The Weekender | April 25-27th

The Weekender

The Weekender is your guide and open thread for the weekend, presented by the fine folks at Viva The Matadors. Things to quote, read, look, watch, and listen to for the weekend. Let's do this.

The city of El Paso buys into baseball. The beauty of Formula 1 pits stops. Places you won’t believe. The music of Brett Dennen.

Quote

Candice Millard, The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey (via GoodReads).

"The ordinary traveler, who never goes off the beaten route and who on this beaten route is carried by others, without himself doing anything or risking anything, does not need to show much more initiative and intelligence than an express package," Roosevelt sneered."

Read

I know that we have some El Pasoeans here on VTM and I thought this was a pretty interesting story about how the City of El Paso bought into AAA baseball. It’s the Chihuahuas. (via Grantland).

El Paso blew up its city hall on a clear Sunday morning just over a year ago. At precisely 9 a.m., residents who had gathered downtown heard a series of concussive pops. Small and surgical explosions shot down one side of the building, which had been upgraded in recent years with a new HVAC system, new elevators, a new roof, and new wiring for its computers and phone lines. Another, louder explosion near the building’s base sent a plume of smoke into a blue sky spotted only by the whirling blades of news helicopters. And then the building fell. A wall of windows reflecting the Juárez Valley folded in on itself, the collapsing panes rippling like a stage curtain. A final blast buckled the far half of the 10-story structure onto the front half, resulting in a neat pile of mismatched slabs. The crowd on Franklin Avenue let out whoops of "Whoo!" and "Play ball!" Flocks of black birds darted skyward, the first sign of trouble.

A thick cloud of dust mushroomed up from the pile. The plume rushed over railroad tracks before engulfing the history museum and the city library. The sun disappeared. Photographers atop the Scottish Rite Temple could be seen covering their faces as they tried to scramble off the roof. Then they couldn’t be seen at all. The cloud grew thicker.

"Oh, god! Oh, god!" cried someone when the cloud overtook the spectators. Coughing. Spitting. A few people sprinted away, and then dozens more followed. The fleeing mob made downtown look like the finish line of the Pompeii 5K. Tan dust cascaded, like volcanic ash, onto parked cars and streets and buildings and everyone who couldn’t get out of the way.The Weekender is your guide and open thread for the weekend, presented by the fine folks at Viva The Matadors. Things to quote, read, look, watch, and listen to for the weekend. Let's do this.

Look

33 Unbelievable Places To Visit Before You Die. I Can't Believe These Actually Exist On Earth... (via Distractify, hat-tip Rindworld).

So many other-worldly places exist right on our planet, and we never even knew about it. Here are 33 landmarks that look like paintings and scenes from science fiction movies.

Watch

I don’t care who you are, this is one of those things that I have to watch 10 times to catch everything. Ferrari F1 Pit Stop Perfection (via YouTube).

Listen

I listened to an interview with Brett Dennen and there are times that he sounds socially awkward, but his music is fantastic all the same time. He has a bit of a different voice, but I really like it. I really love Wild Child and When We Were Young, but it’s all really good.