Detroit is on the list of must see places

by Jamie Rhein on

Yesterday when I was at a friend’s house for Christmas dinner, I was talking to a friend of my friend about Detroit. She used to live there and said that when people told her there was nothing to do in this city, she took issue. She found there was plenty to do and, as it turns out, she has company in her thinking. The New York Times has come out with a list of 58 places to see in 2008. Detroit is number 40.

The Motor City Casino Hotel, formerly a Wonder Bread factory that’s been artfully turned into a lodging, eating and gambling establishment that opened this fall, and the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) are part of the reason for the kudos. The DIA just opened after a pricey renovation. One thing that caught my eye about the art museum is the Brunch with Bach series that happens the second Sunday of each month. Food is paired with various musicians from Michigan and elsewhere. Every Friday night the museum is open until 10 and there is free music as part of the visit.

The Web site visitdetroit.com lists loads of attractions that can keep a person busy. Whether you like African American history, historic houses, like the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, music, botanical gardens, the zoo, there’s something for everyone’s flavor. One place I’d like to go to is the Detroit Historical Museum run by the Detroit Historical Society. Currently, one of the exhibits is on the 1920s building boom. Maybe Detroit, like Cleveland will be able to make some bucks on the tourist dollar. That would be nice.

Rediscovering the long walk with Will Self

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Over at World Hum, Frank Bures has an interesting interview with Will Self, a British novelist, journalist, and ardent defender of the long, meandering walk. Last year, on a journey from London to New York, Self walked the 26 miles from his home in south London to Heathrow Airport, then walked 20 miles from JFK in New York to his hotel in Manhattan.

For this peripatetic author, the urban hikes are about more than fitness; indeed, Self is often seeking puffing on a cigarette during his walks. Self is a student of psychogeography, a very smart-sounding term that is actually relatively simple– it’s about removing city dwellers from their hermetically-sealed modes of transportation– cars, subways, buses– and finding a way for them to really experience the urban landscape.

“People don’t know where they are anymore, ” he said last year in a story about his lengthy airport walks. “In the post-industrial age, this is the only form of real exploration left. Anyone can go and see the Ituri pygmy, but how many people have walked all the way from the airport to the city?”

In the World Hum interview, Self compares his practice of psychogeography to another of his passions, writing. “Like writing-which is low start-up, all you need is a pen and a piece of paper-psychogeography is bare-bones. You just get out there and experience. It doesn’t require the hypermediated world, it is more akin to a meditational practice.”

Check out Self’s new book Psychogeography right here.

TSA at Newark receives praise

by Jamie Rhein on

On December 24th, when I was at the airport in Columbus to send my mother off on Continental Airlines for a trip to see my brother in Manhattan, I heard a few announcements over the loud speaker. One was from an airline about an article of clothing left on the plane. Would the person who left it please return to the gate? Then there was an announcement about a cell phone left in the bin at security.

With travel having a hectic quality about it, leaving belongings behind is common. I hoped whoever was being beckoned heard the come hither notices and thought how nice it was that an effort was being made to reunite people with their belongings even though the loss was due to passenger error. I’ve had my own left behind incidences. Most ended happily.

According to Jaunted, TSA in Newark gets kudos for making more effort than all TSAs to make sure people hook up once more with whatever they’ve left behind. One person left a $30,000 Rolex watch. Can you imagine forgetting such a thing? I’d be sad if my Swatch watch with the butterfly on it that I bought in Hsinchu, Taiwan went missing. Come to think of it, where is that thing? The laundry room. I need this TSA in my house.

There are four people with Newark’s TSA who spend their work days helping to make the reunions happen. Most people never get their stuff back because most don’t go looking. If you ever leave anything behind, go find it. Maybe you’ll get lucky. If you’re in Newark, chances are you will. There is also a chance that Newark’s TSA methods will be implemented elsewhere since it’s been successful. Hmm, if 15% is successful and they have the best system, just think about the stockpile of stuff at airports.

Big in Japan: Japanese energy drink makes Red Bull look like apple juice

by Matthew Firestone on

Life can be unbelievably stressful, which is why every one of us needs a quick boost from time to time.

Whether your preferred liquid energy comes in the form of a double skim latte, a bottle of Jolt cola or a red bull and vodka, life is so much easier with caffeine and taurine surging through your veins.

Of course, if you think that we have stressful lives in the West, you should spend some time in the Land of the Rising Sun, where eighty hour-plus work weeks are the norm, and sleep is for the weak and the dead.

So, it should come as no surprise that the Japanese are partial to their energy drinks.

With that said, allow me to introduce you to Yunker Fanti (??????????????????????????????), a powerful concoction by Sato Laboratories that makes Red Bull look like apple juice.

I’m not kidding!

From Royal Jelly and liquid-based nicotine to complex vitamins and herbal extracts, this stuff will put some serious spring in your step.

Want to know more about this invigorating elixir? Click below to learn the secret behind Japanese efficiency.

In Tokyo, you can buy a 50 milliliter bottle of Yunker Fanti for 1,700 yen or approximately US$15. The product is even endorsed by the legendary Seattle Mariner Ichiro Suzuki, so you know this stuff has got to be good!

Remarkably, you don’t even have to go to a health food store to buy the product.

Instead, just simply walk out of your apartment, head into the first convenience store you see, and knock your socks off for the price of a large cappuccino and a pastry at Starbucks.

So what is exactly in Yunker Fanti that makes this stuff so damn good?

For starters, this tiny bottle is jam-packed with caffeine and taurine, which probably isn’t the best thing for those with fragile hearts. But, think of this little baby as a mix of a double espresso and a red bull on ice.

Here’s the clincher.

Yunker Fanti, along with several other Japanese energy drinks, is packed-full of nicotine, which isn’t exactly the greatest thing to be putting into your body.

But, if you want to sharpen your senses, stave off hunger and punch the clock for a few more hours, you can’t beat this liquid gold.

Yunker Fanti is also brimming with a variety of natural and herbal remedies for fatigue, depression and sickness, such as royal jelly (think bees), complex vitamins, ginseng, guarana, garlic, ecinachia and a whole bunch of Chinese herbs that don’t translate into English.

Seriously – this stuff is the cure for what ails ya’.

If you’re still interested in trying Yunker Fanti, sadly you’re going to have to make the trip out to Japan.

Unfortunately, I’m fairly certain that there strict import restrictions in the States regarding liquid-nicotine based products, though perhaps I’m wrong. With that said, please chime in if you’ve seen this product in a health food store near you.

Meandering through Tuscany

by Jamie Rhein on

Although, Amazing Race does afford a glimpse of fascinating places, the pace and editing of a one hour show doesn’t allow time for savoring the places through which the teams are racing. Senses don’t get triggered much, and I don’t think I’ve ever been to a country that triggers my senses like Italy does. Not in a sensual way. India is more a bombardment that can be overwhelming. Thailand comes close. Because Italy–where the teams went this past Sunday— is definitely a place to sensually savor, here is the video “Tuscany, Italy–The Charmed Land” that does just that.

The video shows off the lushness of several Tuscany cities and the countryside through photographs set to music. The close ups of gelati, Italian ice-cream fired up my taste buds for sure. Italian ice-cream is sublime. This lovely and engaging blend of people, artwork, shops, food and buildings will transport you back to Tuscany if you’ve ever been– and make you want to go immediately if you haven’t. Great job to durangowrangler.