Travel

    Or should I say, Vice President. John McCain's recent announcement that he had chosen Sarah Palin to be his running mate got me thinking about another Palin, Michael Palin. Best known for his work with Monty Python, Palin is a British comedian and television personality. Of course, as a Brit, Palin isn't eligible to legally be the U.S. president; but let's suspend that fact for a brief bit of speculation. First though, pontificate with me if you will... how awesome would it be to have a president that has literally travelled around the world numerous times (both ways too, from Pole-to-Pole and Around the World in 80 Days-style)? Not only that but he's wicked funny and he'd totally have the support of stoners and nerds because he tends to throw out quotes from old Python movies. Truly a uniter...

    About a year and a half ago I first read about the tilt-shift style of photography. Tilt-shift is the name of the effect which you can apply through the use of a crazy-expensive lens, or by using Photoshop. I originally tried my hand at this last summer to mixed results. It was good fun though so I decided to give it another go. The basic idea is that the tilt-shift creates an illusion that makes the subject of your photo look like it's a miniature or toy model. So if you have a three-quarters-overhead view of a city scene and apply this effect it'll end up looking like you've taken a picture of a model train town. Some situations lend themselves to tilt-shifting better than others. Below are some of the pictures I've tilt-shifted.

    I read this article about how to pack for a semester abroad the other day and thought I'd speak my peace. I have a little experience on the subject and had a few disagreements with the article, so I figured what would be better than to write about it online? I should say up front that my semester abroad took place during the summer months of 2006 in Germany, so there wasn't much to plan for as far as extreme conditions and third world inconveniences. I have since been to Iceland which was a little bit of a different story. That all being said, I don't consider myself an expert on the subject, just a guy with an opinion.

    The fourth season of No Reservations starts back up tonight on the Travel Channel. No Reservations is one of my favorite shows on television now. It's not quite a travel show and not quite a cooking show. It's more the former than the latter. The premise of the show is simple, Anthony Bourdain goes to cool places around the world and you get to watch him do stuff like eat and argue with the locals. It's like Bizarre Foods but with out all the nasty shit, or Andrew Zimmern.

   In honor of the start of the fourth season of No Reservations I've put together a list of my favorite Tony Bourdain moments, some of which have video.

    I've never traveled any great distant solely with the intention of drinking. I have, however, found that no matter where I've ended up there were always plenty of interesting traditions to partake in. Whether was the dirt flavored potato schnapps in Iceland, Eiswein festival in the Rheinland or the Bierdiplom in Bamberg, there always seems to be a local drinking culture that has made my visit all that much more enjoyable. I'm far from an expect on the subject and maybe that's why I find the whole concept fascinating. I've compiled a short list of some of my favorite beer tourism events, some of which I've done and others which just sound like crazy amounts of fun.

    I guess Ryanair would be more like the poor man's Hooters Air... but I think may be giving Hooters Air too much credit. I've never flown on either of these airlines but I'm well aware of their reputations. Ryanair is a super-low-fare European airline that has been known to offer flights all over the continent for as little as 1€. Ryanair now says they're looking in to offering transatlantic economy tickets for something like 10€. This comes from a recent press conference somewhere in Germany, the video can be found on the right. Herein lies the Hooters Air analogy. In the video, Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary (the poor man's Richard Branson) says that he should be able to offer these crazy low fairs because business travelers will have to pay the difference because, "there will always be 10 or 15% of the market who will be willing to pay for the business class frills." He elaborates saying that it'll be very cheap in economy while in business class it'll be "beds and blowjobs." How's that for a sales pitch...

I'm in Iceland for a short holiday. I'll be staying in Reykjavik and making the rounds for a few days. Pictures and accounts of my travels will be posted to my personal website.

You can find my posts here: corey-wood.com

    This week marks the 492nd anniversary of the German Reinheitsgebot. For those who don't know, the Reinheitsgebot is a German brewing tradition started in the early 16th century with the declaration of a law by the same name. Popularly translated as the Purity Law, the Reinheitsgebot says that if you want to call something beer, you can only use barley, hops and water to make it. The Reinheitsgebot isn't a law any longer, it was repealed in 1987, but most breweries still follow the spirit of the original law. So why should you care? Well, if it weren't for some Duke in 1516, beer today could defined differently.