Matador Network's Blog, page 2101
June 14, 2015
What Americans abroad look like
Dear America,
Hi. It’s the rest of the world here. You’ve probably heard of us. The 38 percent of you who have a passport might even know us, at least a little.
We know you a little, too. You tend to visit us this time of year. You’re making more and more trips abroad, in fact, and by now we like to think we’re pretty good at picking you out of a crowd.
“Look,” we tell our youngsters, “do you see those plump people in pajamas with their pizza and their water bottles, noisily urging passers-by to drink shots with them while insisting they’re all out of cash?
“They, my children, they are the Americans.”
“Their faces,” wonders one of our compatriots. “They’re so…muscular. And that large-hipped physique is strangely…sexy.”
“Must they be so very loud?” murmurs another.
“It’s their culture,” we reliably inform them. “Their collective sense of confidence is literally deafening.”
“They smell funny!” some of our less polite citizens interject.
“Yes, they do,” we reply. “That smell: it is of freedom.”
“But… but it’s been raining all day. Why do none of them have umbrellas?” a puzzled little one inquires from under the sanctuary of her brolly.
And that — that — we cannot answer.
Love,
The World
By Jessica Phelan, GlobalPost
This article is syndicated from GlobalPost.
June 13, 2015
14 bars and restaurants that Kansas City locals swear by
#nomnomnom #skandalousinc #fuckthatsdelicious #truestory #livinthelife
A photo posted by "Uncle Luke" Rogge (@skandalousinc) on Mar 4, 2015 at 2:34am PST
Devouring a plate of their perfectly browned tots at 4 a.m. is akin to a religious experience. If the words “Drive Thru Open 24/7” don’t already mean magical things to you, then the kind patrons of Town-Topic are here to set you straight.
2. Beer Kitchen
15 famous movies and the *actual* countries they were filmed in
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Though the film was shot at various locations across New Zealand, easily the most iconic and recognizable set in the whole LOTR trilogy was Hobbiton, the small hobbit village where we’re introduced to series protagonists Frodo, Sam, and Gandalf the Grey.
The set, which still exists and offers daily tours, was built in the Hinuera Valley of Matamata in Waikato (an hour south of the famous glow worm caves) and looks every bit the part today as it did nearly two decades ago, when the movie was originally filmed.
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2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Tunisia, England, Guatemala, USA)
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If you’re like me (and any of a bajillion other nerds out there), you saw this first film in the preposterously successful Star Wars franchise and were easily convinced that Tatooine was just some barren wasteland of a planet (in a galaxy far, far away).
But as it turns out, those scenes were actually just shot in the convincingly barren Djerba, Sidi Jemour, Tozeur, Mos Espa, Tataouine (yes, this is where the name came from), and Matmata in southern and western Tunisia. Bonus: You can actually spend a night (or several) in Luke Skywalker’s home, the Hotel Sidi Driss in Matmata.
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3. Gladiator (Morocco, England, Italy, Malta, USA)
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Stripped of his rank and left for dead, Gladiator protagonist Maximus Decimus Meridius is carted off by slave traders to the Roman province of Zuccabar, where he embarks on a series of epic training montages to become the infamous gladiator. In reality, you can visit “Zuccabar” (aka Aït Benhaddou) in Morocco’s Hollywood, Ouarzazate. If those burnt-orange clay spires seem awfully familiar, it’s probably because they’ve been featured in > 20 films and television shows since the ’60’s (including: Gladiator, The Mummy, and Game of Thrones).
Sadly, each film that passes through the ancient city (which people still live in today) leaves a permanent mark, including the massive pit that was dug to house the arena for Gladiator and never filled in, and an entire temple gateway facade that was built for the Mummy and just left there.
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4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (England, Scotland, Australia)
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A British cult-classic, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a textbook example of movie magic at work. Apparently, the film’s producers originally secured the rights from the National Trust in Scotland to shoot at a variety of Scottish castles, as well as special permission to shoot at the Doune Castle from the Lord of Moray.
At the very last minute, the National Trust reneged on their deal, forcing the Monty Python producers to shoot several different scenes using only the various parts of Doune Castle (including, among others, the famous King Arthur vs. the garrison guards scene, the “Knights of the Round Table” musical number, and the Trojan Rabbit scene).
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5. Skyfall (England, Scotland, Japan, Turkey, China)
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The third film in Daniel Craig’s James Bond incarnation, Skyfall opens with an intense motorbike chase scene across the rooftops surrounding Eminonu Square, and then through the Grand Bazaar in the old quarter of Istanbul, Turkey.
According to local reports, on the first day of shooting the chase, Craig’s stuntman lost control of the bike — and smashed right through the crystal glass window a 330-year-old historic storefront.
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6. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (Italy, Spain)
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Nothing says “authentic Old West America” like… Spain? As odd as it sounds, apparently outsourcing our tumbleweeds and swinging saloon doors to locations in Italy and Spain was the common practice for nearly every (now famous) spaghetti Western produced in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
If you’re itchin’ to get some dust on your spurs and experience the American Old West as only the Spanish city of Almería could capture, you can actually visit some of those sets (which they still use for shooting) in the pseudo-amusement park now called “Texas Hollywood” or “Fort Bravo.”
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7. Dark Knight Rises (India, England, Scotland, Italy, USA)
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In the third and final film of Christian Bale’s stint as the Dark Knight, Bale’s Bruce Wayne finds himself trapped with a broken spine, deep inside a prison pit in some faraway land. After (ostensibly months of) rehabilitation, Wayne manages to liberate himself from the pit, and emerges to find himself at the foot of the impressive Mehrangarh Fort of Jodhpur, the second-largest city in the northwest state of Rajasthan, India.
The fort was also heavily featured in one of the dreamlike story sequences from Tarsem Singh’s 2006 film, The Fall.
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8. Mamma Mia! (Greece, Morocco, England, USA)
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 2008 ABBA-inspired film Mamma Mia! that is set in Greece, was largely shot in Greece (even though producers took other liberties, like filming scenes set in New York in London, for example). Filmed largely on the Greek island of Skopelos, and in parts of nearby Damouchari in Pelion, Mamma Mia! was shot almost entirely without a hitch… save for one exception.
According to director Phyllida Lloyd, during the “Dancing Queen” musical number scene: the cast was joined by a chorus of extras comprised of Pelion locals, and (somewhat randomly) one German expat who brought along her donkey. Apparently, every time the music started, the donkey became agitated, and proceeded to charge full speed through the set, jeopardizing the shot.
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9. Lawrence of Arabia (Morocco, Spain, England, USA, Jordan)
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Featuring some of the most quintessential and archetypal “camels crossing the desert” scenes in the history of film, Lawrence of Arabia may be single-handedly responsible for my insatiable desert-lust. Though producers hit a number of dune hotspots around the world (including the Imperial Sand Dunes in California, and Ouarzazate in Morocco), the majority of the sweeping desert panoramas that immediately come to mind when recalling the film were shot in Wadi Rum, Jordan.
Bonus: it is probably no coincidence that Wadi Rum was selected as the image of the desert the production team wanted to relay, as it was the desert that the real Lawrence spent time in, and which the film itself was inspired by.
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10. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Jordan, Spain, USA, Germany, Italy, England)
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While the temple may not be filled with booby-traps or contain the holy cup of Christ, the cliffside facade at Al Khazneh (featured in the climax of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) really *does* look like that, and can be found in Petra, Jordan.
As a direct result of the film’s success, tourism to the region has exploded exponentially, and the phenomenon has even been acknowledged by Middle Eastern satire publications (like this article, titled “).
The Matador Network recently visited Jordan, and shot some killer footage around the country (and at Al Khazneh). Check it out here.
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11. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Dominican Republic, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, USA)
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The first in a remarkably successful 4-film franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean was actually shot largely in the Caribbean…who knew? If you’ve seen the film, you probably remember the scene where Captain Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swan find themselves marooned on a deserted island — the same island where Jack is later forced to utter the most quotable line from the whole movie: “but why is all the rum gone?”
That island is actually known as “Petit Tabac,” in the Tobago Cays island group of St. Vincent and the Grenadines off the Northeastern coast of Venezuela. To get there in real life, you’ll need to charter a boat (likely at the Tobago Cays Marine Park on Clifton Union Island), and sail just 6 miles northeast.
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12. The Beach (Thailand, UK)
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For those who have not seen the movie, the film The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio is essentially about trying to find that perfect, untouched beach we all imagine when we think of “idyllic, sun-swept, footprint-less paradise.” You know, the kind of beach you’d see in a travel brochure or “epic beaches” listicle. So naturally, producers had a pretty tall order to fill… but ultimately settled on Koh Phi Phi Leh, one of the largest islands in the Krabi province of Thailand.
And for those looking to find the same thing as Leo’s character in the movie: I have good news and bad news. The bad news, is that while still amazingly beautiful, Koh Phi Phi Leh is now regularly swarmed by tourists. The good news, is that Thailand is so jam-packed with literally hundreds of remote islands (including, for example, Ko Tarutao), that you’ll definitely be able to find whatever flavor of “paradise” you’re looking for.
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13. Cast Away (Fiji, Philippines, Russia, USA)
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I dare you to tell me you haven’t once stopped and wondered where exactly it was that Tom Hanks (and Wilson!) washed up in the film Cast Away. As it turns out, it actually is a completely uninhabited 99-acre island off the coast Viti Levu, the largest of the islands in Fiji. A member of the Mamamuca island chain, Monuriki Island now sees daily “Cast Away” boat tours, many of which depart from Port Denarau on Viti Levu.
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14. Die Another Day (Spain, England, USA, Iceland, Norway)
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I grew up with Brosnan’s Bond, so while I freely accept that he is probably the lamest blip in James Bond history, he’ll always be the one I think of when I hear “007.” In the 4th installment of Brosnan’s tenure as Bond, Die Another Day culminates in one of the craziest car chases I’ve ever seen on film: sliding and skidding across a glacier.
On the one hand, I was disheartened to learn that the actual glacier they filmed on in the glacial lagoon of Jökulsárlón, Iceland doesn’t exist. On the other hand, I also learned that the production team actually had engineers dam the lake in an effort get it to freeze for the scene… and that it only froze to a safe thickness for the stunt days before the production team was scheduled to move the shoot to Alaska.
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15. Mad Max: Fury Road (Namibia, Australia, South Africa)
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Sure, it may be the new kid on the block (it is still in theaters, after all), but Mad Max: Fury Road is already comfortably seated as Imdb’s #38 best movie of all time. So in an effort to tiptoe around spoilers for those of us who haven’t seen the film yet: there are car chases. In the desert. And it’s pretty freaking sweet.
Unique to this installment of the Mad Max franchise, large swaths of the film were shot in the Namib desert of Namibia (of NatGeo “this picture looks painted but it isn’t” fame). Director George Miller made the tough call to break from tradition (and move the shoot to Namibia) after the third wettest rainy season in Australia’s recorded history left the original shooting site of Broken Hill too lush with new growth to be considered gritty and post-apocalyptic enough for the film.
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11 places for Game of Thrones fans
If you’re anything like me you’re dreading Sunday’s season 5 finale of Game of Thrones as it means the start of a grueling 10-month wait for next season. Sigh. Here are 11 of my favourite spots from the series to get you through your end of GoT season 5 blues.
1. Gozo, Malta
Dwejra – Azure Window by Mario Portelli on 500px
2. Dubrovnik, Croatia
…dubrovnik XIV… by roblfc1892 roberto pavic on 500px
3. Aït Benhaddou, Morocco
Lenticulars over Ait Ben Haddou by Jokin Romero on 500px
4. Mývatn, Iceland
Goðafoss – North Iceland by Óli Haukur on 500px
5. Essaouira, Morocco
Essaouira by Marco Bocelli on 500px
6.Córdoba, Spain
Córdoba at night by Juan Fernández García on 500px
7. Sibenik, Croatia
…sibenik XIII… by roblfc1892 roberto pavic on 500px
8. Ballymoney, Northern Ireland
Dark Hedges – Game of Thrones by Przemysław Zdrojewski on 500px
9. Split, Croatia
The Charming Split by Rolando Felizola on 500px
10. Skaftafelll National Park, Iceland
Basaltic power by Juan Carlos Ruiz on 500px
11. Alcázar of Seville, Spain
Lights and shadows in the courts of Seville by Antonio Diaz on 500px
June 12, 2015
Famous flyer’s tragic death sparks debate over illegal BASE jumping
Less than a month ago, extreme sports advocate and seasoned BASE jumping veteran Dean Potter (and his flying partner Graham Hunt) died after colliding with a cliffside during a routine jump in Yosemite National Park. Despite the illegal status of BASE jumping in almost all of the National Parks in the country, Potter had done the jump (and many like it) in Yosemite countless times since 2003. Hunt had successfully executed the jump solo just days before the accident.
Potter (who had dreamed of a day when experienced BASE jumpers could safely fly without the fear of legal recourse), believed that significant progress had been made by park officials in recent years towards the acceptance of the sport. To Potter, this meant that realizing this dream was right around the corner — which was particularly exciting since he believed that “anywhere else you go [to jump, that is not Yosemite,] is a compromise.”
Potter and Hunt’s deaths have received nationwide coverage, though the reaction to the news has been polarized.
Some folks merely voiced their deepest sympathies:
And others were inspired by Potter and Hunt’s legacy:
Yet the news was also met with harsh criticism:
And I mean *harsh*:
Some used the opportunity to spark a conversation on the work Potter was doing to enable extreme sports enthusiasts:
And some even felt this tragedy could be a catalyst to preventing future accidents:
But then again, this is the internet… so there were certainly plenty of folks who were happy to completely downplay the seriousness of the whole situation:
Personally, when deciding how to feel about the accident and Potter’s legacy, I think it’s helpful to be able to hear Dean Potter talk about flying in his own words:
Where do you stand on this debate? Do you think BASE jumping is a real extreme sport, or just the idiotic means to an adrenaline junkie’s fix? Do you think it should be allowed at our nation’s most beautiful, best maintained, and best protected areas? Be sure to sound off in the comments!
h/t: New York Times
Giant graphic of world language tree
The manner in which languages evolve over time is immensely complex, and can be kind of difficult to understand. So linguists like to visually represent languages as a tree. Like most academic diagrams, the tree is usually a fairly dull thing to look at, but Finnish-Swedish webcomic artist Minna Sundberg has put together this spectacularly beautiful depiction of where the world’s Nordic languages originally came from. Sundberg is the artist of the beautiful, post-apocalyptic webcomic Stand Still, Stay Silent. This graphic is part of that series, so the image does not show all of the world’s languages, just the ones that are relevant to the story. Still, the result is absolutely beautiful in a way you just don’t expect from an education diagram.
Larger version here. Art by Minna Sundberg
Foreigners can't do American accents
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HOPEFULLY YOU’VE NEVER MADE THE MISTAKE OF TRYING to imitate a country’s accent in front of a native of that country. It is the best possible way to get mocked mercilessly by your hosts — no matter how good you are at it, you’re probably still going to sound a little bit weird.
Turns out, this doesn’t just apply to Americans attempting British or Australian accents — it applies to foreigners attempting American accents as well. Buzzfeed put together this video of Americans listening to foreign attempts at American accents, and the results are a little bit ridiculous — unsurprisingly, most people attempt to do lines from their favorite movies (like Raging Bull) or of famous Americans (like Sarah Palin), and it’s generally not very impressive. 
This crew built the most epic homestead ever. Treehouse. Hot Tub. Skate Bowl!
Foster Huntington is that friend-of-a-friend we all hear about. You know, the one that’s living one of those epic traveler success stories. In 2011, he quit his day job, laughed in the face of cliche and bought a VW bus, and started cruising around the country maintaining a photo blog of his adventures.
But after coining hashtags, publishing photo books, and putting eleventy-trillion miles on his van, he decided it was about time to settle in (and build himself a “big boy” treehouse cabin in the woods). So in the spring of last year, he rallied his buddies and decided to pull the trigger on the project.
Huntington first acquired a prime plot of land on the Washington side of the Washington/Oregon border, deep in the Columbia River Gorge:
Then, the project went through some rigorous planning. According to Outside Magazine, it was at this stage that some of Huntington’s more ambitious ideas (including a crow’s nest) were cut from the designs:
And with the plans all laid out, the crew began assembling and installing the framework for the two-part treehouse:
With the main platforms raised into position, Huntington and his team shifted gears to knock out the skate bowl:
And of course, the guys couldn’t resist giving it a good inaugural shred as soon as the concrete was dry:
After completing the skate bowl (which afforded the guys a regular respite from the labors of construction), the team returned to work on the treehouse lofts in the fall months:
And with winter fast approaching, that’s when things really started taking shape:
The cabins were functionally completed by the end of the fall season, providing Foster and the gang refuge from the Washingtonian winter:
And naturally, the hot tub they built in-tandem with the lofts helped with that whole “staving off the cold” thing:
By the following spring Foster Huntington’s epic treehouse/skatepark and hot tub were completed:
And this is what the finished cabins look like on the inside:
Be sure to check out Huntington’s full video chronicling the project (titled “The Cinder Cone”) below:
The Cinder Cone from Farm League on Vimeo. 
15 bars and restaurants Pittsburgh locals swear by
Day off adventure= quintessential Pittsburgh beer-in-a-church
A photo posted by Sheila R. (@tardistraveller) on May 22, 2015 at 3:48pm PDT
If the idea of a church-turned-brewery doesn’t get you intrigued, then its food sure will. Complete with stained glass windows and a de-sanctified alter used for brewing, Church Brew Works produces Celestial Gold handcraft beers to wash down Beer-Steamed Mussels, Buffalo Burgers, and Wagyu Steak. A favorite are the Untraditional Pierogis, stuffed daily with anything from plantains to rattlesnake.
2. The Original Primanti Bros., Strip District
A photo posted by Jake Polas (@jakepolas97) on Jun 10, 2015 at 10:32am PDT
For those days when you just want simple comfort food, Primanti Bros is a Pittsburgh staple . Open 24/7, you can gobble down sandwiches like The Pitts Burger Cheese Steak with some Smallman Street Fries on the side — fries smothered in chili, cheese, bacon, and sour cream. Yeah, it maybe won’t make your heart the healthiest, but it will make it happy.
3. Pamela’s Diner, Strip District
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