Destination: France
Bernard-Henri Lévy Fever: Catch It
by Jim Benning | 01.26.06 | 10:10 AM ET
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Yahoo! BuzzBernard-Henri Lévy: a Rock-Star Philosophe in the Footsteps of Tocqueville
by Jim Benning | 01.19.06 | 11:28 PM ET
JT Leroy Unmasked: He’s a She
by Michael Yessis | 01.08.06 | 5:20 PM ET
He/she is Savannah Knoop, according to a story by Warren St. John posted this afternoon on The New York Times Web site. St. John reports that Knoop plays Leroy in public, but the author of the works attributed to him/her is still unknown. “A photograph of Ms. Knoop at a 2003 opening for a clothing store in San Francisco was discovered online,” St. John writes. “Five intimates of Mr. Leroy’s, including his literary agent, his business manager and the producer of a coming movie based on one of his books, were shown the photograph and identified Ms. Knoop as the person they have known as JT Leroy.”
Eating Fajitas in the Land of Snails
by Jim Benning | 12.19.05 | 1:37 PM ET
I was powerless in the face of my addiction. The moment I saw the Mexican restaurant in Lyon, France, I knew I had to eat there. I also knew the food would be awful. My story about it, Worlds Collide, appears in Sunday’s South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
“Far & Wide: The Golden Age of Travel Posters”
by Michael Yessis | 12.06.05 | 4:16 PM ET
That’s the name of the current exhibit at the Los Angeles Public Library’s Getty Gallery. I spent some time there yesterday afternoon, checking out the more than 60 promotional posters from the 1920s to the 1940s. They’re gorgeous artifacts of the Art Deco era, though the curators point out that the posters weren’t intended to be artistic. They were made for short-term commercial purposes, printed on cheap paper with a life expectancy of only eight weeks.
Jessica Smith of MTV’s “Laguna Beach” Named Let’s Go Spokesperson*
by Michael Yessis | 12.02.05 | 11:59 AM ET
It’s a sweet gig for the reality TV star. Smith will take trips to locales of her choosing, blog about her experiences and make personal appearances for Let’s Go. According to a Brandweek report (scroll to bottom), “Smith was seen as a good fit for the young-skewing budget-travel guides because, unlike some of the party-oriented and privileged Paris Hilton types chronicled on the series, she’s a more down-to-earth student.”
Stowaway Cat Upgraded to Business Class
by Michael Yessis | 12.01.05 | 10:48 AM ET
A family cat from Wisconsin that somehow ended up in Paris, France several weeks ago will return home today—in a business class seat.
Paris Hotels Fined for Price Fixing
by Michael Yessis | 11.30.05 | 1:14 AM ET
New York Times Kills JT LeRoy Travel Story Because JT LeRoy May Not Exist
by Michael Yessis | 11.15.05 | 5:02 AM ET
Adam Gopnik Profiled
by Jim Benning | 11.10.05 | 1:33 PM ET
The Paris to the Moon author has just published a children’s book, “The King in the Window,” and is profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle. “For 10 years, Gopnik has been in the unusual position of explaining the French and French culture to Americans, in his New Yorker dispatches and ‘Paris to the Moon,’ then in the stellar anthology he edited, ‘Americans in Paris,’” the paper reports. “‘The King in the Window’” may be his last book on the City of Light.”
Learning About the World, One Disaster and Riot at a Time
by Jim Benning | 11.09.05 | 7:27 PM ET
Some critics maintain that the only time Americans learn about another country is when America attacks it. That’s not fair, though. Americans also learn about other countries when those nations are struck by horrific natural disasters, and when widespread rioting breaks out. Take the case of France. Suddenly, we’re learning all about the African immigrant underclass there. The public radio show The World even saw fit today to interview New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik, author of the memoir Paris to the Moon, about North African cultural life in France.
The Airbus A380: ‘The Mother Load’
by Jim Benning | 10.12.05 | 12:17 PM ET
Last April, the Airbus A380—the world’s largest airliner that can shuttle a whopping 550-plus passengers—took its maiden flight. P. J. O’Rourke, for one, was not happy with the public’s response. “What a poor, dull response to a miracle of engineering,” he writes in a feature about the new jet in the November issue of The Atlantic Monthly. “The A380 is a Lourdes apparition at the departure ramp. Consider just two of its marvels: Its takeoff weight is 1.235 million pounds. And it takes off…However, the only expressions of awe over the A380’s specifications that I’ve heard have been awful predictions of the crowding inside.” Those fears, he writes, “tend to be somewhat exaggerated.”
Rick Steves on Radio and iTunes
by Jim Benning | 10.07.05 | 10:12 AM ET
I didn’t know Rick Steves had a new weekly radio show until I clicked onto iTunes. There, on the podcast page, complete podcasts of Steves’ hour-long shows are available for free downloading—26 in all. Topics range from the expected—travel in France, Italy and Ireland—to discussions about Argentina, Cuba and Ecuador. I listened to most of the show about Cuba, which featured an interview with author Christopher Baker, and was impressed.
The History of “Tourism” in Two Sentences
by Jim Benning | 10.03.05 | 9:00 AM ET
From the October issue of AeroMexico’s in-flight magazine, Escala: The word “tourism” didn’t originate from some English travelers’ journey through Tours, France, as some claim. “The truth of the matter is,” the magazine reports, “its origin goes back to the ancient French word torneier, meaning ‘to go around’ which, in turn, came from the Latin tornare, to make something go around on a lathe. As for the city [Tours], its name is derived from another, older one, Toronum or Toronus.”
Touring “Paris, Paris”
by Jim Benning | 09.12.05 | 4:14 AM ET
Travel writer David Downie is touring the U.S. in support of his new book, Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light. The book features a collection of Downie’s stories about the city. He couldn’t have asked for a better review: Jan Morris called it, “Perhaps the most evocative American book about Paris since ‘A Movable Feast.’” Downie will appear in Portland, Oregon on Tuesday and in Seattle on Friday and Saturday. Information about other dates is available here.
Update: The San Francisco Chronicle features a story by Downie about Paris’ Marais district in Sunday’s paper.