Those of you patient enough to keep looking here for the Northern Traveling Film Festival diaries, be patient just a bit longer.
I had to switch Web editing programs and the new one is a bit of adjustment. Working with all the photos in particular took some doing, but they got done last night and now it's just a matter of pairing them with the articles.
They're mostly done. Honest.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Even the weather is insulting him
You know how some vacations are doomed from the start? U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is probably going to be feeling that way shortly.
Ban arrives in Norway today for a three-day tour of Svalbard, where any remnant of summer vanished as a storm brought howling winds and snow (it's now snowed every month this year). So after getting insulted by Norway's deputy U.N. ambassador and having to deal with the awkwardness and apologies that no doubt will be in abundance, Mother Nature is giving him the cold shoulder.
He's up here as part of his campaign to fight climate change, which means he probably can't even complain about it being cold. The global warming skeptics are already going to love this, arguing that if warming actually is happening it's gotta be a good thing in places like this. And it's not hard to imagine their glee if some camera picks up snark from Ban about the weather.
Ban arrives in Norway today for a three-day tour of Svalbard, where any remnant of summer vanished as a storm brought howling winds and snow (it's now snowed every month this year). So after getting insulted by Norway's deputy U.N. ambassador and having to deal with the awkwardness and apologies that no doubt will be in abundance, Mother Nature is giving him the cold shoulder.
He's up here as part of his campaign to fight climate change, which means he probably can't even complain about it being cold. The global warming skeptics are already going to love this, arguing that if warming actually is happening it's gotta be a good thing in places like this. And it's not hard to imagine their glee if some camera picks up snark from Ban about the weather.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Working without a Net in Barentsburg
I'm here and things are underway at the Northern Traveling Film Festival in Barentsburg. Divas demanding red carpets and vegan backstage catering need not apply.
Getting the word out is trickier than hoped since the only internet access I've found is the office computer at the Barentsburg Hotel, which takes some arranging to use since the office is locked most of the time. This is a rush greeting, to be followed by in-depth postings as access is available.
(And it turns out the hotel's system doesn't work either, so this is being sent during a fleeting moment of connect time I have at the science center here.)
The group is smaller than I expected, maybe a dozen core people involved in organizing, making the films being shown and various culture/history/science presentations. There were perhaps 40 people at the opening reception and screening Saturday night, a lot of them local dignitaries, again a surprise since I figured a fair number of the town's residents would show up for the novelty.
Since then it's been the core group at various screenings, tours and a day trip to Pyramiden on Monday where they didn't watch films so much as trample them. All this and more will be detailed when Icepeople returns to Longyearbyen on Friday.
Getting the word out is trickier than hoped since the only internet access I've found is the office computer at the Barentsburg Hotel, which takes some arranging to use since the office is locked most of the time. This is a rush greeting, to be followed by in-depth postings as access is available.
(And it turns out the hotel's system doesn't work either, so this is being sent during a fleeting moment of connect time I have at the science center here.)
The group is smaller than I expected, maybe a dozen core people involved in organizing, making the films being shown and various culture/history/science presentations. There were perhaps 40 people at the opening reception and screening Saturday night, a lot of them local dignitaries, again a surprise since I figured a fair number of the town's residents would show up for the novelty.
Since then it's been the core group at various screenings, tours and a day trip to Pyramiden on Monday where they didn't watch films so much as trample them. All this and more will be detailed when Icepeople returns to Longyearbyen on Friday.
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