Archive for April 10th, 2013

I hope you like poop.

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

At the moment, I have about $121 in my pocket change container. I could probably scrape up another $30 or so.

What could I do with that money?

I could take a Carnival cruise!

A four-night trip on Carnival’s Inspiration, leaving Miami on April 22, costs $149 a person, including meals and some beverages, according to the cruise company’s website yesterday.

This might be kind of a fun adventure. Sitting on the deck, getting a little sun, reading a good book on my Kindle Fire…

Of course, that price is FOB Miami. The cheapest Southwest round-trip I could put together adds another $248 to that price, and Southwest only flies to Fort Lauderdale, not Miami. And by the time you add it all up, tips for the staff will probably add another $150 to that price. And I’d be away from the blog and the job hunt for close to a week.

But it is kind of fun to think about.

(Subject line hattip.)

Posted in Clippings, Ships, Travel | Comments Closed

Broadway watch.

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

“Hands on a Hardbody“, the Broadway musical, is closing this Saturday. The musical opened March 21st, and played 28 regular performances and 28 previews.

The total cost of mounting “Hands on a Hardbody” on Broadway has not been revealed, and the producers also did not say on Monday whether the show would close at a total loss to investors, which appears likely. The musical grossed only $240,040 for eight performances last week, or about 22 percent of the maximum possible amount — almost certainly not enough to cover its weekly running costs.

Background:

“Hands on a Hardbody” the movie.

“Hands on a Hardbody”: why they don’t do that any more.

Posted in Clippings, Schadenfreude, Theatre | Comments Closed

My humps, my humps…

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

Back in February, French President François Hollande visited Mali. While he was there, “grateful Malian authorities” gave him a baby camel.

This was, of course, a bad idea. “… the animal screeched constantly, and did not seem to enjoy the president’s attempt to pat it on the head.”

So he left it in the care of a local family.

The family, evidently misunderstanding the purpose of the custody arrangement, proceeded to slaughter the camel and feast on it. According to local reports, it was fashioned into a tasty tagine, a regional type of slow-simmered stew.

The authorities in Mali are upset and embarrassed.

“As soon as we heard of this, we quickly replaced it with a bigger and better-looking camel,” an official in Timbuktu told the Reuters news agency. “We are ashamed of what happened to the camel,” said the official, who asked Reuters not to identify him because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. “The new camel will be sent to Paris. It was a present that did not deserve this fate.”

Posted in Camels, Clippings, Food, Mammals, Stupid | Comments Closed