Concept2 air rowing machine

{Just been reading through a load of reviews for the Concept2 air rowing machine. I’d heard that this was the daddy of ALL rowing machines, let alone just air rowing machines. Nearly all of the reviews (must have been about 30 or 40) were positive, so I’ll start with some of the negatives that seem to bother people.| One or two found the seat uncomfortable, but as another reviewer pointed out, there is a seat cushion available as an extra accessory. Someone complained it was wobbly and unstable, but someone else said they must have set it up wrong.| One reviewer didn’t like the e-row software package which allows you, for example, to row against a pace boat and row against other people, but that sounds like a personal thing. In any event e-row is not compatible with the PM3 and PM4 monitors anyway – for these Concept recommend RowPro.| 2 or 3 complained of the boredom – one even suggested getting a friend to join you on their own air rowing machine. Some said a good way to relieve the boredom and make it more challenging as well as fun was to compete against others online (apparently in general the experienced rowers are kind to newbies!). For this you will need the relevant software package of course.} No-one complained about the price, which surprised me – I guess quality is the key as far as Concept buyers are concerned. In fact one did say he’d bought a competitor’s model and didn’t like it. Someone pointed out that you can find them second hand quite easily for example on ebay – so if the price is an issue it might be the first place to look. concept 2 rowing machine(He also said how well they hold their prices). {On to the positives: Most stressed what a terrific all-round workout it provides (but I suppose that will apply to any air rowing machine, not just the Concept2). Nearly everyone praised the build quality, onboard monitor, ease of setting up and disassembly (one even said he took his with him wherever he went, all over the country!) Anyone who had had to use the customer service said they were great – they also keep in touch with you with regular updates, offers etc. By the way I didn’t notice any women in the reviews…| All in all a pretty comprehensive set of positive recommendations for the Concept2 – maybe it really is the Daddy of the Air Rowing Machine family! If you are looking for a total body workout with just one machine, and you want a machine that is quiet, and can be easily stored, then you should consider buying a rowing machine. A rower can work so many different muscles with one motion, and it can also offer a good cardiovascular exercise if that is what you are looking for also. A rowing machine can do so many things for you, but which rowing machine should you get? The Concept 2 Rowing Machine is a great machine, and there are models you can choose from in order to get the right machine for you.| The Concept 2 Machine Model E with PM4 is a great machine that has many great features. This particular rowing machine offers a great screen that can show you things like time, resistance, heart rate, and distance traveled. You can always keep track of these statistics in order to remember how well you did the last time, and each time you can try to beat the way you performed previously.} {Another great feature that the Concept 2 Rower Model E with PM4 offers is its nickel-plated chain. Sometimes a machine can be very maintenance heavy, and it can become very annoying to have to keep working to maintain your rower. If you want a machine that is low-maintenance then this rower may be for you. The nickel-plated chain gives the machine a great look as well.| There are many great features that the Concept 2 Rowing Machine Model E with PM4 offers. The design of the rowing machine allows for a compact storage in case you do not want to leave it out all the time. The battery pack for the machine is rechargeable as well, so you don’t have to worry about the high costs of battery packs. A chest belt allows you to keep track of your heart rate during exercise. The machine is also very quiet, and this can be very nice if you are looking to get a little exercise in when watching TV without having to turn the volume really high on the TV. Whether training as an athlete or just for personal use, exercise machines are a popular way to exercise. There are any number of machines that can be used. This article is going to examine the Concept 2 rowing machine.| Starting in 1976, two brothers, that had just finished training for the Olympics designed a oar for racers. From there they went on to design a rowing machine that can be used indoors. This machine, known as the Concept 2 rowing machine, is used by people training for the Olympics, cardiac patients, and many more.} Over the years, these two brothers have designed several machines. Beginning with oars that were used in a number of competitions, the brothers decided to design an indoor machine in 1981 so that rowers could practice during the winter months. concept 2 rowing machine From their design, the Concept 2 machine type was created. Between 1981 and 1986, there were several models designed by the brothers. {The first one, Model A, was introduced as the first indoor rower. It was used by a rowing team in Boston that hosted an indoor rowing event. In 1986, the Model A was revised and the Model B was born. The Model B was designed along the same lines as the Model A except it had a protective covering on the fly wheel. Over the next several years, as exercising became more common place in the 1980s, other models were introduced such as the Blade, (which was used in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992). In addition the Model C, Dyno, (a train device to help increase strength), and Model D, of the Concept 2 rowing machine line were designed.| In 2006, Model E, of the Concept 2 rowing machine line, was introduced. This indoor rowing machine was used alongside the Model D. In this line, another machine was offered, the SkiErg. This machine is designed to help the cross skier train in the winter. When choosing the Concept 2, there are many features that will help anyone get the type of exercise or training that they need or want. The Concept 2 rowing machine, uses virtual training to help rowers get ready for competitions. It helps them by giving them a online challenges| Rowing is an excellent workout. If you’ve never tried it, then just get onto a rower at you local gym for 5 minutes and you’ll see what I mean. While most people slog it out on a treadmill or training bike, I’d take the rowing machine any day of the week. It has some very distinct advantages that makes it the perfect workout. Whether you want to lose weight, improve your muscle tone or just get fit, this is a workout you need to seriously consider. Training on a rowing machine is unique in every way and you will work on muscles you never even though you had. Its also a relatively “cheap” option if you were to invest in one for your home. It might be a bit expensive at first but a decent rowing machine can last you a long time and save you a fortune in gym fees. It also give you the additional comfort of having a compact and complete workout machine at home.| There are 3 reasons why I think a rowing machine is a superior workout. Lets quickly look at those and how you can benefit from it: 1. Low Impact Rowing is a low impact workout. It has virtually zero impact on your joints and if you find running to be a painful experience then this can be the answer for you. Machines like the Concept 2 indoor rower is very well designed and will put very little stress on your body apart from where its needed – your muscles! Low impact exercise means a more efficient workout and because of this it suitable for people of all ages. Even with bad knees or a bad hip, this is a great way to stay fit and tone up.| 2. Cardiovascular Workout If you’ve been on an indoor rowing machine for 5 minutes you will know just how intense the workout can be. Rowing is a surprisingly good cardio workout and it engages virtually all the muscles in your body. By simply adjusting the resistance of the machine you can control the intensity and doing 30 minutes non-stop will give you a workout equivalent to a stiff 45 minutes run.} 3. Strength Training Rowing machines like the concept 2 rowing machine have an air resistance that can be adjusted to 10 different levels. The higher the resistance the greater the workout. At level 10, its almost the equivalent of lifting weights but because you are on the machine you have very little impact on your joints. Whereas as low setting is perfect for a cardio workout, flipping the switch to a higher setting will give you resistance needed to get a proper strength training session – all from the same machine.
{Just been reading through a load of reviews for the Concept2 air rowing machine. I’d heard that this was the daddy of ALL rowing machines, let alone just air rowing machines. Nearly all of the reviews (must have been about 30 or 40) were positive, so I’ll start with some of the negatives that seem to bother people.| One or two found the seat uncomfortable, but as another reviewer pointed out, there is a seat cushion available as an extra accessory. Someone complained it was wobbly and unstable, but someone else said they must have set it up wrong.| One reviewer didn’t like the e-row software package which allows you, for example, to row against a pace boat and row against other people, but that sounds like a personal thing. In any event e-row is not compatible with the PM3 and PM4 monitors anyway – for these Concept recommend RowPro.| 2 or 3 complained of the boredom – one even suggested getting a friend to join you on their own air rowing machine. Some said a good way to relieve the boredom and make it more challenging as well as fun was to compete against others online (apparently in general the experienced rowers are kind to newbies!). For this you will need the relevant software package of course.} No-one complained about the price, which surprised me – I guess quality is the key as far as Concept buyers are concerned. In fact one did say he’d bought a competitor’s model and didn’t like it. Someone pointed out that you can find them second hand quite easily for example on ebay – so if the price is an issue it might be the first place to look. concept 2 rowing machine(He also said how well they hold their prices). {On to the positives: Most stressed what a terrific all-round workout it provides (but I suppose that will apply to any air rowing machine, not just the Concept2). Nearly everyone praised the build quality, onboard monitor, ease of setting up and disassembly (one even said he took his with him wherever he went, all over the country!) Anyone who had had to use the customer service said they were great – they also keep in touch with you with regular updates, offers etc. By the way I didn’t notice any women in the reviews…| All in all a pretty comprehensive set of positive recommendations for the Concept2 – maybe it really is the Daddy of the Air Rowing Machine family! If you are looking for a total body workout with just one machine, and you want a machine that is quiet, and can be easily stored, then you should consider buying a rowing machine. A rower can work so many different muscles with one motion, and it can also offer a good cardiovascular exercise if that is what you are looking for also. A rowing machine can do so many things for you, but which rowing machine should you get? The Concept 2 Rowing Machine is a great machine, and there are models you can choose from in order to get the right machine for you.| The Concept 2 Machine Model E with PM4 is a great machine that has many great features. This particular rowing machine offers a great screen that can show you things like time, resistance, heart rate, and distance traveled. You can always keep track of these statistics in order to remember how well you did the last time, and each time you can try to beat the way you performed previously.} {Another great feature that the Concept 2 Rower Model E with PM4 offers is its nickel-plated chain. Sometimes a machine can be very maintenance heavy, and it can become very annoying to have to keep working to maintain your rower. If you want a machine that is low-maintenance then this rower may be for you. The nickel-plated chain gives the machine a great look as well.| There are many great features that the Concept 2 Rowing Machine Model E with PM4 offers. The design of the rowing machine allows for a compact storage in case you do not want to leave it out all the time. The battery pack for the machine is rechargeable as well, so you don’t have to worry about the high costs of battery packs. A chest belt allows you to keep track of your heart rate during exercise. The machine is also very quiet, and this can be very nice if you are looking to get a little exercise in when watching TV without having to turn the volume really high on the TV. Whether training as an athlete or just for personal use, exercise machines are a popular way to exercise. There are any number of machines that can be used. This article is going to examine the Concept 2 rowing machine.| Starting in 1976, two brothers, that had just finished training for the Olympics designed a oar for racers. From there they went on to design a rowing machine that can be used indoors. This machine, known as the Concept 2 rowing machine, is used by people training for the Olympics, cardiac patients, and many more.} Over the years, these two brothers have designed several machines. Beginning with oars that were used in a number of competitions, the brothers decided to design an indoor machine in 1981 so that rowers could practice during the winter months. concept 2 rowing machine From their design, the Concept 2 machine type was created. Between 1981 and 1986, there were several models designed by the brothers. {The first one, Model A, was introduced as the first indoor rower. It was used by a rowing team in Boston that hosted an indoor rowing event. In 1986, the Model A was revised and the Model B was born. The Model B was designed along the same lines as the Model A except it had a protective covering on the fly wheel. Over the next several years, as exercising became more common place in the 1980s, other models were introduced such as the Blade, (which was used in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992). In addition the Model C, Dyno, (a train device to help increase strength), and Model D, of the Concept 2 rowing machine line were designed.| In 2006, Model E, of the Concept 2 rowing machine line, was introduced. This indoor rowing machine was used alongside the Model D. In this line, another machine was offered, the SkiErg. This machine is designed to help the cross skier train in the winter. When choosing the Concept 2, there are many features that will help anyone get the type of exercise or training that they need or want. The Concept 2 rowing machine, uses virtual training to help rowers get ready for competitions. It helps them by giving them a online challenges| Rowing is an excellent workout. If you’ve never tried it, then just get onto a rower at you local gym for 5 minutes and you’ll see what I mean. While most people slog it out on a treadmill or training bike, I’d take the rowing machine any day of the week. It has some very distinct advantages that makes it the perfect workout. Whether you want to lose weight, improve your muscle tone or just get fit, this is a workout you need to seriously consider. Training on a rowing machine is unique in every way and you will work on muscles you never even though you had. Its also a relatively “cheap” option if you were to invest in one for your home. It might be a bit expensive at first but a decent rowing machine can last you a long time and save you a fortune in gym fees. It also give you the additional comfort of having a compact and complete workout machine at home.| There are 3 reasons why I think a rowing machine is a superior workout. Lets quickly look at those and how you can benefit from it: 1. Low Impact Rowing is a low impact workout. It has virtually zero impact on your joints and if you find running to be a painful experience then this can be the answer for you. Machines like the Concept 2 indoor rower is very well designed and will put very little stress on your body apart from where its needed – your muscles! Low impact exercise means a more efficient workout and because of this it suitable for people of all ages. Even with bad knees or a bad hip, this is a great way to stay fit and tone up.| 2. Cardiovascular Workout If you’ve been on an indoor rowing machine for 5 minutes you will know just how intense the workout can be. Rowing is a surprisingly good cardio workout and it engages virtually all the muscles in your body. By simply adjusting the resistance of the machine you can control the intensity and doing 30 minutes non-stop will give you a workout equivalent to a stiff 45 minutes run.} 3. Strength Training Rowing machines like the concept 2 rowing machine have an air resistance that can be adjusted to 10 different levels. The higher the resistance the greater the workout. At level 10, its almost the equivalent of lifting weights but because you are on the machine you have very little impact on your joints. Whereas as low setting is perfect for a cardio workout, flipping the switch to a higher setting will give you resistance needed to get a proper strength training session – all from the same machine.

The Taylor Made R7 irons

The Taylor Made R7 irons are made for mid to higher and there is a set for players who are struggling to keep the ball from slicing. The R7 TP looks familiar but is smaller and with less offset. So, the club has a cavity back unlike the muscleback of the advanced irons. This means you have Taylor Made R7 irons that have a clean and classic appearance with minimal offset and also some forgiveness for those who do not hit the ball perfectly each time. The amazing thin sole and topline frames the ball wonderfully and sets up very well. There is a bit of heft to the Taylor Made R7 iron and hitting it is just like any other club of this kind – there will be mishits in some shots but a good contact will always result in medium height or a high majestic landing shot when there is a lot of way to go the green. Just in case you make poor contact with your short iron, there is less punishment. There is not much trouble from the rough with the Taylor Made R7 irons as the head slices very well through the rough. These Taylor Made R7 irons feature the inverted cone technology that offer higher COR and enhanced average ball speed for longer distances. A higher COR helps in mishits as this increases the speed of the ball for a better average. The Taylor Made R7 irons are built to make hitting straighter and higher much easier. Another great feature you will find in these irons is the soft dampening aluminum web in the cavity that eliminates any vibrations for a softer feel when contact is made.

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White Yoga Mat Excellent Yoga

Around the world Yoga is considered a fantastic way to stay fit and healthful. And, if it has been around for centuries, only recently caught the fancy yoga American. It is a well balanced workout designed to tone and strengthen muscles while it increases flexibility. Yoga is also a fantastic way to save weight and a renewed energy and vitality. As you start involved yoga or Pilates, you also notice the need for a basic Yoga or Pilates equipment and accessories. White Yoga Mat Excellent Yoga mats help balance and coordination. Most people are not properly aligned. Accordingly, we do a lot of what we do asymmetrically. For those who want balance and a sense of symmetry a yoga mat is a must. Again, we strongly urge a rug handwoven yoga. But, for those who sorts dynamic and vigorous as Power yoga sticky mat well to consider. Yoga Straps The strap Yoga is very beneficial for beginners. They are either made from cotton or nylon and let you enter your members, you could not reach. They also help you hold the pose longer. Yoga Straps are particularly useful in bound poses when your hands do not reach the other asanas or where you need to keep both feet, but can not reach them. Yoga blocks Yoga blocks are also called yoga bricks and are useful in performing a variety of yoga postures. Yoga helps to block the execution of installation and offer many other benefits. Some of the benefits of yoga blocks are that they grant stability and support for proper alignment, they also reduce the space between the body and the ground. Cushions Yoga Cushions Yoga helps practitioners to renovate a proper alignment of the spine so that the posture is stable, straight and comfortable. Yoga cushions are also beneficial for pregnant women and people improving from surgery. With more cushions yoga poses can be performed comfortably as you sit on a chair or using a chair to keep up balance while standing. For bonus support or cushioning, cushions yoga are also used over a yoga mat or yoga chair height. yoga balls Yoga balls are a versatile accessory for many postures. Made from durable vinyl, they help to achieve balance and support de rigueur for the asanas. Yoga Balls effective way to increase your flexibility, improve range of motion and balance, and tone muscles. In addendum, they also help the body shape and relieve stress.

Cambodia's Kep: Sleepy seaside town begins to stir (AP)

KOH TONSAY, Cambodia – Ask for the crab. In black peppercorn sauce.

The proprietor of the thatched-roof and bamboo-walled island restaurant will acknowledge the order in sign language and broken English. She’ll shuffle across the seaside grass over to the dock where the crab cages sit, steeping in the Gulf of Thailand’s tepid waters.

She’ll return with a bucket of crustaceans and fry them in an iron wok over a charcoal fire in her open-air kitchen, searing them in a sauce made largely from sweet, fiery Kampot peppercorns. She’ll bring you a heap of steaming seafood, pepper sauce, paper napkins and beer to the shaded picnic tables. You’ll eat the crab — soft-shells and all — sucking the sauce from your fingers, drinking the beer to blunt the fiery pepper and thank the stars that few people have discovered the culinary and aesthetic pleasures of this southern coastal region.

While Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temples are its biggest tourist draw, beach-bound tourists — particularly those looking for more than the backpacker-on-a-shoestring itinerary — are waking up to the unexplored beauty that this muggy country has to offer. The low-key beach town of Kep and the riverside village of Kampot, a three-hour drive south of the capital Phnom Penh, offer rough edges but simple charms, along with nearby islands like Koh Tonsay, where the crab in peppercorn is served.

The Kep-area beaches also offer alternatives to better-known regional beach resorts like Thailand’s Phuket and even Cambodia’s own Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville was a favorite of jet-setters (Jackie Kennedy visited in the ’60s) before the country was beset by the horrors of wars, coups and the Khmer Rouge. These days, Sihanoukville’s luxury resorts have plenty of attitude, having been rediscovered by growing numbers of nouveau-riche Cambodians and others. Sleepy Kep, in contrast, seems to attract a clientele that spurns Sihanoukville’s swagger.

The town of Kep consists of a collection of modest residences and hotels tucked into the foliage off crumbling pavement and dusty roads, along with rows of motley shacks and several grand villas, many of which still show the ravages inflicted by the Khmer Rouge who sneered at Kep’s bourgeois trappings. Kep Beach is mostly a stretch of rocky sand directly under the main road, though that doesn’t stop the locals from swimming along the stony promenade. Notable local landmarks include an unusual nude statue of a fisherman’s wife and a monstrous statue of a crab. The 16-room Beach House hotel and its tiny swimming pool hides just above the beach in the tropical hillside foliage, offering sweeping views of the gulf.

Bending around the promontory to the west and north is Kep’s main drag, the Crab Market: a line of bamboo and thatch shacks where you can find crab, fish, prawns and squid, not to mention laundry service, tourist trinkets, boat rides, motos (mopeds), cold beer, cheap drugs, Internet connections, massage services and just about anything else you can imagine. The circus mix of locals, backpackers and proper tourists is a prime spot for people-watching.

Farther up the coast are Kep’s nicer accommodations. Inland and up in the hills, there’s the Veranda, with a wooden restaurant and bar on a slope with a vista of stunning sunsets over the water. Waterside, Knai Bang Chatt has the swankiest lodgings in town with an emerald infinity swimming pool and stylish, modernist building. The hotel’s Sailing Club next door has a dining room perched on piers over the water and a small sandy beach where you can sip vodka tonics while the waves lap your toes. Kep Malibu Estates, despite the unusual name, is also perched inland, its swimming pool and grassy yard up a dusty road past rundown shacks and the disconcerting sight of impoverished farm families tending ragged plantings and staring blankly at passing tourists.

For many, the islands just off of Kep are the real draw. Phu Quoc is the largest, but it belongs to Vietnam and it’s some distance away. For that reason, Koh Tonsay — translated as “Rabbit Island” — is arguably the most popular. Like many things in Cambodia, getting there is not entirely for the faint-hearted. Most hotels have connections with boat operators, or you can arrange a boat ride at one of the Crab Market shacks. The skinny boats, built mainly for fishing, are powered by crate-sized outboard engines with propeller shafts the length of a small tree. Their narrow width means they pitch and yaw more than most people feel comfortable with. That said, they move fast, and the 30-minute ride to Koh Tonsay (about $10) takes you out into a bay past poetic scenes of fishermen tending lines and seine nets.

The island reportedly was used at one point as a prison colony by the country’s long-ruling monarch, Norodom Sihanouk. Today, however, its dense interior foliage keeps most visitors limited to the crystalline waters that slosh the whitish sands on its north side, where simple wood platforms are dotted with hammocks and thatched roofs. Just inland are the open-air kitchens and shacks of the half-dozen families who cater to tourists. For overnight stays, many families rent bungalows that are nothing more than enclosed shacks with wooden sleeping platforms and mosquito nets.

For most visitors, lounging on the beach platforms, alternating between swimming in the bathwater sea and drowsy contemplation of swaying palms is the most activity one can muster. Occasionally, wiry, naked-to-the-waist Cambodian men shimmying high into tree canopies, hacking at bushel-sized bunches of coconuts with machetes and letting the green fruit thud to the ground, spooking unsuspecting tourists. For less than a dollar, they’ll trim off the husks for you, lop a hole into the top and pop a straw in it for the freshest coconut milk you could possibly hope for.

But when hunger truly strikes, it’s best to find crab. The size of golf balls, these crustaceans are caught by traditional hook and lines, and left in cages in the water until mealtime. For less than $5, the cook/hostess prepares a mound of the animals, cooked in oil and peppercorns of the Kampot — a once-famous Cambodian agriculture export — and beer for two. The instinct is to equate crab with lobster, use your teeth to dismantle the shell and suck the meat out. But the shells are so soft, you realize it takes less effort to just eat the crab, meat, shell and all. With pepper sauce tingling on your tongue and cold beer washing it down, gorge yourself on Kep’s finest culinary offering — and enjoy a place while it remains untrampled by the crowds.

____

If You Go…

KEP AND KOH TONSAY, CAMBODIA: http://bit.ly/9WqOPt

TIMING: The best time to visit Cambodia is in the rainy reason (roughly late September through February), when the daytime temperatures aren’t sweltering. The rains, while heavy, are brief in their duration and awe-inspiring in their intensity. This is considered high season for many hotels and other tourist services.

GETTING THERE: Fly to one of Southeast Asia’s hubs — like Bangkok or Singapore — then take a budget carrier — Air Asia, Silk Air, Dragon Air, Jet Star, to name a few — to Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. Regular bus service between Phnom Penh and Kep is cheap (around $7; http://www.ppsoryatransport.com) but getting tickets and finding the right departure point in Phnom Penh’s chaotic streets can be difficult, so best to ask your hotel or a travel agent for help. Renting a taxi to make the three-hour drive is also possible. Cost varies depending on whether you use a private car ($20-35 a day; http://www.lyna-carrental.com/) or a shared taxi or car ($40 and very subject to change with no notice)

ACCOMMODATIONS IN KEP:

_Knai Bang Chatt: http://www.knaibangchatt.com. Located waterside, about a minute by moto or tuk-tuk (motorized rickshaw) from the Crab Market. Rates $150-$350 high season, $110-$225 low season.

_Veranda Natural Resort: http://www.veranda-resort.com/index.php. Located inland, up a steep hill at end of dirt road, about three minutes by moto or tuk-tuk from Crab Market. Rooms and bungalows $40-$210, high season,; $35-$195, low season.

_Kep Malibu Estates: http://www.malibuestatesbungalows.com/. Located inland, up a short dirt road, about three minutes by moto or tuk-tuk from the Crab Market. Rooms or bungalows, $35-$120, high season, $30-$80, low season. Camping is also available.

The Beach House: http://www.thebeachhousekep.com/. Located on a steep hill overlooking Kep Beach, 3 minutes by moto or tuk-tuk from Crab Market. Rooms $40-$55.

Read more here:
Cambodia’s Kep: Sleepy seaside town begins to stir (AP)

Out to scare you: Haunted attractions, theme parks (AP)

NEW YORK – If you’re too old for trick-or-treating but still love getting spooked on Halloween, it’s time to trade in the superhero costume for a ticket to a haunted house or theme park.

But attractions like Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights and Atlanta’s Netherworld Haunted House are not for the faint of heart. You’ll be trapped in creepy mazes, disoriented by strobe lights and fog, and confronted by crazed monsters. Experiences like these are not recommended for kids under 13, but even some grown-ups may not be able to handle them. If watching a Stephen King movie keeps you up all night, or you’re prone to panic attacks in small spaces, better stick to apple-picking or the child-friendly “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party” at Walt Disney World.

On the other hand, if you love the tingle of terror that comes with a really creepy horror movie, this is your kind of fun.

David Mandt, spokesman for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, noted that a number of parks have added new elements to their Halloween events this year: “They’re figuring out new ways to scare the daylights out of you.”

Mandt said this year’s Halloween offerings include a number of behind-the-scenes tours, including, at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia, “All-Access Insider,” “Eerie Insider” and “Monster Stomp Revamped Insider” tours for the park’s Howl-O-Scream, http://www.howloscream.com. The tours include cast introductions, front-of-the-line access to a haunted house and a chance to have your makeup done like one of the performers.

Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, which was a real prison until 1971 and today is a National Historic Landmark, hosts an annual Halloween event called Terror Behind the Walls. The attraction also offers an after-dark VIP tour, where you get an hourlong flashlight-guided tour of cellblocks, including Al Capone’s cell, isolation cells, and Death Row; http://www.terrorbehindthewalls.com.

Knott’s Berry Farm, a theme park in Buena Park, Calif., boasts one of the oldest Halloween theme park events in the country, dating to 1973. when “it was a few decorations and a few employees putting on some masks,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Blazey. The event, now called Knott’s Berry Farm Haunt, has grown dramatically. This year it features 13 mazes (including “Terror of London” with foggy streets and Jack the Ripper), three “scare zones,” 1,000 monster-actors, and seven live shows ranging from improv comedy to a hypnotist. While Knott’s does not release attendance figures, Blazey said the month that the Haunt runs makes more money for the company than any other time of year.

And while Knott’s does have a weekend daytime event for ages 3 to 11, with a costume party and trick-or-treating, the after-7 p.m. Haunt is for ages 13 and up; http://haunt.knotts.com/ for dates and tickets.

Universal Orlando in Florida began its Halloween attraction as “a tiny little experimental event with one haunted house over one weekend” in 1991, according to Jim Timon, senior vice president of entertainment. This year, hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the country are expected for the park’s 20th annual Halloween Horror Nights, with eight haunted houses, six scare zones and 1,000 “scareactors” in the park. The content is newly created each year for the Horror Nights, with original story lines and characters. This year’s characters include an evil master named Fear who drives all the other monsters’ diabolical deeds. Details about the back stories in the park attractions can be found on Universal’s website; fans can then see them come to life in the park.

Timon said the costumes, stories and sets are so rich, realistic and detailed that they are “film-quality. We could literally make our own new movies from these characters. The lighting, the special effects, the visuals — we do everything we can to suspend your disbelief and take away your illusion of control.”

One of Universal’s haunted houses this year is called Legendary Truth, an estate home with a history of murders that have resulted in paranormal activity. Timon said the house has an unusual set-up in which visitors trigger the special effects themselves. “People are used to us scaring them,” he said. “When they are the ones triggering the effects by how they are interacting with the haunted house, that’s even scarier. It’s a cool trick when they eventually realize, ‘I’m the one causing this.’”

A note to Harry Potter fans: Universal Orlando consists of two parks. Halloween Horror Nights takes place at Universal Studios Florida, not at its sister park, Islands of Adventure, where The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is located.

Universal Studios Hollywood theme park in Los Angeles has its own Halloween Horror Nights, which are mostly themed on horror films like “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Friday the 13th.” For a new maze this year unrelated to the movies, Universal created an original graphic novella, “Vampyre: Castle of the Undead,” which can be seen online. The park also created a new scare zone haunted by La Llorona, based on a Latin American legend of a crying woman who drowned her children in anger over her philandering husband.

Details and tickets for Universal parks on either coasts can be found at http://www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com.

Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Ill., is also counting two decades of Halloween events with the 20th season of “Fright Fest.” The park’s new “Saw Live” haunted house is themed on the “Saw” movie series, with props, characters and scenes from the films. For younger children, the park has spook-free zones. Details at http://bit.ly/cVcqyq.

Netherworld Haunted House in Atlanta — http://www.fearworld.com — ranks No. 1 on a list of top scariest attractions compiled by Larry Kirchner, editor of Hauntworld Magazine, an online industry publication. Netherworld promises that visitors will find themselves fleeing flying gargoyles, escaping from a house where the floors crack open and furniture comes to life, and trying to avoid capture by a mad scientist known as the Mangler, whose victims meet their fate in a drowning tank, flesh compactor and acid room.

“When you go through a haunted house on the level of Netherworld, you’re totally immersed in an environment as detailed as a movie,” Kirchner said.

But he added that there’s a major difference between watching a movie and visiting a haunted house. “When you see a horror movie, you’re sitting in a theater seat 100 feet away from a screen and nothing is going to shake your seat or fall in your face. In a haunted house, you’re living in the horror movie,” Kirchner said.

He added that part of what makes haunted houses so compelling is that they are also “unscripted live shows” that change every night depending on how the actors interact with guests, so no two visits will be exactly alike. The complete list of Kirchner’s 13 favorite Halloween attractions is at http://www.hauntworld.com.

Another list of Halloween bests comes from Haunted Attraction Magazine, which lists “Must-See Haunted Houses” at http://www.hauntedattraction.com, starting with House of Shock in New Orleans. Others in the Haunted Attraction top 10 are Kevin McCurdy’s Haunted Mansion in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Scarehouse in Pittsburgh; Dead Acres in Columbus, Ohio; House of Torment, Austin, Texas; Fear Itself, Mishawaka, Ind.; Dent School House, Cincinnati; Nightmare on 13th, Salt Lake City; Wisconsin Feargrounds, Waukesha, Wis.; and Blood Manor, New York City.

But how do the creators make these experiences so scary? Timon, from Universal, said one of the fundamentals at the Orlando park is disorientation. Strobe lights and ultraviolet lights dilate your eyes; maze-like corridors and darkness make it hard for you to figure out where you’re going; mirrors make you think someone is next to you when they’re actually some distance away.

“People are terrified of losing control,” Timon said. “So we love taking away that control.”

Another technique is distracting guests with an elaborate scene, like a gory body on a gurney. “You’re focused on it because it’s really elaborate, so you’re not paying attention to the four people who are sneaking up on you,” Timon said.

Just remember at all of these attractions, actors are trained to invade your space without ever touching or harming you, so you’re always safe even when you’re scared out of your wits.

It’s terror “as a form of entertainment,” said Timon. “People like the scare, but they know they’re in a safe environment.”

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Out to scare you: Haunted attractions, theme parks (AP)

Today Mongolian nomads on motorcycles not horses (AP)

CHIFENG, China – It’s no longer about the armed warriors, Genghis Khan and the robed nomads prancing through lush greenery on horseback.

In China’s barely populated Inner Mongolian grasslands, what had defined Mongolian culture for outsiders have long been swapped for leather outfits, motorbikes, cell phones and tourism.

Five hours outside Inner Mongolia’s southeastern city of Chifeng and deep in the grasslands, I chanced upon a local couple riding a mule-pulled cart on a quiet road, heading toward their coal-heated yurt. The old woman said she loves watching drama shows on TV, gesturing toward the dish propped up against her roof. On the freeway nearby, cars and buses seem to be the only other form of transportation, with horse-riding existing mostly for tourists.

The old storybook nomad life has dwindled, with most nomads now farming, living in compact brick huts, tending to tourists, or working in nearby cities. Desertification, too, is real and apparent, as you drive past yellowing grass where little livestock roams and sparse green shoots struggling through dried, gritty earth. The few who have maintained a nomadic lifestyle only camp on the grass during the wetter June to September months, making those the best times for travelers seeking an authentic glimpse of the old ways.

But while nomadic pastoral life is fading, echoes of it can still be found in some of the grasslands in southeastern Inner Mongolia. Windmills and nodding sunflowers dot endless expanses of rolling green fields, and there isn’t a clearer blue sky to be found in all of China — although the view is occasionally interrupted by power lines or neon-yellow tour buses that honk relentlessly to prod the cows and sheep to the side.

On my trip to the region, I saw a lanky young nomad zip up a steep grassy hill on a motorcycle to herd his sheep. Looking like James Dean in his dark shades and black leather jacket, he leaned against the squeaking door of his yurt and let me and a traveling companion crouch inside.

With luck and patience, visitors may find a nomad farther inland who has room in his yurt for crashing overnight. Real yurts are unfussy versions of tourist yurt accommodations, with dusty, unpretentious exteriors and claustrophobic interiors packed with dishes, pots, a bed, an odd chair or two, and many small furry pets (like hamsters). Other elements of this simple Mongolian home, which matches the low-key culture, might include a dangling light bulb, a communal spread for the bed, and some simple kitschy decorations, along with the quiet cold.

Those staying in tourist accommodations miss out on an integral component of the grassland: cow dung. To get from the main road to a nomad’s home, we selectively tiptoed over (and sometimes into) piles of cow dung, one of two main “banks,” or income generators in Inner Mongolia (the other is wind power). Dried cow dung used to be the main source of fuel and heat for the chilly climate, and the amount of cow dung in a household is a measuring stick for diligence when it comes to a female candidate for marriage, as it demonstrates her ability to bring in fuel for the family.

The ubiquitous milk ads and sheer roadside cattle count point to beef and dairy production as agricultural mainstays. Upon arriving in Chifeng on the first day, we devoured a bowl of beef (meat, marrow, or joint) noodle soup. The small alley markets on Changqing Street offer a variety of fresh and pricey Mongolian beef jerky, sampled, weighed and wrapped on the spot. After sundown, the night market in Chifeng offers a smorgasbord of knick-knacks and necessities, from beef kebabs and toys to underwear and sheets, stretching many blocks. (Chifeng is the Chinese name for the city Mongolians call Ulanhad; both mean “Red Mountain,” a reference to the mountain that abuts the city.)

Sensitive palates may not love the distinct gaminess of the local beef, so some visitors may prefer Mongolian lamb, which is known for its excellent flavor. Some say it’s the quality of the air and grass, while others point to the traditional slaughtering method. In light of the Mongols’ emphasis on an animal’s spirit, rather than slitting the throat and waiting for the animal to bleed to death, the nomad reaches inside the animal and snaps the spine, a technique that is said to kill the creature in 30 seconds. The meat comes out tender and flavorful enough that it needs no sauce or spice. Lamb-eating used to be a mark of aristocracy, unaffordable among ordinary nomads. The price of a fresh whole lamb is still hefty today, and nomads say they don’t eat it too often.

Something else for visitors to experience in the region is the Arshihaty granite forest in the Hexigten Global Geopark. Temperatures plummet on the windy mountaintop, where chilly visitors will find vendors renting much-needed green military jackets reminiscent of the Red Army’s Lenin coat. The Arshihaty boasts wide views of rocky green mountains and natural stone columns molded by the wind into shapes of eagles, snakes, warriors, warrior’s beds, turtles and castles — sure to inspire your imagination on the drive back.

___

If You Go…

INNER MONGOLIA: Two English-language websites offering information about tour groups and companies in Inner Mongolia are http://bit.ly/auvu0E and http://bit.ly/d3tQwP. Some of the best trip-planning websites are in Chinese; automated online translation services like Google Translator may be able to help you navigate them: http://bit.ly/amQHkG and http://bit.ly/9Ijjw6 and http://bit.ly/c6lXQC. For individual guides and drivers, try http://kaifeng.cncn.com/fuwu/74288147333 or http://huhehaote.cncn.com/fuwu/7310114376.

GETTING THERE: Train trips from Beijing to Chifeng take anywhere from six to 10 hours. The cheapest, slowest train costs about $19 (124 yuan). To go from Chifeng to the grasslands, most visitors hire a driver or join a tour. Drivers run about $30 (200 yuan) a day.

ACCOMMODATIONS: A tourist yurt costs $7.50-$30 (50-200 yuan) nightly, depending on the time of year, with June-August more expensive then other months. If you can find a real nomad to host you, the cost might run $7.50-$15 (50-100 yuan).

HEXIGTEN GLOBAL GEOPARK: http://www.globalgeopark.org/publish/portal1/tab133/info270.htm

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Today Mongolian nomads on motorcycles not horses (AP)

AC hopes `Boardwalk Empire' brings the tourists (AP)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – What “The Sopranos” did for a pork store in northern New Jersey and “Sex and the City” did for a Manhattan cupcake shop, Atlantic City is hoping “Boardwalk Empire” does for the seaside gambling resort.

Nothing is too trivial to become a tourist trap as long as it appears in a hit TV show. “Sopranos” fans packed tour buses to visit spots like the pork store and a strip club, and girls-night-out devotees planned trips around watering holes and shoe stores featured in “Sex and the City.”

Now, with “Boardwalk Empire,” the HBO series set in Prohibition-era Atlantic City, the resort is ready for its close-up. And with critics hailing the series as perhaps the best of the fall TV season, the 12-episode series could keep Atlantic City in the nation’s consciousness far longer and better than any ad could.

“It’s an hour-long commercial for Atlantic City, top-of-the mind awareness,” said Don Marrandino, eastern regional president of Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., which owns four of Atlantic City’s 11 casinos. “People will want to come here and see it for themselves, and we need to take full advantage of that.”

The attention comes not a moment too soon for the nation’s second-largest gambling resort. Atlantic City is in the fourth straight year of a revenue decline brought on by competition from casinos in neighboring states, as well as a continuing poor economy that has people less willing to risk their cash at the tables and slot machines.

Its revenues, after hitting a high of $5.2 billion in 2006, fell to $3.9 billion by the end of last year and nearly 9,000 casino workers have lost their jobs since then.

Two casinos were sold this year for pennies on the dollar, and a third is widely believed to be in danger of closing, having stopped making mortgage payments more than a year ago.

In this context, the free publicity from a smash hit TV show is a godsend. Jeff Vasser, president of the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority, says the resort has a golden opportunity to cash in.

“I don’t think HBO can do anything more than it already has done to promote this show, so there will be no excuse for us to say, `If only they had done this or that,’ ” he said.

The show centers on the exploits of Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, the Steve Buscemi character based on the real-life Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, Atlantic City’s political and rackets boss during Prohibition.

For 30 years, until he was finally sent to prison in 1941 for tax evasion, Johnson dominated Atlantic City — then one of the nation’s leading resorts. He controlled not only the Republican political machine that had a stranglehold on government, but also made sure illegal liquor, prostitution and gambling operations flourished under the protection of paid-off officials.

The show’s first episode, which aired last Sunday, introduces us to Nucky and his network of vice as he cements alliances with organized crime to make sure that Atlantic City stayed wet while the rest of the nation was officially dry. But it also showed his compassionate side, handling out cash to down-and-out families whose political loyalties were then secured for years.

In the spirit of Nucky Johnson, Atlantic City is trying to wring every last dollar out of the show with a slew of 1920s-themed promotions. Nearly 30 restaurants are offering are offering two or three-course meals priced at $19.20. Caesars Atlantic City is offering 1,920 hotel rooms for $19.20 a night. Bars are whipping up whiskey-laced “Boardwalk Empire” cocktails like “The Nucky” (whiskey, grapefruit juice, tonic water and grenadine over ice, topped by an orange wedge), and “The Boardwalk Boss” (whiskey, wet vermouth and apple brandy with a lemon peel garnish). A full list of what’s available where is at http://www.atlanticcitynj.com under the heading “take the Empire restaurant tour.”

For that same $19.20, Resorts Atlantic City offers hot lather straight-razor shaves just like the one Nucky enjoys in the show.

Harrah’s and Canadian Club whiskey (featured in the show) are sending marketing e-mails to their 40-million-member marketing list. Even Bloomingdale’s has a mock 115-foot boardwalk promoting the show at its flagship Manhattan store.

The main problem with getting fans of the show to come to Atlantic City is that “Boardwalk Empire” was actually shot on a fabricated set in New York City, with the ocean added in via computer graphics. And aside from Boardwalk Hall and a tiny handful of old hotels, not much from Nucky’s era has survived along the real-life Boardwalk.

The Fralinger’s salt water taffy sign, a local landmark, was shown in the first episode. Vasser hopes other present-day Atlantic City icons also will be featured, so they can be included into marketing efforts. One idea is a Prohibition Tour of local sites in Atlantic City that figured prominently in the illegal liquor trade of Nucky’s day.

Pinky Kravitz, a local radio show host and tireless promoter of Atlantic City, suggests recreating the show’s set on the actual Boardwalk.

“That will give people something to visit, where they can have their pictures taken and make them feel connected not only to the show but to Atlantic City,” he said.

But because Nucky is no longer handing out fistfuls of $100 bills, someone would have to pay for it.

“Pinky’s idea is a good one,” Vasser said, “and he wants HBO to pay for it, which makes it a great one.”

Tobe Becker, an HBO spokeswoman, said the network “will consider any and all ideas” to promote the show, but said it is too early to say whether Kravitz’s suggestion is practical.

Excerpt from:
AC hopes `Boardwalk Empire’ brings the tourists (AP)

Anyone for a picnic at the old cemetery? (AP)

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Atop an oak-shaded hill at Mount Hope Cemetery, an epitaph chiseled in Latin on Col. Nathaniel Rochester’s headstone whispers on the wind: “If you seek his monument, look around you.”

Mount Hope, America’s oldest municipal park-garden graveyard, is a refuge not only for the departed. Curious souls still tramp through the 196-acre arboretum by the tens of thousands each year, among them picnickers, bird watchers, joggers and history buffs.

In the Romantic era of Wordsworth and Beethoven, the Victorian vogue of mourning embraced a love of nature and artistry. So-called “rural cemeteries” a few miles out of town were a sublime departure from the austere colonial churchyards with morbid funerary where the dead typically ended up.

Some 200 were established in the three decades before the Civil War, beginning with Mount Auburn near Boston in 1831. They’re invariably hemmed in now by urban sprawl, forerunners of large-scale city parks and the grid-pattern cemeteries that predominate to this day.

Carved out of wilderness on New York’s western frontier in 1838, Mount Hope’s heavily wooded Old Grounds are a jumble of glacier-carved ridges, ravines and meadows.

Cobbled carriage paths twist and tumble past Greek-style mausoleums, a Florentine fountain and a Gothic Revival chapel, stone terraces fringed with wildflowers, and ornate bronze, marble and granite sculptures of pet dogs, winged angels and Celtic crosses.

And don’t forget the permanent residents — 350,000 at last count, and growing by 300 or so each year.

Among the best-known: Civil rights crusader Frederick Douglass, suffragist Susan B. Anthony, anthropology pioneer Lewis Henry Morgan, and William Warfield, fondly eulogized in 2002 for his gravelly rendition of “Ol’ Man River” in the musical “Show Boat.”

Around every curve lie tales of heroism, ingenuity, intrigue and tragedy: A dentist, Josephus Requa, who invented the first machine gun; Gen. George Washington’s drummer boy; an Arctic explorer with the U.S. Army forced to resort to cannibalism; George Selden, creator of the first gasoline-powered automobile.

Regular visitors and newcomers alike are drawn in by Mount Hope’s topography, architecture, personalized ornamentation and fabled denizens. Perhaps above all, they treasure the almost mystical hush.

“I look at the beauty, the architecture and the stones and I remember all those buried here that made the city — made history what it is — as people,” said Joyce Wiedrich, 58, a nurse who gets a daily glimpse of Mount Hope from a nearby hospital and loves rambling the grounds on fall weekends. “I don’t get morose or just think of death when I come here. I think of the life that surrounds this place.”

Consecrated a year into Queen Victoria’s reign, Mount Hope began as a 54-acre cemetery 1 1/2 miles from downtown, where overburdened burial grounds were proving a health hazard and an obstacle to expansion. Today, bustling neighborhoods and the University of Rochester campus press all along its perimeter in this city of 208,000 on Lake Ontario’s southern shore.

Under towering oaks 200 to 300 years old, the heart of Mount Hope “is maybe the only place in Rochester that still looks like the 19th century,” said Dennis Carr, a college library researcher. “It brings history alive — a paradox in a cemetery — but you feel connected to great events and people who did great things.”

The Rochesterville settlement Col. Rochester established along the Genesee River gorge in 1811 was already a boom town when he died in 1831. Twenty years later, a Main Street burial ground had to make way for the city’s first hospital and his body was moved to its serene perch on Rochester Hill.

When the leaves have fallen, allowing glimpses of the city, cemetery aficionados gather at the city founder’s large family plot. “We put our cheese and crackers on top of the tombstones, drink wine and have a nice time,” said Oregon-born author Richard Reisem.

Mount Hope served as Reisem’s local park when he took a job as a Kodak speechwriter. “I had never seen anything like it in my life — it was just astounding!” said Reisem, 80, one of whose books, “Buried Treasures in Mount Hope Cemetery,” is a field guide with 500 mini-biographies of his favorite inhabitants.

Carr, who with Reisem has led guided walking tours at Mount Hope since the 1970s, spotted Kurt Vonnegut on a 1994 pilgrimage to honor fellow POW Edward Crone Jr., the role model for Billy Pilgrim in “Slaughterhouse Five.” Vonnegut later wrote that “he didn’t feel the Second World War had ended for him until he had come here and visited the grave of his friend,” Carr said.

The rural cemetery movement, which sprouted at Pere LaChaise near Paris in 1804, spread to England before crossing the Atlantic.

Four private rural cemeteries — Mount Auburn in Cambridge, Mass., Laurel Hill in Philadelphia, Green-Wood in Brooklyn and Spring Grove in Cincinnati — are national historic landmarks. Within the next year, Mount Hope will try to claim that top-tier designation as a rare rural cemetery run by a municipality.

That cemetery model — selectively planted and pruned but meant to look as if it spontaneously arose from nature — mirrored the spirit of the times, a new Age of Romanticism.

“You’ve moved from the colonial-era Protestant idea of predestination,” where cemeteries are grim and neglected, to “a much more optimistic view of the afterlife” reflected in loved ones being laid to rest in lilac groves under simple limestone tablets adorned with Scripture or soulful verse, Carr said.

Mount Hope’s public ownership made it a striking example of cemeteries suited to a more egalitarian age, opening its gates to all religions, races and social classes. Lot holders had free rein over the design and appearance of the individual gravesites.

As the industrial economy took hold after the Civil War, cemetery layouts were turned over to professional superintendents and the free-for-all approach began to be seen as garish and disorganized. The centrally managed landscape-lawn model was popularized by Adolph Strauch at Spring Grove.

“He got rid of private-lot fencing, all the extraneous visualization like cast-iron animals, wire benches and trellises,” said the 733-acre Cincinnati cemetery’s historian, Phil Nuxhall. “Can you have any type of monument or flora on a private family lot here? The answer is no. It has to be harmonious with the surroundings.”

In recent times, rural cemeteries have come full circle in capturing the public’s imagination.

“They start out as contemplative places to honor the dead and equally as parklike spaces that could be accessed by any level of society,” Carr said. While that cemetery style faded away — “they were looked upon sometimes as a waste of space” — they’ve benefited from a newfound appreciation for conserving the past.

“Maybe 30 to 40 years old,” Carr said, “people started to look at them as cultural resources akin to a museum. They’re a constant in a constantly changing world.”

___

If You Go…

MOUNT HOPE CEMETERY: 1133 Mount Hope Ave., Rochester, N.Y., http://bit.ly/axstBe

MOUNT AUBURN CEMETERY: 580 Mount Auburn St., Cambridge, Mass., http://www.mountauburn.org/

LAUREL HILL CEMETERY: 3822 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia, http://www.thelaurelhillcemetery.org

GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY: 500 25th St., Brooklyn, N.Y., http://www.green-wood.com/

SPRING GROVE CEMETERY: 4521 Spring Grove Ave., Cincinnati; http://www.springgrove.org

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Anyone for a picnic at the old cemetery? (AP)

Prost! Munich toasts 200 years of Oktoberfest (AP)

MUNICH – It’s a wedding party that got out of control: Two hundred years ago, Bavaria’s Crown Prince Ludwig celebrated his royal nuptials with a big public bash that was such a hit it became an annual event — and came to be known worldwide as “The Oktoberfest.”

His bride, Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghusen, gave her name to the Theresienwiese festival grounds upon which the event welcomes more than 6 million people a year for towering mugs of beer, oompah music and bright traditional costumes.

“I was made for this festival. I love it,” crowed Meagan Aylward from Charlotte, North Carolina, while holding a mug of frothy Oktoberfest beer.

The “Wiesn” — as Oktoberfest is locally known — was put on hold for various reasons during its 200-year history, including the two World Wars, the Franco-Prussian war, and cholera epidemics. That makes this year the 177th edition.

“The Wiesn has been part of my life ever since I started thinking,” said Friedrich Steinberg, whose family has operated one of the tents on the 77-acre (31-hectare) festival grounds in the center of Munich for 31 years.

“When we started having this tent, it was nowhere near so crowded, there were no days when you were forced to close the entrance” said the 40-year-old, who normally runs a downtown restaurant. Today, it’s not uncommon for the tent to fill up shortly after it opens at 9 a.m., he said.

Oktoberfest usually runs 16 days, but this year’s festival started Saturday and will run through Oct. 4 — a day longer than usual after the Munich city council made an exception for the 200th anniversary.

The city also set up a special area with an exhibition of Oktoberfest history — replete with period costumes — as well as a beer tent serving a special brew, the “Jubilee Beer,” for which Munich’s six normally competing breweries joined forces in a historic beer truce.

While the core of the Oktoberfest remains the same, with Dirndl-clad waitresses delivering 2-pint (1-liter) mugs of beer, its flavor has evolved over the years. A local festival with small beer gardens has mushroomed into a massive international event featuring about a dozen cavernous beer tents, some seating more than 10,000 singing, inebriated revelers at a time.

“Back in the old days, there were perhaps 200,000 or 300,000 people coming to the Oktoberfest, which then already was a record,” said 67-year-old Peter Hartmann, who hasn’t missed an Oktoberfest in 55 years.

“Now if you go out there at night, you can’t choose your path freely anymore; you’re pushed by the crowd in a certain direction,” he complained.

But Martin Wimmer, who has been a regular visitor for 38 years, likes the change.

“Now there are more young visitors, in the tents you also have modern music and the atmosphere has become even more relaxed,” said the 62-year-old from nearby Rosenheim.

Wimmer, wearing traditional Bavarian Lederhosen leather shorts, said he makes sure to visit Oktoberfest at least eight to 10 times per year: “This year maybe even 12 times.”

On any given festival day he’ll drink up to eight mugs of beer.

That, however, is but a tiny drop of the 1.6 million gallons (6 million liters) of beer that visitors down during the festival every year. They also consume some 500,000 chickens, 100 oxen and an unknown number of large doughy pretzels at the festival.

The festival’s malty pale beer is made exclusively by Munich’s breweries, and comes in 1-liter steins called “Mass,” costing some euro9 ($12).

People crowd the huge shared tables in the tents and the outdoor beer gardens seeking the festival’s famous “Gemuetlichkeit” — a word capturing Bavaria’s special coziness and fondness for savoring the moment.

“Oktoberfest is the best place to be because it’s one of the places that brings all the nations together,” said 25-year-old Israeli ballet dancer Ilia Sarkisov. “They drink, have no war, have only peace. And that’s what’s it’s all about.”

However, Oktoberfest has been targeted with violence in the past — a bomb attack in 1980 attributed to the far right killed 13 people and injured 200 others. Last year, it was mentioned in a threatening message released by the Taliban, and security officials remain on alert.

This anniversary Oktoberfest has had a perfect start so far, with more than 1 million visitors over the weekend and pleasant fall weather.

Smoking has been banned inside the tents for the first time, but no major problems with the new regulation have been reported.

Waitress Hermine Roth was marking another anniversary — the 20th year she has been lugging beer steins, 10 at a time, to her customers’ tables.

Despite the physical demands, the 64-year-old said she can’t imagine not being part of it all.

“It really becomes an addiction,” she said. “When it’s over, you’re already looking forward to the next Wiesn.”

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Prost! Munich toasts 200 years of Oktoberfest (AP)

Monet show to reconcile French with snubbed master (AP)

PARIS – Beloved by Americans, Impressionist master Claude Monet has long been a victim of a sort of Gallic snobbishness in his native France.

A new exhibition at Paris’ Galleries Nationales attempts to right this historic wrong by bringing together nearly 200 pieces by the painter — from blockbuster chefs d’oeuvre reproduced in books, magazines and postcards worldwide to little-known, privately held pieces you’d never guess were Monets.

Curator Guy Cogeval said “Claude Monet (1840-1926)” — the most complete Monet exhibit in France since 1980, with paintings on loan from dozens of museums and collections from Cleveland, Ohio, to Canberra, Australia — is a bid to “repatriate one of the great geniuses of French art.”

“We (the French) have always said, ‘Monet’s for an exhibit in Japan, an exhibit in the United States, but not for one in France.’ But why? He’s one of our greatest painters,” Cogeval told The Associated Press.

He chalked this reticence up to “snobbishness,” saying the French largely dismissed Impressionism as “something for tourists” and preferred other 19th century movements like Realism or Symbolism.

This Gallic apathy “has had disastrous consequences” on the French public’s appreciation of Monet, Cogeval said, adding that the lion’s share of recent scholarship on the painter was done by academics in the U.S. and Britain.

“I think the French public will be very surprised” by the show, said Cogeval — who also heads Paris’ Musee d’Orsay, a museum dedicated largely to the Impressionists.

Organized thematically, the exhibition — which opens Wednesday and runs through Jan. 24 — showcases the subjects that obsessed Monet throughout his long life, from the rocky coastline of Normandy to the haystacks and poplars he revisited under every conceivable meteorological condition, to the Japanese bridge and water lily-filled pond at his home in Giverny.

It highlights his evolution from a gifted but slightly conventional landscape painter — churning out in the mid-1860s seascapes so realistic they could almost be mistaken for photographs — to a painter whose feathery brushstrokes that captured shifting light, atmosphere and movement helped launch the Impressionist movement.

Grays, slate blues and forest greens dominate the early work, but Monet’s palette slowly broadens out, first to include pastels like buttery yellows and salmon pinks and then to the bold mauves, teals and crimsons of his final years, when his eyesight was clouded by cataracts.

“Point de la Heve at Low Tide,” an 1865 depiction of a foreboding, rocky beach in the northwestern Normandy region where he grew up — one of Monet’s early critical successes — shows his lifelong preoccupation with weather and atmosphere: The skies churn with foreboding black clouds and the whitecap-dotted sea roils.

Even as a young man of 25, Monet had already begun his lifelong pattern of returning over and over to the same subjects. The first paintings in the show, both from 1865, are two different takes on the same subject, a clearing in the forest of Fontainebleau, outside of Paris.

That kind repetition runs through the show, as its five curators scoured private museums and collections in at least 14 countries to procure multiple reinterpretations of the same scenes.

A series of five paintings from 1890-91 looks at the same mammoth haystacks at different times of day and throughout the year, capturing the mushroom-shaped objects under the golden sun of a sweltering midsummer’s day or shrouded beneath a glinting covering of frost or snow.

The facade of the cathedral of Rouen appears as many times in the exhibit, its Gothic facade tinged canary yellow, mauve, apricot or dusty gray, depending on the changing light.

Still, the show manages a fine balance between such Monet hallmarks as the haystacks and the cathedral and little-known pieces painted in styles one wouldn’t normally associate with the Impressionist master.

“Hunting trophies,” a realistic 1862 still life of dead fowl, looks like it was left over from some completely unrelated exhibition.

And at first glance, “Luncheon on the Grass” — a monumental 1865 work — appears surely to have been painted by Edouard Manet, whose 1863 canvas of the same name was a critical hit at the time and has blossomed into an enduring masterpiece.

But it’s definitely a Monet: Determined to surpass Manet, the fiercely competitive Monet tried his hand at an even larger, more complicated composition of the same genre. But the project proved too ambitious for the young painter, who abandoned it and stashed it away for decades before eventually gifting it to the French government, curators said.

A 1866 portrait of his first wife, Camille, wearing what curators said was likely a rented dress of sumptuous green silk, conjures up the stately portraits of American painter John Singer Sargent.

Of course no Monet retrospective would be complete without his iconic “Water Lilies,” which have launched a thousand Impressionist calendars the world over. The monumental series of murals couldn’t be moved from the Orangerie Museum across town, but curators culled more than a dozen paintings of the aquatic plants — which Monet himself had planted in a specially dug pond in his garden in Giverny.

From the beginning of his career through the end of his life and beyond, Monet’s admirers in the U.S. were largely behind his enduring success, the curators said.

“Americans were really the people who got Monet’s career moving,” said Richard Thomson, another of the show’s curators. “By the 1880s, Monet’s paintings were selling extremely well in America … perhaps because the American taste was less rigid than in France.”

Cogeval said he expects the exhibition will attract some 700,000 visitors — many of them French people, but also many of Monet’s enduring American fans.

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Online: http://www.grandpalais.fr/en/Homepage/p-617-lg1-Homepage.htm

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Monet show to reconcile French with snubbed master (AP)

Pa. art exhibit shows war through soldiers' eyes (AP)

PHILADELPHIA – For as long as the United States has gone to war, it has sent soldiers marching off to battle armed with paintbrushes, canvas, ink and sketchbooks.

With little fanfare or public recognition, they have captured the sights, sounds and sensations of combat since the American Revolution. Examples of Army soldiers’ efforts over the past century will be on display, many for the first time, in a new exhibition in Philadelphia.

“Art of the American Soldier” opens Sept. 24 at the National Constitution Center and runs through Jan. 10. It will also travel to other as-yet-unannounced locations, Constitution Center president David Eisner said.

The museum has planned gallery talks, an audio tour that includes soldiers telling their own war stories, workshops and lesson plans to complement the exhibition. An online art gallery also encourages veterans from all branches of the military to submit their own art expressing their personal war experiences, Eisner said.

More than 250 paintings and sketches from World War I to the present provide a glimpse of the daily lives of soldiers, from the canteen to the stark, noisy and chaotic battlefield.

“The Army was truly interested in seeing war through the eyes of the soldier artists, not for propaganda purposes,” said artist and Vietnam veteran Jim Pollock, of Pierre, S.D. “We were encouraged to express our experiences in our own style; we could determine our own agenda and our own subject matter.”

Combat art programs are long-held military traditions. The Air Force, Marines and Navy have their own museums in which they display art from within their ranks. The Army, lacking such a museum, keeps its 15,000 wartime paintings and sketches made by 1,300 unsung soldier artists in storage. Many of the pieces in this exhibit have never before been on public view.

“This is the American people’s collection and we want them to see it,” said retired Army Col. Rob Dalessandro of the United States Army Center of Military History in Washington. “These paintings tell a fascinating story of the life of soldiers and the duty of soldiers.”

The scope of the Army’s art program has waxed and waned over the decades, its funding often subject to prevailing political winds and aesthetic tastes.

“The Army falls in love with photography during the Civil War and people begin to question why we need artists,” Dalessandro said. “Thankfully during World War I, there’s the realization that something is captured on canvas that cannot ever be captured on film.”

Funding was yanked in the middle of World War II, as the program’s $125,000 price tag within a $72 million 1942 war budget was deemed excessive by critics. Then-U.S. Rep. Joe Starnes, an Alabama Democrat, notoriously called the program “a piece of foolishness.”

Some civilian artists continued working, however, with financial backing from LIFE magazine and others. Federal funding was restored a year later, and 23 soldiers and 19 civilians returned to their duty.

“By the end of World War II, more than 2,000 pieces of art are produced and there are many prominent artists in the program,” Dalessandro said, among them Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin and proto-Pop painter Wayne Thiebaud.

The Korean War had no Army art program. During the Vietnam War, more than three dozen soldiers were tasked with making sketches and photographs to translate onto canvas later. Most recently, Army artists have been witness to military operations in Somalia, Haiti, Panama, the Balkans, and the Persian Gulf and Iraq wars.

Pollock, 22 years old and just out of art school, spent August to December of 1967 in Vietnam. Armed with India ink, a sketch pad and a gun, Pollock visited 52 units and covered 3,600 miles.

“When I got there, what I expected to see isn’t what I saw,” he said. “I didn’t see glorious battles or anything like that. I saw body bags stuffed in a Huey helicopter, I saw death and destruction.”

Pollock has several pieces in the exhibit from his Vietnam service. Among them is “Looking Down the Trail,” a watercolor of a soldier viewed from above amid a claustrophobic tangle of foliage.

“When we were in the field, the heat was so oppressive the only breeze would be from the bugs flying around,” he said. “What I tried to do was focus on the individual soldiers, to get past what you can see visually and get to the deeper emotional experience of this hostile environment.”

Unlike the older, more seasoned artists who documented both World Wars for the Army, Vietnam’s relatively inexperienced soldier artists often brought a raw aesthetic to their work.

“When the war was over, I went on to other subjects and never returned to it,” said Pollock, now a painter focusing on landscapes and abstract works. “Looking back, I’m amazed at what I did do at my age and inexperience.”

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Online:

National Constitution Center: http://constitutioncenter.org

Jim Pollock: http://pie.midco.net/vietwarart/vietart1.html

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Pa. art exhibit shows war through soldiers’ eyes (AP)

Old San Juan as a destination, not just side trip (AP)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Old San Juan echoes with centuries of history, dating back to the island’s discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1493 and the massive 16th-century Spanish forts overlooking the sea.

Today the neighborhood’s cobblestone streets pulsate with salsa music and beckon guests with a walkable, chaotic montage of restaurants, shops and clubs amid the Old World architecture. A visit to Old San Juan can be more than just an afternoon’s diversion; it’s worth considering this extraordinary enclave as a base for your vacation, and as an alternative to a beach resort.

You can walk from one end of Old San Juan to the other in about 15 minutes, passing buildings in every pastel hue imaginable. Make your way to Calle Tetuan and you’ll see a house reputed to be among the world’s narrowest at about 5 feet wide. Vines with neon-tinged blooms climb over balconies; trees explode in brilliant colors, and from some spots, you can see the turquoise sea.

Accommodations are plentiful and some hotels, including the renowned El Convento, are historic and unmistakably Spanish in style and ambiance. The El Convento site housed a Carmelite convent in the 17th century; it opened as a hotel in 1962, hosting celebrities like Rita Hayworth. At night in the Moorish-inspired courtyards, you’ll hear the famous coqui, a native frog whose big whistle contrasts to its tiny body. The sound is two syllables, in a delightful echo of its name. On Sundays, you’ll see weddings across the street at the historic San Juan Cathedral. In peak winter season, nightly rates at El Convento run $280-$400 (cheaper in the fall). Less expensive lodging options include Hotel Milano and Casa Blanca Hotel ($100-$200 nightly in winter).

Start your day in Old San Juan with a stroll early in the morning and have breakfast at the hip Aromas high-tech coffee bar, or Manolin, which has been around for over 60 years and has a retro vibe. Manolin has tables in the back and speckled green counters up front with green vinyl swivel stools. Servers sport crisp white shirts monogrammed with “Manolin Old San Juan” and dark trousers. A full breakfast costs less than $4. Another option is to walk over to the main square, the Plaza de Armas, and have a cafe con leche (coffee with steamed milk) and a mallorca, a sweet roll with powdered sugar. Don’t miss the ubiquitous Puerto Rican pastry known as quesito, a tube-shaped puff pastry filled with sweet cheese.

The area has a wide array of restaurants but it can be challenging to find one that serves more than mediocre tourist fare. Try Toro Salao, 367 Calle Tetuan, a Spanish-Puerto Rican fusion restaurant with (rare) outdoor seating on a plaza at the southern edge of the old city. Melao is somewhat out of the way along the waterfront near the southern entrance to the old city, Calle del Muelle 100, but is also very good and has outdoor seating. Verde Mesa, 216 Calle Tetuan, a tiny vegetarian restaurant, only serves lunch but is known for fantastic fruit shakes — no small feat in a place where shakes, known as batidas, are a staple. The French restaurant Trois Cent Onze (its French name translates to the numbers in its address, 311 Calle Fortaleza), is expensive but good.

After 10 p.m., the clubs begin to swing. Some places offer an hour’s free lesson before the dance floor opens to the general public. The Latin Roots at the port has a live band that plays Latin standards, along with some of the newer salsa hits. The Nuyorican Cafe in the heart of Old San Juan has jazz or fusion earlier in the evening, then switches to salsa. Other clubs offer rock and flamenco.

Although Puerto Rico’s reputation for crime is not undeserved, with more than 890 people killed last year in the island’s third-worst year for homicides, the tourist thoroughfares of Old San Juan feel relatively safe. Police are stationed on nearly every corner around the clock. Still, the community has been hit hard by the recession and many businesses are shuttered. You will see “se vende,” for sale, on nearly every street.

As a U.S. commonwealth, Puerto Rico is an especially easy destination for Americans to navigate. The currency is the U.S. dollar; if you are a U.S. citizen you don’t need a passport to visit, and many people speak English, though this is a great place to practice your Spanish. Be aware that the Puerto Rican accent is unusual in the Spanish-speaking world, so don’t be surprised, even if you are a Spanish speaker, if the jargon and pronunciation sound different.

Getting around is easy, too. Old San Juan has free trolleys, including a route that goes to the famous El Morro complex of forts. The monuments are operated by the U.S. National Park Service as the San Juan National Historic Site; last year they attracted over a million visitors. They also comprise a UNESCO World Heritage site, designated as a classic example of European military architecture in the New World. The fortifications were built by Spain on a strategic headland to protect the city, bay and Spanish trade routes from attack by European rivals. Exploring the buildings, ramparts and grounds, with their stairways, arches, tunnels, dungeons and spectacular views, makes a wonderful day’s outing. Kite-flying on the grounds is a popular pastime.

For faster transportation than the trolley, cabs are readily available and run on a flat rate. The cabbies provide a printed list of the fares; a ride to the beach is about $15. Or for 75 cents, take the city bus — the guagua. It could be slow-going but you’ll eventually reach your destination. There are some lovely restaurants right on the beach, including Pamela’s at the Numero Uno Guest House in Ocean Park, where you can have a wonderful ceviche with mango while watching kites flying over the palm-fringed beach and swimmers splashing in the surf. As with many other local restaurants, a 15 percent gratuity is included on the bill at Pamela’s, so check before you add a tip.

There are plenty of designer outlets in Old San Juan, including brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren, but the shopping may not be much better than what you would find at your local mall; no high-end Euro imports here, though you will find local artwork in galleries.

About a 10-minute drive from Old San Juan is the Plaza del Mercado de Santurce, known as La Placita, a daytime market. Evenings, late in the week and into the weekends, when the market closes, restaurants and clubs ringing the market open for business. One of the best but a bit hard to find is Jose Enrique, about a block away from the market on Calle Duffaut in a house with no sign. Arrive early; it’s small and reservations are not accepted. Dance your dinner off back in the marketplace, where a dance floor is set up and live or recorded music blares until well into the night.

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If You Go…

PUERTO RICO: http://www.gotopuertorico.com/

SAN JUAN HISTORIC SITE (FORT COMPLEX): http://www.nps.gov/saju/ and http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/266

HOTEL EL CONVENTO: http://www.elconvento.com/

HOTEL MILANO: http://www.hotelmilanopr.com/

CASA BLANCA HOTEL: http://www.hotelcasablancapr.com/

THE LATIN ROOTS: http://www.thelatinroots.com/

PAMELA’S RESTAURANT: http://www.numero1guesthouse.com/pamelas.html

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Old San Juan as a destination, not just side trip (AP)

New exhibit peels back layers of O'Keeffe (AP)

SANTA FE, N.M. – Beneath layers of paint, wrapped in bundles of brushes, hidden in sketch books and packed away among boxes of paints and pencils are clues that shed light on how Georgia O’Keeffe went about creating her colorful landscapes and iconic flower paintings.

Like forensic investigators, curators at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe have spent months combing through their collection and now they’re ready to share the many bits of evidence they have collected as part of the exhibition “O’Keeffiana: Art and Art Materials,” which opens Friday and runs through next May.

The collection of O’Keeffe’s never-before-displayed art materials, preparatory drawings, Polaroids and a pair of unfinished paintings is designed to give visitors a better understanding of how the late American modernist transferred her ideas about the world around her onto canvas.

“We have a kaleidoscope of material — from the art to the materials she used to make it and the houses that she lived in — and it’s the first time we’ve been able to draw on them to clarify in people’s minds what her objectives were as a painter and how she used materials to create things,” said museum curator Barbara Buhler Lynes.

The O’Keeffe Museum has a wealth of materials from the artist’s estate. At the time of her death in 1986, O’Keeffe’s two homes in northern New Mexico and most everything in them were set aside for preservation. That included her brushes, paint chips with notes jotted on the back, sketch books, canvases and hundreds of rocks and bleached animal bones she gathered over decades of exploring the high desert.

It was the job of associate curator Carolyn Kastner to search the museum’s climate-controlled vaults for clues that would help explain the foundation of O’Keeffe’s very deliberate style.

“I opened all the closets and pulled out all of the drawers. It’s been fascinating,” Kastner said.

Aside from the drawings O’Keeffe had organized in file folders by name, Kastner came across books filled with photographs O’Keeffe had taken of the same subjects from the same vantage points, just in different light and shadow. There was an album of cottonwood trees where O’Keeffe was clearly studying their texture and another of an area near her home in Abiquiu that she called the Black Place.

A series of her Polaroids is part of the show, along with the large painted canvases that were inspired by her study of the V-shapes in Glen Canyon.

“By putting these things together — the drawings, the photographs, the bones, the stones — we can recreate a kind of look at her practice. We can’t see her practice, but we can see the evidence from one object to another,” Kastner said.

Aside from revealing details about how she worked, the way O’Keeffe trimmed her brushes and stored her tools and art materials also provides some insight into her personality.

Over and over, Kastner and Lynes use the words precise and meticulous.

“Hundreds of brushes shaped and reshaped,” Kastner said. “It’s all about that finish that we know so well in her paintings, getting a precise line or a precise contour to come up, feathering over to make the surface as smooth and clear as it is. It follows through to everything.”

Kastner recalls that as she was laying out the exhibition, a rigid order began to emerge from the displays of O’Keeffe’s art materials. She wanted something “messy” to break up the orderly squares so she headed downstairs to the collection room.

“There was nothing,” she said. “What I’ve learned in looking at all of these materials, and particularly her art materials, is how meticulous she was. It comes out even in the way she stored materials.”

Visitors will see several galleries that include O’Keeffe’s tools, her line sketches and her more elaborate paintings. Infrared studies of some of her canvases also help to show how her drawings provided the foundation for her works of art.

Those works, Lynes said, have a certain look about them.

“It all reflects her aesthetic: very simplified, elegant forms that relate to one another, either abstractly or realistically. She uses them when she’s painting recognizable forms and she also uses them when she’s painting abstract forms,” she said. “They always come together in similar sorts of arrangement, and because of that, you always know you’re looking at an O’Keeffe.”

The curators acknowledge that many of the works in “O’Keeffiana” would not be part of a traditional exhibition, but this show is more about discovering the painter’s process than celebrating what has become a worldwide fascination with her monumental flowers and sweeping vistas.

O’Keeffe worked differently from many other artists, Lynes said. For example, Renaissance painters would often stray from their original under drawings, repositioning elements of their paintings as they went along.

“O’Keeffe usually doesn’t do that,” she said. “It’s interesting. It tells you she knew exactly what she wanted to do.”

Part of the inspiration for the exhibition comes of another exhibit Kastner put together while working in San Francisco. That show highlighted the work of a photographer who captured artists working in their studios. He had become friends with them and often stayed long enough that they forgot that he was there.

“I thought they were beautiful photographs, but people thought they were windows into a studio. People were fascinated to see artists in their studios, and I began to realize this is a place most people don’t get to see,” Kastner said.

There are very few photographs of O’Keeffe working in her studio or out in the wilds of New Mexico. However, the museum does have images of her studio, and on the window sills were an ever-changing cast of rocks and bones she used as subjects.

“There’s a quote about her infinite interest in natural color and shape and how it represents the wideness and wonder of the world she lives in. I think she was a student of that her entire life,” Kastner said.

Both Kastner and Lynes consider the exhibition an invaluable look at the artistic practices of one of America’s most important painters — practices that were consistent throughout O’Keeffe’s career, from her early work in 1916 to her last abstractions in the late 1970s.

“We can’t conjure a whole person out of this exhibition,” Kastner said, “but we can see the trace of her action on paper and canvas.”

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New exhibit peels back layers of O’Keeffe (AP)