Today we hauled ourselves out of bed some six hours after our faux holiday and began to search for the ancillary tools of our trade: printers for competition entry forms, and the post office! There is no printer here on premises so we found ourselves in the “info Centrum” as they have a printer for documents downloaded from the web. You can handle this by either going directly from the website in question or you can email yourself a copy of whatever document you need. The information center was a pretty nice looking place. It never occurred to me that one way of promoting your info center was through corporate sponsorship?! There was this gigantic new Samsung 3D LCD TV on demo there with electronic 3D glasses, and next to it there were an arrangement of Samsung gadgets, cameras, etc. And there also was an array of cell phones on the wall as well. I guess that one to pay for the almost fully stylized desktop arrangement of computers with the flat screen monitor recessed into the brass plate wall, and the brushed metal keyboard with the complimentary themed metal track ball both installed into the counters.
After that we made it to the post office where we both mailed our submissions to the Emerging Creations Video Cinemas. The transactions went off without a hitch. I have to say that even when there is a language barrier, so far things have gone pretty well. After the post office we took a long stroll back through the city center where things are being set up for Advent. There is a very tall pine tree in the center and a little market has sprung up around it selling, knick knacks, grilled meats, mulled wine and other fine foods, including freshly fried kettle chips!
Later at home it’s back to more editing. Jennida has been filtering over her footage that we shot yesterday and I am trying to put together footage from our train ride to Cesky Krumlov. Its longish footage and I think that I want to keep it long, even if no one watches all of it. I find the textures in the landscape very interesting and I think that keeping it long will convey and promote the contemplative nature of the duration and also the acknowledgement of a different landscape. I know I haven’t actually posted the text on the site yet but… Whatever. I’m just trying to catch up and I’m being anal.
Other thoughts from the day are the idea that often times we hold a disdain for “tourist” in the wide-eyed stumbling around and self-absorbed nature they often exhibit at the expense of all that is around them. We also have a habit of looking down on tourist, as they only ever want to be entertained, go to the more amazing locals and be catered to. I was musing on how we are actually trained to repeat this behavior at an early age. Parents often take their children to the most brightly colored, over stimulating and exciting places even in their own towns. We are taught to seek out the festivals, the museums, the tours and concerts that will entertain all of our senses. The only difference is that as a child you grow older and become slightly jaded with our own surroundings and find it annoying when new comers invade or turf in search of all that is “interesting.” But then there are those people who take pride in showing new arrivals the lay of the land and tell the tales that go hand in hand with the history and culture of the place. And like wise there are those tourist that strive great lengths to get the real flavor, the real deal as it were on. These are some thoughts on location and travel and the interactions between people negotiating common spaces.
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