The official site of Kelly Sedinger: Reader, writer, photographer, and dreamer
OK, since last week’s installment was one day late, I’ll extend the guessing deadline for that one until tomorrow. So don’t look for an answer until then! I seem to have come up with a stumper, since as of this writing, nobody’s even hazarded a guess.
But now, to get this thing back onto its normal Thursday schedule, here’s the new one:
Where are we?
(And as always, please ROT-13 your guesses!)
How is it possible that as of this writing, there are no guesses as to this week’s installment of Unidentified Earth? Did it slip through the cracks for my readers, or have I managed to pull out my second stumper? I hope for the latter, actually; I’ve been burning through the Quatloos lately.
OK, folks, sorry for the one-day delay on this, but I called Blogger’s Prerogative, and that trumps all. Last week’s installment was identified by several folks correctly as the Kaaba in Mecca; those who knew it can collect their 1,000,000 Quatloos on February 29, 2009.
And now for this week’s hopeful stumper:
Where are we?
Here we go again! Last week’s entry only merited a single guess, which was of course correct, since it was a fairly easy one: the Atomium in Brussels, Belgium, which is one of the coolest buildings anywhere.
And now for this week’s entry:
Where are we?
(Rot-13 all answers, please!)
As expected, last week’s installment was nailed within hours of posting: it was Monument Valley, Utah, that butte-dominated region where so many great Western films were made. To everyone who got it, award yourselves 146 Quatloos. Why 146? Because I’m the one with the Quatloos, that’s why.
Time for this week’s installment, which I expect to be identified very quickly — but I couldn’t not use this one, so tickled was I that Google’s satellite image of it is so stunningly clear.
Where are we?
(Rot-13 your answers, please!)
Well, the tenth time was the charm: last week’s Unidentified Earth location has remained Unidentified, which means I win, and therefore I get all your Quatloo’s. Heh!
As for the solution, the two hints probably weren’t as helpful — but the second one, referring to the movie that used that location coming out in 1969, pinpoints my favorite James Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The location is Piz Gloria, a revolving restaurant that sits atop the Schilthorn in the Swiss Alps. In the movie, Piz Gloria was the hideout of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, where he was masquerading as “Count Balthasar de Bleuchamp”, and using Piz Gloria as a facility for “allergy research”. (Turns out he was really developing a biological weapon for his next diabolical scheme.)
The construction of Piz Gloria was actually partly funded by the film’s production company, in exchange for exclusive filming rights. As you look at the Google satellite, shot, the round conical shape is the roof of the restaurant, while the circular platform off to the left (connected by walkway) is a helipad. Piz Gloria is also accessible by cable car from below.
I think the location was also obfuscated a bit by virtue of the location having been apparently imaged during summer, when the Alps are quite a bit less snowy, except on their shadowed north faces. The almost “lunar” look to the location helped make it a lot different from in the film, when it’s all snow as far as the eye can see (which it had to have been, really, since James Bond could hardly have escaped from Piz Gloria on skis had it been otherwise).
So there you go.
Since last week’s entry ran on Friday instead of Thursday, I’m going to leave that one unidentified until tomorrow. I can’t believe one made it almost an entire week! Yay, me!
But for now, I’m getting back on the Thursday schedule, which means a new installment. I have a feeling this one will be quite a lot easier than last week’s.
OK, where are we?
(Don’t forget to use rot-13 to encode your answers, folks!)
It seems that the current installment of Unidentified Earth is a stumper! This makes me happy, although it also makes me wish I’d saved this one for a while, because I suspect that most of the remaining ones I have bookmarked — enough to get us into January at least, at the current rate — will almost certainly be easier, with a few that I’m sure will be identified almost instantly (the only reason I’ll be doing those is basically that they look really cool from space).
So, anyway, I’ve updated this week’s episode with a hint. Have a look. I’ll post another hint tomorrow evening as well, just in case the thing is still unidentified!
[Updated with a hint.]
[Updated again.]
Somehow I totally forgot to do this last night, since this is a Thursday feature. Sorry, faithful readers! Just a good old fashioned dropping-of-the-ball on that one.
First, I’ve decided that closing comments and having guesses e-mailed to me isn’t that great, so I’m reverting to comments. I would like to impose one rule, though: When leaving a guess, please use this widget to convert your guesses and answers into rot-13. That way, the comments won’t spoil it for anyone who’s looking to comment while still trying to figure it out for themselves. I think that will work. If anyone comments without using rot-13, I may delete that comment, but when doing so, I will convert it to rot-13 myself and repost it, identifying the original poster so that it won’t be like the entire comment is scrubbed forever from the blog. Let’s see how that works.
Second, last week‘s answer. I received two correct replies, so those of you who got it — you know who you are — can award yourself five thousand Quatloo’s. The image was of the Millau Viaduct in France, which is the world’s tallest vehicular bridge. What’s cool about the image I used is that the Viaduct wasn’t completed; only the very tall concrete support pylons are in place, which can be made out sharply standing upright and casting long, straight shadows on the valley floor. Congrats to the winners! Don’t spend all your Quatloos in one place.
And now for this week’s stumper:
Where are we?
(Remember to rot-13 your answers!)
UPDATE I, 7-17-07: Here’s the first hint. This location figured prominently in a movie.
UPDATE II, 7-19-07: Here’s the second hint: The movie came out in 1969.
I’ve only received one guess as to this week’s Unidentified Earth location. Is this one actually hard (unlikely), or are there readers sitting on the correct answer but feel hinky about e-mailing me with it (more likely)? Fret not, readers; I won’t broadcast e-mail addresses or sell them to spammers!
