Rome, Prejudice and LifeGem

I spent this week in Italy, one of my favorite places in the world. I was in Rome shooting the Rome International Film Festival. It's quite a scene on the red carpet, with the attempt at organization being almost as entertaining as the festival itself.

The big names were men (Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Al Pacino) but it was the women on the red carpet that attracted most of the attention.


The low-light of the festival was seeing the zombie-like behavior of the hoards of children reacting to the premiere of High School Musical III. Evidently, many children in Italy (or maybe their parents) drank the same Disney Kool Aid as many American children have.

To see images from the festival, CLICK HERE.

Of course I ate well and enjoyed the fact that the same 1 liter bottle of sparkling water costs half of what it does in Paris. I had 1 full day to walk the city with my camera.


To see some images from my promenade, CLICK HERE.

One reason that I like traveling is that it forces me to become aware of and confront my own prejudices. For example, when I'm in places like Hungary and the Czech Republic, it takes me a couple of days before I realize that even though most of the men there look like the bad guys from 80's American action movies, they're fine and I can relax. And that not ALL the women there are for sale.

In Italy, it takes me a while to accept that people are not actually yelling at each other but that in their culture, screaming and arm waving with 9 inches of separation from another individual is not an act of aggression. I still struggle with the fact that our ears can be genetically the same and yet react in such different ways.

There's much to write about on this subject but I'd be curious to hear about some of your traveling prejudices ... good, bad or ugly.

Just when you thought maybe we as a society are not insane enough, have a look at what this company called LifeGem does. For anywhere from $3,500 up to $20,000, this company will take the carbon from the remaining ashes of a loved one and make a diamond out of it. I wish I was kidding. This is from their website:


What is a LifeGem®?

The LifeGem® is a certified, high-quality diamond created from the carbon of your loved one as a memorial to their unique life, or as a symbol of your personal and precious bond with another.

To learn (laugh) more, go HERE.

A couple of photos of the week:

Young and Happy
When it starts getting cold outside