Coffee Cup Stain

Some movie lovers like to combine their obsession with celluloid with their vacation time, planning elaborate trips to movie sets (past and present), film studios, and homes of filmmakers and actors as well as film and entertainment museums and attractions. While many of these filmcations take place in Hollywood, those who want a different experience should consider a trip to San Francisco.

In addition to being the location for countless popular and ground-breaking film, San Francisco has its very own community of filmmakers. Animation giant Pixar is located in San Francisco as are the production companies of Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. The city hosts a variety of film festivals throughout the year, focusing on everything from independent film to Latino film, from LGBT productions to Black filmmakers .

Film buffs can book a San Francisco hotel and set out to visit locations from Alcatraz to the Golden Gate Bridge that have been featured in many different films. True fans who want to set up to visit all the sites for a specific film that shot in the are have many to choose from. Some of the popular films set in San Francisco include Dirty Harry, Vertigo, A View to a Kill, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Foul Play, The Birds, 48 Hrs, The Rock, Star Trek IV, and Milk.

Art festivals are a staple of any city with a halfway decent population of artists. Some festivals rise to become can’t miss events and provide a window into who’s who in the international art scene. Then there are events which almost defy description, such as the upcoming New Vision Arts Festival in Hong Kong . This fifth edition of the festival is scheduled for October 15 – November 21, 2010 at theaters and performance spaces around the city. The goal of the event is to present artists who eschew preset formats and to explore fresh approaches to presentation, content, and collaboration. Musical and theatrical performances will draw international artists to the many luxury Hong Kong hotel s.

The festival, produced by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong, begins with a concert by Dadawa, an award-winning world fusion musician. “Hear the World DADAWA” showcases the contemporary Chinese singer-musician’s travels around the globe over the last decade. Other cross-cultural and global artists on the program include The Butterfly Effect: East-West Percussive Parade bringing together Japanese taiko, English drums and African drums with Japanese guitar legend Sugizo and American cellist and guitarist Know Chandler. Audiences can also enjoy avant-garde music from China and chamber and orchestra music. Theater lovers can catch the Edward Lam Dance Theatre in a newly commissioned performance, Grand Expectations, aas well as inter-media dance performance, and a unique reinterpretation of local cult movie thrillers by the Guangdong modern Dance Company and the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble.

The Festival closes with a Sino-Japanese cast performing The Peony Pavilion, a Chinese Kunqu opera classic, starring Kabuki icon Bando Tamasaburo as Du Liniang, the beautiful female lead.

There is something about Southern Florida that speaks to a past as a future. Culturally, it seems to be at the very cutting edges, where the new centers of the music industry seem to be gathering here, at least to some degree. The mix of people brings in a mix of traditions, and the new forms in music and art are leading into some very interesting hybrids. Likewise, there is a sense of the old here, where the tradition of having a vacation near the water speaks to a mythic place in the consciousness of the visitors.

This all adds up to a pretty spectacular mix, where one can be at their five star Fort Lauderdale hotel in one moment, and visiting an iconic place from the past in the next. With its old-fashioned ice cream sundaes, onion rings fried in the right way, and hot dogs that don’t ever end, Jaxson’s is the perfect place to come to know nostalgia in the face of the contemporary. The owner, Monroe Udell, is something of a local hero, having brought the perfect classic of an ice cream parlor to the area over 50 years ago. It’s a place that’s maintained its reputation through sticking with what works, and reinventing when there’s room for improvisation. It’s the end of a perfect day at the beach.

From a few generations back, Saint Louis has enjoyed a remarkable reputation for musical innovations. If jazz has several heartbeats, the city undoubtedly serves as the center for one of these, and there are new influences coming into the city all the time. The new mixes with the local in some rather enticing ways with the music of Ludo , whose new album, and very intricate tour schedule, suggests all the trappings of a band who has hit it.

The sound takes a little while to hear, because it’s overwhelmingly catchy and very poppy. One can’t help but noticing the over-the-top lyrics, as well as the musical quotations of the stereotypes from the history of anthem, hair, and alternative rock through the years. It takes a few tunes to connect the disparate components and see that the cheese is all intentional, and it adds a layer of intellectual distance from the songs. This is just enough room to engage with the music, that moves in sophisticated shifts and suggest some remarkably talented players.

They’re attracting a very sizable fan base, too. When they play in town, the locals take notice. Others, who might be visiting Saint Louis hotels will also have the chance to see what the story is about, and find that it’s very rich, complex, and also easy to dance to.