Don’t Embark Without One

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

There’s an embarrassment of riches when it comes to urban transit apps for smartphones, as well as a pile of dreck. But it can be a daunting task choosing an app to help navigate an unfamiliar public transport system. San Francisco app developer Embark has produced a series of very handy new programs that can even function without a data connection. We all know what a bummer it is to be in a subway station with no wifi or phone connections and no way to access our transit apps.

Embark’s apps already cover London, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, NJ Transit, Chicago, San Francisco and DC, with more on the way. And while Embark apps may have fewer bells and whistles than some other apps, the user interface is straightforward and users can Tweet, email or text itineraries to contacts with ease. Best of all, the Embark apps are free. You can find out more at their website or download at iTunes.

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

America’s Most Literate Cities

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

For the second consecutive year, Washington, D.C. , has been ranked as the most literate city in the country, according to an annual statistical survey from Connecticut Central State University in New Britain.

Here is the top 10 for the 2011 survey, according to CCSU, based on data that includes number of bricks and mortar bookstores, library resources, newspaper circulation and Internet resources:

1. Washington, D.C. (same as in 2010)

2. Seattle (same as in 2010)

3. Minneapolis (same as in 2010)

4. Atlanta (same as in 2010)

5. Boston (up from No. 12 in 2010)

6. Pittsburgh (down from No. 5 in 2010)

7. Cincinnati (up from No. 11 in 2010)

8. St. Louis (up from No 9.5 in 2010)

9. San Francisco (down from No. 6 in 2010)

10. Denver (down from No. 8 in 2010)

According to the CCSU study, wealthier urban areas are no more likely to be more literate than poorer cities.

For example, the survey indicates that Cleveland is ranked second lowest for median family income data, but based on higher rankings for its library system, newspaper and magazine circulations, it’s ranked 13th most literate in the survey. The survey findings suggest that a city’s quality of literacy has to do with many characteristics beyond  wealth and education levels of the population.

The study results and specifics can be found at the University’s website.

What do you think ?

Posted in Books, Bookstore Tourism, Libraries, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Watch Your Step

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

The popular Spanish street art collective known as Luzinterruptus has created a humorous and dramatic installation that sheds light on a common urban problem. Portable hospital urinals were filled with yellow tinted water and led lights and then attached to poles, trees and walls in Madrid’s Plaza de San Ildefonso. According to Luzinterruptus, “during the day and at night people urinate anywhere in the street without embarrassment … Through our installation we have tried to attract attention—in a comical way—about problems we encounter when walking centric streets and squares.”

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

Hoping Oscar Is a Bibliophile

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

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 , , , , | 1 Comment

Would You Visit Napoleonland

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

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, Museums, Tourism | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Deutschland Joins World Book Night

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

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 , , | 3 Comments

Free Art Books

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

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 Art, Books, Libraries, Museums, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hundeheit is no joke in Norwegian

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

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 , | 4 Comments

Cartography Can Be Fun

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

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 Art, Europe, Maps, Tourism, Travel Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Eye of America

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

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