institution in which Rider was admitted. Murphy played another girl in the institution, Daisy Randone, who was a pathological liar. The film was based on a memoir by the same name written by Susanna Kaysen. In her book Kaysen tells the stories and experiences she encountered during her time in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s. Kaysen was diagnosed as having borderline personality disorder.
Categories: Culture.
Tags: Angelina Jolie, Girl Interrupted, quiet Atlanta hotel
January 21, 2010Well there are plenty of American politicians from the start of our country that came from Pennsylvania. Some of them came from areas that are now near some luxurious hotels around Harrisburg and there record lives on in many museums. How about someone who has been influential in the past few decades of our government. Newt Gingrich was born Newton Leroy McPherson in June of 1943. He was raised along with his sisters by single mother until Robert Gingrich came into their lives and adopted Newt. He became a child of a military man and was moved many times in his life to live and be schooled on may military installations.
He kept the tradition of change going in his college life. He gained his B.A and M.A. from Emory University, and his PH.D. in modern European History from Tulane University in New Orleans. He became interested in the effect of religion and political theory and found himself attending a Baptist Church. He was baptized at the St.Charles Avenue Baptist Church while he was doing his personal study there. He went on to teach history at the University of West Georgia in the seventies and a class on renewing American Civilization at Kennesaw State University in 1993.
Gingrich became a successful Congressman for the state of Alabama from 1974 to 78. He then came back and became speaker of the house and gave some strong contrast to then President Bill Clinton with the Contract with America. He has played an intricate part in the Republican interests of the American government for many years. In January 1997, the House of Representatives decided to come after Gingrich for ethics violations that they feel he committed in 1994 and he was ordered to pay 300,000 dollar penalty. This became the first time in 208 years of history that a speaker was heavily disciplined for ethical wrongdoing. Newt Gingrich was apart of trying to remove President Clinton from his oval office as the public didn’t like it. His place in government was tarnished for his party and so he resigned. He still remains active in politics today.
Categories: Government, Travel.
Tags: luxurious hotels around Harrisburg, Newt Gingrich, President Bill Clinton
January 19, 2010When you come and stay in one of the elegant hotels around Fremont California you may be interested in knowing about the Winchester Mystery House. This is definitely a place to visit. It was built by Sara Winchester on the instruction of a Medium who said she was being haunted by ghosts that were killed by Winchester rifles. Wow. With all the gunslinger who shot a Winchester that could be overwhelming. The Medium told her that the ghosts were responsible for the death of her child and husband and that she was to move west and build a lavish home for them so she could have her eternal life. She worked on the house continuously, it was never to be finished because as long as she was working on the home she was safe from the spirits at least that is what the Medium told her.
Her story is fascinating and completely a mystery because there is no real record of her thoughts. She didn’t leave a diary and so many of what we know is on the word of others who were around working in or on the home. For 38 years the home was worked on all day and all night so there were always people around. Inside the home, there is the blue room and is were she was heard talking to “someone”. The blue room was the room she went to every night to talk with the spirits. It was equipped with a planchette board so she could transmit messages to the beyond world.
This amazing mansion is an endless display of elegance and uniqueness. The tour guides will tell you not to get separated from the tour or you could get very lost There are so many questions like why are the staircases are so unusual. Why was the home built to get lost in. Could it be her way of trying to trick the spirits away from finding her? This Victorian Style mansion built by the obviously disturbed Sara Winchester is a must see if you are visiting the area.
Categories: Travel.
Tags: elegant hotels around Fremont, planchette board, Winchester rifles
January 19, 2010The Harlem Stride is a style of piano playing that emerged in Harlem New York during the 1920s. It was part of a larger cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance and it affected the way piano was played and also who could and would play it and listen to it. Piano had previously been considered to be the domain of the rich and cultural elite. However, this new style of playing brought the instrument into a broader category of jazz and music playing, which introduced to all people. James P. Johnson was one of the greatest musicians to play in this stile and is universally accepted as the Father of Stride Piano. One if his most famous contributions to music was his composition of the Charleston.
Pianists who played in the Stride style developed extreme skills and amazingly accurate leaping abilities with their left hands. They soon considered themselves to be a special category of jazz pianists and were often considered to be the best. The music was influenced by classical compositions, in which many of these musicians were heavily trained. Another basis of Stride were the jazz rags, of which Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag, was the most influential, though he is probably most widely remembered for his song The Entertainer. Musicians would take a typical rag and jazz it up with melodic embellishments and other elements. Tourists who stay in the four star New York hotels are often thrilled to discover new styles of music and art during their trips.
Johnson was born in February of 1894 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was one of those rare individuals and was reported to have been born with perfect pitch as well as near perfect memory recall. From an early age he demonstrated a strong ability to listen to a complicated piece of music and play it back immediately from memory. His early upbringing placed him near enough to New York that he had the benefit of the city’s music scene and in 1908 his family moved to an area in the city that is near where the Lincoln Center stands today. Johnson had his first professional performance in Coney Island in 1912.
Categories: Travel.
Tags: four star New York hotels, pianists, Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag, Stride style
January 15, 2010New York is a city that continues to grow, and with each new motion of movement, it becomes infinitely more complex. There are those who say that there is nothing new under the sun, and that we’ve reached a kind of critical mass, and there are no more good ideas. There are also those who say that we’ve been recycling old ideas lately because it’s fashionable, and it speaks to a kind of green consciousness. Then there are those who say it’s all been done already a few centuries ago, and the smart ones, or the awake ones, are those who know how to play with all the excess.
It’s all true, and depending on where you’re standing, it all works in one way or another. New York offers something for every traveler, no matter what the sensibility. Those who love irony will find it here, and those who are looking for innovation, or hope, will find those things as well. With the sheer force of numbers of human beings, there is bound to be anything in this city, and chances are, there are several of whatever you’re looking for. Click here www.luxuryhotelsnewyorkcity.com for fantastic accommodations, to make your experience here everything you’ve dreamed. And when the irony or the freshness of the lodgings gives way to your desire to see new work, look for Ed Purver‘s installations.
He has an undergraduate degree in English from Oxford, and recently finished an MFA in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU. He has shown his works at events as prestigious as Siggraph, and knows people as interesting as Marianne Kim. He does work in design as well as art, but you’ll probably come to know him through his installation work. He’s also done projects with the Builder’s Association and other performance collectives. His projects often integrate video projection, making large images on building windows to make it look as though giants inhabit the place, or making a series of dropspots, where people leave gifts for each other and record the experience on the web. He’s part of a new generation of artists, and the work is innovative, but with firm grounding in the ideas of those who’ve come before us.
Categories: Travel.
Tags: Ed Purver, performance, www.luxuryhotelsnewyorkcity.com
January 13, 2010I’ve been having the time of my life in Buffalo, New York! I’ve had a blast running around with my cousins! My first night here though, it was raining pretty hard, so I didn’t get to go to Kingdom Bound and stayed inside
my hotel; click here for details, and played the slots and tried my hand at poker. The poker players saw me coming, but I only lost $50 (my limit).
The next morning the sun was shinning and off I went with the cousins to ride the roller coasters and splash around the water park pools and rides, then went to a few concerts; this all done from Sunday through Wednesday. It was so much fun!
Sunday is when I went on the roller coasters and afterwards went to see
Lincoln Brewster; I’ve seen him in concert when I was in High School, and all I can say is he has accomplished making me even a better fan. His voice was amazing and he told some pretty cool stories. I didn’t get any photos of him, because our seats were outside on a large grassy sloping area, sitting on blankets and watching the concert via a huge TV Screen, which showed Lincoln up close and are ears weren’t blasted out.
The next day I went on more rides, including the ‘Superman’, which is a 208 feet high roller-coaster. That was one of the best roller-coasters in the park, but also the one with the longest line. Another favorite was the ‘Mind Eraser’, but I don’t remember the ride (kidding), it was fantastic, and of course the line was just as long as ‘Superman’s’ line. After the amusement park, we saw some other bands, including Hawk Nelson, 33Miles, Skillet and Thousand Foot Krutch. There was much more, too many to mention.
The day that stands out for me the best was when we were waiting in line to ride the ‘Superman’ when one of the two cars was out of commission, so that meant the line was doubly long. There was a guy in front of us that had some kind of wound on his shin, which was bandaged up, but it began to bleed down onto his shoes and then onto the pavement. A medic was called to check him out and clean up the blood, but the girl in front of him took one look at the blood and passed-out! The medic then had to attend to her. When she came-to, she was still weary. It was a very hot and humid day, and besides seeing the blood, she wasn’t hydrating enough. It was great seeing her go all pale and weak before she passed out. I’ve never seen someone pass-out before. So, in a way I got an extra unexpected amusement at the park. Don’t worry, she was perfectly fine after the medic gave he a bottle of water, she was even laughing right afterwards.
Categories: Travel.
Tags: Lincoln Brewster
January 11, 2010If you are a boat and ship enthusiast you may want to get a room at one of the hotels Duluth Minnesota has available and check out the port. There is a constant stream of ships and boats moving in and out of this port. It is a constant well thought out ship dance to make sure that there is enough room for the cargo ships to come in and unload. There are certain areas where the cargo is dumped and then the ships need to move to another area of the port so that others can come in. The main cargo coming into this area are wind turbine parts that go to the farms in the surrounding states. It is interesting to see the trucks get loaded up with wind turbines they look like they are hauling white gum drops.
The port has a lot of pride in their industry and the people who work in it. The Duluth Seaway Port Authority keeps track of everything that goes on with the port. Every year they have the Duluth maritime Festival in the summer. They bring in some wonderful old ships for visitors and enthusiasts to tour through. One of the ships on display was the Pride of Baltimore II tall ship. This old ship can sure get the attention of everyone. Seeing her out in the water in full sail send the imagination soring. She coasts seamlessly across the water with her sails towering. When the cannons go off it is a rumble that is like no other found the the water.
There has also been some unique memorials created for their fallen comrades. One of the most amazing memorials is also one of the most amazing snow structures. A father and son team created a snow sculpture replica of a steamer for there father/grandfather who was a captain for 36 years. It was really impressive and more than fitting.
Categories: Travel.
Tags: Duluth Seaway Port Authority, hotels Duluth, Pride of Baltimore II tall ship
January 7, 2010When I was a small girl, my mother insisted on having a “fake” Christmas tree. My mom was a bit ahead of her time as her concern was not about the cost of a live Christmas tree at the time…the 1970′s, but she was concerned with people cutting down the trees, only to have them the armature for the lights and the decorations, for a month or so, and to then be tossed away. She was concerned about the forests and about each individual tree. She acquiesced just once to my father’s wishes for a real tree, but I could feel her sadness while she was putting up the ornaments, and he could see it, and that was the last time we had a real tree.
For those who found themselves in one of the best Austin hotels this Christmas past, they may have noticed that one of the missions of the city during the holiday season, was a “green” mission. The “Trail of Lights” provided the holiday environment and spirit, while still maintaining the spirit and the care of the environment. This community event took place in Zilker Park. The lights of the park were powered by alternative energy, more than thirty percent of the lights were LED bulbs. These bulbs use up to ninety percent less energy and not only did they cut the costs of the night, but they also had much less of an impact on the environment. This is the kind of action that the city is dedicated to maintaining. The programs for the Christmas show were printed with soy-based ink, on recycled paper. There were prohibitions on materials such as styrofoam, plastic and glass.
All of the vendors were advised that they would be only allowed reusable or recyclable materials such as cardboard or other materials that could be put through the program of Single Stream Recycling. And to top it off, mass transportation was provided for the convenience of the people attending the light festival, and was intended to put as little pressure on the environment as possible. This is a cause that the city and the population of the city, has been dedicated to for years, and the example set is one that many other cities are taking notice of and applying to their own ways of life, and to the festivals and the practices of their own towns and their own ways of taking care of the world in which they, and we, live.
Categories: Travel.
Tags: best Austin hotels, LED bulbs, Zilker Park
January 6, 2010She said that she was not afraid of repetition the way that I was, and I tried to disagree. But we’d been through that before, and we’d be through it again, at least one more time before the night was over. This was a day that started with me in a taxi, me in a suit, me getting into a taxi to take me to my five-star New York hotel, where I would walk in, in my suit. The brand matters of course, but not enough to mention. It matters enough to mention that it’s not important to mention. There are details in the cracks between words, just as there are cracks in the details in a sidewalk, and this day has sidewalks.
I am in a suit getting out of a taxi, looking for the keycard for my hotel. I can’t remember if I’ve already checked in, because it feels like another day. It might be the same day, I can’t say for sure. I know that there are people waiting for me inside, or outside, and I know that there is a breakfast waiting for me, and it will probably be one of the best meals of my life, and somewhere toward the end of the meal, she is going to tell me about repetition. There is nothing to worry over in any of this, there are no lost details in any of this, but I keep losing the thread, and that’s how the days go by, usually. It doesn’t matter that I have not even thought about the edges of her nose, and the way her nostrils flare out when she is starting to remember another new story.
I am standing outside a taxi cab, wearing a suit that is an important brand, and I am holding her hand apparently, and we are about to get into or out of something. It’s very likely that we are leaving, either the hotel or the taxi, to get into the other thing, the hotel or taxi. She is considering that she really wants to tell me about what she saw the night before, that it had already started to change her life. Her nostrils are starting to flare, and she takes a breath, anticipating a conversation about a repetition that she would very much like to continue.
Categories: Travel.
Tags: five sar New York hotel, remember, repetition