Mixing pop and politics, He asks me what the use is

Yeah, sorry for the lack of posts, especially after my declaration of the exact opposite.  I’m really just trying to clear my queue of photos with this one.  Surprisingly, it has mainly a religious theme.  But don’t all my posts?

The Torre Agbar at night.  I think I already talked about this.

My photo of a man taking a photo of the Torre Agbar in the Passeig de Gracia.

La iglesia de Santa Maria del Mar.  Interestingly enough, only the second time I’ve been in a church or cathedral here (the first was for Mozart’s Requiem here at the church where all the bums hang out at).  It’s funny, because when I was in Spain the first time that seems like the only places I went to.

For some reason, people don’t like their picture taken when they’re worshipping.  Go figure.

Back again at the Sagrada Familia, which is still as impressive.

The fruit atop the new(ish) construction.

From the backside.

Blockhead Jeebus’s crucifixion.  My favorite is the Shroud of Turin below him (or maybe the Rock’em Sock’em Robots feel of the whole thing).

A better understanding, Of what was already understood

So I finally went to a museum here. And it just so happened to be one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Teatre Museu Dalí. It’s located in Figueres, about 2 1/2 hours north of Tarragona. And it’s amazing.

I bet you didn’t know he cast his own metal to make jewelry, figurines and mirrors like this.

There’s some people’s heads in the lower left-hand corner to give you some size perspective of this.

This is the view from the lens atop a set of stairs that lets you see Dalí’s interpretation of Mae West’s head. This took up the entire 20×20 room. The lips were the size of a sofa, the hair 12 feet tall.

I bet you didn’t know he made his own holograms, either.  Yeah, back in the late 70’s, early 80’s.  There was one he did of Alice Cooper, but I can’t find my picture of it.  And yes, they’re drinking Busch beer in this one.

The ceiling in one room.  Check the Dalí moustache on the one on the right.

One of my favorite things in the museum, but these don’t really do it justice.  He painted these pictures by putting the metal bottle on a canvas and looking at the reflection.

Incredible talent and creativity, absolutely.

Transsexual Adam and Eve

It was like going to an art show, filled with some of this best art you’ve ever seen, at some crazy eccentric’s giant mansion, packed full with the weirdest shit.  Actually, that’s exactly what it is.  The most impressive thing was that he worked in almost every medium, utilizing almost every style to exist.  And all of his pieces were amazing.  The pencil work, the watercolors, the statuettes, the installations, the baroque work, the post-modernist stuff… everything was incredibly done.

Ryley said that the museum alone made the trip worth while.  I have to agree.

Again I hope you notice, I’m no hare and you’re no tortoise

Barcelona – December 28th, 2007

Mostly taken in Parc Montjuic, a park south of the Barri Gotic on a giant hill in the middle of the city. To get there, you either have to take a long series of escalators/stairs, or take the Metro (subway) to the funicular, which is pretty much a tram that goes uphill. Oh, you can also take the gondola from the port, but I don’t think it operates during the winter.

The Palau Nacional, built for the 1929 World’s Fair. It now houses yet another art museum. Impressive building and grounds, though.

The fountain in front of it. It’s all lit up and purty on the weekends, though I didn’t see it.

Hey buddy, did you get a hold of Captain Weirdbeard over there?

From atop Montjuic. You can’t see it too well, but on the left is the Sagrada Familia, and the bullet-shaped building is the Torre Agbar. I think you can also see the cathedral top, too. More on these later.

The stadium built for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Lord Humungus Stabs Ryley In The Stitches

(Alright, I know it’s a cop-out post, especially with the amount of pictures that I have.  But it’s been a busy week, and I have a lot of pictures to reformat.)

You haven’t looked at me that way in years

But I’m still here.  It was a good two weeks, and I have an immense amount of pictures.  So, I got at least a few weeks of material to post.  No trying to come up with things to put on here.  Okay, I’ll start at the beginning… because that’s where you start.

These were taken Christmas night, the 25th of December, around 11 pm.  I expected not a lot of people out on the streets, and I was right.  But strangely enough, almost every restaurant, cafe and bar (and some shops) were open.  There weren’t any people in them, but they all had bored (and probably angry) workers standing in them, hoping for a quick death or at least something to do.  I don’t understand this place.  When you would assume a place is open, it isn’t.  And when you would assume that everything is closed, they’re actually open.

This is the road/small hill I walk down each day to get out of Old Town (that’s what I call it, it’s really el casc antic in Catalan).   There’s a bar under it called La Cau (the Cave) that is literally a cave.  Too bad it only plays techno-pop.

Plaza de la Font 

The Castillers statue on la Rambla Nova.

Side mural of La Boqueria, the central fresh meat/fish/cheese/vegetable market.

The amfiteatro at night.  The big cross-shaped thing in the middle is a church the Catholics built in the middle of it.

All of those lights that lined the streets were put up in October, but weren’t turned on until December 1st.  The work crews were out every day for a week or two, just to have the lights sit sadly unused for a month.  But once they did come on, it was impressive.

Thanks to all the people who sent me emails over the holidays.  It was nice to come back to lots of friendly emails, especially after going months without talking to some of you.

Alright, the posts will be more frequent this month.