Travel Blog: News and Briefs
University of Texas Acquires David Foster Wallace Archive
by Eva Holland | 03.09.10 | 4:14 PM ET
The collection includes DFW’s childhood and college writings, handwritten drafts of “Infinite Jest,” and his heavily marked-up copies of books by Don DeLillo, Cormac McCarthy, John Updike and others. The university press release includes links to high-res images of a few items from the archive. (Via Kottke)
David Foster Wallace was, of course, the author of one of our favorite travel stories: Shipping Out.
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Yahoo! BuzzBoing Boing Does the Road Trip
by Eva Holland | 03.09.10 | 1:58 PM ET
Boing Boing’s Mark Frauenfelder is cruising Southern California in a Buick, making an eclectic series of roadside stops. His latest? The very quirky Museum of Jurassic Technology.
The Frugal Traveler: A Househusband in Italy
by Eva Holland | 03.09.10 | 12:52 PM ET
Matt Gross is in Italy, where his role in the family household apparently makes for a great punchline.
Jamaica to Travelers: Come See Our Jewish History
by Michael Yessis | 03.09.10 | 11:47 AM ET
The country is pushing to get travelers to experience the island beyond its beaches. From the Wall Street Journal:
From the tourism minister on down, Jamaican officialdom has embraced a plan to market the nation’s Jewish history as a way of wooing a new segment of travelers.
Tourism officials admit that Jamaica’s Jewish history has been a “well-kept secret,” but that doesn’t mean it’s not rich. For instance: Jewish pirates!
Video: Steve Almond’s Toto Takedown
by Eva Holland | 03.08.10 | 5:54 PM ET
Writer Steve Almond dissects the classic travel tune, Toto’s “Africa.” I’ll never hear the song the same way again. (Via @KelseyTimmerman)
This Gamer has Some Issues With Japan
by Michael Yessis | 03.08.10 | 1:27 PM ET
Tim Rogers’ rant at Kotaku about expat life in Japan is racking up the page views—and has stimulated quite a conversation. So far, more than 2,300 people have commented. Rogers’ dislikes about Japanese culture include:
- Anime
- Smoking
- That everything in Japan has meat in it
- Mandatory parties
- Screaming
- Japanese comedy
- Passive aggression
- The prices
- Apologies
- Pachinko
But he does like Japanese trains! (Via The Morning News)
Joyce Carol Oates Goes Home
by Michael Yessis | 03.08.10 | 11:23 AM ET
The prolific author explores the meaning of place and home in a piece for Smithsonian magazine.
Writers, particularly novelists, are linked to place. It’s impossible to think of Charles Dickens and not to think of Dickens’ London; impossible to think of James Joyce and not to think of Joyce’s Dublin; and so with Thomas Hardy, D. H. Lawrence, Willa Cather, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor—each is inextricably linked to a region, as to a language-dialect of particular sharpness, vividness, idiosyncrasy. We are all regionalists in our origins, however “universal” our themes and characters, and without our cherished hometowns and childhood landscapes to nourish us, we would be like plants set in shallow soil. Our souls must take root—almost literally.
She divulges more in a companion Q&A.
What We Loved This Week: Pacific Northwest Road Tripping, Manno Charlemagne and Hollywood Homes
by World Hum | 03.05.10 | 6:01 PM ET
Eva Holland
I loved driving from Vancouver to Seattle on Monday, and from Seattle around the northern portion of the Olympic Peninsula on Wednesday. It’s my first visit to Washington, and it’s a tribute to the state’s scenery that I’ve found myself dropping uncharacteristically below the speed limit at times to try to take it all in. Here’s a shot I took not far southwest of Port Angeles:
Video: ‘The Jersey Shore’ Goes ‘Up in the Air’
by Michael Yessis | 03.05.10 | 5:06 PM ET
“Up in the Air” director Jason Reitman gives this J-Woww and Ronnie performance a thumbs up:
Another Casualty of the Down Economy: Rest Stops
by Michael Yessis | 03.05.10 | 4:47 PM ET
And the people of Arizona are pissed off. From the New York Times:
Arizona has the largest budget gap in the country when measured as a percentage of its overall budget, and the state Department of Transportation was $100 million in the red last fall when it decided to close 13 of the state’s 18 highway rest stops.
But the move has unleashed a torrent of telephone calls and e-mail messages to state lawmakers, newspapers and the Department of Transportation deploring the lost toilets—one of the scores of small indignities among larger hardships that residents of embattled states face as governments scramble to shore up their finances.
Other states have closed rest stops, too, including Colorado, Georgia, Vermont and Virginia.
Video: Lars Von Trier to Direct Denmark’s New Tourism Ads
by Eva Holland | 03.04.10 | 2:38 PM ET
The Onion has an exclusive first look:
(Via Kottke)
LAX ‘Can’t Hide the Wrinkles Anymore’
by Jim Benning | 03.04.10 | 11:52 AM ET
Call me crazy, but I never tire of Thomas Friedman’s shots at the sad state of America’s airports. This week: LAX. Zing!
It’s worth noting (and Friedman doesn’t) that a major upgrade of the airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal is underway. That’s at least some good news.
NPR’s Mile High Book Club
by Michael Yessis | 03.03.10 | 12:57 PM ET
When it comes to airplane books, Eva is open to vampires. Susan Jane Gilman isn’t. The author of Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven picked six great airplane reads recently for NPR’s Mile High Book Club, none of which she claims will insult her intelligence or embarrass her in airports.
You probably won’t be able to spot her book picks from three gates away, either, as it’s been said you can with John Grisham books.
2010 Solas Awards Winners Announced
by Eva Holland | 03.01.10 | 1:07 PM ET
World Hum contributors Darrin DuFord, Catherine Watson, Lola Akinmade and Joshua Berman are among the winners and honorable mentions. Here’s the full list—congratulations all around.
What We Loved This Week: Indie Asia, the Olympics and ‘99 Things to Eat in L.A. Before You Die’
by World Hum | 02.26.10 | 4:51 PM ET
Jim Benning
I loved 99 Things to Eat in L.A. Before You Die by the always compelling and intrepid Jonathan Gold. And I loved the cartoon we published by Tom Swick poking fun at such lists.
