Mobile World Congress
Barcelona
The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw
by Bruce Barcott
When a proposed hydroelectric dam threatened to destroy Belize's entire population of scarlet macaws by flooding the rare birds' jungle home, one American expat fought back. Sharon Matola, aka the Zoo Lady, took on Belizean fatcats, multinational corporations (Fortis, Duke Energy), and even the Queen of England to try to preserve the wilderness and save the birds. In telling Matola's story, Barcott--author of The Measure of a Mountain, the award-winning book about Mount Rainier--spins a fast-paced, wide-ranging tale that reads like a thriller with plenty of unexpected twists yet delivers a powerful message about the monuments we build and what they say about us. --Beth Adams
Valentine's Day
$16.9 billion. That's what Americans spent on Valentine's Day last year. (We might still have some leftover conversation hearts under our sofa cushions.) A good chunk went for cards--about 200 million are sent each Valentine's Day, second only to Christmas. Hallmark says its most popular card last year was a musical valentine that played "Wild Thing." This year, in an odd attempt to synergize various 2008 events, it's selling cards featuring Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, and Condoleezza Rice. If those don't exactly give you that loving feeling, then try Be My Anti-Valentine (meish.org/vd). The site was set up by self-described geek and social-media specialist Meg Pickard, who has created biting, refreshingly free e-cards like the one below. --JH
Broad Contemporary Art Museum
Los Angeles
After four years and $191 million--$60 million donated by real-estate titan Eli Broad and wife, Edythe--the new contemporary-art wing of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art opens. The Renzo Piano-designed galleries will be filled in part by selections from the Broads' vast collection, which include key works by Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns (such as his 1967 Flag, above). The Broads have agreed to an unusual open-ended arrangement with LACMA in which they'll loan pieces for display but won't donate them, because they want the art to be seen, not to sit in storage as 90% of museum art collections do. --JC
The 50th Running of the Daytona 500
Daytona Beach, Florida
In the first Daytona 500, in 1959, winner Lee Petty drove an Oldsmobile in an untelevised race for a purse worth $67,760. Today, Olds no longer exists, 30 million people are expected to tune in, and the $18 million-plus pot reflects NASCAR's expansion into a multibillion-dollar business. But as NASCAR fans reflect on the sport's trajectory, the 50th running may evoke nostalgia for another reason: The race kicks off the first full season for the new Car of Tomorrow. It's meant to be safer and cut costs, but driver satisfaction apparently wasn't among the goals. Last year, after Kyle Busch won the first Car of Tomorrow race, he spoke for many of his fellow drivers when he gave this eloquent assessment of the new cars: "They suck." --JC
Game Developers Conference
San Francisco
Sixteen thousand programmers, designers, and engineers lining up for five days of talks on "Sparse Virtual Texture Memory" and "Physics for Game Programmers"--it just screams "geekfest." But the people who make the games you play occasionally like to play too--and we don't mean Guitar Hero. Toward that end, attendees at the year's biggest game-makers gathering can kiss up to industry bigs at the Career Bar, mingle at parties at the W Hotel, or, if they must, get their gaming fix at the PlayStation Interactive Lounge, with its PS3 demo stations and free Internet access. --WLA
Email
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Buzz Up!
LinkedIn
