Sunday, August 11, 2013

Denver County Fair

The Denver County Fair is a place for the unexpected.

As you enter, you're greeted by Timothy C. Flood's "Stranger Reduction Zone" sculpture, encouraging people to get to know each other, thereby reducing stranger danger throughout the land.


Directions for "Stranger Reduction Zone." When you press the button, funny phrases come out of the speaker, like "Hellooooo, baaaabe!"
Hi! We're now friends! Stranger reduced!

The Denver County Fair does have the usual farm animals....


...but there also was a camel.


And a unicorn? Can't be the Denver County Fair without a unicorn.


Here, the ringmaster of the flea circus sets up the cannon that will shoot a flea that will supposedly be caught by...

...this adorably focused guy who was unwittingly plucked out of the audience. Look at his face! He looks like he's taking his job very seriously, mixed with a little fear that he's not gonna see this flea come out of the cannon and ruin the whole show. (Don't worry. The ringmaster peered really close and somehow tweezed the flea out from the center of the mitt after the cannon went off.)


The best part of the fair, in Robin's opinion, was the indoor racecourse they set up for people to race trikes that really do look like adult Big Wheels. The best part is when the trikes would spin out! They're called High Rollers, and people could race them for free, or give a donation to support people recovering from severe injuries.

The fair also had food trucks, lots of art, a "best tattoo" competition complete with male and female contestants doing catwalk runs to music, R2D2 roaming the grounds, a model train set that took 2 days to set up, and one artist's rendition of PeeWee Herman with crops.

The fair runs through this Sunday, 8/11. You've still got a few hours left.

Sunday, August 04, 2013

the hotel rehearsal : pop-up, inflatable hotel room



So have you heard about that pop-up, inflatable hotel room that was created as an art piece but is now being offered up as a place for people to stay for $50,000 a night?

Perhaps the funniest part about it is the directions on the doors:




One door tells you how to operate the scissor lift so the room can rise out of the van into the air. It also includes instructions on how to get in the room and take a shower.

The other door has important rules, like "no sudden movements," "no smoking" and "do not unzip the entry door while the hotel rehearsal is elevated."