Venice: Take Two

I didn't like the first version, so redid many of the aspects and what you now see will be more perfect than the first time around. Several people have already viewed the show, and you may go back and get a better glimpse of the majesty of Venice. I just didn't feel right letting such imperfection leak into what was intended as the "perfect" tour of Venice.

Perfect? Well, I am not so sure

One month to the day after I published show # 139, I posted show # 140: the "Perfect" Tour of Venice. It was not easy, but then again, it never is and probably never will be. These shows are never easy for any number of reasons that I have written of to a great extent in these blogs. This one just "got in the way" of many other things I was doing. Certainly when I am working, it is much more difficult to find the significant amount of time necessary to put these shows together. I suppose that the challenge is part of the lure to begin with. I sure do enjoy a challenge. When I first returned to teaching college after my three year hiatus, I told people I liked the challenge of returning to a job that I had just about given up on. Despite my almost continuous states of anxiety, apparently there is a part of me that enjoys a great challenge; I think the challenge might be what has gotten me through these many, many years of living with my levels of anxiety.

Nonetheless, using all my knowledge of Venice, I created a show that throughout the process never for a minute assumed I was producing a "perfect" tour. That might just be impossible. As I have said many times perfect for one person is not so perfect for another. Therefore, using the word is just a goof to begin with. I was creating a tour. Period. It includes some good stuff; don't me wrong. If you have never been to Venice or haven't spent that much time there, then you will find this helpful. I have produced many Venice shows on a wide variety of topics, the most recent the Sevan Melikyan show about the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Really those shows are my Venice legacy to my fans. All of those previous have been very esoteric and very narrow in the construct. This is a shotgun of information on the things a person needs to go to Venice for a few days and have a great trip. I talk about my favorite hotels, restaurants, methods of arrival, travel, and what to do when you get there. It is, as all my shows, very, very personal - Alan's Italy. I have tried to explain that many times. I hope you enjoy it!

My next endeavor will probably be Ric's show on the Ancient Roman site (that apparently not too many people know about) of Carsulae. I was supposed to have met with him today, but he couldn't make it. I sent him the photos that he had given me years ago (with the expectation that we would a show on this topic), and he will now get it together. When he is ready, which I assume will be soon, then we will shoot the videos, probably in the same manner as Sevan and I did the Peggy Guggenheim. Otherwise, I have no specific idea for a show, but am leaning towards one of those perfect shows on Milan, completing the major cities that I have been to extensively.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading and watching.

An Update on Show # 140 - Time Has Not Been on My Side

Busy, busy, busy with a thousand things which have prevented me from doing any show since the Botticelli Show # 139. With my college teaching the largest factor preventing me from doing any extensive work on the next show taken together with a variety of other things, I have tried to plod through a show on a Venice Tour, but have yet to finish. When I first selected Venice as the theme for show # 140, I thought it would be the easiest of the "tour shows" which have already included Rome, Florence, and Tuscany, but that has not happened and to be honest, that type of show is the most difficult to put together. To be exact and thorough a lot of work goers into those productions and it takes a very long time to get everything accomplished, especially when I am so busy. I did a lot of things today, and when I finally sat down to attempt to record and do all the myriad things that go into a presentation, I was not focusing the way I should, and so I stopped. Perhaps tomorrow, but then Tuesday through Thursday we will be away so that will prolong the final  creation as well. I will do my best, but it may take quite a while.

In the meantime on Friday, April 14 Ric Hirst and I will begin work on show # 141 which will focus on the long forgotten Ancient Roman town of Carsulae in Umbria, a place I never even heard of until Ric told me about it. He has some fascinating photos, and I am looking forward to working on that. I would have liked to finish Venice before working on that, but it may not happen quite that way.