It hit me the other day what’s interesting about The Isle of Man, other than it having the oldest working govornment in the world (Tynwald) and being the birthplace of the beeGees. And that is that there are often famous people here making films. Right now Mena Suvari is here making some film. I’d surrre like to see/meet her, but they usually get ferried around in limos with one way windows, bastards.
[sub]I have this lame fantasy that I will be walking by and the director will see me and shout “our leading man has just been sent to hospital with food poisoning, we need someone for this kiss-scene with Miss Suvari!”[/sub]
Last time it was Christina Ricci. Jack Palance has made a film here. And those are just the few that I am aware of.
Also - right in front of my house is a building closely associated with the film industry. I am not sure what it is but there are often film related trucks (pinewood studios, lighting trucks etc…)
Lessee - Orange Park is the home of Scott Speicher - the Navy pilot shot down in the first Gulf War. They’re still looking for him in Iraq. Is that interesting?
Middleburg, which is just south of here, is the home of Slim Whitman. Supposedly he shops at the Winn Dixie down the road from me.
And Penney Farms Retirement Community, which is south and east of here, is the home of the actor who played the Coroner in The Wizard of Oz.
Lobsang, you infidel! You have the original Tourist Trophy! Screaming motorbikes dashing their way through narrow country road bends, over steep bridges, past spectators with mouths agape. That’s what defines the Isle of Man.
Errr, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Well, there’s the obvious Grass & Hookers. But seriously, what sets this place apart is its attidude. High strung and laid back at the same time. An Amsterdammer won’t take crap from anyone, but he’ll be your best friend down at the pub.
The museums, the museums. To actually have this much cultural history, within a 15 minute bicycle ride. Amazing.
The Anne Frank House.
Sitting on a terrace near a canal on an evening in June, drinking beer and watching the people go by. People from all over the world, and here I am, sipping my beer, and enjoying the sheer variety of it all.
No place like home, even though I wasn’t born here.
The most exciting thing about my immediate area is probably the battle of Lexington and Concord which was fought near here and is generally considered the start of the Amercian Revolution. Also Concord MA has many literary connections: Emerson, the Alcotts, Thoreau all lived there, I believe. I drive past Thoreau’s Walden Pond every day on the way to work.
Just over the the fence behind the building I live in, is the southeast corner of my old high school…where bubbles forth the sparkling waters of a running spring. They flow into a small pond often visited by passing waterfowl. An ancient willow stands on a tiny island spreads its drowsy branches over all.
Many Native American graves and artefacts have been found in the area, and Father Serra is believed to have camped there during his journey through California. Because of the Native American aspect, the school teams used to be called Warriors, until such mascots were banned by the school district in the early '90s.
It’s interesting to me to realize that I’m living in an area that has known human habitation for thousands of years.
*Well maybe not so dry this year. In fact, I think another storm is blowing in as I type this.
This spring has never been known to fail, and this is in dry* Los Angeles.
My house is about five minutes from that Waterford Crystal factory…may or may not have heard of it…
Other then that all i can rreally think of is stuff that relates to history and the vikings… theres a tower here, Reginalds Tower, and its where Strongbow and Aoife got married.
Oh and this will be vague, but theres a bridge out the road a little bit, and apparently its the only bridge in Ireland tha couldnt be crossed by some english person (dont remember his name) when they came to eh rule us… history isnt my best point anymore
A few blocks in one direction and there are country music stars homes ever which way. Beyond that, of course, are the sequin mines.
But it is the other direction that I like best. Two or three blocks away is a zoo that was built in the middle of one of the city neighborhoods. It was built on a farm. The old farm house from 1811 is still there and has been restored. Not so many people go to that part so I can be alone with the horses, cows and sheep in a pretty meadow. There’s a cat in the stable/barn for good company. When I am there, I am completely cut off from city life.
Please don’t tell anybody. I want to keep it a secret.
the only thing i can think of for knoxville is the overwhelming amount of orange. people around here take the vols very very seriously.
i used to live in enterprise, al which had a statue in the middle of town saluting a boll weevil. only one in the world that salutes an insect. something having to do with it eating all the cotton crops forcing them to start farming something else… peanuts. (and everything around there smells like peanuts.) it became their major cash crop.
Interesting things about my hometown, Port Washington, NY:
–Washington slept there. (Okay, so that’s not interesting. The guy slept everywhere.) Lots of famous people have made their homes there, from John Philip Sousa to Perry Como to Marv Albert. (Remember when that whole biting incident happened? That was totally freaky, because his kid was in my school, and he would come in for career days and whatever. So, to me, he was just some kid’s dad. To find out that he was so kinky, well that was weird. But I’m sure it was weirder for his kid. Yikes.)
–It is the home of Miracle Gro and Publishers Clearinghouse. No, I never saw Ed McMahon. But the Miracle Gro family are very kind and generous and have made some substantial donations to the town.
–The Great Gatsby was set there–It is East Egg. Great Neck is West Egg.
Some interesting things about where I live now, Westfield, NJ.
–You know that TV show, Ed? The opening sequence where he is driving around a pretty town was filmed in Westfield. Except for the bowling alley. So, now you know what my town looks like.
–We lost 11 people on Sept. 11.
–We are home to one of the only two freestanding (i.e. not in a mall) department stores in New Jersey.
Henry Ford was born here, lived here his whole life and established Ford Motor Co. here.
Walter P. Reuther was involved in the famous Battle of the Overpass here, a major event in labor history.
Michigan is home to the largest Arab population outside the Middle East. Metro Detroit is home to 300,000 Arab-Americans. Dearborn is home to 25,000-30,000 Arab-Americans. And Dearborn absolutely the place to be in order to experience Arabic culture and cuisine without having to actually visit the Middle East.
But… Dearborn is also considered to be a very “white bread” community, because in the past it was known as being very unfriendly to blacks… and history is hard to fight.
Well, it isn’t famous for much of anything, but the Brisbane City Council is one of the largest in the world, with a budget in the billions.
The famous (and now defunct) band Savage Garden came from Logan, on Brisbane’s southern outskirts.
The BeeGees grew up in Redcliffe, on Brisbane’s northern outskirts.
Brisbane has a very relaxed sub-tropical culture.
Durham, NC - Home of the Durham Bulls, made famous in the movieBull Durham. I have been in the bar that was shot in the movie (is in Raleigh, actually).
Glens Falls, NY- The setting for James Fenimore Cooper’s-“Last Of The Mohicans”. The cave under the bridge I travel every day which connects Glens Falls to So. Glens Falls is called Cooper’s Cave. There is a town in So Glens Falls called Fenimore.
Georgia O’Keefe had a summer home on Lake George (5 miles North of here). She is my daughter’s namesake.
At Saratoga Race Track (15 miles South of here) in 1919, a horse named “Man-O-War” lost to a horse named “Upset”. If you ever wondered where the word upset came from, it came into being on that one amazing summer day. Saratoga Race Track is referred to as “The Graveyard Of Champions”.
Glens Falls, NY-Hosts the Adirondack Balloon Festival the 2nd largest balloon festival in the US, every September. (Albuquerque is #1).
Glens Falls, NY-Known as “Hometown U.S.A.”, it has twice been selected as the nation’s “most typical” small city by Look Magazine in 1944, and Swedish National Television in 1964
Morgan Quinto Press recently named Glens Falls Metro Area as the 8th Safest Community to live in in the Country (the reason why I never take the keys out of my car).
Golf Digest, in an article on November of 2002, ranked Glens Falls number 2 out of 314 as one of the best “Golf Towns in America”.
Glens Falls is historically ranked in Money Magazine best Communities in the Country.
If I sound proud, it’s because I truly am. Now, if we could just do something about the F****** snow…
Some people say we define interesting.
Of course, there are the naysayers (aka slot losers).
Other cities I have lived in:
New York - Interesting? Defines life on earth. You cannot be bored in NYC.
Chicago - Interesting? If it had better weather, it would be the tourist capital of the world. Best pizza (forget Italy) and new theater in the world.
Los Angeles - Interesting? 27 suburbs in search of a city, but the search is worth it. Dreams CAN happen. Great weather. Damn earthquakes.
Berlin - Interesting? New York in Europe. 24 hour bars. Sex. Culture. Art. Sleeze. Fun.
Lugano, Switzerland - Interesting? The Beverly Hills of Europe. Expensive, classy, beautiful, expensive, expensive.
