tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79255202429093530682024-03-08T03:07:55.810-05:00Erik's BlogAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-60128705431714016092011-10-30T17:34:00.001-04:002011-10-30T18:00:03.595-04:00Day 7: Denali National ParkDenali National Park, as I said in the previous summary, is one of the biggest national parks in the US (third largest, according to Wikipedia). It's centered around Mt. McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, which is also called Denali ("the high one" in the native Athabascan language). Alaskans tend to refer to the mountain as Denali, while those of us in the lower 48 call it Mt. McKinley. There's apparently a pitched battle over the name of the mountain, with Alaskans trying to get the official name changed to Denali, while congressmen from Ohio (McKinley's home district) try to keep it as Mt. McKinley.<br /><br />Although the park itself is quite large, it's also very difficult to access. As I mentioned earlier, the park is about 5 hours from Anchorage (and considerably longer if you try to enjoy the ample scenery). The park itself has exactly one road through it, which becomes closed to normal traffic about 20 miles into the park. After that point, it becomes a narrow, gravel road that winds through the mountains to the tiny city of Kantishna. You <i>could</i> see McKinley from almost anywhere in the park, but it's incredibly difficult to do so -- the mountain is only visible through the clouds very rarely. Fortunately for us, the sky was completely clear when we arrived in the park, and we were greated with this view:<br /><br /><center><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111030/20111030_denalibig.jpg"></img></center><br /><br />After that, our trip to Denali started with a hike around the Savage River area. Savage River is the last place that non-ranger traffic can stop in the park (in fact, the turn-around point is a bridge over Savage River). As such, it's a ways into the park, and doesn't see as much traffic as other hiking paths closer to the visitor center. The river is fantastic, but not quite as savage as we were expecting. We had hoped to see ample wildlife, but we didn't really see anything bigger than a ground squirrel.<br /><br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111030/20111030_denali_2.jpg"></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111030/20111030_denali_3.jpg"></td></tr></table></center><br /><br />Once that was finished, we set of deeper into the park. There are two ways you can do this. The first way is to purchase a shuttle pass and head into the park on your own. This would be pretty exciting, but it was a bit more adventurous than we wanted to do, particularly in the very rainy and somewhat chilly Alaskan interior (with bears!). Instead, we signed up for a "Tundra Wilderness Tour", which is a bus tour through the park. The bus goes from the visitor's center to a place deep in the park with a particularly good view of Mt. McKinley (if it's visible at all). Along the way, the tour frequently stops for animal sightings.<br /><br />This tour was absolutely amazing. We saw all sorts of animals, from Bears to Caribou, Moose to Pika, we saw nearly everything that the park has available. Unfortunately, we were only allowed to leave the bus a few times -- a few scheduled stops, and then once when we found some Dall's Sheep on the road -- but the overwhelming scenery and wildlife was amazing. We highly recommend the Tundra Wilderness Tour for seeing Denali.<br /><br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111030/20111030_denali_4.jpg"></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111030/20111030_denali_5.jpg"></td></tr><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111030/20111030_denali_6.jpg"></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111030/20111030_denali_7.jpg"></td></tr></table></center><br /><br />More photos are available in my Picasa: <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/109328379818397087530/DenaliTrip">Denali</a> and <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/109328379818397087530/SavageRiver">Savage River</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-11598144205919732462011-10-16T21:54:00.002-04:002011-10-16T21:55:16.802-04:00Anchorage Zoo and Drive to Denali (Day 6)Our sixth day in Alaska was mostly consumed by the drive to the Denali National Park, which is about five hours from Anchorage. In the morning, however, we were able to take some time to stop by the Anchorage Zoo. We were initially hesitant about going to the zoo, but our guidebook recommended it as a good way to see Alaskan wildlife without going to Denali. We figured that even though we were going to Denali, it wouldn't hurt to see the animals in the zoo anyways.<br /><br />The Zoo focuses primarily on animals that are native to Alaska and similar climates. Several of the animals were ones we either weren't likely to see in the wild (e.g. Snow Leopard) or ones we'd really rather not see up close and personal (e.g. Wolverine, Bald Eagle). Still, a very nice zoo, and since we hadn't seen very many land animals yet, it was nice to see some "wildlife." Like the rest of Anchorage, the zoo also had some great flowers and mushrooms.<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111016/20111016_zoodenalidrive_1.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111016/20111016_zoodenalidrive_2.jpg"></img></td></tr><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111016/20111016_zoodenalidrive_3.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111016/20111016_zoodenalidrive_4.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center><br />After the zoo, we left Anchorage to head towards Denali. We stopped several places along the way, including a quirky place called Talkeetna. On a good day, you can see Mount McKinley (also called Denali) from Talkeetna. However, we weren't there on a good day (all we saw were clouds), so we just wandered around a bit and hopped back in the car. Later on, we stopped in Denali State Park (not to be confused with the national variety) and there we saw a tiny sliver of Mt. McKinley:<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20111016/20111016_zoodenalidrive_5.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center><br />We also learned that McKinley is only completely visible through the clouds about five days per year. Naturally, that wasn't our day, but (fortunately) the next day was one of the rare days where it was completely clear.<br /><br />The drive to Denali was gorgeous, however. Not quite like the drive to Whittier or Seward, but the road takes you through dramatic mountains and valleys. Later in the trip (on our way home), it was raining on this road, and it was just amazing. The road is also a narrow, two-lane variety, and the cars are infrequent enough for you to feel really alone in the wilderness. The lighting, the mountains, the solitude -- this was Alaska. <br /><br />More pictures available <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/109328379818397087530/ZooAndDenaliDrive">in my Picasa</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-56753752266759164052011-09-11T21:34:00.003-04:002011-09-11T21:59:40.140-04:00Whittier and Prince William Sound (Day 5)On the fifth day of the trip, we again went out into the ocean, this time to see a '26 glacier tour' of the Prince William Sound, which was made famous as the site of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker crash back in the 1980s. Our departure point wasn't Seward this time, but rather a tiny, bizarre fishing town called Whittier. Whittier probably deserves an award as the quirkiest town I've ever visited. The 200 or so residents of the city work entirely in fishing, transportation or tourism. Almost all of them live in a single city called Begich Tower, which was once the largest building in the entire state of Anchorage. This led to a lot of discussion about how families move around in the building. Whittier was originally chosen as an 'alternate route' into Alaska (with Seward being the original) and had a railroad tunnel built (at great expense) to ensure that a foreign power could never conquer Alaska simply by taking Seward. The two and a half mile tunnel is the only way into Whittier, other than via boat. Nowadays the railroad tunnel carries car traffic twice an hour (15 minutes into Whittier and 15 minutes heading out), but our guidebook warned us that the tunnel closes frequently due to excess exhaust inside. Back in the 90s, the tunnel carried railroad traffic only and Whittier was a pain in the rear to get into. Anyways, nowadays its main purpose is shipping and receiving, or taking boats out into the Prince William Sound. While there (we took a 9:30 tunnel to make sure we didn't miss our boat) we saw a stream with running salmon, and took a look around the Whittier harbor.<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110911/20110911_whittierpws_1.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110911/20110911_whittierpws_2.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center><br />Our trip out into the Prince William Sound was much more comfortable than the Kenai Fjords tour. The boat was larger, so there were less waves, and the weather was considerably better. It rained at times (as it does in that part of Alaska), but not as bad as the previous day in Seward. On the way out of the harbor, our guide gave us a useful prediction about the tour: "I'm never quite sure what we'll see on this trip, but I can always promise glaciers." As such, we didn't see nearly as much wildlife. Part of that was the tour, which stopped only for Glaciers, and part was that the Sound had less wildlife. We saw some good wildlife, though, so the trip wasn't a complete loss in that department.<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110911/20110911_whittierpws_3.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110911/20110911_whittierpws_4.jpg"></img></td></tr></table><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110911/20110911_whittierpws_5.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center><br />We did see some glaciers, though. None of them were as active or exciting as Northwestern Glacier, but there certainly were a lot of them. We had to skip a whole segment of the trip due to intense rain. The fjord we skipped was called College Fjord, so named by the original expedition to study the glaciers in this area. College Fjord features glaciers named after famous colleges in the New England area (Dartmouth, Harvard, Wellesley, ...). The fjord we did visit had glaciers named after all sorts of various people -- explorers, crew members on the visit, and more. We visited three main glacier groups on the trip: Harriman Glacier, Surprise Glacier and a three-glacier bay consisting of Barry, Cascade, and Coxe glaciers. Surprise glacier was the most interesting of these, but the three glacier bay was quite beautiful.<br /><center><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110911/20110911_coxebarry.jpg"></img></center><br />On the way back to Whittier, we stopped by a Kittiwake rookery. Kittiwakes are a variety of gull native to northern latitudes. The rookery was cool in that we were able to see thousands of gulls, as well as a hawk that was apparently picking off gulls one by one.<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110911/20110911_whittierpws_6.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110911/20110911_whittierpws_7.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center><br />For more photos, see my <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/WhitterAndPrinceWilliamSound?authuser=0&feat=directlink">Picasa page</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-7564824453915140012011-09-08T21:41:00.002-04:002011-09-08T21:44:11.394-04:00Kenai Fjords National Park (Day 4)On our second day in Seward, we went out on a boat trip into the Kenai Fjords National Park. Most of the park is accessible only via boat or float plane, and some of the best viewing in the park is a long ways from Seward. Unfortunately, a float plane was completely out of our budget, but we did go on the longest boat tour we could find. We took the Kenai Fjords Tours <i>Northwestern Glacier</i> tour, which is a 9 hour long boat ride with some scenic wildlife viewing and other cool stops along the way.<br /><br />The highlight of the tour is, of course, Northwestern Glacier. This is a particularly active glacier (our boat captain said it moved several meters a day), and it was continuously calving while we were there. We hung around for about a half hour, watching the glacier slowly break itself to pieces. The water near the glacier was full of cool icebergs which had fallen off the main glacier itself. Most of them were quite small, but there were a few larger chunks of ice that supported seagulls and harbor seals. This was definitely worth the long ride out to the glacier. We saw a lot of glaciers (both on this trip and others), but none were as active as Northwest Glacier. Our ship captain had said that this particular glacier had retreated almost thirty miles over the last century, mostly due to being exposed to sea water.<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110907/20110907_kenaifjords_2.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110907/20110907_kenaifjords_4.jpg"></img></td></tr></table><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110907/20110907_kenaifjords_5.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center><br /><br />The other cool part of the trip was all the wildlife we saw. We were extremely lucky on our wildlife tours in Alaska. Normally, the Alaskan ocean is a bit quiet in August, but we managed to see several humpback whales, sea otters, and tons of birds -- cormorants, puffins, and more -- on the trip. In terms of wildlife, the highlight was definitely a baby humpback that we saw breaching. We'd seen a humpback breach in Hawaii several years ago, but I actually managed to get a picture of this one. Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime event. Other cool wildlife that we saw included a mountain goat, stellar sea lions and bald eagles.<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110907/20110907_kenaifjords_1.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110907/20110907_kenaifjords_3.jpg"></img></td></tr></table><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110907/20110907_kenaifjords_8.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center><br /><br />The Kenai Peninsula coastline was an absolutely fantastic backdrop for the boat tour. The day of our trip was a rainy day (August is typically fairly rainy in Alaska), but the rain clouds only seemed to make the backdrops more dramatic. Eventually, the rain let up and the sun shone for a while. This happened when we were going through the particularly beautiful Alaskan Marine Wildlife Sanctuary, which includes quite a few islands just outside the Kenai Fjords National Park.<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110907/20110907_kenaifjords_6.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110907/20110907_kenaifjords_7.jpg"></img></td></tr></table><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110907/20110907_kenaifjords_9.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center><br /><br />Lots more pictures (particularly of the glaciers) are <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/KenaiFjordsNatlPark?authuser=0&feat=directlink">in my Picasa</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-63448209543597288812011-09-06T21:37:00.002-04:002011-09-06T21:41:55.162-04:00Alaska Trip: Seward and Exit Glacier (Day 3)After we left Anchorage, our next destination was Seward. Seward is a smallish fishing city in Southern Alaska, and also serves as the primary gateway to the Kenai Fjords National Park. Seward is an interesting little city; originally (back before airplanes were common), Seward served as the main gateway into Alaska. People would arrive in Seward by boat (presumably from Seattle) and then take rail to other locations in Alaska. The Great Earthquake of 1964 changed all that, however. Seward, along with quite a bit of southern Alaska, was decimated and never really recovered to its former glory. Nowadays it's a sleepy town with fishing and tourism as its main industries.<br /><br />We started the day with a three hour drive to Seward from Anchorage. The drive itself was quite the trip -- not because it's long, but because you spend the entire time on a gorgeous, narrow, two-lane highway with few stops along the way. We stopped quite a few times to take pictures, like at Beluga Point (no Beluga at this point in the trip, unfortunately) and a campsite along the way. We drove this route a few times in the trip and it was always beautiful. Taking pictures while riding in a moving car is always kind of dicey, but I managed a few good ones.<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110906/20110906_alaska_seward_d1_1.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110906/20110906_alaska_seward_d1_2.jpg"></img></td></tr></table><br /><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110906/20110906_alaska_seward_d1_3.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center><br />Along the way, we stopped at the only road-accessable part of Kenai Fjords National Park -- a single glacier called 'Exit Glacier'. This glacier was one of the cooler stops on our trip. Not only could we see the glacier from a variety of different angles, but we were able to hike up to almost the very face of the glacier itself. Like all the other glaciers we saw on our Alaska trip, Exit Glacier is retreating (shrinking) and has actually lost a lot of ice in the last century. It's receded almost a mile over the last twelve years alone, and is still shrinking. As Exit Glacier receded, it created several mounds of silt along its path. Most of the trails crossed several of these morraines on their way to the glacier itself, each marked with a sign indicating when the glacier had extended to that point. It was pretty cool to hike from the 1955 morraine to the current location. Due to the rate of retreat, you can't actually touch the glacier anymore (no one wants the tourists crushed by falling glacial ice), but you can get within a couple dozen feet of it.<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110906/20110906_alaska_seward_d1_4.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110906/20110906_alaska_seward_d1_5.jpg"></img></td></tr></table><br /><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110906/20110906_alaska_seward_d1_6.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center><br />Our final stop in Seward was at the Alaskan Sea Life center, which is a bit like an aquarium/marine research center. Unlike most of the aquariums we've visited, the Sea Life center focuses on animals and environments which are found in Alaska, particularly near Seward. They have exhibits on large marine mammals and birds, such as the Stellar Sea Lion, Sea Otter, and Tufted Puffins. A lot of these animals we later saw in the wild, but it was neat to see them up close and personal at the sea life center.<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110906/20110906_alaska_seward_d1_7.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110906/20110906_alaska_seward_d1_8.jpg"></img></td></tr></table><br /><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110906/20110906_alaska_seward_d1_9.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center><br /><br />More photos available at <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/109328379818397087530/SewardAndExitGlacier">my picasa</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-14399021999282782332011-09-04T21:08:00.004-04:002011-09-04T21:19:13.429-04:00Alaska Trip: Anchorage (Day 1+2)Urmi and I just got back from our Alaskan vacation this year, and so I thought it might be fun to write up a bit about our trip. The problem is that we did so much on our trip that a single write-up can't really cover it. I'm going to try to follow things generally chronologically, and see how this works as a trip report sorta thing.
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<br />We started our trip by flying from Washington, DC to Anchorage, where we spent two days wandering around the city. Our first stop was downtown. Downtown Anchorage isn't quite like other large cities we've visited; in fact, it reminded me more of downtown Spokane (where I grew up) than anyplace else I've been to. What really surprised me were all the flowers. Although Anchorage is cold in the winter (and not too hot in the summer), it still gets 21 hours of daylight in June. As such, when we visited in August, it was full of flowers -- everything from roses to tulips. The flowers were quite nice and we had a good time walking around them and seeing the bay. We also saw some nice artwork and birds. Since we only had a half day, though, and were still running on Eastern US time, we ended up cutting our walk short and heading home.
<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110904/20110904_anch_day1day2_01.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110904/20110904_anch_day1day2_02.jpg"></img></td></tr><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110904/20110904_anch_day1day2_03.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110904/20110904_anch_day1day2_04.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center>
<br />The next day we got up bright and early and headed out for a full day of hiking. Our first stop was 'Flattop Mountain', which we were warned was an extremely popular destination among local Alaskans. The hike was supposed to be fairly mild, but ended up being basically a hike straight up a mountainside. We did get some exceptional views, though, and saw plenty of wildlife. One really cool view we got was a look at the tidal flats in the Cook Inlet, just off the Anchorage coastline. At low tide, the outflowing tide creates cool patterns in the marshes. We never made it to the top of the mountain, but we had a good hike. And sure enough, by the time we were done, the entire parking lot was packed with hikers.
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<br />Our next stop was the Alaskan Native Heritage Center, which serves as a museum for the history and culture of the Alaskan Native Americans. This was a particularly cool stop, and we quite a bit about the difficult lives that native americans faced (and still face) in Alaska. We had an awesome tour as well, and our tour guide took us around to different model settlements based on the way settlements were built in the various parts of Alaska. The center also had music and dance programs which ran every hour or so.
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<br />Our final hike of the day was to visit Eklutna Lake and Thunderbird Falls, both north of Anchorage. Due to a poorly phrased review in our guidebook, we originally thought these were at the same location, but they ended up being about a dozen miles apart. Eklutna Lake is a glacial lake which actually feeds Thunderbird Falls, and it was quite a ways from the highway to Anchorage. As such, it was nice and peaceful, with very few people around. We didn't see any wildlife, but the views were beautiful.
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<br />Thunderbird Falls, however, was completely different. The falls is a much larger tourist attraction than even the Native Heritage Center was, so it was tough to get parking and the trail was full of people dawdling along to the falls. The trail passed through some nice forest, though, and with Anchorage's recent rainfall, was completely full of mushrooms. The falls weren't as spectacular as we were hoping for, but they were worth the short hike there.
<br /><center><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110904/20110904_anch_day1day2_12.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110904/20110904_anch_day1day2_13.jpg"></img></td><td><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110904/20110904_anch_day1day2_14.jpg"></img></td></tr></table></center>
<br />For more photos, check out my sets on Picasaweb: <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/109328379818397087530/AnchorageDay1">Anchorage Day 1</a> and <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/109328379818397087530/AnchorageDay2">Anchorage Day 2</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-80374764596517872722011-08-12T22:24:00.003-04:002011-08-12T22:25:32.748-04:00NPR's top 100 science fiction booksNPR recently organized a poll of the top <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books">100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books</a>. The top items on the list are no real surprise (Lord of the Rings, Hitchhiker, Ender's Game, Dune), but some of the later items really surprised me. Margaret Atwood's <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i>, for example, rates as science fiction by many scales, but Atwood is not typically considered a science fiction author. Other entries fall square into the "popular fiction" category, such as <i>The Dark Tower</i> and <i>The Stand</i>. Very few of the top entries are recent novels (with the notable exception of <i>The Song of Ice and Fire</i>). Anyways, the blogosphere has already ranted and raved about the list. I thought it may be more interesting to write about the novels on the list that I particularly enjoyed, but haven't seen much discussed elsewhere.
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<br />First off, <i>The Vorkosigan Saga</i>. Although it rated only #59 on the list of 100 novels, this series ranks at or near the top of my own personal list of science fiction novels -- or novels in general, for that matter. The characters are brilliantly written and deep, the plots are intricate, and, most importantly, you grow to love the characters and care about what happens to them. The series follows a highly disabled, but brilliant, aristocrat from a military society as he grows to overcome his disabilities and make a name for himself.
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<br />Although the series doesn't sound terribly exciting, the sheer force of the protagonist's personality drips from every page. The situations in which he finds himself border on the ridiculous, but this only serves to heighten the excitement. The series is made even stronger by the fact that Bujold frequently reinvents where the series is going. <i>Memory</i>, for example, abruptly takes a military science fiction story and redirects it towards a mystery novel. <i>A Civil Campaign</i> is a regency romance, while <i>Mirror Dance</i> is a tragedy. The mixture of genres may sound confusing, but it allows the characters room to grow and makes them much more interesting. In particular, the three novel sequence, <i>Memory</i>, <i>Komarr</i>, and <i>A Civil Campaign</i> rate among the top three novels I have ever read.
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<br />Next, at number 77 on NPR's list, is <i>Kushiel's Legacy</i>. Before I attempt to describe the novel, I'd like to mention the one-liner on NPR's website: <i>Sold into indentured servitude at the exotic Night Court as a child, Phedre faces a difficult choice between honor and duty as she deals with a world of glittering luxury, conspiracy, sacrifice, and betrayal.</i>
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<br />One of the comments on the list of top 100 notes that this novel sounds like a Harlequin Romance novel, not a fantasy story. There's a reason for that -- <i>Kushiel's Legacy</i> <b>is</b> a romance story at its core, and is heavily inspired by the romance genre. However, <i>Kushiel's Legacy</i> -- particularly the first three novels in the series -- is not just a romance novel. The story follows Phedre from a young age, when she is sold into servitude and discovers that she has a unique gift for espionage.
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<br />The strength of Kushiel's Dart lies in its incredible prose. The world of Terre d'Ange comes alive through the narrator's incredible voice. This is the kind of novel that gets under your skin and makes you feel that you're reading an autobiography. Another strong point is the sheer immensity of the plot. Kushiel's dart <i>starts out</i> with the character being sold into servitude, being trained as a spy, uncovering a plot against the crown, and being betrayed, finally being sold into slavery. In most novels, that's where the first book would stop and the next begins -- not so in Kushiel's Legacy. The story continues for another two thirds of the book.
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<br />Kushiel's Dart, however, is not for everyone. The series plays true to its roots as a romance novel, with detailed and elaborate sex scenes. The sex scenes are rarely gratuitous, however, and frequently are quite important to the plot. In some of the later novels, however, they do become disturbing.
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<br />There are lots of great books on this list, but these two series I thought were thoroughly excellent books. <i>Kushiel's Dart</i> was a particular surprise to me. I initially picked up the novel on sale via Amazon, and was astonished at the narrative and plotline. I was more amazed when I found myself dying to find out what happened in the remaining five books in the series. The <i>Vorkosigan Saga</i> is more my typical reading material, but I had a similar experience where I had purchased it on a whim and found myself drawn so strongly to the series that I lost sleep reading it.
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<br />One thing that I find these series have in common is that neither is for everyone. I know that my wife, for example, would absolutely love <i>A Civil Campaign</i> -- if she could get the context from the previous 9 Vorkosigan novels. However, I wouldn't dream of recommending Kushiel's Dart. Both of these are meticulously plotted series with a lot to offer, but you have to be willing to be drawn into the series.
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<br />In short, it's worth while not just to read the heavy hitters on NPR's list, but also the series towards the bottom. I think the next book I read will come from the bottom as well.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-24153183713296295672011-07-09T16:21:00.002-04:002011-07-09T17:18:40.611-04:00Various & Sundry - July 9, 2011<img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110711/20110711_squarefirework.jpg"></img><br />Yeah, been neglecting my blog again, what with moving and all (back in the DC metro area again... hopefully for good). Anyways, several things I've been to write about.<br /><ul><li>I took a bunch of good photos at the SF <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/ConservatoryOfFlowers">Conservatory of Flowers</a>, <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/NationalAquariumBaltimoreInnerHarbor">Baltimore Inner Harbor</a> and the <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/FourthOfJuly">Fourth of July Fireworks</a> in DC. Lots of fun stuff. Fireworks are a pain in the rear to shoot (with or without a tripod). I wish I knew a better way to practice fireworks shots.</li><li>I am now the proud owner of an Arduino Uno processor, which I bought as part of an experimentation kit from <a href="http://www.adafruit.com/">Adafruit Industries</a>. So far, I've made a binary counter and a music box with it (due to lack of musical caliber, the only song I got it to play was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). This thing is pretty cool, though; it basically gives you a C access to a small number of pins, which you can use to control various hardware elements. My kit also came with some basic sensors (a light sensor, pressure sensor, and a few others).</li><li>Urmi and I bought a Betta fish. She wanted to get a dog (strictly prohibited by our lease), and I was pushing for a cat (also prohibited, plus Urmi hates them). Bettas are pretty, but don't seem to do very much that's exciting (except for hiding from anything that moves).</li></ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-13084928094185485622011-04-13T23:29:00.000-04:002011-04-13T23:30:15.451-04:00Geeky Pet NamesSo this all started when Urmi mentioned someone she read about in the latest issue of wired who had named their dog MOSFET (Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor). The cool thing about this name is that it's geeky, but actually sounds like a reasonable dog name, especially if sounded out rather than spelled. But it got me thinking about other, equally geeky pet names. Here's a few that I was able to come up with. If you don't get these, all that means is that you are not a CS geek.<br /><UL><LI>A Python named PERL</LI><LI>BIOS the Hermit Crab (always switching shells)</LI><LI>Segmentation Fault the cat</LI><LI>A dog named GDB (chases the cat)</LI></UL><br />I'm sure there are plenty more potentials out there, but these were a few good ones I was able to come up with on short notice. Add more in the comments!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-3496080285298179972011-04-10T15:12:00.002-04:002011-04-10T15:17:31.945-04:00Computer History MuseumYesterday, Urmi and I visited the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Since Urmi and I are both a bit geeky (me more than her, although she joked on the way there about naming a pet MOSFET), we had more fun than any two young computer scientists are expected to have without the internet. A scant few miles from Google, the Computer History Museum features exhibits covering 2000 years of computing -- although many of the early computers are only now recognized as computing devices (tools such as abacuses, mechanical calculators, Napier's Bones, etc). <br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110410/20110410_chm_02.jpg"></img><br />The Computer History Museum (CHM) also features a working example of the Babbage Difference Engine No. 2, invented in the 1800s by Charles Babbage and widely recognized as one of the most ambitious computing devices ever designed. Charles Babbage is one of my personal favorite people in history, and seeing the difference engine in action was well worth the price of admission to the museum. The CHM's Difference Engine is one of only two ever built (the other, at the Science Museum in London, is rarely demonstrated), and it is truly an amazing device. The machine computes the value of polynomials using no more power than a human-operated hand-crank. The internal numbers are stored on vertical columns of gears (like below), and percolate from one side to the other as the user cranks the drive shaft.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110410/20110410_chm_01.jpg"></img><br />Once they reach the end, the Babbage engine "prints" them simultaneously onto a reel of paper as well as a tray of plaster, for use in printing tables of numbers. They had configured the machine to produce a 7th degree polynomial (the largest this particular machine can handle), but the machine could easily produce all sorts of different mathematical series. Babbage originally envisioned the machine as a means to produce tables of numbers without any human mistakes -- mathematical tables, such as logarithm tables, were a specialty of his and he particularly hated finding mistakes in his tables. For more details on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage">Charles Babbage</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine">Difference Engine</a>, see Wikipedia.<br /><br />The rest of the museum was equally amazing, featuring computers from the Apollo Mission, the Bletchley Park Enigma project, and more. Some highlights are below:<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110410/20110410_chm_03.jpg"></img><br />An actual wheel from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer">Colossus Machine</a>, and one of the only remaining intact parts from a functional Colossus. Although the Colossus machine was not a Turing-universal computer, the Colossus machine was integral to the British efforts to break German encryption in World War 2. However, the machine was a groundbreaking effort at the time, and the fact that its design remained classified (and the blueprints destroyed) kept many of its original engineers from being credited with their work on early computers. <br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110410/20110410_chm_04.jpg"></img><br />Wiring from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-1">Cray 1 super computer</a>. This was the first super computer, built in the mid 1970s by Cray Research, which is to this day a leader in super computing. The machine itself looks a bit like a piece of office furniture from 1970s, but the internal design is a brilliant work of engineering to maximize the speed at which the early computers could operate. This particular machine was used to simulate atomic explosions, meteorological phenomena and more. I'm glad that computers are not built like this anymore.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110410/20110410_chm_06.jpg"></img><br />Joke napkin provided by an early Silicon Valley startup, showing that the get rich quick nature of Silicon Valley has a long history.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110410/20110410_chm_07.jpg"></img><br />Intel goodie given out to employees -- a keychain containing an actual pentium computer processor, albeit one that failed testing.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110410/20110410_chm_08.jpg"></img><br />A "Furby" from the CHM's artificial intelligence and robotics exhibit. A surprising number of the robots on display in the exhibit were children's toys. I'm not sure if I would describe the Furby as particularly intelligent, but I suppose it was no less so than many of the other devices on display.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110410/20110410_chm_09.jpg"></img><br />The Utah Teapot. Aside from the Babbage Engine, this was the display that I found the most exciting. The Utah Teapot is a widely used graphics primitive used to demonstrate different graphics algorithms, mostly since it's a smooth surface, without texture, but with fairly complicated internal geometry. Early computer graphics algorithms had difficulty with the handle and spout of the teapot. Many libraries for graphics contain the teapot as an included object, and there are dozens of in-jokes in the graphics research literature related to teapots with bizarre textures (fur, leopard print, etc). Of particular interest, the widely used GLUT library has a procedure (<tt>glutSolidTeapot</tt>) that does nothing but make a model of this particular teapot. This is the original teapot that the model was based on.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110410/20110410_chm_10.jpg"></img><br />An early server from Google, circa 1999. Back in 1999 (when I started using Google), this server would have been one of the ones handling user queries.<br /><br />For more pictures (but less detail), check out my <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/ComputerHistoryMuseum#">Picasa Web Album</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-32816501583763717372011-04-03T16:33:00.000-04:002011-04-03T16:34:09.147-04:00Castle Rock State Park<img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110403/20110403_castlerock_4.jpg"></img><br /><i>View from Goat Rock in Castle Rock State Park</i><br />Yesterday, Urmi and I went for a short hike in Castle Rock State Park, located along scenic Skyline Boulevard in the Santa Cruz mountains. We've hiked in this area before (including Russian Ridge, El Corte de Madera, and Pescadero), but Castle Rock was a bit different. For one, the trail we followed took us through dense forest as well as along the edges of cliffs. In several places, we had to climb over rocks and cross small streams, which was fun but a bit more adventurous than we're used to.<br /><br />Castle Rock State Park is particularly famous for rock climbing, but we had fun with the wildlife here. The migrating birds are just starting to return to the Bay Area, so we saw several Jays, Sparrows, and even a particularly up-close encounter with a hummingbird. We also enjoyed the fresh wildflowers which are just now starting to open up.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110403/20110403_castlerock_1.jpg"></img><br /><i>Waterfall along the Saratoga Gap Trail</i><br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110403/20110403_castlerock_2.jpg"></img><br /><i>Wildflowers taken near the top of Goat Rock</i><br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110403/20110403_castlerock_3.jpg"></img><br /><i>Small bird taken during our hike</i><br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110403/20110403_castlerock_5.jpg"></img><br /><i>Close-up encounter with a Costa's Hummingbird. This female flew right in front of me and starting eating from a flower I was taking pictures of. One of the luckiest shots I've ever had.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110403/20110403_castlerock_6.jpg"></img><br /><i>View of Castle Rock Falls from the top of the falls.</i><br /><br />More pictures can be found on my <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/CastleRockStatePark">Picasa</a> page.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-56075794764638311972011-04-02T20:29:00.000-04:002011-04-02T20:30:38.037-04:00Death Valley<img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110326/20110326_deathvalley_5.jpg"></img><br /><i>Death Valley from Dante's Point</i><br /><br />I've always wanted to see Death Valley, a national park in the Southern US renowned for its lack of water and for nearly killing a group of lost travelers in the 1800s. Today, the park is well visited, particularly in the Spring when the flowers are blooming. <br /><br />Urmi and I visited the park last week, but we had the misfortune to arrive during a storm with near hurricane force winds, lots of cold weather, and more. We visited many of the major landmarks: Badwater Basin (the lowest place on North America), Devil's Golf Course, and more. Most of the landmarks in Death Valley have similarly ominous names (Furnace Creek, for example, is famous for frequently being among the hottest places in the world), showcasing Death Valley's famous inhospitality. The scenery, though, creates a spectacularly barren landscape of brightly colored rock, salt fields, and other bizarre sights.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110326/20110326_deathvalley_1.jpg"></img><br />Mesquite Sand Dunes, our first stop in Death Valley, are a set of windswept sand dunes several hundred feet high. This picture shows one of the largest dunes, with the eastern Death Valley mountains in the background. This is something of an iconic shot of the sand dunes.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110326/20110326_deathvalley_2.jpg"></img><br />This picture is surreal once you understand the context. In the foreground lies the Badwater Basin salt flats. Badwater Basin is the lowest location in North America, 282 feet below sea level, and is composed of a several inch thick layer of pure salt. In the background is the tallest mountain in Death Valley, Telescope Peak, at 11,043 feet tall. I would suggest that the hikers provide a sense of scale, but they really don't. Telescope Peak is visible from nearly everywhere in Death Valley. Badwater basin is named as such because water from the nearby springs is salt water, and is not drinkable.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110326/20110326_deathvalley_3.jpg"></img><br />One of our stops in Death Valley took us to the aptly named Devil's Golfcourse, a field of razor sharp salt crystals and rock. Like the Badwater Basin, Devil's Golfcourse is mostly composed of salt, but unlike Badwater, the underlying substance is rock (Badwater is mostly fairly soft soil). The fields were named because, according to our guidebook, 'the links are so nasty that only the devil could play golf here'. Sure enough, the links are full of sharp salt crystals (shaped by wind and rain), lots of holes and miles upon miles of difficult terrain.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110326/20110326_deathvalley_4.jpg"></img><br />My personal favorite picture from our death valley trip. When we went to hike in Golden Canyon, we stumbled upon a Boy Scout troop having lunch. I caught this picture of them enjoying a rest after hiking the canyon.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110326/20110326_deathvalley_6.jpg"></img><br />The day we visited Death Valley was cloudy and very windy, so the weather was quite striking. We saw several lenticular clouds (like these) throughout the day. These were taken from Zebrewskie Point.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110326/20110326_deathvalley_7.jpg"></img><br />On our way out of the valley, we decided to make one last stop at Salt Creek to watch the sunset. The sunset from the valley was phenomenal, due to the weather and reflective terrain.<br /><br />More pictures of Death Valley available on <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/DeathValley#">my Picasa Page</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-11195278080125856442011-03-13T13:48:00.001-04:002011-03-13T13:52:01.155-04:00Kent Trail near Alpine Lake<center><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110311/20110311_kent_5.jpg"></img></center><br />Yesterday, Urmi and I went hiking along the Kent Trail in Marin County. This trail is pretty tricky to find, mainly since it's not really part of any state parks or state recreation areas. You still have to pay to get in, but I'm not entirely sure who you pay to.<br />Our Kent Trail loop started us between two lakes (Bon Tempe and Alpine), then sent us up a hill through a Redwood Forest. After a grueling mile-long climb up the hill, the forest opened up to give views of the Bay and several Marin county cities. The best part of the hike came when we turned a corner, and I was just getting my camera ready to take a picture of the landscape. All of a sudden I heard a rustle behind me and turned around to see a deer, no less than ten feet away, staring at me as if trying to figure out what the heck I was doing here.<br /><center><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110311/20110311_kent_1.jpg"></img></center><br />Since I already had my camera ready and everything, I was able to get dozens of shots before the deer lost interest and went away. It kept following us, though, never coming closer than about ten or so feet, for at least a quarter-mile. By far the best (or, at least, the closest) wildlife encounter we've had in California, including the Elephant Seals we saw at Ano Nuevo.<br />After a mile or so up the hill, our path abruptly changed direction and sent us down a narrow and winding trail through a thick redwood forest. After the sunny and barren hill we had just climbed, the forest was almost like a different trail. We passed waterfalls, ponds and more, before the trail eventually connected with the main loop around Alpine Lake. Apparently the trail is not well maintained, though, as we had reached several areas where whole trees had fallen across the trail. We initially thought we'd made a wrong turn, and had a difficult time getting through the deadfalls.<br /><center><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110311/20110311_kent_2.jpg"></img><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110311/20110311_kent_3.jpg"></img><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20110311/20110311_kent_4.jpg"></img></center><br />The hike around Alpine Lake was long and winding, but it was an enjoyable hike. We saw lots of wildlife, including butterflies, birds, and, of course, the deer. I even spotted a Salamander wandering across one of the less traveled parts of the trail. The first half of the trail had next to no one else hiking it, which was nice. Once we rejoined the Kent Trail, however, the trail was much more crowded and full of dogs. Highly recommended to people who can get to Marin County. For more photos, see my <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/KentTrail#">picasa album</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-53820619740384913072011-02-13T17:48:00.002-05:002011-02-13T17:58:32.773-05:00Radio SilenceSorry about the silence here for the past two months. General craziness aside, I just haven't had much interesting to say, nor time to say much. Here's a brief overview of what I've been up to:<UL><LI>In my continued quest to find interesting ways to present my pictures, I've decided to upload some selected (and often slightly edited) photos to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/halvored">Flickr</a>. I'm not a huge fan of the lossy jpeg compression they use, but the photostream concept is well suited for posting a few photos a day that aren't necessarily related to eachother.</LI><LI>Played through all of the excellent DS visual novel <i>9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors</i>. Lots I could say about this, but my brother <a href="http://www.niahak.org/2011/02/9-hours-9-persons-9-doors/">beat me to the punch</a>. In short: Best game I've played on the DS, and probably the only game I've played in the last few years that's kept me up to all hours of the night trying to figure out what's going to happen. Comparing this to a typical Hollywood thriller is like comparing <i>Inception</i> to the Disney cartoon of your choice. If you like suspenseful novels (note: even if you don't like games) and own a DS, play this now, if for no other reason than to ensure we Americans get more games like this.</LI></UL>And yeah, that's about all I got. Lots of other stuff going on, but nothing really interesting.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-69774569959130132752010-12-04T11:01:00.002-05:002010-12-04T11:03:10.647-05:00Background IndexMy <a href="http://erikh.org/background/background.php?monthyear=201008">Desktop Background Index</a> is back up to date and now supports the newer 16x9 desktop files I'm uploading. Enjoy.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-29993401108444545612010-12-03T22:22:00.003-05:002010-12-03T22:38:21.664-05:00Bi-weekly Background: 2010.12.03So I decided to start up my bi-weekly backgrounds again (mostly at the urging of others...) -- they fell off during my trip to India and subsequent chaos. I'll try to be more prompt. For now, though, enjoy this background. It's rather more heavily edited than I've posted in the past, but I think this picture maintains the same flavor as the original while still looking more appealing.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101203/20101203_background_thumb.jpg"></img></td><td><ul><li><a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101203/20101203_background_1024x768.jpg">1024x768</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101203/20101203_background_1280x960.jpg">1280x960</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101203/20101203_background_1600x1200.jpg">1600x1200</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101203/20101203_background_1440x810.jpg">1440x810</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101203/20101203_background_1680x945.jpg">1680x945</a></li></ul></td></tr></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-58539025416545518172010-10-28T21:55:00.001-04:002010-10-28T22:09:11.752-04:00Nabomi Pandal Hopping: Behala and Shuruchi ShanghaNabomi (literally 'Ninth Day') is the second to last day of the pujo, and it was the last day we spent pandal hopping. By this time, all the awards for the year have been announced and everyone knows the 'best' pandal of the year. For this year, it was Shuruchi Shangha; as such, we decided (along with everyone else in Kolkata) that this was the next on our must-see list. While we were in the area, we also went to three pandals in Behala: Behala Club Sarbojonin (open to all people), Naskar Sarbojonin, and Behala Natun Sangha.<br /><br /><b><i>Shuruchi Shangha</i></b><br /><br />As I said, Shuruchi Shangha was this year's best pandal, according to the award team. Unfortunately, when we finally made it to the pandal, we'd been there for all of three minutes before it started pouring rain. Unlike in the US, when it pours rain in India, it means business. I was soaked within three minutes and entirely abandoned my umbrella to focus on saving my camera from getting soaked. I never did entirely dry. The only plus side of this is that the line literally evaporated; what would've been a two or three hour waiting period became a ten minute mad dash through mud puddles. <br /><br />Once we reached the pandal, it was quite nice; still raining, but not so bad that I couldn't risk taking out my camera for a few shots. The pandal was gorgeous. It was split into a variety of structures, only one of which held the idol. Like so many other pandals this year, the pandal was based on South Indian architecture and artwork; unlike others, however, Shuruchi Shangha's pandal was built to resemble a south indian village. Almost all the buildings were crammed with pandal hoppers who were trying to avoid the rain, so I didn't get as close of a look at them as I would've liked.<br /><br />The idol's building had elaborate artwork on the ceiling and walls. I'm not sure if it was hand-painted or printed -- the lines were so crisp that they look computer-designed rather than painted. The idol itself was another post-modern affair, with a moderately sized, heavily styled Durga who I thought looked vaguely androgynous. The other gods were much smaller than in most pandals, which was an interesting design decision. I wish I could've gotten a better look at it, but the guards forced us through and, just as with Telengabagan, yelled at me for taking pictures. As usual, I put on my best deaf American face and proceeded to take pictures anyways, but we hurried out before they remembered English. In summary, the pandal was very nice, but I'm not sure if it was the best I saw.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most ambitious pandal.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large01.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi01.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large02.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi02.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large03.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi03.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Behala Club Sarbojonin</i></b><br /><br />After trying to dry off from Shuruchi Sangha, we decided to head towards Behala to see the pandals there. Our first stop was Behala Club Sarbojonin (Sarbojonin means a club that's open to everyone), which was almost completely deserted due probably to its proximity to Shuruchi Sangha and the rain. I'm not entirely sure what sort of artwork they were aiming for in this pandal, but they executed it very well. The pandal had a long hallway, adorned with metal-painted models of tridents and spears, followed by a small courtyard. The courtyard had a large fountain shaped statue that was the centerpiece of the pandal, right in front of the idols. Since the pandal was mostly deserted, I took quite a few pictures of the artwork here, and it was hard to narrow down to just a few pictures. The idol continued the motif of metal-colored statues, with a vaguely bronzed look to all the idols. The idol at this pandal was one of my favorites of the pujo, due mostly to the lack of gaudy decorations and the seamless integration of color with the rest of the artwork.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Best metallic artwork.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large04.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi04.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large05.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi05.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large06.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi06.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Naskar Sarbojonin</i></b><br /><br />Our next pandal, also located in Behala, was Naskar Sarbojonin. This pandal was made entirely out of painted bamboo, and the artwork had a vaguely African look to it (at least, to my eyes). The artwork here was incredible, and again, because of the rain, we had the pandal largely to ourselves. Throughout the pandal, they had a variety of extremely elaborate statues (made from painted bamboo) of people, horses, deer, trees, and more. I loved the general feel of the statuary in this pandal, particularly the horses, and the colors they chose for the bamboo artwork. The idol for this pandal was housed in a 'chariot,' drawn by the horse statues. Although the idol wasn't that fancy, the chariot concept was pretty neat.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Best statues.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large07.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi07.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large08.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi08.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large09.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi09.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Behala Natun Sangha</i></b><br /><br />The final pandal we visited on Nabomi was Behala Natun Sangha. This pandal was in a more traditional style, with the pandal serving more as a house for the idol and less as an art exhibit. That being said, the house was still somewhat artistically decorated, but in less of a manner than Naskar Sarbojonin or Behala Club. The pillars and stairs in the pandal were decorated with paint dribbles, which vaguely reminded me of abstract american artwork -- I'm not sure if that was the intent with the style. Inside, the idol was one of the more shiny ones we saw during the pujo, with all the deities equipped with gigantic headdresses. At the entrance, they had a pair of statues of people welcoming guests to the pandal, which was a nice touch.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most Jackson Pollack.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large10.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi10.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large11.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi11.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi_large12.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_nabomi12.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-55518274911837425952010-10-23T04:39:00.003-04:002010-10-28T21:54:01.302-04:00Ashtomi: Salt Lake and moreAshtomi (literally 'eighth day') is another big day for the pujo. There are events during the day and evening at the pandals, and it's typically the day when pandals have cultural programs for residents to show off acting, singing, or poetry. It's also a big day for pandal hopping, just like shoptomi and nobami. We visited quite a few pandals on Ashtomi, including: Jagari Shangha, Kalitala Sporting Club, Bosepukur Sitala, and Salt Lake Blocks HA, HB, AB, GB and, finally, Telengabagan. Even more pandals than on shoptomi.<br /><br /><b><i>Jagari Shangha</i></b><br /><br />The Jagari Shangha was a very interesting pandal. Rather than trying to build the biggest or most opulent pandal, they built an extremely theme focused pandal on a narrow theme: Mangoes. The pandal was decorated with mangoes everywhere. I couldn't decide whether the mangoes were real, or wood/plastic reproductions, but all decorations consisted of mangoes or mango-related decorations. They had people carrying mangoes, mango trees, baskets of mangoes, mango-shaped doorways, and more. Outside the pandal they had a mini-encyclopedia listing of all the countries which grow mangoes, and how much they grow, along with other mango-facts. It was quite interesting (I had no idea that mangoes grow in the US), and very well done. The idol continued this theme, with Durga and the other idols presented in front of a mango forest and with giant mangoes behind them. There was a rumor that the idol for this pandal was actually <i>made</i> from mangoes, but I rather doubt it.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most focused theme.<br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large01.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi01.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large02.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi02.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large03.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi03.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Kalitala Sporting Club</i></b><br /><br />When we first arrived at the Kalitala Sporting Club pandal, I kept asking my wife where the pandal was -- I literally couldn't find it, even though it was right in front of me. It turns out that the Kalitala Sporting Club pandal was built to resemble a house, which means that it blended in with the neighborhood seamlessly. After days of seeing castles, temples, and even a boat for a pandal, finding one that looked like something as mundane as a house was quite the change. There were stairs (made from styrofoam -- don't take them), walls, balconies, and even doors, completely made from styrofoam. Outside, they had an area dedicated to Tagore's childhood home, complete with a statue. They also had a small area full of blossoming Kashful, which is a grass that's heavily associated with the Durga Pujo. The idol was nice, but it was hard to get to through the crowd -- we had arrived during one of the religious ceremonies, so the entire neighborhood was present. All in all, a tastefully understated pandal.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most well-integrated pandal.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large04.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi04.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large05.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi05.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large06.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi06.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Bosepukur Sitala</i></b><br /><br />Bosepukur Sitala was located a short-ish drive from the Kalitala Sporting Club pandal, but we had to walk forever to get there, due to road closures and heavy crowding. The Bosepukur Sitala had a very novel theme: Astrological signs. Along the walls, they had several symbols for the various traditional signs, along with the western and bengali symbols associated with the various signs. Much of the artwork in this pandal was based on the zodiac circle, which recurred many times inside the pandal as well as outside on an enormous statue. The idol was rather nice, in an understated manner. Unlike the opulent pandals we saw on Shoptomi, this one was rather normal in tone and had a nice symmetry. Also, it was normal sized and not twenty feet tall, like the idols at Ekdalia Evergreen and Shinghi Park.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most geometric artwork.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large07.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi07.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large08.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi08.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large09.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi09.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Salt Lake HA Block</i></b><br /><br />The Salt Lake HA Block pandal was heavily focused on basket-work. They had statues and chandeliers built from baskets, as well as decorations built from flat woven wicker, just like a basket. The outside of the pandal was built from the same materials, which was quite nice. Unfortunately, I was unable to get good pictures in the pandal, due to the difficult lighting conditions. I only had a handful that worked out. I loved the chandelier in this pandal -- the way the lights are occluded by the weaves of the baskets, and barely leak out, was incredible. My picture of this chandelier is one of my favorites from the entire pujo. I also liked the matte look of the idol, and the way the decorations matched the look.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most photogenic chandelier.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large10.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi10.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large11.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi11.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large12.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi12.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Salt Lake HB Block</i></b><br /><br />The Salt Lake HB Block pandal was very cool. Most the artwork in the HB block pandal was created from what appeared to be crushed glass bangles, which gave everything a very circular, brush-like appearance. Even the chandelier was created with this material, with hanging bangles acting (rather poorly) as light shades. A few pieces of art were painted, however, rather than made with this material, although even these had frames and other accents created from it. I can only imagine the number of glass bangles they went through to make this pandal. It was difficult to get a close look at the idol in this pandal, since we again arrived during a ceremony (this one involving a lot of drums), but it looks like the idol had very similar decorations.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Best glasswork.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large13.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi13.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large14.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi14.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large15.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi15.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Salt Lake AB Block</i></b><br /><br />The Salt Lake AB Block pandal had a very organic feel to it. Rather than relying on paintings, opulent artwork or other staples of large pandals, the pandal was decorated with hand-painted and (apparently) hand-thrown ceramics. These were arranged along the walls, and the path through the pandal allowed you to get very close to the decorations. The idol room featured an incredible chandelier, too, made from coconuts with holes poked in them. Interspersed through these coconuts were a variety of palm leaves. This produced a rather nice diffuse lighting throughout the room, making for good pictures of the gorgeous idol. The idol was my favorite part of this pandal, with very life-like, realistic painting (Durga, Saraswati and Lakshmi all have believable facial expressions!), and I loved the decorations around the idol. Quite nice.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most photogenic idol.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large16.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi16.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large17.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi17.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large18.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi18.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Salt Lake GB Block</i></b><br /><br />The Salt Lake GB Block is at a disadvantage in this review. The design elements of this pandal were very similar to those in the HA block pandal, complete with basket people and wicker design elements. If I had seen these two pandals in a different order, I'd probably feel much more inclined towards GB than HA. As it was, the GB block pandal seemed to be similar to the HA block pandal in all ways except for the idol. The GB block idol, rather than featuring wicker decorations around the gods, instead featured an earthenware, painted idol. The idol was very nice looking, although it did not completely match the rest of the pandal. I rather liked the flower decorations.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most incongruous idol.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large19.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi19.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large20.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi20.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large21.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi21.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Telengabagan</i></b><br /><br />The Telengabagan pandal was a very different design than the other pandals I've seen. While almost all pujo pandals have different entrances and exits, Telengabagan was the only one we visited that was arranged in a circular manner rather than a rectangular. Most pandals have a large, open room, with the idol in one side and the entrance and exits on other sides. Telengabagan was completely circular. The idol was in the center, and there was a walkway around the edges. They actually had security guards literally pushing people through the pandal to get them to stop lingering (which made it very, very tricky to get pictures -- sometimes being able to feign a language barrier is useful). The idol at Telengabagan was also very different from other pandals; here, the idol was not clothed (although draped in a sheet), and the other idols were arranged in a circular manner. I'm not sure if the decorations are supposed to match any specific temples or art type, but the motif looked very south indian. The ceiling of the pandal was covered in reflective panels; if you look carefully, you may be able to find me in there.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most post-modern.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large22.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi22.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large23.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi23.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi_large24.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_ashtomi24.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-5253680279541711482010-10-23T02:27:00.004-04:002010-10-28T21:31:24.466-04:00Shoptomi Pandal Hopping: Too many pandalsShoptomi (literally 'seventh day') is a big day for the pujo. Lots of activities at the local pandal, and the pandal hopping really picks up in Kolkata. The biggest crowds occur on Nobami (ninth day), but it's pretty bad even on Shoptomi. After our disastrous experience in north kolkata on Shoshti, we decided to stick with South Kolkata pandals on Shoptomi. As such, we made it to many, many more pandals, with a total of six that were really good: Jodhpur Park, EDF, Mudiali, Shivmandir, Shinghi Park, and Ekdalia Evergreen.<br /><br /><b><i>Jodhpur Park</i></b><br /><br />My first daytime pandal was at Jodhpur park. This pandal was built to look like it had made out of legos, which was pretty cool. Various decorations around the pandal had pictures of Batman, Tom & Jerry, and more. They even had trees shaped like lego trees. I thought the concept was pretty cool, although it didn't look as sturdy as the other pandals we saw on Shosthi or Shoptomi. The lego look didn't extend into the idol, but the idol was pretty cool nonetheless: It had been deocrated to look like everything was made from clay. I loved the concept, although it didn't match the outside very much.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most nostalgic.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large01.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi01.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large02.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi02.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>EDF Pandal</i></b><br /><br />My expert guide referred to this pandal as the 'pandal near EDF', without being more specific on the name. I'm rather sad that I don't know the exact pandal name, because it was an extremely well done pandal, one of my favorites of the pujo (for comparison, I took over 400 pictures here, while I took about 40 at east park circus). This pandal was based on artwork from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiniketan">Shantinikiten</a> area, which includes an arts-focused school founded by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore">Tagore</a>, the patron saint of Bengali literature and poetry. Not being from Bengal, I couldn't appreciate it with the same eye that my in-laws could. That being said, even to my untrained eye, the artwork in the pandal was incredible.<br /><br />Outside the pandal they had a stature of Tagore, and tons of quotes from him. Inside, they had different kinds of artwork at different levels -- paintings on the ceiling, brasswork on the ground level, and other decorations on the wall. Very nice. I had a lot of trouble picking just three pictures for this pandal -- see my <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/DurgaPujaShoptomi#">Shoptomi Picasa</a> for more.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Best artwork, inside and out.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large03.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi03.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large04.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi04.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large05.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi05.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Mudiali</i></b><br /><br />The Mudiali pandal was modeled after some sort of Indian castle. Again, I don't know if it was a specific castle, or just that sort of architecture. The inside was pretty nice, but the crowd was really picking up by this time and I didn't get much chance to explore it. The chandelier was very nice as well. According to my mother in law, Mudiali is very famous for the idol decorations, and the idol was definitely unique. It had all the classic elements of an idol, plus about a million peacocks. I didn't notice this when I visited the pandal, but rather when I got home and looked at my pictures from Shoptomi. I took a zoomed-in shot of Durga that was actually rather frighteningly full of peacocks.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most overuse of a single decoration.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large06.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi06.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large07.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi07.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large08.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi08.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Shivmandir</i></b><br /><br />Shivmandir was located quite near to Mudiali, just down the block. Despite its proximity, we never did quite figure out how we got back to our car. Anyways, just down the road from Mudiali, we found what looked like an enormous tree stump, with a cave into it. This was the Shivmandir pandal, although I still haven't a clue what it's trying to look like (maybe a giant tree stump). Inside they had a somewhat spooky statue guarding the entrance, an area with stuffed bird and mock trees, and then the idol itself. The idol was very nice, but I never did figure out what exactly the theme was.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most unusual theme.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large09.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi09.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large10.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi10.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large11.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi11.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Shinghi Park</i></b><br /><br />Our next pandal was located at Shinghi Park. This pandal was shaped like the Golden Fortress, the primary Sikh temple, located in Amritsar. The internal decorations were very nice, although they tended towards tessellated patterns done in red. This decorative motif extended to the idol as well, which was absolutely enormous. Unlike some of the other Shoptomi pandals, this one was basically just a room with the idol in it. It was a well decorated room, but it lacked the statuary of the other large pandals.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Best non-hindu temple reproduction.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large12.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi12.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large13.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi13.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large14.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi14.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Ekdalia Evergreen</i></b><br /><br />Our final pandal on Shoptomi was the Ekdalia Evergreen pandal, which was built to resemble temples from South India. The temple was gigantic (at least five stories, probably more like six-seven), but not as wide as the large pandals from Shealdah that we saw on shoshti. The exterior artwork was fantastic, with carvings depicting mythological stories and the exterior color spot-on for a weathered stone building. The weathered stone color looked completely incongruous in the Gariahat neighborhood, but it was quite nice. Also, unlike the other pandals, the name was written on the pandal in roman characters, which prevents me from asking my experts on how to spell things (but does not guarantee that I got it right). The idol was very nice and very colorful, but not as ornately decorated as the Shinghi Park idol nor as modern as the EDF idol.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Best exterior.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large15.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi15.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large16.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi16.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi_large17.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shoptomi17.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-33364193010219137692010-10-22T07:52:00.003-04:002010-10-22T13:16:03.962-04:00Durga Pujo: Shoshti Pandal-HoppingShoshti (literally 'sixth day') is the first official day of the pujo. The larger pandals are all open long before Shoshti, but Shoshti is the day when the smaller, local pandals will open their idols and inaugurate them. On Shoshti, we went pandal hopping in North Kolkata again. Since I was staying in south Kolkata, this involved another long drive through mostly stationary traffic. As such, we only made it to three pandals on Shoshti: Shealdah Athletic Club, Santosh Mitra Square, and East Park Circus.<br /><br /><b><i>Shealdah Athletic Club</i></b><br /><br />Shealdah Athletic Club's pandal was modeled after a south indian temple, complete with NSFW art inside. The details on the pandal were incredible, and it was at least a three or four story building. I'm not sure if it was modeled after a specific temple, or just tried to get that general look. I don't think temples generally have this many chandeliers, though... The crowd was intense here, which made it hard to get good pictures, but I did my best. The idol was nice, but nothing special.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most explicit pandal.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti_large1.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti1.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti_large2.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti2.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti_large3.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti3.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>Santosh Mitra Square</i></b><br /><br />Santosh Mitra Square's pandal was located pretty close to Shealdah Athletic Club, but the direct path was completely blocked off to foot traffic. We ended up having to walk two or three miles out of our way to get there, and then we couldn't even get back to our car. Anyways, the pandal itself was a good reproduction of the Kolkata Writer's Building, which is a Kolkata landmark that originally housed the Bengali bureaucrats who worked for the British Raj government. Given Bengal's role in the resistance to the Raj government, this is a very important symbol to many Bengalis. The pandal also had a statue depicting the overthrow of British rule. The pandal was huge, almost as big as Shealdah Athletic Club's.<br /><br />Although the outside was an excellent depiction of the Writer's building, the inside was anything but. The inside was decorated with frescoes depicting people dancing, and wouldn't exactly make a good working environment for a bureaucracy. I liked the idol in this pandal, although the only special thing going on here was an interesting purple theme.<br /><br /><b><i>Prize:</i></b> Most politically charged.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti_large4.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti4.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti_large5.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti5.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti_large6.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti6.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><b><i>East Park Circus</i></b><br /><br />This pandal was something between a normal pandal and one of the big ones like Santosh Mitra and Shealdah Athletic Club. The pandal was quite large and shaped to resemble the Victoria Memorial (also a Kolkata Landmark), but it didn't have the same feeling of completeness that the other two did. Also, by the time we made it here, I was completely exhausted from our adventure getting back to our car after Santosh Mitra Square. The idol here was very nice, however, and I particularly like the pictures I got out of it. The lighting and colors on the pandal were a great touch, particularly with the excellent detail on the carvings.<br /><br /><b><i>Prize:</b></i> Best interior lighting.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti_large7.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti7.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti_large8.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_shosti8.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-36287827393632205532010-10-22T06:33:00.005-04:002010-10-22T06:46:27.675-04:00Durga Pujo: Pandal Hopping on PanchomiPanchomi (literally 'fifth day') is, according to my expert guide, the first day to go check out the big pujos. The crowds haven't really picked up as yet, but the big pandals are fully setup, open and decorated. While there were definitely crowds, I could tell it wasn't as bad as the other days. Due to the atrocious traffic in Kolkata, we could only see three pandals on Panchomi: Shreebumi, Dumdum Park Torun Shango, and Dumdum Park Bharat Charkra. I'll discuss each of them and then give them a "prize" indicating how I thought they related to the others I saw.<br /><br /><i><b>Shreebumi Sporting Club</b></i><br /><br />Shreebumi's pandal was clearly modeled after an Italian villa, although it was made from what looked like plaster and plastics. The pandal featured a wide courtyard with statues (plastic). The idol was fairly nice as well, and the chandelier inside the villa was incredible. If you look closely enough at the chandelier, you'll note that the birds are actually hanging from the roof -- I had thought they were painted on.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most elegant pandal.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi_large1.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi1.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi_large2.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi2.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi_large3.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi3.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><i><b>Dumdum Park Torun Shango</b></i><br /><br />Dumdum Park Torun Shango had a pandal situated right next to a lake, which gave me some great photographs. The entire pandal surface was made out of scraps of towel, sewn together to make the general color they were after. All the artwork was likewise made from towels. The idol was nice, but my mother in law's first comment was that Durga was too thin.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most innovative building material.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi_large4.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi4.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi_large8.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi8.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi_large9.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi9.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><i><b>Dumdum Park Bharat Chakra</b></i><br /><br />Dumdum Park Bharat Chakra's pandal featured dozens of animatronic dolls, displaying stories and shifting between various poses. The animatronics were nothing like Disney's, but they were pretty impressive for a temporary structure built by hobbyists. The pandal also featured dozens of dolls bobbing their heads, which was pretty cool, albeit a bit creepy. I liked the idol, particularly the symmetry.<br /><br /><b>Prize:</b> Most mobile decorations.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi_large5.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi5.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi_large6.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi6.jpg"></img></a></td><td><a href="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi_large7.jpg"><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_post_panchomi7.jpg"></img></a></td></tr></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-66066285374046790392010-10-22T05:46:00.001-04:002010-10-22T06:00:31.583-04:00About the Durga PujoSo I've gradually been filling my picasa gallery with photos I took during the 2010 Durga Pujo celebration in Kolkata (<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/DurgaPujaPanchomi#">Panchomi</a>, <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/DurgaPujaShoshti#">Shoshti</a>, <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/DurgaPujaShoptomi#">Shoptomi</a>, <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/DurgaPujaAshtomi#">Ashtomi</a>, and <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/halvored/DurgaPujaNobami#">Nabomi</a>). The Durga Pujo is the biggest celebration of the bengali year, and I spent it this year with my wife's family in Kolkata. I've attended this celebration for many years in the US, but it's a whole different thing in India. In the US, there's one celebration per city (and not in all cities), and the celebration goes on for just a single weekend. In India, the celebration lasts four days, and is growing to cover six. All four of those days are crammed into a saturday afternoon and evening in the US.<br /><br />In Kolkata, the Pujo is marked by each neighborhood or area building a pandal. Traditionally, pandals are structures to house the idols and protect them from the elements during the Pujo, but they've evolved into something entirely different. Nowadays, pandals range from small, roadside pujos, to enormous structures built to resemble castles, temples, and more. Each of these large pandals typically has a theme, although the theme can be nebulous. All of them are temporary structures, usually built over the course of a month or so, and then torn down after the pujo.<br /><br /><img src="http://erikh.niahak.org/blogimages/20101021/dp_labels.png" width="600"></img><br /><br />Inside the big pandals, there are often artworks, lighting, and wide open spaces, all designed to draw people into the pandal and enjoy the pujo. The idol itself (see above for an example idol taken near EDF) represents six gods: Shiva, Ganesha, Karthik, Lakshmi, Swaraswati, and of course, Durga. Most of the idols depict Durga defeating the demon king, Asur. Each of these gods have a traditional depiction, such as Durga wielding ten weapons and riding a lion, killing Asur with a trident. Ganesha is depicted with a pet mouse, and Karthik with a pet peacock. Swaraswati is depicted with a pet swan and Lakshmi with a pet owl. Asur is sometimes depicted as a demon, and at other times with the head of a bull.<br /><br />A big tradition in Kolkata is what is known as Pandal hopping, where families will visit dozens of the biggest pandals in the city. We visited well over twenty during the five days of the Durga Pujo, and visited a handful of others that we couldn't even get into due to the line. In later writeups, I'll write about the specific pandals we visited, and a little about each of them.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-61040694365623763552010-10-11T23:10:00.003-04:002010-10-11T23:13:31.434-04:00Bi-weekly Background - 2010.10.11Today's picture is a close-up of a Sea Anemone that I took at the National Zoo. I rather like Sea Anemones (see <a href="http://halvored.blogspot.com/2010/08/bi-weekly-background-20100813.html">a previous background</a>), but I rarely get good close-ups. This shot is close enough that the result is almost abstract. Enjoy.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101011/20101011_background_thumb.jpg"></img></td><td><ul><li><a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101011/20101011_background_1024x768.jpg">1024x768</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101011/20101011_background_1280x960.jpg">1280x960</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101011/20101011_background_1600x1200.jpg">1600x1200</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101011/20101011_background_1440x900.jpg">1440x900</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101011/20101011_background_1680x1050.jpg">1680x1050</a></li></ul></td></tr></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-25662997480412896622010-10-09T10:31:00.003-04:002010-10-09T10:33:45.753-04:00Bi-weekly Background - 2010.10.04 and 2010.10.08Another two for Saturday post. Things have been entirely too crazy recently... Anyways, common theme here in that both of my backgrounds feature sunlight streaming through things. My first shows the internal details of a Ginkgo leaf near my house, while the second was taken during sunset on the Autumnal Equinox. Enjoy.<br /><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101004/20101004_background_thumb.jpg"></img></td><td><ul><li><a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101004/20101004_background_1024x768.jpg">1024x768</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101004/20101004_background_1280x960.jpg">1280x960</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101004/20101004_background_1600x1200.jpg">1600x1200</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101004/20101004_background_1440x900.jpg">1440x900</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101004/20101004_background_1680x1050.jpg">1680x1050</a></li></ul></td></tr></table><br /><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101008/20101008_background_thumb.jpg"></img></td><td><ul><li><a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101008/20101008_background_1024x768.jpg">1024x768</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101008/20101008_background_1280x960.jpg">1280x960</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101008/20101008_background_1600x1200.jpg">1600x1200</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101008/20101008_background_1440x900.jpg">1440x900</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101008/20101008_background_1680x1050.jpg">1680x1050</a></li></ul></td></tr></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7925520242909353068.post-60366220625896302902010-10-02T07:40:00.002-04:002010-10-02T07:42:14.423-04:00Bi-weekly Background - 2010.10.01Today's shot is of a pine tree in Lassen Volcano National Park. This was taken near Bumpas Hell, and the tree was clearly not doing so well near the hydrothermal vents. This is one of my favorite shots from the area, just because of the uniformity of each of the bunches of needles -- some yellow near the base, some green near the ends -- and the exposure on the branches.<br /><br /><table><tr><td><img src="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101001/20101001_background_thumb.jpg"></img></td><td><ul><li><a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101001/20101001_background_1024x768.jpg">1024x768</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101001/20101001_background_1280x960.jpg">1280x960</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101001/20101001_background_1600x1200.jpg">1600x1200</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101001/20101001_background_1440x900.jpg">1440x900</a>, <a href="http://erikh.org/backgrounds/20101001/20101001_background_1680x1050.jpg">1680x1050</a></li></ul></td></tr></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02471731818646930606noreply@blogger.com0