Celebrating its 120th anniversary this year, Vroman’s in Pasadena is Southern California’s oldest and largest independent bookstore. The popular bookshop recently installed a clever display called “Read your way across the USA”. The shelf display presents books that are set in each of the fifty states. Check out Vroman’s blog to peruse the current choices. And if you’d like to make your own suggestions for inclusion, add a comment.
As the Winter Olympics finally get underway, Pen International has launched the “Out in the Cold” campaign to protest the draconian antigay laws that Russia has enacted. As a piece of the campaign, hundreds of writers, including Paul Auster, Orhan Pamuk, Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie, have signed an open letter calling for a repeal of the egregious laws.
The story of modern Russia is the story of dramatic, almost seismic change. Russian voices, both literary and journalistic, have always striven to make themselves heard above the clamor of their nation’s unfolding story – commenting on it, shaping it and, in doing so, contributing to the political and intellectual shape of the world far beyond their country’s borders:
But during the last 18 months, Russian lawmakers have passed a number of laws that place a chokehold on the right to express oneself freely in Russia. As writers and artists, we cannot stand quietly by as we watch our fellow writers and journalists pressed into silence or risking prosecution and often drastic punishment for the mere act of communicating their thoughts.
Three of these laws specifically put writers at risk: the so-called gay “propaganda” and “blasphemy” laws, prohibiting the “promotion” of homosexuality and “religious insult” respectively, and the recriminalization of defamation.
A healthy democracy must hear the independent voices of all its citizens; the global community needs to hear, and be enriched by, the diversity of Russian opinion.
We therefore urge the Russian authorities to repeal these laws that strangle free speech, to recognize Russia’s obligations under the international covenant on civil and political rights to respect freedom of opinion, expression and belief – including the right not to believe – and to commit itself to creating an environment in which all citizens can experience the benefit of the free exchange of opinion.
H/t to Nimal Banerjee of Butterfruit Labs for this fun map of the best coffeehouses in Manhattan by subway stop.
Pity the poor cigarette smoker trying to book a hotel room these days. With more and more hotels around the world going smoke-free, it’s getting to be a drag for inveterate smokers to locate a smoking room. Well now there’s a hotel booking site just for you 
incorrigible puffers. Smoketels.com is a California-based company, founded by a smoker of course, that boasts listings for 100,000 hotels worldwide that still offer smoking rooms. The booking service is free and doesn’t even charge for cancellations. My guess is that Smoketels will be doing a red hot business for rooms in Colorado, Washington, Amsterdam and even Uruguay.
Street artist Etienne Lavie’s ongoing project, “OMG, Who Stole My Ads”, surreptitiously replaces public ads around Paris with copies of classical artworks. Lavie’s insinuation of real works of art into the tedious, mundane, ubiquitous domain of advertising art is a refreshing break from the insinuation of the commercial in urban life.
This terrific video is a cinematic love letter to America’s greatest city and America’s greatest filmmaker. Robert Kolodny took clips from 14 of Martin Scorsese’s films—After Hours, Bring Out the Dead, Gangs of New York, Goodfellas, King of Comedy, Mean Streets, New York,New York, New York Stories, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Who’s Knocking at My Door, and The Wolf of Wall Street.
The gorgeous music is the Intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni’s opera Cavalleria Rusticana, which Scorsese used in Raging Bull.
H/T to our old friend Ula Wolodkowicz for this wonderful aerial tour of beautiful Poland. If you’ve had doubts about ever visiting Poland, this should be the tipping point. The video—via Nokia air copter—is by Artur Gajdzinski of ArtCamBiz.
Poetry Wanted is a tiny Paris-based publisher with a somewhat incongruous focus on photography. Last year the company founder, photographer Rémi Noël launched a project called “This Is Not A Map”, which produces a publication that looks like a map and folds like a map, but is in reality a collection of geographically specific photographs. The first two “maps” covered Texas and Las Vegas, with Scotland and Japan soon to follow.
Antonio La Cava taught elementary school students in the little mountain town of Ferrandina outside of Matera, Italy for 42 years. After retiring from teaching, he transformed a trusty Ape mini-truck into a tiny bookmobile, which he calls the
“bibliomotocarro”. Since 2003, La Cava has travel 500 kilometers every month visiting eight rural Basilicata villages to spread the joy of reading and the love of books to kids and adults alike. With the motto “It’s a fool who does not read” and an itinerant lending library of 1200 books, the retired educator shares the magic of reading with all comers.
La Chandeleur, or Candlemas day, is a traditional French holiday celebrated on February 2nd each year. It’s customary for families to gather together to eat crepes, and if the cook can successfully flip a crepe with one hand while holding a coin in their dominant hand the family will have a prosperous year. Another common notion is that a triumphant flip will predict a early end to winter.
Like all traditional holidays, La Chandeleur comes with folk proverbs:
Á la Chandeleur, l’hiver cesse ou reprend vigeur. On Candelmas, winter ends or strengthens.
Soleil de la Chandeleur, annonce hiver et Malheur. A sunny Candelmas brings winter and misfortune.
Which ever way the flip goes, I’d love to be spending this Chandeleur at my favorite Paris creperie, the Breizh Café on rue Vielle Temple in the Marais.
Travel Between The Pages 