Mel Gibson, The Edge of Darkness, Northampton Mass.

Hollywood has invaded Northampton, Well, la de da. I'm happy for the local extras and my friends that are working on the crew filming "the Edge of Darkness" staring Mel Gibson, at least they are making some cash off the project, but man o man has this thing backed up traffic. Special thanks to public relations rep , Blaise Noto for helping me out today.

Virgin Mary appears in Springfield in front of thousands of people.

Life is unsure in America these days, everything has been called into question. Our sons and daughters are dying for nothing in a war that we all know is wrong: the foundations of our finance system are crumbling,: our leaders are corrupt and Global warming threatens an angry planet: there is very little left to have faith in. It is at times like these throughout history that the Virgin Mary makes her ghostly appearance. Whether or not it is truly a miracle in response to the needs of a troubled people or born from hopeful imagination;desperation and vulnerability,;the folks on "main street " as our politicians are fond of saying, have been gathering for the past three days under a window at the Mercy Medical Ct at 330 Stafford street in Springfield, MA. The out line on the second story window of an empty office that resembles The Virgin has drawn hundreds every day to pray and wonder. Some are there for the spectacle of the crowd, but the majority are believers who have come to be near her or are looking for a miracle to heal their wounds: Like Lucille Mirabello a frail woman just out of surgery in a wheel chair who was brought over from the nearby Weldon CT: or Michel Tourville also in a wheel chair who said that she came out of curiosity but "when I started moving closer I saw that it was her, there are so many people here of all nationalities praying together, she is so beautiful". Elizabeth venancio stands next to her clutching another wheel chair that holds her young son Jamie who was born with a single ventricle and is awaiting his third open heart surgery. "I am here for my son,” she said, "for a piece of heaven". I take Jamie’s hand and wish him well. I understand his struggle. I tell his mother that two months ago I had my second heart surgery. "He will be fine I say" She tells me that I am a miracle too. "I am not", I think. I am merely one of the lucky ones who had adequate health care. I am not a believer in miracles. I only see an oil stain on the window, But I like these people and I will not deny them their faith and their hopes. Maybe the Virgin is real, and she will rise from her glass prison in the window and lead her followers to the holy voting booth and an Obama victory. Now that would be a miracle I could get behind

Sarah Palin , kiss my antlers!

I added my own comment to this photo I found on The daily Mail. Thanks to the photographer, and the Moose....... I hope they approve.

The Nowhere world

This is the Nowhere world of the Hadley Mall . Empty space , designed to make you uncomfortable and force you inside to shop.

Al Giordano, Valley Advocate, going gonzo

This is a story about working with Al Giordano I just wrote for the 35th anniversary of the Valley Advocate.It is an important edition of the paper with great insight into what it means to run a free press by Tom Vannah. Al is doing fantastic work on Narco news and covering the 2008 elections on his blog The Field. Both are a call to action and I highly recommend you check out this link.
This is what Wikipedia has to say about Al Giordano's career before 1989, when he joined the Advocate as a reporter: "In 1976, when he was sixteen, he went to Albany and testified before a legislative commission in the state senate against nuclear power, felt completely ignored and concluded that the tactic of lobbying the government was futile. He was arrested for what would be the first of 27 times on May 1st, 1977. When he was 20 and living in a cabin in Rowe, Massachusetts, running the Rowe Nuclear Conversion Campaign, which ended in the first-ever shutdown of an operating nuclear power plant in America, he met Abby Hoffman, who called him 'the best political organizer of his generation.' The two worked together until Hoffman's death in 1989, opposing U.S. intervention in Nicaragua and fighting to save the Delaware and St. Lawrence rivers."

It was at that point that the kid from the Bronx who had fallen in love with Franklin County decided to take a breather from life as an activist and join a sympathetic newspaper, the Valley Advocate, as a reporter.

The first time I worked with Al at the Advocate, he very nearly got us both busted. I was rather pissed off at him that day. Al had come on board to cover politics in Springfield when we had a separate paper down there and a cozy little office on Main Street. He went to work immediately, trying to verify the rumors of drug corruption within the office of then-district attorney Matty Ryan.

That day I stopped by the office and Al said that he had gotten a tip about a new top-secret "drug room" that the district attorney had set up that was wired with all the latest high-tech devices. It had cost a lot of money and its secrecy was of paramount importance to the DA's office. So off we went to find it. We arrived at a plain-looking doorway on the third floor of the downtown building and I began to take a few pictures, forgetting that my flash was on.

"Shit! Somebody is taking pictures," we heard through the door. We ran up the stairs to the next floor, took the elevator to the top, then got out and took the service stairs back down, trying to fool our pursuers. We actually made it out of the building but were surrounded by detectives. They hauled us up into their secret room and began to interrogate us. They searched us, took my license, and tested it for cocaine. They threatened us, yelled at us and intimidated us however they could. Then, after Al had said stuff like, " How many drugs has your boss moved today?" and I had told them there was no freaking way I was giving up my film, they did something amazing. They said, "Please don't tell anybody about this, OK? Please?"

"My God!" I thought the next day when I had calmed down. "This guy has enormous cojones!" You see, that's what Al did well. He was usually right and it pissed people off. If you were a fellow journalist, he did so because he worked harder than you did, or was more outrageous and seemed to always get away with it. And if you were on the wrong side of the truth, you were going to be angry with Al all the time. People told him stuff because, in the best tradition of journalism, if it was confidential or off the record or a source was not to be named, that's the way it stayed. He could be trusted.

He always fought the good fight. And in the best tradition of the Advocate, he wielded the reporter's pen like a very sharp weapon.

Giordano left the Advocate in 1993 and became a political reporter for the Boston Phoenix. In 2000, he began publishing Narco News, which carried articles with original research, and translations of Spanish-language media reports, about the political levels of the War on Drugs in Latin America. He currently writes a blog, The Field, with information about this year's presidential election. No one who knows him would be surprised that he has an uncanny track record for correctly predicting the outcomes of presidential primaries.

Rachel Maddow will rule the world

I had taken this portrait of Rachel Maddow off my blog because people were ripping it off at an alarming rate, up loading it, and using it to link to there own web sites. Come on people! But how can I not put it up again when the news has been so good for Rachel. After just one week her new television show has surpassed Keith Oberman's numbers. Rachel spent a lot of time here in Northampton on local radio station WRSI so we all take a little pride in her success. Go Rachel GO!

TV Diner with Billy Costa comes to Sylvester's in Northampton

I went out to lunch today with my old friend Nan Fleming at Sylvester’s restaurant in Northampton, MA, and by chance the NECN television show, TV diner was scheduled to shoot and we end up sitting right next to the spot where Billy Costa did an interview of Mo McGuiness. The show was in town for the day and on its way to review five other restaurants. I love the Show and the host Billy Costa is a great guy, he seems to have a blast doing his job. Before the interview he looked around the place which was packed during lunch like it always is, came over to our table and took a bite right out of Nanny’s chop chop salad! I mean how else are you going to find out what the food really taste like. Nice touch Billy!! The interview went very well. Mo was a natural on camera and the food they laid out looked fantastic. They shot it in one take. Way to go Sylvester’s!

Alsaka Women Reject Palin

The mainstream media does not always give us the whole truth and the following is a good example why we need the Democracy of the blog. Palins homecoming gathering got all the attention on Sept 11th but a counter rally organised by an independent free thinking "group of women talking over coffee" was much larger. According to Mudflats where I found this post and the photos. "Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn’t honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn’t happen here. An old friend of mine David Loeb Weiss an outstanding filmmaker and proof reader for the NY Times once told me that the media "lies by exclusion". The coverage of Palin by the national media gives the impression that all of Alaska loves her. Well it looks like that is just as much of a lie as her statements on the bridge to nowhere. Check out MUDFLATS for more coverage of this rally and updates on what is really going on in Alaska

Sarah Palin blunders during ABC interview

Sarah Palin tried to fake her way through her first interview with Charlie Gibson On ABC News tonight. I will agree to disagree with her on the issues that she does take a clear stand on but when asked by Gibson if she agrees with the Bush Doctrine, she obviously did not know exactly what he was talking about and responded in the abstract:"Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country," Palin told ABC News' Charles Gibson. "In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend, and that's what a McCain-Palin administration would do." Excuse me but this is a person that wants to be second in command and a heart beat away from controlling the largest power on earth. If she does not have a firm grasp on on history and politics then I do not want her in the drivers seat. The bush doctrine states that we have the right to wage preventative war against another country if we think they are a threat. Not only do I not think we have the the right to invade another country based on perceived threats, but on the anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks I fear that other countries could use this same reasoning to invade us. Sarah Palin was like a deer in the headlights when Gibson asked this question. Is this who we want to lead us?

Butt Head rides again

OK, It is time to get back to the business of photo blogging. From here on in I will be updating round world photo with local, international travel , political, environmental and just plain for the hell of it photos from our "not so lonely planet". That's how we think of our little ball of rock at Gonomad.com. I remember Joking with Max about it at the NY Times travel show and using that line as we greeted people that came by our booth. " we don't think its lonely out there on the road" we think its full of wonderful people and we want you to meet all of them" Geez what a schmooze. In any case I have been going stir crazy stuck at home recovering but I am stronger every day and hope to be on the road again within two months. In the mean time I will have to live vicariously through the rest of the Gonomad staff of travelers. Max is just getting back from a trip to Colombia that I hated to miss and I cannot wait to here the stories.
Butt head is my self portrait of when I was a smoker. I just did a new studio shot of him to submit to a contest. His creation was an act of love and desperation. I gave plastic buckets to some of my favorite bars and had them collect cigarette butts for a week. Late at night I carefully glued them in place. If I could not find the right fit, I smoked them down to the perfect size. He sits on a shelf in my studio, stinking, casting a disapproving glance every time I think of breaking down and having another cigarette. Occasionally, I fear I will lose my free will and smoke him. But After the past month of hospitals I can honestly say I will never smoke again in my life. I feel so lucky that I never had a problem due to smoking. They checked out every inch of me while I was in there and I passed with flying colors, but I met a whole bunch of people who did not. Until the next time.............................

Amy Goodman arrested covering RNC protests

Amy Goodman and two Democracy Now producers were unlawfully arrested at the RNC Convention today. This is outrageous. Here is a link to the video and more information on what can be done to help Amy.Earlier in the day I had sent off a cutesy letter to the NY Times about Sarah Palin called, " A Cinderella story", Hillary Clinton smashed the glass ceiling for women I said, but all Sarah Palin has done is fill the glass slipper". I had been waiting gleefully for the dirt on her to start rolling. Her young daughter is pregnant? beautiful I thought! this is great! The irony the humor the hypocrisy, We are going to have a field day with her. But now the storm in New Orleans is getting serious, People are in danger and the Republicans have arrested one of our nations finest journalists from one of our only trusted and free news sources. This is not funny any more. It never was. This election is about our freedom. Lets get Obama into office with as many votes as we can muster. A mandate for change. I have had enough.

Shocking choice of Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska for VP by John McCain

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 29, 2008 Shocking Choice by John McCain WASHINGTON-- Senator John McCain just announced his choice for running mate: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. To follow is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. “Senator McCain’s choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies. “Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration. “This is Senator McCain’s first significant choice in building his executive team and it’s a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain’s commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil.” ### The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund (www.defendersactionfund.org) provides a powerful voice in Washington to Americans who value our conservation heritage. Through grassroots lobbying, issue advocacy and political campaigns, the Action Fund champions those laws and lawmakers that protect wildlife and wild places while working against those that do them harm.

Back in the house

Ladies and gentlemen, Shoul is back in the house, Special thanks to all of you who helped me through the past 2 months. I was frightened to put this out into the blog world. I was scared that My clients would loose confidence in me because I have just been through major surgery. well , screw it. As Popye said "I YAM WHAT I YAM" Lets set the record straight. I had a aneurysm of my ascending aorta. I am damn lucky they found it before it burst. Three weeks ago I had open heart surgery at the Brigham and women's hospital in Boston mass. I was dead ( heart totally Stopped) for 14 minutes during my 7 hour operation. I had the best doctor on the planet, Dr. Ralph Bolman. I feel like a truck has hit me but am getting better every day. I have a new Dacron aorta. I am strong I am the terminator. I have the aerobic ability of a 17 year old. I can leap tall buildings in a single bound. I am the "uber shoul".
OK, enough is enough. I should be traveling to Colombia as we speak on a trip with Max from Gonomad that we had set up during our last trip to Medellin, but I still have a month of recovery so I am limited to watching TV coverage of the Democratic convention, here are a few thoughts. Kennedy and Carter were great, we should all grow old and wise as quickly as possible. Hillary gave a great speech, did her job. delivered the nomination to Obama yet apparently told her supporters today in private to vote their conscious, leaving the door open for her to run again in four years if for some reason Obama did not pull this thing off. Michell Obama is amazing,WOW!!. Too bad she cannot really let go and has to spend so much effort showing us that she is not an "angry black woman" That she is "safe" I am personally tired of hearing about the "American Dream" over and over again. All right. Time for my Nap. Here is a link to an old friend of mine Al Giordano who is covering the convention for his web site The Field. Al has huge chones, is very funny, and addicted to the truth. check him out.

I see you.

Hello to all the round world photo community. Due to a medical condition I will only be posting sporadically during the coming month. Life has its challenges and I have a big one in front of me. Thanks for visiting my site and please come back. I will be returning with even more outrageous pictures from around the planet. Be well and remember to cherish every moment.
Paul Shoul

See you on the other side...........

Frank Pepe pizzeria New Haven CT.

This Joe Heffernan, he is 91 years old. He has a great sense of humor, gets around just fine and has been going to Frank Pepe Pizzeria in new Haven CT. since 1937. I met him down there yesterday during a pilgrimage to the near by Ikea store. I have always wanted to try what is supposed to be where Pizza began in 1925 and it did not disappoint. The scene is great, the thin crust is the best I have ever had. here is a link to find out more about Pepe's.

China and Taiwan agree on more flights.

"Taiwan and China agreed Friday to ease decades of tight restrictions on travel and tourism between the mainland and the island state that Beijing views as a breakaway province."
Here is a link to the full story as it appeared today on cbcnews.ca

AIR GREENLAND TO DISCONTINUE NON-STOP SERVICE BETWEEN BALTIMORE (BWI) AND GREENLAND

U.S. travelers can visit the world’s largest island with convenient connections from New York area airports through Iceland or Denmark

– Air Greenland discontinued its non-stop service between Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI) and Greenland’s Kangerlussuaq Airport (SFJ) which was scheduled to begin this year on June 26 and continue through August 28.

Air Greenland’s passengers who booked travel from BWI to Greenland during the 2008 season will be offered a full refund or the option of being rerouted via Iceland.

Travelers who are eager to visit Greenland have a host of options, most notably from JFK through Reykjavik (KEF – Keflavik International), Iceland or from Newark, NJ (EWR) and JFK through Copenhagen, Denmark (CPH):

• Icelandair and Air Iceland offer service to Greenland through Keflavik, Iceland (KEF). Flights are available to Nuuk from Keflavik to Greenland on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays from May 29^th to September 5^th 2008.

• Several airlines, including Continental, Icelandair and SAS offer flights to Copenhagen from many destinations in the United States, including JFK and Newark. During high season, passengers can get on one of Air Greenland’s 14 weekly flights from Copenhagen to Greenland.

Air Greenland offers connections between major towns in Greenland including Ilulissat, home to the world’s most breathtaking glacier views. For more information about travel within Greenland or to book a flight, please visit www.airgreenland.com

There are also week-long guided tours of Greenland departing from Reykjavik and Copenhagen. For more information, please visit www.greenland-travel.com

Greenland, the largest island in the world, is situated in the Arctic Circle off the northeastern coast of Canada between the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. The destination is culturally Inuit with warm Greenlandic traditions and heavy influences of Scandinavian customs. Home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland is one of the most preserved destinations in the world with unspoiled landscape, which can be seen for 24 hours during the summer months under the Arctic sun. Easily accessible through Iceland or Denmark, this pristine destination is ideal for the intrepid, adventurous traveler. For more information about Greenland, visit www.greenland.com or www.greenlandexpo.com

State Representative Ellen Story

I just photographed Ellen Story this morning. What a pleasure. She is a hard working 8 term Democrat from Hampshire county who gives me faith in the system.

Taiwan

Casa De Musica Porto Portugal

WAY TO GO OBAMA!

Obama clinched the Democratic nomination tonight. The first Afro-American to be nominated. I love it. This is a historic moment of pride for our country. Hilary acknowledged his win but was combative did not actually concede. Please Hillary , It's over! Get on board and lets all win this thing!

Fishing Boston Harbor

Alisan High Mountain Tea Picker #2

Alisan has a rugged softness about it. The mountains are massive, but beautiful terraced tea farms cover them; often you are engulfed in white fluffy clouds. Scattered on the slopes, in between the rows, are the Tea pickers in their bright clothing and classic wide brimmed hats. It is stunning. These women work hard. I nearly went down while photographing them. Its incredibly steep covered in lose rocks and they are wrapped in multiple layers of protective clothing and picking constantly. Here is a link to a very cool blog Tea masters and a link to the Alisan web site.

Taroko Gorge Taiwan

Taroko Gorge in Taiwan is spectacular. A hole ripped through the earth on the scale of the Grand canyon. This is the "Tunnel OF Nine Turns" I don't know who these people are , but they were a blast to photograph. Here is a link to find out more.

Easthampton, MA.

Just another beautiful little moment of real life that proves truth really is stranger than fiction.

Zaragoza Spain and La Sobremesa

Here is an excerpt from and a link to my new story on Gonomad.com, World Expo Zaragoza 2008: An Ancient City Looks to the Future. "Walking down town Zaragoza Spain, something out of place caught my eye. I am a photographer and naturally look for patterns and the things that break them. The Burger king across the street definitely did not fit in. It was empty inside, the glowing neon sign was awkward and garish compared to the subtleties of the aged wooden facades on the other cafes around it. They were full of people at the end of the working day, talking loudly, laughing, eating Tapas and drinking wine. I said to my friend Anna from the Spanish tourism office who was born here:” I notice that there is nobody in there?” “ Where, in The Burger King? “ she said, only children go in, why would you? , Fast food does not fit in with our culture, it leaves no room for La Sobremesa”. My ears perked up,” What’s that?" I asked her”. Anna smiled, “it is the endless conversation the happens after you are done eating. It is part of the meal, you cannot have one without the other” You eat, then you have a coffee, a little pastry you talk and suddenly four hours later you realize that you are all still at the table, so maybe another coffee… “ And on and on……….. That is La Sobremesa”
That one little statement crystallizes why I love this country so much. There is a pace of living and respect for traditions that give room for the good things in life. The important simple little huge things that we sometimes miss over here in the USA as we rush to chow down our whoppers."

Good luck Ted Kennedy

I have taken pictures of Ted Kennedy on a few occasions, this shot is from years ago with him and the late Armand Hammer. Good luck Mr. Kennedy, we need you around.

Cross cultural communication

I was walking across the street in Nuuk Greenland with a friend from Brooklyn NY. He was trying to talk to this very drunk guy who reverted to sign language, using one of the two hand signals that cross every cultural divide. The other is the OK sign, but what fun would that have been? We all cracked up including our new friend. It seems that Brooklyn boys and tough as nails Greenlanders have a similar sense of humor.

Mercado Central Zaragoza Spain

Street Life.Kaohsiung,Taiwan

Climbing the Basilica de la Pilar,Zaragoza, Spain.

Louise Wu, Miss Asian America.Taiwan

Traveling around Taiwan with Louise Wu, Miss Asian America was easy. Doors open, traffic stops. She is great, humble about her title and more than willing to pose with every giggling girl and admiring boy that wanted to be photographed with her. Her is a link to the Pageants home page

The perfect Mojito

I remember walking into La Bodeguita del medio bar in the old section of Havana Cuba, with one question on my mind. This is where the famous Mojito cocktail came to life, immortalized by Ernest Hemingway. "Legend has it that he would drink several after a long day of fishing aboard the Pilar". I wanted know how many. " eleven the bartender said, Papa could drink eleven."
I tried to stop myself but no, that would be to easy and smart and I was in Cuba and in love with the world.The words escaped from my mouth" I'll take twelve". I managed to make it home safely which led me to ponder the perfect Mojito that I was assigned to photograph for Spoleto restaurant this week. Here is a link for the recipe

Grand Hyatt Taipei

This the Sushi chef at the Grand Hyatt Hotel In Taipei. Thanks to all the staff for putting together a 5 star meal for our band of tired journalists. The food was simply perfect. This is an impressive hotel. Here is a link to their web site if you are traveling to Taiwan

BIG FISH,little airport,Alaska.

Waiting room. Ted Stevens international airport, Anchorage, Alaska.

Elvis the Transvestite, Lord Russ as the Queen

Lord Russ, another local hero from Northampton Mass and future member of the Young at Heart Chorus, put on an amazing one man (woman) show this weekend ."For his upcoming role, Russ (aka Russell Brooks) has to shave his entire body. Although he's not baring the full Monty, Valley musician Brooks will be more scantily clad than normal in his upcoming one-man show Queen Elvis—The Musical. Set in 1973, the Rocky Horror Picture Show-style musical offers an alternative version of the life of Elvis Presley. Instead of following the path of self-destruction that ultimately ended his life, the show asks what might have happened if the drug-addled rock star had, after much soul-searching, discovered that he had a penchant for cross-dressing." Here is a link to the rest of Kendra Thurlow's interview with Russ in The Valley Advocate.

Grand Formosa Regent hotel Taipei Taiwan

This goes out to Ivyliu and all the great folks at the Grand Formosa Regent Hotel in Taipei. You were all fantastic. The rooms are top notch, the food was amazing, and the service and atmosphere were more than I had expected. Thanks for everything and making us feel at home. Here is link to find out more about this oasis of calm in the midst of one of the busiest cities in the world

Taipei 101

These fine gentlemen are Daniel Foster and Jake Warga, two Journalists that I traveled with to Taiwan. Taipei 101, the worlds tallest building looms in the back ground, but is dwarfed by their sparkling personalities.

Foguangshan temple Kaohsiung Taiwan

Yan can cook, Iron Chef's Kevin Brauch, and the Great Wall of Florence

Special thanks to Clara and Kenny at The Great Wall restaurant in Florence Ma for putting out an amazing feast last night. Having just come back from Taiwan a couple of days ago I can speak with some authority that the food was authentic Chinese, and what a spread it was. A whole roast pig, stir fried lobster in the shell, where just two of 11 dishes that just kept appearing at our table. The delightful Martin Yan of “Yan can cook” fame was there along with Kevin Brauch one of the