What We Loved This Week: ‘The Zen of Bobby V,’ ‘When the Levees Broke’ and Arriving With Our Baggage
Travel Blog • World Hum • 05.16.08 | 6:53 PM ET
World Hum contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Eva Holland
I’m headed to New Orleans for the summer, so I set aside several hours this week to watch When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee’s fantastic HBO documentary about Hurricane Katrina and its tragic aftermath. It was pretty tough to watch at points, but one uplifting theme that came through strongly—even more strongly than all the anger and frustration, the grief and feelings of betrayal—was the love that New Orleans residents have for their city, their sense of connection to the place and their pride in its unique cultural traditions. Here’s Lee setting the scene at the film’s premiere:
Michael Yessis
I caught “The Zen of Bobby V,” a documentary about the life of Bobby Valentine, the American manager of Japanese baseball’s Chiba Lotte Marines. Valentine adores baseball and Japanese culture, and the Japanese fans can’t get enough of him. He even has a beer dedicated to him, BoBeer by Sapporo. Three NYC film students followed him around for a season, chronicling his moves on and off the field. New York magazine has a good clip, and here’s an interview with the filmmakers:
Joanna Kakissis
Earlier this week, I went to Tsirigo, a restaurant devoted to the food of Kythera, an Ionian island. But what most piqued my interest on the menu was a dish from mainland Messolonghi: “gavros xidatos”—or marinated anchovies. Most people write off small fish as bait that tastes “too fishy” (and skip the health benefits) but I’ve always been a fan. I so loved the marinated anchovies at Tsirigo that I decided to make my own this week. Thanks to Diane Kochilas’s excellent recipe, my gavros xidatos turned out just divine.
Jim Benning
I love that I flew into Heathrow’s now infamous new Terminal 5 (pictured below with surprisingly bright, shiny floors) and my luggage didn’t arrive late. It probably didn’t hurt that, fearing the worst, I carried it all on board.
Heathrow photo by Jim Benning.