Interdisciplinary art gallery in New York allows travelers to buy a ticket for a journey unknown

by Jessica Festa on

Calling all free spirits: Have you ever felt the urge to just get on a random train and let it take you to a new place. Do you like the idea of forgoing any trip planning and just letting the journey guide you to where you will go? Well now through mid-April, the Bureau of Unknown Destinations in Brooklyn, New York, is open for business.

Basically, travelers will book a free round-trip train ticket to a destination unknown and will be given an envelope telling them where they can expect to go, a notebook, and a simple yet silly task. The goal of the popup travel agency, which is part of an artist’s residency going on at the Proteus Gowanus interdisciplinary art gallery and reading room, is to “offer temporary displacement to members of the public seeking to experiment with their migratory impulses”.

The Bureau of Unknown Destinations is located at 543 Union Street in Brooklyn, and bookings can be made up to two weeks in advance. Their hours are a bit odd, so I would contact them before going in, although they are open most Saturdays from 1-5PM. You can also make an appointment by emailing Sal Randolph at SalRandolph@gmail.com.

10 places to celebrate Chinese New Year

by Chris Owen on

Chinese New Year occurs in the early months of our calendar year, typically January or February and this year falls on January 23rd. This is the first of 15 days of celebration and the start of the Year of the Dragon.

Chinese New Year (also called the Lunar New Year) is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese calendar and a time to welcome longevity, wealth and prosperity and to eliminate any negative chi from the past.

The origin of Chinese New Year taps several myths and traditions and is officially celebrated in countries and territories such as Mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and also in Chinatowns elsewhere. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors.

%Gallery-145019%

Chinese New Year is also celebrated just about anywhere there are significant Chinese populations too.

In the UK, many shops, bars and restaurants in London will be participating in the celebrations, with big events held in Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and most importantly, Chinatown.

In the United States, the San Francisco Chinese New Year celebration is now the largest Asian event in North America as well as the largest general market event in Northern California. The celebration includes two major fairs, the Chinese New Year Flower Fair and Chinatown Community Street Fair. All the festivities culminate with Chinese New Year Parade.

Flickr photo by xiquinhosilva


Travel company to host third annual cycling film festival

by Kraig Becker on

Ciclismo Classico, an adventure travel company that specializes in bike tours, has put out a call for entries for their third annual film festival to be held later this spring. The event gives aspiring filmmakers the chance to show off their skills, while also earning them an opportunity to win a cycling trip of their choice.

The event, which is the only film fest in the U.S. dedicated solely to bike travel, will take place May 17th in the Regent Theater in Arlington, MA. The evening will feature some of the best short, independent films that highlight the joy and adventure of two-wheeled travel, whether that’s around the block or around the globe. The only stipulations are that the film must be between 3 minutes and one hour in length and focuses exclusively on cycling travel.

The entry fee for the competition is just $25, although entries received before February 1st receive a $5 early-bird discount. All submissions are due by March 1st and the selection committee will notify the filmmakers of their inclusion in the festival by early April. The ultimate winner, which will be selected by a grand jury on the night of the festival, will receive a Ciclismo Classico cycling tour valued at $2600. An additional winner will be awarded at the event based on an audience vote as well.

Whether you’re an amateur who enjoys making your own movies, or the next Spielberg looking for your big break, this is a great opportunity. Not only do you have the chance to screen your short film in front of a live audience (other than your mom!), but you could also go home with a free trip too.

Gogobot iPhone app taps Facebook timeline

by Chris Owen on

Gogobot is a trip-planning travel site with a social element that allows users to get advice from people they trust, not from anonymous strangers on the internet. Now, Gogobot has a new iPhone travel app that integrates with a user’s Facebook Timeline

“Our travels serve as bookmarks in our lives that evoke memories and feelings of friends, family and experiences. The places we go and the things we see say a lot about who we are as individuals. By integrating with Facebook’s Timeline, Gogobot makes it possible to integrate the stories of your travels into the greater context of your life,” said Travis Katz, CEO of Gogobot.

The new Gogobot app lets friends turn to one another for travel advice and share trip plans, photos, recommendations and personal travel guides on their Facebook Timeline. Simplifying the Timeline process, users can add their travel content to their Facebook Timeline from within Gogobot.

“Gogobot is proud to be one of the first travel companies featured in Facebook’s launch: this highlights how travel has become a core social behavior and how Gogobot is leading the category,”said Katz.
All popular features on Gogobot are now a part of Timeline, making it easy for Gogobot members to harness the power of the social graph to create travel experiences and memories.

Right now, from their Gogobot profile, users can opt-in to add Gogobot to their Timeline on Facebook, allowing you to share and feature all of your travel activity, including:

  • An interactive map of all of the places you’ve visited
  • Upcoming trip plans and questions
  • Your favorite destinations
  • Your Travel Expertise score and badges
  • Customized postcards taken with Gogobot’s iPhone application
  • Links to your Gogobot reviews
  • Places you want to visit
  • About Gogobot
  • Gogobot is the world’s largest social travel site.

Gogobot has helped millions of consumers to create, share and enjoy extraordinary travel experiences. As a result, Gogobot has attracted global partners – including Expedia, Hotels.com, Kayak and Priceline – that enable users to book their travel directly from the site. Gogobot is available on the web, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

If you don’t like the Facebook Timeline feature, you’re REALLY not going to like this but heavy Timeline users love it.

Photo: Gogobot


Video game exhibition coming to the Smithsonian American Art Museum

by Melanie Renzulli on

Gamers: put “World of Warcraft” on pause, lay down your controllers, and take note. Beginning on March 16, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, will open the first major exhibition of video games. The Art of Video Games will show how video games as an artistic medium have evolved over the past 40 years and will feature 80 games, all of which were chosen in a public vote in 2011.

The 80 games on display will be organized according to their game systems, of which there are 20 types, from Atari to to XBox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Sony PlayStation 3. Prepare to be sent into a fit of nostalgia while viewing early favorites, like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Donkey Kong (alas, no Frogger). Or, just browse in amazement at how far video graphics have evolved with each iteration of Super Mario. The exhibit features four Super Mario versions: Super Mario Brothers 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

The best part about the The Art of Video Games is that visitors will have a chance to play five of the games. Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and Flower will all be featured in the museum arcade, giving anyone the chance to try out these vintage games or rack up a new high score.

The Art of Video Games kicks off with three days of GameFest, a weekend in which visitors can meet video game pioneers, artists, and designers. The exhibition runs from March 16-September 30, 2012, before moving on to the Boca Raton Museum of Art in October.

Image Flickr/zooboing