I am absolutely fascinated by projection mapping technology. So, of course, I need to share this new project where Panasonic illuminates the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, Japan using the world’s largest permanent projection mapping display and a series live animations. The mapping display and its light installation-like visuals are remotely played and managed using cloud-controlled spatial production by Panasonic AcroSign and Remotely Managed Service. The live animations began projecting on February 25th, 2024 and since then, a continuous number of moving images is played at night, lighting up the dark skyline of Tokyo with spatial production.
Check out the mesmerizing short video on the display (below).
I have been visiting the Netherlands for more than 40 years and have been truly impressed by the transformation in the way the country manages public transportation. I only wish that the U.S. would begin to follow their lead. If you’re at all interested in urban planning, public transit and traffic engineering, this is a great introduction video showing you how Dutch street design managed to decrease traffic congestion by making it a little harder for cars and easier for people and public transport to move about the city. For a model like this to succeed, it certainly requires a cultural shift, but the Netherlands started with the same car-centric system that is still in place in almost every other country.
Kafka: Making of an Icon is an upcoming exhibition that will mark the centennial of the great writer’s death and celebrate not only his books and creativity, but also his continuing inspiration for new literary, theatrical and artistic creations around the world.
I was excited to read that after the exhibition’s run at the Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, from May 30 until October 27, it will move to the Morgan Library in New York running November 22 through April 13, 2025.
Kafka: Making of an Icon will feature materials from the archives of the Bodleian Libraries alongside international loans. The Bodleian Libraries hold a treasure trove of Franz Kafka’s papers, notably the original manuscripts of The Metamorphosis, two of his unfinished novels, Das Schloss (The Castle) and Der Verschollene (America), as well as personal correspondence.
The exhibition shows how his experiences nourished his imagination, taking visitors on a journey through Kafka’s life and influences, from his relationship with his family and friends, to the places where he lived and worked, through to his last years of illness and his death on June 3, 1924, at only 40.
Items on show include literary notebooks, drawings, diaries, letters, postcards, glossaries, architectural models, videographic materials and photographs. Among them is a postcard to his brother-in-law in which Kafka jokes about his exceptional skiing skills, despite being severely ill at the time. His Hebrew notebook and his letter (in Hebrew) to his teacher demonstrate his dedication to learning the language that connected him to his family roots, but there are also snippets of Czech, French and Italian, a reminder of Kafka’s keen multilingualism and interest in languages beyond German and Hebrew.
Bilbo’s Last Song (At Grey Havens) is a poem about leaving Middle-Earth. It first appeared, as seen here, as a poster published in 1974 by George Allen & Unwin Ltd., the original English publisher of his famous novels, with illustrations by Pauline Baynes (1922-2008), who illustrated many of Tolkien’s publications. Chronologically, the poem takes place at the end of the last volume of Lord of the Rings, however it was never included in the series.
I have been fortunate enough to have visited glorious Scotland many times, but I only recently heard about the Scottish term thrawn. So, thrawn is a Scottish word that means ‘stubborn’ and unbending. Sometimes it’s an insult but increasingly an admirable characteristic. To believe in yourself is a wonderful thing. This is a joyous short film by the same name.
Like many other overseas Anglophiles, I was dead chuffed to finally get to make a call from a genuine red phone box on my first visit to London many decades ago. So, I had a tinge of nostalgia watching the charming short documentary about Rob Pammen, who at the age of 65 is the last painter of the iconic red telephone boxes in London.
Málaga, in the hugely popular Costa del Sol in the south of Spain, is fed up with tourists and locals have resorted to sticking unfriendly stickers to show their displeasure with the situation. Tourist apartments and buildings are carrying angry words such as “stinks of tourists,” “this used to be my home,” and “go f—ing home”.
It kicked-off when a local bar owner, Dani Drunko, made anti-tourism stickers after his landlord refused to negotiate the rent or sell him the home he had been living in for 10 years. Like many others, it was adapted into a tourist rental. He posted these stickers on apartment buildings and now they’re seen all over the city center, as well as on residential buildings with self-check-in lockboxes for tourists.
I have to admit that I feel pangs of guilt when I read these stories, Although I only visited Malaga once, and that was for just one day more than a decade ago, I certainly contributed to the overtourism problem. On the other hand, if we all stop traveling and stay home, millions of jobs will be lost in the tourism industry. Regarding the housing issue, it might help if we went back to staying in hotels, hostels, and B and Bs, rather than short term homestays such as Airbnb. What’s you’re take on the problem ?
My very first encounter with a Parisian waiter reinforced every stereotypes of French restaurants. To be fair, it was an early morning visit to a railway station café after a night train from Amsterdam. My traveling companions included three other Americans and a Palestinian filmmaker that we meet on the train. Our very first Parisian waiter corrected everyone’s bad French, slammed the dishes onto the tabletop, and at the end of the meal dropped our change onto the table like it burned his hand. Still, one always wants to romanticize their first Paris restaurant experience.
Last week, thousands of spectators gathered to watch more than 200 servers compete in Sunday’s “Course des Cafés,” the newly-revived version of a century-old race. Hordes of Parisian waiters hurtled down the streets of the capital with full trays in hand.
Waiters and waitresses traversed a 1.2-mile loop starting and ending at City Hall, suited up in traditional crisp white shirts, black trousers, neatly tied aprons and in some cases, bow ties. They each carried a tray loaded with a croissant, a full water glass and an empty coffee cup.
The goal: Cross the finish line as quickly as possible without running, spilling or carrying the tray with two hands at the same time.
“Through the streets of the Marais, you will have to slalom with agility, avoid obstacles with a skill worthy of Opera dancers and demonstrate speed without haste,” said Eau de Paris, the city’s public water company and sponsor of the event. “It will not only be about speed but above all balance.”
Judges at the finish line inspected contestants’ trays, docking points for sloshed water, broken dishes and empty glasses, according to the New York Times, which reported that most people finished in under 20 minutes.
Men’s winner Samy Lamrous finished in 13 minutes and 30 seconds, while women’s winner Pauline Van Wymeersch clocked in at 14 minutes and 12 seconds.
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