This year Airbnb seems to have been in the news constantly for one legal battle or another. But this wonderful Airbnb campaign called Birdbnb is all about the joy, art and serendipity of travel. Comparing travelers to birds, the project commissioned artist Josh Stricklin to create fifty birdhouse replicas of some of Airbnb’s most distinctive home listings. The resulting birdhouses were strung up in New Orleans’ Audubon Park. You can learn more about the project and see each of the individual birdhouses right here.
Book Hive is an amazing animatronic, art installation that celebrates the 400th anniversary of Bristol, England‘s libraries. Now on display at Bristol’s Central Library, this fantastic installation was created by the art/tech group called Rusty Squid.
The mesmerizing interactive work derives its name from the hexagonal cells in which the moving books are displayed. Book Hive will be on view in Bristol until March 7, 2014. Hopefully, it will become a traveling exhibit after that.
Are you are writer looking for free housing? Are you willing to relocate? Maybe Detroit is the place for you? Write-A-House is a unique non-profit group based in Detroit, Michigan that helps to train people in construction skills by renovating abandoned houses. When the homes are 80% complete, the group gives the houses to writers who are willing to move to Detroit. The writers are then responsible to complete the rehabilitation work, pay property taxes and homeowner insurance. After two years of residency, the writers in residency receive full title to the houses.
One of Write-A-House’s goals is to develop a real writers’ colony that will build a vibrant literary community in Detroit. If you’d like to participate in the project, or just learn more, visit the website here. Applications are being accepted for Spring 2014.
I’m continually surprised by the smart and unexpected ways that social media tools are transformed and appropriated for fun and practical uses. The clever gang behind the social travel app JetPac City Guides (free iOS) has scoured every public Instagram picture and used the results to create city-specific guides to over 5,000 cities and towns around the globe.
So what does that mean for you as a traveler? The app aggregates photos of local sites like cultural attractions, hipster hangouts, coffee places, beer spots, views, restaurants, etc., and makes recommendations with accompanying Instagram pics. The app also is searchable by categories such as “tribes”—Places Intellectuals Go, Places Students Go, Places Stoners Go, Places Locals Go, etc..
My take so far: I’m liking the opportunity to see photos of places before I search them out, but I don’t necessarily want to make travel choices based on popular vote via Instagram. What do you think?
Here’s a little library trifecta for you:
The British Library has released over one million images into the Public Domain by placing them for all to use for free on the Flickr Commons. The images are taken from digitized books from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and include maps, photographs, drawings, illustrations, charts, diagrams and much more. Learn more about the release right here
Do you love and appreciate your librarians? Well, the American Library Association has shown ten librarians some love with $5000 awards for winning the I Love My Librarian contest. The winners were nominated by library patrons from around the U.S..
Infographic courtesy of the Online Master of Library Science Management Program at the University of Southern California.
If you’re a gambler, the bookies in Gävle, Sweden are still taking bets on the fate of this year’s Gävlebocken ( Gävle Goat ). Each winter since 1966 the city in central Sweden has been erecting a 40-foot tall straw goat in Slottstorget in the middle of town. And for 30 of the last 46 years, the massive Jule Goat has been destroyed by vandals.
The Yule Goat is a popular winter tradition in Scandinavia dating to pre-Christian times. But that hasn’t saved Gävle’s Goat since the first version was torched on New Years Eve 1966. Over the following decades, the goat has suffered 26 more burnings, once within hours of its erection, its been kicked down by drunken vandals, smashed by a Volvo in 1976, set on fire with flaming arrows shot by Santa Claus and a life-sized gingerbread man, attacked with fireworks, and even torched by a misguided American tourist who was convinced that it was a legitimate tradition. In 2010, there was a well-funded effort to kidnap the goat by helicopter and deposit it in Stockholm’s city center that was foiled by a security guard. Last year the goat only lasted until it was burned down on December 12th. (see the video below).
This year, you can follow the fate of the goat on Instagram here, but it’s not likely to last til Christmas.
I read this week that Nordstedts, the Swedish publisher of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series has engaged author David Lagercrantz to write an “original” sequel to Stieg Larsson‘s Millennium series using characters from the trilogy. I don’t know about you, but I find this trend of publishing houses employing authors to “continue” the work of dead writers to be objectionable.First it was the James Bond books, than Sherlock Holmes and Jeeves, what’s next Ripley and Philip Marlowe ?
Anyway, this all reminded me of a poignant letter from Stieg Larsson to his long time partner Eva Gabrielsson that I read a while ago. Larsson was just 22 years old when he wrote it on the eve of his first trip to Africa.
Stockholm, February 9, 1977
Eva, my love, It’s over. One way or another, everything comes to an end. It’s all over some day. That’s perhaps one of the most fascinating truths we know about the entire universe. The stars die, the galaxies die, the planets die. And people die too. I’ve never been a believer, but the day I became interested in astronomy, I think I put aside all that was left of my fear of death. I’d realized that in comparison to the universe, a human being, a single human being, me…is infinitely small. Well, I’m not writing this letter to deliver a profound religious or philosophical lecture. I’m writing it to tell you “farewell.” I was just talking to you on the phone. I can still hear the sound of your voice. I imagine you, before my eyes…a beautiful image, a lovely memory I will keep until the end. At this very moment, reading this letter, you know that I am dead. There are things I want you to know. As I leave for Africa, I’m aware of what’s waiting for me. I even have the feeling that this trip could bring about my death, but it’s something that I have to experience, in spite of everything. I wasn’t born to sit in an armchair. I’m not like that. Correction: I wasn’t like that…I’m not going to Africa just as a journalist, I’m going above all on a political mission, and that’s why I think this trip might lead to my death. This is the first time I’ve written to you knowing exactly what to say: I love you, I love you, love you, love you. I want you to know that. I want you to know that I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone. I want you to know I mean that seriously. I want you to remember me but not grieve for me. If I truly mean something to you, and I know that I do, you will probably suffer when you learn I am dead. But if I really mean something to you, don’t suffer, I don’t want that. Don’t forget me, but go on living. Live your life. Pain will fade with time, even if that’s hard to imagine right now. Live in peace, my dearest love; live, love, hate, and keep fighting… I had a lot of faults, I know, but some good qualities as well, I hope. But you, Eva, you inspired such love in me that I was never able to express it to you… Straighten up, square your shoulders, hold your head high. Okay? Take care of yourself, Eva. Go have a cup of coffee. It’s over. Thank you for the beautiful times we had. You made me very happy. Adieu. I kiss you goodbye, Eva.
From Stieg, with love.
Travel Between The Pages 