St. Augustine – Coastal Happenings
Oct 21st
Take a ride from slightly scary to bone-chilling
We thought we’d give you a few favorites when it comes to spooky transportation. For instance, the Haunted Hearse Ride, a comfortable cruise through haunted haunts that offers a chance to hear intoxicating tales while enjoying some of the areas finer ales on what may be the world’s scariest pub tour. Or maybe a wagon ride through spooky woods is more your style. In that case, you’ll want to check out the Florida Agricultural Museum in Palm Coast. Be on the lookout for headless horsemen, known to appear in these parts, and a host of otherworldly encounters. Read more.
Take a stroll through the locals’ favorite haunts
Ghost tales and ales abound on the Creepy Pub Crawls. And there are plenty of pedestrian haunted tours afoot in the Old City. Most wind through the city’s oldest streets, where lies the setting for some of the city’s oldest ghost stories. The truth of them fades into legend and myth. But one wonders, having stood the test of so much time, if some of these old ghost stories might just be true. Come see for yourself. Bring comfortable shoes. Read more.
Romance is just a paranormal part of life here in The Old City
Ghosts and goblins make great cupids. So say the many couples
that have ventured together through the haunted streets of St. Augustine on the dozens of ghost tours and excursions. This is particularly true during the weeks around Halloween, when 450 years of history becomes 450 years of ghost stories. After all, the place has a long tradition of conquering, soldiering, razing and sacking. St. Augustine has no shortage of graveyards, some dating back to the 17th century. Add to that the ominous nighttime visage of the formidable Castillo de San Marcos, the narrow streets and the ancient architecture, and you have a veritable paranormal paradise. Otherwise known as the perfect place to take a date.
So as it turns out, horror breeds romance. Incidentally, chocolate also breeds romance, and there’s plenty of that here too. But that’s a different story. Blood curdling leads to cuddling. Just ask the tour guide engineer on the Ghost Train tour. Couples aboard his train tend to drift closer and closer together in direct proportion to how scary the tour is at any given moment. And then there are the moments he calls the Scream and Slide, when a person reacts to a frightening moment and slides across the seat at considerable velocity closer to his or her date. More often than you might expect, it’s the man sliding.
A horse-drawn carriage ride is a great way to experience the historic frights of the city at night. The open carriage makes for freer access to ghosts, orbs and other materials in the spirit world. The carriage also allows for freer movement, like the timeless move of putting your arm around your date. One typically finds less resistance to such moves when there are unknown apparitions about.
Throughout St. Augustine’s extensive history there have been rumors of ghosts and hauntings. So many, in fact, that one wonders just how long ghost tours have existed. Perhaps the first ghost tours appeared in the Spanish settlements, ostensibly created by a wise conquistador who recognized the advantages to playing hero in the face of fabled specters and phantoms.
Click here for a long list of local events.
Source: Florida’s Historic Coast
City Government Week in the City of St. Augustine
Oct 21st
City Officials to visit area schools during Florida City Government Week
Members of the St. Augustine City Commission and the city’s fire chief will be visiting area schools next week as part of Florida City Government Week, October 21-27. Participating schools will use one day during the week to host a participating official who will lead Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the school day.
Members of the St. Augustine City Commission and the city’s fire chief will be visiting area schools next week as part of Florida City Government Week, October 21-27. Participating schools will use one day during the week to host a participating official who will lead Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the school day.
Mayor Joe Boles, Vice Mayor Leanna Freeman, Commissioners Errol Jones and Nancy Sikes-Kline, and Fire Chief Mike Arnold will visit R. B. Hunt, Ketterlinus, and Crookshank Elementary Schools, The Webster School, and Cathedral Parish School during the week.
City officials visiting area schools during Florida City Government Week has become a tradition in recent years. The visits provide an opportunity for city leaders and students to meet creating an opportunity to put a spotlight on the significant role local government has in everyday lives.
City Government Week is simply a time for the community to be mindful that municipal government is the level of government that has the most impact on its constituency’s quality of daily life, and to emphasize that municipal is the most accessible of all levels of government.
Florida City Government Week is a program sponsored by the Florida League of Cities. For more information visit www.floridaleagueofcities.com.
For more information on the City of St. Augustine’s participation, contact the City Clerk’s Office at 825.1007.
Source: City of St. Augustine
“Argo” Is Funny and Serious
Oct 20th
Hotshots, October 17, 2012
“Funny and Serious”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Argo is an excellent film based on a true story you might never have heard about concerning the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy for 444 days by Iranian militants.
It is also a very funny film that pokes fun at the filmmaking business in Hollywood, which together makes it a sure-fire candidate to be recognized at the 2013 Academy Awards.
As a matter of fact, the film was a surprise hit at the 2012 Telluride Film Festival, where director Ben Affleck told a screening audience that he tried to make a film that was one part action thriller, one part comedy, and one part inspired by a 1970s film like the 1976 All the President’s Men.
He succeeded, and he should be very proud of the results.
What the world didn’t know at the time was that when the American Embassy was taken over in November 1979, six men and women managed to escape and hide out in the Canadian Embassy.
Affleck also stars as Tony Mendez, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist, and he comes up with a risky and dangerous plan to get the six Americans out of Iran without the militants knowing about it.
Once Tony’s plan is approved, his boss, played by Bryan Cranston, tells him, “The whole world is watching you; they just don’t know it.”
What Tony proposed was that he pretend to be a Canadian filmmaker, get into Iran with all the necessary documents for himself and the six Americans, and then convince the Iranian authorities that all seven of them were a Canadian film crew who were in Iran scouting for locations for a science-fiction movie they were making, using a script for an actual movie in turnaround called Argo.
However, in order to do that, Hollywood has to be convinced that the story is real, as well, and Tony gets the help of a producer played by Alan Arkin and a makeup artist played by John Goodman.
The title of the ARGO movie is used in a very funny and profane way, and you won’t be able to hear the word again without smiling or laughing.
When Tony tells the six Americans what he wants them to do, they aren’t completely cooperative, and the tension keeps building and building until the very end.
Argo is very funny and serious.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
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