Tag: Audio Video
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Skimpy Skirts and Thunderbolts
by Michael Yessis | 10.27.06 | 11:30 AM ET
There’s a hint of fear in the air, but, as always, we’re still hitting the road. This week the Zeitgeist leads to Paris, Dubai, Iowa, Mexico City and the most scenic toilet in the world. Let’s go.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Japanese Tourists Succumb to “Paris Syndrome”
* I’ve seen a bit of coverage of this story this week, and the New York Post gets the best headline award: Paris Leaves Japanese French Fried.
World’s Least Favorite Airline
TripAdvisor (survey)
Ryanair
Most Blogged Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Beyond Skimpy Skirts, a Rare Debate on Identity
* Hassan M. Fattah’s story explores the limits of multiculturalism in Dubai.
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
* Two weeks in a row at the top for Bryson’s memoir of growing up in 1950s Iowa.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Hotels Ditch Imposing Desks for Friendly ‘Pods’
* Three reasons why: To lure younger customers, to improve employee productivity and, of course, to increase revenue.
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (current)
Farecast
Most Dugg “Travel” Story
Digg (current)
Apple’s Gift to Travelers: Magsafe Airline Power Adapter
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzInterview with Matt Harding
by Michael Yessis | 10.23.06 | 6:28 AM ET
The Washington Post’s Andrea Sachs has an interview with the guy best known for dancing his way around the world. Twice.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Beauty and the Borat
by Michael Yessis | 10.20.06 | 7:35 AM ET
The most gorgeous city in the United States—that would be San Francisco—steps into the Zeitgeist spotlight this week, along with Hawaii, road tripping, airlines of all sorts and the nemesis the government of Kazakhstan, Borat.
Top United States City
Conde Nast Traveler (Readers’ Choice Awards)
San Francisco
* The city has finished first in the magazine’s survey in 18 of its 19 years. Guess readers can’t get enough of this view.
Most Blogged Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Affordable San Francisco
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (current)
RealTravel
Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
Oprah Winfrey, Amanda Congdon and the New Golden Age of the Cross-Country Road Trip
Most Popular Food & Travel Story
Netscape (current)
Airline Will Cater to Smokers
Top Ranked Travel Podcast
Podcast Alley (October)
808Talk
* 808 is the area code for Hawaii, which seems to have already rebounded after the recent 6.7 earthquake.
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
* The New York Times has the first chapter of Bryson’s memoir of growing up in 1950s Iowa.
Top International Route Airline
Conde Nast Traveler (Readers’ Choice Awards)
Singapore Airlines
* The carrier has also topped its category for every year of the magazine’s survey but one.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum
A Week in the Life of American Airlines
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Triumph and Tragedy
by Michael Yessis | 10.13.06 | 8:02 AM ET
This week we’re paying tribute to literary feats, vintage air travel and the victims of tragedies in Moscow and New York. Here’s the Zeitgeist:
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk
* Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature Thursday, and it sent his travel book to the top. No similar bump for Peter Hessler’s Oracle Bones. After its nomination for a National Book Award, its Amazon ranking among travel books stands at No. 26.
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (current)
Rick Steves’ Europe: Packing for Women
Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
Fueling Desire
* The best story ever about jet fuel as travel aphrodisiac.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum
R.I.P. Anna Politkovskaya
Most Dugg World News Story
Digg (this week)
Aircraft Crashes into NYC Building
Most E-mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Cabbies, culture clash at Minn. airport
Traveler Buzz Video
Yahoo! Current Traveler (today)
Vintage Airline Commercials
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Pulled Pork, Pulled Corks in North Carolina
World’s Most Expensive Restaurant
Forbes (2006)
Aragawa, a steak house in Tokyo’s Shinbashi district
* The cost for one person to dine? $368. Yikes. Now, for the not-so-rich among us…
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
Best budget restaurant in Tokyo
Got something that deserves to be included in next week’s World Hum Zeitgeist? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Video: A Primer on “Slum Tourism”
by Michael Yessis | 10.11.06 | 7:12 AM ET
A few months ago we wrote about Rio de Janeiro’s Little Slum Inn. Now, Yahoo! Current Traveler takes on “slum tourism” with a short video that looks at its emergence among a certain set of adventurous travelers. See it after the jump.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Beppe, Borat, Bungees and Bunnies
by Michael Yessis | 09.29.06 | 8:03 AM ET
Beppe Severgnini returns to the top, and so does the Playboy Club. Travelers and armchair travelers have an eye on both this week as the Zeitgeist ventures to Oaxaca, New Zealand, Italy, Colorado and the 52nd floor of the Palms in Las Vegas.
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind by Beppe Severgnini
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (current)
Farecast
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Where the Moon Stood Still, and the Ancients Watched (Chimney Rock, Colorado)
* The current most e-mailed story overall at the New York Times, however, is our kind of travel story: Kazakhs Shrug at ‘Borat’ While the State Fumes
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: This One Goes to Eleven
by Michael Yessis | 09.22.06 | 7:34 AM ET
You, Bono, The Edge and Neil Peart really brought the rock this week. Where did you bring it? Miami, Barcelona, Madrid, New York, Las Vegas and China. Time to crank up the Zeitgiest and find out what’s been intriguing travelers and armchair travelers.
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Roadshow: Landscape With Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle by Neil Peart
* Yes, that’s the drummer and lyricist from Rush. Here are some excerpts from “Roadshow.”
World’s Busiest Airline Route
OAG (September)
Barcelona-Madrid
World’s Sexiest City
Gridskipper (poll)
New York City
Most Viewed Video
Yahoo! | Current Traveler (this week)
“A Day in the life of The Edge: Part 1”
* Here are part two and part three.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Footloose and Boot Free: Barefoot Hiking
Top-Rated Travel Podcast
PodcastAlley (September)
The Strip
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Condo-hotels create risks, opportunities for buyers
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Oprah Takes a Road Trip, Pumps Gas For First Time Since 1983
* Oprah and Gayle? Not so rock ‘n’ roll. Their sing-along artist of choice on their road trip? Celine Dion.
Most Viewed Weblog Category
World Hum (this week)
China
No. 1 World Music Download
iTunes (current)
Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
“Best Song About Travel”
* Hint: It’s not by Celine Dion. Or Rush. Or U2. Though A Sort of Homecoming should at least be considered for any list of great travel-themed songs.
Got something that deserves to be included in next week’s World Hum Zeitgeist? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Yahoo!, Current Debut “Traveler” Video Channel
by Michael Yessis | 09.21.06 | 7:06 AM ET
Yahoo! Current Traveler, one of four channels launched this week by the partnership between the Internet giant and the Al Gore-backed upstart cable network, features amateur and professional travel videos—and, perhaps in a category all by himself, videos by U2’s Bono.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Pool Crashing, Soda Pop and “Pizza Jason”
by Michael Yessis | 09.15.06 | 8:04 AM ET
After last week’s end-of-summer blues and 9/11 remembrances, seems like travelers and armchair travelers are in a happier mood, ready to eat and drink and crash some pools. Where? Looks like the world’s classic destinations are still in style. Here comes your zeitgeist.
Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
* Jason Wilson: One Traveler, Three Dishes Named “Jason”
Most Blogged Travel Story
New York Times (current)
* Los Angeles: Galco’s Soda Pop Store
Destination of the Year
PlanetOut Travel Awards (2006)
* Spain
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
* Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
* The Art of Pool Crashing in Las Vegas
Cover Story From a Glossy Travel Magazine
Conde Nast Traveler (September issue)
* Insider’s Guide to New York City
Favorite Country for Holidays
Conde Nast Traveller UK Reader’s Poll
* Italy
Most Viewed “Travel & Places” Video
YouTube (this week)
* “Welcome to Aggieland”
Most Popular Site Tagged “Travel”
del.icio.us (current)
* TravelPost’s Airport Wireless Internet Access Guide
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
* A happier place than the happiest place on earth
Got something that deserves to be included in next week’s World Hum Zeitgeist? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Shanghai: Beyond the Skyline
by Michael Yessis | 09.13.06 | 6:38 AM ET
On a recent trip to China, Boston Globe travel writer Tom Haines took the amazing architecture of Shanghai as a given, old news. He and photographer Essdras M Suarez instead took a look a how the rising buildings and economy have affected life in Shanghai, and their story—the first of a two-part series “Into a Changing China”—and a terrific audio slide show highlighting the collision of old and new, are now online. “Across the river, guests at the Hyatt rest their heads on pillows 80 stories above the city. Foreign bankers emerge from apartments in the French Concession and swing into Starbucks for blueberry muffins and venti lattes. Tom Cruise leaps from Shanghai’s real towers in the imagined world of M:i:III,” Haines writes. “It can be easy to forget that beneath it all a local culture evolves.”
The 9/11 Anniversary: World Hum Looks Back
by Michael Yessis | 09.11.06 | 7:00 AM ET
Five years ago, on the morning of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington D.C. and the air near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, World Hum was barely four months old. I was living in San Francisco, and Jim was making his way through Southeast Asia. “This isn’t the way you’re supposed to feel when you travel abroad,” Jim wrote in Terror in America: A Letter From Thailand, which we posted the following day. “You’re supposed to be immersed in the exotic, pleasantly buzzed, delightfully lost, happily, if temporarily, in exile. You’re supposed to shuck off your old self, lose track of the news back home and try on an utterly foreign way of life.”
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist
by Michael Yessis | 09.08.06 | 7:02 AM ET
Looks like we’re a little grumpy this week. Our snapshot of what’s on the minds of travelers and armchair travelers reveals we’re concerned about “Ugly Americans,” bad-mannered Chinese and our poor service on American Airlines. What will get us out of this funk? Perhaps 36 hours in Grand Rapids, Michigan? Here’s your zeitgeist.
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
* Rethinking the Ugly American
No. 1 World Music Album
iTunes (current)
* The Life Aquatic by Seu George
Most Complained About U.S. Airline
Air Travel Consumer Report (June 2006)
* American Airlines
Most Popular Site Tagged “Travel”
del.icio.us (recent)
* Kayak
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
* Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
* Chinese travelers’ bad manners earn a chilly reception
Most Viewed Dispatch
World Hum (this week)
* Tony Perottet’s The Joy of Steam
Most Viewed “Travel & Places” Video
YouTube (this week)
* U-StampIt Productions: “This is a sample video for three co-hosts and their upcoming show on Italy”
Most Viewed Weblog Country Category
World Hum Weblog (this week)
* China
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
* 36 Hours: Grand Rapids, Mich.
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
* “What I did on my summer vacation”
And, finally, a tribute to the Crocodile Hunter
* In honor of Steve Irwin and International Khaki Day, we’ll be flying the khaki today. R.I.P. Crocodile Hunter.
Got something that deserves to be included in next week’s World Hum Zeitgeist? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Sleeping With Llamas and Popping Pills on the John Muir Trail
by Michael Yessis | 08.25.06 | 7:16 AM ET
Four teams of Fresno Bee writers and reporters are currently teaming up to hike the entire length of California’s John Muir Trail, and the paper has put together a multimedia presentation of their journey. Why the John Muir Trail, other than it’s in the Bee’s backyard? “It’s a 211-mile walk on the West Coast’s rooftop,” writes Diana Marcum, who hiked the first of four legs. “But it’s more than a footpath. There are routes in this world that connect more than places. The Orient Express, Route 66, the Appalachian Trail—all hold the stories of those who went before and the daydreams of those who want to follow. They hold, in short, the promise of a quest.” Mark Grossi and Mark Crosse are currently on the trail, and, like everyone on the team, they’re telling their story in real time with video, photos and a team weblog. Thanks for the tip, Jason.
A Cross-Country Road Trip Captured in Time Lapse
by Michael Yessis | 08.22.06 | 7:29 AM ET
YouTube user vw86gti drove his convertible across the country and captured the journey on time-lapse video -- the trip from Los Angeles to New York City takes just four minutes.
Anthony Bourdain’s Beirut Show to Air
by Jim Benning | 08.09.06 | 4:10 PM ET
We’ve written about Anthony Bourdain’s recent experience in Beirut— the globe-trotting chef was there taping an episode of his show No Reservations when fighting broke out. (He was safely evacuated.) At the time, he wasn’t sure whether the episode would ever air. Now comes word that it will indeed be broadcast on the Travel Channel Monday, Aug. 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Remarked the Travel Channel’s Pat Younge, “This special is not about a celebrity chef in peril, but an opportunity to show unique footage of the Beirut that existed before the hostilities broke out—an unfinished portrait of the Beirut that Anthony wanted to show the world.”
Bourdain: “I’m Feeling a Little Pessimistic About the World These Days”
by Jim Benning | 07.26.06 | 12:40 PM ET
Globe-trotting, show-hosting chef Anthony Bourdain, back safely from Lebanon (where he was filming a Travel Channel show when the conflict began) fielded questions online this morning from Washington Post readers. Asked if a No Reservations episode was in the works based on the trip, he replied: “We’re trying to figure some way to show how beautiful and hopeful Beirut was before the bombing, how terrible a thing it is that happened, what we’ve lost, the pride and hopefulness and optimism that was smashed…It will not be a regular episode of No Reservations.”
Stefan Gates: “Cooking in the Danger Zone”
by Frank Bures | 07.18.06 | 6:46 AM ET
Food writer Stefan Gates has a stomach stronger than most of us. For his new BBC series Cooking in the Danger Zone, “a series of culinary travelogues filmed in crisis zones around the world,” Gates eats everything from yak penis to scorpion kebabs to silk worm larvae to deer penis juice (not very nice, he says). So far, the show has gotten raves across England. Clips can be found on Gates’ blog and the BBC has some photos. The show starts tonight in the U.K. at 8:30 p.m.
Angelina Jolie to Star in Film About Daniel Pearl
by Jim Benning | 07.13.06 | 2:05 PM ET
Lucha Libre in Tijuana: The Real “Nacho Libre”
by Michael Yessis | 07.09.06 | 9:35 AM ET
Jim has a story in today’s Washington Post about a trip to Tijuana to watch some chair-slamming lucha libre action. He’s scheduled to be interviewed about the piece this morning on Washington Post radio between 10:30 and 11 a.m. ET.
What Do Audiences Think of the Cruise-Ship-Disaster Movie ‘Poseidon’?
by Jim Benning | 05.17.06 | 11:54 AM ET
“Total concept rejection”—that’s the phrase used in an internal marketing memo from Warner Bros., according to FishbowlLA. “It’s an amusing turn of phrase, and thus far, the best one we’ve seen to describe what’s going on with the film,” the site reports. Wow. That sounds like a marketing disaster of, uh, Titanic proportions.