Travel Blog
The Critics: ‘Fordlandia’
by Alicia Imbody | 06.18.09 | 2:08 PM ET
Greg Grandin’s new book, Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City, analyzes the surprising history behind the brilliant car mogul’s disastrous attempts to transplant the American way of life into a remote Amazonian village. Ford is credited as the father of America’s consumer culture, but his utopian plans to capitalize on new sources of rubber resulted in one of the greatest failures of his distinguished career. The critics are chiming in on the man behind the story and the modern day implications of exporting Americanism.
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Yahoo! Buzz‘Away We Go’ in Search of Literary Street Cred?
by Eva Holland | 06.18.09 | 1:23 PM ET
Publicity still via IGN The Book Bench takes a saucy look at “Away We Go,” the Sam Mendes-directed, Eggers/Vida-penned flick that recently got the World Hum Travel Movie Club treatment.
Writes blogger Jenna Krajeski: “Mendes ruined his reputation around the library when he suffocated Richard Yates’s masterpiece [“Revolutionary Road”] on the silver screen. Is he trying to win back his literary cred?” Or, she wonders, did the two novelists throw the game deliberately in the name of the printed page? “Perhaps there’s no better way to prove that novelists should stick to writing novels than to have two skilled fiction writers fail at writing for the movies.” Ouch.
Welcome to Hotel Quarantine
by Julia Ross | 06.18.09 | 12:31 PM ET
American media executive/blogger Mike Su just wrapped up five days in hotel quarantine in Beijing, after flying in from L.A. seated near someone with flu-like symptoms. Bad luck, but at least he used his time in the big house productively, chronicling The Seven People You’ll Meet in Hotel Quarantine. Yep, a few of these characters sound achingly familiar.
The Great Guidebook Retail Showdown
by Eva Holland | 06.18.09 | 11:48 AM ET
Who knew the world of guidebooks-in-bookstores could be so fraught with conflict?
Last week came the news that WH Smith—a large British bookstore chain found in most of the country’s airports and major train stations—had reached an exclusive deal to sell only Penguin-published guidebooks (namely DK Eyewitness and Rough Guides) from its shops. According to the Guardian, the chain reasoned that travelers “are often pressed for time and want to have a straightforward range of travel guides to choose from.” Michael Palin and Margaret Drabble are among the big names opposing the move. Arthur Frommer also has a predictably furious response, calling the deal “an unthinkable act of literary censorship and corporate greed.”
R.I.P. Edith ‘Jackie’ Ronne: ‘First U.S. Woman on Antarctica’
by Michael Yessis | 06.18.09 | 10:48 AM ET
Edith “Jackie” Ronne was 28 years old when she set foot on Antarctica in 1947. It was a journey she never intended to take.
She was, according to the Washington Post, talked into joining the expedition by her explorer husband so she could, among other things, write stories about the expedition for the North American Newspaper Alliance and the New York Times. As part of the expedition team, she became the first U.S. women on Antarctica and, along with Canadian Jennie Darlington, the first woman to spend a winter on the continent. (The first woman on Antarctica: Norwegian Caroline Mikkelsen, in 1935.)
Ronne was 89.
Here’s the trailer for the documentary about the expedition she joined:
America: One Quote, One Photo
by Sophia Dembling | 06.18.09 | 9:54 AM ET
Photo by Sophia Dembling “Truly the American countryside is the most beautiful I have ever seen, the only one in which one forgets the existence of man.” -Luigi Barzini, 1953
I was going through my bookshelves, trying to thin the herd, and came across a book I didn’t remember owning but that stopped all work for a while. It’s called “America the Quotable” and it’s a collection of quotes about our beloved 50, individually and collectively.
I came across the above Barzini quote—which brought to mind this photo—and thought I’d share. I’m sure many of you also have images that come to mind. Put ‘em on Flickr, post a link in the comments, let’s have a look!
Tom Swick on the Freelance Writing Life
by Jim Benning | 06.17.09 | 3:45 PM ET
Last summer, Tom Swick was laid off from his job as travel editor of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Like so many newspaper editors around the nation, he fell victim to the changing tide of publishing economics—which isn’t to say he was unhappy about the move. Given his shrinking travel budget, he was relieved.
We, of course, were happy to bring him on as a columnist, and he continues to file a couple of compelling pieces for us each month. But as he writes in the Oxford American, his move to freelancing hasn’t been entirely pleasant. Take his experience with emailing stories and pitches to editors.
[T]he immediacy of e-mail rarely translates into prompt replies. Actually, it often contributes to silence, as messages get pushed down out of sight—and, subsequently, mind—by the onslaught of new ones.
[snip]
This makes life difficult for any writer, but especially for one who was recently an editor. And even more so for one who was a writer/editor. For nearly two decades, I assigned myself stories, turned them in to my unwavering approval, and then got back to myself immediately regarding publication dates. Being your own man pales in comparison to being your own editor (which, among other things, allows for the former).
If nothing else, I hope other freelance writers find some comfort in Tom’s frustrating experience—if it’s happening to him, it really is happening to the best of them.
Athletes Who Say Idiotic Things About Travel: Brandon Jennings
by Michael Yessis | 06.17.09 | 3:00 PM ET
The quote for this inaugural Athletes Who Say Idiotic Things About Travel post comes from Brandon Jennings, who played basketball in Italy last year and hopes to play in the NBA in the upcoming season. The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg asked him what he learned during his season in Italy.
Another Morning After: ‘Hangover’ Sequel en Route
by Eva Holland | 06.17.09 | 12:49 PM ET
Lovers of film and travel, fear not: If “The Hangover”—you know, the one about the messy/hilarious aftermath of a Vegas boys’ getaway?—left you wanting more, you don’t have long to wait. A sequel, with star Bradley Cooper signed on, is already in the works. It’s a likely bet for box office success—Cooper’s only concern, apparently, is how they’ll top the first installment. “We’ve gotta go to space or something,” a skeptical Popwrap blogger quotes him as saying.
Sure, Bradley. Logistical issues aside, space certainly tops Vegas. Or you could just go to Macau.
Vive Mexico!
by Alicia Imbody | 06.17.09 | 12:48 PM ET
Photo by Alicia Imbody Garrison Keillor on the Joys of the State Fair
by Michael Yessis | 06.17.09 | 11:49 AM ET
Just in time for summer, Mr. Lake Woebegon—have you seen all the words he’s trademarked?—writes about the ten chief joys of the state fair in National Geographic. I like No. 3:
To mingle, merge, mill, jostle gently, and flock together with throngs, swarms, mobs, and multitudes of persons slight or hefty, punky or preppy, young or ancient, wandering through the hubbub and amplified razzmatazz and raw neon and clouds of wiener steam in search of some elusive thing, nobody is sure exactly what.
If you’re a Harper’s subscriber and you haven’t already read it, the archive has more great state fair writing from David Foster Wallace. (via @Marilyn_Res)
Can a Taxi Man Make a Subway Movie?
by Eva Holland | 06.17.09 | 11:04 AM ET
There’s a surprising tidbit in the Slate review of “The Taking of Pelham 123,” the Denzel/Travolta-starring remake of a ’70s subway-thriller classic. Turns out, director Tony Scott never actually rides the New York subway. Or, almost never: “Well, when I say never, I mean maybe once or twice quite drunk at night, when I couldn’t find a taxi.” Right.
Hawaiian for Travelers: It’s About the Vowels
by Pam Mandel | 06.17.09 | 9:28 AM ET
Photo by quinn.anya via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Aloha and mahalo. Those will get you out of the gate in Hawaii, though it’s also handy to get a good grasp on mauka —inland—and makai —towards the sea, just in case you find yourself getting directions from locals.
A few more words might make their way into your vocabulary, especially when it comes to food—there’s poke and poi and ahi and ono. I learned how to say no problem or thanks—a’ole pilikia—from a park ranger and I can read Hawaiian out loud with a halting conviction, but there’s no way I understand it. I still stumble over directions and streets signs—Hi’ilawe and Ali’i and Ala Wai and Kapiolani and Kalakaua—they all start to run together in this haole’s mind. We were going where, now?
Photoshopping Tourists
by Michael Yessis | 06.16.09 | 4:32 PM ET
They’re doing it today with an AFP image over at Fark.
Happy Bloomsday!
by Michael Yessis | 06.16.09 | 3:47 PM ET
A few links from around the internet to commemorate Bloomsday:
- AFP Reports that, despite the global recession, thousands of James Joyce fans streamed into Dublin today to celebrate.
- In the Guardian, Declan Kiberd explains just why Dublin has come to embrace Bloomsday, calling Ulysses “modernism’s most sociable masterpiece.”
- Colum McCann wrote a touching piece in the New York Times about how Ulysses provided him with comfort and connection to his late grandfather.
- Of course, on Twitter you can follow @StephenDedalus and @LeopoldBloom.
