It’s the fourth of July, and tonight Philadelphia will celebrate with fireworks. Wehey!
The fourth is very special here because in many ways Philly was the nation’s birthplace. Obviously I am an alien, but I think Philly is actually a splendid city to live in on any day of the year. For example – we have this. (What’s that building in the centre?):
And we have these. (What are these guys doing?)
We have this, of course (and what’s across the hallway?)
And we also have this. (It’s the largest in the world, but the largest what?) Oh, and there’s a bonus question attached to this one. What’s its connection to the Globe Theatre in London?
So here’s your puzzle: Can you name any of these places and things? Answers on a postcard. Oh no, that’s too slow. Just leave any answers in the comments, and the one I like the most (for whatever reason – truse/false or just tickles my fancy) will win a prize. Yay, a prize!!!
So what is it? Well, hold onto you seats, folks, because here’s your chance to win a genuine alienware baseball cap that I will personally post/snail mail to the lucky winner, no matter where they are in the world. So not only is it very sporty and cool, but it will come from a genuine alien (me)! We like to celebrate the fourth in style at Learning to speak ‘merican! Looking forward to hearing from you.
[…] And please don’t forget to try to answer one or some of my July the fouth quiz […]
Guessing some of these:
1. That must be The Comcast Center (very new building, isn’t it? I hadn’t seen it yet. Amazing!)
2. They’re on a lift of some sort, perhaps graffiti artists getting ready to do a wall? You’d posted something on a wall a while back.
3. Independence Hall! Across the hall: No idea. The restrooms? No, wait, is the Liberty Bell indoors, perhaps?
4. I’d say the president’s box at the Academy of Music, because this looks pretty historical, and it’s a round hall and therefore perhaps somewhat connected to Shakespeare’s own. I heard Porgy and Bess there some 30+ years ago. We were two hopeful-looking teens, and a friendly Philadephian came up and gave us tickets for a dirt cheap.
I’ve been to Philadelphia only once since, to the Academy of Natural Sciences, a magical place, to get wonderful drawings for an exhibition on Darwin.
The hat totally suits you – as if to prove that this video project is clearly right up your alley!!
All the best,
Anne
Oh Anne – this is impressive!
Picture one
The Comcast Center – Yay! Right first time. They say it’s the tallest building between New York and Chicago and it seems pretty damned big to me. I find it jolly useful if I get lost in the city. I look up and it helps me find my way home. It has an enormous LCD wall inside that shows free movies and I love its translucence at dusk. That’s when I look at it most. This picture was taken from the roof deck of our house where we eat in the evenings if the weather permits.
And you’re right that it’s new. We took this shot soon after it was finished in 2007, but we have lots more of it being built. Some people say the Comcast helped lift the curse of Willie Penn and I just did a search of this blog to provide a link to the story and discovered I’ve never written about it. Goodness me! OK – that’ll be my next blog post.
Picture two
Technically speaking they are mural rather than graffiti artists, but some might argue they might have been graffitt artists if they hadn’t been involved in this project. And yes, I’ve written about this wonderful Philly project before here and here.
Picture/video three
Independence Hall – Yep! “Across the hall: No idea. The restrooms? No, wait, is the Liberty Bell indoors, perhaps?” Ha! Well, the Liberty Bell is indoors these days and positioned out front of this building. So that’s another fine answer, but it’s not across the hall, so perhaps someone else will know.
Picture four
Your guess is very logical and it’s a nice story! But you’re wrong, wrong, wrong! Does anybody else know?
Ok, i have decided to be really honest and not use any of the other comments to help me..
so…
!. A radical light installation by Asian American artist – Yamasaki?
2. Kill-joys? Municipal graffiti removers – they probably don’t like the light Installation either.
3. Across the hallway? Do you mean through that window? Then it must be The Light installation. If you mean through the doors i hope it’s the toiletbathroomwashroom.
4.Clearly the world’s Largest Something, and the connection with the Globe Theatre in london is really bad if you are using a cell phone mobile thingy and the Globe theatre has no Wifi connection.
If you are using smoke signals we will eventually see them, otherwise it’s probably best to use parchment and send it by Troubadour.
This is infuriating! I’ve seen #4 before… Isn’t it an organ? My first instinct is to say it’s in 30th street station, but I don’t think that’s right. Is it in city hall?
As for #2, is there a copy of the Declaration of Independence there? Or maybe a Benjamin Franklin impersonator? 🙂
[…] And please don’t forget to try to answer one or some of my July the fourth quiz questions! Posted by Vicki at 12:15 […]