We are continuing this week featuring a few of the more interesting restaurants that can be found across the USA, and they dont get much more interesting than the KFC Big Chicken. Located on the corner of Cobb Parkway and Roswell Road in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. The chicken was built in 1963 over the top of a chicken shop that was later to become a KFC franchise. It was part of a wave of Novelty architecture that swept the States in the 60s that led to other famous buildings being built across the country shaped like big donuts, big hot dogs and big tee pees. These big structures were originally designed an advertising gimmick to get the car loving American to pull off the freeway into their business rather than the shop down the road. The gimmick worked and what some may consider a very tacky building has become a much loved part of the community. When the chicken was damaged due to a storm in 1993 KFC was forced to rebuild the chicken due to the local communities response. Read the rest of this entry »
Best known for its role in the 90’s TV comedy Seinfeld. Toms Restaurant is a diner located on the corner of Broadway and 112th Street in the Morningside Heights district of Manhattan. It is popular with local students and tourists who flock to the restaurant to eat where the gang from Seinfeld ate each episode, so expect a wait for a table on busy days. In fact the interior shots where just a set and nothing like what the Tom’s is laid out like and in most episodes the image of the building is taken from its side (similar to the one we shot here) in order to hide the Tom’s name on the front of the building as in the series it was referred to as Monks Cafe. The restaurant was also the basis of the Suzzanne Vega song “Toms Diner”. Read the rest of this entry »
If you are looking for one of the hottest Las Vegas shows to see on the Strip, look no further than those of Cirque du Soleil! Famed around the world for their amazing feats of athleticism and talent, Cirque du Soleil is a true show stopper. In Las Vegas there is not just one Cirque performance offered, but SIX! Choose from LOVE , Zumanity, “O” , KA, Mystere, or, the newest show, CRISS ANGEL Believe . They are all great shows and each offers something different for its viewers! Read the rest of this entry »
The name Meatpacking District may spring thoughts of warehouses and sausages to you mind but the Meatpacking District in New York has left all the slaughtering behind as the suburb has become one of the latest fashionable places to be in Manhattan. The suburb is officially known as Gansevoort Market and was once home to around 250 slaughterhouses. Over the years these slaughterhouses have been dwindling down to only a handful and the streets that were once a popular spot for prostitutes druggies and trannys have since been filled with New York’s more fashionable people as the once empty warehouses and shops are being filled with restaurants and fashion boutiques. The video above was filmed for Mercedes Benz fashion week and gives you a good view of the area.
When Halloween rolls around in Orlando, all of the amusement parks tend to get a little bit scary and gory for little eyes and ears. So, you can find it comforting to know that there are numerous activities that aren’t SO scary throughout the Orlando and Central Florida area for your family to have fun with! Walt Disney World, and SeaWorld Adventure Park, are just two of the parks offering Halloween options for little ones and those not wanting to get scared. Read the rest of this entry »
The week long Burning Man festival has just finished and anyone who hasn’t been there may be asking what it is all about. Burning man is a type of festival held in the Nevada Desert in a temporary mini city constructed for the event known as Black Rock City. The festival gets its name from the huge wooden effigy that is burned at the end of the event each year. The event is often described as an experiment in community and self expression and is well known for the spectacular art instalations and mutent vehicles that get constructed for the event by anyone who feels like. This years event attracted just under 50,000 people and with a “leave no trace” and now that the event is over most of these participants will be working hard to make sure the desert looks just like the way they found it. There are quite a few videos on Youtube of the event, we thought the one above from 2002 was a good quick timelapse of what the event is about.
This is ANYTHING but your typical waterpark! Who could create a waterpark better than SeaWorld? SeaWorld has created its first waterpark with Aquatica in Orlando, Florida. It really is something to see! At Aquatica, SeaWorld has taken their sea-life theme to a whole new level. Aquatica is located right across the street from SeaWorld on International Drive, only 15 minutes from the Orlando International Airport. Read the rest of this entry »
As if New York City didn’t need another spectacular tourist attraction, well they have done it again and this time bigger than ever. A special public art fund has commissioned a breathtaking exhibition of huge waterfalls around the New York waterways. Danish/Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has come up with the design which features four 90 – 120 ft high waterfalls. One is at Pier 35 in Manhattan, two at Piers 4 and 5 and the most spectacuar flowing out of the magnificent Brooklyn Bridge. The waterfalls are lit in the evenings after sunset and add a magical touch to the New York Skyline. Thousands’s have flocked to the ferries and other watecraft to get a close up look. The falls are on display until the 13th of October.
As if we didn’t need a reason to visit Disneyland or Walt Disneyworld, well here’s another one, a brand new ride and it features all our friend’s form the hit Disney / Pixar films Toy Story. This brand new state of the art 4D experience is sure to be the hit attraction of 2008 at the parks. Both Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando and Disney’s California Adventure have the rides and by all reports they are great fun bringing back some of the classic fairground games combined with some very clever state of the art 3D and some of the latest computerised technology not forgetting all the Toy Story characters like Buzz, Woody, Rex and Jesse.
There are museums for just about everything and here’s another unusual one- the Lunchbox Museum in Columbus USA. Allen Woodall who started the museum started collecting lunchboxes late 1980’s and today has over a thousand of all shapes and sizes. There’s some fascinating boxes on display including hundreds of rare metal cases dating back to the 50’s and beyond. Many of them feature American pop culture of the time with musicians of the day like Elvis, the Osmonds or TV stars like Flipper and Bonanza. Now lunchboxes are made of plastic or cardboard and don’t have the same nostalgia as the old metal cases but there are some great ones on display including a huge Star Wars collection. The collection is so unique it is even recognised by the Smithsonian. Read the rest of this entry »
