A new record !

Kenya has now entered the record books as the episode shot in the most countries.
Principal photography in Kenya, links in Egypt, new links in Costa Rica, and now some supplemental stuff in Canada.

Gotta check Laura's blog more often...

My last blog post was in reaction to an email from Laura.
Now I see she has published a tentative itinerary on her blog...
"Around the world in under 20 days"
Winnipeg Chicago New York Kuwait Delhi Mumbai Bangkok LA Denver Winnipeg
Put a boarding pass in my hand, I'm there.

Weighing in on the other options...

Point form from the top of my head:

Japan=Kimonos,Highspeed trains,Cellular obsession, Geisha, Judo, Population, Empire, Kabuki, computers, calligraphy, Sushi, paper houses, shrines, snowboards, baseball, anime.


Korea=Kimchee, DMZ

Phillippines=Islands,political oppression, religion.

Maybe it's the countries that we DON'T know anything about, that are worthy.

Borneo or Thailand... decisions, decisions...

Join the debate now at Laura's SRWT news blog .
I figure Borneo's a lot of trees and rocks, while Thailand is golden statuary and temples. That's just my impression, maybe it's our job to bring out the truth. Anyhoo, whenever I advocate somewhere like Thailand, or Amsterdam or Tijuana, my motives are always suspect for some reason. It will probably turn out that Borneo will be my favourite place on earth. (Laura has a "history" with Thailand, which may influence the choice)

Allan... TukTuk Tester

Always the forward thinker, Allan tried this TukTuk in Costa Rica in anticipation of some kind of Mumbai mobile Madness.
The travelling scenes are some of my favourites on SRWT, so I can hardly wait for a flotilla of these things tearing down the streets made famous by Kipling, fairly bristling with HDTV cameras and wild eyed westerners. I'm sure it'll look better on tape than it sounds here. Somehow it always does, thank heaven.

Who likes China, anyway ?

According to our sources over at Laura's actually knowledgeable blog the Chinese don't want to bother with our little show, so we're looking at India. With a swing to movie topics. Should be fun, stay tuned...

Special Shout Out

Special thanks to Denise (not exactly as illustrated)
for her tireless efforts on SRWT.
She does it out in the hallway, too.
Have a great weekend !
UPDATE: Here y'go D !

Papers please !

Anybody have any clout with the diplomatic service ?

I can't wait to count them...

The palaces of the Forbidden City have 9,999 rooms.
(9 is a lucky number for the Chinese)

Unconfirmed China Fact

Despite having a population of over a billion,
China has only about 200 family names.

Can we confirm or deny this amazing allegation ?
Stay tuned.

Busy Days

You can tell the functionaries of SRWT and Picante Ads are all extraordinarily busy right now, because they aren't commenting here, with the usual interpersonal sniping.

I miss you guys.

I can't think of anything but Asia

Apparently, in China, they'll just call it "food".

i'm heading off to visit one of the world's great civilizations. and this is the best I can do for a post. So sad.

OK, here's something worthy...
Honkin' Big tourist map of Beijing
from the nice people at china odyssey tours.

Tentative Asia Schedule

The imagination runs wild

March 22 Fly Vancouver
March 23 Arrive Beijing

March 24 S Tienanmen Square
March 25 Band interview
March 26 Great Wall
overnight train to Xian
March 27 Terra Cotta Warriors
March 28 Fly to Shanghai
March 29 Fly to Bangkok

March 30 Bangkok
March 31 Band Interview
April 1 Sightseeing
Overnight train to Chiang Mai
April 2 Sightseeing Chiang Mai
April 3 Trek - Elephants - Bamboo Raft
April 4 Trek - Travel to Samed Island
April 5 Beach
April 6 Beach
April 7 Beach
April 8 Beach
April 9 Fly Home

Guest Commentary on unrelated topic

In keeping with our stated intention of monitoring the reality based community while not necessarily participating therin, UD.BS.com proudly presents an observation on food packaging from our guest Consumer Correspondent, Sharon Rembrandt.

It's been a long road...

Congratulations are in order for SRWT
The offer's in-hand for the agreed price,
so we have a Canadian broadcaster.
Plus the cachet that goes with the
Saskatchewan PBS-equivalent, SCN.

Asia, here we come !!

Now, I've been to Vegas...

Good luck to SRWT reps
working hard in Las Vegas.

This schmoozing is a lot
harder than it looks.

Mac o Mania

It's amazing that the Mac people have me so hypnotized,
that I bought a power supply yesterday with a picture of an apple on it,
and paid $137 for the priviledge.
Then they put me on the list for a MacPro.
A list to buy something at retail.
This has to be an artificial scarcity.

Dept. of Conspiracy Theories
Out.

I love maps...

One thing about being the organic disk manipulator,
for the DVD making machine...
I have time to make new maps.
Check out the addition to the
Trip to Cartago
post
or this one from San Carlos Nicaragua

and here
Villa Caletas

Home office revisited

While in LaFortuna, weather forced operations indoors.
Robin snoozing in the other room...
This was my home office.

On the topic of comments

"People who record tv shows and skip the commercials.
It's just like STEALING" - Betty White

Such is the person who reads a blog, and doesn't comment.
(I worry that i'm talkin' to myself all the time)

New and Improved Maps

I've been trying to improve the older posts, as a record of what went on... now that I have a bit more time to upload stuff. For example, click on this link.
I can't wait
Where you'll find a map of our trip from Tamarindo to La Fortuna. Click on it to enlarge... it's annotated.

Good luck to the sales crew !

check out
MAP

for a map of the Sandra Carter International booth at
Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas for NATPE.

With the expert schmoozers we have on-board, I have every confidence of success.
(No magic beans, please)

Dedicated to those without whom... etc.

One might mention that Shea also LOOKS better and better every episode.
Style mavens Carrie and Marnie in Jaco Beach, CR

Sales kits ready for Vegas

You can really watch Shea blossom into a polished TV presenter when you see the episodes all in-a-row.

So, are you busy ?

Channelling the Ancestors

Hug and Hattie (my sainted parents) would have liked the rum prices in San Carlos Nicaragua.

We emptied the bodega of these nice 35 Oz souvenirs on New Year's Eve.

Smoky smooth, and just the thing to keep one warm,
on a chilly winter's night.

I bought it for what it doesn't have

Perfect temporary watch bought from a Costa Rican street vendor. The engraving says " Altimeter Chronometer Compass Alarm Thermometer Meteo.
The watch has none of these things. Whatever Mateo is.
Some kind of weapon, perhaps.

Bragspot.com

I finally got my two macs to talk to each other over the household LAN. Who-hoo I'll stop cursing the Macs for just one minute. True propeller heads will understand how much time will be saved not having to bike these giant files around on a disk.

Back in editville

Cutting numerous shows into 2, good thing some of the video slaves are young.
We'll come up for air when the sales crew leaves for Vegas, I guess.

attn Costa Rican subscribers-
No photoshopping. It really really looks like this. And we still live here.

Alive

We all arrived in Winnipeg, just before midnight.
Customs waved me through, which caused Allan problems with the carnet.
Oops.

Check the older posts in the coming days, as I will add some more pix, and probably text, (I'm so windy)

On the road

San Jose CR to Houston TX was pretty successful, although damn Sprint wants money for a connection...
gonna steal some time from Shea.

Note:This is EXACTLY what it looked like to me.

Jaco Beach, far away in time

On Jaco Beach we shot links for NZ2. We shot some "beach in Costa Rica" stuff, and wrapped in time to frolic in the water and go on a whirlwind souvenir shopping spree.

Four airports tomorrow

On our travel days, it can get pretty ugly. For example we'll be at San Jose airport, Houston's George Bush Intercontinental, Minneapolis and finally Winnipeg. Assuming the connections work a lot better than they did on the way down here. Bring a book. Play Continental's "Where's My Luggage" game !

Last Day, best conditions

Shea Kelli is getting so good at this, that it hardly seems like work. Marnie and Carrie made her look great, Laura defended us all from the vagaries of scheduling and surly tour operators. (Patrick of Vacation Superdeals, I'm talking about YOU ! ) Allan's great pipes held the boom pole above his head since before the new year, plus he's the calm voice of reason that every crew needs, but few can afford. Robin was his usual unique self. Thanks to Delya, Selim of Arenal Trekkers, and family, Wave Expeditions, and all the other people that made this trip so memorable.

Villa Caletas

A good secure night in San Jose, then it's back in the minicars for another road trip. We needed some beach shots for Costa Rica plus some links for the split episodes of Kenya and New Zealand so we headed out to the resort area around Jaco Beach. Breathtaking scenery and it WASN"T RAINING !!
Checked into the spectacular VIlla Caletas, wildly sumptuous, great food, and we shot the Kenya links on our private terrace. What a concept, few noises, no bogies, Shea comfortable with the core crew. Knocked off some difficult lines in no time and headed for the beach.

Dang Duck ! Do some situps or something !!

Dodged THAT bullet

After the Villa VIsta the Best Western looked pretty inviting to us.
After an amazing amount of agonizing, Laura has pulled the plug on the Nicaragua leg of the extended tour. We had hoped to knock off another episode at excruciatingly low cost, but without any research or prep of any kind. With our flights booked home, just changing them made the costs rise back to near normal. Being burgled, plus the white knuckle ride on the vomit comet pretty well decided her. We will concentrate our last few days here on making Costa Rica one of the best shows yet, instead of being distracted by all the stuff needed to make Nicaragua happen. Huge thanks, and maybe apologies to Selim, Shaun and Ken for dropping everything and trying to make it possible. We still want to do Nicaragua, but in our own time, and really ready. We also would have really suffered without Allan to carry the weight - both physical and mental.

We LOVE you guys

Delye took us to a beautiful park - out of the way, would be a generous way to describe it... Awesome view, excellent interview. They speak much better English than we do Spanish and it'll look great on TV. Their music is vaguely reminiscent of Cowboy Junkies, but more romantic. (Or so i assume with my limited espanol) Go to Delye.com to hear a sample.
PS Delye is an ancient word meaning "Everyday life"

Delye

Against all navigational odds, we hooked up with the Costa Rican band Delye, at the local music store Vimusa. (Thanks to Mauricio for the correction) There's a full stage and one of every disco light you ever saw. Very cool place to record a couple of songs for SRWT.
Great sound, and if you break something, they have an unholy amount of spares.

Cartago

We travelled to the lovely wee town of Cartago to interview the band Delye. (see delye.com) Cool ruins, and some very nice people.

The Clampetts

If i get my hands on the guy who booked these roller skates... why I oughta...
They're uncomforable enough without every space stuffed with gear, and the people wedged in between.
PLUS it's been raining gatos y peros for days and days...

We still love Costa Rica

We were burgled last night while out at Selim's house.
Shea's iPod and cellphone, Laura's laptop, my spare still camera,Marnie's iPod, Allan's PSP*, probably other stuff.
It doesn't matter where you go, or even if you don't go anywhere, you can be the victim of burglary. It's just lucky that Robin and I were in the "Square" cabinas, and not the round ones. Both Carrie/Marnie's and the Big Kahuna's have a bano window that faces the bush, and ours faces the road. Hence, our room, with the multizillion dollar tv gear was un-penetrated. Not that kids would steal something that would be near-impossible to sell... but still. The cops were quite apologetic, for some reason.


*I don't know if Allan will make it, if he can't whack the enemies of the Corleone family. There's something sweet in the delight that this awesome caregiver takes in killing virtual people.

It's a fiesta

Thanks to Selim and his family for the FABULOUS bbq dinner at their home outside La Fortuna. Beautiful casa, great kids, cute dogs and puppies, and a rip-roaring good time. It's a rare treat to get insight into the homelife of local Costa Ricans. Sadly my brain will not absorb unfamiliar names well, so I'll have to leave those details out for now. Except Eddy, HIS name I remember.