Hoping Oscar Is a Bibliophile

Posted on January 28, 2012 by

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a 15-minute homage to the printed book and to booklovers. A cunning blend of computer animation, stop-motion and traditional animation, this marvelous film was produced by Moonbot Studios of Shreveport, Louisiana. The flim’s creators, William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg and Lampton Enochs, received a well deserved Oscar nomination this week in the Best Animated Short catagory. If you love the film, and I know you will, you can download a free HD version for your very own at iTunes.

Related articles
Posted in Art, Books, Film | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Would You Visit Napoleonland

Posted on January 27, 2012 by

In a baffling bid to increase tourism to France, Yves Jégo, Mayor of Montereau and Deputy from the Parti Radical, has announced plans to raise funding for a new French theme park dedicated entirely to Napoleon Bonaparte. Mayor Jégo suggests that the educational, family-oriented theme park will include a recreation (possibly animatronic) of the grisly execution of King Louis XVI, as well as grand reenactments of historic Napoleonic battles, such as Austerlitz. Napoleonland is expected to incorporate the usual hotels, restaurants and shopping malls, along with a history museum and convention center.

Mr. Jégo hopes that the park will be open by February of 2017 for the anniversary of the Battle of Montereau. He says that, “It’s going to be fun for the entire family”. I don’t know, suddenly Euro Disney doesn’t sound so awful after all.

Related articles
Posted in Europe, History, Tourism, Museums | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Deutschland Joins World Book Night

Posted on January 26, 2012 by

Germany has become the third country to join the World Book Night celebrations. Started in the UK last year, World Book Night will take place this year on April 23rd and is centered on the give-away of millions of books to encourage reading (and book buying). In Germany, World Book Night, or Weltag des Buches, is sponsored by Stiftung Lesen, Boersenverein des Deutschland and twenty individual publishing firms.

There is still time to participate in WBN. You can sign-up on the website until February 1st. In order to be a volunteer “book giver” you must be at least 16 years old, be able to pick-up 20 copies of a book and agree to give away the books on WBN to “non or light readers”.

Related articles
Posted in Books, Bookstore Tourism, Europe, Libraries, USA, Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Free Art Books

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

The fabulous Guggenheim Museum in New York City recently made sixty-five classic artists’ catalogs and art texts available for free online. This treasuretrove offers many impossible to find historic catalogs from such giants as Kandinsky, Klee, Schiele, Klimt, Calder, Munch and Bacon.You can view the full texts online at the Guggenheim website, or alternatively the catalogs and texts can be read and downloaded as ebooks, in a variety of formats, at Archive.org. 

Related articles
Posted in Books, USA, Art, Writing, Museums, Libraries | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hundeheit is no joke in Norwegian

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

Dog theft is an ever-increasing problem in Europe and North America. Well, there’s a solution for anxious pet owners who insist on taking their dogs on shopping trips. The clever Norwegian developers of the Hundeheit, or Doggy Den, have created a safe, dry and warm short-term hotel for pet parking at supermarkets. The first unit is in place in Oslo and charges a modest rental fee of just 10 Kroner per stay. How long before someone parks their kid in one ?

Posted in Europe | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Cartography Can Be Fun

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

You won’t find any of these terrific, one-of-a-kind maps in a typical travel guidebook or in a travel magazine Many of these charming cartographical gems are created by professional artists or illustrators, but some of the most engaging maps are the creations of passionate amateur artists and cartographers. If you like these marvelous examples, please visit the artists’ websites and blogs to see some more.

Rick Harris novacartix.com

Robyn Mitchell caperobin.blogspot.com

Agata Kowalski agatakowalskiillustrator.blogspot.com

Ina Ahoi ina-ahoi.de

Gaby Florez-Estrada doitgrafik.com

Gaia Marfurt gaiamarfurt.blogspot.com

Weronika Anna Marianna eliwer.blogspot.com

Related articles
Posted in Europe, Travel Writing, Art, Tourism, Maps | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Eye of America

Posted on January 22, 2012 by

For his audacious new project, Vanishing Cultures, Chicago photographer Dennis Manarchy is traveling around the United States creating astonishing, one-of-a-kind portraits of Americans who represent the vanishing cultures of the nation.

Manarchy has created an amazing 35-foot-long camera called “Eye of America”. Based on 19th century, large format cameras, it’s so big that it has to travel on a flat-bed truck and is large enough for a photographer to work inside of the camera. The negatives that it produces are 6 by 4.5 feet and are so enormous that windows fitted with LED lights are used for a lightbox for viewing. The resulting prints are two stories tall.

The project is not an exercise in nostalgia or in steampunk aesthetics, but a sincere effort to capture the vanishing cultures that disappear daily and to celebrate American diversity.

Posted in Art, History, Photography, USA | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Save Christiania (and own a piece of history)

Posted on January 21, 2012 by

It’s been forty years since a rag-tag coalition of Copenhagen residents and backpackers from around the world tore down the fence and occupied an unused military complex in the heart of the Danish capital, giving birth to the Freetown of Christiania.

Today hundreds of people live and work in Christiania, which attracts millions of visitors every year. The full-time residents run childcare centers, cooperative businesses, numerous cultural institutions, restaurants, workshops and they develop and renovate green housing.

Now, we can all join with the citizens of free Christiania by purchasing shares in the community. The shares provide a symbolic ownership and the promise of invitations to future shareholder parties. After years of negotiation with the Danish government, the residents have the opportunity to buy the residential areas of Christiania and to rent the green spaces. The full cost is nearly $13 million, with $8 million due by April 15, 2012. Individual shares start at 100 DKK. Shares are available at Christianiashare.com and at Christianiafolkeaktie.dk.

Posted in Europe, History, Tourism | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Boston’s Newest Jewel

Posted on January 20, 2012 by

Yesterday, the stunning new addition to Boston’s wonderful Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was officially opened to the general public. Designed by the Italian architectural studio Renzo Piano, the extension houses a new 2,000 square-foot exhibition space, a stylish cafe, a 300-seat auditorium and conservations labs, as well as a new entrance for visitors set back 50-feet from the original mansion. The new addition links to the historic building via a greenhouse corridor. The new building is LEED certified and has a geothermal system, daylight harvesting and water-efficient landscaping for the surrounding gardens.

The historic museum building was constructed in 1903 by the heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner to house her extensive personal art collection, which includes paintings, sculpture, textiles, manuscripts and decorative arts. When Gardner died, her will stipulated that the museum and collection should remain unaltered. In fact, there are empty frames in the main gallery where paintings were removed by thieves during a 1990 heist, which remains unsolved.

Related articles
Posted in Architecture, Art, Museums, Tourism, USA | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A book about a film about a journey to a Room

Posted on January 19, 2012 by

I’m a big fan of British novelist/essayist/travel writer/critic Geoff Dyer (although some of his recent New York Times Book Review columns have baffled me). So, I was intrigued by the news that Dyer has written a book which explores the enigmatic 1979 film Stalker by the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky. The book, titled Zona: A book About a Film About a Journey to a Room, will be released next month in the UK by Canongate. Maybe someone will send me a copy? Hopefully, Dyer’s book will renew interest in Tarkovsky’s films, including the sci-fi classic Solaris.

Related articles
Posted in Books, Europe, Film, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment