Recent Comments:
Books! Travelers share what to read on the road {Gadling}
Feb 23rd 2011 1:09AM Thanks for sharing your picks. I seem to always end up taking novels on vacation and then buying more books along the way. I'm looking forward to my next travels with an ereader and will consider taking books that I can leave along the way. As much as I love my ereader, there's still something about holding a book that makes me feel like I'm on vacation and not focused on a screen.
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Love-Sick Package at the W Hotels of New York, Hoboken {Luxist}
Feb 2nd 2011 4:21AM I usually go for quirky but chocolate in a syringe? That's sick or should I say Sick!
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Engaging The Millennial: Augmented Reality And The Wired Generation {Luxist}
Feb 2nd 2011 4:18AM What a brilliant idea--print out watches to try on! Sure beats peering at a small photo online.
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Cupcake Wars Find Peace in Laguna Beach {Luxist}
Feb 2nd 2011 4:10AM From Elizabeth's description these cupcakes taste as delicious as they look in the photos!
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CNBC Profiles The Country's Wildest Homes {Luxist}
Feb 2nd 2011 3:58AM It seems many homes in this list have curved walls and I suppose just that fact makes them unusual! Really interesting.
5 tips for actually enjoying Mardi Gras {Gadling}
Jan 31st 2011 6:19AM Great tips and as your links point out--learning a little about the history of Mardi Gras makes the whole experience even more fascinating. I especially like this fact which made me think of your description of New Orlean's fried food options--lol:
The name "Fat Tuesday" comes from the tradition of eating a slaughtered calf on the final day of Carnival. These days, though, that definition has expanded to include feasting on pretty much any rich fatty food.
I once heard scholar, Brian Sutton-Smith talking about pay and how important play is to humans of all ages. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is an incredible example of a whole city and adults taking time to play.
Great blog!
It's time travel writers stopped stereotyping Africa {Gadling}
Jan 22nd 2011 2:00AM This is such an important subject! Thanks for addressing it--the problem is that stereotyping "Africa" is tied to such a long history of exploiting the continent and its peoples. The whole idea of going somewhere "exotic" is a social construction that deems "the Western" world as more advanced and Africa/Africans as backward. When I first visited the United States as a child, the most mundane things (like tuna salad and PBJ sandwiches or Trick-or-Treating) were quite exotic to me and I found them very exotic--so whether something or someone is exotic is just a question of prior experience--not anything inherent.
"Africa" has consistently been imagined in US culture often through movies like the perpetual Tarzan remakes with South American jungle as backdrop. It's no coincidence that Edgar Rice Burroughs who invented Tarzan believed that "civilizing" Africans was the white man's burden--his Africa is populated by more animals than humans. And Tarzan has to be raised by apes presumably because their are no humans fit for the job of caring for a British aristocrat or building shelter!? Tarzan's genes make him Lord Greystoke even when raised by animals--that's Burrough's point!
So, it's not just an issue of "exotic travel" but much more about collective consciousness and upholding cultural hierarchy. As an African I don't underestimate the beauty of the African continent's flora and fauna, nor the disease, economic and political realities--but there are slums in Europe and the USA and tourists don't miss seeing the skyscrapers there. Acknowledging African cities and skyscrapers undermines Western fantasies--and chips at longstanding ideas of who is more superior architecturally. Why NOT visit African cities for what they offer? For me, traveling is not just about reinforcing what I already think or reinforcing my expectations.
I don't believe that US cities share the whole story of US culture--the US has vast rural areas that tourists visit--Grand Canyon or Cheyenne for example. Since you have to fly into an African city to get to less urban areas why not show those cities? Seeing images of London or Rome doesn't stop tourists from visiting the countryside! So, perhaps we need to talk more about the backstory of why we edit urban Africa and Africans!
Thanks again.
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Travel Photo Tips: What is metering, and how does it affect my pictures? {Gadling}
Jan 22nd 2011 12:26AM Great explanation--I'm going to try using Matrix Mode. Thanks for the explanation.
AC Milan Soccer Team Poses At World's Tallest Building {Luxist}
Dec 31st 2010 2:39PM Wow! This photo almost makes my knees feel weak without even being there.
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Alberto Guardiani's $400 Lipstick {Luxist}
Dec 31st 2010 2:33PM Now that I see these shoes--the paring of lipstick and heels seems so obvious--a great combination! Amazing.
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