Author: Austin Vegas

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Russian partiers blinded by rave lasers

photo by loupiote (Old Skool) on Flikr I’ve seen many a laser show in my day and have even booked the guys at UV99 for one of our last blow outs but this news is crazy and unique to the idiots running the lasers at this out door festival in Russia – revelers were subjected to intense laser burns when they were refracted down to eye level.

MOSCOW (Reuters story here) – Dozens of partygoers at an outdoor rave near Moscow last week have lost partial vision after a laser light show burned their retinas, Russian health officials said on Monday.

Moscow city health department officials confirmed 12 cases of laser-blindness at the Central Ophthalmological Clinic, and daily newspaper Kommersant said another 17 were registered at City Hospital 32 in the centre of the capital.

Attendees at the July 5 Aquamarine Open Air Festival in Kirzhach, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Moscow, began seeking medical help days after the show, complaining of eye and vision problems, health officials told Reuters.

“They all have retinal burns, scarring is visible on them. Loss of vision in individual cases is as high as 80 percent, and regaining it is already impossible,” Kommersant quoted a treating ophthalmologist as saying.

Attendees said heavy rains forced organisers to erect massive tents for the all-night dance party, and lasers that normally illuminate upwards into the sky were instead partially refracted into the ravers’ eyes.

“I immediately had a spot like when you stare into the sun,” rave-attendee Dmitry told Kommersant.

“After three days I decided to go to the hospital. They examined me, asked if I had been at Open Air, and then put me straight in the hospital. I didn’t even get to go home and get my stuff,” he said

More at Reuters

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A water sommelier?

Now this is getting ridiculous. The absurdity is far reaching including, diluting desalinated seawater from Hawaii (at $33.50 for a two-ounce bottle, what type of cheap water do they add to dilute it) and Bling H2O is marketing a “luxury” brand of water that costs over a million dollars of what you get from the tap ($40 for 750 milliliters, with special-edition bottles going for $480). Read the rest of Shankar Vedantam’s report in the Washington Post.

I’ll stick to New Yorks finest for now…

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New Yorkers Don’t Fawn Over Celebrity

NYC is the most populous city in the united states, with more people in closer proximity than in any other city. This living situation begets the reduction of personal space in public places – subways, sidewalks, department stores, and nightlife spots.

I spend the majority of my public hours shoulder to shoulder with new yorkers, citizens and any number of foreigners walking to the store for toothpaste, deodorant and my evenings dinner – all in plane site for those that I bump or pass by. I run in the park or along the waterfront sweating with the rest of the nyers trying to stay fit and shed some of the city’s stress. I spend Sunday afternoons with my friends at my local pub with the NFL package watching all the games at once well because they have more room than my living room and better access to food and beer.

This life is common for New York and something I seriously debated getting used to when looking at moving. I truly loved the flexibility of surrounding myself with people when I wanted and having the space to avoid them when I didn’t. However, in my 4+ years I, like the New Yorkers before me, have gotten used to living my private life publicly in the same manner.

We take ownership of life on the street as our own. This is our block, this butcher is my guy, that’s my Italian spot, I get my mozzarella from Joe’s, and this is my pub like as if this is my couch in my living room. When locals and even celebrities enter our home they become part of the scenery, part of the atmosphere and just party of the whole experience of being in NY. This is my time and Jay-z is here enjoying dinner at my spot, not the other way around.

In my time in NY I run into celebrities more here than anywhere I’ve lived and part of that is the closeness of everyone but also we all share the same environments you’re bound to have dinner next to Demi Moore and Ashton, crossing the same street under the same umbrella as Rosario Dawson, accidentally running over Giada De Laurentiis coming out of her hotel or having coffee with Famke Janssen at your local shop.

With celebrity sightings NYers may look twice because there is a moment of recognition; they process why the face is recognized, realize it is not someone you actually know, and move on. We’re inundated with their faces and people all the time.

Really though the last thing I need is one more person fawning over ME and taking my picture. Get a life, celebrities. Seriously.