1. Built by Gabriel Amadeus, a Portland-area designer extraordinaire and fun-enthusiast. When not riding bikes or organizing bike events you can find him building and welding every sort of bike imaginable. And some that aren’t.
Photographer: ichad

2. “This is Sailor Neale, with another of his crazy creations. This particular bike is jointed in the middle, just behind the handlebars. It folds fully in half if you don’t pay attention. You steer by using your hips to swivel the central joint, and then using the handlebars to simultaneously steer the front wheel.”
Photographer: doviende

3. The Reverse Cowgirl, built by Mark Veno. “It was displayed at PDX Airport when they had the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Exhibit. I was the only non-professional builder exhibiting.”

4. “West Coast Chopper”
Photographer: tinou bao

5. The Ross Island Explorer, a fully amphibious human-powered tallbike-paddleboat.
Photographer: megulon5, member of C.H.U.N.K.

6. Burrito-recumbent, complete with suspension and sound system / Builder: Doc
Photographer: Mark Veno

7. For when you really don’t want to worry about getting a flat.
Photographer: RJL20

8. “A rock n’ roll/punk kid rode this to the Coffee Bean in Playa Vista the other day. Love that it has an old-fashioned horn on the handlebars.”
Photographer: pink_fish13

9. Good for carting around…whatever. / Builder: Chris Martin
Photographer: Mark Veno

10. Alan Sikiric’s Mutandem: “Only from the fields of muck and hazardous grime known as the Jerz could something so horrifying arise!”

11. The very definition of an art bike.
Photographer: anarchosyn

12. One of the craziest tall bikes out there, and pannier-ready to boot!
Photographer: doviende

13. A burrito built by Mark Veno: “When I moved to Portland I was inspired by the existing bike culture and built my first tallbike. I try to make my freakbikes as usable as “real” bikes. Soon I’ll be moving to San Diego to spread the freakbike love to SoCal.”

14. “No idea about who this is riding the chopper, just happened to snap it on Wells Street. I think he is part of the Chicago Critical Mass group.”
Photographer: swanksalot

15. Not quite training wheels…
Photographer: BruceTurner

16. Five bucks to anyone who can categorize this bike, being paraded by a member of Rat Patrol.
Photographer: JOE M500

17. When two wheels just aren’t enough, you need the Six Wheelie.
Photographer: bilbord99

18. There are choppers, and then there are these.
Photographer: tandemracer

19. Not exactly a freak bike, but there is something freaky about these kids and their penny farthings.
Photographer: Mild Mannered Photographer

20. Tank! / Builder: Sailor Neale of the East Vancouver PedalPlay metal studio.
Photographer: Foxtongue

Community Connection

Matador has published some of the best bike-related content on the web, covering topics such as The World’s 15 Most Bike Friendly Cities, 6 Reasons to Go By Bike, How to Be Good (Better) Drivers and Cyclists, and How to Choose a Touring Bicycle.

Many members of the Matador community are bike freaks themselves, including one of our newest arrivals, Doubleclutch. Browse the community profiles to discover more folks fired up on bicycles.

Ford Focus

photo by car-dealers

A car for the chronically ugly. The Focus has undergone several unfortunate redesigns through the years since its introduction, but like your Aunt Flo and her endless makeovers, Ford hasn’t yet found a cure for its unfortunate appearance. It looks like the car can’t decide if it’s a sensible sedan or a sporty rally car, so it tries to look like both and fails miserably.

Hyundai Matrix

photo by airforceone

Finally, a vehicle for those who find mini-vans too intimidating. The Matrix profile includes a bizarre uneven window line that makes it look like it was pieced together from spare car pieces from the junkyard. It would probably be nicer looking if it had been. The vehicle of choice for retirees and their groceries.

Chrysler PT Cruiser

photo by splattergraphics

You’ve got to hand it to the PT Cruiser. This ugly bastard has been around for a long time and endured years of ridicule for its harebrained, retro-inspired design. Yet, here we are, on the heels of Chrysler declaring bankruptcy, and the Cruiser refuses to go away. If there is a nuclear apocalypse that wipes out all civilization, the only things that will survive will be cockroaches and PT Cruisers.

Ssang Yong Rodius

wikimedia

The Koreans have gotten into the hideous car act with the Rodius. This car has an identity crisis. The front grille looks like a 90’s minivan and the back end, well, I don’t even know what to say. It features an inexplicable diagonal panel that cuts it in half and makes it look like the designer got tired and just plugged the back of an RV onto the Rodius so he could move on to his next triumph.

Smart ForTwo

photo by joshb

Hooray, my car is “smart.” It’s also a source of laughter for every other driver and pedestrian within 100 yards of it. Not only does the ForTwo (see what they did there?) look like a matchbox car, it’s about the size of one and won’t offer much protection in a crash, so not only is it an ugly car but a potentially hideous coffin.

Fiat Doblo

photo by kenjonbro

Perhaps a bit incredulous themselves, Fiat asks what made the 2008 Doblo popular, and lists “reliable technology, thoughtful design, and excellent technology” as the reasons. Thoughtful design? It looks as though they’ve added windows to every available surface of a delivery van.

Mini Clubman

photo by paulmullet

Mini has decided to take the most distinguishing selling point of their Mini Cooper and throw it in the trashcan. They’ve stretched it out, haven’t really made any proportional adjustments, and called it the Clubman. Think of it as the stretch limo of ultra-compact cars, which is sort of like having a Mickey Mouse Rolex.

Toyota Prius

photo by jasonyoder

Yes, by driving a Prius you are minimizing your impact on the environment. This is a good thing. Cruising around in a vehicle with the personality and sex appeal of a dustbuster is not a good thing. Every time I see a Prius I think of the automated transports of old science-fiction flicks like Logan’s Run or Total Recall. This is also (probably) not a good thing.

Morgan Aero 8

photo by destinysagent

After I got done laughing out loud, I decided that the Morgan Aero 8 looked like a cross-eyed basset hound. The best part about this monstrosity is that the base price is just under $130,000. Good news is that with every new Aero purchase they throw in a free monocle and top hat. It’s heartening to know that there are still rich people out there who will ignore a luxury item’s repulsiveness and waste money on it anyway. There is hope for our economy after all.

Fiat Multipla

photo by qewl.com

Possibly based on a tadpole and easily the ugliest car on our list. This car fills the beholder with a combination of pity and rage; pity because no other cars will hang out with the ungainly Multipla, and rage because someone, somewhere made money from this blunder. Holds the distinction of being the only car on the list that needs a nose job.

Feature photo by petaflickr. Photo of Sexiest Vegetarian finalist Joan Jett by Spacehindu

How do you sex up vegetarianism? You give it a poll, courtesy of Peta2. Voting has begun for 2009’s Sexiest Vegetarian award, a saucy affair that pits celebri-tarians against each other for the title of Most Soy Friendly.

Peta2 is Peta’s organization geared towards high school and college-aged activists, designed to appeal to a Perez/Paris-fueled generation. The contest reminds us of the “meat-free hotties” who are “shunning flesh” in the Entertainment World and points out that vegetarianism is a great way for celebs to “keep their tummies flat.”

Peta2 is also running Cutest Vegetarian Alive contest, where normal folks are allowed to out-vegetarian each other. Christopher McClure, a finalist from New Hampshire, wants everyone to know that the “lack of cruelty within my system has shaped my face with cuteness and nothing else!”

Winners will be announced on June 8th.

Feature photo by Andres Rueda. Photo above by TheTruthAbout…

A credit card can be your best friend when you need to buy a shiny new object that you really can’t afford, or your worst enemy when you’ve surpassed your credit limit and your bank is trying to rip you off as punishment.

Love them or hate them, credit cards have become a permanent fixture on the financial landscape of most developed countries. Yet we often take them for granted and rarely consider how we feel about them and why.

This article looks at countries from both the developed and developing world, and the differences in how credit cards are used and viewed. We discover why Americans love their flexible friends, why the Japanese are really not interested in paying with plastic, and why India has witnessed such a backlash against the spread of credit.

Japan

Despite Japan’s status as the world’s most technologically advanced nation, it remains a strongly cash-based society. Its use of credit cards lags way behind most developed countries and many developing nations too.

It’s common for smaller shops and restaurants not to accept credit cards and there are few 24-hour ATMs, even in large cities. On average, only four credit card transactions are undertaken per person per year!

Photo by the_toe_stubber.

Banks have tried every trick in the book to convert the Japanese to credit cards, but to no avail.

Significant barriers to such a conversion include the high costs charged to Japanese merchants that accept cards and high telecommunication costs, which impede responses to fraudulent transactions.

The traditional role of women in Japanese society has also been cited as a cause for the country’s low credit card penetration figures. Men and women think differently about crime, technology and other factors that influence a preference for cash or card.

Perhaps if women played the same role in Japanese society as they do in the USA or Australia, carrying a credit card would prove more popular than having a huge wad of cash in your pocket.

China

The use of credit cards in China is growing rapidly, in line with the country’s economy, income levels and middle-class population. In 2008, China had 104.73 million credit cards in circulation, a 92.9% increase on the previous year. 15 to 20 million more cards will be issued in 2009.

The Chinese were once famous for their frugality, with saving rates of around 40%, but not any more. Saving rates among today’s young, urban Chinese population – those driving the economy – are effectively zero. This demographic is finance-savvy and hungry for credit cards.

India

Credit card use has grown steadily over the past 5 years in an increasingly consumerist India. Economic reforms and growth have made foreign and domestic goods more affordable for the upper and middle-classes, while improvements to the country’s payment infrastructure (more ATMs and POS terminals) have made credit cards easier to use.

Nevertheless, only 4% of Indians own a credit card, one of the lowest rates in the world. It seems that traditional values of thrift and prudence have endured here.

Photo by Carol Mitchell.

In addition to this cultural bias, high interest rates (typically 24% per year), high fees, hidden charges and poor customer service have all acted to dissuade Indians from using credit cards.

Lenders maintain that high rates and fees are necessary in a country without a robust credit checking system, where account holders can disappear without a trace.

One reason for the high charges that banks don’t give so readily, however, is that a large proportion of prudent Indians pay their full credit balance monthly, thus depriving card issuers of interest earnings from revolving credit.

United Kingdom

The UK has had a long love affair with the credit card, ever since the Barclaycard was launched in 1966, becoming the first credit card available outside of the US. Today, cards are more popular in the UK than ever, with the average UK consumer owning 2.4 credit cards (to go with their 2.4 children!).

Credit card fraud has become an increasing concern for UK residents and has received a high level of media coverage in recent years. In 2004, the cost of credit card fraud was particularly high: estimated at 500 million. In response, the UK and Ireland implemented the EMV standard (known as Chip and PIN) for credit and debit card payments.

This means that all credit cards now come with a built-in microchip and a cardholder must supply a PIN number rather than a signature during a transaction.

United States of America

The USA is the credit card’s ancestral home. It was here that the first merchant credit scheme was used in the 1920s and where the concept of different merchants using the same card was founded by the managers of Diners Club, in 1950.

Photo by moacirpdsp.

The USA is the most credit-card-intensive country in the world, with an average of 5 cards per person. US consumers use credit cards to pay for one quarter of all their retail purchases.

The disjointed nature of the US banking system has helped promote credit cards there. Historically, Americans found it easier to use credit rather than direct banking facilities when travelling interstate. The use of credit cards has now become completely entrenched in the US’s ultra consumerist society.

Brazil

In the recent past, Brazil’s unstable economy has acted against the widespread introduction of credit cards. Corruption made it difficult to enforce contracts, so debtors didn’t pay and creditors didn’t lend. Banks found it very hard to check potential customers’ credit ratings because of the lack of skilled labour and the high cost of technology.

The potential credit card market was small anyway, due to low and unevenly distributed incomes. Brazilians had nothing against credit cards, but risks were high and so, in turn, were interest and default rates.

In 2009, Brazil is a very different country. It now has the eighth largest economy in the world, thanks to many years of protectionist economics and a highly skilled IT workforce. The nation’s top three credit card issuers (Banco Itau, Banco Bradesco and Banco de Brasil) are furnishing credit cards in ever-increasing numbers: in 2008, there were 261 million credit cards and a further 210 million debit cards in circulation in Brazil.

Canada

Despite Canada’s proximity to the USA, its attitudes to credit cards are very different. Here, debit cards (which Canadians often refer to as ‘Interac’ after the Interac Direct Payment system) are far more popular.

In fact, Canadians use debit cards in more transactions than credit cards or even cash, making them world leaders in debit card use, with an average of 71.7 debit card transactions made per person, per year.

Photo by nicolasnova.

The many Canadians that do opt for a credit card will find that charges are far less hidden than they are in most other countries. The Government of Canada maintains its own list of fees, features, interest rates and reward programmes associated with the vast majority of credit cards available. Its database is published quarterly on the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada website. There’s even an interactive tool that will find the best credit card for you.

Australia

There are 13 million credit cards and a further 28 million debit cards circulating among Australia’s 21 million strong population. The popularity of credit cards is considered to be a central cause of many Australians’ debt. In May 2008, credit card debt in the country reached a record high: the average balance on each individual credit card account was a staggering $3,299.

Identity theft, inextricably linked to credit card use, is common in Australia, a country with one of the highest incidences of cyber crime in the world. 1.1 million Australians have experienced identity theft and it costs the economy $1 billion each year.

Perhaps the stereotype of the laid back Australian is true: research shows that 70% have still not taken any steps to protect their identity.

Community Connection

How do you use / abuse credit cards? Please share your comments below.

“I can’t watch TV longer than five minutes without praying for nuclear holocaust.” – Bill Hicks

Nobody ever expected Leno to ask Obama tough questions (he’s been soft around the middle for years).

Still, I’d give anything to hear what Bill Hicks would have said about the show. Hicks, always merciless, had a particular penchant for pointing out that the once-funny Leno had sold his soul to the devil years ago.

Hicks’ run-ins with talk show hosts was not just limited to Leno. He famously ran charged into battle with David Letterman after his act was censored (removed entirely, actually) on that show in 1993.

Letterman fully redeemed himself earlier this year by having Hicks’ mother on Late Show, airing the originally censored piece and apologizing. Apparently feeling the need to repent, Letterman said “It says more about me as a guy than it says about Bill because there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.”

There are plenty of Hicks clips available online, if you’re new to his blistering routines and opinions. His brand of comedy is certainly not for everyone, least of all the audience members who came to hear “dick jokes” and instead became his punching bag for twenty minutes. A true comic visionary, Bill died in 1994 of cancer.

Before you go under the needle, have a look to see what the following might say about you.

Photo by Enricus

Tribal Band/Barbed Wire – Upper Arm

This tattoo proclaims you as a member of the tribe, that’s true. The sad part is that the tribe in question is the “sub-literati.”

Super Hard Neck Tattoo

The placement implies anything but hardness, no matter the subject matter. This is the mark of the young man with erectile dysfunction, or at the very least, a premature ejaculator. Can you say overcompensation? Go ahead and try again. I’m willing to be patient.

Garden Variety Butterfly Tramp Stamp

Beware the secret garden below. The butterfly belies a much more sinister truth, and though the garden is sure to be properly pruned, the implication that insect life may seek exodus from the deep cleavage below may not be so far off the mark.

Look At My Boobs Sacred Heart

Frank Zappa had it right about you Catholic girls. Too many years cooped up with the same sex have you making this desperate and permanent plea for male attention that you reiterate every time you “forget” to close those top buttons.

Photo by goodeye03

Any Placement Of A Dolphin

Bad enough on a necklace or a t-shirt, the dolphin tattoo indicates a desire to be seen as peace and earth loving. The bad news is that you were probably inspired to get it after an alcohol fueled domestic abuse disturbance that resulted in your arrest.

Nautical Star

Would you cut it out already? The closest you’ve been to the open water is happy hour near the naval base during shore leave.

Photo by haycarrieanne

Angel Wings On The Back

In your desire to be different, you committed the error of putting puny, atrophied angel wings on your back in an indelible medium. Were they suddenly to become corporeal, you’d be left with useless nubs that make getting dressed impossible. Shows severe spatial orientation issues.

Flower On The Ankle

The design you picked out gave you a familiar, warm-fuzzy feeling. It’s unfortunate that you failed to recognize it was because it resembled the packaging on your favorite feminine hygiene product. A future of daytime soaps awaits you.

Tazmanian Devil

Any Looney Tunes character pretty much says the same thing, but Taz is the mark of the beast – as in Old Milwaukee. The calling card of the unemployable, the Tazmanian Devil shows a character deficit that pretty much guarantees you will complacently be the recipient of public assistance for the rest of your life.

Low-Abdominal, Sub-Navel Tribal

Your shirt’s too short and your pants are too low and that means we can all see your belly tattoo. With or without a belly button ring, this almost definitely indicates a cavalier approach to birth control. Pretty soon, your tattoo will be ravaged by your impending and unplanned pregnancy.

Photo above by howieluvzus

Many of us have heard of Banksy only within the last few years as he has transcended into worldwide notoriety and infamy. We have seen the stencils and heard the name, yet the man himself remains a mystery.

Photo above by DocZork – restless

Not much is known about Banksy outside of his work. In the midst of rumors, journalists and art aficionados have produced little verifiable concrete background information about the underground British artist.

UK’s Daily Mail published an article last summer, claiming to have uncovered Banksy’s true identity, although at the very end they concede that their whole discovery could be bunk.

The most commonly accepted facts are: his hometown is Bristol, UK; He was born in or around 1974; and his involvement with graffiti art began in the early 1990s.

In interviews granted to various media outlets, mostly anonymously, Banksy talks about his background only in relation to his work.

Having always been interested in art, Banksy started graffiti when he was just 14 years old. He gravitated toward stencil art because it was quick while still allowing him to do aesthetic, detailed work.

“If you damage someone’s property it’s good to show some dedication to it. [To] just slop it up is a bit rude, I fear.”

Having never been a fan of school, Banksy, instead, found his place and identity within the underground graffiti culture. Since picking up a spray can and stencils, the artist hasn’t looked back.

Photo above by howieluvzus

Regardless if you’re a fan or a member of Keep Britain Tidy (a group that believes Banksy’s work is criminal vandalism) you immediately recognize a Banksy when you see it.

His signature rat, children, monkey, and police men motifs and consistent anti-war, anti-capitalist, anti-establishment messages make his work uniquely identifiable.

Banksy Worldwide

Starting in the early 2000s, Banksy began to extend past Britain and work all over the world. From the Guantanamo prisoner in Disneyland to the sprayed art on Israel’s West Bank wall, Banksy’s art has covered the globe, uniting all sorts of people in his fan base. Currently, fans include some of Hollywood’s most famous stars, though in all likelihood Banksy wouldn’t brag about that.

What probably makes Banksy most notorious, however, is not just the message, but the overtly mischievous and humorous style evident in his work.

Photo above by LexMonkey

A few years ago, Banksy added his own prehistoric piece to the walls of the British Museum, mimicking cave art style and depicting a man with a shopping cart chasing a buffalo. The statement “This finely preserved example of primitive art dates from the Post-Catatonic era,” was in the sign hung beneath.

He once snuck into the London Zoo, spray painting the message “I want out. This place is too cold. Keeper smells. Boring, boring, boring.” in the elephant pen.

When Paris Hilton came out with her debut music CD, Banksy replaced 500 original copies with his own doctored CDs across 48 UK record stores. He Photoshopped the cover art to replace her face with that of a dog’s and added titles such as, “Why Am I Famous?” and “What Am I For?”.

In response to his increasing notoriety, Banksy offered for sale a painting of an art auction with the sentence, “I can’t believe you morons actually buy this shit.”

Photo above by armcurl

Banksy Today

A little less playful and a lot more disenchanted, Banksy has told The New Yorker’s Lauren Collins “I originally set out to try and save the world, but now I’m not sure I like it enough.”

He’s admitted that his infamy and the fact that just one of his pieces fetches hundreds of thousands of dollars makes him uncomfortable.

But this doesn’t mean he’ll retire from art activism. Just late last summer, he tagged several buildings in New Orleans to commemorate the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Hopefully, for his fans around the world, he’ll never stop working.

You can visit Banksy’s official website at www.banksy.co.uk. Original prints can be found at lazinc.com and are sold through his agent’s gallery in Soho, London.

Feature photo by jackx. Photo above by Manu Manu.

Twinkling lights on the mammoth tree at Rockefeller Center. Impossibly intricate displays in department store windows. Lively performances at Radio City Music Hall.

Such holiday traditions have made December in New York City magical for decades. This year, also consider some equally special but lesser-known winter activities:

Dance at the Matzo Ball.

Forget sitting at home with Chinese food and a movie on Christmas Eve. Mix and mingle with Jewish singles at the Matzo Ball, now in its 21st year. Couples and gentiles are welcome too. Buy tickets before December 25.

Run into the New Year.

Welcome 2009 with a four-mile run through Central Park. Enjoy music and dancing beforehand, as well as a costume parade and contest. As you run, marvel at the fireworks overhead. This year there will be a special companion race run by more than 200 service members stationed in Al Asad, Iraq. Register by December 25.

Skate on fake ice.

Add a modern twist to a holiday favorite: skate on synthetic ice at the Natural History Museum’s Polar Rink. This artificial surface was designed to allow an ice-skating blade to glide smoothly. Because it requires no refrigeration and is recyclable, it’s also environmentally friendly. Open until February 28.

Ride into the subway’s past.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority offers riders entree to an earlier era every Sunday in December, when the Nostalgia Train runs on the V line between Queens Plaza and Second Avenue on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Photo by Marcin Wichary.

See the Christmas Story at the Cloisters.

The Cloisters, perched on a hill overlooking the Hudson River, is a recreated castle that serves as the medieval branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s the perfect place to hear the seasonal music originally played in great European cathedrals.

On December 13 and 14, eight singers and five instrumentalists playing reproductions of medieval instruments will recount the events of Christmas. Tickets are available here.

Pick up unique last-minute gifts.

Located in the historic Brooklyn Masonic Temple, The Holiday Shops at Bryant Park, open every day, also offer unique merchandise from artists and designers.

Celebrate with zoo animals.

At the Wild Holiday Party at the Central Park Zoo, held every weekend in December, celebrate the holidays with polar bears and penguins. Watch as animals unwrap gifts their gifts–special treats such as fish and fruit, peanut butter and Cheerios.

Photo by Fantaz.

Take a bus tour of the holiday lights.

Roll past the crowds on an evening shuttle bus tour of the city’s spectacular holiday lights. Hop off to see the light show inside Grand Central, and cross the bridge to Brooklyn for sweeping Manhattan views.

Sing along with the Gay Men’s Chorus.

The critically acclaimed 200-man New York City Gay Men’s Chorus performs its annual Holiday Spectacular! at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, December 9. They will dazzle you with a mix of classics and surprises.

Discover Little Italy.

As festive as Times Square or Fifth Avenue but with more manageable crowds, Little Italy is a must see during the holiday season. Not only are its streets draped with lights and decorations, but costumed carolers and weekly parades help spread the holiday cheer.

Feature photo by BEAT NIK. Photo above by ibcbulk.

It’s nearing the end of the year and you’re either out of dough or out of vacation days.

Glossy travel catalogs are showing up in your mailbox, taunting you with images of destinations you can’t even think about visiting right now, leaving you in a fall funk.

If you happen to be in New York, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Tucson, Gibara, Cuba, or La Paz, Mexico though, don’t despair. These five film festivals—all focused on travel or place-based films– will transport you around the world at a price far lower than that of a transcontinental plane ticket.

Photo by Photochiel.

NEW YORK, New York, USA

The Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival: November 14-16, 2008

2008 marks the 32nd anniversary of this film festival, which will present 26 international documentaries over the course of two days at the American Museum of Natural History. This festival was started to showcase anthropological films from the field.

This year’s selections include topics as diverse as “African thumb-piano players, Laotian bomb technicians, primate scientists in Abkhazia, prostitutes in Phnom Penh, and Manhattan pre-schoolers”—topics and places obscure enough to satisfy your desire for a sense of the “exotic.”

Photo by Leto A.

SANTA FE, New Mexico, USA

National Geographic All Roads Film Festival: December 3-7, 2008

This is the fifth year of the All Roads Film Festival; the final stop in the itinerant festival’s 2008 season is Santa Fe. Like the Margaret Mead festival, the majority of the 29 films in the All Roads Festival tend towards ponderous themes; however, you can’t beat this festival for cultural and geographic diversity: films are from 20 cultures and 15 countries, and the majority feature communities described as “indigenous and underrepresented minorities.”

Photo by fangleman.

SAN FRANCISCO, California, USA

South Asian Film Festival: November 13-16, 2008

Unlike a few of the other film fests on this list, the flicks in the South Asian Film Festival aren’t limited to documentaries. The offerings at the SAFF range “from Indian art house classics to documentary films and from innovative and experimental visions to next-level Bollywood.”

Buy tickets online before the 12th and you’ll get a cheaper rate than you’ll be charged at the door. And while the Mead and All Roads Film Festivals are likely to be followed by esoteric anthropological conversations, the SAFF offers some serious post-film partying at an accessible cost for any budget: $5 will get you into an opening night party at a local café-bar.

Photo by Roger Smith.

TUCSON, Arizona; USA

Tucson Slow Food & Film Festival: January 8-11, 2009

Just as the chill of North American winter is settling into your bones, Tucson offers a film festival to fill you up with images of warmth. Slow food + film= winning combination. Features, short films, animated films, and documentaries—all focused on food—will be shown at this festival.

Although this film fest is just four years old, it has a history of showing films featuring food from around the world; past movies have included “Like Water for Chocolate” (which is sure to send you off in search of some Mexican mole after viewing), “Chocolat” (which will make you want to open your own boutique chocolate shop), and “Tortilla Soup” (which will send you home to Google this recipe).

Photo by Néstor.

GIBARA, Cuba; LA PAZ, Mexico

Cine Pobre Film Festival: Dates vary in Spring 2009

Described as one of the world’s most “charming and authentic” film festivals, this low-budget film festival was conceived by Cuban film director Humberto Solas about eight years ago. The concept has since spread to other countries, including Mexico, which hosts its own Cine Pobre Film Festival each spring.

The 2009 Cine Pobre festival will kick off on May 5, 2009; if you’ll be in Cuba, their Cine Pobre festival is a few weeks earlier. Next year’s selections have not yet been announced, but past features have tended to represent selections from every continent.