Flamingo Bowl

Downtown's only bowling alley/cocktail lounge, Flamingo Bowl, was one of the required stops for the Idiotarod contestants. Unfortunately, when I went by no one was around but there is always something to shoot. The racks of brightly colored balls got my eye.

There are lots more good shots from the Idiotarod to edit. I'd just like a visual change for a bit before next Saturday's St. Patrick's Day parade, another one of The Lou's major photo-ops.

      

Thursday Arch Series, Sort Of, And Idiotarod Bad Pun Award

Oops. Fell asleep again yesterday evening in a chair while preparing this post. You'd think things would start getting easier at this point in my career, but no.

Anyway, the decrepit model Arch in the top picture was part of the theme for an Arch of the Penguins entry in the Idiotarod. The rest is pretty cute but otherwise, I don't see any connection between our great monument and the polar birds. Doubt this was of concern to anyone but me.        

Scotland The Brave

Anyone who has heard massed bagpipes play Scotland The Brave knows what real head pain is like. This group of imitation Highlanders at the Idiotarod spared the crowd's ears but not its eyes. Above, while trying to sway the judges, they perform a dance that I heard was personally condemned by Robert the Bruce. Just below, they offer their final respects to their honors before taking their place at the starting line. They seem to have lost some of their enthusiasm by the time I took the last picture an hour later.       

The Judges

 

The Idiotarod is a race in some sense. The teams must get a card stamped at a dozen or so checkpoints scattered around downtown. They have to do something at several of them, like get their picture taken in front of Stan Musial's statue at Busch Stadium or roll a few at Flamingo Bowl. Each team chose its own route. The one that got to all the stops and reached the finish line first was the winner.

There was another element though. There were four judges who reviewed each entry and awarded points for style, originality and costumes. They were done up as cheap imitations of the English bewigged and robed judiciary.

Each team passed before them. It is a time honored, if not honorable, tradition for the contestants to try to bribe the judges. That's what's going on in the first picture. The Twister team plies them with color coded lolly pops. There is litter from other attempts, like a box of Frosted Flakes from the Cereal Killers and hands-full of fortune cookies from the Chinese restaurant team.

Having been a member of the bar for 38 years (gasp), I understand that a pragmatic approach to judges is required. My favorite example is from the old Mae West - W. C. Fields movie My Little Chickadee.  Mae is a wanton but savvy woman of the Old West. At the beginning of the film, she appears before a judge as the authorities try to run her out of town. Mae is giving him a very hard time.

The pompous old judge glares down at her and says, "Young lady, are you trying to show your contempt for this court?"

Mae flutters those big eyelashes and replies, "Why your honor, I've been trying my best to conceal it."

I want to use that one time before I retire.

          

Cool Runnings

Okay, what are these guys all about? At first glance they look like characters in a Japanese sci-fi anime. The reference is to a very different culture, though. They are supposed to be the Jamaican bobsled team from the 1993 movie Cool Runnings. I think they come off more like a bunch of white guys from St. Louis who wanted parts in The Right Stuff but got distracted by a vacation offer from Club Med.        

Gee But It's Great To Be Back Home

Is this what being back in St. Louis does to you?

Actually, I got back out on the streets yesterday for the annual Idiotarod, a fundraiser for Operation Food Search. The joke is a reference to the Iditarod, the great Alaskan dog sled race that also started yesterday. Groups of five run around downtown with decorated grocery carts, pretending they are the dogs, driver and sled. The themes and costumes are outlandish.

High spirits were all around. As I have observed before, St. Louis loves an excuse to drink in the morning. The ladies in the last picture crossed my path several times on the zig zag course, plying me with alcohol at every turn:

Sir, would you take our picture? Sure. My name is Bob. (ALL of the 20-somethings called me sir until I told them to stop.) Great! Would you like a beer? No, but thanks. How about some of this? What is it? Grape juice and vodka! Kinda early in the day for me. Maybe after 5. Then have a shot of Captain Morgan! And so on and so on.

Who gets the reference in the fourth picture? The woman is playing a male character. Hint: (s)he is carrying a towel.

Lots more of this in the coming days.

Time To Cut Loose

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When this gets uploaded I will be sound asleep at a Miami airport hotel. (Well, I sure hope I am.) It's time to stop wearing neckties and incessantly checking my email, to start lowering my heartbeat and consume more rum cocktails. I won't be wearing any plaid flannel shirts, though. It's just a last Idiotarod pic to send me off.

If all goes as planned, I'll upload something from central Tamarindo this evening.

Bowling For Hunger

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As I mentioned on Sunday, the Idiotarod was held for the benefit of Operation Food Search, a wonderful organization helping to feed St. Louis' hungry. One of the contestants' required activities in support of the cause was to roll a few lines at Flamingo Bowl, downtown's hippest (and only) bowling alley and cocktail lounge. The contest official and Burger King in the middle photo have had quite enough. Perhaps they would prefer to retire to the bar.

If it is of interest, there is a good sized set of Idiotarod photos on Flickr here.

My week of marathon running at work is done. Late afternoon flight to Miami today, where we will spend the night at an airport hotel. On to Liberia, Costa Rica, tomorrow morning and then a 90 minute drive to Tamarindo. Looks like our day trip to Nicaragua will be Monday, not Wednesday. It sounds a little scary but, what the heck, we've been to The Bronx.

Muppets

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Even though Jim Hensen is long gone, the Muppets still draw crowds on television, movies and on Locust Street in downtown St. Louis. This iteration is another team at the Idiotarod. Most everyone will recognize Kermit, above, and Miss Piggy, below. The whole crew lines up at the bottom, including Fozzie Bear and the Swedish Chef. I don't remember the character with the guitar. Suggestions?

I did a B&W version of the portrait of Kermit that I much prefer. The color version seemed better for the portal. You can see the B&W version here and decide for yourself.

STL DPB will be on automatic mode until the weekend. Posts with Idiotarod photos will be uploaded in advance and I won't be able to leave comments. I've got a ton and a half, possibly a ton and three-quarters, of work to do. Friday is a travel day. Fresh posts and comments will resume Saturday night (maybe) or Sunday morning (for sure) our time from Tamarindo, Costa Rica. It can't come too soon. And hey! We just booked a day trip to Nicaragua for next Wednesday.

Zombies Stalk St. Louis

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Ever feel like a zombie on your way home from work after a long, stressful day? (Actually got a clue what it would feel like to feel like a zombie?) Well, one team at the Idiotarod took a crack at it. I can't quite find a pattern in their costumes, though. There's a soldier, the Statue of Liberty (What? Is there some political satire here?), a Dom Deluise impersonator and two I-don't-know-what, just walking around ex-people.

There were a few required activities along the race route. In the bottom picture, the zombies become remarkably animated while trying to throw tennis balls through holes in a board about three meters away.

I think I've actually seen big, sealed cooler boxes on airport luggage carousels labeled as having organs for transplant. You can't trust FedEx for that sort of thing but checked baggage on American Airlines seems to be okay.

STL DPB will be on automatic mode the rest of the week. Posts with Idiotarod photos will be uploaded in advance and I won't be able to leave comments. I've got a ton and a half, possibly a ton and three-quarters, of work to do. Friday is a travel day. Fresh posts and comments will resume Saturday night (maybe) or Sunday morning (for sure) our time from Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

Wicked Clowns

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This was the theme of one team of make-believe dog sledders at the Idiotarod. It's a meme derived from horror movies, I suppose, and the old belief that clowns frighten small children. At the same time, it's an excuse to look scary-evil without actually doing anything bad. And more evidence that St. Louis (or some of it) loves an excuse to drink beer in the morning.

STL DPB will be on automatic mode the rest of the week. Posts with Idiotarod photos will be uploaded in advance and I won't be able to leave comments. I've got a ton and a half, possibly a ton and three-quarters, of work to do. Friday is a travel day. Fresh posts and comments will resume Saturday night (maybe) or Sunday morning (for sure) our time from Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

Trolls

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I don't know if this bit of silliness is American, international or what. Have you ever seen these tiny rotund dolls with fluorescent fright wigs, sometimes nude, known as troll dolls? You can buy about a zillion varieties of them on Amazon. One group of women chose this as their theme for the Idiotarod. They looked like pregnant streakers on a bad hair day.

STL DPB will be on automatic mode the rest of the week. Posts with Idiotarod photos will be uploaded in advance and I won't be able to leave comments. I've got a ton and a half, possibly a ton and three-quarters, of work to do. Friday is a travel day. Fresh posts and comments will resume Saturday night (maybe) or Sunday morning (for sure) our time from Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

Booty

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"Professor, what's another word for pirate treasure?"

"Well I think it's booty" "booty" "booty, that's what it is."

- Professor Booty, The Beastie Boys

Yesterday brought the 2012 edition of the St. Louis Idiotarod. It is a farcical play on the Iditarod, which also started yesterday. That's the annual dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, which, I want to tell you, is one long, cold and empty way. In the local version, teams of five people decorate shopping carts in all sorts of silly ways, pretending that four of them are pulling like sled dogs and one is the musher. It's for the benefit of Operation Food Search.

Some of the themes are a little hard to figure out. This one obviously has something to do with pirate booty, as well as the American slang use of that word. More to follow.

STL DPB will be on automatic mode the rest of the week. Posts with Idiotarod photos will be uploaded in advance and I won't be able to leave comments. I've got a ton and a half, possibly a ton and three-quarters, of work to do. Friday is a travel day. Fresh posts and comments will resume Saturday night (maybe) or Sunday morning (for sure) our time from Tamarindo, Costa Rica. YAY!

The Idiotarod, Part 3

Miscellaneous pictures from The Idiotarod. Above: eyes on the prize, whatever that was. First below: the parting of the red C. I had to have that one explained to me. Last below: U.S. Marines on the move. That's some pretty good camo.

I edited a bunch more images over the weekend. Check the big set on Flickr here.

As previously mentioned, U "R" Us got the inside look at his city's version, the Chididarod. Sounds like a much wilder time than St. Louis. Our contestants didn't have to stop for at least 20 minutes at a series of bars. Great post here plus two sets on Flickr here and here.

Back to what passes for ordinary life in St. Louis tomorrow.

The Idiotarod, Part 2

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Saturday brought the open division of the Idiotarod to downtown St. Louis. There were 23 teams of two-footed dogs, shopping cart sleds and wild-eyed mushers. Unlike Friday, I had time to follow some of them around to a few of the ten required stops in the downtown area. There was some little stunt they had to perform at each one, like roll a frame at Flamingo Bowl. I'm not sure how all this was to be carried out since there was no staff at at least two of the checkpoints I passed, the so-called Bunny Statue across from the hockey/basketball arena and Jim Dine's Pinocchio in Citygarden.

It was hard to select the pictures for this post. I've got a growing set on Flickr. I'll probably milk the subject for another day or two.

The Idiotarod

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You may have heard of the Iditarod, the grueling winter dog sled race across Alaska. If that interests you, go to their web site. (I warn you, though, that the video on the home page features Sarah Palin.) This is the Idiotarod. It's an event that has been around a few American cities and spread to St. Louis this weekend. In the name of charity, people use a shopping cart for a dogsled and four team members as dogs. A fifth is the driver. They dress up and decorate the cart to a theme. The group above had a 1920's gangster thing going. Below, our public radio station, KWMU 90.7 FM, went for a NASCAR look. The whole thing was put together by The Downtown St. Louis Partnership for the benefit of Operation Food Search.

Friday's race (race for what was not clear to me) was for corporate contestants. I think there were seven or eight. Today is the open competition. Downtown St. Louis officials told me they expected twenty-odd [sic] teams. I'll be back today to shoot more merriment. Stay tuned.

OH, AND BY THE WAY, today is also the Chiditarod! Team member and world-famous Chicago photoblogger U "R" Us has weaseled his way into becoming the official volunteer photographer. Check Chicago Flair tomorrow as St. Louis and the Windy City both feature very silly people running around with shopping carts.