I’m thinking about getting this for a friend of mine who does nothing but shop and eat. Plus she is going to be in Atlanta for a long time. From ShopComposition.com comes a very cool guide for only $15, covering only shopping and more importantly eating! Supposedly, it’s a guide to the best locally owned spots and we all know how much I like the locals.
There has been some recent debate about what exactly ‘flashpacking’ is. Most define it by the added use of technology while travelling. For example, a Backpacker has no digital camera, no laptop, no mp3 player etc, while the Flashpacker takes it all. Others say it is a mix of technology with a less strict budget. Either way this trend is something of a mystery to me, I feel it’s not easily definable yet. With issues like this no one person is justified to draw the line of what constitutes a backpacker vs a flashpacker. In any case, I would probably fall under the flashpacker category, but I would resent it if a ‘filfthy on the road for 2 straight years sleeping in train stations and living off ramen and tuna type’ individual would not consider me a backpacker because I carry a digital camera. I’ve just always considered those people as vagabonds or true travellers and I have the upmost respect for them (and I have yet to be criticized for not being a backpacker). I still consider myself a backpacker…if only for the reason of not wanting to change this sites tag line. “Backpacker Travel Trends and Culture”
More trendy travel journals. I’ve never heard of Quo Vadis Journals before, but they do look cool. Not overpriced and available in numerous formats, styles, and paper selections. Of course they remind me of Moleskine journals… by the way they are bound, stylish and both have cool names.
Reason number 204 why I love the Internet…no conservative approach to advertising. I’m not a smoker, but a few of my friends are, and for the record, I’m against taxing the hell of out cigarettes. It’s to a point now beyond funny and just past sane. I dislike anti-smoking groups as much as anyone, which is probably why I’m posting this article. But now SuperSmoker people figured out a way to get the nicotine sensation without the smoke. Don’t know how it works, pretty sure they would taste like crap and are overpriced. But anything that says “stick this” to conservative anti-smoker coalitions I’m going to promote. You can check them out yourself at supersmoker.co.uk and read about how they are trying to get them approved for airlines now. Fascinating.
Interesting book American book stores probably don’t have on the shelves. The Pink Box explores Japan’s sex fantasy clubs little known to westerners. You can get a small sampling of the book and the crazy underground that is Tokyo here. Joan Sinclair takes some great photographs and dives into the scene.
Not sure exactly if Dan Kitwood took the photos or just got his name posted as the site was in German, but there are a few fascinating takes on the auto-less city known as Venice. You can check them out here.
At first glance I thought this picture was fake as I didn’t recall any square island in Venice…but that’s typical I suppose, not seeing everything a European city has to offer in a two or three day trip. There are probably about 5 stages of knowing a place. Stage 1: Not knowing it exists, Stage 2: Knowing it exists and having thoughts about what it is like, Stage 3: Visiting for 1 day to three months, Stage 4: Living there, and Stage 5: Living there from birth to death. Most travel just gets us to stage 3 unfortunately. Perhaps I may become a Highlander…that would be better I think.
I figured why stop with Anthony Bourdain…let’s just get on a Travel Channel roll. Sweet sweet Samantha Brown. There should be a song about you. Running around high class hotels looking so beautiful in your bikini. You can find her travel channel site, ‘Passport to Great Weekends’ here.
Samantha was probably a class clown or nerd in high school. Always hanging out in the AV room talking about episodes of star trek and how good fruit stripe gum is. And really my only thinking behind that statement is the fact that she is so nice now. She’s not a fake nice like Andrew Zimmerman can be at times, but she’s legitimately kind…which is rare. And no popular girl in high school is that kind. My fantasy would be running into her in Prague as I was coming out of my hostel hungover, and I make a superior witty statement that she can’t stop laughing at then have lunch in an outdoor tent while she convinces me to spend the night in her Travel Channel approved 5 star hotel. You can fill in the rest. Love you SB!!!
I haven’t brought up Anthony Bourdain after all these posts. And if you don’t know who he is, Anthony is a long time chef turned author… turned successful everything relating to food. He host’s ‘No Reservations’ on the travel channel. But here’s my take. I love his ‘Kitchen Confidential’ book (went through it in about 4 straight hours). I enjoy his show, and I somewhat like the personality.
He has a blog on the travel channel site you can check out here. Anthony is no doubt skilled and talented. I think he is a very good ambassador to other countries when he travels, which is big in my book, but I find him a little dishonest. Let me explain. I think as a host, you have to know how to use humor when situations are not good. You have to give an honest opinion and then make the guy not feel like entire crap. And humor is how you do this. Instead Bourdain only knows that adjective sarcastic wit. He’s good at it, but it seems that’s all he knows. But that’s my only one gripe with the guy. I’d welcome him anywhere and even ate at his restaurant in Miami “Les Halles.” One of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had.
Colby Jack cheese, sliced thin, resembles coastline of the earth at around 10,000 ft on Google Earth. It was this revelation that got me thinking about coastlines. And as you can tell from the most recent buttons post, I’m quite intrigued with the convergence of water and land. So now my next project, art-project, is to create a series exploring coastlines around the world. The pic above is a cropped snap of that project. I’m about 3/5 of the way done, and I’ll post it when it’s finalized. But that is what I have been working on instead of updating the site consistently. (Excuse #1284 of the year for not updating as often as I would like)
I guess over two years ago I purchased the Lonely Planet Blue List 2006. It was a well designed book, but now entirely practical when it comes to an actual guide book, which was the point I suppose. And then when the 2007 book came out, LP offered a special “Purchase the Blue List 2007 and get a free copy of Blue List 2006.” Well, I was interested in the 2007 edition (which was orange) so I got it and gave the 2006 book to a friend. So when 2008 came out, I’m thinking…okay…let’s wait a year and get two at one time to save money (2009 & 2008). Well 2009 came and no Blue List. Instead LP came out with ‘Best in Travel 2009.’ And as I assumed, they offered a free copy of 2008 Blue List with it, shown above. So I guess LP decided the Blue List wasn’t working anymore. Which is a bit of a shame, since it was an interestingly designed book. Bottom line…I’m going to be pissed if they come out with Blue List 2009 and I just bought this combo. Wow…that took way more effort to explain than what I was shooting for.