Camp Your Way Around the World

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Brian D. Butler
Airbnb logo

Thanks to the wonderful world of the Internet all manner of travel related peer-to-peer services have emerged. Who hasn’t heard about (or used) Airbnb, the amazing international accommodations network? Well, now you can camp your way around the globe with the help of Camp In My Garden the first and only international website advertizing home gardens and yards as micro-campsites for travelers. The brainchild of Briton Victoria Webbon, Camp In My Garden aims to offer connections between travelers and homeowners across the globe. So far, most of the campsites are in Europe, but the website just launched in the Spring of 2011. Webbon says, “I hope that one day there will be thousands of private gardens being offered as temporary campsites across the world”.

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Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

The fantastic series PBS Off Book has given us some truly wonderful and enlightening mini-documentary films on such varied and diverse topics as Steampunk, Product Design, Generative Art and Typography. Now, they have produced a terrific film on Book Art. The intriguing documentary features artists Andrea Dezso, Carole Kunstadt and Matthew Reinhart. If you love book art, and especially pop-up books, you will enjoy this short film.

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Time is Nothing to the Traveler

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

After quitting his day job in San Francisco, Kien Lam bought a one-way ticket to London on Virgin, packed a bag and grabbed a pocket-sized Lumix camera. He proceeded to make his way around the world, along the way passing though 17 countries on 5 continents, over 343 days and taking 6237 photographs. When he returned home Kien created this terrific time-lapse film.

Posted in Africa, Asia, Europe, Film, Middle East, Photography, South America, Tourism, USA | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Nobel Jury Snubs JRR Tolkien

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Well, actually the Nobel jury snub happened fifty years ago,but the despicable story only just surfaced. The Swedish newspaper Sydsvenska Dagbladet recently disclosed the sordid details after snooping in the official Nobel archives in Stockholm. It seems that C.S. Lewis tried to nominate his friend and fellow Oxford don for the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1961, but the jury flatly refused to consider Tolkien slighting him for “poor storytelling”.  In fact, the jury also passed over Graham Greene, Karen Blixen, Robert Frost and E.M. Foster in favor of Yugoslav author Ivo Andric. I know, who the hell was Ivo Andric.

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Painting by Numbers

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

The always enjoyable London Transport Museum at Covent Garden is debuting a very cool new exhibition in its main gallery today called “Painting by Numbers”. The show features vintage versions of the au courant interweb fad—infographics. The historic versions of data visualiztion are mostly from the 1930s or earlier and were designed to promote the civic benefits of utilizing public transportation, or a plain and simple propoganda tools to highlight the noble efforts of London’s government. Either way, the posters are delightful infographics and we all know that infographics are freakin’ cool.

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Made In Iceland

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

During the summer of 2011, Austrian photographer/cinematographer Klara Harden hikes solo for twenty-five days throughout the Icelandic countryside. The result was this extraordinary video that she created from her adventures.

Even if you’ve have been fortunate enough to have visited amazing Iceland, this breathtaking video will move you. And, if you have not yet had the opportunity to see Iceland for yourself, this film will have you planning next summer’s vacation trip.

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Posted in Europe, Film, Photography, Tourism | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Art of Travel

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

The Boston Public Library Print Department is home to a marvelous, though little visited, collection of more than 350 vintage travel posters from the “Golden Age of Travel”, the 1920s through 1940s. Rail travel had opened up all of North America and Europe to tourism, ocean liners were making overseas travel more affordable and by the 1940s new airlines were winging across the globe. During this golden age, ticket offices and travel agencies were decorated with colorful, eye-catching travel posters, all created to promote travel and tourism to far-flung destinations around the world.

Posted in Africa, Art, Asia, Europe, History, Middle East, South America, Tourism, Travel Writing, USA | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Get Lost In Some Good Books

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Way back in 2011 we shared a story on the book sculptures and installations of the Slovakian-born artist Matej Krén. Now the enormous stacked book assemblege that he calls “Idiom” has found a permanent home in the Prague Municipal Library and Gallery on Marianske namesti.

Krén’s literay tower is constructed from a collection of thousands of used books that are stacked in an overlapping cylindrical pattern. A tear shaped opening in the tower offers a ten foot tall viewing hole. While mirrors on the floor and ceiling provide an infinite reflection for viewers.

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See Europe This Year (by Bufalino)

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Inspired by the Piaggio APE 50  tricycle, the German designer Cornelius Comanns has designed a one person home for modern travelers. The Bufalino Camper is a great mixture of Italian design and German functionality. The mini-camper comes with all services needed for modern people on the move. Which means it not only gives space to a bed, shower, kitchen and plenty of storage space, but also a fridge and laptop desk. Altogether the Bufalino Camper is extremely flexible, although it has no toilet on board. I’m game. Well maybe for a week or two.

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Posted in Europe, Tourism | Tagged | 1 Comment

New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

I never make New Year’s resolutions, but the late great Woody Gutherie did. Here’s the list that he wrote in 1942 at the age of 30.

1. Work more and better
2. Work by a schedule
3. Wash teeth if any
4. Shave
5. Take bath
6. Eat good — fruit — vegetables — milk
7. Drink very scant if any
8. Write a song a day
9. Wear clean clothes — look good
10. Shine shoes
11. Change socks
12. Change bed cloths often
13. Read lots good books
14. Listen to radio a lot
15. Learn people better
16. Keep rancho clean
17. Dont get lonesome
18. Stay glad
19. Keep hoping machine running
20. Dream good
21. Bank all extra money
22. Save dough
23. Have company but dont waste time
24. Send Mary and kids money
25. Play and sing good
26. Dance better
27. Help win war — beat fascism
28. Love mama
29. Love papa
30. Love Pete
31. Love everybody
32. Make up your mind
33. Wake up and fight

 

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