Saints and street signs
Sunday, November 19th, 2006Today (technically yesterday, but whatever) I saw the new Bond film, Casino Royale. I thought it was an enjoyable film (unlike a certain Tamil I know), although a little drawn out at times. Daniel Craig is definitely badass. However, that isn’t really the reason I’m writing. I just thought it interesting that I could discern the filming location for the “Montenegro” scenes in the movie based on two seemingly mundane things: a saint and street signs. From these two things I was able to ascertain that these scenes were actually filmed in the Czech Republic. In one of the shots of the small town where Casino Royale is located I noticed a statue of a saint, that saint just so happening to be St. John of Nepomuk. I know this saint from my trip to Prague last year, where statues of St. John of Nepomuk abound, his head always encircled by stars. The street signs in the town were also distinct, and reminded me of the ones in Prague. Of course, when I noticed these things I wasn’t entirely sure that it was the Czech Republic. Montenegro, for all I know, could use similar street signs and also have St. John of Nepomuk as a patron saint. So, I looked at the wikipedia page about the filming of Casino Royale and confirmed my suspicions. I guess you do learn something from traveling! 
), I decided to read up about it on everyone’s favorite fountain of knowledge, 
). Of course, this isn’t the case in the real world. Looking at the Wii pricing chart, we do see that the pre-tax price for the system is roughly the same amongst developed countries. The strong pound does make the system more expensive in England, and if I ever live in England I need to make sure to do all my shopping in the US when I come back on home leave. We also see that after the VAT is applied, the price jumps up because, well, taxes are high in Europe. No getting around that. 
What really surprises me is how much more expensive the system is in South America, even before taxes. I’m not sure why this is, if maybe the base price includes import duties or what. I really would not like to have to buy the Wii in Brazil, that’s for sure. I just wish they had examples of more Asian countries for a greater depth in comparisons. The best price thus far is in Japan, even with tax. So make your way to Tokyo, my friends! Economics aside, the Wii looks friggin’ boss and I can’t wait to get my hands on one. Nintendo seems to have out done themselves on this one.
