RIFF International
In 1872, the fictitious Phileas Fogg traversed the globe in 80 days. A little known but ultimately true fact is that in 1889 a young, spunky reporter named Nellie Bly decided to recreate the journey. Challenged by Around the World in 80 Days author Jules Verne to beat the clock, she did. Her employer, the “New York World,” picked up the tab for ports of call that included London, Singapore, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. Nice.
Personally, I would love to see the world but while many of us are fascinated with life on the other side of the pond, travel is still expensive and energy draining. This leads me to respect the attitude taken by Frenchman Xavier de Maistre who decided that carriages, camels, and steamships were not for him and wrote instead Journey Around My Bedroom. His question was, why not appreciate life where you are?
Xavier felt the world could come to him, which is pretty much what you can do at RIFF 2010. Submissions have come from far and wide this year. Judges are still judging and the May 26th deadline remains weeks away but I thought it would be fun to note where some of the international submissions have come from thus far. A quick list of countries represented in RIFF 2010 submissions includes:
*Canada *Mexico
*Spain *Belgium
*UK *Japan
*France *Australia
*Portugal *South Korea
Is that cool or what for the third year of a festival?
BTW — In case you are curious – 25 year-old Nelly made it around the world in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes (sans a hairdryer and frequent traveler perks I might add). See you at RIFF.
~Peace,
Tina