World Hum

What We Loved This Week: ‘Crazy Heart,’ Spring and the Photos of the Year

2010-03-19T20:18:07+00:00

The Old Patagonian Express Rumbles On

2010-03-19T17:44:13+00:00

I’ve always thought “The Old Patagonian Express,” Paul Theroux’s book about his trip from the U.S. down to South America by train, was one of his best.

I’ve sometimes wondered what became of the old train he writes about near the book’s end—the one he seized on for the title. It turns out, it’s still operating.

The same starkness of place that struck Theroux in the high Patagonian desert remains. Like a photograph from an earlier era, the train and the landscape remain unchanged.

In Praise of Jet Lag

2010-03-19T17:27:06+00:00

James Parker makes the argument for basking in its uselessness.

Because really, if you’re not lagged to a standstill, how can you tell that you’ve gone somewhere? This is, in a phrase I intend to copyright, “the wisdom of jet lag.” Let us not back away from it, superstitiously warding it off with rituals and hygiene. Let us rather embrace jet lag. As a positive: a rich and naturally achieved state of philosophical disarray. And as a negative: a refusal, by the ever-sensible organism, to keep pace with inhuman modernity.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Landmarks

2010-03-19T17:07:48+00:00

Chris Epting explores the sights, from the Hollywood bathroom where The Doors recorded "L.A. Woman" to the place the music died

Travel Movie Watch: ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ Trailer

2010-03-18T18:43:28+00:00

The movie version of Elizabeth Gilbert’s blockbuster travel book “Eat, Pray, Love” comes out this summer. The trailer was just released:

In December, World Hum contributor Liz Sinclair reported from the set in Bali.

Photos: ‘London for Loners’

2010-03-18T18:33:58+00:00

We’ve seen what Los Angeles looks like without traffic. Here’s what London looks like on lonely Sunday nights.

High-Speed Rail in Australia?

2010-03-18T16:47:12+00:00

Only if the country gives up its “national can’t-do mentality,” says Clive Dorman.

Paris in 26 Gigapixels

2010-03-18T16:16:28+00:00

Zoom from a cityscape right down to street level in this amazing browsable image. (Via Kottke)

R.I.P. Alex Chilton

2010-03-18T13:15:48+00:00

The singer-songwriter behind Big Star, the Box Tops and classic travel song “The Letter” died of a heart attack in New Orleans. He was 59.

The greatest tribute song to Chilton has already been written, by Paul Westerberg:

Taking the Pulse of the Irish Pub

2010-03-17T19:44:54+00:00

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, the Los Angeles Times checks in on the state of the Irish pub. Verdict: Still struggling in Ireland, still ubiquitous around the world.

And it’s still one of the Seven Wonders of the Shrinking Planet.

Are New York and Chicago the Tolstoy and Dostoevsky of American Fiction?

2010-03-17T19:13:17+00:00

Andrew Seal makes his case over at Blographia Literaria:

Sorry, Boston. Sorry, L.A. Sorry, D.C. Sorry, San Fran. Sorry, the South. You have your claims, no doubt, but they are as the claims of Pushkin, Lermontov, Chekhov, or Gogol. To be sure, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky do not account for the entirety of Russian literature, certainly do not exhaust all options, but they are irreplaceable, irreducible forces upon the landscape of the national literature, and so it is with New York and Chicago, Chicago and New York.

There’s plenty to chew on in the comments, too. (Via The Book Bench)

Seeking the Holy Grail? Try Valencia.

2010-03-17T17:35:02+00:00

Breaking news: Spud Hilton has unlocked one of the world's greatest secrets