National Geographic's explorer-in-residence about voyage to Rapanui

Footloose and Fancy-free
He’s battled the rough seas on a Polynesian boat and discovered unknown islands. Wade Davis promises viewers something special with his latest show
Namita Kohli
Delhi Newsline
Tuesday , April 24, 2007

Similarly, the Polynesian wayfinders still know how to study waves and find their way in the waters. “As I undertook the voyage from Easter island to Hawaii with them, I rediscovered not only the land, but also human genius as they found their way without any modern implements.”

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More about Night at the Museum on DVD

CONTEST: Own Night at the Museum on DVD!
MovieWeb - Apr 23, 2007When it closes at night, Larry soon learns that things are not what they seem when a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton wants to play fetch, an Easter Island ...

Night at the Museum DVD Review
UGO, NY - Apr 23, 2007...
a T-Rex that's dying to play fetch, an on-going Civil War battle, talking Easter Island monoliths and the late, great Teddy Roosevelt. ...

Movie Review: Night at the Museum
Groundlings Review - April 24, 2007
... to the car ride home where all my kids kept repeating the lines delivered by a giant Easter Island head, (“Hey dumb-dumb, give me gum-gum.”) We had fun. ...

Night at the Museum: 2-Disc Special Edition
Ultimate Disney - April 24, 2007
... welcoming Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton to stuffed wild animals, from miniature cowboy and Roman soldier figures to an immobile Easter Island head. ...

Award winning novelist has visited Rapa Nui

Isabel Allende returns to Chile
Her childhood home has seen turbulent times. But for the award-winning novelist Isabel Allende, the beauty of the landscape and kindness of its people endures.
Interview by Jenny Cockle
Independent
Published: 22 April 2007

I've travelled all over the country - to Easter Island and Patagonia in the south and to the desert in the north. Chile is a great destination to explore but it's a long way away from Europe, so you'll need at least two weeks there.

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New7Wonders/Rapa Nui

New wonders await
Malaysia Star, Malaysia - April 22, 2007
Or do the Easter Island heads put her to shame? Check out the proposed new list of the Seven Wonders of the World and cast your vote. ...

"Monolithic" pop culture references #50

Ever searching for news about Rapa Nui, this blog's administrator comes across many references to Rapa Nui and its famous moai. Often, these references are quite comical and have nothing to do with the island or the culture of Rapa Nui. Other times, they appear to be speculative, based more on misconceptions than reality, or downright bizarre. Here are some of the more recent references:

Silver Chips Online:
Blair's tribute to those famed big rock heads of Easter Island: really big cat heads arranged haphazardly in the University Boulevard parking lot. This will add a sense of timelessness, a sense of mystery, a sense of wonder — as many drivers will wonder (particularly if they've just backed into one and pulverized their rear tail light), "What in the world are a bunch of concrete cat heads doing in the parking lot?" It's a mystery!

Gulfnews:
I didn't know what visas and passports and travellers' cheques were about, but I could describe the grandeur of Byblos, the mysteries of the Easter Island behemoths, and certainly the feel of the powdery desert sand under my feet.

New York Times and International Herald-Tribune:
In a room whose dark-paneled walls are hung with flags once planted in the far-flung precincts of Everest and Antarctica, the man at the lectern had just finished talking about his anthropological travels through almost 40 countries, across some 500,000 miles, where he recovered from food poisoning and chigger bites in Peru and swam through shark-infested waters off Easter Island.

Easter Island Marathon a "great trip for runners"

Eight great trips for runners
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Apr 22, 2007

3. CHILE: Easter Island Marathon, ½ marathon and 10K, June 10. Eight-night trip includes airfare from Atlanta; $2,689 per person based on double occupancy. Includes nights on mainland Chile and on Easter Island. Marathon Tours and Travel (www.marathontours.com, 800-444-4097).

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Jared Diamond/Rapa Nui

Yourhealth / Holistic Healing: A sick planet is not healthy for us
By : Dr Rajen M.
New Straits Times
2007/04/22

In his ground-breaking follow-up book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Diamond provides the failing examples of the US state of Montana, Easter Island, Polynesians, Anasazi of the southwestern USA, the Mayans of Central America, and the Norse of Greenland.

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Environmental Op Ed: "What were they thinking?"

State of Denial: The Bush Administration and Global Warming
by Scott O'Reilly
OpEdNews
April 20, 2007 at 12:14:04

Once upon at time, the inhabitants of Easter Island cut every last tree down before disappearing without a trace. The anthropologist Jared Diamond, who studies ecological collapses, often wonders what the islander of that Polynesian paradise, was thinking when he (or she) cut down the last tree.

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Cemetary/Museum in California has "actual" moai

Gregs Getaway
Forest Lawn Glendale
By Greg Aragon
Pasadena Independent
Apr 19, 2007

In another room I found an extensive collection of old-west bronze sculptures by artists such as Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. In the same area I examined rare jewelry from India and England; ivory art from Africa; a 15th century suit of armor; and an actual “moai” head from Easter Island, made from volcanic stone.

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Recollection of Gay Rapanui tour guide

The Wild Issue: Dan Ware
Gay Tour Guide Walks On The Wild Side
Queerty
Wed, Apr 18, 2007

Yeah, Easter Island is like a 3 hour flight out of Santiago, Chile. Our guide didn’t have a partner, and he said that the gay people on the island all pretty much knew each other. Of course there was no gay bar or anything, but the local gays would get together and hang out.

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Traditional Maori navigation to Rapanui planned

Waka voyage begins
Northern Advocate, New Zealand - Apr 17, 2007
... years since Te Aurere has sailed any distance. Crew have been training for a trip to Easter Island, a three-month journey planned for the end of next year.

Waka heads for Norfolk Is, part-crewed by women
Radio New Zealand, New Zealand - Apr 18, 2007
He says the four-day trip to Norfolk Island is a training run in preparation for a six-week voyage next year to Easter Island. ...

Newly released DVD features talking moai

The week's best releases from the pop culture universe
Minneapolis City Pages, MN - Apr 17, 2007
... in this box-office hit about a nightwatchman and some very mobile artifacts — including a playful T. rex skeleton and a talking Easter Island statue. ...

Here are the week's best releases from the pop-culture universe:
Cleveland Scene Weekly, OH - Apr 19, 2007
... in this box-office hit about a night watchman and some very mobile artifacts -- including a playful T. rex skeleton and a talking Easter Island statue. ...

Rapanui on Romantic Islands List

Easter Island and Galapagos on Romantic Islands List
From Bonnie Hamre
About
Apr 17, 2007

Easter Island: "Although located on one of the most isolated places on the planet, the stone icons known as moai which guard the austere beauty of Easter Island guarantee that the visitors to this paradise never feel alone."

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North Pole visitor also visited Rapa Nui

North Pole could receive oldest visitor this weekend
BY BRENT HOPKINS, Staff Writer
LA Daily News
Article Last Updated: 04/16/2007 09:10:53 PM PDT

And, along the way, he raised a family of adventurers to follow his lead. They've arranged trips to Easter Island and the Galapagos.

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Rapanui among "world's best islands"

The World’s 10 Best Islands
Lovetripper.com
Apr 16, 2007

Although located on one of the most isolated places on the planet, the stone icons known as moai which guard the austere beauty of Easter Island guarantee that the visitors to this paradise never feel alone.

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About Jared Diamond's recent lecture in Virginia

Learning to draw lessons from the past
Learn from earlier societies' bad and good, author says at Forum
BY MELODIE N. MARTIN - TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Times Dispatch
Apr 15, 2007

Using Easter Island as an example, he described how its original Polynesian inhabitants depleted its supply of lush subtropical trees, resulting in a lack of protection from wind and water, erosion, civil war, starvation and cannibalism.

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Travel discussion near Troy, NY about Rapa Nui

Community Calendar
Troy Record
04/15/2007

LOUDONVILLE - Don and Donna Traver will discuss their trip that included Machu Picchu, Easter Island and Sierra Leone to see the nest site of the White-necked Picathartes at 7 p.m. June 4 at the William K. Sanford Town Library, 629 Albany Shaker Road. Admission is free and the public is welcome. The program is sponsored by the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club Inc.

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Jared Diamond and the decline civilization of Rapa Nui

Clear and present danger
The environment, the digital alternative and Mohamed El-Assyouti
Al-Ahram Weekly
Apr 12, 2007

Geography professor Jared Diamond cites the decline of civilization on Easter Island, in the Pacific Ocean, as metaphor for the possible decline of human civilization at large. A few centuries ago, the inhabitants of the island had consumed all their natural resources; unable to move, they warred amongst themselves, turned to cannibalism and eventually perished.

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Rapa Nui mentioned in article about kite history

Come fly a kite
by David Khorram - MDSpecial to the Saipan Tribune
Saipan Tribune
Friday, April 13, 2007

After its appearance in China, the kite migrated to Korea, Japan, Myanmar (Burma), India, Arabia, and North Africa, then farther south into the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, and the islands of Oceania as far east as Easter Island. Since kites made of leaves have been flown in Malaya and the South Seas from time immemorial, the kite could also have been invented independently in that region.

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Exhibiting photographer has applied his art to Rapa Nui

The sorrow and the pity
The works in 'Impossible to Forget: The Nazi Camps Fifty Years After' are indirect yet powerful
By Robert L. Pincus - UNION-TRIBUNE ART CRITIC
SignOnSanDiego
April 12, 2007

Michael Kenna has an eye for spare, subtly beautiful scenes, which he has applied to places all over the globe – from Easter Island to Japan to his native England and even to his adopted home, San Francisco. In doing so, the widely exhibited and published photographer has crafted pictures with the idea of creating space “reserved for the viewer.”

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