Dallas, U.S.A. — Your choice of travel mate can make or break your ideal vacation experience. One sloppy best friend or chain-smoking cousin could put an immediate damper on the dream trip you’ve been planning forever.

Hotels.com recently conducted a national survey that sought out the top traits Americans look for, and avoid, in a hotel roommate. The poll also investigated additional elements essential to a perfect retreat, including the most popular destinations vacation-goers would choose to spend a free night, which celebrities they most wanted to share a room with, and which ones they would want to give the boot.

“Americans have spoken, and according to our survey findings, travelers are looking for smart, funny, like-minded individuals to enjoy their wanderlust journeys with,” said Taylor L. Cole, director of public relations and social media for Hotels.com in North America. “Hotels.com is perpetually fueled by the idea of ‘what drives you to travel,’ whether it be cuisine, adventure, shopping or art. This survey is an interesting extension of this endeavor because it takes a closer look at the question of ‘who drives you to travel.’”

Make me laugh

The top three characteristics that consumers most look for in someone they are to share a hotel room with are a sense of humor, trustworthiness, and similar lifestyle values. Intelligence, which came in fourth overall, was ranked higher in importance by men than women. Nevertheless, one thing both genders fully agreed on was that hygiene was important enough to round out the top five most sought-out characteristics.

The ultimate deal breaker

When it comes to characteristics travelers least look for in someone that they are to share a hotel room with, being a smoker was the undisputed, least desired trait with a total of 66 percent of respondents ranking it as the most unwelcome trait.

Sharing the presidential suite

Of the over 1,500 hotel-goers who took part in our survey, 18 percent of them voted First Lady Michelle Obama to the top of the list of celebrities, historical, fictional or political figures Americans would most want to room with on their next vacation.

The 18-29 age group was the only faction to set their sights on another potential roomie – Will Ferrell. Ferrell took the number one spot among the youngest group of respondents, followed by Beyonce. Michelle Obama tied for third with Natalie Portman and David Beckham.

The leading lady with the top vote from male respondents was Natalie Portman, who received 19 percent of the vote. Marilyn Monroe was another favorite among the guys, coming in a close second with 18.7 percent of the vote.

Don’t want your poker face

One public figure clearly emerged from the rest as the least preferred travel mate of all. With 24 percent of the overall response count, Lady Gaga was voted an undesirable travel mate by all age groups represented in this survey. Other objectionable figures include Ryan Seacrest and Spiderman.

No place like rome

When asked to identify the perfect place to spend a free hotel stay, the survey participants across genders and age groups almost universally agreed that Rome, Italy was the place to go. Again, the only group that diverged from this conclusion was the 18-29 year-old age sect, who favored the glitz and glam of Las Vegas, before Rome, which they listed as their second favorite.

Rome received 22 percent of the overall vote, while the second most popular choice overall was Paris, receiving 14 percent of the votes. Las Vegas proved to be popular among more than just the twenty-somethings by coming in third overall with 13.5 percent of the total vote count.

To earn free hotel stays, sign up for the Hotels.com loyalty program, Welcome Rewards, which gives members a free hotel night after booking and staying 10 nights. Even better, members have more than 65,000 properties to choose from, with no blackout dates.

Image Courtesy of  Domain Barnyard

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Fort Lauderdale, U.S.A - Voyages to Antiquity, the cruise industry’s premier specialty enrichment provider, has published its 2013 brochure including more port calls in the Western Mediterranean; itineraries to France and Spain; a stronger emphasis on Sicily, the epicenter of Ancient Rome 3500 years ago; additional Dalmatian Coast sailings from Venice along the Adriatic and an additional Black Sea voyage. The line continues to offer a unique array of experiences in Greece and Turkey.

“The Mediterranean itineraries are the heart and soul of Voyages to Antiquity and we endeavor to make each season full of unique experiences for our guests. This year we have expanded our product offerings in the Western Mediterranean while also providing an emphasis to the ancient civilizations found in Sicily,” said Mitchell J. Schlesinger, vice president of marketing and sales for Voyages to Antiquity.

“We’ve received growing support from prestigious organizations whose well-traveled clients are interested in an educational, enriching vacation experience, including Smithsonian Journeys, the Archaeological Institute of America and numerous alumni organizations.”

The Mediterranean season begins and ends with sailings between Cairo and Istanbul, highlighted by two Wonders of the World, as well as the following sites:

• Cairo to Istanbul – March 30, 2013 and Istanbul to Cairo – October 25, 2013

Western Mediterranean cruises along the Riviera coast include:

• Rome to Cannes – May 16, 2013

• Cannes to Venice – May 28, 2013

Itineraries highlighting the Adriatic’s Dalmatian Coast and the treasures of Sicily include:

• Istanbul to Athens – April 12 and September 9, 2013

• Athens to Venice – April 24 and September 21, 2013
  Venice to Athens – June 11, 2013

• Venice to Rome – May 6 and October 3, 2013

• Athens to Rome – June 23, 2013

• Rome to Istanbul – July 3 and October 13, 2013

Guest lecturers and celebrated speakers from around the world complement the in-depth shore experiences by bringing to life the art, history and culture of the Mediterranean region.  Regional foods and wines further immerse guests in the destinations visited.

Extraordinary value is a hallmark with cruise fares starting from $3995, including shore excursions with complimentary bottled water; gratuities to shipboard staff and wine, beer and soft drinks at dinner. To accommodate the significant demand from single guests, Voyages to Antiquity has increased the number of dedicated single cabins to 26 to complement single supplements in double occupancy cabins, which start from just 25%.

Roundtrip air is available from $595 per person from 60 North American gateways, including transfers and all air taxes and surcharges. Guests who book by September 30, 2012 can enjoy up to $1000 in stateroom savings on departures from March 30 through July 3, 2013.

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On the streets of Rome, Italy’s capital, up to 200.000 demonstrators took the streets to join the global protest called from one side to other of the world. Among those, a group of Black Bloc protesters – between 100 and 200 people – hijacked the peaceful march with an explosion of violence against stores, banks, cars, police and other protesters.

October 15th was the day of worldwide demonstrations. In 951 cities in more than 80 countries hundreds of thousands of people took the streets and the squares to protest against financial elites, capitalists, bankers and governments’ austerity measures and to claim rights and real democracy for all.

Although the massive participation in most of the cities, reports on violence are rare and the protests were peaceful and quiet even in the European capitals which are the epicenter of the crisis and where the anger and the frustration are stronger.

In this scenario of collaboration and solidarity the exception has been Rome. Here just half an hour after the peaceful march of the Italian “indignados” started – at around 2.30 pm Italian time –, a small group of demonstrators with covered faces and clad totally in black broke away from the main rally and began to throw bottles, stones and incendiary devices at stores, banks, and police.

Numerous cars and trash bins were set on fire in the streets of downtown, offices of the Defence Ministry were assaulted and set on fire as well, banks and stores’ windows were smashed, journalists crew were attacked and many other damages were caused by the group of Black Bloc rioters. Pictures and videos report images of urban guerrilla, terrified people, bloody faces, fire, smoke, destruction and violence. They show the “total black protesters” breaking away from the main group and attacking police and peaceful demonstrators on their way.

The estimated number of injured people is around 70. Two protesters and one policeman have been seriously hurt, one of them – a 52-years-old man who tried to stop the violents – lost two fingers for the explosion of a firecracker thrown by one of the Black Blocs – as it’s shown in one video.

During a high tension moment of clashes between riot police and the violent group, a police armour-plated car was set on fire and police charged repeatedly the protesters and used tear gas and water cannons to stop the riots. The peaceful part of demonstrators, that is the big majority of them, ran away and fled the violence. Some of them who turned against the small violent group trying to stop and push them away were attacked and injured.

Around 12 people have been arrested. Rome’s mayor Gianni Alemanno, ministers and leaders of all parties blamed the violence. Some leader of the opposition questioned on how it was possible that the police was not able to stop such a small and well identifiable violent group for so many hours.

Meanwhile, on the web and on social media some users are rising the question on whether the Black Blocs could be real protesters or infiltrated policemen. Some suggest also that those protesters could have been paid and supported by “men of power”, who have strong interests in a violent hijacking of the peaceful protest to boycott it and manipulate the consequent news for condemning the demonstration. At the moment there is no proof for these conjectures to be true.

What it’s sure is that the news of the violent riots spread easier and stronger than the actual and true mass event which was this global peaceful protest covering it up. Though this has been a serious and blameworthy violence episode, we should also look to the importance and the strength of a worldwide movement that gathered 200.000 people just in Rome who are claiming for a future and protesting against a heavy economical crisis which is not the people’s fault. Also in a country which is standing on bended knees such as Italy, people answered to the call “People of the word: rise up!”.

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The world famous South African artist William Kentridge was a very special guest on May 27 at MAXXI, the National Museum of XXI Century Art located in Rome’s elegant Flaminio district. In an interview by Carlos Basualdo, curator at Large Maxxi Arte, the filmmaker and theatrical director, who is also a skilled draughtsman, spoke about his problematic view of art and, above all, life and its dependency. This was revealed to be not so far from the Ancient Greek philosophy of “panta rei”: Everything flows.

Born in Johannesburg, Kentridge gained a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and African Studies in 1976. Afterwards, he received a diploma in Fine Arts from the Johannesburg Art Foundation, and, at the beginning of the 1980s, decided to study mime and theatre at the L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris.

He evidently took a 360 degrees training which highly affected his broad, original and sometimes strongly politically-oriented artistic production – ranging from drawing, to sculpturing, performance art, film, television, and so on. He is probably one of the South African artist who can boast the most about his major exhibitions at, most notably, the museums of modern art of San Francisco and New York, and whose six great works are displayed at the Italian MAXXI.

However, he is more widely known as a unique film animator. In fact, his distinctive technique, which consists of filming the same collages or charcoal drawings over and over again, is world renowned because it goes against the traditional rules of cell-shaded animation. He is famous for meticulously making small changes from time to time in his filming, allowing an evolution of the drawings and preserving traces of their past.

But it is not just about the simple mastery of an experimental artist, skillful at altering his drawings creating optical illusions. Kentridge has always had a deep awareness of the historical and philosophical scope of his actions as well: “In the same way that there is a human act of dismembering the past there is a natural process in the terrain through erosion, growth, dilapidation that also seeks to blot out events.

In South Africa this process has other dimensions. The very term ‘new South Africa’ has within it the idea of a painting over the old, the natural process of dismembering, the naturalization of things new,” he argued in an introductory note to Felix in Exile, one of his famous film.

Likewise, art itself might be thought of as an infinite and varying migration never reaching any destination and basically determined by body and change: “the work has to be created with the rhythm of the body”, the creator stated at the event at MAXXI. The objects are unstable, achieving statuses which are always going to change: even meters and kilometers “are not so reliable as they seem.”

His work deals with an artistic and existential metaphor, shown at the Italian contemporary museum through some witty animated movies. One of them was about three bicycle wheels concurrently spun by three Kentridges using utensils. The Dada experiment provokingly demonstrated how wheels, out of their common usage, produce movement as well as time while their spokes was being turned.

They might become rhythm itself. Moreover, “these films are about what it is even inside the drawing: drawing is primarily a physical activity, it is about a movement of the body,” where the pencil is “a piece of chunk at the end of your hand” through which you give your rhythm depending on “the energy that comes (…) through the body,” Kentridge added. Thus, the drawing appears to be a sort of theatrical exercise due to different degrees of tension produced by the body, “which correspond, in theatrical terms, in different kinds of performance.”

Questioned by Basualdo what the movement of the wheels had to do with his drawings as far as endlessness was concerned, William Kentridge appeared without any doubt. Art is about transience: “there is a kind of promiscuous migration of images from one form to another, something that starts as a drawing coming to a film, the film coming to a piece of theatre, and the spinning wheels coming to an idea for theatre performance.”

Furthermore, according to the artist, the film itself is very much about “provisionality, the work not being fixed. It is not a photograph, it’s a photograph 25 times a second.”

Overall, like bicycle spokes or evenly maneuvered hands of a clock, man is only a fragile player repeating always the same drama over a unique piece of paper.

Just like the famous Kafka’s parable called My destination which the South African creator called attention to at the end of his event. In fact, essentially man is just “a talking clock,” he concluded.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.115135405239696.28892.115135238573046

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Pope Benedict XVI has closed down a historic monastery in Rome after a Vatican investigation revealed “liturgical and financial irregularities.”

The monastery was attached to the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, which was built in 320 AD to house sacred relics brought back from the Holy Land by the mother of Emperor Constantine I.  Its former abbot, Father Simone Fioraso, is credited with raising its profile through a number of outreach initiatives.  Fioraso had been a fashion designer prior to taking his vows and he quickly gained a reputation for flamboyance.  In addition to renovating Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Fioraso and the monks also opened a hotel and began a regular concert series.  The monastery quickly became popular with celebrities, including Madonna and Gloria Estefan.

In 2009, the monastery invited Sister Anna Nobili, a former nightclub dancer who had become a nun, to perform her “holy dance” at once of their concerts.  Nobili’s dance routine involved lying spread-eagled in front of the altar while clutching a crucifix and gyrating in a manner reminiscent of a pole dancing routine.  Nobili said that her unorthodox behavior was a form of prayer, telling La Repubblica at the time that “I dance for God and I’m happy. All my choreography is dedicated to Him. My aim is to pray using my body.”

That same year it was alleged that organic food sold in the monastery gift shop was actually taken from the shelves of local supermarkets.

Abbot Fioraso was removed from his post in 2009, but the monastery’s woes have continued.  Recently, the Pope ordered an ‘apostolic visitation’ of the monastery in his capacity as Bishop of Rome.  The results of the investigation were transmitted to the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Pope ultimately decided to dissolve the monastery.  The reasoning behind the unusual decision has not been released, though Vatican spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini said that “their lifestyles were not in keeping with what one would expect of monks.”

The twenty Cistercian monks who live in the monastery will be transferred to other monasteries around Italy.

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