OSLOve

"If one man can express so much hate, think about how much love we all can express together."

From here.

constructing cruciverbs

It may not seem like fun to many, but I enjoy solving crosswords. The past few days were huge, satisfying servings of left-brain candy as I kept myself busy composing my own puzzles.

My screen shot of Puzzle #1.

Yup, I made my own cruciverbs. I'm not aware of what software to use for this sort of thing, so I drafted them in Excel.

I got my cue from Sandra Bullock's character in All About Steve. I wasn't able to see it at the cinema when it was released last year, but I lately managed to stumble onto it while flipping channels.

Image from here.

Sandy plays the quirky, goofy, hyper-intelligent Mary, who falls obsessively in love with Steve (played by the gorgeous Bradley Cooper). She follows him around and pursues a chain of unfortunate but humorous events that make up a romantic comedy.

Cute storyline aside, Mary is the local paper's cruciverbalist. I watched her manually pen her words into a grid and thought, "Hey, I can do that!" I recalled that I'd previously took a shot at construction using shorter words, and that I had a good, geeky time of it; I then became pretty confident I could make semi-professional / print-worthy puzzles.

Now I don't really need to get a job at the local paper, but I could do it for my own personal fun. ^_^


I've come up with two 15 x 15 themed ones so far; maybe I should get someone to test them. If they turn out to be as good as I think they are, I could perhaps share them with other puzzlers and/or send them to some publication.

jammi

a trip to the cirque

The Varekai tent. Photos mine.

Cirque du Soleil isn't a typical circus, me thinks.

I first caught a glimpse over a decade ago on television; I don't really recall what program that was, it must have been an awards night like the Grammys or something. There was this segment in which some big-shot artists (I forgot who) performed on stage against a spectacular backdrop of Cirque du Solieil acrobats in action. What was remarkable about the said acrobats was that they were nothing like the usual circus acts - in unbelievable feats of upper body strength, they performed areal gymnastics, each holding on to a length of fabric suspended from the roof. No safety harnesses, no nets, no nothing. Wow. And they did it in slow, graceful motion too, like they were able to defy gravity.

I mused about how enthralling it would be to watch that live. Cirque du Soleil. Literally, "Circus of the Sun", I noted, and never forgot.

Every now and then I'd been able to catch other similar awards-night-background-acts on television and I concluded they must be known for their areal ballet. Ladies in dangling hula hoops, girls in hanging basket-like structures, pairs swinging on cables with long, flowing fabric trailing behind them. Utter wonder-spell. I saw posters of their shows all over hotels when I visited Vegas, but I never bothered to inquire about details since the pragmatist in me decided to save my dollars for shopping instead of spend them on a two-hour circus show.

I therefore count it as an enormous treat when my mother-in-law invited me to watch Cirque du Soliel's Varekai with her. Ticking one more item from my list of 101 Things To Do Before I Die.

The entrance tent interior. Photos mine.

Like I said earlier, it isn't a typical circus. There were no sideshow freaks, no animals, and no multicolored clowns (there were a few clown segments, but none of them wore the usual garb of brightly-colored overalls, fluffy wig et al). Most of the acts were the suspended ballet types that Cirque is known for. The costumes were wild and radiant, said to be designed to accentuate movement.

Varekai means "wherever" in Romani. With reference to the Greek myth The Flight of Icarus, it's basically an imagining of what happens to Icarus after his fall. Icarus (or Icare) supposedly lands in an enchanted forest and meets whimsical creatures who help him fly again. He falls in love with a beauty simply called The Guiding Light, and they eventually marry. Of course, since it's primarily a circus and not theater, viewer's can't expect a coherent, logical plot throughout; it's more like a string of acts put together in such a way that conveys some sort of story.

Since photography was not allowed inside the Grand Chapiteau (Big Top Tent), and since I like pretending to be an obedient, well-behaved citizen sometimes, I took no pictures of the show. But just to make this entry a bit more visual, I nicked the following photos from cirquedusoleil.com.

These were my favorite bits in Varekai:

From cirquedusoleil.com

The Flight of Icarus. Absolute Wow. A single artist dances a suspended ballet, using a mesh as an accessory. No safety harness, nets or anything to cushion a possible fall. Icarus contorted with impeccable grace and extreme muscular power.

This guy must be hyper-strong to be able to do something like that, despite his delicate-looking frame. I bet his abs are super tight too.

I also loved the way Icarus entered the stage for this scene. He floated in supine from the ceiling as if he were falling, but very slowly and fluidly like a feather, until he landed softly on his back. The diffused spotlight and the beautiful white wings he wore made him look angelic. No wonder some people (including the promoters, who are apparently unfamiliar with the Greek myth) thought the son of Daedalus the artisan was a fallen angel.

Moving on.

From cirquedusoleil.com

Icarian Games. Seemingly impossible sequences of somersaults and catches, feats of strength and perfect timing.

From cirquedusoleil.com

Areal Straps. A pair of bulgy-muscled men perform complicated choreography in the air. They made it look so easy.

From cirquedusoleil.com

The last act drew the most gasps and applause from the crowd. Russian Swings. Ho-oh-ly crap. Literally breathtaking, and insanely tense. Makes me wonder how many years these flyers took to train just to perfect something like that, and how many bones have been broken.


The chances of me seeing another Cirque du Soleil show are slim, so I'm really glad I caught them when they came to Manila for the first time. But then I wonder ... would they have a show the next time we visit Vegas? We'll see.

"the most awesomest place ever," my sister said

All photos in this entry mine.
Right-click and open in new tab for enlargements.

My youngest sister said "This is the most awesomest place ever!"

I can see why she thought so - the Valley of Fire State Park really is a remarkable work of nature. I'm so glad we took the time to go there during out visit to Nevada.

I've actually never heard of it until I saw this sign on our way to Lake Mead a few weeks earlier:



The name got me very, very interested. Valley of Fire. I supposed it was a valley full of reddish rock that looked all "fiery" when sunlight hit them. Hmmm.

It was just a few days before we headed back to Manila that my Mama thought of taking us to the Valley of Fire (It was her birthday that day, BTW. Thank you Ma!). She has never been there before either, but she heard it was a beautiful, must-see place that would really make our trip to Nevada more memorable.

But "beautiful" and "must-see", as we learned later, were gross understatements.

A bit of trivia before I continue: Las Vegas is Spanish for the valleys. Anywhere you go in Vegas, you would be surrounded by mountains. They aren't blue, distant mountains like the ones I'm used to seeing on the outskirts of Metro Manila - these are huge, up-close mountains and mountains and mountains and mountains, brown and near-bald, with horizontal striations carved by wind and water.

Seeing the ridged mountains driving through Vegas, I thought those were pretty.



Then we drove out of the city and into the desert where we saw a lot of interesting rock formations. And I thought those were pretty.



We drove on and on, until we finally got to our destination.



As we followed the curve of the road around the mountain ...



... a burst of bright, red rock peered over the dull gray.



We couldn't help saying WOOOOOOW! It was just ... - ... - ... - breathtaking.

Throughout the valley, there were these massive, fascinating rocks, mostly in various reddish hues - from a soft peach to a vivid magenta to a deep bittersweet.


It was as if we were on another planet. Like Mars. Or Tatooine.

Coming to think of it, a lot of movies had a couple of scenes shot in these unique, alienesque vistas (Transformers, Star Trek: Generations and Total Recall, to name a few).

Every now and then, the Hubby, my sister and I went out of our vehicle to take closer looks. We made sure to monkey up and down a few smaller formations.



We went up a stairway to a massive balancing rock named Altlatl to see the ancient petroglyphs on its face.



We trekked through a half-mile long canyon trail that featured more petroglyphs and peach-toned rocks.


There was an area aptly called Rainbow Vista, showing off rocks decked in various colors. Not just reds now, but even the lightest creams and the most royal of purples.


The road twisted through colorful formations that looked like lumps of striped candy and molten marshmallow. Really, surreally, pretty.


There are a lot more breathtaking sights at the Valley of Fire, but I couldn't possibly squeeze all the photos I took into this single entry. Besides, whatever pictures I take wouldn't ever suffice to convey the beauty I saw. ^_^

As we drove out of the valley, the interesting rock formations thinned out. The sun set the scenery cooled down from dynamic reds into soft blues.


If it were an easy thing to do, I'd love to visit that place over and over again. It's a definite must-see. If you are anywhere in the area of Nevada, like, if and when you decide to check out what Las Vegas is all about, clear a day in your agenda to visit the Valley of Fire State Park (Especially if you're a movie buff or a sci-fi geek; i.e., you might just want to sight the site where the Autobots rolled out to save the world, or where Captain Kirk fell). Be sure to slather on your sunblock, bring a lot of water and food, and wear comfy-but-sturdy shoes and a good hat. An air-conditioned vehicle would suffice, but I'm sure a decked-out RV wouldn't hurt.