Monday, July 6, 2009

Further Trip Reportery: I Was on a Boat.

And I have seen the near-legendary Walt Disney / Salvador Dali insane crossover film "Destino" under the most convoluted circumstances imaginable.
Our story begins on board the Norwegian Spirit. As you recall from last week's post, she brought me and my family to Bermuda and back. The journey took two days coming and two and a half days going.
Having never cruised before, I enjoyed it a great deal and would highly recommend it. This is the first trip in a while where I can honestly say I feel brand new. It really changed me, and it made me want to go on more adventures once I got home.
This is largely because there's such an offbeat variety of things to do on the ship. Each night, we got a schedule from the Cruise Director of the next days events. They would include everything from musical reviews to wine tastings to Karaoke contests to Wii tournaments. Picking and choosing among the events is usually coupled with the thought-provoking fact that you will probably only know the other people who attend for a week, giving you that bravery of anonymity. Just to cover what I did:
* - I kicked all kids of ass at a Pictionary tournament that, sadly, had no prizes other than bragging rights. But they did serve Bellinis. I poked mine.
* - I swam in an Aquaswim pool. Because it was there. Because I love "GATTACA". Because I was on a ship in the middle of the cold north Atlantic at the time and I wanted to say I did.
* - I fell in love with Yellow Birds. I drank one out of a pineapple because I couldn't leave the subtropical Atlantic without saying I did.
* - I did a lot of things, mostly with my cousins and sister, that were awesome and very unlike me. Trying to describe them would be like trying to explain why that one party you went to was so amazing.
* - And, as stated above, I saw "Destino" under remarkably convoluted circumstances. Namely, the ship hosted a semi-daily art auction and they happened to be screening it, as they had an exclusive deal with Disney to show the film and sell prints of the artwork afterwards.
It is worth noting that there was free champagne at this auction.
The film is short, but it is amazing. It reminded me of the sequences from "Fantasia 2000" (which this was originally meant to be a part of), but it also reminded me a great deal of the more surreal sequences in the Anthology Films. Just consider for a moment the logistical complications of making Dali's artwork move and you have an idea of just how incredible the film is. Rumor has it that eventually we'll get a DVD release.
Eventually.
"Fantasia 2010" would be nice at this point too. I'm just sayin' is all.