Who wants to be a Despot?

People, good people. I know these are challenging economic times for all of us, and probably even more so for a teensy-tiiny country like Liechtenstein, but surely we must draw the line somewhere?

Where Snoop Dogg failed, you, and 70,000 of your dollars, will succeed: Airbnb has launched a partnership with event production company Xnet that will allow tyrants in training to rent entire villages and countries.

What the hell? Well:

A major component of renting a village or country is booking a large portion of the municipality’s available accommodations, but that is just the beginning. The possibilities for customizing the experience are almost endless — rename city streets and town squares, print your own temporary currencies, carve logos or names into the snow on the mountainside — and that is just the tip of the iceberg. The mayors and marching bands can welcome you with a custom medieval festival and present you the key to the city, or perhaps a wine tasting event at a Prince’s estate followed by a fireworks show is more your style.

[geekosystem.]

I love this image. i love the whole idea of an elegant staircase that winds up an ancient tree (too bad the tree's been brutally topped) to a lookout owing much of its style to gothic church architecture. I'd be declaiming poetry (Blake, I think) from my tree-top pulpit, or communing with nature (birdwatching? sketching in watercolours?) from its vantage point. The only improvement I might suggest is to tweak the dimensions enough to give room up there for a comfy lounge chair or hammock.

As if Beekeepers didn't have enough to worry about...