Really, so much of making it in life is just establishing yourself as a celebrity. Then it’s all downhill. Once you get famous, everyone wants a part of you and you get paid, yes PAID to do cool stuff. Bill Murray gets paid to go all over the world to go golfing. Why? Because he was in Caddyshack for goodness sakes. And because he’s an excellent golfer. Brajolina have their trip to Africa paid for by aid groups because they look so pretty together. And now, here’s Drew Carey, who’s show really wasn’t even that funny, going to Europe to report on the World Cup for the Travel Channel. Well, good for him. I suppose if anyone can help Americans understand soccer and represent the US overseas, it’s a wise-cracking, doughy white guy. But seriously, I’ll have to check this out. Good for Drew.
Moleskines Expand
For many many years I’ve kept a journal. I must have literally 10,000 pages of stuff written about places I’ve been, people I’ve met, the changing colors of lint in my navel. In the early, Pre-Cambrian days, I wrote in a paper journal, a Letts of London or another, more famous kind. What kind you ask? A Moleskine.
But in those days the Molskine was just a regular old blank-paged journal. No more. Moleskine is entering the guidebook market, or something near to it. They are about to publish DIY guidebooks with a city guide that will contain a maps, metro guides, and 36 pages of neighborhood maps. Of course, in the other pages of the book there are blank pages for making notes, and jotting down your thoughtful scribbles. The guides are only European cities to start, including Paris, Prague , Berlin and Rome. American cities are coming, though, including L.A. and Boston next year.
One for the Road: Places in Time: Reflections on a Journey
Here’s a book that looks promising for its breadth and depth of reflection. Maxine Rose Schur’s book, out in paper back, is called Places in Time: Reflections on a Journey, and chronicles her round-the-world honeymoon more than 30 years ago. The year and a half adventure starts in Berkeley in 1971. She and her new husband discover free spirits and the kind of raggedy weirdness that all travelers discover, both then and now. They hit the road, going full-bore through Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and the Pacific, eventually settling in New Zealand. There are exotic locales and banal ones, but her effort to look back really is what seems to make this a fine summer read, perhaps worth checking out.
Following Scott’s Footsteps
History buffs, particularly those with an Antarctic bent, all know the tale of Sir Robert Falcon Scott’s epic walk to the South Pole. It was, in a word, gnarly. And no one has really duplicated the feat, that is of making the trek to the South Pole and back.
Well, Ben Saunders, said to be “one of today’s most exciting and successful polar athletes” (or so says his site), is attempting a rather amazing feat starting this October. Ben and his team will manhaul 400 pound sleds from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, some 1,800 miles. Wow.
We’ll try our best to keep an eye on the team as they gear up and get ready. But for now, check out their site and if you feel like it, kick in $100 to “buy a mile”.
Friday Funny: Earth Sandwich
OK folks, here’s your chance to participate in history. zefrank, whose antics haven’t been on my radar screen for some time, not since he helped me improve my dance moves, has got a fine little film asking all of humanity to take part in one of the greatest human efforts ever undertaken: to make an earth sandwich. Filled with gleefully funny bits and even a song, this video will not only have you laughing till your stomach cramps, but you might also feel, as I did, the need to immediately run out and buy some bread (as I didn’t).
(via Boingboing)