July 28, 2005
getting high(line):
For a few years now celebs like Moby have been trotted out to high-end parties designed to make you part with you money for the sake of saving an abandoned elevated railway. And why not? The Highline, a 1.5 mile-
long railway that runs
down the westside of
Manhattan (from Midtown
to the Meatpacking
District), was a busy
cargo line until the '60s.
Today, it's an off-
limits concrete monolith
that's about to get the
architectural Queer Eye
treatment. Carson is going
to dress it up real nice,
Ted is going to show it
how to prepare foie gras,
and Jai is...well...he'll pretend to make himself useful. An architect has already drawn up plans to convert the rail line into a park, which will make it only the second elevated park on the planet (after Paris' Promenade Plantee). And word on the street (or rail?) is that achingly hip hotelier Andre Balazs is going to build a hotel that encompasses the Highline, thus turning it into a giant catwalk for the models who migrate to the Meatpacking District. So, a couple weeks ago, a friend and I decided to have a look at the Highline before it really becomes inaccessible. Obstacles in the form of metal fences were no match for us (some generous fans of the Highline have cut small holes in the gates, and if you don't mind shimmying on the ground, you can get by). In addition to great views of the westside (and a few perplexed people from the ground staring up at us), we saw gardens, metal sculptures made from old railway parts, and--we think--a patch of pot plants. For those who fancy a stroll, email me for the secret password.
july 22, 2005
everything you wanted to know about travel writing...:
travel writing message boards might not help you write a better lede, snappier prose, or stronger nouns and verbs (as opposed to adjectives and adverbs), but they're great for asking those biz-related questions when you have nowhere else to look. Here's a list of my three faves: travelwriters.com, bootsnall, and transitions abroad.
july 17, 2005 The Las Vegas Channel The Travel Channel:
Thomas Swick's latest column in the South Florida Sun Sentinel's travel section (which he edits) sticks a big middle finger at the Travel Channel. And rightfully so. As Swick implies in "New Fall Schedule for the Travel Channel," (which is owned by Discovery) the channel is a missed opportunity, stuck in a miasma of all things Las Vegas. I often bring this up in my travel writing classes, joking that the city must be funding the channel, and that if an alien landed on earth and turned on the Travel Channel, it would certainly conclude that the only place worth visiting in the world would have to be Las Vegas. I recently had a meeting with a producer who's making a pilot for the channel and he confirmed my suspicions that the network was receiving some funding from the Las Vegas Conventions and Tourist Bureau, which is why, he told me, you never see shows about Reno or Atlantic City. Hence, The Best bathrooms in Las Vegas, The Best Hotel Swimming Pools in Las Vegas, World Poker Tour, and, as Swick hilariously mocks, Still More Poker in Vegas, and The Best of Vegas, "an examination of some of the best hotels, casinos, restaurants, shows, and public-relations firms in the city."
But fortunately, I've just learned, all this is about to change. Either Las Vegas ran out of money (not likely) or someone in charge finally sobered up: the network is looking for more narrative (Globe Trekker-like, Rick Steves-ish) shows. In a country whose passport-holding populous is a minority (18 percent, I last heard), interesting travel TV that covers the rest of the world (and not just insular America, or worse, Las Vegas)is a reason to feel good about things.
july 2, 2005
stuff I like:
If you tune in to other travel writing blogs, this is old news by now, but Worldhum--my favorite travel site--is finally back, looking better than ever. If you're not familiar with Worldhum, have a look. The stories from the site are regularly selected for the annual anthology, The Best American Travel Writing.
June 21, 2005
trippin'
I'm off to the land of lederhosen and reallyfuckinglongwords. My castle crawl (aka Die Burgenstrasse) begins at Hirschhorn castle, just outside of Heidelberg, where Mark Twain chilled for a few days in 1878 so that he could write funny things about the Germans (he particularly enjoyed noting their funky style of spectacles). Then I'll wind through the Tuetonic countryside (spending the night in a couple other castles, Colmberg and Kynzvart) before pulling into Prague.
June 15, 2005
fun with travel writing:
Time to bring out your inner liar (i.e. your best travel writing). Tell Lonely Planet a real or fictitious travel-related anecdote and others will have to guess if it's true or not. Best of all, prizes will be rewarded for the best liar writer. Check it here: Stranger Than Fiction. Or click here to read mine (registration required).
june 14, 2005
can-a-da! can-a-da!
Now you can look Canadian too! A company in New Mexico is offering a "Go Canadian" package to Americans who want to "travel overseas or to Canada and not have to discuss [their] politics with everyone...!" Phew! What a relief. We no longer have to defend George W. Bush to all those stupid Europeans...and Asians...and Latin Americans...and Africans...and Australians!
june 9, 2005
from the George Orwell file:
As seen on the MARC As seen in Stalingrad, 1956
(Baltimore-to-Washington
D.C) train, 2005
june 7, 2005
wild, wild east:
Oh, Slovakia, how we love thee so. This news round up of happenings in Slovakia has made me think twice about hitchhiking, biking, attending a pig killing, going to the hospital, and/or having sex with a priest the next time I'm in Slovakia. In "Cyclist hit and left to die twice," a bicyclist was first slammed by a drunkard in a Skoda and then run over and dragged for over a mile by another car---till the driver of the second car "dislodged the man from her car after discovering his presence, then continued on her way." And I thought it was only the purple-haired grannies who work in the supermarkets and have a proclivity for screaming who were the mean ones....
