3/16 Extra: Big Sandcastle
 

Here we have a nice big sandcastle. It's definitely been sculpted very well. Don't you think it's nice?

These people seem very happy with it. It just reminds me how different we are. I don't recall American kids making snowmen of blown up Iraqis or Palestinians...

Re: 3/16 Extra: Big Sandcastle
 

Well, it IS pretty well done.

We can only try to empathize with people like this. Something that most people here would find horrible brings (apparent) satisfaction to others.

Any idea where this is? Just simply judging by the headgear I'd probably say India, but I'm not sure.

sapienza

I thought India myself when I saw the woman on the left hand side of the pic. However, I would suspect it to be Pakistan more than India. I haven't seen any backlash against the US from India...with the exception of that shootout in Calcutta? (I don't remember.) I checked rotten.com, but they don't give a location.

Re: 3/16 Extra: Big Sandcastle
 

While presented that way, that's a very tempting first-take, I'm not totally convinced that this was intended in a mocking way. Obviously a lot of labor went into it, and it may have been intended as a memorial or observance.

While sand isn't really an enduring medium, not everybody in India is in a position to be able to afford marble or something. After all, there's already two volumes of the 9-11 "comic art" book published in that paperback "graphic novel" format, and it is full of very serious and in some cases very deeply moving work.

And right now, Indians (and these folks do look like Hindus to me) have no more reason to be fond of Moslem extremists than New Yorkers do.

OK...now after a little websearching (looking for "sand sculpture" rather than "sand castle"), on intellectualoutcastscafe.com, we find the same image is displayed with the caption: <i>Passersby stop to look at a sand sculpture by artist Sudarshan Patnaik depicting the September 11 World Trade Centre attack. The sand sculpture display is a part of the ongoing Puri Beach Festival on India's Bay of Bengal.</i>

Puts a very different spin on it, I think.

Perhaps. I personally find it a bit disturbing due to the graphic detail. I couldn't find any information on the sculptor.

Thanks for the link Maggie. The debate there looks lively...and it's vbulletin too. :)

Is anyone else disturbed by the man in the purple turban? (far right).

Everybody else is solemn or respectful or admiring the sculpture. The guy in the purple turban, however, is smirking at the camera.

Annoys the hell out of me. I laugh every time I see him.

Maybe he farted. After all, he's grinning while everyone else on that side looks irritated. :)

I like it. They had a bit on NPR about a young kid who goes to school in NY and how he dealed with the attack there in NY. The kid really loved the Twin Towers and was looking forward to visiting them. He will never get that chance now. His mother said that to deal with the horror the child kept drawing pictures of the wtc. She did not stop him from drawin because she believed it was good thing.

I see this sand sculpture as the artist's way of dealing with it. Also there is an "eastern" aspect to building the sculpture out of sand. There are certain styles of art where there is tremendous effort put in making the piece, but they only use non-permanent media, like sand, not marble. It's almost like sidewalk chalk art or proper graffiti, you know it will be washed away or covered up but it goes with the turf.

And the guy in the purple headdress is not smiling, but simply the design of his facial hair makes it seem that way.

Good point, but...*blows pic up on his scanner*...he does appear to have a slight smile on his face.

I'm sticking with my original conclusion.

Hey, I never said he didn't. I just don't think he is smiling. =)

He IS smiling, although it probably does have a lot to do with the beard/mustache.

He's still looking at the camera. and smirking.

When did Flash Gordon crash into the WTC? Wait, there's only one tower .. where's that sposed to be again?

I'm sorry, but that's really a rather comic rendition of the jet, all fat and round like a Baby's First Stuffed Airplane, or like a Flash Gordon space rocket. And it's parked in the tower, rather than crashed into it. It's hard to take this sculpture seriously, regardless of the topic.

Sand sculpture is a very tricky medium. Remeber you're looking at the efforts of one, time-constrained individual.

I remeber watching the some of the construction of a *huge* sand scupture at Liberty Place back in 1999...they used 60 tons of sand, worked by a sizable crew of sculptors and the results were amazing:

A close up of the part depicting the Philly Zoo...
http://www.gophila.com/photos/images/large/IMG0117.jpg

An overall shot, which doesn't do it justice...
http://images.citysearch.com/feature/10768/92.gif

What about that guy?
 

I want to know about the guy just to the right of the tail of the plane in the back row. Looks anglo, like he was just walking along and checking out the nifty sand castle. As David Lettermand would say, "What about that guy?!?"

Bitman, I think this might be showing the scene after the first tower collapsed, and showing the plane lodged into the tower (or dramatic effect).