Better Late Than Never

As many of you may know, one of the Discovery Channel's biggest ratings draws is Shark Week. That glorious time of year when they present specials containing bizarre people, with thrill issues, in cages trying to get as close as possible to these awesome creatures. Some of it can be really cool; but sadly, they missed the boat on advertising this go round. This year, Shark Week ran from July 31 through August 4, and during that time, the Discovery Channel headquarters in downtown Silver Spring, MD opted to advertise in a BIG way by turning their building into a shark for the week. The pictures that I managed to snap (forgive the quality - I was in my car waiting at red lights for both) simply don't do the beast justice. It was amusing to say the least as it was held up to the building with cables and strings. Seriously, this thing had Mystery Science Theater 3000 written all over it (I'm secretly hoping that some wanna be film director got some overnight footage for the best 'B' movie ever). What really gets me is that this sucker was five years in the making and supposedly made of some kind of space-age material that could withstand 40mph winds and then be reinflated to original size in under four minutes should rain and/or heavier wind knock the air loose. They had that down, but couldn't find a more aesthetic way to attach it to the building? To top it all off, the 'ass' end of the shark is what faced the downtown proper. So, as you drove into town from the north, south, or west you were greeted with the back end first. Is Discovery trying to tell the people of Silver Spring something? Hmmm...

And on that, I shall bid you all ado for now. I will be absent for the next week as I am heading to San Antonio, TX to attend the annual meeting of the American Society of Primatologists. It's a glorious five day period where all we do is talk monkey by day and drink by night. How I do love my peers. If all goes well, and the FAA doesn't decide to hold me hostage for having a tube of lip balm, I shall return early the week of the 21st with delightful tales of monkey mayhem.

TTFN!