Celebrity Leftovers, um, Museum

by Erik Olsen on

Our obsession with the wiles, guiles and, well, every damn move, of celebrities is one of the things I least like about American culture. A friend of mine who vigorously celebrates capitalism and its no-holds-barred, free market approach to everything, recently asked me why I hated celebrity culture so much. Because, I said, their contribution is incommensurate with the compensation. Of course, you could say that about a million different occupations, but celebrities are just some of the worst offenders.

Why the morning rant? Dunno, I just feel a bit off this morning. It’s Monday. And I was also reading this article over at the BBC about a little restaurant that is making a name for itself by building a museum of celebrity leftovers. That is, they have preserved the various bits and crumbs of meals that celebrities who vested did NOT eat (yes, I know you know what a leftover is…sorry for being patronizing). I know nary a name among the list here, since most of them are British celebs who haven’t much broken out of Britain. AND, I actually think these restaurant owners and rather clever, so don’t take my ire above and assume I’m angry at them.

So take a look at yet another level of goofiness reached by humankind.

(via Jaunted)

Gonewalkabout Blog

by Adrienne Wilson on

Like most travel blogs created to update family while trekking in far away countries this Gonewalkabout site started much the same. In Owen’s case he started off posting photos, but little captions or descriptions to help others (not to mention himself) pinpoint where he was exactly. That was the past though and as Owen sets out on a new two-year journey through Australia, New Zealand and hopefully a stop in Fiji he promises to do a much better job not just capturing pictures of these places, but providing some detail. In any case if you’re curious about Australia and New Zealand or even Portugal which is also featured in the photo gallery, head over to this site. He’s certainly got enough photos up to keep one busy until the blogging fully kicks in though there are a few recent entries.

The Wee People Photos

by Erik Olsen on

The explosion of macro photography (VERY tight shots of VERY small things) has occurred largely because of the fantastic abilities of new digital cameras like the Canon Rebel and Nikon D50/70…not to mention cheaper macro lenses. Personally, I’ve tried to shoot macro, but haven’t done anything I’ve been happy with.

Nothing quite as interesting and fun as this series of photos from London. Take a look at the first picture and then scroll down. The conceit becomes immediately obvious, but you won’t be able to help yourself from checking them all out, as the photographer, in a series of subsequent photos, breaks out where the image was shot. This is as good or better than Dancing Matt, IMHO.

As Aldous Huxley might have written: so frightfully clever!

Photo of the Day (11/15/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on


Here’s a random street art shot taken by Mister Rad while in Soho Square. Looking almost like two separate pictures, I’d say he did a marvelous job with depth of field. And both sides leave me asking questions. Like, what’s the triangle doing on the multi-colored brick and where are all those people heading? Perhaps the answers are far too obvious for those who have spent any time in London, but I’ve only experienced a layover at Heathrow.

Want to see your photo on Gadling? Be sure to submit your favorite travel shots to our Gadling Flickr pool.

MTV Launches Travel Guidebook Series

by Neil Woodburn on

Here’s a slightly odd combination that just might work.

Youthful icon MTV is partnering with the guidebook king Frommer’s to bring the hip edgy world of music videos to the hip edgy world of international travel.

The two companies have teamed together to produce a series of guidebooks that will appeal to the MTV demographic. And no, the series will not be called Pimp my European Vacation.

The partnership kicked off in September with the publication of MTV Ireland. By next year the stables will also include Italy, England, Spain, France, Europe, Mexican beaches, and American road trips.

The guidebooks aim towards those traveling/backpacking internationally for the first time and promise to point neophytes towards the best sights, and of course, the best drinking holes, beaches, and clubs. I suggest they might also think about publishing Dude! Where’s my Passport?

I haven’t gotten my hands on a copy of MTV Ireland yet, but it will be interesting to see if MTV dethrones Let’s Go as the guidebook of choice for traveling American college students.