Leadbelly Blues Festival

Happy Spring Festival! (Gwuh Nee-en Haow!) Good fortune, health and prosperity to each of you throughout the Year of the Pig. On the Chinese Calendar, 2007 is the Lunar Year 4704-4705 and the New Year festivities begin on February 18th.

Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year, is the most important celebration in China. It carries the same, if not more, importance as Christmas does in western countries. Traditional Spring Festival is synonymous with happiness and good fortune; for more than 15 days, special foods and activities contribute to cherished, lifetime memories. Temple fairs, dragon and lion dances, fireworks equal to a war zone’s sound and light proportions, stilt walking, lantern carnivals and acrobatic shows are everywhere. Pictures of the god of doors and wealth, Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper, and bright red paper cuttings decorate households and add to the atmosphere of good cheer.

The feast of Spring Festival may be the most scrumptious dinner of the year. Dishes such as chicken, fish, and bean curd are the favorites, their homophones, respectively jee, yiew, and doh foo mean auspiciousness, abundance, and prosperity. Jee-aow zih (Chinese dumplings), nee-en gaow (New Year cakes) and tahng yiew-en (a kind of round dumpling made of glutinous rice flour and sweet stuffing served in soup) are also special foods of the season.

After dinner, families play cards or board games, or watch TV programs highlighting the holiday. On New Year’s Day itself, the ancient custom of Hong Baow (meaning red packet) takes place. Children and unmarried adults are given red envelopes of money which symbolizes luck and wealth. Following Hong Baow, families say greetings from door to door, first to their relatives and then to their neighbors. Like the western saying: Let Bygones Be Bygones, at Chinese New Year, old grudges are cast aside.

The end of the New Year is marked by the Festival of Lanterns, which is a celebration with singing, dancing, lantern shows, and yes, more fireworks. Traditionally, Chinese parents prepared lanterns for their children to carry to school during the first days of the New Year. This symbolized their hope that the children would have bright futures. Another interesting tradition is the posting of riddles called Lantern Riddles. They are written on pieces of paper and posted on lanterns or walls, and anyone solving the riddle is awarded a prize.

Born Year of the Pig

If you were born in 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983 or 1995, you were born under the sign of the pig. Like the pig, you are known for your chivalry and pureness of heart, and you often make friends for life. People born in the Year of the Pig are said to be steady and resolute in all things, as well as warm hearted to other people. Competent and persistent as they are, they will spare no efforts in fulfilling any job assigned to them. According to the Chinese zodiac, pigs can overcome any setbacks and obstacles in 2007, so look forward to a year of success, both personally and professionally.

Famous people born in the Year of the Pig include Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Thomas Jefferson, Mahalia Jackson, David Letterman, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

While Rome, affectionately referred to as la Città Eterna (“the Eternal City”), is often visited due to its rich history, its stunning architecture or renowned cuisine, later this month from the 18th to the 27th of October, visitors can experience the Rome Film Festival. Although it is only in its second year, it has attracted a high number of private sponsors, and the City Council of Rome, in the name of the Mayor and film-buff Walter Veltroni, the Province of Rome and the Lazio Region all strongly support it both in terms of institutional communication and economic investment.

The actual title of the festival in Italian is Festa, which could be translated as feast, not festival, and is apt, since it is more a celebration of the joy of cinema than a regular film festival. Indeed, though the Rome Film Festival’s jury includes a renowned director as its president, last year Ettore Scola, the rest of the 50 jurors are not film professionals but are, in fact, regular moviegoers selected both in Italy and Europe.

Although it enjoys fierce rivalry with the Venice Film Festival, The Rome Film Festival has attracted its own audience and this year will host the world premiere of 11 new films. Among the most exciting is ‘Youth Without Youth’ – Francis Ford Coppola’s first feature film in a decade. The film is about a timid Romanian professor who becomes young again after being hit by lightning. The five-time Oscar-winning director wrote the film based on a novella by Romanian philosopher-author Mircea Eliade and has been described as his “third renaissance” after ‘Apocalypse Now’ and ‘The Godfather’.

Coppola’s film appears out of competition, along with a number of American films exploring the political climate post 9/11. These include Robert Redford’s ‘Lions for Lambs’ and Gavin Hood’s ‘Rendition’. ‘Lions for Lambs’ stars Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep and tells the story of two soldiers wounded behind enemy lines in Afghanistan and the repercussions back home. ‘Rendition’ is about an American woman trying to track down her Egyptian-born husband, who is held at a secret CIA detention centre. It also stars Meryl Streep, as well as Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon.

The 14 movies in competition for the top Marcus Aurelius award for Best Film include ‘El Pasado’ (The Past), with Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, ‘Li Chun’ (translated as ‘And the Spring Comes’) from China’s Chang Wei Gu, ‘Barcelona (un mapa)’ (translated as ‘Barcelona, a Map’) by Spain’s Ventura Pons and Alain Corneau’s ‘La Deuxieme Souffle’ (translated as ‘Second Wind’), starring Monica Bellucci and Daniel Auteuil. Separate awards for Best Actress and Best Actor, as well as a special jury prize, will also be handed out.

In addition to the more mainstream fare, the festival also boasts dedicated sections for alternative productions and documentaries, children films, first films by new directors and the craft of acting.

Visitors wishing to experience the Rome Film Festival can take advantage of cheap flights to Rome’s two main international airports, Leonardo da Vinci International Airport, more commonly known as “Fiumicino airport”, and Ciampino International Airport. From either airport travellers can catch a train or bus or arrange private transfer to get to their final destination with ease. Hotels in Rome can be booked online in advance, which is recommended, especially due to the popularity of the festival. Last year’s inaugural edition attracted half-a-million visitors and this year is looking to top that.

“The Bed and Breakfast Experience” describes the differences offered by bed and breakfasts compared to hotels. Essentially you enjoy the amenities of a hotel with added personal touches. Someone once described a bed and breakfast as the next best thing to staying with friends. You are even greeted by name! There are no “cookie-cutter” aspects to a stay in a bed and breakfast – each home is as individual as its owners.

There’s somewhere for everyone to stay: you can choose from a downtown heritage home, waterfront guest house, country manor house, elegant inn, country cottage, contemporary home, farm or a woodland retreat.

It can be a daunting task to find reliably good quality accommodation when browsing through websites. Look for professional-looking sites: these reflect the qualities of the B&B. They should offer a website availability calendar with easy online reservations as well as a toll-free telephone service. Further, reputable bed and breakfasts often subscribe to organisations with inspection and approval standards. If you book with a bed and breakfast which meets these requirements you should be assured that you will not be disappointed. For example, in Canada the national ratings system, Canada Select, assesses amenities and quality of d?cor. 4, 4.5 or 5 Stars indicate the best quality.

Business travellers have traditionally sought their accommodation in hotels catering to their requirements. But things are changing with many bed and breakfasts now offering all their business needs free of charge: high-speed wireless internet, desks, telephone, computer and printer. The provision of free local telephone calls, free parking, free movies, free newspaper and free beverages make for savings – and that is not to mention an inclusive memorable breakfast. Themed unique furnishings and comfortable d?cor help to make the stay pleasingly memorable. There is, or should be, no sense of trespassing in someone’s home; privacy is paramount. The days are long gone when staying at a bed and breakfast entailed sleeping in someone’s spare room with basic amenities (possibly including a tired shag carpet) and a shared bathroom “down the hall”!

The B&B is typically a private residence whose owners choose to have this business lifestyle because they enjoy meeting people. A high level of service with an attention to detailed is almost guaranteed; after all, their livelihood depends on it. Some welcome families, others pets, whilst others are adult oriented. Your hosts gladly provide insights into the areas tourist attractions and activities, restaurant recommendations as well as tips and local secrets. The inclusive breakfast has local produce, fresh jams, delicious baked goods and mouth-watering specialties.

Many bed and breakfasts are in attractive older homes oozing charm furnished by antiques, while others offer modern crisp elegance and contemporary art. Luxuriate in fine linens on a comfortable bed, soak in a two-person bubbling whirlpool bathtub and snuggle up in armchairs to enjoy the ambience of a fireplace – just the place for a romantic or quiet break. Beautiful gardens are often a feature too for quiet relaxation. Smaller boutique hotels are now incorporating some of the successful qualities of bed and breakfasts into their renovations.

If this is to be your first bed and breakfast experience it very likely will not be your last.