TravelCent

The Frogs in New York City

There is a new exhibit that opened recently at the American Museum of Natural History,  located downtown conveniently close to many of the four star New York hotels. The curator of the exhibit is the herpetologist, Christopher J. Raxworthy.  His focus has been on the amphibians and the reptiles of the old world, with particular attention paid to the Chameleon species.  He has worked in Madagascar, Morocco, Senegal and Vietnam, just to name a few.  He has helped with the conservation and the protection of the different species and has been responsible for the discovery of more than one hundred and fifty amphibian species.  He has published his findings and has significantly contributed to the literature published.  He received his education at University of London, and at the Open University in Keynes, and has been lecturing at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar.  He joined the team in New York in 2000.

The exhibit at the museum includes specimens of the many different frogs, most are more brilliantly colored than the most spectacular birds on the planet.  The frogs in New York are from all reaches of the earth, as they adapt to the various climates and thrive in almost any terrain.  Their strategies for survival are examined in the exhibit, many tactics for survival in the species range from incredible to down right bizarre.  For more than one hundred years, the researchers at the museum have been collecting data and performing research with the hopes of preservation and the conservation of the more endangered of the species.  This has become important as of late, as the conditions created by humans and the development of the previous natural habitats is causing many of the species to just simply disappear.  The museum offers many shows and exhibits throughout the summer of 2009,  and oddly enough, these frogs are just fascinating.

Saving the Bronx Zoo and the Brooklyn Aquarium

In a testimony before the NYC Council last week, John Calvelli stated the importance of the New York Aquarium and the Bronx Zoo, to the economy of the city of Manhattan, the businesses and the NY hotels that benefit from the tourism generated by these two parks provide.  Calvelli is the Executive VP for the Wildlife Conservation Society.  He was attempting to secure future funding of these incredible institutions.  The Committee on Cultural Affairs had recently announced plans to cut a significant amount of the funding now being offered to the the cultural organizations and institutions of New York.  He stressed that it is exactly these institutions that make this be best city of the world.  New Yorkers are employed by these institutions and the museums and the zoos of the city offer inspiration and education to the children and the people of the Big Apple.

Big and fantastic dreams are what this city has been built on and what it offers to not only those living on the island, but to those traveling internationally throughout the years.  He stated that the cultural attractions and institutions are part of the genetic make-up of the city, the DNA.  He stated that facts, that both the Aquarium and the Bronx Zoo are located in the neighborhoods of the city that are for the most part under-served and under privileged.  These two attractions bring in more than four million visitors a year, pumping dollars into the neighborhoods economies.  Both also offer days of free admission and those who may not be able to afford it, can experience both parks.  Between the two, they employ many of the young people of the Bronx, as well as offering employment opportunities to the elderly, seasonal workers, and those on disability.  More people travel to the Aquarium in Brooklyn, than travel to any other institution on the island.  In financial times such as these, it is the culture and the arts that bring people together, and Calvelli hopes that his testimony will have an impact on the committee’s final decision.

Rahim Murge Pe Mat Ro

When traveling in Bombay, hotel accommodations are very high on the list of priorities.   In the midst of one of the largest cities in the world, there needs to be at least one place of respite, somewhere that luxury and comfort can be counted on.  Whether the trip is for relaxation, where the hotel will be the place most seen, or for adventure, where the hotel is a place to sleep, comfort is key to rejuvenation of the body, mind, and spirit.  Mumbai is one of the most dazzling places on earth, where the vibrant urban scene is dotted by one memorable event after another.  The locals are fascinating studies of humanity, and it’s really no wonder that this is also one of the film capitals of the world.  There is always so much visual stimuli, it takes the hands of a very skilled artist to bring the energy into some kind of focus.

Rajat Nagpal and Devashish Makhija, Bombay artists, collaborated efforts to make a series of short films.  Begun with the intention of making three works that were based on shifting points of view, they put their directing and writing talents together to make experimental video to go along with a visual arts show in Bombay.  Almost as an afterthought, they made an extremely short work, barely over one minute long, about the death of a rooster, that has brought them an awful lot of attention.

Titled “Rahim Murge Pe Mat Ro,” the film has been listed on some prominent lists as one of the 10 favorite films of the year.  It has also been shortlisted from 2500 hundred films in the Filmminute: International One-Minute Film Festival.  Although the content is a bit disturbing on multiple levels, the pace and style are absolutely brilliantly funny.  These artists achieve a kind of beautiful unity of art in a very short time, and push the limits of the film form.  Their impressive qualifications and experience suggest that there is more to come from these artists, and hopefully at times they will be able to collaborate again, but the document they’ve left behind is a splendid work of brief cinema, and another notch in the artistic identity of Bombay.

World Comedy Film Festival

World travelers on the lookout for the best Bangkok hotel will have so much to choose from.  This city offers a surplus of luxury and comfort.  The population of nearly 15 million, it is estimated, is extremely diverse, and helping to continue to feed the city’s reputation as one, if not, the Asian hotspot.  There are gorgeous city views, fantastically sprawling neighborhood, and a tropical climate that is very pleasing.  With all of these things going for it, it is also one of the most metropolitan centers in Asia.  This brings tremendous cultural innovations to compliment the traditional forms, and there is something to offer to everyone who passes through here.

The Bangkok Film Festival and the World Film Festival here already have splendid reputations in the international film community as being premiere venues for showing the best new work on the screen.  2009 is the kick-off year for Bangkok’s World Comedy Film Festival.  This will feature over 60 international comedy films.  There will be selections of Asian films, and a roughly equal selection of films from Europe, the Americas, and Africa.  There is also a special segment of the festival featuring some of the best of Thai comedy from the last three decades.  The festival director this year is Nakorn Veerapravati from the Federation of National Film Association, who is acting as co-producer of the festival along with the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Under the title, Laughter’s Beyond Frontiers, the first World Comedy Film Festival is expected to stimulate the economy after recent tough times, and help to bring foreign investors to the local arts community.  It is also expected that the festival will help relieve stress for the festival audiences, as only comedy can do, and to bring feelings of pleasantness between the locals and the international audiences.