BREAK TIME

Sometimes you've just got to get away from the desk and take a few moments for yourself.

Break time.

(London)

IT'S MONDAY!!!

Yeah, I know. Stop sobbing and suck it up, Bucko.

Time to attack the new week and take no prisoners...

Yeah, this is The Tower of London, infamous prison and beheading-place for a number of folks. 

Thought it was appropriate to today's theme.

BOATSPOTTING?

Okay, a subtle reference to the classic British film TRAINSPOTTING.

Only in this case it's four young men wandering the banks of the Thames in London. 

Late afternoon on a spring day.

ICONIC STRUCTURES - TOWER BRIDGE

Frequently mistaken, name-wise, for the London Bridge (now in Lake Havasu, Arizona), London's Tower Bridge is one of the most famous and iconic bridges in the world.

Formally opened in 1894, Tower Bridge, named for its location near the Tower of London - itself an important and iconic building - spanned the Thames River while providing for passage for tall-masted sailing ships to pass unobstructed to London ports upstream of the bridge.

THE FRIDAY MARTINI

It's Friday afternoon and time for the weekend's martini.

The below image is one of the chapter headers from the book Chasing Martinis, and based on an original martini photo from The Delaunay restaurant in London's theater district.

The original shot, part of the book's Bright Lights Big City chapter, is below.

Pinnacle vodka.

Have a terrific weekend!

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - THE STEPS OF ST. PAUL'S

Many readers may have seen the Walt Disney movie Mary Poppins, which takes place in a  romanticized and fictionalized London. One of the most striking scenes in this memorable musical is the haunting and beautiful Feed The Birds. 

In the song an elderly woman gently begs for money to feed the dozens of pigeons which gather around the square in front of London's majestic St. Paul's Cathedral.

It's a memorable moment.

If you find yourself on the steps of St. Paul's and are familiar with the song it's not hard to hear its soft tune in your head as you sit quietly, watching the world go by.

On the steps of St. Paul's

LONDON, UK - AFTERNOON BY TOWER BRIDGE

For your hectic Monday, maybe start with a quiet respite by Tower Bridge.

THE FRIDAY MARTINI

"Everybody's working for the weekend," or so say the song lyrics from the band Loverboy.

I don't think that's quite right. I think we work for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is to pay for what we do outside of the office.

Regardless of why you work, let's hope you have a lot of fun when you're not on the job.

Happy Weekend, and have a martini...

This shot, titled "Date Night", was made at the OXO Brasserie in London. Belvedere was the vodka.

(Image from the planned book CHASING MARTINIS)

THE FRIDAY MARTINI

Friday. It's not so much "Gittin' down" on Friday as "Getting up".

Today's martini is from the OXO Brasserie on the South Bank of the Thames River in London. It's a bit of a throwback to earlier days of sipping your martinis and having a wonderful conversation.

It's just one of the martinis to be featured in the new book CHASING MARTINIS, an advance chapter of which can be read here.

Have yourself a wonderful weekend.

LONDON, UK -- SWEATY BETTY

Kingly Court next to Sweaty Betty?

I got nothin'...

LONDON, UK - THE FUTURE IS NOW

When I was a young boy British television shows were all the rage. The Avengers (no, not THOSE Avengers. The original ones), The Prisoner, The Champions, and, of course, every kid's dream: Thunderbirds.

As such I always believed the British were the future. Always looking to new technologies and embracing them. Looking forward, not backward.

In some ways that was wrong. The British value their traditions and their history. But they also think ahead and are not afraid to do things with a bit of flair.

The London skyline, circa 2015. The future.

TRAVELING BY RAIL

"As a child I found railroad stations exciting, mysterious, and even beautiful, as indeed they often were."
                       
                                                                               - Paul Johnson





There is an allure to trains and train travel which is almost mystical. We've all been raised with the images and sounds of rail systems around the world, from the lonely high-pitched whistle of steam locomotives chugging through the European countryside to the deep-throated honk of Disney's monorails.

L.A.'s Union Station

New York's Grand Central

Yesterday's DAILY ESCAPE featured this photograph of the central train station in Rome, Stazione Termini. Subsequently that image got me to thinking about the variety of train stations around the world, particularly those I have visited and photographed over the years. Like many other of my Travel images, train stations weren't really a focus -- pun unavoidable -- they were interesting sidebars.

Being an American, I was raised with the romance of rail. It's an image highly ingrained into each of us, but one which is only dimly reflected in modern day reality. Unlike Europeans, Americans largely dispensed with rail service with the growth of the auto industry. We embraced our cars, and left the trains behind.

Euro-Speedsters!

However with the 21st century came a tightening of resources, making a returned glance at rail a necessary part of regional and urban planning. Too many cars, not enough oil, overcrowded airports and the relative cost of railroad services have brought about a renaissance of sorts to the industry. Light rail is all the rage in American cities. And even inter-city service is showing renewed possibilities for the weary traveler.

California, usually at the forefront of trends in the States, is building the first true high speed rail service across the state. (It continues to be controversial, primarily to those people who see only outgoing dollars instead of an investment in the state's future.)

The author transiting The Chunnel

For myself, I am convinced in both the viability as well as the desirability of rail service as a major mode of transportation. And not without some experience in the area: as a small boy I (apparently) rode the Japanese bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and back. Later, in adulthood, were rides on Europe's premier high speed rail systems -- Eurostar, TGV, Thalys and Le Frecce -- as well as trips up  and down the Eastern seaboard aboard Amtrak.

None of this includes the uncounted trips on a variety of subways and light rail systems in cities around the world.

BART, San Francisco

Some day my plan is to take rail trips from Chicago to Portland, from Perth to Sydney, and something -- as yet unfound -- in South America. Each of these promise to be an adventure, and that's what traveling is all about. It's often not about racing to a destination, but the stages and viewscapes in-between.

It's often what you see on your way TO something else that makes an adventure worth having.

And that...is where rail excels.

Train station, Monaco grandeur

Tren Italia

Rain, in Genova

Film Sites: Location, Location, Location

"Cartagena? Angel, you are hell and gone from Cartagena. Cartagena's over there on the coast."

                                              - Michael Douglas, Romancing the Stone




Because we live in the Los Angeles area, we see a lot of filming for television and movies. Just part of the experience here. Long Beach, my home town, is a hotbed for production given the city's diversity of looks and neighborhoods. You've seen "The LBC", as we are called in rap culture, in many shows and films, playing everything from a midwestern small town to Miami Beach. (Both Dexter and CSI Miami shot the majority of their external scenes here in the LBC.)

But we are exposed to the film industry all over the LA area.


As such I am working, very slowly, on a photography article for the Project Torchwood website, detailing for them the filming sites for the 2011 cable tv show TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY. It's a slow process, and I'm roughly 2/3rds of the way through (though I suspect that much progress will surprise even them!).

In previous columns I have written about the impact films and television have on the public's perception of places, and how, more directly, films (and tv) altered and invigorated my own perceptions of travel and different cultures.


But if I am to be truthful about it, rare are the movies (and tv shows) in which the location of the action is itself a character in the story. As much as I love the Bond films, and as much as they fed my youthful desire to see exotic places, the locations of these films are not really more than window dressing. It's not essential for Bond to be on a particular Caribbean island. Or European city. Or Asian city. They're all there solely to show you how cool Bond is, and how big his world is.

The locations don't drive the stories, they simply are background against which the story evolves.

Some films, however, rely upon the location to itself be a character. It frames the story and is an essential element of it. The story could not be told in another location without significant rewrites.


Taking as our example, the scene in MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE -- GHOST PROTOCOL where Tom Cruise's character of Ethan Hunt dangles precariously from the upper floors of the Burj Khalifa building, currently the world's tallest. The argument could be made that scene HAD to take place in Dubai, given that's the location of the building. But Dubai isn't actually a character, it's a location. Cruise could just as easily been dangling from the Petronas Towers in Singapore; the Eiffel Tower in Paris; or the Seattle Space Needle. Each could have fulfilled the role of location, and the story would be essentially unchanged.

On the other hand, as I have written before, the locations in the movie UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN are essential to the plot. They drive the narrative and are themselves characters in the movie. Simply moving the movie's location to Antigua, Guatemala -- a similarly historic and vibrant location -- isn't possible. The dynamics would change as would the story.

The tv series I mentioned before, TORCHWOOD, takes place to a very large extent in Cardiff, Wales. And that city is very much party of the overall look and feel of the show. Cardiff was itself, over the first three series, very much a character.


For the film side of things, where the budgets are bigger and the production more elaborate, it's the smaller, more intimate movies which allow the location to thrive and become something more than a simple canvas for the story. Batman has his Gotham City, and STAR TREK IV needed San Francisco as their modern day setting. But the Bond films, TRANSFORMERS, the FAST AND FURIOUS franchise, and so many other big budget movies could be transplanted without damage to the plot or visuals.

But the smaller, more intimate stories often rely heavily upon the location to give the audience a view into the characters. PACIFIC RIM doesn't really need Hong Kong to destroy. It could take out Tokyo or San Francisco or New York. All it really needs is a waterfront city with bright shiny lights.


On the other hand, George Clooney's THE DESCENDANTS would be lost without Hawaii, and a completely different story altogether if moved somewhere else. Sherlock Holmes without London wouldn't be Sherlock Holmes in anything more than a name. (A quick comparison of the BBC's SHERLOCK and CBS' ELEMENTARY demonstrates the point perfectly. Elementary's main character is as much Sherlock Holmes as was primary character Dr. House in the tv series HOUSE. A kissing cousin, perhaps, but not Sherlock himself.)

The very best films are models of connectivity. The characters, the locations and the story all have to coalesce into a cohesive and compelling experience for the audience.

Some of my favorite movies -- ignoring television for the moment -- are those in in which the location is as much a character as the people are. Oh, and if you catch that two of the movies feature Kathleen Turner, it's completely coincidental. Completely.

Some examples.

The aforementioned UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN (about which I've already written extensively).


THE DESCENDANTS

This film, starring George Clooney, takes place on the Hawaiian Islands of O'ahu and Kaua'i. The locations play a fundamental part of the overall storyline, as do the typically Hawaiian characters within the film.

The plot deals with an extended family with a multigenerational history as descendants of Hawaiian royalty. They collectively own a vast area of undeveloped acreage on Kauai, which is the subject of intense intra-family debate. Some relatives want to sell and collect their millions, others want to honor the family tradition.

As such, the location is deeply integral to the storyline, and the islands themselves become aspects of the story, not just background. If you haven't seen this film and have never been to Hawaii, this will give you a taste for the islands like few other movies have managed.


NOTTING HILL

Notting Hill is what Americans would refer to as a suburb of London.It's a wonderful little pocket neighborhood with an artistic side. It's the site of the nearly two-century old Portobello Road Market, while at the same time full of of trendy shops and culinary hot spots.

The film of the same name honors that location and tradition. While Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts emote in the foreground, the Notting Hill district plays more than simply a backdrop. Todays' Portobello Road is both traditional (Hugh Grant's character, a bookseller) and cosmopolitan (Julia Roberts', a Hollywood actress). Notting Hill is the mesh of the old and the new, providing a unique playground for the characters at first seemingly very disparate, but by the edge finding a way to integrate their lives and their values.

Much like Notting Hill itself.




ROMANCING THE STONE

There is no pretending that the Colombia of this film is the Colombia of today. Nor is Cartagena anything like the small city with rough edges.

But the movie relies heavily upon the Colombia which existed at the time, and it would be nearly impossible to relocate the story to another place. There is a danger and mystery to Cartagena, so very intense in the 1980s, that continues to this day, though it's enshrouded by a friendly and cosmopolitan veneer that shows that the city -- and the country -- are stepping into the 21st century.

The film deals with kidnapping, drug deals, nefarious and mysterious strangers, and the theft of a massive emerald. Colombia's countryside, traditions and people are a key element to the story which plays the stereotypical South American drug lord culture against the sleek streets of New York City.

Cartagena of today is vastly different from the city in the movie, but when watching the movie and then comparing it with the modern day, you can still see some of the rough around the edges.


CROSSING DELANCEY

New York has long been the subject of little films which take place in a handful of streets in one neighborhood. Most of Woody Allen's films are that way. There used to be a joke that the humor in his films was really only understandable if you came from a four square block area in midtown.

Crossing Delancey makes full use of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The location of the film is essential. A good portion of the film's story revolves around the clash between classic New York values and what would likely be called "New York intelligentsia". Amy Irving's character isn't interested in a particular man because he seems too traditional, too reserved for her: her world is much more about books and writing and parties in Midtown. She imagines herself attracted to a famous author (Jeroen Krabbe), rather than the humble pickle salesman (Peter Riegert).

But in the same way the two aspects of Notting Hill, above, frame that story, the difference between characters in this film are reflected by the aspects of New York as a whole. The traditional values of the Lower East Side win out over the transitory and shallow world of Midtown.

In that regard, there are few other cities in which this story -- relying upon decades of viewer familiarity with these neighborhoods of New York - could be told.

L.A. STORY

Okay. The title gives it away. This one is pure L.A. and relies so heavily upon the city's neighborhoods and known stereotypes that to transpose the story to another place would be an impossibility. Whole scenes rely upon "L.A." for their impact. The earthquake. The freeway sign. The freeway shootings. The colonics.

The main character is a weatherman who, unfortunately, relies a bit too heavily upon Southern California's renowned sunny skies. His love interest is a British woman who, sadly, just doesn't understand L.A. at the beginning.

Steve Martin captures the city and the vibe beautifully, allowing those of us who live here to recognize those sillier parts of ourselves without being mean about it.

As a love letter to a one-of-a-kind city, this is second to none.




BODY HEAT    

One of the last truly great film noir movies, Body Heat is a tremendous movie in which Florida's vaunted heat and lifestyles play into the story itself. Evocative of such other great movies such as Key Largo, Body Heat ups the...well, heat. Both from an intensely physical way, to the environment of Florida's oppressive summer months.

Heat. Humidity. Stifling nights, and characters right out of a Sam Spade story, Body Heat captures seductive Florida, allowing the characters of the film to play against an interactive and visceral environment, not just a movie set.

THE DAILY ESCAPE: LONDON TUBE

The morning commute.

Pic of the Day: Hung, Drawn and Quartered

A pub in London just a block from The Tower, a legendary building in which enemies of the crown (and sometimes "allies") were brutally tortured or worse. Some were hung, drawn and quartered.

 (from Wikipedia) "Convicts were fastened to a hurdle, or wooden panel, and drawn by horse to the place of execution, where they were hanged (almost to the point of death), emasculated, disembowelled, beheaded and quartered (chopped into four pieces). Their remains were often displayed in prominent places across the country, such as London Bridge. For reasons of public decency, women convicted of high treason were instead burned at the stake."

Rather nasty business. I'd strongly recommend you not be late with your bar tab at this establishment.

Pic of the Day: One Lump or Two?

Here's hoping you had a wonderful Saturday night, and you may need this more than I do come Sunday morning.

BlackFriars, London