Travel Tips: Georgia Aquarium – or – Damn, those are really whale sharks!?!

I visited a fascinating customer last week in Atlanta – not the one you know associated with news and cable, the other one – and had a morning off before heading to the airport. I had heard of the aquarium in Atlanta and the whale sharks so I headed over there. A few practical points for you: 1/ it doesn’t open until 10am (same with the World of Coke by the way) 2/ the entrance is really messy line-wise with confusion as to whether you are in a queue for tickets or for the security check 3/ their app for advance ticket sales did not work on my iPhone 4/ it costs $37 for the entrance (!) 5/ they will hold you luggage for you ($2 per item 6/ there are always taxis queued up in the street in front and 7/ it is only 15 minutes away (without traffic) from the Atlanta Airport.

Once inside, you walk through a beautiful hallway surrounded by shiny tunafish (and an explanation that the Chicken of the Sea may soon be the Dodo of the sea if the harvesting of these warm water fish does not slow down) and you enter the center of the aquarium. It is entirely indoors (probably a good idea given the HOT summer weather and the recent SNOW and reminded me a bit of the pyramid at the Louvre. Basically, the various exhibits are all around you: starting from right and working around the the left:

1/ Tropical Diver: a decent exhibit (albeit typical) of corals and colourful fish with a sort of overhead wave pool

2/ Ocean Explorer – the AWESOME exhibit with whale sharks and mantas. This is the highlight of the entire aquarium and places it easily in the Top 3 or Top 5 aquariums world-wide. Personally, only the one in Sydney on Darling Harbor or Sea World in Orlando rival it (I have heard that the Oceanarium in Lisbon, Portugal is way up there too). There are two (!!) whale sharks here, two manta rays (!!), over 500 other rays, 1000s of fish, tons of other sharks…it is fabulous. A trick: head in from the back of the exhibit to go directly to the best viewing area – a 10m x 6x glass wall for viewing the whole space (I found that the tunnel leading to it was too crowded and not all that interesting – perhaps because I have seen that trick many times before in Paris, Orlando, Sydney, etc). I spent probably an hour of the two I was there just marvelling at this exhibit and the wonderful animals in it.

3/ Café Aquaria and Oceans Ballroom for the food court and groups. I didn’t take time to eat there so can’t give you any info

4/ Coldwater Quest – kick butt exhibit of cold water fish, a HUGE stone crab, the tiny South African penguins, California sea otters,  and four (!!!) beautiful sirenesque beluga whales (a mom and three daughters if I heard correctly). Not much else to say except that it was almost spooky watching them for a while – the ghostly white, the mammalian faces and tummies looking a bit humanoid after a while – maybe they just convey intelligence or something? Gorgeous animals and perhaps a shame to be pent up in an aquarium.

5/ Dolphin Tales – every big money aquarium has got to have some kind of trained animal show and they are typically either orcas or dolphins (although there are the occasional seals as well). Here it was dolphins but the show surrounding it turned me off. It was a series B Disney thing with silly songs, a dumb plot about green haired somethings kidnapping the ship captain and saved…by dolphins. So, dumbass story aside, there were long periods with no dolphins (thank god this was included with the price of admission and not an extra ticket!) but the moments with dolphins and human swimmers were pretty cool. If I counted correctly, there were 8 swimmers (and the terrible singer dude) and 5 dolphins. Probably thrilling if you are less than 10 or 12, and a bit insipid for old farts like me. Side note: it was mentioned lots of times that photography was forbidden. I was squeezed in a seat between a very large tourist dude in shorts, sweaty legs and a Hawaiian shirt and a mom, dad, and five-year old. The mom was constantly trying to take clandestine photos of the show. I felt a little miffed at the example that set for her kid sitting right next to her. How do we teach kids restraint and respect for rules when we blatantly and shamefully disobey them? OK, end of soapbox.

6/ River Scout – an interesting idea of looking at fresh water fish but more geared to kids.

7/ Georgia Explorer – a kids exhibit where they can touch the fish and stuff.

8/ The Gift Shop – you are obliged to go through this massive gift shop if you don’t want to sleep in the museum (or you simply want to catch your flight home). It admittedly has a good book collection for kids (near the cash registers) but also the predictable stuffed animals and billions of keychains and such.

I was done with the whole place in about 45 minutes but went back and enjoyed the whale sharks and belugas a few times and caught the dolphin show (30 minutes). With kids, you could probably stretch it to a half or 3/4 day. Right across from this is the World of Coke (about $16 to get in – gift shop is free if you walk around the back and submit to the security check). Opening later this year between the two is a Human Rights Museum as well.

I was enamoured with the whale sharks, manta rays, and belugas and found that to make the entire visit (and cost) worthwhile. Who’d've thought that Atlanta of all places would have such a wonderful aquarium? Definitely worth a night or two in Atlanta!

TV Series: House of Cards S02 – Frank, isn’t VP enough?

House of Cards S01 was a great ride as Kevin Spacey moves from being House Whip to VP in 13 episodes. I was impatient to see where they would go with this in a second season and I was FAR from disappointed. The action is swift and perhaps even more brutal (particularly in E01!) than in the first season, but the realism stays relatively consistent. I will avoid spoilers (as hard as that is for a show like this), but I can say that I’d give Robin Wright the Emmy for Best Actress based on this performance. (I think that despite his excellent here, Matt McConaughley gets the nod for True Detective in my book so far). The action is riveting throughout and there are fascinating new faces and sinister old ones. For those that haven’t even seen S01, this is sort of a Sopranos-type show where the protagonist is a very bad guy but where the writers are hoping that we will root for him in spite of ourselves – and in that sense the show is very successful. The sexual mores of Underwood are mysterious but there is an excellent scene about this in S02 that reveals a little more than we learned at the fraternity in S01.

If I might just make a few desultory comments because nothing is perfect – I was annoyed with three aspects of this show. 1/ The President Garret seems way too manipulable for someone that seems to have an otherwise strong personality. Weak, impressionable presidents (Dubya, Reagan) are usually buttressed by extraordinarily strong advisors and cabinets but this President is – or seems to be – less well-protected and surrounded and thus left a little too vulnerable in my opinion and this made me shed a little suspension of belief 2/ The story line about the rape bill was a bit sensational (although the acting of Robin Wright was captivating) and I got really fed up with the Megan character as being predictably weak and an eventual vulnerability to the Underwoods 3/ the story line of Rachel and Doug Stamper was also annoying and creepy and was really only there to sell S03 and as such could have been shortened a bit I think. All that being said, I liked the view of the Deep Web, however, they quickly buried Lucas – too quickly in my opinion and I found that to weaken the storyline as well.

Is House of Cards S02 as strong as S01? Well, I thought that it was a bit faster-paced and kept me involved but perhaps it was a little rushed from a writing point of view because the ascension of Underwood did seem a little too quick – even given his rapid rise is S01. That being said, I will be impatient to see S03 in 2015…

PS. I noticed that Robin Wright directed a few episodes as did Jody Foster of all people!

TV Shows: True Detective S01E01-E04 – Extraordinary Bayou Mystery Show

I read about True Detective on a blog where they were pointing out a few of the new shows for 2014 and this one caught my eye when I saw Woody Harrelson in the photo. But, I have to say, Matthew McConaughey carries this show off and is truly spell-binding to watch. The makeup and the acting (as well as the righting) are better IMHO than recent cop shows I reviewed (such as The Bridge or Reckoning). So far, I think it is up there with some of the best TV I have watched in a long time (Breaking Bad still on an untouchable pedestal though). The storyline of a mysterious, ritual killing 20 years previous and the dual perspective from both 2012 and from 1995 when the murder occurred is original and captivating. But more interesting is the depth of the two main characters: Hart (played by Harrelson) and Cohle (played by McConaughey). Both are sociopaths in their own ways and uniquely adapted – at least for a while – to each other.

I suspect that many of my readers have NOT seen the show yet (it is only averaging 1.9-2.3M viewers per week so far) so I will not give you any spoilers. But, check out the photo here of Cohle and look at the one just above. Is that makeup incredible or what? And there is a third persona in Cohle who is off-camera – that Cohle doing the deep cover missions. We got a glimpse of that Cohle in E04 and that last 10 minutes of the show had me out of my seat with anxiety – that was the most intense 10 minute run of a TV show that I have seen in a LONG time. I was blown away but how they built and maintained the tension and how creative and yet incredibly realistic that the storyline was. I truly hope that – unlike many shows such as The Bridge – they do not reveal the full story until the very last episode so that this tension just continues to build all season. There are only 4 episodes left so perhaps they will hold this together until the end.

If the last 4 are as well written and beautifully shot as the first 4, we could be in epic television territory here. It is a VERY powerful start and I hope it follows through. I love this vision of rural Louisiana – it feels so real and tangible – not necessarily Club Med vacation material but Deep South with no clichés and no holds barred real. I would HIGHLY encourage you to watch this one because I suspect that the finale will be mind-blowing if it is even a fraction of what was in the mid-season episode!

 

TV Series: The Walking Dead S04E09 – The Aftermath Part 1: Rick, Carl and Michonne survive

The Walking Dead came back for the second half of Season 5 on Sunday. Yeah, I also find the split season thing annoying but as a friend recently said, “it is what it is”. I was frankly disappointed with the first half of the season because I felt the Governor story ending was a bit predictable. That being said, it had a few moments…but none as interesting as E09 where we see Carl and Rick and Michonne dealing with the aftermath of the flight from the prison. It was a really good episode for TWD I felt, particularly the Michonne storyline (probably my favorite character!). I thought that the film quality was better than in the prison or in the town – I prefer the out-in-the-open camerawork I guess. I also found that it gave more of an apocalyptic atmosphere as once again, each character is fending for themselves out in the zombie-infested Georgia countryside.

Michonne, oh poor Michonne. I loved her dream sequence and how her sliding the katana into the knife rack gave it away as such. I felt such sorrow and loneliness watching here. It got me to thinking about what draws us to TWD: I think that we realise watching this that what is really critical for us humans is human contact – preferably with family and friends – and the lack of that is what drives the characters crazy – I felt this was most outstandingly displayed when Michonne went postal on the herd of walkers – even her own two zombie-pets. I felt so incredibly hollow and sad for her. It was as perfect a depiction of horror and loneliness as any that this show has brought us.

Carl certainly had some badass moments in this episode, but also some back-to-reality as he realised when he was nearly bitten. It was interesting to see the reversal between him and Rick, but I didn’t believe for a second that the TWD writers were gonna pull a Game of Thrones “Ned is Dead” moment on us. I’d gamble that Rick is here for the duration. But I do like how Carl is developing – much more of a real, visceral character now. It will be interesting to see how he evolves.

Next week, we get to see a few of the other survivors. I am having a hard time seeing how they tie in Neegan, Ezekiel, The Hilltop, and The Kingdom into this particular storyline, unless some of the stranded ex-Team Prison folks happen upon them in like E12 or something. It will be interesting to see how they pull this off. I would find it a bit annoying though if Team Rick became a shadow of the Stark family on GoT destined to never cross paths again…but we shall see, right?

Music Review: Stuff I liked in 2013

As I usually do, here is some of the music released in 2013 that I liked best. Overall, 2013 was not as great a comeback year as 2012 but I think my tastes broadened a bit from last year’s list. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it:

1.  2013 by Black Sabbath – Ozzy’s return was magisterial and I really loved the new album cover to cover including the great bonus tracks like Pariah. I reviewed the concert from this band here. Unfortunately, that was the ONLY concert I got to this year, but I sincerely enjoyed it.
2. Bootleg Series vol. 10 Another Self-Portrait by Bob Dylan – this was one of the strongest of the Bootleg Series and a true work of art. Gorgeous versions of some of the my favorites parts of his catalog (Alberta #3, Only a Hobo, etc) and of course the concert at the Isle of Wight which is astounding. An absolute must for Dylan fans everywhere.
3. Amok by Atoms for Peace – the Flea-Thom Yorke joint venture was highly touted but totally delivers. Apparently the fruit of smoking lots of ganja together, these guys listened to some Fela Kuti and started jamming and we got this wonderful set out of it. I missed the concert but a friend of mine (and fellow NSFCCDP member) went and told me it was incredible. Hopefully, they’ll cut something else but I think that Radiohead will do something first.
4. Wake Up Ghost by Elvis Costello and The Roots – I really loved this album. The Roots has never been a favorite and yet I recognised their talents but hearing the beautiful crooner voice of Elvis Costello over the lovely beats and funky grooves laid down here was so fun to listen to. I especially loved Cinco Minutos Con Vos. Check this low-burner out, it is a great and under-rated disc IMHO.
5. Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies by Volbeat – I had never heard of Volbeat until a soon-to-be-relative mentioned them to me this year and I am hooked. This – their 5th album – is also their most complete and mature. It is consistent and has some great rock-n-roll tunes (Ecotone, Doc Holliday, Black Bart, Dead But Rising, Pearl Hart…) actually they are all really good and all have this great thrash metal cowboy sound that is addictive. Perhaps this should be higher on the list but it is hard to compete with Dylan, Ozzy, Flea, and Elvis!
6. Silence Yourself by Savages – The debut album from this new grrls group from the UK rocks and surprises. I won’t give any spoilers here – I’d just suggest you check this one out and let me know what you think. That being said, just the titles should get you interested – Shut Up, No Face, She Will…great disc
7. Double Cup by DJ Rashad – This D-Town DJ has laid down a great mix of industrial house and drum and bass with some choice voiceovers and catchy rhythms and back beats. Good late night groove music.
8. Yeezus by Kanye West – This is not his strongest disc (I’d reserve that for Late Registration and My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy) but Yeezus is infectious, dark, unholy and occasionally groovy. Every track packs a ton of POWER and over-the-top bravado as one would expect from a guy worth 100s of millions of dollars. Guilt Trip does have a bit of 808s and Heartbreak and Bound 2 has a bit of Late Registration, but this album is far more influenced by modern industrial house than his previous work. It is certainly a much more solid album than big brother Jay-Z’s Magna Carta…Holy Grail at least I thought so.
9. Still Fighting the War by Slaid Cleaves – I love Slaid’s voice and found that this – his 10th album – showed lots of maturity in songwriting and some great songs. My favorite was probably the nostalgic Welding Burns.
10. So tough to name #10. Should it go to Joan Jett’s return? Paul McCartney’s? Bowie’s? Or that of Eminem? Eric Clapton? Or someone new and crazy like Deafheaven or The Knife? I think I need to go with Random Access Memories by Daft Punk. This is an incredibly strong album as eagerly awaited as the ones I just mentioned and it is the one that I actually listened to end-to-end several times. All the others sounded a little tired after a listen, maybe two. Daft Punk keeps me coming back for Lose Yourself to Dance, Give Life Back to Music, Doin’ It Right, and of course, Get Lucky. A classic from these two crazy French guys.

And so there is my Top 10 for 2013. Honorable mentions: Get Up! by Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite, Electric Slave by Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, Mountains of Sorrow, Rivers of Song by Amos Lee, Magpie and the Dandelion by The Avett Brothers, Nine Lives by Von Hertzen Brothers, Say This to That by Trombone Shorty, Comedown Machine by The Strokes, Lickety Split by Robert Randolph and the Family Band, The 20th Anniversary Edition of In Utero by Nirvana, Through the Never by Metallica, Unvarnished by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Old by Danny Brown, Beyoncé by Beyoncé, Cupid Deluxe by Blood Orange.

I was disappointed with several disc this year: Marshall Mathers  LP2 was OK but sounds like more of the same from the white Detroit rap superstar. There were some decent moments here, but some idiotic ones too. I still can’t stand Arcade Fire (sorry to my friends in Montreal!) so did not enjoy Reflektor. Mega disappointed by AM by the Arctic Monkeys and well as by The Terror by The Flaming Lips. I think I keep expecting the former to do another and the latter to do another Yoshimi and that is perhaps unfair. Even bigger on disappointments was Tha Carter IV by Lil Wayne which was such a far cry from Tha Carter III and ever so disappointing. When Ye does his billionaire rap, there is some self-deprecation here and we sense the struggle inside him as an artist. With Lil Wayne, we just see the thug – self-assured and over-confident and now quite compromising in his music. Oh well.

Of course there was more music but that’s the stuff that got me thinking and listening and reacting the most this year.

Let me know your lists in the comments!

Movie Reviews: My Top SciFi Films for 2013

In what should have been a banner year with so many huge titles, 2013 was a bit of a disappointment. My ordered list below:

1. Gravity was my favorite film because of the mind-boggling special effects and the original story. Would have been even better if Bullock had been eaten by a huge shark at the end but you can’t have it all. Best acting this year: Clooney as Buzz Lightyear – TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!
2. Oblivion did not impress me at first but when I look back at the piss-poor selection of movies and disappointments, I probably (a) should lower my bar a bit (b) give this one credit for being a “pure” scifi plot (c) not diss the film just because I hate Tom Cruise and his stupid christian scientism. Hey, we all got issues right?
3. Cloud Atlas I only saw this year because it nearly was not given European distribution at all so it can still count in 2013 for the purposes here because all the other movies under #5 to round out my list I pretty much hated. This one was incredibly long and interesting. I liked the makeup and all.
4. Kick Ass 2 was a great sequel to the cult Kick Ass and highly entertaining. I was gonna say that this one shouldn’t have made it so high on the list because it is not exactly a cinematic masterpiece but the crop of high budget scifi was so terrible…
5. Iron Man 3 was OK – far better than the horrendous Man of Steel and I didn’t see Thor 2 so can’t compare to that one. I am not sure if I would watch it a second time though.
6. I think I least hated World War Z. Some of the special effects were OK but it was sorely lacking in consistency and Brad was frankly disappointing.
7. Elysium was great for effects but piss poor in plot and pretty boring to be honest.
8. The next on least hated would probably have to be…Star Trek Into Darkness just because Benedict (Sherlock) was in it. But it still sucked as a film – lame plot, tired old ST-TOS references…lame.
9. Now it gets hard because the other ones were so bad..let’s put Pacific Rim here at #9 because it had Ron Perlman in it. But it still sucked – music too loud and no plot.
10. Let’s put The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug here just because the dragon was so kickass. Movie still totally sucked though.
11. Did I hate Man of Steel more than Ender’s Game? Well, finishing 11th and 12th on a Top 10 is already pretty insulting so I will let them share the shame of the Fino Lemons of the Year award.

Hmm, so far, nothing in 2014…let’s hope that 2015 with Avengers II and a the Dark Knight Returns and Star Wars VII (with Benedict!) gets us back on track! Or not.

TV Series: What I Watched in 2013

So here is my roundup of the TV I watched last year with a top 20 list at the end.

First off, shows I did not like:

• I tried to get into Downton Abbey and couldn’t get past S01E01. I know, loads of friends have encouraged me to get back into it, but there is just SO much TV out there…
• Hell on Wheels S03 I did not watch because I haven’t found the time to catch up on S02 yet. My dad really liked this one so perhaps I’ll get into this on my next long business trip. Oh, that’s like next week…
• Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. sucked pretty bad. I mean E01 was awful and I hear that things actually got worse from there.
• Masters of Sex had potential, but I don’t know, the plot seemed a little contrived and the acting – at least for me – was not stellar. Maybe I’ll go back to it. Or not.
• Comic Book Men S03 I did try for a few episodes but I can only take so many dumbass Kevin one-liners in 22 minutes you know? And I always feel so sorry for how they pick on Ming. Whatever.
• The Newsroom I tried as well. Really liked the first episode and the Emmy that they received last year did not escape my notice. Once again, so little time. Perhaps a reader will tell me whether my time is better spent on this one, Downton Abbey or Hell on Wheels…
• I nearly forgot to diss the abysmal Under The Dome. Crock of shit. To be avoided at all costs. Oh please do NOT do a second season.

Now, shows I discovered and loved:

• Star Trek Enterprise because unbelievably enough, I missed this one entirely living in “old” Europe. I watched it up to about the middle of S04 when I got bored with the Augments plots. Guess I have to finish it out.
• Archer is one of the most awesome and hilarious animated shows like ever. The voices are hilarious, the characters outrageous, and the one-lines made me fall off my couch. Totally amazing show!
• Arrested Development I discovered due to the voice of Mrs Archer on Archer who plays, of course, the mom on AD as well. There are just WAY too many episodes for me to entirely catch up so I am not obsessing but just enjoying the more or less chronologically and slowly. Very funny but in small doses.
• Community wasn’t bad. Watched probably half of the first season. Will probably have a slow AD-style diet on this one too.
• Girls I learned about on a webcast for Justified because one of the writers called it out as one of his favorite shows. I do like Lena Durham and respect what she is doing in that show.
• Family Tree was pretty good too. Quirky but not bad.
• I only knew about Family Tree because I discovered the monumental IT Crowd which I devoured and found to be much funnier than its American cousin of sorts for geek humour, The Big Bang Theory which I was not able to get into. The IT Crowd was simply hilarious.
• I liked Bob’s Burgers too which I discovered because the insane voice of Archer is also the voice of Bob. Pretty damn funny show.

Shows that ended forever last year:

• Top of the Lake which I thought would make multiple seasons was only a mini-series it turned out. Amazing though.
• Dexter FINALLY ended. Thank god. This season was pretty disappointing like most have been since the epic S04 with John Lithgow.
• I can’t believe they killed off the beautiful and dark Magic City. Really enjoyed that one.
• Breaking Bad. Nuff said.
• Treme. Sniff.
• This year (2014) the bell tolls for Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men, Californication, and Sons of Anarchy. That’s gonna be tough!

And now for my top 20:

1. Breaking Bad – need I say more
2. Game of Thrones – the Red Wedding motived me to go back and read the entire 5000+ pages so there is that
3. Justified – I loved the reboot – Boyd is awesome and Raylan rocks.
4. Sherlock – can you believe the career boost this show has given its principal actors? And was Moriarty not the most evil bastard ever? Wow.
5. House of Cards – this show was just so awesome. It just had so much competition!
6. Boardwalk Empire – another masterful portrayal by Buscemi and an incredible cast
7. Homeland – just sad that Brody is gone forever
8. House of Lies – Hilarious sophomore effort
9. The Americans – loved this debut
10. Orange is the New Black – thanks to the creator of Weeds for giving us such an original and entertaining new show
11. Mad Men – I don’t know I mean S06 was interesting and I liked how Don was a bit transformed at the end but I feel like the other shows above were more entertaining
12. Sons of Anarchy – not bad, need to see how Kurt wraps it up this fall
13. Roy Donovan – not sure where to place this one which I liked and found fun but again – so much competition
14. Top of the Lake – gorgeous, incredible but only one season? Jane can you give us another one?
15. The Bridge – wasn’t bad but sort of weak ending – the script wandered quite a bit…will this be back?
16. Girls – as I said before, interesting and fun humour although a bit heavy and uncomfortable too sometimes
17. Episodes – not bad for light humor and jokes about Joey from Friends
18. Treme – as much as I loved this show, 5 episodes was a bit of an ignoble end – left me wanting oh so much more.
19. Walking Dead – I know, it is shocking for me to place this so low but the first half (‘cos we don’t get a second half for another few weeks) was for me just ok. I thought the Governor’s disappearance and reappearance took too long and don’t know where they are going with some of the characters…I might be being unfair but there it is
20. I gotta list a #20 so lets go with the regretted Magic City which had so much potential with The Butcher as a bad guy and so much eye candy – just not enough legs to make the cut for S03

Please let us know what you watched in 2013 and what you are looking forward to in 2014!