Marc's Public Blog

2024/04/10 San Antonio, the Saga, 3D Projection Mapping on San Antonio's Cathedral

π 2024-04-10 01:01 in Outings

That was a cool show, totally free and somewhat unexpected:

Video:

See more images for San Antonio, the Saga, 3D Projection Mapping on San Antonio's Cathedral

2024/04/08 Texas Eclipse

π 2024-04-08 01:01 in Outings, Public

The Texas Eclipse Festival did not end as planned, organizers cancelled the event for weather risk reasons, although in the end the weather was so much better than forecast (forecast said we'd never see the sun at all and it would rain).
When I heard about the cancellation on a thread fo bar one of my 2 cell phones,while barely awake, I managed to tear up camp and start driving out in just 15mn and got out of the festival in just over 45mn, before traffic got really bad. I then realized I had just enough time to drive my friend Marc Antoine's ranch 50mn away, and the fact that 2 lane roads in TX have 70mph speed limits, sure helped. I got to his place 30mn before totality.

It did not rain, and the sun came out just at the right time for the eclipse and went hiding in the clouds soon after. Timing was perfect. And I happened to capture some solar flares and mercury with my not so great handheld camera, so I'm happy :)

When I got out of the festival, partial eclipse hadn't started yet, but the sun was barely visible

Marc sent me the GPS location of his ranch, and GPS said I could barely make it and thankfully the roads were near empty

I pulled over a few times when the sun was visible for barely a minute

Most of the time, it was fully overcast, as per the forecast

but the sun came back out a few times

And in barely 50mn I made it to Marc's ranch and got to meet his family. We had just seen one another 2 weeks prior at beyond wonderland

all ready

fun thing is you can see a partial eclipse without glasses

getting there, so close

and yes!

even a decent shot frmo my cell

it got dark :)

I caught some sun flares on this one

on lower right, I think I you can see mercury. Einstein used it the lensing effect of gravity in his theory of general relativity

my best lucky shot!

and way too soon, it was over already :)

and the sun soon went to hide under clouds again, perfect timing!

The eclipse festival didn't end well, but the eclipse itself went way beyond expectations!

Video:

See more images for Texas Eclipse

2024/02/27 Lucha Libre Wrestling at Arena Mexico

π 2024-02-27 01:01 in Mexico, Outings

I used to watch wrestling as a teenager but had never seen a show in person, and Lucha Libre was listed as one of the things to do in CDMX, so I gave it a shot. It was of course silly and had a few expanded "rules" compared to the wrestling I used to watch (3 on each team instead of 2), but otherwise it was the same half ridiculous but entertaining show I had seen before, even if I could not understand the spanish (which ultimately didn't make a huge difference anyway).

Lucha Libre Wrestling is very popular in Mexico, lots of merch in the city:

Very strangely, cameras were not allowed but taking pictures with cell phones, was. Go figure...

Short Video:

See more images for Lucha Libre Wrestling at Arena Mexico

2023/12/30 Another Xmas in the Park, In Mamchester's Heaton Park

π 2023-12-30 01:01 in Outings, Uk

While Around Manchester for 1.5 days, my last stop was to visit Xmas At Heaton Park, some nice decorations that were nice to checkout just before going back to the airport and flying back to Paris.
They did a good job:

after fasting for 48H, best hot chocolate ever :)

See more images for Another Xmas in the Park, In Mamchester's Heaton Park

2023/12/14 Enchanted Xmas SJ

π 2023-12-14 01:01 in Outings

Very nice decorations at Enchanted Xmas in San Jose. There was a fee to get in, but the decorations were worth it:

See more images for Enchanted Xmas SJ

2023/05/18 Visiting Transfix with Burning Man Art Installations during EDC

π 2023-05-18 01:01 in Bm, Clubbing, Edc, Outings

Just before going to EDC, I found out about Transfix, which displays a good amount of Burning Man art pieces. It was a bit tight to fit a visit during EDC week, but was able to go on Thursday just before going to Dreamstate at Area15. I came well dressed for the event :)

It was a quick visit, but it was enjoyable. Glad I was able to see it.

See more images for Visiting Transfix with Burning Man Art Installations during EDC

2023/05/17 Seeing Ka Again at MGM

π 2023-05-17 01:01 in Outings

It had been many years since I last saw Ka, so I was happy to see it again, and be marvelled again at the machinery and all the technical details involved in the show. It was beyond awesome when it was built 18 years ago and still super cool today. The best part though is that I got a private tour of backstage after the show, and that was beyond cool.

See more images for Seeing Ka Again at MGM

2023/04/29 Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival

π 2023-04-29 01:01 in Outings

Glad to be able to go back, it's always fun:

I was meaning to try Jyorei, not sure if I believe in it, but was curious:

similar to what was in SF, unsurprisingly

I always enjoy the garden decors they have each year:

Fun animal interactions:

Multiple shows/performances:

I always, ikebana:

plus other displays:

Plus activities:

Fun times as always.

See more images for Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival

2023/04/16 Ostrigeland in Solvang

π 2023-04-16 01:01 in Outings

After visiting Solvang, Ostrigeland was next door.
I'm not a huge fan of Ostriges, because those birds are assholes and will put a hole through your hand while you're trying to feed them. Turns out the place also had Australian Emus which I like a lot more, they are gentle, and make a very cool deep sound that I've never heard anywhere else. So, it was fun to go visit:

I definitely watch those birds carefully

and fed them carefully too

the Emus are so much nicer and gentle :)

Compare Emus that I could hand feed, vs Ostrige that I kept my distance from:

Definitely a fun stop if you are in the area, especially for those who haven't been to Australia and see Emus before, it's pretty rare to be able to see them in the US.

See more images for Ostrigeland in Solvang

2023/04/15 3rd Visit of Hearst Castle

π 2023-04-15 01:01 in Outings

Looks like I'm set to visit Hearst Castle every 10 years, so it was time for my 3rd visit :) It was a quick 45mn from Paso Robles.

Signing up for tours is tricky, the website was entirely broken and the phone lines didn't work either. It's also unclear how much time you need between tours, because the main issue is that they force you to take the bus up and down for each and every tour, which wastes 40mn and gets very annoying when you do 3 or 4 tours. By the I remembered having done 3 tours last time, and how I regretted it with all the bussing, as well as the 3rd tour being less essential (kitchen and cottages). Honestly CA parks sucks for not offering combined tours that are back to back, but they probably don't do it because of lack of bathrooms and food at the top
I booked the first 3 tours, then remembered, and cancelled the 3rd tour to have moe time left over for the rest of the day in Paso Robles. 3103*

Thankfully I got some nice shots from the air the previous day, which give a good idea of the land:

private runway that people outside the Hearst family, cannot use

castle in the sky

view of the unfinished wing that CA Parks is not allowed to finish

seen from the castle, the runway was tempting :)

Long story short, Hearst was a rich man with somewhat questionable taste who bought lots of things and tried ot make it all fit in his ever growing ranch house (only later renamed to Castle). It's interesting to see, but a bit weird at the same time too.

Took the 2nd bus up (9:20) for the grand tour and then went to the upstairs tour right afterwards at 10:10. Pictures below as a composite of both tours. If anyone has to pick, the upstairs tour is better than the main tour in my opinion: