The One Eyed Cat is King

In the country of the blind the one-eyed cat is king. I took the liberty of rephrasing this wise saying. I happened to read the story by H. G. Wells many, many years ago, about a man lost in the mountains, I think it was in Los Andes. There was some sort of cataclism and there was no way back. He wakes up in a town where everybody is blind and although for some time he thinks he was bound to be the king among the unfortunate inhabitants he soon discovers that he was totally wrong, in fact***spoiler ahead***they soon decided that he had to be deprived of his eyes so he could be one of them, a normal citizen. I digress a lot today, but this poor cat, so young and yet so impaired really caught my attention and reminded me of the famous words.

My recommended blogger of the day: South Shields Daily Photo by Curly.

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Olympic Stadium on Montjuic Hill: An Inside View

The Olympic Stadium, where Barcelona 1992 Games famous opening and closing ceremonies took place is part of the Olympic Ring that is also made up of Palau Sant Jordi, the National Institute of Physical Education, Picornell swimming pools, a new baseball field, another pool, an enormous square and Santiago Calatrava's telecommunications tower. These facilities are on Montjuic hill that is topped by Montjuic castle, an old fortress facing the entrance to Barcelona port. Check my new Google Map of Barcelona at the bottom of the page to have a general view of the mountain.

Suggested links from fellow bloggers:

1. Nashville Daily Photo by Chris




2. Kansas City Daily Photo by Waldo Oiseau

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Amusement Parks: Swinging Ship Attraction at Tibidabo, Barcelona

Swinging Vessel at Tibidabo Amusement Park

There are thrilling and exciting amusement park attractions and thrilling and nauseating  amusement park attractions.

Take this swinging ship at Tibidabo for example. So beautiful a vessel can only inspire confidence in the rider-to-be! You might think "What the heck, I'll get on this one!, at least I don't go upside down or fall like a corpse with a concrete block tied to the feet". But alas! Upon the fourth or fifth swing, those friendly guys sitting upfront start grasping the security lever and they don't look that tough anymore. The beautiful lady right on the matching row on the other side was not that cute, in fact she could make it in the cast for The Exorcist V.

The usual screaming suddenly sounds like desperate calls for help and little by little, swinging up, swinging down, you remember that you got that hotdog with fries, and the memories turn so vivid!...Well folks, I hope you are not having lunch or dinner when you read this and that you visit Tibidabo Amusement Park...on an empty stomach of course.

Spiral Staircase at CosmoCaixa Science Museum

This time Barcelona Photoblog has the pleasure to upload this picture of the spiral staircase, or better said ramp to the underground levels inside Cosmocaixa Science Museum in Barcelona. Today there is no possibility to enlarge the image cause quality was not good and I hate it when someone enlarges an image just to see a noisy or blurry background. Sometimes smaller works just fine. I am way behind schedule with my posting as you know due to an excess of work both at the office and at home so I apologize for the inconvenience. I want to point out that late posting does not mean I am quitting! Thank you for coming and for the kind comments.

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Red Pepper Drying Up In The Sun

Red hot chili peppers could easily be the title of this post but I prefer to concentrate on the color and not the famous band. I don't think this is a chili pepper either but it certainly looks hot. The afternoon sun and the texture of the cement floor emphasize the shape and highlight the vivid color of the pepper which was drying up fast although not where it was supposed to be, hanging from a string on the wall nearby.

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Barcelona Harbor: Las Golondrinas Sightseeing Boat

This is a closer look on a very similar scene that I featured in my post Barcelona Harbor Cruise: A City Teaser. This time I added some extra effects to enhance the picture. Notice the Columbus Monument and the Harbor Authority building mentioned in the past and seen here from a shorter distance.

The boat is one of the older Golondrinas (sightseeing boats company) cruising the harbor and I am taking the picture from a modern vessel run by the same company sailing not just the harbor but going along the coast till the Forum Area on the other part of the city.

One of these in the image costs you around 7,70 € adults and 2.80 for kids and that entitles you to go inside the harbor for around 40 mins.

Check rest of the offers here: Barcelona Sightseeing Boats

Human or Living Statue: Goblins in Las Ramblas, Barcelona?

Some days ago I published Human Statues at Las Ramblas: Elf or Vulcan?, Barcelona. It is not very attractive to capture people's nape unless the faceless silhouette is expressive enough against the background. This time, on the contrary, the living statue was as stunning as it looked in the side profile picture. As it happened then, I still don't know if this is a goblin or what. Anyway, the man was well disguised. As we are dealing with people photography today I am going to suggest a set on Flickr you will never forget:

- A set about inhabitants of Papua, New Guinea by Eric Lafforgue.
- My set about Humans Statues or Street Artists
- I have started a new blog that compiles blog posts, news, some videos and good widgets all related with Google Hot Trends list. Any of the tags referred to as volcanic or on fire are a gold mine if you manage to include them in your post and still make some sense. Please try Hot Google Trends and tell me what you think.

Chaos Machine at Cosmocaixa, Barcelona

The Chaos machine as I call it, can be found at Cosmocaixa Science Museum in Barcelona. Propelled into space by two powerful fans on the floor of the box, the balls simulate what could be the erratic movement of particles in an apparent disorder state, that is, chaos, although it is said that there is order inside this mess! Hmm, let's leave this to Maths geeks. I used autofocus in continuous mode to obtain these sort wormy shapes and added some violet overlay effect to make it more attractive.

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Montjuic Fountains: The Magic Show

Watching the iridescent colors of Montjuic fountains at dusk can be one of the most relaxing things to do in Barcelona. However, before you go, make sure you know if some important event is going on since it is possible that the fountains are dry when you get there. On this occasion, I was invited to visit Sonimagfoto, a photography related event held in Barcelona Fair venues (my thanks to Barcelona Photobloggers guys who were exhibitors promoting Barcelona bloggers' community). On walking out of the exhibition area I stumbled upon the beauty of the fountains with Palau de la Merce and MNAC in the background. My first thought was "hey there's water in the fountain" then I stood in the middle of the avenue where there's this narrow traffic sign painted on the road about to steps wide and took some shots. It's a little bit noisy but worth showing.

Previous related posts: Fountains of Montjuic, Barcelona Skyline: Magic Mountain of Montjuic, Montjuic Fountain (BW)

Funny and popular today: Elecam. A webcam with a privileged view of...?

Interesting: Rotten Neighbors (are you planning to move? check in advance if your neighbors are not as cool as you expect - you can even add yours to the database!)

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Billowing Flags of Sovereign...Cloth

A windy afternoon in the city of Barcelona, year 2007, three flags, the city flag, the Spanish flag, the Catalan flag. You are a tourist, what do you see? Nothing, just three sovereign sheets billowing in the balcony. But you know better, you know there is always history behind flags, there is always blood, "winners" and losers, territorial occupation, invasion, negotiation, abdication, overthrowing, peace treaties, armstices, scheming, alliances, treason. What is left in the end? Land, fed with the blood of millions of souls who abandon their right to live this reality in the name of a just cause. Together - apart, war - peace, hatred - love, what's left in the end?. I know that not taking sides is betraying their memory but everything was wrong from the very beginning. Remember the Spanish Civil War, remember the Spanish-American war, remember Carlist wars, remember succession wars, remember the conquest of Granada, remember the crusades...remember all those people. Anger only leads to more anger. What do I see here? Billowing flags of sovereign...cloth

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Absent Minded Giant at Port Vell, Barcelona

Oh Janet, no, not again! Hmm, bad joke! Hey, this is what happens when an absent minded giant or gegant is too busy holding the basket and the bearer is concentrated on the road along the sea in Port Vell, Barcelona, which by the way, doesn't have any handrails! Well, in fact, the gegant is already dressed that way and this is another sample of traditions and folk humor...do you think this picture will be banned like J.Timberlake & J.Jackson - Superbowl 2004. Oops!

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Spanish Souvenir: The Bull-Parade

This is an all-in-one souvenir, a bull, for bullfighting tradition followers abroad, designed and dressed the cowparade way. The curious thing is that instead of a bull hide this one has trencadis or mosaic in a clear allusion to Gaudi and other art nouveau artists. And the sort of blanket in the way of saddle must be the Spanish flag although it has the same colors as the Catalan flag. So ambiguity eliminates all barriers in order to sell and keep everybody happy. The history of mankind.

A Purple Fantasy: Bubbles at CosmoCaixa, Barcelona

Purple or magenta, the point is that this image is to be regarded more as an abstraction. I decided to follow one of those typical bubbles inside a lava lamp, you know, the ones that hypnotize and make you look like an idiot. The place CosmoCaixa again. This is more some sort of experiment and not exactly a lava lamp I guess but it reminds me of the old fashioned contrivance.

A Brief History of the Lava Lamp by Spacehopper.

How to make your own Lava Lamp

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Plasma Ball Detail at CosmoCaixa Science Museum, Barcelona

This is a detail of a plasma ball at CosmoCaixa Science Museum. Many of you have seen these balls that seem like octopuses or aliens extending their tentacles whenever someone dares to touch the surface of the crystal sphere. It was hard to take this picture since I had to avoid the use of flash on the reflecting surface and I had no tripod with me at the moment to gain stability and look for more natural light in the dark pavilion. I hope you like the result. The tiny star-like spots are just reflections on the ball that I did not edit to keep the cosmic look of the image.

Now to enrich our scientific knowledge a little bit, a definition of
plasma [YouTube video].

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Sea Urchin Skeletons or Tests at CosmoCaixa, Barcelona

What looks at first sight like a submarine photograph, the kind you would see when those robots scan a deep oceanic bottom with their spotlights is nothing but a cross section inside a crystal box full of sea urchin skeletons or tests at CosmoCaixa, an interactive science museum in the upper side of Barcelona (address: Teodor Roviralta, 47-51). Cosmocaixa is modern in design, and good in quality but above all it is fun for kids who discover that science is not just a boring book with entertaining pictures here and there, but a fascinating world full of mysterious experiments, amazing optical illusions, curious instruments and what is best, things they can touch and play with to obtain magic results. If you come with your children to Barcelona this museum is a must. This is a Google Earth snapshot where you see CosmoCaixa's location and also a closer look. As to my picture and sea urchins, I thought this cross section offered nice textures and made you think in a way about evolution of species and science.

Here is a short video to get an idea about the experiments: Defying Gravity

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Inflorescence

Some green in the middle of so many street photos may be good for Barcelona Photoblog's health. This inflorescence is not precisely my best picture but I like the tall stem and the way it stands out in this vertical photograph. So far so good, have a great weekend.

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Thirsty Turist in Barcelona

Just for a change I publish in today's post this sepia image of a turist I came across last weekend while I was visiting a wine fair just in front of Port Vell. The man was carrying a cup for the wine and a bottle of water inside his bag. It was pretty hot that afternoon and the sun was quite annoying. Nevertheless the light coming in his direction was fantastic and considering the haircut, tattoos and necklace I thought I'd better give it a try with my camera for my people photography collection.

Here are two old posts with cool hairstyles: Skamania and Social Distortion

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La Merce 2007 Celebrations in Barcelona, Capgros

Besides the splendor of La Mercé 2007 celebrations at night by the fountains of Montjuic I can only show you what happened in the afternoon at Port Vell. As usual giants and capgrosos (big heads) gathered to start the parade that serves as an early introduction to the big night show in front of the multicolored fountain that moves to the sound of music and the fireworks. For some us the real party starts too late and the site is packed with people. When you have kids crowded places late at night are practically impossible to attend. I hope you like capgrosos which are present in many Catalan celebrations all year long.

Marina and History Museum of Catalonia, Barcelona

There in the background the History Museum of Catalonia and part of the Marina. Appart from the museum this is an important zone of restaurants and specially recommended is the one of top of the building not only because it is a good restaurant but because of the magnificent views.

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La Fura dels Baus: Naumon Ship at Port Vell, Barcelona

As I am behind schedule with my posting so I will just show the whole version of yesterday's image: The Naumon ship of a La Fura dels Baus theater company. Notice the figure of the giant lying on the deck.

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