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#62 May 11, 2011

Marie writes: allow me to introduce you to Travel Photographer, founded by Chris and Karen Coe in 2003 and their annual contest "Travel Photographer of the Year".After years spent working in the travel industry as a professional photographer and finding it was mostly conventional images making it into print, Chris decided to create a way to showcase great travel photography and broaden people's perception of what it can encompass - namely, that it can be much, much more than a pretty postcard image.The contest is open to one and all; amateur and professional photographers compete alongside each other. Entrants are judged solely on the quality of their photographs. There's a special competition to encourage young photographers aged 18 and under; Young Travel Photographer of the Year. The youngest entrant to date was aged just five, the oldest 88. The competition is judged by a panel of photographic experts, including renowned photographers, picture buyers, editor and technical experts.And the 2010 winners have now been announced. Here's a few random photos to wet your appetite - then you can scroll through the amazing winners gallery!

Enal is around 6 years old and knows this shark well - it lives in a penned off area of ocean beneath his stilted house in Wangi, Indonesia. Photo: James Morgan, UK (Portfolio Encounters: Winner 2010)  [note: click images to enlarge]

Movie Answer Man

Movie Answer Man (11/02/2003)

Q. I am a New Yorker who lived in the Caribbean from '75 to '01. I've seen hundreds of martial arts films, a good portion of them projected on bed sheets during those first 10 years (I lived 50 miles outside of Montego Bay). Jamaicans called them "kickers." When I was watching "Kill Bill" in New York I leaned over to my Jamaican-born son and said "this is a kicker on steroids." OK, yes, its a slick homage to the genre, and yes, there is a certain joy or exuberance to it, yes yes yes, but Roger--was it really a religious experience? I thought "Pulp Fiction" was excellent. I don't have anything against the man, but it seems whenever Tarantino the Great makes a movie a lot of people kneel at the altar. I have to wonder what critics and movie fans alike would have said if an unknown director delivered that film. I saw "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" at the behest of that same son of mine, and yes it was predictable and boring--and so what? Was it really worse than the thousands of movies you have seen and given 1/2 star or higher? Why are you so pissed off? My kid said he got a kick out of it. If he did then I suppose he wasn't ripped off. What do you think? (Nick Minotti, Pompano Beach, FL)