Gradually shifting and changing throughout the day, Shadow City by Netherlands-based designer Izabela Boloz, captures the movement of sunlight to cast fifty-two images based on Copenhagen’s history, culture and environment.
Located on the Østerbro district, Shadow City invites passing pedestrians to stop and reflect on the city through time. The installation will be in place for another year.
For decades I’ve documented my travels with an endless supply of pocket-sized notebooks filled with scribbled notations on nearly every museum, attraction, restaurant, bookshop or pub that I visited. These days I’m always on the look-out for new apps that do a better job organizing and saving my travel history.
So, I’m looking forward to testing a new travel app called Rove which I’m promised will automatically generate a personal travelogue for me based on GPS, a special secret algorithm, and my own notations.
Maybe I’ll even be able to track all of those great tapas bars in Spain that I can’t seem to keep track of.
Whether you called it a Kombi, Samba, Transporter or simple a Bus, the Volkswagen Transporter Van has been an iconic vehicle for travelers and wanderers for more than sixty three years. Now it’s finally happened—Volkswagen is killing off the Bus for good. On December 31, 2013 the last van will roll off the assembly line in Brazil and a golden era will end.
I’m taking the news personally because I spent a youthful summer living and traveling in a VW Bus. The ugly red and white van belonged to my brother, but evolved into a rolling home for both of us one summer long ago. It was uncomfortable, poorly appointed and prone to inopportune breakdowns, but it was fantastic.
If you share my nostalgia for the Bus or just want to understand why the homely, unprepossessing vehicles have a place in so many hearts around the world, check-out director Damon Ristau’s documentary “The Bus”. Here’s a peek:
It has been my eminent good fortune that my travels have taken me to Paris three times during the past two years. Like most visitors to Paris, I am smitten by the architecture, museums and great tourist sites, and of course I am besotted with the food, wine and glorious pastries. But most of all I am beguiled by the magical ambience of the city.
A brilliant young advertising intern has managed to capture a soupçon of the city’s enchanting allure in fragments of sound serendipitously discovered around Paris. These seductive bits can be found on the website L’Air de Paris. Have a listen.
There are scads of travel apps out there that help us navigate unfamiliar territory, find suitable accommodations, discover trendy eating and drinking spots, or plan a tourist agenda. But the new Stockholm Sounds app (free on iTunes) allows the user to uncover the secrets of the city though sound related games tied to dozens of locations around town.
Travelers also get Stockholm music playlists and private access to secret sound installations around Stockholm created by artist Håkan Libdo. Local clubs, bars, restaurants and hotels will be periodically posting discounts and freebies only accessible via the app. Bets of all, the app doesn’t require wifi or data roaming to work.
Thanks to the generous folks at the wonderful Smithsonian Magazine hundreds of the best museums across the United States will offer free admission this Saturday (9/28). The 9th Annual Museum Day Live ! event covers more than 1,400 museums and cultural institutions in every state. To get your free admission tickets just go online here to find an institution and fill out the form. I’ll be heading to the awesome Rosenbach Museum and Library in the historic heart of Philadelphia.
Airport advertising is usually predictable and boring. But Aeroportos de Portugal, the nation’s airport authority, has been coming up with beautiful graphics for the past five years.
This year’s campaign features a series birds that illustrate each of the direct flight routes from Lisbon with the tagline “Flyers Choose Lisbon”.
If you’ve ever had a problem exchanging currency or just getting cash while visiting a foreign country, you will probably empathize with the hapless traveler in the video below. Created by the French financial services company Société Générale to promote international services, this humorous little film underscores that language barriers can still remain problematic even in the digital age.
As all of my family were Brooklyn born and raised, I always carry a piece of Brooklyn with me where ever I roam. Now all of you hipsters around the world can have your piece of Brooklyn too.
The Piece of Brooklyn Project, which benefits the Brooklyn Arts Council, is offering handpicked chunks of Brooklyn pavement packaged in a plastic presentation box for $4 . You can get yours right here. By the way, if you like the rocks I’ve got a bridge you might want to buy too.
Banned Books Week is the American book community’s annual celebration of our freedom to read. Around the nation librarians, booksellers, publishers, teachers, students and readers focus attention on the ongoing threats of censorship. This year, Banned Books Week events will be held from September 22 through 28 around the nation at bookshops, libraries, schools and universities. You can get involved at the Banned Books website.
The 10 most challenged titles of 2012 in the U.S.were:
Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group
Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James.
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.
Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit
Looking for Alaska, by John Green.
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence
The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence
